Tumgik
#singles vacations packages
thecitizenseven · 1 year
Text
Iconic places of London you can artfully create NFTs from
Who, whilst eating your grandmother’s yummy careful cooking, hasn’t entertained a thought about how amazing her restaurant could be? Well, this one is about how amazing can be her bar inspired by the owner’s grannie. Located in Deptford, on the south bank of the River Thames, Little Nan's Bar has lots of royal family memorabilia and a blockbuster décor. Add nearly a hundred of signature cocktails to choose from along with the superb hot mulled apple juice regardless of whether you are a teetotaller or not – and you get yourself quite a special NFT to keep.
0 notes
girlscience · 8 months
Text
the RAMPANT consumerism on the section of youtube I have ended up on recently is actually kind of disgusting to me. if I see one more video of a perfectly manicured hand with a hint of a sweater sleeve putting things in a target cart or using 100 bottles for a skin and hair self-care day or using 50 different cleaning products in an enormous, pristine, white home while a random pop song remix plays in the background I'm going to start destroying things.
#I know exactly how I got here#there is a specific crossover of decluttering/production hacks/workout plans/minimalism/motivational videos that leads directly#to very wealthy stay-at-home women doing sunday resets and target hauls and restocking and organizing the guest bedroom#and 4 hour pre-vacation self-care videos#but it is so BAD. I am not saying don't buy things or take care of yourself or anything like that#I literally have mentioned several times in the past two weeks that I was waiting on packages in the mail!#but GOD. the difference between buying a set of dvds I'm going to use until they fall apart#and literally having 4 bookcases of skin care products is ASTRONOMICAL#I cannot imagine a single reason anyone would ever need that much stuff#and it's All so sanitized and perfected and nothing can be out of place and it's just awful#that girl aesthetic/it girl/clean girl aesthetic/etc etc#and every single woman in these videos is perfectly shaped and tanned and hair done up#and they all wear these matching set workout fits#just oh my god girl!!!!!! what are you doing????!!!!!??#I don't know. I don't know that there's a point to this besides me complaining and being upset#but it's just so antithetical to the way I want to live and I know it's so bad for the environment#and I know it is encouraging so many people to look and act just like that#and I hate it!!!! it feels like we are never getting out sometimes for real#maybe I'm being mean. maybe they are actually very conscientious of the environment#and maybe they are only showing a once a month shopping trip#and maybe they have just been sent a ton of PR packages that they have to figure out how to store#but. it really doesn't feel or look that way
9 notes · View notes
tarjapearce · 11 months
Text
Strawberry Jam (+18)
Tumblr media
Dad friend AU!Miguel x fem!reader
Inspired in THIS ask <3 Thanks anon. Hope you like c:
PT. 2
WARNING: SMUT, Age gap, breeding kink, fang kink, choking, rough sex, brief tension, slight fluff.
"Rise and shine, cupcake!" Curtains were drawn out as sunlight seeped in your dim lit room. You groaned in response, trying to cocoon yourself under the sheets.
"C'mon, sweetie. I gotta meet a client in a coupe of hours, need you awake to receive some packages." Silence. He sighed, "I'll bring you some flan." You yawned and smiled. Of course he would, you were his spoiled girl. He had raised you well despite the rocky relationship with your mother.
Someone that had decided to not be a part of your life for quite a while, leaving your dad a good chunk of the responsibility. At least, she provided enough for your college. An agreement that had settled up a long time ago by a judge.
"Make it napolitan, please" He chuckled and kissed your temple. "Oh, forgot to mention, Miguel is coming over to help you."
"Miguel?"
And of course, it had put a toll on his mental health, during the last couple of years. As a father, your father, he was anything but perfect, but he made sure to be there, to always support you. He had met Miguel in one of those support groups for men, and things sort of snowballed from there. Your dad and Miguel had alot in common, single parents, demanding jobs, and unconditional love for their daughters.
You had the chance to meet him a couple of times during college vacations, at first he was intimidating to you. 6'9", a hard look on his face that seemed to only melt away with his close ones, and a hulking muscular figure.
But now, every time you visited you'd find his blue Aston Martin Vanquish parked outside your house, beer in hand, screaming at the screen as a soccergame was on. He wasn't a stuck up guy (Like your neighbors had described him once), despite having flooding money in his account.
His daughter was in one of the best private schools in town after all, thanks to his job at Alchemax. He even got you a lovely gold necklace for your 21st birthday after ruffling your hair, something that annoyed you, since you weren't a child. He had came into your lives' two years ago.
"Yeah,some of the packages are his. He was out of town to get them, so I offered to receive them." The doorbell rang, announcing his presence. Your dad left and you sat on your bed and checked your phone.
Of course, your friends would be always asking about him, one of them even dared to ask if you had fucked him already once they saw you wearing the golden necklace. You knew he was off limits. Mostly out of respect for your dad, and of course, the weird feeling that he just saw you as his friend's daughter.
You stood up to prepare for the day, as uneventful as it would be. Hot shower with sweet smelling products, to then change into a pair of gray sweatpants, bunny slippers and a tanktop, washed your teeth and brushed your damp hair. Then, you came down the stairs only to find Miguel sitting across your dad on the kitchen island, mug of steaming coffee on hands.
"Morning" you greeted him with a pat on the shoulder as you put a bagel into the toaster and served yourself some orange juice.
"Buenos días" Miguel greeted, his eyes following you as you moved through the kitchen. Your house was homey, cozy and perfect for the suburban life. Miguel wore a black buttoned jersey, dark jeans and dress shoes. A black belt accentuating his waist.
"Gotta go then, You're in charge" Your dad spoke, and patted his sturdy shoulder to then leave. You rolled your eyes.
"Anyways, want breakfast?"
"No, Thank you." His eyes were focused on the newspaper before him, that until you bent over to search for jam in the lower cabinets. His eyes were immediately to your rear. he sipped his coffee and hummed. The thin straps of the tank top slid off your shoulder. He closed his eyes, engraving the image in his mind. You sat across him, breakfast on a plate.
"Whatcha getting?" you munched in the bagel, a bit of jam smearing in the corner of your lips. Instinctively, he licked his own.
"Some playground for Gabriela." you nodded as you relished the flavor of your bagel. Licking off, the strawberry jam off your stained fingers. His eyes wandering to the way your lips trapped your fingers, the gold necklace adorning your little neck. It looked almost inviting.
"Glad to see you liked it. Gold looks good on you." You didn't know how his shirts fit him so well without bursting or tearing. His back had been lately the object of your new hyperfixation. You had seen jacked up guys in college, but Miguel was certainly in a whole different level.
"Thanks. It got me into a bit of trouble back in college actually." you snorted and drank your orange juice.
"How come?"
"Well,my friends think that I've got myself a sugar daddy."
His eyes twinkled in amusement, an idea seemed to be popping in his mind.
"Funny they think that when you still keep smearing jam on your face. Come here" He took your hand and pulled you across the kitchen island, even though he was sitting, he still towered over you. You barely reached his chin. He cupped your face, your sweet breath fanned his lips. He pouted as his face inched closer.
"Pero qué muchachita tan desastrosa." He mumbled, as he wiped the jam off the corner of your lips to then lick it off his finger. Your eyes went wide, cheeks flushed as you swallowed.
"D-Dad would kill you if he'd see you like this"
"Good thing he isn't around, hm?"
"You're the same age" your voice almost a whisper as he kept cupping your face with a single hand as the other one pulled you closer to him, "You could even be my father!"
Your heart thumped hard against your chest, his warm, coffee-like smelling breath brushed over your lips.
"But I'm not." his hands roamed your shoulders, the straps of your tanktop peeled away under his touch, the fabric slid lower and lower as it hovered over the curvature of your breast.
The doorbell rang. You both froze.
"Puta madre…" he seethed and stood, towering even more over you, "I'll get it. Stay put."
"But-"
"Stay.Put." His finger pointing at you as he disappeared back to the livingroom.
Your mind was still trying to process what just happened. You could hear Miguel exchange peasantries with the delivery man as he received an array of boxes. Your straps were slid back on their original position, and your phone buzzed. "Dad <3" on screen. You picked up.
"Hey"
"Hello, how's everything going?"
"Dad it's just been twenty minutes. But at least the packages just came."
"Careful with a small box, it has some fragile things."
The main door was closed.
"Oh? ok. Uh… You coming home soon?"
"Why, is there a problem?"
Big hands covered your shoulders to pull the upper part of the tanktop down, breast spilled from their confinement. Miguel's hands cupped them and gave gentle squeezes as his mouth kissed your neck.
"N-No, no no. Just asking so I can make-" You bit your lip, drowning a gasp as he toyed with your nipples, "E-Enough lunch for both"
Your hand covered your mouth as his teeth grazed your skin. Somthing you found interesting about Miguel was the fact he seemed to have larger canines than the average people. Whenever he was angry, you could see a glimpse of his pointy teeth underneath his plump lips.
He gave soft love bites, licking the skin. Your skin shivered.
"Ah, don't you worry about it, I might get there until night it seems. Anyways, see ya later, love you cupcake."
Miguel stopped for a moment.
"Love you too." You hung up the call, Miguel removed the phone from your hands and twirled you around to kiss you deeply. His hands fisting your hair to hold you in place as his tongue invaded your mouth with such expertise it made your legs feel like jelly. You gasped as she pressed you closer to his body, warmth spreading all over yours.
Miguel nipped at your bottom lip, and placed you ontop of the kitchen island with ease, bunny slippers falling off your feet as they dangled. He unbuttoned his shirt and removed the piece of cloth on the dining table.
"W-Wait! Shouldn't we better go-"
"Shh." His fingers hooked on the hem of your sweatpants and pulled down along your panties. Smooth skin revealed to his eyes. He pulled your hips closer and dragged a finger down your folds to then ease it inside you slowly. He hissed at the moist and warm feeling, he retrieved the finger back and licked it clean, groaning.
"Riquísimo, preciosa" His hands maneuvered your legs like a toy, he spreaded them to then push them back to expose even more flesh. Your mouth fell open as he dribbled the tip of his tongue around the knub of nerves and then drag it down and up your entrance.
Yelping, you held tight on the sturdiness of the island. His mouth disappeared between your slick folds, your breath caught in your throat as he sucked eagerly at your clit while his tongue flickered.
Your sweet coos and moanings only urged him to hold on you tightly, he moved his head to the sides increasing the intensity of his eating. Your hips grind against his tongue, seeking for relief, but he stopped you, a choked whine from your throat.
"Look at you" He put your hips back on the cold tiles, to then unbuckling his belt. "What would your dad think if he saw you like this?" He pulled you off the island, to then bend you over it. One of his feet, kicked away the clothes.
"All spread for me, eager to be filled up" He slapped your pusy softly as he pulled his underwear and pants down, also kicking them away, "Wanna make him a grandpa?" Your eyes went wide, panic surged through your mind but he pushed your torso flat against the cold surface. His legs separating your own.
His fingers prodded inside once more before coating his cock and as gently as he could, eased his way inside you. The stretching of his cock had you biting your lip and gripping softly at his wrist.
"Ohmy god" you half whimpered, slurred as he filled you completely.
"Estás tan apretada, mami" He kneaded your trembling hips. One hand held you in place as the other one twisted in your lowered tanktop. His hips rolled slowly. He wanted to make sure you were comfortable enough before his hips smacked yours with enough force to make you lurch forward, air knocked out of your lungs. You were on your tip toes. His hand slapped your ass as it bounced back and forth on his cock.
"Such a good girl" he grunted and sunk his nails on your hips, "Te voy a coger tan bien que cada vez que entres a este lugar, te acuerdes de mi." His hand freed the tanktop to take a fistful of your hair and pulled back. He had gone to ruffle your hair, to pull it.
Your arching gave him the perfect spot to ram into. So ever tight and hot. You hissed as an array of lewd cursing flew out your mouth. His balls slapped your flesh mercilessly.
"Con esa boca le dices a tu papá que lo amas?" he clicked his tongue in feigned disapproval. He let your hip go, hands immediately hooking underneath your right thigh and hoisted it up, spreading you like a book, pounding deeper and rougher into you.
Your pants and desperate moanings drowned his growling. Your body felt on fire, a thin layer of sweat covered your body, his torso glistened in sweat. His front bangs had fell onto his face by the constant movement.
You held onto his forearm, contorting your torso up, to see his lust blown face. His hands made sure to hold you tightly, preventing from falling. Big eyes stared at him, too lost in sinful thoughts as he pressed closer, deeper into you.
"Fuck me" You choked a sob as your orgasm approached. Your voice too coarse from the constant mewling.
"Just like this, mami?" he breathed before hoisting your leg a bit wider, you whimpered, nodded and clawed at his arms. You begged him to not stop, your orgasm was around the corner as he rawed you silly.
Your inner thighs and outher flesh were flushed by the constant rough slapping of his hips, the hand that held your leg, snaked its way towards your neck, squeezing tighly, your leg dangled and swayed at the rythm of his thrust.
"Come for daddy, preciosa" he groaned as his thrustings turned erratic and sloppier, slickness rolling down your sopping pussy and inner thighs.
"Fuck fuck fuckfu-" He let your leg go and held you tightly against him. your feet barely touching the floor, your torso once more flat against the cool tiles of the island as he painted your walls white with a guttural growl. It earned him a shaky and loud mewl.
"Te ves tan bella así, toda llena de mí." He picked you up and kissed you on the lips, "You alright?"
You nodded and panted, legs trembling.
"We gotta… clean up" he nodded with a smirk.
---------------
"Hey cupcake?"
"Hm?" You were sat on the solo couch, browsing through your phone as Miguel sat in the couch nearby. Your dad had arrived an hour after you were done cleaning yourselves. Something that had nearly turned into round two if it wasn't for the fact that your dad had called in to announce he was on his way back.
"Did you cook something?"
"Eh no, why?"
"Kitchen smells funky." Your eyes widened, as Miguel went stiff. You had been too engrossed in eachother that barely had the time to clean after your mess. Your dad went back to the kitchen to get himself a beer. It had been an uneventful evening for him, he was gone two hours but it was good enough for him to get a new sponsor to his remodeling contractors firm.
You shared a nervous glance with Miguel. Your dad groaned annoyed.
"(Name)"
Uh Oh. He only used your name when he was pissed.
"Yes, dad?"
"Look, your… sex life is none of my concern, really. But from all the places you could… do such thing, was the kitchen necessary? And you, I told you to keep an eye on her." He scowled at Miguel. You hung your head in embarrasment as Miguel chuckled with his hands up defensively.
"Who was it?"
"W-What?"
"Whose the guy, so I can talk to him, to not pull this… stunt again. You're better than that, (Name)"
"Hey, relax. Go easy on her." Miguel spoke
"Shut up, O'Hara."
"C'mon, you probably acted worse when you were her age. Remember when you told me about the time you-"
"Miguel, stop." Your face went as red as a tomato and your dad sighed. He looked between you and Miguel, and you could swear the five stages of grief going through his face at the sudden realization.
"You fucked my daughter…"
"Dad, stop!"
"Dad, nothing! Go to your room, now."
"You can't ground me, I'm old enough to-"
"To what? Be a step mom? Fuck older guys that could be your father? You don't know what you are getting into, young lady."
"You out of everyone know that I'll never do something that would put her in danger."
"Miguel, I don't know how your brain works right now, but You.Fucked.My.Daughter. My Daughter! The last thing I want is her being a mother before she finishes college."
"She won't be. That's a promise."
"Damn right it is, cause you won't be seeing her anymore."
"W-What? Dad!"
"I thought you were in your room, like I fucking told you."
"Don't talk to her like that." Miguel frowned
"My daughter, my house, my rules. You need to leave."
"You're angry, I get it. It was wrong of me to cross you like that, but she is old enough to know what she wants. I would never force her to do something she doesn't wants to do." Miguel spoke with his hands still in defense.
"For how long have you… been doing this?"
"It was the first time, actually" you spoke meekly from the doorframe.
"Like, you're always complaining about the few guys I introduce you to-"
"This is different!" you had never seen him so serious and angry.
Silence stretching too long, your dad sighed, annoyed.
"I fucking… I fucking swear, O'Hara. If you get her pregnant, I'll fucking kill you."
"Relax, I'm not making you a grandpa." Your dad's shoulder slumped, defeated.
"Yet." They went tense again.
"Oh my god." Your need to be swallowed by the earth underneath and to spit you away from them only increased as their conversation kept unfolding.
"So, now the surprise has been popped, that means I have your permission to properly date her?" Your dad rubbed his face tiredly.
"I wanna make things right." Miguel glanced at you.
"I've known you for a couple of years, and you've met her ever since she was eighteen. You're not a bad man, but trust me when I say that if this girl, my girl, comes here with tears in her face because you did something stupid to her, we're done. Understood?"
"Por supuesto" he went to your side and pulled you closer.
"And clean up this fucking mess."
He left to his room and left you alone. Of course you'd talk to him later, when everything was a bit more calm. Miguel on the other hand kissed your temple and sighed in relief.
"So…"
"So…"
"Sunday night, at 6 for dinner?"
"Sure."
"Don't worry, he'll be fine. Just give him time to get used to it."
"What if he never gets used to it?"
he kissed your hand
"You'll come with me"
------------------------
Buenos días- Good Morning
Pero qué muchachita tan desastrosa- What a messy girl
Puta madre- Fucking shit
Riquísimo, preciosa- So delicious, gorgeous
Estás tan apretada,mami - You're so tight, mami
Te voy a coger tan bien que cada vez que entres a este lugar, te acuerdes de mi- I'll fuck you so good that every time you enter this place, you'll remember me
Con esa boca le dices a tu papá que lo amas?- With that mouth you tell daddy you love him?
Te ves tan bella así, toda llena de mí - You look so beautiful like that, all full of me.
Por supuesto- Of course.
6K notes · View notes
fushic0re · 6 months
Text
𝐀 𝐇𝐔𝐒𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐃❜𝐒 𝐆𝐔𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐎
𝐆𝐈𝐅𝐓 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆
⊹ ࣪ ˖ 𝗦𝗔𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗨 𝗚𝗢𝗝𝗢, 𝗦𝗨𝗚𝗨𝗥𝗨 𝗚𝗘𝗧𝗢, 𝗞𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗢 𝗡𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗠𝗜, 𝗧𝗢𝗝𝗜 𝗙𝗨𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗨𝗥𝗢, 𝗥𝗬𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗦𝗨𝗞𝗨𝗡𝗔, & 𝗔𝗢𝗜 𝗧𝗢𝗗𝗢.
Tumblr media
𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟑 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝑹𝒊𝒌𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒅𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑪𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓 ⋆.ೃ࿔*:・
Tumblr media Tumblr media
𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒 ─ how they are as gift givers (how soon do they shop, do they shop late, etc.)
𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 ─ 18+ ONLY; MINORS DNI. a bit of angst for toji because i can’t help myself. mentions of violence.
꒰ ͜͡➸ 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐄𝐍𝐉𝐎𝐘𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘, 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐓 𝐀 𝐑𝐄𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐆! 𝐑𝐄𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒❜ 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 & 𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑! ♡
Tumblr media Tumblr media
𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐈  
WE’RE STARTING OFF WITH THE BEST. 
You literally don’t need to make it overt what you want for Christmas–not even just Christmas if we’re being real. 
Takes gift giving very seriously. It’s more than just handing you things he has bought for you, it’s about celebrating you and how highly he regards you
…..Though there’s no price that can be put on how much he loves you. So, he’ll settle for spoiling you instead. 
Every first of the year, he starts game planning his next gifting season. 
He pays very close attention to you, memorizing your every habit down to your breathing pattern. Do not be surprised by the fact that his gifts are always immaculately packaged with wrapping paper that is the exact shade of that new color you’ve been into (yes, that one) paired with a complimentary bow and card to match. 
A professional spy when it comes to purchasing your gifts.
Oh, that top you looked at for literally only 5 seconds? He’s already putting it on hold in your size for him to come pick up later. 
If you didn’t know any better, you would have thought Kento never bought you anything because you never noticed a change in routine. Not a single one.
He also doesn’t put his gifts under the tree until two days before Christmas so that your nosey self doesn’t snoop through them. 
You literally wake up one morning to the tree flooded with gifts and him just nonchalantly sipping his coffee. 
His favorite gifts to plan are vacations for you guys. You are his motivating factor to rest and actually live the life he has made for himself. 
While his gifts are immaculate, it’s his cards that are the real tear jerkers. 
He writes you the most beautiful things. You stopped reading his cards when people were around because they made you sob. 
Truthfully, the real gift is the sweet messages your lover leaves you. 
𝐒𝐔𝐆𝐔𝐑𝐔 𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐎 
Suguru is right up there with Kento in terms of gift giving. 
This man is observant and prepared, putting in lots of time, care, and effort into buying you gifts. 
He isn’t above sourcing your friends too. Every year, your friends get a text like, “If she mentions wanting something to you, text me ASAP please. Thank you!” 
At this point, he has a whole database of things you like and want.
Unlike Kento, Suguru won’t be as secretive. He knows you know when he’s out shopping for you and loves teasing you when you get curious. 
He’ll literally taunt you about all the things he’s getting you until you’re foaming at the mouth and going feral while trying to guess what he got you. 
Packages his gifts and immediately puts them under the tree when you’re asleep that way you wake up to a new gift every morning until Christmas.
“Oh! Someone got a gift from Santa. Sigh, I wonder, I wonder, I wonder.”
Gift giving is symbolic to him as well. Every gift of his is sentimental and has a connection to aspects of your relationship. 
Remember the cherry blossoms that had just bloomed at the park you guys were at when he first asked you out? He stuffed some in his pocket and had them framed. The dried Sakuras now hang on your office wall, a reminder of his love for you every time you work. 
𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐔 𝐆𝐎𝐉𝐎
Money is clearly nothing to this man…but that’s what makes Christmas shopping for you hard.
He literally buys you everything you want on the spot! What the hell else is he supposed to give you? 
Struggles a bit for this reason. 
He tries to splurge on your less throughout the year to build up Christmas, but it’s impossible. He absolutely cannot see something that makes him think of you and not get it.
For this reason, you tell him that it’s okay that he doesn’t get you anything on Christmas since every day with him is like Christmas….this falls on deaf ears.
Really he’s most concerned with getting you something meaningful since like I said, you have everything you could possibly need and want. 
Uses Megumi and Tsumiki for his emotional appeal factor.
For sure asks Suguru and Kento for help.
Ultimately, he decides to go for something simple and sentimental yet still very Satoru–a gorgeous ring with your birthstone with a sweet message engraved inside and a family photo of both of you with Megumi and Tsumiki. 
That ring is just a warm up for the real deal…but he’ll plan that a little bit more elaborately. 
𝐓𝐎𝐉𝐈 𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐔𝐑𝐎
Women like perfume, flowers, and shit right? 
God bless this man. It’s been a while since he had to shop for a woman, he’s just trying his best.
He still needs help though. 
Since the passing of his late wife, he hasn’t opened up to anyone, let alone another woman. 
But here comes you in all of your glory waltzing into his life and defying all of his expectations, bulldozing his walls down like they were made of straw.
He wanted so badly to give you a token of his appreciation and love for you, but it’s so hard. 
It’s hard walking through the familiar flower shop he used to frequent to buy his late wife flowers. 
It’s hard thinking of her so much because he can’t help it when he does things like this. 
It’s hard subtly comparing you both as he shops for you, but she’s the only other woman he’s ever loved and his only guide to doing right by you. 
Toji’s not a rich man. He won’t ball out on you the way Satoru or even Kento does. 
He resorts to a lot of homemade gifts with the help of Megumi because lord knows he can’t craft for shit. 
He takes the traditional approach with flowers, breakfast in bed, homemade ornaments–little things that bring life and love into your shared home.
He saves all of his measly paychecks to buy you a locket. Inside is a picture of you, him, and Megumi.
On the other side of the locket are the words he’s too afraid to say out loud because they’ll break him…..
“Thank you for loving me.”
𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐔𝐊𝐔𝐍𝐀
………God.
Do not tell this man you want anything because he will get it for you, but tenfold.
Oh, you enjoyed your trip to Kyoto? He’ll kill everyone there so you both are the sole inhabitants of the city. Kyoto is now yours. 
You love the ocean? Great, it’s yours and whoever roams it without permission will be considered trespassers and dealt with accordingly. 
Fuck a beach house, he’ll just give you the whole sea. 
He will literally mount the heads of your enemies on the mantel or hang their beating hearts on a gold chain that you can wear around your neck if it brings you joy.
In his head, there are no limits when it comes to his Queen of Curses. None whatsoever. 
He wants you to be instantly gratified. You are the one person he feels the need to prove something to. 
There really isn’t much to be said other than this. 
This man would burn the world if it meant keeping you warm, so don’t be surprised when he does. 
𝐀𝐎𝐈 𝐓𝐎𝐃𝐎
……God 2.0. 
Aoi is the kind of guy to buy you a whole present just because you sneezed and that calls for a pick-me-up present. 
He buys you apology gifts when you have to open a door by yourself because he isn’t around. 
Christmas is his time to SHINE. 
He approaches it like it’s an Olympic sport that he needs to win otherwise he’s unworthy of being your man. 
Shops early as hell so that the things you want don’t sell out. 
Not above throwing hands if he needs to snag the last of your items. 
Your wishlist is essentially a binding vow to him and if he doesn’t fulfill it, he’ll die. 
Horrible at hiding them because he gets so overwhelmed with excitement that he wants you to see what he got you right away. The gifts don't even get wrapped.
By the time Christmas actually arrives, his presents are the only ones under the tree because he forced you to open all of yours prior.
He tried to control himself, but at some point he literally starts waking you up in the middle of the night because he will not sleep out of pure adrenaline.
SO DRAMATIC. He practically gives you his presents like he’s acting out a Shakespearean play. 
He’ll kneel, bow, and grandly bestow each present upon you with two hands.  
Your reactions mean the world to him. 
Each time you get all giggly and happy opening gift after gift, his heart swells. 
He could deadass start crying tears of joy right then and there tbh. 
Those reactions are his gift. 
Tumblr media
© all rights reserved to fushic0re ─ do not repost, translate, copy, or plagiarize my work in any form.
1K notes · View notes
jarofstyles · 16 days
Text
Coconuts
Tumblr media
idk where this came from tbh but I loved how It came out. 95% smut but I know y'all will never complain about that so :p 
Check out our Patreon for early access and 160+ exclusive writings
WC-4.6k
Warnings- smut, teasing, slight public play If you squint, slight degradation, but lighter compared to our other stuff. Cute
-------
Y/N could feel his eyes on her as she walked back towards him on the beach, his sunglasses doing little to hide the stare down he was having with her body. She’d known that this bathing suit would probably make him a little handsy, but it had been vastly underestimated how much it would distract him. There was not a single word being absorbed around him and she sort of felt like prey as she made her way to the rented cabana, tummy rumbling with both nerves and anticipation.
“What’s this, darling?” He asked as she flipped her sandals off on the raised wooden platform to avoid the spread of sand the best she could. He’d beaten her out here to set up their towels and made sure the daybed was good to go, as Y/N couldn’t handle another full day in the sun and needed the coverage the cabana would offer. He was being a doting and sweet boyfriend and she’d been planning on making him crazy.
“Hm? Oh, I got us those drinks in the coconuts.” She hummed, handing him one. It was part of the charm, their vacation essential, but he didn’t give the drink a second look before placing it on the little side table offered with the package. A tingle ran up her spine as warm hands grabbed the back of her thighs, urging her to step between his spread thighs while his brows furrowed behind the tinted lenses.
“You know that’s not what m’talking about, love.” He winced slightly at the light as Y/N pushed the glasses up into his hair so she could see his mossy eyes, resting her hand on his warm shoulder before taking a sip from her drink. It was a coconut rum cream type of thing and she knew she was going to be wasted on these, but that was the point. Wasn’t it?
But she was playing coy, tilting her head to the side as she gave him a look. “What do you mean, then?” It was exciting to play games with him. To tease him. Harry was a passionate man with a lot of redeeming qualities, but he was the most fun to tease. To watch him narrow his eyes at her and think about how she was most definitely going to pay for it later. It spiked her adrenaline, heartbeat quickening as his hands moved over her ass and to her hips. His thumbs dug into the dips back there, a deep exhale leaving his mouth and washing over her bare belly, heat pooling between her thighs as he leaned forward to press a chaste kiss right above her belly button.
“This bathing suit. I didn’t see you pack it.” He let her off the hook for playing dumb, rubbing his circles into the dips as he watched the corner of her lip temple as if trying not to smile. “I would remember a little thing like this. Barely fuckin’ there, is it?” His eyes found the tied strings at the sides of her waist. That was dangerous and the entire point. It was a deep red, the smallest thing she’d ever worn in public, and tied behind her neck and at her hips with flimsy strings. It was made to taunt him, make him needier than ever, and a bit of payback from the tiny yellow shorts he loved to wear. He knew just how much she loved his thighs and exactly what it did to her to see them exposed. Knowing what she liked to do on his bare thigh, right over the tattooed tiger.
“Oh, this old thing?” She smiled as innocently as she could. “It’s something from a few years back. I think my chest has gotten bigger since I originally bought it, but that’s not a problem… is it?”
“Actually,” Harry breathed. “It is.” He was quick to pull her into his lap, a squeak leaving her as he gave her a dark look. “Because you know exactly what this was going to do t’me and how it was going to make me feel, and you put it on anyway. You, you can hide when that perfect cunt gets wet and sticky. But me?” He glanced around before pulling her further over his lap so she could feel the growing bulge in his own bathing suit. “Can’t do much without scarring the rest of the people at this beach. You’re causing problems on purpose.” The voice he used was hushed and deep, going straight to her core. Of course it was the goal to get in trouble, but his reaction had been better than she anticipated. He shifted her slightly on his lap, subtly moving her over his length under the guise of adjusting her. “How do you think this is supposed t’get fixed? Want me to go have a wank in the restroom?”
“Nuh-uh.” She grinned. “I told you. I want all of you this trip.” Leaning to the side to place her own drink down, he hissed at the movement of her over his growing prick. “You’re not wasting a drop of you. It’ll get fixed, but m’not gonna rush off the beach before I’ve had my drink.” She shrugged, taking her hand that had been cooled by said drink to hold the side of his neck. There was a lot more satisfaction than she could admit when she saw him shiver at the temperature change. “This is my payback for those stupid yellow shorts you wore yesterday.”
Harry knew she could be vengeful. This cat and mouse game that had been him pursuing her had bled into the relationship and he loved that she liked to tease- but he loved that she was seeking a punishment out of it. “You know what I did in return for that?” He clicked his tongue. “I took you to the dressing area and fingered you until you dripped down my fingers. Had to hold your loud fucking mouth quiet, but I took care of it.” It wasn’t doing much good to think of it, especially considering his current predicament of trying not to get painfully hard, but it was one of his favorite things they’d ever done. Making Y/N melt into a desperate, horny mess had been one of his favorite pleasures in life, but knowing she was too needy to wait had stroked his ego.
The roles reversed, though? He wasn’t too sure. It would be noticeable if she was on her knees in the dressing tents, not just looking like an innocent couple leaving more tents open by changing under the same curtain. Her chest was distracting. It was glistening from the aftermath of freshly applied suncream, her breasts on full display and hanging just the way he liked. This bathing suit was his personal heaven. Or hell. He hadn’t quite decided yet.
“So how are you going to take care of me?”
Y/N knew she had been a little cruel, sure, but she could still feel the slight ache from how he’d fucked her last night. She wanted it again, but harder. He’d been a little soft beforehand and she figured he’d make use out of a little motivation.
“Aw, my poor baby.” She cooed, stroking his jaw as it clenched. “Getting hard for me. Can’t help it when you see my tits, hm? Or is it all of it?” There was a moment she pretended to think while he glared at her. “Probably all. But I’m not extremely cruel, Harry. Just giving you a taste of your own medicine. You failed to mention that you made me wait 3 hours until you took care of me.” It felt longer. “So we’re going to sit on this beach for 2. I’m going to have my drink, read my book, enjoy the warm breeze, and you’re going to sit with me. Then we can go back to the villa and you can do as you please.” She hummed, placing a wet kiss to his forehead before standing up from his lap. A towel was tossed his way, which he failed to catch because he was trying to pull her back into his lap. “Use this to hide yourself.” The smugness she felt was unmatched as she grabbed her book and found her way to the other side of the daybed, laying on her back to start the hardest reading session of her life.
—--
Harry didn’t make it easy on her. Not that she thought he would, considering she knew both of their histories of being menaces when in the mood, but she hadn’t expected to be so heavily affected by simple touches.
His fingers drew circles over her exposed hip as he spooned her, pretending to read over her shoulder. Quiet breaths puffed over the side of her neck as he nuzzled into her, sponging kisses there like clockwork. It was chaste enough that she couldn’t really scold him for it, but that didn’t mean it didn’t make her throb between her legs. It was her fault, she was torturing her own self with drawn out foreplay. Y/N rarely ever made Harry wait for it- she was far too greedy- so she struggled with holding her guns as she felt his fingers move further down to the bottom of her stomach, thumbing over the top of the little bathing suit bottoms.
It was a miracle she’d survived that far, and despite it only being an hour and 42 minutes, she thinks that it was good enough.
Pushing her into the villa, Harry’s hands rushed to tug the strings off of the suit, starting with the bottoms. “You evil little thing.” He growled against her mouth, pressing her up against the door as the red fabric fell to the ground and his hand slipped between her thighs. “What was the point of that, hm? You like being bad, pissing me off?” Fingers slid between her swollen, soaked folds and coated his skin just the way he knew it would. “Tortured yourself too. Could have just told me you wanted me to fuck you again and we could have spent the day in here.”
Y/N whined as she felt a digit sink into her, leaning further back against the door as he moved it slowly in and out of her. His fingers were thicker than her own, longer, making it much easier for him to reach places she couldn’t when she pleasured herself. His hands had always been a weakness for her, knowing how skilled he was in using them to create both art and pleasure. Coaxing the perfect orgasms from her since he’d met her. “Y-You teased me first.” She huffed, eyes fluttering as his mouth sucked over a part of her jaw that he knew would make her weaken. “What did you expect?”
“I expected you to be a big girl and tell me what you wanted, rather than parade around in this slutty little bathing suit and make me wait two hours before I could do anything about it.” He grumbled, teeth scraping over skin making her whimper. “I expected you to keep me in bed and spread your gorgeous thighs for me and tell me that you’re the neediest little thing, and you want my cock. I would have done it in a heartbeat. Instead, you chose to be a fucking brat. Because if you wanted to work me up, if you wanted me to be frustrated? It worked.” His opposite hand came down on her bare ass, the slap resonating through the villa and sting making her gasp. “What was the end goal?”
His finger was joined by another, making her eyes flutter and her brain slow down a little bit. He knew what he was doing- he always did. “Just wanted you to feel… to feel like I did. You made me wait and…” Her voice trailed off as it bled into a moan, his fingers hooking just so to hit the spot she needed.
“And?” He asked expectantly. “And what, sweetheart. Because I recall taking care of you. Even soaking, no one could tell. But everyone would be able to see my dick if I didn’t have that towel. Is that what you wanted? Wanted everyone to see me?”
“No!” She hissed. “No it’s- It’s mine. I just wanted, I wanted you to feel what I felt.” Her head fell back against the door with a thump, spreading her legs a bit more. Harry knew exactly what he was doing, he knew exactly what to do to make her weak. His quickening fingers and his hand gripping the side of her ass, he was making her see that she was definitely going to pay for it. “You’ve been driving me crazy the whole vacation and I… fuck.” Her words trailed off, the feel of the heel of his hand tapping against her clit with his thrusts making her brain fuzzy.
“You think you haven’t been driving me insane this whole time?” He asked, tone incredulous. “Think I havent been losing my fucking mind watching you walk around in these little bathing suits and sundresses? Think I haven’t had to be mindful of what m’wearing or what we’re doing because all I want to do is bend you over and hike up those dresses or pull down those bottoms and sink right back where I belong?” His voice hissed against her ear as he kissed over the side of neck, the sloppy pecks making her breathing pick up. “Because I have been fucking insane, I’ve been trying to be decent and make sure m’not hogging you in bed and let you go to the beaches and to the shops and to dinner, but I’d be perfectly happy with you in here, with our view of the ocean and you warming my cock.”
Y/N could feel herself getting close. It was hard not to with how worked up she’d gotten trying to tease him, the way he was talking to her, how his fingers always managed to coax the orgasms out of her faster than anyone else- including herself- ever had. “I would have- I would have, I want that, please.” She begged, which Harry knew all too well what that tone of voice meant. She was deliciously close, the slick of her arousal dribbling down his hand and she was just right there-
And he stopped. Y/N whined, tears welling in her eyes as she looked at him in disbelief. He was so generous with her pleasure that she hadn’t been expecting that in the slightest.
“If you hadn’t been a brat, maybe I would have let you.” He took his fingers from her, bringing them up to his mouth and made a show of licking them clean. Running them over his tongue with a soft hum and making a show of it as she scowled. “Mmm, none of that, my angel. You’ll get what you want. Just be patient.” Without another word he lifted her up, making her squeal as she was carried across the place before being deposited in the bed. Seeing as he was shirtless still, it was quick work to get himself naked, shorts kicked off to the side as he crawled up the bed and found her mouth right away.
She could taste herself on his tongue as he kissed her deeply, fingers finding the knots behind her neck to undo the swimsuit. It was quick work to pull the cups down, exposing the soft chest he had been obsessed with since day one. Pulling away with wet lips, he looked down at her exposed breasts, pebbled nipples calling to him as he grabbed under her arms to pull her up on the bed and stayed right where he was. “You know how cruel it is to have these right in front of my face, unable to do a thing?” His hushed words made her nod. She did know, she knew exactly how much he loved her chest and just how crazy it would drive him. “I know you did, pet. You know how much I fucking love your body.” His fingers plucked both nipples, squeezing lightly to make her gasp.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered, feeling the heat throbbing even hotter as she looked at her. There was something in his eyes, the full lust, the desire and hunger that made her feel like the most desired person in the world. Like no one else could compare. Harry had the ability to make her feel as if she was the only one he’d ever had eyes for, the only one he ever would. She wanted to be his forever, hold on to this feeling and let it grow. “I’m sorry, I just wanted you.” Her whine was cute, he thought, but the apology didn’t cut it.
“I don’t think you are, my love. But you will be.” The man’s tongue brushed through the valley between her breasts, tasting the salt of her skin and the ocean air as it moved to the right one. He was getting her wet as he trailed down to her nipple, moving his fingers out of the way so he could do his job.
If you asked Harry if he was an ass or breast man, he’d tell you he was both- but he had a significant soft spot for Y/N’s chest. He’d been obsessed since the first time he saw her, but more so the first time she took her shirt off and let him suck on her. She was so sensitive, the little whimper she let out proving it as her fingers threaded into her hair and she pushed him further into the soft flesh. Hips moving while she tried to grind against his thigh feeling his lips pull more of her nipple into his mouth and sucked on the raised skin.
“Fuck me.” Y/N breathed, Harry’s thigh giving her a bit of mercy as he pressed it against her cunt. It limited how high she could move her hips, but he didn’t stop her from rubbing against him. His lips pulled and sucked, swirling his tongue over the nipple as he groaned against her breast. She could feel his cock against her thigh, feel it leaking over her skin and felt the desperation rising in her stomach to get him inside. She craved it just as much as he did, and had half a mind to demand him to make good on his promise of keeping him tucked inside of her so they could go again and again and again. It was an addiction, how his body made her feel. Desperate and needy, wet and achy, she had the best man to take care of her but he loved to fucking tease. “Inside me, please. I’ll be good, you can do it hard, I just need it. M’empty.”
Harry ignored her, pulling off of her right nipple and switching to her left. This time, though, he kept his eyes open and watched her face scrunch up with pleasure. It was able to be felt smeared all over his thigh as she ground herself against it, making a mess of him before he was even inside of her, but he loved it. Making her this desperate was his favorite thing to do and it wasn’t hard. His girl was sensitive and needy and he took pleasure in making her teary and begging for him. It was his payback.
Y/N mewled as his teeth scraped over the swollen nipple, hips jerking and hands tugging sharply at his hair which only spurred him on further. Sucking harder on the bud and making her keen out loud, hips bucking into the air before he finally released her. If he did too much he could probably make her finish from that, but that was something he wanted to try another day. His dick had been throbbing for hours now, and he wanted some relief.
“Lay on your stomach.” He ordered, watching her scramble to listen. He had gotten his point across and he knew it, a self satisfied smirk coming on his face as he pulled his briefs down and gave himself a few tugs. She laid down just as he said, her cheek to the pillow as she looked back at him with a soft pout on her lips. His sweet girl, desperate for his cock but trying to make it up to him now for being a tease. “Looks like you can listen. I’m so proud of you.” He crooned, kneeling on the bed and finding himself between her spread legs. “Ass up for me, darling girl. Let me see.”
She did as asked again, shuffling her knees so she was spread and tilted up for him. Her cunt was dripping and hot, empty and aching for him to fill her. Her plan had backfired significantly but at the end of the day, all she wanted was his cock. That’s been the goal this whole time. “Please. I need it, H.” She whispered, gripping the white sheets. “Give it to me. I can take it. M’sorry for teasing you.”
“I’m sure you are.” His hand spread her ass open, spitting over her hole and letting it drip down to her swollen clit where he took the tip of his cock and spread it all over her. “You know, I had a plan t’punish you even more, but.. Turns out, I’m fucking weak for this cunt.” He sighed, pushing the head into her and watching it stretch her a little bit. “I’m just as greedy for it. So m’gonna be nice to you and give you what you want, but I’ll remember this later.” His head pulled forward as he sunk deeper in, the hot channel making his brain go a bit fuzzy.
“Fuck, you’ve got perfect pussy, baby.” His tough exterior faded as his hips met her ass, exhaling sharply. “Can’t resist it. Make me a fucking mess every time.” The warm air flowed into their villa through the open door with the sea view, making him pause. Leaning down, he wrapped a hand around her throat and pulled her up to look at it, letting her shaky arms hold herself up as he began to thrust into her welcoming cunt. “Look at where I’ve brought you, baby. Beautiful views, but… This one will always be my favorite.” Lips brushed her ear as the sloppy sound of her soaked cunt being fucked by his prick filled the room. “Seeing you take my cock is my favorite thing. Most beautiful thing in the world, love that you let me own you like this.” His lips pressed against her cheek as she moaned. The firm grip around her throat had her fuzzy, this position making him feel so goddamn deep that she could barely breathe.
“I love it, I love you. Love your cock, love how you make me feel.” She babbled. “Just… Don’t pull out. Please.” Her begging seemed to spur him on, the slap of skin against skin getting louder while he fucked into her. The man was always greedy for her but his sexual frustration was showing, not at all going easy on her. It wasn’t mean, it wasn’t punishment, but pure lust. This was need, and Y/N was happy to be on the receiving end of it.
“M’not going to, baby. Promised you that you could have every drop.” He was nearly purring, breathing a bit heavy but more than satisfied as he fucked into her over and over again. “That’s a lot of love, but m’happy to hear it. Just want to make you happy, make you feel amazing. Don’t have to tease me to have my cock next time… just have to ask me in that pretty voice and give me those gorgeous eyes and I’ll give you anything you want.”
Y/N nodded even though his words sort of went through her. His slight adjustment to his position had him hitting the spot he needed to hit and she was making a fucking mess. She knew she was, hearing the wet sound increasing as he cursed under his breath. It was hard for her not to shudder as she gushed around him, feeling his balls tap against her clit as her watery eyes were forced to look out to the ocean. No words could leave her besides his name and a string of moans. His name was the only important thing, according to her brain.
“Got your cunt all sloppy for me… god, baby… I love you.” He moaned, feeling a little wrecked as he took a glance down to see himself covered in her. Wet and glistening from her how good he was giving it to her, it was another one of his favorite views. “Love my sweet girl and her sweet pussy, m’gonna give it to you over and over… fuck, you’re going to make me cum.” It was hard to keep holding on. Her skin was hot and he could feel he ragged breathing against his palm, her pulse thundering against his fingertips as he worked his prick into her weeping hole. “Never going to stop makin’ love to you, my perfect girl.”
Her orgasm surprised them both. He felt it come on as she whimpered his name, rippling against his cock and squeezing him hard as she shuddered underneath him. Her body fell forwards on the bed and he was done for, releasing her throat to fall on top of her and give a few more sloppy thrusts. A guttural groan left his throat as he buried his face into her neck, feeling his cock pulse and balls tighten as he unloaded inside of her. Keeping himself buried as promised, he ground himself as deep as he could and let it stay deep as his hips twitched, breathing heavy and hot against her skin. “Shit- god.” He croaked, pressing a sloppy stream of kisses from her neck to her cheek. “Fucks sake. Knew I wasn’t going to last a long time but, christ.” A drunken laugh left his throat as she hummed, turning her face with a pout.
“Kissy?” She whispered, lips puckering and effectively making his heart melt. He’d never say no to a kiss from her. It was an immediate wish granted, leaning closer to kiss her but making them both moan as the shift made his cock push further into her. He didn’t break away for a few moments though, pressing sticky pecks to her lips and sighing happily once she laid her cheek back on the pillow.
“Have a really hard time saying no t’you, sweetheart.” He admitted, keeping his face in her neck as he tried to recover.
“Good.” The girl’s voice was still a little shaky. “So you’ll go get me another coconut drink before we go again?”
“Again?” He laughed against her skin, biting down gently to make her yelp. “Fucking minx, my lovely little slut. Course she wants t’go again. I shouldn't have given you the benefit of the doubt. You’re my greedy girl.” Though no one would ever hear Harry complaining about that. His recovery time may need a bit of work if they were going to spend all day here though. “I’m gonna say yes, but only because I want you to lay here and keep my cum inside you.” The man was definitely catching her onto her neediness. “As hot as it is when it drips down your thigh, we don’t want to waste any. So lay here and be pretty for me while I go get you that silly little drink. M’not gonna go as easy next time.”
“Sounds perfect.” The giggle was music to his damn ears. “But don’t forget the cute little umbrella, kay? Need it to be part of the experience.”
709 notes · View notes
yelena-bellova · 1 year
Text
Twenty Years Later: Joel Miller x F!Reader - Chapter Nine
Tumblr media
Chapter Nine: Dry Your Tears
Plot: Joel, Y/n, Henry, Sam and Ellie make their way out of the tunnel system, but Kansas City refuses to let them leave.
Word Count: 9.4k
Warnings: tlou ep.5 spoilers, implied s*ut, language, canon-typical violence, knives, blood, death, loss of a child, s*icide, (16+)
A/N: Oh, we’re really in it, y’all. This is the last chapter in which you get any sense of happiness, so hold it close to your heart. It all really goes to shit after this…
As always, and I really need people to read this, this series is 16+ and I will not be adding anyone to the taglist unless their age is listed in their bio. Gotta look out for younger eyes 👀
Good night, and good luck, my loves ❤️
———————
May 27th, 2003. Austin, Texas.
The referee’s whistle rang through the air, signaling the play was starting. Sarah had the ball, her team was one goal away from winning the season. If she nailed the shot, she’d bring them to victory.
Now, on his own, Joel was one of the loudest and proudest parents at the games. Adding in Tommy and Y/n had made them their own cheer section.
“Go, Sarah!” Y/n yelled.
“C’mon, babygirl,” Joel clapped, “C’mon.”
“Fuckin’ nail it,” Tommy cheered, earning a light knock to the chest from Y/n, “Frickin’ nail it!”
Sarah wasn’t listening to any of them, she was in the zone. She wound her leg back and kicked the ball, it flew through the air and straight through the goalie’s arms.
Y/n screamed and leapt into Joel’s arms, the whole crowd cheered wildly. Joel spun her around, this felt like a victory for all of them considering how much time they’d spent practicing with Sarah.
After celebrating with her team and taking their yearly photo, Sarah bounded over to her family.
Joel picked his daughter up, not caring if he was embarassing her. Sarah hugged him back.
“You were amazing,” he said, setting her back on the grass.
“You’re so freakin’ good, it hurts,” Y/n grinned, wrapping Sarah in her arms.
“Thanks,” the girl smiled up at Y/n.
Tommy high fived his niece, “Calls for a celebration.”
The four of them drove downtown to the ice cream shop. They parked themselves outside at a table in the shade. In celebration of Sarah’s impending graduation, her recent birthday and Y/n and Joel’s one year anniversary, they were driving down to the beach for a weekend.
“Okay,” Joel said in between bites, “I’ve got the confirmation for the hotel printed out.”
“I’m going to the store tomorrow to pick up the food,” Y/n raised her spoon.
Sarah hummed enthusiastically, swallowing her dessert quickly. “Can you pick me up when you do?”
“Yes,” Y/n nodded, “But you can’t run me into debt.”
“Can I come?” Tommy asked through a mouthful of ice cream.
“You will run me into debt,” Y/n replied with a smile.
Tommy reached into his wallet, theatrically handing Y/n a twenty dollar bill. “Beer money,” he clarified.
“Thank you,” Y/n replied, stuffing the money into her jean pocket, “What time are we leaving on Thursday?”
“I figure 9,” Joel answered, “Try and beat the traffic.”
Practical as he was, Joel was also plain excited. This was the first family vacation Y/n was joining them for.
“We’re leavin’ on a Thursday mornin’,” Tommy interjected, “There’s not gonna be any traffic.”
Joel peeked across the table to Y/n, who met his eyes with an equal level of contained enthusiasm. Celebrating one year of her in his life didn’t warrant waiting a single minute longer than necessary.
“Won’t hurt anybody,” Joel responded, shooting his girlfriend a wink.
————————
Come Thursday, the Millers and guest loaded their bags and coolers into Joel’s truck.
“Sarah?” Y/n called from the bottom of the stairs, they were nearly ready to leave and she was still upstairs, “We gotta go, babe.”
“Coming,” she yelled down, skipping out of her room and down the stairs, carrying something in her hand.
“Whatcha got?” Y/n pointed to the small package.
Sarah waved it nonchalantly in the air, “It’s an anniversary present. For you and Dad.”
Y/n’s heart swelled, “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Well, I did,” she gave a small smile, before scrunching up her face, “Just please don’t make out the entire trip.”
Snorting, Y/n wrapped her arms around Sarah’s neck and walked the two of them out of the house.
Joel and Tommy had just finished their thirty minute game of Tetris with the luggage. There were so many bags for only four days and four people.
“No,” Tommy called out, spotting Sarah’s present, “Not one more fuckin’ thing comes into this truck.”
“It’s a carry-on,” Y/n shouted back with a smile, patting Sarah’s arm after, “Be there in a minute.”
Sarah skipped off to the backseat, passing her dad as she did. Joel ruffled her hair before locking eyes with Y/n across the driveway. She looked so natural, standing on his porch with his daughter in her arms, locking up the front door with her spare key. She’d settled into the family so well.
“See somethin’ you like?” Y/n smiled, sticking her nose up in the air and letting the sun hit her.
“Somethin’ I love,” Joel replied, walking slowly towards her. He encircled her waist with one arm, his other hand holding her hip.
Y/n let her hands slide up Joel’s chest, “Your daughter has requested a vow of celibacy from us this weekend.”
Joel chortled, “That’s ‘cause one day she woke up and decided us lookin’ at each other was disgusting.”
“Well, then,” Y/n got on he tiptoes and pressed a kiss to the tip of Joel’s nose, “Save it for the evenings.”
Joel nuzzled his nose against her cheek, savoring the warmth of her skin and the promise of her words.
“What happened to beatin’ traffic?” Tommy teased from the passenger seat.
Rolling his eyes, Joel turned around to his brother and glared at him. Tommy just smirked and tapped his foot against the dashboard.
“Come on,” Y/n intertwined her fingers with Joel’s, pulling him behind her and marching them both to the truck.
“Seatbelts,” Joel ordered as he got in the front seat.
Y/n settled herself in the backseat next to Sarah, who absentmindedly grabbed her hand and started playing with it. Of all the milestones her and Joel had hit in the past year, Sarah’s casual comfort with her was Y/n’s proudest.
“Alright, gang,” Joel started up the car and backed it out of the driveway, “6 hour drive, settle in.”
Y/n and Sarah cheered from the backseat and Joel swore he could feel a physical warmth spread across his chest.
—————————
It took them all day to get to South Padre Island, having stopped for bathroom breaks and lunch on the way, but they made it in one piece.
Their hotel was modest and one of many on the strip that backed straight up to the beach. The view from the balcony was unmatched, nothing but sand and ocean as far as the eye could see.
Their first full day there, they spent all day on the beach. It was early enough in the year that the full force of summer’s heat hadn’t hit yet. Joel stayed with their cooler, messing around on the guitar he’d brought in a beach chair. Tommy switched between relaxing in the shade with a beer and flirting with whatever lucky woman was in their vicinity. Sarah and Y/n walked the shore, searching for seashells.
Leaving Sarah to keep hunting, Y/n walked back to their spot, admiring the sight before her. Joel looked more at ease than she’d ever seen him, strumming away in the cool shade.
“You’re ogling me’,” he said, trying to sound put off.
“You look happy,” Y/n smiled, pushing past the humor.
Joel peeked up over his sunglasses, taking in the wind blowing through her hair and how the sun shone off her skin. “I am happy,” he replied.
Y/n walked around the back of his chair, bending over to encircle his neck. Joel kept on playing, trying to stay focused as she pressed a loving kiss to his cheek.
Looking out on the beach, Y/n’s eyes found Tommy, buying some girl an ice cream at a vendor’s cart. She watched Sarah, crouched down in the sand and hot on the trail of a particular shell. With Joel in her arms, and her chosen family happy, she felt like everything in her world was just as it should be.
Y/n rested her chin on Joel’s shoulder, “Me too.”
—————————
They’d celebrated both Sarah’s graduation and Y/n’s anniversary on Saturday night with dinner on the beach. There’d been good food and good laughter, especially when Sarah tried oysters for the first time, managing to swallow the bite with a grimace.
When gifts were exchanged, Y/n, Joel and Tommy had compiled their money to get Sarah tickets to see her favorite band. She’d leapt out of her chair and bear hugged all three of them. For Joel and Y/n’s anniversary, she handed them a CD she’d burned a playlist to. Songs she’d heard them listen to or that the three of them had sung together in the car or while Joel played guitar.
Deep into the evening, when Tommy and Sarah had retired to their room across the hall, Joel and Y/n celebrated their anniversary privately.
Joel’s body weight Y/n’s down, pinning her hands above her head and pressing soft kisses across her face. At some point in the night, she’d slipped on his t-shirt. He was convinced that if there was a heaven on earth, he was in it.
“Promise me something,” Y/n breathed, her lips brushing Joel’s cheekbone.
Joel rubbed his nose against Y/n’s, “Anything.”
Pressed into the bed, completely consumed by the man she loved, with a soft ocean breeze flooding through their balcony window, Y/n was in utter bliss. There was nothing that could have made the moment more perfect.
“Promise me it’ll always be like this,” Y/n whispered, her urging eyes boring into Joel’s, “Even when it isn’t.”
Joel’s grip on Y/n’s hands loosened, letting her slip out of his hold with a need to feel her arms around him. Neither of them were under any illusion that life was without its problems, they’d run into them eventually. But through it all, Joel knew that the one thing that would never fade was their complete and utter devotion to one another. That was forever.
Joel brushed away a strand of hair stuck to Y/n’s face from the ocean’s humidity. He ran the tips of his fingers along her cheek, down her neck, tracing the path his lips had traveled moments ago.
“Always,” he promised, his voice soft, but determined.
The room’s energy was emotionally charged, bringing tears to Y/n’s eyes as she gazed up at Joel. He looked so beautiful hanging over her, it nearly broke her heart. She was so overcome with love for this man, she truly didn’t know if she could handle any more. Joel overwhelmed her in the sweetest way possible.
The moonlight reflected off a single teardrop that slipped down Y/n’s cheek. Joel adjusted himself in concern, taking her face into his hand, “What’s wrong?”
Y/n smiled, she’d never known one could be moved to tears by the simple act of adoring someone. “I just love you,” she pushed past the lump in her throat.
Joel’s breath caught in his chest. Even though he’d heard her say those words a hundred times, something about this utterance felt new.
He stroked his thumb over her cheek, wiping away the tear’s streak. They lay intwined, coming alive in one another’s eyes. They’d known for months, really since their first kiss, that they’d be together a long, long time…but there, in a beachside hotel, wrapped in lily white sheets and each other, they knew they could never leave one another.
Joel dove back into Y/n’s lips, his hands slipping under his shirt she wore to hold her hips. He prayed that when the day came for him to die, he’d do so in her arms, her kiss stealing his final breath.
—————————
2023. Kansas City, Missouri.
While the tensions were high the whole way, the five survivors made it through the tunnel system with no issues.
“Do you know where we are?” Joel asked Henry as they made their way through a door. He was still suspicious, nothing was ever as simple as a few tunnels and some luck.
“Yeah,” he answered, “The other side.”
Henry shone his flashlight on a dirty sign stating that it was, indeed, the parking lot to the Bank of America building. They’d made it out. Y/n huffed a sigh of relief, it was a much needed win.
The group headed for the street of the residential area, it was dark and empty allowing them the perfect cover. Joel had still insisted on no flashlights, just to be safe.
Joel led the group, with Ellie, Sam and Henry at the rear, and Y/n sandwiched between. She didn’t particularly feel like being near Joel after the conversation with Henry. She was still trying to shake the memories from her brain, twenty years of wasted energy and not a single one had faded.
Joel didn’t quite know what to do either. He felt at war with himself, a poorly docked ship being drawn out to the open waters against its will. It was getting harder to deny the increasing intensity of his pull to her. Not that it mattered, he still considered her a liar and she hated him with a passion that would never die. But seeing her with the kids, showing the humanity still left in her, had left him unsettled. It was like seeing a home he could never go back to.
“No,” Henry said, having just been signing with Sam, “No one is here. No one’s gonna be here because…my plan worked.
“So much damn talkin’,” Joel remarked from the front of the group.
“I’m just saying,” Henry continued, “I delivered. Make this right, go down the street, embankment behind the last house…and we’re out.”
Y/n and Joel wanted to believe that they were home free, but they’d seen more of the current world than anyone else in the party. Things that seemed too good to be true, almost always were.
“So we cross the river and then what?” Ellie asked, “Where ya gonna go?”
“Don’t know yet,” Henry shrugged.
“Well, we’re goin’ to Wyoming,” Ellie announced.
Joel glared back at her, earning a light hit to the arm from Y/n, who glared right back at him.
“What?” Ellie replied, “It’s a huge state, it can fit two more people.”
“Yeah,” Henry stretched the syllable, not any more keen on the idea than Joel, “Maybe we just call this one a success and say our fond farewells.”
Y/n drifted to walk alongside Joel, his stubbornness breathing a little bit of life back into her. “If you’ve got any happy pills left in your pocket,” she muttered low enough for only them to hear, “I suggest you take them.”
Joel shook his head, glancing out the side of his eyes at her. He couldn’t decide if her silence or her snark was preferable.
“No, he’ll change his mind,” Ellie said to Henry, “Trust me. This is how it goes, he’s like,” she dropped her voice and added a twinge of an accent, “‘No, Ellie. Never, ever, ever happening.”
Y/n couldn’t stop the snort before it escaped her, it physically jerked her body forward. When she looked up, Joel’s hardened stare was resting on her.
“That supposed to be funny?”
“It’s hilarious,” Y/n smiled, still trying to contain her laughter, “And you know it.”
“And then I’m like,” Ellie continued, “‘I’m gonna ask you a million more times.’ And he’s like-“
A gunshot flew past them, killing only the levity.
Joel and Y/n ran for Ellie at the same time, colliding with one another in a heap of arms.
“Move! Move!” Joel ordered, shoving both of them forward, “Go!”
The five of them dove for cover behind an abandoned car, crouching on the asphalt.
“Where the fuck is that coming from?” Henry asked, shielding Sam with his body.
“Shut up,” Joel ordered, peeking his head above the trunk of the car to scan the area. As soon as he was semi-visible, another gunshot hit one of the nearby vehicles.
Henry tried to get a look at the house where the fire seemed to be coming from, earning another close call.
“Fuck,” he muttered, grabbing Sam’s hand, “Let’s move. Let’s go.”
“Henry!” Y/n shouted through her teeth.
“What are you doin’?” Joel yelled, not budging.
“Getting the fuck outta here,” Henry called back, barely making it to the other side of the road before another shot blew past them. He rushed him and Sam back to the first car, “What do we do?”
Y/n and Joel’s brains were working overtime, trying to figure out the best possible course of action. Joel, closest to the house he guessed the gunman was inside, peeked out once more and got another near fatal shot. He was right.
“All right,” Joel breathed, “Stay here.”
“What?” Y/n and Ellie exclaimed in unison.
Joel turned to them, addressing Ellie but drifting his eyes to Y/n at the end of each sentence. “If you don’t move, he’s not gonna hit you. I’m gonna go around, try to get in the house through the back, and then I’ll take him out.”
“No,” Y/n blurted out, “No fucking way.”
“Yeah, if you go out there, he’s gonna kill you,” Ellie agreed.
“It’s dark and he has shit aim,” Joel countered, “Nobody’s gonna kill me.”
“Then he’s gonna kill us,” Ellie replied.
Joel’s eyes flicked between the kid and the woman behind her. He addressed Ellie first, “Do you trust me?”
Hesitating, but eventually rolling her eyes and nodding, Ellie answered.
Joel looked up to Y/n, silently begging her to listen to him. He’d trusted her when Ellie had revealed her immunity, now he needed her to do the same.
Y/n wanted to be unreasonable and illogical, to stew in her anger a little longer. But Joel hadn’t failed them yet on their journey, this wasn’t the place to start.
“You go around the left,” Y/n countered, “I’ll create a diversion so he won’t see you coming.”
“You stay here,” Joel replied, his voice turning to steel.
It was the first time that Y/n didn’t want to argue. She withdrew her pistol from her holster, “I wasn’t asking.”
Joel was busting his ass trying to make sure she was safe and she was throwing herself into open fire to protect him. He felt sick to his stomach.
Y/n took Joel’s reluctant nod and mirrored it, hoping she looked more confidant than she felt. They both brushed a hand against Ellie’s arm, who was terrified to let the only two people she cared about run headfirst into danger.
Joel and Y/n crossed past one another, he grabbed her arm to stop her. The pain-stricken worry in both their eyes communicated all that they couldn’t out loud.
They took up their positions on either end of the car, cocking their guns and drawing a deep breath. Joel nodded to Y/n, signaling for her to move.
Y/n jumped out from the car and ran for the one directly across from her. A gunshot kissed the air behind her, she slid into the asphalt behind the vehicle like it was third base. She could feel the fear creeping up her spine, threatening to break her, but breaking wasn’t an option. Tess’ last wish rang in her ears; keep Joel safe.
Spotting the next car, in the row, she made a beeline for it, dodging two shots on each side of her. She kneeled behind the trunk, peeking out just enough to fire a distracting shot towards the house.
“C’mon, Joel,” she whispered.
Joel was making his way down the street, Y/n serving as the most perfect and unwelcome distraction. Every shot sent a cold shot of panic through him, terrified that the gunman was going to be too quick for her. Just before making it behind the house, he snuck a look over his shoulder and caught her racing across the street, dodging more fire. It urged him to move faster.
Y/n was getting closer and closer to the house, praying that Joel had made it. When she made a clean run to the next car, she assumed that he’d put a stop to the fight. A final shot rang out, but it had come from a different gun. Joel’s gun.
Y/n slumped against the car and exhaled, he was safe.
Joel felt grief pass over him, a drop of it trickling down his throat, as he grabbed the old man’s rifle. He was about to stick his head out the window and signal to Y/n that they were clear, until a sound caught his ear.
“Anthony…Anthony…” a staticky voice called, Joel tracked it beside the old man’s body and found a walkie-talkie, “Anthony, hold them where they are.”
“Fuck,” he muttered, rushing to the window, “Run!”
Y/n stood up, Joel’s voice reassuring her they were in the clear before she registered his words.
“Run!”
Y/n bolted back toward Ellie, Sam and Henry. In the near distance, she could hear the sound of a truck. The same one they’d been dodging for the past day.
“Run!” Joel urged, watching Y/n’s shadow run straight towards the threat.
The truck’s headlights shone down the street, shining right on Y/n. She collided with Ellie, wrenching the girl ahead of her and racing back towards the house. Behind them, the fleet of trucks were beginning to plow through the rows of cars.
Determined, Joel started to fire at the truck’s windows, trying to take out the driver.
Blindly, Ellie and Y/n began to fire their pistols at the main truck after them. Without being able to take proper aim, their attempts failed, but they kept trying.
Ellie’s gun ran out of bullets as the truck began to gain on her. Y/n wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pushing her to go faster. Ellie tripped, bringing Y/n down with her. Y/n enveloped the girl in her arms, putting her body between the truck and Ellie.
At that exact moment, Joel had fired a perfect shot, taking out the driver and causing the truck to crash through the front of a nearby house. He’d bought them mere seconds, a whole fleet of cars were behind them and their passengers were about to surround Ellie and Y/n.
“Come on,” Y/n urged, pulling Ellie to her feet, “Move.”
They’d barely made it two steps before they were thrown to the ground again by a blast. The crash had somehow started a fire and both the vehicle and the house surrounding it were set ablaze.
The smoke filled Y/n’s lungs, restricting her airways and letting dizziness to set in. The only clear thought ringing through her head was Ellie, save Ellie.
Joel watched helplessly as Ellie and Y/n lay on the ground. He could feel his heartbeat in his throat, waiting for them to get up. Henry, a godsend in that moment, darted out from behind a car and pulled them both to their feet.
Y/n stumbled back to the car Henry had sought as protection, blindly reaching for Ellie and making herself a barricade once again.
“You okay?” Henry asked them both.
“Yeah,” Ellie muttered, Y/n gave a breathless nod.
Up above the flames, Joel watched a group of rebels walk through the smoke with guns drawn on his window, calling out orders to raid the house. They’d found him.
“Fuck,” he breathed, hiding behind the wall. Unlucky for them, Joel wasn’t so easy to throw in the towel and lose his life.
Below, Kathleen surveyed the damage, strolling casually amongst the flames. “Dead end, Henry,” she called, “Gonna step on out? Save us some time?”
“Is that her?” Y/n whispered, Henry nodded in response.
“No?” Kathleen asked, her tone was eerily even, “That’s all right. Doesn’t matter.”
Henry looked to Sam, who Y/n had an arm around, and knew what he had to do. “I’ll come out,” he replied, “Just let the kids go!”
“No,” Kathleen responded, “Sorry. The girl is with the two who killed Bryan, don’t think I don’t know that the woman’s back there with you too.”
Y/n shut her eyes, the back of her head digging into the car. She knew she’d die eventually, she woke every day faced with the possibility of death. But she wasn’t about to die before she could get Ellie out west.
Joel’s blood ran cold at Kathleen’s words, his hands squeezing the rifle tighter. He had to fight every instinct to fire a bullet straight through her head.
“And Sam” Kathleen continued, “Well, Sam’s with you.”
“You don’t understand,” Henry yelled.
“But I do,” she said calmly, “I know why you did what you did. But did you ever stop to think that maybe he was supposed to die?”
“He’s just a fucking kid!” Henry called back.
“Well, kids die, Henry. They die all the time.”
Y/n’s fear turned to shock and that shock turned to rage. Deep, bitter, twenty year old rage.
Joel watched carefully from his spot, feeling the anger swell in him.
“You think the whole world revolves around him?” Kathleen continued her monologue, “That he’s worth everything? Well, this is what happens when you fuck with fate.”
Henry turned to Y/n and Ellie, bracing himself for his own fate. “Get ready to take him, and run,” he instructed.
“No,” Y/n argued, “I’m not-“
“Yes,” he said, his voice like steel, “Do it.”
Y/n gave in, nodding and taking Sam’s hands with Ellie. “You stay in front of me at all time,” she instructed, reaching out for the girl, “If I go down, you don’t turn back.”
Ellie’s eyes widened, “But-“
“You don’t turn back,” Y/n repeated, forcing her voice to sound strong.
“It’s time, Henry,” Kathleen gritted, her soft voice suddenly dripping with venom, “Enough!”
Henry took a few shuddering breaths before getting to his feet, hands raised in the air. Sam anxiously started to go after his brother, but Ellie and Y/n pulled him back to the ground. The three of them sat there, Y/n and Ellie’s pulses racing as they waited for the inevitable sound, their signal to move.
“It ends the way it ends,” Kathleen said, her calm demeanor returning.
Y/n froze as she listened to Kathleen cock her pistol, squeezing Sam’s hand a little tighter.
But the bullet never came.
Instead, there was a terrible creak from the totaled truck. Ellie scrambled to get a peek while staying hidden, Y/n held up a hand to her and poked the tip of her head out. Just enough to see the car sink into the wreckage of the burning house.
Joel aimed his rifle and came to the window, watching it all happen from above.
Three ominous seconds of silence.
And then they came.
Hordes of Infected came sprinting out of the sinkhole.
Henry rushed back to their spot, Y/n and him shoved the kids in between them and sinking against the car as far as they could. One of the Infected leapt on the hood, a well-timed bullet sinking into its skull.
Joel reloaded the gun, waiting for the next shot.
“Come on,” Henry called, the four of them got to their feet and took off in the direction of the embankment.
Ellie obeyed and stayed ahead of Y/n, who was frantically cocking her handgun. One Infected was chasing after them and she couldn’t get her weapon ready in time.
Joel aimed at the creature trailing Y/n and fired. The body lurched forward, falling on Y/n and causing both her and Ellie to topple to the ground.
Somewhere in their fall, Y/n and Ellie had lost sight of Henry and Sam. Y/n kicked the dead body off of them and glanced up towards the house, she knew who was acting as their guardian angel. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have a job to do as well.
“Car,” Ellie yelled, having quickly crafted a plan in her head.
“Stay low,” Y/n responded.
The two of them army crawled their way through the chaos, screams of both the living and Infected filling the air.
Joel tracked their movements, shooting down any Infected that even looked in their direction.
Ellie and Y/n ran the final distance and dove into the abandoned car through an open window. As Infected began to crawl across the behicle, banging against the windows, one of Joel’s bullets took each one out.
“Get to the back,” Y/n instructed.
The two of them crawled over the seats, taking shelter in the very rear of the vehicle. Ellie’s eyes were wide with terror as she watched the scene play through the dirty glass.
Joel saw them make it in, but his relief didn’t last long. He watched as one of the Infected snaked through the window and into their car. His breath trembled, taking aim and realizing he couldn’t do a damn thing to help them.
Y/n and Ellie heard the dreadful snarling together, their heads turning to watch the Clicker flip through the front seat of the car. Y/n raised her gun and took aim.
Click.
She was out of bullets.
Joel’s brain switched off, his primal instinct to protect taking over as he fired relentless shot after relentless shot, trying to take the Infected out.
The Clicker acrobatically made its way through the car. Ellie blindly reached for the door handle, whimpering in fear as she couldn’t open it. Y/n kicked it with her boot and it swung out, she shoved Ellie roughly out of the car. Y/n slid out, slamming the door behind them and feeling the slam of the Clicker throwing itself against the window.
Joel had lost visual on them briefly, but saw the swing of the car door and how it was still rocking. They’d trapped it.
Somewhere in the noise, a child’s cry could be heard. Y/n’s eyes darted around them, finally spotting Henry and Sam trying to fend off a group of Infected underneath a car.
“Help! Get the fuck away!“ Henry screamed, kicking at one of the creatures, “Get the fuck off me!”
Ellie looked first to Y/n, who was already pulling out her knife from where she hid it in her boot, before they both looked up to where Joel was. Y/n could barely make out his face with the distance.
Joel looked down, knowing that they couldn’t possibly be making eye contact from so far away, but knowing that they were on the same wavelength.
They had to work as a team.
“Go!” Y/n yelled, and they were off.
Joel shot with more precision than he ever had, this was the most he’d ever had at stake. As Y/n and Ellie moved through the crowd, he took out every Infected that were heading for them. He worked as a machine, but the terror he felt was the most human sensation he’d experienced in years.
Y/n shed her humanity, becoming more beast than woman, mercilessly ripping through the throats of any Infected that came near Ellie. She swung onto one’s back, stabbing her knife into its head, and let the collapse of its body land her back on the ground.
Joel and Y/n worked seamlessly together, ground and aerial coming together to protect the one thing that couldn’t be lost. Or in Joel’s case, two somethings.
Ellie and Y/n finally made it to Sam and Henry, there were two clickers still clawing at them. One dragged Henry out from underneath the car, Ellie got behind it and stabbed it. Y/n wrenched the Clicker attacking Sam backwards, staring into where its eyes would have been as she sliced through its heart.
A bullet whizzed past her head, landing in the monster’s skull. Joel needed to be sure.
“Come on, come on,” Ellie helped their friends to their feet, “Go! Go!”
Y/n shoved Ellie in front of her again and they fled the chaos, climbing into the lawn of the house Joel was in.
“Stop!”
The four of them turned to see Kathleen with her gun aimed at Henry, but her eyes flicking between him and Y/n. They didn’t have time to fear for their lives, they clocked the same Clicker who’d almost gotten her and Ellie creeping up an old piece of furniture behind Kathleen.
Kathleen heard the sound, turning around just as the Clicker shot through the air and latched onto her. They watched in terror as the creature claimed the resistance leader’s life.
Joel hurried out of the house, running faster once he saw Y/n and Ellie. He stopped a second, watching as Kathleen lost everything she’d fought so hard for, but didn’t care so long as his people were safe.
“This way now,” Joel yelled, grabbing Y/n’s arm to urge her forward, “Move!”
The group took off, leaving those who had sought to kill them to their fates. Joel and Y/n ran together, keeping one hand on each other the whole time. Their grudge was suffocating, choking under the weight of their undeniable devotion to one another.
————————————
The motel the group landed was a haven to their weary eyes. They broke into one of the rooms and tried to get it through their heads that they were safe. Joel had made sure that no one followed them, they were miles away from any Infected. They could breathe.
Once Ellie and Sam had been squared away with food, they went into the bedroom and began reading Ellie’s collection of comic books. They were either bouncing back spectacularly fast or burying their fear.
Henry, Joel and Y/n sat out in the main room, trying to come down from what they’d just been through. Since fleeing the hellish nightmare, Joel and Y/n hadn’t left each other’s side. She hadn’t even bothered with putting space between them when she sunk down onto the floor. They were pressed against one another and neither of them minded.
“You think they’ll be okay?” Henry asked, picking at a bit of his food and watching his brother from the next room.
Y/n’s eyes drifted to Ellie, she was growing more and more worried about the girl’s psyche. She’d seen so much in such a short span of time.
“Yeah, I think,” Joel answered, “It’s easier when you’re a kid, anyway,” he met Henry’s stare with intention, “You don’t have anybody else relying on you. That’s the hard part.”
“Well,” Henry looked down at his food, “I guess we’re doin’ a good job then.”
Y/n and Joel both looked to the kids, Ellie was helping Sam to read one of the pages.
“What’s that comic book say?” Joel asked, “‘Endure and survive?’”
“Endure and survive,” Y/n repeated.
Henry chuckled, “That shit’s redundant.”
Joel shook his head, this was as close as he’d come to laughing with another person. “Yeah, it’s-it’s not great.”
Y/n gave a small smile, not quite to the point of being able to laugh about any part of the day.
Joel turned to look at her, drawing her gaze to him and focusing on the two quirked corners of her lips. It used to be his favorite game, making them rise until she’d complain her cheeks hurt. Tonight was the first night that he’d been able to make her smile again, and the little bit of his old self that was on life support took a breath.
Y/n let her eyes drift across Joel’s face, resting in the way he returned it. It was a dangerous fucking place to be, but after what they’d just gone through, she was too tired to fight her way out.
A loud laugh from Ellie snapped them out of whatever moment they were having.
“Look,” Joel turned to Henry, “I don’t know exactly how we’re gettin’ to Wyoming, we’re probably walkin’. But,” he stopped, still uncomfortable with the full spectrum of his emotions, “You know, if you want to.”
“Yeah,” Henry answered instantly, “Yeah. Um…yeah, I think it’d be nice for Sam to have a friend.”
“Oh, trust me,” Y/n smiled, looking on to Ellie, “You won’t find anyone friendlier than her,” she glanced at Joel, “Then again, we don’t set the bar very high, now do we?”
Henry laughed under his breath, even Joel couldn’t stop himself from smirking. “No, you don’t,” Henry replied, “I’ll tell him in the morning. New day, new start.”
“We’re not getting anywhere if we’re carrying them on our backs,” Y/n remarked, dusting the crumbs off her jeans and getting to her feet.
Henry got up with Y/n and heading into Sam and Ellie’s room. He knocked on the door and began to sign to Sam.
“Whatever he’s saying,” Y/n pointed to Ellie, “Same goes for you. Real adventure starts tomorrow.”
Ellie rolled her eyes lightly as Y/n approached, letting her take the comic out of her hand and place it on the nightstand. “Hey,” she said, “Is Joel’s brother like him? All grumpy and constipated?
“He is,” Y/n started, a flood of pleasant memories hitting her, “Way more fun. Not a stick to be found up his ass.”
Ellie snorted, Y/n knew she’d fall in love with Tommy in a minute. Everyone did.
Y/n ran a hand over Ellie’s head, they weren’t close enough for a hug but she wanted the girl to know that she had someone that cared about her. If Joel was her protecter, Y/n wanted to be her comfort. The oasis she could run to in the desert.
“Get some rest,” she ordered.
“Why?” Ellie cocked an eyebrow, “So you and Joel can have more time to cuddle?”
Y/n knew she’d be paying for her unconscious choices as long as Ellie was around to witness them. She lightly pushed her forehead, sending Ellie back on the bed in a fit of giggles.
“Will Livingston dies a slow and painful death if you ever bring that up again,” Y/n retorted, giving Ellie a pat on the leg after, “Goodnight.”
“Night,” Ellie called in a teasing tone.
Y/n stopped by Sam’s bed, tapping his hip to get his attention. She signed ‘endure and survive’ back to him, Sam nodded with a smile.
“Practicing,” Y/n beamed, earning herself a thumbs up, “Goodnight.”
She left the room before Henry, Joel hadn’t moved from their spot against the radiator. The door had been open the whole time.
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, “‘Stick up my ass?’”
Y/n leaned up against the wall and crossed her arms, almost relaxed. “I said what I said,” she smirked, “She called you constipated.”
Joel shook his head at her, fond memories of her and Tommy ganging up on him filing his head.
He wouldn’t tell her that he’d heard the whole conversation.
Henry exited the room, shutting the door behind him. “I don’t know about y’all, but I’m exhausted,” he said, staking out the far right corner of the room for himself.
“Yeah,” Y/n sighed.
Joel rose up from the ground, already dreading trying to do another bed time shuffle with Y/n. He glanced over at her, first spotting the blood seeping through her bandages.
“Your hand,” he said, crossing the space between them.
“Huh?” Y/n furrowed her brows, holding it up to examine it, “Oh, shit. I didn’t even feel that.”
Joel was hesitant to grab it, but was itching to fix it up. “Adrenaline,” he settled for.
“So much for sleep,” Y/n grumbled, bending down and picking up her backpack.
Joel followed, setting the corner table back on its feet along with the two nearby chairs. Henry was already asleep in his corner. Joel sat down across from Y/n and watched as she pulled out the first aid kit. As she unpacked the supplies, his fingers began to twitch with nervous energy.
Y/n picked up on his fidgety state, stopping what she was doing to look at him. “Are you really that much of a control freak that you need to do this?”
Joel didn’t know what he was, just that he needed assurance that she was going to be alright. The only satisfactory way to do that was to do it himself.
“Fine,” Y/n scoffed, sliding the kit across the table to him, “Have at it.”
Joel unpacked the same supplies they’d used yesterday as Y/n unwrapped her hand. He was glad she’d taken extra gauze from his stash back in Massachusetts, they were running low.
“How long do you think it’ll take to get to Wyoming on foot?” Y/n asked as Joel grabbed an alcohol wipe. She’d already clotted, but the sites still needed to be cleaned.
He bristled, “A long fuckin’ while.”
“And are we measuring that in miles or kilometers?” Y/n asked, her tone deadpan.
Joel nearly smiled, gently rubbing the wipe over the bloody surface. Y/n hissed as it made contact with her skin, digging into her chair and drawing a deep breath after.
“Killed, like, four Clickers,” Joel decided to joke, never looking up from his ministrations, “Can’t handle a little wipe.”
“Says the man who can navigate his way across the country, but couldn’t explain a siphon to a fourteen year old,” Y/n remarked, matching his wit.
Joel peered up, a small smirk playing on his lips, mimicking the one on Y/n’s. This was the longest they’d gone without fighting during a conversation. One shift could turn the almost peaceful moment to a shipwreck.
“What happened out there tonight?” Joel asked, his mind still spinning from anxiety.
“Ran out of ammo,” Y/n answered, she know immediately what he was referring to, “Perfect timing, huh?”
Joel scoffed and ran a second alcohol wipe over her wounds. “Yeah,” he muttered, unsure of what else to say.
“But there was this weird guy hiding out in an abandoned house who took care of things,” Y/n remarked, her eyes traveling from her and Joel’s hands to his face.
Joel paused and met her stare, surprised that she was acknowledging his effort at all.
“Thank you,” Y/n continued.
Joel shook his head, returning to his work, “You don’t need to thank me.”
“Would you rather me say ‘Fuck off, you dick. I can take care of myself?’”
“That would fall in line with what you usually have to say,” Joel replied, reaching for the gauze pads.
Y/n nodded in reply, a smile pulling at her cheeks. She didn’t know what the hell she was doing, only that she was traumatized, tired, and in need of someone to talk to. If that someone came in the form of Joel, then so be it.
Joel tried to focus on Y/n’s wound, breaking it down into steps. Sterilize, gauze, wrap. He couldn’t get caught up on the fact that they were getting along. As benign as the it sounded, it was leaps and bounds ahead of where they’d come from.
Y/n, on the other hand, had nothing to do but sit and wait for him to be done. She watched how precisely he placed the gauze pads, as if one inch off their assigned spots would cost her her life. It reminded her of how precise he’d been with his lips, his hands. Every touch had carried purpose, the ultimate goal to make her know how much he loved her.
This touch, so warm and gentle, felt the same to Y/n.
Much like the day before, it took a lot of effort on Joel’s part not to get caught up in the feel of Y/n’s hand against his. He wrapped a fresh strip of bandage around it, weaving the roll between her thumb and under her palm. Back at the house, watching her narrowly avoid Infected had choked him. Every five seconds, she’d been brought to the edge of death, only for one of them to strike back at the very last moment. It had drained any and all energy left in Joel’s body, and had brought on a whole new set of questions.
If he were to lose her or Ellie at this point, what would it do to him?
He anchored the bandage down, sealing Y/n’s wound, and tried to escape the scenarios his mind was creating. They were alive, they were safe, and they would make it to Wyoming. If that was what he needed to keep repeating to himself the whole way west, he would.
“At the risk of inflating your ego,” Y/n examined his work, “Well done.”
Joel didn’t respond, he simply handed her the supplies to pack up. He was caught between a rock and a hard place, or rather, what he wanted and what he knew he couldn’t have.
Y/n threw the kit back in her backpack and came back to where they’d been. Joel was already kneeling down on the ground, removing and balling up his jacket. She didn’t want to land herself in another situation where cuddling up to Joel was a possibility, she also didn’t want to infringe on Henry’s personal space.
“You mind keepin’ an ear peeled?,” Joel asked, it was like he could read her mind, “In case I roll over on the wrong side again.”
“Yeah,” Y/n replied, coming to sit beside Joel with just enough space between them. Close enough to protect, far enough away for clear minds.
Joel stretched out one arm just above Y/n’s head. It wasn’t the closest they’d been in the past day, but it was certainly the most intimate. Y/n was facing him, the top of her hair nearly grazing his forearm. Every signal in his brain told him to roll over, put another wall between them, but there was a stronger thought that cancelled the noise.
He simply didn’t want to.
Y/n adjusted herself on her jacket and was left with nothing left to do but stare at Joel. The lines on his face were deeper, his features had grown sharper, yet somewhere underneath it all…she could still see the man she’d fallen in love with in the heat of an Austin summer. Perhaps that was what was playing with her mind the most; how she got glimpses of Joel as he was before morphing into the new version. She used to wonder what age would do to them and she knew that if Cordyceps had never mutated, Joel’s frown lines would be smiles lines. The skin underneath his eyes would wrinkle from deep laughter. And in the times where his brow would crease with concern, a single kiss from her would have relaxed the muscles.
It was enough to bring her to tears.
“What’s wrong?” Joel asked, his voice gruff but his words filled with concern.
It was all wrong. All of it. Everything that had happened to them. Everything the world had become. Risking their lives every day for a future that wasn’t guaranteed.
It was all so horribly wrong.
“I’m just tired,” Y/n spoke past the lump in her throat, “Really fucking tired.”
Joel wanted to reach out, place a finger underneath her lashes to catch her tears before they fell. In another life, he’d have taken her in his arms and grazed his lips across her ear. He’d have called her Rosebud and told her to sleep, that he wouldn’t let anything hurt her.
But he’d lost the right to act on such feelings a lifetime ago.
“Get some sleep,” he replied, it was the only part of the urge he could listen to.
Y/n shook her head, smiling with sadness, “It’s not that kind of tired.”
Nothing else needed to be said. Joel understood those six words better than any other. His exhaustion went so far past his backaches or cracking knees. His soul was seeking rest that it would never find.
It wasn’t lost on either of them that it took nearly dying for them to start drifting back to one another. The hate faded into background noise, or ceased to exist at all. They picked up their anger when they were safe, because it took effort. It took effort to stay mad, a fire requiring constant attention. But protecting one another was natural. At the end of the day, all that had transpired between Joel and Y/n would never come in the way of saving one another. Hate was a choice, care was an instinct.
Joel’s soft gaze traveled across Y/n’s face. “Try,” he encouraged, his voice barely above a whisper.
Y/n nodded, her eyes still resting on Joel. She knew if she stared at him a minute longer, she’d no longer be able to choose hate.
Though she’d never know it, Joel felt the exact same way. He was becoming weaker and weaker for her with each moment they spent together.
They didn’t bid each other goodnight, they didn’t even fall asleep at the same time, despite sharing the same exhaustion. Joel stayed awake a few extra minutes after Y/n drifted off. He watched her frown relax, her brows unclench and her chest rise and fall, keeping the same steady beat that used to lull him to sleep.
—————————
Y/n had scooted closer in her sleep, her and Joel’s bodies still not touching but their breaths mingling together.
Had they awoken with the sunlight peeking through the blinds, strips of the warm glow across their eyes, urging them awake, they wouldn’t have backed away. It would have been the first time in twenty years they’d have woken up to one another. They wouldn’t have been mad.
Instead, they startled awake to the sounds of screams.
Joel and Y/n sat up in time to see Ellie fall out of the door, a snarling Sam jumping on her and pinning her down. Henry woke not two seconds after them, barely able to register the sight.
Sam was infected.
Joel was the first to reach for his handgun, but Henry was quicker and yanked it away. He had it aimed at Y/n and Joel before they were even on their feet.
“Nope, nope, nope,” he warned.
“Joel!” Ellie’s heartbreaking scream filled the room, “Y/n!”
Joel and Y/n took one step in Ellie’s direction and Henry fired a shot at their feet. Joel shoved Y/n behind him, she clung to his arm.
“Joel!” Ellie shrieked again, begging for help from either adult, “Y/n!”
Before they could have a coherent thought, it was all over.
Henry turned his gun on Sam.
He fired a single bullet.
Sam collapsed to the floor.
Ellie sat up with tears in her eyes.
Joel lowered his hands, but Y/n still kept a firm grip on him.
“Ellie,” he breathed, his heart was racing, “Are you okay?”
The girl looked to her guardians, shocked and heartbroken.
They took a cautious step towards her, but Henry put a stop to it as he trained his pistol back on them. Joel threw his arm back out in front of Y/n, not knowing what the man might do.
Distraught seemed too small a word to describe the expression on Henry’s face. He was gutted.
Joel ensured Y/n was still fastened to him before he cautiously held out his hands to Henry, “Easy, easy, easy,” his voice was barely audible, “Henry, gimme the gun. Henry, gimme the gun.”
“What did I do?” Henry choked out.
Joel shushed him, as one would a wild animal on the verge of attacking.
“What did I do?” Henry asked again, “What-what-what did I do?”
“Henry,” Y/n nearly whimpered, her breath trembling as she did, “Henry, stop, please.”
Henry stared through his tears at his little brother’s body, blood spreading across the floor, “Sam?”
Joel urged with a new desperation as the realization deepened, “Henry, gimme the gun.”
“Henry, please,” Y/n let go of Joel, taking a calculated step forward, “I know. I know.”
“Gimme the gun, Henry,” Joel continued.
Henry’s eyes, still focused on his brother, glazed over as he raised the gun to his temple.
“HENRY, NO!” Joel cried out.
Y/n rushed past Joel, “HENRY, I KN-“
It was too late.
As it happened, Joel jumped forward, wrapping his arms around Y/n and pulling her into him.
“No!” Y/n screamed, she lurched forward as if she could still save him.
Y/n’s eyes were flooded with tears, her sobs tearing her apart so hard that they came out silent. When the noise finally came, it was a guttural cry that might come from a wounded animal. Y/n’s knees gave out on her, Joel caught her and helped lower her to the ground. He kept his arms tight around her as she wailed.
When Y/n came to, and she realized Joel was holding her, the rage reignited. “Get off me,” she yelled, clawing her way out of his embrace.
Joel let her go, shrinking back slightly at the sudden reaction. Ellie watched, consumed by terror as her rock crumbled under the weight of the trauma.
Y/n crawled towards Henry, avoiding the blood, and clung to his shirt. She wept into his still warm body, wishing that he’d have let her finish her sentence. It could have changed everything.
The three of them sat there, waiting for their grief to come to a managable level.
“We gotta go,” Joel said eventually, the words feeling heavy in his mouth.
“We can’t leave them here,” Ellie muttered, wiping her sleeve across her eyes.
Y/n was sitting beside Henry’s body by then, waiting for him to breathe air that would never reach his lungs.
“Gimme a minute,” Joel said, getting to his feet and moving mechanically out the motel room door.
Time moved slow and all at once to the three of them. Joel went into the maintenance closet and found two shovels, bringing them back to the room where nothing and no one had moved. Him and Y/n, trying to spare Ellie what little trauma they could, carried Sam and Henry’s bodies across the road and to a patch of grass. The two of them began to shovel shallow graves, burying their friends.
The job was nearly done, they were just patting the soil back down when Ellie returned. She’d retrieved the few posessions they still had, dropping Y/n and Joel’s coats and Y/n and Henry’s backpack at their feet. She came to kneel at Sam’s grave, taking it in before setting his magnetic pad atop the dirt.
Standing back up with a weight no child deserved to carry, she turned to Joel, “Which way’s west?”
Joel looked off to his left and nodded, Ellie set off in the direction.
Y/n could feel herself slipping into a heavy numbness, a grief filling her that few could understand. She felt like she had one nostril, barely taking in oxygen, above the waters that slammed into her. But as soon as she saw Ellie’s handwriting, the words ‘I’m sorry’ written across the magnetic pad, she lost the fight.
She understood Henry’s fight.
She understood his decision.
And she understood his guilt.
She dropped her shovel where it was, picked up her jacket and slung her backpack over her shoulder, following Ellie and leaving Joel by himself. He was the last person she could stand to look at right now.
Joel watched her leave, any softness that had existed between the two of them a few hours ago had disappeared.
He leaned against his shovel, staring down at the dirt and Ellie’s makeshift headstone. Having done what they’d just done, having known Henry and Sam, watching them interact….it gave Joel the answer to the question he’d pondered the night before.
If anything happened to Y/n or Ellie, he wouldn’t know how to carry on.
And that was the most terrifying feeling he could have had, because he’d had it before.
Ellie had snarked, sassed and snuck her way into his heart. Y/n had always been there, his affection never fading over time despite her perceived betrayal. But he’d buried her, another name in the long list of people he’d lost over twenty years. To have her come crashing back into his life had been unexpected and unwanted. He couldn’t stop himself from letting her consume his mind, just as she had the first time.
Now here he was, a child and the woman he’d loved relying on him, killing for him, and he wanted to run.
“Let’s go,” Ellie called out, she was even beginning to sound like him.
Joel startled, looking on to see Ellie and Y/n waiting for him. Y/n refused to look at him. They were right back to where they’d begun their journey. Perhaps even further, she’d met his gaze even after the ambush that had brought them back together. Something had shifted in her that Joel couldn’t figure out, nor did he think it was best to look too deep.
He put on Henry’s backpack, feeling the weight of it, and slipped his jacket through the strap. He gave a parting glance to the brother’s graves and headed off to join the women.
Despite their failure to keep their pasts hidden, the three of them had scars the others didn’t know about. Intricate pieces of them that had made them who they were in the Cordyceps dominated world. But past the secrets, there was a loyalty too real to deny. They were too deep in to quit on each other. Trudging westward, with grief still fresh and fragile in their palms, they were all each other had.
If one of them died, they all would.
———————
TYL Taglist: @bachiracore @stolenxkissess @kayleezra @the-wistful-reader @allthesesonsofbitches @goth-detectives365 @trippovert @rh1nestonecowg1rl @emiliaserpe @khaleesihavilliard @frietiemeloen @gracie7209 @dorck26 @thegirlnextdoorssister @alanis-altair @mariwinns16 @whosscruffylooking @endofthexline @alexiaricciardo @eonnyx @pedrosmexicangf @scarlettequinn @ao-sleepy @toinfinityandbeyonce2 @deanlovescassie @turmoil-ash @sorrowjunky @kpopslur @xxlilyxx90 @midgetpottermills @presidential-facts @scoopsnini @tubble-wubble @jamesdeerest @burninggracesandbridges @star-wars-lover @lucyhotchner @cococola-cocaine @witheringhqarts @fall-writes @alwaysdjarin @xxmoonn @emilia-the-artist @wand-erer5 @boneyarrd @lizard-zombie @itwasallinmyhead1 @cassidylea123 @paleepeaches @mxltifxnd0m @kettlekatie @ultimate-cinephile @gloryekaterina @caramelkatsukis-bitch @whovianayesha @memeorydotcom @deadunicorn159 @get0ut0fmyr00m @siriuslymooned @emmyeed @superbreadsoul @hellu-people1 @ourautumn86 @inas-thing @noraapple05 @givemylovetoall @luvwanda (tags cont. in comments)
1K notes · View notes
thesamoanqueen · 11 months
Text
All Dat
Raiting: 18+
Warnings: Smut; errors like always
A/N: I’ll be out for a couple days since is MITB week, but I always do my duty.
Tumblr media
She had worked most of the day, watching over and over hours of material, old edits, reading tons of interviews with all the same questions that would probably have been discarded as soon as they arrived. Working away from the creative team without being able to have immediate comparisons was complicated, but she had found a way to make it work anyway, to be efficient and always beyond expectations. She was willing to make more than a few sacrifices to keep herself independent and still be as present as possible in their relationship, especially if she was repaid with a good glass of wine and a dip in the pool with Roman. Well, frankly Roman was all she needed, but that was a whole other story and he kept spoiling her like it was his life's mission so… she could take advantage of the whole package.
-Mmh… this one doesn't get out of here – he greeted her, swimming up to her, to put himself between her legs and wrap his arms around her hips like a vice.
She liked to always look neat, look in her best shape and yes, even show off a bit. It made her feel good about herself, was a boost to her energy, a pamper to her mood and Roman hadn't skimped on compliments since they'd met. Not a single day.
She knew he said it to give her attention and that he appreciated it, but she also knew that new bikini wasn't going to show up for any beach trips or vacations really. Her big boy was possessive and jealous if someone crossed the line and the stuff she was wearing was a bit too an clear invitation to look more and more. She had bought it online, from an exclusive collection in which it looked different from what she was wearing and it bothered her a little, because making images and shots work was her job. The top was fine, it showed what it was supposed to, covered what it needed, but the bottom… either her hips had stretched out more than they should without asking permission or it was the bikini’s fault. It barely covered her under there and Roman or not, she liked to show off with class, she wasn't that kind of woman.
- I don't even know why I bough it – she admitted with a snort, feeling him kiss her stomach, stroking her back and sides with full hands, while she fixed it for the umpteenth time, the water of the pool rising between them and then ending up beyond the edge due to their movements.
- Cause you're gorgeous and you take care of me - Roman smiled amused, slipping his fingers between the aquamarine laces wrapped around her curves.
- You? Since when my bikini is yo business?
- Since everything under these tiny strips is ma business and you’re always good with me – he announced incredibly seriously, leaving another trail of kisses on her belly, to then go down a little more, dedicating himself to her thighs.
Unable to hold back her smile, Y/N started playing with his hair, quiting the attempt to put the bikini in its place to caress him, while he showed her all the attentions as always. She felt his beard brush along her skin, his full lips petting her inner thigh before biting down lightly, hands holding her firmly in place. From the top of the poolside, she watched him move slowly and inexorably in the water, the muscles of his shoulders shiny, the reflection of the lights along the edge of the pool, highlighting his dark tattoo.
- You've been home for an hour… less? – she reflected amused, already knowing how it would end up and she cocked her head when Roman undid the first knot on her hips, still kissing her.
His big hands pulled her towards him, securing her legs on his shoulders, licking a few drops off her caramel skin.
- Im thirsty - he said hoarsely, Y/N holding him by the strands on his head, feeling him go down to the thin strip of cloth that barely covered her.
- Ain't takin you a drink… - yet another mark printed between her legs, a kiss on her abused skin, fingers pulling another lace.
The already ridiculous fabric of her bikini fell off either side of her, bonding to her bare body only at her neck, but Roman left it in place just long enough to bring her eyes back to him.
- Mama taugh me how to do things, I can get myself a drink - he assured with a more deadly expression and Y/N really wanted to laugh, but he stole her breath by placing a sloppy kiss on her mouth and then slipped fully back in the water.
Y/N followed him with her eyes, delighted as always, affectionately scratching the back of his neck as he claimed his place between her legs. She brushed a strand from his face, feeling the heat building in her chest even before it got between her legs, refraining from jumping on him and kissing him for the rest of the evening, night, even her whole life, when Roman planted his eyes on her as he began his work. He pounced on her unhurriedly, spreading her folds with two fingers to give a first lick along her opening. Y/N moaned in excitement at his touch, snuggling her leg a little on his shoulder, seeing him smile cocky as he gave her yet another kiss on the soft thigh before diving into her core. His tongue was a fat pro, and each time he traced her moist contours to sink deep inside her opening, Y/N pulled him a little closer, one hand planted firmly on his head.
- Hn… like this – she encouraged him, fingers tightening in his dark hair, loosening the bun.
- It's been a long…-his mouth sucking first one fold-… day…-then the other-… I missed you – inexorable.
- … I missed you t-ah!
His beard itched against her sensitive skin, pool’s water slowly mixing with her moods each time he spread his mouth wide to eat her, dripping from his face. Y/N felt his breath against her button and belly twisting as he slowly fucked her with his tongue, the liquid heat building inexorably in his eyes and in her core. She rotated her hips instinctively trying to raise it, holding him in place with her hand, because patience under those circumstances really wasn't for her, but Roman locked her down with a gaze. Y/N saw his brow furrow and soon his white teeth slowly pinch at her knot of nerves, causing her to fall in a spasm to rest her back on the stone floor of the pool. She closed her eyes, feeling his big body come forward, pull her forward and soon found herself gasping at the slowly darkening sky. She felt his long fingers, joining the amazing work of his mouth, stroking her, rubbing against her smooth skin, spreading her folds, one hand feeling her stomach, holding her still more successfully than she had ever had with him.
For an unspecified time, Roman kept slowly to prepare her, warming her without haste and Y/N panting towards nowhere, feet now crossed behind his neck to have him close. Under her hands, her breasts naked and wet, rising chasing the increasingly hot breath, fingers that every now and then ended up on the grass beyond the poolside strip. Y/N had the feel that Roman was recharging her, licking away all the excess thoughts of her mind, stripping her of them as easily as he had stripped her of that obscene tiny bikini.
- Turn around and rise that pretty ass – she heard him order almost from afar, but when Y/N reopened her eyes and raised her head, he was already on his knees on the bench inside the pool.
His legs were half immersed, his swimsuit low to leave his hardness ready and shiny for the water. The pool’s lights gave him a dangerous look and Y/N couldn't take her eyes off him until he helped her back up, pinching her side to encourage her to do as he said. He kissed her nose, out of pure affection and she let out a languid smile, sliding her stomach onto the pool’s floor, feeling the rough ground against her nipples, moaning because of it and Ro’s hands. She felt his thighs rub against her ass, the weight of his hard cock past the curve of her buttocks, fingers dragging over her messy opening.
- Don't hold back - she asked in a cry, rocking her body against him once, before he slipped inside her effortlessly, filling her to the bottom.
- Lemme do my things - he said hoarsely, giving a long thrust that left her gasping and immediately another.
Y/N found herself resting her cheek on the ground, staring without really seeing the grass in the garden, the lights twinkling along the walkways, near the deck chairs, flickering as if she was drunk. Roman fucked her slowly and good, his movements were overpowering and for each thrust, Y/N felt his dick slamming against the bottom of her walls, in that sweet weak point that he always seemed to find in any circumstance and position. Her heat kept to build slowly, from the bottom of her belly, from his fingers holding up her hips, from the drops of water that dripped down his chest between their bodies, from the water splashing everywhere. His slow movement made her rub against the floor, her nipples harden and her moans breaking as they reached her throat. Her walls reached out to take him in until she felt completely exposed, holding on to his shaft as he mercilessly opened her, holding him as if they were afraid of him running away from her. Thrust after thrust, powerful, massive, the slimy sound of water and bodies colliding.
- Such a good girl… making Daddy hap-py – Roman growled low and Y/N nodded instinctively, quickly, feeling his hard cock throbbing inside her and the pace increasing.
- Y-yes-please yes
Roman was capable of accelerating almost unnaturally and she never resisted when it happened, begging hopelessly, slamming her hips into him for a better grip, for more even as her folds began to throb nonstop. She felt his strong arm pull her over him, pass under her stomach, to force her back against his broad chest and then come back to rest on her hip, his other hand holding her throat, kissing her shoulder.
-R-Roo ahn – the control he had over her body was almost toxic, but Y/N liked it.
She liked listening to his quicken breathing, his growls of pleasure growing dangerous, lower, synchronized with the throb of her spongy walls contracting, squeezing his full length. She adored his mouth biting her neck, her ear, fingers holding her throat without ever squeezing. She rubbed excitedly on him, fragile against his huge body, gasping as he guided them both to their climax, closer and lower, switching between the raw and slow pace to drive her crazy.
- I-im clo-se
- I know… ssh, fuck
Another kiss, more sloppy, but equally full of love, before bending her again, forcing her to put hands on the floor. Y/N let her head hang down, hair covering her face, as she gathered up what little clarity remained and then lifted it, gasping as she felt Roman give a couple more thrusts, long and confused, his hardness banging between the her walls pleading for a release. She moved back, trying to stay in place as possible and with the umpteenth hit on her sweet spot, she collapsed arching again with a strangled cry and almost immediately feeling Roman empty inside her from the spasms of her core. Gasping and rocking to the full curve of her orgasm, Y/N let him do with her as he pleased, pounding her again and again, until his cock had nothing more to give and he let go too, pulling her onto the bench inside the pool with him.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face under his head, still feeling him inside her, hands still gripping her hips. They stayed like this for a couple on minutes, silence cradling them.
- Maybe I could keep that bikini – she murmured at some point, hearing his low laugh, hands caressing her lazily.
- Keep what you want babygirl… all dat stuff won’t stay in place anyway
Tag squad: @sunnyfleur23 @racerchix21 @alyyaanna @angelreigns444 @romanreignsdefencesquad @romanstheory @claymorexpunisher @keybladeofsteel @iovereigns @msbigredmachine @nayys-world @gobbersworld @utika151209 @cumxxslutt @civildawn @romanmydaddy @triscillal @papireigns-05 @helensanders92 @ichdrachenfrau @darqchilddaydreamz @meggylynnloves @unfriendly--blvck--hottie @nicolewoo @wrestlezaynia @reignsx @reigns-central-blog @kianaleani @daguenoire @extra-11 @thedonsfactory @snowpanda18 @brattyfics @mzv11 @romanreignseater @namjoonspinkytoenail @tribalchiefdaily @2baddies2furious @vebner37 @raeluvshammett @depressedneedingrevenge @cyberdejos2 @thewarlordsworld @jeonmahi1864 @jxtina-86 @harmshake @harlem11680 @joanoai @southerngirl41 @blkbutterfly816
363 notes · View notes
Text
Delayed package
Self-Aware! Fyodor Dostoevsky x GN! Reader x Self-Aware! Nikolai Gogol
Tumblr media
Tumblr media
Description: Right before BSD Cast got into your world, you ordered something. But, as it often happens, your package got delayed And, because of BSD Cast arrival and you moving out, you totally forgot about your package. Until one day, when it finally arrived.
Prequel to Two detectives in your bed
Warning: OOC. English is my second language.
You were mindlessly browsing the Internet. The room was dark and only light from your laptop screen illuminated the room. Thankfully, you were on vacation and have as much free time as you want. You yawn and glance in your phone screen. It was 3:00 am.
Three months before BSD Cast Arrived to this world
___________
You, probably, should go to sleep. But, you don't want to.
Many students left to visit their families. They will spend holidays with theirs relatives. Parents, siblings, cousins, grandparents and others.
You don't have a place to return to. You were talking with your relatives, yes. But, they do show you, that no one want to see you.
You were alone.
You don't have friends. Because of your insecurities, you were afraid of making friends. You were afraid of making a mistake. Of being laughed at.
But you want to have someone. You don't want to be alone anymore.
A single sob escaped your lips. Holidays were the worst. No one around. You couldn't even watch TV and cuddle with a pet, because your landlord isn't allowed pets in the apartment.
You glance at your bed. Full of pillows and few plush toys. So you can cuddle them to sleep. Pretend, that you snuggle up with someone. That you are not alone.
It was a poor substitute, but beggars can't be choosers.
You shook your head and return to the screen.
Maybe, you could watch something. Maybe, you can rewatch your favorite BSD Moments?
You nodded to yourself and start typing the link of the site, where you watch BSD. It took a few moments for it to open. And, of course, there were ads.
Premium account, new book, anime figures, dakimakuras... What?
You scroll up, looking at the small colorful ad with pictures of a few body pillows with anime characters on it. Out of curiosity, you click on the ad.
A new site was opened in a new window. It looked normal. Menu with catalog and FAQ. Search bar. Online shop cart. Contacts. Site looked good.
Just for fun, you search for BSD dakimakuras. You don't forget to choose SFW prints only.
In few moments you got your results. It wasn't much, but, all of them looked good.
You scroll down, and saw, that two dakimakuras were on sale. With Fyodor Dostoevsky and Nikolai Gogol. You click on them, taking a better look.
According to information and reviews, the pillows were big and soft, the prints were colorful. Both dakimakuras were good.
You wonder if you should buy one.
They looked good for hugging.
You cast another glance on your bed.
Body pillow would be better, that many simple pillows.
After a quick search, you discover, that site, where you saw dakimakuras, were a legit one and wasn't scamming people.
You return to the site. You... could buy both Fyodor and Gogol pillows without worrying about your finances.
But, should you?
You stare at the screen.
Your apartment was quiet. Too quiet.
You were alone.
You click on "Add to cart" option.
_______
First month... Second month... Third month...
Shop apologize for loosing package and return money. They also allow you to keep the package, if, one day, it arrived.
Then BSD cast arrived in real world...
With them came friendship.
New home. New memories.
Camping trip with ADA. Scavenger hunt with Port Mafia. Shopping trip with The Guild. Visit to museum with Rats in the house of the Dead. Laser tug with Decay of Angels. Sport competition with Hunting Dogs. Homemade theater with kids.
Walks, movie nights, game nights.
Breakfasts, lunches, dinners.
And no more loneliness.
And you completely forgot about the package.
_____
You, Elise, Mori and Karma were ready to go.
Karma and Elise need something for school, so, you all decide to go on a small shopping trip.
Right before leaving the house, you got a notification. You check it.
It was from your previous neighbors. The big package with your name on it arrived in your old apartment. And neighbors asked you to hurry up and took it from them.
You frowned. You didn't remember ordering something on your old address. Still, you didn't want to make your neighbors wait. They were good neighbors. But, you will do busy these days and your old apartment are far away.
It seems, your worried expression didn't leave unnoticed. You heard Karma's soft voice.
"[Y/N]? Is everything alright?"
You nodded mindlessly. Mostly, it was alright.
"Yes, it's just... My previous neighbors got a package with my name on it. Ask me to take it as soon as I can."
Elise tucked her hair behind the ear. She tried to give you her best puppy dog eyes.
"So, we are going without you? But, [Y/N], without you, Rintarou will be unbearable!"
Mori stands behind Elise. He also looked a tiny bit sad. Thankfully, he didn't try to make puppy dog eyes on you. You would not bear looking at Port Mafia boss, who tried to beg like this for something.
"Elise-chan, [Y/N] will decide for themselves. And here I was planning to treat you all in a restaurant."
It is a blackmail!
You huffed. But, the problem still stands. Well, time to ask someone for help. You turned around and hurry to the living room.
"Will be back in a minute!"
____
You run into Fyodor and Nikolai in the living room. Nikolai was telling a story to Fyodor, actively gesticulating. Meanwhile, Fyodor was nodding from time to time, showing, that he is listening.
Noticing you, Nikolai stopped talking and waved. His smile became even bigger.
"Birdy! Good to see you. Do you decide to stay home with us? Great! Come on, sit down, right between Fedya and I!" Kolya patted the sofa next to where he was sitting. "We will keep you warm and comfy!"
It seems, Fyodor also liked the idea of you staying home. Unfortunately, you are needed. You will be an 'anchor' for Mori. Without you, he will go overboard with shopping and at the end of the day, instead of one adult, one teen and one child, three piles of bags will return home. You shake your head.
"Sorry, but I still must go. But I need help."
You explained, in a few words, what you need.
"So, can you two, please, go to my old apartment and take the package?"
Fyodor and Nikolai looked at each other, the Fyodor nodded.
"No problems, Myshonok. Just in case, should we check, what inside the package? To make sure it isn't damaged?"
You shrugged.
"Why not? Thanks, both of you. If you need anything, just call me."
You left the living room.
And soon you, Karma, Elise and Mori left the house.
Fifteen minutes later, Fyodor and Nikolai left to your old apartment.
______
You finally were back from your shopping trip. All of you get what you need and had lunch in a small restaurant.
You were ready to go to your room, when noticed, that there was a note on your bedroom door.
"[Y/N], please, go to my room. I will give you back your package. Fyodor D. P.S.: It would be nice to spend time together. You, Kolya and I."
You smiled. It was good, that everything went well. You decide to agree to spend some time with Fyodor and Nikolai as a 'thank you' for getting the package.
You walk into your room and changed in a what you call 'shuggly clothes for Fedya and Kolya'.
You were wearing a mouse kigurumi and a scarf, that Kolya gave you.
After getting ready, you go to Fyodor's room.
______
Something feels wrong.
Fyodor was unusually quiet. He locked the door behind you. Kolya wasn't here.
And something was laying behind Fedya's bed.
Fyodor turned towards you. His expression was neutral.
"Myshonok... Your package is here."
You nervously gulped. Did someone send something bad to you?
Fyodor took a piece of paper from his desk and hold it towards you.
"It came with the package."
You read the text.
And you were mortified.
You remembered ordering two dakimakuras almost a year ago. And lost package. And the prints.
You whined and looked at Fyodor.
He was holding them in his hands.
They were soft. They were real. They were in your house, and you don't have any idea what to do with them.
Fyodor were holding two big dakimakuras.
You take a step back. Only to crash into someone else's chest. You don't need to be a genius, to realize, that you were trapped between Fyodor and Nikolai.
Fyodor nodded a little.
Suddenly, a blanket was draped over you. And Nikolai was wrapping it around you tighter and tighter.
Five minutes later, everything was over.
_____
You were laying on Fyodor's bed. You were wrapped in a blanket. Like a candy. And you were stuck between Fyodor and Nikolai.
Fyodor was laying in front of you. His hand caress your face, slowly massaging it
Nikolai was laying behind you. He was spooning you, nibbling your earlobe from time to time.
And you feel, like you were on fire. They were so close. They were so soft.
And they were teasing.
Nikolai let go of your ear and whispered right into it.
"Tell me, Birdy, will this pillow ever kiss you during cuddles?" he returned to nibbling on your ear. You whimper.
"N-no, Kolya..."
Nikolai laughed and start paying attention to the spot right behind your ears.
You felt Fyodor's warm breath on your face. You close your eyes and his fingers started massaging your eyelids.
"Myshonok, will this pillow ever give you a massage during cuddles?"
You whimper again.
"No..."
Fyodor didn't answer, but, instead, softly kissed your eyelids.
Meanwhile, Nikolai chuckled.
"So, one point to us. No points to pillows. Next round."
Position was changed.
Now you were laying face to face with Nikolai. You felt Fyodor's breath on your neck, before he starts leaving small kisses on it. Nikolai's fingers run up and down your scalp, massaging it.
And you feel even more embarrassed.
Fyodor spoke again.
"So, do you want to explain, what the deal with the pillows?"
Once again, without waiting for your answer, Fyodor continues to lightly kiss your neck.
You spoke. Your voice was trembling.
"I... I didn't know... that you were self-aware... Order them almost a year ago... Forgot about it..."
Nikolai playfully boops your nose.
"And didn't know about the bonus pillow cases."
You nod. You feel even warmer now. Fyodor and Nikolai laughed. Fyodor started nibbling on your ear.
"I am not asking about that, Myshonok."
You were pretty sure, that you became ad hot as desert sand.
"I... I was so lonely... Before you arrived. I wanted to... Pretend, that I have someone in my life."
They were quiet. Then you felt Fyodor's lips on your cheek.
"Than today we will show you, that you will never be alone again, Myshonok"
Nikolai kissed the corner of your mouth.
"Don't worry, Birdy, we will take care of you. Just enjoy the warmth. And forget about the pillows."
Nikolai's grin became sly.
"But, please, remember, did you order pillow with us with... Adult print?"
You let out a muffled scream, hiding your face in Nikolai's chest.
You had a feeling, that they will never forget about dakimakuras.
______
What came next, you can describe with only one word. Heaven. Almost.
Without teasing about prints on pillows, it would be even grater.
You were warm.
You were cuddling with Fyodor and Nikolai.
One moment you were laying on Fyodor's chest, and he was showering your forehead in kisses.
The second moment, you were pressed against Nikolai's chest and he was kissing your hands.
You were pampered. You were caressed.
You weren't alone.
You fall asleep between Fyodor and Nikolai.
Safe. Sound. Not alone.
256 notes · View notes
thecitizenseven · 1 year
Text
Tips to enjoy the best Tours for seniors travelling alone
The advantages of travel, whether it’s a refreshing end of the week or an extended trip to another destination, are undeniable. Furthermore, for retired people or seniors who have time and a travel financial plan, the potential opportunities are almost unending. The world and, surprisingly, their city, state, or nation are ready to be investigated.
0 notes
butmakeitgayblog · 4 months
Note
Tumblr media
I shouldn’t speak on anyone else’s behalf, but I’d like to hear about the new angsty not-fake-dating au idea please
Tumblr media
Ok 👀
Gonna preface this by saying Clarke's overall character in the first half is... questionable. But listen just, set that aside for a minute and think of Clexa and also endgame 😅
So I was thinking something along the lines of Lexa gets recruited by a friend of a friend of a friend/distant classmate/ad in the college paper? Idk, whatever. But anyway, someone she's not at all close with or really has any ties to, and she's basically hired to pretend to be this girl's girlfriend for a group vacation her and her friends are going on (She's a nice girl, but a lonely gay/bi in a group of party girls/ habitually dating girls who always have Someone™ dangling off their arm, but this girl does not. Always looked over, the eternally single friend, etc. You get the gist.) And Lexa's hot. And kind of intimidating. Has that whole smokey eyed badass, femme fatale aura about her. It's... a reach, but also kind of perfect because it'll make this girl look fantastic to her friends in the street cred department and also possibly give her confidence the little boost that it needed. And considering Lexa grew up the only gay in her town, and didn't grow into her very gangly and awkward body until senior year of high school, she gets what it's like to always be the one passed up. Plus she could use the cash. So she's more than down for this. Everything's great, right? Right.
Except for the fact that one of said girls on the trip is in fact, Clarke. Who does have her own date. Now, I can't quite decide if Clarke would know about the arrangement or not, but regardless, Clarke has always been the main one in the group who is this girl's cheerleader. Very "you're better than how you treat yourself. You deserve everything, and it's not fair that people don't see it. The right person will fall in love with you in an instant, believe me. You're worth it." Very that supportive friend. She's ride or die until the end.
Now, Lexa's technically "on the clock" so to speak the entire trip, which means she is laying on the charm thiccc af. It's not exactly a stretch by any means because she is naturally a doting girlfriend in relationships (when she has one), but ya know, she's giving this girl her money's worth. She wants her feel like a princess for the entire trip. Yes it's a job, but it's also nice just making a girl feel special when she's not used to it.
The only problem is... Clarke is also seeing all of this. All of Lexa's sweetness and all of her thoughtful actions. Her attentiveness and her softness beneath the edgy exterior. The little presents Lexa surpises her friend with, the way she remembers her friend's little quirks. Always remembering her food preferences, her favorite drinks. Lexa's got this girlfriend thing down to a science. She's just so goddamn thoughtful and charming to boot. And also hot. Can't forget hot. Like really, unfairly hot. But mostly it's the way she's so gentle and sweet.
The other issue is, Lexa sees that in Clarke too. She sees that out of everyone, Clarke is pretty much the only one who actually treats this girl with kindness and respect. Never talking down to her or placating her, never just treating her like an afterthought. Clarke is so damn sweet and thoughtful, beautiful and fiery sometimes to a fault. She's funny, and warm, and just... the entire package. She understands why Clarke is never single.
But. It quickly becomes A Problem™. Because it's in the moments that Lexa is trying very hard to just focus on her "job" that she constantly finds herself in Clarke's orbit. In the mornings when she's up early making ~her girl~ her fancy coffee, late at night when she's tinkering around in the kitchen making her a lil snackie snack so they can watch a movie before bed. Those stolen interacting becomes moments of them just talking, Clarke on the counter as they chat while Lexa feels her eyes on everything she does. Them lounging by the pool while the others run into town for supplies. Dinners out with Clarke sat close on one side,,, while the girl sits on the other.
And there's flirting. Way too much flirting whenever they're in private. Effortless flirting that Lexa isn't really aware of until it smacks her in the face that they're both just idiots smiling. But it's all very cloaked in joking and throwaway moments because, technically, they're both supposed to be attached.
And as most things are, everything is fine. Until it's not.
The whole situation comes to a boiling point when they just get lost in one of those moments. A night of too many drinks and way too much flirting, finding themselves entirely too close in their villa's bathroom. It feels dangerously like the period on the end of a sentence that was written the second they'd layed eyes on each other. Before they realize what they're doing, Lexa's hoisted Clarke up onto the bathroom counter, her fingers pumping between Clarke's legs. It's a heated rush of moans and licks to sex-sweetened skin, both grabbing at each other through messy kisses meant to leave bruises. Both way too far gone into the release of all the tension to realize that... Clarke's being kind of loud...
It's a fucking catastrophe after that because yeah, well, Clarke definitely just cheated. In front of everyone. Including her "boyfriend". Though granted she'd only been seeing the guy for like a month so it's... it's not as earth shattering for her as it could be. But the real issue, the real vomit inducing kick in the moral gut is that she's just ruined the entire facade for het friend. Made her a look fool in front of everyone. Basically fucked the entire thing up for this girl who had only wanted to feel like she fit in. Just once. It honestly makes her feel awful. It's not like she just accepts it and feels ok with it, she is thoroughly disgusted with herself.
Obviously Lexa returns the money, letting herself be branded a homewrecker and cheater rather than embarrassing this girl further with exposing the truth that they were never actually together. She can carry that stigma as long as it means she's not doing anything to hurt this girl worse. She's caused enough problems as it is.
In the end everyone goes home. Pissed off or hurt or with a new bit of gossip to tell. Clexa going their own separate ways, without a single other word to each other.
The girl never talks to Clarke again when they get home and despite Clarke's efforts to try and make amends, she doesn't blame her. It was the single worst fuck up she'd ever made in her life. Which is why she takes the time to stop dating altogether and start really working on herself. Because she didn't like the version of herself who would do something like that to anyone, much less her friend. Feelings or not. Tipsy or not.
Lexa also never hears from the friend again, though that is not even remotely a surprise after everything. But she still wishes she could have done something to make things right. Some gesture or, or... something to fix what she'd fucked up so royally. It's a guilt she carries with her for a long, long while.
Eventually though, a few years down the line when it's more just a distant memory that still stings but doesn't burn quite as bad as it used to, the friend reaches out to Clarke in the form of a very opulent and beautiful wedding invitation that says she's... getting married to the guy Clarke cheated on that weekend. Clarke doesn't want to go, at all, but kind of feels obligated because not only is this the first olive branch she's ever gotten from her old friend, but also like,,, tf??? You're marrying that guy?!??! What the hell happenesd??? So she's gotta go. She has to, just to make the final amends for what she did.
Which works out well because the girl is all smiles and that bubbly laughter that comes from real, true happiness. She seems so easy and free when she tells Clarke that she is total over it. That they'd found the love that they'd been searching for in each other while commiserating through the pain of that trip. "Eh. Burnt toast theory and all that," is how she puts it with a lift of her champagne in response to Clarke's very thought-out apology.
So it's good. It's not great, and it doesn't make up for what Clarke did, but at least she now knows that her friend is at peace with what happened.
And then aND THEN Clarke catches a glimpse of Lexa at one of the tables across the room. Looking awkward and unsure and still disrespectfully hot in her formal wedding attire. And her friend, in all of her wedded blissed out glory, is like "Oh right. So. Speaking of blasts from the past. I invited another old friend... You should go say hi."
With the bride's blessing, she does exactly that despite her absolute terror at the prospect of seeing Lexa again. They have drinks and reminisce over wedding cake about that fucking shitshow of a vacation, catching each other up on where they are in their lives now and how they've been. They talk about how stupid they were. How awful and, honestly, immature. But through their embarrassed commiseration and disgust with their past selves, they both carefully (and not so carefully) toe around the subject that while they both do regret the way it happened... neither actually regret that it did. Because the sex had meant something. Because the feelings were entirely real. Those late night talks and time spent together still mean something today. Even through the messiness and the people hurt in the aftermath, the connection had been real, and in the end it had always sort of felt like the other was 'the one who got away'. So, drinks turn into dancing, which turns into Lexa catching a ride home with Clarke in a designated cab. And before either of them know what's happening, it's Clarke that Lexa is making breakfast for in bed 👀
67 notes · View notes
messenger-of-stupidity · 10 months
Text
Shaw Pack HBS Snapshots I think happened
Redacted Masterlist
~
Angel didn’t think about the fact that Davey perhaps, just maybe, liked personal space every now and then. When they were having a meal with the rest of the vacationing pack, it never crossed their mind that he didn’t want them in his lap. It was really more convenient because this way they could steal his food more easily. Although if you believed them it was really our food because this is a communist state now. Besides, after only ten minutes of him complaining, his hand eventually rested and massaged their thigh. So clearly he wants them there.
~
Baabe finds it hilarious to convince Asher to walk around in heels. It doesn’t matter who the heels originally belong too, Asher is wearing them now. It’s funny to watch him waddle around as he tries to stay balanced. It’s funny to see the pack laugh at him falling flat on his adorable face. They only realized there was a problem when he challenged Milo to a race in heels. Now no one can stop those two. Not even David.
~
Darlin found a hat shop on one of their many forced outings during day time. They had wanted to stay inside with Sam and maybe watch some TV but he had forced them to go outside and “make the most of the vacation” as he put it. Entirely ridiculous and honestly pretty rude of him. But that wasn’t the point. Kind of. Actually it was, hence the hat shop. Sam refused to tell them that he had, if ever, owned an actual cowboy hat. Well guess what southern batman? Now he does thanks to the power of capitalism!
~
Sweetheart loves pulling pranks on their mate. It’s common knowledge by now. And yet... Milo still falls for every single one. No matter what he says. They’ve hidden dress socks, snuck up on him, tricked him into playing horror games, and made him think he was having a whole ass conversation with Aggro when really Aggro was at Marie’s house and Sweetheart was just playing several recordings of Aggro meowing so Milo would meow back. But the most recent one has to be their favorite. You see, Milo think that a package from the front desk is coming. Nope. It’s glitter. 
267 notes · View notes
Note
Clark Kent.
“I love you
I loved you all along
And I miss you
Been far away for far too long
I keep dreaming you'll be with me
And you'll never go
Stop breathing
If I don't see you anymore”
Imagine You and Me
Warnings: dark elements including stalking, power imbalance, and possibly unidentified triggers.
Character: Clark Kent
Love any and all feedback you have to offer. Please consider reblogging and liking! 💓💓💓
Tumblr media
Even if you're working for the summer, it's still a vacation. No worry about overdue papers and dull lectures. You do your hours and get out, going home mindlessly to scroll or zone out in front of a youtube video.
You clock out but don't leave right away. You wander the grocery store's aisles to find a few snacks for your Friday night binge. You can't decide between the fuzzy peaches and the red hots. Both?
"No gummy bears?"
It's like a bolt of lightning. You're struck in place, veins electric with adrenaline. A single note and your hairs on end. How could it be?
You say nothing and swipe a package of sour cherries. You walk away without looking back. It can't be. He can't have come all this way. Not after...
You feel his hands on your neck, the whisper of his breath in the crook of your neck, the weight of him over you, the gentle pet along your hair as he cooed at you. "I love you, sweetie, you know that, right?"
Even in that moment, you knew it was a lie. But he didn't. Still doesn't. Even after you dropped his class. Switched dorms, even. You thought leaving campus would be the end of it.
He's behind you as you stride away from him, faster and faster, but not enough to evade his long legs. You should toss the candy and make a run for it.
"Sweetie, please, I just want to talk. If you'd just listen--"
"I'll scream, professor," you warn without even turning your head.
"Why? I'm not doing anything."
You don't acknowledge the plea to innocence. This is what he does. He tries to make you think that one thing is another. He messes with your mind. Or maybe he really believes it himself.
"Please don't walk away. I'm trying to tell you something."
"I swear to god, one more step..."
"I love you, sweetie. Please. Just like I told you. I..."
"Go away," you snap over your shoulder.
"I bought us a house, don't you want to see it?"
"Stop!" You spin to face him, "another step and I will scream so loud I'll burst your eardrum. Stay away from me, you-- you--- creep!"
You turn on your heel and toss the cherries into a nearby bin. You march to the doors without looking back and take out your phone. No way you're leading him home. You'll walk to the station and hope he gets the hint.
277 notes · View notes
arlana-likes-to-write · 11 months
Text
Trust is Earned
Tumblr media
Part 2 of Face to Face - I’m dedicating this story to @alicenter​ because her comment on the first part made me think of this story. 
Summary: You weren’t used these types of comfort as you lay in a soft bed with to many pillows and blankets. Instead of sleeping, you walk around their house and see the memories they’ve built. But Melina accuses you of snooping and her distrust of you. 
Warning: jealousy, fighting, bullet wound, distrust, family drama, mention of killing, mention of past abuse 
Word count: 5.2 k 
You stared up at the ceiling fan, watching it spin around and around. It was therapeutic in a way but you wished it would help you fall asleep. No matter how hard you tried, sleep wasn’t coming to you and you knew it. The bed was too soft, the room was too cold, and your mind wouldn’t shut up. With a heavy sigh, you swung your feet to the ground and walked out of the room. You weren’t sure what your plan was. But your feet walked you around their home. You saw pictures from Christmas, birthday parties, and trips to the capital. A tight feeling began to form in the middle of your chest. You picked up the old photo album from Ohio and flipped through the fake memories. It was a day you remembered so clearly, you shot Christmas, Easter, and summer vacation in one day. But Christmas was your favorite. All the brightly wrapped boxes that you knew were empty but you wanted to open every single one of them. Just for one moment, it would be real. “What are you doing?” You spun around to see Melina standing behind you. It was weird seeing her in a robe with slippers on but you didn’t miss the pistol in her hand. 
“I was -” 
“Snooping,” she grabbed the album from your hand. “Finding out all our secrets to report back to the Red Room.” Your eyes grew wide at the accusation. “So it’s true.” You snapped out of it. 
“What are you talking about?” You questioned. “I’m helping SHIELD take down the Red Room,” she pointed the gun at you. You raised your hands, showing her you had no weapon on you. Now you were trained to be a weapon, similar to the train she’s gone through, but you were wearing Natasha’s extra sleeping clothes and you were extremely sleep deprived. Your brain was struggling to make sense of what was going on. “You don’t trust me.” You whispered. 
“I want to,” she said. There was a slight shake of her hand. “I want to trust you so bad but I can’t,” your heart skipped and your stomach dropped. “But I know what they are capable of and I can’t risk the safety of my girls.” My girls. My girls. My girls. It was a mantra that echoed inside your head. All of a sudden, the room became too small and you could hear your heart pounding in your ears. My girls. My girls. You weren’t part of that. To Melina, you were disposable. You weren’t sure what hurt more her saying that or you believe her. 
“What the hell is going on?” Natasha asked, appearing out of nowhere with Yelena behind her. It seemed like they were a packaged duo, one wasn’t far without the other. You weren’t a part of that. My girls. My girls.   
“So,” your voice stopped the arguing between Melina and Natasha. “What’s the play, Melina? Are you going to kill me and I’ll become another red mark on your ledger or are you going to bring me back to Dreykov and let him do it?”
“No,” Natasha said, standing between you and Melina. “She’s not going anywhere. She is staying here where she’s safe and we can be a family again.”
“Natalia, we can’t trust her,” Melina said. “She’s been with them for years. This could be a trap to get the three of us back.” Three not four but three. Once again she didn’t add you, creating a division between you and them. My girls. My girls. Natasha, Yelena, and Melina. You weren’t a part of it. 
“She was with them because she gave herself up to save us or did you forget about that night?” You didn’t want to be the driving wedge between them. You’ve been alone for years, what’s one more night? 
“Maybe Melina’s right,” Natasha whipped around to stare at you. “I could be a target and staying here endangers your family. I wasn’t thinking and I was being selfish. I’ll get my stuff and head out, find a hotel, or stay with the team.” You pushed past Natasha and headed to the room that gave you. Not your room. A room. My girls. Three not four. You started throwing your stuff into the duffle bag, not worrying about how it looked. You turned to leave, almost running into Natasha. 
“You don’t have to go,” she said. “I’ll convince Melina. I’ll..”
“It’s okay,” you said, cutting her off. “I don’t want to get in the way between you and her. I’ll be okay.” 
“I called Maria. She’s expecting you. I’ll text you the address.” 
“Thank you,” you shifted your weight from side to side. “I should get going. I didn’t mean to wake you and Yelena.” You had to get out. So you did, leaving her in the room that was supposed to be yours.
*
Maria opened the door before you could even knock. “Saw you on the camera,” she said as you raised your eyebrow in question. “You look like you could use a drink.” You laughed, bitterly as she stepped out of the way. You entered the house. Phil was at the dining room table, papers covering it and you saw Clint in the kitchen making a pot of coffee. 
“Do you guys sleep?” You questioned as Maria closed the door. 
“Not when we have more questions than answers,” Phil said, waxing at you as his greeting. You sat down at the small kitchen island, dropping your bag to the floor. 
“So we have vodka, tequila, or beer,” Clint said, pouring coffee into a mug. 
“Is it good vodka or American vodka?” You asked with a tilt of your head. Clint glared at you. 
“I’ve known Nat for a long time,” he said, pulling the vodka bottle out of the fridge. “Do you know I’d offer you American vodka?” It pulled a small smile to your lips. 
“I’m glad she had you,” Maria sat down next to you as Clint poured you a shot. “All of you,” you clarified, staring into the clear liquid. “You were there when I wasn’t. Cheers.” The liquid burned as it went down. “So, what can I do to help?” 
*
You were sitting on the couch going over all the information SHIELD had on the Red Room. It wasn't much but mixed with what Melina had the answer to the 101 questions had to be in here somewhere. You were twirling a pen in your hand as you read over Peggy Carter’s notes. Phil and Clint called it a night but Maria stayed up and she was doing a bad job of being subtle. “You're staring again.” You said, closing the file you were reading. You switched to beer after your third shoot. 
“Just putting a face to fall the stories I’ve heard about,” you raised an eyebrow at her. 
“They told you about me?” You questioned. The agent nodded her head. That was hard to believe. 
“You don’t believe me?” You smirked. “It was mostly Natasha. She told me about Ohio and that night at the airstrip. The few times I was at their house I’ve caught Melina staring at your door. I mistook it as a guest room and almost got shot.”
“Why are you telling me this?” You asked, turning to face her. 
“Do you regret that night?” She asked instead. You leaned back, resting your back on the arm of the couch and your legs crossed in front of you. “Do you regret giving yourself to him?”
“No,” you whispered. “And I’d do it again. In any lifetime, I’d do anything to protect my sisters,” you took a sip of the beer. “I’d sell my soul a thousand times to the devil to keep them safe. I think that’s why it hurts so much that Melina doesn’t trust me,” you rubbed your hand across your face. “But once he’s gone for good, they’ll be safe and be a family again.” You turned to get back to work, ignoring the frown on Maria’s face. 
“They’re your family too,” you closed your eyes, taking in a slow shaky breath and letting it out. 
“Maybe,” you shrugged. “Once upon a time, they were. They’ve made a life here and I don’t know if I fit into it. I’m disposable.” 
*
“Can you please talk to me?” Melina asked, pouring two cups of coffee for her and Natasha and orange juice for Yelena. Natasha was cutting up a pepper to throw in an omelet that asked for. She was cutting the vegetable a little too aggressively but it was the best way to give her anger an outlet. 
“There is nothing to say,” Natasha mumbled, putting the peppers into the pan. 
“You have to see it from my perspective,” the older Black Widow said. “My priority is to keep you girls safe.”
“Who is watching out for her?” Natasha hissed. She cleaned the knife before putting it away in the correct place. “We should have gone back for her.” She had so much guilt eating up inside her from that night. The gunshots that hit the plane kept her up at night. 
“How?” Melina questioned, starting on Yelena’s lunch. “Please tell me how we could have saved her,” she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Your sister knew the consequences when she locked us out of that plane.”
“Now we have a chance to be a family again,” she placed the omelet on the plate. “But you don’t trust her. What's it going to take?” Before Melina could answer, Yelena entered the kitchen. She sat down in front of the omelet and orange juice. 
“Do you think I’ll still be able to play tomorrow?” Yelena asked, cutting into the food. “Will it be safe?” Natasha grabbed the mug that Melina poured for her. 
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “After I drop you off at school, I’ll regroup with the team. There will be an agent stationed outside the house and at your school.”
“What about you?” Yelena frowned.
“I’ll be fine,” she reassured her sister with a smile. “I’ll be with Maria or Clint at all times.” She nodded, pushing her food around her plate. Something else was bothering her, it wasn’t hard for Natasha to notice the change in her sister’s behavior. “What else is wrong?”
“What about Y/n?” She questioned. Now that was a great question. From what Maria told her, you refused a protection detail and were sounding self-destructive. 
“She’ll be with me,” she said, ignoring the look on Melina’s face. “Once this is over, we’ll all be safe.” 
*
You were standing in the kitchen, buttering a bagel. “Are you okay?” Clint asked. You didn’t look at the SHIELD agent.
“Yes,” you said. “Why wouldn’t I be?” He leaned against the counter with his arms crossed. 
“Because it looks like you are going to murder someone with that butter,” you smirked, rolling your eyes. “I think you could.” Oh 100% but it would be a messy way to kill someone and not a cool way to die. The front door opened and Natasha walked in. Her green eyes immediately found you. They screamed ‘Are you okay?’ and ‘Please talk to me.’ You smiled, nodding your head. You hoped it conveyed everything you were feeling. “Ready to meet the boss man?” Clint asked, following you to the couch. 
“Yeah,” you said, standing behind the couch while Clint sat down to join the others. 
“Just don’t say anything stupid,” Natasha teased. You gasped in mock offense. 
“I would never,” you smiled as Maria accepted the video call. The screen changed to a man with an eye patch wearing a trench coat. An odd outfit you thought. 
“So,” he said. “This is the infamous Black Widow,” you took a bite of your bagel. “I’m guessing you know who I am.” You nodded. 
“Nick Fury, the director of SHIELD. 
“Also the reason you aren’t in custody or buried 6 feet under.” A smirk formed on your lips. 
“Are you expecting a thank you, sir?” You questioned. You heard Natasha let out a small groan. He folded his hands and leaned back in his chair. 
“What I’m expecting is for you to help take down the Red Room and follow every order my agents give,” he said. “Or I will pick one of the numerous countries that you're wanted in and drop you off.” Fair enough. You shrugged. 
“Sounds like a fair exchange,” you said. “And after the Red Room is gone and Dreyokv is dead, what is going to happen to me?” Natasha offered you a spot at SHIELD but she wasn’t the boss. The man in front of you was. Similarly, another man held your fate. 
“Well, that’s up to you,” he said. You raised an eyebrow, not expecting to have a choice in the matter. “Depending on the outcome of the mission, I’ll be offering you a position at SHIELD.”
“If I were to turn down your generous offer?” There was an intense stare-off between you and the Director. But to your surprise, the man smiled. Or it was something close to a smile. 
“I like you, Widow,” he said. “I think we’ll get along well.”   
*
It was lunchtime. Yelena was sitting outside with a few of her friends. She was stressed, on edge, that much you could tell. She was glancing over her shoulder, barely eating her food or engaging in the conversation around her. You made out the SHIELD agent assigned to your sister. Taking a sip of your coffee, you made note of the surrounding area. The school was across the street from a neighborhood, an odd place to put a school you thought. A wooded area surrounded the small sports complex and there was a parking lot in front. You opened your laptop and pulled up a satellite image of the school. It was clear and you looked back at Yelena. She was talking to a girl, and whatever she said made the girl’s cheek blush. You smiled, shaking your head with a laugh. This is why you locked them out of the plane so they could have a normal life - go to football games, flirt with people, and smile. You were being honest with Maria, no matter what you’d keep them safe. So when the same two girls walked past the car for the 3rd time something wasn’t right. You were a trained spy, able to sneak into government buildings and take down countries. Your gut instinct kept you alive. Carefully, you opened the glove compartment and pulled out a pistol, your widow bites, and a hat. You put the hat on and attached the gun to your hip, covering it with your sweatshirt. As you listened to your phone ring, you got out of the car. “Where did you go?” Natasha asked. 
“Yelena’s school. Send back up,” you didn’t flinch as the gunshot rang out, hitting the SHIELD agent. “I’ll get her safe,” you told her. You began to run as the school erupted into chaos, pushing past students and school officials. “Hurry.” You put your phone in your pocket. Yelena stood up from the table, looking around in a panic. A scream left her lips as the girl next to her was shot. You got to her, pulled her to the ground, and flipped the picnic table on its side. It wasn’t the best cover but it was the only option. “Hey, hey,” she had blood splattered on her face and her green eyes were wide and frantic. “Eyes on me, okay?” With the sleeve of your shirt, you tried to clean up some of the blood on her face. She nodded. “I’m going to get you out of here and SHIELD is on their way.” Another shot and Yelena squeaked.
You grabbed a small makeup mirror and opened it, using it to see behind the picnic table. There was a sniper on top of the school and a small group of Widows swarming the parking lot. You pulled out your pistol. “On my mark, you are going to run towards the school.” You looked at the blueprints of the building, the cafeteria was through the closest door, and down the hall was the gym. That was your best option. 
“I’m scared,” she whispered. You nodded. 
“I know but you’ll be okay. Reader?” She nodded. “Go!” You popped up and aimed for the sniper. You weren’t aiming to kill just to disarm. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Yelena run towards the school. With the sniper taking cover, the Widows on the ground ran over to you. You fired some shots at them before following Yelena. They shot back. 
Yelena was standing in the cafeteria waiting for you. “Where are we going?” She asked as you grabbed her arm and dragged her along. 
“Gym,” you told her. “We can circle back to the front to get back to the car.” Glass shattering echoed the quiet hallway. You turned around and saw 2 Widows in the hallway. “Fucking hell,” you mumbled, running towards the gym. Like the hallway the gym was empty. “Hide behind the bleachers,” you said. “Don’t come out until I say so.” She ran behind the bleachers without hesitation. You had just enough time to reload your magazine as the two Widows walked in. 
“Gde ona (Where is she?)” One of them asked. You didn’t recognize them so they must be a lower level than you. 
“I have no idea who you are talking about,” you were accepting the hit to your stomach but the air was still knocked out of your lungs. You stayed on your feet as they circled you, mimicking a lion and its prey. But you knew the real roles here, they weren’t going to kill you or Yelena.   
“We don’t want to hurt you, sister,” your heart skipped. They were your sisters brought together by blood and violence. 
“Funny,” you said. “I was thinking the same thing.” You shot one of them with your widow bites and she went down easily. You dogged the attack, dropping to the ground and sticking out your leg. She fell but she grabbed onto your leg and threw you to the ground. You hit your head hard against the wooden gym floor. You both stood up slowly, facing each other. “I’m sorry,” you charged her, tackling her to the ground. She fought against you, hitting you but you were stronger. It was one quick punch and she was out cold. You fell back, your heart pounding in your rib cage as you stared at the unconscious Widow. “You can come out Yelena,” you said, standing up. The blonde walked out from behind the bleachers. 
“Are you okay?” She asked. You nodded. 
“Yeah,” you said, placing your hand on her back. “Let’s get out of here.” You ran out of the gym but there was a nagging feeling in the back of your head. They were too easy to take down. The girls were around Yelena’s age so they weren’t experienced. Why did he send them? “My car is over there,” you said, opening the door and pointing towards the direction of the car. The front of the school was still in chaos. “Let’s go,” you put the hood of Yelena’s jacket up to try to cover her face. 
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. The apology took you by surprise. It was something you weren’t expecting, especially from her. “I’m sorry you had to hurt them to protect me.” 
“I’ll do anything to protect you and Natasha, okay?” She nodded but you could still feel the guilt radiating off of her. You saw the Widow across the street and you pushed Yelena to the ground as the gun went off. The pain wasn’t bad as the bullet hit your stomach. Without thinking you raised your pistol and shot the Widow. It was a quick and easy kill but it somehow hurt more than the bullet. 
“Oh my god, oh my god,” you hissed as Yelena pushed her hands on the gunshot wound. 
“I’m okay, not my first time getting shot,” you joked. “I need you to drive. Can you do that?” Her face was drained of color but she nodded. “Good,” you handed her the keys and got into the car. 
“Where are we going?” Yelena asked, her hands stained red and shaking. 
“The safe house,” you said. “Drive.” She did as sirens began to echo towards the school.   
  *
You squeezed your eyes shut as Phil dug to get the bullet out of your stomach. The door to the safe house opened, you had half the mind to grab your gun but you heard Melina’s voice asking if Yelena was alright. Natasha and Maria walked over to you. You were only wearing a sports bra and jeans, sitting in the dining room. “She's gonna pull through, doc?” Natasha teased but you didn’t miss the concern in her eyes. 
“No exit wound,” Phil said, not looking up. “I have to get the bullet out before she heals.” 
“Super soldier serum,” you hissed. “We are giving it before graduation. Fuck, have you ever done this before?” You asked him. 
“Move out of the way before you do more damage,” Melina said, putting on gloves and taking the scalpel out of Phil’s hand. The agent moved out of the way, stealing a glance at Natasha. 
“Phil, go check in with Clint and see if he’s found anything,” he nodded, taking off his gloves. “Go talk to Yelena and get her statement,” Natasha hesitated but you nodded. She went to join the blonde on the couch. “I’ll be back to get your statement when you're all patched up.  
“Aye, aye, captain,” you gave her a salute. It was just you and Melina. You were surprised how gently her touch was when she tried to get the bullet out of your stomach. “I thought you didn't trust me,” you said. “Surprised you are allowing yourself in such a vulnerable position.” She got the bullet out and placed it on the paper towel. She cleaned the wound before stitching it up. 
“If you wanted me dead you would have killed me the moment I opened that door,” you chuckled. She wasn’t wrong. “Thank you for saving her.” She placed a bandage over the stitches.  
“No need to thank me,” you whispered. She took a step back and looked at you. Even with the serum rushing through your veins, it didn’t hide your scars. Each scar had a story, a name behind who gave it to you. These scars that littered your body were from other Widows during training, from Dreykov, and a few from your hand. You hated how small you felt under her eyes. 
“Where did you get this one?” She asked, touching a scar on your shoulder. 
“I got hit that night flying the plane,” you stood up, winching as you felt the stitches move. The serum would have healed soon. You helped her clean up the medical supplies. “Still managed to fly to Cuba much to Alexei’s disappointment.” You walked into the kitchen, throwing away the trash. Natasha and Yelena were on the couch and you found a new shirt resting on the back. You put it on. “Only thing that kept me going was your and their voice.” You continued. You rested your hand on Yelena’s shoulder, she looked up at you. “Are you okay, malen'koye solnyshko (little sun)?” She nodded. 
“I am. Thanks to you,” you kissed the top of her head before heading back into the kitchen. Natasha and Yelena followed you. You were surprised by how hungry you were. 
“The entire flight I thought Alexei was going to shoot me. I’ve never seen him so angry,” you continued unsure why you were telling them. The words kept following you. “Want a sandwich?” You asked them. Melina and Natasha shook their heads but Yelena let out a quiet, “Yes, please.” “When we landed in Cuba, I stood in front of Dreyokv, Alexei behind him, and guards circling us with their guns drawn. I stood there, unarmed, with a bullet hole in my shoulder.” You cut Yelena’s sandwich in half and placed it in front of her. You began to make your own. “Dreyokv asked where you guys were and I said I didn’t know. Alexei said he’d deal with me,” you felt a chill down your spine. “But Dreykov stopped him and said he knew how to handle me.” You turned your back to them so you wouldn’t have to see their expression. 
“What did he do to you?” Melina asked. You closed the fridge, no longer feeling hungry. 
“What didn’t he do to me is the better question,” you walked back over to them, eyes glued on your sandwich. You didn’t want to go into too much detail. Yelena was still so young and you didn’t want to taint her view of the world. “I was his malen'kiy pauk (little spider). He wanted to break me but I wouldn’t break.” You took a bite, it tasted bad but you knew you needed the energy. You glanced up at Melina. Her expression was hard to read, it was a strange mix of anger, sadness, and guilt. You shrugged. “But once he’s gone, everything will go back to normal.” You finished the sandwich and put your dish in the sink. “I’ll be in the room Maria gave me if you need anything.” You quickly left, closing the door behind you. Resting your head against the wooden door, you let out a shaky breath and closed your eyes. You could feel his hands on you as you knelt in front of him or one of his advisors. The blood that covered your hands was because of that man. But you weren’t the only one trapped and hurting because one man believed he was God. 
*
“We found this,” Clint said, placing a piece of paper on the table. 
“What does it say?” Fury asked. He was videoing in for this meeting. 
“Come home, malen'kiy pauk (little spider),” Natasha said. Your sisters and Melina looked at you. You leaned back in the chair, hand on your chin. He wanted you back. Time and time again, he told you you were his most prized possession. 
“Okay,” you finally said. “If he wants me then he can have me. We can use it as a trap.” 
“There is no way it will be that easy,” Clint said. It won’t be. But you were done with this cat-and-mouse game you were playing. 
“It won’t be,” you said, standing up. “He could have sent Widows much stronger than he did but he didn’t. Everything that man does has a purpose.”
“What was his reasoning?” Maria asked. You put your hands on your hips. 
“To prove a point,” you whispered. “It said that no matter where we go or what we do he has the power to find us,” you faced Fury. “Dreyokv’s daughter is our way to him and we know she’s in Budapest. I’ll end it there.”
“No,” Melina said. Your head whipped to look at the older Black Widow. “You aren’t doing this alone.” 
“She’s right,” Natasha added. “We’ll help you take him down.” 
“Alright,” you looked back at Fury. “Pack your bags. You leave tomorrow.” 
*
A plan was made and you were folding your clothes into your duffle bag. You found the photo strip and you picked it up, sitting on the bed. You remembered that day so clearly. Melina and Alexei brought you and your sisters to the mall to get school supplies. You pleaded for a few quarters to do the photo booth. In the end, it was Yelena’s puppy dog eyes that caught them breaking. “I’m sorry,” you looked up to see Melina. The apology sounded so strange coming from her. “I’m sorry I didn’t come back for you and wasn’t strong enough to save all three of you back then,” you stared at her, mouth open slightly as she walked in and sat down. “I cycled through the Red Room so many times before you were even born. For the longest time, those walls were all I knew and I was never given a choice. Until a 14-year-old girl gave me one,” you smiled, whipping away a tear that fell. “Natasha and Yelena were all I had for the longest time and I’d do anything to protect them.” You nodded. 
“I get it,” you whispered. “I’m disposable.” Melina’s eyes grew wide.
“No, dorogoy (sweetheart), you are not,” she cupped your cheeks in her hands, pushing the tears away that fell. “You are…” she paused. “Everything. You are the reason I am here, the reason Yelena gets to graduate high school, and the reason Natasha won’t admit her feelings for Maria,” you laughed at Melina’s jab at your sister. “So, thank you. Even though it’s been a long time, you are still part of this family. Okay?” 
“Okay,” you whispered, nodding your head. You whipped away your tears. “What happened to me wasn’t your fault.” She frowned, looking down at her hands. 
“Why does a mouse born in a cage run on that little wheel?” You didn’t know the answer or if she wanted you to respond. 
“But you aren’t a mouse, mama. You were just born in a cage but that’s not your fault.” Melina scoffed, pushing a piece of hair behind your ear. 
“Tell me, how did you keep your heart?” It was your turn to think over what she said. You smiled. 
“Pain only makes us stronger,” you quoted her. It was a common phrase thrown around in Ohio. But the strongest memory of it was the night you left. Yelena was chasing you and Natasha and she fell and hurt her knee. “Didn’t you tell us that? What you taught us kept me alive.” 
*
You were up when you heard a soft knock on your door. Standing up, you opened the door and saw your two sisters. “Is everything okay?” Natasha looked nervous, shifting her weight. Yelena rolled her eyes. 
“Can we sleep in here tonight?” Yelena asked. “With the shooting and everything that is going on, we're scared and worried.” You smiled, stepping out of the way so they could come in. After closing the door, you joined them. Yelena was in the middle, you, and Natasha on either side of her. It was how you would lay back in Ohio. “We’re gonna be okay, right?” You stole a glance at Natasha. 
“Of course, we will be,” you said, running your fingers through her blonde hair. It was a dangerous promise. 
“Because we’re together,” Natasha looked at you with a smile. 
“Yeah,” you whispered. “Sometimes in our lives, we will have pain and sorrow but if we are wise we know that there’s a tomorrow.” Yelena smiled. 
“Lean on me. When you're not strong.”
“I’ll be your friend. I’ll help you carry on.” Natasha added. Like when Melina told you that pain only made you stronger, it was common for you to say a phrase or two when your sisters were struggling with nightmares or in school. You were surprised they remembered it. 
“Exactly,” you said. “Now, we need to get some sleep. We have a busy few days ahead of us.”    
204 notes · View notes
lionheartedmusings · 7 months
Text
finally got around to putting this into words so here is my submission to the q!bad newsletter titled "q!bad is a good person but a bad human".
arcs like the one q!bad is on are naturally polarising and bring out a lot of strong emotions from views which is amazing, but i think a lot of people are missing the forest for the trees here -- more specifically, who we saw q!bad be for almost six months every day (who we still see him be now).
q!bad is a fundamentally good person by all accounts -- yes, he's a mischievous gremlin, but he's insurmountably generous, selfless in the way he gives without ever expecting anything in return, is dependable at every single turn. even in his lowest moments, he didn't turn his back on that dependability to his own detriment -- he prioritised everyone above himself, not just the eggs but also the other islanders.
q!bad is also... kind. not nice, i actually wouldn't call him nice per se, but he's kind, and loving, and gentle if you know how to read his actions -- just because his lovingness is at times odd to read, it doesn't mean it isn't there.
now, everything i've pointed out so far is not only factually true but also just a spot on indication of what makes a good person, right? well... yes, and no.
by human standards he's not a good person. he lies, cheats, is deceitful and cunning at every turn, is a gaslighter and a manipulator, and his moral compass ends when his emotional attachment does -- he won't hesitate to put his friends through tests and trials that he knows hurt them just to reach a goal, even if it's an ultimate "greater good" type goal.
luckily for q!bad, the man isn't fucking human and so the lense through which we see his character need to be adjusted not only to accommodate his life experience (as we would any character) but also the fact that he's just... not human, he can play pretend and he certainly has spent enough time around humans, but nature vs nurture only goes so far and he was a grown ass adult when he sunk atlantis.
it's honestly just painfully obvious that for better or for worse, q!bad doesn't function like humans do, and i think the best indicator of that is how he views interpersonal relationships, connections, love and trust.
for us, love and trust are intrinsically connected and ultimately need to be present for us to form attachments -- if we don't trust someone, we might get along with them at a superficial level but we won't engage further, right? q!bad sees those two as fundamentally separate parts of relationships -- you cannot argue he doesn't love his friends, or all the eggs, but does he trust everyone? no. because q!bad is very much capable of loving you without trusting you, because his default is distrust. while most of us start a connection with existing trust that can then be broken, he starts them with no trust that needs to be earned.
he doesn't see what's wrong about his friendship with q!foolish, he doesn't see the issue with having been sightseeing at the salem witch trials, pompeii is "the reason he doesn't do beach vacations" and not... yeno, a massive historical tragedy. for q!bad, all of these things are normal because he's a millennia old demon who fundamentally lacks the grasp on some pretty basic human concepts despite his time here (i.e. his whole conversation with q!baghera about lines and mortality).
my point being, q!bad is not a good human, he never claimed to be (on the contrary) and his recent actions show that very well...
... but he *is* a fundamentally good person, without question.
as long as you view the cubito through the lense of our own morality, you'll be depriving yourself of some pretty awesome insights into his character and also just not giving him a fair shake!
he's a terror! he's wiped out civilizations! he's eaten people! he is terrifying and bloody and dark! he's also just a little guy who makes care packages and watches kids and won't turn away anyone in need! all of this is him and for a fair analysis you need to consider the entirety of him for better and for worse!
92 notes · View notes
oneatlatime · 6 months
Text
The Library
Ground hog pipe organ. That's really quite twee.
Since when is Sokka concerned about the time crunch? Although he's right about the whole 'no plan' thing.
Katara is such a little sister sometimes.
Is an ice spring a thing? I feel like we wouldn't have invented refrigeration if ice springs were possible. What a cool idea though.
Tumblr media
Dentists aren't a thing in the avatar universe.
Does sword guy sterilise those swords between drinks? How clean are the insides of the sheaths? Why is someone so overqualified working as a blender? How boring is this town that master swordsmen resort to being Magic Bullets to pass the time?
Tumblr media
Has it ever occurred to Aang to try to maintain a little mystery around his identity? At the start of the first season, people's first thoughts when seeing an airbender were probably "wow! the fire nation missed one!" but by now it has to be well known that the airbender ping ponging around the earth kingdom is THE avatar. It's not like he didn't have other options. He could have waterbended the smoothie away. He could have asked Katara to waterbend the smoothie away. If I were feeling angsty, I'd say that a child of peacetime just doesn't have it in him to be sufficiently suspicious/cynical to feel the need to disguise himself. But I'm not feeling angsty, so I'm gonna say that Aang had a moment of dumb. Understandable, given he's twelve.
Nevermind! Aang accurately assessed how little he needed to hide himself because this professor is a dumb too!
Cool it with the phrenology.
Finding lost civilisations all over the earth kingdom is apparently a worthless accomplishment. You know, I don't like this guy.
Tumblr media
Clam lamp. Coconut lamp?
That fox joke did not land.
Tumblr media
This is the Taj Mahal.
Toph's still on probation. Gotta work six months* before you get the benefits package! * or until the world ends with the comet, whichever comes first.
Sokka wants to vacation in a library. I love how unrepentantly nerdy he can be.
Hey. Professor idiot. Wanna find your unfindable library? Go recruit Zuko. That kid finds so well it gives me flashbacks to Hufflepuff jokes.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Not sure what this implies re: the sapience of sandbenders.
The sandbenders have to have learned that move from airbenders. Also isn't that really inefficient? Rotational force goes 360 degrees but they only want force in a single direction. They should have modeled their sandbending on waterbending instead and created a giant wave behind their sleds for them to surf along.
Tumblr media
That chin needs scritches.
I hope they're bringing lots of water rations with them. How much water do you thing Appa needs in a day?
Would Sokka, who lives at the South Pole, know what a fox is?
Everyone keeps forgetting stuff this episode. Library is buried? You have two earthbenders and two airbenders.
Tumblr media
Love the attitude.
Tumblr media
This has been bugging me for a few episodes now so I might as well mention it. I know it's an artistic choice, but: having fingernails the same colour as fingers squicks me out.
Sokka's turn with the dumb. Why would you climb up to the library when three of you can fly? Appa can hover. Just walk down his tail to the window.
That's twice now they've forgetten Toph's blindness. I love her attitude towards them forgetting.
Tumblr media
Sokka's boomerang is one hell of a multitool. Whatever it's made of, it's indestructible.
"Don't worry buddy. I'm not making you go underground ever again." I hope that's not ironic foreshadowing.
Stuffed head of anthropology might be an improvement.
The vocal effect on this owl is neat.
Dammit. Now stealing from the pirates is justified.
Tumblr media
Why do you even have that? Why did you stuff it down your shirt? Just why?
Tumblr media
*Heroically refrains from going on a rant about the value of non-written sources, oral tradition, and pejoratively labelled 'folk' knowledge.*
Tumblr media
The Ears!!! Those cute little ears. They have no business being so floppy. Appa & Toph, the duo I never knew I needed.
Appa is a very good listener.
LEFTY SHOUTOUT!!!
Tumblr media
Sokka has not only forgotten that he's after a map of the fire nation; he's also stolen the declaration of independence.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Two things: First, this is the best boy. Second, Sokka seems to be a cat person.
Tumblr media
You think the Fire Nation, a Nation that knew enough astronomy to correctly predict, plan for, and harness the power of a comet to complete a very successful genocide, doesn't know there's an eclipse coming up and has planned accordingly? Like come on. They named the comet after their Firelord. They obviously know how astronomy works. It would take literally one eclipse, depriving them of their bending once, for the whole nation to become suddenly very invested in predicting the movements of celestial bodies. They know this. I promise you they have safeguards in place. Pick a less obvious time to attack.
So is the owl gullible as all hell or did he let them in to give them enough rope to hang themselves?
Badass line about justifying war. Although equating protecting the people you love with hoarding library books does not hold water.
This owl has far too much neck.
HOW strong is Toph?
This owl sure is destroying a lot of his books.
Sokka doesn't know that Toph is holding up the library right? And there's no way for him to know how quickly/slowly the library is sinking. So this date checking montage makes no sense. Maybe he will find out the date, but if he's sealed underground then it doesn't matter that he learned it.
Tumblr media
Do not like.
Very much DO NOT LIKE.
Did they just kidnap Appa?
Should have told him to yip yip. Does Toph know Yip yip?
I am a big fan of Sokka style. Although I'm glad this show aired a decade before Gangnam Style came out, otherwise the memes would have been insufferable.
Tumblr media
The owl is going to eat you as soon as it wakes up. Did you see a cafeteria? A water source? Even if you hide from the owl you'll be dead in a week.
Massive points to Toph for holding that up as everyone inside was delaying for stupid reasons.
No.
No you have to give me back Appa before the episode ends. That's the rules.
Final Thoughts
Unacceptable.
This episode felt contrived, everyone involved except maybe Toph had some epic moments of dumb, and to top it all off they stole Appa. I am not amused.
There was lots of setup and little story here. At least that's what it felt like. There were some fairly lame lines that came off as ham-fisted exposition. The ground hog choir was about the only funny bit. Maybe it's the utterly unacceptable ending bleeding backwards and staining the rest of the episode, but I did not like this one. It honestly would have benefited from a Zuko b-plot, and I do not say that lightly.
55 notes · View notes
thecitizenseven · 1 year
Text
3 apps you will SEVERELY regret not having in London
1// Download two taxi apps for your ultimate taxi experience – Uber
(or Bolt
) and Free Now
. I could not discover any difference between the first two – they are completely identical when it comes to delivering you from point A to point B. It is, however, extremely useful to have two of them on your second screen when Uber’s waiting time becomes unbearable or Bolt’s charges for a certain trip cannot be tolerated. It is always worth spending 30 more seconds to check the other one, particularly because they compete with each other and often run various promotions. Free Now is also useful to keep as the third one. They combine multiple ride sharing apps and often give you the best price out of three. What is more, Free Now became known as an app for the famous London black cabs. https://thecitizenseven.com/article/3-apps-you-will-severely-regret-not-having-in-london
0 notes