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#today there has been a… weird??? energy with the family??

vacayisland · 5 months

Note

I would love to see your take on Trollex or Synth I love them so much. Maybe relationship hcs with reader? Thank youu~

@!; Starfish Wishes Trollex / Reader Synth / Reader

"Summary"! Unstructured headcannons on how Trollex and Synth would be in a relationship with the reader! "Tags"! Fluff and the two being literal dorks I love them sm. I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR A REQUEST ABOUT THEM FOR AGES PLEASE ILY SM (/p)

@storydays @chamille-trash @valvalentine69

@!; Being the lover of the Techno tribe leader is an experience like no other. I'm being serious, Trollex is a big doofus at heart and he knows it, and while he's more tame in public when he's alone with you it all comes out. And while Trollex has the biggest heart you've ever seen, it's a blessing and a curse.

Standing at the bottom of the ocean was defiantly something new for you, and something you didn't exactly expect to experience - like ever. Nevertheless, you never thought you would experience standing under the ocean in the middle of a Techno rave. Trollex always gushed about them, speaking with such energy you were sure half the time he was going to explode. Yet, whenever he spoke with you about the raves there was always a common denominator that made him pause and cause him to stand still. You both knew that it was harder said than done, seeing as you were neither a Techno troll or that you could breath under water. And yet, after months of talking (and a lot of trust building as Trollex tried to find some way to make this happened) he finally did it! "You alright Starfish?" Trollex shouted over the blasting music towards you, taking off an earphone as he did so. You nearly missed his voice, despite standing right next to him as you still felt a little uneasy to join the rest of the Techno tribe on their dance floor. "Huh?" You shouted back, taking a moment to process what he said, "Yeah! It's just- it's weird!" A chuckled followed after your words, "Standing at the bottom of the ocean, listening to unmuffled music, dancing?" Trollex beamed towards you, dropping his headphones around his neck, "Yeah! You have to get used to it, but if you ever need a break let me now. I'll get Synth to take over for a moment so we can go to a quieter area."

@!; Honestly he has the biggest heart, loves you to death and will do anything to make sure you're happy and well. Furthermore, he will do anything to protect you. Other than his tribe, you're his number one priority and he won't ever let you forget that and will remind you constantly. Mostly shows his love through spontaneous actions! Such as grabbing your waist and hugging you tightly while twirling around, making a CD that is a mash-up of all your favorite songs (or your own songs), or just deciding that today was going to be you and him day. I feel like he shows a lot of his affection through physical contact and quality: hugs, cuddles, kisses, swimming together, listening to music, spinning disks, having you next to him during raves so he can steal kisses from you. Loves to also make you flustered. It's the cheekiness instead of him.

@!; Defiantly a family guy! Expect him to be home with you, and the children, when he isn't doing his leadership gigs. Also, expect there to be kids and at least 3-4 of them, and expect him to love and spoil them to death. Those are his babies and he will not let anyone harm them and he will make sure they're raised not only right but also with everything he could possibly give them. Though is defiantly the type to understand if you want fewer or more kids, or if you need time between each egg catching. he knows it's difficult to raise kids without him there all the time. And while he tries to be there all he can, running the Techno tribe is a lot of work and he can't always be there. But you'll be damned if he misses something important for his kids. Never, ever, will this man miss something for you or his kids. First dj session? There and he's their biggest fan. First steps? There. First glitter ball game? You know he's rocking their colors. Birthdays? His schedule his cleared on that day for decades. Somehow finds a balance between life and work to keep the tribe happy and safe while also being the best dad he can be.

@!; Big prankster and goofball. The type who, when he sees your sad, cheer you up either through cuddles or a well meaning prank. He loves you to death, and I will say this time and time again because it's true, and he doesn't want to see you upset or sad. It makes him sad! So he'll cheer you up with his second best medicine, laughter and smiles! The first is obviously raving.

"Hey starfish, can you come here?" Trollex called you from the kitchen of your shared home, causing you to lean your head back on the couch. You tried looking at him, or tried to get a hint of what he was doing. It was one of those days were all you felt like doing was nothing. You just wanted to lay on the couch and completely space you, looking at the wall for any sort of inspiration that would never come. It made your nose scrunch and your head hurt to think that your boyfriend could possibly think beckoning you from your current place of hibernation was a good idea. Though seconds later, after not seeing you budge, he called again, "I promise, it'll be good!" So reluctantly, you mustered the strength to push yourself off the couch and onto your feet. Despite how heavy your body felt, you pushed through it to enter the kitchen where Trollex stood all too suspiciously; His hands were behind his back and this big grin was spread across his face. You knew he was up to something but you couldn't guess what it was. "So.. I know that you're having a bad day." He started, trying to contain his excitement. "So I decided to get you a gift!"

Did the gift happen to be something you absolutely loved, and had been ranting to Trollex about anytime it had crossed your mind? Yes. But was it also a bitch to get out because Trollex used every box and paper bag and gift wrap you two had laying around to wrap it? Also yes. You were so sure that the gift wrap and the boxes and the bag would never end, but it got you laughing and smiling at how ridiculous the whole thing was. Trollex and you literally spent 15 minutes on the kitchen floor unwrapping it all, then another 5 minutes laughing your asses off about it.

@!; Overall, he's an amazing lover and I love him so much. He will give you up, he'll never let you down, he'll never run around and desert you. He'll never make you cry, he'll never say goodbye, he'll never tell a lie and hurt you. But he will rickroll you as a prank while playing around with his turntables, giving you your own private concert. And this man will absolutely cackle at your expression like the gremlin he is and apologize later.

@!; Being Synth’s lover is getting to know the Synth behind “Synth”; which is much more complex than the outward, rave-loving and happy-go-lucky person Synth is always described and known as. And sure, while you fell in love with that version of Synth, you couldn’t help but fall deeper for him the more you got to know him, and in turn he fell harder the more he realized you accepted him and the more he got to know you.

@!; You first met Synth at a rave, which you had been invited to by Poppy as an olive branch to get to know some Techno trolls. At first, you weren’t sure why she would invite you to such a loud event, knowing you were rather sensitive about noise and iffy about meeting new people, especially people from different tribes. Yet, you also knew it would be rather rude to decline the invitation. Not only because Poppy had asked you personally, but also because it was a party for another tribe and you weren’t sure how they reacted to declined invitations. You had feared they took it horribly, like if you declined it would mean you hated them or something along those lines. So, to not make anyone upset you decided to go.

And, as you had expected earlier, you kept close to the edges of the party and watched everyone else; Having even taken a seat upon the disco floor out of tiredness of standing for too long. Yet, you didn’t want to leave encase Poppy wanted to introduce you to someone, or if it would count as rude to leave before a rave had finished. So you stayed, despite the overwhelming feeling you got from being in such a crowded and loud environment. “Yo, Bro!” Someone shouted, and you had thought it was towards someone else. Seeing as you didn’t know who the voice was coming from and you were just sitting in a corner doing nothing interesting, you had little reason to think someone was calling to you. Yet the voice shouted, this time closer, “Yo! Hello!” and then you saw someone waving their hands in the background, which caught your attention rather quickly. It was a Techno troll you had seen before around Poppy, and a few other Trolls. While you never spoke to him personally, you knew a few things about him. Such as, his name was Synth and he was quite loud. At times, you were able to hear his voice from across Trollstopia, and it always caused a slight fright in you at the sudden noise. “Bro you okay?” Synth swam over to you, hanging upside down with glow sticks in hand and some hanging around his neck. You hadn’t known at the time how much this first interaction would change your life, how much Synth would affect you. All you knew is that you wanted to run and hide. You were glad you didn’t.

@!; Synth wasn’t the most emotionally aware troll there is, while you were exactly the opposite and were way too emotionally aware for your own well being. As such, you two were able to balance each other out. Synth helps you calm down from the stress and emotional pressure of carrying everyone’s troubles on your back and you help Synth by pointing out social cues and things he was overlooking in his fun-seeking ways. You both helped each other get more in touch with your friends and with each other. Synth usually helps you calm down, not by raving with a large group of Techno trolls (though he used to before you exploded to Poppy, not wanting to hurt Synth’s feelings and she told Synth) yet by having dance parties at your pod. Dance parties meaning it was only you and Synth with your feel-good songs and you two would either dance together or do something else like scrapbooking, cooking, baking, etc. Something he tries to sit down and help you through your emotions. At first he tried giving you suggestions, but they weren’t the best and he learnt to just let you get it all out. Something you didn’t even need him to listen to, you just needed him there.

@!; Cuddling with Synth means there’s always a nightlight nearby! Poor Synth is terrified of the dark, and it really troubled him to be in a room without any sort of lighting (which is how you figured out why he always carries glow sticks with him). At first, Synth tried to be strong for you and cuddle at night… but he didn’t even last 2 minutes before he yelled out in pure terror.

“What? What?!” You exclaimed, jumping up from your place in bed as Synth was just freaking out. You were just about to doze off when he had begun to do so, and you were sure he didn’t have a nightmare because he hadn’t even fallen asleep… or closed his eyes for that matter. You could see the purple glow of his eyes through your shut ones. Though Synth didn’t seem too keen on answering you straightly, as he just blubbered out, “What what? What who? What where? And sometimes-” “Synth.” But you cut him off, cupping his cheeks to make him look at you. To which he drew back a little, his eyes widening in shock for a split second before he became a ball of nerves. He laughed, nervous laughter. And you seemed to realize instantly what was happening with how frequently his eyes darted around the room, trying to look for something. You didn’t know he was afraid of the dark! “Synth you should have told me.” You would mumble before scrambling to turn on your bedside lamp, much to Synth’s relief.

From that day on you had a nightlight in your room for Synth.

@!; Synth gave you a rave name the first 3 hours he knew you and now that’s the only thing he decides to call you. You weren’t sure why he did so and when you asked Trollex or Laguna they just said that’s how he is. Trollex even shrugged. You’re stuck with it, so get used to it because he means that rave name with the up most endearment!! <3

@!; He’s a little hard in the head. Didn’t know you liked him until you told him out right and even then he didn’t understand and said he liked you too. You gave up and Trollex had to explain to him what you meant, to which he paused and shouted to you as you walked away, “I LOVE YOU!” To which Trollex stared at him with the most bewildered look and you got absolutely terrified.

@!; Has taken you water surfing and urchin acupuncturing if you’re cool with it! And if you need he’s here to hold your hand and help you through it. Has also shot water at you with his water powers. Was his hands in the shape of little guns? Yes. did he also say “pew pew” as well? Yes. Did you then also purchase a water gun to be able to do it back? Yup. And was Synth so shocked the first time he got pew-pew’ed with water back? Mhmm. But then did it dissolve into a huge water fight anytime you guys pew-pew’ed each other with water? Of course!

@!; Other than being scared of the water and being an avid raver, Synth sometimes struggles with self esteem issues; mostly, he fears that he’ll let people down and disappoint them. Which, when you first heard him explain, you were shocked to hear! You always thought Synth didn’t really care what other people thought of him, despite caring about people and their well being. You don’t know why you thought that way, but you just did.

“So that’s why I’ve been acting so off the past few days, yo.” Synth explained to you the whole fiasco about his cheerleading side-gig, which he did more for fun than anything else. Though Synth expected a slightly more emotional reaction out of you than other trolls, he didn’t expect to see you almost crying. “Yo, are you crying?!” “No! No, I’m fine!” Yet you only sniffled. “Bro… don’t cry because then I’ll cry!”

You and Synth connected on a deeper level that day, as you explained you also tended to feel that way around people. You both decided to make a pinkie-promise to be able to tell each other anything since that day. @!; I love Synth so much, 10/10 lover.

.ᐟ this work is published and owned by @vacayisland. please do not plagiarize, copy, or steal this work; like, reblogs, and saves are appreciated :D

#trolls band together #synth x reader #trollex x reader #synth trolls #king trollex #dreamworks trolls #trolls fandom #trolls #trolls 3 #trolls dreamworks #trolls world tour #techno trolls #trolls trollex #trollstopia #trolls 2

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0nlythrowharrybeaux · 3 months

Text

A Twist of Fate: No Hard Feelings**^

Thank you everyone for your patience. Here is Part 2 to this star-crossed lovers story. This part really focuses on the break down of the relationships so it can be angsty. Part 3 will be the last one in this short series. READ PART ONE

Series Masterlist

Warnings: sexism, unprotected sex, argumentative and rocky relationships, drug and alcohol use, break ups

WC: 16K

…. JANUARY 2024 ….

The holiday season had been interesting for you and Sebastian. You had gone over to his family’s for the festivities and it was interesting to say the least. You felt like you had transitioned into a weird dystopian dimension after that first dinner.

Seb’s mom wanted his first meal back to be his favorite home cooked meal, a green enchilada casserole; he had been talking about it since you’d left LA. So were excited to try it, so when dinner time came and his mom, Renee, started to serve up a plate of food, you followed suit and she gave you a knowing smile. It confused you but you finished up and followed after her to the table. When Seb glanced up at you with a smile your brows furrowed in confusion; you weren’t sure why Seb was just sitting at the table if he was so excited about this meal? But soon enough you were in front of your seat and set your plate down and then sat. You glanced up when you realized it had grown uncomfortably quiet and everyone was looking at you. When your eyes met Renee’s, she was frozen with the plate she had served her husband laid on the place mat before him. It was then that you noticed that this was not a self-serve situation, you were the only woman at the table and the ladies were serving their husbands before they could sit to eat.

You were mortified. You hadn’t grown up like that, your parents were very lax with gender expectations and roles, your mom wasn’t in charge of cooking and cleaning up after your dad. They were both working so much that they both did everything to keep the household running. Besides, you had never served Sebastian his food. You had cooked for him plenty of times and sure he never cleaned up after himself (unless asked), but he had always fixed his own plates so you had no idea why he would expect it now. It was even more awkward when his sister came in right behind you just moments later and placed a plate of food before him.

“Thanks, Amy.” He smiled and she nodded and looked at you briefly, you swore there was judgement in her eyes, and then everything picked back up again.

After, that it was just awkward and tense. Seb’s mom stepped up the babying for the rest of the trip. You were shocked the amount of work this woman did for her husband and Seb. You started doing the same to blend in, but it had been too late. Christmas Day at lunch, you were heading to the kitchen to offer your help with anything when you overheard his sisters and mother talking to maybe their aunts or other cousins saying how they had all been telling Seb how selfish you were and that you couldn’t take care of him how he needed. It was impressive that just from that one incident they had already discarded you and started shit talking you to Sebastian and others. You were glad when you finally got to leave and get back to LA, but it had been days now and you were still a bit in your head.

“Hey, babe.” Seb hummed as he came into your bedroom.

“Hi.” You offered a smile before glancing back down to your sudoku book. You felt the bed dip and glanced up to see him climbing onto the bed, heading over to your side.

“How was your day?” He asked.

“It was fine. Yours?” You asked as you put down a ‘9’ in it’s designed box.

“Finished another song today, think this will be the single. It has good energy.”

“That’s good.” You hummed as you glanced up at him and when he saw he had your undivided attention he got going. Sebastian started talking about all the things they’d done and how he got inspiration for new lyrics… He’d been talking at you for an hour already, it was nearly midnight and you were tired. Then, in the middle of his story you had the urge to yawn and you did. “Oh sorry, am I boring you?” He asked with irritation and you frowned.

“No, I just yawned. S’late. I was up at 5:30am for that stupid yoga class.” You explained to him and he frowned.

“You’re being weird.” He said.

“What?”

“Ever since we got back you’ve been off.” he said and you sighed. You supposed you should just get your concerns off your chest now.

“OK, so I ummm…I overheard your mom and sisters talking shit about me on Christmas.” You said and he frowned, “And I know they were talking about me to other people and to you.” You said.

“And?” He asked, “I mean, what did you expect after that first night?” He asked you.

“What’d you say when they talked to you about me after that?”

“Nothing…just heard ‘em out. It’s better to not argue with them about their opinions.”

“And is that…is that how you expect me to be?”

“Well, I get that’s not how you grew up. Trust me, meeting your family was a culture shock for me too. But we'll get there. With a little training.” He joked, but it was ill timed, “They know there’s nothing you wouldn’t do for me when we’re on more serious turf.” He assured you.

“Ummm…I don’t exactly know what you mean by that.” You said as you straightened up a bit and raised your glasses up to your head. You set your book down as well to really just ensure all of your senses were in tune as you had this conversation.

“I mean that once I move in here we’ll get you to a stage where you’ll feel more comfortable assuming the more traditional feminine role in the house.” He said and you were shocked to hear him say this.

“Traditional feminine- OK, I hope this is not what I’m thinking…”

“And what’s that?”

“You want me to wait on you like that? Like your mom and sisters?”

“It’s called acts of service.” He countered.

“Babe, i-if I just sat here all day and did nothing outside of the house, then sure! I’d do work here. Your laundry and iron, clean up after you, and fucking spoon feed you if I wanted to. But you also forget one big thing, Seb. This is my house. My name alone is on the mortgage and every other expense. You should be cleaning up after yourself in my house, especially if you invite yourself over for days at a time!” You raised your voice in frustration.

He looked so offended by what you’d said but this was something that had been frustrating you for quite a while now. Of course you wanted him over, but he just took over your space. He’d stay for days and disrupt everything, like sleep in later than you and not do the bed. Eat and pile up dishes in the sink, he’d leave his dirty laundry and towels on the ground, and he left cups everywhere! But what was most annoying was that he’d leave everything to you. And when you’d call him out on it he’d get it together for a couple days and then go back to his old ways. At first you thought it was just laziness but after spending 10 days with his family you saw that it wasn’t just laziness. Seb had an expectation that you’d soon be doting after him at all times and keeping a nice home for his comfort. He knew that if he’d left a mess you’d eventually grow tired of it and clean it up for him, which was true. But that didn’t mean you wouldn’t gripe about it, but he expected that to diminish and soon become extinct the longer you were together. That was concerning to you and you suddenly found yourself seeing him in a completely different light.

“Well, sorry for taking up your space.” He muttered bitterly as he rolled off the bed and made his way out of your bedroom.

You didn’t stop him from going, you heard the front door lock and that was that. You hadn’t seen this type of attitude from him before, he had never shared those expectations with you before so you were quite shocked to hear him say that and you still hadn’t quite processed everything he’d said. You immediately called Caitlyn and told her all about your trip and now this.

“…Oh my god, so he’s a chauvinist!” Caitlyn gasped and you hummed.

“I just can’t believe this…I mean if this is really what he expects of me then I can’t be in this relationship. Of course I believe in doing things, acts of service for your partner, but what he wants is a maid, mother, and lover wrapped up in one! No…just no.” you sighed.

“I agree. I mean, it’s good it’s only been a bit, yeah?”

“I guess so…” you sighed, “I just can’t believe this.” You muttered, your brain felt like it was about to overheat.

“I mean, he’s from a red state, friend. What did you expect?” Caitlyn said joking and then you both sputtered on a laugh. “So…what’re you thinking then?”

“I’m thinking that…” You sighed, “I saw how his mom was with his dad…I couldn’t live like that.” You explained. “I want to feel like I have a partner, not a boss at home. I can’t be with someone like that. I can’t.”

“Yeah.” Caitlyn said in understanding, “I mean, if that’s truly how he is then it’s for the best to just let this go.”

“Yeah, it wouldn’t end well.” You agreed “I think we both need to cool off a bit and then talk about it.” You said with a sigh and she agreed with you.

You were in a shit mood now and had wandered into the kitchen to grab yourself a bottle of wine and some of those Trader Joes takis. You were soon back in bed and watching a movie as you got drunk and ate your chips. You had a moment of weakness…and against your better judgement you now went on instagram and searched up Harry. You just wanted to see him going about his day, you missed him and knew he’d be so supportive right now, even seeing his smile would be comforting enough. But what you saw coming up had your heart stirring with envy instead of a fuzzy and warm feeling.

For the first time you felt entirely un-special to him. Just four years prior you’d been at the same fucking Anguillian resort frolicking about on the beaches, lazing around in cabanas, getting day drunk on fruity cocktails, and making love to your hearts content. But there he was again but with another person this time. Well, not just any person, his girlfriend, and it was making your blood boil. Was nothing sacred to this man? Did he have to recycle every single thing to lure another person in?

And then you clicked on a post and decided to just see it all and you sighed as you looked through the images of him, so gorgeously tan and buff swimming in the ocean and the final image was of her getting her pictures taken on the sand while he enjoyed the warmth of the Caribbean Sea.

“She’s not even getting in the water with you?!” You nearly shouted at your phone, “What a fucking waste of a vacation!” You grumbled. “I would get in the water with you.” You mumbled drunkenly, “No, no…I did! We went there and I did get in the water with you, no one could get us out!” You said as your tears started to streak down your face, “And we did take pictures too, a lot of them. But we went to have fun, not just to take pictures at sunset like influencers who’d never been to a beach before…” you said bitterly and then frowned.

“OK, but she’s so pretty of course she’s having her fucking picture taken instead of getting in the water with you.” You sighed in defeat. “Also it’s her fucking vacation too, so she can do what she wants with her time…” you said to yourself, rationalizing her choices and deciding not to take out your frustration with Seb on her. “I’m not being a girl’s girl right now.” You scolded yourself for your harsh judgements.

You didn’t even know each other so you had no idea how she was or what her intentions could be at all. But if Harry was with her then she had to be nice and sweet, something that you just weren’t any more. You weren’t being nice when you kissed Harry despite you both being in relationships. You weren’t nice or sweet when you blew up on Sebastian earlier and felt and thought bad things about his family. Instead you were full of spite and sadness. You felt stuck in a loop of negativity that would never end. You were lost, but you didn’t want to be. You wanted to be like you were when you were with Harry. Happy, confident, full of hope…you wanted that back. You were crying so hard and were so drunk after having half a bottle of wine that you just tuckered yourself out.

********

“Tempt fate with me, love. Just one more time.” You heard Harry’s voice purring lowly. You were covered in goosebumps as you nodded, noses nudging lightly.

“OK.” You agreed easily.

“Yeah?” He asked you, grinning wide.

“Yeah.” You agreed happily.

And then your lips met eagerly with some lingering hesitation. But after your eyes met it completely disappeared and your lips were joining again. And then you were on his lap and his hands were fighting not to grab you in places he shouldn’t, but his resolve melted away quickly and was guiding you over his lap, letting you feel his evident need for you.

Suddenly you glanced down at him and he was naked except his briefs and you were too, just your bra and panties, both of you impatient and fighting to not take it to the next level. You felt harry’s fingers gliding up your back, right up to the clasp of your bra but not daring to remove it, instead opting to just lose himself in your kisses.

“Just…mmm, wanna touch you, baby.” He whined into your lips.

“Then touch me.” You whispered back.

“Can I? Can I really?” He hummed and you nodded. He was quick to unclasp your bra and bring his hands forward to cup your breasts. When his kisses trailed down to your chest, you leaned back and let him lick at your nipple teasingly before just sucking your perked up little bud between his lips. You were getting so wet for him, grinding down harder and with more intent.

“Please…I need you. I’ve missed you.” You whimpered and he grinned up at you.

“I’ve missed you too. So fucking much.” He said quietly, “What if he comes home and-”

“Then we should be quick.” You panted and he nodded. Magically, his briefs were gone and he was guiding his hard, thick length to your entrance, holding it up so that you could sit over him and get him inside of you, “Can I?”

“Please. Yes, go.” He rushed out and you both moaned in ecstasy and relief at being connected this way once again.

You rode him slowly, getting used to feeling him deep in your guts like this from how big he was. He was panting and kissing at your neck, his fingers gripping your ass tight as he helped you move over him in ways that were beneficial to the both of you. You picked up your pace then, needing to hurry things along and he groaned against your throat.

“Fuck Y/N, you’re so fucking good.” He mumbled, “Missed you…missed your body, s’my favorite body, baby.” He muttered as he sloppily kissed your neck, “Gonna make me come. But I want t’come inside, can I?”

“Har, I-I don’t know…” you winced as he held you down, his cock impaling deep inside of you. “What about your-”

“Forget everyone else.” He interrupted, “We’re here now, s’just us. It’s us.” He appealed as he started to thrust up.“Don’t tell me you don’t want it like that.” He said, “I know you, love. Know you better than you know yourself.” He mumbled and you choked on a moan as he started to rub your clit.

“Yes, yes please come inside me.” You begged, finally giving in to what it is you wanted.

“Yeah, you want it inside you, my sexy little slut?” He questioned and you moaned and confirmed.

“Yeah, of course you do. You’re a filthy fucking home wrecker, you know that?” He muttered and when you glanced down it wasn’t Harry anymore, it was Sebastian. “Gonna throw me away like that and go after him, aren’t you?” He asked and suddenly you felt stuck in a bad way.

“Please just…” your pleasure was fading fast. He wasn’t fucking you. He was actually fully dressed, just holding you still in his lap and you were stuck there. Still fully naked though, to signify your shame over lusting after Harry.

“You’ve fucked it up with me and now you’re gonna go fuck up his life too. You selfish, greedy bitch.” He seethed with spite.

************

And that’s when you woke up and immediately started crying again. Already, your head was pounding with inhumane levels of pain from the wine you’d drank the night before. But also the shame you felt for your thoughts the night before…it was monumental and sitting on your chest heavily. You felt like you needed to apologize to them for it, that’s how guilty you felt.

Obviously, you missed Harry. You hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since you’d seen each other late last year. You hadn’t even spoken since! He hadn’t made any moves to rekindle the friendship between you as much as you had insisted that that’s what it was all about. Maybe he saw you and just got lost reminiscing the old days, but when he got back home to his girlfriend and his friends he realized that everything was exactly as it should’ve been. Maybe he needed to be with you to verify whether he was going down the right path now and clearly, he was. But you were just lost…so terribly lost.

************

It was a few days later when Sebastian finally came around to talk about your relationship and he was the one to hit you with the break up speech right off the bat. He made it seem like it was all your fault for not being more accommodating to his needs as a man. You had no idea what he meant by that, but you were in no condition or place to argue with him because you had wronged him. He did go off a bit about how he should’ve listened to his sisters and dumped you the moment you came back from their house. He was angry at you for not wanting to change or make compromises for him even though it was your job as the woman to look after him and your home and that’s when you lost your shit.

“THIS ISN’T YOUR HOME, SEBASTIAN!” You shouted with anger boiling over and he stopped talking, “It’s my fucking house! My house. I bought it with my money! I didn’t buy this house because I was planning a future in it with you! I just wanted a place of my own! That’s it! We weren’t even together when I got the house! What makes you feel like you have any sort of ownership over it or me?! You come here to do laundry and charge and wash your car, using my resources without ever even pitching in. You eat my food and use my AC in the summer-”

“Well you know I don’t have the same amenities at my apartment and-”

“Then tell your mom and dad to get you a better one!” You shouted and he frowned, “You’re spoiled and inconsiderate and completely helpless, Sebastian. I can’t be with a person who can’t hold their own or even bother to google what the symbols mean on the tags of your fucking clothes so that you don’t shrink them in the dryer!”

“Well you already know so I was calling you so that you could tell me-”

“I was busy with my fucking label rep! I couldn’t pick up the phone. But the fucking point is that, like you, at some point I didn’t know! I didn’t know a lot of things! So I had to grow the fuck up and figure them out for myself! And that’s the problem with you, you don’t try to figure things out, you don’t face any problems or obstacles, you just back yourself into a corner, telling yourself that you don’t know! You make everyone else jump in and sort things out the second an inconvenience arises for you.” He was pouting now.

“Is that really how you see me? A spoiled man-child who can’t do things for themselves?”

“Yes.” You said and he chuckled.

“Who changed your tire when you got a flat? Who mows your fucking lawn when the landscapers can’t make it-”

“I can change a fucking tire, Seb! And I can mow a lawn! It’s not fucking rocket science! You insisted on doing those things for me because you said I “wouldn’t do them right”, don’t forget that detail.” You said and he shook his head.

“Well, no one ever wants to be with a know it all so…fuck you.” He said before leaving your house with a loud slam of the front door.

All you could feel was relief. It was like a weight had been lifted off of your shoulders and you just wanted to run. So you did, you called up Caitlyn and you drove down to the beach and just ran and ran along the shore until you were shivering from the cold and could hardly feel your nose and lips. You were panting, struggling to take in a nice deep breath as you guys dropped down into the sand. Caitlyn being in much better shape than you wasn’t nearly as winded.

“How much did we run? Like two miles?” You asked as you swallowed thickly and she laughed.

“Try a 3/4’s of a mile…maybe a full one.” She said and you groaned and just let yourself fall back into the sand and stared up at the sky, it was slowly growing darker. You could feel your legs tingling a bit from the constant running, and as you laid there, letting all of your feelings from the past few weeks process you stopped feeling cold. “Want some water?”

“You brought water?”

“Yeah, my camelback.” She said and took it off and handed it to you. You thanked her and sucked some out of the straw before handing it back. “You good?”

“I don’t know…” you said monotonously, “No, actually.”

“Mmmm, I have a joint?” She said and you chuckled.

“Light her up.” You mumbled and she smiled and did just that.

Soon she was laying back as well as she handed you the joint while she blew out the hit she’d taken. You took your hit as well, holding just a little bit because you were so bad at smoking and it was also bad for you as a singer. You still choked on it and shot up, snatching the water from Caitlyn as she giggled at you.

“God…” you groaned before laying back down, “You know, I saw pictures of Harry on vacation with Taylor the other day…internet stalking is the fucking worst, you know that? Why would you want to do that to yourself?” You asked Caitlyn.

“Mmmm, so nothing catches you by surprise. Or at least that’s what I like about it. I mean, if it’s just speculation at least you have that possible scenario in your head and you can process it before it’s just shoved in your face randomly, you know?”

“Yeah, I guess…I was judging her for not swimming in the ocean with Harry.” You said and then started laughing, “I don’t know why that particular thing pissed me off so much!” You laughed and Caitlyn did too, “Like what’s so fucking special about swimming that just triggered me…so ridiculous.” You mumbled.

“Just a bit…” she said.

“I think I’m starting to realize that…nothing about us was really special. Like we did all the things they do now just in secret…it’s like…I’m watching my relationship with him being reenacted.” You said with welled up eyes, but you didn’t cry this time. “It’s…it’s so weird.” You hummed and then you were silent for a few minutes, passing the joint back and forth.

“Wanna hear a rumor I heard?” Caitlyn said and you turned to her in interest, “I heard from Mer that-”

“Mer Winston? You’re still friends?”

“Oh yeah, we talk all the time.” Caitlyn confirmed, “But she said that they got in a huge fight before Christmas, he came over and had this whole venting session with them over lunch one day. And she said that H had a lot of making up to do if he wanted to make it work with her.”

“I hope that wasn’t my fault.” You mumbled.

“Maybe he decided to tell her about meeting up with you.”

“Maybe…” you sighed, “We haven’t talked at all or anything like that. It was part of the deal. If things were meant to happen then they would.” You said and Caitlyn hummed.

“Maybe it’s like an apology vacation…”

“Who knows, but like…they’re there now so whatever…”

“Harry’s a bit annoying though, isn’t he? Like clingy if I recall? Like lanky ass wrapped around you all the fucking time, no?” Caitlyn asked and you chuckled and nodded.

“Yeah, sounds about right…”

“Then why wasn’t he clinging to her? I saw the pictures too, by the way…” she added and you chuckled.

“Maybe he was? But he gets nervous when he knows people are watching.” You explained. “And besides, you should be the voice of reason here, not the conspiracy theorist!” You reprimanded and she chuckled as she handed you the last bit of the joint and you declined.

“Sorry, it’s the weed.” She said and you sighed.

“Well I’m not feeling shit.” You said, still completely sober.

“You’re not doing it right, s’why.” She laughed and you huffed.

“Damaging my lungs for nothing…” you muttered.

“I assure you with how shallow your inhales are that shit didn’t reach your lungs.” She cackled and she couldn’t stop from there.

You walked back to where you parked with your arms linked together as you talked about other things. You were fine now, you just needed to get all the emotions out of your system. And well, just because your relationship had ended it didn’t mean that Harry was meant for you. Or you for him. All this meant was that Sebastian wasn’t right for you and you weren’t right for him. And as you walked along the shore you decided that you weren’t going to seek Harry out, you were going to forget about the little deal you made yourselves, that was just wishful thinking and you couldn’t set yourself up for disappointment like that. He was just so far away, it wasn’t cute, it wasn’t realistic, it was just sadistic and psychologically damaging. If you love someone you let them go.

“I know this is so gross but I have to use the bathrooms here before they close.” Caitlyn said and you chuckled and nodded and she took off for the bathrooms. You just wandered back to the concrete wall that separated the pavement from the sand. The sun was just about to disappear and it felt so perfectly poetic. It was cathartic, thinking of him while the sun set second by second. And when the last little sliver started to fade you smiled and exhaled shakily before whispering.

“Bye, Harry.”

*************

The news of your breakup with Sebastian had come swiftly to the public as the very next day Seb released a statement via an Instagram post asking for “privacy in this difficult time”. It was interesting to you because he was the one who did the dumping. But then the questions started pouring in from your manager and publicists and you confirmed that you’d broken up and explained why and they decided that they would not give him the satisfaction or even an acknowledgement with a confirmation to the media.

You did get papped outside of your preferred grocery store the week after he announced the break up and you believed it was to do with the fact that you nor your team had done a thing to acknowledge his announcement. You had a strict plan for grocery shopping as to prevent being papped or seen by too many people and the one person who knew that apart from Caitlyn was him. So it was about 9 at night and the paps were bombarding you with questions about this break up as you unloaded your groceries into the car and all you said was “Yep, Seb broke up with me.” with a bright smile. You wanted to give “Nicole Kidman divorced from psycho cult follower, Tom Cruise” vibes. You felt like you’d escaped a super shitty future. You were sure he could find someone who would happily be all the things he wanted them to be for him, but that’s certainly not what you wanted from a relationship. You did wish him well, but that was all there was to it.

Unfortunately for Sebastian, his plot with the paps backfired a bit. People were pointing out that you seemed happy and relieved about the breakup as you just carried on with life. And then that turned into speculations that he wrote that post on instagram for some compassion from the public since he had broken up with you. And yeah, that was all true, but you weren’t going to fuel the fire. The public could be your bestest friend of your greatest foe, so it was better not to try and involve the masses when possible. That’s something you had learned from Harry, regardless of whether things were good or bad, the public always had something to say and the best thing to do was not to give them any ammunition.

*************

Harry’s POV:

Harry had heard about your break up through the grapevine and his first instinct was to check up on you. It’d been a few days and he was still teetering on the edge of whether he should or not, he’d have to go through some lengths to do so, but he wanted to. Admittedly, he was already on thin ice…

When he got back from LA he was just really in his head about everything and when Tay asked what was up he was honest with her. Except the kiss, he didn’t tell her about the kiss. But he shared with her that he asked to see you. He told her that he chose to stay longer in hopes to see you again. He was honest about why he didn’t want to tell her that he wanted to hang out with you. He was honest about how much shit it stirred up in him to have run into you. Obviously, she was pissed at him, even said it was probably over, he had never seen her angry before but it came at him strong and she was gone for a few days. That’s when he took advantage to talk about all this to someone else, so he made his way over for lunch with Ben and Meredith and told them all of it.

Once it was off his chest he reached out to fix things with his girlfriend. And while she agreed to work through this with him there had been a lot of conditions given until he regained the trust that he had broken. She wanted him to remove your number from his phone because as she’d put it, he had no business trying to talk to you while you were in a relationship and while he was in a relationship. He genuinely couldn’t argue with that logic so he did right there in her face so that she could see for herself. She also wanted to understand what it was about you that made him suddenly lose all his self control. And against his better judgment he told her about you and he saw for himself how the more he spoke, the bigger the hole he dug for himself.

The holidays were a little weird, there was still some tension and it was good that she got to be around his family to distract a bit from all the hurt and anger that was still lingering beneath the surface. So when the new year came by he suggested they get out of town, have a nice little change of pace to start out their year together. And now here they were, he had just seen another post about you and Sebastian being over and he just needed to check.

“Mate, d-do you think you can reach out to Jen and get Y/N’s number?” Harry asked Tom quietly.

“Jen?”

“Yeah, Jen Lockley, her manager.” He said and Tommy sighed.

“I know that I work for you, but this is stupid, H. Is this really something you want to be doing? Especially with the situation you’re in right now.” He admonished.

“Look, her boyfriend just broke up with her, I just want to make sure she’s OK.” He explained and Tommy sighed and pulled out his phone and was typing something up before handing his phone over. It was a video of you getting papped, smiling bright as you confirmed the break up.

“She’s fine.” He assured.

“OK.” He sighed.

“Why is she so happy about it?” Tommy asked.

“I don’t know…maybe if I talked to her I’d know.”

“So this has nothing to do with you?” He asked.

“No! I just came and asked you for her number! If that’s not an act of desperation, I don’t know what is…”

“So what are you trying to do here? Are you not as happy as you let on or what?”

“I am, I just…I miss her. She was my best friend, you know? I was rocked when I saw her. I didn’t expect to feel as much as I did. I couldn’t help that, running into her was out my control.” He explained

“Yeah, I get that. But look, you’ve got someone really great right in front of you.”

“I know that…s’just, different. She’s a different person.” Harry said, “Which is great, it’s just…different.” He said again.

“Was that relationship the one that like…changed everything?” He asked and Harry nodded. Tommy had been working with Jeffrey for a while, but he and Harry only started getting close after Jeffrey and Glenne got married, he wasn’t with you by then anymore. So he hadn’t really seen your relationship like everyone else had.

“Yeah. I wanted to marry her. Have a baby with her, everything. We met when I was still in the band, she’s was there for the whole transition out of it, she helped me with my songs for my first album…we grew up together, you know? Challenged each other, encouraged each other.”

“And you ended it because?”

“We were both way too busy, we hardly had time to see each other during the last 2 years we were togther. We were doing extreme things just to have a weekend together, you know? It was draining and exhausting for the both of us so ummm…we just decided to end it.”

“Well, regardless of how you feel now, it’s over H. I just don’t want you to…to look past what you have now just because you’re clinging to the past.”

“Well what if she’s in my future?” He asked and Tommy sighed.

“If that’s really how you feel then what are you doing here with someone else? What’s the point? Just killing time until you can have the person you want?”

“It’s not like I don’t love Tay, I just…also love Y/N. I think I’ll always love her and I’ll always wonder about her. She’s the one that…got away, so it’s always going to be like this.”

“Does your girlfriend know that?”

“I think she’s starting to figure it out…” Harry sighed.

“Well if that’s how it is you still need to focus on the relationship you’re in now. You have nothing going on with Y/N, not even a friendship, so you need to be present. Turn a new page, like you promised.”

“I will. I will.” He repeated, almost as if trying to convince himself more than Tommy.

Tommy could understand why it was hard for Harry to just move on when he felt like the person that was his person was slowly pulling further and further from his reach. He believed that you could be torn between two people, love more than one person at a time, but not everyone accepted that kind of love or relationship. He didn’t think Harry would start a full blown affair with you, but for some it was worse in a way, knowing that their partner felt love for them and someone else. It couldn’t be easy for Taylor to come to terms with that; especially if she wasn’t aware that Harry even had the ability to love this way. Or that there was someone who had the ability to affect him that much that wasn’t her.

“I know this is fucking unfair of me but I really just have no control over these feelings, mate. I saw her again and it hit me like a fucking train that I love her, you know? It’s weird for me too to suddenly have all these different feelings for someone else when I thought I had moved on; it was unexpected. I even…love her in a different way than I do Taylor.” Harry explained with a furrowed brow.

“Well don’t say that to her. Ever.” Tommy advised.

“Well, I just think she’s understanding this all wrong…like she thinks that seeing Y/N raised up some conflict or doubts in me about our relationship. That I’m “torn” between options and it’s not that at all. I enjoy our relationship and I love being with her, so much, but it’s not what Y/N and I had. So I’m not looking for that in Tay nor am I comparing her to Y/N at all. Like I love Taylor for Taylor and what she does for me and how we function together. But I also love Y/N for all of what we had and all that we could possibly be. It’s completely separate…she’s still on this “emotional cheating” argument, which I get what she means. But it’s not like I’m looking for something she’s lacking, you know? I’m not even looking for anything else with anyone else. It’s just feelings.”

“Love is a big feeling, H.” Tommy said. “It’s getting messy.”

“I know and like…she just wants me to let it go and move on which is impossible. I can’t just stop loving Y/N on command, you know? If it’s going to happen it’s going to take a lot of time. I mean, I thought I was past all this until we were face to face. Who’s to say that won’t happen again 10 years from now or something?”

“Yeah, I see your dilemma.” Tommy hummed. “I mean, the fact that you deleted her number should be a good start for Tay. Show her that you’re willing to just focus on you two.”

“Yeah…”

“I mean, you get why you guys can’t even be friends, right?”

“Of course, I do. It just…it sucks.” He sighed.

************

Harry didn’t think Taylor would be keeping an eye out for you after he deleted your number, but she was. And it was late and he was tired and a little sunburnt and he just wanted to plop into bed after his cold shower, but the concerned look on her face made him realize that something was about to go down that would prevent him from resting as he hoped.

“What’s the matter, love?” He asked right away instead of waiting for her to get around to stating the problem.

“She broke up with him.” She said to him with a slightly nervous tone.

“Who broke up with who?” He asked, playing dumb.

“Y/N, with Sebastian. My friend just send this to me.” She said turning her phone to him as he came over to the bed. It was a tabloid cover with the news.

“Well good for her, he was kind of a prick.” Harry said as he climbed in.

“So you’re happy about this?”

“If she’s happy about it then yeah. And again, I’m not his biggest fan, so why wouldn’t I be?” He questioned.

“I’m sure she’s doing it for you.” She said with a slightly accusatory tone, “Does that make you happy too?” She asked him, challenging him. Harry sighed and rolled his eyes.

“She’s not doing it for me. When we talked she was telling me that they were having some issues that she was having a hard time getting past. Seems like it was coming. Maybe they both reached their breaking points.” He reasoned. But the thought did cross his mind, was she sending him a sign?

“Harry, I hate feeling this way…” she said, “This isn’t me.” She shook her head, “You know this isn’t me. But I feel…like we’re up in the air.” She repeated and he sighed.

“I’m sorry.” All he could really do was apologize. “You have no reason to feel that way though, babe. I’m not looking for anything with Y/N, love. When I said I still have feelings for her, it’s just that, they’re feelings. But we’re not gonna talk, I’m never gonna see her again-”

“You don’t know that, Harry.” She interrupted.

“Well, not on purpose, I won’t, not if you don’t want me to.” He said and she sighed.

“My whole point is that I shouldn’t have to put restrictions on you, like a child! I should be able to trust that you won’t hurt me.”

“Then trust me. I’m not going to do anything with this.” He assured and she pouted.

“What if you never stop loving her?” She asked him and he sighed.

“Babe, I don’t know…”

“Well what then? I just have to live in her shadow for however long we’re together? What if that’s my whole life?” She asked with a frown and he was getting a bit frustrated that people weren’t understanding that this wasn’t a competition for him.

“Babe, it’s not like that…you’re not in her shadow because you’re never going to be her!” He groaned and she frowned, “Let me finish.You’re not Y/N and Y/N’s not ever going to be you. It’s not a competition…I don’t want you to give me what I had with her. I like what we have now. I’m not comparing, I’m not trying to get pieces of that relationship back through you. They’re two mutually exclusive things! If I continue to be here for you how you need, and I’m faithful, and supportive, and am fulfilling all of those duties we talked about… how do my feelings for her impact us?” He asked.

“See, to me that feels like a cop out.” She said and Harry sighed.

“How?! How on earth?”

“Because you can continue loving her for the rest of your life if you want under this mentality you have! What if loving her from afar stops being enough? I don’t want to share you with someone else! That’s not what I signed up for.”

“You’re not sharing me with anyone!” He groaned.

“See that’s what you’re not getting, Harry. I know you feel you’re not and you can even make the distinction, but I can’t do that, H. I don’t function that way. How do I know that one day your mind won’t change and you’ll want to be with her instead of me since you’ve kept this channel open?” She asked.

“My feelings for you can start to change at any given moment for any number of reasons that are completely unrelated to Y/N, so-”

“You’re a dick.” She said and got out of bed and just locked herself in the bathroom.

He tried to explain what it was he was trying to convey but Tommy was right, this was getting messy. She said she’d only come out when he was out of the bedroom so he made his way to the general area of the large condo style suite they’d rented out at the resort and just laid on the couch. If there was an off-switch to loving you, Harry would’ve made use of it ages ago. It wasn’t easy to love someone who life kept pushing out of your reach. He just loved you

from afar, he reckons he always would.

…. February 2024 ….

You were at your wits end with Sebastian. It took him about a month of you two being broken up before he started trying to spark things up between the two of you again. You wanted to believe it was because he’s considered his antiquated (in your opinion) expectations of you, but your gut told you it had more to do with the fact that you were what gave him more exposure. You hadn’t really run into him anywhere during awards season or even any parties, though he had been persistent to talk to you. You’d declined and rejected him so many times, yet once again, you got home from the studio to see your assistant had left yet another fresh bouquet of roses on the console table you had by the door. You sighed and grabbed the little card that was tucked in among the greenery.

Thinking of you today, Y/N. I hope we can talk or see each other soon. I’ll be waiting.

- XO, Seb

You sighed as you picked out the little card and crumbled it in your hand. Now you had a dozen red roses you had no use for. It irked you quite a bit, like everything was though as of late. This foulness of your mood was brought on by the visit of a mutual friend a few weeks prior. They were based in London though, so you hadn’t seen each other face to face in at least three year. But when you met up, they talked about your old circle in London, and obviously that led to the mentioning of Harry and how happy he was with Taylor. They said that the pair had been traveling together a lot, and just really immersing themselves in what they had going on. Hearing that solidified your decision to just steer clear of anything that had to do with Harry. Especially if he was really focused on making things work in his current relationship, as he should! But this also reminded you that you really needed to move on and not just say you would, like you often did. You slipped out of your loafers and migrated to the kitchen to figure out your dinner when your phone started ringing and you glanced down to see it was one of the guys from the studio.

“Hey Ricky, what’s up?” You asked with some pep.

“Hey Y/N, it’s going good. We’re almost done with the single. Ummm, I was actually calling about something else though. You know how my younger sister’s in a band?” He asked.

“Yeah…” you said as you opened up your fridge.

“So they’re doing this charity concert to raise money for an emergency student fund for students in financial need at UCSD. She asked me to run the sound system and if I could rope in any friends to volunteer for the main performance last minute? They’ve got a few local bands and singers lined up and them plus a surprise guest is what they hoped. But the surprise guest decided to drop out since they weren’t going to be paid.”

“What an ass.”

“I know, they knew about it too! It’s for charity!” He said, “Obviously, they’re at a loss and don’t want the event to flop. I told my sister she had one favor a year and she called it. So I was wondering if-”

“Oh my god, you don’t even have to ask. It’s for a good cause! When is it?” You asked.

“It’s going to be on March 9th, it’s a Saturday, at the SDSU amphitheater.” He shared and she pulled her phone away to put him on speaker and look at her calendar.

“Ummm, I don’t believe I have anything lined up for that weekend…yeah, no. I’m all clear so I can definitely participate.” You assured.

“Seriously?!” Ricky asked in disbelief, “Like they can’t pay anything though. The school pitched in for some thank you gifts, that’s all.” He said and you chuckled.

“No problem. I would love to help out.”

“You’re a saint! Let me text you her information so that you can reach out to her and get the lowdown on all this.”

“Sounds good.”

“Thank you, Y/N. Seriously, thank you so much! You’re the tenth person I’ve called.” Ricky confessed.

“Ummm?” You exclaimed, face twisted in full offense, “I’m offended that I’m the tenth choice.” You chuckled, “Unless you were like calling in personal favors from like Lana or Rihanna.” You added and he chuckled.

“No…I just know you’ve been going through a bit emotionally lately, so I didn’t want to rope you into anything last minute and burden you with anything else.” He explained.

“Oh, I’m up for anything that involves singing.” You assured him and he chuckled.

“Well thank you, she’s going to be so happy about this. She’s kind of a fan…” Ricky sighed in relief and you chuckled.

“Anytime. See you tomorrow?”

“Yep. Have a good night.”

“I will. And Ricky, don’t stay too late, please.” You said and he chuckled.

“I’ll try…” he mumbled and you both chuckled before hanging up.

…. MARCH 2024 ….

Time had flown by and you had rehearsed with Alondra, Ricky’s sister, and her band the weekend before the show. You’d actually spent the weekend with them, at Marisol, their drummer’s house. You’d all slept over and they took you around to some of the low-key spots in the area. You really enjoyed spending the weekend with them, Marisol’s parents were so sweet and hospitable. But on Sunday afternoon you moved to an AirBnB that was closer to the campus and would provide you all plenty of space and privacy to rehearse later in the week. Ricky drove up on Tuesday night with Caitlyn and Melissa to stay with you for the rest of the time as well.

On Friday night you were doing your rehearsal/soundcheck at the amphitheater right before the city’s noise curfew. This was because there weren’t as many people on campus around at that hour and a larger area had already been blocked off from public access for the event. So thankfully you guys finished that quite fast and Ricky had all your settings down for the following day.

“You guys sounded so good.” Ricky assured as his arm draped around Alondra’s shoulder as you guys rallied up on the now cleared stage.

“Yeah?” She asked and he nodded with pride.

“OK, so are we getting drinks or what?” Their keyboard player, Pablo interrupted, “I need something to distract me, please.” He mumbled and you frowned, you had no idea what was wrong, but going out to get shit faced before a gig day was a poor idea.

“Well in the interest of ensuring you don’t feel like shit tomorrow, we can go to the house? We have a pool and hot tub, and I know Caitlyn has weed on her, and we can get drinks and order food?” You suggested.

“You’re really just giving away your friend’s weed?” Pablo chuckled.

“I can get her more.” You chuckled, “What do you guys say?” You wanted to ensure that whatever had Pablo so worked up didn’t make him lose control.

“I like it, let’s do it.” Alondra said and with that you were making your way over to the AirBnB.

After making your purchases and just ordering some pizza’s you guys were all hanging out in the patio enjoying the refreshing breeze of the night. Pablo was definitely a little crossed and looking quite bummed out. You wanted to ask him what was wrong, but didn’t want to seem nosy. So you headed inside to find Alondra, she had gone in to get herself some water.

“Hey, what’s wrong with Pablo?” You asked as you came into the kitchen.

“Oh, he found out that his ex-girlfriend is now dating one of the guys from another band that will be playing tomorrow, he saw her name on their guest list. They haven’t seen each other since the break up which actually was maybe a year ago. It was just a really sad time for him.” She explained quietly.

“Oh…yeah, running into an ex can be weird after so long.” You shared from personal experience.

“Yeah, they’d been together since high school, so I think the relationship had just run its course and she knew it, but he didn’t see it like that. He talked about marrying her and having kids with her all the time and she’s so sweet, but he was just really giving up on everything else to stay with her and she didn’t want that for him, so she ended it before he sacrificed too much, you know?”

“Yeah, I know how that is…” you assured. And suddenly you heard a familiar song play loudly from the outside…

“No hard feelings honey

There’ll be no bad blood

Losing your love has been hard enough

Life can be short, but life can be sweet

No hard feelings honey, the next time we meet”

Your heart shriveled in your chest because this song had been played a lot by you. The single had come out maybe a month or two after you and Harry ended things. You’d cried so much to this song, it still made you feel things, clearly. You were pulled from your thoughts when you heard Pablo and Caitlyn all singing along loudly and you and Alondra rushed outside as Ricky smiled at you guys. Pablo was sandwiched between Caitlyn and Jesse, the bassist, as a few tears streamed down his face as he sang the lyrics to “No Hard Feelings”.

“We need to add this to the set list…please!” He sniffled as he stopped singing along, “I learned how to play it a bit ago. Please….” He begged Alondra with tearful, puppy dog eyes.

“I mean, w-we can, but I actually don’t know this song, I don’t think I can get it down by tomorrow.” She explained. Pablo was not a singer, he hated it, so he glanced to Marisol who also was not all that confident in learning the song right now for a performance the next day.

“Y/N?” He turned to you, “Do you know it?” He asked you.

“She does!” Caitlyn cut in, “Sing it with him!” She pouted at you and you glanced to Pablo who looked so hopeful now and you forced a smile.

“I do. I also know the bass part.” You shared and he smiled.

“I just want her to know that I’m glad she’s happy. It hurts, but I’m so happy for her.” He said and everyone hummed in understanding and then Caitlyn’s eyes glanced to yours as you swallowed thickly. ‘SORRY’ she mouthed to you when she realized what she’d done and you just smiled at her to assure her it was fine. Even if it wasn’t, it had to be fine.

The next morning Pablo was up with you, earlier than everyone else, and with some coffee in your hands you got to figuring out an arrangement. Luckily, Ricky had brought along a guitar, bass, and travel sized amp for the work you’d be doing during the week and so you practiced on that. There was a piano in the house, so Pablo practiced on that for now. You were both so familiar with the song that it was so fast to get an arrangement set and for your guys to get it down. You had agreed on starting out the first verse/chorus with the keyboard like in the lullaby version and then you’d come in with the bass and transition into the regular studio version. You went over it a handful of times before deciding that it was perfect.

And so far, it was going perfect, the concert was sold out and the bands were doing great. People were singing along and having a nice time. You didn’t get nervous so much anymore, but it nearing the end of the show and you were waiting back stage to have Alondra call you out to play alone with Pablo.

“Thank you everyone.” Alondra spoke into the mic, “Before we wrap it up, we have just a couple more songs for you guys.” she said and the crowd cheered, “Thanks, you guys are great. Now, we’re going to bring Y/N out one more time for a special song with Pablo.” and upon mentioning your name the crowd started to cheer louder, “We hope you like this one.” She smiled and moved away from the mic.

Jesse took off his bass and handed it to you. You got it on as you walked further onto the stage. You smiled as you got it in a comfortable position and glanced to Pablo who nodded that he was ready to go. You felt your stomach swirling with nerves and nostalgia, but you had to use that to push forward. You let out a long exhale as you gave the bass a couple plucks to test the volume in your earpiece and when that was good you walked up to mic properly.

“Please be gentle with this one.” You said softly and then glanced back to Pablo and gave him one more nod as you inhaled and started to sing.

You faintly heard some gasps and coos when people recognized what you were singing before everyone fell mostly silent and just listened. The entire amphitheater started to light up with flashlights from people’s phones, making the moment feel magical as well as solemn as you sang through the first two verses. When you got to the instrumental you angled yourself towards Pablo to be able to see his cues. You then turned back to the mic as you guys got ready for the final verse, you eased out of playing the bass and went back to just Pablo playing the keyboard, letting his final note resonate as you took a deep breath as you leaned into the mic. And when your eyes shut gently to envision the words Harry’s face appeared and you knew your facade would crumble.

“The threads that kept us together were already wearing thin…” your voice faded into breathy whisper as a huge knot formed in your throat. Pablo noticed and you swallowed thickly and he slowed his tempo to let you get to the next part, “Would we ever have tied the knot? Well how long is a piece of string?” You sang sweetly as your tears started to silently streak down your face. “And for everything that ends, something else must begin…” Your voice cracked as you inhaled shakily to finish the song. The crowd cheered you on, giving you the courage to finish the song, “No hard feelings, honey. And we both will take the win.” You finished softly and you quickly turned away from the mic as a sob escaped you. The audience was so kind and generous with you two as an also crying Pablo came up and hugged you tight.

“You were so good…thank you for doing this for me.” He hummed before he let you go. Your hands squeezed his and you nodded and smiled at him before waving and walking off stage for the final time. You couldn’t even hear Alondra’s final thanks as you hurried down the steps to find a place to be alone and cry it out for just a bit before you had to face everyone again.

**************

You kind of felt like an idiot for agreeing to sing this song with Pablo over the weekend because the performance had gone viral overnight. Then, first thing Monday, the university’s media department posted a full length, HQ video of it. Obviously, the story was that you delivered such an emotional and beautiful performance because your break up with Sebastian was so fresh. A bunch of reporters and blogs had reached out for commentary and you had declined, of course. That didn’t stop Sebastian from reaching out several times trying to reconcile things between you two. It had all been turned into one big, chaotic, and raging dumpster fire.

Noticing the chaos that had ensued from his performance you were invited out to a wine bar with a couple friends just to loosen up. And on your way out you were swarmed by a small group of paparazzi, and as you tried to get through, one of the paps asked about how you were actually coping with the break up because you had seemed happy about it before. Then, another asked if the performance was for Sebastian. Maybe it was because you were a bit drunk, but you decided to give a response because you didn’t want to keep encouraging Seb.

“Look, that song is just special to me, it has been for years. And performing it kind of transported me back to that time of my life where it was my lifeline.” You explained, “There’s a lot of history with this song and a lot of feelings I had been holding in for a while came out during the performance, that’s all.” You explained, “I promise, I’m fine and everything’s good with the break up.” You assured before being tugged away by Ricky to his car as he muttered something about you not owning anyone any explanations.

****************

HARRY’S POV:

Harry was sure that everything had been going well between him and Taylor. He really had focused on her and on them and things had been going great. She had been back to her old self and then at some point over the weekend something shifted because she was a bit annoyed again and it only got worse during the week. Harry figured it was something personal because he was pretty sure that he had done nothing to illicit any type of irritation from her. But he could see she was having a hard time with not taking out any frustration on him so he decided to ask, just in case.

“Babe, is everything alright?” He asked as he strolled into the entertainment room, she’d been in there reading after dinner. When she glanced up he was met with an exasperated and somewhat angry expression and he wished he had left it alone, “Have I done something?” He followed up as he sat at the edge of cushion with her legs on it. “Please tell me if I have, I thought we were doing good.” He said as one of his hands smoothed up her ankle to her knee, this was to placate both him and her. He really needed to know because he felt like he was walking on eggshells the last few days.

“No, H. You’re…good. I’m sorry, I’m just really trying my best not to take my frustration out on you for something that I know isn’t really your issue-”

“OK, well what is it? Maybe I can help.” He offered.

“No, it’s super insignificant and stupid…”

“I think not if it has you in this state, babe.” He countered her logic. “C’mon, let me help you.” He insisted and she shook her head.

“Trust me, Harry, you don’t need to know about this.” She assured. That made him a bit annoyed because whether she meant to or not, she was being weird with him and he wanted it to stop.

“Well I think I do. You’re trying not to take it out on me but you’re still acting strange and cold and are super irritable anyway so-”

“It’s freaking Y/N, OK!?” She finally said, voice raised and laced with irritation. Harry frowned and now his anger was aimed at you. Had you said something to Taylor? He couldn’t see a world in which you would, but maybe you had. And well whatever it was, it had to have been really personal for her to be reacting like this and being upset over it for days now.

“OK? Did she do or say something to you?” He asked and she sighed.

“No…not directly, but she…she’s doing a bad job at fixing that stunt she pulled over the weekend and-”

“What? What stunt?” He asked. He really had completely blocked out anything about you because he didn’t want to make Taylor feel like he was keeping tabs on you or his options open. So he truly had no idea what you had done or were up to recently.

“She sang at some college charity show and she sang this song…but she did it on purpose because the song’s about you! It’s a break up song about seeing your ex again!” She insisted. Harry’s curiosity was piqued. What song had you sang that she was so sure it was about him?

“Maybe it was about her recent break up, babe.” He tried to think of anything else that would make her let this go and not worry about it so much.

“Not according to what she told the paparazzi yesterday.” She added and Harry sighed but couldn’t prevent the chuckle that slipped past his mouth.

“Oh my god, love…since when do we care about anything the paps have to say? Hmmm?” He asked and she sighed.

“There’s video.” She informed. “I’ve seen it…multiple times, much to my misfortune” she shared and upon hearing this Harry felt defeat overcome him. He needed to choose his next words carefully, because it was something that might upset her further, but she needed to hear.

“Look, I know you have every right to be wary of this and even to doubt me, but babe, this has gone too far. Way too far.” Harry stated his concern and she sighed, the same defeated look over her face.

“I know, babe. I know it has.” She admitted.

“I just…I’m trying to understand it, babe.” He sighed with confusion, “All this time I’ve been putting all of my focus on us and improving our relationship, like I told you I would. And honestly, t’s feeling like you hardly notice or care for it all because all you do is obsess over my ex!” He explained his feelings, evidently quite forlorn.

“The ex you still love, H.” She reminded him of that pertinent detail. Harry nodded in understanding and scoffed out a defeated laugh.

“Tay, I can’t do anything else to prove to you that I love you and am committed to you. I feel like I’m losing my mind trying to get you to just be here again. Please, just be here with me.” He beckoned she blinked rapidly as she drew her eyes up to the ceiling.

“I feel like I’m losing my mind too.” She confessed softly, “I promise I’m trying to move past this, H. I am. But honestly, I’m starting to think that maybe I just…can’t.” she confessed and he nodded silently. “I see the effort, babe. Thank you for it, I appreciate it, I promise you, I do.” She insisted, “I just…kind of wish you had never said anything to me about this…” she confessed. Harry was feeling that way too. He should’ve just made something up about why he was acting strange.

“I think I’m just going t’go to bed. Sleep on it, hopefully wake up feeling a bit more optimistic about this than today.” She said and he nodded as she got up from he couch.

“I love you, sleep well.” He said. She leaned over him and kissed his forehead and gave him a smile before leaving him alone.

Harry felt super shit now. He had fucked up a catastrophic amount. He truly did regret being honest about the situation with you. He should’ve kept it to himself because now things were just getting weird. Sure, he was a bit annoyed with Taylor’s recent hobby of stalking you, but he couldn’t blame her or label her insane for it, he had done that to her. And for the first time he truly questioned what it was that he had gone and done with you. She didn’t deserve to doubt herself or their relationship like she was now. They were both having a miserable time and it was entirely his fault. He wasn’t sure what to do from here, he didn’t even know if there was anything he could do to help fix this.

*************

It took Harry a few days before he decided to look up the videos Taylor was talking about to see for himself why she was struggling so much to let this one go. But when he saw the video of you singing “No Hard Feelings” with so much emotion he knew it had nothing to do with Sebastian. He had to force down the growing lump in his throat and blink away the tears accumulating in his eyes, this felt like a goodbye from you almost and it confused him. The emotion was definitely tangible even weeks later though a screen, he could understand why it was haunting Taylor. And then he saw the pap video she mentioned, he couldn’t agree that what you had said was damning evidence, but if she felt that way, what could he do? He wasn’t going to tell her he watched them. They did make him want to call you though, but of course he’d leave it alone and decided against it, both for his and Taylor’s sake.

Instead, he called Caitlyn, he needed to see what in the world you had been thinking when you decided to do that. He was genuinely curious. Of course, he first texted her to let her know he wanted to talk when she could. He didn’t want to just spring a call on her and risk you being there. And finally, the time they had agreed to talk had come and she was calling him. He strolled out to his back yard, taking advantage of the evening breeze while Taylor got ready. They were going to Mitch and Sarah’s place for dinner in a bit.

“Hey, Har!” Caitlyn greeted him energetically for her time of day.

“Hiya.” He greeted, “You sound chipper.”

“Just came in from a jazzercise class.” She explained and he chuckled.

“Oh shit, did it go well?”

“Yeah. It was really fun. How are you? How’s it going?”

“I’m alright, but it’s been a bit…tough.”

“Did something happen?”

“Well I told Taylor about seeing Y/N, so I’ve been making up for that…but I guess there was a show a couple weeks ago and she sang a song that has her a bit upset. She feels like Y/N did it on purpose I guess, to like…bait me in or something. And then she said some bit about it being important to her in the past and that’s kind of what…made Tay just lose it a bit.” He explained and Caitlyn hummed.

“Well, the song wasn’t to bait you, it’s kind of my fault she ended up singing it. The guy she played it with found out his ex was going to be at the show with someone else just the night before and he wanted to sing it for her. It was very last minute…she was the only one who knew the song well enough to pull it off with him the very next day. I volunteered her and put her in a difficult position where she couldn’t really decline…I knew she knew the song because she did listen to it a lot after…I didn’t know it would…affect her like that though.” She explained sadly, “I’m sorry it caused trouble for you, H.” Caitlyn apologized.

“It’s alright, Cait.” He assured. Now that he understood the context he felt relieved. He knew you weren’t a petty person like he could be, and he was a bit upset at himself for even considering that you would actually do something on purpose to bait him or cause turmoil in his relationship.

“I just feel awful…as you probably know now, she’s gone viral for it and it’s caused her some problems. It was such a vulnerable moment that she didn’t expect either so I know she hates that it’s kind of blown her up a bit.”

“I mean, she sounded incredible and it was just so sincere. Of course everyone’s obsessed with it.” He said with understanding.

“Yeah. She just feels really exposed, I think. And also, when she said that to the pap, about it being something form her past, she was super drunk. She called me the next morning asking if it sounded as awful as she felt it did, which I personally don’t think it did. But I mean, I could understand why Tay’s feeling upset about this.” Caitlyn said and Harry nodded.

“Yeah…I just don’t know what I can do to…fix this.”

“That bad?”

“Yeah…a few days ago she said that she wasn’t sure if she could get past all this. I don’t blame her…it’s a lot to get past.”

“Well what did you say to her when you told her about Y/N?”

“I…admitted that I still had feelings for her.” He sighed and Caitlyn did as well, “But like, I didn’t even know that for sure until she was right in my face. Like I knew I missed her, but just being with her again, it just brought everything that I’d been repressing up to the surface. I regret being honest with Tay, about it all.” He sighed, “She regrets it too apparently. Wishes I never said anything.” He added with defeat.

“Well it is quite a lot to get through. Especially if she knows you still have deep feelings for Y/N. It can be scary thinking that you’ve given your whole heart to someone only to discover that you’re not the only one they love.” She explained “She might feel like a place holder until you and Y/N can get back together.”

“Well she’s not. I love her too.”

“I know, but that just doesn’t work for some people, H. Maybe this is what’s supposed to happen.” Caitlyn said and he sighed.

“I never meant to hurt anyone like this…”

“Well, it’s collateral damage. There’s always going to be someone who gets hurt. S’why I was warning you guys to be careful with this.” She reminded and he hummed.

“Did she end things with Seb for me?” He asked after a beat of silence.

“No. They went to his family’s for the holidays and as it turns out they function under this idea that men’s love language is acts of service, as in, women should wait on us hand and foot while we sit around with our dicks in our hands…” she said with some disdain still feeling salty about the whole thing.

“Get out…” he groaned with secondhand embarrassment for the male species as a whole.

“It was a whole thing…his sister’s and mom were talking shit about her for it after the first night. She knew he was babied by his mom, but not that she was like his fucking PA! Either way, when they got back they talked about it and he basically said that she’d ease into it and learn how to treat him and take a more feminine role in their home as their relationship advanced or some shit like that…and she was like “umm, you should be cleaning up after yourself because it’s actually my home”, and he got all sensitive about that, the fucking free loader…” Caitlyn said.

“God…good for her though. I’m glad she stuck up to him.”

“Yeah, and well, he actually broke up with her…she’s not upset about it or anything. Just more annoyed really as now he’s trying to win her back, but she’s just ignoring him.”

“Good. That’s good to hear. When I heard about the break up I wanted to reach out but I can’t.” He explained.

“Yeah, I’m glad you’re seeing that. Especially with the situation you’re in.”

“Well that, but like I literally cannot. Tay asked me to delete her contact in case I got tempted to reach out again and I did, so I don’t even have her number anymore.” Harry let out a breathy laugh and after a few moments he inhaled and started to cry. Caitlyn frowned and tutted as she heard him breaking down.

“Harry, hey…” she cooed, “What’s the matter?”

“Ugh…nothing. I think I’ve just been holding that in.” He sniffled, “I kind of hate myself for making Taylor go to these lengths…I know she hates doing that kind of stuff too. And Y/N…god, why is she always on my mind. I can’t shake her, Cait. I just can’t…if I could change my heart I would. I know that it’s hurting us more than helping us.” He sniffled.

“If it helps to know, I think she’s made peace with the fact that you’re with the best person for you.” She said and hearing that physically hurt him, it made his chest tighten up and feel hollow at the same time. “I know it hurts her sometimes but she’s genuinely really happy for you, H. She truly is. So give it your all, yeah? Make this right.” Caitlyn said and he sniffled.

“OK. Thanks, Cait.”

“Anytime, H.” She assured him.

“I know you’re best friends and all, but just keep this between us, yeah?”

“Of course.” She assured, “If there’s anything I can do at all just let me know, OK? Or just listen if you need it.”

“Thank you. Bye.”

“Bye.” She said and they hung up.

Harry felt like a full blown asshole. He had hurt the two people he was in love with and now he had to choose. He had hoped that things cleared up on their own, but they were as murky as ever. It shouldn’t be hard to just choose the person he was with, but it was. It felt like he was losing. Well, who was he kidding, he had already lost you.

…. MAY 2024 ….

It was the night of the MET and you had just finished getting your hair and make up done for one of the after party’s. Caitlyn was your +1 to the parties and was more than excited to be tagging along with you for her first ever met. You’d been invited before, when Harry hosted, but you just laid super low. You even left his after party early because you had a work event in LA the next morning. Being the man of the hour you didn’t really see much of him that entire night. You did kiss him goodbye, but he was balls to the walls high on you weren’t even sure what, and that was that. This time, you were invited without any internal connections, but you were sure it was because you were still riding on that viral wave. You weren’t going to go, you didn’t want to keep calling attention to yourself. But your manager and friends insisted that you needed this, just to have a fun night out without cameras. And well, that was true, there were never cameras at these things, just outside.

“You ready?” Caitlyn asked you as you looked over your reflection one more time.

“If they’re where we are, we’re leaving.” You said and Caitlyn nodded in agreement.

You had been strategic and decided to party hop to decrease the likelihood of you running in Harry and Taylor after learning that they were attending together. You were feeling good, you’d successfully made it through two of the three parties you had been invited to and having a blast. Normally, you’d be dying to get home, but you had taken some E as you were leaving the first party in hopes to have endurance for the next two parties. You felt floaty and happy and tingly under its influence. You could quite literally feel the music around you, the hard hits of the bass tickled from the soles of your feet and up your legs. You were surrounded by people, probably in a similar state as you, dancing through their highs with racing hearts.

And through all the dancing and euphoria you were making out with someone. It was in a dark corner and you had no idea who it was. All you knew was that your mouths were moving together eagerly. Suddenly, you were being tugged away, much to your dismay, because it did feel very nice especially while you were under this high.

“Cait…” you huffed as she apologized to the person you were with as she dragged you away.

“I think it’s time to go.” She said against your ear as she chuckled and you mumbled something about not wanting to go yet. “Babe, I just saw Harry and Taylor across the bar. We should go.” She said to you and that made your heart tighten and ache.

Your smile dropped and you glanced around the busy room. When you heard a British accent behind you, you whipped around hoping to see Harry, but it was someone else. Then, you thought you heard his laugh and you turned in another direction, but maybe it was just in your head. You were at the peak of your high, so things were very murky. And as you looked for Harry, that nice feeling was starting to turn ugly. Caitlyn realized what was happening and grabbed your face in her hands and your gaze met hers for a few seconds.

“Hey, they’re all the way across the room. They’re nowhere near here.” She assured and you nodded.

“I need to use the bathroom before we go.” You said and she nodded.

“OK, c’mon.” She said grabbing your hand and guiding you through the crowd and to the bathroom. “Give me your bag, I’ll call your car. I’ll be right over there by the security check.” She pointed and you nodded a few times as you handed over your purse.

You walked into the bathroom and the white lights over the sink were far too bright for your overly dilated pupils. You hurried into a stall and struggled a bit with getting your dress enough out of the way so you could use the bathroom. And as you sat in the stall alone with your thoughts you started to feel cold and trembly. Your ears were ringing in the relative silence of the bathroom and you felt like the stall was starting to get smaller. You sped things up and hurried out to wash your hands, trying your very hardest to ignore your erratic heartbeat and the churning of your stomach. You didn’t even bother with drying your hands, you just smeared them against your dress as you rushed out of the bathroom. You were ready to get out of this situation before it brought on a full blown bad trip.

But you came to a screeching halt when you saw Harry chatting animately with Rita Ora and Taika Waititi just a few feet away from you. They were laughing, heads knocked back in enjoyment. You were frozen for a few seconds as reality caught up to you and you glanced around for Taylor. She wasn’t in your line of sight yet, you’d wait in the bathroom. You took a few unsteady steps back before deciding that was the best course of action. You twirled around and hurried back, your heart was hammering in your chest and your breathing was completely shallow. You felt your body trembling like a dying leaf in the wind and your stomach was twisting as you stumbled back into the bathroom. Much to your misfortunate, you were met with Taylor drying her hands. You sighed shakily, about to turn back around but she glanced over with a lovely smile, but when she realized it was you it dropped entirely from her face in a moment. You turned around to leave again but then remembered Harry was actually right outside.

“You were with him just now, weren’t you?” She asked you with a frown and disappointment drenching her tone.

You suddenly felt sick to your stomach and you whipped back around and rushed past her into a stall and just started to throw up. You felt completely overwhelmed and overstimulated. Feeling as much as you did now was not to your benefit. But you were more than grateful to hear her footsteps receding as you spat out the sour taste from your mouth. You wiped your mouth with some toilet paper and flushed away your mess, trying your best not to get sick again just from seeing the mess that had come out of you. You were alone now and took your time to rinse your mouth and your hands, hoping they’d go before you had to face them again.

***************

HARRY’S POV:

Harry glanced over to the hallway for the bathrooms to see Taylor coming out with an unreadable expression on her face. He was still smiling from the laugh he had just had with Rita and Taika before they headed out.

“You were with Y/N. Weren’t you?” She asked with an accusatory tone and he looked baffled by this accusation.

“Babe, no. I’ve been standing here this whole time-”

“Well then why did she get one look at me and get sick?” She asked with confusion and a frown on her face. Harry’s face scrunched with concern.

“I didn’t.” He said and she looked skeptical, “I swear!” He insisted and she rolled her lips together for a moment.

“I want to leave.” She said decisively and he nodded.

“OK.” He nodded, “I-is Y/N alright though? Does she need any help or-” Taylor walked off towards the exit leaving him mid sentence. He was reluctant as he followed after her and glanced back down the hallway of the bathroom before rushing after Taylor who was practically out the door now. He was making his way towards the exit when he saw Caitlyn standing by the door on her phone. Surely she’d come along with you. Taylor hurried outside and Harry stopped for a moment to greet Caitlyn.

“Cait!” He called her name and she glanced up and her eyes widened and she glanced around quickly before she smiled at him as he came up and hugged her.

“Hey! How are you?” She asked as they pulled away.

“M'alright. Ummm, Y/N had a run in with Tay in the bathroom.” He said and Caitlyn frowned.

“Oh, sorry.” She said glancing over to Taylor who was now looking at them expectantly. She offered a smile and Taylor returned it before quickly glancing down to her shoes.

“She said something about Y/N getting sick. Maybe you should go check on her if she hasn’t texted you.” He said.

“Oh shit, thank you. I actually have her phone with me, we’re waiting for her car.” She explained.

“Then yeah, please check on her.” He said and she nodded.

“Yeah, she’s pretty fucked up too. But ummm, is that why you guys are leaving?” She asked and he nodded.

“Tay thinks I spoke to her…which I didn’t. I didn’t even see her tonight, I swear it.” He said and she nodded.

“I know, Harry. I believe you.” She assured and he sighed.

“Thank you.” He said and she smiled at him with sympathy.

“Alright, now get going.”

“Please, make sure she’s OK.”

“I will.” Caitlyn smiled and they kissed cheeks before he hurried out.

Taylor watched as Caitlyn hurried back inside and then turned into the hallway that led to the bathrooms. She swallowed thickly and hugged her arms around herself when Harry tried to grab her hand when he came up beside her.

“I didn’t speak to her, babe.” He insisted again with frustration. “Did she say something to you?”

“No.” She responded monotonously. “Just call the car, please.” She said and he nodded and did just that, “Five minutes.” He informed her once he hung up and she nodded.

A few moments later Caitlyn was rushing you out of the venue, but even the chatter outside didn’t mask the sharp inhales of you trying to breathe through your crying. You two hurried past him and Taylor and into the car that was now waiting by the curb. She opened up the door for you and helped you get settled in the car. Harry found himself taking a few steps towards you but stopped himself. He wanted to see you, even if it was just for a second. But Caitlyn scooted in behind you and mouthed one final ‘thank you’ before shutting the door so that you could take off.

The car ride back to his hotel was tense and uncomfortably quiet. He genuinely didn’t think that Taylor had any reason to be upset tonight. This was a huge event, lots of people were bound to be there. And still, he hadn’t seen or even spoken to you once in the entire time. He didn’t think it was wrong that he was concerned for you when she told him that you’d gotten sick. He would’ve been concerned for anyone who was in that position, especially at a party like this where he knew there were drugs and alcohol around. He tried not to be upset at her though because he had no idea what was going on in her head that made her upset.

When they got into their hotel room she immediately slipped out of her heels and headed into the bathroom. He heard the door shut and then the shower come on. He made his way over and listened through the wood to see if she was crying, but she wasn’t. At least there was that. Maybe she just needed to cool down from the situation because truly there was nothing that he did wrong. He debated for several minutes whether he should call Caitlyn to check on you or not. And who was he kidding, he needed to check in.

“Hey H.” She answered him right away, “Don’t you worry, she’s alright. She’s just having a shower now.” Is the first thing she said and he smiled a bit.

“Good. Nothing bad happened right? With Tay?”

“No. She said that when she was leaving the bathroom she walked out and saw you waiting in front of the hallway, so she hurried back into bathroom. Y/N didn’t want to stir up any trouble by saying hi or just being near you if Taylor was around. But when she came back into the bathroom, kind of in shock from seeing you right there, Taylor was there and she asked if you’d just been together, that’s all. And well, Y/N said she just felt trapped and got anxious from the fucking molly she took and just got sick. She was just crying because you know how much she hates throwing up. Not because you were with your girlfriend.” She assured him.

“Yeah.” He smiled as he recalled this detail about you, “The throwing up is probably why Taylor thinks we spoke. Just from her reaction to the question, I guess.”

“Maybe so…but in all honesty, we party hopped all night because we were trying to avoid you. And when I saw you guys when I went to the bar I told Y/N we needed to leave.”

“Oh…” he said with some hurt radiating through his chest.

“Yeah…S’just that after we spoke last time I just didn’t want to give her any reasons to doubt you or to think Y/N was meddling or something. Obviously, Y/N doesn’t want to ignore you, but she also doesn’t want to complicate things for you. But…”

“Shit happens.” Harry sighed.

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m glad she’s fine. She’s coming down alright?”

“Yeah, she’s good so far. I’ll take good care of her.” Caitlyn assured him.

“I know you will.” He smiled.

“And are you alright?” She asked him.

“I think so…we haven’t spoken about it yet, so we’ll see. I just- I don’t want you guys to think Taylor’s a bad person for this. She’s not usually like this.” He explained.

“We don’t, H. She’s just navigating this situation the way it comes, you know? She has every right to feel apprehensive.”

“Yeah. Thank you for understanding.” he sighed.

“Of course.” She responded.

“Well thanks for answering, I just want to check in. And I’m sorry if we ruined your evening…” he apologized with a regretful sigh.

“Who are you talking to?” Harry heard from behind him and he glanced back to see Taylor wrapped up in her towel.

“My friend Caitlyn.” He said and she looked skeptical.

“It’s cool, H. Go deal with that.”

“Thanks. Good night.” Harry said before hanging up. He stood and then handed his phone over to her to see the call history. “See.”

“But Y/N is with her.”

“She was in the shower.” He said and she bit her lip, “I didn’t talk to her. I didn’t even see her until they walked out, babe.” He said.

“And why are you apologizing for ruining their evening? Now we have to walk on egg shells to protect her feelings?” She asked him and he sighed.

“No, I’m apologizing for that because they had been party hopping all night precisely to avoid running into us and causing you to think something was up.” He said signaling between them and she frowned.

“Is that how you’re telling it to people? That I’m just angry about your ex?” She asked him.

“No! I mentioned to Caitlyn the thing that you told me before about the song and the paps. I just needed to be sure that Y/N wasn’t trying to get a reaction of me or you. I know she’s not like that, but when people are upset they can sometimes do things that are out of character.” He said looking to her, hoping she’d catch his drift. She scoffed out a laugh and headed back into the bedroom. “Babe…” he sighed as he sat on the bed as she dug her pajamas out in silence. “Did you confront her about being with me tonight?” He asked her.

“I’m not going to feel bad for that, Harry. I wasn’t rude about it, I just asked.”

“I’m sure you weren’t but-”

“She was probably going to though-”

“For fucks sake! She was running back into the bathroom to avoid having to run into me!” He shouted, “She saw me and decided to wait in there until I was gone. She’s the one walking on fucking egg shells as if she’s the one driving the wedge deeper and deeper into our relationship!”

“So you’re saying this is my fault?” She asked him with a confused frown and he sighed.

“Tonight, yes.” He said. “I have…done what I can. Everything you’ve asked to try and make this work, to make it better. To have you believe me-”

“Harry, she’s still in love with you!” She shouted in exasperation.

“And what?! She’s happy for me! She’s happy for us! She didn’t delete my number and hasn’t reached out at all! Look at the fucking lengths she tried to go through tonight just to ensure that we weren’t uncomfortable! For fucks sake, just let it go! Please!” He was panting from how frustrated he was. He swore that smoke was blowing out of his ears as all of his pent up frustration reached its boiling point. He felt that he had been as understanding and as patient as possible, but it had been months of the same thing. She bit down on the inside of her cheek for a few moments. “I’m sorry for shouting at-”

“I think we both know that this has been over.” She said softly and his chest tightened. “I don’t like myself anymore.” She said with a frown, “I hate feeling insecure in us or just like I’m second best.” She sniffled. “I know you’ve never said that to me but just the fact that your heart’s in two different places makes me feel that way. Believe me, I have been trying to not let it bother me or just to understand how this can work for you, but I can’t.” She explained.

“I’m so sorry.” He apologized and she shrugged. “I never meant to make you feel that way. I just…I wanted to be honest with you, I felt bad for keeping that from you-”

“I know. I think you did the right thing in telling me but…I just, I can’t make peace with that.”

“I get it. I do love you, though. You have to know that.”

“Yeah. But not like you love her.” She said and he sighed, “Babe, if you loved me like you love her then keeping your distance wouldn’t feel like a sacrifice to you. And clearly that’s how you see it. Even now, instead of checking on me you called your friend to check on her? I mean…” she let out a sardonic laugh.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t want to check on you, I just figured you wanted some space.” He explained.

“So you check on me and ask if I need space, H.” She argued and he swallowed thickly and nodded.

“You’re right.” He said.

“H, I can’t keep doing this to myself. I can’t even recognize myself.” She said with a frown, “Like I…I feel like I’m losing myself in trying to keep you and I’m not okay with that. I’m sorry.” She sniffled and he nodded.

“Don’t be sorry. I get it. It’s my fault.” He said with a sad smile.

“Yeah.” She whispered and bit down on her lip. "No hard feelings?" she asked and he shook his head.

"Of course not." he smiled.

If you enjoyed this feel free to check out some of my other fics...

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black-lake · 2 years

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astro observations 2

more observations today for ya? this time both signs and aspects. 🦊

Should I call it the Aquarius post? 🤔 I mentioned Aquarius too many times, sorry I relate too hard, bear with me.

Highlights: aquarius, MC, IC, sun, virgo, capricorn, gemini, sagittarius, jupiter, mercury, moon, scorpio, aries, uranus

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🦋 Aquarius placements especially sun, moon, mercury, mars, MC and ascendant are PROS at ignoring your texts until they want to answer. It's like they either consciously ignore your text to rebel against what others expect them to do and do exactly what they want at that time, or unconsciously rebel in the same way desiring complete "freedom". My bestie is aquarius sun and I'm aquarius MC, we answer each other's texts days or weeks later and are okay with it 💀 oh, the answer is also too irrelevant it makes you want to throw your phone at a wall yay 😻

🦋 Fire moon + fire/air mars and anger issues 🤝

🦋 Virgo moons, you had a critical mom or parental figure, you internalized her voice, you criticize without knowing. Your words can make someone self conscious even if you think it's innocent judgment 🥺 Your words can also make some's day because you are trusted! (applies to gemini moons and mercury too). Don’t take it for granted. Until you know how to use your judgment for good, with balance and kindness you become the warmest most looked up to friend.

🦋 Capricorn moons are such complex individuals, their trauma is unique to them, they can endure and have endured a LOT. They are extremely caring or deadly careless no in between. Keeping it professional is what they're good at. Each one I met is so much different than the other, they have similar but different stories, but they all have this grounded energy that can make them even seem heavy energetically. Once evolved, they can be the wisest people to talk to.

🦋 Aquarius MC individuals might have been too emotionally attached to their family at a young age, especially their mom (with leo 4th). They had so much passion and love for their mom and realized it wasn't equally reciprocated, they were manipulated (hits home). They also might have been jealous and needed the love and attention all on them, but they dgaf anymore. 😎 At a certain age, their family broke their trust and they became completely detached. They learned to be emotionally secure and set strong boundaries with people which shocked everyone. They stopped giving energy to their family or anyone else. They ran out of f*cks to give so soon.

🦋 Aquarius MC/IC they were and always will be seen as weird and different from their family and everyone else (hell I'm seen as controversial and questionable even when I sit still and do nothing). love that.

🦋 Also if you have Aquarius MC, IC or Ascendant check when saturn transits 4th or 10th or aspects the nodes/mc. This indicates the end of karmic cycles with your family related to your self concept and self expression. You will have a chance to break cycles and be more individualistic. It may be painful but hold on. 🥺

🦋 Gemini and Virgo ascendants can be introverted or extroverted, mostly introverted, unless they have planets in the 1st, much air or fire energy. They always have a way with words tho no matter what, and they always are nervous, their minds never shut down, they keep thinking and rethinking lol. These individuals break social norms, research and discuss topics much more profoundly than what has been done before. They have topics to talk about that were forgotten or not discussed enough.

🦋 Sagittarius moons and placements, feeling the need to laugh at the wrong, very wrong time. LOUD laughs . Laughs that make others stare with a look of concern. Making jokes when it's time to get serious. Repeating jokes as it gets more serious. Making more jokes when someone tells them to stop. Laughs at people not laughing at their jokes. Laughs at their own joke before they say it. plz I admire.

🦋 Gemini, Virgo, Aquarius, Capricorn, Aries, Leo, Scorpio mercuries intrigue me the most, they got something impressive about them, the way they talk and their words are powerful, can equally be destructive and toxic. People can take them the wrong way. What they have to say should be heard period. Watch your speech if you have these signs, you don’t want to hurt people or yourself.

🦋 Now I don’t like to talk about how Scorpio and Aries mars are seen as "sexy" because it's been said trillions of times (even tho I like to read them because I'm a scorpio mars 💀). But hear me out, the most prominent thing about all scorpio mars individuals is that they like to move in complete silence, like they don't exist, like you will never catch them. Every decision they take in life is private, because that's the only way they can shock you with their big success and revenge on all people that didn't believe in them. They want to keep you guessing and never give you answers but will show actions and accomplishments only. Their biggest dream is to come out on top once everyone has forgotten about them (or not), but to see your jaw droppin is their wet dream loool.

🦋 Mercury conjunct Uranus? and all aspects for that matter, but especially the conjunction. You cannot convince me that these individuals are not geniuses, no matter how dumb they act. Take care of your mind, it's something special gorg. Also your voice must be so unique, it stays on someone's mind and is so vivid when they think of you.

🦋 Mercury conjunct Jupiter, the philosopher. You just like to talk about abstract and broad topics. Spiritualist at heart, rational to deny it often tho. You have sooo many interests it's insane. You are the jack of all trades. People expect you to know things? You come off as a know it all, even if you don't mean it (yea I have it I relate). You have lessons to learn and teach those around you especially about their concept of life and beliefs. Any compliment you give can mean a lot to people. Your positivity is infectious.

🦋 Mercury aspecting Jupiter, especially conjunctions can give a lot of optimism, this applies to neptune positively aspecting chiron as well. I see it in charts of people that have heavy saturn, pluto or chiron energy, to balance the darkness, their ability to think positively is healing to them and others because likely other things are destroying them in life and they already have many wounds. Your optimism is not an illusion, it's a gift from the universe. Life gets better as you spiritually evolve.

🦋 Moon opposite/square mercury, such a hard aspect. A constant mental and emotional conflict. You don't know whether to trust your thoughts or emotions. You don't know when you're trusting either. There is a direct and strong influence of thoughts on emotions. Now that means your thought can hurt you or elevate you so be careful. Especially at a young age your thoughts and others' thoughts have hurt you deeply, as you grow you learn how to balance it out, to not give a f*ck. The good thing about this aspect is that these people pick up on their thought patterns easily and have potential to manipulate their minds to their benefit. Mental health is important to these individuals. Don't let your mind run wild especially in a negative direction. It's also important to surround yourselves with positive people. Music might be important for you to process emotions.

🦋 Conjunctions are far from being "neutral" aspects imo. They are powerful natural talents and gifts in perspective, confidence, expression and skills. These aspects are always positive, even to challenging planets, if they act negatively then there are likely other challenging aspects to the same planets, the native might have not learned yet how to work with this energy or hasn’t realized their potential. Conjunctions are the highest and strongest potential any two planets can reach. The planets don't become "one", they rather meet eye to eye, acknowledge their qualities fully and work out their differences beautifully which manifests in the form of talents and potential. Yes like all aspects they got their negatives too but their positives enormously surpass the negatives. Conjunctions are highly positive aspects, it's unfair to call them neutral.

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gentlebeardsbarngrill · 2 months

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02/19/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Cast & Crew; Rhys Darby; Con O'Neil; Kristian Nairn; Samba Schutte; Wee John Wondays; LubeAsACrew; Stats/Trends; Fan Spotlight; Engagement Prompts; LoveNotes; Daily Darby/Tonight's Taika

Hey All, today's been an off day for me, so please let me know if I've missed something. Hope you all had fun!

= Cast & Crew Sightings =

== Rhys Darby ==

Well, our goofball of a captain is back with more Red Dead Redemption II, check out Part 2 below:

youtube

Rhys also did comedy at Bourbon Room Hollywood last week, and = tmiddendorfphoto on IG captured quite a lot of photos of his set. Feel free to visit them:

== Con O ' Neill ==

Whoops! I had this prepped for yesterday then completely forgot, sorry Con! Con was out seeing BettyRules in NYC!

== Wee John Wonday ==

Kristian had Samba on WJW Today! Lots of cool stuff they chatted above! If you're unable to watch right now, there's a small breakdown of various high points below:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kristian Nairn (@kristiannairn)

instagram

Highlights/Things We Learned:

Samba baby's name is Ocean

Samba was kind enough to stand in for WJW when someone else had to drop off for work.

Samba loves giving Kristian middle names: Kristian Victoria Nairn / Kristian Alexander Nairn / Kristian Valaria Nairn, Kristian Venereal Disease Nairn / Kristian Damien Nairn / Kristian Nicholas Nairn / Kristian Tabitha Nairn

There were live doves that would shit on you on set, and they shat on Samson

Kristian was a professional Chef

Samba wants to do Cryptic Factor w/Rhys

Samba is big into ufo's and cryptids

Kristian is also into paranormal stuff

Kristian - In New Zealand saw weird things on the lawn of his rental place (weird creatures focused on the balcony of his room)

David Fane - ate all the cheese in Calypso's Birthday

They really appreciate all the fans trying to save OFMD and would LOVE to get a season 3, even if only for 2 hours.

Samba would like ot do a bts/blooper combo but has to get permission first

For the wrap party, the cast members got each other gifts:

Samson got everyone crocs

EDIT: David Fane gave them Samoan necklaces (ty @denizbevan)!

Kristian said his "Gifts got stolen"

Samba gave them pictures / BTS videos

Q: Who was most elusive in regards to BTS?

Joel - also Ewan

Q: Favorite Soup?

Sambas favorite Soup - Chicken Noodle (chicken soup)

Kristian's favorite Soup - Cream of Tomato

Q: Did anything change with Roach in S2?

Yes, he became softer / trusting

Q: Lots of great energy and hanging out between crew members and family, (not something often seen) what do you think led to that?

Casting director Alison Jones - awesome at casting

Energy on set was positive and acceptance from the get go that helped

Sailing training, stunt training, sword fighting together helped bonding

Everyone on the cast was odd, and people moved out together so lots of small found family situations

Long hours together

Note: Stede's story time everyone is actually asleep, cause they've been up for like 18 hrs

Q: What's your favourite dessert, that you could live off forever?

Roach - Chocolate Mousse, really fluffy and airy

Kristian - Black Forest Cake

Q: What was best part of working in New Zealand?

8 hr days instead of 18 hrs days

Nature was gorgeous

Maori Elders did a land blessing

Q: Roach played a lot of roles, what do you think was his main role?

Cook, Doctor, therapist in that order.

Q: Would Aamba release a cookbook?

If enough interest, Yes - OFMD Cast Favorite Cookbook

And Mac and cheese recipe

Cakes and desserts

Q: What's it like being a new dad?

Amazing , no time to catch breath, feeling a lot of protectiveness and excitement and energy to step up and take care of the kiddo So fulfilling, Sambas a great dad.

Original Script / Deleted Scene Stuff:

In original script: Roach was going to end up with the crew of revenge, but then changed the script cause Samba would look like a kid who stole his dads jacket, so Frenchie was cap

Originally Zheng called the crew "beta" instead of "tender" but they changed it.

Innkeeper deleted scenes:

Everyone's eating soup on deck, roach was supposed to be serving people soup, and Fang says "Ah, Leroy, I'm so glad you're alive?" and Lucius goes "I'm sorry do you think my name is Leroy?"

Oluwande was crying, Jim asks if he was, he says no he gets that thing when he's around grass, and Jim says "A yeah lots of grass around here"

Other deleted scene:

Kristian saying "its sizest" doing big guy stuff

And roach says he's stuck doing tall skinnhy guy stuff

Pete asks if he's stuck doing bald guy stuff

More Deleted scenes:

Ewan zip lines over first and yells: "I was born to fly"

Roach zip line screams quietly cause they tell him to be quiet, and then he lands and says, "why its so sticky I wanna go back", and he tries to get back on the rope but Frenchie flys in and knocks him over.

Another Delete scene:

Wee John was going to dress up as cupid, would have encouraged Stede and Ed, who would have danced to "At Last" and then when and boned.

== Samba BTS ==

In honor of Wee John Wonday's, Samba added some more BTS starring Kristian, and shared the video he talked about in WJW regarding Kristian's birthday.

== Lube As A Crew ==

Astroglide sent @Seven_Sugars a carepackage for a lovely review!

== Stats Stats Stats / Trends ==

Thank you @meowzawowza_ as usual for the awesome insight!

Trends! Thank you @merryfinches and @debphotog for catching these!

== Fan Spotlight ==

For those of you not on twitter, you may not have seen @wndrngnomad's collage's she's been doing each day for the cast members! They go back quite a while so I'll add them all to the repo, but they kind enough to give me permission to share them with the everyone outside of twitter!

== Engagement Prompts ==

Over on Instagram @saveofmdcrewmates have some engagement prompts for tomorrow: #CrossoverCruesday. Time to switch it up! What is your fantasy crossover beween another show and OFMD? Crossover AU anyone?

== Articles ==

Special thanks to @heide79728 on Twitter for sharing all these international headlines!

HBO MAX "praised the loyal audience that engaged with the series and contributed to building an interactive community around it." - Article in Arabic

"14 Recommended Series-fans are already deeply engaged in a massive campaign to encourage another network to buy the rights and produce another season to give the story the ending it deserves" - Article in Hebrew

== Love Notes ==

Hey lovelies.

Have you had any water lately? Did you get to go outside and take a walk? Please remember that you need breaks sometimes, even if they're only a few minutes here or there.

You deserve rest-- and when things get rough, your brain needs a couple minutes to reset. Remember to take care of yourself and practice some self-care.

Self care means fun too!

Do something you enjoy that makes you smile. I'm not a fan of sticker/sticky things-- but I know a lot of people who love googly-eyes so I figured this was appropriate.

Anyway, gnight/gday crew, have a lovely one.

== Daily Darby / Tonight's Taika ==

I think I've done this Darby one on these recaps before, but I needed to have a theme tonight, and the them is well, I think you know. Yes that is Taika in the stash, from "Boy".

#Instagram #ofmd daily recap #ofmd daily recaps #daily ofmd recap #daily ofmd recaps #our flag means death #adopt our crew #save ofmd #ofmd #taika waititi #samba schutte #con o'neill #david fane #joel fry #ewen bremner #rhys darby #ofmd bts

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kyleoreillylover · 9 months

Text

The Bloodline!Reader x Rhea Ripley x Dominick Mysterio Part 2

A/N: You guys asked and I delivered! This took so freaking long 😭😭 I wasn’t expecting all the love on the first part, so thank you all! Here’s a part 2, lmk if you want a part three as well. This also has more bloodline and reader lore, but Dom and Rhea are in there too, I just needed to continue the bloodline story.

Tw: Manipulation, reader being manipulative, angry confrontations, cursing.

After Dom and Rhea comforted you, you insisted on driving to your hotel by yourself. Even though opening up to them cleared your head a bit, you needed to be alone for a while to process these emotions.

They were wary-torn between wanting to respect your boundaries but also wanting to be there for you-but they didn’t want to overwhelm you, so they let you go.

You promised them you’d come back to them once your mind calmed down, and that made them feel a bit better.

Unbeknownst to the 3 of you, Paul was looking for you under the “Tribal Chiefs Orders” and caught you leaving their locker room.

He sent immediately sent Solo after you, his usual stoic demeanor being replaced by anger as he drove to your hotel.

It all clicked into his mind- Romans’ sudden hostility towards you, the weird tension between TJD and you, you refusing Romans orders. And he couldn’t believe you, his own sister, would be affiliating with your families enemies.

When he came to your room, furiously banging the door and yelling at you once you opened it, you felt your emotions rushing again, but instead of sadness, there was anger- the burning hot anger you tried to push back these past few weeks because in fear of hurting your blood.

But now, you didn’t care. Why should you care when they clearly didn’t share those same fears?

You let that anger run hot, but you didn’t let it burn all your judgment down. You wanted to hurt Roman, to make him feel the same pain you’ve been feeling, but you needed to be smart about it.

“What the hell was that, huh?” Solo shouted at you, and you winced at how loud his voice was. “Is what Paul said true? You been talking to them Judgment Day bitches and helping them? What the fuck? You gonna pull a Sami and ditch us too, uce?

“You know damn well I'd never do that! And I'm not helping them! You just gonna hear what Paul says and believe him, huh?" You yelled right back at him, wiping at your eyes and it was then that Solo looked at you, really looked at you since everything that had happened at the Royal Rumble. Your slumped shoulders, your bloodshot eyes glaring at him- had you been crying? He let his guard down a little at that but continued on. "Then why were you in their room? What were you doing with them?" Your frown turned into a scowl as you crossed your arms, looking at Solo. "I was in their room cause when I was leaving the arena, Rhea thought it would be funny to talk some mess about you guys when I was passing their room. And I was already overwhelmed and tired, so I couldn't control myself and I got in her face-" Solo's anger was slowly draining away as you continued to speak, being replaced by some guilt. Paul was always trying to start something, he should've known you wouldn't do anything without a reason.

“- then Dominick and Finn broke us up, and I left their room and I was just tired and didn’t wanna take out my anger on any of you, so I just went here to chill out and sleep.” You finished, making your way to your bed and sitting on top of it.

Solo didn’t know what to say, he had never seen you like this. You were always the one lifting everyone’s spirit, putting smiles on everyones faces with your infectious energy, the one that comforted everyone. He felt out of his element.

You took his silence as anger and put your head in your hands, and he couldn’t tell if you were crying or not. “Great. Now you’re mad at me, Roman is mad at me. I just fucked everything up today.”

You picked your head up when you felt the bed dip, seeing Solo sit next to you. He frowned when he saw that you were, in fact crying. “What do you mean today? Roman said something to you today?

You nodded, tears still coming out of your eyes. “Yeah, he talked about Paul mentioning something about the Judgment Day and Paul said I was acting suspicious & he just completely went off the rails on me. But this was before I snapped at Rhea, so I don’t know what Paul was talking about. But I’m sorry for worrying you guys.” You sighed, sniffling and about to wipe your eyes again when Solo stopped you, handing you the box of tissues. You gave him a small smile at his rare act of affection.

“Don’t be sorry. You need rest. I’ll talk to Paul. And Roman. What he doing ain’t cool.” Solo spoke, a hint of irritation in his voice.

“You good now, uce?” You nodded at him. “Yeah, I’m good. But wait-” You grabbed his shoulder, stopping him from getting up, and pulled him into a hug. He froze, not prepared for the physical contact.

“Be safe, okay? Don’t tell Roman, but I need a break from all of this shit for a while, but you need to hold down the fort Solo. Just stay safe while doing it.” You confessed, tightening your arms around him. He stayed silent for a moment as he slowly wrapped his arms around you.

“Of course uce. You stay safe too.” He said after a moment, squeezing you a bit tighter. You smirked against his shoulder, you didn’t think it’d be this easy but Solo always had a soft spot for you, his younger sister. You could see the seeds of doubt you planted in Paul and Roman making the gears in his head turn, and it made you smirk even more.

Once he left, you picked up your phone, texting Dom and Rhea and telling them about your plan.

They responded almost immediately, saying they were on board. They smiled at each other once they saw your messages, proud and happy you finally came to your senses and realized how toxic your family members were to you. Rhea couldn’t wait until she could pummel Roman into the ground for hurting you.

You grinned once they agreed, saying you’d meet them after you checked on Jey, which was phase one of your plan. He faced the worst of Roman, being mentally and emotionally abused by him, so you sympathized with him, and felt anger on his behalf. He was your older brother, and while all your brothers cared about you, he always cared a little bit more and tried to protected you from the brunt of Romans anger when the Bloodline first started. You wanted to do the same for him. But first, you needed to get in his head to get to Roman. He was the key to beating Roman.

Roman wants to play with fire? He'll realize that you're more than willing to embrace the flames if it finally led to his Empire and position as Tribal Chief getting burned. And if anyone got in your way, you’d drag them down in the flames with you.

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penvisions · 3 months

Text

garnish {chapter 9}

Pairing: Chef! Joel Miller x Bartender! Reader

Summary: Life is weird. Human connection is weird. But you finally are in a spot to listen to what Joel has to say, even if your mind is already made up.

Word Count: 5.4k

Warnings: canon typical language, restaurant lingo, talk of food, consumption of food, smoking, references of nicotine addiction, nicotine, cigarettes, drinking, references to alcoholism, insinuations of infidelity, complicated relationship dynamics, reader feels a lot of anxiety, sexual content, p in v smut, unprotected p in v, cream pie

A/N: this was a hard one to sit down and get done, i feel so removed from this story for some reason. it's turned into something i didn't expect and i love it, do not get me wrong. but it's just a hard dynamic for me write about at the moment. hope y'all like this one, only one more to go!

ao3 link || series masterlist || main masterlist || ko-fi

Your boxes were in the living room, bathed in easy early morning light when you turned the handle of the front door. Joel was a still figure on the couch, head hanging between his legs and cradled in his hands. Hair mused and frizzy from the endless brushing of his fingers through the thick locks.

He must’ve dosed off, you thought, as you quietly closed the door behind you. But when you turned back around, he was standing next to the boxes with a haggard look about him. Clothes disheveled and showing the wrinkles of his endless pacing and fidgeting throughout the night. You jumped, not having heard him move up from his spot and closer to you.

“Figured we could unpack today…if that’s somethin’ you would want.” His words were clear, but you could sense the hesitancy behind them, the uncertainty of where you were at and what you wanted obvious in his every muscle.

“I want to know why.” You regretted the crack rough quality of your voice, of the faint lingering haze of nicotine from the cigarette you had smoked on the porch before building up the courage to cross the threshold. Distant worry that you would find the woman from the night before asleep on the couch or the guest room downstairs. That they would be enjoying a nuclear family breakfast, Sarah having been called to come down and help Joel deal with what was an obvious issue with the girl’s mother. It was foolish to spend energy on the what if’s but that’s what your brain did, every second of every day since you were a small girl yourself. Endlessly tiring and anxiety inducing.

But this was a situation where you believe it was warranted. Any relationship has a person whose name could be brought up and instantly cause problems. And not for lack of understanding and an abundance of care for each other. But society has but such a strict label on what is appropriate behavior for friends and what isn’t. The same for people in a romantic relationship. It was all bullshit, but anything other was looked at with discontent and judgement born of nothing but devotion to those strict labels that had no impact on genuine human connection.

This was a situation you had never anticipating being smack dab in the middle of, between two distant co-parents to a biological daughter only a few years younger than you and an adopted one even younger than that. The what ifs were endless.

They rendered you silent for a moment, moving through the space toward the kitchen. He followed you, his own thoughts scrambled as he tried to find an honest answer to give you. You could feel his eyes follow you as you moved about the kitchen, knowing the space as well as your own. Coffee. You were making coffee. A bit of cinnamon on the grounds before turning the pot on and turning to face the man once again, arms coming up as a makeshift shield around your ribcage.

Joel heaved a sigh, hands clenching at his sides in that nervous tick of his. Exhausted eyes with dark color encircling them watched you as you crossed your arms around yourself to try and make yourself small. A thing he’s seen you do a lot when overwhelmed.

“I didn’t do anythin’ after that morning in your kitchen. I swear to you.”

“But the day before?”

“…yes.” His head hung slightly, like the weight of his answer was too heavy for him to bear. Too much of a give away of how he thought of himself, how he felt about the decisions he’s made in his life.

“Joel, that’s….that’s really confusing.” You admitted quietly, knees weakening as the image of him with someone else flashed in your mind. The thought of him with someone he had a connection with, a history with. A child with, grew up with, the same age as him. Close. Important. A part of his life for most of his life.

“I know, this whole damn thing is confusing. I didn’t- I never thought about it past the instances of what would happen. Didn’t dwell on it.” He sighed, shuffling closer and reaching out a hand to you in a silent request. You gently shook your head, not wanting to be touched right now. Unable to resist the warmth and strength of his hands coming around you and holding you tight. One breath against his chest would be your downfall. You needed to stay strong, for now. For as long as you could.

“I shouldn’t have let it go on for as long as it did. Every time she had a bad date or something ended or she was overwhelmed with trying to reconnect with Sarah…it would just happen. And I know that’s not a good enough reason to keep it from everyone. Hell, I don’t even think Tommy knows. But, sweet girl, please, it’s done. I-I-I had her admitted to an in-patient facility to help her with everything she’s struggling with, she wanted to go. The alcohol, the smoking, those habits I picked up from her, but they have such a stronger hold on her than they ever did on me. She’s going to get better with the understanding that I have love for her, for all that she’s been to me. But also that we are no longer going to engage in that way, that she is someone who is family and boundaries were made. I told her about you, really told her about you.”

His heart was bleeding and bare, offered to you in a way you weren’t sure you could handle.

Turning from him, you poured two cups of coffee and took them over to the table, taking a seat before your knees did betray you and no longer support your weight. He followed, leaving space between you lest he spook you. Lest you feel the need to run from him. You didn’t know if you would and could see the same worry in him.

“Okay,” Was all you could say, unsure of how to handle such transparency so early in the morning. It had been a long night, up late with Nia as she told you of all the good things going on in her life. Trying to be supportive despite showing up on her doorstep with dried tear tracks and a hollow feeling in your chest.

You hadn’t told her, had just spent time with her and watched lame movies that wouldn’t be able to pass today’s critics. Stupid, cliché comedies about sororities, about ice skaters who hated each other, about a damn dodge ball competition. Easy to consume media that helped to get you out of your head long enough to laugh at the ridiculous antics until you dozed off with each other on the couch surrounded by candy wrappers and bowls of snacks.

“I’m processing, it’s…it’s not okay, Joel, but I’m accepting what you’re telling me.”

“I was honest when I said I didn’t know how to-“

“Ding dong bitches,” Ellie’s voice sounded as she burst into the room with a duffle bag hanging from her hand and a crooked smile. She paused for the briefest of seconds at the scene of you and Joel on opposite sides of the dining table. A vulnerability shining in both your eyes. A heavy feel to the air of the kitchen surrounding you both. “…everything okay?”

“We’ve had a rough couple of days.” You felt your mood lighten the face of direct interaction with someone other than Joel. Ellie being such a comfort in all her genuine comfortability in herself, in the way Joel’s eyes were bright when he cracked jokes with her or groaned out at one of her less than clever puns. “But we’re okay, promise.”

“Okay, cool. I didn’t wanna be the jackass who waltzed in on like a really tense moment when I’m so excited to be home.” Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, knowing that that was exactly what she did and you were both faking it.

“You didn’t, baby girl, promise.” Joel reached out to squeeze your hands laid out on the table with his own but thought better of it at the last second before he stood up and moved around the kitchen.

“Dad, hey, so like the food on the plane sucked and-“

“Already got the stuff to make omelets, give me about fifteen minutes.”

“You rock! Gonna go shower and then we can head to the campus, yeah?”

“Austin?”

“Yeah!” Ellie turned to you, eyes taking in the way you were moving slowly and your eyes hadn’t quite yet cleared. “I’m applying for a graduate program for spring! I graduated earlier this year but being a teacher assistant isn’t exactly racking in the dough, ya know?”

“I warned you,” You joked with her as she came over to give you a side hug from her standing position, a delayed greeting you returned that had Joel turning quickly away from you both.

“Shuuuuut up, I know.” She grumbled. “We can’t all be really good at being fake nice to people and mix drinks, okay? Buuuuuut maybe I could-“

“No.”

“You don’t even know what I was gonna say, ya old dinosaur.”

“You-“ He pointed a mixing spoon in her direction, bowl of cracked eggs in front of him. “Are not coming to work in the restaurant. You know the rules, you live here and go to school full time and everything else is taken care of.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re the best, okay? We get it.” She stuck her tongue out at him as she walked backwards out of the room, her steps heavy on the stairs as she made her way to her room.

“You really are, Joel.” You said more to the contents of your mug than the man himself. Eyes downcast and thoughts overwhelming.

All you could think about was Joel. All you could feel around you was Joel. He was enthralling, his body moving against you in deep, hard thrusts. His voice was in your ear, grunting your name every so often, his voice traveling down the length of your body and right to your core. He had moved to lay your back against the floor, one of his hands supporting himself by your head while the other was fastened right on your hip. You were trying not to make a keening noise as the head of his cock hit that glorious spot deep inside you over and over again, but you weren’t too confident when his eyes snapped up to try and capture yours where you had been staring at the way sweat was trickling down the column of his neck, pooling at the collar of his white undershirt.

“You’re takin’ me so well.” Your legs clenched tighter around him, your core squeezing his length sinfully tights, at his words. He stilled as he bottomed out on his next thrust, circling his hips to grind down on that spot inside you that had a coiling feeling building up and about to snap in your stomach. Your fingers dug into the curve of his shoulders, trying to urge him to move but when he didn’t, you moved your hips around him, his next words coming out in a low growl. “But you gotta reign in those sounds, darlin’.”

“I’m tryin’.” You panted, throwing your head back as you felt your stomach tighten, you felt so hot, so tense, you were so close. Your voice was wrecked, dripping honey sweet to his ears, the sounds you were making made him think how much more he could get out of you if there was no background worry of waking anyone or drawing attention. Taking his time and dragging out your orgasm as long as he felt fit, making you beg for it. He closed his eyes at the thought, beginning to thrust again. “But it just feels so good, you fill me so well.”

He could feel the tightening deep in his stomach, he wanted to make sure you came before he did. He wanted to take care of you, make sure you got what you needed, just as he felt so desperate himself to chase that high. He straightened up a bit, body no longer caging yours. He put both of his hands on your hips and patted them, the give of your skin so plush and soft under his fingers. “On your knees.”

The command had you positioned on your knees, resting most of your weight on your elbows in ten seconds flat. You looked back at him over your shoulder, seeing the way his eyes were roaming over the curves of your body, his hand lazily pumping himself as he watched you wiggle into place. He choked out a strangled noise when you bumped back into him, slick heat catching the head of his cock. With a growl, he lined up and slammed into you without preamble, hands coming to grip your hips for leverage. You jolted forward, his length hot and hard overwhelming in the best way possible.

He angled his hips, searching for that spot inside you again and he knew he found it when your breath began to hitch with every thrust. He pulled your hips back with every forward thrust, you were clenching so tight around him and he was so close. He just needed to feel you unravel around him. You felt him throb inside you, the feeling overwhelming. You began to push your hips back, chasing that tightening feeling. The long line of him inside you was hot, sending shockwaves through your entire body, you were sweating, pleasure making you clench your eyes shut.

His tip was merciless, hitting that spot just right inside you, you felt small waves of pleasure wash over you. Your legs began to shake, and you bit into your arm when the waves crested and overtook you. You could feel yourself clench around Joel, the man moaning low at the feeling of your orgasm overtaking you. He ground his hips flush against yours, helping to draw it out a little. You went slack below him, shaking legs barely able to hold your hips up for him, once, twice, three times more and he was quickly removing himself and waves of pleasure overtook him as well. You could feel the hot ribbons of his release on your backside, some of it dripping down your folds and earning Joel a filthy moan.

The sound of your panting filled the bedroom as you pushed yourself into a kneeling position, knees spread below you. Behind you, Joel watched the way the moonlight from the window illuminated your body in front of him, the sight of his cum trailing down your ass making him throb where he held himself in his hand. You turned to look at him over your shoulder, your face flushed and eyes blown.

You glanced down to where his cock was barely visible in his large hand, fist tight over his tip as a drop of cum dribbled out. It jerked in his hand, his eyes watching the way you watched him.

The sticky release between your legs catching the moonlight had his heart hammering harder in his chest, heaving as he tried to catch his breath. It had been ages since he had been able to get worked up so immediately afterwards but you were something else, something inspiring, something desirable. From the position you kept in front of him, the glazed over, cock drunk appearance of your eyes. The way your plush bottom lip was taken between your teeth, the ropes of his release painted across your body. For him, just for him, you whispered as you finally locked eyes with him.

And he was pressing back into you, semi hard at just the sight of you. The stuttered gasp that punched from your throat was all the appraisal he needed as he began to move against you again, wanting to paint you completely, your insides this time.

It was late, Joel snoring beside you as he laid out on his stomach with one arm crooked up and beneath his pillow, the other reached out to splay across your stomach. You had taken what he offered, breathing it in like a lifeline, revealing in the feelings that had flowed from him. His apologies, his transgressions, his regrets. All laid out bare for you to see, to pick up in your hands and smooth them over. To take for your own and to accept them. And you did.

He had been so tender as he washed you up in a hot bath, cradled you to his body in the tub of his en suite. Cried into your shoulder let you see him in all his remorse. And your heart ached for him, your soul, everything in you ached for him.

He would give you whatever you needed, he would try his best to help you. Without even a breath of an ask ghosting your lips. He was selfless in that way. Giving his all to those he deemed important and cared for. And that was too much to take from him. Even if he was willing.

But that didn’t change the way you felt.

The dark was a comfort, the sounds of an easy life you could have haunting you as you lay awake for what seemed like hours.

‘You drove all the way to your old apartment before you realized it wasn’t yours anymore. The keys having been handed over to the landlord earlier that month. Reliant on anything people in your close circle were willing to throw your way. Dependent on people once again and that was terrifying. You had sworn you would never be dependent on anyone again, give people the power over you in such a way.

Even if they didn’t have ill intentions.

Even if it was Joel.

The situation with your former professor, with his brother, with the asshole at work; all of them culminating and breaking you down.

Refusing to let anyone have that much of a sway over you, especially if it was a double edged sword.’

Your boxes were still in the living room the next morning, a mirror image of the day before. But in this moment, they didn’t bring you comfort. Seeing them there, waiting for large hands to help you unpack, they looked like a weight you didn’t have the strength to bare. You set the coffee mug in your hands atop the table,

“Was thinkin’ about unpacking this morning, head out and get some stuff you’ll need for around the house.” Joel sipped from his own mug. A bit of sugar added to it this morning, stolen from you before you poured the cream into the first cup. With a snort, you had just reached up to grab another. Breakfast hadn’t been started and with the way your stomach was twisting now, you knew that food wouldn’t even be a thought today. Joel had picked up on it and hadn’t offered to get something going.

“I, um, I don’t think that’s the best idea.” You spoke to the contents of your mug.

“No. No, you don’t get to do this, goin’ and makin’ decisions without hearing me out. Without giving me the chance to explain.” He was suddenly more awake than he had been just seconds ago.

“Joel, please, I’m….I’m so tired and I just…I don’t belong here, in this house where you raised your daughters, where you looked after your brother. Just another chapter of things you’ve given up for people who need lookin’ after. And I don’t wanna be the next one. Not with Ellie potentially moving back for school.”

“It’s not a burden, not if it’s you. It wasn’t with them, that’s…that’s what you do for family, for people you love.”

“You don’t love me.” Your breath carried the words, hands coming up to cover your face as you felt tears sting in the corners of your eyes. The sharp spear of an invisible blade sprouted in the middle of your chest. Once, twice, three times as you watched the emotions play out on his enamoring features.

“Darlin’, I do.” He was suddenly so close, his chair kicked out from the table, now kneeling in front of you with an open expression. His large, brown eyes catching the light and making your chest feel light when he took your hands from your face gently and held them over your knees. “But that’s why I’m gonna let you do what you think is best. I’ll help you find a place, help you with hours at work. Hell, I’d build you a whole damn house if that’s what you wanted, because I love you. I just want you to be happy, sweet girl. You deserve it so much and if I can help you get there: then I will do whatever it takes.”

You were silent, words stuck in your throat. The instinctive response on the tip of your tongue, the return of his sentiment. But it was blocked, drowned out by everything you had ever heard otherwise. Berated towards you and pressed into your very skin, something not so easily overcome if at all. The feeling of being a burden, of being too much, not enough thrummed inside your entire body, mind a cacophony of all the negative things you’ve ever been told.

“Loving someone doesn’t save them.”

He was quiet for a few breaths, watching you from his crouched position, face soft and concerned. His eyes lit up by more than just the morning light now. They were shining with unshed tears.

“Joel, please. Let me do this. Let me take back what I can from everything that’s happened. I-I don’t know if I’ll return to you but believe me when I say thank you.” Your nails dug into the backs of his hands as you gripped them tight, holding onto him with everything you had before you let him go.

The snick and hiss of a bottle being opened was loud in the empty townhome. The walls shining with the drying hues you had spent all day painting to cover the white applied by the rental company between tenants. Your stuff in the bed of three different trucks down on the curb in front of the building. You had found a place a few blocks from the campus, cheaper rent for those who qualified and had affiliation with the university. Joel had been insistent on getting Tommy to help load and move your things from his house.

They had just pulled up, after a quick text to let them know you were ready for them. Ready to fill this new space. Sweet Pea in the walk in closet upstairs with a temporary set up so she didn’t feel abandoned in the new space. It hurt to see that Joel had lined her kennel with a flannel shirt of his that smelled of you both, to help sooth the small cat during the transition from you old home, to his own, and now here.

You had cried over it for a long while before finally getting started on decorating your space with the colors you had picked out to make it feel more like a home.

Both men efficiently moved everything in and set it up where you had asked them too. Working well together and not letting you lift so much as a finger unless it was to point to where something should go.

The hammering of them putting up shelves and the bedframe for both the main bedroom and the guest room was a hum in the background as you busied yourself with making them a meal as a thank you.

The conversation was easy between all three of you. It had ended with Tommy leaving ahead of Joel, giving you both a little privacy. You weren’t sure what Joel had told him, but you kept your own answers with him vague. Not wanting to contradict anything his brother had already shared with him.

It had been slightly awkward, both of you shuffling your feet. You had asked for a hug, his arms coming around you completely for the last time. A kiss placed into your hair for the last time.

Over the next few months as the year began to transition through fall and into winter, you couldn’t bring yourself to keep in contact outside of work. Teaching and grading and working on your final program layout while still working at the restaurant in the evening was wearing you thin. Falling asleep at the desk in your downstairs office, the bed sitting up trying to cuddle with the cats, on the couch surrounded by piles of books and papers that needed to be attended to.

It had already been a month since you quietly requested to meet with Mary and turn in your resignation letter. She had listened to you, heard you out and agreed that should they need to hire anyone or replace anyone they could contact you first to see if you wanted the chance at hours. She had tried to get you to take a cut to them initially, but when you explained that you were going through some stuff that was taking a lot of emotional energy, she acquiesced.

Joel had called once and then left a voicemail marked only thirty seconds, but you hadn’t built up the courage to press play.

Crying yourself to sleep every night for a week afterwards, looking at his contact number made you feel pathetic, but you stood your ground. Stubborn and set on your decision, knowing his honeyed words would change your mind even if he didn’t ask you to come back.

One of the shining moments from the months that passed was that you did get the internship, had been working diligently through the end of the year to prove yourself. That’s what had been the tipping point for dropping the restaurant job that had been more than just a way to make fast, easy money. It was everything you had worked so hard for, and it was demanding. The other was that the board of your department wanted to soft launch a program you had created a mock up for in one of your summer semester courses. Needing to fill some time blocks left behind from your shitty professor. A blessing in disguise, your best friend had cheered out in a toast.

You were doing it, you were making a name for yourself in the academic world. But the cost was passing out in the late hours of the night only to be up and back at it in the early morning. No time for anything else, a distraction of the highest caliber. Joel a lingering thought every time you made dinner or smoked one too many cigarettes in a day. It was as comforting as it was devastating.

But the guilt of not having kept up contact weighed heavily on you, made it harder to send out a simple text or open his voicemail. So you didn’t and time continued to pass.

“Dad.” Ellie’s voice greeted him, still seated on the couch with a now warm beer in his hand, condensation trailing over his numb knuckles, the tv playing something he hadn’t been paying attention to. Her voice called to him again before he came back to himself. He leaned over to place the bottle atop the coffee table and rubbed his hands roughly over his face, trying to get some feeling back into it.

“Yeah, baby girl?”

“I, um, I was coming to check on you and to…ask if I could move back in?”

“What? Is everythin’ okay? I thought you liked your school set up out in Boston.” He was up on his tingling legs in a breath, worry seeping into his very soul at the hesitant expression on his little girl’s face as she stood at the end of the couch.

It was past the end of summer and well into the fall season, December just cresting over the horizon and settling in nicely. It was break for her, and she had shown up to help and keep him company since he had been working so much and things in the home fell by the wayside. He was sure there had been a conversation between his two girls about who would help him get back on track.

“Hey, woah, everything’s okay. It’s just that I was looking at programs to apply for since I’m done with my bachelor’s degree, and they didn’t have any that really jumped out at me. Figured I’d apply to the university here. There are a few classes I want to take and they have a really good applied arts program that they just announced.”

“There’s a new program, focused on how art influenced the cultural building blocks of different societies and how language developed from it. How art is the center of everything that we’ve become, made ourselves into and the juxtaposition of how it’s now viewed in a society that frowns upon the pursuit of it.”

“Why are you askin’ me, Ellie, you know you could’ve just started moving boxes in and I wouldn’t have batted an eye.” He thinks back to the two carry on suitcases she had brought along with her last week, and how she was talking of needing to find a new place since she needed to reapply for a new dorm or possibly find an apartment now that she was awaiting on news of her graduate application back there.

“Well, um, the program is headed by a…new professor.”

“What’re you talkin- oh.” Suddenly, the girls hands fidgeting and eyes shifting clicked everything into place. His heart soared with pride at the idea of you finally getting the position you had tirelessly worked for. All of the books and notes and papers, all of the hectic shifts, the shitty customers, the endless tickets springing forth from a printer with a chirp, every lost pen and empty bottle tossed into a recycling bin. You had been so distant at work leading up to your departure from the restaurant, eyes glazed over every time you weren’t interacting with anyone. Exhausted from everything you had been doing in the background, creating a foundation for yourself to prop up on.

You did it. You made it happen.

A wide, unfiltered smile broke out on his face, pulling his plush lips up in a moment of pure admiration and affection for you. Even if you weren’t here to see it, to know that he was in awe of you, your resilience, despite the way his messages remained unread and his calls unanswered.

“Yeah, dad, it’s her program. It starts in the spring and since I’m just a TA next semester, I figured I would give that up to someone intending to stay at that school.”

“She did it, she made it happen.” He gazed at the label on his abandoned beer bottle, something you picked out one of the first nights you both spent camped out on his couch with a movie, still getting to know each other outside of work. It was one of your favorites and he had been buying ever since, wanting whatever small part of you he could have now that you were gone and not responding to his attempts at conversation. Not that he had tried much after you left the restaurant, not wanting to make you feel like he was pushing himself on you.

“I have an interview with her today, she’s only taking like thirty students or something and there’s a lot of buzz around it. I just…wanted to check in and make sure it was like okay, that I do this.”

“Baby girl, of course it’s okay. If this is what you want to do, then you should go for it. I don’t think she would breech professionality because of who you are after everythin’ she faced the last year.”

“Yeah, she’s good like that.”

“Yeah, kid, she really is.” Joel smiled to himself, willing his heart to stop aching.

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dividers by the lovely @saradika-graphics

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newtonsheffield · 2 months

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After being shot protecting Kate does Anthony struggle with Kate going about day to day life out in the world? Especially since he can’t protect her anymore.

Oh 100%.

Kate would rather not think about it, honestly. Because this was just one instance. Someone who’d been stalking her for a while apparently and it got too close this time. But she’s not naive. She knows there’s probably other people. But if she lets herself think about that she’d waste her whole life. She’d be too scared to do anything. So yeah, she goes shopping with her boyfriend and reads stories at children’s hospitals and goes to charity events and plans parties because what else is she going to do?

On the other hand, Anthony can’t tune it out. It used to be his entire job to protect Kate. He attended so many briefings about threats that had been made against her and her family, he was hyper vigilant and it’s hard to turn that off. It got worse when he knew he loved her. So much worse. And it’s worse again now knowing that he has to rely on other people to protect her.

It’s terrifying for him at first. Even when she goes out for a run in the afternoon. He used to be the person running beside her and he’s not.

“Maybe I could go with you.”

Kate raised her eyebrows, kissing his forehead as she put her headphones on, “You said your arm was sore from PT.”

Anthony winced, “Not um… It’s not that bad.” He changed tactics, “Or maybe you could stay here and we could ah… do another kind of workout.”

Kate chuckled, “Cute. Keep that energy for when I get back.”

He hated it. Waiting for her to get back, worrying about her. It wasn’t;t that he didn’t trust her new protection officer. Ronald was good at his job, tough, methodical. He just hated not knowing where she was, if she was alright.

“Can I come with you?”

Kate chuckled, smoothing her fingers through Anthony’s hair, “To my meeting with Appa? No. State secrets I’m afraid. But you can come to the palace, have tea with Mumma Mary.”

Anthony nodded stiffly, hauling himself off the sofa. “Sure. I love tea.”

Kate froze while picking up her bag, her eyes narrowing. “No you don’t.”

Anthony scoffed, “I love tea, I’m a big tea fan. Well, we’ll see you later, Edwina.”

“I’m not entering into whatever this little… weird thing going on here.” Edwina hummed. “But I don’t think enjoying a strawberry green tea lemonade is the same as liking tea.”

Kate clicked her fingers, “Thank you, Eddie.”

Anthony turned towards Edwina. “Wow. Wow. When I haven’t said anything about he fact that you’re knitting a sweater for the dog of the woman you’re in love with!”

Edwina gasped, “Wow, he’s mean. Kind of a vibe though. And Josie is my friend, who I might or might not have been in love with since I was 14. And Haggis gets very cold. His fur isn’t as long as Newton’s.”

“Okay, we need to unpack this after my meeting.” Kate said to her sister, “But can you take that knitting upstairs so I can figure out what’s going on with this one?”

Edwina left flicking Anthony’s ear on the way out. And Kate sighed, resting her chin on his shoulder.

“What’s going on?”

It was gnawing at his stomach, the anxiety. “I’m worried about you. I’m worried something will happen and I won’t be there this time.”

Kate didn’t say anything, just stayed with her arms wrapped around him for a long moment. “I… Am going to be fine. Okay? I’m so well protected. I understand why this is scary for you. I’m scared, but I can’t live my life that way.”

“I know, and I’ll work on this but can I come for today?”

Kate chuckled, “Course you can. My Mum loves you.”

Anthony paused, “Do you think she has a strawberry green tea lemonade?’

“We can stop and get you one on the way.”

#head on the pillow au #bodyguard au #kathony #anthony x kate #kate sharma #kate sheffield #anthony bridgerton #molly’s asks and answers

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beardedjoel · 10 months

Text

closer | part thirteen

joel x f!reader. non-apocalypse au

series masterlist | main masterlist | ao3

chapter summary: it’s the fourth of july, and joel’s cookout is proving to lead to an interesting evening for the two of you. 12k words.

chapter warnings: 18+ MDNI, age difference (joel is 42 and reader is 25), soft!dom joel, rough sex, spanking, oral (m + f receiving), joel creams his jeans....., dirty talk, praise kink

a/n: i loooooove these fucking idiots!!!!!!!

The Fourth of July rolls around a few days later, and you wake up with a pit in your stomach that immediately follows you into the entirety of your morning. Your parents have been excited about it since Joel invited them to his cookout the other day. They have plans later on with some of your family here in Austin, but they decided to spend time at Joel’s for a while before going there. They’re just glad that they feel like they’re fitting in here in this new neighborhood, but meanwhile you want to throw up at the thought of interacting around him with this little secret of yours. You can’t deny that it also makes you feel a little bundle of desire tear through you when you think about sneaking around - stolen glances, grabbing at each other the second you get alone, the built up anticipation of the day spent around each other holding this in. It’s been working wonders on you just to think about, and despite Joel keeping you very satisfied lately, you find yourself craving more, sometimes needing to touch yourself when you two aren’t together just at the thought of him. Some things never change, you realize with a laugh, despite the fact that you’re getting what you wanted from him now.

It doesn’t help that you haven’t been able to spend any time together the last few days, with Joel busy at work and getting things prepared for his party. Him and his crew even took a brief hiatus from everything at your parents house with the holiday, leaving the bathroom operational but needing its final touches.

Joel has been texting you a bit for the last few days, but it’s weird to feel this distant from him, especially since the last night you spent together had been completely mind altering. The man had made you come six times, something you would have said was probably not possible before then. Having no direct contact with him since then, however, has set you a bit on edge, making you feel even more self conscious and anxious about seeing him later today in front of so many people. You just hope that there wasn’t anything that had happened that night that put him off of you.

You decide to try and ease some of your nerves and go for a swim, changing into a white bikini and grabbing a towel before heading out to the backyard. You made sure to grab a glass of iced coffee to sip on while you continue to wake up for the day. You dangle your feet for a while, trying to take steadying breaths as the still early sun beats down on you and sip on your coffee. You finally plunge yourself in, swimming a few laps around the pool to get some nervous energy out of you before pulling yourself onto an innertube and floating around aimlessly. You try to let the soft lapping of the water and gentle way you’re floating give you some peace of mind, but you’re worried about all of the people you might run into at Joel’s cookout. Are his friends going to be there? Family? Coworkers? All of these people in his life who know him well, but have no idea about you and the things you do together. The thought makes your stomach twist in equal anticipation and desire and the familiar ache of desire comes between your legs. You’re fighting it, feeling too lazy to get out of the pool just to rub one out, but it’s becoming hard to ignore.

As if right on cue, Joel slides open his back door and comes outside, clearly ready to make preparations for the party today as he lugs out some extra folding chairs, and then tables with multiple trips. You smile to yourself that he hasn’t noticed you yet, and you can just watch him work, his muscles popping as he carries things out of the house and sets them up. You have the urge to run up to him, make him promise that he still wants you, but you quickly veto the idea from your worry-ridden brain. You’ll just play it cool, he’s allowed to be busy, after all. A pleasant hum escapes your lips at the sight of him continuing to work and you feel the ache between your legs you have been trying to ignore growing.

Joel’s head does a double take in your direction, a shocked looking expression on his face at the way you’re casually floating through the pool, body on full display as you toy with the straw to your iced coffee with your tongue. Joel stands, staring at you for several moments before deciding to pull out his phone. You float over to the edge of the pool where you left yours, and sure enough, a message from him comes through a moment later.

Joel: How long have you been watching me?

You: Long enough to get worked up

You see Joel practically groaning with a tight expression from across your two yards, a smug smile suddenly on your lips at his reaction.

Joel: You know what happens when you tease me like this, sweet girl

You: Oh, I know. I’m counting on it happening

Joel looks up from his phone, his eyes lingering on you for a few long moments before he looks back down and begins typing furiously.

Joel: Extra punishment will be making you wait even longer for what you want from me. You’ve got to earn back being my good girl if you’re going to act like this

Now it’s your turn to groan, the wetness between your legs becoming more apparent with each message he sends and you squirm a little on the inner tube, your thighs rubbing and clamping together. The last time he made you earn that status, it ended up being the most fucking insane night you’ve ever spent with another man, and you’d be eager to repeat it again. Joel is watching your every move intently as he glances up from his phone. A moment later, your phone pings again.

Joel: If you’re so worked up why don’t you go touch that little pussy and think of my cock inside of you while you come

You inhale a sharp breath as you read the message and your thighs squeeze even tighter. You almost don’t want to give him the satisfaction of rushing off to touch yourself, but the needy aching of your pussy is absolutely taking over right now.

You: Why don’t you come and do it for me?

Joel: That’s for good girls, and as we both know, right now you aren’t one of them you little fucking tease

You see Joel warring with himself, but deciding not to come pleasure you seems to be his final decision. You sit and pout for a few moments before deciding if you’re going to be a bad girl for him today, you might as well keep it going. You plunge into the pool off of your floatie, dunking your head under. You surface and swim yourself to the edge of the pool, climbing out by the ladder. You tilt your head back slightly, exposing the length of your neck and dripping hair behind it, your bikini shifting on your body with the weight of the water. Your nipples are stiff from the chill of the pool and temperature change, and you know Joel can probably see them clear from over there. You wring your hair out and throw it causally back behind your shoulder, letting the glistening drops of water cascade all down your body. You shoot a biting glance to Joel, who is gripping the back of one of the folding chairs tightly, watching you. You smile sweetly, gathering your towel and phone before heading back into your apartment.

Your phone buzzes as soon as you’re inside, of course, with another message from Joel.

Joel: Can’t resist touching that perfect wet pussy because I told you to huh?

You: Would rather it be you… my door’s unlocked.

You can feel the hesitation in his response, the bubbles popping up and disappearing several times before he answers. Your hand has already snaked into the wet fabric of your bikini bottoms, your fingers brushing against your clit as you let out a little moan.

Joel: You’ve got to wait for what you really want and think about what a little tease you are.

If he wants a tease, you’ll fucking show him a tease. You pull down your bottoms, standing half naked and stalking over to the window that overlooks Joel’s yard. You shoot him a quick message before bringing your hand back down in between your legs.

You: You’re gonna wish you’d never called me a tease

Joel seems to take the hint, and you love that he knows you well enough to know that text meant to look up at the window. His jaw slackens a little at the sight of you in the distance, hand in between your legs, cupping yourself and then beginning to rub your finger on your clit again. You hear your phone going off as you get more into it, your fingers exploring lower as you sink one inside of yourself. You hope from this distance Joel can see the waves of pleasure crossing your face as you moan into the touch. Your phone pings again, and again, so you stop suddenly to look down at it.

Joel: Naughty girl… you’re going to regret that

Joel: I know you only wish that was me right now, desperate little thing. You know it won’t be the same without my cock inside of you

The last message makes you laugh out loud, simply him typing “Fuck” and sending it to you. You open his contact info and dial his number, setting the phone back down and putting it on speaker. He answers silently, opting not to say anything right away as you step fully back into view of the window, watching him hold the phone up to his ear as he sits on a patio chair facing your window.

You pick up where you left off, rubbing circles on your clit as Joel watches on, and now you moan a little more loudly, making sure your phone picks it up. You swear you can hear Joel breathing heavily on the other end in between your own noises.

“Play with your tits, baby, let me see,” he spits out, seeming to break his vow of silence that was being used to punish you. You love that you’re unraveling him by the moment, and it turns you on even more, urging you along. You brush your hands along the curves of your breasts, playing with one of your nipples, through the thin material of your bikini top, causing your hips to buck forward a little bit as you groan.

“Yeah, baby, that’s it,” Joel murmurs. You see him discreetly cup himself on the front of his jeans, trying to soothe some of his own ache, and you smile deviously.

“Need something over there?” you breathe out as you slide your fingers down and start pushing one in and out of yourself.

“Tell me what you’re doing,” he commands, ignoring your sass, and you know it’s killing him he can’t see you as clearly as he would like.

“I’m fucking myself with my finger,” you state plainly as you moan quietly when your thumb brushes your clit again.

“Just the one? I know you can take more than that, my filthy little girl,” Joel says with the hint of a smirk in his voice.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do,” you say defiantly, feeling bold with this much distance between you.

“But I do, baby. You told me that first night, you want me to take control, and I can see how much you fuckin’ love it when I order you around, tell you where to put your hands and when. How to move your body for me, when to come. Want to be an obedient little thing for me, don’t ya? Even when you act up like a little brat.”

Now you break out in a small sweat, knowing he’s right, having told him all of that yourself. You unleash a louder moan as his words echo through your mind and your finger moves quicker on your clit, your other hand still playing with your nipples.

“I do,” you breathe out, giving in to him embarrassingly easily.

“Good. Now put two more fingers in and fucking take it,” he says quietly, a lethal, low tone to his voice, and you shudder at the sound. You do as he says, whimpering a little at the sudden stretch, but he’s right, it feels amazing. “Well?” he says impatiently.

“F-feels so nice,” you mumble, lost in the pleasure, finding it hard to stay standing in front of the window as your knees want to buckle underneath you.

“Good girl,” he says, and you light up a little at the words, wondering if you’ve earned them back. “Just for now,” he coos, “I have a few more things in mind to teach you a lesson.”

Just the thought of what those ideas could be is enough to send you over the edge, and you start coming onto your hand, plunging the three fingers deep into yourself and hitting your g-spot. You moan loudly, and through hooded eyes and can see Joel’s tense form sitting down below, watching you squirm and writhe as you ride the waves of pleasure from your climax.

“Mmm,” you hear him breathe out through the phone, not taking his eyes off of you.

“You missed out,” you say with a little laugh, your breathing still coming down from the pure bliss of the previous moment.

“I’ll see you later, yeah?” Joel confirms.

“Yeah,” you reply.

“Good. Can’t wait to get my mouth on ya,” he says. You shudder a little, the aftershocks of your climax still present and you feel a dull ache rising back up at his words.

“Don’t you have something you need to take care of?” you say suddenly, seeing his hand still resting on his likely throbbing crotch.

Joel grunts disapprovingly, but doesn’t deny it. “Smart ass,” he teases, and you laugh.

“See you later, Joel,” you say, before hanging up, hoping to leave him wanting. It doesn’t take him long to get out of the chair and head inside, where you know he’s going to jerk himself off to the thought of what he just watched you do. It spreads a warm little feeling throughout your chest as you smile to yourself, moving from the window to get ready for the day.

Your confidence from this morning has all but faded as you check yourself in the mirror one more time before having to leave for Joel’s cookout. You suddenly hate every piece of clothing you own, feeling less confident than ever around him. Maybe it’s because you know that he can’t pay attention to you in the way you’re used to, and you’re worried about how others there are going to view you. You swear you never used to be this socially anxious, right? Or maybe nobody had brought it out of you like this before.

You decided on a plain white mini dress, thinking it’s simple and classic, and it shows off enough of your legs and curves that you think Joel will enjoy getting an eyeful of you and have to deal with resisting you for hours. You spent a little more time on your hair to get it into pretty, loose waves that you’ve clipped half back. Your makeup was an effort, but you managed to get something you’re proud of, a fresh, clean look with a little dark eyeliner and mascara, a slight bit of shimmer on your eyelids, and a touch of blush and pink lip gloss. You do feel pretty, you think as you tilt your head at yourself in the mirror, it’s just important to you that Joel thinks so too.

You breathe out a final breath before meeting your parents in their house to head over together. Your mom fawns over your outfit and hair for a few moments while you feel flushed with heat uncomfortably thinking if she only knew the half of it she wouldn’t be so excited about it. Your mom and you keep a close eye on your dad as he makes his way over to Joel’s on his crutches, but luckily it’s a short distance and he’s been getting quite good at using them lately. You swallow hard as you see the party is in full swing, and Joel looks like he’s having a great time, chatting amicably with a group of people somewhere within his age group. When he sees you and your parents approaching, he smiles, breaking away from the conversation to greet you three. He goes to greet your parents first, thanking them for coming, but you can see his eyes linger on you several times throughout their conversation, taking in your dress as flickers of heat flash in his eyes a few times. You know it was quick enough that only you’d notice, but it doesn’t mean you don’t little feel a little rush at the sight. He finally greets you casually with a wave and words of gratitude for coming by, and it’s a struggle to keep your tone neutral as you reply to him.

He invites you inside to grab something to drink, and you agree, telling your parents you’ll grab them something as well. You breathe out a small sigh of relief when you see his kitchen is mostly empty, aside from a few folks grabbing plates of food from the counter and bringing them outside.

“Nice dress,” he says, maybe the most quiet you’ve ever heard him. You inhale sharply, just the change in his tone from the way it was outside enough to set you off. You let a smile peek out the side of your mouth.

“Wore this with you in mind,” you say, trying to be just as quiet as you two open the fridge and look inside.

“There’s more options outside in the coolers, if ya want,” he tells you, and you turn towards him, locking eyes fully for the first time since you arrived. And… you’re melting. You force yourself to get it together quickly, snagging three beers from the fridge and holding them against your body. It honestly feels good to have the cool sweat of the cans pressing against you, grounding you to the present instead of wherever your mind was trying to take you with Joel.

“This is good,” you say, smiling up at him. The look he gives you is absolutely devastating, a sly little smile like he knows you, he wants you, he’d rather stay alone in this room with you all night. You try to return the look as best you can before you two have to head back outside. His hand brushes along your lower back down to your ass as he walks behind you, his fingers trailing there for just a moment before he splits away from you when the door to the patio opens. You force yourself to breathe out a long, calming exhale and locate your parents.

You hand the drinks to them and have a seat at their table. They’ve already gotten into a conversation with another neighbor, and you’re glad they’re getting to know other folks in the neighborhood. You’re not actively participating in the conversation, or even fully listening, but you’re trying your best not to be rude and speak up here and there when it calls for it. You’re too busy keeping tabs on Joel, feeling like a complete psycho as you do it, but your mind isn’t able to focus on much else.

He’s over at the grill, cooking up steaks, burgers and brats for everyone. Everything, all the meats, sides, and snacks smell and look amazing, but once again, you find yourself distracted as you watch Joel’s broad shoulders and muscled back working over at the grill. You can help but notice a beautiful woman at his side, holding onto a plastic cup and laughing as she chats animatedly with Joel. Something twists deep in your gut, and you immediately hate yourself for it. It’s a primal, sickening feeling borne completely out of jealousy, you know, and you take a large swig of your beer to try and drown it out into the background of your thoughts.

Of course Joel is going to have beautiful women talking to him. You can’t expect that you’re the only one he’d want to fuck around with when he looks like that and could easily pull another woman anytime he wanted. He’s sweet, charming, and attractive, so it makes sense that he would be getting this kind of attention. It doesn’t mean you have to like it, though, you think, drinking your beer more quickly now. You want to slow down, but you suddenly think that maybe alcohol will help calm the intense surge of jealousy and anxiety that’s tearing through you right now. You know he said just last week that he had only been thinking about messing around with you lately, but it doesn’t mean he hasn’t and won’t change his mind, and you hate the thought of that.

You know that your eyes are glued to him, and to the observant person you must look slightly obsessive with the way you’re stare at him. Joel and the mystery woman are still chatting, and he seems happy, which you want for him, but it still causes a sinking feeling to pass through you. Suddenly, Joel’s head turns in your direction when the woman is distracted by another party goer joining their conversation. His eyes catch yours but you quickly look away, gripping onto the cold can of beer in your hand. But you know he saw you staring daggers into his back. You flick your eyes back up to his face, where he’s giving you a wry expression, as if he’s been reading your thoughts for the last few minutes. You try to give him a smile but it comes out weak, not reaching your eyes. He dares a quick wink at you and suddenly your chest is rising with warmth again, this little bit of attention enough to begin busting you out of the dark jealousy that was overwhelming you.

You take a deep breath, your eyes catching on a familiar face across the patio. You excuse yourself from your parents and walk over, smiling shyly.

“Hey, Tommy,” you say.

“Hey there,” he replies, returning your smile. “How you been?” You forgot just how warm and kind his presence is, a lifeline to you at this party full of strangers.

“Oh, not too bad,” you say, but you know the reason you came over isn’t to exchange pleasantries. “Listen, um, I just wanted to apologize for the last time we met, that was super… well, awkward,” you admit, casting your eyes on and off the ground as you try to get out what you need to say.

“Aw, hey, no worries. I know you weren’t trying to make things uncomfortable. My brother can make an ass of himself sometimes,” Tommy says with a smile.

“I think I egged him on, so don’t go too hard on him,” you admit, twisting your lips to the side. Tommy eyes you with a slight look of questioning but doesn’t say anything for a moment.

“Probably shouldn’t say this, but I’ve never seen my brother so in his head about someone before,” Tommy says suddenly with a thoughtful expression, and you feel your stomach bottom out as a nervous churning overtakes you.

“What?” you manage to stutter out, unable to think of anything else to say. Your mind is reeling with too many sudden thoughts, and it’s hard to keep yourself present.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said anythin’,” he concludes.

“No, it’s okay. I just didn’t know what you meant. I think you’ve got to be misreading things.”

Now it’s Tommy’s turn to look taken aback. “Misreading things? Sweetheart, no offense, but I nearly caught you and my brother about to jump each other's bones.”

You laugh lightheartedly at his response, and he smiles. “I just mean about him being in his head. I think I’m just… stress relief, or something,” you say with a slight cringe. You don’t know how you’ve ended up admitting even more to Joel’s brother about the nature of your relationship, yet here you are.

“I see, so you two haven’t stopped things, then,” Tommy replies a little more seriously.

“Maybe it’s my turn to not have said anything,” you grimace, feeling like you’ve overstepped.

“S‘alright. I had a feeling, anyway.” He shrugs, taking a sip from the cup in his hands.

“We aren’t really telling anyone about it, if you could… y’know. Sorry to put you in a weird spot.” You look at Tommy with a hopeful and apologetic expression, feeling completely uncomfortable with your request to him.

“I got you. It’s alright. I just want you to be careful, is all. I’ll handle things with my brother, you shouldn’t have to be in the middle of all this.” Tommy replies. You wonder what he means about being careful, but you don’t know if you can handle inserting Tommy into this situation any longer.

You nod slightly. “Thanks,” you say, and then decide to change the subject. “Are you enjoying the party? This is really nice.”

Tommy looks appreciative for the more normal conversation and nods. “Yeah, every year it’s always a good time. I like seein’ everyone gathered together like this.”

“It’s nice, although I know literally nobody here,” you chuckle.

Tommy looks out at the crowd of people enjoying themselves with you. “Want any introductions?”

“Oh, god, no. I think I might be too shy for that.”

Tommy lifts an eyebrow at you. “Lemme know if you change your mind.”

“Actually,” you spit out quickly, “Not an introduction, but, uh, who’s that? With the blonde hair over there?” you ask, nodding your head in the direction of the woman who’d been talking with Joel.

Tommy’s expression becomes even more suspicious, and he looks you in the eyes, a gleaming hint of amusement behind them.

“Old friend, why?” he asks, crossing his arms.

“Just wondering. She’s very… uh…” you trail off, feeling like shrinking up into yourself and never coming out again. Tommy laughs good naturedly at your pained expression.

“Do yourself a favor and just enjoy the party. No use worrying about what my brother’s up to, eh?” Tommy says, his tone lightening with encouragement towards you.

“That’s probably good advice,” you respond, pondering for a few beats. “Thanks, for being so kind to me when you don’t have to be.”

“You’ve done nothin’ to warrant anything other than that, alright? I ain’t mad at ya,” Tommy tells you with a quick squeeze on your shoulder. You smile, and then Tommy gets called out by another guest at the party, so he kindly excuses himself to speak to them.

You stand alone now, crinkling the sides of your now empty beer can. You glance over at your parents, having what looks like the time of their lives with all their neighbors, engaged in a fun conversation that you don’t have the energy to be a part of right now. You see Joel, finishing up everything on the grill, encouraging the people around him to make plates. You feel completely lost suddenly, like you don’t know where to go, who to sit next to, if you would choke on your words if you tried to talk to one of the many strangers surrounding you.

Fuck, you think, as you slip the few steps behind you to the sliding door, opening it and stepping inside. You go to the fridge, pulling out another beer and cracking it open, taking long, drawn out swigs until it’s half empty. You catch eyes with someone coming back from using the restroom and give them a shy smile, which they return. You breathe out a shaky exhale and stand with your back leaning against the counter, grateful for a few quiet moments to yourself.

This is ridiculous, you think to yourself. You have always been alright in groups, able to at least introduce yourself despite having been rather shy your whole life. Seeing Joel with that beautiful woman really got in your head more than you would have expected, and you suddenly felt like you couldn’t approach him at all, like the last few weeks together have been completely erased. You finish your second beer, immediately going for a third and deciding you have enough liquid courage to head outside. You see Joel’s eyes catch your entrance, a quick flash of disappointment he didn’t get a chance to see you when you were alone inside.

You continue into the party, grabbing an empty paper plate and filling it with food. You feel that last beer you quickly drank settling and a slight tipsy haze coming over you, making you feel a bit more brave than you were before. You sit at a table with your now full plate, complete strangers at every seat, but they look kindly at you as you sit.

“Is this alright?” you ask them. Most of them nod enthusiastically, saying muddled greetings to you that are overlapping as they all talk at once. One of them, a woman with dark brown hair and kind green eyes smiles at you.

“Haven’t seen you at one of these before,” she comments, taking a bite from her own plate of food.

“My parents live next door. They just moved in this summer,” you announce. “How do you know Joel?” you casually ask, looking around the table to invite anyone there into the conversation.

Several of them reply that they work with, or rather for, Joel, but it seems like a casual relationship, that they’re all very friendly outside of work. The woman who greeted you also works for Joel, and you can see it now, her rough hands and strong body are definitely someone who does physical labor for a living.

“Is he a mean boss?” you ask with a hint of teasing in your voice, and they laugh. You spot Joel out of the corner of your eye when the laughter sounding from the table catches his attention, and it makes you want to smile smugly that you’re now a distraction for him too.

“No way, not at all,” one of the guys answers with a shake of his head. “Tough, but fair,” he concludes. You could see that in him, that he doesn't take bullshit, and as long as you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing on the job, he’d be happy. You feel a strong hand grip your shoulder, the way the fingers curl around it is familiar and you fight the urge to shudder down your entire spine. You know before turning your head who you’re about to see, but the stunning form of Joel above you as you sit still threatens to pull the air from your lungs. He’s slightly red cheeked from laughter and the heat of the grill, his hair causally messy, and his navy blue shirt clinging to him.

“Don’t tell me they’re all talkin’ about me,” Joel says to you, removing his hand before it’s there too long for anyone to grow suspicious. You all smile and chuckle, several of his employees denying it but smirking light heartedly. “Whatever it is, I probably deserve it.”

“Oh, I’m sure he does,” a new voice says, and you peer away from Joel, turning your head to see the woman who’d been chatting with Joel earlier standing across from you. Her elegant, perfectly manicured fingers are holding her cup as she takes a drink, and she’s even more beautiful up close. Her hair is short, blonde and pin straight, shiny as the sun catches it. Her red t-shirt and jean shorts show off her curves and tall legs. You immediately shy away from the conversation, just taking her in for a moment while everyone starts jokingly poking fun at Joel. You try to laugh along, staying with the conversation. It’s not like the woman is looking at Joel in any particular way that bothers you, in fact, she just seems perfectly friendly towards him. The hints of flirtation are in the way she sometimes watches him for a few extra seconds, always seeming to be laughing around him. And if they were together in some form, is that really something you can be upset about? Joel has never expressed having feelings deeper for you than physical ones, so you have no right, no claim to him as yours, really.

“I’m Lexi,” she says, looking at you. Her voice is sweet but smoky, and you suddenly wish your own voice didn’t have to follow it up. “I don’t think I’ve met you before, right?”

You shake your head and introduce yourself, trying to project your voice despite feeling like shrinking up. You explain to her about your parents moving in next door, and she replies enthusiastically. You genuinely don’t know how you’re getting words out, how you’re carrying a conversation with her. You’re getting that overwhelmed feeling again, like you don’t know what to do with all of the emotion you carry for Joel. It’s painful to think about, picturing him and that woman together, him doing the toe-curling, life changing things that he does to you to her instead. You’re already halfway through this next beer too, and it’s not helping with your unsettled stomach now as jealousy and confusion curdle it.

“Did everyone get enough to eat?” Joel asks, acting as ever the good host, and his voice cuts into your introspection. Most people murmur affirmative responses, claims of how good everything is, and expressions of gratitude.

“I was actually going to get some of that fruit salad, I totally forgot,” you announce, trying hard not to slur your words as you find the perfect out of the situation. Joel steps back slightly from where he was standing behind your chair and lets you out. You refuse to make eye contact with him, afraid he could read you in a second, but you quickly grin at everyone at the table before stepping off, trying to rush away as casually as possible.

You make it back inside, the cool air a balm to your skin and current emotional state. A few people mill around and you breeze past them, finding your way down the hall. Instead of holing up in the bathroom and blocking people from using it, you explore further down, cracking open a closed door at the end of the small hallway. Sure, it’s not completely moral to snoop, but you just need somewhere you can be alone right now. You peer inside, slipping in and shutting the door quietly behind you before breathing out, long and slow - this is much better.

It looks like you’re in Joel’s office, a rather small room but it seems to get the job done. There’s a dark wooden desk with his computer on it, piles of paper, folders and typical office supplies adorn the top of it. He has a filing cabinet underneath the desk to one side, and a small seating area on the other wall with two comfortable looking leather chairs. You head over to one of those, sinking yourself down into it and pulling out your phone to distract yourself. You managed to remember your beer, you notice as your other hand still grips the can, so you finish it, willing your brain to just give in to the tipsiness and forget all the stupid, shitty thoughts you’re having right now.

The door opens a few minutes later and you jump at the sound of the doorknob turning. Your mouth is already open, ready to spill out some excuse to whoever is walking in, but instead, you say nothing as Joel comes into the room, closing the door behind him. He approaches you slowly, purposefully, with a tense look in his eye.

“Now what’s my girl doing hidin’ out in here, hm?” he asks.

“I… needed a minute,” you say, unable to think clearly at the sight of him after being three beers deep in a relatively short time span.

“Hmm,” Joel says, approaching the chair and standing there directly in front of your legs, looking down on you. You suddenly salivate, feeling your insides burning with the desire to taste him, to pleasure him, to make sure he knows how good you’ll be for him so he doesn’t forget you in lieu of some other beautiful woman. “You still need a minute, or should I stay?” he asks, and you know he knows there’s only one answer to that question.

Instead of saying anything, you reach forward to his waist, undoing his belt while you peer your eyes up at him, blinking slowly and pouting your lips. He stands silently, letting you work on his belt and you reach for the button and zipper of his jeans. His eyebrow cocks a little when the zipper goes down and you inhale sharply at the throbbing bulge against the fabric of his briefs.

“Baby, if you’re upset or jealous, you can tell me. I saw you watchin’ me all day,” he suddenly says, and you stop, your hand resting on the waistband of his briefs. You feel vulnerable and transparent all of a sudden, realizing that he’s noticed it that much.

“I’m… not,” you say, completely unconvincingly.

“My only question, baby, is why?” Joel says sternly, gripping your chin with his thumb and forefinger, forcing you to keep looking up at him. “Why be jealous when your sweet little cunt is all I want wrapped around my cock, and I keep comin’ back for more no matter how hard I try not to. What’s there to be jealous about when all of that’s so obvious?” He shakes his head slowly, looking at you with a mixture of softness and frustration on his face.

You stun at his words. “I - I don’t know. I don’t feel like I’m… there are a lot of pretty women. I just want to show you -“ you stop, gulping heavily and trying to avoid his eyes. “Show you…” you trail off, reaching into his briefs and pulling his hard cock out. The length of it slips free, reminding you just how deliciously big he is. You lick your lips at the sight, hoping he understands what you’re trying to say when your words are failing you.

Joel’s head tilts and he slides the hand on your chin around to the back of your head, gripping tightly. “If you won’t listen to me, then I’ll just have to fuck those jealous words right out of your pretty little mouth, won’t I?”

Your lips part slightly in shock but you nod, dipping your eyes to his cock and biting your lip.

“On your knees, sweetheart,” Joel says, and you quickly slide off the chair, landing softly on your knees with your head perfectly positioned in front of his hips. He pulls out your hair clip, letting the half of your hair free that was pinned up. He splays his hand onto the back of your head now, holding it still while his hips thrust forward, the head of his cock brushing your lips. You open them and he slides in, just moving the head slightly in and out. “Yeah, that’s it, baby,” he groans quietly as the wetness of your mouth envelops him.

His hips move more aggressively now, holding true on his promise to practically fuck the words out of your mouth as he suddenly pushes in to the back of your throat, threatening to gag you. It feels good, almost like he is able to fuck those thoughts out of your head if you can just take his cock as deep as he wants you to. You’re desperate to be his number one, the only one he wants to spend time with like this, and you suck hard on him as he pulls out, eliciting a loud groan until he pushes back in as far as he can again.

“Fuckin’ Christ, angel, look at you…” Joel breathes out, watching his hips push his length into your mouth over and over as his hand holds your head steady. “Takin’ my cock so good when you’re jealous, huh?”

You let out a tiny moan of affirmation, the vibration of your mouth on him making him shudder slightly. He’s now pushing your head in towards him with his thrusts, his own head tilting back as his eyes flutter slightly as he goes deep. You gag, spit drooling out all around his cock, and it urges Joel on further as he doesn’t let up.

“That’s right, you’ll never say another jealous word again, will you? Gonna believe what I say? Gonna be a good girl and let me praise you and worship that perfect pussy without any questions?” he drawls out, his voice full of heady desire and grit. Your pussy pulses and throbs at his words and the feel of his thick cock in your mouth.

You can only make a noise you hope Joel will take as a yes from you. You feel like you should hate what he’s saying - the possessive, condescending tone behind it all, but you fucking love it, and you know Joel does too. Maybe you two are made for each other in this way - someone only seeking to be praised and dominated, and the other more than willing to give that to them. It’s no secret just how much he loves turning you into a sloppy, begging mess for him, and you’ve learned that you’re happy to let him whenever he wants it.

“Fuck, baby,” he blurts out, “Look at you, fuckin’ love suckin’ cock, don’t you? Bet you thought about it all day, I know I missed your lips wrapped around me. All I could think about watching you in that little dress,” he hums, steadily continuing his thrusts into you. They’re turning more ragged, his body trembling slightly from the pleasure. He whimpers as you flex your tongue to flick down the length of him as he is pulling back before plunging it in and rapidly repeating the movements.

He moans, a breathy noise coming out of him and he pulls out quickly, fisting his cock with his free hand and aiming it for your chest. You lurch forward, frowning as your mouth misses the fullness of him immediately.

“Only comin’ in you once you’ve earned it back. You’ve been a bad girl today, remember?” He smirks as he pumps on his cock several more times before groaning, the ropes of cum releasing onto your neck and chest. It drips immediately between your breasts, sliding down into your dress. He watches it intently, the sight of his cum slowly working its way down your tits while you gaze up at him with desperate eyes threatening to turn him on all over again. “If you want a taste, it’s right there,” he says with a smug grin that you want to kiss off of his face.

“So unfair,” you whine, slumping down further onto the floor, giving your knees a rest.

“Deal’s a deal, baby,” Joel says, tucking himself back into his jeans and refastening everything. “Maybe you won’t be such a little tease next time.” He winks at you before lifting an eyebrow.

You gape your mouth open, unable to find a good enough retort for him. Joel hands you a tissue off the box on his desk and you wipe yourself up, and you’re feeling thankful that you wore white today. Joel reaches out a hand and pulls you up, tucking you in under his arms for several moments. He breathes in deeply, taking in your scent before sighing.

“Can’t stay in here forever,” he says to you, pulling back a little bit. The look of disappointment on his face matches exactly how you’re feeling right now.

“I know,” you reply, frowning. “You go first, and I’ll come out in a few minutes.” He nods and lets go of your waist, his presence immediately missed by your body.

“Oh,” Joel says, stopping halfway to the door, “After everyone goes home, you wanna come out with me to watch some fireworks?” Joel asks, and the stark contrast to the man he was a few minutes ago is jarring. A smile tugs at your lips and you let it show completely, not caring about playing it cool right now.

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

Your parents went to spend the second half of the day with your mom’s brother and his family, having gotten an invite to watch fireworks as a group. You made up the lousiest excuse that you just weren’t feeling up for it after Joel’s party, but it worked well enough.

You meet Joel outside close to dark and climb into his truck. He risks a small kiss on your lips once you two are settled in the car, and you glance around afterwards to see if anyone could’ve seen it. You’re not sure what you’d even do if someone did see, but you’ve been feeling the compulsion to check anyway since you two agreed to sneak around.

Joel drives off, glancing over at you every so often with a soft look in his eyes.

“You took the dress off,” he comments into the silence.

“There was, well, cum on it, so…” you say plainly, and Joel lets out a loose chuckle that takes several moments to subside.

“Fair enough, baby. S’okay, I almost like this better anyways,” he says, sneaking another look at you before focusing back on the road. You changed into tight spandex shorts and a little crop top, throwing on an oversized, comfortable zip up jacket over it in case it got cool once the sun went down.

“You say that about everything I wear,” you counteract.

“Cause I like everything you wear,” Joel shrugs. “You look good in anythin’ darlin’.”

You bite the inside of your lip as a half smile pulls at the corner of your mouth at his sweet words.

“Did you have fun today?” Joel asks.

“I… did. I think you threw a great party, really. It was just a lot for me with all the new people and not being able just - to kiss you when I wanted,” you admit.

“I hear ya, that was tough. Maybe no parties for a while,” he says, and you chuckle a little.

“Didn’t know you were so popular, though,” you tease, waggling your eyebrows when Joel shoots you a skeptical glance.

“Not true,” he retorts.

“Is so. Everyone there loves you, Joel, accept it,” you say defiantly. Your arms cross over your chest, willing him to understand just how great he is and how admired he seemed by everyone you talked to that day. You’d gone back and socialized a bit more after Joel’s visit with you in his office, and you’d learned a little bit more about what Joel is like as a friend, a coworker, a boss. Most of their stories conclude for you that sure, Joel can be very grumpy in the wrong situation, but at the core of all of it, he cares deeply.

“Here we are,” he says, pulling the car up to the side of the road and veering off onto a less defined patch of road. Joel drives for just a little longer until he pulls up to a grassy hillside, parking the car. You two are the only ones here, and the stars are starting to twinkle overhead as you gaze out the top of the windshield.

“Wh- what is this?” you ask.

“Used to come ‘round here all the time when we were younger. It’s the perfect spot for fireworks, trust me,” he tells you. You’re glad it’s just the two of you here after the long day you spent wanting to be in his arms. Joel seems to share the same sentiment, unbuckling his seatbelt and leaning over the console to you and wrapping his hand around the side of your face, crashing his lips into yours.

He opens the bed of his truck for you two to sit in and wait for fireworks to start. He props a few pillows along the back of the truck and lays a blanket out to sit on before you climb in behind him and settle in.

“So you’d come here as a kid? You really have lived around here your whole life, huh?” you ask him.

“Yeah, Tommy and I’d go crazy on the sparklers right over there,” he says, his eyes staring off distantly as he recalls memories. “One of the only times my parents didn’t fight, weirdly,” he adds, and your eyes widen before you control your expression, your interest piqued at his talk of the past.

“Your parents didn’t get along?”

“Nope, not a lick of good blood between them by the end of it all,” Joel replies with a shake of his head. “She’s remarried now, though, for a long time and it's goin’ real well for her now.”

“Your dad… instigated the fights?” you ask hesitantly.

Joel nods. “Mhm. Mean guy, real tough, didn’t know what to do with himself so he’d take it out on all of us. Yellin’, fightin’… Only hit my mom once, and that when she had enough. Thankfully…”

“Wow… that must have been terrible. I’m so sorry, Joel,” you say quietly, snuggling up next to him to show your support. He lifts an arm and puts it around you, and you tuck yourself into your favorite spot under his shoulder, rubbing circles on his chest with the palm of your hand.

“Thanks, sweetheart. Wasn’t always easy, but Tommy and I, we tried to take care of things for our mom. He and I get our fightin’ with each other from our dad, and we fuckin’ hate it,” he chuckles, and you feel one side of your lips turn up in a smile.

“Seems like you guys have a good relationship, though, most of the time, right?”

“Yeah, we do. Couldn’t run a business with just anyone,” he replies. You nod in agreement, and dare to ask the question on your mind.

“Your dad? What… er, do you still see him?”

“Used to for a while. He died about 4 years ago, though. Drank too much, didn’t take care of himself, the works,” Joel replies solemnly, still staring off into the darkness.

“Jeez, that’s just… awful. I’m sorry, again, Joel. I know I keep saying it, but there’s not much else to encompass something like that, y’know?” you say, blinking hard and shaking your head.

“Oh I know, darlin’, thanks for just listenin’ to me. You’re a good listener,” he replies, now pulling his eyes off their unfocused stare to look down at you and smile.

“You’re welcome. I love hearing more about you, so it’s easy.”

“Alright, your turn,” Joel says playfully, nudging you.

“My turn what?” you ask, laughing a little.

“What’s the deal with your life story?” Joel says openly, looking at you with expectation.

“My life story? Jesus Joel, can’t we get a focused topic?” you reply with sass.

“Alright, fair point. Your parents seem like good people, doesn’t seem to be much of a story there, but correct me if I’m wrong?”

“No, not really, actually,” you ponder with a chuckle. “They’re very cute and in love most of the time so it kind of gave me this expectation that I’d meet someone and have that same thing super young like they did. But it just hasn’t happened like that.”

“Hasn’t happened, but you wanted it to? Marry someone young?” Joel questions you with a quirked brow.

“Nah, I’m glad I wasn't married in my early twenties like them, after all. I just assumed as a kid that’s how it would be because of them, but honestly I’m glad to have just been able to go to school and everything, get my life sorted out a bit.”

“Makes sense. And personally I’m very glad you weren’t already snatched up and married to some guy,” Joel says lightheartedly, poking you in the side and prompting you to laugh.

“Promise I won’t get jealous, but tell me about the other guys you’ve seen,” Joel says a moment later, and you shoot him a skeptical look. “Alright, I’ll try not to get jealous,” he adds on, a more realistic proposition.

“I don’t think there’s really much to tell…” You think for a moment, piecing together your memories into a cohesive story. “I saw someone for a few months in college, he cheated on me, so I swore off dating for a while before meeting Will, and he was nice but it didn’t last. A few random hookups followed that, and that’s really it. Nothing… excited me enough to stick it out,” you conclude, then look up at Joel, seeing his eyes intently looking into yours. “Until you,” you add timidly, but not shying your gaze away.

“Until me, huh?” Joel says cockily, tilting his head. “These other guys… what was wrong with ‘em that wasn’t exciting?”

“I don’t know, it was a decent connection, but I never knew the depths of what I really wanted until you showed me. That sounds fucking corny, but whatever. You taught me a lot of stuff,” you admit, your cheeks burning a little bit.

“I like teachin’ you what you like, baby,” Joel says, leaning dangerously close to you now, his lips looking so inviting. “My good girl, learned so fast, didn’t you?” he teases. You arch your hips up a little, responding to his words and nod.

“Nobody else called me that before,” you breathe out as your lips brush each other’s. “Or fucked me like you do. Didn’t make me come until I want to cry, or make me a begging slut for them. Only you, Joel, only you could do that to me,” you rasp, your hips completely turned towards him now, pressing yourself into his thigh. His smirk is downright devious as he soaks in the words you’re saying and feels you grinding against him slightly.

“Think you’ve earned something from me for sayin’ all that, sweet girl,” he says, his tone dropping slightly with suggestion. You raise your eyebrows at him with a grin.

“You think so?” you ask brightly, eyes already glazing over with desire.

“Boostin’ my ego like that, least I could do,” he says, teasing you before shifting himself to straddle your hips. Your body immediately responds to the closeness of him, your hips adjusting and grinding up into his weight. Joel’s lips find yours and it only takes moments before he turns more feral, your tongues sliding against each other, lips clashing and sucking on one another’s in a hungry heat. Joel takes your neck against his lips and kisses it, his tongue flicking along the skin and sending you moaning. He threatens to suck the skin and leave another mark, but he stops suddenly.

“I’ll show a little mercy tonight,” he says, glancing at you with a wink.

“No, only in that one spot, that’s it,” you breathe out desperately, chest already heaving from the passion of the moment.

“Don’t want any mercy, huh?” He starts grinning in the greedy way he does when he likes what he’s hearing from you. You shake your head, ready for whatever he’s going to throw your way in the bed of his truck. This will definitely be a first for you. “Naughty girl…” he murmurs before continuing to give the skin on your neck attention, ghosting his lips down to your collarbone and upper chest, but finding your clothing in the way, he slides your zip up off your shoulders and you help him shrug you out of it before he tugs at the bottom of your shirt and pulls that over your head as well. You settle down further onto the makeshift bed Joel made for you two, laying more flat on your back now against the pillow.

Joel takes in your half naked body for a few extra moments with a glint in his eye before diving back in, biting your skin and leaving you practically breathless as the small sucks and bites pepper over your skin, getting closer to your breasts. When he finally reaches your nipple, you’re already feeling so much anticipation that the moan you let slip out is louder than you’d have expected. Joel’s groan against your skin in response only urges you on, loving the way he loves hearing what he does to you.

He then bites onto your nipple hard, a completely new sensation for you, and you yelp a little bit but it trails off into another moan as the pain quickly turns into pleasure.

“Said you wanted no mercy, so what’ll it be, hm?” Joel counters, seeing how you’d tensed and yelled out at his biting.

“No, no, it’s good - more, Joel,” you hastily breathe, toes curled and body tense.

He pauses with his mouth above your breast, looking at you expectantly.

“Please,” you add on as a whisper, recalling what seems like one of his favorite rules. The smirk returns to his face and he slides a hand along your thigh, edging close to the apex as he bites again on your nipple. You cry out, your hips desperately pushing towards his hand, willing it to go where you need it to be. The heat swelling up in your core and between your legs is starting to reach the needy category when he continues working on both of your nipples, flicking and biting them for what feels like ages, getting you to a fever pitch of need before his fingers finally clutch onto the edges of your shorts, tugging them down. He has to lift his head off of you, and you breathe a small sigh of contented relief, your body needing the cooldown for a moment as he works your shorts off of you.

“You always wear all this stuff just for me, sweet girl?” Joel asks, bemused, as he gazes at your underwear - a pretty dark purple sheer thong.

“Of course,” you reply, breath hitching as his fingers play under the side straps of it, tempting you. “I know you like it, seeing me dress up for you,” you say with a small smile.

“That I do baby, knowin’ our little secret - you always wearin’ your little outfits just for me,” he says with a quiet tut, sliding the thong down your legs now and revealing your sex to him. It’s dark, but Joel can still see well enough to notice just how wet and swollen you already are for him, as usual. He groans as he slides two fingers inside of you, testing just how ready you are for him and feeling the warm, tightness of your cunt around his digits.

“Fuckin’ never could get old, darlin’, this pretty little pussy of yours,” he pushes out, his voice wavering slightly with need. You simply moan quietly in response and he slides his fingers in and out a few times before holding them up and seeing your slickness coating his fingers. A fully cunning little smile pulls at his lips before touching his fingers to your lips, pressing you to taste yourself on his digits.

“Don’t make me ask,” he warns you, and you’re half tempted to ignore him to get one of his special punishments that you love, but you decide to drive him crazy by pulling the fingers deep into your mouth, sucking and swirling your tongue around it. Your eyes are locked on each other’s, and his grin only deepens into something primal as he feels your warm mouth surround his fingers, lapping up every bit of your own wetness from them. He pulls them out with a slight pop and looks at you intently.

“Your turn,” he says suddenly, a look of expectation crossing his face.

“W-what do you mean?” you ask timidly, your body trembling slightly with the anticipation of Joel’s next touch.

“I wanna taste you,” he states plainly, and you wrinkle your brow, slightly confused.

“You could do that, easily. Put your mouth down there,” you suggest with raised eyebrows, and he gives a suggestive chuckle in response, then shakes his head slowly.

“No, sweetheart. Not until you do as I ask, and I know you want my mouth on that gorgeous little pussy, so I suggest you do it. Feed me with your fingers.”

Your mouth gapes slightly open for a moment before you bite your lip. You slowly trail your hand down your stomach, Joel’s eyes watching every torturous inch it moves, and you hesitantly dip your hand between your legs, finding your opening. Christ, you’re insanely wet. Not that it’s anything new, every second you spend around this man seems to put you in the craziest state of arousal, but it still surprises you sometimes just how little he has to do to get you to be a weeping, sloppy mess for him.

“Go on,” he says sternly, watching your fingers pause. You continue, sliding a finger inside of yourself, your hips moving slightly into the sensation. Joel lets out a small grunt of appreciation as he watches you slowly finger yourself. You lift your now slick finger out from between your legs, offering it up to him, and he grabs your wrist zealously, guiding your finger to his lips. He slowly sucks in on your finger, savoring every second as his eyes shadow with desire while they look deep into yours. You inhale softly, the feeling of his mouth on your finger so intense right now with how turned on you are. Joel doesn’t seem to be getting enough, because he swipes two of his fingers through your folds before pumping them hard into your cunt and bringing them to his own mouth, adding them in along with your finger. He pulls his head back, eyes rolling slightly, dragging his tongue along your and his finger before pulling them all out.

“Fuck, can’t get enough,” he sighs, lightly lapping at the pad of your finger as he still holds your wrist. You’re squirming, your hips moving uncomfortably with the desire steadily building in between your thighs. “You want me to stick my tongue inside of you, sweet girl, hm? Play with your little clit until you’re moanin’?” he says teasingly. You nod, a small whimper coming out of your mouth at his proposition, desperate for him to do what he’s saying now.

“You’ve been good,” he says, hand now stroking your thigh. “Now keep it up, put your hands on the side of the truck over there for me,” he commands, and you blink for a moment before scrambling up, moving over enough to get to the side of the truck. You grip the frame with your hands, standing on the truck bed with your ass protruding while awaiting Joel’s next move. He scoots over to you, nudging your legs further apart with his hands as he grabs at your ass, smirking to himself. He lowers his body, getting on his knees so that his face is behind you, immediately putting it between your legs and licking a strip down your pussy, landing a soft flick over your clit.

“F-fuck,” you stammer out immediately with a stifled moan, your hips spasming down into his mouth.

“Oh, pretty girl, can’t have you get too excited yet, need to taste you till I’m satisfied,” Joel says, moving his mouth off of you briefly. You try to quiet down so he’ll keep going, and he dives back in between your legs, feasting on you from behind. You groan out in pleasure as his tongue pushes inside of you and coats itself with your arousal, Joel making a satisfied noise at the taste of you.

You’re in absolute ecstasy, Joel’s teasing having taken way longer than you’d bargained for before finally getting some relief as he flicks your clit a few times with his tongue. He surprises you a moment later by sucking on it, and you inhale sharply at the sensation, breathing out an affirmation for him that it feels good.

His mouth hooks on tighter, the sucking harder than you’d ever experienced him doing, and it’s too much, it’s so intense that your knees wobble a little bit. You let out a faltering moan, your body’s response somewhere bordering on pain and pleasure before falling to the latter and you push your clit a little further into his mouth. After many long seconds, he releases it, breathing heavily onto your skin.

“No showin’ you any mercy, remember?” he says, and you sigh, eyes already feeling glassy from the way he’s treating your body. You nod lazily, hips pushing back down to urge him to continue, and he snickers lightly before licking your clit and sucking again, a little harder this time. You yelp and squirm under the immense amount of pressure and pleasure building right in that spot, the warmth of his mouth unending on the bundle of nerves.

You hear a distant noise, the sound of a car approaching your private spot, and as it gets closer, Joel’s mouth moves off of you to turn towards it but you cry out.

“Don’t stop, don’t fucking stop, Joel,” you say breathlessly, your hands gripping harder onto the metal of the car’s frame. Joel lets out a disbelieving chuckle and laps his tongue down your slit a few times.

“Oh yeah? Don’t care if they watch us?” he coos, speaking in between strokes of his tongue. “Watch me make you scream my name?” A long drag up your slit followed by circling your clit with his tongue. “Dirty little thing…” He sucks hard on your clit again and you moan loudly before hearing the car drive away, likely spotting whatever they hell they thought you two were doing in this private spot and driving off quickly. You breathe out a laugh amid your ecstasy, quickly focusing back on Joel’s movements.

You hear one of his hands working his belt before he unzips his pants and you glance over your shoulder, seeing his hand go down into his jeans and grab firmly onto his cock.

“See what you do to me?” he breathes, licking and lavishing himself in all of your wetness, now coating his beard as he quickly begins pumping his cock with his hands. He growls and spanks your ass hard, eliciting a yelp from you before his mouth is back between your legs and to your utter surprise, he nips at your clit lightly and you almost jump, your hips twitching with such a different sensation.

“Makes me almost angry, baby, how fucking hard you get me,” he says into your cunt before biting you again, his hand steadily working on his own cock and building his own pleasure.

“Fuck, Joel,” you cry out, your whole body shaking from what he’s doing to you. He breathes heavily, grunting as his hand moves rapidly, trying to keep his mouth on rhythm through his own hand distracting him.

He suddenly pulls his mouth off, buries three of his fingers from the hand that was jerking himself off deep inside of you, pumping several times until you leak all over his hands and he hums in satisfaction as he brings it back down to his cock, coating himself in you inside of his jeans. Mere moments later you hear a small whimper and a few expletives pass through his lips, still on your pussy, and he breathes out loudly.

“Look at you, makin’ me come like a schoolboy in my jeans, baby,” he mutters.

You hear a burst of sound and see a flash of light through your closed eyelids - the fireworks are starting, but they can wait. You can feel your climax so close, it feels like you’re practically reaching for it, your fingertips grazing the unbridled pleasure coming your way.

“Fuckin’ come for me now, sweet girl, I wanna feel you soak my fuckin’ face, baby,” he groans out, the movements of his tongue becoming more frantic on you. You moan loudly, bouncing your hips back into him as he steadily works on your clit, placing sweet, toe curling bites on it every so often. You can’t believe it’s even possible for that to feel good, but it fucking does. The sound of the fireworks starts to drown out your moans, encouraging you to be even louder, crying Joel’s name.

One last perfect circle of Joel’s tongue sends you shattering, your pulsing, aching clit shoved further into his mouth as he starts sucking hard while you spasm your hips. The pleasure is causing your knees to buckle, and Joel grabs your ass with both hands, squeezing each ass cheek tightly as he holds you up and steady as you continue to be hit by wave after wave of warm, tingling pleasure. You’re loud, maybe louder than you’ve ever been with Joel, not worrying about parents or neighbors or anyone hearing you two as you scream his name above the crackle and pop of fireworks.

You breathe out a long exhale, your hips relaxing along with your hands on the side of the truck and steady your shaking knees. You settle down onto your legs when Joel pulls his face away from your thighs and you collapse your front against the truck, glancing at the sky to see gorgeous lights dancing above you two in several spots. This little viewpoint Joel chose offers a look at fireworks shows from several different nearby towns, all going at the same time. It’s beautiful, and you’ve never seen more than one fireworks show at once, so it’s fun to see the sparkling patterns in the distance as well, lighting up the whole sky. Joel tucks his body against yours, wrapping his arms around the front of your chest and dragging you down onto the blanket with him, holding you so you two can watch the sky together. You let out a small shiver, still completely naked, and Joel holds you tighter, tucking one of the blankets up around you now. He kisses the side of your face up and down as you keep your eyes on the fireworks, a small smile dancing across your face while his lips tickle and leave a tingling sensation over your skin.

“Joel…” you say quietly, and turn to look in his eyes, your lips parted with your next words right on your tongue.

“I know…” Joel says, not allowing you to say what he thinks might come out of your mouth. You stop short, unsure of why you were even going to say those words in the first place. You don’t love Joel, do you? It’s just that post orgasm feeling, that little bliss that lives inside you for a while afterwards that makes the person who gave it to you glow a little brighter for the moment. That’s not love, that’s… something else. You’re almost glad he didn’t let you embarrass yourself by letting it slip from your mouth.

“Me too,” he adds after a few silent moments, uncharacteristically timid, and your eyes widen, unsure if he’s saying what you think he is. You close your lips, pressing them together and give him a slight dip of your head, understanding he can’t go there right now. Instead, you turn your face a bit more and lean forward to kiss him softly. He reciprocates it immediately, a hand grazing your cheek as he holds your face to his tenderly. A radiant spark ignites in your chest when he touches you like this, so sweetly, like you’re only his to hold and also his to break. It makes you worship him and fear him all at once, knowing he’s always going to be your undoing one way or the other.

Maybe this is love, you silently wonder to yourself. If it isn’t love, then how could anything else ever be?

taglist: @paleidiot @mumma-moonchild @soph55

#fic: closer #joel miller fanfiction #joel miller smut #joel miller x reader #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x you #the last of us fanfiction #tlou fanfiction #pedro pascal character fanfiction #pedro pascal x reader

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junkissed · 1 year

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marshmallow movie dates

member — husband!vernon x reader genre — fluff, humor, rom-com word count — 1.3k warnings — mentions of food (cocoa with marshmallows), none other than that but they're disgustingly sweet and domestic does that count? notes — this is my 2022 carat gift exchange present for @hvcmixtape!! this was so fun to write bc vernon is just such a silly funny guy he has such husband energy 💔 merry christmas and i hope you enjoy! from, your secret santa - june :))

one reblog = one stolen mini marshmallow

after too many long weeks in a row of coming home late and not being able to spend more than a couple hours together before rushing off to bed, you and vernon finally have a few days off for the holidays.

you’d spent christmas day at his parents’ house for christmas, a day filled with laughter and hugs and gifts and good food. dinner had been at your family’s house last year, but you hadn’t been able to stay for long because you had work that night. you’d barely had time to exchange gifts and a few kisses before you had to rush off. despite the copious amounts of holiday decorations around your house, because you were both so busy it had been a while since christmas had really felt like christmas.

but this year was different. finally being able to sit down with your friends, to tell stories and catch up on everyone’s lives. sitting next to vernon’s sister at dinner and giggling about the things he does that are definitely weird, but endearing in his own vernon sort of way.

and with both of you having the day after christmas off work as well, you can come home and just… take it easy. not having to worry about how early you need to get up tomorrow or planning your meals or prepping your work. just relaxing.

so, according to vernon, “this calls for a movie marathon!”, complete with matching blue silk pajamas, and candy cane striped socks, and piles and piles of blankets.

you sigh, flopping down on the couch. “i’m too tired to do anything,” you whine, reaching your arms out to make grabby hands at vernon as he walks into the living room carrying your matching mugs monogrammed with your initials on them. “come sit with me?”

he sticks out his bottom lip. “but your cocoa’s gonna get cold!”

you slide down against the couch, legs stretched out. “but i want to cuddle with you,” you pout back at him.

he groans, but he sets the cocoa down on the table before jumping onto the couch next to you, and you yelp as the cushions bounce under his weight.

he lets out a deep exhale as you both sit in silence, watching the snow flurry around outside the window. the atmosphere is calm, neither of you wanting to say anything to break the peaceful quiet that surrounds you.

and everything about today has been so nice, you don’t even mind when vernon falls asleep with his head on your shoulder. even when he starts snoring, because you fall asleep quickly after that.

when you wake up it’s dark outside and the kitchen light behind you is on, and vernon’s no longer next to you. you blink slowly, your eyes adjusting before you notice the fluffy white blanket draped across you, tucked behind your shoulders so you’re totally wrapped in it.

you stretch your arms above your head, the blanket slipping down as you arch your back and let out a yawn. you hear your name called, and you twist around on the couch to see vernon walking towards you.

you break into a smile when you see him, slowly waking up. “hi.”

“morning, sunshine,” he says, leaning down to kiss you.

“what time is it?”

“almost nine,” he replies.

you sigh, leaning back against the couch. “that was a really good nap.” you yawn again, reaching up to wipe the dust from your eyes.

“i know,” he giggles. “but now i’m–”

“–not tired,” you finish for him.

“mhm.” he hums, tilting his head to stare down at you, the corners of his mouth upturned in a smile he probably doesn’t even realize he’s smiling. oh, if he could see his face now—he’d deny it, but the way his eyes soften when he looks at you, the way his smile seems to glow when he’s around you, the way he blushes when his eyes fall to the ring he put on your finger so long ago; that, he can’t deny.

“so… wanna build a blanket fort?”

you laugh, looking up at him. “absolutely.”

because you know you’ll be up all night now anyway, and he did promise you a movie marathon, so what better way to get cozy with all these blankets than to build a fort?

as he’d predicted, your cocoa has long since gotten cold, and while you were asleep he took it back to the kitchen for you to reheat later.

you stand up and stretch one more time, resisting the urge to smack vernon with a pillow when he tries to tickle you.

instead, the pillows are put to better use as supports in your makeshift fort extending from the table by the couch. one stack of blankets and a pile of clothespins later, the living room has been converted into a “movie-watching man cave” (vernon’s words).

and then you realize… with the way the blankets are draped down over the sides, neither of you can actually see the tv.

you let out an exaggerated sigh, laying on your stomach on the floor inside the fort. you could get up and rearrange everything, but… so much effort…

“you wanna just use my phone?” vernon says, pulling it out of his pocket and tossing it over to you.

“mmkay.”

he grins, telling you to decide on the first movie while he goes to warm up the cocoa in the microwave.

“i added marshmallows this time,” he says when he returns, handing you the mug with your initials on it. “we’re out of the jumbo ones, though, there’s only mini ones.”

“thank you, nonie,” you giggle, carefully taking it from him before spooning a half-melted marshmallow into your mouth.

he sets his mug next to yours on the carpet, and you hold it for him so it doesn’t spill when he gets into the fort. he starts to crouch down to crawl in with you, but he jumps back up at the last second. “wait, i’ll get my backup charger, just in case. don’t wanna have to get up again.”

he sprints away again, and with a mischievous grin you sneak your spoon into his mug, slurping up half of his marshmallows before he comes back.

“did you eat my marshmallows?” he asks when he bends back down to see his noticeably empty mug.

you hold your own mug up to your mouth to hide the smile playing on your lips. “of course not,” you say, your voice echoing into the cup.

he cocks one eyebrow at you. “that’s definitely less than when i left,” he says, and you just bat your eyelashes innocently.

“how could you accuse me of such a thing!” you gasp, pretending to be offended.

he narrows his eyes, playing along. “well, i guess i’ll just have to get more for myself…” he says, slowly ducking out of the fort. but then he pops his head back in, catching you in the act red-handed, your spoon in his mug.

“a-ha!” he cries, and you burst into a fit of giggles. “marshmallow thief!”

“bring the whole bag back with you!” you call after him.

he bounces into the kitchen to grab the bag of marshmallows, but when he turns around to make his way back to the fort all he sees is your feet, still in your matching candy cane striped socks, sticking out from beneath one of the blankets, your warm laughter filling the house. and despite the busyness in both your lives, despite the fact that you don’t often get to have days like this, he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else or with anyone else.

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hiswhiteknight · 4 months

Text

Unbelievably Outlandish - Part 12

Summary: Before starting down a new crossroads, the Reader goes onto an adventure of literary traveling. Suddenly tossed into an unbelievable story that has swept the world, The Outlander Series itself. How will a twenty first century woman survive?

Note: It has been a super long time since I've posted, like a year or more. I'm going to try to post weekly, but it depends on my schedule. As for a tag list, I'll be starting a new one – please send me a message to be added to the tag list. I don't always get to look through comments, so please message me.

Note Note: I own no characters, except reader, clearly this is based off the lovely book series Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and tv show. This follows more the tv show, but it’s far from accurate. I’m going to try to get better with using less proper English, but who knows maybe I’ll get into Scottish slang.

Pairing: Jamie Fraser x Female Reader

Words: 2700 (SO LONG)

Warning: Angst, playfulness, cursing, slow start

It turned out, in Angus's mind, the dog turned out to be a good distraction for you. It kept you from running around because you found yourself always training the dog. She was an angelic thing, who always got into some kind of trouble along the way. Your whole life you've been much of a rule follower, but as of recently you were finding you had a lot in common with the dog.

With this being said, you have yet to find a name you'd like for her. Often you found yourself filling the boredom by naming old fictional characters you loved when you remember the character Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables. Outside from being incredibly charming, he was intelligent, kind, and had patience and devotion for the ones he loved. You imagined you had a lot in common with Anne Shirley or you hope you did. And with that thought, you named the dog Blythe.

Jamie enjoyed watching you work with the mischievous creature. He could tell this was the first time you were filled with joy since you arrived in Scotland, "Why don't you go over and talk to the girl," Murtagh said from next to him.

He shook out of his daze, acting like he wasn't doing anything weird, "I like my bullocks, thank you."

Murtagh shook his head, "She wouldn't have that mutt if it wasn't for you, you know."

The men continue to work around and pack things away, "You and I both know she is a stubborn woman, if she wanted that dog enough she would have got it without myself or Ned mentioning a word."

"Coward," Murtagh whispered to Jamie.

"Damn right," he chuckled back.

You were working on the pups reactivity and word commands. While growing up you didn't get to have a pet, but your mother told you about when she raised dogs as a child. Your family moved around a lot, so having a pet wasn't in the cards. "Don't get too comfortable girl, we're going to be off soon," Angus barked at you from afar.

You turned around losing the smile on your face. With the time being away from the castle, you still hadn't earned much trust and you most definitely didn't give the men much energy. Outside of the pup, you were like a empty soul and it was coming to be more evident with every passing day. The dog plopped herself next to you watching Angus with her tongue out. Even Blythe was better respected and well liked by the men, even Angus though he'd deny it if anyone commented. Their acceptance of the dog made you more tolerant to their attitude and patriarchal manner. "Yes master," you bow.

"It's nice you are starting to learn your manners," he smirked back while making gestures towards the men.

With a deep inhale and low tolerance of attitude today you started to trudge towards your horse, "It was sarcasm, idiot," you grumbled.

He appeared to have the same tolerance of my attitude, "Watch your tongue girl or you'll get it cut off," Angus advanced forward while gripping his dagger.

Jamie and Murtagh were about to make a move when another man's voice appeared, "Everything alright miss," a British voice caught your attention.

Angus directed an aggressive response to the man. You turned to look at the man and in your daze started to register things about this man. He had a proper accent, boots, and his hair read a gentleman. He was clearly a British soldier and he could mean serious trouble. You turned to look at Jamie for a split second before charming a smile, "Excuse me sir," you asked, ignoring the comments from the other man to rile this man. This was not the time and place.

You could tell the tension with Dougal increased. He didn't trust what you would say, "I was asking if you were alright," he stepped forward again, ignoring the men behind you.

"Oh, I'm sorry you had to hear all that, sir. You shouldn't have had to hear a lady speak out of tune like that. It was very unbecoming of me," you looked embarrassed. Let's hope your acting skills are up to par. You ignored Murtagh mutter unbecoming to make fun of you, "It's just Angus here is a very, very, very," you paused to look at him, "Very distant cousin." You turn back to smile at the officer, "I sometimes gets so overwhelmed by his voice and tone I just lash out. I apologize," you put you hand on your heart. The dog looked up at you oddly, not recognizing your behaviors.

He smiled at you, not acknowledging the grumbling Scots behind you, "Not necessary, my lady I understand quite well actually." He bent down to scratch the puppy sitting in front of you, "I'm sorry your accent."

You scratch the back of you neck, "Right, I must sound so improper. I'm Y/N O'Mulligian. I came to visit some family here from the colonies at my brother's request. He said I could use some real life hard work. He likes to call me a debutante," you sent him a teasing smile.

Responding well to your story, he rises and smiles at you. A relief was lifted off your shoulders, you were almost past this moment when Dougal interrupted, "Enough," he shouted, "She is the guest of the clan MacKenzie and her business is none of yours." You clearly spoke too soon because the officers defenses shot back up.

"So off you go," Angus finished.

You had to stop yourself from rolling your eyes, "Are you sure you are alright, miss," he looked unshaking at you. He clearly felt so much privilege he did not care remotely about the strapping Scottish men standing around him. You wanted to smack yourself in the forehead how stupid these men had to be to not recognize the importance of this one man.

Dougal looked as if he was going to fight the man. You put your arm on his bicep to stop him, "Of course, good sir," you smile, "It's nice to know chivalry is not dead. I have more hard work to learn as you can see, it was very nice meeting you."

"Pleasure is all mine," he smiled back before frowning around the man watching this moment. He backed away into the blacksmith area to continue his work.

A minute passed by and you felt a firm grip on your arm drag you towards your horse, "It's best you didn't speak," Dougal scolded in your ear.

Anger surged through your body and it took every fiber of your being to say nothing. But as you were shoved onto your horse, you looked in the direction of the soldier and back at Jamie. You knew if you yelled it'd bring attention to Jamie, a fugitive to the English Army.

You continue to seethe on the ride. Blythe sat up, doing her best to see over the horses head to look ahead. "What's the dog's name," Jamie trotted next to you.

"Blythe," you muttered directly.

"What a cute English name," he emphasized on one word of his sentence.

You pulled back on your horse and halted, "Excuse me?"

He chose to stop with you, trying to not say directly what he'd like to say. It's been odd between you and Jamie. You weren't sure if you were pushing him away out of anger or fear, but none the less at this moment it appeared to be anger, "Nothing, it's a cute name."

A sarcastic laugh left your mouth, "No, no, you had a tone," the man halt to watch another scene unfold, "You clearly have something you want to add, some hidden message you feel you want to hide. Say it."

"Nothing, you seem to just like the English a bit more than an Irish Woman from the colonies I thought would," he said like his words meant nothing. It didn't matter the fact that maybe he felt jealous or he had a right to comment on any intention or likes you have. That comment engulfed your whole body into volcano, hell fire fiery.

Heat was written all over your face and Murtagh didn't have enough time cool down your fire with rationality, "The boy is just saying, you were awfully chummy with the Brit," Angus chimed in, "like a girl in heat."

And there goes Mt. St. Helen, "Un-Fucking believable, do you know how fucking dumb you are, like every single on of you are just egg head fucking dumb," you scream enough to make the echo quake the woods around you.

"Lass," Ned sent a warning your way.

Tears started to brim your eyes and Jamie knew he'd set you up to fail again. You point to Ned, clearly a man of reason, "That man back there," you continued to yell, "Was an English Officer out patrolling." You looked to Jamie and everything deflated in you. Everything from the past and the reality of your new world just collapsed in your soul, "I was trying to save you."

A sigh leaves your lips and you talk lightly while using your hands to emphasize your point, "Men are idiots and will always fall for charm, so I used mine to protect you all," you continued to go on, "Call me a hussy, I don't care. And that plan to charm the officer actually worked until you opened your trap, my lord," you bowed your head at Dougal. Something than broke in you, in that moment, you were exhausted at being angry. You had no more fight in you. You gave Jamie another look, "I was scared. I was trying to save you," you whisper.

Taking a deep breath, you dismounted from you horse, "Now where are you going," Angus shouted at you.

The anger stirred up again, spinning around to look at him, "To relieve myself, thank you," you speak loudly while stomping into the woods.

You knew what Dougal did to Jamie in the pubs and you weren't sure why. It wasn't much of your business, but you could see it chipping into Jamie. You were stuck again in your thoughts, give into this new world and let these people in or continue to bury who you knew you were inside a dark cave and never leave.

The ride to the next village was quiet, especially after finding Scottish men hung out on display. You wanted to vomit at the lack of humanity in the cruel act. If this was the normal the British did to Scots, I'm not all shocked of their lack of kindness and trust towards me. I'm sure I wasn't helping the matter either.

When you got to the pub, you chose to join in with the drinking. The owner made a bee line as Blythe trotted behind you and laid at your feet, "Lass, we do not let do-," he stopped mid sentence from the look you were giving him. You were sitting up straight, dead face.

"You were saying, sir," you answered curtly.

"What can I get for you miss," he finished instead.

"A pint of whatever, I am not picky," you said, resting your feet on the chair in front of you.

The men went a distance away from you, you imagine to process the thing they just witnessed. A man approached you with a smile on your face and you shake your head putting your other foot on a chair and shoving it away from your table. He quickly turn around, "You'd make more friends if you weren't so prickly."

Murtagh patted at the dog, "My expression and acts are nothing but kind, sir." He shook his head, "Plus, I don't need any more friends when I only need you."

He chuckles, looking at Jamie, "It was a kind thing you did with the soldier. I'll be the only one to admit, that was a good eye you have."

"Don't think much of it, it was also self preservation because I'm not a exactly the kind British soldiers have a keen sense to protect," the man brought you your pint and you started to drink while you viewed in your surroundings.

He pointed at you, "You like everyone to think you're this cold hearted she witch."

"Maybe I am those things," you said like it didn't bother me to have that reputation.

Murtagh shook his head, "You are quite the opposite lass and the only person you are hurting are you." You roll your eyes sighing as he looks at your with a smirk, "And maybe a red headed boy who I suspect would do anything to see you smile once again." You sit up straighter as Murtagh stands while looking at you, while gesturing to Jamie. He lifts his eyebrows speaking you the truth, "Don't think I only talk to you because your good company. I get sick of seeing the boy mope around with his worry for you. A single smile from you can set his day."

You glare at him as your cheeks warm red, "Mind your business."

When he walks away, you sit and continue to process your reality and options. Every now and again you catch a glance at Jamie. You could see his expression and the change in him over the last few weeks. You stand walking your glass over to the bar with Blythe walking behind you. You could tell Dougal was about to start his speech. He wouldn't need Jamie today if you guessed right. Those hanging men were part of this community they didn't need to see Jamie's scars. You leaned against a pillar near Jamie, "You alright," you asked him catching eyes with Murtagh.

You shake off his knowing look. Jamie stood up straight looking at you bewildered from the sudden change in your demeanor, "Are you talking to me?"

"Don't make it a thing, just answer the question," you whisper.

"Aye, I'm fine," he whispers back, glancing at you for a second too long into silence. He clears his thoughts, "If you don't mind me asking, what changed your mind with speaking to me?"

You smirk, "Murtagh paid me."

He shook his head, "Sure," he was trying to hold back a smile. Something appeared to pop up in his head, "Look Deoiridh, I'm sorry about."

"No," you stopped him, "Jamie, I'm stubborn and I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not from a place like this, so."

You noticed a change in his eyes when you said his name instead of Mr. MacTavish. This is where he stopped you, "I only want to help."

"Does that mean you agree I'm stubborn because Murtagh implied I was prickly earlier and that's why I don't make friends," you say while trying to hold back a grin.

He shook his head making his red hair shake with it, “You see comments like that are a trap and I will not be stepping on that one.”

“Smart man,” you say to him.

“And now a compliment, I might think you are wanting to be my friend again,” he whispered back with a smirk.

You see Dougal getting ready to do your speech, “I should be getting out of here and up to my room. I shouldn’t be down here when,” you stopped to look at Dougal, “Well good night.”

“Goodnight Y/N,” he whispered back.

“And Jamie, just for transparency sake, the jury is still out if we are friends,” he paused appearing to hold his breath. You offer a small smile, “I need you to walk over to Murtagh and tell him I was nice then I'll consider being your friend. You know for the sake of proving Murtagh wrong. It's the price you have to pay for my friendship.” And before he can respond, you and Blythe make your way upstairs.

#outlander fanfiction #outlander imagine #jamie fraser imagines #fanfiction #outlander #jamie fraser x reader #jamie fraser imagine #jamie frazier x reader #unbelievably Outlandish

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vodika-vibes · 4 months

Text

A Selkie's Love

Summary: One day, while you're on your way to work, you return a leather coat to a man who dropped it. Only to find out later that the man who's coat you returned was a Selkie.

Pairing: Clone Trooper Tup x Reader

Word Count: 1845

Warnings: None

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni

A/N: I pulled a muscle in my shoulder, so typing is very painful for me right now. That's what I get for taking apart a cat tree that's taller than me.

The first time you meet Tup, it’s a bright day. Sunny, without a cloud in the sky. And hot enough that you regret that you don’t have a job that allows you to work from home.

In fact, it’s a nice enough day that you consider calling out from work to just lounge in the sun on the beach. In fact, you spend a whole 30 minutes fantasizing about pulling your new bikini out of the closet and just laying in the sun while you got ready that morning.

Of course, you’ve always been too responsible for your own good. So instead of pulling on your bathing suit and calling out, you pulled on your thinnest and most comfortable set of business attire, and pulled your hair into a professional knot at the base of your head, and headed out of your apartment to the ferry.

You have several important meetings that you need to be present for today, after all. Not to mention the negotiations for the werewolves are finally entering their final stage and you’re so close to getting them the land that they need to be safe-

You release a heavy sigh as your phone chimes that you’re getting a new message, and you glance at the many messages as you walk down the street. Several of the notifications are unimportant (a reminder for your nephew’s birthday party at the end of the week, a notice that your rent has been pulled from your bank account, a text from your mom reminding you that she and her husband are going on a cruise next week and that you promised to dog sit-) though some of the emails you got that morning are important (the Vampire coven you’ve been in negotiations with have elected to move rather than continue negotiations with the other coven, and the company that was dumping toxins on native dryad land decided to pay a settlement rather than risk court).

But, all in all, it was normal stuff that could be dealt with when you got to the office. Nothing that you needed to deal with immediately. And nothing that was going to ruin your day before you even stepped into the office.

You flip your phone case closed and decide to take a moment to look around to see if there is anyone taking the ferry that you know. The ride is always a little less miserable when you have someone to talk to.

Your gaze lands on a massive family, where a group of identical triplets are practicing their howling under the prodding of an older sibling…or perhaps a cousin. Their parents seem to be doing their best to get them to stop, but don’t seem to be having any luck.

Not far from the family is a group of college students, huddled together around books and whispering frantically to each other, all of them clutching massive cans of some kind of energy drink, and you do not miss those days.

The only other person waiting for the ferry is a young man, strikingly handsome, with long hair pulled into a knot and a teardrop tattoo on his face. He’s talking on his phone, and has a nice leather jacket thrown over his arm.

Weird, it’s far too hot for any sort of jacket, let alone a leather one, but that’s not your problem. After all, it’s not your job to police other people.

Your phone chimes again and you flip the case open so you’re able to read the message just as the ferry pulls into the dock.

It’s a simple reminder from your boss about the food preferences for the clients for the day, and by the time you respond and have the message cleared, you’re alone on the dock.

You release a quiet curse and hurry towards the ship, only to pause when you see the very nice leather jacket that the handsome young man was holding only a moment earlier laying on the ground.

For a moment, you hesitate, and then you sigh and walk over to the jacket. Now that you’ve seen it, you can’t just ignore it. So you stoop down and pick it up, laying it over your arm, and then you hurry onto the ship.

The jacket is much nicer than you thought. Soft and warm, and you absently run your fingers over the soft material as you search the ship for the young man.

You peek into several of the large rooms, and heave a sigh of relief when you find him near the back of the ship.

“Excuse me,” You half jog over to him, “Sorry for bothering you, but you dropped your jacket outside.” You smile at him and hold the fine material out to him.

Now that you’re standing closer to him, he really is incredibly attractive.

He very gently takes the jacket from your hands, his gaze locked on your face, a look of surprise on his face, “...thank you.” He says slowly. His voice is low and pleasant to listen to.

“You’re welcome.” You reply with a bright smile, mentally giving yourself a slap. You know better than to be distracted by a pretty face or a pleasant voice, some of your best clients were Sirens after all.

You open your mouth to say something, only for your phone to chime, “Oh. Um…I’m glad I was able to help.” You say quickly, before you turn away and press your phone to your ear, leaving the room to head to a different part of the ship.

You put the handsome man out of your mind. After all, it’s not like you’re ever going to see him again.

Several long days later, you’re very grateful that the weekend has finally arrived. Tragically, the nice weather from earlier in the week went away as a cold front came through, but you can’t bring yourself to care.

You desperately need to get out of your home and go for a walk. Or a run.

So instead of pulling on your bathing suit and hanging out on the beach until you're cooked to a crisp, you pull on some leggings and a tank top, and decide to go for a walk in the rain.

You wander in the rain, enjoying the feel of the cool water against your skin and enjoying the peace and quiet that comes with the rain.

You meander through the streets until you come to the small beach that no one comes to regularly because of how close it is to the tree line and because of how little space there actually is to spread out here.

In fact, unless you’re misremembering, at high tide the water comes right up to the trees, which makes this beach a poor place for families to come and relax. But it is a nice place for you to clear your head.

So you settle on a raised root, and stretch out to watch the waves.

In all, you were probably sitting for about half an hour before you heard a startled noise from behind you. You turn your head and find yourself looking at the same young man from the ferry several days earlier.

He looks just as surprised to see you as you are to see him. Though, in retrospect, if he was on the ferry at the same time as you, you really shouldn’t be surprised.

The young man shifts his weight and nervously rubs the back of his neck. And you stare at him, bewildered. You can’t think of any reason why he’d be so nervous to see you.

He glances at you, and then his gaze darts away quickly, “Um…Hi.” He finally says, sounding incredibly nervous.

“Hi?” You turn on the tree root so you’re able to look at him properly. He’s soaked, but then, so are you. And you can’t help but notice that his ears are burning red, and he’s fumbling with something, though you can’t really tell what it is.

He really is incredibly handsome, you note, almost absently. He’s also incredibly fit, which you can only tell because his shirt is soaked and sticking to his body like a second skin.

“Um…so…I’ve actually been meaning to talk to you,” He says quickly, though he’s still not quite looking at you, “I…uh…have something for you.”

“...for me?”

“Yeah.” He glances at you, and then walks over to you, pressing the item he was fumbling with into your hands. “Here.”

It’s a small box, and when you open it, your breath catches and your face burns. Because inside the simple box is a delicate looking ring with a beautiful blue stone set in the middle. “Is…this is an engagement ring-” You squeak out.

“Well, yeah. I figured…we should probably get married in the human way too-”

“What?!”

He looks at you, and though his face is darkened with a blush, there’s something soft and adoring in his gaze, “My name is Tup. I’m a selkie, and you returned my coat to me-”

You stare at him, “I…I thought that was a myth-”

“Uh, well, unlike a lot of the myths surrounding selkies, the whole coat and marriage thing actually is true.” Tup admits, “As a side effect, it also makes me completely enamored with you.”

“What?”

“Well, most people wouldn’t return a selkie’s coat. They keep them so we can’t run away, but you returned it without so much as a second thought.” Tup says with a small grin.

“Yeah, because it’s not mine.” You say faintly.

“You’d be surprised at how many people don’t care about that,” Tup replies with a shrug. “Do you like the ring? It took me ages to find one that I thought suited you.”

You look back down at the ring in your hands. It’s delicate looking, with the metal twisted and curled almost like waves around the stone. “It’s beautiful.” You consider the ring for a moment, and you consider what you know about Selkies, and then slide it on your ring finger, and you’re vaguely aware of Tup’s blinding grin.

“You don’t have a problem with marrying me?” He asks.

You shrug, “We’re married whether I have a problem with it or not. However, I would like to treat this like we’re dating?”

“I can do that!” Tup blurts quickly, “Dating! I can do dating!”

He’s standing right in front of you now, and his touch is feather light as he trails his fingers over your hands, ghosting over the ring for a moment, before returning to your hands.

“You’re so soft,” He says with a sigh, an almost blissed out look on his face. “Would you like to meet my family? They’re all looking forward to meeting you.”

“All? What all?” You ask.

He grins at you, “I have a very large family. What do you say?”

“I’m hardly dressed for a family meeting,” You reply immediately.

“You look amazing!” Tup says immediately, “Please?”

You sigh softly, “Alright.” You allow him to help you to your feet, “Let’s go meet your family.”

#star wars #tcw #star wars au #clone trooper tup x reader #tup x reader #star wars fanfiction #x reader fanfiction

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noroi1000 · 6 months

Text

❝𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐮-𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐢❞ Chapter 09

Satoru-Sensei | ←Previous chapter • Next Chapter →

Summary: The way Gojo was acting now was strange. The person he was writing to was mysterious to say the least. They didn't know anything about who this person was. But there was a hint that only an observant person could notice, and one who was on first year with you.

"Fushiguro-senpai."

The dark-haired man turned calmly to look at the serious red eyes of his first-year kohai.

"Hokusei." He answered him, giving him a signal that he was listening.

"Sensei was acting strange today. Do you know why?" He asked looking at him.

"He's always weird. I can't believe I lasted this long with him." He snorted, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"Senpai, I think he's hiding something."

The elder looked at him questioningly. His hands in his pockets tightened slightly as he thought about what the red-eyed man had said.

"Gojo has many secrets. Sometimes it's better not to get into what he thinks and does. He is not a man with a perfect life and what is in his head can be terrifying for some people..."

"I'm surprised he doesn't say who his girlfriend is. He always said everything openly. He was acting strange. Especially when I looked at his phone."

"What exactly?"

"When I looked at his phone, he looked at me. Then he turned his head slightly, but I still felt that he was looking at me. And he hid the phone from me."

"What happens to him is none of our business, Hokusei... However... He really is strange about some things. His behavior completely changes."

"Should I do something, senpai?" he asked, straightening his bangs on his forehead.

"What could you do? Gojo has been weird forever... However, he surprises me... He always speaks about everything, no matter if no one cares. It's no wonder he has secrets. But... These secrets are related to us, and he doesn't want to tell anyone about it. I noticed from his behavior that he knows something that we are not supposed to know."

"And the person he texted is connected to this?" he tilted his head slightly, looking at Fushiguro.

"If you say he hid the phone from your eyes, there must be something to it."

"Should I check who sensei was talking to?" he asked.

Fushiguro's eyes widened slightly when he saw the calmness and seriousness of his younger colleague. Hokusei, always serious. When he talks about something serious, it's like this.

If he, a person with good intuition, thinks that something is wrong, there must be something wrong.

Gojo also acted a bit like himself when he met them. The way his eyes briefly flickered to him as he sat on the couch. Maybe his eyesight cannot be seen either. But the feeling that goes through you when you feel that someone is looking at you is different.

"How would you do that?" he asked quietly.

He didn't want anyone to hear it unnecessarily.

Kugisaki, Itadori and Nantō were unaware of Gojo's different behavior. That's why only they knew it. Only these two saw it.

"Magnetism. The phone has metal parts. I can attract it. Like this." His hand glowed red and his phone slowly flew out of Fushiguro's pocket, straight into his kohai's hand.

He gave him the phone back a short time later.

"Don't do anything rash. Maybe he's just acting weird. For no reason.". Just check the name and surname. Don't talk about anything. Put it down as soon as you can. He will sense your energy as quickly as you expect."

"I'll be careful, senpai."

He nodded slightly before turning and walking to the room where their next lesson was.

His hands slowly pulled the door to close it and go to his place.

"I was here faster today, nii-chan!" Nantō laughed, watching his brother sit down in the chair.

"I had something important for Fushiguro-senpai. I had to find him."

His brother gave him a strange smile.

"Aaah~ You were looking for Fushiguro-senpai to give you advice on how to make Maki-san like you~. Since they are family ~."

"You stupid! This is not like that!" He shouted with a vein on his forehead but also a small blush.

"You guys, did you know I'm already here? I was there from the beginning..." their teacher put his head on his hands that were on the desk. "Let's get this lesson over with. I'm already tired. But Hokusei-kun, if you want you can go to Nobara for advice. If Maki is your type~."

"Sensei!"

"Fine fine! We'll do something quick and take it easy for today..." He laughed.

Suddenly he felt one of them using a technique because his six eyes told him so.

Of the two of them, only one would be quiet.

"Hokusei, you are prohibited from using the technique without permission, so as not to destroy the school." He muttered.

The school has metal in its buildings. If they use their techniques to a great extent they can also move everything around them. But they are able to surround only things of a certain weight and size with a magnetic field. They will move a typical sized car with ease. However, they have problems with something bigger.

"Sorry, Sensei. I wanted to borrow a pen." He showed the white-haired man a metal pen that was in a box on his desk.

However, Gojo felt that it wasn't the same... As if something different had happened...

"Okay... Let's start... I don't like boring lessons, but this is what's coming."

As Gojo searched on his laptop for something to do with his students.

Hokusei looked down and turned on his teacher's phone, which appeared in his hand.

It was possible to bypass the screen lock. He used a technique that forced the system to unlock itself. Something he learned and his brother didn't know about it.

He quickly clicked on the messaging app and saw something that made him frown.

The person his sensei was texting with was signed as "❤️" nothing more.

He cursed internally when he saw it. He didn't find out anything.

He entered into a conversation. And he read the news carelessly. There was nothing important there. No name. Nothing to give him a sign.

He turned off his phone out of frustration and sent it back to Gojo's desk.

And when the lesson was over, he put the pen aside, saying goodbye to it politely.

And his teacher's eyes followed him until he left the classroom, following his brother towards the dorms.

"Nantō. Do not wait for me. I have to go to senpai."

"Are you going to ask about Maki-san?" he smiled.

"Nope. I have to give him the book back." He showed him the book he took out of his bag.

"Ooooh. Okay! See you in dorms!" He waved and left.

Turning into another corridor on the left, he walked, thinking that he hadn't learned anything.

The darker corridors were lit by lamps. It started raining.

"Hokusei."

He turned around as he was slightly startled by the sudden sound.

He looked at Senpai dressed in dark clothes.

"Senpai." he muttered, eyes slightly wide. "Sorry... I didn't find out anything. There's no name..."

"No name?" He repeated. "Don't worry about it. It doesn't have to be anything serious. Don't think about Gojo. It is not important."

"Instead of a name, there was a heart emoji. And everything that was in the last news was normal conversation."

"Go rest. Do not think about it. We probably misjudged the situation."

"It was probably just an irrelevant name Gojo-sensei uses for this person... He called 'Ashamed-chan'. I don't know if that means anything to you."

Fushiguro's eyes widened.

There was only one person who said that. It was Gojo.

And he only heard him say it a few times. And it wasn't loud.

However, he knew who Gojo was talking to.

If its possible...

Are you alive?

~°•A/N•°~ In Japanese 'Ashamed-chan' will be 恥ずかしいちゃん (hazukashi-chan) Gojo use this "pet name" when reader was texting him about home date. He write something about what he would like to do on this date. (Something that would make her blush) That's why he use this. „Awe, I know you're blushing now, Ashamed-chan~"

Taglist: @mc-reborn ; @yihona-san06 ; @yerinsshi ; @erisfayred ; @tohsri

#gojo satoru #jjk #jjk x you #gojo x y/n #gojo x reader #jjk x reader #gojo #jujutsu kaisen #yandere gojo satoru #yandere gojo x reader #gojo satoru x reader #satoru x reader #satoru gojo x reader #Satoru-Sensei

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heyiwrotesomethings · 6 months

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hey hey, so trying my luck with the october request.

Since it's spooky time: halloween pumpkin carving date with they/them reader and Miroslava? I miss her. Maybe something like reader feeling jealous bc Miro spends so much time with Itsuki, not knowing that she just helps Miro planning a date she wants to ask the reader out to.

If I get in and you decide to write it: thank you so much!! <3

Carving Out Time

Miroslava Honebami x They/Them Reader

A/N: I just wanna say to the person who asked for that part two to Scholarships that I am sooo sorry it’s taking so long. I just can’t remember what happened in the manga enough to write out something without re-reading that part, but to find the energy to do it is not working out. And now sorry to this person, because now that I’m re-reading the prompt, I’m thinking this might’ve supposed to have been a first date situation and I messed up. Hope you still find it somewhat enjoyable? Sorry if the spacing is as weird to y’all as it looks to me, I’m posting this while in the car on a different device. Word Count: 1,384

“Good morning, Miro!” (Y/n) darted around the corner they had just seen their partner turn mere moments ago, somehow expecting to sneak up on her for a hug from behind, but of course, Miroslava was already staring over her shoulder, golden eyes boring right into (Y/n)’s the second they came into view.

“Good morning, (Y/n).” She replied a small, but genuine smile. “Did you sleep well last night?” She lightly ran a gloved finger over their cheek, “You look tired.”

“I’m just excited that it’s finally Friday.” They yawn. “You know how much I enjoy fall, and the leaves are just right so I’m really hype about spending time with you tonight!”

Miroslava winces almost imperceivably, but having a partner who regularly gambles and is getting better at reading her micro-expressions by the day, (Y/n) mood dampened.

“No way, you have plans? Again?”

Miroslava had been flaking on (Y/n) all week. Worse yet, it was always with Sumeragi Itsuki for some reason. Itsuki was fine, (Y/n) had no real problem with her, but to be put on the back burner for their partner to go off with her doing god knows what time after time made them feel more than a little jealous.

“Yes, (Y/n), I apologize, but I promise Saturday is all yours.”

“Can you at least tell me what you’re doing? Why can’t I come? I promise I’ll stay in the car this time if this has to do with the family “cleaning” business.”

Before Miroslava could confirm that it was not Bami related, Itsuki popped up looking all excited.

“Honebami-san, I got the—“ she noticed (Y/n) standing there and quickly switched gears, something (Y/n) caught and it made them uneasy. “(Y/n), hey! How are things?”

“Fine…” However, the tone (Y/n) was using was indicating that things were indeed not ‘fine’. Not when their partner was once again leaving them high and dry to hang out with the same person she had been hanging out with all week.

Both girls were quite aware of this and had the decency to look a little sheepish.

“So you’re hanging out with Sumeragi again today and I’m not allowed to hang around for a reason you keep neglecting to share with me?”

“I know it looks weird, but it’s nothing bad, I swear!” Itsuki promised.

“Yeah, I believed that excuse the first four times, but now I’m not so sure.”

Miroslava approached (Y/n), placing her hands on either side of (Y/n)’s face, staring deep into their eyes, “It will all become clear tomorrow. I’ll have a car drop by to pick you up. Can you hang on one more day, please, for me?”

(Y/n) tried to hold firm on their position on the matter, but the pure honesty Miroslava’s eyes held made it exceedingly difficult. Finally, they sighed,

“Alright, one more day.”

“Thank you.” Miroslava stroked their cheeks with her thumbs.

“It’s all going to be worth it, you’ll see!” Itsuki chimed in.

(Y/n) managed a small smile, but they still eyed the pair warily. Just what were they doing together that they weren’t allowed to be a part of, nor know about? They went through the rest of the day feeling uneasy, heart clenching jealously every time they would catch a glimpse of Itsuki and Miro throughout the day.

They couldn’t even enjoy the sweet goodbye Miroslava gave them after school that day because watching them leave school together in the same car while (Y/n) was left behind only made the uneasiness and jealousy grow.

They didn’t want to believe something was going on between Itsuki and Miroslava, because their Miro couldn’t possibly do something so distasteful, so heartbreaking, but the more time that passed by, the more the negative little voice in the back of their brain grew. They had another hard time sleeping that night, but not because they were excited about tomorrow, they were anxious for it.

***

They startled out of a stressful dream when their phone started to ring and they cursed when they took note of the time. They were supposed to be out the door almost half an hour ago and now Miro was calling them.

“Hi, sorry, sorry, I over slept. I’m getting out of bed right now.” They said a bit frantically, almost tripping in a tangle of covers.

“Take your time, darling. No need to worry, the driver won’t leave without you. As long as he doesn’t want to find himself at the bottom of the ocean, anyway. So just take your time, wear something comfy that fits the weather and I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay, sure, yeah, see you soon.” It was clear (Y/n) was still a bit frazzled as they began digging through their closet for something nice to wear.

“(Y/n), I love you, take your time. I mean it. It’s only fair after I asked you to be so patient this week.”

(Y/n) finally slowed their movements, heart melting at how confident Miroslava sounded when she said she loved them.

“I love you too, I’ll be there soon.”

“I’m looking forward to it. See you soon.”

“See you.”

They hung up and less frantically, but no less quickly, got ready to leave the house. They apologized to the driver for their tardiness and sat on the edge of their seat the entire drive to Miroslava’s house.

When the car slowed to a stop in front of the the lavish home, Miroslava was waiting outside in a cute cream colored sweater, sleek black leggings and cream ankle boots. She looked so pretty and comfy. (Y/n) couldn’t wait to hug her!

When they rolled up to the curb, Miroslava came up to (Y/n)’s door and opened it for them, extending her hand to help them out.

“Welcome, my love.” She kissed their cheek. “I’m glad you made it.”

They got a little dreamy look on their face and smiled, “Me too.”

“Come, there’s much to do.” Miroslava grabbed their hand and lead them through the house to the backyard.

“Wow…!” (Y/n) gasped, they marveled at the changes the backyard had underwent since they had last visited.

There were many cute decorations, but the highlight was probably the lattices decorated with orange, black and white fairy lights. There was a projector screen set up along the fence in front of the outdoor furniture, currently playing a Halloween baking show, but (Y/n) could also see an array of movies sitting nearby. The outdoor kitchenette smelled like cinnamon and sugar. On top of the granite countertop were a few pumpkins of varying size accompanied by an assortment of tools and snacks.

“What do you think? It’s not too much, is it? Itsuki assured me it was perfect, but you know I’m somewhat new to all of this…” Miroslava gestured to the set-up, a faint blush dusting her pale skin.

(Y/n) hugged her tightly. “It is perfect, this is really sweet, thank you so much. I’m sorry for giving you a hard time this week. If I had known…”

“I don’t mind, I can understand why you weren’t happy, I wasn’t happy with having to spend time away from you either. Perhaps next time I should at least tell you it’s a surprise for you instead of being completely tight-lipped.”

(Y/n) squeezed her a bit tighter, “I love you.”

Miroslava melted into the hug, holding them gently, “I love you too. Now, how about we carve some pumpkins?”

“Absolutely!”

They stood next to each other talking and carving the pumpkins while the projector flickered and whirred. When the pumpkins were all lined up and lit, they washed their hands and took a big bowl of snacks to the couch in front of the projector and cuddled beneath the soft and fuzzy throw blankets, stealing a few kisses here and there. Occasionally they’d look back at the row of glowing jack-o-lanterns and chuckle at the more misshapen ones. (Y/n) would have to make sure to thank Itsuki as well for this later.

Laying on the couch in a tangle of limbs and blankets while the leaves rustled overhead and the scents of autumn and candied apple slices wafted over them, (Y/n) began planning their own special date. The fall season wasn’t over yet after all, and the apple slice Miroslava just bit into gave them the perfect idea.

#kakegurui oneshots #kakegurui x reader #miroslava honebami x reader #miroslava x reader #requests #anonymous

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