#happy birthday from clarissa!

[mulberrimouse]

This fic was supposed to be short and simple and stay like that but I got a little carried away...

Info and warnings!!: Friends to lovers, Andrew x Reader, no smut but HEAVY making out and teasing as well as cursing. Lots of praise and devotion, body worship. (Obviously. this is Andrew we're talking about), light degrading if you squint. Let me know if I missed anything!

Also, apologies for any spelling mistakes!

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Oh, Halloween. Your favorite holiday. No obligation to get people gifts, scary movies, dressing up, so many different parties (only if you want), and candy. Tons of candy. You've always had a big sweet tooth so it surprises nobody when you go all out on buying bulk bags to keep around your house.

Speaking of bags of sweets, you were digging around in a bag you'd just gotten when your closest friend Andrew shot you a message.

"Hey, sweetie. When should I be over?"

As his name popped up on your screen, you tried not to let the term "friend" get to you. You've knon Andrew for quite some time now and have been head over fucking heels for him for most of it. He was always attractive but god help you. He was funny in a uniquely Andrew way, he was beyond kind and intelligent. He always tried his best to make time for you, even on tour. He was the sweetest man you'd ever met. And "sweetie". Lord the things that nickname did to you. He started calling you that after the 6th or 7th time he found a stash of candy in your cabinets.

"Around 7! I don't wanna stay up too late."

He liked the message and, you assumed, got ready for the party. It was a lowkey costume party with some drinks. You weren't a fan of huge parties but you enjoyed seeing your friends a lot. You spend around the kitchen, cleaning and setting out different liquor and alcohol, as well as some food and non-alcoholic drinks. Once it was all set up, you went upstairs to go put ok some makeup and the Freddy Cruger costume you picked out. You were elated when you found it. It was simple but cute.

--

Eventually, 7:30 rolls around and many of your close friends, as well as some of their own, are scattered around your house, talking and drinking. Someone took control of the speakers and put on some funky Halloween music that people started dancing to. There was still no sign of Andrew though. As you tried to stop yourself from anxiously checking your phone every 2 minutes, a vaguely familiar face popped up in front of you.

"Hey Y/N! It's David, from Clarissa's birthday. How have you been?"

"I've been okay!! I'm pretty busy with school and work. I'm happy that there's finally a break, though!"

"Yeah, yeah I can imagine. Anyway, who are you here with?"

"Nobody, actually!"

"Ohhhh... So no boyfriend or anything?"

You mentally roll your eyes but try to keep a polite smile. He's not Andrew, but he isn't too bad you suppose. It's just uncomfortable because you don't know him all that well. He's just a coworker of Clarissa's. However, it could he good. Maybe it'll help you move on. You can't just spend your time following Andrew like a lost puppy, right?

Right as you're about to tell him that you're single at the moment, someone else walks over.

"Hey, sweetheart! Sorry I'm late. The face paint took a while to dry."

You turned to see Andrew standing next to you. You didn't even respond before you leaned into him and gave him a big hug.

"Andy! I was worried about you." You looked up at the face paint he had done and nearly stopped breathing. White paint covered his face while black outlined and extended his lips, as well as surrounding his eyes with sharp, long points at the bottom. He was Eric Draven from The Crow. His hair was in a low messy bun of curls and he had a wide smile on his face. Seeing him pushed the idea of moving on out of your head entirely.

"You really are sweet, huh? There was no need to be worried."

You blush slightly and look down before turning back to David. Andrew looked at the table next to your scanning over the drink options as David began to talk.

"So, no boyfriend then?"

As soon as it left his mouth, Andrew coughed and glanced at him. You started to talk, wanting to explain that you weren't looking for anything but before you could say anything, one of David's friends called him over. He told you that he'd come find you later before he walked away.

--

For the next few hours, you and Andrew were practically attached to each other. He always had his hand in yours or around your waist. He also made sure to tell you not to drink too much because he knew how much you despised being hung over. Luckily, as the night passes, you managed to stay at a comfortable, tipsy point, not full on drunk.

Not so luckily, though, you found yourself having to make sure you weren't staring at Andrew for too long. Whether it be his hands holding his glass, or his eyes crinkling when he smiled. The worst was when he had his hand secure on your waist. You so badly wished it meant more than it did.

Unbeknownst to you, Andrew was feeling the exact same way. He kept glancing at you, his breath getting caught in his chest when you leaned into him or looked up to speak. He was hyper aware of the warmth of your body against him. Everything he wanted to do to you kept flashing through his mind and he quickly got more antsy. As he gave almost all his focus to not getting hard right behind you, you were blissfully unaware, just happy that he could be there. You were having a really good time until you felt him shift away from you.

You looked up at him, confused.

"Are you okay, Andy?"

He nodded and smiled down at you, so you turned around, unintentionally brushing your ass against him. You felt him through his pants and immediately, you felt yourself get hot. You definitely didn't want to assume that it was because of you, but just the idea make your legs weak. You decided to press yourself against him lightly and you felt his hand on your waist tighten and he pulled you closer, slightly aggressively. He leaned down and whispered in your ear.

"We're going to go upstairs."

He led you up the stairway and partially into the hall. His original plan was to go all the way to your room but he was too impatient. Before you even got close to your door, he yanked you to the side and pressed you up against the wall. He stared down at you, his breathing heavy and his eyes wild. He leaned down to be at eye level with you, his lips ghosting over yours. You felt his breath as he spoke.

"Just what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, Andrew."

"Oh... Is that so?"

You giggled nervously and nodded with your bottom lip caught between your teeth.

"Are you sure, sweetheart?" He was making you a little light headed but you still understood the actual question. He wanted to make sure that you wanted this. You wanted him. You nodded again and gave him your best doe eyes when you wrapped your arms around his neck to try and pull him closer to you.

"No no darling. Use your words for me. I need to hear it."

"Please Andy... I want you."

He let out a low hum and his eyelids fluttered shut before he slammed his lips into yours. His left hand was gripping your hip and clawing at you, almost ferally, sure to leave marks while his other was cupping your face. Both your arms were wrapped around his neck but one snaked it's way up into his hair. You tugged at his roots and his hips bucked forward into you. Groans and whimpers were flowing steadily from the both of you. He slotted one of his legs between yours and you ground down.

You let out a moan, slightly muffled by his lips against yours. You pulled away to catch your breath. You kept moving your hips and a loud whine escaped you. He smiled down at you and used his left hand to push more pressure down.

"Good girl... Needy little thing. So pretty."

You whimpered and threw your head back against the wall.

"Fuck Andrew. Please- I need you..."

"Ohhh sweetie. Want me to fuck you with everyone down stairs?"

"Pleasepleasepleaseplease!"

"Shhhhhhh baby... Calm down."

He removed his leg and you nearly fell to the ground. He held you up and got down on his knees once he was sure you were steady. He lifted your sweater and started kissing across your stomach. Both of his hands now gripped your thighs and pulled you closed to him. He pushed your legs apart slightly and pressed his face into your clothed pussy.

"Fuck, need you so bad baby. So pretty. Just wanna fuck you and fuck you and fuck you. You want that? Hm?"

Your hands shot down and weaved through his hair so you could yank his hair back.

"Andrew. Please. Right now. I need you."

He grinned, his pupils dilated so much the color was nearly gone. After standing up, he kissed you again and grabbed your hand to lead you down the hallway...

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#andrew hozier byrne #hozier #the hoziest #smut #hozier smut #hozier x reader

[anna-hawk]

Getting down to business

Julian Kaye x F!Reader

Summary: You run across Julian Kaye on several occasions at the hotel your friend works at. Each time you see him, you are more and more fascinated by his easy charm. After one specific evening, you finally decide to make a business transaction with him in the hopes that Julian will be able to satisfy you in a way that no other man ever has.

Warning/Tags: oral sex (f!receiving), sex work, shy reader, body worship, fluff and smut

WC: 9.5k // Explicit 🔞

This is written for the Naughty or Nice Bernthirst Prompt Fest. The prompt was on the Naughty list and was “Keep your eyes open, look at me.” with Julian Kaye. Idk whose prompt it is, but I hope that I was able to work it into my initial idea well enough. I definitely had an incredible time writing for Julian, and it's some of the softest, yet still intense smut I've written. And we have a shy reader this time, which is also kind of a first for me.

Happy holidays everyone 🎉

Looking around yourself to take the whole restaurant in again, your eyes fell to the crystal chandelier hanging above the table you were sitting at with your three friends. It sparkled under the soft lights of the venue, giving the place an even more luxurious appearance than the rest of the decor already did. Your eyes travelled away from the chandelier and moved to the bar lying in your line of sight, where a man was sitting at, deep in conversation with the woman next to him. You couldn’t exactly pinpoint what about him had attracted your eyes enough that you’d kept looking back towards him every few minutes since he’d sat down, but you’d found him intriguing right off the bat. He’d joined the woman he was still talking to a good twenty minutes ago, and she’d welcomed him with a seductive smile, which he’d returned with a sultry twist to his lips. They were nursing a glass of wine each, taking a sip here or there, as they kept their heads together while they spoke. You had no idea what they were talking about since, even if there hadn’t been some soft music playing, they were too far away for you to hear anything. From the body language, however, it was still pretty clear that they’d be leaving the hotel together. Or maybe get a room. 

You finally returned your attention to your friends, laughing when, Chloe, the birthday girl, got all excited as the waiter arrived with a small cake, three sparklers crackling on top of it. Clarissa, one of your two other friends, worked at the hotel and had managed to secure a table for tonight, the restaurant being fully booked on most evenings. The food was as delicious as expected, and the dessert proved just as good. While you were savoring the rich cream of the chocolate dessert, you glanced back to the man, only to find him standing and holding out his hand for the woman. You watched how she shot him a falsely coy smile before taking his hand and joining his side. 

“Looks like Julian has found a new client,” Clarissa chuckled next to you, and you noticed that she was looking in the same direction as you. 

“Julian?” You frowned curiously at her use of the word client. “Do you know him?”

“Sure. He’s an escort. He’s good friends with the head concierge, and the costumers he brings in are always super rich and leave huge tips. Well… I think they’re this generous because something else is huge,” Clarissa cackled at her joke, while Chloe and Zara snorted. 

Your eyes widened at the information. An escort? Looking him over with a new eye, you thought that he did fit the part. He was dressed to the nines, not a piece of clothing out of place, as was his impeccable hair, while the fitted suit he was wearing perfectly highlighted his body. He definitely looked like his clientele was from the upper crust. 

“Wonder how much a night with him is,” Chloe mused with an appreciative glance over her shoulder to look at the man while the two others laughed. 

“I don’t know, but I don’t think you could hire Julian Kaye with your teacher’s salary,” Clarissa winked at her, and Chloe flipped her off good-naturedly. 

“So he’s that good, huh?” you asked without meaning to as you watched Julian vanish towards the elevators with the woman. So they would be staying at the hotel. 

“From what I heard.” Clarissa shrugged. “I mean, he’s really nice and all, and he’s always super discreet with his clients. I’ve never been able to really overhear them talk whenever I was serving drinks while he was there. I think that’s what the ladies like about him… But rumor is that none of his clients ever left unsatisfied. You only need to see the looks on their faces when they leave,” she chuckled. 

The conversation steered into another direction after that, but your eyes kept returning to where the couple had left, like you were expecting to see them again and witness the proof of Clarissa’s words. Giving yourself a mental head shake as it happened for the fourth time, you forced yourself to stop and spent the rest of the evening steadfastly ignoring that corner of the hotel. 

A few days later, you made your way through the main hall of the hotel and towards the bar of the restaurant, intending to find Clarissa. You’d left a jacket at her place a few weeks earlier and had asked her to bring it today since the hotel was on your way home from work. 

Since it was late afternoon, there was only a low number of people at the bar. Julian Kaye was one of them, however. The man was sitting at the opposite end of the bar from where you were standing. This time, you were much closer to him than the first time you’d seen him, giving you the chance to take him in some more. He was sitting with his profile to you, giving you a perfect view of his chiseled jaw and the straight slope of his broad nose. Your eyes traveled to his lips as he smiled at something he was seeing on his phone, the relaxed expression looking at odds with the flirty smiles you’d seen a few nights earlier. Appearance wise, he looked just as fetching as the other day. This time, he was wearing a dark green suit that flattered his skin tone, and a pair of shiny black loafers. His hair fell slightly into his face from how he was leaning over the phone, but he brushed it back up by sliding his fingers through it. Watching him like this, you had no doubt that this man could have any woman he wanted. 

“Oh, hey, you’re already here.”

You blinked back to reality and turned your head away from Julian to face Clarissa, now standing across from you behind the bar. 

“Uh, yeah, hi, I was done earlier than expected, so I figured I could just grab a drink while I’m here before heading home.”

Clarissa beamed at your decision to stay for a while longer before she returned to the staff room to grab the jacket for you. You thanked her with a smile and plopped down on the stool in front of her. 

“The usual?” Clarissa asked, already reaching for a glass on the shelf behind her. 

You shrugged with a thoughtful look. “Why don’t you surprise me and mix something for me?” 

She grinned brightly and nodded excitedly; Clarissa was always sure to come up with some delicious cocktail. 

After you’d been chatting for some time while she busied herself with cleaning this or that item or serving customers, you suddenly noticed a tall form moving closer to you and a pleasant scent reaching your nose. Turning your head in the direction of the person, your eyes widened when you saw Julian standing barely a foot away from you as he leaned over the bar and towards Clarissa. 

“Hey, Clarissa, could you send us two whiskeys down there, please? Top shelf.” He extended a hand with a crisp dollar bill clamped between his index and middle finger. 

His voice was smooth and low as he spoke. It wasn’t particularly deep, but the soft, almost private sounding tone he used along with his friendly smile had a warm tingle running down your spine. 

“Coming right up,” Clarissa grinned, snagging the bill from his fingers and going to work instantly. 

Julian smiled back, before his face turned a bit and his eyes landed on you. You could feel your face heating under his attention, and were only able to stare at him wordlessly. His head titled faintly to the side as his lips pulled up more to one side. He was smirking at you, but there was only curious amusement in it. 

“You’re Clarissa’s friend?” he inquired, turning his whole body towards you this time. “Think I’ve seen you here a couple times before.”

Your eyes widened slightly at finding out that Julian had noticed you, even if it was only in relation to Clarissa. 

“Oh — um, yes.”

You didn’t get the chance to say anything more, since Clarissa came back with two tumblers of whiskey and pushed them over the dark wood of the bar and towards Julian.

“Here you go.” 

Julian grinned at her and picked the glasses up with a soft “Thank you”, then shot you a light wink before returning to the end of the bar where a woman was sitting. 

“He seems nice,” you mentioned to Clarissa in a completely fake nonchalant tone as you took a sip from your drink, not wanting to give away how curious you were about this Julian Kaye.  

“Julian? Yeah. Like I said the other day, he’s a really nice guy.” She held up the money he’d given her. “And a big tipper too. I’ve stopped trying to give him back any change, and he’s stopped telling me to keep it,” she said with a small laugh, moving to the side to finish the transaction with the till. 

“And the owner doesn’t mind him … working here?” you kept asking, glancing back towards Julian to see his lips pull into a playful smile at what the woman was telling him. He really had a beautiful mouth.

Clarissa shrugged. “It’s LA, right? I guess everyone wins in this situation and as long as there are no issues, no one really cares.”

You nodded, seeing her point. 

“Besides, it’s not like he’s here every night, either. He probably has his regulars here and there, and I know that he’s taken one or two of the women here to some fancy events.”

Humming at her explanation, you chose to change the subject, no matter how much you wanted to ask more questions. 

As you finally made your goodbyes twenty minutes later, you noticed that Julian was standing too and offering his arm to the woman. She seemed to be in her late 50s or early 60s, the plastic surgery she had gotten done making it harder to determine. As you slowly followed behind them to get to the exit of the restaurant, Julian noticed you as they stepped outside. He sent you a small smile and a nod of farewell, which you echoed shyly. You consciously refrained yourself from looking back at where he’d walked off to this time, and headed down in the opposite direction.

In the following days, your mind regularly returned to Julian. And his job. You had no doubt that the man actually had several clients over the whole city. He was beautiful and charming, and the way he looked at the person he was talking to made it seem like they had his full attention. You’d seen it during the two times he’d been talking to either of these women, but also when he’d talked to you. As short as the encounter had been, he’d really looked at you. 

Clarissa’s words also kept repeating in your head: Rumor is that none of his clients ever left unsatisfied. You bit the inside of your cheek each time you remembered that part and thought of his lips, wondering if… but then you shook your head, feeling ridiculous for entertaining that thought for even a second. 

That Saturday evening, you once again made your way through the hotel lobby and into the restaurant, looking for Clarissa. You and the girls were going out tonight, but Clarissa had to work a longer shift than anticipated due to one of her coworkers calling in sick. You’d offered to run by her place and pick up a few things for her so she could change at the hotel, and you’d go straight from there. 

Clarissa watched you approach with a bright smile, making grabby hands at the little bag you’d brought her with her stuff inside. 

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you. I thought the day would never end,” she sighed as you handed her the bag over the bar. “Thanks, I’ll be out front in a sec. Wanna drink something while you wait?” 

“Nah, I’m good. I’ll just sit down over there.” You motioned to one of the small bar tables with your chin. 

Clarissa nodded and ran through the ‘employees only’ door at the back of the bar. 

While you waited, you let your eyes move around the bar, absently looking at the patrons coming in and out of the restaurant. 

“You’re by yourself tonight?” asked a low voice close by, making your head jerk in its direction. 

Julian was standing to the side of your table, smiling down at you with this soft expression that you realized was his natural smile. Today, he’d gone for dark gray slacks and a burgundy button down shirt, the top two buttons undone and the jacket thrown over one arm. Your heart started beating faster at the sight of him and the attention that was directed solely on you. You took in a deep breath to calm yourself, doing it slowly and hoping that Julian didn’t notice it. 

“Uh, no. I’m waiting for Clarissa to get ready to leave.”

Julian gave you a once over, making more heat run over your face and neck. 

“Going somewhere?”

“Uh huh… I mean, yes. We’re trying out this new, uh, restaurant down town and… yeah.”

You wanted to sink through the floor with how awkward you felt. Smooth? You didn’t know them. 

“Yeah? What’s the place called?” 

If he noticed your distress, he didn’t show it. Instead, he seemed so honestly interested that it rendered you to an even bigger stuttering mess. 

“Oh, um…” you blinked a few times, unable to remember the name of the restaurant. “It was, uh… something Italian?” 

Julian’s mouth quirked to the side in amusement, but it wasn’t mocking. If anything, it looked actually sort of fond, which had your heart doing double time. You also had to force yourself to not let your eyes stare at his expressive mouth.

You jerked in your seat at the call of your name a moment later, breaking the spell Julian had put on you with his eyes alone, and swiveled your head to see Clarissa walking up to the table. 

“I’m ready when you are,” she announced with a grin, before she looked at Julian. “Hey, Julian.”

“Hey,” Julian smiled, right before someone called out his name from down the bar, and he turned towards the voice. 

You and Clarissa followed his gaze and found a woman dressed in an elegant jumpsuit waiting for Julian at the entrance of the restaurant. 

“Ladies, if you’ll excuse me… Have a nice evening at that Italian place,” Julian smiled charmingly at the two of you. “It was nice seeing you again,” he added just for you, and the way he said your name at the end had warmth curling in your belly.

Somehow, the simple use of your name also helped you make a choice about something that you hadn’t consciously been thinking about; or rather, not allowed yourself to really think about. 

“You too,” you managed, as you got up and joined Clarissa, a rush of nervousness and exhilaration washing over you at your decision. 

Julian smiled again and gave you a nod while you and Clarissa said goodbye. You watched him walk towards the woman with long and smooth strides, making you instantly picture a panther. 

“Okay, let’s go,” Clarissa said, checking her phone. “Zara just texted that they’re already there.” 

You nodded and followed her as you hurried out of the hotel. 

“What’s the name of the restaurant again, by the way? Josh asked me earlier, but I couldn’t remember,” she asked a minute later, as you walked towards the nearest subway station.  

“Leoncini’s,” you replied automatically, still lost in thought. 

You mentally facepalmed a second later because, of course, now you remembered the name. If you decided to go through with your plan, then you would have to make sure that you would be able to string along more than one coherent sentence. 

Several hours later and after a fun evening with the girls, you laid in bed but were unable to go to sleep despite your tiredness. You felt both absolutely ridiculous, but also incredibly excited about your decision, which had you going back and forth on going through with it or not. 

But you were so curious, and the thought of Julian doing this to you had you squeezing your legs together. The fact that you were paying for his services was the part that made you the most self-conscious. But then, at least you could be sure that he’d take care of you, right? 

Grabbing one of your pillows, you pressed it over your face and groaned into it with exasperation and frustration, leaving it there for a good minute. As you finally removed it, your face now hot from embarrassment and the pillow itself, you stared at the ceiling and breathed in deeply. Once. You were going to do this once. For yourself. 

Deciding on how to approach Julian about the whole thing took you several days of psyching yourself into actually doing it. It was one thing to decide that you wanted to do it, and another one to actually go through with it. One thing was certain, the only place you knew Julian to regularly be at was the hotel, which meant that Clarissa couldn’t be working on the day you went there. Thankfully, you talked about your respective jobs often enough that you knew when she was off the following week. You could only hope that Julian would be there as well, since Clarissa had told you that he wasn’t there every night. 

That Friday evening, you made sure to put extra care in what you were wearing. Julian would probably not be available the same night, which was fine by you, but you still wanted to look your best while making your request. 

Your heart was beating like crazy during the whole time it took you to get to the hotel, and you had to shake out your hands before going in to stop your nervous twitching. With one final deep breath, you walked through the lobby, nodding at the person behind the reception desk since you knew them — hopefully he wouldn’t tell Clarissa about seeing you today — and entered the restaurant. You scanned the bar and the tables lined up in front of it. Not seeing him, you looked towards the restaurant tables, but you were just as unsuccessful in finding Julian. Heaving a sigh, you bit over your lower lip, wondering about what to do. You couldn’t be sure that he would come at all, but maybe he’d be in a little later. With a look at the bar, you chose to take a seat there and have a drink. Thankfully, you didn’t remember meeting the bartender who took your order. 

Nearly a whole hour passed before you started to think that tonight would be one of those nights where Julian wouldn’t show up. You checked your phone for the time again, and sighed, about to get up, when you heard laughter and lifted your head towards the doors. Julian, dressed in a deep blue suit, walked through them with another man, the latter laughing loudly, while Julian chuckled and shook his head. Your heart, which had had the time to calm down in the past hour, found the same nervous rhythm as when you’d first arrived. You closed your hands into fists over your thighs before rubbing your palms over them. Julian was walking in your direction, and you tried to angle your body so he would see that it was you, but also not make it obvious that you were hoping that he’d see you. Picking up your second drink and surreptitiously glancing up from under your lashes as you watched them come closer, you saw Julian listening to something the other man was saying while letting his eyes drift over the room. Recognition sparked in his eyes as his gaze landed on you. You met his eyes when his lips pulled into a smile, and sent him a small one in return. 

“Hey, how’re you doing?” Julian asked, stopping at your level. 

“Good, thank you,” you smiled, turning your glass in your hands before stopping the nervous motion. 

Julian looked around the bar and tilted his head. 

“Clarissa here?” 

Your eyes widened briefly at his question. Of course, he supposed you were here for Clarissa again. 

“Uh, no, she’s off today.”

Julian’s eyes went back to you, but you were unable to meet them. You stared into your glass instead. 

“Julian?” asked the other man after a beat of silence. 

You lifted your eyes again to see Julian looking at the man and nodding. 

“Have a good evening,” Julian said with a small smile directed at you and began walking again. 

Shit. You’d had the perfect opportunity, but you totally blew it by not engaging more with him, and now he was walking away. 

Feeling like a fool, you stared at his slowly retreating back and sighed loudly.

“Julian!” 

Julian looked back at you with the same surprise that you were feeling, since you hadn’t consciously decided to call out his name. Tightening your jaw with new resolve, you put your drink back on the bar and slid from the stool to take a step in Julian’s direction. 

“Do you maybe have a minute?” 

Frowning slightly for a second, Julian shot a look towards the other man. 

“I’ll join you later,” he told him. 

The man gave you a quizzical look, but agreed and continued on alone.

With his hands in the pockets of his pants, Julian slowly walked back to you, stopping a few feet away. 

“What’s-”

“Could we do this somewhere more private?” you cut in, nervously glancing around you and wringing your hands. 

Frowning again and squinting at you curiously, Julian motioned for you to follow him out of the restaurant and towards a somewhat secluded alcove. 

“What can I do for you, Sweetheart?” 

Your heart missed a beat at the endearment. By the way he was looking at you and his soft tone, Julian was clearly concerned about your need to talk to him. It took you another second to find your voice again and get your thoughts in order. 

“Okay, so, um… First off, I need this to stay between us. Clarissa can’t know, okay?”

Julian nodded slowly, one eyebrow lifting questioningly. 

“Of course.”

Nodding as well, you blew out a loud breath and uttered a small, nervous laugh. Now or never.

“Right, so…” you stalled for a second before powering on. “I’d like to… um… hire your services?”

Now both of Julian’s eyebrows shot up towards his hairline, as he’d clearly not expected anything of the sort. His head tilted to one side as he considered you, his back straightening and his hands going back into his pants. 

“And what kind of services would you like?” he wondered, taking a step closer to you as his voice lowered, turning more private. 

Willing the heat of embarrassment suffusing your face away, you bit over your bottom lip and glanced into his eyes before looking away again. 

“I would like you to make me come with only your mouth,” you replied quietly, forcing the blunt words out so there wouldn’t be any doubts about what you wanted or expected from him. 

Julian was quiet for a moment before he spoke again. 

“That’s it? Nothing else?” 

Looking at his questioning eyes, you nodded with a one-sided shrug. 

“I’ve never been able to get there with my previous partners, so,” you trailed off with another self-conscious shrug. 

“Then you haven’t been with any decent men,” Julian said with an unimpressed look on his face at the knowledge that seemingly no one had made enough of an effort for you. 

A small, surprised laugh escaped you at the vehemence in his tone. 

“Maybe, I don’t know, but…” you sighed. “I tend to, you know, always be too much in my head. Like, I can’t fully let go, I guess.”

Julian observed you quietly for a few seconds. 

“What makes you think it’ll be different with me?”

You’d asked yourself the same question, so the answer came quickly this time. 

“I suppose, well, hope really, that since there’s no pressure whatsoever for anything else beyond that, I’ll be able to, well, get out of my head.” You laughed under your breath. “And I have more confidence that you know what you’re doing.”

Julian chuckled at the last part, and he hummed thoughtfully. 

“And when would you like this to happen?” 

“So you agree?” you asked, eyes wide at his easy acceptance. 

He huffed out a small laugh of equal surprise and let his eyes travel over you. “Why wouldn’t I?” 

Heat blooming on your face, you looked away with a small smile. 

“Well… I’m usually free on any nights, so… Whenever you’re free, I guess… And,” you hesitated for a second? “What do you charge for that?” 

Julian pulled out his phone from the inside of his jacket and scanned it for a minute. 

“How about tomorrow?” he suggested, throwing you a brief look over the top of his phone as he typed. 

“Oh… um, okay.”

“Here okay, or you wanna go somewhere else?” 

You’d thought about that and even considered asking him back to your place if he agreed, but you’d quickly decided that you’d rather it happen somewhere neutral. You laughed nervously.

“Here would be fine by me, but I can barely afford more than two drinks here once in a while without having to eat cup noodles for the following week. So paying you and a room…” you laughed with a grimace and let the end of the sentence unspoken, the meaning clear without you voicing it. You were in a luxury hotel, and the drinks definitely followed the general rates of the establishment. Only Clarissa working here got you a small discount. “I’ll have to think about-”

“Tell you what… I can usually get a room here without problem,” Julian told you with a smile. 

“Oh… Really? I guess… If you’re sure, then that would be… great.”

Nodding decisively, Julian shook his phone and motioned it at you. 

“Can I have your phone number?” 

“Oh… Yes, sure.”

You recited the number while Julian typed it into his phone, then your own vibrated in your purse.

“I sent you the rates,” Julian explained as you pulled your phone out of your purse. 

You stared at the price popping up in the texts. It was expensive, but far less than you had expected, which was a good thing. Looking back at Julian, you gave him a succession of quick nods of agreement. 

“Um… how… do you prefer your payments? Do I wire them or, um… ugh, I’m sorry for being so awkward about all this… I keep feeling like I’m going to say something really offensive and ask the wrong question at some point.” 

You huffed out an exasperated laugh and rubbed your palms over your arms. 

“Don’t be,” Julian smiled gently, leaning forward to catch your gaze, which you had averted during your muttering. “Never anything wrong with asking for what you want. Any woman should be taken care of the way she deserves to. That’s what I’m here for.”

You bit your lip at the heartfelt words, and gave him a small, grateful smile for putting you at ease. 

“As for your question. Wired, cash, however’s fine by me,” he added. 

“‘kay… Is there something… I should… be aware of? Like dos and don’ts?” 

Julian considered you for a little moment and shook his head minutely. 

“Think about what you’ll be comfortable doing. Or me doing to you. I’ll follow your lead. But we can always go with the flow, see how I can get you out of that pretty head of yours.” He pointed at your forehead with a small chuckle. 

“Oh… yeah, okay.” 

Your breathing ticked up a notch at his words. 

“Right… Wanna meet in this spot tomorrow around 9?”

“Yeah,” you stopped yourself from saying okay again. You couldn’t remember how often you must have said it tonight, or any variation of it.

“Good,” Julian smiled, pocketing his phone. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” 

“Tomorrow,” you smiled back, nodding. 

With a last nod of goodbye, Julian turned around and walked back into the restaurant, leaving you to stare after him with a still baffled expression. This was actually going to happen. You were going to have that gorgeous man’s mouth on you. A shiver of anticipation ran down your spine. 

When you woke up the next morning after barely getting any sleep the previous night from all the excitement and nervousness of what was to come, you started wondering if going to the hotel was the best idea. What if someone recognized you and saw you with Julian, only to tell Clarissa about it? Sure, it was none of her business, but you still didn’t feel like sharing what you were going to do with her or any of your two other friends. You couldn’t be sure that they’d understand; it was quite an unconventional request coming from you. 

After lying around in bed for an hour and going back and forth with your emotions on the matter, you finally put a lid on all of it and decided to just go for it. It was only tonight, you’d be discreet and even if someone saw you, what did they actually know that wouldn’t be anything more than wild assumptions? With a decisive nod, you got up and went about your day, trying to push any thoughts of that evening to the back of your mind so they wouldn’t distract you too much. Which you weren’t that successful at since you weren’t working and hadn’t planned anything in particular except for doing some chores. 

By the end of the day, you were a nervous wreck and only managed to go through the process of getting ready on autopilot. Before you knew it, it was ten minutes to nine, and you were, once again, standing in front of the hotel. Quickly going through the lobby and avoiding the reception desk just in case, you arrived at the alcove and found Julian already standing there. He was leaning against the wall, his stance relaxed with one ankle crossed over the other, while he looked at his phone. He’d gone for a charcoal suit with a dark red button down shirt. You swallowed at the outfit, as well as at his sharp jaw that looked freshly shaved and at his nose that scrunched up in thought. That gorgeous man would be yours for the night.

Julian’s head lifted as you came closer, his hair falling slightly into his eyes from the motion. Your breath caught as he smiled, one side of his mouth pulling up more than the other. 

“Hey,” he said and turned to you, taking a few steps in your direction to meet you halfway while his eyes swept over you. “You look beautiful.”

“Hey,” you replied in kind, except that it came out breathless and almost inaudible. “Thank you,” you managed after another breath, your face feeling hot. 

“Is there something you’d like to do before we go up or…?” Julian inquired, putting his hands in his pockets, but still leaning closer to you. 

“Um, no, I think I’m good,” you muttered, trying to get your heart beat under control. 

Julian nodded with a small smile and extended an arm in the direction you were going into before leading the way. As you silently followed him to the elevators, you glanced down at his hands that were still sitting in his pants. He hadn’t touched you at all. He’d come closer, as he’d done yesterday evening, talked in a seductive voice, but he hadn’t touched you, keeping his hands to himself at all times. As excited for that to change as you were, you realized that he was doing it on purpose and clearly for your sake, considering how he hadn't refrained from touching his other clients. You felt immeasurably glad about him picking up on you being apprehensive of being touched in public. Thus far, Julian had been incredibly professional about everything. He had been surprised by your initial approach, but as soon as he’d understood what you were looking for, he’d never acted in any way or said anything to make you feel uncomfortable or ashamed about what you were asking for. You rode the elevator in silence, but you noticed that Julian was giving you furtive glances every few seconds. It wasn’t until you’d walked up to the suite’s door — yes, he’d gotten you a goddamn suite — that Julian finally spoke. 

“Just so we’re clear. Anything that is going to happen in this room, or not happen for that matter, is fully up to you. You choose that we stop here, that’s totally fine. Got it?”

You stared into his brown eyes, gentle and honest. Was your nervousness that obvious? You scoffed internally. Of course it was. You must have been fidgeting non-stop since the moment you’d seen him. 

“Got it,” you replied, infusing as much determination into your voice as possible. You did want this, after all. 

Julian nodded with a small smile and pulled a key card out of the inside of his jacket. He pressed it against the door handle, a click sounding instantly as the door unlocked. Taking a step to the side, Julian motioned for you to do the honors and open. With one last deep breath, you pulled down the handle and stepped into the room, only for that breath to whoosh out of you a second later as you took in the room. It was a small apartment rather than a room; it had a small living room dividing the room into two areas, a large bathroom showing through a door to the left, a balcony to the right, and the bedroom across from the entrance. The bed was bigger than any bed you’d ever slept in, and everything in the room showed off what a luxurious place the hotel was. 

“Please tell me you didn’t pay for this just for me. Julian, that’s-”

“I didn’t,” Julian assured you with a faint smile. 

You stared at him dubiously before looking around you again. 

“You got this for free?”

Julian shrugged noncommittally and walked to the mini fridge sitting next to the small couch to peer inside. 

You opened your mouth to insist on the matter, since you didn’t want Julian to pay any extravagant amounts of money for you, but Julian beat you to it. 

“Let’s just say that I have an agreement with the head concierge. This suite was available tonight, so he gave it to me.” 

You suddenly remembered Clarissa saying something along those lines during Chloe’s birthday dinner, and nodded, accepting the explanation. Julian smiled again as you slowly walked up to him while scanning the room and looking out at the city lights twinkling through the balcony doors and the bedroom windows.

“Do you wanna drink something?” Julian asked after he’d shrugged out of his jacket and let you take everything in. 

You looked back at him and then the mini fridge, which wasn’t that small for a mini fridge. 

“No, I’m fine, thanks,” you said softly, glancing at the couch and putting your purse on it. Biting your lip, you removed the envelope with the money from the purse and placed it on top of the fridge. 

Slowly returning your eyes to Julian, you saw him observing you quietly and not even glancing towards the envelope. You tried not to fidget as much as you wanted to under his attention, although your hands twitched at your sides as you forced yourself not to cross your arms. 

“Can I touch you?” he asked quietly, tilting his head minutely as he locked his gaze with yours.

“Well, considering what's supposed to happen, I think that you will have to touch me, yes,” you laughed awkwardly and bit over your bottom lip.

Julian came closer, standing toe to toe, and lifted a hand to stroke his fingers along your neck and to your nape. 

“I meant like this.” 

His voice was low and intimate and sent shivers down your spine, as did his fingers on your already hot skin. 

“Oh… um… yes, sure,” you breathed, unable to speak more loudly than a rough whisper.

He smiled, something soft but hiding more. You definitely wanted to find out about what this more entailed. 

“Can I kiss you?” His eyes were on your mouth, which parted in surprise at his question. 

“Isn't there like — I thought — Shit, I must sound so stupid but… is it, like, a misconception of mine or… I always kinda thought that kissing wasn't… part of this?” you babbled, as your brain tried to deal with his request and the idea of him kissing you.

Julian chuckled, amused, and stroked his thumb along your chin. 

“I'm not pretty woman.” 

You laughed under your breath and sucked in your lower lip, some of your anxiousness leaving you at his easy joking.

“No… but you're definitely a pretty man.”

Julian's mouth moved into a sweet and genuine grin before he leaned in closer until his lips were only an inch away from yours. 

“Some people don't like kissing. And I don't kiss all my clients… But I'd like to kiss you very much, if that's okay.” 

His voice was husky and soft, and you were unable to do anything more than stare into his brown eyes and nod. He smiled, soft and pleased, and moved in.

His lips grazed over yours and your eyes fell shut at the feeling. You slowly moved your lips against his, following his lead, as he alternated between pressing them more firmly against yours or retreating until the touch was barely there. Just as slowly, his other hand curled around your waist, his hand coming to rest on the small of your back. It was only then that you finally lifted your hands as well. You slid them up his back and held on to the fabric of his shirt at his shoulder blades. Your grip tightened as Julian tentatively stroked his tongue along your top lip, requesting access to your mouth. Access which you willingly granted. You made a small sound at the first touch of his tongue against yours. How could he make you already so weak in the knees with only a kiss? What would happen when he got to what you were initially paying him for? When his mouth slid towards your jaw, you instantly tilted your head to the side and moaned at the feeling of his teeth teasing along your skin. He ultimately stopped at where your neck met your shoulder and gently sucked at the spot. 

“That okay?” he asked, his rougher voice making you shiver. 

“Uh huh,” you panted. 

After a minute of this, Julian’s mouth climbed up your neck again to reach your lips. 

“Can I undress you?” 

Your eyes opened a fraction as your fuzzy brain tried to process his question. As you bit your lip, Julian’s eyes slid to your mouth, before they returned to yours with… Could it be desire? Instead of contemplating what his look could possibly mean, you finally nodded in silent agreement before whispering a tiny, “Yes.” 

Smiling, Julian kissed you again and rendered you just as breathless as earlier before he even began going for your clothes. He slowly pulled you forward as he walked you towards the bedroom, his lips and tongue still drawing moans and sighs from you. As you reached the bed, Julian pressed one last kiss against your lips, then stepped around you until he was standing at your back. He started removing every piece of clothing with slow and deliberate care, while his mouth teased at your nape and shoulders or behind your ears. Your entire body was wracked by shivers the further he went, until you were a trembling mess once he had you fully naked. His large hands slid over your sides and to your stomach, the heat and touch of them making goosebumps rise in their wake. 

“Julian,” you gasped softly, not exactly knowing what you wanted to say. His name just fell from your lips at the gentle care he was handling you with. 

“You’re so responsive,” Julian said with a note of wonder, as his fingers trailed up your chest and tickled between your breasts. He let out a soft chuckle as you arched your back and pressed your head against him when he circled his index fingers around your areolas. “So responsive.” 

You exhaled sharply and moaned when he took both nipples between thumb and pointer finger and pinched them just the tiniest bit. By now, you could feel the dampness between your legs, and pressed your thighs together as Julian continued his sweet exploration. When you had asked him to make you come with his mouth, you had expected him to do just that; get you on a bed or couch and literally go down to business. Nothing more and nothing less. You certainly hadn’t thought that he’d treat you basically like a lover, touch you in ways that had never gotten this kind of reaction out of you. He’d commented on how responsive you were, but you had never reacted this way with anyone before, which either really said a lot about your previous partners or about Julian’s talent. Maybe a bit of both. One thing was certain, if this was the service he was giving to all his clients, then his reputation was no surprise. At all. 

As one of his hands moved down your belly and towards your hips, he paused as he reached just above your mound. 

“Can I use my hands too, or just my mouth?” he asked against the shell of your ear, getting yet another shiver out of you.

A wave of heat ran through you, and you felt yourself getting wetter still at the idea of having his fingers right there. 

“Yes,” you breathed, before realizing that this didn’t answer his question, and you swallowed before you elaborated as best as you could. “Your fingers.” 

Julian smiled against your skin, then licked his way down your neck and back up. 

“Spread your legs a bit for me?” 

Despite your shaky legs, you did as asked and widened your stance, feeling the soft fabric of his shirt against your bare back. Julian hummed pleasantly and wrapped his arm around you just under your breasts before he let his other hand continue down its original path. Your mouth parted for your gasped out breaths as Julian slid two fingers between your legs to stroke them along your outer lips, as if testing your response. Both of your hands went to the arm around your chest and gripped it, as Julian moved one of the fingers to your center to gently slide it through your folds. 

“I think I’ll have a lot of fun making you come,” Julian said in a low tone, as he repeated the motion and lightly circled over your already pulsing clit. 

You keened at the touch, your head falling forward as Julian kept teasing and teasing over the same spot, the touch featherlight but still managing to light your nerve endings on fire. All through the haze of need, you still realized that Julian hadn’t said “try to make you come”, instead, he was clearly confident that he would. By how this was going, you were less and less uncertain as well. 

“Why don’t you go ahead and get comfortable on the bed?” he suggested after a minute.

Thankfully, and Julian probably knew to do it from experience, he didn’t pull back from you immediately after his request and let you gather your bearings enough to no topple over once he wouldn’t be behind you anymore. He slowly let go of you and let you walk out of his space in your own time. If you were honest with yourself, you could have stayed right where you had been all night, as long as Julian kept talking and touching you the way he’d done so far. Now that he wasn’t touching you anymore, a bit of self-consciousness returned, which stopped you from looking at him as you moved towards the bed and reclined on top of it, feeling suddenly exposed. Especially since he was still fully dressed. 

“Look at me,” Julian said softly. It was a request, not an order.

It was this small difference that made you do as asked. You slowly met his gaze, and saw him smiling at you tenderly as he knelt on the foot end of the bed. 

“You’re beautiful, Sweetheart.”

You uttered a surprised and shaky laugh and closed your eyes for a moment. When you looked back at him, you gave him a small smile and managed to relax against the pillows. Clearly pleased by your reaction, Julian pressed his other knee to the bed as well and moved up until his was kneeling in front of you. You’d bend your legs at the knees but had squeezed your thighs together. With his eyes on your face, Julian leaned down and placed a small kiss on each of your kneecaps, a tiny smile on his lips. The act had you giggling lightly and exhaling a deep breath. Your lips parted as Julian’s hands drifted down the outside of your thighs, only to move back up again, the touch soothing but also turning you on some more. You observed him as he kept pressing kisses along your knees, silently waiting for you to part your legs. As soon as you did, Julian shot you a pleased smile and proceeded to do the same thing he’d been doing to the outside of your thighs, but on the inside this time, and with his mouth. Air rushed past your lips at the ticklish yet arousing touch. You were unable to tear your eyes away from Julian’s head as he went further down until his mouth stopped at the juncture between hips and thighs. You were panting in anticipation at the idea of Julian finally moving to your center, except that he had other plans. He quickly turned his head to the other side and did the same as with the other leg but in the reverse, kissing his way up, until he was back at your knee. The small smirk he sent you had you groaning and squeezing your eyes shut. He was teasing you deliberately, and you had to admit that you liked it a lot. Your stomach quivered with need. Julian knew how to drive you high without even touching you where you needed him the most. 

“Julian,” you breathed, as your fingers gripped the comforter at your hips. “Please?” 

Julian ducked his head and shook it with a small, affectionate laugh. 

“So responsive,” he mumbled, as if to himself. “Keep your eyes open,” he added with one last glance at you, before he knelt down all the way and pressed a long kiss against your mound. 

Your mouth fell open as his tongue slowly flicked out and made its way down your outer lips. He traced patterns over them in such a way that you had no idea what he would be doing next; up, down, left, right, but never in the same order. At the first pass of his tongue through your folds, your eyes opened wide and the air came whooshing out of your throat sharply, accompanied by a surprised moan. Julian went slowly, taking his time as he drew his tongue over every part of you, leaving nothing untouched. When he began suckling at your lips teasingly, one of your hands automatically went to his head, your fingers gripping his soft hair. 

“So — sorry,” you gasped at Julian’s grunt, and instantly let go of his hair. 

Before you could retreat your hand all the way, Julian’s own hand shot out to snatch your wrist and pull your hand back to his head. 

“Go ahead,” he said, looking up at you with intense eyes. 

He spoke against your flesh, and the rush of air and small vibrations caused by his words had you uttering a small gasp. Licking your lips, you slid your fingers through his hair again. He had you tightening your grip again a second later when, with his eyes still on you, Julian sucked your clit right into his mouth. You cried out at the unexpected move and the pleasure coming from it. Your hips bucked into his face, and you had the need to apologize for that too, but Julian only groaned and held you tighter to him with his arms around your thighs. He took it easy after the first initial suck, clearly wanting to take his time there as well and not overwhelm you. You were grateful for that, since you were still unsure if hard and fast could do it for you, no matter how aroused you were after the foreplay. He still kept your hips from moving too much, making you take his ministrations with just the right intensity. As he nibbled around your lips before tonguing your clit with light strokes, you felt one of his arms let go of your legs and the hand moving to under your thigh. 

“Only my mouth, or can I use my fingers too?” Julian asked again, except that this time, he meant if he could use them at the same time. Just the thought had you moaning without meaning to. How could you say no to having his talented mouth and gorgeous hands on you? 

“Both… I want… both,” you got out, panting rapidly. 

With his eyes on yours, Julian used his thumb to slowly rub through your drenched flesh, moving it up until he could press it against your clit and circle it a few times. You whimpered, unable to look away from him, and moaned long and high as he slid the thumb back to slip one of his large fingers inside you. As the second one followed, this time, you couldn’t keep your head from falling back and closing your eyes. Julian kept his fingers barely moving for a few seconds, before he had your eyes flying open again when his mouth descended on your clit to flick at it with the tip of his tongue. He sucked and lapped at his continuously, while his fingers started moving for real, curling against your walls with each plunge in and out. 

You were… a mess. 

Julian had transformed you into a moaning and begging ball of need, your fingers flexing in his hair or the comforter as your hips moved against his mouth and fingers on their own accord. It was with both surprise and no surprise that you felt the tendrils of your orgasm assembling in the spots where Julian was touching you. You could feel them coiling together, gathering and getting bigger and warmer as your belly contracted, and your legs began to shake without your control. 

“Julian,” you gasped, sounding nearly panicked at the idea that he could stop and rip this feeling away from you. 

But Julian never relented. He worked his mouth and lips like a magician with his best trick, his fingers adding the last element that had you suddenly flying over the edge with a shocked gasp as your hips bucked. Everything went white and silent as the peak of your orgasm hit you, pleasure of the most intense kind you’d ever felt with someone else being the only thing that registered with you. After the more intense part began to fade, you felt Julian kissing the inside of your thigh as he spoke to you in a low and soothing tone. Words of praise hit your ears and made your body glow with another form of pleasure. You slowly opened your eyes as you felt Julian coming to lie next to you on the bed, and turned your head to gaze at his smiling face. Since you were still drifting on the pleasure, you couldn’t even feel any form of embarrassment at the sight of his glistening nose, lips and chin. Julian reached across your body and pulled at the comforter to tug it around you. You smiled drowsily at the gesture and the softness of the fabric against your cooling skin. Julian held himself up on an elbow and put his head on his palm as he watched you. Despite the messy hair, which you were responsible for, the flushed and shiny face, and the wrinkled dress shirt, Julian still looked as gorgeous as always. Maybe even more so because he looked utterly relaxed and at ease. That thought had you wondering about Julian’s needs. Did he get aroused while doing this? Should he do something about it? Or maybe he didn’t get turned on at all and- 

No.

You forbid yourself from letting your mind go down that road. This wasn’t a relationship. Julian didn’t have to get turned on by any of it. This had been about you, and Julian had gone above and beyond what you could have ever expected from this. 

“Do you ever get actually turned on when you do something like that?” you asked anyway, your mouth not listening to your brain, apparently. “Wait, no, don’t answer that. I didn’t mean to ask this,” you groaned as you closed your eyes, and cursed under your breath. 

Julian didn’t seem fazed and chuckled softly. “You’re sure?”

You glanced back at him and huffed in thought. 

“I… I wasn’t asking if this…” you made a vague gesture at yourself as a whole. “Turned you on… I mean… I'm not expecting you to be… and I'm aware that escorts down always have sex with their clients but… um… I guess, I’m just… curious,” you sighed at the end of your word vomiting.

“About the mechanics?” Julian smiled, clearly not bothered by your curiosity or babbling. 

You thought about that term and nodded. It was a job, after all. Julian shrugged and for a second, he got a far away look that held such a strong note of sadness in it that you nearly stopped him from going on before the look vanished completely and Julian smiled again. 

“It’s a question of working with the moment, I guess. Creating a special connection with that person. Setting the mood… and, well, habit is a factor, I suppose. Let's say that being able to get it up is different from being turned on.”

You hummed thoughtfully as you took in the information. You were glad that you didn't ruin the moment and that he was willing to share as much. 

“Well, you sure know how to create that connection,” you laughed softly and turned on your side. 

Julian snorted softly through his nose and grinned at you, rubbing a hand over your covered arm once you faced him.

“Some connections are much easier to create than others.”

His soft look had you smiling and looking down, feeling suddenly shy again. 

“Thank you for doing this, Julian,” you muttered, glancing up at him once more. 

His hand moved to your face and his thumb stroked over your cheekbone in a gentle caress. 

“It was my absolute pleasure, Sweetheart.”

And you actually believed him. Believed that he’d enjoyed giving you this pleasure, no matter if you’d paid for it. 

You stared at him for a while, just looking, and Julian didn’t seem to mind. 

“Do you have to get back?” you asked at length, looking around yourself for a clock, but not finding any. 

Julian didn’t reply immediately, but he shrugged when you looked back at him. 

“I can stay a little while longer.”

That statement had you smiling and closing your eyes. Julian’s fingers played with your hair as you drifted for a while, his presence and the comfortable bed pulling you under.

The next time you opened your eyes, he was gone. You hadn’t even realized that you’d fallen asleep. It couldn’t have been that long, however, since it was still dark outside. Turning around with a long sigh, you glimpsed a folded piece of paper on the bedside table. You sat up to reach for it, the comforter falling around your waist as you moved. 

Please stay for as long as you want. The room’s all yours for the night. Take anything you need from the fridge, it’s on me. 

Julian

You smiled fondly at the neat script and put the note back on the table. 

A nice bath in a fancy hotel room sounded like the perfect way to end this incredible night. 

#julian kaye x reader #bernthirst prompt fest #julian kaye #american gigolo #julian kaye x f!reader #reader insert #jon bernthal #mes fics #julian kaye smut

[scarlettjohanssons-mistress]

idk if requests are open but i was wondering if you could do a fanfic about lady lesso having a secret family

Family

Warnings: PURE fluff

Word count: 1.9 K

Pairing: Lady Lesso x Fem!Reader

Prompt: Leonora deserves a little love.

Requests: OPEN

[Main masterlist] [Charlize Theron characters masterlist]

It was known that evil could never have a happy ending.

At least, that is what has been taught for centuries and centuries, from generation to generation. It was unheard of to think that some villain, from any story, would return to a nice cabin with his family, after trying to poison a princess.

Any 'Ever' student could have that same thought about anyone belonging to the 'Never' school, incapable of love. And if the name of the dean of evil slipped into the conversation, the answer was an obvious and resounding NO.

While any human being with two eyes and a few centimeters of a brain could confirm that Lady Lesso is an extremely beautiful woman, they could also classify her as someone 'terrifying'; considering anyone brave who could spend more than five minutes with her, without being scared.

——————————————————————————— 

The weekend was slowly approaching, which made the redheaded woman extremely excited. She was already sick of her incompetent students, of Dovey's constant complaining, of the thousands upon thousands of papers waiting in her office to be reviewed, causing excruciating headaches.

Everything about to end…

Until Emma reached her office, opening the door a little and sticking her head out.

"Leonora?"

"What do you want?" the woman asked without taking her eyes off the exam in front of her. Anastasia, an incompetent who would fail her class for the second time.

“Clarissa requested your presence at the meeting”

The dean's eyes rolled wearily, making her disappointment known.

"Really? Why do you need my presence with… 30 minutes to go before the end of school hours?"

"I don't know, she didn't give me an explanation…"

Before Emma could begin to ramble, Lesso abruptly stood up from her chair and began to pace, hitting the ground next to Emma with her cane, causing the smaller woman to jump.

Quickly, Leonora walked to the room where the meeting was taking place, opening the doors violently, making her arrival known.

"Oh, Lesso," Dovey interrupted, "it's good that you're here."

Leonora didn't even deign to answer, she simply sat in her usual chair and with the help of her magic, materialized a notebook, to scribble and avoid getting bored.

It took her a few minutes to realize that she had brought into the meeting room the notebook she used for her most private matters. Full of vibrant colors and children's drawings.

With a quick movement, and with the eyes of some of her colleagues glued to the notebook, Leonora opened it, hiding the cover and beginning to draw, not listening to Dovey's chatter.

The meeting lasted forever, almost 3 hours after their usual time to leave; but when Dovey finally called the meeting to a close, Leonora was among the first to rise from her seat, until Dovey's voice reached her ears.

"Actually, Lesso, I need to talk to you."

With a great grunt, Leonora watched as her companions left the room, to be left alone with Dovey.

"What do you want?" asked Leonora tiredly

"Relax, I don't want to entertain you" Dovey turned her back on the redhead to take a small basket full of sweets and baked goods "I remembered that last week was Y/N's birthday, so I thought I'd give she her favorite desserts"

The basket reached Leonora's hands, who awkwardly gave a grimace, which she tried to pass off as a smile.

"Thanks suppose. I'll give it to her"

"All right. So… see you on Monday”

"See you on Monday" and just as the redhead walked back to the exit, Dovey's voice interrupted her again.

"By the way, tell Rose she did a good job." The brunette pointed at Leonora's notebook with her eyes, drawing a grunt from the redhead.

"Whatever"

——————————————————————————— 

When Leonora had finally reached her house, she was surprised to find all the lights on; Normally, when she arrived at this time, the only light that was on was the one in the living room, where Y/N was reading a book.

Wearily she opened the door and stepped inside, letting the homey warmth and the smell of the oven reach her face.

The redhead didn't even have to make her arrival home known, to hear those little footsteps on the wood.

"Mom!"

Little Rose ran down the stairs, laughing, until she reached the open arms of the redhead, who quickly picked her up, thanking everyone for how small the girl was.

"Hello little monster"

From the back of the kitchen, the Dean's green eyes collided with Y/N's, causing the latter to show a beautiful smile, seeing the two girls together.

"You're late" Y/N joked

"Go to your room, beast, mommy and I have to talk"

The little girl quickly climbed back up, making the redheaded woman walk until her back was to her wife and hugging her hips.

“Blame it on Dovey” Y/N laughed as she took the food out of the oven “I'm serious Y/N, if I hear another 'Ever' complain again, I'm going to have to cut my ears off.”

“Relax, the good thing is that you are home now, and dinner is ready. Go call Rose, and set the table."

——————————————————————————— 

Dinner was one of Leonora's favorite moments. The feeling of warmth, the delicious food, Y/N's voice along with Rose's giggles and games made her cold heart feel what the warmth of a true home is.

“Today I saw my friend Erick”

Until that wretch's name left Rose's little lips.

The story was very long and very exhausting to tell, but to summarize. Y/N had graduated as a great 'Ever', giving her first kiss to a handsome and gallant prince named Erick. As a good 'Ever', it only took her a few months to commit to the man. But when the man found out that a baby was on the way, he didn't hesitate for a second to abandon the woman with the baby.

Leonora met her almost two years later, while she was on an emergency trip through a town near the school.

She doesn't even remember what made her fall: Y/N's shy look or little baby Rose's babbling.

How had the jerk come to contact his women? Leonora had no idea, but she tried not to get into the subject. She just enjoyed the little girl.

"Really? And did you have a good time?" asked the redhead, seeing how everyone finished dinner, so she got up and took the dishes to wash them.

"Yes. But… I missed you, mom. I like hanging out with him, but I miss when you and I go out to play."

Yes, Leonora could confirm that Rose was one of the few people who could make her believe that she still has a heart.

"Oh honey" Y/N interrupted her by kissing the girl's head "the good thing is that mom is going on vacation, and they can go out to the field every day, to play"

"Don't forget Lily" commented the redhead causing both women to laugh

"Sure, let's not forget Lily"

The baby's cry began to sound, warning that he had woken up.

“Talking about the queen of Rome”

"Come Rose, let's go for her"

——————————————————————————— 

"Are you ready to sleep?" Leonora asked as she tucked in the little girl, who was already beginning to yawn and rub her eyes.

"Yep"

"You stayed up very late today, little naughty" the redhead stroked her hair, trying to make her fall asleep even faster.

"I told mommy I wanted to wait for you"

"I know baby, thanks for waiting for me" the older woman planted a kiss on the girl's forehead.

"I love you so much mom"

"I love you too"

"Tell Lily and Mommy I love them too."

"They love you too, monster"

The girl quickly fell asleep, for which Leonora got up leaving the room, closing the door, to enter her own room, finding her wife and the little baby playing on the bed.

"You don't seem like she want to fall asleep anytime soon, do you?"

"She just wanted to see her mom"

Small emerald eyes met those of the taller woman, eliciting little squeals from the baby.

"Hello, little fairy"

Admitting that little Lily had come into this world thanks to Dovey's kindness and care (and magic), it was very difficult for the redhead to show her gratitude, so she decided that calling the baby 'fairy' was more than enough.

Out of the corner of her eye, the redhead could see how her wife was beginning to yawn, already very tired, and apparently, baby Lily had enough energy to keep her awake for a few more hours.

"My love, go to sleep, I'll take care of Lily" the woman murmured as she snatched the girl from her arms.

"No, I can…"

Leonora interrupted her wife's protests by planting a kiss on her lips and on her nose.

"Honey, you've already done a lot here, let me take care of my girls."

The woman soon fell asleep, so it was Leonora's job to play with the little girl to tire her out.

"Hey, beast, you have to shut your mouth, you're going to wake up mommy and your little sister"

The girl ignored it and tried again to stick her finger in her mother's nose, while she burst out laughing.

As much as she wanted to deny it, her heart vibrated every time she heard her youngest daughter's little laughs, as well as her oldest daughter's voice, and without a doubt, Y/N's kisses only put the garland on the cake.

Some time later, the baby was finally able to fall asleep, so the redhead quickly tucked the girl into her little crib and lay down on her own bed, but in the process, she woke up Y/N.

"Hmm, are the girls asleep yet?"

"Yes, sorry for waking you up"

"Don't worry, let's go to sleep"

A silence settled in the room, but still, Y/N could tell that her wife wasn't asleep.

"Leo, what's up?"

"Do you think… that they hate me?"

"What?"

"Girls, do you think they'll hate me when they find out I'm the dean of evil?"

Y/N got up so he could look at her wife's glassy eyes.

“My love, of course they won't hate you, you're their mother” Y/N began to caress Leonora's face, to keep her eyes from leaving her “You're their favorite person in the world, they love you. We love you, we know that you are not a bad woman. Even if you don't believe it yourself, we know you have a heart; that you feel, that you deserve affection, love. Nobody is completely good or bad, you are not black, nor am I white, we are both gray scales, and they will be able to see that "

The redhead gave her wife a smile and a kiss on the chin

"You know, I'm starting to think that I married you because you always know what to say."

Y/N started laughing as she planted kisses all over her wife's face.

"Admit it, you married me because you love me"

Both women lay back down, ready to go to sleep. Leonora embracing her wife's body from behind, planting kisses on the woman's bare shoulders.

"I love them, so much" confessed the redhead already half asleep

“Your family loves you twice as much”

Because it was known that evil could never have a happy ending.

But, no one is completely good, nor completely bad, and despite that, we all deserve a little love.

Leonora deserves a little love.

Note:

I'm starting to believe that I LOVE writing about Lady Lesso. Thank you for submitting this request.

I hope you enjoy it

I appreciate the reblogs, the likes and the comments

taglist: @littlebitchsposts // @xxsekhmet

message me or send an ask to be added to my taglist!

#the school for good and evil #sge movie #sge #lady lesso #leonora lesso #lady lesso x reader #leonora lesso x reader #lady leonora lesso #lady leonora lesso x reader #charlize theron #charlize theron x reader #clarissa dovey #professor dovey

[blackhiil]

clarissa's birthday

in which clarissa's parents come to visit for her birthday and suddenly clarissa being in love with lesso makes sense, so much sense.

note; this is rushed and all over the place, but i hope you enjoy. criticism is welcome, but only if you’re not rude !

note 2; our first dovesso x abbott cross over. Clarissa’s parents are Barb and Melissa.

warnings; suggestive language, a lot of it

Soft kisses woke Clarissa up from deep sleep, she groaned quietly, turning her head in the opposite direction. “Leo, I’m sleeping.” she whined, curling up tighter in the bed. “Too bad, wake up.” the evil dean replied, amused by her girlfriend’s antics. Clarissa sighed and rolled over to lay on top of her girlfriend; snuggling into her neck. “I just wanna sleep, somebody kept me up all night.” the blonde emphasized.

Sharp, silver nails grazed the exposed brown skin of her back, making Clarissa shiver lightly, “I didn’t hear you complaining.” Leonora remarked, then uncharacteristically yelped when she felt a pinch on her arm. “Hush!” she didn’t even have to look at her to know the blonde was blushing.

The shorter woman sat up, and Leonora gazed up at the woman she loved. The sun shining through the window gave her an ethereal glow and the purple of her bonnet and pajamas helped enhance that glow. “Happy Birthday, Princess.” the redhead spoke, looking at her softly. Clarissa smiled at her love, if only others saw this side of her, she thought to herself. “Thank you, my love.”

“What time are your parents getting here?” The redhead asked. “I have no idea, they wouldn’t say, but they’ll be here in time for the ball tonight.” Clarissa replied, getting off Leonora and heading toward the restroom to get ready.

“I still don’t think they like me.” Leonora said, walking toward the closet. “That’s not true! My mother loves you.” Clarissa’s parents could be protective, she was their only child after all, but they absolutely adored Lesso. “Really? Which one?” the redhead asked curiously. Clarissa just smiled coyly and closed the door. “Dove?” All she got in response was laughter.

“Stop looking at me like that!” Clarissa scolded, flustered at the look on Leonora’s face. That look meant trouble, that look meant being late and they could not afford to be late, especially to an event in Clarissa’s honor.

“Like what?” Leonora asked in a faux innocent voice. She enjoyed flustering the blonde, it was adorable how she would blush and act shy.

“Like you want to ravage me where I stand.” The shorter woman retorted. The redhead took in Clarissa, in her signature gold but this dress was different, less student appropriate; luckily this is adults only. It was off the shoulder with big puffy sleeves, gold pearls going across the top of her decolletage. The bottom flared out with a high slit that was borderline indecent for the fairy godmother.

“Have you seen how you look in this dress, can you really blame me?” the evil dean exasperated, pulling the fairy godmother closer to her before wrapping her arms around her. She gently grasped the blonde’s chin before pulling her in for a kiss that made Clarissa swoon. The shorter woman pulled away, panting softly. “Later.” she breathed out, “much later.” Lesso nodded, “I’ll hold you to that, Princess. Now, let’s go. We have a party to attend.”

An hour into the ball, after mingling and catching up with friends, Clarissa was taking a break. She was also wondering where her mother’s were, they should’ve been here by now. Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait any longer. “Now presenting Barbara and Melissa Dovey.” Barbara is a tall, beautiful, woman who wore a gold metallic dress, one shoulder dress, and her back curly hair was down past her shoulders. She stood arm in arm with Melissa, an equally beautiful, but shorter, redhead. She wore a blue velvet long sleeve dress with silver detailing. They looked amazing together and suddenly Clarissa and Leonora being together made so much sense.

“Like mother, like daughter.” Emma said, breaking the silence, making everyone laugh. Clarissa blushed at the comparison, yes she did take after her mom, Barbara, when it came to her love life and her love for the color gold.

The party resumed and the two walked over to their daughter and her girlfriend. “Happy birthday sweetheart.” Barb spoke, giving her daughter a hug and a kiss to the forehead. “Tesoro, happy birthday.” Melissa greeted, also greeting her with a forehead kiss. “Thank you, Ma.” Clarissa smiled. The shorter redhead turned her eyes to Leonora. “Lesso.” she greeted, coldly. Barb pinched her wife, who pouted, and also greeted Lesso, however she was much nicer. She had instantly taken a liking to the Dean of Evil ever since Clarissa brought her home for the first time.

The four of them talked for a while before Clarissa got antsy and wanted to dance…again. “Nora.” she started sweetly, the evil dean narrowed her eyes slightly, that was the voice the blonde used when she wanted something. “Will you dance with me?” she asked. Lesso internally sighed. She despised dancing, especially because of her leg, however; her leg currently felt fine and she could never truly deny Clarissa anything, especially on her birthday.

“Of course, Princess.” she stood up from the table, holding her hand out to the fairy godmother who gladly took it before dragging her to the dance floor.

The two older Dovey’s watched them with a fond look in their eyes. “You need to stop giving Leonora such a hard time. She clearly loves Clarissa very much.” Barbara chided. “But it’s fun. She gets so nervous.” Melissa laughed, gleeful that she could strike a bit of fear into the Dean of Evil. “And they call me the evil one.” Barb mumbled, causing her wife to laugh. “Babe you are the evil one. I’m just having a bit of fun.” Melissa replied. “Good is supposed to defend.” The taller one reminded her wife. The redhead scoffed. “I’m defending our daughter.” she sputtered out. “Mel.” Barb warned, leveled her with a glare causing her to sigh. “Fine, I’ll stop giving her a hard time.” she grumbled out, leading Barbara to give her a soft kiss. “That’s all I ask dear.” And with that, they turned their attention back to their daughter who was smiling in Leonora’s arms.

The next day at lunch, when the students saw Clarissa’s parents a collective “ohh” of understanding came from the students. They could see why the Good Dean was in love with Evil Dean, it made sense. They were polar opposites; good and evil, where Clarissa was demure, Leonora was brash. They balanced each other out, just like her parents balanced each other out.

#dovesso #clarissa dovey #leonora lesso #lady lesso x professor dovey #༺ z writes #lady lesso #professor dovey #school for good and evil #sfgae #barbara x melissa #abbott elementary

[digirainebow]

"It kinda makes sense, doesn't it? Oh, and: Happy Birthday, Jonas. 🎉

Alex - Aries ♈️

Jonas - Aquarius ♒️

Ren - Cancer ♋️

Clarissa - Aries ♈️

Nona - Gemini ♊️

Michael - Taurus ♉️

(Yes, these are all official, canonical birthdays.)"

reposted from night school studio's social media!

#oxenfree #jonas #ren #alex #clarissa #nona #michael #happy birthday jonas! <3333 #night school studio #nightschoolstudio #oxenfree II: lost signals #lost signals

[disneyanddisneyships]

YOU WANT TO BREAK MY JARISSA HEART? FINE.

It's Jake's birthday and Ella requests for Loreley to let him have a talk with clare.

SHATTER ME.

"Happy birthday papa!" Ella stated when she saw her father that morning.

"Oh, there's my little star! Thank you!" Jacob replied as he and ella made their way to the dining room.

"We all have amazing things planned for you today!" Ella exclaimed as she and her father sat down.

"Ella's right! We each have something we wanna do with you! My activity is going to be sailing across theharbor, just for old times sake and maybe you could teach me how to sail!" Mia eexplained.

"Mine is going to be a picnic in the forest!" Ella added.

"I'm gonna teach you how to make a leather journal," Elias stated.

"Mine is a suprise, papa in law," loreley smirked.

"Oh that sound wonderful!" Jacob exclaimed.

Later that day, it was getting darker and darker by the minute.

Jacob was so happy with today, and he still had one more person to visit.

"Hello Loreley, I'm ready for the suprise!" He stated with a jolly smile.

"Good. follow me," Loreley replied as she walked out of the room, out of the castle, and into the forest.

They made their way all the way to a lake.

"What's this?" Jacob asked.

"Ill just be a few feet away. But I'll give you some privacy," loreley stated.

Jacob raised an eyebrow before a shining light came from the lake, and the outline of a woman came into focus.

"C-clare?" Jacob stuttered as the outline of his wife made itself known.

"Hello my love," Clarissa stated before making a move to hug her husband.

"I've missed you so much," Jacob whispered as he began to cry.

"You've done so well with our girls..... oh darling, you are such an amazing father," Clarissa assured him.

"I got so lost the first few years.. i.. I could've been so much better," Jacob muttered.

"Oh my love. You were the best you could be. You gave them love, and raised them right. We have 4 beautiful grandchildren and you are the mist amazing grandfather," Clarissa declared.

Jacob hugged his wife again and cried into her shoulder before she dissapeared.

"Hey. It's time to go back now," loreley stated to q crying Jacob.

He hugged his daughter in law, suddenly.

"Thank you," he whispered.

[cherrythepuppet]

Smile For The Camera!

Penny sat outside laying in the grass, Although she was glad winter was gone and now she didn't have to deal with snow getting on her

She couldn't help but think of how different it could have been for her had she had a better memory

Penny sighed as she plucked an orange flower from the grass and twirled it in her hand "I wish it was fall..." She mumbled

Penny got up and placed the flower on Grover's fence before she walked back to Poppy's barn and stayed in her room all day

Of course she was bothered by Poppy knocking on her door asking for her to come out

"Dearie please you've been in your room all day! The neighbors and I are beginning to get worried!" Poppy exclaimed "That's nice..." Penny replied, Poppy left with an anxious squawk and Penny stared up at her ceiling "I feel like shit..." Penny frowned

Penny blinked then sat up on her bed, She looked over to the hat she made for her Halloween costume...it was supposed to be look like a combination of Vince and Grover's hats

Penny traced the edges of the hat before she placed upon her head,  Another knock on the door alerted her

"Neighbor? It's me" Wally said"Go away Walls..." Penny demanded "Okay bye" Wally said as he left and Penny heard him talking to Poppy

"She still won't leave?" Poppy asked "Yes" Wally said "Oh my feathers...she hasn't been this upset since one of Vince's birds ate her snacks!" Poppy shouted

Penny frowned even more and zoned out as Poppy froze. An idea came to her "Get a spider dearie" Poppy told Wally "Okay" Wally said

Wally came back with a real spider in his hand "I found Clarissa" He said while he held up the Halloween themed spider to Poppy

Poppy made a terrified squawk "Penny?! There's a spider in the kitchen!" She cried "Is this a trick?" Penny asked "NO! THERE'S A FLUFFING SPIDER IN THE KITCHEN!" Poppy yelled

Penny hesitantly left her room and found Wally holding Clarissa "Clarissa! Your okay!" Penny grinned while she took Clarissa from Wally

Clarissa climb up Penny's arm and sat on her shoulder "Wally how'd you find her?!" Penny asked "Frank helped" Wally replied

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Penny exclaimed as Poppy cleared her throat "Now that we have you out of your room, Would you follow us?" Poppy asked

"This is suspicious as hell...But okay" Penny mumbled before Poppy took Penny's hand in her wing and led Penny outside with Wally following from behind

Poppy put her other wing over Penny's eyes "Poppy what the hell?" Penny asked "Trust me Peachpie" Poppy said

When Poppy moved her wing away Penny her eyes widened

.

.

.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Everyone yelled, Penny stared in amazement then paused "Wait- it's my birthday?" Penny asked

"Penny it's May 5th are you stuipd?" Frank asked "Quiet frank! Her forgetting added to the element of surprise!" Julie told him

"Penny you'll want to open my gift first! It's almost as dazzling as me!" Sally grinned while she held out a blue box towards Penny

Penny opened the box and pulled out a camera....Perfect for taking pictures of your friends to make memories....

#welcome home #welcome home oc #corpse puppet au #fanfic #Sally starlet #Julie Joyful #Poppy Partridge #wally darling #Frank frankly #mutual's oc #light angst #OC x canon

[mynotsohealthyobsession]

I have been waiting for your Birthday to give you this for months, I can't wait that long anymore. Consider this your early BDay gift.

Old Friends unite

Nightbound and Bloodbound are visual stories from the @playchoices App created by Pixelberry Studios. For reading the stories download the Choices App from the App Store or Google Play. The characters and places are owned by Pixelberry except of those which I created myself to give the story a special touch. Plus, mynotsohealtyobsession gave me the permission to showcast her Bloodbound Main character and OC too as part of a birthday gift for her. Mynotsohealtyobsession, I hope you will like this.

Female Main Characters: Alex Clarissa Fontaine (Nightbound) & Amy Raines (Bloodbound) with Zuri Raines [formerly Amy Miller]

Pairing: Nik RyderxAlex (f!MC) & Adrian Raines×Amy (f!MC)

Summary: Nik and Alex meet Adrian and Amy.

Word counting: less than 500 words

Rating: General

Warnings: none

Nik Ryder stormed inside Raines Corp. with his crossbow, followed by his partner, Alex. Both travel with the elevator to the highest floor of the crystalline building where they reach the top floor to finally meet the person they were looking for.

"Senator Raines, Nik Ryder is my name, nighthunter from New Orleans and we need to talk.", he told him with in serious voice.

"Mister Ryder, what a pleasure to meet you. You could have informed me about your arrival, I have a meeting soon."

"I don't care, you're a clan leader of the vampires. Your job is to control them but these bloodsuckers in NOLAS..."

"Amy? Amy Miller, is that you?!!"

"Alex, it's you!!! Yes, I'm Amy and it's good to see you. How's Kristin? And what're you doing here?", Amy asked and gave her old friend an hug to greet her. Both college friends were really happy meeting eachother after so long.

"You two know eachother?"

"Yes, Adrian. Meet one of my old friends, Alex Fontaine. Alex, meet my husband, Adrian Raines which means I'm now Amy Raines. Not Amy Miller anymore."

"Husband? Wow, you're married with senator?", she asked and then glanced at Nik who hasn't even proposed her yet. Then a question hit in her mind and turned her focus back on Amy and Adrian. "But wait, aren't vampires evil?"

"Don't worry, Adrian is a good vampire who supports humans. Well, it's a long story too. We need to catch up because I'm also interested to know how you ended up with a nighthunter."

"Yes, Alex, I am a good vampire. It is nice to meet you. Any friend of my wife is a friend of mine. And friends don't barge inside someone's office, right blondie?", Adrian shook hands with Alex and stared annoyingly at Nik.

"Nik Ryder is my name, not blondie."

"Hey Alex, wanna meet our Zuri? Adrian and I adopted her. She's with Lily right now."

"Eeeeek, you even adopted a child!!! Vampires are awesome! I mean, how cute and caring, I want children too!!!! Soooooo... Yes, please, show me Zuri Raines.", Alex got emotional by the idea of beeing married and having children. But she got really excited to meet her friend's new child.

"Rookie, wait...", his voice got cut when Adrian placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Alex is in safe hands. Let her catch up with Amy while we both discuss our matter with vampires of New Orleans, if you're still interested that is...?", Adrian asked Nik.

"And your meeting?"

"I can handle that, don't worry. Please, take a seat."

Both gentlemen decided to keep their diffrences and anger aside and to discuss how to make the world a much safer place, while Amy and Alex spent a nice time together.

Sweetie, this was so good! I appreciate that you took your time to do it and that you have my birthday so present! I love the interaction between the characters, and even Zuri made it into it!! When Adrian called Nik blondie, killed me 🤣🤣

I'm going to be honest here, this couldn't come in a better time. My grandma suddenly passed away this last Friday. She was my everything, we chat almost every day, and I couldn't even say goodbye to her. The fact that you have me so present and take the time to write this is simply precious for me.

Thank you so much for this wonderful fic! And for always being around ♥️

#this is just too precious #you are an amazing person #thank you 💖💖💖 #sincerely thank you #adrian x mc #adrian raines x mc

[advnterccs-archive]

@dynamoprotocol sent; "Candles aren’t the only thing getting blown tonight. ...Wait. Fuck. Your brain. Your BRAIN is getting blown tonight. I didn't— can we just get going to the stupid arcade already?" (Happy birthday Morty, from your grandpa's weirdo girlfriend who needs to self-edit better before she opens her damn mouth).

Everything actually seemed to be going well for Morty's birthday. And he was definitely excited that Rick's girlfriend decided to take him somewhere really cool. After all the adventures that his grandfather has taken him on, he deserved something something easy going. Especially for his birthday.

Plus, an arcade in some far off place that wasn't Blips and Chitz. Sign him the fuck up.

Once he got alerted that Clarissa was there, waiting for him, he rushed out of his room. Backpack on and his mind ready for fun and amusement. Carefully making his way down the stairs without accidentally tripping or falling.

That would be the last thing he needed right now; to make such an embarrassing entrance in front of someone as cool as Clarissa.

And as he approached her, the awe and starry sparkle within his eyes faded a little. That was an awkward thing to say. Shit, he knew what she meant, but the clarification only made it worse.

"Uh, y-yeah, sure," His fingers fidgeted along the red straps of his backpack. It's better if he just pretended that she didn't say that and move on to anything else. "A-Are you going to drive us there using... uh... Rick's car... ship?"

Well, now it seems that the awkward air was a bit contagious because he couldn't seem to get over it. No matter how much he tried not to be.

"O-Or, y-you know what, I'm cool with whatever, j-just, l-let's go."

#dynamoprotocol #{ answers ; 🎮 } #{ ic ; 🎮 ; morty } #{ main verse ; 'ᴍᴏʀᴛʏ ᴀᴅᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇꜱ' } #event 🎮 ; ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ʙɪʀᴛʜᴅᴀʏ ᴍᴏʀᴛ #{ well damn now they're both kinda awkward } #{ fhdsjkfhdskj i'm still wheezing omg xD what a way to start his birthday xD }

[saltyshrimpzz]

Okay, now I'm super curious about your OC Sam, her relationship with her uncle, and her parents! Care to tell a bit about what you thought up about her? :D

I would love too! 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

So Sam is the daughter of Cassie Kolchek, who is married to Daniel Kolchek. She’s the second oldest next to her 4 other siblings.

The siblings are:

Isabella Kolchek (oldest, married and has a son)

Cassie Kolchek (second oldest, married and has twins)

Jason Kolchek (middle child, not married, no children)

Clarissa Kolchek (second youngest not married, no children)

Abigail Kolchek (youngest not married, no children)

Daniel is a lawyer working in the same hospital as his wife who is a doctor there. She always wanted a better life for herself and her family due to their abusive father. She practically raised her siblings together with Isabella and later Jason when he got older. When she found out that she was getting twins, she offered Jason to come with her and be there for his niece and nephew. He agreed.

Daniel comes from Italy, hence why her redneck father wasn’t really happy about the wedding. Both love their children dearly. Sam and Sean. Sam is the older one being born 10min earlier then her brother. Jason loves his niece and nephew but always had his focus more on her due to her shyness. He helped her getting into sports and that’s why she started doing lifts and more strength related trainings.

She’s socially awkward, which is easily seen on how she handles other people while her brother is a social butterfly. Sam didn’t know what to do after Jason left for the marines and decided that she would try to become one herself when she became 17. she did do the training, wanting to become a sniper. She and 3 other woman joined the training and she got in with her 18. birthday on the 25.10.2001. after completing her training with the best results she got enlisted to an mission to keep a ghost team safe from high above, oblivious that one of the ghost was Eric Kings younger sister, Enya Elizabeth King, who would later become her best friend. She managed to safe Enya from an enemy soldiers with an once-in-a-lifetime-shot, which earned her the Titel "Highsight Hero".

It was Enya who proposed Miller to take her for the mission in Iraq. She didn’t know her uncle would be there, but she was more then happy to see him just as he was excited to have her officially in his team, Mailman 2-1.

Her callsign is Pathfinder.

She’s 1,80m and 20 years old when going to Iraq. Her blood type is AB+, she had honeybrown eyes and light skin littered in freckles and moles.

Little fact: when she blushs it reaches to her shoulders. Her hair is a coppery brown tone and wavy.

Hope you enjoy this little inside 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

#hoa #house of ashes jason #house of ashes #HoA OC #house of ashes oc

[madamebaggio]

Notes: So today is Clarissa’s birthday.

Now... Clarissa is Ully’s BAE, which makes her my BAE, therefore she gets what she wants and what she wants is to forget the last episode of “Killing Eve” ever existed.

So... Happy birthday, babe! They are alive, thriving and very fashionable as usual.

***

Eve opened the apartment’s door. “I’m home!” She called, before closing the door after herself.

Only silence greeted her, and Eve frowned. Silence was never a good sign.

She put her bag down by the door and walked carefully, as silently as possible, further into the place.

A noise in the kitchen caught her attention, and she grabbed the closest object -a very expensive vase -to use as a weapon.

More noises came from the kitchen as she tip-toed in its direction. If this was an home-invader, it was one with no…

“Villanelle!” Eve almost died of relief when she found the other woman in the middle of the kitchen. Then she frowned. “Why are you dressed like a Stepford Wife?”

And she was. Petticoat under a floral dress and everything. She even had a frilly apron on.

Then she turned around… And she had a pie in her hands.

Eve didn’t even know what to say. She kinda wanted to say she was shocked, but if she were to be honest… Few things truly shocked her when it came to Villanelle at this point. That woman had some weird ideas.

“Hello, darling.” Villanelle all but purred, a huge -fake- smile on her lips.

Eve arched an eyebrow. “Are we roleplaying something here?” She wanted to know. “Should I pull at my tie, ask you for a drink or something?”

Villanelle's fake smile died. “I am bored out of my mind.” She finally said.

“So you baked?” Eve asked, confused.

“Oh no.” She put the pie down on the counter, none too gently. “I bought that.”

“So you’re cosplaying?”

Villanelle looked down at her dress. “It sounded like a good idea. I like this dress.”

Eve chuckled. “You look gorgeous in it.”

Villanelle grinned. “I know.” Her expression changed immediately. “But I’m bored.” She pouted. “We should do something exciting!”

Eve had to fight a smile. “Like what?”

“I don’t know.” Villanelle whined. “Steal the Monalisa. Kill a bishop. Overthrow a government.” She clasped her hands. “I know! Become spies.”

That made Eve laugh. “And who would we work for?”

“Whoever paid us more. No loyalty to government or people.” Villanelle grabbed Eve’s jacket and pulled her closer. “Just each other. You have to be loyal to me.”

That made Eve laugh again, because of course that was what Villanelle was worried about. “Are you sure we should be spies?”

“I’m dead.” Villanelle pointed out. “I can be anything I want. We can make you dead too, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Yeah, sure. Let’s get a body and burn it inside a car.” Eve said sarcastically.

“Great idea.”

Eve put her hands on Vilanelle’s waist and pulled her closer, chuckling. “I was joking. Let’s think more before killing me, okay?”

Villanelle groaned. “Fine.” She eyed the pie that had been abandoned. “Do you want that pie?”

“What kind of pie is it?”

“I have no idea. I just got it because it was pretty.”

“I’m so proud of my homemaker.” Eve teased.

“Yeah, we’re done with that.” Villanelle grabbed Eve’s butt and hoisted her up.

“Villanelle!” Eve screeched, but there was a giggle lost in there.

Villanelle didn’t go very far, she just turned and lowered Eve next to the pie on the counter. “Kiss me now.” She demanded.

“Sure thing, honey.” Eve grinned, her lips already brushing against Vilanelle’s.

It might not be a conventional love, but it was a pretty great one.

#madame baggio #gifs not mine #killing eve #eve polastri #villanelle #villanelle x eve #villaneve

[clarissaolsen-archive]

PSD by Lupus Australis, Graphic made by Cat

{ BRYANA HOLLY | TWENTY-EIGHT | CIS WOMAN﹜  welcome to san francisco, CLARISSA OLSEN! just to make sure, you go by SHE/HERS, right? okay, great. i just have a few questions for you before i can let you go..  how long have you been here for? TWO YEARS. where are you currently living? SOMA. what’s your current occupation? SURGICAL RESIDENT of THE UCSF GENERAL SURGERY RESIDENCY PROGRAM. what’s your dream occupation? PEDIATRIC SURGEON. wow! interesting. is there a secret that we can keep between you and i? HER DAUGHTER ISN’T ACTUALLY HER BIOLOGICAL CHILD. lastly, this is a bit of a random question but … what’s your favorite song? EVERYTHING MATTERS by AURORA & that’s all they wrote, friend! we can’t wait to see you around the golden city!

Trigger Warnings (I warn in front of the bio too I just like having these upfront. If you notice any potential ones I may have forgotten, even if they're not on the trigger list, please let me know and I will add them asap!):

General: Possibly drug addiction tw in her stats, depending on your opinion of caffeine.

Biography: Child Abandonment, Drug Addiction (npc's, not Clarissa's), Accidental Pregnancy (not Clarissa's and only very mentioned briefly in passing)

Full Name: Clarissa Rose Olsen Preferred Name: Clarissa Olsen Age: 28 Birthday: February 14th Height: 5’7” Gender & Pronouns: Woman (She/Hers) Sexuality: Bisexual Occupation: Surgery Resident in the UCSF General Surgery Residency Program Relationship Status: Engaged to Logan Elswood

Place of Birth: Honolulu, Hawai’i Hometown: Waimanalo, Hawai’i Languages Spoken: English, some 'Ōlelo Hawai’i  Country of Citizenship: United States Ethnicity: Kānaka Maoli, Japanese, Russian and Slovenian

Conditions: N/A Allergies: N/A Addictions: Caffeine (gotta have that coffee to function. How else do you get through med school and residencies?)

MBTI: ENFJ Enneagram: 1w2 (The Reformer with The Helper Wing) Alignment: Neutral Good Zodiac: Aquarius Percy Jackson Parent: Persephone Pokémon Type: Ice

Ices are regal, polite, glamorous, and impossibly hard to know. Many of them seem ageless, in a bit of a pinched, tense-seeming way. With them, every pause, smile, and gesture is appropriate, yet strained. They know a lot about proper etiquette, and always have the right answer for how to gracefully solve a social problem. They have many friends, and host wonderful parties, yet you never feel at ease in their presence. Ices are as perfectionistic as Grounds, without the impatience and frustrating goal-mindedness. They are graceful and slow, meticulous and proud. Even something as simple as selecting an outfit can be elevated by an Ice into an art. Every step is considered and measured, every accessory perfectly placed. They don’t like being rushed or criticized; they don’t need your criticism, they’ll find the flaws on their own.

Pokémon Type: Dragon

Dragon Types seem to operate on their own plane of existence, with its own system of morals and values. Stubborn yet perpetually happy, Dragons refuse to grapple with your criticisms of them. Dragons live their lives without any care about whether other people notice. They tend to be reclusive and self-contained. Because they are so resolute about doing things their own way, and feel no need to explain it, they don’t make good long-term partners for most people. However, if you can give them the space they need to forge their own quiet, maybe sometimes even a bit odd, lives, you can learn a great deal of wisdom from them.

Winx: Nature

Father: Rei Olsen Mother: Clarissa doesn’t actually know this info. She left right after Clarissa was born and her father has never talked about her, and she’s never wanted to know. Children: Isabelle “Belle” Elswood (4 years old)

TWs: Child Abandonment, Drug Addiction (specifically cocaine, regarding her fiance), Accidental Pregnancy (not Clarissa's and mentioned briefly in passing)

You can skip both the addiction and pregnancy tw by not reading the 6th paragraph if you'd like. The paragraph starts with "The answer came in less than a year..." so just stop reading and go straight to "And despite the fact..."

For as long as Clarissa could remember, it's always been her and her father. Her mother left, not long after she was born, leaving simply a note that expressed she couldn’t do this. The whole being a wife thing, a mother, it was too much for her. But, despite everything - she’d never really felt a gap missing or anything. She had her father, who loved her very much, grandparents who she spent lots of time with, and she lived in probably the most beautiful place in the world.  Her father was a linguistic anthropologist with John Hopkins, working alongside the anthropology unit at University of Hawaii—Mānoa. A position he’d always held with great pride, but he’d always say the greatest joy was being her father.  And he was a great father. Clarissa didn’t even notice the absence of a mother until she started interacting with children her own age. And in all honesty, she's never really felt that void people expect her to feel whenever she mentions it was just her and her dad growing up. He was always there for her, every step of the way. Which only made the decision to attend college on the mainland even harder for her. Sure, she’d gotten into Cornell - something her father was excitedly telling everyone who’d stop long enough to listen to him. His Clarissa had gotten into an ivy league school, on a scholarship, but despite how ecstatic the man was - that didn’t make leaving any easier. It was in New York City she’d met Logan Elswood, it’d been a casual bump in. It’d been her second year of medical school when they’d bumped into each other and the girl he’d been walking with started laughing and trying to apologize for her dad between giggles. At first she thought it was a weird couple thing. He looked about Clarissa’s age, there was no way he was the father of a college freshman. But then he apologized for his sister and offered to buy Clarissa a coffee to make up for the error and from there, it felt like everything was falling into place. After that day, they’d talk constantly - he’d call her while she studied, she’d sit at his kitchen counter and work on anatomy as he tried to keep all nine of the siblings he’d dropped out of high school to raise out of trouble and try to ignore how uncomfortable the spacious upper east side apartment felt.

He’d grown up in an entirely different world than her. While Clarissa never really noticed her father struggling - the Elswood family were something else entirely. Too rich, uncomfortably so, the type of family where one of them would casually mention loaning their best friend the money for MIT because he couldn’t get a loan from the school at the dinner table and people didn’t act like it was the most outrageous thing they’d ever heard. Sometimes she wondered if this was what she actually wanted - sure she liked Logan, and his siblings accepted her with open arms and genuine enthusiasm. But, did she actually want to stay with him for the rest of her life, knowing that his world was so much different than hers? The answer came in less than a year of dating him in the form of a bundle left on the doorstep one July morning, with a note that echoed the one her mother had left. And despite Logan’s absolute, and genuine confusion, he took the situation at face value and accepted the fact he now had a daughter. Maybe storks didn’t exist, but exes that he’d broken up with long before they’d met and consensual hookup under the influence of cocaine he’d never thought much about certainly did. And maybe most people would have left after being hit in the face that not only was their boyfriend suddenly had an infant on top of the fact he’d never mentioned his cocaine addiction before, but she really liked Logan. And despite the fact all of her friends were telling her to leave before the situation got wilder - she stayed. She’d argue that decision was one of the best ones in her life. It was hard, balancing med school and a daughter she hadn’t been planning on having anytime soon, but it felt worth it every single time she came in the front door and Isabelle’s face lit up. Maybe welcoming your first child in less than a year of dating someone wasn’t the most ideal situation, but the longer Clarissa spent with the two, the more she realized that she wanted this. A life with Logan, being Belle’s mom. When she was given chance to legally adopt the girl finally she signed the papers without hesitation. Clarissa was here for the long haul, even if it meant smiling through her future-father-in-law’s obnoxiously large parties and Logan’s siblings constant shenanigans. It was worth it.

And when Logan suggested moving to San Francisco after she finished up her medical program at Columbia (it was “close enough to Emmett to keep him out of trouble,” and yet “far enough away from LA they wouldn’t have to babysit him unless something went drastically wrong” - a proposition she could understand the appeal of). She applied to residency at UCSF and got into the program, found a nice four bedroom apartment and settled into her life in San Francisco.  As far as anyone needs to be concerned, Clarissa Olsen moved into the neighborhood with her fiance, their daughter, and the two youngest Elswood children who Edward sent to live with them the second he found out they were leaving New York. (Much to Logan's relief, if we're going to be honest). And if the neighbors make comments about how Belle got her nose and how the girl looks just like her, well... Clarissa’s never going to say anything to the contrary. 

#goldencity : intro #child abandonment tw #drug addiction tw #drugs tw #pregnancy tw #accidental pregnancy tw #(not Clarissa's but it's mentioned in passing - you can skip the 6th paragraph of the bio section miss it and probably be fine tbh) #(also can we discuss how anxiety inducing hitting post on your first intro is. If I forgot anything I AM SO SORRY) #(ALSO! If you need larger text - Clarissa's blog has 15px font and a day/night mode for your convenience!) #(sorry about how long this is and for the lengthy of any/all future intros in advance)

[wittybibliophile]

HAPPY NOVEMBER!!

Hello my lovelies!!! Another month starts and the big fat quote for our big stomachs... 😂Well this is from the first book of dirty air series... Noah had bad parents, neglectfully selfish mother and very much punishable father... so today we see a scene, noah talking to his mother who called again for just VIP tickets for the grand race. "Everytime my mom asks for tickets. I get them. In the whole scheme of things, i never thought to say no because it was easy to do, Easy to give in to my toxic parents. Simple to not put up a fight, not wanting to make waves like my dad despite how sick it made me feel to be used over and over again. *On Call* I hate every second of this call, of the battle waging inside of me to not hang up the phone. But i want to show myself why i need to let go. Why i can't fall back into a damaging relationship with my parents because their love is conditional. And if i learned one thing in therapy, besides the fact that crying makes my face puffy as fuck, is how love doesn't come with conditions. No ifs, ands, or buts. It should make you a better person not because you have to be, but because you want to be. Noah's Mom: "Clarissa (her friend) is asking if you could also access some VIP passes for the afterparty? We personally like the one with the champagne company, but we aren't against others". Looks like she can produce more than three words at a time. But like a gumball machine she only works when you put money in her. " you know i don't think this is going to work" Time to rip of the band-aid. Because why the fuck not, with everything else in the Slade family is going to shit. She sighs " what do you mean?" "You, me and your ex-lover Nicholas. The whole thing. I can't do this to myself anymore, trying to be a son i thought both of you wanted. Instead you only contact me when convenient. And shockingly you withheld your one-step user card for the whole year until now. But in case you didn't know, I got into the worst crash of my career two weeks ago. And how many times did you call on me to check? None. Hell, how many times have you called me this whole season? Besides the one misdial?" She's silent, not speaking a word. " I appreciate you for giving birth to me, for being whatever you tried to be. But it's over. You should have protected me from him. The first time he hit me, you walked away because you didn't want to threaten your allowance. Time and time again, you let me down. So, by all means, let it be my turn. I can't get you tickets. Not now. Not next year. Not ever again. If you have an interest in calling me to get to know me as a person, let me know. If not, have a good life". I wait holding the phone to my ear, willing her to say anything. Closure is a funny concept. Everyone talks about how cathartic it feels, but no one describes the pain you experience before. The courage needed to push through tough situations. How much it rips a person up to know why they need to let go, not because they want to, but because they have to. My whole life, i lived chasing an unattainable prize of my parent's love. I sped down racetracks and life, willing it to go faster, but now i want to slow down. Enjoy the moments with people who matter, who want to remember my birthday, or who know five facts about me that can't be googled. The dial tone greets me. I clutch my phone, my lungs taking in the fresh air. For once, i have no ill will toward her, only wishing her the best. Everything falls into place. My therapist said i needed to face my past to embrace my future. Looks like i went to hell and back, scoring an angel along the way" - Throttled (Lauren Asher) *Sometimes we need to see what's not okay! And sometimes we may need help too to see it. But we need to accept it and go through it all alone by ourselves. And from this book i've learned that the people we leave behind are there because they need to be there and not in our lives. Hope everyone can see and deal with the negatives in their lives. Xoxo, Ironically Witty!

#books #ironic #sunday #ironically witty #bibliophile #witty #wittybibliophile #new blog #fiction #weekend #lauren asher #throttled #noah slade #maya alatorre #good morning #november #new month #quoteoftheweek #life quote #xoxo <3

[krbt]

October 7, 2023

12th Years After Group:

Chloe John

Happy birthday lo amping kanunay.

Chris Meldrick

Happy birthday Tita enjoy

Text Message

Reyna Joy

Happiest birthday Kat, thanks kaayo sa all

Jamellah

Happiest birthday madzammm!!! chill2x lang jud diha hahaha hehe

On Facebook Wall

A. Cecyl

Happy birthday Inn. Our KR Wishing you more places to visit, more beautiful people to inspire you, more blessings to share happy birthday (with a video)

On Ate Cecyl's Video

Lester

Happy Birthday

Mary Ann

Happy Birthday

Anden

Happy Birthday. God Bless

Levy

Happy Birthday

Trupima

Happy Birthday

B. Cecyl

KR happy birthday kaayo . Our dear Inna, Thank you very much for all the efforts in facilitating our Palawan Escapades. We are very grateful. (Di jud ko kauban, kaapil if dili ikaw nagplastar sa tanan.. May God the Father grant your inner wishes, bless you abundantly and protect you from any harm. Cheers for more years.. lablab

On Ate Cecyl's Post:

Josiel

Happy birthday ina

Krystelle

Happy Birthday ate

Deanna

Happy Birthday Kat!

Catherine T.

Happy Birthday

Kenny Ramon

Happy Birthday

Flordeliza

Happy Birthday gif

Meriam

Happy Birthday Inna

Clarissa Mae

Happy Birthday gif

Kim Kirby

Happy Birthday

Timoteo B.

Happy Birthday

Emma

Happy Birthday

Maris

Happy birthday Kat.

On This Is What Dreams Are Made Of Video:

Charize

Happy birthday mkr

Evelyn

Happy birthday Kathy girl

Sarah

Happy Birthday, Te Katty!

Lovelyn

Happy Birthday guapa

Maijale

Happy birthday Katrina!!! Muah love u, God bless

Jeziel Ann

Happy birthday, Tita Kathy!

Susan

Happy birthday gif

Raquiel

birthday cake gif

Charise

Happy Birthday Maam Kathy!

Previa

Happy birthday

Jeselou Jane

Ateeee Kath!!! Happy birthday sana ako na isama mo soon hahahahah

Dynnith

Happy Birthday KR

Kristine C.

Happy Birthday, Ma'am Kath!

Kristine A.

Happy Birthday Nay!

Clarissa Mae

Happy Birthday na

Hazelle

Happiest birthday KR

Jennevie

Happy birthday, Kathy Girl

Yvonne

Madamm KR Happiest Birthday

Iris

Happy birthday

Bilclint

Happy Birthday Sis Kat

Luzviminda J.

Happy birthday Katy gurl

Michael

Happy Birthday Maam Kath

Karina Amor

Happiest birthday maam Kat

Anita

Happy Birthday gif May all your wishes come true gif

Merlyn

Happy Birthday kathy

Geraldine

Happy birthday Ina

#asdfghjkrbt

[cherryusa]

THIS JUST IN!

I’ve gotten word at the Welcome Desk that it’s, like, one very special player’s birthday! So everyone, please help me in wishing the happiest birthday to B - our wonderful @romxnticss​! I love having you here, and I hope you have, like, the best day ever! Say cheese! I’m having this one framed for sure.

#bio rp #town rp #oc rp #skeleton rp #small town rp #secrets rp #gossip rp #gossip girl rp #90s rp #classic rp #college rp #secret rp #lsrp #small rp #small group rp #happy birthday from clarissa!

[snrubville]

Clarissa's Birthday - 2022

Word Count: 1.5k

Synopsis: Clarissa's seasonal depression has been getting to her lately, but a special event just around the corner might just be the thing to cheer her up.

Timeline: February 2022

Authors: @citrine-is-a-shoelace

Authors' Note: I'm sorry Clairie, I didn't mean to make you depressed.

I hate the winters, cold, windy and bleak.

Free of the joys the summer sun brings me.

Amusement is impossible to seek

When the snow is fallen and one can’t ski.

Oh, how I wish my friends could come around

To laugh and smile these frigid days away.

But this cursed snow, it thickly coats the ground

And will trap them all home well into May.

There’s not a bird in the desolate sky.

I haven’t glimpsed their freedom in what seems years.

They will not return here until July,

Memories of the sun for souvenirs

How I miss the sun, the shores now frozen

To return to them the path I've chosen.

Another winter storm had rolled into town, obscuring the landscape in a thick haze of white. Clarissa Queen sat at her kitchen table scrawling out an entry in her journal in delicate cursive handwriting. Her eyes scanned the written words as she took a sip of tea. In a sudden movement, she tore the page out and carefully folded it, as if it were a letter. She kept going, precisely folding the torn page until the paper was too thick to continue. With a sigh, she stood up and carried the folded scrap of paper over to fire blazing in her hearth. Muttering something to herself, she tossed the paper into the flames. She watched as the page blackened to ash, then returned to her seat in the kitchen. Pen in hand, she began the next page of her journal.

STAY POSITIVE.

A wish? A threat? Even Clarissa wasn’t sure what the penned message was intended to portray. She sipped the last of her tea as the ink dried, before flipping shut the little book’s cover.

What should she do now? That was the question that had plagued her since the godforsaken winter solstice. Of course, Christmas had served as a much-needed distraction, and after all this time she should be used to the drag that follows the new year. When the lake froze over and her boatshed was buried under the snow. When in her position as a boatwoman she was utterly useless. She glanced over at her calendar absentmindedly. Had she forgotten the date?

“I better check that,” she said to herself, getting up to retrieve her phone from her bedside. She turned it on and checked the date. February twenty-sixth, the day before

“My birthday,” Clarissa whispered. Once, a long time ago, that fact would have inspired an excited giggle from her. Now, it brought nothing but emptiness and loss. She checked her phone again, this time for the time. 18:47. The sun was already set, so why shouldn’t she go to sleep? Her teacup from downstairs popped into her head. A problem for tomorrow morning, she thought, walking over to her closet.

~~~

Clarissa’s phone rang at five past seven.

“Good morning,” she choked out, trying to swallow back the tired tone to her voice.

“‘Morning Clairie,” Ezekiel Scipio replied from the other end of the line. “And happy birthday.”

“Oh, Zeké, hey,” she stammered. “Thank you.”

“Are you free today?”

Silly little Ezekiel, she never had plans, was never busy, never had anything she needed to do. “Of course,” was all she said.

“Would you like to stop by my place around noon today?”

“That sounds great.”

“Wonderful, I’ll see you then.”

She sat in bed for a few minutes, mustering the strength to go brush her teeth. It was then that she recalled her teacup from the previous evening. Sighing, she went to deal with the washing.

~~~

11:15 came around, and Clarissa figured she should get ready to visit Ezekiel. She pulled on a knit sweater and jeans, then took a comb to her hair. She struggled with the knots for a minute before giving up and tying her hair up in a loose bun. It was only Zeke after all. She put her boots and coat on, grabbed her keys, and stepped outside. The snow reached halfway up her calf. No way was she driving over that, and shovelling would make her late. She texted this news to Zeke. Then she trudged over to her half-buried shed to retrieve her snow shovel.

She was 20 minutes late to Zeke’s house. She knocked on the door with an apology already forming on her tongue.

“It’s open Clairie!” Ezekiel called from inside. Knowing him, he probably had his hands full carrying a vase of roses from one room to another. She pushed the door open.

“Sorry I’m lat-” the lights flicked on.

“Happy Birthday Clarissa!” came a chorus from inside. She blinked in surprise. Everyone was there. Her fellow council members, children from the orphanage, the detective collective, Paula, and Nerium Nightshade. Everyone she loved, here. Everyone she loved, here for her. She choked back a sob. Now was not a time to cry.

“Th-thank you.” she stammered instead, still taken aback.

She felt something being placed on her head and turned around to see Moppet floating a metre and a half above the ground behind her. Reaching up, she felt the conical shape of the paper party hat he had put on her head.

“It’s so nice to see you, Clarissa. Truly it’s been much too long since you last visited.” Moppet said, in an almost forlorn tone. Emotions other than sinister or misplaced glee were rare to see from him.

“We’ve acquired the most delectable sampling of tea, you really must come by to try it soon.” Clarissa jumped. When had Paula gotten there?

“I’ll have to check my schedule,” Clarissa pretended to muse. She was well aware she had no plans to speak of.

At that moment a small group of children rushed up to her. A cacophony of high voices rose from the crowd, all spouting some variation of “Happy Birthday!” A small hand grabbed hers. She looked down to see it belonged to little Steph Beckett, who was avoiding her gaze.

“Um, Ms. Clarissa, will you… would you like to- to come sit with us?” he asked, his voice barely louder than a whisper. She smiled at how much courage the young boy had used to pose the question, and decided to push him a little further.

“I’d love to,” Clarissa replied. “Would you lead me there?”

Hearing her response, the children swarmed back to the sofa they had claimed, breaking Steph’s grasp on her hand. She sat down in the space they made for her as the rest of the children fanned out around her. A familiar voice seated to her left caught Clarissa's attention.

"Hey Clairie, it's been a while."

She turned to see Addison Lofting, flanked as usual by their partners in crime {solving?} Mirra Contreras and Victor Allez.

"I has hasn't it," she replied wistfully. She had not visited the orphanage since she joined them for Christmas dinner. She had not been outside to see them if they ever walked down the boardwalk. She loved these kids, and if the way they flocked her like goslings was any tell, the feeling was mutual. So why had she not gone to see them?

"You should come by again, Ornette's baking, while good, can't begin to compare to yours," Addison said. It must have been an agreed-upon signal because the other children joined the conversation.

"Yeah, you should come again!"

"You promised you'd show us how to make snickerdoodles!"

"I want to make ganache!"

"We got pretty muffin liners to use!"

She had forgotten how passionate children could be, forgotten how easily it rubbed off on her.

"Mardi Gras is soon, so why don't I come over to make pancakes with you all?"

A chorus of “Pancakes! Pancakes! Pancakes!” erupted from the gathered children. Clarissa took the distraction as an opportunity to scan the room. She made eye contact with Ezekiel from across the room, and he waved her over to where he was sitting with Nerium.

“I will see you all again this Tuesday then,” she said, excusing herself. She crossed the room and seated herself next to her friends.

“Happy Birthday Clarissa,” Nerium said, her signature honeyed smile gracing her mouth. Clarissa thanked her with a smile of her own. Nerium gestured to the tray of cupcakes in the middle of the table. Each was decorated with piped flowers of all species and colours. While most were picture-perfect, a select few had the look of a clumsier hand. "What do you think? I made them myself, with Vincent's help of course. A shame she couldn't make it."

Clarissa took one and bit into the spongy cake. A delicate citrus flavour graced her tongue, deliciously complimenting the rich buttercream. "Is this my recipe?" she asked after swallowing.

"Of course," Nerium answered. “I only work with the best after all.”

And maybe that’s how her friends saw her. Maybe that was their motivation for throwing this elaborate party. That she was the best at what she did, that she was the best at being herself. And for one moment, however small it was, she let herself believe that.

#snrubville #writeblr #writing #creative writing #clarissa queen #fictional writing #happy birthday clarissa!