Having Jason Todd As Your Boyfriend Means That He's Often Covered In Random Bite Marks, Some People Assume

hi! i was wondering if you could do angst prompt 29 with zhongli? thank you!

Hi so this fic kind of went from fluff to angst and back to fluff. For the first time ever I ended an angsty fic happily. Hope you like it!

Word count: 1165

Rules and masterlist

You let out a hiss of pain, jerking your arm away as Zhongli tightens the bandage wrapped around your arm, amber gaze filled with worry.

“My apologies. I did not mean to cause you more pain,” his amber gaze softens and you shake your head.

“It’s alright,” you can’t help but smile at him, lost in the reflection of the moonlight on the amber pools that are your boyfriend’s eyes. You’re glad you chose to come to Luhua Pool at night, the moon amplifies the glow of his eyes.

His fingers linger on your skin, tips brushing against your palm before almost reluctantly letting you go. You hop right back into the pools of water, running your hand through the cooling liquid and splashing the lotus head growing in the middle.

Zhongli’s gaze lingers on the white bandage around your arm. Humans were fragile, that gash would take at least a few days to heal. An archon on the other hand would have healed such a minor injury in a few seconds. 

Yet, humans were so resilient. He couldn’t understand why, and the question of whether he could ever truly learn to live as a mortal surfaced once again.

Was he good enough for you?

“Are you coming into the water?” you call, breaking his train of thought. 

“I will be right there,” he replies. Rolling up his pants, he carefully steps into the pool, the water lapping above his ankles. You grin, flicking water at him before quickly hiding behind a rock.

“Please do not cut yourself again,” he reminds you worriedly. The rock you were currently hiding behind was the very same one that had cut you.

“I’ll be careful!” you peek out from behind the rock, hoping it would be enough to reassure him. He smiles back, moving over to splash you back. You laugh, scooping up some water and throwing it at your boyfriend.

The move catches your boyfriend off guard and he yelps in shock. Water droplets bead off his hair, dripping onto his clothes and he pushes his damp hair out of his face.

Oh no, he's hotter now.

Red creeps up on your face and you try to avert your gaze, but Zhongli closes the gap and lifts your chin up.

“Are you alright?” his gaze flicks over you, checking for any signs of a fever. He couldn’t have you falling sick under his watch.

“Yeah, I’m alright,” you laugh nervously at how close his face is to yours.

“We should return home,” he frowns, still unsure about whether you had a fever. Without waiting for a reply, he lifts you up as though you weighed no lighter than a feather and carries you back.

His inhumane strength reminds you that he’s simply a retired archon who chose to form a contract of love with you, an average human whose lifespan was nothing but a speck compared to the thousands of years he has lived for.

Who are you next to the God of Dust, Guizhong? Why did he choose you? Compared to his previous lover, you’re nothing, and you know it.

You sigh, leaning against his warm chest as the negative thoughts crowd out every other thought. He presses a kiss to the top of your head, setting you down, “I will make some tea to drink before we sleep, please dry yourself off in the meantime.”

You nod, heading to the bathroom to grab a towel while he heads towards the kitchen. Your thoughts follow you all the way to your bed and you groan into your pillow. 

You hate feeling like this. It felt wrong when he had told you before that he loved you for who you were. Yet you would lapse into cycles such as these and sleep it off.

The weight never goes away.

The bed dips as Zhongli climbs onto it, wrapping an arm around your waist.

“Good night,” he murmurs into your ear, his breaths tickling your hair. You simply stare straight at the wall, unable to sleep. Your fingers curl into the sheets as you try to hold back the tears. Why couldn’t you just accept the love you were given?

Little did you know he felt the same way.

Zhongli watches the rise and fall of your shoulders and tucks your hair behind your ears. 

How did he ever end up with someone as understanding as you? You chose to spend your life with him, someone shouldering the burden of thousands of years of memories instead of a man who could understand you far better as a mortal. 

The two of you are so mismatched that he has half a mind to ask if you want to break up with him.

“You deserve better,” the words tumble out of his mouth and suddenly he can’t stop the cascade of thoughts.

“I am unable to provide you with experiences a mortal lover can, and instead of enjoying your mortal life, you spend it teaching me what a mortal life is like. You should not be with me, I cannot give you what you want,” tears slide down his face as he tries to muffle his sobs. He shouldn’t you wake you up.

You immediately roll around, slightly panicked and gently wipe his tears away, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“You’re wrong. I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you. You’re an archon who has seen so much, and yet you choose to live your life with a simple average human,” you take a deep breath to steady yourself.

“I know I’m nothing compared to Guizhong, I can’t fight, I don't know so much, heck I can’t even defend myself from a rock! I don’t deserve an archon as a lover. Even a retired one,” you laugh, blinking away the tears that have started to form.

He frowns and pulls you into a tight hug, careful not to squeeze you too tightly.

“Do not say that about yourself. You have taught me so much, much more than you know, and I am eternally grateful to you for that,” he buries his face into your hair, breathing in your scent.

“Most of all, you are not Guizhong. Do not compare yourself to her.”

“Double negative makes a positive,” you blurt out before flushing in embarrassment. You did not mean to say that out loud.

“I...am afraid I do not understand,” Zhongli blinks at you, confused.

“I meant that since you were being self-deprecating and I was also self-deprecating, which is a negative thing to do, it results in both of us deserving each other, which is a positive thing. Or something like that,” you shift awkwardly. 

The joke is now ruined after the explanation, there is no salvaging your pride.

To your surprise, he lets out a chuckle, “I see. I suppose it makes sense.”

He runs his fingers through your hair, humming softly as you press against him, nuzzling into the crook of his neck.

“Good night, my love.”

Tsukishima Kei's intense gaze falls to the ground, a flush at the tips of his ears, slowly spreading to his face.

"Excuse me? To be your fake-girlfriend?"

Tsukishima nods. You're by no means friends. You're only... neighbors.

A story where Tsukishima tells a small white lie to his friends and invites you for the ride that it becomes.

warnings: aged-up haikyuu! characters (+20), university student! tsukishima kei x university student! fem!reader, fake relationship, stangers to lovers?, friends to lovers?, fake dating, eventual smut!, trying my best at slow burn, mention of low self-esteem, toxic relationship with ex, angst.

masterlist!

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full fic masterlist!

hi hi hi! welcome to my new fic! i hope you enjoy it!

the taglist is CLOSED!

Currently on HIATUS! (exams coming up!)

recently got reminded of Jason’s “hello bed, hello pillow,” line and how deeply I feel that reflects his character and his longing. so here’s some yearning!jason because that boy loves deeply and profoundly down to his very soul. have I mentioned I love him? also once again the romanized arabic at the end translates to “my life” and it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite terms of endearment for Jay to use.

Thinking about Jason Todd and how deeply he yearns for you. He’s waited so long to be loved in the way he craves, has been so hungry for it that the ache in his belly has never really gone away. He’s been a wraith, a corpse, a man starving for affection and sweetness. And then you come along and change everything for him. How couldn’t he yearn for you? How couldn’t he long for you every moment that you’re not in his presence? Revere you and worship you every moment that you are?

Thinking about Jason Todd who treats you like something divine, something holy. He kisses the bruises you get from bumping into countertops or tripping along the crooked cobblestones in Gotham Heights. He ghosts his thumbs over your closed eyes when you lay down with him to sleep in the early hours of the morning. Jason Todd who holds you so, so close to him. He knows you run cold and he runs burning hot, so it’s only right that he wraps his entire body around you to keep you warm and safe. It’s proof to him that the two of you may be something fated, something that life and death can’t touch. How perfectly you suit each other. His fire to your coolness, his strength to your gentleness, his storm to your clear shining day.

Thinking about Jason Todd who clings to everything he’s ever loved and lost with bloodied fingers from how tightly he holds on. His fingers aren’t bloodied with you though. He doesn’t have to dig his nails in, bite down with his teeth, and force you to stay. You remain peacefully in his arms. You lie there content like you trust him, like you love him. That’s what makes his yearning all the more fierce—it’s returned by you. He used to doubt it, used to think he was unworthy and undeserving and that no one could possibly pick him out of all the people in the world. But you’ve stuck around and proved him wrong. So when he yearns for you, it isn’t with the pain of clawing into something bound to leave him. It isn’t with the bone-deep terror of loss. He yearns for you with the peace of coming home.

Thinking of Jason Todd who comes back from patrol just before daybreak. The sky is the same blue-green as his eyes and exhaustion weighs down his body. Still, his soul lifts when he sees what he’s been longing for for the past three hours. A warm bed, a soft pillow, and his heart snuggled up under the blankets.

“Hello, bed,” Jason says as he pulls his helmet off and sets it on the dresser.

“Hello, pillow,” he greets as he lays his gear on the balcony railings to be cleaned tomorrow.

“Hello, hayati,” he whispers with a kiss to your hair as he climbs into bed and pulls you into his arms.

Just…thinking about Jason Todd who yearns for you.

KYLE GARRICK’S MASTERLIST

minors do not interact, you will be blocked. requests are open.

✮ shorts

workout 12/29/24

when in vegas

i’m married

competitive

in his lap

he’s a menace

broken

emotional stability

backshots

does he like dogs?

baby’s first day of school

tattoo or no tattoo

he’s not wearing that

wedding planning

big pokémon fan

what does he wear when he’s on leave?

trashy tv

bread & breakfast

when he’s sick

anger & denial

starfleet officer

skincare/haircare

headcanons - one | two | three

fashionista headcanon

favorite attributes

rambling about kyle

favorite gaz missions

brat tamer

kyle (competitive) is a sore loser - one | two

he can be scary

get with the winning team

ex boyfriend kyle - one | two

pregnant s/o

✮ fics

study hall 12/27/24

cough syrup

welcome home

want

uptight (uni-verse)

quiet in the library (uni-verse)

last kiss

scuderia ferrari’s pride & joy (F1 AU) - in progress

partition

the fall

picture day

welcome to the neighborhood - will remain incomplete

take me to church

welcome home, it’s wash day

finger food

reconnaissance

meet cute with kyle

the first time kyle says i love you

it was just sex, right?

getting back together

what’s your deal?

✮ in progress

uni student kyle part 4 - in progress

sleepover - in progress

✮ 141 fics

don’t have sex with your therapist…or do

contractors!141

vampire!141

you, kyle, price, and the desk

✮ main masterlist

Fic recs - oneshots

So I wanted to post some fic links since I got a very long list. Some of them are very well known but many deserve more attention. And I see people asking for recs in the tags all the time so I figured a few will like them.

[also I always like this kind of posts lol]

Like I said I have way too many links (last time I counted it was 200 but that was months ago...) so I'll make a couple of posts if anyone is interested.

also this is almost exclusively ghostsoap since those are the kind of oneshots I read, apparently.

Starting off with (some of the) sfw oneshots:

Peace by Metrokid - Ghost dies and has a chat with death (it ends up well dw!)

Pencil Scratches and Ink by Fluffykitty9000 - Ghost thinks Soap loves someone else and shuts him out; Soap thinks the worst.

A Lesson in Trust by mothbeast - Ghost never revealed his face to Soap and Soap feels hurt by it.

He has to Break by GalacticKraken - Ghost has to torture Soap in a mock interrogation, but he refuses to break.

(Don't) Need You to Protect Me by FreeToWriteForMe - Ghost is down, and Soap risks his life to save him. Ghost is pissed.

Beautiful Boy (To my eyes only) by Whyhellotherefriend - Ghost knew he was beyond the ability to be loved. When he starts pulling away, Soap has to do something.

You shine like the moon and the stars in the sky by C0nfused_cactus99 - Soap hasn't been sleeping much and after a mission gone wrong Ghost finds out why.

A Quiet Kind of Caring by bailish - Soap finds Ghost taken down with the flu, and feels the need to take care of him.

Broken Habits by bailish - Ghost finds Soap struggling with his greasepaint on his way to a mission, and decides to help.

Shadow of Him by goth_iterations - Ghost finds Soap's journal, and is pleasantly surprised at what he finds.

Grab On To Me by peachytea - 5 times Ghost grabbed Soap by his tac vest and 1 time Soap grabbed Ghost.

"Draw Me Like One Of Your French Girls" by SonTi - Ghost stumbles upon Soap drawing. The memory haunts him and he's intent to get to see it at least one more time (this isn't nsfw despite the title lol)

How dare you love me (like you've never known fear) by itwillcomeback (MandoKain) - 5 times Soap sang for others, and 1 time someone sang his own song back to him.

the broken dam & the starving hearts by iiruwu - Ghost has a bad habit of getting drunk and calling for Soap to take him home (this one is hurt no comfort btw)

Burn Bright by orphan_account - Ghost gets triggered in the shower after a mission, thankfully someone can always pull him out.

Place To Rest My Head by Louffox - Soap disappeared after an exhausting mission and Ghost went looking for him.

Slipping Up by ElizaStyx, starryathame - Soap gets drunk after a harrowing mission and accidentally confesses a bit too much to Ghost.

Warm Me to My Core by EmpressCirque - Soap and Ghost have to share body heat. Simon realizes he might love Johnny.

To be a Fire by Hallow_fiend - Soap and Ghost get sent into the heart of Siberia and have to face an enemy they can't fight alone.

Heatstroke Heartbreaks by Cutleryy - Soap gets attacked by dogs and Ghost and him have to face a sandstorm (this is technically one chapter but it's 20k words. Extremely good though)

Alright that's enough for one post, this is about half of them. If any of the links don't work or if anyone is interested in more, don't be afraid to say so!

How about a little argument and make up with Gaz 👀 He crosses a line and blurts out something he shouldn't have? I'm a sucker for hurt/comfort, thanks! Congrats on 5k!! 💕💕

—Didn't Mean It

⇢ ˗ˏˋ 5k Drabble Masterlist ࿐ྂ

╰┈➤ ❝ [Arguments are rare, certainly ones that leave you in tears.] ❞

You ended up locking yourself in the bedroom to have some time to yourself, head under the covers and your eyes burning from the tears you’d shed over the course of hours. It had to be well into the night now—maybe even into tomorrow if you bothered to think realistically. 

An argument with your boyfriend was practically unheard of, certainly one that left you tearing up and your hands shaky. Your heart hurting. 

Kyle had gotten back from his deployment a week early just yesterday, and you had immediately known something was wrong. He was having a harder time re-adjusting to civilian life—was more curt in his answers to your questions even if you were just trying to understand how to make him feel better. The entire day had been spent with him blankly staring at the telly, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. 

The fight had started about, of all things, the duffel bag of his belongings that you’d brought into the laundry room. You can’t remember most of it, but you remembered enough. 

“Gaz,” you level. “It’s a duffel bag. I just need it out of the walkway so I don’t trip over it.”

The man scoffs, but he can’t look at you. 

“What, you expecting someone over?” Your face wrinkles, head pulling a bit back like your neck was on a string. 

“...Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” His brown eyes turn to you, burning as his hands twitch. “Having someone come over when I’m not around, yeah? Giving me a run-around?” 

For a moment you’re utterly silent, not blinking as you stare at him in shock. When you gather your senses, you force out through a tight throat. “Garrick, I suggest you be careful with what you’re saying to me. You need to sit down and think rationally—it’s just a bag, this is ridiculous. Why in the world would I ever do something like that to you?”

His jaw clenches. 

“I don’t need to bloody sit down!” Kyle snaps, head turning away with a bit of panic in his eyes. It became apparent pretty quickly that he wasn’t in the right headspace and he knew it. “I need to know if you’ve been fucking someone else!” 

Your body tenses, eyes snapping wide. A swift silence falls between the two of you as your mouth gapes at Gaz. As if just realizing what he’d said, the man puts a hand on the back of his head and steps back, lips opening and closing. 

“W-wait, I didn’t…I didn’t mean it like that, Love. I…” You’re already walking away, hands at your sides clenched and tears stinging the back of your eyes like knives. 

So here you were, lying on the bed and breathing low—eyes half closed as Gaz’s shadow doesn't leave from under the door. He’d been there the whole time, sitting on the floor across the hall. Waiting. On occasion he’d speak; talk about how the deployment went. 

You only really listened in the dim shadows when he offered an explanation for his attitude. 

“I…” His voice is muffled, but it’s still Kyle. “I held a kid as he died, Love.” You’re fully awake in an instant, eyes stuck to the dark wood. “I watched…I just fucking watched, and I couldn’t do a damn thing. I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to take it out on you—I…Bloody Hell, I’m sorry, Sweetheart, I didn’t mean it. Fuck I didn’t mean it.” 

The man is getting choked up, his words jumbling together as a deep pain grows over the airways. Your hand is on the handle of the door before you can remember your anger, opening it and darting across the small distance. You collide with his firm chest as the first of his sobs break out of his chest, his hands shakily curling around your back as you pull him up. 

“I’m sorry,” he utters, broken, as his head shoves itself into your neck. “I’m sorry.” Again, again, again. 

You hold him and he grasps onto you like a lifeboat, both unsure. Forcing down your own tears, you put a hand on his back and rub it up and down, whispering to him. 

“Shh, Kyle,” he sobs, shaking. “Hey, it’s alright—I know you didn’t mean it, Love. I know.”

“Isn’t an excuse,” the man mutters into your skin, your shirt sticking to your flesh. “Shouldn’t have said that to you. I don’t even know why I did—don’t even believe it; you’d never do that.” 

“No,” you whisper, reassuring him. “No, I wouldn’t.” 

Pulling back, you grab onto his cheeks and level his leaking eyes with yours, wiping with your thumbs at his cheeks; brushing over the scars on his left under-eye. He sags and tries to give you a wobbly smile. A second later you speak.

“You’re stuck with me, Kyle Garrick. For all of it,” you say firmly—hard. And you say it again, and will until he believes it. “For all of it.”

The both of you stay there for a long time until your foreheads collapse into each other and you finally see the honest flicker of his lips again. You share a small, knowing, look. 

“For all of it,” he utters, and slots his lips to yours; whispering apologies in between every kiss as he drags you impossibly closer.

Recommendation - Call of Duty: Simon "Ghost" Riley Pt. 2

Navigation

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The Apparition (NSFW)

Tainted Heart

Jealous Older Boyfriend Simon

Creepy Simon

Warm Simon

Biggest Regret

Calling Him Simon Instead of Ghost

Morning with Simon

Forced to Fuck (Trigger Warning)

Clingy Simon

I Love You

Ghost x Paramedic Y/N / Part 2 / Part 3

Taking Younger Girlfriend Reader's Virginity (NSFW)

His Love Language

Reassurance

Little Bit of Cuteness Aggression

Nightmares

Panic Attack

A Family of His Own (NSFW?)

My Eyes are Up Here

Playful Argument (NSFW)

Sick Civilian reader

Going Back to His Family

Y/N Joking About Joining the Military

Baker Simon

A Cracked and Fissured Door

Nothing's Gonna Hurt You / Part 2

For the Last Time

I'll Wait for You

Guilty Eyes

PTSD

Try For Me

Simon Rescues Y/N

King Ghost x Princess Reader AU (Series)

King Simon x Personally Appointed Handmaiden Reader AU (Series)

It's Always Been You (Series) / Part 3

He Knows (Series)

Cure For Me (Series)

Moondrunk Monster (Series) / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

Smashing Pumpkins (Series)

Traitor (Series?)

When Y/N Cries

cat parents | dr. ratio & aventurine

!! polyamory !!

caritas, poker, and snuggle.

anyone could tell who named what cat, and which cat cake was who's favorite.

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caritas was veritas' favorite, the name being an old language word meaning ' love ' although he wouldn't really admit to it. he'd told you that the cat's original name - or rather, it's classification, was lambda's friend, with blue skin and black and white filling. but the cat cake had a little gold flower on the side of it's head, too, which reminded him of himself.

caritas loves to chat with the other cat cakes. its the kind of cat that makes friends with other really quickly, so it's always chatting with poker and snuggle about something throughout the day. their conversations can range from anything about how warm the bed is to the best spot in the living room to see the three of their owners dancing together in the kitchen with music while you were trying to make dinner.

ratio absolutely loved to note down their conversations whenever present. it surprised him that such a creature was so articulate, even able to properly express its desires. he'd concluded that the cat cakes had the intelligence of a young toddler with a rudimentary but understandable grasp on language. you and aventurine liked to tease him sometimes for treating the cat cakes as children sometimes, trying to teach them as a parent would, although this was something that ratio would deny wholeheartedly.

" they are an interesting new species. they are ruan mei's creations, and yet she doesn't seem to understand their full potential. i believe it's imperative that we study them and possibly teach them things they otherwise wouldn't know without our interventions, " ratio reasoned, while he was holding the little cat cake, cradling it like it was something precious to him.

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poker was aventurine's, the name coming from one of his favorite card games to play, even though he rationalized it by saying that the cat was particularly swatty and liked to cause trouble by batting at things off of the edge of tables. " it likes to poke things until it drops off of the table, so the name poker makes sense, doesn't it ? " yeah, okay aventurine, whatever you say.

poker loved to meow in the dead of night and startle everyone out of sleep in the most inopportune times. ratio has a lecture early in the morning for the intelligentsia guild ? poker is making it's boredom everyone's problem. aventurine has a meeting with the other stonehearts ? oh boy, poker is right there sitting on his face meowing incessantly. if you've got something important to do, well, sorry to say you won't be getting very much sleep that night no matter how early you go to bed. it was bratty, sure, but it was ultimately just an average grey cat cake with nothing special about it, and seemed to have an overwhelming fear of being left alone.

no matter how annoying the cat cake was being that particular night, there was only one way to stop it from meowing. of course, ratio tried to reprimand it and teach it other ways to relieve its boredom at night, but nothing proved effective. you would just try to get it to calm down by playing with it for a little while, but that really only worked until you left it alone, and then it went right back to meowing. aventurine, however, had the magic touch. he would grab the cat cake and bring it into bed, and he would just.. talk to it. in a quiet voice, just chatting about whatever popped up into his head. he'd talk for an hour or more. sometimes it was about sigonia, sometimes it was about his job as a stoneheart. sometimes it was just different gambles and how he ended up winning them.

" so, of course, i had to prove that i was much more than he gave me credit for, " aventurine had been yapping for about an hour now, when he looked down at the cat cake in his arms and realized that it was sound asleep, purring against his chest. " ah, looks like i've done it again. you're welcome, you two. "

" thank you, 'churine, " you mumbled, half asleep as you leaned over to him and pressed a kiss on his cheek, your head falling back down to rest on his shoulder, already falling back asleep. ratio didn't say anything, and when aventurine looked over at him, he couldn't help but smile. he'd put ratio asleep while just chatting, too.

.

snuggle was your trash cake cat, and there was really no deeper meaning behind the name. it was a snuggly cat, and loved attention. loved anyone and everyone who was willing to give it attention. sometimes you would wake up with it resting on your chest, sometimes you would see ratio lazily carrying snuggle around, and other times aventurine was playing with it making it chase a feather around. snuggle was the attention whore of the trio.

snuggle loved to follow you wherever you walked, especially to the bathroom. whether you were getting ready for the day or just trying to spend a few minutes doing human business, you had a pair of eyes watching over your ever move, making sure that you were never far from its sight, almost like it was protective over you. you couldn't help but compare it to your two partners, lord knows how often they were checking up on you in their own ways. ratio wasn't afraid of shooting you a text whenever he had a free moment while you were away to make sure you were okay, and aventurine was constantly on the phone with you through his headpiece.

" snuggle, i'm just going to the bathroom ! it's okay, really- " you gently protested, earning a small mew from the cat cake as it followed behind you into the bathroom, sitting patiently at the doorway, waiting for you to get finished with your business.

" hey, darling, i'm home from work ~ guess who i dragged back home with me after his lecture. " aventurine called out for you almost immediately, followed by the quieter voice of ratio announcing his presence as well.

you rolled your eyes at your partners immediately calling for you, your heart swelling with love for them, washing your hands as you walked out of the bathroom, snuggle hot on your tracks. " welcome back, guys. all of the cat cakes have been taken care of, and i started dinner. "

" thank you, i'm sure dinner will be pleasant as always, " veritas hummed, his briefcase still in his hand as he leaned down to kiss you on your lips.

" what would we do without you ? " aventurine weaseled his way in between you two, mostly because he also wanted to get his after work love from you.

.

a chatty cat cake with more intelligence that it originally seemed, a cat cake that needed to be calmed down when everyone left it alone with its thoughts, and a protective cat cake that enjoyed attention and making sure that those around it was okay.

maybe these were the perfect cat cakes for you three.

Simon didn’t like to hold you. He liked to be held.

At first, you didn’t understand why he’d turn his back to you in bed without saying anything. You thought you’d done something to him, or maybe he was in a bad mood. You couldn’t be any more wrong.

Simon Riley, an absolute brute of a soldier, was silently asking for you to be the big spoon. You nearly didn’t believe it when he finally brought it to your attention.

He was too embarrassed to ask you, so he’d resort to flipping on to his side and wait. And wait. Until he realized you didn’t catch the memo, even after many hopeless attempts.

In his mind, he thought being the big spoon would somehow convince you he wasn’t manly enough, as if his title in the service or his pure stature wasn’t proof enough of his masculinity.

To him, being held was a blanket of security. Where he’d always have to watch his back out on the field, both literally and metaphorically, he didn’t have to keep an eye out at all times with you. It was a chance for him to find solace in a person, and when he explained this to you, he was surprised to find you so willing.

And oh, when it happened, Simon nearly kicked himself for holding back on verbalizing it for so long.

The warmth of your arms when they wrapped around him from behind, your face buried between his shoulder blades, legs tangled in his, he thought that this was what inner peace felt like.

He was silly to think you’d ever be the one to judge him for what most deemed ‘unmasculine’. In all of his broad glory, he felt safe the moment you held him, like a child does when they feel a mother’s embrace except it was from someone he loved dearest to his heart.

And you? You found that being the big spoon was rather enjoyable when the man you’re holding was so damn comfortable to snuggle up to. It was a win-win for you both.

You just wished he wasn’t an idiot that left you wondering all those hopeless nights until the truth came out.