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#deny all charges spoilers
absurdthirst · 1 year
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Puppy Love {Joel Miller x F!Reader}
Rating: Explicit
Word count: 12.1k
Warnings: Mentions of pimping someone out, post apocalyptic morality, mentions of violence, guns, biting, infected, death, slapping, angst, anger, Joel being emotionally constipated, declarations of love, unprotected sex, vaginal sex, outdoors sex, pulling out, mentions of pregnancy/infertility
Comments: You always follow Joel Miller around, you've got his back. You're in love with him. Putting up with Tess's nickname of puppy dog, you don't realize that Joel feels for you until the end.
A/N: ~Contains spoilers for Episode 2~ Follows the episode along with some canon divergence.
Co-written with @storiesofthefandomlovers
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|| MasterList || Joel Miller MasterList ||
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Click Keep Reading only if you have read the Rating and Warnings and understand the warnings may not be complete to avoid listing spoilers. As AO3 says 'creator chooses not to use warnings'. You also agree that you're the right age to be consuming anything here.
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Your eyes slide up and down the streets, daring anyone to come closer or ask questions as you clean against the crumbling brick facade and twist your head to look back at the two men huddled together about a hundred feet from where you are. You can’t hear what they’re saying but Joel looks even more pissed off than normal, even for Joel. 
“What?” Joel shakes his head in annoyance, knowing he’s being squeezed for cards. He doesn’t get charged that much for the entire hydro stash he gets from his seller. “No, no fucking battery is worth that much and you know it.” He growls, narrowing his eyes at the untrustworthy weasel in front of him. 
Robert’s eyes slide nervously around and he gives a small shrug, uncomfortable being around Joel and preferring to deal with Tess. “What can I say? Times are hard. It’s getting harder to come by these things.” His greedy eyes shift over to where you are looking out at the street. “Although….I’m sure we could work something out. I could cut the price in half if you, say, let me have your little pet there for the night.” He chuckles, referring to Tess’s mocking nickname for you. ‘Joel’s little puppy dog.’
Joel stares at the other man for a few seconds, just processing what he said, until it finally sinks in. “What the fuck did you just ask for?” He growls, low and quiet so you don’t hear. 
“You heard me, Miller. A night with your little lapdog over there. She’s gotta be good at sucking cock because you keep her around. Got a fucking harem started with her and Tess. Do you have one sit on your face and the other ride your cock?” Robert guesses, crossing his arms with a cocky smirk, “or do they take turns sucking your dick? Mmm if you guarantee me a blowjob, I’ll even throw in some extras.”
You tense slightly, shifting forward from your place leaning against the way. Eyes watching the way that Joel’s fist curls tight for a moment. Wishing that you could hear what the fuck they are saying,  but Joel told you to stay here, so that’s what you’re doing. “Joel?” You call out, getting his attention as he turns his head towards you. You’re wondering if you need to come over, knowing you will throw yourself into a fight for him if needed.
He shakes his head, holding his hand up towards you to stop you. He considers the guys offer, he can’t deny it. It would get him a hell of a lot closer to where he needs to be without having to do several burns for the cards. “No. She’s not available.” He finally says, not wanting to force you into something like that. He might be an evil bastard but he’s not a monster. “She’s not an option.” He decides, “you get more ration cards when we meet for me to collect it.”
“Come on man.” Robert shakes his head and his eyes slide past Joel to leer at you. “It’s just a fucking blowjob. I’ll tell you what?” He huffs, smirking and looking back at Joel. “Let me fuck her, both holes, have her suck my cock and I’ll give you the battery for free. Hell of a deal, right? I’ll even let you watch if you want to.”
Joel can’t help but reach up to squeeze the asshole’s throat. His anger makes him growl as he chokes the prick who dared to violate you like that. “You get the ration cards when I collect it or I can kill you now and get the battery for free? Hell of a deal, right? I’ll even let her watch me kill you.” Joel sasses, tilting his head as he watches his eyes practically bulge.
“Shit!” You leap forward but Joel just turns his head. 
“Stay there!” He orders harshly, making you stop in your tracks. Watching as Joel leans in and whispers something else to the disgusting little rat he was having to buy from to get the battery he needed. 
“No, no, it-it’s good!” You hear Robert choke out, gasping and sputtering when Joel lets him go. Clutching at his throat and coughing as Joel turns around and starts striding back toward you. 
“Let’s go.” He demands, his scowl even deeper than normal as you scramble to catch up with his long legged strides. You weren’t short but he’s speed walking. 
“What the fuck just happened?” You demand, wanting to know what the fuck is going on.
“Don’t worry about it.” Joel growls, body still vibrating with anger. He hates that you were a bargaining chip in this new world. Twenty years ago, it would’ve been illegal but anything goes in this new era, even the things the QZ deems illegal are turned a blind eye to. 
“Did you get the car battery?” You ask and Joel doesn’t look at you, knowing he’s barely holding on to the thread of decency he has when it comes to you. 
“No.” He says without further explanation, “he’s got to locate it.”
“Okay.” You think there is more to it, but he obviously doesn’t want to talk about it. You just walk along beside him, watching some of the people on the street part, giving Joel a wide berth. “So what do we do now?” You ask, unsure if he had other things to take care of.
“We keep low. You seen Tess? I ain’t seen her for a couple of days. Startin’ to get worried.” He frowns, guiding you down the alleyway that takes you back to his building. “I haven’t seen her.” 
You mimic his frown, both wondering where Tess is and hating that he’s so worried about her. It’s always been the two of them. You know they fuck, you know sometimes Tess will sneak into his bed, and you hate it, but you don’t hate Tess. She is capable of a lot in this world and you know she keeps Joel grounded, something you seem unable to do. 
“Let’s head to mine and then we will try to track her down.” Joel says, unaware that Tess is already waiting in his room, her face beaten up and sore.
You sigh softly, knowing that you will do whatever he wants. It’s dumb, but Joel had saved you when you arrived in the QZ, scared off some less than honorable people and you have been drawn to him ever since. It’s hard being in love with a man who doesn’t love you, doesn’t even look at you like a woman, but you are loyal to him. He claims he’s not a good man, and that’s true at times, but he’s good to you. “We’ll find her. I’m sure she’ll be in your arms tonight.” You mutter, hating how your stomach twists in jealousy.
Joel pretends to not hear you, knowing you and Tess have some tension going on between you but he ignores it. This life is rough enough without needing to fucking deal with women drama. He gets what he needs when he wants and that’s all that matters to him. He rolls his eyes and strides a little faster to get to his room. 
When he opens the door, Tess is sitting there with her face bruised and swollen and he’s ready to fucking kill whoever did that to her.
“Jesus.” You huff, eyes wide at her injuries. It’s on the tip of your tongue to make a snarky comment, but instead you watch Joel fuss over her and clean up the wounds with the bottle of alcohol sitting next to the sink. It would be touching if it didn’t break your heart. “What the fuck happened to you?” You ask finally as he’s dabbing at the corner of her mouth. You flop down on his sofa and glare at your feet.
Joel gently grips her chin as he cleans her up, his eyes burning into hers and he doesn’t hear your question, too busy making sure Tess is okay. Neither of them see the crestfallen look on your face until your scowl covers it. Tess sighs, gently pushing Joel’s hand away as she explains that she was held hostage by a couple of Robert’s goons. Joel hisses in annoyance, knowing he should’ve killed that asshole when he had the chance.
You hate how neither one of them includes you, feeling like an extra wheel. Dragging your feet off the coffee table you slap your hands on your thighs and stand. “Since she’s home, I guess I better do the same.” You want Joel to tell you to stay, but you know he won’t. Wondering why you put yourself through this torture when he only had eyes for Tess.
Joel wants to ask you to stay but he needs to talk to Tess about what happened. He needs to form a plan and you distract him. “See you later.” He tells you, not even looking your way and Tess offers you a slight smirk as she bids you goodbye. Joel tuts when you stomp out, slamming the door behind you. “Tess…” He murmurs, shaking his head. 
“What? She’s like a damn puppy dog hanging around you all the time.” 
Joel snorts, “what does that make you?”
Tess frowns for a moment before she leans forward. “You know what I am to you.” She challenges him, holding his gaze until he turns away. You have fucked everything up, everything was fine until you showed up and things changed. “Joel-“ She pauses, deciding against asking a question she doesn’t want to know the answer to, or at least have it confirmed. Instead she decides to change tactics. “We need to go find Robert and our battery.”
Joel nods, “we do. I’ll go find her and then we can get ahead. Get your shit together.” He orders, standing up and making his way out of the door to track you down. He needs you for backup and also, he is secretly amused at the way Tess frowns whenever you are mentioned. Tess is…Tess is a comfort to him, the woman who has seen him at his worst and still wants him. 
You are innocent really, still able to fight but you haven’t seen that side of him. He doesn’t want you to. He wants you to think of him as the closest version to the person he used to be. He misses that person sometimes, grieves him almost as much as he grieves Sarah. The small things he’d bitch about, like money or working late, are trivial compared to the issues he faces today. 
When he finds you, you are sulking in your room, “come on. I need you to help me and Tess track down Robert and his goons.”
Staring at him incredulously, you huff after a moment, bending down to pick up your boots. “You’ve got some fucking nerve, Miller.” You grumble, feeling like you are being taken advantage of right now. Joel doesn’t comment, just sends you a satisfied look as you put your boots on and turns towards the door. 
“Get your pack, we might need it.” He tells you before he walks out of your rooms like he owns the damn things. Your fault for letting him in, your fault for being so fucking in love with him that you let him walk all over you. 
“This is the last goddamn time.” You promise yourself, muttering angrily as you get ready. 
Joel doesn’t say anything, just raises his eyebrows as he listens outside. Both you and he know that’s not true. When you’re ready, he guides you down the alleyways to meet up with Tess. “Right. Let’s go get this fucker. I’m sick of his bullshit.” Joel huffs, making his way through the alleys to find the place Tess detailed when she told him where she was held.
“Awwww, you decided to come along, I’m so touched.” Tess coos mockingly when you reach her, making you grit your teeth and want to punch her in her good eye. 
“Well, someone has to clean up your mess.” You huff back. 
“Enough.” Joel growls, shaking his head at you before he turns to Tess with a pointed look. They did that a fucking lot, silently communicate like you weren’t fucking there.
Tess nods and Joel leads the way, entering the building with gun in hand and he creeps down the hall, using hand signals to gesture for you to walk or stop. He knows you and Tess have some fucking women issues between you but he doesn’t care. He doesn’t have time for that trivial shit.
It’s not the time to be snarky. Instead of dwelling on the issues, you focus on the task at hand. All you care about is keeping Joel safe. Tess by extension just because you know that he would be upset if something happened to her. She was his woman, not you. Your own gun in your hand, you flank his left side as you follow, eyes peeled for any danger. 
Joel is naturally anxious, keeping his eyes open and ears clear for any noises. When he spots the dead bodies of Robert and his goons, he doesn’t give a fuck. He wants to know who did that to them. When the door to his right suddenly opens, he doesn’t think. He just acts. Shoving the girl against the wall so she drops the knife and placing his foot on it, gun aimed at her. When Marlene appears, Joel narrows his eyes, listening as she begs him not to shoot.
Your fingers tense around your own weapon, aimed at the two fireflies in front of you. “What’s who he sold our battery to? The Che Guevara of Boston?” You roll your eyes at her humor but it’s true. Listening to her tell Joel that they need to take this girl to the state house to meet her group. “Bring your puppy with you too.” You hiss at that, pissed off that Tess’s fucking nickname for you has caught on. “I tried to recruit her, but she’s too loyal to you Joel.” 
Joel conceals the way his heart flutters at the news that you wanted to stay loyal to him. His face remains impassive and the girl tries to get her knife back while Marlene points out that she is bleeding and he needs to hurry up and decide. “Fine.” He grunts after Tess states her case.
Huffing, you shake your head. “You two have fun with that.” You know it’s a bad idea. This is bullshit and there are other places to get a battery. 
“You’re going with us.” Joel tells you sternly and you know that you will, if for anything but to watch his back. 
“We don’t need her. Joel. She’ll just be a liability.” Tess barely spares you a glance and that pisses you off more. 
“I’m going.” You hiss, glaring at her.
Joel doesn't need this catty bullshit, the girl is glaring at him and it's putting him on edge. "Fine. Get your shit kid, we are leaving." He orders the girl, Ellie, who goes to get her knife back with a scowl. When night falls, Joel guides the group through the old tunnel that he uses to smuggle things in and once you're outside the QZ, Ellie's eyes widen. 
"Holy shit." She gasps and a truck drives by. 
"Get down!" Joel hisses, forcing you to duck alongside Ellie.
“Jesus.” You hate being outside the QZ. Hate the risk and you know that it’s getting harder and harder every time. “We need to move. The fucking soldiers have been crawling around.” You murmur quietly, looking around and shivering slightly in the rain. 
Just as you get ready to move, the QZ guard who buys from Joel approaches you, gun raised. Joel doesn’t even think, surging forward to start pummeling the guy to death. He’s feral and there’s nothing any of you can do except watch him. Ellie watches with a fascination while Tess stares impassively.
“Joel.” You know the man is capable of violence, you’ve seen it, but this was unhinged. He turns back to look at the girl and you, the expression on his face is fierce and you shake your head after Tess shows him the red scanner. She’s infected. You listen to the hurried explanations and you know you need to have this conversation somewhere else. “We need to go.” You tell him, picking up the knife that the kid had stuck in the bastard’s leg and handing it back to her. You don’t know about her claim that she’s immune, but she deserves to be able to protect herself out here. “Take the rifle.”
  Ellie takes it and Joel is almost dazed as you walk through the debris and overgrowth to find shelter in the city. Once you’ve found where you usually stop, Joel slumps down in the chair, flexing his knuckles and hissing. Ellie looks exhausted and you tell her to get some sleep, you’re stopping here for the night. “She’s infected.” Joel grunts when she’s fast asleep, bringing yours and Tess’s eyes over to him.
“Her wound looked healed.” Of course it had been dark as shit, but bites from the infected never looked better. It’s always inflamed as the fungal infection spreads through the body, taking over. You glance at his knuckles, wishing that you had ice to put on it. “You should wrap it up.” You tell him.
Joel ignores you, just imagining what could’ve happened out there if that asshole had blabbed. You’d all be dead. Hung for treason or some bullshit like that. “I’m fine.” He finally answers and Tess looks over at him, “she’s right.” That Joel definitely ignores. He grunts, standing up, “I’ll take first watch. You two get some sleep. I’ll watch the girl.” He says, grabbing his rifle and ignoring the pain in his knuckles when he grips the handle.
You sigh, knowing it won’t make a damn bit of difference, but you find yourself a corner away from the door so you have time to react and lay your pack down. Using it as a pillow as you turn your back to Joel and Tess. You don’t want to see whatever else they do or talk about tonight, tired of being the third wheel and tired of feeling like you should just leave.
Joel keeps watch most of the night until Tess tells him to get half an hour. “Lazy bitch couldn’t even get up for a watch.” She scoffs at your sleeping form. 
Joel shakes his head at her, “she didn’t sleep the night before. Trying to help me out by keeping an ear out for the radio. Just - let it, okay?” Joel asks and Tess snorts, nodding her head. He sits down, closing his eyes but he never truly relaxes, just rests until the sun starts to rise. 
“What do we do with the girl?” Tess asks when he stands up, walking over to her. 
“Kill her.” Joel says, knowing that Marlene wouldn’t find out. He could lie and say she got infected for real this time. It’s not far from the truth. “We don’t know if she’s gonna turn.” He murmurs, keeping his eyes on the curled up ball in the middle of the room.
Grunting, you wake up with a jolt, used to the nightmares that plague your sleep. Everyone in the fucking horror reality has them, or they’ve never lived outside the QZ they were born in. Flipping over, you notice that Joel and Tess are already awake, both of them watching the girl. “Shoulda woke me.” You grumble, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from your eyes before you shuffle over towards Joel.
“You needed the sleep.” Joel murmurs, ignoring the scoff from Tess. “We should kill her.” Joel says with finality just as the girl wakes up, glancing around to see you sitting up and Joel sitting there with his rifle aimed towards her, anxious and tense as hell. “You make one wrong move and I’ll kill ya.” He promises, making Ellie scoff and pull her sleeve up. 
“I’m fine. No different than last night.”
You shift slightly, looking from Joel to Ellie. “Why didn’t she kill you?” You demand, asking about Marlene. Ellie explains about the daily testing and holds out her arm to show that it is perfectly steady. No tremor, which is normally the first sign of infection besides a bite. “Jesus.” You shake your head, unsure of what all of these means and look back towards Joel. It’s him she needs to convince. Or Tess rather because she can sway Joel’s opinion.
Joel considers not killing Ellie when Tess points out that it hasn’t spread. “Fine. Better get something to eat before we head out.” Joel says, sitting down, and he flexed his knuckles. 
“Broken?” Tess asks and he shrugs, “hairline. It will heal fast.” 
You frown at that but still get your jerky out of your pack. 
Ellie, meanwhile, pulls out a delicious looking sandwich and your eyes widen. “Is that chicken?” Tess asks and Ellie explains how Marlene got it from smugglers. Joel snorts, chewing on his jerky and trying to ignore the pain in his hand.
You hate that he is hurting, knowing that he can’t take anything that would help because it would make him slower to react. Instead of offering to take the gun, you open your pack and offer him the precious bottle of aspirin you have. It took a month of ration cards to get it, and you normally used it when your cramps would get too bad. “Here.” You offer quietly, “to help with the swelling.”
Joel takes the pill, knowing it’s aspirin and trusting you. He swallows it dry and makes the decision to head out. “Let’s go. We need to take advantage of the daylight.” He says, standing up to grab his pack and the rifle. Ellie scrambles to pack up her pack again and soon enough, you are heading outside with Tess keeping close to Joel.
“Do we want to take the long way or the short way?” Joel asks and it’s not your opinion he’s actually asking for. Tess snorts. 
“You mean the long way or sure to die way.” She corrects sarcastically, making Ellie’s eyes widen dramatically and you roll your own. You’ve been the short way and it’s fine as long as you pay attention. 
“I vote for the long way given the small amount of information available.” Ellie huffs, making you smirk. 
“The long way, fast.” You decide. “Sooner we get her to the state house, the sooner you have the truck you need to get to Tommy.” That’s what all this is about after all, getting to his brother.
Joel nods, agreeing with you. You, Tess, and the girl trail behind him. Joel hears Tess telling the kid about Boston and the wreck it is now, but he isn't really listening, too busy scanning the area for any threats: human or infected. 
He walks into the hotel and Ellie is amazed. "Wow. Did you guys ever stay somewhere like this?" She asks and Joel snorts while Tess says, "it was a bit out of our price range." You can't help but snort when Joel sasses the kid by hopping down onto the last step. 
"Come on." You urge her forward and she rambles on about the hotel. When she rings the bell, Joel rolls his eyes and you shrug, offering him a look of amusement.
Halfway through the lobby when Ellie screams, you turn around and rush back through the water, unsure if it’s a clicker. Relieved when Joel isn’t shouting and shooting, you find the decayed bones of an unfortunate bastard floating. He must have moved and scared the girl. You hum, watching as Joel offers her his hand, something that he wouldn’t have done if he didn’t somewhat believe her story about not being infected, so it bodes well for her. “Come on kid,” you offer, giving her a small smile. “Let’s go up to the rooms. We’ve got a hell of a climb.” 
Once you climb the ridiculous amount of stairs, Joel curses when he finds the exit has caved in. “Fuck.” He grunts. 
“I can fit through. Let me try and get through.” Tess says and Joel shakes his head, “we can go the short way.” 
Tess huffs, “we don’t have time. I’ll be fine.” She promises and starts to climb through the debris. You hover near Ellie, trying to ignore the way your heart pangs at their secret look, only between them. It makes you feel like you’re a thousand miles away from them. Ellie slumps down on the floor and Joel follows suit, looking over at you while Ellie starts to ask him questions.
You fiddle with your gun, trying not to feel like you are stuck in the middle of a Q&A that you don’t want to be at. Snickering to yourself when Ellie sasses back at Joel that she knows where Detroit is. Only to be surprised moments later when Joel actually knows where you are from. You had only told him once and assumed that he had forgotten or didn’t care enough. “So you and her are….” Joel’s entire body tenses. 
“Pass.” Of course he wouldn’t define their relationship, he doesn’t ever acknowledge things Tess says in front of you, but he doesn’t deny them either. 
Ellie huffs and turns her inquisitive eyes towards you. “So that means you and her are……” She trails off, trying to get either one of you to fill in the gaps. 
Joel grunts, “pass.” He doesn’t want to talk about you or Tess with Ellie. 
“Are you- is it like a throuple situation?” She guesses and Joel snorts, “nope.” 
You and Tess would kill each other before you fuck each other. “Absolutely not.” You wrinkle your nose at being with Tess. God, she gets under your skin but she is important to Joel. 
“Rightttt.” Ellie drawls just as there’s a thumping on the door. Joel stands up, gun in hand, anxious until Tess shouts her announcement that she’s back. Joel sighs slightly, relieved to see Tess, and he gestures for you and Ellie to get your shit.
Your stomach knots, knowing that the hardest part is coming up but there is something calming about the view from the terrace. Looking out over the ruins of the city that you had wished to have visited before all of the world went to shit. Tess pulls back the heavy plastic curtain so Ellie can get her first look and you walk up to the ledge. 
Ellie has to step up on the little ledge and she looks down at the courtyard below. “There’s so many of them.” Ellie exhales, looking at that view. You shift to stand next to her, Joel on the other side. Tess starts to talk, explaining the way the fungus spreads. “They’re connected.” Tess hums. “More than you know.” Joel looks over at you and meets your eyes for a second. 
You wish that he cared about you, but he doesn’t. You tear your eyes away from his and listen to Tess tell Ellis about how the tendrils spread underground, alerting other infected to your location. “You’re not immune from being ripped apart.” Tess cautions her. “You understand?” For a moment, the woman you hold such a grudge against seems almost motherly and you wish that she could talk to you with half the kindness, although you know you’ve not been exactly nice to her. Your feelings for Joel getting in the way of that.
“So we’re not going that way.” Ellie huffs and you shake your head, knowing what’s coming. “Short way?” She asks, looking between the three of you and you look to Joel for his opinion. 
“Museum.” He decides, making you roll your shoulders in anticipation of the problems ahead. 
You are anxious, preparing yourself to enter the museum and Joel glances at you, "be careful." He tells you softly, ignoring the glance from Tess. He opens the door, pleased after discovering the fungal roots are dry. He enters the Bostonian Museum, keeping his gun raised and ready.
Blowing out a soft breath, you grip your gun in your hand tightly and keep your head on a swivel as you watch your steps. The museum is dark and all you have for light is the flashlights, the kid breathing heavily at your back and you swear you hear her huff under her breath because Joel wouldn’t let her have a gun. She looks around, taking in the scene as the old building creaks and groans around you. “Yeah, cooked.” Joel says and Tess grunts. 
“Finally some fucking luck.” Ellie steps forward, almost carelessly at their conversation. “I guess we should have gone this way in the first place.” Joel hums, not watching as Ellie turns a corner. 
“Oh shit!” You rush over and shine another light on the body she discovered, groaning to yourself when you see that the person has been ripped up. Knowing what causes that. “What the fuck did that?” She demands, making you shush her quickly. You look over at Tess and Joel, the other woman looking nervous. 
“Maybe.” Tess whispers. “Maybe he was attacked outside. Crawled through the door, the door was open. It could have been him.” She insists, making you roll your eyes and scoff quietly. She knows that’s not what happened. 
“I don’t hear anything.” She insists. “What would you hear?” Ellie demands, her voice at a normal volume and all three of you turn towards her to quiet her down.
Joel holds his hand up, telling Ellie to quieten down. “What would you hear?” She repeats in a whisper, “you saying an infected did that?” Tess shushes her and you bite your lip. “-because I’ve been attacked by one and it wasn’t like that.” Ellie looks back at the body. 
“Okay from this point forward we are silent. Not quiet, silent.” 
Ellie shakes her head “what-” 
Joel cuts her off, “no questions. Just do it.” Joel is anxious, always tense when he’s in closed spaces, and he slowly makes his way up the stairs. It’s difficult to move so slow but he is careful when he steps on the dried fungus. He manages to make it up the stairs and onto the second floor. He opens the door, walking in with his gun ready. The ceiling collapses and Tess shoves Ellie forward, pushing her into you and the three of you fall onto the floor. Joel helps Ellie up and that’s when you hear it. A clicker.
Shit. Your gun comes up and you immediately move in front of Ellie, flanking Joel to his left and Tess to his right. You’re trapped in a room with a fucking clicker. You don’t dare to breathe, barely creeping forward since they rely on hearing, totally blind with the large, hard fungal growth covering their heads. You hear her breathing start to pick up and you turn to find her wide as you realize there is more than one. All of you crouch down behind a display and Joel motions to Ellie that they rely on hearing. You can see the terror on her face, making the way your heart is pounding in your chest. Joel puts his finger to his lips again as they continue to make horrible screeches and clicks as they search for the source of the sounds. The clicker comes around the display and the little girl sees it for the first time, inhaling sharply. 
Shit. The clicker turns and screeches before Joel brings his gun up to shoot it. 
It’s terrifying, fighting for your life, and you are scared that Joel is gonna get bitten. You scramble to shoot the clicker but eventually you run out of bullets. Joel curses, “fucking go.” He hisses, “I’ll distract it.” You rush to hide around a corner to reload your gun. The girl and Tess are across the room and your hands shake as you struggle to reload your weapon. “
Fuck.” You hiss and Joel comes to stand beside you, doing the same thing. His eyes are full of fear and you stare back at him until you hear the clicks.
Your eyes close for a brief second, well aware that this could be it for you. You hate it. The fact that you could die in this fucking museum and never find Tommy. Never tell Joel how you feel. The floorboards creak and you hear the clicks right next to you. Another sound draws its attention and you turn to watch it, finding Ellie cowering behind a display and both you and Joel creep over to her. Making your way silently until Joel steps on a piece of broken glass. You cry out and start shooting as the clicker flies over the display and knocks all three of you to the ground, trying to infect you as you fight it off. 
Joel curses, scrambling to keep the clicker away from you and Ellie and himself. It’s a struggle but eventually he manages to push it aside and put a bullet in its neck and eventually it’s face. Just as that one falls, the other rushes forward and Tess swings an axe into its head. Joel scrambles to grab his rifle, shooting the bastard in the head to kill it. “You alright?” Joel asks Tess as she stands. 
“Twisted ankle.” 
He turns to you, eyes wide and asks you the same question. “I’m fine.” You answer and Tess asks Ellie who exhales shakily, “well I didn’t shit my pants.”
You can’t help but laugh at her response, knowing you felt the same way the first time you dealt with clickers. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Turning back towards the kid, your eyes widen when you see that she’s injured again. “Ah…I mean if it was going to happen to one of us.” 
You catch the way that Tess tenses up, making you frown slightly but she’s quickly redirecting the conversation. “Hey, let’s get out of here.”
Making your way onto the roof, it’s obvious that Tess needs medical attention. Joel hands Ellie a rag for her arm and turns his attention to Tess. Leaving you to walk over to the other girl and help her while he concentrates on wrapping her ankle. “Come here. I’ll help you.” It will be a good distraction, tending to her wound rather than watching Joel fret over a twisted ankle. Soon her arm is wrapped and she’s walking towards the edge and the scaffolding that connects the two buildings. “Over there?” She asks and Joel barely glances at her. “Yeah, I know it looks scary.” Joel starts but Ellie interrupts him. “That was scary, this is wood.” She huffs as she brazenly walks across the beam and makes you smirk at the other two adults. 
"Just wait there. Give us a minute." Joel says and you step to follow Ellie across the wood, not wanting to see the tenderness Joel gifts Tess with. "Be careful." Joel warns you while opening his backpack. You scoff, walking across the wood as brazenly as Ellie. Joel shakes his head, while he tapes Tess's ankle. 
"Told you, she's trouble." Her eyes focus on Joel but he doesn't notice, set on the job at hand. "There's probably more ahead." 
Tess nods, "so we'll deal with it then...I got it. I got it." She tells Joel when he wraps around her ankle again. 
Joel leans back to look at Tess until his gaze turns to the building across from them. "What about the kid?" He asks, "maybe the first bite didn't take but what about the second?" 
Tess huffs, turning towards him, "why don't you just take the good news? Can you do that?" She asks Joel, "can you just for once think that we might actually win?" Tess asks and shakes her head, "just go and watch her and your fucking puppy." 
Joel sighs, grabbing his backpack and rifle before making his way across the wood. “Wow.” Ellie exhales, looking at that view. You shift to stand next to her, Joel on the other side. 
“Is that everything you hoped for?” Joel asks Ellie as you stare across what used to be a major city now turned to a deserted urban jungle. 
“Jury’s still out.” Ellie replies back, “but man…you can’t deny that view.” You hum in agreement and Joel looks at Ellie before his eyes meet yours for a second.
“Tess gonna live?” You ask, breaking the moment up but you hate how his eyes seem to suck you in. It’s not going to happen for you and you need to accept that. You’ve already decided that when Joel and Tess get their vehicle from the Fireflies, you are going to stay. You’ll go with them or turn around and find a way back to the QZ. You can’t do this anymore. It’s too hard and you know that it will never be you that he picks. Stupid of you to fall for a man who was obviously involved with someone whether or not he admitted it. Joel rolls his eyes, not answering you and you swallow harshly. “When we get to the state house-” You start, wanting to tell him your plan, but Tess comes hobbling up. 
“Come on, let's get there before it’s dark” She demands, impatient to get moving again as she swings herself onto the ladder. 
Ellie goes next and then you look at Joel who nods at you. You nod and make your way down the ladder, firm in your decision. Joel glances at his watch, thinking about Sarah, and forces himself to keep going. As you walk towards the state building, Joel glances down at Ellie’s arm. Cautious and wondering if she’s gonna turn at any second. When you arrive, there’s no one there and you duck behind a car to see if anyone shows. “Where the fuck are they?” Tess asks and Joel shakes his head, looking back at Tess before his eyes meet yours. 
He stands, rifle in his grip, and he makes his way over to the truck. Cautious and alert, he opens the passenger door and turns back to you, Tess and Ellie. “Stay back.” He orders, making his way around the truck to find the back is empty.
“Joel, what the fuck is going on?” You, Tess and Ellie come towards the truck and Joel shakes his head. 
“I don’t know.” 
You look around, a bad feeling settling in the pit of your stomach. “They went inside.” Ellie tells you, pointing to the blood on the ground and you sigh, knowing that is never a good sign. 
Tess seems to take this as a personal attack and grabs Ellie’s hand as she marches towards the steps. “Tess.” Joel huffs, making you roll your eyes but you follow are the pair. Not for Tess’s sake, but for the girls. You know Joel will be right behind you. You walk into the state house, finding all of the crew dead on the floor in the middle of a vegetation patch. 
“Holy shit.” Ellie hisses, and you have to agree. This is bad. 
“Fuck.” You hiss under your breath, checking for signs of FEDRA or if it was infected that got them. 
Tess searches the bodies, “I mean there’s gotta be a fucking radio or something, right?” She says, searching the crate closest to her. 
“Who killed them? FEDRA?” Ellie asks and you shrug, glancing back at Joel who pulls the body at his feet back onto its back. 
“No. One of them got bit. The healthy ones fought the sick ones. Everyone lost. Tess? What’re you doin’?” He asks, turning back towards her as she continues searching. 
Tess steps towards the girl and you edge your way in front of her to protect her. “Where did Marlene say that she was taking you? Ellie!” 
The girl steps forward, “uh. I don’t know. Just west.” 
Tess turns away, “just west. Fuck. Okay. Well, I mean one of them’s gotta have a map on them, right?” She says more to herself. “Joel, can you help me?” She asks, nearly begging. 
Joel shakes his head, “no! Tess, it’s over. We are going home.” He walks towards her, wanting to get everyone back to the QZ and safe. 
Tess growls, “that’s not my fucking home.” Joel stares at her, eyes unreadable as Tess stands up. “I’m stayin’.” She declares, “I mean, our luck had to run out sooner or later.” 
Joel’s face falls and your eyes widen just as Ellie says, “fuck. She’s infected.” Joel turns back to Tess, staring at her, almost begging her with his eyes for that to not be true.
“Show me.” Joel demands and you can hear the agony in the two words. He doesn’t want to believe it, doesn’t want it to be true. Your stomach drops, hating that she has been infected despite your differences. It didn’t mean you wanted her dead. 
“Joel.” She takes a step towards him and instinctively, he jolts backwards, pulling away from her. You walk towards the kid and put your arm around her shoulder gently, wanting to comfort her. Tess pulls her jacket away so you can see the bite on her neck and you close your eyes. “Oops.” She jokes. “Right?’ She turns to Ellie. “Take your bandage off.” You help Ellie take the bandage off to reveal that her own wounds from the clickers haven’t gotten any worse. She’s not infected. Walking over, she takes the girl's arm. “Look, Joel.” She demands, holding it up for  him to inspect. “This is real. Joel she’s fucking real.” She insists. “I need you to get her to Bill and Franks.” 
“No,” Joel shakes his head. 
“They’ll  take her off your hands. They’ll handle it from here.” 
“No, no, no, I can’t. They won’t take her. They’re not going to take her.” He frowns. 
“They will ‘cause you’ll convince them.” Tess tells him. “Yes you will. I never ask you for anything. Not to feel the way I felt…” You frown in confusion, not understanding what the fuck she is talking about. Joel loves her. 
“No.” Joel shakes his head but Tess interrupts him. 
“Not to…shut the fuck up because I don’t have time.” Joel looks devastated and you clutch Ellie’s shoulder as you try not to react to this entire scene being played out in front of you. 
“This is your chance. You get her there, you keep her alive, and you set everything right. I know you don’t feel the same way I do but you need to stop burying your feelings. Life is too damn short to keep lying to yourself.” Tess says, her eyes meeting yours before she looks back at Joel’s. “All the shit we did…” She looks over at you, “he was gonna offer you up to Robert. He was gonna trade sex with you for the battery we needed.” 
Your jaw drops and Joel refuses to look at you, keeping his gaze on Tess’s. “Little puppy dog, always following him around. Thinkin’ you were the third wheel when it was always me.” Tess chuckles humorlessly and shakes her head. “Please say yes, Joel, please.” Tess begs and Joel’s gaze shifts over to you. 
The way you’re looking at him is enough to make him say no. He wants to protect you, protect the girl. He can’t do that if he takes you both to Bill and Frank’s. “Please.” Tess begs again just as the body behind Ellie shifts to crawl. 
“Oh fuck!” The teenager yells and ducks behind you and Joel when you move her out of the way. Joel doesn’t hesitate to take his gun out, killing the bastard, and his jaw is clenched when he sees the fungus curling around the dead digits. He looks towards the door and rushes past Tess to open it. Eyes panicked when he looks back after shutting the door. 
“How many?” Tess asks. 
“All of them. Maybe a minute.” Joel says, spinning around in a panic to face you but you refuse to meet his eye.
Tess gets to work, pushing over the barrels of gasoline, spilling it over the ornate tile floor. “What are you doing?” You ask and Tess answers with “making sure they don’t follow you.” 
Joel is frozen, facing the reality that the woman who’s been his right hand for so long is not walking out of this building with him. He steps closer to her, grenades roll across the floor. “Joel.” Tess moves to stand in front of him. “Joel.” She repeats and he finally meets her gaze. “Save who you can save.” She orders, her eyes flicking over to you before she meets his dark stare. 
He’s struggling. Part of him wants to drag Tess out of here but the other side of him wants to keep you safe. He’s torn and eventually, the side of the living wins. He stares at Tess, offering her a small nod, and he spins, grabbing Ellie’s hand and wrapping his arm around your waist. “Stop! We’re not leaving her. Get off of me you fucker! I’m not going with you!” Ellie shouts and you let Joel drag you out of the building. He’s frantic to get you away before the building explodes with Tess inside of it. 
“Hurry up.” He growls, dragging you both until you’re far enough away. He ducks down as the glass explodes, shoving you on the floor, and he grabs his rifle to aim it in case any infected chase after you. 
Ellie stands beside him, watching their bodies fall to the floor with the flames, and Joel eventually lowers the gun. “Joel…” You trail off and he shakes his head, turning to walk away. Ellie lingers for a moment until you step forward to follow him.
Your jaw rocks and you shake your head, unable to believe that he had refused to even talk to you after Tess dropped that bomb on you. At least she told you before she died, even though it was supposed to be one last barb through your heart. “I’m not going.” You decide, stopping short, only a few hundred feet from where you had watched the building explode. “This is your mission. For Tess.” You turn around and start walking back the way you just came, sure that the infected will be burned now given the size of the fire bomb and the smoke still billowing from the building.
Joel pauses, watching you for a moment until he strides forward to grab your wrist, pulling you back to stop you walking away. “You ain’t going anywhere. It’s too dangerous. Stop movin’.” He growls when you try to pull out of his grip. “I don’t understand. What - why you wanna go back?”
Instead of trying to pull out of his grip, you spin around, slapping him across his cheek. “You fucking bastard!” You hiss, yanking your wrist away from him as he loosens his grip in shock. “You were going to- going to fucking sell me to Robert for your fucking battery!” Hot tears spill down your cheeks and you don’t even bother wiping them away. “I knew you didn’t-“ you break off, “fuck you, Miller.”
Joel is shocked that you slapped him and he hisses, “Jesus Christ.” He curses Tess despite her soul not even leaving the damn earth yet. “I didn’t sell you. He wanted you and I said no. I fuckin’ told him no.” He clarifies, ignoring the wide eyed look from Ellie. 
“Tell me you didn’t think about it.” You challenge him, chest heaving as you step closer and square up to him. “Tell me that you didn’t consider it.” Joel doesn’t answer you and your chin trembles when you see the guilt in his eyes. “I thought so.” You choke out. “I fucking loved you and you were going to whore me out to save money and get your goddamn battery.”
He shakes his head, “no baby. I didn’t - I didn’t do it though.” He chokes, knowing you hate him and he doesn’t know why that destroys him when he’s fought so hard to keep you at arms length. “You can’t love me, okay? I’m - I’m a fucking mess and I was fooling around with Tess until I realized that I -” He cuts himself off, knowing that it’s getting dangerous.
“Until you what? Couldn’t whore her out?” You spit, shaking your head at him. “I put up with the stupid fucking nickname. ‘Puppy dog’.” You sneer. “Guess that’s what I was, huh? A stupid little puppy dog that doesn’t fucking realize she’s not wanted. Following you around, helping you, trying to make you- fuck, I don’t know.” You lift your hands helplessly and slap them down against your thighs. “Make you love me, I guess. But that’ll never happen. I’m not Tess.” You close your eyes, and sigh. “Just- go to take Ellie where Tess wanted you to, go find your brother. I’ll- I’ll be fine. I’m not your problem.”
He knows he will lose you forever if he lets you go now and he’s lost so much in his life. The burden he carries every damn day with each life he loses around him. He can’t lose you too. He brushes over what you said to finish his own sentence. “I was fooling around with Tess until I realized that I was fuckin’ in love with you and Jesus fuckin’ Christ that terrifies me.” He confesses, chest heaving.
You frown, not believing him for a second. “Don’t lie to me, Joel.” You sob out angrily. “You at least owe me the fucking truth.” 
Ellie steps forward. “Hey so, uh- it’s-“ 
You turn around and glare at her. “Not now!” You hiss, wanting to finish this so you can leave and find some place to hole up for the night before sneaking back into the QZ. “She was practically living in your apartment. She was there every damn night. Now you want to tell me you weren’t fucking her?”
“I stopped. We weren’t - we were plannin’ the smuggling. We weren’t doing shit other than figurin’ out how to get shit past the wall, past FEDRA. Jesus, sweetheart, I didn’t - I don’t want to put you in danger. I’ve been tryin’ to keep you safe. Tess knew how I feel. Shit, she was jealous and that’s why she called you my puppy dog. I should’ve stopped it but doing that wouldn’t meant acknowledging these fuckin’ feelings that I’ve been tryin’ to squash down. Love doesn’t succeed in this goddamn hellhole. Love is a weakness and I - shit - you make me weaker than a paper straw under a one ton weight.”
You don’t know if you believe him. The sting of finding out that he had even thought about giving you to Robert, even for a moment, stings. But you know it would be safer for Ellie if there was more than one capable adult looking out for her ass. There’s enough of you that immediately wants to forgive Joel that you stare into his dark eyes for a moment before you nod. “Fine.” You whisper. “I’ll….go with you on this fucking haul.” 
Joel is relieved that you are coming along. He knows this conversation isn’t over but you need to get moving. Get to some kind of shelter before it gets dark. “Come on baby. We can talk later. Let’s get safe first.” He says, grabbing his rifle. Ellie raises her eyebrows at him as he walks past her. 
“Never knew you were so emotional, Joel.” She scoffs, remembering the books that would be passed around in secret at the school about romance and how the guy would kiss the girl after declaring he loved her.
Instead of following directly behind Joel,  you put the girl between you and him. Bringing up the rear for safety as well as to give you some space to allow for thinking about what the fuck you are going to do. You know Joel isn’t a ‘good man’ in the pre-end of the world morality. Maybe he was then, but this life, this world changed everyone - you included. You don’t even know as much as Tess might have, but you know that he had saved you when he could have killed you. That he didn’t give you to Robert. Biting your lip, you wonder if that’s why he was choking the bastard the day before yesterday. Not that it mattered, the fucker was dead. Sighing softly, you shift your gaze around the fading light to look for somewhere to safely pass the night. 
Joel guides you through the forest that is invading Boston, nature taking back what is rightfully hers. Joel sighs, holding his rifle, until he comes around a sheltered area. It’s not comfortable but it’s safe and that’s all that matters. “We will set up here.” He declares, watching the tree line for any disturbances and when he doesn’t find any, he shrugs his pack off.
You don’t speak, just shrug off your own pack and set it down as you start to get the area ready for the night. While the infected weren’t in this area, wild animals were. A fire would be necessary to keep them from getting too close and you know that the sun will be setting soon. You start to drag trash and debris closer, scrapping out an area to start the fire and pile things high. Joel can’t move much, not with his hand even though he would protest over it. 
Joel watches you start the fire and Ellie sits down on the ground, opening her pack to pull her sandwich out. She’s starving and she doesn’t want to wait to eat. When you’ve started the fire, Joel pulls out his food and water, holding it out towards you. “You gotta eat, sweetheart.” He says, watching you sit down across from him. He will mourn Tess later when he takes watch. He doesn’t want to show his emotions now when you’ve shattered him with your onslaught.
Shaking your head, you don’t take his offerings. “You need it more than me.” You tell him as you reach for your own pack. “I have my own but I just-” You bite your lip. “I’m going to sleep first. You take first watch and wake me in a few hours.” You don’t let him argue, setting your pack up as a pillow and turning your back on him and the girl, curling in on yourself and forcing yourself to close your eyes. 
He doesn’t argue, knowing you need to rest and he needs time to think. Ellie looks at him as he starts to chew on the jerky and he ignores her raised eyebrows. “Don’t say a word, kid.” He orders, shaking his head after he swallows the chewy bark. 
Ellie rolls her eyes, “whatever dude. You can’t see what’s right in front of you. What Tess saw.” She says and continues eating. Joel grimaces, thinking of Tess. He tried to hide how he felt about you from her, thinking he had been successful but he wasn’t.
You don’t know how long you’ve been asleep, but your jerk awake with a gasp. Your hand reaches for the gun that is right next to you and you flip over to try to figure out what woke you. The fire is still burning and the kid is curled but about five feet from you, wedged between the concrete wall and the fire. Joel is still awake, his eyes watching as you sit up. “Shit.” You huff, putting the gun down and blinking rapidly. “Get some sleep, I’ll take over.” You promise, groaning quietly as you move to your feet to stretch.
Joel shakes his head, “no. I wanna talk. Come here.” He pats the space beside him, wanting you to come and sit down. 
You hesitate but eventually sit down beside him. “What is it Joel?” You murmur, not wanting to rehash this bullshit. 
“Shut up.” He orders and you open your mouth. “Shut the fuck up.” He hisses, pissed off with you. “I’m not gonna make this damn speech again, okay? I don’t do this shit. Not since before outbreak day. I - I love you. I don’t want to lose you. I don’t - I can’t lose someone else and I - I haven’t felt this way in so damn long and I tried to ignore it but I love you. I’m in love with you darlin’ and that fuckin’ terrifies me.”
His speech startles you, not expecting to hear something like that. Not from him. You close your eyes and absorb the words that you have wanted to hear for so long, believing them to be nothing more than a wistful dream. “I’m sorry.” You offer. “For that, I guess. For Tess.” You have to look away from his dark gaze, unable to look at him for too long without wanting to kiss him. “I’m not sorry that I love you though.” You murmur, looking into the fire. “It’s- it hurt everyday but it was worth it.”
He turns to look at you, his brown eyes almost orange as they reflect the flames of the fire. He’s slow, giving you a chance to pull away but he leans in, cupping your cheek. His calloused thumb caresses the skin there and he leans in to kiss your lips. It’s soft, the opposite of him, but he wants this moment to be good, to be memorable in case you don’t make it past tomorrow. In this life, every day is a bonus.
Eyes slipping closed, you want to live in this moment. Joel’s lips on yours makes your entire body tingle. Reaching up and taking his hand while your other finds his shoulders. Moaning softly because you can’t believe this is happening and you never expect it to be so gentle.
Joel groans softly into the kiss, grabbing your ass to pull you into his lap. Straddling him and he glances over your shoulder to make sure the kid is still asleep. “Fuck.” Joel groans when you are pressed against him, his lips finding your jaw and he kisses until his lips press against yours again.
You whine again his lips when his hands squeeze your ass just like you’ve imagined more times than you ever want to admit. Wrapping your arms around his neck and shamelessly grinding down on the bulge in his jeans that you had always salivated over. “Joel.” You whisper, not wanting to wake the kid. “I-“ he shushes you, pressing his lips to yours again.
His hands slide under your shirt, wanting to feel more of you, and he groans when you grind down on him again, cock hardening in his jeans. He thinks you’re gorgeous, fucking gorgeous, and he’s jerked off thinking about you too many lonely nights after he stopped sleeping with Tess. “We gotta be quiet.” He orders, sliding his hands higher so he can undo the clasp of your bra. He doesn’t take it off, just pushes it up your chest so he can slide his hands around your torso to cup your tits, squeezing them in his rough hands.
There’s a voice in the back of your mind that wonders if this is because Tess is dead. If you’re merely replacing her for him. You push it down, ignore it. You don’t care when you are getting to touch him like you’ve always wanted to. Ducking your head down and kissing the bare patch on his jaw like you’ve always wanted to. Your fingers fumbling with his belt as you try to get him free from his pants. You can’t ride him like this, not without taking your pants off and that’s dangerous. Hell, this is too dangerous really. You’re distracted by him.
He knows this is dangerous, the girl could wake up, but he desperately wants to feel you. He works on your pants, unbuttoning them and he shoves his hand inside, cupping your cunt after sliding under your panties. He finds you wet but not dripping and his fingers rub your clit after sliding through your folds.
You swear you’re going to bite through your lip trying to keep quiet. Loving the thick fingers you’ve watched so many times slide though your folds and press against your clit. “Joel.” You pant, needing more from him. “I- you have to fuck me.” You gasp out. “Please. Just- just once.” You know that he might change his mind come morning. That he could put that wall back up but you will be happy if you just get one night. “Please, baby. I need you.”
He nods, knowing he needs that connection. Losing Tess, nearly losing you, it’s been a long ass day and he wants to connect to you. He whispers for you to stand up and he withdraws his fingers, making you whine softly. When you stand, he pulls your jeans and panties down to your ankles, dragging you back into his lap so you are straddling him, cunt bare to the cool night air. He reaches down to take his cock out, “can’t cum inside of you. Gonna need you to let me drag you off when I cum.” He whispers, knowing he won’t risk you like that.
You nod quickly, readily agreeing to whatever he wants. “I know- it’s- it’s okay.” You promise, reaching down and wrapping your hand around the thick head of his cock and moaning quietly at the smear of pre-cum building up on the tip so gorgeously. “I-“ instead of telling him that you love him again, you rock your hips forward and line him up so you can sink down on him with a moan of his name that is pressed to his shoulder as you take him.
Fuck, you’re so tight. Hot and wet around him and you mean so much to him. His heart thumps in his chest while his cock twitches when you bottom out. “Fuckkkk.” He hisses through his teeth, hands gripping your ass and he struggles to remain calm as he allows you a moment to adjust around him. “Gotta be quiet.” He whispers in your ear, kissing the skin beneath it.
“You- you might have to cover my mouth.” You admit breathlessly, whispering the words to him as you flash him a quick smile. “Always been loud in bed.” An irony in a world where you’ve had to be silent at so many times when you just wanted to scream. Your fingers sink into his hair and you tug on it slightly as you start to move, wanting to ride him and eager to feel this incredible cock filling you more.
Joel knows he will want more after this. He’s already addicted to you and the thought of ever giving this up, you up, has him on edge. He presses his lips to yours, silencing you with his tongue, and he groans softly when your walls grip him tight when you find the angle that works for you. His hands slide up and down your back, squeezing your ass and enjoying how damn good you feel around him.
You try to stifle your sounds but it’s hard when he feels like he’s in your fucking throat. Stretching you out and making you feel more relaxed than you have in years, while craving more. Your tongue tangles with his while your thighs start to push up and down, moving yourself on his length in a way that keeps you as close as possible. Needing to feel every inch of him as much as you can.
Joel is trying to hang on to his composure, resist the urge to roll you over and just slam into you, fuck you into the ground, but he can’t. The kid is there. He can’t do that now. So he lets you lead, just pulling back to watch you work yourself on his cock. When your mouth opens to moan again, he shoves two fingers in there, wanting you to keep quiet. “Can’t wake the kid, darlin’. You gotta keep quiet.” He reminds you, leaning in to rasp in your ear.
His hands are dirty, filthy. You should want to spit them out but you don’t. Not even caring at this point. The feeling of his cock shredding up into you every time your hips fall is too good to care. His voice rumbling in your ear makes your cunt clench around him, swearing you can cum from him talking.
There’s so much to say to you and yet he can’t. The risk is too much, to both waking up the kid, and to his own heart. He can’t bring himself to say anything but he does lean in to kiss you, replacing his fingers with his lips, and his hand finds your clit. Rubbing tight circles in it as he gets closer to his own orgasm.
You whimper, groaning as he keeps rubbing your clit. Trying to keep quiet but it’s so hard when he feels this good. Your arms tighten around him and you kiss him harshly, feeling your cunt bottom out and your entire body light up with pleasure as you start to cum for him.
“That’s it baby.” Joel practically exhales into your mouth as you clamp down on his cock, body shaking against his. He pulls you closer, thrusting up into you as best he can until he’s pushing you onto the ground beside him, barely managing to shift onto his knees to cum on the dirt and not ruin your clothing. He pants, chest heaving while his cock twitches in his hand. “Jesus Christ.” He exhales, letting go of his cock to tuck himself away and he shuffles over to where you are on the ground. “Sorry baby. Couldn’t - needed to pull out.”
“It’s fine.” You pant, understanding why he needed to pull out, but wishing he hadn’t. “You can’t risk it.” You’ve never told him anyway and in the moment isn’t a good time anyway. It’s not like it matters anyway. You shuffle quietly, trying to pull your clothes back on and put yourself to rights.
Joel watches you put your clothes back on and once you’re settled, he reaches for your hand, dragging you close to wrap his arms around you. He breathes you in, relieved that he didn’t lose you today. He lost Tess, which he will process and grieve in his own way, but right now, he’s just happy to have you. He loves you, he really does. He wishes he had told you sooner but this life is unpredictable at the best of times. You have a journey ahead with him to get to Bill and Frank’s and he will do everything he can to keep you safe. Whatever it takes…he won’t lose anyone else he loves.
****
Joel reluctantly turns over the responsibility of watch to you. He needs rest, you know he didn’t sleep last night and he’s had a fucking hell of a day. You all had, but him most of all. Whatever him and Tess had been towards the end, he had cared for her in his own way and he needed to grieve her. You keep the fire crackling, staring into the flames when you aren’t watching the inky blackness around your small space and listening for more than the rustles of wildlife. Your jerky and your water bottle your own companions through the rest of the night until the first rays of sun peak over the horizon and the sky begins to brighten.
When Joel wakes up, you and Ellie are talking, and he winces at the sunlight, trying to figure out how long he’s been asleep.  “Why didn’t you wake me?” He grunts and you shake your head, “you needed to sleep.” 
Ellie nods, “yeah man. You had a rough day yesterday.” 
He sits up, running his fingers through his hair and he shifts to stand up. “We gotta get going. Get your shit together. I’m gonna take a piss.” He stumbles to the tree line, gun in hand and he checks his surroundings before he shoves the weapon in the back of his jeans and pulls his cock out to pee. When he returns, you’ve put the fire out and are ready to go. Joel grabs his pack and leads the way, rifle in hand.
You walk alongside Ellie for a bit, hanging back as you try to figure out how to tell Joel. You should, he deserves to know. “So, uh, did you work your shit out?” Ellie asks, making you look over at her. “Cause I don’t want it to be a tense trip.” She offers, making you snort. 
“It’s going to be a tense trip regardless.” You remind her, the journey is no walk in the park for sure. “But we’ve talked. While you were asleep.”
Ellie snorts, “talked. Sure.” She doesn’t believe you just talked. She’s not dumb. She learned about all that in school and she knows that’s how most adults show how they feel. You fluster and look at Joel as he strides ahead, rifle gripped in his hand. He sighs and looks over his shoulder at you and Ellie.
You see Joel jerk his head towards you, motioning for you to come up beside him. Eager to get away from Ellie’s prying questions, you hustle forward and catch up to him. “Something up?” You ask, wondering if he wants to talk about the plan for getting Ellie to Bill and Frank’s.
Joel turns to look at you as you come alongside him, “everything okay with the kid?” He asks and you nod, “yeah she’s good.” 
He sighs, “you think she’s gonna be okay with Bill and Frank?” You shrug, “who knows.” Joel glances behind him again to see Ellie looking around and he takes a chance to reach out and hold your hand.
Shocked, you look down at his large hand wrapped around yours, holding it tight and yet he’s not crushing it. Your heart thumps in your chest and it’s impossible to not fall more in love with him. “Joel- I need to tell you something.” You murmur softly, not wanting Ellie to hear.” You can feel him tense up but you squeeze his hand reassuringly. “It’s not- it’s nothing bad. Or, I guess it’s better to say, "I made peace with it a long time ago.” You take a deep breath. “You don’t have to worry about getting me pregnant.” You confess. “I can never have kids.”
Joel frowns, turning to look at you. "You can't - shit. Baby, I'm so sorry." He murmurs, knowing it must've been hard to process. "What - what did they say?" He is curious and wants to know why you can't have kids. He also wants to comfort you but all he can do is squeeze your hand. Even this is more intimacy than he is used to displaying.
“Premature ovarian failure.” You roll your eyes at the words that had been told you so many years ago. “Basically, I stop producing eggs.” You explain. “I found out about two years before the end of the world. So I guess it’s handy?” You try, your joke falling flat. “Not that I would want to have kids in a world like this. It’s not fair to them. Not fair to her.” You nod back towards Ellie. “I just- if we, you know, again….you don’t have to pull out if you don’t want to. If you do, I get it.”
Joel feels guilty that he is happy to hear he doesn't need to pull out but he's sad that you won't get to be a mom. You'd be good at it, even in this fucked up world. "I'm sorry you couldn't, you know, but, next time...I want you in a bed and I ain't gonna pull out." He murmurs so the kid can't hear.
You shiver slightly, happy to hear that there will be a next time if both of you can help it. You hum quietly and shoot him a small smirk. “Maybe we can find a hotel to spend the night in tonight.” You tease softly, not sure what awaits you on this journey but at least you’ll be there. By his side this time, instead of trailing along behind him like his little puppy.
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gatorbites-imagines · 11 months
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Hihi, love your writing. Just sending over a request for a male reader (could be ftm if you'd life) with Hobie Brown? So basically the reader is apart of the organisation too and is a spiderman (could be possibly like a rock and/or punk based spiderman, or something completely opposite it's up to you) and it's how he had met Hobie and how they got close? I can send more details over if you'd like, thanks!
Hobie Brown x Male reader
Headcanons
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I couldnt find any gifs of hobie yet, so just have this one.
Spoilers for Across the Spiderverse I guess? Reader is a Juggalo because I like ICP lmao.
You were one of the Spidermen that stood out somewhat amongst every other spiderperson around. You suit was white and black and had Juggalo features painted on the face. You wore a baggy ICP t-shirt and black shorts, maybe even a jacket or battle vest covered in patches. You wore a pair of heavy boots as well, perfect for kicking ass.
Along with that you didn’t respect the machine, aka the people in charge, as much as everyone else. You liked fighting and busting fascist and racist heads, you didn’t get involved with cops, and you were stubborn like a mule. This resulted in Miguel hating you because you were so difficult, but you were one of the best, so he kept you around.
You really liked fighting, which could be seen in the claws you added to your gloves, the brass knuckles worked into your suit, or the hard covering on your knees perfect for kneeing people in the chin. Those were only the visible ones, but you had many other hidden gizmos. This made you a bit of an outcast amongst the spiderpeople, but you didn’t care, you didn’t care about anyone’s approval but your own.
When Hobie joined the organization, it had been for Gwen’s sake in the beginning, since he himself doesn’t care much for large organizations with one leader who makes all the decisions. He puts up with it though, since its his duty to be spiderman.
Color him intrigued when one day he, Gwen and Jessica are called to Miguel’s area. When they arrive, they first see Miguel pacing back and forth rubbing his temples in clear annoyance, and second, they see a spiderman perched on the wall with little respect in his posture, roasting Miguel from head to toe.
Hobie already liked you from just that, but when you jump down to introduce yourself and he sees the anti-capitalism and anti-cop patches on your jacket? He might have fallen in love.
You, Gwen and Hobie were sent on a mission together, and you and Hobie got along like a house on fire. Gwen joked about being a third wheel the entire time, but she was just entertained about how well you two got along.
Outside of missions Hobie and you hang out most of the time, jumping into each other’s dimensions and just spending time at the others place. Hobies place is as punk rock as you can imagine, with all his instruments and an organized mess going on.
Your place is more what you’d imagine from someone who listens to rap, hiphop and ICP. You got a lot of music, casettes, cds, anything you can imagine. Lotsa posters or homemade merch stapled to the wall, etc.
When Hobie and Gwen make their band, you are invited of course, you are the singer. You can rap up a storm and speak so fast its hard for them to keep up some days. Hobie won’t admit it for a while, but hearing you spit bars makes his heart flutter.
Gwen would tease the both of you for having a crush on the other, which you both deny, because you are both cool and having crushes isn’t cool.
Gwen jokes about you two being boyfriends after you accidentally wear each other’s vest after spending the night at Hobies’ place. You both just roll your eyes at her and roast her with no actual heat, just doing it how friends would do it.
You both start dating at some point, neither of you can pinpoint when. One day you two just find yourselves cuddling on your rundown patched up couch without your masks on, cuddling and kissing.
Neither of you ever actually ask if you are boyfriends now or not, because you both know you are. It takes a while for Gwen and Pavitr a while to realize you two are together, since you don’t actually act any different.
Its only when they see you pull up his mask and your own to kiss him before going on a mission that it clicks for the both of them. They both whine that neither of you actually told them you were together.
When the movie happens you peace out the same moment as Hobie, having stolen your own tech so you two can keep visiting each other even if you aren’t part of the organization anymore.
Neither of you were ever big parts of being part of it anyways and only stayed for each other and for your friends, but seeing how Miguel deals with the whole Miles situation, you agree you need to leave.
You work together to make the watch for Gwen so she can save Miles. You two might join her too if needed, especially you, because you will take any chance to knock Miguel on his ass, maybe knock out those cheesy fangs of his.
Like I said, you hate authority. And since Miguel is authority, you hate him. Hobie follows after you because hes whipped and loves you deeply, plus he knows you can get kinda careless at times, so he has to pull you outta trouble if he needs.
You are both so grossly whipped for each other, it makes Gwen and Pavitr gag, though its fake gagging. You share clothes, instruments. You do his eyeliner and paint his nails, he does your Juggalo face paint. He always makes sure to give you a big kiss, which just wipes the paint onto his lips too.
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fics-a-plenty · 8 months
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Shopping Trip
Astarion x gn!reader x Halsin
Word count: 649
TW: shirtless Halsin, imagined to take place in Act 3 but no real spoilers
I went back and forth about posting this, but figured why not. I can't be the only person that put Halsin in an outfit with no shirt as soon as I had a chance to. 😂 The angelic scion outfit is just *chefs kiss*
Astarion even said that he would probably outlaw clothes if he could. Who am I to deny him of less clothing!
Anyways, this is a short little thing I wrote at like 2am. So enjoy!
Halsin shifted uncomfortably as he stood in front of the mirror. No matter how these new clothes were adjusted, being in so many layers made the druid feel so constricted. While he was told multiple times that he could move freely, he felt like if he moved at all the fabric would rip apart.
"At least try to look like you're enjoying yourself, love." Astarion's voice came from behind him, the red eyes taking in every inch of the man in the mirror.
"I must be honest, this is not quite what I had in mind when our Heart said that we had things to do in the city." Halsin responded, turning to see his partner's reaction, only to find the vampire staring at how his upper arms filled out the sleeves of the nice clothes they had put him in.
"I know this isn't exactly comfortable Halsin. But we need to make sure that we have some nice clothes while we're here. We can only walk into so many parties in our armor or camp clothes." You said, walking in with a couple more options for him to try.
"If it makes you feel any better, at least you can see how good we're making you look." Astarion responded, taking the items you had brought over, automatically taking one of the options out to put away. He smirked at you slightly offended 'Hey!' as he went to put it back.
"My Heart, I'm not sure that these are really necessary. Shouldn't we be focusing on-" Halsin hesitated for a minute, glancing around quickly to make sure nobody was listening, "other things at the moment?"
You looked back at him with a sweet smile. "The world can handle us not working for an hour or so." You responded as brought one of the shirts to him, holding it up to his chest to get an idea of how it would look. "Besides, how often do you think we'll have a chance to let Astarion free in a shop like this after it's all over."
As if on cue, the high elf walked back into the room with a dark green piece of fabric, "I know were meant to be looking for some nice party clothes, but would anyone really complain about this?" He said to you with a smirk, holding up a wrap around skirt with nothing but gold arm bands to go with it.
"I think we definitely might need you to try that on." You responded quickly, tossing the shirt you had off to the side, completely forgotten.
After a few minutes, Halsin stepped out of the charging area. He didn't even make it to the dressing area before you and Astarion were swooning. You bit your lip as the pale elf let out a low whistle. The large elf couldn't help the deep chuckle that rumbled his chest at his partners' reactions. While most people would feel uncomfortable with the lack of coverage, the freedom it gave him made him feel much more at peace.
He purposely flexed his back slightly as he looked at himself in the mirror, his lip curling into a smirk at Astarion's almost purr at the sight.
"Okay, but do we really need party clothes? Where would we really wear them?" You managed to get out. Your face flushing as you met Halsin's eyes in the mirror, causing him to shift a little and flex his arms against the bands.
"Well in that case, there's a matching set for you too." Astarion said with a laugh as he rushed off to grab you an outfit to match. Your head turning to call out that you didn't bring enough gold for multiple outfits.
"Maybe this trip was worth the time." Halsin's voice came as a shock when it was suddenly next to you, pushing you towards the changing area as Astarion returned.
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obey-me-disaster · 1 year
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Hey, I was wonderin if ya could write a headcanon of how the characters could deal with MCs death, if they weren't revived after Belphie killed em in lesson 16.
Thank ya :purple_heart:
A/N: I am not sure if by 'characters' you mean all of them or not. I will do the brothers for now and if you want anyone else, feel free to ask ^-^
Demon brothers x gn!MC
Spoilers for lesson 16!!
Warnings: death and description of it, grieving
MC stays dead for good
Lucifer
He is feeling so many things and none of them are good. MC is dead, his little brother did it, he failed to protect both and it all can be traced back to him.
MC's injuries are beyond healing and all he can do is watch them die and regret everything he has done up until that point. He regrets every time he tried to harm them, he regrets not hiding Belphegor better, far away from them.
When Diavolo and Barbatos appear he lets himself have some hope that they could save MC, only to get hit with the realization that not only would they stay dead, but Belphegor will be taken away for treason too.
If Barbatos decides to reveal the whole Lilith thing, this whole situation will become unbearable to him. He let down everyone he loved and he only has himself to blame.
If he knew how deep of a wound would MC's death leave in his heart, he would have chosen anyone but them for the exchange program. Or maybe not, it was still a privilege to get to know them in the first place.
After MC's death he becomes even stricter with his rules, so none of his brothers can do anything stupid that could get themselves in trouble. He can't bear to lose anyone close to him, especially if he can do something about it.
Mammon
He was the one that held their dying body. All his attention was on them, he couldn't hear the way Belphegor was mocking him for crying over a human.
Despite feeling how they were dying in his arms he was still trying to cling onto the hope that they could be healed. Unfortunately, fate was having something else in mind.
For a good while after their death he could still feel them dying in arms. He is really conflicted over trying to remember that way MC felt in his arms and trying to forget how it felt when they died.
Despite all of that he tries to be of help to all of his brothers. Lucifer can't be the only one trying to keep the family together, especially when he is grieving too. In a way this whole thing reminds him of how all his brothers were after the fall.
He stops takes a long break from gambling and from money making schemes. He really sees no use for the money if MC is not there with him.
He will most likely beat himself over the fact that he couldn't protect them. He was their first man after all, the demon that was put in charge of protecting them and he failed! He is not getting over that guilt any time soon
Leviathan
He thinks it's all a bad dream. Why else would his best friend be dying? At the hands of his brother?? He tries to deny it but it's pretty hard to do so when MC is literally dying in front of him.
He wants to believe that this is one of those moments when the protagonist of an anime is on the brink of death, but through the power of plot armor they get a new power. The only thing MC gets is a one way ticket to the Celestial Realm. guess Simeon and Luke will see them after all
He refuses to come out of his room and face reality. He will rewatch every anime he has watched with them. Will try to recreate the conversations he had with MC by talking with Henry 2.0. His brothers will have to bring food into his room to be sure he doesn't die of starvation.
It takes a long while before he starts going out again, after all, who is The Lord of Shadows without his Henry.
Any and all progress he made on seeing himself in a better light will go down the drain. He will need some time to snap out of it and realize that MC would not want to see him hate himself.
Satan
He knew there was no hope of saving MC bu just glancing at them. That was probably the only time in his life where he cursed all his knowledge and wished he was ignorant. Maybe that he way he could still have some hope that MC will live.
He goes between complete fits of rage and feeling numb. MC taught him how to better feel emotions other than anger and now that they are gone he doesn't know what to do with himself.
He doesn't know who should he direct his anger to. Belphegor for killing them? It seems obvious but it's not enough. Lucifer for creating this situation to begin with? He would love to, but Lucifer is also at his lowest so it doesn't feel right. Himself for not seeing the signs of MC working behind all of their backs? He already does that.
He avoids any and all romance books. He keeps seeing MC in the main love interest and he hates it.
He keeps thinking of all of their injuries and in how much pain they must have been in their last moments. If he wanted to, he could name all of their injuries that he recognized just by looking at their body.
He knows that logically he couldn't do anything, but sometimes the thought of 'if I was better at human medicine/biology I could have saved them'.
Asmodeus
It makes his skin crawl just thinking of the way MC looked as they were taking their last breath. He still has it in the back of his mind. Along that, he also has the feeling of helplessness memorized.
If anyone would think he would stop taking care of himself after MC's death, they would be deathly wrong. MC was one of the only people that didn't like just for his looks, and probably the only one vocal about how they loved his personality. Now with them gone, he thinks there is no one he can show flaws with.
He has to be at his best. To not let anyone know about his imperfections. The demons that don't know him may think he got over MC's death pretty fast, but his brothers that live with him can hear him sob in his bedroom.
He sleeps with a lot of demons and humans in hopes of getting rid of the pain but it doesn't help since he is missing the affectionate, non sexual, touches that MC would give him.
He made a special album of all the photos he ever took of MC. He didn't want to risk the photos from his phones disappearing by accident and lose something important for him. He would hate to not be able to gaze at their face, even if it's just through photos
Beelzebub
This man is crushed. Not only did he lose MC, he lost them at the hands of his twin. He is beyond torn on the inside, and no matter what side he chooses to take he will be riddled with guilt.
At that moment he felt just like during their fall. A huge joke of a protector that couldn't keep his loved ones alive. His nightmares after the whole incident will be nearly a daily basis.
He tries to talk with Belphie about the whole incident, he doesn't want to lose two people at the same time, but he also feels like he is betraying MC's memory by trying to save his twin.
If the whole reveal of MC being Lilith's reincarnation's descendent happens that will literally end him. He couldn't protect the last thing that was related to Lilith.
Just like Satan, his sin is out of control. He goes between long periods of not eating and periods where his gluttony is worse than ever.
The only thing worse than his gluttony is his survivor's guilt. People he loves and cares about keeping on dying/being taken away yet he remains unharmed and for what? Is that a cruel joke of the universe? He didn't even get to protect MC/talk with Belphie during the incident. He literally couldn't do anything but ask himself 'why?'
Belphegor
I already made a post on how MC and Belphegor got to bond before lesson 16.
At first he feels justified. He got his revenge, proved his point and protected his family from having the same faith as Lilith. Yet despite all of that it feels wrong.
Satisfaction from killing them quickly turned into anger at seeing his brothers cry over a 'random human' to regret. He realized that he himself got attached to them, and now that both his anger and MC were gone he was left with nothing. His brothers must hate him now, after all he murdered someone precious to them.
Due to treason he is locked up somewhere away from his brothers so in his mind, he really lost everything. If Diavolo and Barbatos reveal the whole Lilith thing he will literally want to end himself on the spot. He lost his sister, MC, the only remainder of his sister, lived in hate for something that was not even true, betrayed his brothers and lost them. In one night his life took a turn for the worst in a way he could not even imagine.
And on top of all of that, he can feel the way Beel is trying to cope with the loss of MC and feels even more guilty for making Beel go through that.
He also can't make himself grieve for MC cause in his mind, he has no right to do that, after all he killed them in cold blood and laughed over their body.
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ryker-writes · 1 year
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Hi! It's my first time requesting here on your blog.
Could I request Vil and Jamil with an s/o that saves them from a horde of fans on a horse like a knight?
This is so random lol
oh my god yes! In love with this idea. Welcome to the blog and thank you for your request!
warning: maybe spoilers for book 5?
Vil:
loves it
he loves his fans, but they can be too much sometimes
there was a school event that allowed the public to visit Night Raven College and Vil's fans took the opportunity
Vil does enjoy talking to his fans sometime but they can also cross boundaries easily
and you know Vil has to be polite to them no matter what
people that don't know him very well wouldn't even be able to tell that he isn't enjoying talking to them
but you know him better than anyone else
so even from a distance, you could see that Vil wanted to be done with the conversation
but about about a hundred fans stood between you two
it would be very difficult to try and push your way through all of them on your own
thankfully, the equestrian club was nearby
Riddle was willing to lend you the horse once you promised to treat the horse well and not go too far
Now saddled upon the horse, you could see everyone better
and see even more clearly how Vil wanted to be done with this
even queens need time away from their subjects
so with the horse, you pushed towards Vil
people naturally moved out of the way when they saw the horse coming towards them
quickly you were able to make your way through the crowd, and near Vil
Vil was surprised once he saw you approaching him on a horse, but pleasantly surprised
he's already smiling when you get to him and hold out a hand for him
he takes your hand and you help him up onto the horse with you
he wrapped his arms around you and waved as you two pushed out of the crowd
as you two were leaving you could hear squeals of delight from the fans and see many of them had their phones out
once you two had fully got away from all the fans, he leaned more into you and rested his head on your shoulder
"Thank you for your help, my knight in shining armor," he chuckled
"Anything for my fair queen"
from then on he may occasionally refer to you as his knight
and of course, a ton of photos appeared on magicam of you two
also the internet now refers to you as his knight
Jamil:
after the SDC festival, Jamil gained a lot of popularity
the world saw him dance on stage and they were impressed by both his moves and how handsome he is
to the world, he was a hidden gem
it's great that Jamil finally get's recognized for all his talent and beauty
but both of you weren't exactly happy with the current situation
of course there was another student event where normal people would be allowed on campus
and one person recognized your dear boyfriend which led to a crowd surrounding him
you weren't able to get to him quickly and so you were stuck near the back
you were worried for Jamil
while he does enjoy getting praised for his abilities, he doesn't enjoy a big crowd closely flocking around him
thankfully, the equestrian club was nearby with their horses
after briefly explaining the situation to Riddle, he agreed to let you borrow one of the horses
mounting the horse, you charged into the crowd
people were a bit panicked when a horse came through and quickly moved out of the way
you were able to make it to Jamil rather quickly
he immediately knew what to do when you got there
Jamil grabbed onto your hand and jumped up behind you on the horse
his arms wrapped around you and you rode off
once you two were out of public view, he sighed and pressed his face into your back
"Thank you"
"Of course, Mr. Celebrity"
he grumbles at that
Jamil may bring up how your actions are similar to a knights in some ways but he won't call you his knight
at least not while you're listening
there may be times where you catch it when you're falling asleep or he thinks you're distracted
and if you ask about it he will deny every time
the media is all over this tho and referring to your relationship as a prince and a knight
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comradekatara · 3 months
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sometimes i feel like the teen in charge of saving the world trope is too overused but i feel like it works so perfectly in atla. the way they utilize it for character/story purposes as well as to teach lessons to their young viewers is so great
yeah like it’s obviously a pretty necessary convention of the genre, that a children’s fantasy adventure narrative requires child protagonists that the primary audience can relate to and identity with. and usually they’re orphans and ontologically special in some way, so as to justify their role in these magical shenanigans, since it’s fundamentally unrealistic for a bunch of tweens to be saving the world. and there’s pretty much always an in-universe explanation as to why it has to be children specifically for all of these various works, either because children stumbled upon a magical teleportation device by chance and now they are tasked to complete The Prophecy (eg, narnia, amphibia, etc), or because they are in some way The Chosen One (eg, harry potter, atla), or because the stakes are so high that they need to risk their safety to go on this quest (eg, a wrinkle in time, also atla).
i think revolutionary girl utena and neon genesis evangelion both do an excellent job of deconstructing this trope from within their respective genres (the works themselves functioning as deconstructions of their assumed narrative functions). like, the reason these kids are the ones tasked with shouldering these unique burdens is actually because they are being exploited by the adults in power. the fact that they are orphans (especially in the case of the eva pilots, but also in utena’s case) makes them especially viable to these modes of exploitation (spoilers: they need to have a dead mom so that they can be piloted, utena needs to be an orphan so that she can idealize the illusory promise of family and something eternal).
so in the case of atla, it’s not as overtly deconstructing these tropes, but the stakes do feel sufficiently heavy and tragic (if you choose to read into the underlying implications). aang should be an old man, if not dead by now, but due to his temporal displacement, he is now forced to carry a weight that is unfathomable to anyone, let alone a child. as he says, “i’m just one kid.” katara is similarly forced to carry a burden due to being the sole remnant of the systematic extermination of her people. sokka, like aang and katara, is also alone in his own way, and must grow up too fast to compensate for the devastation his people have suffered. zuko was disfigured and banished by his abusive father at the age of 13 specifically to emphasize the extent and depth of his cruelty. azula was raised as a weapon by the same man, and her friends taught themselves to be weapons from a young age for similar reasons. suki is a kid who sees other kids her age travel the world and attempt to save it, and is inspired by their courage to leave home and help out in any way she can, only to end up in a maximum security prison. toph isn’t directly affected by the war, but she nonetheless chooses to join the avatar because of her status as a child being denied autonomy by her family. yue is barely sixteen, and thus deemed old enough to marry, and is essentially sold off against her will. jet and his freedom fighters are so young, and yet have no choice but to fight because their families and homes have been destroyed.
the point atla is making is that in war, children are forced to grow up too quickly and become the kinds of people who must make ruthless, impossible decisions. we see katara and toph fight like sisters over meaningless, trivial bullshit, and then episodes later risk their lives to fight the fire nation. we see sokka awkwardly try to woo the girls he has crushes on, only for him to lose them in horrific ways. aang and sokka fight over whether killing is necessarily wrong, sokka already too jaded to understand aang’s point of view. killing is second nature to him by now. he’s barely sixteen. aang is twelve. as a kid, seeing kids your age or older fight evil is awesome. as an adult, seeing children forced to sacrifice everything to resist against the imperialist forces that have destroyed their lives is devastating.
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charlotte-of-wales · 3 months
Text
a summary of the Monaco Tea, creds to the lovely anon who sent me the article <3
btw most of the information on the family was in article one, the latter were more just info on real estate + off shore accounts
again, this info is all coming from the former accountant of the family:
Prince Rainier III was seriously considering changing succession laws so Caroline would be the head of the family and Monaco as he found Albert to be weak. Albert is said to be the "despised member of the clan" who would stutter while speaking to his father. Rainier even looked into what this would mean to the Grimaldi name since Andrea - at the time 17 - obviously carries his father's name (Casiraghi) and not his mother's (Grimaldi). Rainier told the ones carrying the investigation that this was done in case Albert died.
the funds from Albert's state endowment and his private funds would be mixed all the time.
Albert would say yes to essentially everything his family asked for, including a $30 million apartment for Stephanie
Palmero (the accountant) would frequently buy things for the family to keep "their privacy". He bought Charlene's engagement ring and multiple properties for the Grimaldi's in France. He would pay property taxes for those properties and have the family pay him back.
Caroline and Stephanie would frequently make use of and sell family property (Rainier's cars, family jewelry and art, etc) without letting him know, even though they technically belonged to Albert.
Caroline is in charge of the family's castle in Marchais, which he had an issue with as she would always go off budget.
he makes a note to pay attention to Pierre Casiraghi as he is very ambitious and his dealings in real estate could create problems (spoiler alert: it did)
Caroline is said to hate Charlene
the allowance that Charlene, Caroline and Stephanie receive increases constantly, which worried Palmero. As of late, they were: 1,5 million euros for Charlene, 900.000 for Caroline and 800.000 for Stephanie yearly. This follows the family hierarchy.
 Jazmin Grace receives 86,000 dollars per quarter. In February 2010, Palmero had to spend $5,000 “extra for her birthday”. Albert also bought her a $3 million apartment in New York City.
Albert spends almost a million a year funding Nicole Coste's (the mother of Albert's second illegimate child) fashion business. It's all in Alexandre Coste's name as Nicole fears that Charlene might create issues when Albert dies.
loots about Charlene. She frequently demands high sums in cash, her personal chef is $300 a day, she has multiple undocumented people from the Philippines working in her staff, the celebrations for the birth and baptism of the twins was well over half a million euros, in eight years Charlene spent around 15 million euros when she received 7.5 million euros in endowment (the Palace didn't deny this and said that the accountant was simply told to pay the difference with the family's personal funds), she spent 965,000 on a villa in two and a half months, her office decoration cost a million euros, she requested 3 x 300,000 for her brother's house.
Palmero made sure to change Monaco's regency laws so in case something happens to Albert while Jacques is underage Charlene won't be regent. Instead, the principality will be ruled by a regency council.
Albert has a secret apartment in Monaco, bought by one of Palmero's secret companies. He also got rid of problematic photographs of Albert (hinted at blackmail).
there was a whole system for hiding sums used on "special missions". They were labeled DS (for special destinations) and with time were used to pay for an informal intelligence unit that operated within the police force of the principality. They'd collect information on those close to the family and even on politians of the principality. He would also pay journalists to paint a good picture of Monaco while Hollande was president in France and was constantly criticizing tax-havens.
the DS accounts would be used to hide over-budget situations, including budget for the children's nannies and the budget for the wedding.
they were terrified of the Panama papers, as a lot of money laundering funds go through Monaco and the family had accounts on Panamanian banks.
a link between a Russian billionaire and the Monegasque Minister of Justice was revealed in 2017 and the Minister was forced to resign. An investigation was launched by a French judge and there was fears that the palace would be involved: jurisdictional immunity was granted to members of the sovereign family by order. There was rumours that the French judge wanted to hear the Prince as a witness......he was told to leave the principality. He was accused of having, through his “behavior perceived as authoritarian and vexatious”, “endangered the proper functioning of the criminal justice system”.
the real estate market is a big point of collision here and a big focus of article 3. Nothing too interesting to report - Palmero says he tried mingling in the market to break down the monopoly of real estate owners in Monaco (centered around a bestie of the Casiraghi brothers) while Albert claims Palmero had close ties with some of the developers and tried mingling with things that were of interest of the government in order to make money. The real estate issue was what eventually led Palmero to be fired. Palmero and a former laywer of Albert who was his childhood bestfriend and is also now a persona non grata claims that Albert is now fully under the influence of the bestie of the Casiraghi brothers who now controls the real estate in Monaco.
Palmaro is STILL paying property tax on properties he bought for the family!! crazy!!
Palmero detailed a number of off-shore accounts that hold about 250 million euros of the family's fortune including a company created specifically for Charlotte Casiraghi. He passed on the information from that account to Albert's new accountant at a monitored meeting.
Albert's explanation is lowkey....pathetic. He claims he told Palmero to move all of his family's assets from off-shore accounts to Monaco but Palmero never did it and that was that. He claims he was never able to obtain a precise statement on the family assets due to Palmero's secrecy and Albert just trusted him. He claims Palmero would act in his name and refuse to delay his decisions.
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onceuponastory · 2 years
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dark waters - steve harrington x reader
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WARNING: Spoilers for episodes 4 and 6. 
Plot: When Steve gets pulled under the water, Y/N gets pulled in with him. || Requested by @albeeox​ Pairing: Steve Harrington x Female!Reader Warnings:  Mentions of being deep underwater for a long time,  the possibility for things to grab you without noticing, and running out of oxygen/drowning. If you have aquaphobia, thalassophobia, or any other water/drowning related fear, then this is NOT the fic for you! Also mentions of passing out and almost dying. As always, if I miss any triggers, please let me know. Notes: Aside from the addition of reader, I changed things/dialogue around a little mostly cause I was too busy freaking out about Steve as I watched the episode to remember it all, lmao.
Once again, not beta’d, so any mistakes are my own.
“Dustin said the gate’s likely down there.” Robin announces. Steve gets up, starting to take his top off before the group even says anything else.
“Steve! What the fuck are you doing?!” Y/N gasps, trying to stand up and stop Steve as the boat rocks. Typical Steve, trying to charge into things before thinking about it. It’s brave of him, she won’t deny that...but she also won’t deny that it’s a pretty dumb idea sometimes. Sighing, Steve turns back to her, his bare chest on full display. Y/N tries her best to keep her eyes on Steve’s face, but still can’t help herself from sneaking a peek. After all, Steve is her boyfriend.
“I was a lifeguard and a swimmer, remember? If anyone should check this out, it should be me.” Worry fills Y/N’s body then. No. They almost lost Max. What if they lose Steve too? Noticing the worry on her face, Steve sighs. “I’ll be back soon, alright? I promise. I’ll be okay.” He whispers, squeezing her hand. Y/N can tell from Steve’s eyes he’s not even sure that’s true. Because that’s what their life is now. Fighting supernatural monsters and hoping they make it back safely. This time is no different. Before Y/N can say anything else, Steve bends down, softly kissing her lips. Y/N’s eyes widen. Steve’s hands wrap around her shoulders, and he pulls her close as Y/N kisses him back, savouring it as if it’s the last time she’ll ever kiss him. 
Because deep down, Y/N knows this could be the last time she ever sees Steve. And that thought scares her more than anything. Even more than this creep Vecna.
Despite how cold Steve’s shirtless body is, she can still feel an inner warmth radiating from him as he holds her close. And even though she still thinks he’s being kind of stupid by going to find the gate by himself, that’s what Steve Harrington is. He’s warm, he’s brave, and he’s going to help save the world once again. Steve’s warm embrace makes Y/N feel more comfortable, and her anxieties start to fade away, if only a little. Sometimes, Y/N swears she could stay in Steve’s embrace forever, safe from the weight of the world and the monsters trying to destroy it. When Steve pulls apart from her, Y/N comes crashing back down to earth, and she realises that she can’t stay there forever. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Steve presses a kiss to her forehead and jumps off the boat into the dark waters below. Hopefully, he’s right.
A silence falls on the others in the boat as Y/N peers down into the water, trying to see if she can somehow spot Steve in the water below. Her leg bounces anxiously as her eyes scan the water, trying to spot either Steve, or the glow of the gate. She can’t see anything, and her anxiety continues to grow.
“He’s gonna be alright Y/N.” Nancy reassures her, and Y/N can hear Robin and Eddie agreeing with her. Nancy wraps an arm around Y/N’s shoulders. As she glances over at her, Y/N can see the fear on Nancy’s face. Even though they broke up, Y/N knows that Nancy still has a lot of love in her heart for Steve. And although Y/N would be lying if she said she wasn’t worried about Steve going back to Nancy, she can’t blame Nancy for feeling that way. You never forget your first love.
“Yeah! I hardly know him, but he seems really brave. Stupid, but brave…shit sorry, that’s not helping, is it?” Eddie hisses. Y/N turns to Eddie, giving him a smile. Even if Eddie doesn’t think he’s helping, she still appreciates the support. The group stays huddled together on the boat, waiting for Steve to return.  Suddenly, the water around the boat ripples, and Steve’s head pops up. Y/N breathes an enormous sigh of relief. 
He’s back, and he’s safe. They’re going to be okay.
“We were right! T-There’s a gate, and-” Steve’s cut off as he disappears under the water again.
“Steve!” Y/N gasps. Almost immediately, his head pops back up.
“There’s something here! It’s got my leg, it’s-” He disappears again. When his head reappears, Y/N springs forward, reaching out for Steve before he can disappear again, despite the pleas of everyone else. To Y/N, they all sound like background noise. All she cares about is keeping Steve safe, just like keeps her safe every day. Y/N grabs Steve’s hand, trying with all her might to pull him out of the water and back onto the boat. Y/N braces her feet, trying to stand as strong and sturdy as a rock. However, whatever has Steve is stronger than them both, and it starts pulling them both back towards the water. Despite her efforts not to, Y/N’s feet start to move.
“Shit!” She hisses.
“Guys, come on! Help her pull!” Robin yells. But whatever’s got Steve is too fast. It pulls Steve back under, too quickly for Y/N to let go. And so, Y/N’s pulled off the boat too. She takes a deep breath, holding it as she disappears under the water with Steve, trying to give them both the best chance for survival. In the chaos and yelling voices, she recognises Steve reaching out for her, wrapping his arms around her body. He’s keeping her safe, even now.
As their bodies sink rapidly, Steve and Y/N hold onto each other, each gripping the others body like they’re a lifeline. Y/N tries her best to keep her grip on Steve, despite him being pulled down quicker than she can handle. Kicking her legs, she pulls Steve back to safety as hard as she can. As she strains, she feels Steve slipping from her grasp more and more. Reaching out into the darkness, she grabs Steve’s hand once more, continuing to try and pull them both back to the surface. Y/N can sense the creature, or whatever’s holding Steve, is getting angry, as its pulls grow stronger, yanking both her and Steve deeper and deeper into the lake.
The water grows darker the more they sink, and soon Y/N is straining to see most of her arms and legs, let alone Steve. Even though her eyes are burning and she can barely see, she holds onto the one constant she has: Steve’s hand. She pulls and strains with all her might against whatever is holding onto him, trying her best to save the boy who’s saved her too many times to count. Her legs kick furiously, and Y/N pulls so hard that she doesn’t even care that her arms are aching, or that she’s getting increasingly more tired. If her uncomfortableness and pain will save Steve, then she just has to deal with it.
But despite Y/N’s efforts, the thing still holding Steve is too strong for her, and he starts to slip out of her grasp once more. Y/N tries her best to hold on tight, but she can’t. With one last pull by the thing holding Steve, she loses her grasp on his hand, and he disappears into the depths below.
“Steve!” she screams, her voice coming out as silent bubbles as the last of her saved breath is released. Y/N’s throat burns as she screams and as the lake water rushes into her mouth. Y/N doesn’t care about that, though. Her mind races. 
She let him go.
That thing could have taken Steve anywhere, and it’s all her fault. 
Because she let him go. 
What if he dies? What if she never sees him again? 
No. That can’t happen, and she won’t let it happen. Overrun with guilt and a desire to save her boyfriend, Y/N starts to swim in the direction that Steve went.
Her legs kick rapidly as she pushes herself through the water, using up the last of her adrenaline and swimming the fastest she ever has in her life. Y/N can feel her legs and arms burning, but she doesn’t care. Steve is the most important person in her life, and she’ll find him, even if she dies trying. As Y/N continues to swim, the water gets darker. With it, her anxiety grows. If something was to reach out and grab her just like it did with Steve, she wouldn’t notice. Despite this, she soldiers on, even though she knows that her body and mind just want to go to sleep, and that soon she’ll run out of time. Things brush against her arms and legs, things she can’t identify. It’s scary, but her love for Steve overrides everything. Y/N can feel herself getting more tired, and her lack of oxygen is catching up to her, but she still keeps swimming…although her pace is starting to waver, and she can see dark spots in her vision. Ones that she knows aren’t because of the darkness of the water. By the time she sees the familiar red glow of a gate emanating from the bottom of the lake, Y/N is exhausted. With one last push, she swims towards it.
And then something grabs her leg, wrapping around it tightly. This must’ve been what grabbed Steve. Y/N tries to untangle her leg, but she’s too weak. Just as she grabs whatever has her leg, another wraps around her arm, and then another wraps round her other leg. She tries to swim away, hoping the force pulls her away from whatever this thing is, but she’s too tired, and whatever’s holding her is too strong. In all honesty, by this point Y/N's ready to go to sleep for a while.
“I’m sorry Steve.” She whispers. And then, Y/N’s eyes drift shut, and her body is pulled into the gate. 
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“Y/N, have you ever thought about getting outta here?” Steve asks. Y/N frowns.
“Out of work?” Steve laughs, the same laugh she’s heard so many times ever since she and Steve started dating. The same laugh that Y/N swears she falls in love with every time she hears it.
“I mean out of Hawkins.” Steve answers. Y/N sighs. 
“Honestly, I’d love to leave this place when everything is over. I just don’t know if it will ever be over.” She sighs. Steve wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her back close to him. He presses a kiss to her temple, and Y/N can’t help a smile from crossing her lips. 
“Y/N. I don’t know when, but this nightmare will end. We’ll get as far away from this place as possible. Maybe a road trip to California or Florida. Somewhere warm, where we can start fresh and spend almost everyday on the beach. We’ll have our own place, right on the beach, and you’ll wake up to this handsome face every day too.” He teases. “Sounds good, right?”
“Mmm…that sounds great. Like a dream come true.” Y/N murmurs. Steve spins her around, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. 
“In that case, I promise I’ll make it happen for us Y/N.” He smiles.
Y/N knows she’s dreaming. She had that conversation with Steve months ago, even before Vecna showed up. But now, she wonders if her mind is just showing her the happy times before she slips away forever. The life they could’ve lived. The life that they should’ve had. And she didn’t even get to say goodbye to Steve properly. 
Yet, as the dream fades, Y/N recognises other noises. “Y/N! Y/N! Please, wake up.” The same voice begs. Only this time, she recognises it. Steve. He’s alive. She’s alive.
Her eyes flutter open, and she sees Steve peering down at her. Once Steve realises she’s awake, a huge grin takes over his face, and he wipes his eyes. “Oh, thank god!” He exclaims..
“Steve…w-where are we?” Y/N murmurs. Steve quickly pulls her into his arms, squeezing her tightly.
“Wait, not so fast! She’s been out for a while, and you’re still hurt, Steve!” Robin calls, but Steve ignores her, continuing to hold onto Y/N. His body shakes, and Y/N can tell he’s crying softly.
“Robin? What are you doing…w-wait, you’re hurt?” Y/N asks, her voice still a weak murmur as she tries to come to terms with what happened. 
“We’re in the upside down.” Steve explains. “Don’t worry about me. It’s nothing.” He shrugs. “The tentacle things brought us both here, and they tried attacking us while you were out. I got hurt a few times, but the others helped.” He gestures around the group, and Y/N sees Robin, Nancy and Eddie staring back at her, all looking just as relieved as Steve.
“Y/N, he fucking bit into a bat that was trying to kill you. It was so metal. Very Ozzy.” Eddie gushes. 
“Very what?” Steve frowns, and Y/N can’t stop herself from giggling, although it makes her cough a little. “Hey, hey. Don’t strain yourself, alright? Don’t want you getting hurt.” Steve soothes, tightening his grip on her.
“It was metal what you did too, Y/N, don’t get me wrong!” Eddie grins. “You grabbed Steve and tried to pull him back onto the boat with no hesitation, even though that monster was trying to pull you both under.” 
“Well, it sure did that.” Y/N scoffs, and Steve chuckles.
“Forgive me for sounding cheesy, but what you two did for each other? That’s true love material right there.” Eddie continues. Y/N and Steve look back at each other, smiling. 
“I guess it is, huh?” Steve chuckles. His eyes are full of tears, gratitude…and love. He presses a kiss to Y/N’s lips once more. “I love you so much.” He whispers. “I’m never letting you go, and I’ll never let anything hurt you ever again.”
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asaka-lucy-dr-rc · 12 days
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RAIN CODE Fan Meeting Report ⑤ (Final)
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(Again, sorry the thumbnail doesn't make sense 😅)
From around the middle of the evening program to the end.
Previous posts:
RAIN CODE Fan Meeting Report ①
RAIN CODE Fan Meeting Report ②
RAIN CODE Fan Meeting Report ③
RAIN CODE Fan Meeting Report ④
⚠️This is a looooooong post and contains important spoilers! If you haven't played RAIN CODE yet, you should definitely not expand this post.
Before the second half began, there was a section introducing the merchandise available at the event, just like in the daytime program. It was also announced that those who bought the OST could participate in an autograph session with Kodaka, and the MC asked Kodaka: "From what I found on X, the fans who already participated seemed pretty happy. How was it?" He then replied:
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(The crazy thing about Kodaka is that even when he lies, he never denies it like "just kidding" or "it was a joke"! 😂)
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Afterwards, Fukuhara, Suzushiro, and KENN performed a reading that recounted a scene right after Desuhiko's awakening in Mystery Labirinth. The dialog was exactly the same as in the game, so I'll skip the details.
In the next reading, Ishikawa participated and they did the reenactment of the scene in Chapter 4 where they talked to Dr. Huesca in front of his laboratory through a monitor. Originally, Yuma, Desuhiko, and Fubuki talked to him, but Fubuki was replaced by Halara, so the script was a bit special.
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Dr. Huesca's lines just played the in-game audio, which led him to ask Halara who the woman was. 😅
When Yuma told him that Halara was also a detective who had come to protect him, he seemed to think a little. Then Desuhiko said, "Hey, Halara! This might be our chance. Let's draw the geezer outta his hiding place with a honey trap!", then he continued in a cute voice. "Tell him, ' With all my heart... I will serve you nya!'" Halara was confused by his words, but muttered, "You said 'nya'... so is it a cat?" and seemed a little more enthusiastic, so Yuma panicked, "Halara! Don't take it so seriously!" Then Shinigami interrupted, "Wow, that sounds fun! Imitating a cat is a piece of cake. I'll show you my example!" and she continued in a sweet voice, "With all my heart... *breath* I will serve you nya♡"
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(I drew the image above based on the image that was on the back screen, but actually showed a sprite used in the game).
Since no one but Yuma could see that Shinigami was so excited, no one reacted with it, then Halara muttered, "If it means a cat, I might be able to do it." Yuma was confused: "A-Are you sure, Halara?" Halara replied sharply: "Who do you think I am? I'll show you..."
"With all my heart... I will serve you nya!"
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(It was like the "With all my heart..." part is in his/her normal voice, and "I will serve you nya!" is in a softer voice towards the end.)
Desuhiko was surprised: "Y-You've really done it!"
After that, as in the main story of the game, Dr. Huesca pretended to open the lock, but someone attacked him (though it was just his act), causing Desuhiko to panic, and Shinigami forced a punch line to end the reading.
・・・
Ishikawa commented: "What on earth were we made to do?" Fukuhara: "I made sure to ask if Halara was ok!" KENN: "Won't Halara charge them a fee later?"
Ishikawa seemed confused, but Fukuhara and KENN praised her for giving a convincing performance. (Personally, I liked that Halara was never weirdly shy or embarrassed.)
Then, Kodaka commented, "If I had written the script*, I definitely would have let Desuhiko do it too. Like, 'I'll set an example for you!'" KENN: "In disguise?" Kodaka: "Yeah, in disguise." KENN: "So it might not be my voice. Haha." (*As I mentioned in the previous post, the script for the reading was written by someone from Spike Chunsoft, so Kodaka was not involved.)
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The next segment was "Kanai Ward Citizen Survey". Just like the daytime program, the audience was asked some questions with three choices for each, and the VAs predict the answer that would be the most popular.
The MC told the audience, "Imagine that you are a resident of Kanai Ward." Then Kodaka said "You are a homunculus, homunculus. Feel the urge to eat steamed meat buns!" 😄
The first question was:
Q1.Who is the Amaterasu employee you want to be your boss? 1. Yomi 2. Martina 3. Makoto
(I believe Makoto is a CEO and not an employee, but I wrote that because that's what the question actually said.)
The audience laughed when the question appeared on the back screen, and Kodaka said: "Is there anyone who would choose the first option!?" Then, the MC asked, "If there are people who choose Yomi, how should we perceive them?":
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(The art used was the same as the acrylic stands.)
And all the VAs predicted that 3.Makoto would be the most popular. (This was the only question that all the VAs answered the same!)
The MC then asked the audience to vote. (Votes were given by clapping.) When the MC called out, "Those of you who want Yomi to be your boss, please clap your hands!", a few people responded with a strong clapping! Then Fukuhara said, "There should only be a few people there, but it sounds so loud!" 😂
As for Martina, there were a few more people clapping. However, when it was Makoto's turn, there were much more of them, as expected by the VAs. So it was 3.Makoto who got the most votes.
The next question was:
Q2. Who is the master detective you want to be your boyfriend?
1. Yuma 2. Desuhiko 3. Vivia
The MC asked a somewhat nasty question about each of these choices, and Fukuhara argued.
MC: "If Yuma sees someone in trouble, even in the middle of a date, he'll probably leave to help that person, right?" Fukuhara: "No! Well, uh, maybe." MC: "Desuhiko will definitely look at other girls in the middle of a date, right?" Fukuhara: "No, it's not!" (I understand that he would argue about Yuma, but it was cute that he argued about Desuhiko as well 😄)
MC: "As for Vivia-san, will he pay attention to his partner?" Kodaka: "It must be like having a pet. Like having a pet named Vivia." MC: "Like giving him books or something like that?" Kodaka: "Yes, something like that." Suzushiro: "Like a kept man?" Kodaka: "To be blunt, yes." (Everyone laughed at Kodaka's answer.)
After that, the VAs talked about Desuhiko's charms as a partner. Then Kodaka said: "Don't you hate it if your boyfriend has a talent for disguise? I think his partner would become neurotic, wondering 'if that guy could be Desuhiko, too.'" KENN responded:
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Kodaka: "Like, 'You again!' or something like that at a business partner company. It's scary, a little." Suzushiro: "Right, it would be so scary if it was real. 😅"
After such a discussion, here is the answer the VAs chose:
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Needless to say, Fukuhara chose 1.Yuma, but Suzushiro chose 2.Desuhiko even though she agreed with Kodaka that Desuhiko might be scary as a boyfriend.
When asked by the MC why, Suzushiro responded: "I still think he's cute." KENN: "But isn't he sometimes a bit like a middle-aged man?" Suzushiro: "I might even think it's cute. If I become obsessed, I might not be able to leave him."
Next, when asked why Ishikawa chose 3, she replied: "Well, because he's stable. He definitely doesn't seem to be unfaithful, does he? He also doesn't seem to be interested in people or himself, but I think it's okay if I can tame him..." MC: "So you'll give him everything he needs to live?" Ishikawa: "Yes, I will." Fukuhara: "It's totally a kept man 😅"
(I was very curious as to why KENN didn't choose Desuhiko, but the MC didn't ask him, maybe due to lack of time.)
The audience then voted but all three choices got a lot of votes, so it was decided that this means that they are all popular, so 1, 2, and 3 are all correct.
The next question was the last:
Last Question: Which line do you want Yuma to say?
1. "Aaahhh! Blood! Blood!" (JA: きゃあああああああっ!血が!血がっ!) 2. "Wait! That statement is no good!" (JA: ちょっと待って!その発言はアウトじゃない!?) 3. "My past and my memories don't matter! I will solve the mystery as Yuma Kokohead!" (JA: 過去も記憶も関係ない!ボクはユーマ=ココヘッドとして謎を解く!)
There is not much to explain about this question, so I will just write the results. Here are the VAs' choices:
Fukuhara: 2 Suzushiro: 1 Ishikawa: 1 KENN: 1
Fukuhara was surprised by this result, but the VAs who chose 1 said they wanted to hear Yuma's scream live. Perhaps the audience felt the same way; most of the audience voted for 1, so Fukuhara actually performed Yuma's scream.
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All VAs answered both the first and second questions correctly, so everyone except for Fukuhara received a book token as a prize.
Fukuhara: "Oh my, I was the only one to get the last question wrong!?" KENN: "Didn't expect only the protagonist actor could not receive it. 😁" Suzushiro: "I'll use this book token properly!" Fukuhara: "Yes... use it for RAIN CODE. 😭" KENN: "Let's get some books for Vivia. 😄"
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The next segment was "Guess Exactly! World Detective Organization Certification Test!" in which participants had to choose some RAIN CODE merchandise so that the total amount would be 10,000 yen.
A long table with lots of merchandise was brought on stage for this game, and as the MC introduced the wide variety of merchandise available at RAIN CODE, Suzushiro mentioned: "There are quite a few people in the audience wearing Desuhiko hoodies." and Fukuhara agreed: "That's true. Deshiko's hoodies stand out!" (In fact, I saw several people wearing orange hoodies! I have seen one woman wearing it, but it had mostly been worn by men.)
This game was done in a team competition, with the teams divided into Fukuhara and KENN, and Suzushiro and Ishikawa. As a special assistant, Kodaka participated in the former and Sakakibara in the latter.
When the MC said, "You assistants can only give hints, don't tell them the exact price even if you know it," Kodaka replied, "No, I don't know at all."
Then KENN asked Kodaka: "How involved are you with these kinds of merchandise?" Kodaka: "Well, sometimes I supervise...... No, hardly ever. I just listen to them tell me what they are going to release something like that."
When asked by Ishikawa, "Are you confident that you can remember (the price of each item)?" Sakakibara replied with a smile, "No, I don't". So it seems that neither Kodaka nor Sakakibara had much to do with the merchandise.
As each team began their predictions with almost no clues, Ishikawa found a headband that mimics Shinigami's headdress and said:
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When Ishikawa asked Suzushiro to put on the headband, Suzushiro looked surprised for a moment, then silently picked up the headband from the table and put it on her head! Ishikawa's eyes lit up and she did a little jump and said, "Cuuute!!!" (It might seem like I'm exaggerating, but there really was that exact exchange, and it was very cute! XD)
After that, the VAs' predictions were as follows:
Fukuhara and KENN team: ・Deshiko's hoodie: 5,800 yen ・Yuma and Shinigami acrylic stand: 1,500 yen ・World Detective Organization metal pin badge: 2,000 yen ・Swinging glass: 700 yen
Suzushiro and Isikawa team: ・Shinigami figure (in spirit form): 6,500 yen ・Meat buns plush with ball chain: 600 yen ・Shinigami headband: 2,900 yen
When Kodaka saw these, he said: "Shinigami headband is definitely not that expensive!" But Sakakibara argued: "But, swinging glass is definitely not that cheap!" (Sakakibara had been very quiet the whole time, so it was interesting to see him argue clearly with Kodaka 😄)
By the way, it was cute to see KENN doing a pose while the event staff was calculating which one was closer to the 10,000 yen total.
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(Fukuhara didn't notice it for a while, but later noticed it and posed with KENN, whose picture is in the official report article.)
Then, here is the calculation results:
Fukuhara and KENN team: 13,750 yen (+3,750yen)
Suzushiro and Isikawa team: 7,810 yen (-2,190 yen)
So the winners in this game were Suzushiro and Ishikawa.
Kodaka: "Neither team's answer was that close to 10,000 yen..." Sakakibara: "Maybe the swinging glass is more expensive after all. It can't be that cheap for a glass product." Kodaka: "Huh? Isn't it plastic?" Fukuhara: "No, this is glass, Kodaka-san!" Kodaka: "Oh. Then it's more expensive." Fukuhara: "You said, it's not that expensive! 😫" (Their prediction was 700 yen, but the actual price was 1,650 yen. Also, Desuhiko's hoodie was more expensive.)
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With that, the main part of the evening program was over and the participants made their final remarks.
Sakakibara: "Thank you so much for having so many of you here. We at Spike Chunsoft will continue to do our best to make RAIN CODE more lively, so please continue to support us. Thank you very much!"
Kodaka: "Today was the first event, and I want to make RAIN CODE more lively so that this will not be the last. Of course, I also want to create a sequel."
He then looked at Sakakibara and continued:
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Sakakibara loudly declared that he would do his best to animate RAIN CODE after being pressed by Kodaka. 😂 Then they went on:
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The VAs laughed out loud at this conversation. (This made me completely like Sakakibara. It was funny that Sakakibara easily declared that he would drive the company, even though he seems like the type of person who would never say such a thing. 🤣)
Kodaka then concluded: "So please continue to support us!"
In closing remarks from the VAs, they talked about how happy they were to see the faces of RAIN CODE fans, and how they hope to have another opportunity to play their characters in a sequel, an anime, or something.
And at the end, they all said "Thank you!" together and left the stage.
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The evening program seemed to be over, but the stage went dark, and soon Fukuhara and Suzushiro returned to the stage for a reading play of the farewell scene between Yuma and Shinigami in the final mystery labyrinth.
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The reading started from the scene where Shinigami made an emergency exit appear and she explained that using it would break Yuma's contract with Shinigami.
For a while, the dialog was exactly the same as in the game. Shinigami told Yuma that if you remember me even a little bit, show the world that everyone is happy there like you said, and Yuma promised that he would make it happen.
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Then, before Yuma headed for the emergency exit, he called out to the audience:
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The audience responded to Yuma and Shinigami's call with applause.
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Yuma: "Well, but that's right. Also, we've been able to entrust this story to everyone here. I think that is one of the solutions." Shinigami: "I'm sure you'll forget about the spoiler talk when you leave here, though. Oh, but then you'll be able to play the game again, so it's a good deal!" Yuma: "You say such things even at a time like this... I think it will be okay. It will stay in everyone's heart."
Yuma then called out to the audience once again:
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(The audience responded with applause.)
Shinigami: "Master. It's about time. We have to say goodbye." Yuma: "...Okay, Shinigami. Here we go!"
Yuma & Shinigami: ""Thank you very much for coming today!!!""
After Yuma and Shinigami's greetings, the stage gradually darkened and the spotlight shone on Shinigami alone.
Shinigami: "I'm not sad or anything. I’m... used to being alone. And that solves everything... Doesn’t it?
I will be waiting... to see you all again!"
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--------
After the reading, Yuma's voice announced that all stage programs were over. 
Yuma asked, "Did you all enjoy the last special reading play?" The audience responded with loud applause.
Yuma: “Thank you everyone. We look forward to seeing you all again! Thank you so much for coming today!”
--------
That's all for my report.
Thank you so much for reading to the end! 💖
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odditycircus-2002 · 5 months
Text
Medusa!Reader and Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat 1 Part 12
Spoilers for MK 1 Story Mode: Proceed with Caution
PREVIOUS
NEXT
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Sooo, given how this whole ending is, just bear with me here, given there will be an alternate version of you. Still, I'll do my best to try and keep it coherent for y'all. Now onwards!
When Lui Kang recruited you to fight against your Titan self and Titan Shang Tsung, you volunteered to be part of his army to fight against the evil Titans. That is primarily because of the fact that they threaten the timeline YOU live in! Luckily, as mentioned before, you wouldn't be fighting alone; you'd be fighting with endless variants of people you know across timelines, including a version of you that appeared to be a heavenly figure.
At the top of the Temple, standing beside Titan Shang Tsung, is your Titan counterpart, who was grinning like a mad woman at the thought of the bloodshed that would take place. You hear her speaking to Lui Kang,
"Oh, but some things never change, Lui Kang. No matter how much you want to deny it. History has a way of repeating itself, such as now.
Titan Y/N claps her hands in amusement as she encourages Titan Shang Tsung as he reveals the allies they both have gathered throughout multiple timelines. Titan Y/N stood with her husband and a Titan Quan-chi as they signaled for their army to attack; in response, your allies charged up the pyramid. As the battle at the Argus's Temple commences, you feel as if everything you did and what happened didn't happen simultaneously.
You couldn't fly up the temple because the skies were packed with other flying Kombatants and projectiles. So you fought and petrified past Kung Laos, Kenshis, Shaos, Barakas, Sub-Zeros, and Rains. Although it wasn't just variant of people you know that you had to fight. The first one you had to face was Sindel, or at least a Sindel mixed with Zateran blood judging from her scaley appearance and how she vomited acid at you mixed with her banshee shriek. After defeating her, you ran off without another word.
Soon after confronting the Reptilian Empress, a Shao/Sub-Zero hybrid sends you to the ground.
"No healer will be able to fix you once I'm through."
While it was cathartic for you to fight another Shao, as you'll never tire of making the brute suffer, the ice he commanded was a bitch for your reptilian skin. Yet, you managed to prevail by slicing off that Shao's head. You had no time to revel in your victory when you had to run from a large group of Titan Shang Tsung's minions. You got a stab in on an evil Kenshi while running from them, though. Shortly after, you're then jumped by a Baraka and Scorpion hybrid.
"We'll see who's fangs are deadlier."
While you were a bit relieved to not be fighting against a Cryomancer, fighting against a Pyromancer wasn't a pleasant experience. Especially one that resembles your dear Baraka. You had no time to dwell on any regret before a blonde woman with a robotic eye that shoots devastating lasers starts to attack you with a large knife. Luckily your blade proved to be sharper as you disabled the blonde's eye by stabbing her in the eye and through the head. Shortly after, you go up against a Kenshi who seems to have mastered Hydromancy. You had to get a bit creative there because of how your petrifying gaze wouldn't work on him. So, the old-fashioned poison would do the trick.
If only the same could be said for the Goro that attacks you with a Warhammer in each arm. Yet, you're then saved by not one or two but three different versions of Johnny Cage, one of them dressed like some sort of ninja errr mime?
"Much appreciated; good health to you all!"
You say to them before you're confronted by a Reiko/Quan-chi hybrid. Like both of his components, he was overly confident in his skills. After defeating him, you climb higher up the pyramid only to be confronted with four people you've never met, all dressed in yellow and black uniforms. Fortunately, you didn't have to fight them alone before another Kitana, this one who wore two buns in her hair and was dressed in a way fitting for the divine, mowed the entire group down effortlessly.
"Oh, thank you so much, your Majesty."
Kitana then got knocked down by some random kombatant who came out of nowhere. After getting through a couple more bizarre hybrids, you were close enough to the top to see your Titan Y/N standing with the Deadly Alliance. The trio, seeing how close you are to the top, combine their magics to throw a huge ball of plasma down the pyramid in your direction. You managed to throw yourself out of the way but at the cost of a large group of people being obliterated. After tumbling down a dozen steps, you're soon confronted by three Mileenas, sais out and thirsty for your blood. While you killed two, one of them managed to pin you down and tried to stab you in the eyes like poor Kenshi. Keyword tried. This time, you took out Mileena's eyes with her own blades.
While Titan Y/N and the Titan Deadly Alliance prepare another spell, who should catch them off guard by attacking them but their far more virtuous counterparts? At first, they appeared to have the upper hand, enough so the more virtuous Shang Tsung could earnestly shout some encouragement to you. You hate how looking at him made you blush.
While Titan Shang Tsung and Titan Quan-chi devour the souls of their more heroic selves, your Titan self has a more sadistic idea in hand. She tore a hole into your virtuous counterpart before grabbing heroic Shang Tsung's spine as a hacksaw, bifurcating your other self. Titan Y/N then uses her blade to swiftly cut off your other self's head and tears off her veil to reveal the writhing head full of snakes beneath. Titan Y/N giggles before she turns her back on the war beneath her feet to toss the decapitated head over her shoulder like it were a bouquet. This turns dozens of the kombatants on either side into stone because they made the mistake of looking at your other self's eyes. These poor souls are soon shattered into pebbles by their enemies, indistinguishable from the rest of the pyramid's ruins. Luckily, you were spared this gruesome fate.
After getting through more strange opponents, you could finally reunite with Lord Lui Kang and follow him the rest of the way up the pyramid. Finally, you reached the top to fight the masterminds behind this war and the conspiracy against your timeline. Titan Y/N was less than impressed.
"I've heard your righteous spiel long enough to last ALL my lifetimes. So please, at least keep this fight interesting."
You knew Lord Lui Kang to be powerful beyond compare, but even with his Titan power restored, he was still one Titan going against three malicious ones. It didn't help that none of them, including Titan Y/N, didn't fight fairly such as when she bit into Lui Kang with her fangs. So with the Fire God currently out of commission you're forced to fight them all alone.
"Honestly, at this point in time, I've forgotten how many of you I've seen die."
Somehow, against all odds, and you nearly dying so many times and sustaining so many injuries, you were still standing among the bloodied and beaten Titans. Lui Kang couldn't help but compliment you on your impressive feat.
"Your praise is like a healing salve for all my wounds. Now, let's cut out these tumors."
Lui Kang, deciding you've done more than enough, walks over to stand over the fallen Titans. Using his own Titan power, he reduces all of them into dust and sand, hopefully making it the last time you'll see any of them specifically. However, without either Titan Shang Tsung or Titan Y/n, it became clear from how the entire realm shook that the timeline was starting to crumble and tear at the seams.
"What now?!"
Lui Kang quickly uses his power to send you back to your native timeline before the current one you're in collapses with you alongside it.
"Thank you for your aid, Y/N. I hope we meet again one day."
You're lifted into the air and surrounded by fire before a bright flash of white goes off in front of you, and you end up exactly where you need to be.
A/N: Whaaa, two posts in one day?!? How can this be??? Anyways, remember to like, reblog, and comment. And if you like, drop and ask a random thought in my inbox, as I do enjoy hearing from y'all!😁😁😁😁
Playlist while writing this
"A Good Song Never Dies" by Saint Motel
"Tot Musica" by Ado
"I Can't Decide" by Scissor Sisters
"Play With Fire" by Sam Tinnesz
"Running up that Hill" feat Meg Myers
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oneofthecacti · 7 months
Text
S2 Thoughts: Izzy and Lucius
(Spoilers below the cut)
So I could definitely be wrong about this, but I’m putting it out here anyway:
I have this little itch in my brain that’s telling me Lucius and Izzy will have some sort of significant (positive) development in their relationship throughout the rest of s2. Could be platonic or romantic (I’d be happy with either), but I think it’s already been catalyzed through Lucius’ not-so-secret resentment towards Stede/Stede’s incompetence, and Lucius’ difficulty connecting with Pete post-reunion (due to Lucius’ acquired trauma post-shove + Pete’s aversion to what Lucius tried to recant of said traumatic events). I love both Pete and Lucius, and their relationship during s1, but the vibes I was getting from their interactions after their initial reunion felt off-kilter (could they be the couple that parts amicably? I didn’t miss the lukewarm reunion/interactions between Jim and Olu, but Jenkins is a crafty mf, so… Also to be clear, I am 100% in favor of healthy polyam relationships, so shhhhhhush).
Now that The Revenge Crew (including Ed, but minus The Swede) are all back together, Lucius is going to be looking for that sense of security he’d found on The Red Flag and under the command of Zheng Yi Sao. From Lucius’ perspective as of s2e3, Stede doesn’t currently spark confidence (and may not even after Izzy whips him into shape), Ed is a definite “hell no” for obvious reasons, and both have either failed him or outright tried to murder him. So who is left, really?
Izzy.
From what we’ve seen in s2e1-3, Izzy displays profound competence that results from his decades of pirating, as well as his genuine concern + care for the crew under his charge (and their care for him in return) + the ability to keep his head/make logical decisions under extreme emotional AND physical duress (s2e2 will be forever burned into my brain /pos). We even see that while he and the remainder of “Blackbeard’s” Crew are being held on The Red Flag, Fang, (especially) Frenchie, Jim, and Archie all seem to be (subtly) deferring to Izzy as if he were acting captain (even if not in title and despite how at least 2/4 mutinied against him in s1). While Stede (and later, Ed, as co-captain (maybe)) will likely resume command of The Revenge and her crew there is no denying that Izzy has earned the trust, respect, and care of those he had been sailing with during the time-skip. He’s an old salt—has seen a lot and been through A LOT—and it definitely shows now more than ever (despite sucking at being a captain in s1) that he can and will keep them alive if he has any say in it. I feel that Lucius will inevitably be drawn to Izzy for that reason, and then (through plot shenanigans and tears) go on to develop a healthy relationship (don’t ask me for details my brain hurts).
Anyway, what did y’all think of S2? because so far I’ve eaten three of my toes and am even more besotted with Izzy and Con O’Neill than I was yesterday (like that’s even possible)
10/26 me @ today me:
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absurdthirst · 5 months
Text
High Infidelity {Dave York x F!Reader}
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 11.1k
Warnings: Cheating, fraud, mentions of divorce, payback, forced cuckolding, restraints, oral sex (male and female receiving), vaginal sex, unprotected sex, cream pie, revenge sex
Comments: When you find out that your husband is banging the neighbor's wife, you and the neighbor decide to make them pay.
Co-written with @pedropascalsx
**Follow @absurdthirst-writes and turn on notifications to stay up to date on all new fics.
|| MasterList || Dave York MasterList ||
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Click Keep Reading only if you have read the Rating and Warnings and understand the warnings may not be complete to avoid listing spoilers. As AO3 says 'creator chooses not to use warnings'. You also agree that you're the right age to be consuming anything here.
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The moment was bittersweet, finding out that your suspicions were correct and that he could no longer gaslight you was a temporary feeling of relief. Quickly replaced with hurt and devastation. He was your childhood sweetheart, your first and only love, and for the better part of a year he has been sleeping with the woman next door.
The same woman whose kids you babysat during the week to let her and her husband have a peaceful date night, the same woman who had sat in your kitchen a few nights earlier with a group a mutual friends and drank your wine, the same woman who had held your hand and reassured you the night that you found out your husband wasn’t able to have children.
Rewatching the footage of them kissing as they entered the bedroom you shared, him ripping off her dress as she unbuttoned his shirt made your heart lurch. Never would you have imagined it was with Carol York.
The signs he was cheating were there from day one; being overprotective of his phone, working late, charges on your joint account that just weren’t adding up and then the biggest cliche of all; lipstick on his collar. 
The urge to confront him was bubbling up in your stomach, and then you thought about Dave… Did he know? Did he suspect anything? Should you tell him? 
After going back and forth a few times you had settled on yes, he deserves to know. So you pick up your laptop, and slide in under your arm. Ready to go next door and tell him everything.
****
Rolling his eyes after the doorbell peels, Dave sighs and stands up from the kitchen table. His laptop open and report that was making his head throb was never fun but distractions just makes it harder to get back to work. Especially since the house is actually quiet with the girls at school and Carol at work. Moving towards the door, he opens it to find you, his next door neighbor waiting. He hums your name in surprise and wonders if something is wrong. “Hey.”
“Hey,” you reply with a weak smile, “I’m really sorry to interrupt whatever it is that you’re doing, but we need to talk.” 
“Everything alright?” Your face is filled with concern and he’s immediately on guard, eyes sliding behind you and not seeing anything that would have him reaching for the pistol kept in the entryway table.
“Honestly, no,” you admit with an uncomfortable laugh, “Can I come in? I don’t think it’s something I should tell you standing at your door.” 
Frowning, Dave stands back and lets you in the house. He normally doesn’t like having someone - especially female - at the house when Carol isn’t here. Busybodies talk and he hates that kind of shit. “What’s going on?” He asks as he closes the door. 
“Thank you,” you say as you walk into the kitchen and settle your laptop on the counter. “Look, I’m so sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but you deserve to know, and I’ve bought this here as evidence. I don’t have to show you it but I thought bringing proof was the best way to handle it... Carol and Tommy are having an affair.” 
The first instinct he has is to deny it. To question why you are telling him something that he knows isn’t true, but he doesn’t. There’ve been times where something doesn’t sit right with Dave. Carol’s ease of assuring him that Tommy will handle something while he’s out of town. “What evidence?” He demands, knowing the best thing is to hear you out. If it’s flimsy, he can start watching his wife’s actions. If it’s concrete proof, he will know.
“It’s a video,” you say as you open your laptop, “I’ve been suspicious for a while, and then I found underwear that definitely doesn’t belong to me. So I bought a nanny cam. Are you sure you want to see this?”
“Shit.” Dave hisses but he nods. “Show me.” He demands, hating how his stomach is curling at the thought. It’s not like he hadn’t thought about other women, but he hadn’t touched one.
You nod a few times before moving the laptop to face him, pressing play on a scene that makes you feel violently sick. “I’m so sorry, Dave. Never in a million years did I expect it to be with your wife… my friend.” 
Dave’s brows pull together, jaw tightening in anger as he watches, listens to the scene in front of him. There’s zero doubt that is his wife, bouncing on another guy's dick. He doesn’t even realize his hands clenched in anger as he watches, furious at the betrayal.
Seeing the fury and the obvious hurt on his face, you decide to pause the video and close down the laptop. He doesn’t need to see anymore and neither do you. “As soon as he gets home today, I'm making him leave. He can go back to his mothers.” 
Dave huffs, nearly glaring at you. “Show me the rest of it.” He demands.
You push the laptop over at him, and shake your head, “Fine, but I don’t want to see anymore.”
Nodding, he watches as you log back in and he pushes play. Glancing at you when you winch, hearing the moans and the breathless conversation as they fuck on what he assumes is your bed. “Fucking assholes.”
“She’s faking it,” you scoff, as the moans get more animated. “The man couldn’t give a woman an orgasm if his life depended on it.”
He snorts and it’s on the tip of his tongue to ask why the fuck you stayed with him then. “Don’t kick him out.” Dave decides seriously.
“What?” You say with a raised eyebrow, before both of your attention is immediately drawn back to them. Laying in their ‘post coital glow.’
“God, I swear she gets dumber every day,” your husband says with a laugh, “All I’ve got to do is pay her five minutes of attention and the stupid bitch thinks everything is fine. Doesn’t even realize that my lawyer has pretty much voided the prenuptial agreement. I’ll hand her the form to sign and just like the dutiful wife she is, she’ll be signing half her money over to me without as much of a second glance.”
“Dave makes good money, but he’s so fucking boring. He wants to ‘save for a rainy day’.” Carol hums. “But he doesn’t ever spend time with just me. He always wants the girls around. I’m tired of being a perfect mother. I honestly didn’t want Molly. But Dave had to try for his boy.” She snorts. “Too much of a pussy to give me a boy, I guess.”
Dave growls, pissed at the way she is talking about their daughter. He doesn’t give a shit about what she says about him. “She’s the fucking one who decided to take out her fucking birth control.”
“It’s been about a year,” you say to Dave, “Well, that’s when I started having suspicions. Always working late on a Thursday night, and unexplained charges on our joint account. I’ve let him walk over me for a year.” Tears start to well up in your eyes, and embarrassment floods through you. “I’m so sorry.”
“You didn’t fucking cheat.” Dave scoffs. “Don’t be sorry.” He shakes his head, “don’t kick him out. Don’t show him that you know.” He advises, the gears in his mind already turning. “Get a lawyer, start moving your money around so he can’t take it.”
“Okay,” you say with a deep breath, “I have an account that he doesn’t have access to. Fuck. I’m so stupid. I knew he was cheating, I just let him gaslight me over and over.”
“You didn’t want to believe it.” Luckily you and the fucker don’t have kids, and he would just fucking kill them both, but the girls would miss their mother. He narrows his eyes at the screen. “Get a lock box, or safety deposit box for all your paperwork. will, social security cards, jewelry. Lock them up. Start removing him from shit. Access to the cell phone plan to make changes. Utilities, whatever you have jointly, unless it’s something he uses everyday.”
“I, uh, I should write this down,” you say, nodding your head, “Dave… Thursday nights… Was she here? There were nights where he came home the next morning after claiming he slept in the office.”
He shakes his head, huffing to himself. “She had ‘book club’.” He gives air quotes. “And since they supposedly always got so hammered, she would stay there.” He had thought it was stupid, but he had also felt like his wife deserved a night out, away from the kids.
“Fuck.” Shaking your head, “I’m going to go home. Start the things you’ve suggested. I’m really sorry again, Dave. I just felt you deserved to know.”
“Thank you for telling me.” His own situation is slightly more difficult, often the agency will put people on desk duty when finding out they are divorcing and he doesn’t want that. “Let me know if they make more videos. I’m going to install a camera here too.”
“Write down your email address and I'll send you that video. I guess we will have to work out a way to approach this together.”
Dave nods and reaches for the pad he keeps next to the home phone. Ripping off a sheet and writing his private email down, along with his phone number. “I’ll think of some way to make these fuckers sorry.” He promises, handing it to you. “I’m going to be finding out the toughest lawyer in the business. I’ll let you know their names.”
“Thank you, Dave,” you say as you feel your reserve slipping, the urge to cry coming back in full force. “Let’s make them pay.”
He nods, watching as you pick up your laptop. “Call me if you feel like you’re going to tell him you know.” He asks, knowing that he would tell Carol and then Dave would have to figure out a plan b.
“Will do.” The second you’re back inside, you start the tasks he gave you. Starting with gathering up all your important documents and putting them in a temporary safe space and then ordering a safe. You wonder how long Dave’s plan will take and hope it won’t be too long, the idea of sharing a bed with your husband makes your skin crawl.
****
Thursday’s have become sort of a check in day. You normally end up coming over and spending the evening with Dave and the girls. Sometimes having dinner and then staying once the girls had gone to bed. Tonight is another check in and Dave pours you a glass of wine. “How are you holding up?” He asks quietly.
“Better,” you admit with a smile, “Everything except the joint account is handled. Just ready to move on with my life and hopefully meet someone who actually cares about me. How about you?”
“Most everything was in my name anyway.” Dave admits with a small smirk. “She can’t touch the house since I bought it with my VA and I’m going for custody. I might have to pay her out, but whatever.”
“I guess him being infertile ended up working in my favor,” you say sadly, “I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone because he said that it was embarrassing, but I own the house. My Dad left me an inheritance and I was fortunate enough to buy it outright with it. I’m going to miss living here.”
“Why are you going to move?” Dave asks. “If you own the house and bought it with your inheritance, it’s yours.”
“I always imagined filling it with kids,” you say with a shrug, “I don’t want to be in a big house that’ll remind me just how alone I am.”
He frowns slightly, even as he voices his next thought. “You could always bring in another guy.” He reminds you. “Find love and fill it with kids.”
“I guess.” The sadness is evident in your voice, so you change the subject, “So are you any closer to coming up with a plan?”
Dave chuckles and glances up just as there is a loud thump upstairs. “After the girls are asleep.” He promises, knowing little ears don’t need to hear his plan.
“Sounds like you have something figured out,” you say before taking a sip of your wine.
“Do you want to humiliate them?” Dave asks with a small smirk. “And get revenge?”
“Yes,” you answer with a smile, “I want him to hurt the way he hurt me.”
“Then I’ll tell you about my plan in twenty minutes.” He promises and nods to your wine.
“So drink up, you’re gonna need it.”
Wordlessly you nod and take another large sip of your wine, desperate to hear his plan.
The two of you dance around the subject, talking about things in the news, events happening in town and Dave enjoys it. He’s come to enjoy talking to you and spending time in your company. Your husband is an idiot to throw over someone who is funny and nice, actually pays attention to the world around her - he doesn’t deserve you. When Dave’s self appointed time is up, he sets down his own wine glass and leans in close. “We should sleep together.” He announces.
“What?” You say with a giggle, convinced you’d misheard him. You had thought about it, fuck the last few times you’ve slept with your husband you’d found yourself imagining it was Dave, circling your clit with such intensity that you came harder than ever before. “I mean… Fuck, I want to. But wouldn’t that make us just as bad?”
“Not if we fuck in front of them.” Dave chuckles, smirking slightly because of your admission of want. “As a sort of goodbye gift to them.” 
“Oh,” you say, thinking about the look of Tommy’s face as Dave fucks you. Tommy paraded you around like a trophy, having no issues embarrassing you by announcing to anyone and everyone that you lost your virginity to him and he’d be the only man to have been inside of you. Like you were his possession. “I like it. But I have one condition…. and you might find it a little weird.”
“What’s that?” Dave tilts his head and looks at you curiously. It’s not unusual to have conditions and he would be surprised if you didn’t.
“I want you to cum inside of me.” You say after taking a deep breath, “I’ll buy Plan B in preparation and you can watch me take it. But I need for him to see that it’s really over, and despite what he thinks… he doesn’t own me.”
Dave frowns and then he remembers the first Christmas party after you had moved into the neighborhood. Tommy had been shit housed and bragging about how his was the only ever cum you’ve had. He had marked you good and proper. Dave hums, his lips curling up wickedly. “Done.”
“Thank you.” It feels oddly liberating to think about. “I don’t think we should do it in the houses though… Maybe book a hotel. Request adjoining rooms and keep everything a surprise. Blindfolds and gags. Only reveal to them what’s happening after they’re strapped to some shitty hotel chair unable to move.”
He raises a brow and smirks at how quickly you came up with something that is so feasible. “Noise canceling headphones.” Dave adds, nodding. “So they can’t hear us opening the door and whatever, not until we are ready.”
“Perfect. I want them to suffer. And I know that’s awful to say out loud but the way they spoke about us… fuck.” You shake your head and laugh, “You know that he doesn’t pay for a single bill in our house. Works part time and the entirety of his paychecks go on his stupid hobbies… Golfing or gaming. I put money into our joint account each month and he just… Fuck. He gets nothing.”
“You have a prenup, and a clause for cheating.” Dave smirks and chuckles. “Carol’s gonna get something, but it won’t be enough for her liking.”
“I can’t wait to see the look on his face as you fuck me.” You say with a chuckle, before finishing up your wine. “What’s your favorite color?”
Dave grins and imagines you in his favorite color. “Green.” He hums. “Dark green.”
“Dark green it is,” you say with a wink. “When do you wanna do this?”
“I say we wait and do it when the lawyers finish the divorce papers.” Dave suggests. “We pack their shit that day and load it into a storage unit, change our locks and codes, fuck in front of them, drop the keys and the papers and shoot them the bird on the way out the door.”
“That sounds perfect. I know this sounds weird to say, but I'm kind of grateful he cheated. I would have spent forever living in his shadow and the past few weeks I’ve really started to realize that he doesn’t deserve me.” You say, with your first genuine smile in weeks. “Also I get to fuck my sexy neighbour in revenge.”
“You think I’m sexy?” Dave’s brows wing up and he’s flattered by the compliment. It’s been a long time since someone’s said that. The marriage had hit rocky patches before but never like this and he sees now that she’s been disengaging for a while.
“I have eyes, Dave,” you say with a giggle, “Every woman on this block stops and stares when you walk past. Those shoulders… Fuck. Those lips.”
“You’re so full of shit.” Dave huffs, rolling his eyes even if he secretly likes the compliment.
“Oh please,” you say, “Like you haven’t noticed the staring. Honestly, I’ve thought of you whilst using my wand,” you admit with a shrug, “After seeing you mowing the lawn shirtless.”
He smirks and leans back. “Might do that on purpose.” He admits with a shrug. “Tanning and all.”
“Well thank you for the show,” you giggle. “God, I can’t believe she cheated on you with him. I know he’s my husband but I had the excuse of him being my high school sweetheart. We’ve been together for years and he’s never made me cum once.”
“Bullshit.” Dave snorts and shakes his head. “Not even once? By accident?” He asks, nearly amazed by how fucking horrible that is.
“Never. He doesn’t do foreplay, and he’s never found that spot inside of me,” you shrug, “Usually I let him do his thing so I can roll over and sleep, occasionally I’ll rub my clit just to distract myself.”
“He doesn’t eat your pussy?” Dave’s eyes widen in shock and disgust. He understands that not all women cum from sex, he had a girlfriend before Carol who could not cum from penetration but he damn sure made her cum on his tongue.
“Nope. Never. He’s never even tried it, says the idea of it makes him ‘queasy’.” Looking over at him and seeing the look of surprise on his face makes you chuckle, “Guess I didn’t pick a good one.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, what a moron.” He shakes his head and his opinion of Tommy drops even lower than before and he didn’t think that was possible. “What a ….fuck, a pussy.”
“Nah. A pussy is useful,” you correct him, “I should get back. I’m super tired and he hasn’t texted saying it’s a ‘late one’ tonight so I figure they’ll be home soon. I will be counting down the seconds until the lawyers are done with the paperwork.”
“I would offer to show you what a real man does with his mouth, but I’ll wait to give him a ‘lesson’.” Dave hums, standing up and offering you a hand to get up off the couch.
“Oh, yeah? You going to eat my little pussy in front of him?” You ask with a raised eyebrow. You take his hand and let him help you up.
“Fuck yes.” Dave smirks. “If he finds it repulsive, I also wanna remind Carol what she’s missing. She fucking loved when I would go down on her.”
You hum happily, “I can’t wait to feel those lips on me.” Leaning forward you place a small kiss on his cheek, “Thank you for tonight. I really enjoy spending time with you and your gorgeous girls. I’ll be waiting impatiently for the paperwork to be completed. Goodnight, Dave.”
“Good night, sweetheart.” Dave walks you to the door and opens it for you. “As soon as it’s in, we’ll make sure they regret cheating on us.”
“Yes we will,” you agree with a smile, before walking back over to your house. Creeping upstairs and getting into the shower. Letting yourself get lost in imagining the feeling of Dave’s hands all over you, his mouth on your cunt and his cock buried inside of you. Your fingertips work your bundle of nerves as quickly as they can and you cum with a soft moan of his name. Climbing out of the shower you get dried, fix your hair and get into your pajamas. Wanting to be asleep or at least pretending to be when Tommy finally crawls in beside you.
****
“I got my papers.” Dave risks a call, knowing Carol isn’t checking the phone bill and calling you as soon as he steps out from his lawyers office. They don’t approve of his idea, but he also wasn’t told he couldn't do it. Just that he shouldn’t and he doesn’t agree with that.
“Me too,” you say gleefully down the phone. “You want to do it this weekend?”
“I’m thinking so.” Dave grins at the glee in your voice. “How do we want to lure them to the hotel?”
“I’m thinking we both book a room - request they’re adjoining, and once they’re both blindfolded, gagged and wearing headphones, we unlock the door and I'll lead Tommy into your room?”
“That works.” Dave agrees. “I’ll tell Carol I want to put some spice back in our marriage.”
“I’ll tell Tommy I have a surprise planned. I’ll go ahead and call and book the hotel.. and then I have some shopping to do… Dark green right?”
“Dark green.” He hums. “I’m going to enjoy ripping it off of you.” He admits, voice dropping.
“Keep playing with my pussy to the thought of it,” you whisper into your phone. “Only a few days to go.”
“I’ll book the rooms together but put one under your name.” Dave tells you, knowing that he will be able to convince them of it.
“Perfect. Is there anything you need me to do?”
“Start making noises to your husband about getting away. Doing something romantic this weekend. I’m going to ‘surprise’ Carol.”
“Perfect. Can’t wait to see the look on both of their faces. I’ll text you tonight, once I've told him about the surprise.”
The rest of the day goes by smoothly, you pop into Victoria’s secret and spot the perfect set and make your way home. Large glass of wine poured, you sip it generously as you listen to his footsteps approaching the door. 
“Good day at work?” You call out from the kitchen with a roll of your eyes. 
“Long,” Tommy groans before reaching over and helping himself to your wine, “Tomorrow is going to be longer.” 
“Oh. I really hope they’re going to start paying you for those long Thursday nights. Sometimes you don’t even make it home. It’s not good for you sleeping on your office floor,” you say with the most sympathetic smile you can force. “Anyway, I have a plan for Saturday night that’ll make it all better. A surprise for you.” 
“A surprise?” He says with a raised eyebrow and a curl of his lips, “What kind of surprise?”
“All will be revealed,” you say as you turn to him with a small kiss on his cheek, “A surprise that involved me spending a huge amount of money in Victoria’s secret for someone.” You leave him standing in the kitchen with a grin plastered on his face as you begin to climb the stairs with the rest of the wine and a new glass, “Dinner is ordered, i’m going for a bath.”
Dinner passes with its normal antics from the kids and Dave watches Carol. Nothing about her demeanor says that she’s cheating but he’s found the credit card she’s using to pay for it. It’s a secret one that she opened in his name. Not only is she renting hotel rooms, but she’s doing it on his fucking credit. It’s malicious irony that Dave booked the rooms at the same hotel that her and Tommy frequent.
Avoiding him for the rest of the evening, you have a long hot soak in the bath and only retreat back downstairs to grab your dinner and a drink. Spending the rest of the evening in bed watching netflix whilst he watches TV downstairs. 
You decide to shoot Dave a quick text to let him know you’ve told Tommy about the surprise, and check you’re still on for to meet up and go over the plan the next evening. 
‘Hey. Told him that I’ve booked a special surprise, and he ate it up. He’s told me he’s “working late” tomorrow, so I can pop around and we can go over things?’
Dave hums as his phone buzzes, Carol engrossed in her show so he slides his phone out and grins. His own reply comes quickly. ‘Sure. Now I wonder if Carol will be told about your plans this weekend? Ever wonder if he tells her that you two still have sex?’ 
You huff and type back. ‘We’ve had sex twice in the past two months, so I’m pretty sure if he’s saying anything, it’s about my lack of interest in the cheating bastard. Only fucked him so he would stop questioning why I was being distant. I doubt he’ll say anything though. The last video of them cheating he spent most of it, reassuring her that he doesn’t love me and never did. Do you think she’ll tell him about your ‘plans’?’
Dave snorts. ‘Haven’t told her. Plan on doing it at the last minute and making it seem like a romantic gesture.’
‘Good idea. I can’t wait till he is out of my house. Out of my life.’
‘Won’t be long. Just don’t kill him over the next few days.’ Dave chuckles to himself and when Carol looks up, he points to the tv. “They are so stupid it’s funny.” He explains, putting his phone away.
‘I’ll try.’ You reply before settling down for the night, wanting to be fasting asleep before Tommy gets upstairs.
****
The next day Tommy is ‘working late’ and Carol has a suspiciously timed meeting that runs over. Making Dave shake his head at how stupidly brazen they are getting. Still, he looks out the window and sees you walking over about an hour after he gets home with the kids.
You knock the door, dessert in hand as Alice whips open the door and immediately informs you that she and Molly are going to eat pizza in her room and watch a movie as you chat to Daddy.
Dave chuckles as you walk in. “The girls are getting spoiled.” He hums. “And so am I.”
“You have no idea,” you say with a wink, “I hear it’s pizza tonight? Sounds perfect.”
“Yeah, Carol had a “meeting”.” He scoffs, rolling his eyes. “Strange, right?”
“Who’d have thought?” You giggle, “Well-,” you say as you pick up the glass of wine he’d poured for you, “Here’s to the last time they lie to us.”
“Are you ready for it?” He asks quietly, picking up his own glass. “For the big reveal?”
“I am counting down the seconds.” You say with a smile. “God, I hope they realize we aren’t to be fucked with.”
“I think they will figure that out when they don’t walk away with the pot of gold like they were expecting.” Dave snorts.
“I just can’t wait to see his face when he realizes that I'm not his trophy anymore.” The doorbell rings and Dave goes to get the pizza as you pour the girls out their juice, ready to take it upstairs to them for their movie night.
“Girls!” The two girls thunder downstairs to grab their cheese pizza and disappear just as quickly, each one fighting over who was going to sing the first song. Dave shakes his head and looks at you with a faux harried expression. “They are going to be trouble later on.” He predicts with a groan.
“I’m sure you can handle it, they worship their Daddy.” You say before topping up your glasses, “I’m going to miss this.”
“Why are you going to miss it?” Dave asks, frowning slightly.
“It’s been nice. Coming around and eating with you and the girls, the highlight of my week. They’re both absolutely adorable.”
“You can still come over anytime.” He offers. “If you aren’t out on dates, you know.” He shrugs and shoots you a smirk.
“Me? Dating? Unlikely. But I’d still love to come over. I mean it when I say it’s the highlight of my week.” You take a small sip and try to ignore the way he makes you feel, the past few weeks you had grown closer to Dave and started to really appreciate how good of a man he is. 
“Shit.” Dave snorts. “You’ll be dating before the fucking ink is dry.” He predicts. “You’re beautiful, kind, funny and smart. And I bet you are killer in the sack. He’s an idiot.” He tells you, talking about your stupid soon-to-be-ex.
“You think I’m beautiful?” You ask quietly. “I can’t remember the last time someone complimented me. And the killer in the sack? Well I guess you don’t have long to find out.”
“I can’t wait to find out.” Dave admits quietly. “And you should be getting compliments all the time.”
“As should you. You’re remarkable. The best daddy ever, you work so hard and it’s appreciated, Dave.” You say before squeezing his hand, “And I’m excited to show you just how appreciated you are.”
“Is that what it’s going to be?” Dave asks, grinning slightly. “A show of appreciation?”
“If that’s what you want,” you tease, “Going to suck your cock. Just the thought of it makes me so wet.”
“Jesus.” His eyes widen, surprised you even said that out loud. He’s thought about it plenty, but apparently so have you. “Then we’ll have to do a sixty-nine. Because I’m gonna give your dumbass husband a lesson on how to make a woman squeal his name.”
“Fuck, that sounds perfect. But also to start I want to look into your eyes as I'm sucking your cock. Feel you fuck my mouth,” you whisper quietly.
“Have you ever done that before?” Dave asks, raising a brow and trying not to spring a boner at the thought of you letting him face fuck you.
“Nope,” you admit quietly. “Tommy had me blow him for a bit pretty much every time we had sex. But it was tame.”
“Bet he likes you to ‘look pretty’ while his dick is in your mouth.” Dave scoffs. “When your mascara should be running and the split is soaking your chin.”
“He just wants to get off. Fuck. I want that.” 
Dave has been careful not to touch you. Not willing to put himself in the same level as Carol. He still won’t fuck you but he does reach out, talking ahold if your chin and rubbing his thumb over your bottom lip. “Then we’re going to enjoy it. You’re going to enjoy it.”
You reach out and squeeze his hand again, before taking another sip of your wine and a bite of your pizza. This time in 48 hours it’ll be the beginning of the new end, and the start of something new and exciting.
****
The day of, Dave walks up to Carol at the kitchen sink and wraps his arms around her. Imagining choking her, he forced himself to kiss her neck. “I arranged for the girls to have a sleepover tonight.” He hums, pressing himself up against her and imagining fucking you so he gets hard. “Booked us a hotel room.”
“Oh?” Carol squeals with excitement, “Which one? What’s the plan?” Pushing herself against him a little harder. One thing about Carol York is that she’ll never say no to a surprise.
Dave names the hotel and pretends not to notice the split second of his wife freezing in his arms. He knows she panics and the moment she relaxes, making him hum. “Figured it’s been awhile since we had a night to ourselves.”
“That sounds lovely, darling,” she says, “But I don’t want you wasting your money on me. We can just have a quiet night in.”
“Travel points.” Dave lies easily, knowing that she doesn’t want to go back to the same hotel where she’s been visiting every week. “Already booked and waiting on us. Already checked in.”
“Sounds great,” she lies, hoping the weekend staff aren’t the same as the ones during the week.
****
“You excited for tonight, honey?” You ask Tommy, who’s wolfing down his breakfast. 
“Can't wait to see what you spent a fortune on in Victoria’s Secret, I think I’m due a sneak preview, just to get me through the day.” He says with a wink. 
“No previews. The someone I bought this for will absolutely love it. I assure you.” You say as you go upstairs to pack you ‘both’ an overnight bag.
Dave manages to talk Carol into packing a bag, hustling her out of the house and into the car without much fuss. The girls have already been deposited at their friends house and as soon as she and Dave leave, a team of professional movers will be coming and boxing up everything Dave discreetly tagged to move into the storage unit he had rented.
You stick to the plan and wait for the text from Dave telling you they’re about to check in before you leave. Not wanting any awkward run-ins at reception. “Hey honey, I forgot to fill up my car, mind if I drive yours?” You ask innocently. Knowing that Dave had arranged for the movers to come to yours after they’ve collected Carol's stuff, and taking his car meant he’d have no reason to come back to your house.
Huffing, Tommy rolls his eyes, desperately thinking if he had left any evidence of Carol being in the car. “You’re lucky I make sure that my car is filled up all the time.” He lectures. “You need to take care of those things.”
“I’m sorry, love,” you say with a fake pout, “Had a lot on my mind.” You take the car keys from him and load up the car, seconds after the go ahead text from Dave. He huffs again as he enters the passenger side and starts droning on about how ‘he needs to know’ where you’re both staying that night. 
“You’ll know soon enough, baby,” you placate with a squeeze of his knee, “Heard great things about this place.”
The plan was for Dave to unlock the adjoining door on his side when Carol was in the bathroom but leave it shut so she wouldn’t know, and you were to do the same when you got into the room.
“You won’t tell me where we are going and you won't let me see the lingerie.” He grumbles. “I thought you were spoiling me.”
“Like I said you’ll see soon enough,” you smile, “We’re not too far from where we are staying.”
Tommy shifts uneasily as he watches his normal hotel come into view. “Here honey?” He makes it sound like that’s a horrible idea. “I’ve heard this place is a dump.”
“Oh no,” you say with a shake of your head, “It’s a five star hotel, honey, cost me a fortune but tonight will be worth it.” You say with a wink, come on, let’s get checked in. “Maybe we can order room service.”
Tommy plasters on a fake smile and chuckles. Praying that no one recognizes him. It would ruin his plan.
You notice how antsy he is as you check in and it makes you grin and shake your head. He cowers behind you at the check in desk and stares at the floor, refusing to make eye contact with anyone and practically running towards the elevator once you’ve got your keycard. 
‘Here.’ You text Dave in the elevator, pretending to text your mom. “God this hotel is gorgeous, I can’t wait to see our room.”
“Maybe we can just stay in our room all night.” Tommy manages, reaching out and snagging your waist. “Lock the world away.”
“Oh, don’t worry, sweetheart,” you assure him, “The plans I have for tonight, don’t involve you going anywhere.”
He’s relieved, planning on hiding in the bathroom when you decide to order room service. He can’t let anyone let you know about his plans, he’s not ready yet. Still needing access to the deed for the house. He wants to add himself to it so he can take it from you. It’ll be nice rental income, moving in with Carol and renting out that house.
You open the door and take a look around the room, unlocking your side of the adjoining rooms as Tommy has a “first look”  around the bathroom. You open your bag and start to take out a few bits, quietly calling him back in the room so Carol can’t hear you shouting his name. “Are you excited for tonight?”
“Depends on if you're going to suck my dick or not.” Tommy grins, thinking that he’s being romantic. The one bad thing about Carol is that she’s not willing to give him head if he doesn’t go down on her. Claiming that you might have understood, but she wasn’t a doormat. He missed someone sucking his dick.
“I promise that there will be some dick in this pretty little mouth tonight,” you tease, before picking up the blindfold and gag you had hidden in your purse, “Are you going to be a good boy and do as I say?”
Tommy’s brows shoot up. “What’s this?” He demands, grinning. “You never want to play.”
“Just thought we’d spice things up a little,” you reply softly, “I can feel you slipping away from me. I read some tips… you don’t want to?”
“No, no.” Tommy’s greedy. You might be boring in bed but you are also the only woman who has only had him. “I want to. I’m just surprised you want to. Sure you don’t want me to blindfold you?”
“Maybe later, but right now I want to do this my way.” Walking over, you untie his tie and motion for him to give you his hands, using the tie to restrain him. Before gagging, blindfolding and putting on his noise canceling headphones. 
‘Ready when you are!’ You text Dave after sitting Tommy down on one of the two hotel chairs and lightly restraining him to it. 
Lifting off one side of his headphones you whisper into his ears, “Good things come to those who wait.”
Dave hums, deciding that he would lift his own noise canceling headphones off Carol’s ear. She’s already tied up, but not in a chair. “Come on baby, I’m going to guide you.” He coos in her ear. “Trust me.”
You open the adjoining door after hearing Dave open his, and flash him a little smile as he guides Carol to the chair next to Tommys. 
“You ready?” You ask him, as he steps back and places his hand on the small of your back.
“Are you ready, sweetheart?” Dave doesn’t fucking care about them, they made their bed. But if you don’t want to do this, he can pull the plug and just snatch the rug out from under them without ever laying a finger on you.
Rocking up on your tiptoes, you place a fleeting kiss to his lips before nodding. “I’m ready, ready to follow your lead.”
“Do you still want to suck my cock?” Dave asks, reaching up and cupping your cheek.
“Fuck, yes, i’ve been thinking about it all day.”
He hums and pats your cheek lightly, “then strip down. I want you naked on your knees so I can fuck you right away when we get done indulging.”
“You don’t wanna rip this off of me in front of them?” You ask as you unbutton your sundress and let it fall to the floor, revealing the dark green lacy lingerie set you had picked out just for Dave.
“Fuck.” He hisses, cock twitching at seeing his favorite color on your body. “Never mind. Keep it on. I’ll strip.”
“Yes sir,” you say with a giggle, excited to finally feel his hands on you.
Dave strips down quickly, watching Tommy and Carol start to shift restlessly in their chairs. Antsy. He smirks and arches a brow when he shucks his pants and reveals his hard cock. “Sure you want to do this?”
“Holy shit, it’s gorgeous,” you choke out at the sight of his cock, “Fuck yes. You ready to take their blindfolds off?”
“Blindfolds and headphones.” He hums. “Not the gags.”
“Let’s go.” You walk towards Tommy and Dave walks towards Carol. On his signal headphones are removed and then masks. The look on your now ex-husbands face is a sight to behold. Both of them stare at each other in utter bewilderment as you take a step back and take Dave’s hand. “Hello, honey, how are you liking your surprise? Must be nice to see the woman you’ve been fucking for the better part of a year here with us and her husband too.” 
Dave chuckles and shakes his head as his face drops into a scowl at the two of them. They are completely frozen and panicked. "It's funny that you think we wouldn't find out." He tells them flatly before he turns to you. "Why don't we show them what it's like to watch your spouse fuck the neighbor?"
“I think we should,” you say with a giggle, as you perch yourself on the end of the bed. “Hurt them, how they hurt us.”
“Maybe they won’t give a shit.” The muffled protests coming from the two seems to disprove that, but Dave just leans in to press his lips to yours softly. It’s the first kiss he’s ever given you. When he pulls back he tells them that before smirking. “I want you on your knees, pretty girl.”
You ignore the sounds coming from that side of the room, and immediately get up and sink down to your knees. Looking up at Dave with your sweetest smile before gently holding on to the base of him, and placing a light kiss on the tip of his cock. The tip bright red and begging for release, you lick the bead of precum that’s gathered at the top and slowly wrap your lips around him. Not used to having something so big in your mouth, you moan at the stretch, taking him in just a few inches and swirling your tongue around him. 
“Fuck.” Dave hisses, looking down at you and cupping your cheek. “Take more of it. I know you can. But don’t choke. I’m going to fuck that pretty throat of yours.”
You do as he instructs as take him further into your throat, breathing through your nose and swallowing around him. Slowly bobbing up and down before taking him further, loving the firm grip he has on your face. You can feel yourself getting wetter the deeper you take him, the sounds he makes spurring you on and making you crave more.
“Unlike you two, this is the first time for us.” Dave groans, sliding his hand around to cup the back of your head. “So you get to enjoy the first time I fuck your wife since you’ve been fucking mine.”
You hollow your cheeks and suck as hard as you can as your nose just brushes against the patch of hair at the base. Drowning out the groans of annoyance from Tommy and Carol by moaning happily around him. Tears stream from your eyes as he keeps your head from moving, keeping you still as he feeds you the last inch or so of his cock.
Once Dave feels the back of your throat constrict around him, he pulls his hips back. “Fuck, I’m gonna enjoy this.” He groans, holding your head tights as he snaps his hips forward roughly and buries his cock in your mouth again.
You almost squeal as he fucks into your mouth, groaning in pleasure as you suck around him. Praising you for taking him so well, and telling you how pretty you look with his cock in your needy little mouth.
Both Tommy and Carol are struggling against the ties that bind them in the chairs. Shouting against the gags, but Dave doesn’t even pay them any attention. Focusing on you. “That pretty little pussy is wet, isn’t it?” He huffs. “Can’t wait to taste it. To lick you until you squeal my name.”
Looking up at him through your tear stained eyelashes you nod dutifully, a smile stretching across your already stretched out mouth. Before you resume your focus on his cock, bobbing your head to meet the snap of his hips, chasing more of those groans he floods the room with.
“You should have licked her cunt, Tommy.” Dave growls mockingly. “Now I’m going to and she’s going to realize what she’s been missing being with a piece of shit like you.” He smirks, looking over at his wife as she cries. “Can’t believe you put up with that shit. Especially since you know how good my tongue is.”
You pull off him and stroke his length, you’ve drenched the lacy material from sucking his cock alone and feel yourself flood the fabric further as he talks about eating you out. “Dave,” you say with a breathy moan, as you lick the weeping tip of him, “I need you.”
Smirking, he grabs your hand and helps you up, sliding his hand down between your legs possessively. “Fuck, you’re soaked baby girl.” He growls. “Want to see how much wetter I can get you. Gotta undress you first.” The panties are ripped off, pulling a moan out of you and he chuckles when the expensive green top also rips apart in his hands. The chairs are positioned so that the bed is on full display and he pulls you down onto it with him.
“I wanna show him,” you mumble, “I wanna show him how fucking wet I get when I actually want to suck a cock, I want him to see how you could slide right in with no fucking lube.”
“Shit.” Dave slaps your ass and smirks at the two spouses. “Never really thought about fucking her until we found out you two were cheating.” He admits. “So thank you.”
“Can’t say I didn’t think about Dave,” you admit with a shrug as you shuffle towards Tommy, opening your legs and letting him see your glistening cunt.
"I thought about it." He amends, "but I never considered doing it until now. Because I was fucking married."
“Same,” you shrug, “Shame that the people we married didn’t feel the same.” You shift back up and take his face in your hands, “I want you to do whatever you need to me, baby.”
"Fuck, I want you to sit on my face." Dave coos, reaching down to slide a finger through your folds and grins when you shiver. "Show you how a real man eats pussy."
“Yes sir,” you whisper before kissing him, watching as he lays down on his back and as he motions for you to move up. You lower yourself down slowly, hovering a few inches from his face.
“Fuck.” Dave groans, his cock twitching at the sight and he tilts his head back to look at Tommy. “Don’t know how you didn’t dive into this cunt every chance you got.” He huffs before he grabs your hips and pulls you down onto his tongue.
“Dave,” you yelp, as he slowly drags his tongue through your folds. Teasing your clit over and over. One of the hands finds purpose in his hair, tangling in his slightly overgrown style as the other grips onto the headboard. Your hips start to rock of their own accord, chasing your high, as a brand new sensation overwhelms you.
He flicks and curls his tongue, showing off for the cheating bastards who are still squirming and huffing through their gags, but also for you. Wanting to make the first time you’ve ever been eaten out memorable for more reasons than just showing up your cheating ex.
You can’t stop panting his name, moaning it over and over as you soak his face. It doesn’t take long until you’re hanging over the edge, seconds from cumming because of another person for the first time in your life. “So close, baby, so close.” You choke out through ragged breaths.
Dave groans, squeezing your hips and encouraging you to cum for him. Eager to taste it and to show your bastard husband that you deserved it.
With a few more flicks of his tongue against your clit, you’re cumming hard, flooding his face with your arousal as he pulls you apart in the most incredible way.
Dave groans and keeps you pressed against him, wanting to have you soak up every bit of your pleasure until you are sobbing his name out loud.
It doesn’t take long until you’re meeting his silent demand, and the yells shimmer down to you whimpering his name. You want to taunt your husband, tell him that’s what it looks like when you cum, but you don’t. You focus on Dave, moving yourself down him slowly and straddling his waist, before leaning back down and whispering the softest ‘thank you’ into his ear.
Smirking slightly, Dave nods. He’s not thinking about Tommy or Carol right now, he’s tuned them out. But he is thinking about you and how fucking wet you are, grinding down on his cock. “Can I fuck you?” He asks, even though you are on top of him.
“Please,” you plead, with a smile. “How do you want me?”
“Do you want to ride me to start out with?” He asks, caressing your hip.
“Can we build up to that?” You say quietly, “You’re huge. It’s going to be a stretch, I’m not used to anything like this.”
“That’s good,” Dave nods, knowing he doesn’t want to hurt you. “Lay down on your side, facing your loving husband.” He smirks, imagining the look on the bastard's face when he slides into you.
“Okay,” you nod, biting back the endearment hanging off the tip of your tongue. You do as he says, looking at your furious husband, feeling a shiver run through. Fearing what he might do once he’s unrestrained.
Dave curls around you, hand sliding up to cup your breast and then down to your thigh. “Don’t worry. He’s not going to touch you.” He promises, whispering in your ear. “I won’t let him lay a finger on you.”
Within seconds of feeling his touch, the fear is replaced with excitement and lust and the need to feel him slip into you. “Fuck me, Dave,” you plead, letting your eyes flicker up to your husband one more time, before letting yourself forget he’s in the room.
He chuckles quietly and lifts your thigh, bringing it back over his hip and opening you up to their view. “I’m going to fuck you. Been thinkin’ about fucking you for weeks. Imagining how tight and hot you’d be.” He kisses along your jaw as he slides closer and shifts to take his cock in his hand.
You let him mold you into the position he wants you, loving the way his hands feel on you. “God, me too. Fuck. Played with my pussy every night dreaming about this.”
The head teases your slit, sliding around and he hums. “Good.” He glances at his crying wife and your angry husband and smirks. “Let me know how it feels, baby.” He orders as he starts to push inside you.
You whimper as he starts to inch into you, the stretch of him feeling delicious. “Feels so good, baby,” you choke out, before placing your hand on top of his and squeezing. “So fucking big.”
“That’s it.” Dave growls, slowly rocking his hips and sinking deeper. “You’re taking it so good, baby. Squeezing my dick like a vice.”
“Fuck,” you moan, as he hits something new inside of you. Something that makes you clamp down hard around him and chant his name like sacred prayer, over and over.
He doesn’t start fucking you like it’s his last day on earth. Not yet anyway. He takes his time. Measured thrusts meant to make you cry out and yet he’s not giving it his all. Changing the pace and force often to keep things stimulated for you and remind Carol what she’s given up.
It’s nothing you’ve ever experienced before, someone chasing their high whilst chasing yours just as hard. With every moan, and flutter he praises you for taking him so well, for soaking his cock and squeezing him so perfectly.
His hands start to wander. Knowing that women love to be worshiped while they are having sex, his hands squeeze and grope adoringly. Forgetting about your audience, he concentrates on the breathless moans and whimpers that come from your throat. Seemingly made more desperate everytime he praises you.
“I think I’m go—,” is all you’re able to get out, before you clamp down around him hard and cum on his cock. Focusing on his sweet praises as you convulse in pleasure, feeling your sheets dampen beneath you as he keeps the same delicious pace throughout your high.
"That's it, fuck that's it, baby girl." Dave moans as he feels you cum all over him. "Soak my cock. Show me how fucking wet your little pussy gets when you cum." He huffs. "You needed this, didn't you? It's been so fucking long since you've really cum, hasn't it?"
“Needed it so bad,” you pant, as you come back down. “Never cum like that before. You want me to ride you now, baby?” You ask, as you pull his hand up to your mouth and gently kiss it.
"Yes." Dave pulls out of you and rolls onto his back, eager to feel you on top of him again. "Ride me, baby girl."
“I love it when you call me baby,” you say, as you straddle his hips and sink down onto him. Taking him inch by inch, until you’re filled with him. Slowly you start to rock your hips, building up to a pace that has him groaning your name. The sound of muffled cries and shouting drowned out both of your pleasure. His thumb finds his clit and he rubs gentle circles into it as you ride him, wanting to feel his cock throb against your tights walls that are fluttering around him.
You don’t bounce on his cock, or slam yourself back. It’s a slow grind that he finds himself grunting every time you circle your hips. He just keeps his eyes on you. Enjoying the way your own close and your head tilts back as you moan.
With every rock of your hips, he notches against paradise. Soft moans slip from your slips, as you chase your high again. Wanting to cum one more time before he does. Needing to feel him as much as you can, for as long as you possibly can.
One hand on your hip, another on your clit, he urges you to cum. “Come on baby, I know you can cum around my cock, again.” He groans, thrusting up into you shallowly. “Want to see it, beautiful.”
You rock your hips a little faster, chasing more friction from this hand on your clit and with a one word command for you to ‘cum’, you’re clamping down around him once more. Pleasure coursing throughout your body as he keeps you from falling forward, and continues to fuck up into you. Praising you for taking him for so well and fitting around him like a glove.
Once you have collapsed into his chest, Dave rolls you over and pushes your legs wider. Grunting as he takes over and his next thrust is hard enough to have you yelling.
“Fuck,” you scream, as he begins a breath stealing pace. “F-fill me up,” you beg, as he pounds in and out of you.
There’s renewed struggling and muffled screaming. Tommy most likely when he hears the plea for Dave to fill you up, but he doesn’t give a shit. Focusing on you and his own mounting pleasure as he fucks you hard and fast.
The sounds that are coming from you are unrecognizable. Brand new. Noises of pure unfiltered pleasure drowning out everything else. “Please,” you choke out, the word pained as another orgasm threatens to devastate your exhausted body. “Please, Dave.”
“Gonna- gonna cum.” He growls, clenching his jaw to push another few thrusts out of his body that screams for release. He knows you’re close again. He can feel it. Needs to see you do it again for his own selfish pride.
With little to no warning, he pulls you back over that edge with him. His thrusts sloppy as you clamp down hard around him, practically screaming his name as you milk him dry of his cum. He grits out a little praise in your ear, before groaning your name and wrapping his arms around you as you sink deeper into the mattress. 
Dave groans at the first piercing sound of his name, giving in and pushing deep as he starts to cum. Tightening his hold on you as he groans your name. Rolling his hips as he fills you.
“You feel so good,” you whimper as he paints your walls. You don’t want it to end, you want him to stay buried inside your desperate cunt forever. You can’t pretend that the past few weeks you haven’t been falling for him, and now being wrapped in his arms, you’re well and truly screwed. Literally.
“So good, baby. Fuck, that’s a tight little cunt.” He coos. “Never would have gone anywhere else if I had you in my bed.” It’s a shot at your husband, but it’s also true. He pulls back and presses his lips to yours before looking back at the cheaters still tied to their chairs. “We’re divorcing you both.” He announces.
“And you’ve already signed the papers,” you say with a smile, before immediately looking back at Dave. “Tommy gave me the idea. You were going to hand me an amended version of the prenup right? And this “dumb dutiful wife” was going to sign it without even glancing it over.”
Dave smirks when he sees Tommy’s eyes widen and his face drops. Discovering that his plot has been discovered. “Oops.” He hums sarcastically.
You giggle, before gently turning Dave’s face back towards yours and kissing him as hard as you can, a kiss that speaks a thousand words without saying any. “Thank you,” you murmur against his lips, knowing it’s time to face the music.
“Of course.” Dave sees the uncertainty and anxiety cross your face. He can tell you are scared of what might happen now that this is done. Pulling out if you gently, he sits up and looks towards the cheaters. “All your shit had been moved out of our houses to a storage unit. We’ll leave the keys, but you, especially you, Tommy-“ he growls, pointing his finger at the man. “Are not to come back tonight. Carol, you can come by and see the girls tomorrow. But you two enjoy the rooms.” He stands. “After we are dressed, I’ll untie you, Carol and you can untie Tommy after we’ve left.”
“You have no reason to come back to my house,” you say to Tommy, with a new found courage. “That’s why we drove your car. Don’t come back. I’ll see you in court with the video evidence of your cheating and your plans to fraudulently amend our prenuptial agreement.”
Dave ignores them as the two of you clean up and redress. Not even sparing them a glance. It feels freeing, setting out the papers and dropping the keys into a table before he smirks at you.
“Still ok to get a ride home?” You ask quietly, before he goes to untie Carol.
“Of course it’s okay, baby.” Dave stops and nods, giving you an encouraging smile before he moves back towards Carol.
You collect both yours and Dave’s things as he unties Carol, staying back just in case she decides to lunge at you. “Enjoy sleeping here tonight,” you say to Tommy, “This room will be the last thing I ever spend my money on you on. Sorry about the soaked sheets.” You add with a smirk.
Dave pulls off the gag and Carol sucks in a lungful of air. “Dave- Dave please, it’s not- I’m so sorry.” She sobs, leaping up out of the chair. “It was- God, I shouldn’t have done this.”
You see her leap towards Dave, and take another step back. “But you did,” you say quietly, “Both of you did this! For almost a year and the shit you said about us both, was worse than the fact you were fucking. You don’t deserve him and Tommy doesn’t deserve me.”
“I’m sorry Dave, I’m so sorry.” She reaches for him but he pulls back. 
“Don’t.” He warns her. “The day I found out you were fucking him was the day I was done with you.”
“Same with you,” you say to Tommy. “I mean it when I say that you’re not welcome in my home again.” Turning to face Dave, you reach your hand out for him to take, “You ready?”
“I’m ready,” he assures you, taking your hand and looking back at the other two people with a look of utter disdain for them plastered on his face. “I hope you two are happy together.”
You lead him out of the room. Hand tightly gripping his as you make your way to the elevators, and pressing the button. Wordlessly you turn to face him and rock up on your tiptoes and press your lips to his.
He’s surprised by the kiss but he doesn’t push you away. Instead, he’s wrapping his arms around you and leaning into it. Enjoying the fact that you aren’t crying like he had expected.
“I’m going to feel you for days,” you say against his lips, before pulling him for another kiss. Stepping into the thankfully empty elevator still attached to him, wanting to extend the moment for as long as you can.
“Do you-“ he pulls away and frowns. “The girls are at a sleepover and I told Kayla’s mom that Carol isn’t to pick them up. Do you want me to crash on your sofa? Make sure Tommy doesn’t decide to show up tonight?”
“Honestly, I was hoping you’d sleep in my bed,” you admit quietly, “But you don’t have to… if you’d prefer to crash on the sofa, you can.” 
“I wasn’t going to assume anything.” Dave chuckles quietly, reaching up and rubbing your back. “If you want me to be in your bed, I’ll sleep there.”
“I want you in my bed,” you say with a smile, “How are you feeling?”
“Indifferent.” He admits. “I’m angry for the girls, but I’m completely over Carol. Just cut the infection out and move on.” Maybe not the healthiest way to deal with things, but he managed. “How are you feeling?”
“Kids are super resilient and we both know that they love their Daddy, they’ll be okay.” You say with a squeeze of his hand, “I’m really good, great actually.”
“A good fucking will do that.” He teases, smirking at you slightly. “What are your plans for tomorrow night?” He asks suddenly.
“Yeah, I-uh-I could get used to that,” you mumble, “I’m free. How about you?”
“Well, considering I’m free and you’re free…” Dave shrugs slightly. “Thought I might take you out on a date. If you wanted. If not, I get it.”
“Sounds perfect,” you say with the biggest smile you’ve managed for weeks, “Do I get to wear something pretty?”
“Where whatever you want. Figured we’d go somewhere fancy to celebrate being free of them and decide what we want to do.” Dave hums.
“I like that, nice and breezy.” You say as he slips an arm around you as you make your way towards his car.
“To new beginnings, baby.” Dave jostles you slightly with a grin. “It’ll be ironic if we get together and are happy while they are miserable and don’t last a year.” He pulls his arm from around you and opens the door on the passenger side for you. “We’ll see, won’t we?”
“We will. Now that you and that incredible cock have completely ruined other men for me, I'm excited to see where it goes.” You giggle before thanking him for opening the door, “Thank you. To new beginnings.” You say as you smash your lips up against his.
Dave grins. Yes, your ex and his might have hurt you, but you are going to end up winning. He’ll make sure of it.
****
[A year later]
Life comes at you quickly. Your first date with Dave quickly became a 3rd, 4th and so on. The girls adapted quickly with their new changes and before you knew it, you were practically living with them.
He asked you to put your house up for sale and move in with him two months after your first date and a year on, life is perfect.
The sight of Dave napping comfortably on the sofa with your newborn son sleeping on his chest fills your heart. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted and so much more. 
It turns out that your ex-husband having an affair would be the best thing that ever happened to you.
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m1d-45 · 1 year
Text
in excess
cut content from here, but to elaborate slightly..
desperation and fear have already started to push him towards the mindset of every action being one that advances towards your forgiveness, and it wouldn’t be healthy if he started to think of himself as xiao does. not that he is your responsibility, of course, but such a prestigious man tearing himself apart for scraps is likely to have negative effects on the both of you.
-> warnings: spoilers for liyue archon quest, xiao doesn’t think of himself as a person, blood + minor depiction of violence in zhongli’s, he mentions dying for you
-> lowercase intended!
xiao.
utterly heartbroken.
he was refined over the years to be a weapon of war, to be ruthless and efficient, to neutralize threats as swiftly as possible and keep his charge from having to lift even a finger. at first, his charge was liyue, and he performed with everything he had. and then it was you- or perhaps it always was.
and then he failed you.
he failed to be there when you needed him, he failed to raise his blade to block the strikes landed against you, he failed in his one purpose. he failed to answer when you called, failed to be your steel, and now he fears he’s lost that chance forever. after all, he hasn’t heard you once since your slaughter, and now he’s lost. he’s a warrior without a war, a soldier without a general. a weapon with no wielder.
a blade with no master
he imagines that if he had a soul, it would be screaming.
his karma is overwhelming, sometimes, the black chains digging into his skin. karma from those whose lives he’s ruined, yes, but also karma from you. karma from all of his failures, karma from every single mistake he’s ever made, and none feel heavier than yours.
he makes attempts to protect liyue—he’d hate to fail twice, he doesn’t think he could take it—but he’s distracted, now. distracted because he’s always listening for one voice in particular, for a chance to redeem himself if only slightly.
(a weapon shouldn’t need to prove itself, his mind cries. a weapon should always be at its owner’s side, reliable and ever-present.)
when you venture out with morax, he’s never far. he sees where you’re going before you even think it, and is moving ahead, clearing the path and leaving before you can see him. he’s determined to do this right, at least, because if he can’t be your weapon then he will do everything in his power to ensure you never need to touch one.
the vigilant yaksha earns his name wherever you go, always just outside of your line of sight. even if there’s nothing, if he knows the area well enough that he can be certain your path will be clear of any danger, he keeps one hand on his polearm at all times. he has failed you once, and is not eager to do so again.
he is your blade, even if by proxy, and will dedicate every deadly arc to you and your safety. he will promise all that he is to ensure that you and everything you care for are safe. he is yours, your weapon, your tool to be used, and will fight tooth and nail to ensure it stays that way.
he will be your sword.
zhongli desires little more than your approval.
he was once a prideful god, only ever tempered instead of cooled. he had once vehemently denied your existence, refusing to attribute any of his accomplishments to anybody but himself. he refused to accept that you had crafted everything he’d painstakingly made, refused to believe you had done anything he knew he had.
over his millennia of living, of course, he had come to terms with his hubristic nature. he could remember the person he was without flinching, and found refuge in the fact that he knew better now. the shrines he once scowled at were now adorned with his offerings, the prayers he used to roll his eyes at now have his voice joining the choir. now, he looks back upon his previous self not with disdain, but with something akin to pity. to feel the need to obsessively carve out a place for yourself, to refuse to acknowledge the circumstance that put you there… how sadly he had lived.
when he felt your presence for the first time, he was swept up into a gale of joy. to be seen by his god, to be worth your attention despite the atrocities that filled his past was much more than he could ever dream of. at best, he’d hoped for an acceptance of his change. an acceptance of who he was now, of the effort he’d put in. at best, he’d hoped you could find some joy within the city that he’d carved from rock, that the people he’d fostered would make you happy.
and then his people had betrayed you.
and then he had joined them in their heresy.
he had pushed past his instincts to protect who he thought was you, he had pushed past the light that erupted within him to defend what he thought was your honor, all while going against everything that he’d honored.
loyalty, shattered as he’d drawn his blade.
justice, torn as he’d brought it down.
your image, broken when you bled.
he remembers with sickening clarity when he’d received the news, remembered the dawning horror that, even as zhongli, he could not escape the legacy left by morax.
a legacy stained with bloodshed, but not one he’d ever expect to be touched by yours.
he’d spent many days after that hidden away, at an old shrine of yours in the mountains that was only ever visited by him. he’d knelt at the stone monument, some of the eons-old dirt washing away as he cried. he couldn’t be there for the execution of the traitor, he couldn’t bear to see anything resembling your visage, not when the memory of his crime was so fresh.
as morax, he had lived for nothing but war. as rex lapis, he had lived for his people.
but as zhongli, he had lived for you.
he had lived to atone for his past, had lived to express his remorse in any way that he could, passing on souls to meet you with his funeral work. he breathed your teachings, his heart beat not with blood but with adoration for you, for your eternal patience with him as you waited for him to eventually return for him.
he didn’t cry his own tears. he cried yours, the ones that must have been shed when you realized you let a monster into your welcoming home of a heart.
at first, he was afraid to be near you, afraid that his sinful hands would betray you once more. he allowed himself to be in the same room as you, to pretend to read as he instead recited prayers that had no place on his tongue, but even that made his heart ache. he was in the same position as before, on his knees and begging for forgiveness, but now with even less reason to be granted it.
had he ever had it in the first place? or were you wise, clever in your actions, making him think he was forgiven before dealing his punishment?
he didn’t want to think so, but couldn’t help but think that the pain in his chest whenever he saw you was worse than any physical lashing. at this point, he’d rather you did hurt him physically, just so he could know when his penance was being paid. he would sit, happily, awaiting anything you thought was right. he didn’t deserve the blessing of your touch, but tangible evidence that he was, however slowly, making progress towards repentance was worth any steel. even if you found him unable to be saved, if you refused to touch him even with an iron edge, he would turn his blade upon himself. to die for you would be an honor.
perhaps that was why you never asked it of him. an ending to his pain would set him free from it, of course.
every time you sat he had to fight not to move himself to the floor. to even assume he could be of equal position- his poor jade heart cracked. but the first time he had done so you were confused, almost horrified once he’d explained himself. you’d tried to do the same and he’d barely had the time to react and catch you before you hit the floor, only regretting it when you’d winced at his grip.
perhaps that was why you kept him around, why you lived in his house. to give him a sense of equality only to rip it away and remind him of his place.
he didn’t want to think you would do that, but then he’d remember what he did, and… surely, he deserved far worse.
when you asked him to take you out, he was elated. bliss bubbled under his skin even as he ensured you would enjoy yourself, keeping track of any flowers you seemed to like and steering you in the direction of more. he kept watch for threats, human or otherwise, geo humming beneath his feet, waiting for his call to shield you. the dust in the air swept away any bugs that could hurt you while letting the harmless ones cross your path, every single connection he had used for you.
walking through the city was a bit more stressful. the air was cleaner, and anybody could be an enemy. he found himself on edge more often, always looking for a space he could summon a pillar incase he needed to shield you.
it had been a guard outside the ministry of civil affairs.
he saw the guard see through your disguise and start to approach and had immediately moved around you to block him. any defense the guard had was shut down quickly with strict words, wanting to get this over with before the other millelith noticed. civilians started to turn, and he could see you shift under their stares, stepping closer to him.
he had to protect you.
his next words cut off whatever the guard had to say—something referring to the qixing? he’d have to get in contact with lady ningguang later, then—but he doesn’t care, already taking a step away. you follow, something he is grateful for, and he stalls a step so he can put a hand on your back to guide you through the small crowd that has formed.
his glove barely ghosts over your shirt but he can feel you tense anyway, see the hike in your shoulders as you speed up slightly to get away, and his heart cracks further.
when did he assume you would want him touching you? when did he think he had the right to try?
his jaw sets and he keeps his hand further away but still around you, a loose illusion of a protective barrier. he had no right to lay his hand on you, not after what he’s done. he hasn’t earned even the thought of it.
his crimes were too heavy, heavier upon his soul than that guards. he, somebody who had betrayed you twice, had less of a chance at forgiveness than any other sinner that didn’t take advantage of your trust. even as he kept you safe from them, he had to remember that it didn’t absolve him. he had an eternity to pay before you would allay his debt, yes, but he could still strive for it. he could do what he could, and shelter you in his home from those that hurt you.
he’d defend you from anything, including himself.
he will be your shield.
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obey-me-disaster · 1 year
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Could you maybe write some headcanons for how the demon brothers would feel about an MC who has a service dog for anxiety?
If you don't feel like writing it or it's too difficult that's completely okay too don't worry.
(I'm a service dog user myself so I just thought it would be nice.)
I hope you'll like these headcanons and that I got everything right! If there is anything I need to correct let me know.
Also sorry for taking so long, I needed to be finished with a fic for a collab first!
Demon brothers x gn!MC
Warning: Belphegor's part has spoilers for lesson 16!
MC with a service dog for anxiety
Lucifer
Since he is one of the people in charge of the exchange program he made sure to also prepare everything for your dog. Anything from food to all the way to paperwork so you two can go anywhere without being disturbed.
He is a dog person so he got a soft spot for your emotional support dog. The dog is probably more spoiled than you, at least until he starts to actually like you.
Since you are in need of your dog he won't bother it. He knows the dog has its job to do.
Is honestly relieved that you got someone other than his brothers to rely on, especially that being dragged to a different dimeons is not good for your mental health.
Mammon
So not only does he need to take care of a human, but he needs to take care of their dog too now??
Before actually realizing that your dog is more than a simple pet he wanted to include it in one of his money making schemes. After you and Lucifer tell him off he actually gets it and backs off
He does a 180° with his attitude and is really glad that there is someone to be near you when he can't be there to protect you. Lowkey he and the dog have some kind of nonverbal agreement on how to help you with your anxiety.
Tries to spoil the dog and buy luxury items for it. You'll have to let him know what could distract your service dog or not. He honestly gets everything really fast.
Leviathan
Jealous that he can't take Henry with him the way you can do with your service dog...and looking at him he might need some service/therapy/emotional support animal outside of his fish.
He knows how bad anxiety can be, so he is both greatfull that you got some support and a bit jealous because of it too.
He is really chill with the dog, he even made a small spot where it can relax when you stay in his room.
He once saw Henry trying to get your service dog's attention and took it as a sign that both of your guy's friendship/relationship is made to last for a long time.
Tries to find animes where the protagonist has a service dog for anxiety so you could relate to more chatacters
Satan
He has only read about service/therapy/emotional supports animals so he was really curious of seeing one in real life.
Be prepared to be asked a ton of questions about your dog's training, routine, how it helps you manage your anxiety. He sees it as a way to both get to know you better and to learn something new.
Might use the way your service dog helps to convince Lucifer to let him get an emotional support cat for his anger. Lucifer, of course, denies his request.
Just because he is a cat person it doesn't mean he doesn't love other animals as well. He knew that service dogs go through some training to be able to adapt to different situation, but being dragged to hell might go out of what any service animal is prepared for. He will go out of his way to give him a bit of training and some protection spells.
Asmodeus
He adores dogs. He had to be told that service animals are not the same thing as pets, so he can't go around playing and dressing up the poor dog.
He will pout about it for a bit before getting over it but that just means he can focus in spoiling you even more.
Lowkey educates the Devildom by accident about service animals due to how many Devilgram posts he makes about you and your dog.
A/N: ok but there is one event where Solomon talked with a fish and apparently the god damn fish had better working conditions than humans...so yeah, I guess animals are really treated with respect down there.
He will make sure that your service dog always look at its best. His resoning? Seeing him be so cute and soft will help you with your anxiety. He does make sure to not really separate it from you.
Beelzebub
He was watched very closely at the begging by his brothers, so he wouldn't try to eat you or your dog. It didn't take long for things to settle and for him to start liking your service dog. Especially that he likes dogs.
He might or might not have tried some of your service dog's food...he felt really sorry and went to buy any and all snacks he could find. MC would probably have to remind him what their dog can and can't eat.
He sees the dog as part of the family and takes it upon himself to make sure that both you and your service dog are safe and sound.
If, by some chance, you have to be away from their service dog Beel will be the first one to volunteer to take care of him.
Belphegor
How the fuck did both you and your service dog sneak into the attic, more times than once?? The poor animal is acting uneasy the first time it sees Belphie.
Imagine if you decide to sneak into the attic alone for your visits and leave your service dog behind. Those would be the times when the dog is on high alert.
OK BUT imagine lesson 16. One moment the dog is with you and the other the dog is trying to understand how you suddenly got hurt and die...
If after the incident your anxiety gets worse, your service dog would put himself between you and Belphegor to try and distract you/put you at ease.
Outside of all the angst, Belphie is pretty chill with the dog. If he wants to cuddle with you he will even welcome your service dog in the cuddle pile. He is honestly relieved that you got some support system, especially after the whole lesson 16 affair..
Also a dog person, so he will be very fond of your service dog.
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phoenixwritessmut · 6 months
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intimacy headcanons about bottoms (2023)
okay, so i have a lot of feelings about this movie right here. i watched it in theatres with one of my bestfriends, and we couldn't stop talking about it afterwards - more specifically, headcanons we had about the fight club OG members and their reactions to sexual intimacy.
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hear me out, okay.
PJ (we start with the queen who started it all): - talks a big game but actually wildly unknowledgeable about everything to do with the female orgasm. - is a bottom. it's in the title, it's in her genes, it's in her jeans. - has a controversy kink (cute cheerleaders, chicks that can make shit explode) and will vehemently deny that she likes the thrill of crushing out on someone she ABSOLUTELY has no business crushing on. - learned halfway through the movie that she's into pain!
Josie (the brains of the operation... sometimes): - pimpy as fuck. she thought she'd be shy and nervous, but when she gets going she's three steps from being the hugh hefner of lesbians. - she's a top, but a service top who will let her girl do the 'topping' if she wants to (and by girl, i mean Isabel). - secret collection of toys "just in case" she needs the help with her stamina (girl just recovered from a broken arm)... spoiler alert, they use absolutely none of them and still run for like four to six rounds. - too embarrassed to admit she used to watch videos to "take notes".
Hazel (my baby, she is everything to me): - is baby girl, but is also daddy depending on her mood (and what PJ is into at the time) but is precious none the less. - refuses to turn the lights off because she likes to watch you both during and after the throes of passion. - lowkey but also kind of highkey enjoys public displays of affection after the kiss that started the straight up murder of an entire football team of teenage boys (also enjoys shoving it in Tim's face that she's got a girlfriend, and he's got... Jeff!). - ridiculously good at what she does but doesn't brag... instead PJ brags to everyone for her, and she ends up with a reputation.
Isabel (shiny, shiny, shiny, shiny): - first time she slept with Josie, she lost all hope that a man would ever know how to satisfy her - or another woman for that matter. - seems like she would be a pillow princess but is actually extremely into giving, and fights with Josie all the time over "topping". - gets turned on watching Josie break people's noses (it's happened a few times, all to the same effect) and isn't ashamed to admit it. - went to Hazel for tips on how to do things, before word even got out that Hazel was a pro... Isabel just had the feeling that Hazel knew.
Brittany (token straight girl... literally the token straight girl): - since turning down PJ, has kissed more girls than the entire club combined (it doesn't help that half of them are all into each other). - wavers on the border of being bi-curious, but just didn't know how to turn down PJ gently, also just not ready to fully come out yet. - definitely fantasizes about women while she's with her boyfriend though. he knows and doesn't really mind about that. - stands by Hazel deserves better than PJ, and if she were just five percent more into women, she'd steal poor Hazel away in a heartbeat.
and to a lesser degree, we had some headcanons about everyone else...
Stella-Rebecca (the regina george, only nicer): - looks like a pillow princess, absolutely is a pillow princess. - into some crazy ass shit; things that the rest of the girls won't even search online for until they're at least twenty-five, married, and bored in their current intimacy lives.
Sylvie (let's crowdfund to get this girl some help): - looks like she'd be in charge, is also a pillow princess, but is completely unashamed to admit that she prefers receiving. - has been hooking up with Annie since the second meeting of fight club. only Hazel knows, but she isn't a snitch.
Annie (you fool nobody, you a freak my dear): - has been hooking up with Sylvia since the second meeting of fight club, when she very concerned about the girl's homelife asked her out for dinner to "talk" and then they ended up spending the entire night together, before they kissed and fooled around a little bit, and Annie told herself for the longest time she was only doing this to make Sylvie happy because the girl is wildly unhappy, only to realize that she's the unhappy one and Sylvie makes her happy. - doesn't know that Hazel knows about them. she aint a snitch.
and for extra bonus points... we had lots of feelings about this.
Jeff (i'm saying he counts, so there): - has never found THE spot, ever. - had to practice with Tim on how to take a bra off because he kept getting confused by all of the buckles and "why is there so many straps? why do they even need these things? can't i rip it? what if i just buy them a new bra after? okay fine." - genuinely does not realize that Mrs. Callahan's daughter Hazel goes to his school and knows his girlfriend, until he is confronted by them. - falls asleep thirty-six seconds after he finishes like a lazy ass.
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melvisik · 7 months
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OFMD S2 SPOILERS
This is complete self indulgence (but then, this is Tumblr, and there is an analysis towards the bottom). Just reiterating how notable the merman scene is, both from the practical way it was done and the metaphorical significance. But first to preface with a confession: I seek out spoilers, so with the prior expectation of seeing a merman!Stede, it was fairly obvious he was going to show up at this particular moment. Honestly not sure how this could be handled without disclosure. That knowledge or lack thereof is absolutely a contributing factor on the 'cringe' element. It can seem a little cringe, mostly from the fact we got something so outlandishly unexpected at a beautifully critical moment. But Stede is a cringe person:
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And besides, as far as unusual things happening at emotional scenes, last season we had this:
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Here is poor Edward Teach spilling his heart out, and Stede is presenting a much different air than the situation might call for. It didn't feel inauthentic per se (that is legit moment of confusion), but the atmosphere for a scene in an emotionally charged, key-point moment of a character's story arc just felt a little off (in my opinion anyway).
But you know what? This is a comedy. And as far as the performance goes, from what we've seen so far, Rhys Darby charges into any situation with stalwart commitment and full steam ahead, no matter how cringeworthy the risk.
And that includes donning a shimmering fish tail, grabbing a trident, and swimming in a large water tank to smile at the camera.
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Major props to him for that, it takes guts.
(Also, it's just frickin cool to try out a gorgeously decked out merperson tail. Lucky sunuvabitch...)
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Plus, as so many others have pointed out, the metaphor is just breathtaking. It's not just about the show being a comedy and playing off the strangeness of a merman showing up, but it's about what the scene represents. Hold on now, this is gonna be a long one... During that kiss on the beach, Stede Bonnet was so much of what Edward Teach has been yearning for in his life. Yes Stede is a representation of the 'finer' things (which Ed's own mother told him he could never have), but he's also kindness, understanding, support, love... things that Edward has more than likely been denied over and over again. For instance- in this tiny moment in his dream sequence, when Ed tries out being Jeff the Innkeeper, the figure of his old captain Hornigold is all for taking it way too seriously, bringing Ed down to face the cruelties of reality.
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But in these kinds of scenes, Stede plays with Ed. He is all for Blackbeard's Bar and Grill, and if someone is being a dick and not wanting to go visit the gift shop, he'll be there to give Ed encouragement.
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And then there's this:
And this:
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Ed vaguely reminds me of Aldonza from Man of la Mancha, which is a whole other analysis, but it's basically a character so beaten down by life that the very concepts of feeling worthy and being treated with kindness are devastating: Blows and abuse, I can take and give back again. Tenderness, I cannot bear. -"Aldonza" from Man of la Mancha. But Ed's vision of Stede seems to represent all the gentleness and sweetness Ed so desperately craves, and when Stede shows up here, he is so happy to see him. First mate 'we've-known-each-other-a-long-time' Izzy Hands flat out tells Ed that he loves him, and this is Ed's reaction:
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Because, lest we forget, Izzy told him that he wanted Blackbeard, not Edward, and that Edward better watch his fucking step.
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From Ed's point of view, who the hell is the harsh pirate Izzy to tell Edward that he loves him, when all he really seems to love is the persona of Blackbeard? But this is his reaction to the warm, gentle Stede Bonnet, who is supportive of the man Edward Teach and all his vulnerabilities:
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Also, within the scene itself, it is so important that Stede doesn't untie the rope from around Ed's waist. Here, this lays it out beautifully:
Edited based on a post I cannot find: This is also a rebirth for Ed - surrounded by wet and darkness, going towards the light, and taking his first new breath (while This Woman's Work plays in the background, a song literally about a problematic birth as the partner feels practically helpless to do anything)...
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So it's something Stede can't physically assist with. He can only give Ed support and a little guidance. In summation, as Edward plunges into the depths of despair, literally weighted down by his trauma, here comes this sweet, loving sea creature that is so different from anything he has ever known but has always wanted. Now, this could be problematic, as this season is probably going to delve more into how Ed and Stede see their roles fairly differently, with one ready to move on from the pirate life and the other ready to jump right in. Stede certainly doesn't seem to view himself as a sweet, goldfish merman, as currently he is all about being a swashbuckler.
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But for now, Ed's vision met with Stede's heart-wrenching desperation...
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...brilliantly highlights how much Ed and Stede mean to each other. And for this sequence, Rhys Darby learned a new skill and was fully present with Taika Waititi (MAJOR props to him also for shooting this underwater moment so frickin beautifully) in one of the most memorable scenes thus far.
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Maybe his motivation for doing it was just because merpersoning is a neat thing to do, but the result really meant a lot. To see him there with Taika's Edward in an actual tail, and not just Taika reacting to a body double with a masked over face or a CGI tail that will always be fake no matter how real it looks... Mad respect, man. And thank you. P.S. Also this:
Absolutely. Personally could not be more thrilled that they used practical effects rather than CGI. It shows, OFMD team. It really shows ❤️
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