mrs. billy loomis

The chill in the Autumn air that came around every October brought with it the opening of Spirit Halloween pop-up shops, pumpkin-spiced-flavored everything, and the ever-repeating question.

“What are we gonna go as for Halloween?” 

Erik’s gaze turned away from the TV and over to you, your sudden question breaking through the silence, only to result in him furrowing his brows.

“What?”

Fairly distracted by what he was playing when you’d first asked, you rolled your eyes at your boyfriend and poked at one of the legs that was thrown over your lap, making him jump slightly.

“What should we be for Halloween?” you repeated, making a point of enunciating the words in an exaggerated way as you smiled, tilting your head as Erik turned back to the tv.

“No fuckin’ clue.” he shrugged, continuing to play but still maintaining at least some concentration on your conversation. 

“Well, Julia’s party is next week, so we have to think of something.”

With Julia moving into her own house, it had been fitting that she’d chosen a Halloween party as her own version of a little christening, promising that it was going to be one to remember. 

The little “Uh huh.” Erik made had you letting out a huff and rising suddenly, pushing his legs off of your lap and turning to face him with your hands on your hips, looking down at him with an unimpressed expression.

“Baby, I’m serious.” you spoke, leaning forward to grab the controller out his hand, watching him let out a sudden sound of protest as you held it away from him when he tried to reach for it. “If i have to scramble last minute to find a costume for you, i’m gonna be pissed.” 

Erik only grunted as he reached for the controller that you were now holding above your head from where you stood, even if he knew he could just stand up from the couch and be a whole head taller than you to grab it with ease, he stayed seated, glaring up at you.

“Okay, okay, fine.” he huffed, stopping his reaching only for a moment before he gripped your wrist and dragged you back down, falling onto his lap with a squeal and trying to keep holding the controller away from him as his hands found their way onto your waist. “We’ll go to Spirit Halloween tomorrow, you happy now? You fuckin’ brat.” he muttered the last part.

You couldn’t exactly argue with such a statement, especially not when a smug smile came across your face, nodding your head as you handed him back his controller.

Moving to rise from his lap, Erik’s grip on your hips remained, keeping you planted there on his thighs as he tossed the controller by his side on the couch.

“Where do you think you’re goin’?” he asked with raised eyebrows, his face suddenly disappearing into the crook of your neck as you let out another small squeal. 

-

Without a doubt, each time a Spirit Halloween popped up in your town, you still managed to get the same amount of joy each year you returned, if not more.

The aisle was littered with masks hanging on the wall, ranging from Michael Myers to Pennywise, the choices being limitless, well-known, as well as obscure choices for you to pick from.

Behind you, Erik followed along with his hands in his pockets, lazily looking up and down the walls at all of the options without a huge amount of care, letting you take the lead in directing the pair of you around the store to look at all of the possible costumes you could wear next week.

Reaching out for one of the bagged costumes, you turn around and hold it up to Erik, watching his face morph into disgust as he looked at the costume, only to look back up at you.

“Absolutely not.” he stated, shaking his head and pulling the costume out of your hand and hanging it back up on the wall.

“Really? Art the clown is cool though!” you protested, reaching for one of the pairs of flower sunglasses that were part of the display, just the same as in the movie, sliding them onto your face and turning back to tilt your head at Erik. “I thought you liked that movie.” you mused, only for Erik to pull the sunglasses off of your face.

“I’m not dressing as a fuckin’ clown.” he spoke, a small, amused smile appearing on his face as he put the sunglasses back.

Pouting, you sighed and turned back around, walking further through the aisle and continuing on your quest to try and find something for him to wear.

“For someone who didn’t seem to care that much, you’re being really picky.” you sighed, swinging your arms as you walked, exacerbated by your options being continuously refused.

Just as you opened your mouth to say something else, you felt his hand on your shoulder making you turn around to face him again, now seeing him holding one of the masks up that he must have gotten off the wall, looking at you with raised eyebrows and a grin.

Looking down at what he’d picked up, your eyes raked over a silicone mask with tufts of hair on it, modelled to look like a werewolf with a frozen snarling expression. 

As much as it was a minimal effort costume, you reached forward to take it out of his hands and inspect it, running your fingers over the fake fur and ears, a small exhale of laughter leaving you.

“What do you say, little red?” he asked. “Wanna go home and dig around for that hood?” 

Looking back up at Erik, his face had now morphed into a smirk, quirking his eyebrows at you in a way that read nothing but absolute debauchery, already knowing exactly what he was talking about.

That same little red riding hood costume you’d worn about five Halloween’s ago before the pair of you had gotten together, when you were fresh out of high school graduation and going to a Halloween party with his sister. 

Pushing the mask back into his hands, you narrowed your eyes at him before jerking your head in the direction of the checkout. 

“Ring it up then.” 

-

Over the course of that week, you’d taken the liberty of gathering up the other things that would be needed for a convincing werewolf costume, a pair of jeans from the thrift store to splatter some fake blood on, as well as an old shirt you could put a bit of wear and tear in. 

Even if Erik was content pulling off a lazy costume, you weren’t. 

Now here you were, applying the last little touches to your makeup and looking yourself over in your mirror, adjusting the costume that was now sitting snugly on your body. 

Even taking the trouble to pull on the thigh highs with the little bows on the end, you were the perfect picture of a little red riding hood, just as you’d been a few years ago. 

Loud knocking on the bathroom door made you jump, feeling the slightest bit thankful you hadn’t been trying to apply any makeup as you did. 

“Are you finished?” Erik’s annoyed voice came out muffled on the other end, obviously getting a bit sick of waiting on the couch in his costume for you finish getting ready. 

“Just a second!” you called out, lacing up your boot and turning to grab your purse.

“If you don’t let me in..” he started, earning an immediate roll of the eyes from you “i’ll huff, i’ll puff, and i’ll-“

Before he could finish his sentence, you swung open the door, staring up at him with a raised brow. 

Mask in hand and costume on, Erik didn’t bother to hide the way he was looking you over, a low whistle leaving him as he put a hand on your waist. 

“We might not make it to the party.” he laughed, reaching down to pinch your butt as you tried to push past him, earning a small yelp from you. 

Smacking his hands away with a laugh that you couldn’t hold back, you reached to grab your keys and placed them in your purse, already feeling a pair of arms wrapping around you from behind, an annoyed groan leaving your lips and you gripped Erik’s wrists. 

“Eriikkk..” you whined, trying to wrestle his hands off of you and walk for the door, only for him to follow your steps and walk with you. 

“I can’t help it, I just wanna eat you.” he teased, finally pulling his arms away from you so that you could open the door, readying yourself for the short walk to Julia’s house. 

Before you opened the door, you turned to have one final look in the mirror, smoothing down your skirt as Erik came to stand behind you. 

Pulling out your phone, you smiled as you opened on the camera, wanting a nice little memory before you left the house.

“Baby, put the mask on.” you asked softly, holding up your phone as you tried to frame the mirror selfie nicely. 

“Kinky.” he laughed, receiving a momentary glare from you before he pulled the mask over his head, making a show of posing with his arms over you and clawing his hands, looking like he was about to strike. 

Snapping the photo, you grinned as you looked at it and turned the phone to show Erik who pulled up his mask and let it rest on the top of his head. 

He nodded his head in approval at the photo, turning to give you a quick kiss on the head.

“Does this mean the mask stays on in bed?”

Making a show of sighing loudly, even if your smile gave away your amusement at his antics, you continued walking and let him shut the door behind you. 

-

If there was one thing that the Campbell’s seemed to take pride in, it was their ability to host, Julia’s house was decked out in string lights and fake spider webs hanging from the ceiling, music already blaring by the time you’d both arrived. 

Making the rounds and saying hello to everybody, Julia had brought you guys both something to drink before scurrying away again to be a good host, fittingly dressed as tinkerbell with wings and a little green dress. 

The fire pit outside had been where you decided to settle in, setting yourself down on Erik’s lap as he sat on one of the deck chairs, comfortably sipping at your drinks while you chatted with a few of the other guests. 

Drinks continued to flow, courtesy of your host, even a joint got passed around the fire pit, which Erik held for you to take a hit of, grinning like an idiot while you sat on his lap. 

By the time the party was starting to move inside, the pair of you were feeling fairly inebriated, nearly tripping as you walked up the small steps to get back inside the house where the music was pumping louder than it had been when you arrived. 

It hadn’t taken long for you and Erik to drift away from each other in the small sea of people, both spotting people you knew and separating to go and talk with them.

You stood in the kitchen with Julia, sipping at your drinks and laughing loudly, taking a few selfies that you were certain weren’t going to look anywhere as good in the morning as you thought they did now. 

“I can’t believe you wore that again.” Julia wheezed, gesturing to the little red riding hood costume, memories of one of the first halloween parties you went to with Julia coming flooding back.

“Remember when I nearly sprained my ankle on the curb cause we had a bottle of vodka between us?” you spoke through your laughter.

It was your phone buzzing that caught your attention, a message coming through which you squinted your eyes to read, your vision having now become the slightest bit blurred after the amount of drinks you’d consumed. 

You could see it was from Erik, nothing more than a simple one word text. 

‘Bathroom.’ 

Furrowing your eyebrows, you messaged back asking if he was okay, only to receive radio silence in return. 

“Where’s the bathroom?” you asked Julia, who pointed towards the stairs at the end of the kitchen. 

“Just up the stairs and left down the hallway.” she directed, turning back to keep talking to other people with you in the kitchen.

Putting your phone back in your purse, you ventured through the kitchen and began climbing the stairs, your initial worry being that you’d find your boyfriend hunched over the toilet throwing up his guts, or that maybe he’d done something in a bout to impress a friend and now needed to go to the emergency room. 

Wouldn’t be the first time. 

Reaching the top of the stairs, you peered down the hallway and could see a closed door with a light on, assumption leading to to believe that must have been exactly where Julia was talking about. 

Walking down the hallway, you reached the door and tried to door knob, finding it locked. Furrowing your brows, you knocked on the door lightly. 

“Erik, baby, you in there?” 

Your words received no response, but you did hear some shuffling and watched a shadow moving through the crack of light at the bottom of the door.

Without any sort of warning, the door was swung open quickly and a flash of light had you shielding your eyes as you were pulled into the bathroom, the door shutting behind you quickly. 

Adjusting to the change of light quickly, you turned around to see Erik standing at the door with his mask over his face, reaching with a hand to lock it once more before he turned to look at you.

In what may have been a bid to intimidate you, you weren’t sure, but as he stood with his back to the door and stared at you not saying a word, a smile formed on your face before you burst out into laughter. 

Slumping his shoulders, Erik dropped the facade.

“What’s so funny?” he enquired, his voice slightly muffled underneath the silicone mask. 

“You look like peachfuzz.” you wheezed, stepping forward to grip the bottom of the mask and pull it up and off his head, looking back at the sight of your boyfriend with his now messed up hair and discouraged expression. 

“Not what i was going for.” he muttered. 

Placing the mask on the basin, you put your hands on his cheeks and tilted your head at him. 

“I thought you were up here sick or something.” you mused, letting your hands move down to rest flat against his chest. 

Shaking his head, Erik only leaned forward to connect his forehead with yours, hands coming to rest on your hips. 

Potentially due to the alcohol, it seemed to be a reflex to lean forward and plant a lazy kiss on his lips as he did the same, gripping his shirt as you pressed him against the door. 

It had just started as a few softly planted kisses for the sake of it, purely because you were both alone and had a moment without distractions. 

Yet the kisses continued to get deeper and didn’t stop where they probably should have. 

Where you had Erik planted on the door, it didn’t take him long to grip your waist and step forward, moving across the small bathroom to have you trapped between him and the sink by your hips, your ass pressing firmly against the basin as his tongue swiped at your bottom lip. 

Letting out a soft moan into his mouth, like that alone had been enough to access some nerve in you, you’re mouth opened up upon reflex, allowing his tongue to slip inside and meet your own, velvet against velvet, the taste of the beers he’d been drinking coming together to mix with the vodka red bull’s you’d been tossing back in the kitchen. 

Your tongues ran against each other as Erik’s hands started to explore further without hesitation, like he was entitled to your body, which of course, he kind of was.

He knew you inside and out, all of the little things he could do to make you a whimpering mess, it wasn’t a difficult task by any means to get you begging for him. 

The bass of the party going on downstairs was the only sound that could be paired with the sounds of a sloppy make out and the occasional moan from you, you were suddenly thankful there was loud speakers and that everybody was downstairs, already you knew there wouldn’t be any stopping what had been started. 

Erik’s hands found their way under your thighs, propping you up to sit on the basin while his hands glided down your thighs and to your knees pushing your legs open with little resistance from you. 

The skirt of the little red riding hood costume was skimpy, and would barely keep you covered if you were to bend over, something that Erik was seemingly using to his advantage, taking a moment to run his thumbs over the little silk bows that were attached to the thigh highs the costume had come with. 

Pulling away only for a second, you sat there panting and looked up at your boyfriend, his hair was messy from pulling off his mask and his face was blushed a subtle hue of orange, just as he always had; letting your eyes travel down further, you could see just how rock hard he was through his jeans, there was no chance of that going down on its own. 

Your lipstick was likely already smudged, probably made worse when Erik’s hand reached forward for your face, his thumb coming to run over your swollen lips and smudge it even more.

“Fucking, look at you..” he breathed, his eyes blown out and his chest rising and falling. 

When you took his thumb into your mouth and shut your eyes, you made a show of sucking on the digit softly, moving your head up and down with a precision and skill that had him outwardly groaning just from the sight. 

“That’s it… you wish that was my cock huh? you wanna taste it that bad..?” 

His words had your eyes opening once more, your mouth opening and releasing his thumb only for you to be promptly sliding off the counter and onto your knees on the cold bathroom tiles, reaching for his belt and scrambling to undo the buckle.

Erik knew he made you like this, and he loved every second of it, when you’d slept together for the first time and he’d been able to tease all of that out of you, it wouldn’t have been the last time. 

Since then, he’d had all the time in the world to learn exactly what it was that made you tick, the things you liked to hear coming out of his mouth and the things he had to do in order to get you positively cock hungry. 

God, he really did just turn you into a slut, and the worst part was, you didn’t even care, you embraced it if anything.

Pulling down his black jeans, you were left with the dark grey boxers that outlined the shape of his cock perfectly, something you couldn’t resist as you opened your mouth and mouthed at the shape through the fabric of his boxers as you looked up at him, running the tip of your tongue along the fabric.

His hand came to rest on the side of your face, which you leaned into for a few seconds, but not before a semi hard slap was delivered to your cheek, enough of a sting to have you gasping, but nowhere near enough to send you off your knees. 

The moan you let out was borderline pathetic, returning straight back to mouthing at his binge through his boxers and letting him grab a fist full of your hair as you pulled them down.

His inhales were sharp, hissing through his teeth when his cock was spring free, the slightly cold air hitting it and sending shivers along his spine. 

You watched as Erik reached down to grab it by the base, holding your mouth open and letting your tongue hang out as he tapped the tip against your flat tongue a couple of times. 

“You want this, huh..?” he teased, pulling your head back by your hair every time you tried to wrap your mouth around the tip and holding you in place. God he could be mean about it. 

Unable to help yourself, you let out a whine, nodding your head as you kept your mouth held open, finding your hands coming to grip at the fabric of jeans that was still hanging loosely around his hips and tug harshly to bring him closer to you. 

The moment the tip of his cock hit your tongue, his grip on your hair loosened and he let you push your head forward to send his cock sliding down your throat, taking him all in an instance until your nose was pressing against his pubic bone. 

“Jesus- shit..” he breathed, head falling back as his hand came out to brace himself against the sink so that he could keep his balance. 

Pulling back, you took a breath for air, adjusting to the harsh entrance in your throat and ran your tongue flat along the underside of his cock and ran your thumb against the tip.

Just as easily as he could turn you into a whimpering mess, you could play him just as easily as a fiddle. 

His mouth fell open as he looked back down at you, taking shallow and quick breaths while you took his cock back into your mouth and began to bob your head at a pace that was quicker than he’d anticipated.

“Holy fuckkk, pretty baby needed my cock in her mouth that bad..?” he mused, his hand coming to rest on the back of your head, running along your hair and guiding the bobbing of your head lazily. 

His words had you already bringing your hand between your legs, readying yourself to start running them along your clit when Erik seemed to notice and quickly pulled your head back harshly by your hair, a soft cry leaving you at the pulling as well as the sudden loss of his cock in your mouth. 

“You put those fingers anywhere near your pussy and i’ll make you regret it.” he ordered, his voice low and croaked. 

Your eyes shut and you raised your hands to grip his own hand that was currently pulling at your hair and making your scalp sting.

Another harsh pull had you crying out softly, pulling your head back to open your eyes and look up at Erik as he leaned in to be closer to your face. 

“Colour.” he whispered softly, his eyes taking in a slightly softer feeling as he broke the scene for only a second.

“Green, daddy.” you whispered back, offering him what little of a small smile you could manage, which reassured him enough to be straight back into his mode. 

His hand wrenched your head forward, forcing his cock back down your throat while his other hand came to rest on your head, holding it at either side as he held you in place and began to slowly thrust in and out of your mouth. 

You knew if it got too much you would just have to tap him on the thigh twice and he’d let up, as roughly as he’d always treated you in bed, you trusted him to stop if it ever got too much, just as he’d done before. 

He kept his thrusts slow at first, gave you enough time to get acclimated to the feeling and seeming to speed up with every single thrust he took down your throat. 

Eventually, the light slapping sounds of Erik fucking your throat and holding your head in place were all that could be heard, along with the moans that came from you and the occasional gag when he hit certain spots. 

“You like that..? You fuckin’ slut..” he whispered as he stared down at the sight before him, your mouth wrapped around his cock and letting him fuck your mouth, just kneeling there and taking it. “Wanted my cock that bad, huh?” 

His words made you moan, eyes starting to roll into the back of your head, as much as you wanted to reach down and touch yourself, even if you knew it would have been enough to finish you off right then and there, you held back. 

Daddy had given you an order, and only bad girls don’t do what daddy says. 

The sudden absence of Erik’s pierced cock in your throat had you gasping for hair, a string of milky saliva and pre cum connecting your tongue to the large silver piercing ball that glistened from the moisture. 

You were certain you must have been a sight i behold, mascara running and lipstick smudged as Erik’s pre cum leaked over your tongue. 

His hand came to rest under your chin, raising you up further on your knees as Erik leaned down and spat into your open mouth. 

“Swallow it.” he ordered flatly, watching you close your mouth and swallow what he gave you without any hesitation. 

“Good girl.. such a good fuckin’ girl..” he sighed, the hand on your chin moving to your cheek where you leaned into his touch and shut your eyes, eating up the whispers of praise as if they were being fed to you with a silver spoon.

His hand gripped your upper arm and pulled you back into your feet, wasting no time before he was turning you around to face the mirror and basin, bending you over and forcing you look at the image of yourself that was before you. 

Lines of teared off mascara and swollen lips, your eyes seemed almost glazed over, whoever it was in front of you, you only recognised a part of her. 

“You did so good, baby.” he whispered to you as he began to pull your panties down, no doubt soaked, and guided you to step out of them, stuffing them into his back pocket before returning his attention to you.

As he kneeled behind you, you couldn’t help but feel the least bit shy, knowing you were completely exposed to him, especially when you felt his hands resting against you ass cheeks and his thumb beginning to run up and down your slit.

Your whole body shivered and you let out a small whimper, a physical reaction that only seemed to be encouraging Erik.

“Look at that.. god you’re fucking soaked..” he partly whispered to himself and to you, admiring the way your pussy was glistening right in front of him face before he leaned forward and licked a long slow stripe along it with little to no warning.

Your cry couldn’t have been heard thanks to the speakers and being an entire other level up, but you brought your hand to rest over your mouth anyway, unable to stop yourself from whimpering audibly as Erik began to lap at your pussy with mercy, intent on feeling every minute of it. 

He used his thumbs to pull you open, making sure his tongue was reaching deep inside you, leaving you pulsing and your thighs shaking. 

“Tastes like honey.. like you always do..” 

His words weren’t helping when it came to you being a pathetic moaning mess, already feeling your legs starting to struggle more and more to hold your weight up as he continued, moving to focus his mouth on your clit, sucking on it and running his tongue in circles around it that had you clinging to the marble counter for dear life. 

“Please.. daddy..” you cried out, your eyes shut tightly and gritting your teeth, you weren’t even sure yourself how much more of this you could take, coming closer and closer to the brink of organs before-

He pulled away out of nowhere, the sudden lack of attention when you were just that fucking close having you whining out and stamping your foot in frustration. 

“Don’t be like that.” Erik warned as he stood up again, “Otherwise we can stop right here and now.” he offered, looking at you through the reflection and seeing the way horror brushed across your features at the idea of stopping when you’d come so far.

Shaking your head, you felt tears pricking in your eyes. 

“No, no, please daddy, I promise, I'll be a good girl, I will..” 

Your pathetic begging evidently seemed to have an effect of him to some degree, a breathed out chuckle leaving his throat just as he reached forward to lay a harsh smack across your ass which had you crying out and leaning your head forward.

“You gonna be a good girl?” he teased, which had you nodding profusely, only for another smack to land across your other cheek, which had to whimpering softly as your legs shook.

They were harsh, leaving your skin stinging and no doubt red, but you couldn’t stop the soft moans that were following your cries of pain, biting your lip and leaning your head back to look at Erik through the mirror.

“God, look at that slutty little pussy..” he grunted, running his fingers over your slit softly, letting the wetness gather across his finger tips before he plunged his middle and ring finger inside with no warning, invading his way into your pussy which left you with your mouth hanging open and a moan flowing out of it.

Even if he pushed them in and out of you softly initially, when he felt how wet you were, how easily they glided in and out, he immediately began to ram them in and out of you at a bruising pace, leaving you trying to press your legs together which he promptly kicked apart.

“Shh, come on, you can take it, keep those fucking legs open..” he growled, adding a third finger and stretching you open with relative ease, yet still making you inhale sharply and shut your eyes tightly.

As your head fell forward, you immediately felt Erik’s fingers tangling into your hair and forcing your head back up, forcing you to look at him and yourself in the mirror.

His eyes were dark as he stared at the image of you before him, you getting filled up by his fingers, letting out pretty little sounds as your eyes rolled back.

“Look at me..” he breathed, opening your eyes and forcing yourself to keep them open so that you could look across at Erik, a look of deep concentration coming over his features as he began to pump his fingers in and out of you at a pace that had the most pornographic sloppy and wet sounds emanating from behind you.

“You gonna cum on my fingers, princess? you gonna fuckin’ soak em?” His words had you nodding your head, your whines and cries being your own way of begging him to let you cum, even if you were far past the point of being able to form words. 

“Keep looking at me, don’t take your eyes off me, even when you cum, keep your eyes on me.” he ordered, watching as your mouth fell open and your brows furrowed, the telltale look on your face that told him that you were on the brink.

Within only a few more seconds, you felt the tightness in your stomach loosen rapidly, your pussy began to pulse over Erik’s fingers, those same sloppy sounds only getting even wetter as you began to soak his fingers in your release.

Erik didn’t stop pushing his fingers in and out of you until your head hung forward and you reached around to get him to stop, which he did.

You were shaking softly as you began to recover from your orgasm, panting softly and keeping your eyes shut, feeling like one small movement would result in your knees giving out at any second.

As opposed to previously, Erik’s hands on your body were soft, treating you like a little china doll as he stroked your back softly and allowed you to recuperate. 

“You’re okay, baby, you did great.” he whispered softly, keeping you upright with a hand on your hip to maintain your balance.

You felt him lean forward, laying a soft kiss on your cheek which had you humming happily.

“You gonna let me fuck you, baby? you gonna be okay?” 

His question had you taking in a deep breath before nodding, lifting your head once again to finally look at him through the mirror, giving him those puppy dog eyes that always had him doing whatever you wanted him to.

“Just be gentle, please daddy?” 

As you said that, a smirk came over his features, nodding his head as he took hold of his cock and ran the tip over your slit slowly, already electing a few soft whimpers from you.

“Of course I will.” 

With that, he pushed his cock inside you, while in no way slowly, he didn’t slam it into you, just pushed and allowed it to glide in with one swift motion, eliciting a soft whine from you, his own low moan accompanying yours.

“Fuuuck..” he breathed out, his grip on your hips growing tighter as he leaned forward and bottomed out, letting himself just sit there for a moment so that the both of you could adjust.

Every single time without failure, when the pair of you had sex, you followed this step like a ritual, just sitting there for a few moments with his dick inside you, enjoying the feeling, letting yourselves really breathe it in before he started moving.

As he finally began to start moving, pulling in and out, in and out, the dull slap of his hips against your ass was the only sound that could be heard, your mouth hanging open in a silent scream as he began to let his tip brush over that spongey part of you that made it feel like he was deep in your stomach.

His cock was a beautiful size, perfect for you in every way, lengthy with just the right amount of thickness, tied up with a bow that came in the form of his silver prince albert, like it was a present only you got to see.

Kicking your legs apart just a little bit more, he put one of his hands flat in between your shoulder blades and pushed you forward, making you lean down further against the counter until your cheek was pressed against the cold hard counter. 

As he moved faster and harder, any promise he’d made beforehand of being gentle was starting to look like an outright lie, especially when he began to let out growls that came from deep in his chest, cut off moans and grunts while he began to fuck the daylights out of you. 

It hurt in just the right way, enough pain that had you clenching your jaw and reaching around you to try and grip the fabric of his shirt.

This proved to only give him an idea, feeling him grip both of your wrists and pull them behind you, holding your wrists with his hands and using it to keep you in place as it made you only arch your back more, allowing him for a deeper angle that had you seeing stars.

Your shoulder joints ached as he pulled your arms back but you continued on, baring it all for the sake of the feeling of Erik’s cock ramming in and out of you, addicted to the feeling in a way that could have been described as borderline unhealthy.

“God, my perfect little fucking slut, taking my cock so good..” his words were only serving as motivation, causing you to spread your legs and arch your back further, desperate to hear his words of praise by showing him what a good girl you could be for him.

“Oh fuck, yes, that’s it, right there, fuck, don’t move baby..” 

As he ceased holding onto your arms, he reached forward for your throat, leaning forward and putting his hand on it, yet not squeezing, but holding it in a way that had you arching your back so hard you could have almost looked up at him if you strained hard enough. 

“Fuuuuck, yes, yes, oh my god.. i’m gonna cum in your pussy… i’m gonna cum in your pussy baby..” 

Holding your mouth open, your exhaled moans lined up with his fast paced thrusts, coming out in a “unh, unh, unh.” type of sound as he began to pound into you so hard you wondered if you’d even be able to stand up and walk out of this party without arousing any suspicion, unlikely.

“Shit, i’m gonna.. im gonna-“

The sound he let out was palpable, similar to a growl and a cut off high pitched moan all at once, his thrusts suddenly slowing down to a snails pace, barely even pulling out of you as you felt him painting your walls with thick ropes of cum.

“Good girl, such a *good fucking girl…*” he groaned, leaning his head back and shutting his eyes as he finally let go, letting you fall forward and brace yourself against the counter as he stood, staying deep inside you as he began to pant as if he’d just run a marathon. 

Maybe it was minutes, maybe it was seconds, but as you both stood there in silence and allowed yourselves for a slow recovery, it was quickly spoiled by the sound of somebody knocking on the door.

In a moment of panic, you both stood quickly, reality setting back in as to where you were, and who’s bathroom you’d just had filthy, nasty sex in. 

Pulling out of you, Erik began to tuck himself back into his pants and do them up with a rush.

Turning around you felt his cum beginning to leak down your thighs already, scrambling to reach for some toilet paper and quickly clean up what you could that was slowly pooling out of you.

“Just a second!” Erik called out, finally doing back up his belt when you turned to him with wide eyes.

“Where are my panties!” you hissed, watching him feel around in his back pocket before pulling them out and handing them to you. 

With shaky hands you lifted your leg and pulled them back on, already feeling Erik’s cum beginning to gather as you stood straight again but you didn’t care, intent on getting out of here asap.

“I swear to god, if i have to disinfect that fucking bathroom!” Julia’s muffled voice came through the door, clearly annoyed but nowhere near pissed enough to genuinely be upset, or at least not directly at you.

When the door finally opened and you and Erik stepped out, your blushed faces paired with your almost entirely ruined makeup had made it very clear that there was no hiding what had just happened in that bathroom.

“You fucker!” Julia snapped, immediately landing hits in Erik’s shoulder which he only tried to return, the siblings getting into one of their usual little unserious slapping fights that weren’t uncommon in the slightest.

Unable to stop yourself from laughing, you leaned a hand against the wall to steady yourself as you wheezed, reaching forward to try and pull at Erik’s arm to pull him away.

“I’m sorry!” you yelled out to Julia through your laughter, knowing that she was inclined to forgive you more so than she was her brother. 

“Happy fuckin’ Halloween!” he called out to his sister, gripping your hand as you giggled together like a pair of school kids and began to book it down the stairs before she could catch up to you.

You’d just be sure to send her a lengthy apology in the morning.

Weaving through the people and waving with rushed goodbyes, by the time you and Erik had made it out of the house and were walking out onto the street to walk home, you were still wheezing and cackling.

“Oh shit, the look on her face, i feel so bad!” you cried through your laughter, Erik’s arm coming around you as you walked shoulder to shoulder.

“She’ll get over it, it’s not the worst thing she’s gotten pissed at me over.”

Erik comment had you narrowing your eyes, recalling the worst fight they’d ever had.

“I remember, when you did the nose piercing for the girl she had a crush on and totally spilled the beans, you do realise i was there for that one?” you joked.

Letting out a chuckle at the memory, Erik leaned across to lay a kiss on the top of your head, a content sigh leaving his throat.

“Where would I be without you?” he breathed, looking up at the night sky as you made your way down the sidewalk lit up by streetlights.

“Dead, probably, or with a serious case of blue balls.” 

Erik laughed, pulling you closer to keep you safe and warm from the October air.

It was an average evening, you were going to have a shower and then sort out dinner, you’d selected the clothing you were going to change into, while in just your robe you sauntered into the bathroom. The door closed, you turned on the fan and took out your phone to put a music playlist on, it was at that exact moment you received a text, you click on it and see it is from an unknown number, a simple, “Hey, you busy tonight?” 

Your brows furrow and you type out a response, “Who is this?” 

The shower is turned on, and you let it start to heat up, eyes on the bubbles showing whoever on the other end was in the midst of typing a reply, it comes in a moment later reading, “Hilarious, been two whole days, and you already forgot me?”

You did not give out your number to anyone in the past few days, you were about to type out a response when another text came in before you could, “Maybe you just need a refresher.” 

Next popped up a picture and your breath caught, eyes going wide, the picture in question was a selfie taken using a mirror, the setting was a dark room, the lighting so low it was hard to make anything out in the background. However, who cares about the room when the focus was a close up of his open pants and belt sitting low on his hips. Creamy skin with a ton of tattoos on display, one hand is in his pocket which is pulling his pants down lower to the point you start to see the beginnings of coarse hair over the edge of his underwear. Okay so, one, hot, two, whoever he was trying to reach out to was very fucking lucky, and three, you definitely do not know this guy, but you think you want to. 

You don’t want to lie and lead him on that you are some other person, so you quickly decide a picture for a picture is a fair trade, you open your robe, showing a heathy amount of cleavage and stomach, you take a snapshot of your newly exposed flesh. You look at your work and are satisfied with it, you look hot, no face shown, very minimal risk, so why not take a chance? Then you are sending him a text saying, “Sorry, I don’t think I am who you were meaning to send this to, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be who you are looking for.” 

You send the picture along with it and then drop the robe, you turn on your playlist and get into the shower. Once under the spray of water, what you just did really starts to hit, you just sent this admittedly attractive stranger a somewhat scandalous picture, and it was hot, even if it doesn’t go further, you are glad you did it. You begin to feel pretty turned on, you might have to hop in bed to take care of this before worrying about dinner. 

After you are clean, you get out and start drying off, once wrapped in a towel you pick up your phone and check to seeing the texts you got in response, “Oh fuck.”  And then, “I know I should apologize.” and lastly, “But it’s hard to do it sincerely with a response like that.” 

A laugh breaks out, and feeling bold, you text him back, “Nothing to apologize for.” After that you type out “Got me curious what you were planning to get up to with whoever that first pic was meant for, tell me that, and we’ll call it square.” 

You use your hand to wipe the steamed up mirror enough to show your body but still obscure your face, you snap another pic, it shows you wrapped tightly in the towel, showing off you from shoulder to hips and still very wet, and then you send it off.

The picture comes first less than a minute later, similar to the first but this time it is obvious that he is very fucking hard, the outline of his erection clear, then the text comes, “I think I can do that.” 

A grin stretches over your face, and you abandon the bathroom and the clothing you’d picked out earlier and made your way back to your bedroom. 

Turns out that he thought he was messaging someone he flirted heavily with a few days ago and hooked up with in a bar bathroom, he got her number afterwards, and you guess was just one digit off and ended up getting you instead, crazy how that can happen. He was messaging that person in hopes of meeting up for a repeat session, you express sympathy but also offer some companionship, “I think I can still salvage your night, if you let me.” 

You send another picture of you, this time in bed, it shows a hint of the underside of your tits, as well as the sheets that are pooled around your hips and one hand dipping under the fabric between your legs. 

He takes you up on that with a simple, “Oh my God, yes.” 

Now you take it upon yourself to get the ball rolling, asking, “If you met up with that other person, what did you want to do?”

“Ooh you want to know, huh?” He texts, and you respond with one hand as your other begins to touch yourself slowly, “Badly.” 

“You cuck.” Just like that, a clearer picture of him begins to take shape. You wonder what his voice sounds like, but those words paired together gives you a better sense of him, and most importantly, the tone. You swear you can almost hear the teasing timber he would utter that with; the levity combined with an edge of taunting and slightly degrading? It is honestly exactly the kind of thing to turn you on. He follows it up with, “But I can tell you.”

He indulges you, talks about how he had intentions of getting her into a more private space than their last hook-up, tells you about how he has been thinking so much about giving her the chance to not have to muffle her moans when he is eating her out this time. The image of this hot faceless alternative guy on his knees in a filthy bar bathroom, fingers tangled in his hair as he eats pussy really does it for you. He tells you a lot more explicit details of how he’d fuck her, and you pretend to be in her place, you imagine how it would feel to be on the receiving end of.

You don’t let him do all the heavy lifting, you make your own intentions known and tell him in no uncertain terms what you would like to do to him, building off the framework of what he laid out. This sexting is some of the best you’ve ever had and with a complete stranger no less, though you suppose maybe that is part of it, the taboo nature, the freedom you feel because there is no baggage whatsoever.

Many pictures were sent back and forth that first night, plenty were noteworthy, but you have to admit when you get the first picture of him, hard and fully exposed, it literally made your breath stutter and how many guys can claim they have an honestly breathtaking dick? The proportions are good, but the piercing is what really grabs your attention, you are immediately struck with the craving to run your tongue over it and taste the tang of metal mix with the salt of his sweat. You tell him what you want in explicit detail, trying your best to paint the picture with words of you taking him to the base.

Both of you get bolder still, names are not exchanged, a lot more skin is shown, but neither of you reveal your faces. It ends with you both cumming pretty hard. You show this off with sending a picture of your soaked fingers, wet strings of slick between your spread digits.

He shows off the splatters of cum onto his stomach, and you admire how the pools of pearly white play against the black line work of the tattoo on his stomach, as well as how it drips off that piercing adorning his still mostly hard dick. God, you wish you could make this your screensaver. 

You play it cool, a very casual text is sent by you, “This was fun, we should do it again sometime.” 

In turn, you receive an easy reply of, “Totally, you’ve got my number, hit me up.” 

Soon you are getting out of bed, throwing on clothes and heading out towards the kitchen to make dinner. 

The following day you find him popping into your mind a few times, you feel your mood overall lifted, you hadn’t realized how much you had been missing sexually interacting with another person. You don’t message him yet though, you decide you will when the mood feels right.

You quote, “hit him up”, about a week after the first time, you are getting dressed for work in the morning and while looking over your underwear options an idea strikes, and remembering how well lack of thought worked in your favour last time, you don’t linger, you do.

It doesn’t take that much time, and you leave on schedule, you have more of a spring in your step and wonder when he will take the bite, not if, you are confident it is when. 

Erik finds himself staying up late a lot of the time, whether working or gaming, going out, the usual things that can keep anyone his age from slipping into bed at a decent hour, so waking up in the early afternoon is not uncommon. He rolls over and picks up his phone to find you sent him some messages, with one hand rubbing at his eye the other swipes them open, and he is rather pleasantly surprised to see what you sent. 

The first text reads, “Morning!”

Then comes the pictures. 

You had chosen a matching bra and panty set in a rich dark jewel tone that looks criminally good against your skin and slipped into it. Three pictures were taken using your floor length mirror, your phone purposefully blocking your face, the lighting and angle also helping to hide your identity; the first is of you, head on, tits tilted forward. The next is you on your knees, taken over your shoulder and leaning to show off how amazing your ass looks in the silky fabric. The last is you back on your feet, mostly dressed but, pants are low and shirt pulled up by your other hand not holding your phone to show you are wearing the set under your clothes today.

The last message reads, “You gonna be around later? Was hoping for a repeat of last week if you are up for it.” 

Your phone vibrates in your pocket once, then twice, honestly several times, and when you pull it out you see he has reacted to every picture you sent with exclamation points and black hearts, you laugh lightly thinking of his overall aesthetic, “Very fitting.” 

His texts are as follows, “Holy fucking shit, what a way to wake up.” and then, “Yes, I am definitely going to be around later.” and a picture of his own, he seemingly is still in bed and not wearing much, you can tell how hard he is with just the thin bedsheet covering him. The last text is, “You look so fucking hot btw, oh my God.”

You smile, an appropriate response to getting some unprompted sexy pictures on top of him, sending evidence of just how much he enjoyed your efforts. You type out your response, “You are one to talk, I want to see what is under that sheet, badly. I’m going to be done work in a few hours, that cool?” 

He treats you further when you get another picture in response of that sheet pulled out of the way, hard dick resting over his hip along with a, “Very cool.” 

You laugh, texting, “It’s a date.” You know the rest of the shift is going to drag, too consumed with how excited you are for what is going to happen later. 

When you get home later, you don’t even bother showering, you strip on your way to the bedroom until you are just down to the underwear set you took those pictures in this morning. You know you want to kick this off with another picture, and you’d been thinking hard about this on the way home and knew just want to do. 

Erik is at work, this day of the week is dedicated to walk-ins, no real appointments, so he is just waiting around at the moment, it’s near the dinner hour, he is expecting some people later but for right now he is kind of bored, until your first text comes in that is. His phone lights up and, he clicks on the notification to see what you sent. It is you in your full length mirror again, face out of frame, bra off and on the ground by your feet and an arm crossed over your tits, wearing nothing else but your panties and fuck, he is glad that the shop is empty at the moment. 

The next text reads, “You around?” 

He responds automatically, thumbs tapping out, “I am.”

You text him another picture, this one has your chest totally exposed and your free hand sliding your panties tantalizingly down your thighs, with one single word, “Good.” 

This time you take the lead, you texted him next, “I’ve been thinking about you ever since you texted back this afternoon, I have been dying to get off with you again.” 

You are in your bed now, texting again before he can respond, “Last week was a ton of fun, but I want to ramp it up, if you are into it.” 

The next picture Erik gets from you takes him from being half hard to completely erect, it’s you holding a rather sizeable dildo; realistic, prominent veins, and he has the first partial look at your face, just your chin and mouth, tongue out and teasing the tip of your toy. 

He makes the picture full screen, taking in the sight of that perfect looking wet mouth, your soft pink tongue, and wishes he was there in place of that toy. The very thought of the slickness of your spit, your warm breath, God, just the heat of your mouth would feel like heaven, he is sure. He responded, with a very enthusiastic, “I am very into it.”

You are torturing him, you have been talking about how much you want to taste him, how badly you want to be filled.

You had taken a few more pictures of you blowing the toy, still focused on the lower part of your face and the anonymous aspect is very much doing it for both of you, he loves that he knows what you look like with drool down your chin but has never seen your eyes, and you love that fact as well as showing off for him. 

He is aching in his jeans and dying for relief, he hasn’t sent any pictures himself yet tonight, still sitting in the shop and fully dressed, but he has been typing out responses agreeing with every single thing you’ve been saying and talking about how he is sure it would feel incredible to slide as deep as he can into your mouth. 

You ramp it up further, taking him by surprise, sending your very first video, he clicks on it quick as he can and as it starts to run he sees that you have secured the suction cup base of your dildo to a hardcover book. He watches with rapt attention as you swing one leg over, line it up and then start to slide it inside of you. The sound is obscene, he can fucking hear how wet you are, but more than that he can hear you moan out at the satisfaction of being filled. Once you settle down and have it fully inside of you, he can make out your breathy, “Oh my fucking God, yes-” 

You start to bounce up and down, he makes it exactly three rolls of your hips before he decides fuck it, he is taking his break now. He grabs the sign that declares, “Be back in twenty.” and hurriedly tapes it to the glass front door and locks it. He makes a beeline for the bathroom and locks himself inside, he had still been watching, phone in hand and eyes glued to the screen, losing his mind at how hot the visual of your soaked cunt taking well moulded silicone. Erik gets his belt and pants open, intent on sending you something back for that. 

You pause your riding when you hear your phone ding, you scoop your phone up and see he responded, you are greeted with the words, “You’re killing me.” With a picture of one of his hands gripping the base of his very hard dick. His pants are slung low again, he is leaning against a sink and the lighting is low with a red tint, your mouth is watering. Before you respond to that, he sends his own video, the text reads, “A video for a video seems fair.” 

You click on the video, and it is a blissful minute long video of him stroking his dick, you can hear his heavier breathing, the slight jingle of his belt buckle from the rough movements of his hand and of course, the sweetness of the sound of skin on skin. 

It is on. 

Your next one is you riding the dildo, dirty talking in between moans about how fucking hot he is and how good this feels, but that you are positive that he would feel better. 

The next video he sends you into overdrive, it opens with him spitting into his hand and then wrapping it back around his shaft, he strokes himself as he admits, “God, you know I’m at work right now? Fuck, couldn’t focus at all-” He huffs out a breath and confesses further, “-made me take my break early, you’ve got me jerking off in the bathroom right now-” 

Your hips pick up the pace, fucking yourself rougher, fingers swirling over your clit as you watch the video, listen to his filthy words, “-who can sketch when all I can think about is you riding me?”

Just listening to him is getting you close, you hold out and soon as you are done watching his video you set your phone back up for the big finish. Your hips roll, you moan out as your hand works, “So-sorry for taking you away from your work, bu-but M’ close-” 

A broken gasp as you manage to get out a little more praise, “-seriously you are so fucking hot, I can’t last, fuck! Ahhn I’m gonna-” 

You capture it beautifully, managing to get all the clear detail in your low bedroom lighting, the shudder of your thighs and how your pace stutters, moaning out weakly as you tip over the edge and your orgasm sweeps through you. Somehow you manage to ride through your high, shaky, uneven movements, stars bursting behind your eyelids as you think of your swollen walls wrapped around him as you cum. 

Once the pleasure finds it’s natural end, your hand falls away, and you sit there with the dildo still inside for a moment. You are panting, still coming down from your orgasm, after another few seconds, you lift off the toy, letting the camera on your phone capture all the excess wetness that leaks out and runs down the toy. 

You stop recording, and you send it off, you flop down and wait eagerly for his response, which you get in just a few minutes, right when your breathing comes back to normal, only for the video he sent to steal it again. His video is much shorter, about thirty seconds long, but the best one so far, incoherently moaning out a curse as he cums all over his own fingers. 

Honestly, even though you just came the sounds he makes when he is cumming are getting you going again, you are so going to jerk off to that video on loop again when you regain a little strength. 

With another flash of inspiration, you remove your toy from the book cover and bring it up, you start to clean it up with your mouth; you took a picture of the soaked toy resting on your cheek, your tongue lolling out and clearly dripping with your own creamy slick, combining it with a text, “Oh my fucking God, how are you this hot? Wish I was there to help you clean up.” 

His own response comes back with, “I’m hot? Have you seen you? Also serve return, I bet you taste amazing.” 

The texting continues on for a while, you are into the fact he would love to help you clean up and wants you there to do the same, you thank him for helping you out and for all he shared, and he thanked you for making his night at work a lot more interesting. He gets a walk-in and has to get to work, and you go for a shower and to figure out your dinner, and the conversation stops for the night. 

This situation keeps going as is for a few weeks, at least once a week, either initiated by you or him, a quick check in with a, “You busy?” accompanied by a risky picture leading to a heavy sexting session, pictures and videos exchanged where you both get off spectacularly. You both have a good sense of when works in each other’s schedules and when the other person is normally busy, the times you catch each other at a bad moment you find yourselves prioritizing finding space to make up for it as soon as possible. You think that you are a tad addicted to these sexting sessions, and you have a sneaking suspicion that he is too. 

The times you text after a session become longer and at times you are texting even when you aren’t being nasty and sexual with each other, you learn small details, like some music he likes, that he is a tattoo artist, his brother has a pet turtle that is always getting lost. You still haven’t seen each other’s faces, you don’t know each other’s names, you still like those small things and get off on the anonymous nature. 

While in mid-session while in bed, a vibrator in your hand and pressed between your thighs and your other hand holding your phone, in the middle of typing out a response to your sexting buddy when your phone starts ringing. You are so shocked that you nearly drop your phone, the feeling increases when you see that he is the one who is calling you. It has been a while since you had ramped it up, it has been weeks of pictures, voice notes, and videos, but you’ve never actually talked on the phone, the idea of it is exciting enough that all nerves are forgotten and you answer. 

“Hello?” Jesus, you didn’t mean to say it so breathy, but you can’t help it, with how turned on you are, the toy still running and how good it feels. 

“Hey-” Oh, thank God, he sounds pretty out of breath too, a small moment before he says, “-I just really wanted to hear you.” 

Fuck, you feel a surge of arousal and you want to whimper in response. He continues, “I love the videos and shit we do, but there’s this uhm, disconnect right?” 

You know exactly what he means, you film the video, send it, he watches it, records the response and then sends his, the process is hot and fun, same story for voice notes, but it does take a bit of time and definitely creates a disconnect. 

“I was thinkin’ this could maybe bridge the gap.” You get it totally, have some more immediacy, can respond in real time and also not have to fuss with your phone while jacking off, instead you can just talk. “Not all the time but-”

You breathe out and finish his thought before he can, “Sometimes. Yeah, I’m with you.” 

“Good.” He responds and then there is this moment where it sinks in, you are both on the phone together, just listening to each other breathe and you know what the other person is doing. He is fucking his well lubed fist while you are grinding your clit against candy coloured vibrating silicone. You’ve never spoken like this, and you think he is having the same realization, he must have just called you on impulse, you are thankful he took that first step; to show appreciation for how thankful you are, you figure you should break the ice properly. 

You turn the toy up and the moan that spills out in response is automatic, “Oh God-” and you can hear his own breath catch, you squirm your hips and hit a particularly good spot that makes you whine slightly; that gets a good moan from him, and it really starts rolling. 

“Jesus Christ, the sounds that you are making.” He groans, and you let out this sound that strikes somewhere between a half laugh and half a moan, and he finds it gorgeous, “You can thank the vibrator I am using, ahh-” A harsh inhale in you say, “-you sound so good too.” 

“Yeah?” There it is, that teasing tone, that one that you knew he was capable of that first time you were texting, that same one that does you in and ruins you so perfectly. You confess this next part broken only by a few moans, “Yeahhh, I swear, ohh, guys who are too quiet are such a fucking turn-off, bu-but ah! The stuff you send? Perfect to get off to.” 

“Couldn’t agree more, what we’ve been gettin’ up, ugh, to has kinda ruined me for regular porn for the time being.” His own admission fuels this all a lot further, because you’ve done the same thing, traditional porn that isn’t stuff he has sent you has very little appeal currently. You normally think about him being physically with you, but that is a Hell of a lot easier with him in your ear like this, you could imagine him in bed beside you as you both play with yourselves, or better yet, have him play with you. 

In a few short minutes of losing yourself in the fantasy, with a few more things said back and forth, accompanied by a whole lore more moaning you can feel the pressure building low, and you choke out, “God, M’ getting close over here-” 

“Same, fuck, I’m almost there-” He sounds so unbelievably hot when he is near the edge, you wonder briefly if he thinks the same about how you sound, but he keeps talking and your mind goes blank, “C’mon, I want to hear it, fucking do it, cum.”

It wasn’t a question, it had a harsher edge, you’d land it more in the camp of being a command, your eyes squeeze shut as you focus on the idea of him holding the toy to you, of him using it to get you off, and you are done for. You cum so hard that you cannot contain your moans and midway through your own peak you can hear him reach his own end, the broken off curse sounds so good you wish you could make it your text tone. Once you’ve both ridden out your respective highs, you turn your toy off and put it aside, laying back to relax.

The come down is quiet, just the pair of you connected on the phone and panting, feeling amazing. You get an idea and pick up your phone, you snap a quick picture of the lower half of your face, a flirty smile as well as your slick toy resting on your chest, you send it off, and you can hear when he opens it up half a minute later. He laughs, sounding clearly delighted, “Nice picture.” 

“Thanks, thought you might like to see the aftermath.” You sigh, and he says, “You guessed right, here, give me a second.” 

In a few seconds time, you have a picture of your own in your inbox, him shirtless with cum splattered on his stomach again, it reminds you of that first night from over a month and a half ago, and you smile at the memory. “Very nice, I love these pictures, the cum plays great off your tattoos.” 

He laughs a little more unsure, “Thanks?” 

“It’s a compliment, that’s good praise right there! Appreciate it!” You protest so fervently he belts out a laugh, and the conversation continues on for a while longer, playful banter that flows like water, with a complete and comfortable ease. Twenty minutes flies by before you say, “Well, I’m gonna go, but we should call like this again.” 

He agrees, you can hear the smile in his voice, “Yeah, soon.” 

“Totally.” You confirm, and before you go, you realize something and so you say, “Wait.” 

“Yes?” He asks, and you say, “We haven’t shared names so far and that is fine with me, I know why, but we are deep enough in that I think we should have something to call each other, right?” 

“Oooh, you think were there in our relationship?” He teases, and you laugh, “I’d like to think so, but it’s more that I want to have something to moan when I’m cumming for you.” 

“You strike a compelling argument.” He hums, and then says, “I’ll trust you to come up with something adequate if you trust me to do the same.” 

Eye for an eye, how very like you both, you tell him, “I think I can get behind that, thanks again for the great time, night.” 

“Night.” He returns before you hang up.

The phone sex enters the regular rotation, it has really improved your dynamic, and honestly your life, you feel less stressed, more relaxed, overall mood completely improved.

After that first phone call, the non-sexual communication becomes more frequent, you ask him for some music recommendations and pass some back, a few normal pictures are sent, and casual conversation struck, you feel like you are getting to know him better in the times between you are getting off together. A perfect example is you sending a picture of your hand curled around a coffee once you’ve gotten to work, complaining of the long day ahead and him responding, “Least your nails look cute, new polish?” 

Since the advancement of the phone calls, you can hear how he’d say it, causing a smile to paint your face as you type out a response, “It is, you want to know the name so you can paint yours to match?” 

You joke a lot and have gotten very comfortable teasing each other, part of it is because it is fun, and part of it is to cover your ass just a bit, you think he looks great with his nails painted, you wish he’d indulge in it more but asking for that? Feels a shade too far, a little too intimate for what you are. One of the most frequent pictures you get from him, (when he is clothed), is whatever sketch he is working on, and you love seeing his art and whatever the current project is. He has a great handle on perspective and clearly knows his wheelhouse, if it wasn’t overstepping and would ruin this whole thing you think you’d like and be proud to get a tattoo done by him.

After another lazy afternoon conversation, the conversation was centred again on what you’d both been listening to, you had been cleaning earlier and listening to a song he’d sent and were just complimenting him on his good taste, trying out that nickname you’d been contemplating for a while,  “Seriously, how you find such good stuff, music man?” 

The response was immediate, ignoring the majority of your sentence and focusing on the last two words, it wasn’t even a text, he sent a voice note, his tone incredulous as he inquires, “Music man? Do I give Broadway vibes?”

You laugh and send your own voice note in response as you defend yourself, “I mean, you are pretty dramatic, but ignoring that, you say you aren’t a Broadway guy, yet you picked up that was a musical theatre reference right away.”

“It isn’t like it’s a deep cut!” Comes his reply that makes you laugh even harder, before sending back, “You are never beating the theatre fan allegations, I am sorry.” 

“Goddamnit, okay so, forgetting all that, you think music man is the best nickname you can come up with?” He asks and, you return, “I think it fits a lot better than just calling you the name of some musical artist or band, it is more all encompassing, and with how much new stuff you’ve been turning me onto it makes sense.” 

“You talk about me like I’m a drug dealer for music.” It is said jokingly, but it has an undercurrent of fondness. 

“I think that’s apt, you’re my music man.” You coo the last two words teasingly, thinking to yourself that you are going to try moaning it out later and see if you can’t change his mind, or at least make him laugh, probably the ladder. 

True to your word, later on you do try that, in the heat of the moment, the pair of you touching yourselves while on a phone call you moan it out and that causes you both to break down laughing and halts things for a minute. He manages to get out between laughs, “God, you’re the worst! Totally got the drop on me. I am vetoing, music man is a non-sexual nickname, only! Got it?” 

“Got it.” You giggle and soon find your rhythm together again. You know it is all fine because he is nice enough to send you a special video after you’d both gotten off the phone call. He had been using a toy himself, one he bought a bit ago, said he was inspired by your ample toy collection you love to show off to him, and so he took a video of him lifting the fleshlight up and off, letting the messy cum pour back out onto his mostly hard dick. 

Your response is simple, an easy joke typed out of, “Hey, so can I eat the cum out of your fleshlight or-?”

“Oh my God, you are such a freak.” You can hear how he’d say it, and you tap out, “You love it <3.” 

“True, it’s one of your best qualities.” You knew it. 

You had been doing this song and dance for nearly three months, and you are doing your best to not question your arrangement’s longevity, just happy it is still going, why ruin a good thing by overthinking? Both of you have great sexual chemistry and are still having a great time, so on it goes, unquestioned. 

It was a Saturday night when the change happens, you had been busy and hadn’t gone out in a couple of weeks, you were going to have a good time, some drinks, maybe take a few risky semi public pictures and send them off to your sext buddy, it’ll be fun. You come home from work, have a shower, then take some serious time to get ready, go out for a late dinner, and after that you head to a cool sounding bar you’ve heard hyped up. 

Upon arriving you see the place is about three quarters full, seems to have a good vibe, you make your way up to the bar, take an open stool and pick up a drink menu to see the specialty cocktails they have on offer. You are humming to yourself, some song that he sent to you has been stuck in your head all week, debating whether you want to commit to a vodka or whiskey based drink when your phone vibrates on the bar top. You glance at the phone screen and see that he texted you, a small smile crosses your face as you scoop up your phone and swipe on the notification to see, “Work is dead as shit, I am getting the opportunity to bail early, what’s going on with you?” 

“Went out for dinner, just grabbing a drink at a new bar.” You type out your response and the bartender finally addresses you, another quick glance at the menu, and you pick whiskey for the night, he steps away to make your drink as your phone vibrates again. He texted back, “You know, that is a great idea, I might go out for one or two myself before I go home.” 

With a grin, you respond, “If you strike out, you want to hook up later?” 

The bartender sets the drink in front of you as his response arrives, “Absolutely.” 

Something fun to look forward to, and even if he meets up with someone, hey you might be able to sweet talk him into sharing dirty details later, sounds like a win-win to you. Picking up the cool glass, you take a sip and find that yes, the drink is very good too, honestly this is going to be a fantastic night, you can just feel it. 

You enjoy the atmosphere, the music, your drink and the general din of the people in the bar. After a little time you debate texting a picture of your drink, or better yet, slipping off to the bathroom to take something much more risque’ to send off. Until someone else walks up beside you at the bar to order, you glance briefly for a moment, or you mean to, until your eyes land on him, then you can’t look away. 

There is absolutely no fucking way, I mean what are the chances? It can’t be him but also, it has to be. You have gotten so many pictures over the past few months, you haven’t seen higher than the lower half of his face, that matches though, the septum piercing, the facial hair, that mouth; you have become pretty intimately familiar with the rest of him too. He is in a black t-shirt and pants, leather jacket slung over the empty stool between you both, you scan his arms, and you know those tattoos very well, had seen them in so many pictures it is crazy. 

He hasn’t said anything yet, you are sure it is him, but if he speaks then that will really seal it, make it undeniable, you still can’t buy it because just, what are the odds? You and he both ending up beside each other in the same bar on the same night after all that has happened? It is just too good to be true, as much as you wanted it to be, you had never allowed yourself to seriously hope that it could. You never suggested meeting up in person for a few reasons, one, you were worried your chemistry might not transfer to real life and would ruin such a good thing, and two, you assumed you weren’t in the same town, the same area code doesn’t promise that afterall.

Your eyes tear away to focus on your drink, you take another drink and the bartender comes back, you feel brief hope as you listen up, poor you though; he must be a regular here, because without having to ask a drink is placed in front of him. He picks it up, and you are worried he is about to step away, so with another swallow of your drink to give yourself some courage you turn towards him to see he is already looking at you. 

The intense eye contact is maintained. 

Silence hangs for a long moment. 

You speak first, more confident than you thought yourself capable with the nerves twisting your stomach up, “Hey music man.” 

Eyebrows raise slightly, lips part, complete surprise overtaking, a shake of his head as he speaks, “No fucking way.” 

You smile and laugh lightly as you shrug, “I was thinking that very thing the second I saw you.” With a nod, you gesture to the stool next to you his jacket is still laying on, and he removes it, sits down before he puts it over his lap, and he speaks again, “No seriously, I was looking at you thinking how familiar you looked and wasn’t sure, but I didn’t want to assume-”

“And look totally stupid if you were wrong, right?!” You finish his thought and both of you share a laugh, he responds, “Fuck, exactly!

An hour passes with total ease as you talk, you go over the fact that you both lived in the same town this whole time without realizing it and apparently never crossing paths, the insane odds of this happening, but that you were both glad it shook out this way. You talked about the fact his tattoo shop was on this street, you talked about how near where you lived, and where your job was, a few other things and honestly, you felt good, the energy is managing to carry over to real life, thank God. 

Soon you say, “Oh, we should probably actually exchange names now, right?”

He nods and says, “About time, right? I’m Erik.” 

You tell him your name and hold your hand out, he takes it with a chuckle, and you shake hands, saying in a light tone, “So nice to finally meet you.” 

“Couldn’t agree more.” He responds.

You can’t look away as you both talk, you were totally right, he is very hot, the kind of messy “I don’t care” quality to his hair, his blue eyes, his casual body language, you are very down bad. On top of that, it is fulfilling to get to see the whole picture and talk like this. You wonder if he thinks the same thing about you, is he pleased with the whole picture now that he has it?

After much more conversation, another drink each, much lighter and looser the conversation takes the natural and expected turn, you say, “Sooo, I don’t live that far away.” 

“Smooth.” He jokes with a grin, and you nudge his shoulder with yours, “Asshole. You are just as much of a dick in person as on the phone.” 

“I think you love it, and besides I can’t help it, getting to see your reactions in person? I can’t pass that up. You are just too easy.” He defends, and you take your in as you say in a flirty tone, “You have no idea how easy I can be.” 

He stops leaning on the bar as he leans just a little closer into you instead, eyes clearly raking over you, “I think I might have some idea after all this time, not like I’m much better though.” 

Next, you let your hand fall to his knee and squeeze as you say, “I was gonna say, you did kick this whole thing off.” 

He scoffs, “Ah the ol’ you started it argument, I’ve been a fan of it since childhood, you really can’t beat it.” 

“To be clear, I’m glad you started it, but come on, you have to admit it’s a lot easier to initiate on the phone. You send a dirty pic and the ball is rolling.” You tease, and he hums in agreement, his hand comes down to meet yours on his knee, you lift it, he initiates your fingers twining and tangling together, he retorts in that tone that you’ve become so familiar with over the phone, “So go to the bathroom and send a picture while you are in there, obviously.” 

You laugh, your head pitching forward slightly, “God, you are so brilliant, how did I never think of that?” 

His hand that isn’t holding yours closes around his glass, he takes a drink, and you take that moment, your hand squeezes his as you say after another moment, “After everything, aren’t you dying to know how it would actually be?” 

His drink is set back down. 

“If we really fucked?” He asked it a lot quieter, you look up and there is this change in the air, you had felt the tension slowly building over the entire conversation with him, you had both started to get closer, touchier, feeling one another out. You’d have to be stupid to not see where this was inevitably going, you get it, you are now sure that neither of you wanted to assume anything or jump the gun, but it’s painfully obvious you both want this, badly. 

This whole time, you have been doing a lot of talking, and you love talking to him, getting to know him has been amazing, but you are in person now, before you didn’t have this option, but now you do. Since this thing began you both continue to escalate, and you figure that now it is your turn again, your other hand comes up to the back of his neck, you tug him down and you kiss him. 

The response is immediate, he kisses you back in a way that shows that he has been craving this just as desperately as you and for just as long. Your fingers run through the hair at the nape of his neck, and you pull him just a little closer as his lips part and with the smallest hint of tongue he draws a quiet sound from you at the shock of arousal it delivers. Yeah you cannot continue this here. 

You pull back, dropping the volume of your own voice, lips two inches apart as you answer his earlier question, “Yeah.” 

The remainder of your drinks are abandoned, you had already paid and off you go, your purse slung over your shoulder and his leather jacket is thrown on as you head out the door. The trip to your place was swift, hand in hand, you are glad you lived so nearby and shortly you were inside and getting your shoes off. The trip to your bedroom is slow going, now that you were away from prying eyes you were back on each other, he initiates it this time, kissing you before you could move away from the door. You return his efforts, dropping your purse to the floor and shrugging out of your coat, you’ll deal with them later.

As the kissing continues, you are helping him out of his jacket, walking backwards as you try to steer you towards your bedroom. 

You are kind of losing your mind during this, all the build up and anticipation, the worry this wouldn’t live up to the hype was very real, but turns out the fear was unfounded, this feels incredible. His jacket is tossed on the couch on the way, you manage to pant out between kisses, “Down the hall, here-” 

A nod before he kisses you again, following as best he can but clearly much more caught up with the ongoing make out, until you pull away with a laugh and take him the last bit of distance to your room, the door is opened, and you push him inside. He takes a brief look around, giving the normal customary compliment, “Nice room.” 

“We can talk room decor later, get on the bed.” You gesture to the plush and soft furniture as you quickly turn on your bedside table lights. He does as he is told, even as he comments, “Awfully bossy in person.” 

“Yet you are still so obviously hard, I could get bossier if you want, like how about you start getting some of those clothes off?” As you say this, you start to strip, there isn’t much to tonight’s outfit, you peel off the tight dress and toss it aside, leaving you standing there in the panties you picked out tonight, you’d intended to show them off to him later, now though he is going to be able to take them off of you.

“Oh my God.” His eyes were fixed on you and yes he was rushing to get his own clothes sorted out, shirt taken off and thrown aside, you start to cross over to him as he begins to open his belt and pants. You get onto the bed and start to help him, soon as his pants are down his knees you swing a leg over and straddle him, you’ve been waiting long enough, and you don’t want to wait much longer. 

Your lips capture his and his hands are on your back, pulling you close as can be so you are chest to chest, your tongue slips into his mouth and God, you are so far gone for him. You already thought he was mouth-wateringly hot, totally your type, but knowing he is just as into you, and it feels this good, this easy to actually be this way in real life, you know this is going to feel amazing. 

A move of your hips, you grind down and feel him through the thin remaining layers you have on and you both gasp out a moaning into the kiss, he grinds up to meet you and fuck, you need him already. “Erik, been dying to ride you, can I?”

“Yes, holy shit-” He agrees, and he reaches down, fumbles to get his underwear down, and you pull your panties to the side, he holds himself steady, and you line yourself up; his tip kisses your soaked hole, and fuck, you can feel his piercing, there is no way you are having him any other way than raw. You take a second to grind on his shaft, to test how he feels sliding against your dripping slit and your aching clit, and you could get used to that.

You wait for just a moment more, taking a deep breath before you drop and begin to take him. Sharing a moan between you both until you come to rest with him fully inside, you wrap your arms around his neck and kiss him deeply again. 

The make out picks back up, messy tongue kisses, needy as you start to ride him, rocking against him and him working with you. He can’t stop his hands, they slide up down your back and pause at your hips to squeeze, before resting on your hips and helping you move better, you rock down as he fucks up. The most common thing you manage to moan out between kisses is his name, you love that you know it now, the taste of it on your tongue is addicting, getting to pant it while you fuck him raw is setting you completely on fire. 

He is breathing your name in kind, the kiss is broken, his head tips back, and you take the chance, your mouth attacks his neck, the salt of his skin invades your senses, and your arms unloop, wanting to touch him again. Your hands start to explore like his had, they run up his sides and your fingers brush over his nipples, and he stiffens in response. You bite the side of his neck gently as you start to play with his piercings in earnest, he acts like he has been shocked from the way it rocks his body. You pull back enough to look at his face, pausing your riding as you check in, “This okay? Do they hurt?” 

He laughs lightly, “No-ohh, they hurt to get sure, bu-but now, oh fuck-” Erik releases the best groan he had all night and your blood sings, you crave to hear that again. You tug carefully, ”Is it good?” 

You asked it in a teasing voice, and you think you could feel him throb inside you, his hips thrust up involuntarily, oh this is going to be so fun. Starting to ride him again, harder, the sound of skin on skin becoming much louder, you twist and toy with the metal as he chokes out, “Yeah, s’fucking good-”

“God, they seem, ahh, really sensitive.” You comment, eyes fixed on his face as you pinch both of his nipples between two fingers, and he nods, an incoherent moan and this is so good. You are much more concerned with this, with ruining him than cumming yourself, you push him onto his back, and he allows this, he falls easily, and you take in the sight of him under you. Adjusting yourself, you lean forward, hips continuing to work as you kiss down his chest, your tongue circles around one nipple, and he inhales sharply, the sound drives you forward. Your lips close around it, teeth sink in, and you nip lightly, and you aren’t sure you heard him right the first time so you do it again and yes, you are able to confirm he whines. 

You don’t think you’ve heard him sound this needy, you bite harder, he exhales harshly, before you are switching to the other side, and he says, “Wa-wait, fuck, hold on-” 

Now even though this is your first time fucking, you know that tone, can tell from all those videos, voice notes and phone calls, from all the months of experience, he is getting close. The thought of him being so into you playing with his piercings that it is threatening to make him cum early is making you melt, you have decided that is all you want. 

You continue to tongue and bite, speeding up your riding, and he lets out this weak laugh, like he is trying to play it off, but quickly it bleeds, shifts into him moaning brokenly, “No-ohhh, seriously, if you don-don’t, sto-op, I’m gonna-” 

He didn’t have as good as of a grip as he thought he did, his end rockets through him, he wraps his arms around you and fucks up into you all the way, a certified whimper as he cums into you. He holds you to him as he unloads, and you feel the slick warmth, you shiver and feel immense satisfaction, mouth letting go of skin and metal as it curves into a smile. His arms loosen, and he sighs into your ear, you sit up, looking down at him, his face is flushed, and it has spread down his neck and chest, he is panting, eyes closed, hair even messier and a little sweaty. With a grin, you ask him, “You still with me, Erik?”

“Yeah, I’m still with you.” He groans, hands rubbing over his eyes, and then when they move, his lids crack open and blue eyes meet yours as he huffs out with a half smile, “Fucking bitch.” 

You laugh, light and warm, “What? Wasn’t that good?” 

A hand runs through his hair as he admits, “Fucking, of course it was! But this is our first time fucking after how much lead up? I busted in like five minutes, you didn’t even cum, it’s embarrassing.” 

You are laughing from his tone, how annoyed he sounds, he is unfairly funny, you reassure, “Hey it’s fine, I kinda purposefully milked it outta you, no hard feelings, you’ll get me next time, right?”

“Are you planning on kicking me out already?” He asked, and you shrugged, “No I wasn’t, why? You wanna sleep over?” 

“Sure, but I’m getting you off before that.” His hands close on your hips, and he lifts you up and manages to toss you onto your side next to him on the bed, “Woah!” 

His takes the remainder of his clothes off, pants and underwear left on your floor before his hands rip your underwear off leaving you both completely bared. His hands are on your waist, and he adjusts you so you are on your back, and he moves down, before you can protest or really say much of anything he is on his knees on the floor, pulling you nearer and putting your legs over his shoulders. Erik’s tongue swipes up the centre of your folds, and you gasp, so he isn’t afraid of his own cum, very good to know. Another lick right through the middle, from your hole to up and over your clit, and then he starts to slide into finding his rhythm, you sink into the mattress, a moan spilling out, eyes falling closed. Your hand slides down your body and tangles in his hair, and you are thrown back to that first text conversation, that image that permeated your brain, of the hot alternative guy on his knees, eating you out while you hold his hair, and it makes your clit throb against his tongue. You moan in bliss, disbelief that you managed to get into this position. 

"Aren't you guys allowed to use reference sites?"

"Yeah, but I'd rather not slowly burn my eyes out of their sockets. Also, I think I’ve gone through every picture Pinterest has. The frat boy who wants this tattoo keeps asking for updates every thirty minutes and he’s busting my balls."

To say this specific tattoo design was kicking his ass was an understatement. Drawing was both the easiest and the hardest part. Erik was skilled enough to go from neo-traditional to realistic at the drop of a hat, but the amount of work it took—plus his shit working posture he swore he’d fix—was out to knock a few years off his life. The more he drew poses again and again, the sloppier they looked. He groaned in frustration, balling up another piece of paper.

"Why don't you ask ___ to model for you then?" Bobby picked up a highlighter, aggressively running it across what Erik estimated to be an entire paragraph. He almost didn't hear what Erik hastily mumbled under his breath. "What was that?"

"I don’t want her to feel conscious, okay?" Erik huffed. "Plus, I’d get a bit… distracted from drawing, and the whole point is to draw."

Bobby screwed his face in disgust. He shook the mental picture of whatever his brother and you do underneath bed covers and went back to focus on studying for his finals. What he didn’t know was that his off-handed suggestion truly stuck with Erik.

Erik tucked his pencil and graphite stick back into their case, carefully wrapping the latter in tissue to prevent it from making a mess. Even though he had an iPad, he still preferred to draw traditionally—one of his quirks you loved. He was so particular about small details like texture and shading control, loved the feel of wood rather than smooth metal.

He looked back at his phone, scrolling through his mess of a gallery. A mixture of personal pictures, pose references, playlist screenshots, and shitpost gathered under the “all photos” tab—not that he bothered to ever sort them into proper albums. He aimlessly scrolled, not exactly sure what he was looking for. Finally, he was hit with serendipity.

It was a picture from two weeks ago. He had been working late as the shop closer and texted you that he’d spend an extra hour over time. You had whined at him over a brief call, rightfully so, since he had planned for that night to be a movie night.

“Erik, I got all pretty just for you,” he could almost see your pout through the phone.

“You’re always pretty, baby.”

“That’s not my point!”

“I know,” he sighed. “I’m really sorry. I’ll make it up to you when I get there, okay?”

After a few more bouts of apologies and a reluctant “I love you,” that’s when he got the picture. You were kneeling in front of the mirror, your free arm planted on the ground. It pressed against your chest, making your cleavage more pronounced. In between your thighs, behind your hand, he could faintly see the shimmer of lace panties—the ones he picked out for you after you made him listen to the Brat album. The only thing covering you up was his favorite leather jacket, the thick fabric embracing your frame while still showing your silhouette.

And damn, all the memories of that night hit him once more. How he fucked you in his jacket, how breathy your voice got, pitching up when you were deep in subspace, how much you begged him to fill you up. He could feel his dick twitch in his pants.

“I need to go. You’d be fine here by yourself, right?” Erik hastily chucked his things in a ratty. leather satchel. You had gotten it for him three birthdays ago, and at this point, the leather’s got a bit of chafing, while the straps were filled with a row of button pins. Erik refused to use anything else to carry his things.

“Uh, where are you going? Mom and Dad are gonna come back soon for dinner. They texted, like, just ten minutes ago.” Bobby shifted from his position on the couch, moving to toss his textbook aside and catch up to Erik, but he had already gotten his boots on.

“I’m taking your advice.” Erik paused at the doorway, making eye contact with a confused Bobby. In a second, everything clicked for the younger sibling. He cringed, gritting his teeth together.

“Tell her I said hi, at least,” Bobby awkwardly waved at Erik, watching as he trudged off like a man on a mission.

────୨ৎ────

“Bobby says ‘hi,’” was the first thing Erik told you when you opened the door. You chuckled, both in confusion and surprise. Just this morning, Erik had texted you that he’d be preoccupied all day just trying to make a draft for that one client; some frat boy in an on-again-off-again relationship who wanted his girl as a pin-up on his thigh. Which is why you didn’t expect to see him at your door this evening.

He licked his lips at the sight of you. One of his old band tees hung around your frame, barely covering the top of your thighs. Black shorts peeked beneath the soft fabric. You moved to hug him, squeezing his body against yours.

“Kiki! I thought you forgot about me.”

You laughed as he rolled his eyes, the curve of a smile ghosting his lips. With one arm wrapped around you, he brought a hand to cup your face, leaning in to kiss you deeply. You could taste the faint menthol from the hard candies he substituted for cigarettes. He was trying to quit after promising you he’d take care of himself more.

He shifted to grip your jaw firmer, using your small gasp as an opportunity to slip his tongue in. You moaned quietly, feeling his jeans rub against your thighs. Just as you felt yourself getting wet, he pulled away, teasingly grinning at you.

“How could I ever forget my girl?”

Your cheeks heated up at the pet name. Shaking your head, you stepped aside to let him in and closed the front door.

Erik basically lived part-time at your apartment. He knew where you kept your cups and plates, memorized what brand of detergent you used, and knew just the right way to twist your shower knob so that the water was the perfect temperature. He plopped on his usual spot on your couch, with you following close by. He patted his lap, an invitation for you to take your favorite seat.

“How’s the pin-up job going?” you asked once you settled down. His hands automatically landed on your thighs. You took his satchel, digging around before you procured his sketchbook.

“It’s shit, babe. I’ve been getting artist’s block since that guy left the shop.” He watched quietly as your eyes scanned over his failed sketches. He never wanted to admit it, but a small part of him still felt nervous whenever you looked at his drawings. Subconsciously, his thumb traced small circles onto your skin. “I actually came here to ask you for help with something.”

“Mhmm?” you hummed, only half-listening to him. No matter how many times you viewed his sketchbook, you were always awe-struck. Erik’s shop was mainly known for piercings, but on the rare days he’s given a task of a tattoo job, he always kills it with his artistry. Strong shape language, vivid colors, fluid composition—he was such a ridiculously good artist.

“Baby?” Erik chuckled, bringing a hand up so he could swipe your lips with his thumb. You scrunched your face up in surprise, bringing your full attention back to him. “I said I wanted to ask if you could help me with this drawing.”

You smiled sheepishly. “And what exactly do you want me to do? Is this one of your brilliant plans?”

“It’s not a heist this time, I promise,” he snorted. He fell silent for a moment, an uncharacteristic beat of seriousness washing over him. He took a deep breath. “You can always say no to this, and I swear I wouldn’t mind. I just really need a burst of inspiration right now and I keep fucking up the poses. And then I figured… I have a smoking hot girlfriend…”

He trailed off, wiggling his eyebrows at you. You cocked your on brow, laughing in disbelief. “And what, you want to paint your ‘smoking hot girlfriend’ like a French girl?”

He chuckled, pulling you closer to him. He hooked his chin over your shoulder, craning his neck to plant a soft kiss beneath your ear. “Only if she lets me.”

“Hmm…” you pretended to mull it over. “Only if you ask politely.”

“Please, will you, the queen of my heart, model for me?” He widened his eyes slightly, working his charm through his baby blues. You could feel his fingers brush higher on your thigh, his nails catching the hem of your shorts. 

“Fine, pretty boy.”

“That’s my fucking girl.” He bit your shoulder lightly, making you yelp in surprise. You twisted your torso, smacking him lightly on his chest as he laughed. You got off his lap, moving to the smaller plush chair next to the sofa.

“How do you want me?”

“I’d normally say hands and knees.” You shot him a glare, met only by an unabashed grin. “But right now, just sit pretty on the edge there. Bring one leg in front of the other and bend it like—yeah, that’s perfect. Now put your… right hand on the couch and extend it.”

You let him pose your arms, making small tweaks in your position. His touches were light, though lingering. Your skin burned each time the pads of his fingers came into contact with you. When he was satisfied, he took a few steps back, cocking his head a little to the side to take you in. 

“Beautiful,” he whispered under his breath.

You giggled, eyes darting to your oversized shirt, then back to him. “Do you want me to take this off?”

Without waiting for an answer, you peeled the fabric off smoothly before returning to your static position. You shivered a little as the cold air hit your bare breasts. Erik’s jaw hung open, his eyes darkening. He closed his mouth, swallowing thickly. Going back to his spot on the couch, he leaned back, opening his thighs wide. He set the sketchbook on top of the leg, planted on the couch.

“Don’t move, doll. Can you handle that for a few minutes?”

“What if I accidentally squirmed a little?” you batted your eyelashes innocently.

He snickered. “I’ll make sure you’ll regret it then. Wouldn’t want me to bend you over for a spanking now, do you?”

You pressed your lips in a thin line, clenching around nothing. Wetness stuck to the fabric of your panties. You wanted to rub your thighs, grind on the couch, but Erik’s watchful eyes froze you to the spot. His gaze would flicker between you and the paper, silence taking over the living room except for the music he’s set in the background. 

Just from the first song, you recognized the playlist: Erik’s Witching Hour. Also belovedly known as his sex playlist.

Humming to the tune, you tried to distract yourself. Erik’s gaze was heavy on you, piercing into your soul. It wasn’t self-consciousness per se—it was yearning. The room felt hot, despite your nipples hardening from the cool air. Your clit throbbed, demanding to be touched underneath your slick-ruined underwear. You could faintly hear Erik’s pencil scratch against the paper.

It was after whole minutes of silent concentration that you decided to play with him a little. Leaning your head backwards, you stared at the ceiling in faux boredom. “Wait so… you’re going to put a picture of me on another guy’s skin?”

“Bring your head back down, doll. And no, not exactly. I wouldn’t put you on that asshole. I just need a feel for the pose.”

You rolled your eyes, listening to his request. For now. For another moment, none of you spoke until you started swinging your legs back and forth. “Yeah… I was thinking of how this complete stranger was going to have my body on his for what—the rest of his life? Didn’t know you were into that.”

His expression hardened, jaw tensing. He called your name out quietly, an edge present in his voice. “Stop moving.”

You raked your gaze over him, stopping at the seam of his jeans. His sketchbook covered his crotch, but you could see his knuckles turning white from how hard he gripped it. You bit your lip, swaying lightly from side to side. “The idea of it is hot, no? Like, I’m branding someone almost.”

He said your name again, voice firmer this time. “I’m giving you three seconds to shut up, and if you don’t, I’m not going to be gentle with what I’m gonna do next.”

Your eyes lit up. You were really winding him up now. If there’s anything Erik loves, it's always a good chase. 

“One.”

You spread your legs slowly, angling your hips down to the chair.

“Two.”

Erik had already set his pencil on the table. He leaned forward, bringing both feet to the ground, eyes burning into yours. You could practically see the outline of his cock through his jeans now.

“Three?” you finished for him, rocking your hips slightly. Your thighs tensed as your clit finally met its sought-after friction. Without another word, Erik made his way to you with two big strides. You grinned at him as you felt a hand on your throat, fingers roughly pressing into the points of your jaw.

“Just can’t fucking help yourself, huh?” he whispered. He ran his thumb over your mouth, parting your lips. You suckled on his digit, twirling your tongue around him. He slipped his other hand underneath your shorts, tracing your slit through your panties. He groaned, feeling how soaked you were. “Have you been this wet since we started? Is that why you’re so fucking needy?”

You nodded, hips chasing after his touch when he brought his hand away. His thumb pressed down on your tongue, prying your jaw open. He leaned over, spitting into your mouth. He let your jaw go, watching with hunger as you immediately swallowed.

“I was just… curious about your work?” It came out more as a question. You bit your lip, trying to prevent the smile from spreading on your face. Erik narrowed his eyes at you.

Two firm hands gripped your waist, pulling you up and spinning you around. You felt pressure on the back of your knee, making it bend. Erik pressed a hand on your lower back, forcing an arch. You were kneeling on the sofa now, hands stabilizing yourself on the backrest. He grabbed the hem of your shorts, almost tearing the fabric as he yanked them down your thighs, alongside your panties. He took a moment to take in your wetness staining the black lace, before bringing his eyes to your dripping cunt.

“Are these the ones I got for you?” He ran a finger through your slit, collecting your fluids. He brought it to his lips, groaning deeply when he tasted you.

“My favorite,” you wiggled your ass. Immediately, you felt your left cheek sting, hearing the sharp smack first. Your mouth dropped in a silent moan—too shocked for any sound to come out.

“I’ll teach you a thing about branding,” Erik said, winding up his arm before bringing his palm down on your right ass. He watched the flesh jiggle, waiting for the redness to spread on your skin. He spanked you again, letting his fingers catch on your cunt. You squeezed your eyes shut, yelping in both pain and pleasure. “Since you seem to like it so much, I’ll make an example out of you.”

You bit your lip, too stubborn to let him hear you moan. Your nails dug into the couch as you took blow by blow. The skin was stinging, made worse when you felt the tip of Erik’s nail on the swell of your eyes. A whimper left your lips as he carved a crooked “E” on your flesh. The skin puffed slightly, making the letter even more visible. 

“You’re getting off this, you little freak,” he chuckled breathlessly. You panted, rocking back and forth as he wound circles around your clit. “You’re so fucking wet and I haven’t even gotten my cock out.”

“Fuck you,” you rasped out, trying to force more friction. His touch was light, teasing. You were about to turn your head back to spout more swears at him, when you felt a sharp smack against your cunt. You let out a strangled cry, bringing your thighs together.

“Oh, did that hurt? Poor baby,” he mocked you, forcing your thighs apart with his hands. Two fingers rubbed your slit up and down, barely dipping into you. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“Erik.” His name came out as a breathy whine. “Stop teasing.”

“Only if you ask politely,” he mimicked your words from earlier.

You groaned, throwing your head back in frustration. “Erik, please just fucking put them in already! I need your fingers so bad, baby, please. Please—fuck!”

You inhaled sharply as Erik slipped his fingers knuckle-deep into your cunt. He brought them back and forth, angling his hand until he hit the spot that made you see stars. Your breath stuttered, arms almost giving out. Erik snaked his other hand onto your neck, fingers pressing lightly against your throat. He guided you forward, letting the backrest hit your collarbones, your arms bent on top of it.

“Yeah, that’s it.” His voice mixed with the playlist and the squelching noises your cunt made. Each push of his fingers made you tense more, a coil winding up in your stomach. Your mind was clouded, taken over only by his scent, his touch, his voice. Your eyelids fluttered, sinful moans loudly leaving your lips.

“You’re gonna be a good doll and fucking follow orders this time.” He was bent over you, whispering harshly into your ear. He caught the bottom of your lobe, grinding it in between his teeth. Tears sprang from the corners of your eyes, a broken moan wretching its way out of your throat. “I know you’re getting close. You’re gonna make a mess all over my fingers, then you’re gonna kneel all pretty there and take it like a good girl when I fuck you, okay?”

You nodded your head, too lost in the pleasure to think properly. He let go of your throat, grabbing a fistful of your hair instead to yank your head back. “Can you talk to me, or are you too fucking dumb right now?”

“Erik, p-please. Yes, please fuck me, please let me cum, p-please,” you stuttered out, yelling as your orgasm hit you. You ground back into his palm, shaking as more slick gushed out of you. He continued to pump his fingers, slowing his pace as you rode out your high.

Taking big gulps of air, you placed your head on the chair’s backrest, thighs still trembling. You could faintly hear the clinking of his belt, followed by heavy fabric falling down. Your breath caught in your throat when you felt the cool tip of his prince albert poke slip in between your folds. “W-wait, Erik—”

“What’s your color, doll?” he murmured against your back, pressing soft kisses up your spine. He stopped the trail at your shoulder, biting and suckling on the skin until it bruised. You can’t imagine how much more marks your hips and ass had. He waited patiently for your answer, rubbing your waist soothingly.

You finally managed to catch your breath. “G-green.”

“That’s a good girl,” you could feel him smirk. He pressed a kiss on the crook of your neck, then entered you in one fluid motion. You let out a broken cry, feeling his piercing brush against your cervix. He stayed buried to the hilt, grinding his cock impossibly deeper into you.

“P-please,” you begged him. His hand found its way place back on your neck, fingers carefully placed so that he wouldn’t be pressing down on your windpipe. He gripped your hips firmly. Once he was satisfied with his position, he thursted into you. Slowly, cruelly.

He pulled out, leaving only the tip in, before pressing flush against your ass. You gasped each time, his cock expertly nailing your g-spot. Erik grunted, breathing heavily each time he thrust into you. Your cunt clenched tightly around him, greedily taking in his thick cock. No matter how many times you fucked, the delicious stretch always surprised you.

Erik could feel you getting close again. Your uneven breathing, how tight you had curled your toes, the steady stream of moans spilling from your lips—half of them profanities while the rest was his name. “Does my doll want to cum again?”

“M-mhhmm,” you gasped in between moans.

“Gotta do better than that, doll.” He applied light pressure to your throat, starting to quicken his pace. 

“C-cum! Erik, w-wanna cum, fu-fuck—please!” you mewled, barely hearing him give you permission. For a second, you blacked out, cunt spasming around his cock. Your mouth opened in a silent yell, moans caught in the throat he held. Your body went slack, drained by the powerful orgasm he forced out of you. The only things holding you up were his hands on your neck and hips. He used your body as leverage, pulling you into him as he snapped his hips.

Erik kept thrusting into you, following an animalistic rhythm. He plowed on, making the sofa creak, lightly bumping your cheek into the upholstery each time he bottomed out. You were barely coherent—the only thing you knew was that you felt so fucking good. Small ungh, ungh, ungh’s, was the only thing you were capable of saying. 

“Look at you. See, you could listen for once. Staying still like a pretty doll while I use you. You’re such a good girl. You’re gonna let me fill you up, won’t you, doll?” He moaned, voice breaking towards the end. His thrusts were getting sloppier, shallower. He was getting off on his words as much as you were. It always turned him on how fast he could reduce you to a mindless mess, cock-drunk, eyes glazed over.

“Y-yes, please,” you squeaked, voice already raw. He snickered lightly, moaning wantonly behind you, already starting to lose control.

“That’s my good girl. Good fucking slut,” he growled, the tip of his cock kissing your cervix. Hot spurts of cum painted your walls, Erik grinding slowly into you, coaxing more of his seed to spill out. You clamped down on him, cumming for the third time as your eyes rolled to the back of your head. After milking himself in your cunt, he stilled, draping his body over yours, pulling you close.

He hooked his chin over your shoulder, pressing soothing kisses on your cheek and neck. When your breathing went back to normal, he slowly pulled out. You sighed at the emptiness, clenching as his cum dripped out of your spent cunt. He stared for a moment, entranced by the mixture of fluids. His focused snapped back to you when you groaned, limbs already sore.

“I’ve got you, baby,” he whispered. He took you into his arms, gently lying down on the larger couch with you on top of him. He ran his fingers through your hair, lightly scratching your scalp. You hummed in contentment, feeling so so tired but also so full.

“You did so well for me. You’re always so good to me, baby.” His voice took a softer lilt, always the polar opposite after rough sessions. His touch felt warmer, lighter, more afraid to break you. “You can go to sleep if you want, okay? I’ll be here.”

With his reassurance, you let your eyes flutter shut. It didn’t take long for you to doze off, cheek pressed against his chest. He kept on playing with your hair and drumming his fingers against the base of your spine. He only stopped once he was sure you were deep into your slumber. 

────୨ৎ────

You woke up in your bed, way past dinner.

Bleary-eyed, the first thing you saw was Erik sitting by your desk, his back turned to you. You glanced down at yourself, discovering that you’ve been dressed in fresh clothes—one of your sleep tees and the boxers you stole from him. You stretched your limbs, wincing at the slight soreness in your lower half. Erik turned to you, hearing the rustling of your covers.

“Hey,” he smiled softly. You patted the empty space next to you, pouting at him. Your stomach grumbled, but you could hardly care. You just needed him close.

He climbed into bed, taking his place next to you under the covers. “You gonna stop being an asshole now?”

You snorted loudly, laughter like tinkling bells in his ears. He watched fondly as your eyes scrunched up. “Hello to you, too.”

“Sit up and drink some water, okay?” He took the glass placed on your nightstand, bringing it to your lips. You gladly accepted, the water quenching your parched throat. “I’ll order some takeout for a late, late dinner.”

“Did I get to help with the tattoo?” you murmured, still drowsy.

Except then you saw him leaning against the far end of the kitchen counter with a red solo cup in hand, head tilted back slightly as he laughed at something someone said, that familiar cocky smirk curling at the edges of his mouth. The kind of smirk that could get you into trouble without him ever saying a word. His tattoos peaked out beneath the rolled up sleeves of his hoodie, dark ink against his skin and he looked far too comfortable here, like he was part of the scenery. Like he owned it. He looked up, and of course caught you staring. His eyes flicked over you with deliberate attention, and when he smirked this time, it was for you.

“Well, well,” he said as you finally made your way to the kitchen, voice low and amused. “Didn't expect to see you here tonight.”

You gave a little shrug, grabbing a clean cup from the stack and pretending you weren't already a little flustered. “Didn't expect to come. Tiffany pulled the guilt trip.”

“Lucky me,” he said smoothly, lifting his cup in a mock toast before taking a sip. You tried not to stare at his mouth when he did. Tried and failed. “You look good.”

“You're drunk,” you said flatly, pouring yourself a bit something vaguely labeled ‘party punch’ in thick black marker. He grinned. “I'm buzzed. Not blind.” you rolled your eyes and leaned against the other side of the counter keeping space between you. Or trying to. “Surprised you're not passed out in a hallway somewhere.”

“Im pacing myself,” he said, holding his hands up like it was something noble. “You think I can keep up this level of charm without a strategy?”

“That's what you're calling this?” you raised your brow. “Charm?”

He gave you a little mock bow. “I prefer the term devastating charisma. But sure let's go with charm.”

You snorted trying to hide the smile that was tugging at your lips. “You're an idiot.”

“And yet,” he said, taking a slow step toward you, “you're still talking to me. Interesting.” 

You didn't move. Not back. Not forward. Just stood there, the music muffled in your ears now, your drink suddenly tasting stronger than it had a minute ago. He was closer, not close enough to touch, but enough that you could smell the mix of cologne and whatever he'd been drinking. Warm, spicy, and a little hint of trouble. Like him

“It's a party.” you said finally, lifting your drink. “Talking is part of the deal.”

“So is dancing,” he said, glancing toward the packed living  room. “But I have a feeling you're not a public dancer.”

“You don't know what kind of dancer I am.”

He tilted his head, eyes narrowing with playful interest. “True. I don't. But I'd like to.” the wright of that look, the calm boldness of it, seat heat crawling up your neck. You took another sip of your drink to cover it, then another. Fast. too fast.

The party bled around you. Time went fuzzy at the edges. You weren't sure when the two of you migrated from the kitchen to the couch, or how many drinks had passed your lips, but you were warm now. Too warm. Your skin buzzed with that alcohol fueled hum, soft and lazy. Erik was next to you, closer than he should have been and every time he laughed, it sent a little flicker of heat curling in your stomach.

He leaned in again, voice lowered like it was just for you, even though the room was still full of people. “You always this pretty when you're tipsy?”

You laughed, shaking your head. “You always this obnoxious when you're flirting?”

“I'm not flirting,” he said, eyes twinkling. “I'm confessing.”

You blinked. “Confessing what, exactly?”

“That I've been waiting all night for you to get this close to me.”

Your heart stuttered. He said it so simply, like it was obvious. Like it wasn't the kind of thing that made your stomach flip and your face flush. His knee bumped yours. You didn't pull away. Instead, you leaned into the moment, into the way his gaze kept dropping to your mouth every few seconds. The room felt dimmer. Closer. Quieter. The kind of quiet that buzzed with anticipation.

“You're drunk,” you repeated, softer this time.

“Yeah,” he said. “And so are you.”

That wasn't a denial. You should've said something clever. Should've backed off. But you didn't. Instead, you watched his mouth as he talked, his lips slightly parted, breathing warm against your cheek from the proximity. His hand brushed against yours where it rested on your thigh, just a gentle slide of skin, nothing more. But it felt electric. Like you'd been waiting for it without realizing it.

“Are we gonna keep pretending this isn't happening?” he asked, voice almost inaudible now over the bass vibrating through the floor. 

The kiss wasn't clean. It wasn't careful. It was drunken and eager. His mouth crashed into yours like he'd been waiting for permission all night and finally got the green light. You gasped against his lips and he swallowed it, tilting his head to deepen the kiss, hands slipping around your waist to pull you closer until your thighs were draped over his. You could taste the liquor on his tongue, feel the heat of his skin through the thin fabric of your shirt and his hoodie. His fingers gripped your hips like he didn't want to let go. Your own hands were in his hair now, tugging gently, guiding him as your lips moved together in sync. Sloppy and addictive.

He pulled back just a little, breathing hard, his forehead resting against yours. “I've wanted to do that since the first time you rolled your eyes at me.”

You laughed, breathless, fingers still curled around his collar. “That was five minutes after we met.”

“Exactly,” he said, then leaned in again slower this time. His lips brushed yours once, then again, soft and lingering. One of his hands slid under the hem of your shirt, not touching anything, just resting there, warm on your bare skin like a silent promise.

“You gonna regret this tomorrow?” you asked against his mouth. 

He smiled, pressing a kiss to your jaw, then one to your neck. “Only if you pretend it didn't happen.”

“Don't tempt me.”

“Oh, I'm always tempting you.”

That earned him a kiss that shut him up. Long and hungry, the kind of kiss that made the room disappear, that made the alcohol fade and the noise dim until all you could feel was him, his lips, his hands, the lazy drag of his tongue against yours, the way he sighed into your mouth like this was something he'd needed for a while. And maybe it was. Maybe you both had.

You weren't sure how much time passed. Could've been ten minutes. Could've been thirty. you'd lost track after Erik kissed you like he meant it, like he didn't want to stop. Now now, not after all the lingering glances and sarcastic back and forths that clearly meant something more than either of you admitted out loud.

You were halfway through catching your breath, lips tingling and cheeks warm, when Erik looked at you again and there it was. That look. The one where his brows pull together just slightly and his mouth goes a little slack, like he's stuck between being patient and completely losing it. He looked down at your lips again, thumb brushing along the corner of your mouth.

“Yeah. No. I'm definitely not done kissing you.”

You blinked. “I kinda figured.”

He grinned, cocky. “Yeah? What gave it away? The part where I cant stop touching you or the part where I'm actively fighting the urge to pin you to this couch?”

Your breath hitched in your throat. “That second part came through loud and clear.”

“Well, good,” he said, leaning in again, voice amused. “I like being clear.”

You barely had time to process that before his lips were back on yours slower this time. Like he was taking his time now, like he was savoring it. You let yourself melt into it, your fingers finding their way into his hair again tugging softly as his hand cupped your jaw and tilted your face toward him. His other hand slid to your hip, pulling you flush against him until you were properly straddling his lap, knees pressing into the couch on either side of his thighs.

He groaned, quiet, right into your mouth and your head went a little fuzzy again. “You're not helping  me behave,” he murmured, lips trailing along your jaw, finding the curve of your neck. “Not even a little.”

You gasped when his mouth brushed your pulse point, your nails digging lightly into his shoulders through his shirt. “Pretty sure we passed the point of behaving like…ten minutes ago.”

“Fair,” he said, and you felt his smirk against your skin right before he kissed you there, slow, open mouthed kisses that made your spine arch slightly. “God, you smell good. Like sugar and bad ideas.”

You laughed. “You're drunk.”

“And yet still very motivated.”

His tongue flicked against your throat, teeth grazing lightly against the sot beneath your ear, and your hips shifted against his without thinking. The friction made bot of you inhale sharply. He cursed under his breath and gripped your waist tighter, his fingers digging in just enough to make you feel every inch of contact between you. You pulled back a little, just enough to look him in the eyes. “Erik?” 

He was flushed, pupils blown wide, lips pink and swallowed. He looked at you like you were something he'd waited way too long to taste. “Yeah?”

“This is still just…making out. Right?” 

“Unless you tell me otherwise,” he said, sincere. “This isn't about getting laid. Not tonight. I just-” he cut himself off, looking you over again. “-i just like kissing you. A lot. Like, maybe a little too much.”

You stared at him, heart pounding, brain trying to keep up with how warm and giddy and stupidly turned on you were by how earnest he looked when he said it. You leaned in again, brushing your nose against his, lips ghosting over his mouth. “Then dont stop.”

He kissed you again like it was the only thing keeping him grounded, hands roaming just enough to drive you crazy without crossing the line. Your shirt started to ride up and his fingers brushed your bare sides with the lightest touch, just his palms holding you there, guidinging your hips in slow, teasing movements that made you forget what planet you were on. You kissed like the room had melted around you, like the music was nothing more than background noise to the shared, electric beat between your mouths, your breath, your bodies.

He kissed you until your lips were swallowed and your thighs were shaking, until your heart was thudding like it might break out of your chest. He kissed you like he didn't care who saw, like this whole party was just an excuse to finally get you into his lap. And when you finally rested your forehead against his again, both of you panting and flushed, he smiled up at you, gentler this time. Soft and a little messy.

“You sure you didn't come to this party just for me?”

You laughed, brushing your thumb along the curve of his cheekbone. “Guess you'll never know.”

“Rude,” he said, nuzzling into your touch. “I make out this well and still get mystery answers.”

“Earn the rest of them.” you whispered and his grin returned full force.

“Oh, I plan to.”

“FINISH HIM.”

“Oh, fuck you man.”

The angered words of your opponent rung through your headset, finally deciding to turn on the voice chat feature as the deep-voiced announcer finally called out your win. 

On the screen in front of you, you quickly mashed in the quick-timed combination to spur on Mileena’s fatality against the Scorpion that this stranger was playing as.

Watching with a satisfied grin, the 3D-modelled character stabbed the other in the head with her two sai, spinning his head a few times before ripping it off in a satisfying conclusion to the randomly matched online battle. 

Whoever it was on the other end of the match, they seemed unsatisfied to take the loss elegantly, letting out a small string of muttered curses. 

“Uh uh, no way, that was bullshit.”

You hadn’t yet turned on your own mic, and a majority of the time you wouldn’t bother to accept the requests of rematches, but your curiosity was peaked as this person seemed so intent on trying to beat you again. 

ErikTheInkman.

Boring username, you thought, but based on the stats displayed under his username, he played frequently, just as you did. 

It couldn’t hurt to play a few more rounds and get a few more wins under your belt to potentially rank up, and he did seem pretty intent on trying to beat you.

Finally clicking the X on your controller to accept the rematch, you reselected Mileena in the character menu, just as you always did.

Of course, you dabbled in other characters, but she had always been your favorite, the one you sunk the most hours into learning to perfection, her move sets and combos ingrained deeply in your head. 

The newest Mortal Kombat was barely over a year old. Still, in that time you’d managed to rank up a hefty amount, sinking hours into your gameplay to unlock the cosmetics and even delving into buying some of the DLC they’d released.

You watched your opponent reselect Scorpion, seemingly also preferring to stick to a certain character as was the norm for most of the other people you played online with. 

Selecting a randomly generated match was something you did slightly less often, usually choosing to play with friends, but with the trouble of most of your friends living in different time zones and none of them being awake for the time being, you bit the dust and went into a randomly selected match. 

The characters spoke their little introductory quips to one another, something you always enjoyed watching before a match to get into the headspace you wanted, before it began. 

As the announcer called out the beginning of the match with a deep-seated “Fight!” erik the inkman, or whatever I’m his username was, sprung into action immediately.

His technique was a bit sloppy at times, but nowhere near terrible, you still had to concentrate to hold your own against him, but as the match progressed you could see him getting pissed off from the way he played. 

Winning the first round with relative ease, you heard him key his mic back on as the second round started. 

“Are you fucking serious!”

It was nowhere near the first time you’d experienced the wrath of a man’s emotions when you played online matches, keeping your profile name fairly androgynous leading to a slight decline, but it was also the reason you usually chose to keep your mic off. 

Continuing on to the second round, you noted him continuing to talk while the two of you played, something that you could not stand, finding it to be extremely distracting while you tried to concentrate.

“Why are none of my combo’s working, My fucking controller is broken i swear to god.”

You didn’t care for anything he was saying, hardly even taking it in as you carefully and hastily let your muscle memory guide you as you played. 

Hitting an attack at a particularly well timed moment, you almost jumped in your seat in excitement as it triggered one of the particularly gore filled X-ray sequences, watching the 3D rendered Scorpion to be pummeled by your Mileena.

“Oh, Fuck off!”

With only a limited amount of health left in both of your characters, you could almost hear him mashing the buttons through his mic, finally feeling yourself reach your wits end as you felt your concentration slipping, tapping the button in your head seat to unmute your mic. 

“Shut the fuck up!”

Your voice seemed to quite him initially, leaving you with just enough time to hit a fatal blow onto his Scorpion, not even bothering to trigger a fatality when the announcers booming voice spoke out, letting his character simply fall to the ground as the timer finished. 

Letting out a deep sigh, you adjusted your cross legged position on your gaming chair, realising that your sigh had been audible from the mic you’d forgotten to put back on mute. 

“Just, jesus dude. Calm down, it’s not that serious.”

You left it at that, not waiting for a response as you exited the match and finding yourself back on the main menu of the game, deciding this was a good time to take a break as any, feeling almost as if you’re blood pressure had risen just from that interaction. 

Holding up your phone, you leaned back in your chair and tried to check to see if any of your friends had messaged on discord, finding no new notifications present on the menu screen. 

Only able to let out another sigh, you chose instead to scroll through instagram, looking over whatever came up in your screen, family and friends posts flying across the page as you flicked through them mindlessly. 

The sound of a notification through your headset turned your attention away from your phone, seeing a notification popping up on the corner of the screen.

‘ErikTheInkMan has sent you a friend request.’

Furrowing your brows, you stared at the notification momentarily, confusion playing across your features and you leaned forward and clicked onto his profile.

A stereotypical profile picture of some crudely drawn skull was showing next to his username, along with his rank and stats.

Before you could look at anything else on his profile, a message popped up following the friend request. 

“GG.”

As you took a moment to scoff at the attitude of the guy who’d just sworn and basically had a tantrum, another message followed. 

“Sorry.” 

Look, even if it was only one word, there was at least some part of you that appreciated the apology, almost taking pity for the guy who probably just got a little bit too heavily invested in his gaming like a lot of people did.

Maybe that’s why you accepted his friend request. 

The acception of his friend request was the last thing you’d done before one of your friends finally messaged you to let you know they were getting on the game, starting the process of queuing up with them, forgetting all about the angry stranger for the rest of the night.

Relative nothingness seemed to follow for the rest of that night, no more messages from him or any other attempt of a rematch. 

Not until the next day at least, when you’d gotten home from work and decided to blow off some steam by jumping in again, knowing how unlikely it was that any of your friends would actually be online, but you still wanted something to do.

So when roughly fifteen minutes after you logged on, you got a message from ErikTheInkMan, asking if you wanted to play a couple more rounds, you accepted.

You don’t explicitly say yes, didn’t even respond to the message itself, simply sent him an invite that he responded to just as promptly, throwing the pair of you in a lobby to select your characters. 

Neither of you spoke at first, but as you scrolled across to select Mileena once more, you gambled a risk by unmuting yourself and speaking.

“Just don’t yell like a man child this time.”

When you said that, you immediately heard laughter ring through your headset, embarrassed laughter of somebody who’d made a fool out of themselves and knew it whole heartedly. 

“I really am sorry about that.” his voice began, having a softness to it you hadn’t had the chance to hear yet. 

“Most of the time people either don’t respond or they’re yelling back at me, kinda got a bit desensitised i guess?”

Letting out a small “Mhm.” you continued going forward with the match, the pair of you locking in your characters and continuing forward. 

You couldn’t have known you both would have continued on for hours playing, eventually delving into a conversation of light playful jabs, making each other laugh as your matches grew more casual, rolling with the even mix of wins and losses on both sides. 

“I’m gonna get you this time, watch out.” 

He spoke with an audible smile, actively in the middle of knocking off a large amount of your health bar through a series of combo’s 

“Oh sure, you can try, but you’re hopeless.”

You’re response only let out a low laugh on his part.

“Oh you’re in for it now.”

The time spent in countless matches seemed to offset your initial meeting all together, now finding yourself getting nothing but sheer enjoyment out of the banter the pair of you shared. 

So much so that by the time you’d actually spared a glance at your clock for the first time tonight, you’d let out a small “Oh shit.” with a laugh.

“What is it?” he enquired, that same audible smile present in his tone.

“I should have gone to bed like, two hours ago.”

As you both laughed at your realisation, you listened as he seemed to check his own time.

“Shit, same here. I have to open tomorrow, we fucked up.”

Your mind wandered for a moment thinking what he might do, a question that might have to be left for next time you spoke, if there even was a next time at the very least.

“Alright, well, i’m gonna head off then.” you kept your tone kind, not immediately offering to play again with him, just keeping it open enough without shutting it down completely.

“Wait, do you have discord?” 

His immediate enquiry made you feel the slightest bit shy, a smile coming to your face as you laughed softly.

“Yeah, i’ll message you my tag.” 

Going into the messages feature of the game, you double checked it on your other monitor, already having had it open from the beginning of the night, and typed out your tag for him to look you up. 

“There you go, okay, i really have to get to bed now though.” you laughed through your words, finishing up your conversation with a mutual good night and exited the game, turning off your pc and getting ready for bed. 

Neglecting to check your phone until the next morning, you’d seen the notification from discord, the banner reading that a friend request had been sent your way, the time reading to only a few minutes after you’d fallen asleep the night before. 

Still named as ‘eriktheinkman’ on discord, his profile picture was still of a macabre nature, some sort of sketched picture of a snake across a dagger, potentially drawn by him? you weren’t entirely sure.

Taking the plunge and sending the first message wasn’t something you’d usually do, but it was all you could think about as you could ready for work, taking only a few seconds to type out a quick “good morning :)” before promptly putting the phone face down on your kitchen counter. 

By the time you’d gotten a response, you were already at work, maybe he was a few hours behind you? you hadn’t asked specifically where he was from but he clearly had an american accent, what if he was canadian? maybe you hadn’t picked it the accent correctly.

You’d sat down at your lunch break roughly an hour after initially seeing the notification, finally opening it up to see what he’d sent in response.

“morning. how’d you sleep?” 

It was a standard response obviously, mundane yet still left you with butterfly’s in your stomach, something so simple.

“not bad, still managed to wake up to my alarms lol.”

You hadn’t expected such a prompt response, seeing his profile become active within less than thirty seconds before you could see him start typing.

“wish i was in the same boat. was late to work, client was already waiting.”

Smiling to your screen, you tried to guess what he might do for a living, imagining a plethora of different things in your head as you watched him start typing again before you could even respond.

“we should play again tonight if you’re not busy.”

his lack of any smiley faces seemed fitting to the person you’d already gotten to know, being an avid user of emoji’s and hearts amount other things yourself, it was odd to see, but already didn’t seem out of character for him. 

“i don’t think i am, i finish work at 6:30, it’s like 3 now for me.”

Now with the understanding he’d woken up late specifically, you wondered if your guess about him being a few hours behind you was still correct, your mind brimming with the possibilities of where he was from. 

“oh okay, that works, it’s around 2 for me now, i should be finishing up at 6 as long as my boss doesn’t pull any shit.”

There was your answer, only roughly an hour behind you.

The thought made you giddy for some reason, maybe just excitement at the idea of meeting a potential friend that actually lived in the same continent as you, much less potentially only being a few states away.

“sounds perfect :)” 

Just as quickly as it started, your lunch break was over, sentencing you back to your job which awaited you with open arms, unable to keep your thoughts away from erik the ink man, as you’d come to start calling him in your head. 

The night when you came home and jumped back onto Mortal Kombat within only minutes of walking through the door, a night of even more laughter and playful insults that you knew now were done innocently, seemed to have kickstarted a long distance friendship between you and erik, coming to know each other by name. 

As the months drew onward, it got to the point you were talking to erik almost every day, messaging him on your lunch break to complain about annoying customers, he’d do the same when he had the free time during his shifts, joking about the people that would come in asking him for infinity symbols, or sleeves consisting of lions, roses and clocks. 

His dry humour was the best part of your day, the way he’d poke fun at you and send sarcastic comments your way that only made you laugh and playfully insult him back. 

Even when you were just cooking dinner, you’d end up calling him over discord and filling him in about your day while he either closed up the shop for the night or while he laid down on his couch absentmindedly playing something else. 

It was a sense of peace to the end of your days, being able to chat with somebody you grew to consider a close friend, as well as having a gaming buddy that actually lived reasonably on par with your time zone.

When he’d first mentioned off handedly that he finished off a tattoo that’d been a few sessions in the making that day, instead of sending it to you over discord like he usually did, he told you to just look him up on instagram, stating that it was easier.

You weren’t even entirely sure what you were expecting your friend to look like, never having conjured up some image of him in your head previously, so going from a blank slate to the tatted up, dark haired and blue eyed guy in the photo, happily tattooing away, well it was a bit of an unexpected jump. 

“I guess it’s only fair you actually see what i look like now.” you’d mused to him, following the instagram that he’d sent to you, waiting for him to notice the notification.

It’d only taken about a minute and a half till you received a follow back. 

“You’re such a fucking nerd.” erik mused, only stirring a laugh from deep within you, no doubt seeing the pictures of your gaming set up and the pictures from within the comic book store you worked at, goofy faces made with your coworkers. 

“Shut up.” was all you’d been able to respond with, now having such a different type of feeling now that you actually knew what the person behind the voice looked like.

Of course you’d be lying if you said you didn’t find him attractive, not that you’d ever admit that out loud. 

Every little sarcastic jab you threw at each other that felt like it carried even the slightest bit of flirting was now making you want to blush and hide your face like an idiot, always thankful that erik couldn’t actually see you. 

“I’m coming for you now.” 

Going from Mortal Kombat to a series of different games was now something you did quite often with erik, finding that you actually shared quite a few in common, finding that Dead by Daylight was a semi common one that you’d both suggest on the days where you gamed together.

“If you hook me i’ll moan.” you jokingly threatened, your mouth curling into a grin as you controlled your character, weaving over pallets and rounding corners as the killer erik was playing as found itself hot on your trail.

“Now i absolutely wanna hook you.” he responded, his killer gaining on your survivor at an alarming rate that had you letting out a little squeal.

“Oh get off my ass!” you laughed, there were still two other survivors he could be gunning for, but it made too much sense that he was targeting you specifically.

“Hmm, no. I was that ass specifically.”

His response only had you rolling your eyes, letting out a groan of annoyance when he downed you, his character picking yours up and walking towards one of the hooks that was close by. 

“No come onnn, let me cut a deal with you please.” you put on a mockingly begging tone, trying to button mash to get out of his killers hold. 

“You can’t whore your way out of this one.” he laughed through his words, hooking your character with no hesitation, the scream cutting through your headset as you put your controller down with a huff, only able to watch helplessly as the entitiy’s claws murdered your character.

“That was rigged, i refuse to accept that.”

“Now who’s having a tantrum?”

He was laughing just as much as you were as you watched the rest of the game play out, letting out a satisfied cheer when the last survivor escaped through the hatch, unable to be caught and murdered by erik’s killer.

“Yes! fuck you! that’s what you get!”

What had started as playful, slightly flirty insults initially, seemed to delve a bit deeper as time went on, going from unserious to being rooted in something unspoken between the pair of you. 

Now at the level of sending stupid little selfies to each other throughout the day, it’d been you who’d seemed to pull the first official check mate of whatever it was going on between you two.

You’d been getting out of the shower when your phone first vibrated, holding the towel wrapped around your body with one hand as you opened up discord to see him making a stupid face, obviously laying in bed judging by the messy hair and pillow behind his head. 

Obviously you could have waited until you got dressed to send something back, gotten into your pajamas and sent a similar selfie back from the comfort of your own bed. 

But you didn’t. 

Not even 100% certain of what you were doing, the sudden burst of confidence (potentially mixed with how goddamn pretty he looked in the initial selfie he sent you) seeming to prompt you to take a photo of yourself using the mirror, smiling softly as your wet hair and towel around your body was shown just enough to convey you’d only just stepped out of the shower 

At first, it’d taken him a little bit to respond, your anxiety was already telling you that you’d pushed it a bit too far, that this was the part where he ignored the picture or let you down easily, after five minutes of freaking out, you felt your phone vibrate again, opening the message hastily. 

“not even gonna lie, kind of wish you sent me that while you were still in the shower but i’ll take it.” 

He was still being playful, but it seemed like you were both in the same page, a mutual agreement now that there was definitely more to the flirting and the comments than just gaming buddies being silly.

Initially you stared at his message, biting your lip and now feeling completely unsure what to do from here, the sudden burst of confidence now entirely overshadowed by anxiety.

Before you could think to type anything or send another image, you watched an image begin to load up from erik, almost dropping your phone when you looked at it.

He’d obviously decided to take another selfie, his faded t shirt and boxers clearly in frame now, only seeing his mouth in the photo pulled into a slight smirk.

The clear image of his boxers also very clearly showed him half hard, the tartan pattern seeming to show every little detail through the thin material.

This was it, permission sent clear as day on his end, whatever it was that was about to happen between the two of you, he was giving you the green flag.

Overthinking the image more than you probably needed to, taking a moment to toy with the angles, you eventually settled on an image of yourself with the towel now falling a little bit more, your face slightly more in view than it was previously, sticking you tongue out in a mischievous way.

As opposed to previously, erik’s response after you sent the image came in much quicker this time, already seeming to make his frustration known.

“you’re making it really hard to be miles away right now.”

That was soon followed by a picture that was fairly similar than before, only difference being that why had initially been a half hard tent in his boxers was now standing far more, his hand resting on his stomach.

You could have done nothing but send photos back and fourth to each other all night, make it a painfully slow process, but there was definitely a build up that needed to be addressed, the comments you’d been throwing at each other for weeks now were starting to boil over, there wasn’t any room left to wait.

When you called him, he answered within a single ring, already hearing how deeply he was breathing. 

“You’re trouble.” were the first words out of his mouth, breathless and hurried. 

“Let me see you.” 

Calling him seemed to have opened the floodgates, any and all but if coyness and subtlety now thrown out the window and discarded by the both of you.

When you pulled your phone away and turned on your camera, the image of him soon followed, you’re smiling face being all the was in frame, biting your lip.

“Hi.” you whispered, unsure why, considering you lived alone, but he didn’t seem to mind, only smiling back at you as he slowly sat up in bed.

“If you don’t show me what’s under that towel, i’m gonna fucking burst.” 

His words felt like fire over your skin, it felt the slightest bit odd, about to show yourself to someone you’d never even met in the flesh, yet all with the comfort of how well you’d come to know him. 

Biting your lip to try and hide your smile, you held up your phone to show more of your body, now holding the towel across your chest, otherwise letting it hang loosely, hiding the parts of yourself that you knew he wanted to see. 

Even through the phone, you could hear his breathing get deeper and rougher, see the way his brows furrowed a bit as his eyes raked over your body with a laser focus. 

“Shit.” he whispered, seeming to sport a bit more confidence than you currently were, pulling his phone away from his face to show how he was currently palming himself through his boxers, no hesitation present on his features at all as his mouth fell open.

“I-I’ve never done this before.” you spoke, breaking the silence but showing no intentions of stopping your teasing, just finding yourself slightly unsure of what exactly you should be doing right now, overthinking what exactly it might be that he wanted you to do.

“Yeah? Me neither.” his words were a delicious mix of a huskiness and a grunt that had you already pressing your legs together “it’s okay, it’s okay.. just.. i’ll tell you what to do.. if you don’t wanna go any further, just say the word. okay?” 

God he was so sweet, so considerate, it only made you want to do this even more, wanted to see him touching himself to the sight of you, knowing how badly he wanted you. 

Nodding, you tilted your head and smiled, the innocent look on your face already having an evident effect on erik as he watched you through his phone, squeezing his cock through the fabric of his boxers as he moved his hand to slip under the waist band and start to play with himself lazily. 

“Need to see those tits, please baby.” 

The way he asked, begged to see you had you already starting to feel weak, like your stomach was doing cartwheels, barely even leaving you enough brain power to concentrate on letting the towel drop away from your breasts, using your now free’d hand to squeeze them for him, running your fingers so softly along the underside, running across your flesh in a way that seemed to spur an audible groan from him, especially when he saw the barbells that sat through your nipples, watching as his eyes locked into them immediately. 

“Jesus, when were you gonna tell me about those..” 

For a moment you were too sheepish to even speak, running your thumb over the peaks and letting out soft pants through your open mouth. 

“Not really an easy thing to just mention out of nowhere.” you laughed softly, watching as he shook his head softly, seemingly sharing your sentiment of being lost for words. 

“Fuck, you have no clue how much i’ve thought about you like this.”

Biting back a shy smile, you shut your eyes and let your mouth fall open as you run your hand along the soft flesh of your tits. Knowing that you were producing that much of a reaction from Erik purely from him seeing these parts of you, it would have been a lie if you’d said the feeling wasn’t a little bit addictive.

“Pinch em’ a little, please baby, just like that.”

His words caused your eyes to open back up, seeing that his face was now contorting into a mural of different expressions, the struggle to keep his eyes open visible on his face as he sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth. 

As much as you were shy, the idea of doing these things in front of a camera making you feel weak, the adrenaline was out weighing it completely, the image on your phone screen of Erik pulling down his boxers with one hand, all to reveal..

“Oh my god, is that-“

The silver ball’s of the curved barbell sitting snugly inside the reddened tip of his cock caught the light of the camera and glinted softly in the dark room he was in.

Your words brought a croaked laugh out of his chest, turning the camera back to his face and smiling as you could see his shoulder moving while he pumped himself slowly and lazily. 

“Guess I can't give you any shit for not mentioning hidden piercings now..”

All you could do was nod your head and let out a small “uh huh”, already feeling hypnotised by the sight of him running his thumb over his tip that was met by the silver ball of the barbell. 

“Fuckin’ hurt like a bitch, worth it though.”

His chesty laugh sounded like liquid velvet to your ears, it made it seem like this wasn’t real at all, like you were just having a wet dream about someone you’d come to consider one of your best friends and that you were gonna wake up any second and you’d be back to nothing except flirty remarks and unspoken attraction. 

Except this was definitely real, when he turned the camera back to his face, his mouth hanging open and his chest rising and falling deeply, you knew your own brain was incapable of conjuring up an image like that. 

“Let me see those pretty tits again, don’t be selfish.”

You knew he wasn’t being genuine with his remark about you being selfish, it only made you smile more, bringing your phone back to an angle where both your face and torso could be seen, continuing to play with them for him, trying to hardest to put on a show, a private one that was purely for yours and his eyes. 

“Erik..” you practically mewled his name out, your voice shaky and unstable, only seeming to get more of a reaction out him, his shoulder moving in a way that signalled he was starting to pump himself faster. 

“Fucking- god, say my name again.” 

When you repeated his name, letting it come out similar to a prayer to a god, breathing it out so that it sounded like some sort of arcane word that had unknown power over him. 

You watched his eyes squeeze shut and his head fall back on his pillow, his mouth hanging open as he continued to let out a series of throaty groans that rose and fell in pitch at a rapid pace. 

“Holy shit, holy shit.”

Knowing that something as simple as saying his name could have this much a reaction from him, the power you held, it just made your mind swim with the possibilities of what it would be like if he was here with you right now, or you with him. 

You pictured laying down on his bed, making a mess of his grey coloured sheets as he took you from behind, how it would feel to have his strong hands gripping your hips as he pounded into your womb at an unforgiving place.

When your hand had made it’s way down to your clit, you couldn’t even remember, too wound up in chasing your own release to even try and keep track of how long you’d both been sitting here watching each other play with yourselves. 

All you were aware of was how close you were, letting the thoughts of what you’d let him do to you drive the rest of the fantasy in your mind, the idea of him putting that pierced dick inside you and filling you up to the brim with his cum seeming to do the job perfectly, feeling the tightness in your stomach begin to wind itself together.

“Erik, Erik, i think i’m gonna cum.”

“Yes baby, please, fuck i wish i was there, i wanna cum inside you so much, oh my- fuck!”

His own noises were cut off my silence as you watched him seem to still for a moment, only to start moving again at a much slower place, his head rising up while he suddenly began to make noises again, coming out as high pitched cries he seemed to cum all over his belly from what you could see as the camera started to fall out of frame, rolling up to show half of his face and the wall behind him. 

It hadn’t been long for you to follow, the sounds he made proving to be the perfect final little bit of a push you needed in order to be plunged into the cooling pool of an orgasm that had your toes curling and your thighs shaking. 

Falling back from your position sitting on the edge of the bed, you felt your back hit the blankets and stared up at the ceiling as you started to come down from your high, suddenly becoming aware of the fact your heart beat was pounding in your own head, shutting your eyes and just letting the sound of your own panting be accompanied by the sounds of Erik’s own coming from your phone.

You must have sat there for at least another thirty seconds or so, cause eventually you heard Erik’s words coming out with soft laughter. 

“You still alive?” he asked, only just now realising your phone had been abandoned next to you, no doubt now facing your ceiling. 

“No.” you responded, only resulting in another laugh ringing out from him as you finally sat up, grabbing your phone and rolling onto your stomach, holding it back up so you could Erik again, who was now standing once more and seemingly cleaning his own release off his stomach with a tissue. 

“Must’ve died and gone to heaven.” 

You let your face fall forward onto the blanket as you laughed at his words, looking back up to see him looking at the camera once more and smiling softly, looking at you as if you were a piece of art. 

At first there was nothing but silence as you watched him sit back down on his bed, running a hand over his face briefly, as if you were waiting for each other to speak first and address what just happened. 

“What did we just do?” you asked, letting a sigh leave your lips and your brows furrowing as a confused smile crossed your features.

“Well, i hope i’m correct in assuming this..” he began “But i think we just did something that was a long time coming.” 

Looking at you expectantly, you waited for a moment before nodding, embarrassment suddenly flooding through you as you realised how long you’d both let this play out because you were both just too stupid to communicate. 

“Yeah, that checks out.” you laughed, standing up and letting the phone rest on your night stand as you pulled out your drawer and grabbed a pair of pajamas to get closed into it, pulling a pair of shorts on and stepping back into frame as you pulled a shirt over yourself. 

“Careful, my dicks still really sensitive, don’t start her back up again.” he joked, making a pretend pained face as you smiled, his sense of humor seeming to have come back after the post orgasm clarity. 

“Her?” you questioned with a smile, only for him to nod. 

“Of course.” he responded as if it was obvious. 

-

A long distance relationship wasn’t something you’d ever thought about in great detail, at least not before Erik; yet it was something that just seemed to work perfectly for the two of you, for the most part. 

There wasn’t a whole lot of change in routine, other than your gaming sessions and late night phone calls finishing up with “I love you”s and occasionally more instances of the two of you getting off over video call.

It was quickly evident just how insatiable the both of you were, sending Erik photos with your shirt pulled up while he was at work knowing how much it was going to drive him crazy, just the same for him to send you videos late at night of him lazily jerking off when you didn’t have time to call him. 

There’s only so much that can be done when you lived at least three or four states away, when the video calls weren’t enough anymore, you graduated up to remote control toys, a vibrator he could control using his phone, which he had used more than once to get the upper hand during a match. 

“Oh, eat a dick!” you’d yelled with a laugh, practically bouncing in your gaming chair as your team got the upper hand, ready to secure yet another win against the team he’d been playing against. 

Yeah well, it’s all fun and games until he decides to turn it all the way up out of nowhere, a soft shriek leaving your lips as you feel yourself flying forward, the hands holding your controller beginning to shake as a bruising amount of vibration descends upon your clit. 

“That’s not fairrrr!” you’d whine, turning to look at the screen where you had your webcams set up, only seeing Erik grinning like a smug idiot as he puts his phone down and picks his controller back up. 

That’s also great, amazing actually, but it gets to a point. 

When that point is almost eight months into officially being a couple, finally being introduced to his siblings when they poke their heads into frame, waving to them and letting Erik introduce you officially as his girlfriend who just happens to live over a thousand miles away. 

His sister followed you on instagram, already starting a steady routine of sending you funny reels and replying to your posts with hearts and smiley faces. 

His brother seemed to love you, always being heard asking if he could say hi in the background when you were talking to Erik, each and every time making an effort to ask you how you were going, the biggest sweetheart you’d ever met in your life. 

You hadn’t been there when Erik had told his parents about you, but you had gotten a text from him to let you know that his mother and father really wanted to meet you, or at least, talk to you over a video call. 

No matter how much he reassured you that you had no reason to be nervous, that he’d already shown his parents pictures of you and gushed non stop to the point that they already were voicing how excited they were to finally talk to you, you were still pacing back and forth while you waited for Erik to call you. 

Absolutely nothing in this world could have prepared you for how amazing his parents were, how kind they had been, the way they’d smiled so brightly when you started the call like they were more excited to see you than even Erik was. 

When Erik’s father had patted him on the shoulder, gushing about how happy he was that his son had found such a nice girl and how proud he was. 

You knew Erik liked to put on a tough guy front, but the way he smiled while his father praised him, the sight warmed your heart in such a way that you’d never felt before. 

His mother was the sweetest woman you’d ever had the pleasure of speaking to, asking you so intently about yourself, it hadn’t taken long for you to just fall absolutely in love with the rest of Erik’s family just as much as you were head over heels in love with him. 

Maybe that was why the distance had finally started to get to you, the desperation to feel something as simple as holding his hand but knowing that you couldn’t, it had started to boil over for you, coming to a head at the end of one of your many phone calls. 

“Alright, i gotta go to bed baby, it’s already so late.” he laughed, hearing the soft shuffling of him rolling over in bed. 

The time on your clock read close to 1:30 AM, not an unusually late time for you guys to finish your calls, but you knew he had to open the shop tomorrow, you knew he needed to actually be up at a reasonable hour. 

You really did just wanna say good night, tell him you’d see him in the morning, but the words couldn’t bring themselves to come out, all you could do was sniffle softly as you felt tears welling up in your eyes.

“Baby?” he asked, concern already starting to lace his voice when you didn’t respond, even more so when he could hear that you were audibly in the brink of tears. 

“I hate this..” you whispered with a shaken voice, rubbing your eye with your sleeve as you felt tears already starting to stream down your cheeks. 

“What’s wrong? talk to me, are you okay?”

While it took you a moment to find the words, only able to release a small number of pathetic sobs as you could hear the way your boyfriend was starting to panic over the phone, you finally spoke, gathering yourself so that you could relieve him from the anxiety of wondering why you’d seemingly started crying out of nowhere.

“I just wanna hold you, I wanna hold your hand. We’re gonna hang up this call and i’m just going to lay down in this bed alone knowing your over a thousand miles away and there’s nothing i can do about it.”

Your words were wobbly, a vomit of feelings you’d spent the last few weeks bottling up, only to now all come out at once like an opening of floodgates that you couldn’t find the strength to get a handle on. 

At first you were worried about how he was going to respond, already imagining all of the things he might say in response to your sudden rant, when he was already tired and needed to go to bed. 

Letting out a sigh, he spoke.

“I know.” he began, his tone taking on a much more vulnerable tone than you’d expected, his voice coming in an octave higher than it was before. 

“I hate it too, god, you have no idea how much i just wanna hold you, it’s been getting to me too baby.” 

His words only seemed to bring on more tears, your face falling into your hands, all you wanted was to lay your head on his chest and cry it out, but you couldn’t even do that.

“We’re gonna get there soon okay? I’ve already been talking to my dad about trying to get time off work, it just needs to be planned, that’s all.”

Letting out one more pathetic little sniffle, you nodded your head, even if it was just a phone call, wiping your tears one more time as you tried to find something to say.

“I love you, you know that right?”

His words made a weak laugh bubble up from your stomach, always loving the way it sounded when he said it, always making you feel better straight away.

“I love you too.” you breathed.

“I’ll call you as soon as I can tomorrow, but you need to sleep baby, I can tell you’re tired.” 

You could hear the smile on his words as he offered you comfort, only able to wish him a goodnight and a good day at work tomorrow before you finally hung up the call for the night rolled over to try and get some sleep. 

-

When you’d gotten the phone call from Bobby, you’d initially thought that maybe something had happened, why exactly would he be calling you directly and not just either messaging you or getting Erik to call you; nonetheless, you answered.

“Hey Bobby, everything okay?”

You’re next best suspicion was that this call most definitely had something to do with the fact that Erik’s birthday was coming up in a few weeks, maybe he needed a hand with picking something, or he wanted to see what you were thinking of getting him, not that you could really send a lot unless you had it shipped. 

Just as quickly as you’d spoke, you heard Julia’s voice come through, realising quickly you were on speaker phone with the pair of siblings. 

“How soon can you get time off work?” 

With that conversation, a devious plan by Erik’s two siblings was set in motion, his mother partially being involved, they explained. 

All that you had to do was give them a time where you would be free and not working, and Brenda would book you a plane ticket. 

“We’re gonna give him the best birthday present of his whole goddamn life.”

-

The flight had been almost three hours, the final step in a two and half week long plan to hide any and all hints that you were going to be flying out from your boyfriend. 

It was already arranged that Julia was going to pick you up from the airport under the guise of running out to get a few things for the little party that the family had planned, all you had to do was make sure that your flight didn’t crash horribly and everything would be fine. 

You’d lied through your teeth when Erik had called you that morning, explaining that you were going out to go see some family and that there wasn’t any service where they lived, which he promptly bought completely and without question. 

He had no reason to doubt you of course, it was a reasonable enough excuse to have your phone off, considering it had already happened before when you went to visit family in the past. 

With Erik more than thoroughly distracted with the celebration for his birthday underway, as well as your flight finally landing, it was only going to be less than an hour before you were finally standing face to face with your boyfriend for the first time ever. 

The thought alone was already making your hands shake as you walked through the terminal dragging your suitcase behind you. 

When Julia had spotted you, you’d both been unable to hide back the squeals you let out as you embraced each other, already over the moon with finally being able to greet Erik’s sister, who’d come to embrace you wholeheartedly as a friend. 

“Oh I can’t wait to see the look on his fucking face!” she’d mused, taking your hand immediately and guiding you through the rest of the terminal and out into the massive parking lot where she’d helped load your suitcase into the trunk. 

The drive was by no means helping your nerves, knowing that with every meter you crossed you were getting closer and closer, even just knowing that Erik was only a thirty or so minute drive and not a whole set of states away? it was making you feel giddy and nauseous all at the same time somehow. 

Your knee was bouncing incessantly as the tall buildings began to slowly morph into suburbia, houses with bright green lawns flying past your window. 

You had no idea which house was the Campbells, so it was just a waiting game of when the car was going to slow down, your heart beating at a pace that made you feel like it was going to burst out of your chest and you’d die from a heart attack before you even got the chance to finally meet your boyfriend in the flesh. 

“I don’t know if i can do this.” you blurted out, fear evident on your face as you turned to Julia who only burst out laughing at the look on your face. 

“You’re gonna be totally fine!l she encouraged, taking a hand off the steering wheel to rub your shoulder. 

“Erik on the other hand? he might piss his pants.” 

Just as she said that, you felt the car slowing down, a house coming into view which she turned the car towards, pulling into the gravel driveway, which promptly made you feel like you were going to start hyperventilating.

Never before had you felt so much anxiety, yet at the same time wanted to break the window down and sprint to the front door and kick it open. 

So many stupid thoughts began to flood your brain, what if you didn’t look the same as you did on camera and he didn’t like you? What if he suddenly decided he didn’t want to be your boyfriend anymore? 

You hadn’t even realised you’d just been sitting there staring at the house in silence with a panicked look on your face until Julia spoke. 

“I just texted Bobby, we’re ready to go.” she grinned at you, unbuttoning her seatbelt and shimmying her shoulders at you excitedly. 

“Are you ready?” she asked, only finding yourself able to nod silently as you exited her car, pulling your suitcase out of the back seat and approaching the door at Julia’s side with shaky hands. 

Exchanging one more look, Julia grinned as she knocked on the door softly, being greeted by Bobby’s grinning face as he pulled you in for a quick hug. 

“Oh my god, you’re real!” he spoke with hushed excitement. 

You could already hear music coming from the backyard as the siblings began to sneak you through the door like you were a secret package that needed to be delivered without detection. 

“Okay, they’re in the backyard, let’s move.” Bobby spoke to you, letting Julia walk ahead and out to the backyard carrying the supplies she’d apparently been sent out to get. 

With a hand on your back, Bobby guided you to the backyard, light greeting you as you looked around frantically, spotting every member of the Campbell family one by one before finally landing on the back of a band shirt and a head of dark hair fiddling away with the grill. 

“Erik!” Julia called out, looking at you briefly with a grin “I got your present while i was out!” 

“Uh huh.” he responded, barely paying attention to his sisters words as he continued tinkering with the machine, not turning around just yet.

You felt like you were gonna be sick any second, jesus, turn around Erik, turn around. 

As if he’d heard your telepathic command, he turned to look at his sister, a bored look in his face as he expected to receive some sort of stock standard last minute present. 

The very second his eyes met you own, you’re terrified smile beaming at him from only a few meters away, his reaction wasn’t really that far off from what you expected.

“Oh my fucking god!” his voice was loud, his hands coming to tangle in his hair as he looked across at you like you weren’t real for a few seconds before he looked over at his sister. 

“Are you serious?!” 

You knew it wasn’t a bad yell, that he was probably just in shock, hell, you’d had hours to process this and you felt like you were still in shock yourself. 

Tears started flooding your eyes as soon as you heard his voice for the first time not coming out of the phone, when it seemed to dawn on both of you that you were here standing in front of him, physically here. 

Without hesitation, Erik only muttered one more quick “Fuck off.” astonishment still clear on his face as you both bee lined it for one another, crashing into each other so quickly you almost knocked each other over. 

There was no chance of holding back your sobs, loud and embarrassing but you couldn’t find it in you to care, you were finally holding him in your arms and you had absolutely no intention of letting go. 

“Holy shit, Holy shit.” his words were muffled from where his face had found itself tucked into the crook of your neck, still wobbled enough to where you could tell that he was also fighting back tears. 

Swaying in each other's arms to the point that you almost fell over more than once, you didn’t want to risk pulling away, fearing that you’d pull away and he’d no longer be there in front of you. 

Finally being able to pull away and look up at him, you could see how puffy his blue eyes already were, using your sleeves to reach up and wipe them away for him, the pair of you both laughing through your tears. 

“Happy birthday.” was all you could manage to croak out, letting yourself be cut off by the feeling of his hands on your cheeks, pulling you in as he leaned down to finally lay a deep kiss on your lips, something you’d both been itching to feel for months now. 

He tasted like the beer he’d been drinking, and his stubble tickled your lip but you couldn’t find it in you to care in the slightest, only feeling so completely and utterly overjoyed to finally be inhaling his scent and feeling his lips against yours. 

Pulling away, he pulled you against his chest all over again, letting you wrap your arms around his middle as he rested his chin on the top of your head. 

“I fucking hate you guys so much.” he laughed, the family erupting into laughter at his comment. 

-

The entire span of Erik’s birthday celebration had been spent by his side, not allowed to leave his side for even one second. 

When you’d been speaking with Bobby and Julia, he stood behind you with his arms around you and his chin resting on top of your head, and when you sat to finally have a proper meeting with his Dad, he sat by your side and kept his hand on your leg. 

He peppered your face with kisses as you both just stood there holding each other, letting you explain every step of the elaborate plan you and his entire family had hatched behind his back. 

“So you did this all behind my back, and still managed to keep it a secret?” he asked, shaking his head in disbelief as you nodded.

Leaning forward to place yet another kiss on your forehead, he just smiled down at you like you were a gift from god.

By the time the celebrations were wrapping up, it was almost midnight, and everybody was more than tired enough to be pretty desperate to hit the hay. 

As you said your goodnights, gave his mother a hug and a kiss on the cheek as she told you how happy she was that you were finally here, you could see Erik coming over with your suitcase, an arm coming around your shoulder. 

“Let’s put this up in my room.” he sighed, obviously quite tired himself from the day. 

Heading up the stairs trailing behind Erik, you watched him open up his bedroom door and were finally greeted with the sight of the bedroom you’d only ever seen in the background of your video calls, seeing it in person hardly even felt real, finding yourself giddy all over again. 

Standing there in the middle of the room for a few seconds, it hadn’t been long before you felt arms wrapping around you from behind, Erik letting his forehead rest on the crook of your neck and he took a deep breath of your scent in, letting out a satisfied groan. 

“I still can’t believe you’re here.” he spoke, only making you smile brighter as you turned in his arms, facing him and letting your forehead rest against his own as you both closed your eyes. 

“I can’t believe it either.” 

Resting your hands on his cheeks, your eyes remained closed as you captured his lips in a soft kiss, just letting them rest there as his arms around tightened. 

As innocent as it started, it had only been a few seconds before Erik was already deepening the kiss, neither of you showing any form of hesitation as you began to embrace each other. 

His hands found their way to your waist, starting to squeeze at your flesh as he ran his tongue along your bottom lip, the desperation you held for each other was finally able to reach its fullest form now that you were finally alone.

Opening your mouth up to him, you tasted the beer and cigarettes on his tongue, even the slight aftertaste of sweet birthday cake that had been cut up for everyone, exactly what you imagined he’d tasted like. 

In any other instance, you both would have taken your time, but it would have been stupid to assume that there would have been any kind of patience shared between you right now, Erik’s hands were already finding their way under your shirt, leading you to where his bed sat in the corner of the room.

As soon as the back of your knees hit the bed, you let yourself fall onto it with a soft laugh from Erik, his knee finding its way between your legs almost as if it was an instinct, like you knew each other's bodies perfectly even if this was the first time you’d even touched each other. 

The desperation shared between the two of you was borderline pornographic, gripping each other like you were going to fall away any second, Erik pulling away only for a second to tear off his shirt like it was burning his skin, before moving to his belt buckle with shaky hands. 

You worked at your own clothes, comfortable for the sake of the long flight, coming with the benefit of also being easy to remove. 

As Erik came back down, you were halfway through removing your shirt, something he was more than happy to help you with, throwing it onto the floor of his room with no regard as to where it landed. 

“I need you.” you whispered against his lips that had found their way back onto his own, his grip on you tightening in response to your words, almost so hard it hurt, a groan coming from deep within his throat. 

“I know.” he breathed out, his hands wasting no time before moving to the waistband of your pants, pulling at it until you raised your hips slightly off the mattress, leaving you laying there in nothing but a tank top and panties, a sight that had him simply staring down at you in silence, panting. 

He looked at you like you were made of clouds, like with just one more touch you’d fade away any second, this was more than just lust driven hunger, there was an unspoken need between the two of you, desperation to feel each other in a way you could only imagine until now. 

“There’s so much i want to do to you right now.” he huffed, running his fingers lightly against your chest, his hands coming to lazily grab at your tits, running his thumb against one of your hardened nipples that was now poking against the thin fabric of your tank top, only eliciting an open mouthed moan from you, a whimper that came out in a way you weren’t even conscious of. 

“But all I can think about is burying myself so deep inside you that you see stars.” 

His words, the image they out in your head, it had to keening for him and grinding your pussy against his knee like an animal in heat, but you couldn’t even find it in yourself to be self-conscious about it, you were just as desperate for him as he was for you, if the hard form now running against his jeans was anything to show. 

“Please, baby, please.” 

Your words had him gripping your legs tightly, pulling away from you only briefly, hooking his fingers into your panties to take them with him as he backed away, kneeling on the floor and pulling you harshly to the end of the bed.

Unable to hold back the small squeal as he pulled you and hooked your legs over his shoulders, you both found yourselves laughing like kids at a sleepover, his index finger coming to rest on your lips.

“Shut the fuck up, jesus.” he wheezed, leaning forward to give you one more quick kiss on the lips. 

“You gotta be quiet, can you do that for me?” he asked, leaving you to respond with a nod as you bit your lip, raising yourself on your elbows briefly to watch him sink his face between your legs. 

The second you even felt his stubble tickle your thighs, much less the feeling of his tongue licking a long stripe across your pussy, your head tipped back and your mouth fell open, a silent scream escaping as he dove in to devour you with little hesitation. 

Fuck, you’d waited so long for this, any thoughts you may have had about how this was going to feel were absolutely nothing compared to the real thing, nothing you could have conjured up in your mind was anywhere close to how earth-shattering it felt for him to run his tongue through your folds. 

The sounds were sloppy, ringing in your ears along with a choir of guttural moans coming from Erik’s end, like he’d been stuck in a desert for days and only just now had gotten his hands on water. 

He lapped at you like he didn’t want to waste a single drop of you, gripped your thighs so hard that you knew for a fact there was going to be red marks by the time you were done.

When his hands hooked under your knees, pushing them forward without warning so that they were nearly next to your ears, he pushed his tongue into you with no mercy, the feeling of him fucking you on his tongue having you feel like you were about gush right then and there.

For a moment or two, you could have literally sworn you went blind, a hand flying to your both to try and hide the absolutely pathetic sounds that were coming out of you, your other hand coming down to tangle through his soft dark hair. 

“Come on baby, cum on my face, fucking do it.”

His words of encouragement had been more than enough, paired with the feeling of his fingertips landing on your clit to rub fast and quick circles, his tongue going in and out of you, you felt your entire body still, your thighs instinctively trying to push together only to be held open by his strong hands. 

He kept going until you were pulling at his hair trying to get him to stop, letting out soft mewl’s of overstimulation, the muscles in your stomach were still turning, your pussy still pulsing by the time he came back up to be face to face with you.

His chin was glistening in what little light there was in his room, a grin on his face that matched his blown out eyes, so dark that they almost looked black. 

You couldn’t even form words, your orgasm had wrecked you so much that all you could do was let out little hums, kissing him lazily when he leaned down to take your mouth against his. 

As you made out with him, you already began to feel him running the tip of his cock against your folds, gliding along the flesh that was now absolutely soaked, so wet that you wouldn’t be surprised if you hardly even felt him slide in at first. 

“Can I put it inside you, please baby, please let me put it inside you..” 

He whispered and begged against your lips, the cold feeling of the metal from his prince albert against your sensitive clit already having you spasm softly underneath him. 

The only thing you could do was nod, finally opening your heavy lids to look up at him and just stare into his bright blue eyes that stared back down at you. 

You could tell how much he was holding himself back, letting his cock get swallowed up by your pussy, his mouth falling open as the warmth embraced him, a choked out moan falling from deep in his chest. 

Your hands came to rest on his cheeks once more, your foreheads connecting and eyes shutting tightly as he slowly let himself bottom out; as much as you’d always heard people describe it as feeling like they were literally molded for one another, you’d never actually taken it seriously. 

But now you knew exactly what they were talking about, when he finally sat completely inside you, his pelvis resting snugly against your own, it truly did feel like two puzzle pieces coming together, like you were completely filled by him in every meaning of the word, every crevice being filled in by him to complete satisfaction. 

Even you weren’t sure how long you’d been sitting there before he finally started to move his hips, it could have been seconds, it could have been minutes, but time just seemed to move differently when he was inside you, you fluttered around him, every time you did making his hips stutter. 

The pace he initially set was slow, but hard, barely even pulling out halfway before he pushed back in again, each time managing to hit that sweet spot deep inside you like he’d been doing it for years, like he was a master of his art. 

Wrapping your arms around his neck, his forehead found itself resting against your collar bone as he thrusted into you repeatedly, rhythmic grunts and whimpers coming from him in time with each time he pushed it back in. 

“Erik, baby, please.. harder…”

There wasn’t anything else you could have said to have had him change up so quickly, a growl finding itself from deep within his chest as he rose up from his spot on your collar, his eyes appearing to be almost glazed over as he wasted no time beginning to increase the pace of his thrusts.

Looking up at him, he held himself up with one hand, using his other to hook under your knee once more, bringing one of your legs up so that he could begin hitting even deeper, at even more brutal speed, your hand immediately coming to grip his arm tightly as you let out a choked gasp. 

When you’d asked him to fuck you harder, you should have known that meant almost having the wind knocked from your stomach, small sounds leaving you in a way that you couldn’t control. 

He was pulling almost almost entirely out of you for each thrust now, his tip just on the border of falling out before he slammed back inside, a wet slapping sound ringing out with every single time he rammed himself back into you at a pace that had you beginning to see stars just as he’d said, now finding yourself unable to control the moans coming out of your mouth.

His hand that had been holding your leg flew to cover your mouth, silencing you only slightly as he stared down at you, shaky breaths coming out of him as he set an absolutely bruising pace, almost like as much as he was trying to keep you quiet, he was also just as determined to have you crying out his name for dear life. 

“Been wanting to be buried in this pussy for so long” he growled, his eyes squeezing shut “just fucked my hand and thought about nothing but this.” 

The words he was spouting paired with the brutal thrusts he was laying into you were almost too much, you felt yourself getting dizzy as your eyes seemed to almost roll into the back of your head. 

“Fuck, fuck, i’m gonna cum..” he warned, his thrusts getting shorter and shorter as he pulled out less with each, but only continuing to get faster and harder as he twitched inside you.

“Gonna fill this fucking pussy up? huh? fill you with my cum?” 

All you could manage was a nod, his hand pulling away from your mouth, both of them now gripping your hips and fucking you at a borderline merciless pace as you just laid there and took it.

With a sudden stop, and a few more slowed shallow thrusts, he shut his tightly, his cock twitching as he started to paint your insides with hot spurts of cum, his hips shaking as he rode out his own orgasm with short slow thrusts, gripping your hips so hard you knew you were likely going to have bruises the next morning. 

For a while, you just both laid there, his forehead coming to rest once more on your collar bone,  the pair of you covered in sweat and so tired out you could barely move. 

You knew you should get up, probably try to make some sort of effort to get cleaned up, but with the fact that you were both seemingly now paralysed, also mixed with the fact that being locked in each others arms was incredibly peaceful, all you could do was reach for the blanket that he’d been pushed astray by your initial activities, and pull it over the pair of you, settling into a comfortable enough position where he still sat inside you.

Stroking the back of his head softly, he let out a soft hum that communicated to you that he was definitely comfortable, just as you were, a smile coming to your face as you kissed the top of his head. 

“Gonna have to shower in the morning..” you whispered softly, only getting another small hum in return. 

“Good, i’ll be ready to do this all over again by then.” he chuckled softly, his head finally raising up to smile at you, leaning forward to catch your lips in a soft kiss. 

It hadn’t been something you expected when you became friends with Julia, being paired together for a project by your teacher in eleventh grade had seemed to be some sort of divine intervention.

Initially, you’d been apprehensive; Julia was hardly the type of person you would be drawn to, her blonde hair and tan being a more than enough difference to your own more alternative choice of dress and appearance, yet somehow, a friendship bloomed quite promptly.

She’d been so sweet, offering you gum while you sat together and cracking jokes that actually made you laugh, not at all the dense popular girl stereotype you’d unfairly constructed of her inside your own mind. Julia actually evidently loved hanging out with you, and you with her.

Where you’d first spent time with each other out of obligation, sitting together in the library to study together or inviting her around to your house to work on the project, it then turned into going to the mall together and sitting together at lunch so that she could bitch about her brothers and laugh about things with you.

The first you’d heard of her brothers was purely by mention when you were studying together in the public library after school, Julia’s phone had vibrated, and she opened it up only to chuckle and type something back.

“Who’s that?” you’d asked curiously, peering your head over with a smirk, initially thinking that maybe it was a boy, someone she’d been flirting back and forth with.

“Just my brothers.” she’d laughed, turning her phone around to reveal the photo that had seemingly been taken from the inside of a car, two males varying in age making silly faces at the camera as the older brother drove, the photo seemingly taken by the younger.

“Oh, i didn’t know you had any siblings.” you’d responded, nodding your head as you looked back at the photo.

“Yeah well, Erik already graduated, and Bobby’s three years younger than me.” Julia explained, shrugging her shoulders as she closed her laptop and began placing things in her bag, humming to herself.

“They’re actually on the way to get me now. Do you need a lift?” She’d offered, smiling across at you in that way that was always contagious, leaving you unable to stop your own smile from crawling across your features.

Mulling the offer over in your head, you bit your lip and tapped your pencil against the table, trying to decide whether or not you wanted to stay a bit longer. It was pretty late after all, just now starting to get dark outside, even if it was only about six thirty, even more of a marker that summer was starting to finish up.

“If that's okay?” you finally asked, starting to pack up your own things as Julia nodded brightly and excitedly, holding out her hand for you as soon as you stood, which you took in your own, swinging your interlocked hands together as you exited the library.

“You should sleep over!” she offered, seeming like she was excited by the idea as she gripped your hand tighter, only spurring on a laugh from you. “We can watch that stupid movie, fuck what was it called..” she trailed off, placing a hand on her forehead as she tried to remember.

Snapping her fingers, she pointed a finger at you as her eyes brightened up, “After! The one that was like a fucked up Harry Styles fanfiction!”

Rolling your eyes, you groaned audibly and tilted your head back, looking back at her as she nodded in tandem with you shaking your head.

“Jesus christ, no, Julia.” you laughed through your words, still holding her hand as you stood by the entrance of the library and waited for your lift to arrive.

“I’ll sleepover, but we’re not watching that movie.”

Seemingly only excited that you said yes to the sleepover, Julia did what could only be described as a little happy dance, balancing her books in one hand as she held yours with her other.

“Oh my god, im so excited, i’ll get Erik to order us pizza.”

As if it were a speak of the devil type summoning, the sound of what could only be described as a tin man gargling nails began to sound out in the distance, your brows furrowing as you looked around the almost abandoned parking lot for the source of the sound.

Coming peeling around the corner, the silver car that looked to be a model that was over a decade old pulled into the parking lot of the library, its motor sounding like the depths of hell and the tires skidding slightly as the driver turned.

The sound of metal music blaring only got louder as the car got closer. You could see the passenger side window rolling down when it finally pulled up in front of you, Julia walking down the steps with a large grin as she waved.

You were hesitant as you stepped after her, part of you worried that this car could blow up any second based on the sound, much less hesitant to get inside based on the way her brother was driving.

“My friend’s coming over to stay.” she spoke matter-of-factly, opening the back door and leaning in to seemingly brush trash away, old cigarette packets and McDonald's bags.

When she shuffled her way into the backseat, you leaned in to finally catch a glance at these lucrative brothers, the youngest of whom in the front passenger seat couldn’t have been any older than fifteen, waved at you and grinned, looking like the nicest kid you’ve ever seen in your life.

The older brother, the one in the driver's seat with one hand resting on the steering wheel, only spared a glance at you as you got in, buckling your seat belt.

“Did you ask dad?” he spoke pointedly, looking at Julia through the rear-view mirror with his eyebrows raised, only for Julia to roll her own eyes and let out a long sigh.

“Dad doesn’t care.” she responded, her tone laced with an overwhelming sense of sass that for a moment you wondered if she even got along with her brother.

Just as you thought an argument was potentially going to start between the siblings, the eldest brother, Erik, shrugged his shoulders before putting the clutch into drive.

“Works for me.”

Before you even got the chance to open your mouth to thank him for giving you a ride, you were gripping the passenger door for dear life as he spun the steering wheel and turned the radio back up, peeling out of the library parking lot like he was drag racing.

When looking over at Julia, she only laughed at your nervous expression, evidently used to her brothers' more than lenient view on traffic laws and speeding limits.

Managing to make it to the Campbell family home without crashing, even if your legs felt wobbly getting out of the absolute death trap that was Erik’s 2005 ford taurus, you and Julia retired to her bedroom and began to settle in for a movie night, even if she’d gone ahead and put on that stupid after movie anyway.

You’d be lying if you said you weren’t finding yourself even slightly pulled in by the awful plot and acting, turning into a hate watch as you sat on the bed with Julia.

“This is horrible.” she wheezed as you sat shoulder to shoulder, shovelling popcorn into your mouths together.

You shrugged your shoulders, tilting your head as a scene with the main male lead played on the screen, a horrid rendition of a Harry Styles knockoff, though the tattoos weren’t bad.

“He’s kinda hot.” you mused, unable to stop yourself from cracking up as you watched Julia’s face contort into a look of judgment and horror all at once.

“Ew! He literally looks like my brother!” she cried, holding her hand out at the screen for extra emphasis.

The sudden realization of the shared resemblance between the two men made you almost spit out your popcorn with laughter, leaning over the side of the bed to cough as you both laughed until your stomachs hurt.

This was always going to be the sign that you and Julia were going to be best friends for the rest of your lives, only with her did you ever laugh so hard that you got lightheaded or feel comfortable telling even your deepest thoughts.

The rest of that same year had been more than enough time for you to wedge your way into the Campbells’ lives, coming around almost every week, her parents loved you, always overjoyed when you came around to the point it was like you lived there half the time.

Dinner sat with the rest of her family, or barbecues out in the backyard when the weather was warm, there was so much effort on her and her family’s part to include you.

It made your heart soar.

So much of your time was spent by Julia’s side, whether it was playing video games with Bobby or the pair of you begging Erik for a lift to the mall, the pair of you putting all of your power to be annoying together to eventually get him to cave every time.

“Ok, Ok, if i take you to the mall, will you both shut the fuck up and leave me alone.” he’d groan from where he sat on his bed, the pair of you nodding excitedly from where you’d stuck your heads into his room.

Howard had seemed to recognise parts of himself in you, even if you didn’t say it, you both knew that the Campbells were the closest thing to family you had. With your mother’s tight work schedule, the only family member you had was barely home half of the time, leaving you to essentially need to function on your own.

The Campbells’ family home became your safe haven, to the point that the guest room started becoming your go-to bedroom when you came to sleep over. Your possessions and clothes were starting to be left in there to the point that it was hardly even a guest room anymore.

Within a year, you’d been accepted as an extra family member.

Even your eighteenth birthday had been spent with the Campbells, who’d gone to the trouble to get you a cake and prepare a little barbecue with some small decorations.

As much as they might have thought it was small, you hugged Julia behind closed doors and cried softly in her arms, so thankful to have her in your life to the point of tears.

Bobby and Erik had even gone to the trouble to get you a present, Bobby handing it to you sheepishly as Erik stood behind him with his hands in his pockets.

You hugged Bobby tightly and resisted the urge to pinch his cheeks, the now sixteen-year-old looking awfully proud of himself.

“Alright, come here..” you’d heard Erik say, laughing together as he pulled you into a one-armed side hug, his desire to put forward a nonchalant nature betraying him as soon as he’d seen your eyes start to fog up all over again.

While they might not have thought it was anything special, the little Claire’s necklace never left your neck from that day onwards, even when the chain started to rust, you just got a new one.

The little skull and crossbones were a pretty obvious nod to your alternative choice of wear, something that you and Julia always thought was funny, the stark difference between your two styles always being a point of conversation.

It only made sense that when Erik needed somebody to practise on when he started getting trained to be a body piercer by the tattoo shop in town, Julia had come to you.

“Fuck no.”

“Please! He just needs to do a nose, then they can upskill him, he only needs one person!”

Julia sat across from you in the food court, her arms outstretched towards you as he gripped your wrists and shook them softly.

“I’m not letting your brother come anywhere near me with a needle!” you argued, pulling your hands away from her, only for Julia to put her hands together in a motion that looked similar to either prayer or begging.

“Come onnnn! He won’t stop bugging me about it! If he can’t get his certificate, he’s gonna be miserable, and I’m the one that’s gonna have to deal with it.”

You sat and stared for a few moments, biting your lip, obviously a free nose piercing wasn’t something you would normally turn down, considering you wanted it for ages, but the idea of letting Erik do it only filled you with anxiety.

It would look pretty sweet, though.

Holding up a pointed index finger, you watched Julia’s expression light up with hope.

“You have to hold my hand.”

Your confirmation made Julia practically jump out of her seat, pulling you into a hug and rocking you back and forth as you tried to push her off.

“Thank you!” she cried out.

That was how you then found yourself lying back in the black leather chair in the tattoo studio Erik was currently apprenticing at, Julia sat by your side and gripping your hand tightly as Erik used a marker to put a little dot on your nose.

“Please don't kill me.” you whispered, only producing a chuckle out of him as he rolled his stool back to reach for the sterilized needle on his side table.

“I make no promises.” he spoke softly, only to receive a smack on the shoulder from Julia.

“Shut up, she’s already nervous.”

When he finally pushed the needle through, you shut your eyes and squeezed Julia’s hand so hard that you thought you might hurt her, trying to maintain a steadiness to your breathing as he put the jewelry through, a plain silver stud.

Maybe it was a good way to celebrate being eighteen, being able to sign off on your own piercing, just so happened that it was convenient timing to be around the same time Erik needed a guinea pig.

Rising from the leather seat slowly, as instructed, you could already see Julia smiling brightly as she leaned in to have a closer look.

“Look’s hot.” she mused, only resulting in you rolling your eyes.

“Shut up.” you chuckled, pushing her shoulder slightly so that you could pick up the mirror Erik was handing you, holding it up to your face and beholding the small silver stud that was now sticking through your nose.

You loved it, of course you did, and it was difficult to hide that, considering the massive grin coming across your face, turning your view to where Erik sat, satisfied with his work.

“Well, you’re not dead.” he stated with a smirk, tossing the used needle in a jar. “Guess that means I did a good job.”

Shaking your head, you pushed yourself off of the black leather chair and reached forward to take Julia’s hand in your own, grabbing your bag off her shoulder and swinging it over your own.

“Thank you, Erikkkk..” you mused, swinging Julia’s hand in your own as you headed for the exit, swinging the studio door open with a ring of the bell and walking out, laughing with Julia as you did.

-

Halloween was always something you’d loved as a child, fond memories of fake blood and jack o lanterns that still brought warmth to your heart even now.

Obviously the holiday and its activities seemed to take a sharp turn when you turned eighteen, the party you and Julia had been invited to promising to be a “rager.” or at least that’s what Julia had said.

Her bluetooth speaker had thrilled blasting out of it as the pair of you got ready together, finally looking at yourself in the floor length mirror, your mouth hanging open at the costume she’d convinced you buy.

“Julia, I can’t wear this.” you spoke, turning to look at where she was sitting on the floor applying mascara with her hand mirror, her head turning to look at you as she looked you over and shook her head.

“It’s perfect, I was right.”

Her words only brought a huff from you, the short skirt and fishnets seeming an odd match for the red hooded cape and corset, a crude version of a sexed up red riding hood.

As much as you wanted to pull it off of your body and opt for something else, maybe even something that was genuinely scary, you knew there was no arguing with Julia, especially when she had set her mind on something.

Apparently her mission for the night was to get you laid, at least that’s what it seemed based on what she’d picked for you.

You knew there was a girl that was going to be at the party that Julia had her eyes on, the pair of them having been exchanging flirty text messages for a few weeks now, so you were wholeheartedly supportive of that.

“Oh yeah, don’t forget to ask Erik if he’ll buy us some booze.” she mused, applying a coat of lip gloss and adjusting the sleeping beauty costume she’d changed into.

“I don’t understand why we can’t just drink the beer in the fridge downstairs, didn’t your dad say we were allowed to?”

Howard was an executive for a local brewery, and in turn, always had access to a stupid amount of beer, tucked away in a fridge downstairs that he’d given you both express permission to take from for the night, along with the promise of drinking responsibly.

“I’m not drinking beer all night, besides, Erik already agreed to drop us off, not that big of a deal for him to stop and get us a bottle of vodka or something.”

You didn’t realise you’d already had a lift organised, assuming that you’d either walk or get picked up by somebody else in attendance, but you weren’t complaining, the boots you were wearing with this outfit certainly weren’t made for walking.

“Can you go ask him, please? I have to finish doing my hair.” Julia mused, her eyes not turning away from the mirror as she plugged in her curling iron.

Rolling your eyes, you nodded, walking out of her bedroom and taking the eight steps down the hallway to bring yourself to Erik’s closed door, a sign reading “KEEP OUT.” greeting you.

Rapping your fist on the door, you heard shuffling for a few moments, footsteps getting closer before the door finally opened, Erik’s grumpy face awaiting you.

His expression shifted rather quickly when he saw your outfit, his brows furrowing and his lip curling in a look that read nothing but judgement.

“Seriously?” he breathed with a scoff, his response making you cross your arms and feel just a tad bit more self conscious.

“Julia made me wear it.”

Your reasoning seemed to leave him unconvinced as he leaned on the door frame.

“Yeah, well, it looks like it’s missing some fabric.” he spoke, reaching forward to pull softly at one of the sleeves, bringing it up to try and cover more of you. “You’re not gonna wear a jacket or anything?”

His voice held the slightest bit of concern, but you brushed it off with a sigh, tapping your foot impatiently against the hardwood floor.

“Can you buy us a bottle of vodka?” you asked, only for Erik’s brows to furrow just as the sound of Julia’s footsteps started to come in behind you.

“Pleeaasee!” she begged, a bottle of beer in each hand, one of which she promptly handed to you, which you took a tip of and curled your face up in a cringed expression, made sense why she didn’t wanna drink this all night.

“Dad gave you permission to drink from the fridge didn’t he? so why is it my problem?”

Julia let out a groan, hand reaching into her purse as she ruffled around and eventually pulled out a fifty dollar bill which she passed over your shoulder and held out to her brother.

“You can keep the change, just please, I can't drink this shit all night.”

As the pair of you stood in front of Erik, making a show of making puppy dog eyes at him, he seemed unconvinced until he took another look over at you, his expression changing just the slightest when he looked down at you, only to sigh and take the bill from his sisters hand, signalling that he agreed.

-

Pulling up to the house, you and Julia sat in the backseat of Erik’s car, multicoloured lights in the windows and music already blaring out.

Julia’s hand in your own, you opened the door and crawled out of the car, almost tripping over as you exited, only eliciting loud laughter from you and Julia, already a little bit tipsy off the vodka you’d both been taking turns sipping at.

Turning back to face the car, you both waved at Erik as you stumbled onto the sidewalk, leaning in each other.

“Thanks Erik, we love you!” Julia yelled, resting a hand on your shoulder.

“Alright, Just be careful! Ok?” he yelled out to the pair of you, taking one final look at you before he pulled away and drove away, leaving you and Julia to your party.

The night consisted of the usual shenanigans, jell-o shots and dancing to shitty music, far too many drunken selfies taken in your costumes as you and Julia celebrated your last Halloween as highschool students.

It was coming around to almost one in the morning when you were letting one of the guys from your science class suck on your neck, pushed against a wall outside and giggling to yourself as his hands gripped your hips.

It wasn’t anything special, just a drunken make out at a party as was the usual, letting out soft exhales and moans as you ran your fingers through his stubble.

Julia and you had been separated when she’d pulled you aside to tell you she was going to say hi to the girl she’d been texting with, also known as, i’m going to go make out in the bathroom with this girl, which you had no problem with.

Just as the boy from your science class hands began to wander, you heard your name being called out, your head turning to look in the direction of Julia drunkenly calling out for you.

Pushing him off of you, you laughed softly at his insulted look, putting a hand flat on his chest as you wished him a good night and walked away, going on the direction that Julia’s voice was coming from.

While it initially took a little bit searching, you eventually found where she was standing by the back door, your arms outstretching and a wide smile on your face when you spotted each other.

Grinning like a pair of idiots, you used each other as support as you walked back through the house, more than intent on heading home for night, knowing exactly who you would be calling to drive you.

As the pair of you sat on the sidewalk, now shivering in the october weather but not seeming to have a care in the world, you wheezed as you watched Julia struggling to get out her phone, paired with a sloppy attempt at tapping Erik’s name in the contacts.

Listening to the phone ring, Julia’s head found its place comfortably on your shoulder, the two of you swaying softly as you waited for her brother to pick up the phone.

You knew Erik wouldn’t have been asleep by now, he’d always been a night owl for as long as you’d known him, even now that he worked full time at the tattoo shop, so it was hardly surprising when he picked up relatively quickly, sounding wide awake.

“What is it?”

His annoyed voice only made you and Julia snicker, the state you were both in making everything seem hilarious, especially when it was coming from her older brother.

“Erikkkk…” Julia spoke in a little sing song voice, making you laugh even harder in a way that made you feel like you couldn’t even breathe properly.

“Come pick us up!” you continued for Julia, leaning towards the phone to make sure the receiver could pick up your voice. “It’s cold and we’re drunk!”

Initially you could hear an audibly annoyed sign coming from the phone, but it seemed Erik knew better than to try and say no, especially considering that he’d been explicitly told by Howard to pick the two of you up if you rang.

“I’ll be there in ten.” he spoke, “I swear to god if either of you vomit in my car, I’ll kill you.”

His warning was ignored, only a resounding cheer from you and Julia as you watched her try to hang up the phone sloppily.

“I can’t hang up, you do it.” she said through her laughter, handing the phone to you.

“Love you, Erik.” you slurred slightly, a giggle leaving your throat as you hung up the phone.

He said he’d be there in ten, but he made it in eight.

Helping Julia into the car first, when he turned to help you, his eyes drifted to your neck immediately, focusing in on the purple marks along your skin, seeming to visibly stiffen and take in a sharp breath when he saw them.

Too drunk to notice or care, you just let him help you into the car and laid your head against Julia’s shoulder, the pair of you smiling like idiots and occasionally giggling to yourselves as Erik drove you home silently, seeming slightly more ticked off than you would have expected.

When you finally arrived home, Julia had managed to get out of the car without too much of a struggle and make her way back inside, leaving Erik to help guide you up the path to the front door, his hand resting on your back.

As you tried your hardest to sneak back inside the house quietly even with your inebriated state, you expected Erik to find the sight of you this drunk to be more amusing, yet when you looked at him as you laughed, his face was stone cold, his eyes straight ahead.

It made the smile fall off of your face as you finally made it to the guest room, turning to look up at him as you stood in the doorway, grabbing his upper arm when he went to try turning and walking away without a word.

When you’d grabbed him, he turned, but he didn’t look at you, keeping his eyes trained in the ground as he stood there.

“What is it?” you asked, stepping closer and using the hand on his upper arm to try and rub his shoulder comfortingly. “I’m sorry, we shouldn’t have called you, we just didn’t wanna walk home and-“

“It’s not that.” he interrupted, finally looking down at you, his eyes once again going to the marks across your neck, clearly showing what he was annoyed about yet not saying a word.

Furrowing your brows, you were confused, he was clearly annoyed about something yet he wasn’t even willing to explain himself? that wasn’t your problem.

“If you’re not gonna tell me what’s wrong, then how am i supposed to fix it?”

Your hand reached up to grip his chin between your thumb and your index finger, forcing him to look at you, offering up a smile in the hopes of him actually explaining rather than just brooding.

He was twenty three now, his face had taken on just a little bit of stubble and he’d cut his hair a bit shorter from when you met him, now that he was working at the tattoo studio, he’d gotten his ears pierced, the thick rings hanging from his lobes.

When he’d mentioned wanting to get his septum pierced, you disagreed, but you had a feeling he was planning on doing it anyway.

You weren’t entirely sure why you did it, maybe it was the alcohol, or the leftover adrenaline from making out with a stranger, but you got on your tippy toes and put a hand on Erik’s cheek, capturing his lips in a kiss that had him letting out a small sound of shock.

Any second now, he was gonna push you away, let you down easily and let you live out the embarrassment of kissing your best friend's brother.

Until he didn’t, instead, Erik’s hands were immediately on your hips, pushing you into the guest room and pushing the door closed as he did.

His face was warm, his cheeks seeming to be burning up as you both held your eyes shut and let a sloppy make out begin to take place, just as you had been doing before, except as opposed to the boy from your science class, Erik seemed to know exactly what he was doing.

His hands squeezed your hips tightly, his tongue immediately pushing its way into your mouth without hesitation.

You felt like your nerves were on fire as he pushed you against the wall, holding you against it with a strength that only made you want more of him, desperately.

It had seemed that your hand guiding itself down his body before finally running your fingers along the hard tent in his jeans had only resulted in the harsh reality of the situation coming crashing back down on the pair of you.

Where you were, who you were currently kissing, as well as who you were.

Never before had you ever seen Erik pull away so quickly, taking a step back and looking at you, taking in the sight before him of you panting with swollen lips in your skimpy little halloween costume.

Shaking his head, he took another step away from you, a hand coming to wipe his face as he turned for the door.

He didn’t say anything when he left, opening the door and walking out, closing it behind him as you listened to his footsteps getting quieter and quieter as he walked away and back upstairs to his room.

As you stood there, it dawned on you that you had absolutely no clue why you’d done that, maybe you were just still too drunk to realise why kissing your best friends older brother was a really fucking bad idea.

Even more so, you had no idea why the rejection had stung as much as it had, tears beginning to prick at your eyes as you took in a shaky breath and started to rip off the costume that was now feeling more constricting than anything else.

He didn’t talk to you the next morning, wouldn’t even look at you when he walked into the kitchen for breakfast with the rest of the family, just grabbed a juice out of the fridge and went back to his room.

Your brain was swimming with the possibilities of what he must be thinking of you, who gets that drunk and kisses someone’s brother with no fear of the repercussions, did he think you were a slut?

For some reason, the thought that he felt that way about you just made you even more upset.

Life continued on after that halloween, you and Julia’s friendship stayed the same, and eventually both you and Erik just continued on as you always had, electing to both ignore the kiss as if it had never happened.

You never spoke about it, and seemingly had no intention to.

Julia started at college, you didn’t, but even as Julia’s free time dwindled, you were still around at the Campbell’s house fairly often, even if it wasn’t for sleepovers anymore.

As often as her schedule would let you, you and Julia still spent time together as often as possible, oftentimes meeting her on campus to have lunch together, or even just to sit with her while she studied in the library, even if it meant sitting on your phone in silence.

Initially, the closest you and Erik ever got to addressing what happened was an awkward smile when the two of you crossed paths in the house, but eventually, things returned to the way they were, a comfortable friendship was reestablished between the two of you, which allowed for matches of Mortal Kombat to become a common past time while you waited for Julia to finish classes for the day, or even messaging him to ask for a lift when he finished work when you were going to visit Julia at the house.

You even let him pierce you a few more times, unable to hide your expression when you’d walked into the shop, only to see he’d gone ahead and gotten his septum pierced.

“I thought I was gonna hate it.” you mused as he got his supplies ready, marking up the other end of your nose to prepare you for getting your other nostril done.

“Does that mean you like it?” he asked with a laugh, the two of you now more than used to this routine to just talk casually while he lined up the needle.

“No I- jesus, ow. No, I don’t.”

You tried not to scrunch your nose as he pushed the jewellery in, holding the mirror up to look at the two perfectly lined up matching studs now sitting on your nose.

“Too bad, it’s not going anywhere.” he shrugged his shoulders, rolling away in his chair and taking off the black latex gloves he’d been wearing.

“I thought you thrived off my approval.” you spoke sarcastically, tilting your head as you stood, swinging your bag over your shoulder.

“Oh I do, I just don’t care.”

His response incited a laugh from you, rolling your eyes as you reached for your purse, opening it and beginning to rifle through the bills sitting inside.

“Don’t worry about it.” Erik spoke, waving his hand at you as he began to clean off the chair and prepare for the next client.

“Erik, I can’t not pay you, won’t you get in the shit with your boss?”

Struggling his shoulders, he continued laying out his tattoo supplies, wrapping the gun as he spoke.

“Call it an early birthday present.”

Part of you was touched that he remembered your birthday was coming up soon, but considering that Julia had probably already been talking about it, you suddenly weren’t surprised.

Letting out a stubborn sigh, you just shook your head and put your purse back in your bag, turning to walk out.

“Thaaaanks Erik.”

Ever since he’d given you your first piercing, it just became the norm to always give him the same thank you in the same sing-song tone.

You weren’t teenagers anymore, hell, Erik was turning twenty six in may, but even now, so many years later, neither of you wanted to address the unspoken ‘thing’ you two had, whatever you could call it.

Sometimes you could have sworn Julia knew, she always was more observant than she let on, and there was only so many times the glances shared between you and Erik were going to go left unnoticed.

You couldn’t pretend you hadn’t noticed the look he’d given you when he pierced your tongue for your twenty-first birthday, or how hard he’d gripped his coffee mug when he watched you cry to Julia over your boyfriend cheating on you.

It was pathetic really, to be crying in your best friends arms over a relationship that hadn’t even lasted a full year, but when you’d found the pictures on his phone of other girls, and the messages he’d been exchanging, it still wrecked you to what felt like the point of no return.

Julia seemed to save the i told you so’s and just let you cry it out in her arms in her bedroom, as much as she’d always hated your boyfriend, especially the way he treated you, she understood that right now you were in pain.

You weren’t concerned about Erik standing in the doorway, if anything, it was nice to have two people to vent to, especially when it was him who came and picked you up with Julia when you’d called her in tears.

“I found the photo’s on his fucking phone.” you sniffled, wiping your red and puffy eyes with you sleeves as Julia rubbed your back. “He’s been fucking other girls since we got together.”

Your voice broke as you finished your sentence, seeing Julia shaking her head out of the corner of your eye, Erik muttering something to himself that you couldn’t quite hear, but enough to understand he was pissed on your behalf.

“What a lowlife.” you heard Erik scoff, his comment bringing a soft laugh out of you surprisingly, nodding your head in agreement as you sniffled.

“I wish I was gay so that we could just be girlfriends.” you laughed through your tears, inciting a laugh out of Julia.

She held you in your arms and let you cry it out for the rest of that night, and even though Erik went back to his room, you could tell what had happened had upset him.

You’d gone to his room and knocked on the door later that night when you finally started to calm down, leaning in the door frame and offering a soft smile, as exhausted as you were.

“Thank you for coming to get me today.” you started when he looked up from his book, picking at your sleeve as you stood in his doorway.

“Of course,” he started, sitting up and putting his book to the side “Didn’t really want you spending another second at that assholes place.” he shrugged his shoulders, resting his elbows on his knees.

Nodding your head, you sniffled slightly and rubbed at your eye, willing any other tears away when Erik stood up from his bed.

“Hey, hey.” he said softly, his hands coming to rest on your shoulders, “Please don’t cry, especially not over someone like him. I hate seeing you cry.”

You let Erik pull you into his arms, not quite crying, but still shaking and shutting your eyes tightly.

“I just don’t know what I did wrong.” you whispered, Erik resting his chin on the top of your head as he rocked you softly.

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” he reassured you, simple yet effective, enough to have you nodding your head as he held you.

That was just over a year and a half ago, but it was still fresh in your mind.

As much as it was likely that the Campbell’s had something planned for your birthday, you decided you could find some comfort in your own company a few days before your birthday, maybe that was why you’d ended up in the bar in town, a cocktail nursed between your fingers as you watched a live band performing.

The bar was known for a more alternative crowd, fitting the bill for you anyway, and with the addition of live music for the night, it was a nice way to spend your free time.

It was reasonably packed for the show, taking you at least five minutes just to travel from one end to the other after getting your drink, needing to weave through people before you’d ended up in your comfortable little corner by one of the pillars.

When you’d been approached by the stranger, a smirk on his face and a confidence that you initially found off putting, his not very subtle flirting and willingness to playfully persevere despite your cold response, eventually he went from annoying to endearing.

You talked about all the basic topics, music, movies, anything really; he was very clearly just biding his time until you agreed to let him stick his tongue down your throat, which lucky for him, you eventually caved and let him.

What was a little pre birthday make out with a stranger after all.

He had you with your back against the pillar as he kissed you softly, a smile present on both of your lips as his hands found their way to your hips and yours became tangled in his hair.

It was really only by chance that your eyes had begun to scan the bar when he started to kiss along your jawline, your head turning to allow him access and your eyes opening lazily.

Fuck. Oh fuck.

There he was, leaning against the bar, a beer having been long forgotten in his hand, presently staring absolute daggers at the pair of you.

Erik’s glare wasn’t necessarily focused on you as it was on the guy that was presently all over you.

You were so sick of this, so tired of pretending that you never stopped thinking about the kiss you’d shared so many years ago on halloween, sick of the way he looked at you and just let the two of you pretend that there was nothing there purely just because he was your best friend's brother.

The eye contact you made with him was pointed, your mouth falling open in a gasp as a particularly sweet spot in between your neck and your jaw was caught between the strangers lips, yet you kept your eyes on Erik, who looked straight back at you.

Even from the distance, you could see him gripping his beer bottle just a little tighter, like he knew exactly what you were doing.

There wasn’t any room to pretend, you even let a few little soft moans leave you as you shut your eyes again, turning back to face the stranger again and kiss him in a way that was entirely just for show, hoping to incite some sort of jealous rage within Erik, so that might stop pretending and actually just take the plunge.

So many years spent pretending like you hadn’t developed something for him that extended beyond the reaches of just being friends, the tears you’d cried after he left the room on halloween, the way that you’d closed your eyes and wished it was him when your first real boyfriend took your virginity.

And yet, just as you’d feared, he did nothing.

Pushing the stranger off of you, you felt a pang in your heart, refusing to even speak a word in response to his questioning as to why you’d stopped, even when he’d called you a “fuckin’ tease.” as you walked away, pushing your way through the crowd and headed for the door.

The night air was cold, tears pricked at your eyes but you ignored them, only pulled your jacket closer to your body and began taking steps away from the bar and onto the sidewalk.

You didn’t even want to believe that you were hearing the sound of the bar door opening, your name being called and accompanied by fast footsteps; it wasn’t until a hand grabbed your shoulder and you were forced to turn and look at the perpetrator that you were face to face with those same icy blue eyes looking down at you.

“What the fuck was that?” he asked, his tone accusatory as if he didn’t know exactly what was happening back there in the bar, the way you were begging for him in every single way other than verbally.

“I’m tired of doing this, Erik.” you spoke, running a hand over your face as the two of you stood there in the cold.

“What are you talking about?” he asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

“You know exactly what i’m talking about.” you started, “are we just going to dance around this forever? pretend like it doesn’t exist? pretend that whenever i hear about you having some new little girlfriend for the week that i don’t die a little bit inside?”

By the way his face began to shift, you knew that he was well aware of what you meant, seemingly unable to find the words to say as he opened his mouth to speak, only for nothing to come out.

“We can’t.” was all he said when he finally spoke, his eyes remaining trained on you, hands staying stuck at his sides.

Your face contorted, a deep sigh leaving your lips as you shook your head, trying so hard to fight the way that your bottom lip was starting to wobble.

“We could.” you countered, bringing your hands to your pockets. “But you’re just a coward.”

You knew you didn’t mean that, but the pain in your chest was bringing fourth emotion that you’d had no way of getting out until now, so many things you’d wanted to say but never got the chance to.

Part of you wanted him to chase you, run after you calling your name like in the movies, but he didn’t, he just let you walk away, like he always did.

You’d regretted what you said as soon as you turned and walked away, feeling yourself already starting to sob quietly to yourself, wiping the tears from your eyes with your sleeve.

After that night, you hadn’t been round to the Campbell house for days, Julia had messaged you when she was free, offering to come and get you so that you could hang out, but you just lied through your teeth and told her you were busy.

It hurt to treat your best friend this way, but you were just too torn up to care, the risk of seeing Erik and having any chance of an interaction with him was just too much, more than you were willing to take.

Just as before, you were certain Julia had some idea as to what was going on, when you’d spoken to her on the phone and you’d said you weren’t feeling too good, she sounded too knowing for her own good when she said goodbye, like she had something she needed to go do, she sounded determined.

You just went to work and came home, the next three days being a slow moving blur of feeling nothing and then the next minute feeling everything.

It was exhausting pretending for so many years that you hadn’t felt the way that you did about Erik, pushing it down and acting normal.

Of course you had thought about how it would affect your friendship with Julia, it was one of only things you thought about every time Erik crawled his way into your thoughts, the potential for such a betrayal made you feel ill, but then the other part of you, the part that had known Julia for almost six years at this point, wondered if she would have accepted it, embraced it even.

Just as you were thinking of her, your phone began to buzz next to you on your bed, ripping you out of your thoughts and seeing the image of a photo you and Julia had taken together at a party as her contact floated above it.

With a sigh, you swiped to answer the call and put the phone to your ear, Julia’s voice immediately coming through.

“Happy Birthday!” she cheered, your brows scrunching together as you realised that you’d just forgotten your own birthday entirely.

“Holy shit.” you laughed softly, rubbing your eye as you sat up. “I didn’t even realise, I forgot my own birthday.”

Her laughter rang through, unable to stop a smile coming across your features no matter how hard you tried.

“When are you coming around? we got a cake for you and everything, well, mom did at least.” she explained, causing you to look over to your clock and see it was already one in the afternoon. Jesus.

“Uh, i’ll be around in like twenty, just let me have a shower.” you responded, standing up and reaching for the towel hanging on your door.

“Do you want me to ask Erik to come get you?”

The mention of his name had you stiffening up, the grip on your phone getting tighter as you walked into the bathroom.

“No.” you said flatly, only to correct yourself “I mean, i think i’ll just walk, i need the fresh air.”

Seemingly satisfied with your answer, Julie said goodbye and hung up the call, letting you turn the faucet and get the shower going.

-

The Campbell’s family home was always welcoming, even just walking in, it always felt warm, that was something you couldn’t deny.

It spoke volumes that they’d organised a birthday celebration for you, the only people that ever did, having not spoken to your mother since you graduated, it seemed they were the only family you had left.

When you’d walked around to the backyard, Julia was the first person to spot you, running to you with open arms and birthday wishes, pulling you in for a tight hug.

“You need to talk to Erik, he’s miserable.” she whispered to you as she hugged you, ignoring your confused face when she pulled away and took your hand, guiding you to where the rest of the family were.

Choosing not to address what she had said, you let yourself accept hugs and birthday wishes from Bobby, saying your hello’s to Howard and receiving a kiss on the cheek from Brenda.

You and Erik didn’t even look at each other.

He was sat on one of the outside chairs, nursing a beer which he took occasional sips at, staring at it like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

It was obvious to everybody around you that you were seemingly giving one another the silent treatment, yet they didn’t say anything, just allowed the festivities to continue as Howard worked at the grill and Julia handed you a white claw.

However you managed it, you’d been able to spend almost your entire birthday celebration without saying a word to Erik, even when Bobby and Julia had handed you a present that was labelled to have come from all three Campbell siblings, he still stood at a distance, talking to his dad or sulking a few meters away.

You knew completely that it was immature, to put this much effort into not even talking to him purely due to rejection, but the other part of you, that eighteen year old girl that cried herself to sleep after the boy she liked kissed her and ran out of the room? she was still there, and she was hurt.

By the time it all started to wrap up, Julia had already convinced you to stay the night, even if you were hesitant, she seemed adamant, giving you a look that seemed to imply that she knew exactly why you’d been acting so miserable, especially considering what she’d said to you when you’d arrived.

Wishing your goodnights to Howard and Brenda, you helped Bobby clean up while Julia packed up the leftovers, and yet during this entire time, Erik still sat outside, now nursing a cigarette between his fingers as she sat on the porch swing.

At first, you were going to turn around and go to bed, let him wallow out there and regret what was literally his decision in the first place, but when you turned, you came face to face with Julia, who had a brow quirked as she looked at you.

“Get out there,” she spoke with a hushed tone, pointing to the back door “and talk to him.”

You wanted to argue against it, really you did, but just as it had always been and will continue to be, there was no arguing with Julia.

Stepping out into the backyard that was now only lit up by garden lights, you could see Erik in the distance, the small orange glow on his cigarette lighting up his face as he inhaled.

Without saying a word, you came and sat down next to him, keeping your eyes forward as he did the same, the pair of you being too stubborn to speak at first.

As the silence grew, you huffed and crossed your arms, looking out at the garden that Brenda was so proud of.

“Julia told me to come out here and talk to you.” you finally broke, unable to stand just sitting there in the overwhelming tension any longer.

“She told *me* to talk to *you*.”

Erik’s response made you exhale out of your nose in a sort of soft laugh, at least only as much as you could laugh in that moment; it just made perfect sense that eventually Julia caught on to what was happening between you, it was bound to happen.

“I had a feeling she figured it out.” you mentioned, only for Erik to nod his head.

“She knew when i came home after the bar, said i looked like a kicked puppy.” he mused, a soft smile now falling across his features as he turned his head to look at you for the first time since you’d sat down next to him.

“I’m sorry.”

Your apology had him shaking his head and sighing.

“I’m the one that should be sorry. That wasn’t fair.”

“Which part, kissing me and then pretending it never happened? or friendzoning me for almost four years straight?”

It was crazy just how quickly the tension between you melted away when you finally started talking. Letting it boil in silence had probably been the least wise course of action, but you were anything if not stubborn.

“Both I guess?”

Letting out a small laugh, you let him continue.

“I’m not sorry about pulling away on halloween though, you were drunk, i wasn’t about to be the monster that screwed his little sisters shitfaced best friend.”

Seeming to let the last bit of tension fade away, he turned to face you completely, resting his elbow on the back on the porch swing.

“Even if she really wanted you to.” you said softly with a laugh, acknowledging that was the easy part, of course it had been a smart thing to do, considering Julia probably would have killed him if that were to have happened.

“Especially if she really wanted me to, of course you’d have to be drunk to wanna kiss this face.” he joked, pointing to his face with his index finger.

Shaking your head, you ran your hand along his arm that was resting in the backrest, furrowing your brows.

“I don’t know about that, i’m pretty sober.” you replied lazily, tilting your head as you smiled at each other “I still wouldn’t say no to a kiss if you’re offering.”

That seemed to add another layer of realism to it all, the reminder of who you both were, and the connection between you.

Julia had seemed to make it clear that you had her blessing, why else would she order you outside to talk to her brother, when she seemed to already know exactly what was happening when Erik had come home from the bar that night.

It was the sudden realisation that right here, right now, there was absolutely nothing stopping you anymore, that you’d effectively been given the green light.

So when that smile on Erik’s face only grew, it seemed like a knee jerk reaction as you both leaned in, hands coming to rest on each others cheeks as for the first time in almost four years, you laid a kiss against Erik’s lips, at least one that was going to be reciprocated without question.

Would it have cliche to say that it truly did feel like fireworks going off in your chest? like his fingertips were made of lightning as they rested against your neck, the thickly feeling of his facial hair not bothering you in the slightest.

God, he smelled like cigarettes and cheap cologne, but in the best way possible, just the same as he’d smelled when you first kissed him when you were eighteen, like nothing had changed at all since then.

But that was definitely a lie. Four years was a long time, a lot can happen in that time, lots of life to be experienced, and you were a very different person when compared to the version of yourself who was only just on the brink of graduating.

At first it felt like being stuck in this weird sort of limbo, you just kissed him softly like he was going to be spooked and run away like last time, some small part of your brain fearing it was going to happen all over again; yet when his hands fell to your waist and pulled you in closer, it felt like confirmation that he wasn’t planning on letting you go anywhere.

Finally breaking for air, you kept your foreheads connected, soft pants against each others lips while the pair of you just sat there and took one another in.

“Julia’s gonna kill us.” Erik breathed out with a soft laugh, the mention of it suddenly making you pull away and turn your head in the direction of the house.

As you both turned your attention back to the kitchen window, the sight of two heads quickly ducking out of view made it pretty clear that both of Erik’s siblings had been watching from a distance, seemingly to make sure everything went down smoothly.

Shaking your head, you turned back to Erik with a smile, your arms coming to wrap about his neck.

“Something tells me she had this all planned out from the beginning.” you spoke, just about to lean in to capture another kiss from Erik’s lips before his attention was caught by something around your neck, his hand coming up to wrap his fingers around the claire’s skull and cross bone necklace him and Bobby had gotten you almost five years ago now, which had now fallen out of its place hidden under your shirt.

He ran his thumb over the worn down metal, most of the details almost unrecognisable after so many years of wear, his smile growing as he chuckled.

“I can’t believe you still wear this thing.” he sighed, his eyes looking back up at you; his smirk definitely seemed to reveal that there was at least some small bit of satisfaction on his part, knowing you walked around with a necklace he got you around your neck.

“My ex hated it.” you laughed, leaning forward to east your forehead on his shoulder to try and shield the blush now steadily starting to form on your cheeks. “He told me it was weird to wear a necklace that my friend's brother got me, I think he was jealous of you?”

You heard Erik scoff, pulling away to see him rolling his eyes. “I literally met him once and he acted like he was ready to fight me any second, stupid.” he muttered the last part, only to lean forward and steal another kiss from you.

“Maybe he had a reason to feel threatened after all.” you spoke against his lips, allowing yourself to just sit back and enjoy the feeling of having your lips and face peppered with long overdue kisses.

“Mhm, maybe.” he laughed, bringing your face forward to lay a kiss on your forehead, letting you shut your eyes and melt into the feeling of him wrapping his arms around you and holding you there in a hug.

“He’d feel even worse if he knew what i’m gonna do to do as soon as we get back upstairs and in my room though.”

His sudden boldness had your head flying back, looking across at him as your face shifted from a look of shock, into an expression that resembled the exact image of a horned up teenager, biting your lip and leaning forward to put a hand on his jean clad thigh.

Quirking an eyebrow at you, he let his hands squeeze your waist just a little bit tighter, his voice taking on a deeper and slightly more serious tone.

“You really shouldn’t have tried so hard to make me jealous back in the bar the other day.” he started, pulling you up with him as he stood, his grip on you tight like a vice. “Cause now i’m gonna do exactly what i wanted to do when i had to sit there and watch that fucker throw himself all over you.”

Without any other word exchanged, the pair of you were walking back into the house, hands gripped together.

The lights in the kitchen had been turned off by the time you made your way back inside, the rest of the Campbell’s seemingly excusing themselves into their respective rooms to go to sleep, providing a quick and easy uninterrupted party back up to Erik’s room.

It would have been a lie to say it didn’t feel like an adrenaline rush to practically be sneaking into his bedroom quietly, something you’d definitely thought about on more than one occasion, the thrill that would have come with sneaking around with your best friend's brother.

As much as she must have known exactly what she was doing, there was still some mischievous undertone to it all as Erik shut his bedroom door quietly and turned to face you.

With only his lamp illuminating the bedroom, it was dim but still light enough to make out his face clearly, even more so when he took the few small steps across the carpeted floor to now stand in front of you, looking down at you like you were something to be devoured.

“Do you have any idea how hard I jerked my cock when you left for that halloween party? When I watched you get out of my car in that outfit?”

His voice was rugged and deep, already resulting in your body starting to have a physical reaction, shivering as he stood over you, not too unlike the big bad wolf to your little red riding hood.

Biting your lip, you let your hand reach forward to trace your index finger over his belt buckle, watching him take in a sharp breath.

“Is this a good time to tell you it still fits?” you asked, tilting your head and doing your very best to look up at him with the innocent puppy dog eyes that you already knew drove him wild.

The sound he let out could truly not be described as anything other than a growl, a deep rumble from deep within his chest that had a shiver running along your spine.

Without another word, Erik leaned down to capture you in another kiss, except this was unlike the soft pecks you’d exchanged in the garden, this kiss was hungry, not too unlike the one you’d exchanged on halloween, you could tell from the way he began to grab at you that he was just as desperate as you were.

This was years of buildup now seeming to come spilling over, like the lid had well and truly been blown off and now it was all coming out in a wave, sexual frustration and jealousy for someone that you hadn’t even dated.

His hands molded to your body like they knew it instantly, knowing exactly where to hold you and where the little spots were that made you let out those little sounds that were like music to his ears.

Guiding you to the bed had been easy work, and when the backs of your knees touched it, he shoved you down before you could sit, landing on your back with a soft “Oomph!”

Standing above you now, you could only watch as Erik looked down at you, watch as he reached down to lazily pull at his belt until it became undone, unbuttoning his jeans and letting them sit open and undone around his hips before he kneeled on the bed.

The moment his hands were back on you again, running up your sides and coming to your chest, he didn’t seem shy or hesitant in the slightest, squeezing at one of your tits with no shame, running his thumb back and forth over your peaked nipple through the fabric of your shirt.

Letting out a small whimper, your hands came to shield yourself out of instinct, only to be met with a sudden and harsh resistance in the form of Erik’s free hand gripping your wrist and wrenching it away from yourself.

“Don’t try it.” he warned.

This was a version of Erik you hadn’t seen first hand, you’d always known him as sweet and caring towards you, but there were definitely times where you could see something behind his eyes when he looked at you.

You’d seen it in the bar when he glared, the darkness that overtook his entire being. It would have been a lie if you said it wasn’t a thrill.

As if it was bringing something out of you as well, you couldn’t stop the way you looked up at him, the puppy dog eyes seeming like a completely natural reflex as you couldn’t fight the whimper that came out of you when he gripped your wrist so hard it almost hurt.

There seemed to be something unspoken between the pair of you over those years of pretending you didn’t want each other, something extended beyond feelings and presented itself as more of just this feeling that neither of you could doubt, this understanding that when the pair of you came together, there was going to be flames.

The hand that wasn’t gripping your wrist continued to touch you, pinching your nipple between his index finger and thumb, twisting slightly just to look down at the way you whimpered, letting yourself surrender to the headspace completely.

As you tried to turn your body away, be just wrenched you back to face him even harder, his free hand coming to grab your face and force you to look up at him, squeezing your cheeks so hard your lips pressed together like a fish.

“You’re really gonna be like that?” he breathed with a soft laugh, like he didn’t take you seriously as tall, almost like your attempts to pull away from him were entirely in vain.

It’d had never been like this with old boyfriends, missionary where you’d laid there like a goldfish and let them finish up, or even when they’d pathetically beg you suck their dicks; No, there was something playing within you that wanted Erik fired up, like getting him annoyed was all part of the fun.

Trying to pull your wrist away from his grip, even if it was futile, you let out a small grumble, looking up at him in a way that more than put across the attitude you were purposely giving him, like you knew exactly what you were doing.

“Be like that if you want Princess, works for me.” he spoke lowly leaning in to look down at you in a way that just read as “you asked for this.”

Without another warning, Erik’s hand was disappearing up your skirt, his fingers starting to rub up and down your panties with little to no mercy or warning, your mouth opening to let out a sound only to be promptly stopped by Erik’s other hand clamping over your mouth.

His fingers were skilled, running along your fabric covered slit with a precision that was above what you even thought possible for a guy, like he knew exactly where to touch you in a way that immediately had you whining against his hand.

It didn’t take long for your panties to be pushed aside only to make room for his fingers to start gliding through your wetness, promptly soaking his hand as you tried to close your legs out of reflex, only to clamp down on either sides of him, using his body to keep you open for him.

“Fuck, you’re soaked.” he mused, a dry laugh leaving his lips as he looked down at you, once again giving you no warning as he pushed two fingers straight inside you, gifting you no patience on his part as he wasted no time pushing them inside you up to the knuckle.

Your muffled cry only served to egg him on further, the feeling of your hips trying to pull away from his fingers and your back arching spurring on a slightly cruel smirk across his features.

“You’re that fucking wound up just from my fingers inside you? Seriously?” his tone was mocking at best, leaving you only able to look up at him with eyes that were starting to grow misty as he fucked you with his fingers at a pace that almost hurt, but in the best way conceivable.

God, it was almost embarrassing how much your body reacted to him, the sounds you were making against his hand purely from his touch, you were acting like a cock hungry slut, but it seemed that it was exactly how Erik wanted you, especially when he ripped his fingers out of you out of nowhere with seemingly no warning, the pathetic sound you made at the absence that left you clenching around nothing.

He lifted his fingers up so that they were held right in your face, the sticky mess on his fingers glistening as he spread his fingers to show it off.

“Look at that..” he breathed, letting out an exhaled chuckle as he stared at it like he was almost in a trance, only to open his mouth and suck your mess off of his fingers with the most atrociously sloppy sound you’d ever heard, pulling them out of his mouth again and looking down at you. “Like fuckin’ honey.”

That image along was enough to have your whole body shivering, watching him slurp on his fingers, sucking your own essence off of them like it was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted; where you legs had been attempting to close before hand, your own body began to betray you, your hips lifting off of the bed as you let out a desperate sound, chasing after his touch again.

Seeing your response to losing the feeling of him, Erik only seemed to find amusement from the way you were whimpering and trying to find any sort of relief, his solution being to bring his hand back down to your pussy, yet only letting his finger tips begin to ghost over your clit, hardly making any contact, nowhere near enough as far as you were concerned.

All you could do was let out sounds of protest, your hands desperately fighting to break free from where he was holding them down with only one hand, his strength and ability to overpower you being more than enough needed to keep you right where he wanted to.

“Whats wrong, princess..?” he cooed at you, mocking you as he kept his face close to yours, continuing his string of almost touching you as he waited to see how long it would take for you to break. “Something you want? You want me to touch you?”

With his hand still held over your mouth, it wasn’t exactly easy to verbalise your answer, but a whimper that came out sounding more like a rugged groan and the nodding of your head, all paired up with the desperation of your eyes that were blown out to the size of dinner plates, he seemed to understand the message clear enough.

Just as he’d done before, he gave you no warning when he plunged his fingers back inside you, fucking you with them with a starting pace that had your eye’s rolling back into your head, practically crying out into his hand the sudden jump from feeling barely anything to being heinously overstimulated, your brain was beginning to turn to mush, you were becoming putty in his fingers.

You’d always imagined it might be something like this to a degree, but fucking yourself with you fingers late and night and shutting your eyes pretending it was him was practically nothing when compared to what was happening right then and there, the knot in your stomach growing tighter and tighter as you felt yourself starting to go numb.

“You gonna cum?” he teased, “Gonna gush all over my fingers like a nasty little slut? Fuuuuck, look at you, you can’t even hear what im saying.”

He was correct of course, anything he was saying to you was coming out as white noise as you finally felt you body coming loose around him, pulsing around his fingers as you let out obscene muffled noises and felt your toes curling, swearing for a moment or two that you went blind on one eye.

You were still in a daze when his hand came off of your mouth, taking in a deep breath of air that you hadn’t even realised was being kept from you, silence except for the sound of your panting.

Numb to the world around you, you hardly even felt real for the first ten seconds of laying there, feeling a few soft kisses peppering your forehead accompanied by a hand on your cheek.

“Hey now, come back to me..” Erik’s soft voice rang out, a small laugh following after it, finally starting to come back down to reality to see him looking down at you like he thought that state he’d left you in was hilarious.

You couldn’t form words, but he seemed to realise your eyes were focusing back in on him, his thumb running along your cheek as he tilted his head.

“You okay?” he whispered, watching you let out a small hum and a nod, one of your shaky hands coming up to grip his shoulder, almost in an attempt to ground yourself.

When you gave him another nodded, the hand that was on your cheek proceeded to give it a soft encouraging pat, a smile remaing on Erik’s face as he sat back and gripped your hips.

“Can I fuck you princess? Is that what you want?”

His question had you biting your lip as you looked up at him, the way his hands rubbed the tops of thigh’s slowly and softly, his own little way of keeping you grounded and comforted, seeking out permission from you before he went any further, that was the Erik that had always taken care of you, even if from a respectful distance.

“Please..” was the first word you’d managed to get out, your voice slightly croaky but clear enough that he definitely understood, causing him to let out a low groan at just how pathetically you begged for it.

With the jeans that were already undone, it hadn’t taken him much effort to pull them down to his knees, his grey boxers leaving nothing to the imagination as you pushed yourself up on your elbows, your bottom lip being caught between your teeth as soon as you saw the length and size you were about to be working with.

The only way you could have been described in that moment was a bitch in heat, desperate and needy in a way that couldn’t be described in words.

Then as if you weren’t already cock hungry enough, even just from seeing the tattooed barb wire on his v-line, or the dark hair creepy out of the boxers and up towards his belly button; As he pulled himself out and lazily pumped himself, your mouth fell open, the whimper leaving your throat being so pathetic that you were almost ashamed.

Looking down at his own cock, Erik let out a throaty laugh, continuing to continued to slowly drag his hand up and down his shaft when he looked back up at you, realising what it was that had constituted the noise from you.

“You like it?” he teased, running his thumb over the top of the thick curved barbell, letting you stare at it for a few more seconds before he put a hand on your knee.

“You want it?” he asked, his hand gliding down to rest on your hip.

When you nodded, he smiled and lifted your hips, turning you over slowly so that your ass was up in the air, your cheek coming to rest snugly against the sheets as he placed his hand flat inbetween your shoulder blades to push your upper body down.

“That’s it, I’ve got you..” he reassured, his hand coming to glide over your ass cheek, admiring the view for a few sweet seconds, letting you enjoy the feeling of a soft touch against your skin, at least for a few seconds.

**THWACK**

You were lucky your face was in the sheets, otherwise the sound of you crying out would have been audible throughout the whole house, the sharp pain of Erik’s hand coming down to spank you barely even registering before he was sending another one down on your skin.

The kicking of your legs was futile, the whimpers leaving your throat seeming to produce little mercy from Erik as he let down one more harsh smack, just as you felt his tip starting to run up and down your entrance, the cold metal of his piercing making you jump.

“You gonna let me fuck this pussy? Huh?” he grunted, making a point to push just his tip inside you, barely even penetrating you to begin with. “Gonna let me fill it up with my cum? You gonna take it all?”

His words, along with the unbearable teasing, had you pushing your ass back against him, desperate for him to push himself deeper inside you, only for him to back away each time you tried to your dismay, a desperate whimper emerging from your throat each time.

“Pretty baby wants dick so bad..” he cooed, almost as if he genuinely felt sorry for you, but you both knew better, the more you were begging for him, the better it was.

Not as harshly as he had pushed his fingers inside you, Erik gripped your hips, pushing himself in at a fast enough speed that had you gasping, but didn’t hurt by any means, telling you that beneath the show he was putting on, he still was making sure not to hurt you, at least not in a way that you didn’t want him to.

Your gasp was quickly offset with a soft cry, your eyes squeezing shut as his cock invaded your insides, pushing through without resistance as your wetness let him glide inside fairly easily.

It was a little bit of a push before Erik finally sunk inside you completely, when his hips finally made contact with your ass, bottoming out with a deep groan that had him tipping his head back and shutting his eyes.

“Fuuuuck..” he groaned, you could feel the way his grip on your hips tightened, along with the way his cock twitched inside you; just as much as you could feel him fighting back his instinct to move, fighting back his desire to pound into you with no mercy until you were ready.

“Just..” he breathed “Tell me when I can start moving princess..”

The way he was able to switch back and forth between cruel and caring was just so painfully Erik, just as it always was with him, one minute he’d act like he was bothered by your very presence, then you’d give him those same puppy dog eyes and he’d be left unable to say no to you.

Turning your head and straining your neck to look back at him, your mouth hung open for a few moments as you let yourself finish getting used to the stretch, as well as the feeling of his piercing tickling right against that sweet spot inside you, every time he moved in the slightest it sent lighting through you, unable to hide your whimpers.

Opening your eyes back up, you gave him a nod, preparing yourself for what was no doubt going to be a brutal pace that he was about to set.

He started out slow, giving you a chance to make sure he wasn’t hurting you, gradually gathering up speed which only made your moans grow louder, giving you no choice but you let your face fall back against the sheets to make sure it was muffled, eventually he was pistoning inside you, a concentrated rhythm being followed as he gripped your hips so tightly it stung.

Risking a look back, you turned your head only to be greeted by the sight of Erik thrusting into you, staring down at the sight of himself coming in and out of you as his mouth hung open, low groans and grunts leaving his chest.

As if he had felt your eyes on him, Erik looked up, meeting your gaze which only seemed to stir him further, biting his lip as he leaned forward and reached to grab a fistful of your hair, forcing you to arch your back and stare up at the wall, letting him fuck you so hard no sound was even coming out of you anymore, just leaving your mouth hanging open and your eyes rolling into the back of your skull.

“Thaaaats it.. fucking take it like a dirty fucking cockslut…” his words sounded just as desperate as you had previously, breathed out and slightly higher pitched in a way that told you he was feeling it all just as much as you were. “Fuck, fuck, wanted to have you like this for so long… wanted you on my bed spread out just like this..”

Memories of touching yourself just to the very idea of something like this happening came flooding in, laying there in your bed back at home and closing your eyes and picturing Erik in your head, wondering if he ever thought about you in the way you thought about him.

Now here you were getting confirmation that he’d wanted you for just as long as you’d wanted him, years of frustration and pining finally being thrown out of the window as you were actually there, bent over for him and letting him fuck you like a whore, pent up urges years in the making fuelling the way he jack hammered into you.

“Shit.. turn over..” he grunted, pulling out of you and gripping your shoulder in his hand to flip you onto your back before you could even compute what he was asking you. “Need to see those eyes..”

Letting Erik manhandle you into whatever position he wanted, you couldn’t stop yourself from lifting your head to get a glimpse of him lining himself back up, unable to stop your legs from shivering and your mouth falling open with a whine when you pushed his cock back inside you.

Bringing you gaze back up to where he was kneeling above you, you stared into each others eyes, making a point to put on those same puppy dog eyes that got him every time, feeling him begin to fuck you noticeably harder when you looked up at him.

“Fuck.. yes.. look at me..” he groaned, his hands coming to rest on the backs of your knees, pushing to where your knees were almost touching your shoulders, folding you in a way that allowed for a whole new angle, unable to hide the way your face contorted and your brows turned upwards.

Your head tipped back, soft cries being the only sound you were capable of making anymore, so completely and totally fucked out to the point that you could hardly even form any proper thoughts.

A hand came to rest on your cheek, your head coming forward and your eyes opening again to see Erik looking right in the verge himself just as you were, his eyes staring down at you intensely as he seemed to be chasing your gaze.

“Please don’t stop looking at me..” he begged, the dominant nature he had taken on previously becoming replaced by the unbearable urge to cum, chasing his release desperately.

The way you were gripping at each other, your hands coming up to rest on either side of his face, you silence each other in the form of a kiss, Erik’s moans into your mouth seeming to be exactly what was needed to push you over the edge, wrapping your arms around his neck as you cried out, tucking your face in his neck as you began to pulse, soaking his dick and squeezing it tightly in a way that had his thrusts turning shallow, barely even pulling out of you before he was pushing back in.

Your hand found its way to the back of his head, tangling your fingers into the tufts of dark hair and gripping whatever you could as you practically sobbed against his shoulder, your legs shaking as your pussy squeezed him.

Pulling on his hair and cumming around his cock proved to be exactly what was needed to push Erik over the edge he’d been chasing, feeling his thrusts stiffen and stop and start randomly as he painted your walls with cum, starting to leak out of you already.

His moans we’re high pitched, his hips going from ramming against your own to softly and slowly rolling deeply, riding out his orgasm bit by bit as you felt his body starting to give way, letting him collapse on top of you and into your arms.

Each time his hips moved again the slightest bit, you whimpered, gripping his hair again and squeezing his hips with your legs, still highly sensitive from the way he’d been mercilessly fucking you only moments ago.

You had no idea how long you both laid there on his bed, letting his thick cum leak out of you as he sat inside you, resting his forehead on your chest and panting deeply, trying to come down from his high before you both felt even semi conscious again.

When it finally felt real again, like you had floated back down into your physical bodies once again, you looked at Erik and couldn’t fight back the smile that made its way onto your features, apparently contagious as Erik let out a soft laugh and leaned forward to capture your lips in a soft kiss, the sudden movement making you whimper against his lips that had him pulling back suddenly.

“Shit, sorry.” he wheezed, pushing his weight off of you and slowly pulling his now soft dick out of you with a sharp hiss through his teeth.

Pulling his grey boxers back over his hips, he moved back down to lay next to you on his back, turning his head to look over at you and reaching out to slowly pull you against him, letting you rest your head on his chest.

“I’ve got you..” he whispered, letting you lay there and recover slowly but surely, letting your eyes open and close softly as the exhaustion finally started to claim you.

When you shut your eyes, you didn’t even realise you’d fallen asleep until you woke up to a hand on your face, having now been tucked into the covers while Erik got up and fetched a washcloth from the bathroom.

“Shh..shh, it’s okay, it’s just me..” he whispered when you’d fussed softly, running his thumb along your cheek and letting you open your eyes slowly to see him standing there.

You let him clean you off softly, feeling him take care to be as gentle as he could before discarding the cloth and pulling a pair of his own sweat pants and shirt over you while you faded in and out of consciousness.

Finally as he crawled back into bed with you, you didn’t hesitate to roll back into his arms, feeling them wrap around you as a kiss was laid on the top of your head.

“You have no idea how long i’ve been waiting to do that..” he whispered against your temple as you clung to his body heat, letting him trace little shapes along your back with his finger tips.

“Just wish you hadn’t waited as long as you did..” you whispered back, a soft exhale of a laugh leaving him.

“Good things come to those who wait?” he offered up, only receiving a soft smack against his arm from you which only made him laugh more.

“Yeah, okay, I deserved that one.” he wheezed as he just pulled you closer against him, taking a deep inhale of your scent and exhaling with a satisfied hum.

In a town where the front yards were beautifully landscaped, the streets clean, the families perfect, the tattoo and piercing studio seemed the perfect refuge for just two people.

Erik Campbell and his new colleague who was the reason he had to split his hours, she was the reason the store could seemingly afford to stay open longer and yet the boss wasn't paying them both properly.

A fact that should have united them, but more and more often they seemed to clash, Erik's meaningless comments and her punishing glances riding off each other and yet somehow not wanting to leave.

As much as they always argued, as much as she wanted to be better than the other to tell the boss who had finished the week better...they both smiled too often when they thought the other wasn't looking.

She looked too much at Erik whenever he rolled up his sleeves, followed the tattoos spellbound and couldn't get away from his gaze, his voice, gestures or looks.

Erik took in every little bit of cleavage he could see of her whenever she wore a top and he could see that she was wearing a thong, painstakingly memorizing the colors she wore and trying to imagine her body.

It was as if they were both like magnets, attracting and repelling each other, but this could only go so far before Erik arrived at the store a few minutes late on Monday morning.

A mistake.

Not a second after the door closed, she reprimanded, “Well, what can you say Erik Campbell is late again” and shook her head, but the smirk on her lips told the older man that she found it just as funny as he did.

Hanging his leather jacket by its hooks, he simply replied, “Not everyone is as lucky as you, my lady” and the statement stood in the room between them.

A suggestion that could mean many things and he knew that her brain was longing for an answer as he walked past her with a grin and went into the small kitchen and switched on the coffee machine.

Letting her zap a little, he gently made her a coffee and pressed the cup into her hand, “Thanks Erik...but what's that supposed to mean?” she asked, not letting go of his hand, the hot beverage separating them from each other, not moving for a moment.

Feeling caught out, he gave a sighing smile before his eyes flitted clearly over her body and her gaze became indignant, “Erik! You're a lecher, I expected more,” she said, briefly wondering whether she should spill the coffee on his exceptionally gray shirt.

Seeing her thought coming, he raised his hands defensively, still clutching his own coffee cup, and took a step back, knowing full well that his teasing was annoying her, spurring her on to be nastier to him and yet when she felt like a little child she let go of him with a shake of her head.

He had won, hadn't he?

But could you call it winning when only minutes later he came after her again, besieging her as she cleaned the couches and he said, “Let's make a bet on who gets more clients in a week...and the winner gets a secret from the other” his suggestion was so stupid and childish that it was good again.

As she spun around to stand directly in front of him, their bodies touching, her hand went to his, clasped it and a victorious look played around her lips, “Deal” was all she said before she spun around again and Erik's bright eyes perhaps locked on hers again behind her as she leaned over the couch.

The bet was on and as the store's opening sign appeared they both prepared to get as many clients as they could.

Easier said than done when they were either teenagers or kids who just wanted earrings, midlife crises adults with tattoos or returning clients for tattoo completions.

It was mainly with the younger ones that she got more clients, almost making a spectacle out of the search, “That's such a good choice. You know ladybugs bring happiness, don't they Erik?” she asked.

Looking with a broad smile at her colleague who was sitting bored on a lounger and looking at the small group of women.

On Monday alone, she had three more customers than him and only because she had more to offer, he was sure of that...but he also looked at this more to offer.

Her nice smile, the joy in her eyes as the girl happily walked out of the store with her mother, seeing his colleague playing with her hair when she was bored or the little wrinkle of her nose when she opened a box of disinfectant.

She was cute through and through, a snake that could kill him with one bite of her venom, something the black-haired man might have wanted.

At the end of the week on Friday, when closing time began and the sign turned around, it was Erik who cheered and did a victory dance through the interior with an “Oh yes I'm the best!” on his lips.

A fact because he had called a few of his tattoo colleagues and friends in the last few hours, she couldn't keep up with ten of them, she stood behind the cash register in a huff to count the takings.

She knew that she had theoretically won, even if Erik had bent the rules a little, she should have won.

She heard the pling noise as the register closed and the takings were noted down, or rather she no longer saw Erik, who wasn't dancing around in front of her.

She had lost sight of him for a split second and now felt two hands leaning against the counter next to hers...he had surrounded her.

A closeness that they had often had, but this time it seemed different, there was no one here, it was dark, the music over the loudspeakers as quiet as the ticking of a clock only sometimes perceptible.

A shiver ran down her spine as she heard his voice in her ear, “I've won and you've got a secret to tell me” Erik told her the prize again slowly, as if she had forgotten it and yet she didn't dare to move.

She didn't want to move, not when he was so close to her, not when she thought she could feel his heart beating as fast as her own.

As his hands slowly came to rest on hers, waiting to see if she would move, push him away, snap at him as she usually did...but she stayed.

She stayed, allowing Erik's touch as she almost held her breath when his question reached her, “Do you love me?” a question so simple that she had asked it herself, a question that was no secret, a question that seemed so unnecessary between them and yet they both wanted an answer at last.

She could feel his hands on hers, she let herself be guided as she held on to him, as their eyes met, Erik wanted an answer, she wanted to give it to him.

She clung to him tightly, feeling him pull her to him just as hastily, not letting go as his hands went to her hips.

Erik's grin was lost in the kiss as he felt her greediness, as he realized how eager she was for him, that they had both just been waiting for this moment.

The moment when he could finally run his fingers under her shirt, feel her warmth, stroke her skin, run her own fingers through his dark hair and want him closer.

Erik felt her desire just as he did, feeling every little touch he gave her, feeling her press against him as he ran his fingers over her breasts, wanting to get the bra off her body while her own fingers tried to free him from his shirt.

Sighing as his leg pressed between hers, her hips trying for a moment to get a feeling of release, she realized that a bulge was slowly forming in his pants.

They both showed each other what they wanted, what they felt for each other, what they both fantasized about at night to finally have the other.

The two kissed, smiling and looking away from each other for a moment, both looking towards the black couches, “We shouldn't or should we?” she asked breathlessly.

Yet Erik, who was already walking towards the couch, lay down on it and his tapping on his thigh sent a wave of excitement through her.

The store was closed, there were no cameras and as Erik's shirt fluttered to the floor, just like hers, she knew that as soon as she settled on his lap, this bet had finally become the heated love they had always felt for each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erik is lowkey a freak, but we knew that.

When he violated that garbage truck, nobody was the same afterwards.

He's doing shit like this in public on the regular in front of you. This man has no shame.

If he's not outright grabbing your ass while shopping for groceries, he's sliding your hand down your back pocket to discreetly grab your ass.

Now, if you grab his ass, there's no guarantee that he won't drag you to a changing room or anywhere remotely hidden.

Favorite place to have sex? The tattoo parlor. Sweet God, does Erik love to close the blinds, flip the sign to 'Closed,' and take you on the table.

Is this during closing time? No, absolutely not. He gets off on potentially getting found out by pedestrians or God forbid his boss.

He's a certified switch. He told me himself.

While he loves to take control, he also loves when you put him in his place.

He loves seeing you with his markings (whether that be during sex, or a piercing/tattoo he gave you), but he's flaunting the swollen lip or love bite on his hip like he won a marathon.

Personally, I don't think Erik likes making you bleed. While he's into marking you, he wouldn't like seeing you in pain if you're not into it. With that being said, draw a little blood from him all you want.

He's into bondage, more in the sense of him taking off his belt and tying your wrists to the bedpost. Ride him while he's tied to the bedpost and thank me later.

If there was a piercing or tattoo he did on you, he's paying special attention to it (once it's healed, of course).

Kissing and tracing the outline of the tattoo with his fingers, gently biting on your piercing because he knows how sensitive it is.

Of course, he loves it when you pay special attention to his piercings. They're uber sensitive, though he doesn't want to admit it.

Loves a good blowjob please let him fuck your throat. It's a surefire way to get him to orgasm quickly, and loves it when you flick your tongue over the Prince Albert piercing.

He's also good at giving head, even if he's a fucking tease. And if you have genital piercings? Oh man.

He's got the prettiest moans and isn't afraid to be loud.

Oh, God, please ride his face. Have you seen his nose? His face?

You may be asking yourself how you draw out those moans. Play with his piercings, deepthroat him, or let him rail you from behind.

As much as I've been playing Erik out to be rough in bed, he can make sex be weirdly tender and romantic like it's nothing.

He's not lighting candles or laying rose petals around the place, but he knows how to touch you and speak to you in a way that lets you know how much he desires you.

Getting this out of the way to say that he has a sex playlist.

Erik's a thighs guy. While it's hard for him to choose because he genuinely loves all of you, he lives by the mantra of thick thighs save lives.

He's the kind of guy to immediately cuddle you after sex. No talking, no sarcastic comment, he just holds you for a moment and relishes the feeling of you in his arms because he feels like the luckiest guy on the planet.

(Author's Note: So, this was the first thing I've written and posted in about two years, and this is the first thing I've written that's about sex. I'm not sure if it counts as smut, but it's definitely close. This was my most self-indulgent thing that'll get two hits. And if it gets more than two hits? Then I'm immensely grateful for all of you. Blah blah blah thank you for everyone that keep enjoying my work years after I posted it. Anyways, Richard Harmon and his nose. That is all.

Signing off for now,

The bell above the door chimed, and your head snapped up at the same time as Erik’s. It was a woman who seemed only a little younger than the two of you, and she looked nervous and a bit pale.

“Hey, I want my lip pierced. Um- can anyone take a walk-in?” He was quick to nod and waved her over to his station, turning to give you a smug smirk for having beaten you to it. 

Only you didn’t look annoyed like you usually did. 

You looked perfectly calm and maybe even a little bit amused. 

Erik narrowed his eyes in suspicion and stood to grab the supplies he’d need while the woman fidgeted in the chair. 

“What's with you?” He asked lowly, pausing in front of your desk, “Your books are wide open all day, and you’re not gonna fight me on this?” 

“I’ve just got a feeling, is all.” You said, not looking up from your tablet, busy drawing out a design for an upcoming client. 

“A feeling?” He raised a brow 

“Yeah.” You shrugged. “Something good is coming, I just know it.” 

“It’s a Tuesday.” He reminded you. 

“Just go do your fucking piercing.” you waved him off dissmissively “Get out of my face, Campbell. Your bad vibes are fucking with my zen.” 

Erik huffed and went to gather what he needed before going back to his client. 

You let him take three walk-ins that day. 

Each time, he looked at you like you were crazy. 

You had yet to make a single dollar. If you kept this up, you’d be losing money, and he just didn’t understand why. 

He had a feeling that it had to do with you thinking that the universe was trying to tell you something. You were always going on about vibes and manifestation and he thought the whole thing was a crock of shit, which he didn’t hesitate to tell you every time you brought it up. 

Two hours before the shop closed, a very large, very muscular man walked in through the door, and you shot to your feet before Erik could even look up. 

“What can I do for ya, handsome?” 

“I can think of a thing or two,” The man looked you up and down and licked his lips. 

“Why don’t we start with why you’re here?” You shot back, eyes full of mirth. 

“Looking to get a chest piece.” He smirked, “Think you could handle that, sugar?” 

“Looks like I’d have a nice big canvas,” You winked, playing into it after seeing the way Erik stiffened out of the corner of your eye. “I’m sure I could manage, come on in.” 

Erik couldn’t deny the spark of annoyance he felt anytime he heard you flirting with customers, or anyone really. He was unwilling to admit to himself that it was jealousy deep in his chest.

For as long as the two of you had worked together, you’d had this constantly changing back and forth. Playful, then competitive and cutthroat, then back to flirting. He wouldn’t necessarily call you friends, but you weren’t just coworkers.

Right?

Sometimes, Erik found it hard to tell if there actually was something there or if you were being equally as flirtatious as you were with everyone else. He’d wonder sometimes if it was just your personality and that he was reading too far into the interactions you had that left him thinking about you for the rest of the night. 

He knew that he was going to have to stay late while you finished this juiced-up creep’s tattoo, and sighed to himself while watching from across the shop as you got set up.

He wasn’t about to leave you in there by yourself with him. 

Not after seeing the way he’d been leering at you the whole time. 

So, Erik settled in for what he was sure would be a few hours of gritting his teeth and listening to you flirt with your canvas while he tried to sketch out designs for the week ahead. 

He kept glancing over while you laughed at whatever the beefcake was saying to you. 

It was your fake laugh. 

He knew it well. 

Usually, you’d make a disgusted face in his direction when the customer wasn’t looking. 

But not today. 

For some reason, you didn’t glance in his direction even once. 

Weird. 

But then, your canvas started getting touchy with you. 

Rough, stubby fingers playing with your hair until you pulled away and offered a tight-lipped smile, a hand brushing over your shoulder while you sat there, hunched over his chest. He seemed far too comfortable touching you, and it had Erik white-knuckling the desk and gritting his teeth. 

Finally, you looked over at him. 

He mouthed a quick ‘what the fuck?’ while gesturing angrily to the man, silently offering to throw him out.

You were cool, calm, and collected, same as you always were when this kind of thing happened, and you shook your head tightly. 

Erik watched the man jerk in his seat, and you muttered something about the shading being the worst part. He knew that you were deliberately being heavy-handed and relaxed a little. 

The message was clear. You could take care of yourself. 

Still, he hung around waiting for you to finish. 

You’d stopped laughing, and he’d stopped joking. The slab of meat on your table was doing more wincing than he was breathing until you finished up and sat back in your seat, admiring your work. 

You wrapped him up and took his money without any pleasantries on either side, and he watched, amused, as the man rushed out of the shop with pink cheeks and bloodshot eyes. 

“It’s always the big ones that end up crying.” You shook your head with a soft smile as you counted out your money. “Feeling was right though, that four hundred in my pocket.” 

“Four hundred?” Erik squinted at you suspiciously. “No way. That was three hours, what about the chair for the day?” 

“Touchy assholes get the creep tax.” You shrugged, smirking mischievously. 

You tossed some bills in the register for rent and left a note for the owner. 

“Didn’t have to stick around.” 

“What?” He scoffed, gathering his belongings, looking almost offended. “You think I was gonna leave you in here alone with that guy?” 

“Most people would’ve.” You shrugged. 

“Yeah, well, most people are assholes.” He muttered. 

“You’re still an asshole.” You smiled sweetly, clearly teasing, “Careful, Campbell, or I might start thinking you’re sweet on me.” 

“In your dreams.” He rolled his eyes. 

“Oh, you’re in ‘em.” You winked while brushing past him. 

You loved watching him squirm when you said stuff like that. He always got a little flustered. 

“Yeah?” He chortled, “What am I doing in your dreams?” 

“Oh, you know.” You shrugged coyly, slinging your purse over your shoulder on your way to the door. “Wonderful things with your tongue, mostly.” 

He made a choking noise, but you were already out the door.