everything i reblog here are self-indulgent.
do not perceive me.

pixel skylines
Game of Thrones Daily
Keni
Cosimo Galluzzi
dirt enthusiast
wallacepolsom
One Nice Bug Per Day
AnasAbdin

Kaledo Art

romaâ
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH

â
Xuebing Du
YOU ARE THE REASON
trying on a metaphor
đȘŒ
Sade Olutola

ç„æ„ / Permanent Vacation
$LAYYYTER

Janaina Medeiros

seen from Malaysia
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seen from Indonesia

seen from United States

seen from Malaysia

seen from T1
seen from Italy

seen from United States
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seen from Netherlands
seen from Canada

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@hauteallures
everything i reblog here are self-indulgent.
do not perceive me.

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good friends who apply sunscreen to your back and give you just the big fat tip through the wet fabric of your bikini bottoms
good friends who lick up the trail of ice cream that has dripped down the valley of your chest and suck on your tits through the flimsy excuse of a bikini top for good measure
good friends who hold up the beach towel for you so you can get changed into your pretty little sundress as if it's not gonna end up bunched around your waist in the backseat of their car before the sun sets
when youâre riding tsukki and he wonât shut up about how youâre struggling to take him so you shift forward, fingers tightening around the strong column of his neck. you see his eyes dilate, his breath hitch, all because of your fucking hand around his throat.
you get in close. your breath ghosts over his lips, saccharine smile overtaking your face, "you really think your cock's enough to satisfy me?"
he tries to strangle his groan, but you feel how violently his cock kicks inside your cunt.
"does little tsukki need his senpai to teach him how to fuck?" you lick the hollow of his throat. bite down on his neck. relish in the shudders and moans coming out of the usually sarcastic man. "did they not teach you how to make it fit?"
"what the fuckâ"
he bucks his hips up into your slippery, wet heat, letting out a string of curses.
"aww, you mad at me, baby?" you're glad the languorous circles in his lap are driving him crazy. he teases you too often not to get fucked with. "should i call kuroo-san and see if he can pencil in a quick lesson?"
always thinking abt nerd jake who wanna pleases his gf more everyday, so he hv sex with her everyday, asking her to tell him what she likes, hearing her squeals or moans the loudest when he does smt she loves makes him so tight in his pants that he cant contain it anymore so he pounds into her like no tmr. His glasses turns foggy & hving his sweetheart juice on it, back was engraved with crescent moon nail marks from his love, face was filled up lipgloss, lips were swollen from kissing biting so much đââïž
holy shit.
warnings: oral (f rec), fingering, clit play, squirting, p in v, unprotected sex (don't.), creampie, multiple orgasms, dirty talk, praise, slight overstimulation, marking, slight begging, light teasing, use of petnames
jake pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose for the third time tonight, cheeks flushed, eyes sparkling with that eager, focused look he always gets when heâs studying you like his favorite subject.
âtell me again, baby,â he whispers against your inner thigh, voice hoarse but so sweet. âwhat felt the best just now? was it here?â his tongue drags slowly over your clit, flat and warm. âor here?â he sucks gently, two fingers curling deep inside you.
you whimper, back arching off the bed. âthereâ fuck, jake, right thereâ the suckingââ
he moans like heâs the one getting head, the vibration shooting straight through you. every loud squeal, every broken moan you give him makes his cock twitch hard in his sweatpants. heâs been rock hard for the last forty minutes, leaking steadily, but he refuses to touch himself yet. not until heâs made you come at least twice.
your boyfriend ragebaits himself and then fucks it out in you!
hey, satoru never claimed to be very sensible when it came to you.
it had started long before you had even agreed to go out with him. back when he still had a big, fat and very poorly concealed crush on you. his mind was his biggest opp, truly.
sitting down in class, staring at the back of your head as he imagined scenarios of some other douche asking you out - and his biggest nightmare - you agreeing.
or, the thought of there being someone else who would snatch you right up before satoru built up the courage to ask you out.
back then, these thoughts gave him the push he desperately needed. he asked you out, you agreed, and he's been living his blissfully happy life ever since.
except...
satoru had his weight pinning you down in a mean mating press, his thick cock particularly hard today as he thrusted inside you like a mad man.
"'t-toruuuu-" you sobbed, your fingers digging in the skin of his back as you held on for dear life as your boyfriend pounded in you. the bed was creaking under the weight of satoru's hurried thrusts, making sounds that were lewder than the symphony of moans and cries leaving your mouth.
"y-y'belong to me," satoru panted, bringing his head to the side of your neck. he bit down on it, making your arch up and cry out.
"p-plea- hngh- haaah," you moaned, trying to twist your neck off his jaw, "s-slo- p-pleas-"
he brought his hand under your thigh, pulling your leg over his shoulder. the angle made you gasp out as satoru's weeping cock hit that particular spot, over and over again.
"say it," he gripped your jaw, turning your face towards his. his cock twitched at the sight of your fucked-out expression, his pupils dilating as he felt a surge of pride.
i did this, he thought, turning his hips up a notch. mine, she's mine.
"s-say it," he repeated, releasing your jaw, "you're mine, ngh-"
you moaned out some gibberish, too far gone to concentrate on what your boyfriend was saying as you tried to survive his relentless thrust, mind more focused on your oncoming orgasm.
"baby," he dipped down, taking your open mouth in a sloppy kiss before biting down on your lower lip, "y'r mine, baby, please, say it."
you nod, tears streaming down your face as you clench down hard on his cock, ââm- mâyours- hic- youursââ
âatta girl,â he presses a kiss on your calf, gripping your hips as he slams inside of you, grinning when your mouth falls open in a silent gasp as you cum all over his cock, fists gripping the sheets as you arch off the bed.
âs-so- fuckkk⊠so pretty,â he doesnât slow down, fucking you through the orgasm as he bends down, âso pretty.. ngh- a-and all fâme.â
âsatoruuuu,â you garble against his mouth as he kisses you again, pressing his entire weight on top of you, âslow downâ pleaseâ hic!â
âweâve got a long night ahead, sweetheart,â he pressed a kiss to your tear stained cheek, licking up the salty residue, âneed to make sure this pussy moulds to the shape of my cock.â

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warnings. mdni. gojo accidentally puts u in a mating press during a playfight, dry huming + cumming in pants.
Satoru Gojo is built like a fucking tank and itâs no exaggerationâbroad-shouldered, firm, and heavy. Built with a density that makes the air around him feel thin. Itâs most obvious when heâs fresh from the gym, black compression shirt stretched over his frame, tracing the hard line of his chest and the way his biceps coil with the slightest twitch of his fingers.
Itâs why you keep baiting him into these meaningless little skirmishesâsoft provocations just to feel the sheer, overwhelming force of him. To let him catch your wrists and remind you exactly how easily he can fold you into the floor.
Your lungs burn already. Youâre shoving, palms flat against the unyielding fabric of his shirt, straining until your muscles shake. But itâs useless. Thereâs a pronounced imbalance in physical strength, not that youâre complaining (obviously), but he could at least pretend there isnât and budge a little, for the sake of your dignity.
âShit, âtoru,â you grunt, the words squeezed out of your chest. âHow much⊠do you even weigh? Feels like im trying to push a fuckinâ sumo wrestler off me or some shit.â
Having kids with Yuuji must be a dream. Probably the chubbiest, cutest little babies ever and he's always a considerate baby daddy, changing diapers and feeding them
;-; the ultimate dream !!! yuuji is definitely the guy who plans your future together n from the moment you meet heâs thinking about securing a good job, marrying you, coming home to you n having babies with you eee <3
yuujiâs babies are so round you call them your little dumplings, big heads and chubby cheeks :( do your genes even try? soft pink tufts of hair peak out of swaddled blankets n tiny fingers have a grip strong enough to rival his own. your first baby probably comes straight after the wedding night, one spent tangled in the sheets round after round â youâre fully his and heâs fully yours. so thereâs no surprise when a month or two you find yourself expecting. heâs so excited of course, nothing means more to yuuji than you and having a mini you (or mostly him) is probably the best thing to ever happen to him.
the second baby is an accident, almost an irish twin i think. one night where your parents take the baby and youâre on him like white on rice â only because yuuji is so good with your toddler. heâs takes all the late night feeds and sterilises the bottles just right. he pushes the stroller around with one hand (wedding band glinting against it) as though itâs nothing n makes up his own lullabies for your first born itâs no wonder you pounce on him at the first opportunity.
yuuji promises your third baby is the last (lie possibly) when he becomes the hot dad at nursery pick ups with two little ones in his strong arms and you just know you have to prove a point, stake your claim.
he loves your little family unconditionally, thereâs always a baby tucked between his pecs snoozing after back rubs and another curled into his side because dad runs warm. they look forward to his dinners because yuuji is unbelievably good at hiding veggies in pasta sauce and momma always makes them eat their greens. yuuji lifts them high above his head when they play rocket ship, two at a time because heâs that strong, before rotating so that everyone gets a chance. he spends hours colouring with them before bed and creates bed time stories from scratch so thereâs never a moment where your kids arenât laughing.
n at the end of the night when he crawls back into bed with you, brown eyes warm like honeyed milk and pleading, you canât really say no when yuuji kisses a trail down your tummy and asks for a fourth.
satoru gojo with a baby who looks exactly like you.
his genes didn't even try. not a speck of white in his baby girl's hair, not a sliver of crystal blue in her eyes. she's all youâfrom the eyes to the nose to the laugh. good lord, satoru has been blessed by the gods.
he fell in love with her the moment the doctor handed you the little bundle of joy. and when he first carried her? you just laugh at the way he almost melts to the floor.
everytime he gets home from missions, he goes straight to where you're playing with mini you. his daughter giggles upon seeing her dad. he crashes on top of the two of you, careful not to squish neither of you. first and foremost, he kisses you. then, the baby. then back to you, then back to herâit goes on and on until you go and tell him to shower.
at night when your daughter makes a fuss, it's satoru who gets up and soothes her. he carries her over to your shared room, lays her in the space between, and talks to her about anythingâhis latest mission, his students, her big brother megumi, how the two of you met, his bestfriend suguru, her uncle nanami, her aunt shoko.
all the while, his baby listens earnestly, eyes wide and curious like yours. she even responds sometimes! no, she can't talk yet, but she's already a good listener.
"maybe we should take you to see uncle suguru. do you miss him? who do you miss more, him or papa?"
"ah."
"there's only one answer to that. why are you hesitating?" he pokes her cheek, and holds back the urge to bite and chomp.
"ba.."
"papa? yes! that's right. you miss papa more, right?"
"ma!"
satoru gasps dramatically, "mama? you're already with her 24/7!" your baby grins, and he's in awe by how much of you he sees in her.
he picks her up with ease, and settles her on top of him. he glances at your sleeping form, "you look like your mom, you know?"
your baby also glances at you, one hand reaching out before satoru grabs her little wrist and holds it to his chest. "mama's sleeping. she's tired, we need to let her rest."
your daughter babbles, "ma-ma-ma."
"yes, mama. you look like mama. that means you're also pretty and beautiful." he kisses her cheek.
"pi. pi!"
satoru nods in understanding, acting like your baby just said something revolutionary. "yes. pretty. that's you," he pinches her nose, she huffs. "and mama. my pretty girls."
"when you grow up, you need to marry someone who'll preach your beauty like how i do to your mom, okay? never date a boy who doesn't tell you how beautiful you are every passing day." satoru whispers, eyes locked onto an identical pair to yours.
his daughter only yawns in response, dropping her head into his sternum. satoru adjusts her so she's laying on her back in the middle of you two. instinctively, your baby wiggles around, searching for your warmth in her sleep. satoru only sighs with a smile. what a velcro baby he's raising.
from jade: self-indulgent dad gojo fic bcuz im ovulating and im sleepy and i got crazy baby fever from spending a few days at my aunt's and her two month old baby boy and i also wrote this instead of stressing out over my groupworks so enjoy tehe
â°.â⥠Your son recognises sae everywhere you go!
Your son is growing at a scary rate.
Just yesterday, he was a little baby, defenseless to the world, could barely lift his head on his own and needed either yours or Sae's help to do basically anything. But now that heâs a toddler, heâs getting more and more independent by the day, not to mention he is getting much bigger too. So itâs only normal that his clothes and little baby shoes wouldnât fit him anymore.
Hence why you two are shopping together this evening, in search of new things for him to wear that will probably not fit in the next few weeks anyways. It was just the two of you today as Sae was playing abroad currently, but his presence was still felt because you kept on sending pictures of all the outfits youâve built for your son during your little shopping trip, which is being sponsored by your dear husband, of course.
After going to a bunch of clothing stores and getting something that caught your sonâs fancy â which was a harder task than you expected. Heâs very picky and knows what he likes even at such a young age â you walk into a sports department store, now looking for some new cleats for your son to wear in his football practice.
â[S/N] baby, do you like this colour?â You pick up a pair of cleats that you think heâd like, but when you turn around to show them to himâŠheâs not there.
And obviously you started to panic.
â[S/N]? Where are you?â you donât even care that people are looking your way funny right now, all you care about is finding your son. Just where the hell did this kid go? Why does he feel the need to give you random heart attacks like this all of the time? â[S/N], youâre scaring me now. Where are youââ
Just as you were about to really lose your mind, you found him, and you let out a sigh of relief.
You wouldâve scolded him for walking away from you and making you worry, but you see him hold onto a cardboard cutout of Sae displayed in the store due to some partnership he has, that anger caused by the small panic episode he gave you fades away.
âPapa? Why are you hereâŠâ God heâs so cuteâŠ
âBaby, thatâs not papa. Papa is in another country now, remember?â He doesnât seem to listen to you, he keeps on holding onto the cutout and even goes as far as to hug it and that makes your heart melt even more.
Guess you have to take a picture of this too and send it to Sae. Maybe seeing how much his son misses him will make him play better.
an â sae's cutout is hitting the u-20 arc pose iykyk
© ÊáŽê±ÊÊáŽÉŽê±ê±ê± áŽê±áŽ 2025, ty for reading <33 line dividers by me <33
Interrupted (Qifrey x Reader)
Tags: Suggestive slight NSFW
Qifrey let out a deep deep sigh as he entered his room. The girls were so excited to learn a new glyph that Qifrey and Olruggio had to help them out, a lot. By the time they were done the sun had set. You on the other hand did the small chores around the atelier. Doing laundry, whipping up some lunch, or whatever needed to be done. The girls helped out here and there whenever they got a chance but you were content with how life was. The best part of the day is when Qifrey comes back to your shared room. You had already completed the task you set for yourself today and now you were relaxing on the bed with a cozy book in your hand. You heard a soft groan from the bottom of the steps. Looking over the loft you spot Qifrey walking up the stairs. Stripping his outer coat till he was just in his black turtleneck and his loose pants. He flopped down on the bed, making your body slightly jump off the bed by the sheer force.

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not proofread, i literally just wrote this impulsively because lohen's leaked animations made me feel THINGS.
âthatâs a sweet girl.â lohen coos in your ear. thereâs something in his eyes that both terrifies you, and also strengthens the heat pooling between your legs. itâs a sadistic gleam - the very same he wears whenever you catch him up close slaughtering hilichurls, whenever heâs sharpening his weapons before a fight.Â
that look isnât whatâs causing you to tremble beneath him, however. your wrecked state is caused by the knife pressed against your throat, cool, stainless steel that leaves goosebumps in its wake as lohen drags it further and further down. once it reaches your bra, lohen doesnât even hesitate before he slices it off, freeing your breasts. âyouâre so scared⊠i can tell, you know?â he adds in a quiet voice, only for you to hear, âbut youâre not running away. what a brave thing you are.â
the knife finally arrives just above your panties, and just like before, lohen doesnât bother getting rid of the fabric in the traditional way. he rips the garment off with the knife. instinctively, you attempt to close your legs - but lohen grabs your knee, his grip nearly painful, to keep them open.
âno no, sweet girl,â he says, and though his tone is sickeningly sweet, you can tell he wonât repeat himself if you dare go against his wishes, âkeep them open for me. iâm not done yet.â
you canât even begin to come up with a reply - your attention is onto the cool blade, which leaves your flesh, providing you a short sense of relief. however, said relief is gone when lohen presses it against your clit. your hips hiccup forward, and seeing you squirm makes lohen bite his lip.
he adds more strength to the blade, rubbing circles with the flat side of the knife against your clit. this shouldnât arouse you so badly, and yet, it very much does, considering how the blade is already glistening with your fluids. seeing you enjoying yourself makes lohenâs grin grow even wider somehow, and he increases his pace. itâs dangerous, and heâs well aware of that - but he keeps his knife at an angle that wouldnât harm you. he doesnât want you bleeding, at least not there.
youâre lightheaded with pleasure now, head lolling back and whines escaping your lips when you arenât begging him for more. but, just as youâre about to cum - the blade is gone. whatever pleasure you were feeling is replaced with aggravation, and you canât help the groan that leaves you.
your head snaps down to between your legs, then back to lohen. heâs eagerly licking the knife clean, refusing to break eye contact with you. and once heâs done⊠he laughs. laughs at your frustrated face, at how you were begging him to make you cum just a minute agoâŠ
âiâm sorry, iâm sorry,â he lies, as he leans forward until your foreheads are nearly meeting, âyou know i canât help myself. that look on your face when you canât cum makes me feel so good, sweetheart.â
the knife is once again brought to your cunt - this time, however, the blade is facing away from it, and instead, you can feel the thick handle probing at your entrance.
âthis time, iâll let you cum⊠so long as i get to hear you scream.â
đâ Ë àŁȘ . ËË sheriff!nanami always hurries home towards his pregnant wife to compensate for the time he spends away :: tags. fluff. wild west au. girl dad :: ac. hercaptain on lofter
youâre laying on the couch, nibbling on a piece of bread, when you hear the familiar footsteps on the porch of your cozy home. the front door opens with a faint creak and reveals no one other than your husband, kento, in his uniform. heâs home earlier than he normally would be.
âeveninâ, sugar,â kento steps into the house, his tall frame filling the doorway. he looks over at you, a small smile tugging at his lips as he takes in the sight of you sprawled out on the couch.
SHARING IS CARING - PSH & SJY
who knew having two guys wanting you could feel so good, especially when its your hot best friend, park sunghoon, and the new australian transfer student, sim jaeyun. why choose one when you could have both?
park sunghoon + sim jaeyun x fem!reader
genre: college/hockey au
content warnings: smut, very suggestive, jealous/possessive themes, mean dom sunghoon, soft dom (almost sub?) jake, threesome, pussy eating, slapping, fingering, squirting, cum eating, it gets messy. dry humping, boob obsessed jake! teasing, sexting, unprotected sex, slight size kink, morally grey characters, y/n loves the attention (she pretends she doesnât), they bring her freak out but who wouldnât for jakehoon? featuring: heeseung and jay, this is pretty much porn with a plot btw..
word count: 15k
*àłàŒ sim jaeyun âyouâre drunk.â â "i know.â
ââ HOW TO GET YOUR EX BACK 101
âăïŸ ( đŹ ) one accidental reunion turns âno contactâ into emotional whiplash and oh my god why is he still hot.
ex! jake x fem! reader ËËË fluff, smut, porn with plot, rom-com, crack, smau, college au, little angst, second chance, lots of profanity, unprotected sex, oral sex, MDNI ! wc: 27 929 p: we almost broke up last night - sabrina carpenter ; loose - enhypen ; tears - sabrina carpenter ; sugar talking - sabrina carpenter ; imgonnagetyouback - taylor swift ; toxic - britney spears ; bad decisions - ariana grande ; knew better / forever boy - ariana grande ; we find love - daniel ceasar đđ sequel of HOW TO SURVIVE BOYS 101 ... but can be a standalone!
disclaimer : the "reader" pics in this smau is only a filler image for layout purposes. reader is poc-friendly and not meant to represent a specific race, appearance, or identity đȘœ
Tip #1: Remember how you lost him.
Bullshit repeats itself â is that how the saying goes?
Ever since Jake had gone to college, conversations turned into check-ins, goodnights into apologies, and affection into something scheduled between deadlines. Time and distance were the main culprits behind the crime scene.
SUNFLOWER â s.jy
-ËËâ pairing: jake sim x female reader
-ËËâ genre: neighbors to lovers · single dad au · fluff · angst · smut · found family · slow burn
-ËËâ summary: You have lived in apartment 3B for two years. You know your neighbors the way you know background characters â familiar, unremarkable, just part of the scenery. Which is why itâs strange that youâve never properly noticed the man in 3A. Until 6:58 on a Tuesday morning when someone knocks on your door and you open it to find not him, but her. Small. Round-cheeked. Duck pajamas. Absolutely certain of herself. You fall for his daughter first. Jake is just the complication that comes after. But god, what a complication.
-ËËâ word count: 21.1k
-ËËâ content warnings: explicit sexual content, penetrative sex, oral sex, fingering, multiple orgasms, praise kink, soft dom/sub undertones, strong language, single parent theme, child abandonment (mother leaving), brief parental guilt, an absent parent reappearing, emotional manipulation attempt, jealousy, mention of custody, legal procedure, alcohol, crying, found family theme, a toddler who will ruin your life in the best way
-ËËâ song: You Are The Best Thing by Ray LaMontage
-ËËâ authors note: i started this fic because i wanted to write a soft single dad jake but the mia took over everything, she was supposed to be a supporting character but how can i make someone that cute not a main. she picked reader first and she always knew and i think thatâs the whole story. jake deserved softness. reader deserved to be chosen. mia deserved a mama who showed up. everyone got what they deserved. if youâre reading this â thank you. comments, reblogs, feedback and likes keep me writing and i am so serious about that. enjoyđ
-ËËâ my masterlist
You have lived in Apartment 3B of Wattle Grove Building for two years. You know Mrs. Kim in 1A leaves her recycling out on the wrong day every single week without fail. You know the guy in 2C plays guitar badly but enthusiastically every Sunday morning. You know the building super Danny will fix anything you need as long as you leave a coffee outside your door first.
You know your neighbors the way you know background characters in a movie youâve seen too many times. Familiar. Unremarkable. Just part of the scenery.
Which is why itâs strange that youâve never properly noticed the man in 3A. Youâve seen him, obviously. In passing. At the mailboxes. Once in the car park when you were both leaving at the same time and did that awkward thing where you both reached for the door simultaneously and then laughed and said sorry at the same time. Heâs tall. Dark hair. Has a nice face in the vague way that you register nice faces without really looking at them.
He moved in about eight months ago. Keeps to himself. Quiet. Youâve never heard a peep through the wall you share, which you appreciate deeply after two years of listening to the previous tenantâs aggressive taste in late night television. You know his name is Jake because itâs on the mailbox.
Thatâs it. Thatâs the extent of your knowledge of the man in 3A. Until 6:58 on a Tuesday morning when someone knocks on your door.
ââ ââ â ââ ââ â
You are not a morning person. You are, in fact, the opposite of a morning person. You are someone who sets four alarms and ignores three of them and considers getting out of bed before eight a personal attack. Your first class doesnât start until ten. You were planning to sleep until at least eight thirty, mainline coffee until nine, and leave with approximately four minutes to spare.
So when someone knocks on your door at 6:58 AM you lie there for a full thirty seconds convincing yourself you imagined it. Then it happens again. Small. Rhythmic. Insistent. knock knock knock
You groan into your pillow. Drag yourself upright. Pull on the hoodie hanging off your desk chair and shuffle to the door, hair catastrophic, eyes barely open, prepared to be deeply unpleasant to whoever is on the other side.
You open the door. There is no one there. You blink. Look left. Look right. The hallway is empty and quiet andâ âHi.â
You look down. There is a child sitting on the floor outside your door. She is approximately three years old, round-cheeked and bright-eyed, wearing a yellow pajama set covered in tiny ducks. Her dark hair is escaping from two lopsided pigtails. She has a serious expression on her face like she has somewhere important to be and is merely pausing here briefly.
She is, without any competition, the most adorable thing you have ever seen in your entire life. You stare at her. She stares back. âHi,â she says again, very patient, like sheâs giving you time to catch up.
âHi,â you manage. âUm. Who are you?â
She considers this question with great seriousness. âMia.â
âOkay. Hi Mia.â You look up and down the empty hallway again. âWhere did you come from?â She points at the door directly across from yours. 3A. âAre youââ You crouch down to her level. âDid you come out of your apartment by yourself?â
âMr. Bunny is lost,â she explains, as if this answers everything. And apparently, in her world, it does. She stands up, remarkably steady on her feet for someone so small, and peers past you into your apartment with undisguised curiosity. âIs he in there?â
âIs whoâ Mr. Bunny? I donât think so, sweetheart. I havenât seen anyââ
âCan I look?â
âIâ wellââ Sheâs already walking past you into your apartment.
You stand in your doorway, blinking slowly, watching a three year old you have never met toddle into your living room and start investigating with the focused energy of a tiny detective. She checks under the coffee table. Behind the couch cushions. She picks up one of your throw pillows, examines it, puts it back. âHeâs not here,â she announces, sounding genuinely disappointed.
âIâm sorry.â Youâre fully awake now, adrenaline doing what four alarms couldnât. âMia, does your dad know where you are?â
She looks at you. Blinks. And then, for the first time, something flickers across her face that isnât complete confidence. Something small and uncertain. âDaddyâs sleeping,â she says quietly.
Oh no. Oh no.
âOkay,â you say, very carefully, going into full calm adult mode even though internally you are having a minor crisis. âOkay, thatâs okay. Letâs go wake daddy up, yeah?â
You take her hand â she gives it to you immediately, tiny fingers wrapping around yours with complete trust, and something in your chest does something weird and unexpected â and you walk her across the hall to 3A.
You knock. Nothing. You knock louder. A crash. Muffled swearing. Footsteps. The door flies open.
Jake Sim, your neighbor from 3A, looks absolutely terrible. Heâs in gray sweatpants and no shirt, hair destroyed, eyes wild with the specific panic of a parent who has woken up to find their child missing. Thereâs a pillow crease down his left cheek. He looks like a man who has just experienced the worst thirty seconds of his life.
He looks down at Mia standing beside you, her hand still in yours, looking up at him with the expression of someone who has done absolutely nothing wrong. The relief that crosses his face is so profound itâs almost painful to witness. âMia.â His voice comes out wrecked. He drops to his knees right there in the doorway, gathering her up, holding her against his chest. She pats his back tolerantly. âMia, Iâ you canâtâ how did youââ
âI was looking for Mr. Bunny,â she explains into his shoulder, very reasonable.
âYou canât leave the apartment by yourself, baby, Iâve told youââ
âBut Mr. Bunnyââ
âI donât care about Mr. Bunny right nowââ
âDaddy.â She pulls back to look at him, deeply offended. âMr. Bunny cares.â
You press your lips together very hard to keep from smiling. Jake looks up at you over Miaâs head, and he looks so mortified you almost feel sorry for him. Almost. It would be easier to feel sorry for him if he didnât look â even rumpled and panicked and creased from sleep â really quite unfairly attractive. You file that observation away to examine later, when a child is not present.
âIâm so sorry,â he says. âIâm so, so sorry, sheâs never done this before, I donât know how she got the door openââ
âShe knocked,â you tell him. âVery politely.â
He closes his eyes briefly. âOh god.â
âI used my reaching stool,â Mia informs him helpfully. âFor the handle.â
âWeâre getting rid of the reaching stool,â Jake tells her.
âNo.â
âYes.â
âDaddy, noââ
âMia.â He pulls back to look at her properly, and his voice goes soft but serious. âYou scared me. Really scared me, okay? You cannot leave without waking me up first. Ever. Do you understand?â
She looks at him. Her lip wobbles, just slightly. âI just wanted Mr. Bunny.â
âI know, baby.â He pulls her back in, pressing a kiss to her hair. âI know. But you have to wake me up. Promise me.â
âPromise,â she mumbles into his neck.
He holds her for another moment, and you feel like youâre witnessing something private. Something that belongs to them. You take a small step back. âIâll let youââ
âWait.â Jake stands, Mia on his hip, and looks at you with an expression thatâs somehow equal parts exhausted and sincere. âI really am sorry. And thank you. Genuinely, thank you forâ I donât even want to think about what would have happened if sheâd gone downstairs instead of just across the hall.â
âShe was perfectly safe,â you say. âShe was very focused on her investigation.â
âMr. Bunny is lost,â Mia reminds both of you gravely.
âWeâll find him,â Jake tells her. Then to you: âIâm Jake, by the way. Since apparently weâve been neighbors for eight months and Iâve never actually introduced myself, which isââ
âTerrible,â you supply.
âYeah.â He winces. âYeah, it really is. Iâm sorry about that too.â
âY/N,â you tell him. â3B.â
âI know. Iâve seen your name on the mailbox.â He shifts Mia on his hip. She has turned to look at you with renewed interest, the Mr. Bunny crisis temporarily suspended. âI kept meaning to knock and introduce myself properly but then time justââ
âIt does that,â you agree.
He smiles. Itâs a tired smile, still coming down from the panic, but itâs genuine. It does something to his face that you also file away for later. Mia is still staring at you. âYou have pretty hair,â she announces.
âMiaââ Jake starts.
âThank you,â you tell her seriously. âYours is very pretty too.â
She reaches up and touches one of her lopsided pigtails, considering. âDaddy did it,â she says, with the tone of someone being very diplomatic about a disappointing situation.
You look at Jake. He looks back at you. The pigtails are genuinely quite bad. âIâm working on it,â he says.
âWe couldââ You stop yourself. You donât even know this man. Youâve spoken to him for approximately four minutes. âNever mind.â
âNo, what?â
âI was just going to say I could show you. If you wanted. Itâs notâ itâs easy once you know the trick.â You gesture vaguely. âBut you probably have things toââ
âI would love that,â Jake says immediately. âGenuinely. Every morning is a disaster. She came home from daycare last week and her teacher had written a note that said âwe love Miaâs creative hairstylesâ and Iâm pretty sure that was a polite way of sayingââ
âDaddy canât do hair,â Mia explains to you, very straightforward.
âI cannot do hair,â Jake confirms.
You laugh. Actually laugh, fully awake now, standing in the hallway at seven in the morning in your old hoodie with your own hair catastrophic, and it surprises you a little. How easy it is. How natural. âCome over tomorrow morning,â you find yourself saying. âBefore daycare. Iâll show you a couple of things.â
Jake looks at you like youâve offered him something much more significant than a hair tutorial. âYou donât have toââ
âI know.â You crouch down to Miaâs level. âI hope you find Mr. Bunny.â
She studies you with those serious dark eyes. Then she reaches out and puts her small hand on your cheek, very gentle, the way toddlers sometimes do when theyâre deciding something important about you. âYouâre nice,â she declares.
âSo are you,â you tell her. She nods, satisfied, like this has confirmed something she already suspected.
Then she tucks her face back into Jakeâs neck, done with the interaction, and Jake gives you a helpless sort of smile over her head. âThank you,â he says again. âReally.â
âAnytime.â You stand up and take a step back toward your own door. âAnd Jake?â
âYeah?â
âMaybe put a chain lock on. Up high. Before tonight.â
He looks at the door. Looks at Mia. Looks back at you with the expression of a man who has just realized how many things there are to think about when youâre doing this alone. âYeah,â he says quietly. âYeah, good call.â
You donât go back to sleep. You make coffee and sit on your couch and think about the way Mia put her hand on your cheek like she was taking your measure. The way she gave you her hand without hesitating, tiny fingers trusting yours completely.
The way Jake held her when he found her safe. Like she was the most important thing in the world, which she obviously was, which was obvious in every single line of his body.
You think about his apartment, which you caught a glimpse of through the open door. The small pair of shoes by the entrance. The sticker on the light switch at toddler height. The general chaos of someone who is managing, but only just. You think about the note from the daycare teacher and the terrible pigtails and the way he said Iâm working on it without a single drop of self pity.
You finish your coffee. Make another one. You have a feeling that next door is going to become a lot more complicated than background noise and a name on a mailbox.
Youâre not sure yet if thatâs a good thing. But when you close your eyes you can still feel the ghost of small fingers wrapped around yours and you thinkâ yeah. Yeah, youâre probably already in trouble.
Mr. Bunny turns up two days later. He is in the freezer. Neither Jake nor Mia can explain how he got there.
You laugh about it for five minutes straight when Jake texts you, and then you look at your phone and realize youâve been texting your neighbor for two days like itâs completely normal and youâve known him for years. You put your phone down. Pick it up again. Type back: at least heâs preserved.
Jake sends back a string of crying laughing emojis and then: Mia wants me to tell you that Mr. Bunny says thank you for looking for him
You smile so hard your face hurts. You are, you realize, completely and utterly done for. And you havenât even properly met him yet.
The hair tutorial happens on Wednesday morning. You hear them before you see them â Miaâs voice carrying clearly through the wall at seven fifteen, a stream of cheerful commentary about something, Jakeâs lower voice responding, the particular domestic chaos of someone trying to get a toddler ready for daycare on a schedule. Then a knock at your door.
You open it to find Jake holding Mia like a football under one arm, a hairbrush in his free hand, and the expression of a man who has already lost this morningâs battle comprehensively.
Mia is upside down and completely unbothered. âHi,â she says, from her inverted position.
âHi,â you say. You step back and open the door wider. âCome in.â
They troop inside, Jake setting Mia down on her feet in your living room where she immediately begins a thorough reinvestigation of the space, picking up where she left off two days ago. She examines your bookshelf. Touches the small succulent on your windowsill very gently with one finger. âPlant,â she observes.
âHis name is Gerald,â you tell her.
She looks at you. Looks at Gerald. Looks back at you with the gravity of someone receiving important information. âHi Gerald,â she says politely. Jake makes a sound that might be him trying not to laugh.
âOkay.â You take the hairbrush from him. âSit her up on the couch and Iâll show you.â
What follows is twenty minutes that you will think about for the rest of the week for reasons you canât entirely explain.
Mia sits between your knees on the couch, remarkably patient once sheâs settled, holding Gerald the succulent in her lap because she asked and you said yes and Jake gave you a look that suggested he has learned to pick his battles. You work through her hair slowly, showing Jake each step â how to section it, how to hold the hair so it doesnât pull, how to make the pigtails sit even.
He watches with the focused attention of someone who is genuinely trying to learn this. Not just nodding along but asking questions, asking you to slow down, watching your hands. At one point he leans in close to see what youâre doing and youâre very aware of how near he is and the fact that he smells like clean laundry and something warm underneath.
You focus on Miaâs hair. âThe trick,â you tell him, âis that you do both sides before you tie either one off. Otherwise the first one pulls when you do the second.â
âThatâs what Iâve been doing wrong,â he says. He sounds genuinely relieved, like youâve solved something thatâs been bothering him for months. Which, apparently, you have. âI couldnât work out why they always went lopsided.â
âThey were very lopsided,â Mia agrees pleasantly.
âThanks, Mia.â
âYouâre welcome, Daddy.â
You finish, tying off the second pigtail with the elastic, and smooth a hand over her hair. Perfect and even and neat. She reaches up and touches them carefully. âPretty?â she asks.
âVery pretty,â you confirm.
She twists to look up at you, satisfied. Then she holds Gerald out. âYou can have him back.â
âThank you for taking care of him.â
âHe was scared,â she explains seriously. âHe doesnât know me yet.â She places him very carefully back on the windowsill, patting the pot once. âItâs okay Gerald. Iâm nice.â
Jake is watching his daughter with this expression â quiet and soft and a little undone at the edges â and when he catches you looking at him he clears his throat and looks away. Picks up the hairbrush from the cushion beside him. âRight,â he says. âWe should get going. Daycare at eight.â
âNooooo,â Mia says, without any real conviction. Sheâs already moving toward the door with the pragmatic acceptance of someone who knows the schedule.
âThank you,â Jake says to you. He means it. You can tell he means it in that way where the words are bigger than they sound. âSeriously. This wasââ
âItâs just pigtails.â
âItâs not justââ He stops. Starts again. âShe talks about you. Since Tuesday. Youâre the pretty lady from across the hall.â
Your face warms. âThatâs very generous of her.â
âSheâs got good taste.â He says it simply, matter of fact, and then looks slightly like he didnât mean to say it quite like that. âI meanâ sheâs a good judge of character. Generally.â
âY/N,â Mia calls from the doorway where she is putting her shoes on the wrong feet with great confidence.
âYeah?â
She looks up at you. âWill you be here tomorrow?â
Something squeezes in your chest. âYeah, Iâll be here.â
She nods, satisfied, like this is settled. Like you have made a commitment and she is holding you to it. Then she holds her foot up at Jake. âDaddy. Shoes.â
Jake crouches down to fix them, and you lean against your doorframe and watch, and you think about what Liv said to you once about knowing when something is going to change your life. How you can feel it sometimes. The specific weight of a moment thatâs about to matter.
You feel it now, watching Jake tie his daughterâs shoes in your doorway at seven forty in the morning while she holds your door handle for balance and hums something tuneless to herself. You feel it, and you file it away with everything else, and you tell yourself itâs too early for any of this and you need coffee.
You leave cookies outside 3A that afternoon. You donât examine why. You made a batch because you were stress baking about an assignment and you made too many and they were just sitting there and Jake mentioned once â in the mailbox, months ago, one of those nothing conversations youâd forgotten until now â that Mia liked anything with chocolate.
You leave them outside the door in a container with a post it note that says for Mia (and you, if you want) and then you go back inside and finish your assignment and donât think about it.
At nine fifteen that night your phone buzzes: jake 3a: she ate four before I could stop her and is now absolutely feral and wonât sleep. Iâm blaming you
You grin at your phone. you: thatâs fair
jake 3a: they were really good though like genuinely really good. Did you make them from scratch?
you: yes
jake 3a: of course you did
jake 3a: Iâm sorry, I donât know what that means, that came out weird. I just mean they were better than anything I could make. Iâm a terrible baker.
you: how terrible?
jake 3a: I made Mia a birthday cake in August and it came out flat and she cried
you: oh no
jake 3a: not because of the cake. She thought it was funny. She cried laughing. It was actually one of the best moments of my life which probably tells you everything about my standards right now
Youâre smiling at your phone like an idiot. you: Iâll make the cake next time. You send it before youâve fully decided to, and then stare at it. Itâs October. Youâve just committed to being in this manâs life until at least next August.
Three dots appear. Disappear. Appear again. jake 3a: you really donât have to
you: I want to. she told Gerald not to be scared because she was nice. I feel like she deserves a good birthday cake.
jake 3a: yeah she really does
ââ ââ â ââ ââ â
The drawing appears under your door on Thursday morning. You almost step on it when you come out of your bedroom, a folded piece of paper on your doormat. You pick it up and unfold it and find a crayon drawing â several figures of varying heights and proportions, all labeled in Jakeâs handwriting because Mia clearly directed and he transcribed.
Mia. Daddy. Gerald. Mr Bunny. And then, on the end, slightly larger than the others, with yellow crayon hair: Y/N. Sheâs drawn you into her family portrait.
You stand in your kitchen holding a crayon drawing with yellow-haired you standing next to a rectangle that is apparently Gerald and you feel something crack open in your chest so softly and so completely that you have to sit down.
You take a photo of it. You put the original on your fridge. You text Jake a photo of it on the fridge and he doesnât respond for ten minutes and when he does it just says: jake 3a: she worked on it for an hour last night
jake 3a: kept starting over because she wanted to get your hair right
You stare at that message for a long time. you: tell her I love it
jake 3a: sheâs going to lose her mind. also she asked if you want to come to the park with us Saturday
Three dots. Then: jake 3a: I want that too, for what itâs worth. If youâre free.
You look at the drawing on your fridge. Yellow-haired you, standing in a row with Mia and Daddy and Gerald and Mr. Bunny like youâve always been there. you: Iâm free Saturday
Saturday at the park is easy in a way that surprises you. Youâd half expected it to be awkward â the three of you, still essentially strangers, trying to fill silence in an open space. But Mia eliminates the possibility of silence entirely. She has opinions about the swings (good), the slide (excellent, requires multiple repetitions), and the ducks by the small pond at the parkâs edge (deeply suspicious, do not approach).
âTheyâre just ducks,â Jake tells her.
âTheyâre watching,â she says.
âTheyâre not watching.â
âDaddy.â She gives him a very patient look. âThey are watching.â
Jake looks at you. You shrug. âThey do look pretty focused,â you offer.
He points at you. âDonât encourage her.â
Mia takes your hand and pulls you toward the swings, away from the ducks and away from Jakeâs protests, and you go because sheâs three and determined and her hand is in yours and youâve decided thatâs reason enough for basically anything at this point.
You push her on the swings while Jake sits on the bench nearby, and you watch him watching the two of you. He has his elbows on his knees and his face is open in a way youâre starting to learn is rare for him â in a crowd or with strangers he goes carefully neutral, pleasant but contained. But here, watching Mia go higher and higher and shriek with delight, he looks unguarded. Younger, somehow. Like something in him relaxes when itâs just the three of you. âHigher!â Mia demands.
âYouâre already very high,â you tell her.
âHigher.â
âAbsolutely not.â
âPlease.â
âNice try.â
She cackles. Pure delighted toddler sound, head thrown back. And you find yourself laughing too, pushing her at this very reasonable height, and when you look over at Jake heâs smiling at you with an expression you donât quite have a name for yet. You look away first.
After the swings, Mia finds a stick, which becomes the most important object in the world for the next twenty minutes. She examines rocks. She makes Jake carry her on his shoulders. She falls asleep on the walk home with her cheek on his head and one fist clutching his jacket, completely unconscious, utterly trusting.
Jake walks carefully, holding her legs, talking to you in a low voice so he doesnât wake her. âShe doesnât do this with many people,â he says.
âFall asleep?â
âTrust people.â He adjusts his grip on her. âSheâs friendly, obviously, sheâll talk to anyone. But she doesnâtâ she doesnât hold hands with people she doesnât know. She doesnât draw people.â He pauses. âShe drew you in four days.â
You donât know what to say to that. So you say, âsheâs special.â
âYeah.â His voice is quiet. âShe really is.â
You walk in silence for a moment, the easy kind. âHow long has it been?â you ask. âJust the two of you.â
He doesnât tense the way you half expect him to. Just exhales, slow and steady. âSince she was four months old. Her mom left.â He says it flat, without bitterness, which somehow makes it worse. Like heâs had a long time to practice saying it that way. âJustâ left. Packed a bag while I was at work. By the time I got home it was just us.â
âJakeââ
âItâs fine now.â He glances at you sideways. âIt wasnât, for a long time. But itâs fine now. Itâs good, actually. Itâs really good.â He looks up at Miaâs sleeping face. âSheâs the best thing thatâs ever happened to me. I didnât know it was possible to love someone this much.â
You look at him. At the way he holds her. At the careful tenderness of it. âShe knows,â you say softly. He looks at you. âThat sheâs loved like that. You can tell.â You hold his gaze. âShe knows.â
Something moves through his expression. Quick and unguarded and gone before you can name it. âThanks,â he says quietly.
You walk the rest of the way home in comfortable silence, Mia asleep above you, the afternoon sun going golden through the trees lining the street. It is, you think, a very good Saturday.
ââ ââ â ââ ââ â
It becomes a routine without either of you deciding it should. Wednesday mornings, Jake knocks with the hairbrush. You do Miaâs hair while she holds Gerald and narrates her thoughts about the day ahead. Jake makes coffee in your kitchen like he knows where everything is, which after three weeks he does.
Saturdays are the park, or the farmers market two streets over, or just the three of you on one of your balconies eating whatever Jake has cooked because it turns out that while he cannot bake to save his life he is an genuinely excellent cook and he seems to enjoy having someone to cook for.
Evenings sometimes, when Miaâs in bed and Jake knocks quietly and you sit on his couch and watch something and talk about nothing in particular until one of you falls asleep.
It is domestic and soft and easy. It is also, you are increasingly aware, becoming something that would hurt to lose.
Mia calls you her Y/N now. Not just Y/N. Her Y/N, possessive and certain, the way she says her daddy and her Mr. Bunny and her Gerald. You are hers in her taxonomy of the world and the certainty of it does something to your chest every single time.
She tells the woman at the bakery you buy her the jam scroll she likes every Saturday. She tells a child at the park. She tells Mrs. Kim from 1A who coos and looks between you and Jake with an expression that makes Jake find something fascinating to look at on the middle distance.
Youâre folding laundry in your apartment on a Thursday evening, three weeks in, when Jake knocks. You open the door. Heâs holding two containers of leftover pasta, still warm. He holds one out. âMade too much,â he says.
You take it. Step back to let him in. This is how it goes now. âMia asleep?â you ask.
âOut cold. She had daycare and then apparently spent an hour reorganizing her stuffed animals by color.â He sits on your couch. âIt took everything she had.â
You sit beside him, open the pasta. Itâs good â itâs always good. âDid the reorganization meet her standards?â
âShe made me come and approve it before bed.â He pauses. âMr. Bunny is in the orange section even though heâs gray.â
âHe has warm undertones,â you say seriously.
Jake looks at you. Starts laughing. Not the polite laugh of someone being friendly but the real one, the one that takes over his whole face, and youâve been cataloguing that laugh for weeks now, the way it comes out surprised sometimes like he forgot he was allowed to do it.
Youâre laughing too, both of you over toddler stuffed animal color theory at eight PM with pasta containers in your laps, and when the laughter settles it leaves something warm and quiet in its place.
Jake is looking at you. Not the quick sideways glances youâve been trading for weeks. Really looking, steady and open, and you feel it the way you feel a change in weather. The pressure of it. The way the air shifts. âY/N,â he says.
âYeah?â
He opens his mouth. Closes it. Looks down at his pasta container, turning it in his hands. âNothing. Never mind. Itâs nothing.â
âItâs not nothing.â
He looks at you again and this time he doesnât look away. âI really like spending time with you.â
You hold his gaze. âI really like spending time with you too.â
âI havenâtââ He exhales. âI havenât wanted to spend time with someone like this in a long time. Maybe ever. And I donât know what to do with that.â
The honesty of it lands softly. No performance, no deflection. Just him, telling you the truth. âI donât either,â you say. âBut I donât think I want to stop.â
He looks at you for a long moment. Then he leans in, slow and deliberate, giving you every opportunity to pull back. You donât pull back.
His mouth finds yours, gentle at first, questioning, and then you lean into it and it stops being a question. Itâs warm and unhurried and it tastes like the pasta and something underneath that is just him, and when you finally break apart youâre both quiet, foreheads almost touching.
âOkay,â he says softly.
âOkay,â you agree.
He pulls back just slightly. His expression is open and a little nervous and more serious than the moment requires, or maybe exactly as serious as it requires. âI need to say something,â he says.
âOkay.â
âIf weââ He pauses, choosing his words. âWhatever this is. Whatever it becomes. Mia comes first. Always. Thatâs non negotiable for me. I need you to know that going in.â
You look at him. At the set of his jaw, the quiet certainty in his eyes. A man who has built his whole life around a three year old with lopsided pigtails and a stuffed rabbit and absolute confidence in the people she decides are hers. âJake,â you say.
âYeah.â
âI know.â You hold his gaze. âI love her. Sheâsâ she put her hand on my face the first morning and I was gone. I was completely gone.â You shake your head a little. âI think I fell for her before I even fell for you.â
Something moves across his face. Deep and quiet and undone.âYeah?â he says, and his voice is rough at the edges.
âYeah.â He kisses you again. Softer this time. Like something has been settled, like the last lock has clicked open. His hand comes up to cup your jaw and you lean into it and outside the window the city is doing whatever cities do at eight oâclock on a Thursday and in here it is warm and quiet and it feels, very specifically, like the beginning of something.
ââ ââ â ââ ââ â
The first time Mia is at the babysitterâs overnight, itâs an accident.
Not the overnight part â thatâs planned. Sandy, Miaâs regular babysitter three streets over, has been asking for weeks if she can have Mia for a sleepover because her own grandchildren are visiting and Mia and the youngest, a boy named Theo, have formed the specific intense friendship that only exists between toddlers who have decided they are best friends after forty five minutes together at a playground.
Jake agrees because Mia asks with her whole body, bouncing on her toes, and because Sandy has been his lifeline for two and a half years and he trusts her completely. Whatâs accidental is what happens after.
He drops Mia off at four on a Friday afternoon. Youâre not there â you have a late class â but when you get home at six thirty and knock on 3A because itâs become reflex, Jake opens the door and the apartment is quiet in a way it never is.
Youâve been in this apartment dozens of times now. You know its sounds. The particular creak of the second floorboard in the hall. The way the kitchen tap needs an extra turn to stop dripping. The constant ambient noise of Mia â her commentary, her singing, her negotiations with various stuffed animals about bedtime.
The silence is enormous. âWeird, right?â Jake says, reading your face.
âReally weird.â You step inside. âHow long has she been gone?â
âTwo hours.â He closes the door. âIâve cleaned the whole apartment and reorganized the pantry and I donât know what to do with myself.â
You look at the pantry, which is indeed immaculate. You look at Jake, who is in dark jeans and a simple white t-shirt and looks simultaneously very attractive and genuinely a little lost. âHave you eaten?â you ask.
âNo.â
âCook me something.â
Something in him settles. He moves into the kitchen, and you sit on the counter the way youâve started doing, and he makes pasta â different from the other night, something with lemon and herbs â and you open the wine you brought from your apartment and it is easy, it is so easy, the way everything with him has become easy without you noticing it happening.
You eat at his kitchen table. You talk about your classes and his current project â branding for a new cafĂ© opening in the city â and the book youâve both apparently been meaning to read for months and never have. You talk about Mia, because you always talk about Mia, about the things sheâs said recently that have floored you both. âShe told me yesterday,â Jake says, âthat she wants to be a paleontologist.â
âSheâs three.â
âI know. I asked her what a paleontologist was and she said âa person who finds old bonesâ and I have no idea where she learned that word.â
âThatâsâ thatâs genuinely impressive.â
âShe then said she also wants to be a cat.â He takes a sip of wine. âSo. Range.â Youâre laughing, and heâs laughing, and the kitchen is warm and the wine is good and at some point the laughter fades and youâre just looking at each other in the quiet.
Itâs been two weeks since the kiss on your couch. Two weeks of nothing changing and everything changing â the same routine, the same easy rhythm, but with this new current running underneath it. His hand finding yours sometimes. The way he says goodbye now, at the door, that takes longer than it used to. The awareness of him that hums in your chest constantly, warm and insistent.
You havenât had a night without Mia before. Youâre both aware of it. âY/N,â he says.
âYeah.â
âCan Iââ He stops. Starts again. His jaw works slightly, that tell youâve learned. âIâve been thinking about this. About us. And I want toâ I want to do this properly. Take you on an actual date, not justââ He gestures at the table, the apartment, the comfortable domesticity of it. âNot just this. You deserveââ
âJake.â You set down your glass. âI like this.â
âI know, butââ
âI mean I really like this.â You hold his gaze. âI donât need a restaurant. I donât needâ I just want you. This. Whatever this is.â He looks at you for a long moment.
Then he pushes back from the table and crosses to you and kisses you like heâs been thinking about it all evening, one hand cupping your jaw, the other finding your waist. You slide off the counter and into him and he makes a low sound against your mouth that does something devastating to your concentration. âStay tonight,â he says against your lips.
âYeah,â you breathe. âOkay.â
You end up on his bed.
It happens slowly, the way things happen when thereâs no rush, when the whole night stretches ahead and neither of you is going anywhere. He takes his time, unhurried and thorough, like he wants to learn you. Like youâre something worth learning.
He lays you back against his pillows and looks at you for a moment, just looks, and something about being seen like that â careful and wanting and completely focused â makes heat pool low in your stomach before heâs even touched you. âHi,â he says softly.
âHi,â you say back.
He leans down and kisses you again, and itâs different from the doorway kisses and the couch kisses. Deeper. More deliberate. His hand slides up your side, pushing your shirt up, warm palm against your skin, and you shiver.âCold?â he murmurs.
âOpposite.â He smiles against your mouth. Keeps moving, finding the hem of your shirt, and you lift your arms and let him pull it off. He sits back to look at you, and his expression is so openly appreciative, so uncomplicated in its wanting, that you feel heat rise to your face.
âDonât,â he says quietly.
âDonât what?â
âLook away.â His thumb traces your collarbone. âI want to look at you.â You keep his gaze. He keeps his.
He gets rid of his own shirt and you run your hands up his chest, his stomach, the way youâve been wanting to sinceâ longer than youâll admit. Heâs warm and solid and he watches your face as you touch him like your expression is telling him something important.
âWhat?â you ask.
âNothing.â He catches your hands, pins them gently above your head, leans down to press his mouth to your jaw. Your neck. The soft skin below your ear. âJust thinking about how long Iâve been wanting this.â
âHow long?â
He mouths at your pulse point and you gasp, arching up. âLonger than I should admit,â he murmurs. âProbably since the morning with Mia. You opened the door half asleep with terrible hair and you crouched down and talked to her like she was a real person and I thoughtââ He lifts his head to look at you. âI thought I was in serious trouble.â
âYour daughter was upside down under your arm,â you manage.
âI know. Terrible timing.â He releases your wrists, hands moving to the button of your jeans. âIs this okay?â
âYes. God, yes.â
He undresses you slowly, pressing his mouth to each new piece of skin like punctuation. The inside of your wrist. Your hip. The soft skin of your inner thigh that makes you grip the sheets and breathe out his name. He looks up at you from there, chin resting on your thigh, expression somewhere between fond and wrecked. âJakeââ
âIâve got you,â he says quietly. âOkay? Iâve got you.â And then his mouth is on you and your head falls back and you stop being able to think in complete sentences.
He takes his time the way he does everything â with complete attention, reading every sound you make, every shift of your hips, adjusting until he finds exactly what makes you come apart. He slides one finger inside you and then two, curling them just right while his tongue works your clit in slow, devastating circles, and you fist your hand in his hair and try to remember how to breathe.
âJakeâ fuckâ Iâmââ
He doesnât speed up. Doesnât change what heâs doing. Just keeps that perfect steady rhythm like he has all the time in the world, like getting you there is the only thing on his agenda, and you come with your thighs clamped around his head and his name on your lips and it crashes through you in waves that donât seem to stop.
He works you through every second of it, only easing off when you tug at his hair, oversensitive and shaking.
He moves up your body, pressing a kiss to your stomach, your sternum, your mouth. You can taste yourself on him and somehow that makes heat flare through you all over again. âHi,â he says again, soft and amused.
âYou,â you manage, âare very good at that.â
âYeah?â He looks pleased.
âDonât get smug about it.â
âIâm not smug.â He is a little smug. You find you donât mind. âYou okay?â
âMore than okay.â You reach up, pull him down to kiss him properly, deep and unhurried. âYour turn.â
You get his jeans off, and his boxers, and you wrap your hand around him and he hisses through his teeth, hips jerking slightly.âSorryââ
âDonât apologize,â you tell him. You stroke him slowly, learning the weight of him, and he drops his forehead to yours and just breathes. âTell me what you like.â
âThat,â he says roughly. âExactly that. Justââ He covers your hand with his, adjusts the pressure slightly. âYeah. Like that.â
You watch his face â the way his jaw goes tight, the way his eyes flutter. Heâs trying to stay composed and not quite managing it and you find that incredibly satisfying. âY/N.â His voice has gone rough. âI wantâ can Iââ
âYes,â you say. âPlease.â
He reaches into his nightstand drawer. You take the condom from him and roll it on yourself, slowly, which makes him close his eyes and exhale hard through his nose.âYouâre going to kill me,â he says.
âYouâll be fine.â
He settles between your thighs and you feel him there, pressing in, and you both go still for a moment. He pushes forward, slow and careful, watching your face, and the stretch of him makes you exhale hard, fingers pressing into his shoulders. He stops halfway, checking. âGood?â he asks.
âSo good.â You shift your hips, urging him on. âDonât stop.â
He doesnât stop. He seats himself fully and you both breathe through it, foreheads together, and then he starts to move and everything else falls away.
He fucks you slowly at first, deep and thorough, finding the angle that makes you gasp and then staying with it. His hand slides between your bodies, thumb finding your clit, and you make a sound that youâd be embarrassed about in any other context.âThere?â he asks.
âThere,â you confirm breathlessly.
He keeps going. Steady and focused and impossibly good, hitting that spot inside you on every stroke while his thumb works you in tight circles, and you can already feel it building again, embarrassingly fast. âJakeâ fuckâ alreadyââ
âLet go,â he says against your temple. âI want to feel you.â
You come clenching around him, and he groans deep in his chest, the rhythm stuttering, and you feel him follow you over with your name on his lips, buried deep, shaking.
Afterward you lie tangled together in the quiet. He traces absent patterns on your arm. You listen to his heartbeat slow. âHey,â he says eventually.
âHey.â
âThat wasââ
âYeah.â You tilt your head up. âIt really was.â He presses a kiss to your hair. You feel him smile against it.
Outside, the city is doing its Friday night thing, indifferent and ongoing. In here the lamp is warm and the sheets are soft and Jakeâs heartbeat is steady under your cheek and you think about the drawing on your fridge and the hand on your cheek and Mr. Bunny in the freezer and all the ordinary extraordinary things that have built this without you quite realizing. âStay,â he says.
âIâm already here.â
âI meanââ He tightens his arm around you. âStay. Not just tonight.â
Youâre quiet for a moment. âYouâre going to have to define that.â
âI know.â His thumb moves slow on your arm. âIâm working up to it.â
âOkay.â You settle back against him. âIâm not going anywhere.â
Mia comes home at eleven the next morning. Youâre still there.
Youâre in Jakeâs kitchen making coffee, wearing his hoodie and your underwear, when the front door opens and Sandyâs voice floats through â âhere we are, my love, home sweet homeâ â and small feet thunder down the hall.
Mia appears in the kitchen doorway. She takes in the scene. You, in her daddyâs hoodie. The two coffee cups. The general evidence of your presence. Her face does something complicated and then completely simple. âMy Y/N,â she says, delighted, and launches herself at your legs.
You crouch down and catch her, and she wraps around you like a koala, warm and sleep-soft and smelling like Sandyâs house, and you hold her and look up at Jake in the doorway and heâs looking at the two of you with that expression again. The one thatâs bigger than his face can hold.
âHi baby,â you say into Miaâs hair. âHow was Theoâs?â
âWe found a worm,â she says. âHis name is Dave.â
âDid you bring Dave home?â
âSandy said no.â A pause. âI think that was wrong.â
âDave is probably very happy in Sandyâs garden.â
She considers this. âOkay.â Then, muffled against your shoulder: âAre you staying for breakfast?â
You look at Jake. He holds your gaze, steady and warm. âYeah,â you say. âIâm staying for breakfast.â
Mia pulls back, satisfied. âDaddy makes good eggs.â
âI know he does.â
âYou can sit next to me.â
âI would love that.â
She takes your hand and tows you toward the table with the authority of someone who has decided how this morning is going to go, and Jake moves to the stove, and outside the kitchen window the Saturday morning is doing its soft unhurried thing, and thisâ this is everything.
ââ ââ â ââ ââ â
The weeks that follow are the best of your life. You donât say that out loud. It feels too large, too exposed. But itâs true in the quiet way that the truest things are â not dramatic, not announced, just sitting solidly in your chest every time youâre aware of it.
The three of you fall into a rhythm so natural itâs almost hard to remember the before. Jake knocks on your door with the hairbrush and leaves with coffee. You come to theirs for dinner more nights than not. Mia insists on showing you everything â every drawing, every discovery, every development in the ongoing organization of her stuffed animal collection.
The farmers market becomes yours. Every Saturday, the three of you. Mia on Jakeâs shoulders, small hands wrapped in his hair, pointing imperiously at things she wants to examine. You buy her a sunflower from the flower stall in week two and she carries it home with both hands like itâs precious, and after that it becomes the thing â every week, a sunflower for Mia, who has decided they are her favorite and cannot be argued with on this point.
Jake watches you with her constantly. You catch him doing it â that soft unguarded look â and he doesnât stop when you catch him, just holds your gaze until you look away first, which you always do because the directness of it does something to your chest that you havenât found words for yet.
Mia tells her daycare teacher about you. You know this because Jake texts you a screenshot of a drawing she brought home â the same configuration as before, Mia Daddy Gerald Mr Bunny Y/N, but this time you and Jake are holding hands.
jake 3a: her teacher asked who the people were, she said âthatâs my daddy and my Y/N theyâre in loveâ
You stare at the message. you: sheâs three
jake 3a: three and apparently very perceptive
you: what did you tell the teacher
jake 3a: I said she wasnât wrong
You put your phone face down on the desk and press both hands over your face and sit there for a full minute. Then you pick it up. you: jake
jake 3a: yeah?
you: are you in love with me
A pause. Longer than usual. Your heart does something complicated in the silence. jake 3a: Iâve been trying to find the right moment to say it properly not over text but yes, very much yes. I have been for a while
jake 3a: is that okay?
You read it three times. you: yes, itâs very okay. also I love you too
jake 3a: yeah?
you: yeah
jake 3a: okay, good. Iâm going to say it properly tonight with Mia asleep so she doesnât narrate it
you: she would absolutely narrate it
jake 3a: she would make it about herself somehow
you: she would bring Mr Bunny as a witness
jake 3a: heâd be very moved
Youâre smiling so hard your face hurts, alone in your apartment at two in the afternoon, and you think about the morning you opened your door and found a small person sitting on your doormat in duck pajamas looking for her rabbit.
You think about tiny fingers in yours on the way back across the hall. You think about youâre nice delivered with complete certainty by someone who had known you for four minutes.
That night, after Mia is asleep, Jake says it properly. Standing in the kitchen, cup of tea going cold on the counter, both of you knowing itâs coming and neither of you in any rush because thereâs no need to rush anymore.
âI love you,â he says. Simple and direct. âI love you and I love that she loves you and I donât want to do any of this without you.â
âI love you too,â you say. âBoth of you. The wholeâ all of it. Everything.â
He kisses you there in the kitchen and it tastes like coming home, which is a thing you didnât know kitchens could taste like until now.
Later, in his bed, you press your face into his shoulder and listen to the particular quiet of the apartment at night â the creak of the building, the distant city, the soft sound of Mia breathing through the baby monitor on the nightstand. âHey,â Jake says quietly. âYou know what Mia asked me today?â
âWhat?â
âShe asked if you were going to live with us.â
Your heart turns over. âWhat did you tell her?â
âI said I hoped so.â He tilts his head to look down at you. âIs that okay?â
âYeah,â you say softly. âThatâs okay.â He pulls you closer. You close your eyes. Outside, a siren somewhere. The building settling. Miaâs breathing through the monitor, slow and even and completely safe.
In here, you think. Everything is in here. You never see it coming. Thatâs the thing about a knock at the door when youâre happy. You donât brace for it. You donât clock the risk. Youâre justâ there. In the warm. Thinking about nothing that isnât good.
ââ ââ â ââ ââ â
Itâs a Sunday. Mia is at Sandyâs. Not overnight this time â just the afternoon, a regular arrangement while Jake works on a deadline.
Except Jake finished his deadline by noon and texted you and you came over and the afternoon became the best kind of afternoon, the kind that starts with coffee and talking and turns into something else entirely when Mia isnât home, when thereâs nowhere to be and no particular reason to leave the bedroom.
Youâre in his bed. Late afternoon light coming gold through the curtains. His hand on your back tracing lazy patterns on your spine. Youâre boneless and warm and half thinking about nothing and half thinking about whether Mia will want to show you the worm situation at Sandyâs when Jake picks her up.
âSandy said she asked to bring Dave home three more times,â Jake says, like heâs reading your mind.
âPersistent.â
âShe gets it from somewhere.â His hand moves up to the back of your neck, squeezing gently. âYou hungry?â âNot yet.â
âOkay.â He presses a kiss to your shoulder. âWeâve got a couple of hours before I pick her up.â You hum. He pulls you closer. The afternoon light shifts.
Then someone knocks at the door. Jakeâs hand stills on your back. âExpecting anyone?â you ask.
âNo.â He frowns slightly. âSandy would call.â He sits up, reaching for his t-shirt. âProbably Danny about the tap.â
You stretch out across the warm space heâs left, drowsy and content, listening to his footsteps down the hall. The sound of the door opening. Silence.
Not the brief silence of oh hi Danny itâs fine. A longer silence. A loaded one.
Then a voice you donât recognize â a womanâs voice, careful and slightly uncertain â saying his name. âJake.â
You go very still.
Jake says nothing for a long moment. When he speaks his voice is completely flat in a way youâve never heard from him before. Like all the warmth has been removed surgically. âWhat are you doing here?â
âI justâ I wanted toââ The womanâs voice. âCan I come in?â
âNo. How did you find me?â
âYour mum. She didnâtâ she thought I knew the address, I think. I donât think she realizedââ
âWhy are you here.â Not a question. A demand.
A pause. âI want to see her,â the woman says. âI want to see Mia.â
The name lands in the apartment like something dropped. You sit up slowly, pulling the sheet around yourself, and the drowsy warmth of the afternoon has gone completely. In its place something cold and alert.
âYou need to leave,â Jake says.
âI know I donât have the right toââ
âYou left,â Jake says, and his voice is still flat, but underneath the flatness there is something enormous being held very carefully in check. âShe was four months old and you left. Youâve been gone for three years. You donât get to knock on my door and say you want to see her like itâs a reasonable thing to say.â
âI know.â The womanâs voice cracks slightly. âI know that. I justâ Jake, please, I just wantââ
âTo see her? Or to see me?â Silence. âYeah,â Jake says quietly. âThatâs what I thought.â
You get up. Quietly. You find your clothes in the soft afternoon mess of the room, pull them on, and you stand in the hallway outside his bedroom door and you look at the front door.
Sheâs standing in the doorway. Tall, dark-haired, pretty in a way that might have been beautiful before whatever sheâs been carrying got into her face. Sheâs looking at Jake with an expression that mixes guilt and want in proportions you donât have to be a genius to read.
She sees you. Her eyes move over you â your rumpled clothes, Jakeâs apartment behind you, the obvious geography of the afternoon â and something hardens in her expression that you recognize. The specific hardening of someone who wanted to find a door open and has found it closed.
Jake turns. He sees you in the hallway. Something moves through his face â protective, apologetic, something else underneath that you donât have time to read. âY/N,â he says. âHi.â You keep your voice steady. âIâllâ I can go.â
âYou donât have toââ
âItâs okay.â You look at him clearly, trying to say with your eyes what you canât say in front of her: Iâm fine. Iâm not going far. Handle this. âIâll be across the hall.â
He holds your gaze. His jaw is set, his eyes tight at the corners, but he gives you the smallest nod.
You pick up your keys from the bowl by the door â yours, in the bowl by Jakeâs door, which happened so gradually you canât remember it beginning â and you step past the woman in the doorway without looking at her.
You go into 3B. You close the door. You sit on your couch and you listen to the muffled sound of voices through the wall, and you hold yourself very carefully together, and you wait.
You sit on your couch for forty minutes. You know because you watch the clock. Not obsessively â youâre not counting seconds â but every time your eyes drift to it another chunk of time has passed and the voices through the wall have not stopped.
You make tea you donât drink. You open your laptop and close it again. You pick up your phone three times and put it down without texting anyone because what would you even say.
My boyfriendâs ex showed up. The one who left when their daughter was four months old. Sheâs been there forty minutes and Iâm sitting in my apartment trying not to think about the way she looked at him.
You put your phone face down on the cushion beside you.
The thing is â and you know this, you do â you trust Jake. Thatâs not the part thatâs making your chest tight. Youâve watched him for months now. You know who he is. You know the way he holds his daughter and the way he laughs and the way he looks at you when he thinks youâre not watching. You know he means what he says.
The part thatâs making your chest tight is her face when she saw you. Not guilt. Not embarrassment at the intrusion. Something proprietary. Something that said what are you doing in my space even though she is the one who left. Even though she forfeited any claim to this apartment and this life and this man the day she packed a bag while her four month old daughter slept.
Youâre familiar with that expression. Youâve worn it yourself, briefly, watching other women talk to Jake at the market or at the park. You know what it means. She wants him back. Mia is the reason she knocked. But she wants Jake back.
Youâre still sitting with that when your phone buzzes. jake 3a: sheâs gone, can you come back?
Youâre across the hall before youâve fully decided to move. He opens the door before you knock. He looks terrible. Not falling apart â Jake doesnât fall apart, youâve figured that out, he goes very still and very controlled when things get bad, which is almost worse â but there are lines around his eyes that werenât there this morning and his jaw is set in that way that means heâs been holding something in for a while.
He steps back to let you in. Closes the door. You turn to face him and he looks at you for a moment like heâs checking that youâre real, that youâre still here, that the afternoon hasnât completely dismantled itself. âYou okay?â you ask.
âI should be asking you that.â
âIâm fine. I was across the hall.â You hold his gaze. âAre you okay?â
He exhales. Long and slow. Runs a hand through his hair. âShe wants to see Mia. She says sheâs been in therapy. That sheâs beenâ working through things. That she made a mistake and she knows that and she just wantsââ He stops. His jaw works. âShe was here for forty minutes and Miaâs name came up maybe three times.â
Your stomach tightens. âWhat did the rest of it cover?â He looks at you with an expression that answers the question without words. âJakeââ
âI told her no,â he says. âTo all of it. I told herâ Mia doesnât know her. Sheâs three years old, she has no memory of her, and showing up out of nowhere and announcing herself as her mother would beâ Iâm not doing that to her. Iâm not letting someone walk in and blow up her world because theyâve decided theyâre ready now.â
âThatâs right,â you say quietly.
âIs it?â He looks genuinely uncertain, and that more than anything tells you how rattled he is. Jake is not an uncertain man. Heâs careful, heâs considered, but when heâs decided something he holds it steady. Watching him doubt himself is unfamiliar and uncomfortable. âBecause part of me thinksâ sheâs her mother. Biologically. Does Mia have a right to know her? At some point? And am Iââ
âJake.â You cross to him. Put your hand on his chest, flat over his heart, and look up at him. âYou are the most present, devoted, thoughtful parent I have ever seen. You have been both of them for three years. Whatever you decide about this, it comes from that. Not from fear, not from jealousy. From knowing your daughter.â He looks down at you. His hand comes up to cover yours. âSheâs not here because of Mia,â you say gently. âYou know that.â
âYeah.â His voice is rough. âYeah, I know that.â
âSo you handle the Mia question in your own time, with proper advice, on your terms. Not because she showed up at your door on a Sunday afternoon.â
Heâs quiet for a moment. Then: âWhen did you get soââ
âWise?â
âI was going to say steady.â
âSame thing.â You press your palm flatter against his chest. âYouâre okay. Miaâs okay. This is justâ a thing that happened on a Sunday. It doesnât have to be more than that right now.â
He looks at you for a long moment. Something in his face shifts â the held-in thing loosening slightly, the lines around his eyes easing. âI really love you,â he says quietly.
âI know.â You reach up, press your hand briefly to his jaw. âI love you too. Go get your daughter.â
He comes back with Mia at five thirty. Youâre in his kitchen making dinner â youâd found pasta and vegetables and half a block of good parmesan and it seemed like the right thing to do, to be here, to have something warm happening when they got home.
Mia comes through the door at full speed, as always, and finds you at the stove and absolutely loses her mind with delight. âMy Y/N is here!â
âHi, my Mia.â She barrels into your legs and you crouch down and catch her, and over her head you watch Jake close the front door and lean against it for just a second, eyes closed. Like heâs taking a breath. Like heâs counting the things still here and finding them all present.
Then he opens his eyes and sees you watching him and something in his face goes soft. âDave update,â Mia says urgently against your neck.
âTell me everything.â
âSandy said he moved.â Her voice is full of significance. âShe doesnât know where he went.â
âDave is living his life.â
âThatâs what Sandy said.â She pulls back to look at you. âI think he went to find his family.â
âThatâs a very hopeful interpretation.â
âWorms have families,â she tells you solemnly. âProbably.â
âDefinitely,â you agree.
Jake has moved into the kitchen. He comes up behind you â Mia still in your arms â and presses a kiss to the side of your head. Quick and quiet. Gratitude and love in a single gesture. âSmells good,â he says.
âTwenty minutes.â
âCan I help?â
âYou can set the table.â
âI want to help,â Mia announces.
âYou can put the napkins out,â you tell her, and she accepts this responsibility with great seriousness, and Jake sets her down and gets the napkins and she carries them to the table one at a time with both hands like theyâre fragile, and Jake catches your eye across the kitchen and mouths thank you and you shake your head slightly because thereâs nothing to thank you for.
Youâre exactly where you want to be.
Later, after dinner, after Miaâs bath, after two bedtime stories and one negotiation about the structural integrity of a fort she wants to construct in the living room (tomorrow, baby, itâs bedtime), after small arms around your neck and a kiss pressed very seriously to your cheek and night my Y/N into the darkâ
You and Jake sit on his couch in the quiet. He has his legs stretched out on the coffee table. Youâre tucked into his side, his arm around you. The lamp is the only light. The apartment has the particular peace of a small child asleep in the next room. âSheâs going to come back,â Jake says quietly.
âProbably.â
âIâm going to talk to a lawyer. Get clear on where things stand legally before she does.â His thumb moves on your arm. âShe signed over custody voluntarily. I donât think she has grounds for anything. But I want to know for certain.â
âThatâs smart.â
âI donât want Mia to know about this until I do. I donât want her picking up on anything.â
âShe wonât hear it from me.â
He turns his head to press a kiss to your hair. âI know.â You sit in the quiet for a moment. âShe looked at you,â he says. âThe way she looked at you when she saw you there.â His arm tightens slightly. âI need you to know that whatever she came here wanting, it was never going toâ she left, Y/N. She made her choice. Thereâs nothing there.â
âI know that too.â
âI justââ He exhales. âI donât want you to have any doubt. About this. About us.â
You lift your head to look at him. His face in the lamplight, tired and earnest and completely, simply honest. âI donât,â you tell him. âNot even a little.â
He holds your gaze. âGood,â he says quietly. He kisses you softly, and you let yourself melt into it, and outside the window the night is doing its ordinary thing, indifferent and ongoing.
When you break apart you settle back against his shoulder. âStay,â he says.
âObviously,â you say. He pulls you closer.
In the next room, Mia sleeps, completely safe, completely loved, completely unaware that someone knocked on the door today and was turned away.
Sheâll know, eventually. Jake will tell her, carefully, at the right time, in the right way. Thatâs the kind of father he is. But tonight she just sleeps. And you and Jake stay on the couch until you both drift off, warm and quiet and whole.
The lawyerâs name is Ms. Park and she is very thorough.
Jake comes back from the meeting on a Wednesday looking lighter than he has all week. He finds you in his kitchen â where you are most afternoons now, itâs become accepted fact â and he leans in the doorway and says:
âShe has no legal standing. She relinquished custody voluntarily and completely. If she wants any kind of access she would have to apply through the courts and demonstrate sustained rehabilitation and it would be a long process with no guarantee.â
You set down the mug youâre washing. âOkay.â
âShe came here once and I turned her away and she hasnât come back.â He exhales. âI donât think sheâs going to pursue it. I think she came here for me and when that didnât workââ
âShe has no reason to stay.â You cross the kitchen to him. Put your hands on his chest. âHow do you feel?â
He thinks about it genuinely, the way he does. âRelieved,â he says. âAndâ sad, a little. That itâs this way. That Mia doesnât haveââ He stops.
âShe has you,â you say. âShe has Sandy and Mrs. Kim and the daycare teachers who love her and Theo the worm friend andââ You meet his eyes. âShe has me. For as long as youâll both have me.â
Something moves through his face. âForever, then,â he says simply.
Your heart turns over. âYeah,â you say softly. âForever works.â
He kisses you there in the kitchen and it tastes like relief and sunlight and something settled and permanent. From the doorway comes a small voice. âAre you kissing again?â
You break apart to find Mia standing in the hallway in her socks, Mr. Bunny under her arm, regarding you both with the patient exhaustion of someone who has seen this many times and has opinions. âSorry,â Jake says, not sounding sorry at all.
âItâs fine,â Mia says, generous. âYou can kiss. But after can we do the fort?â
âWe can do the fort,â you confirm. She nods, satisfied. Turns and toddles back down the hall.
Jake looks at you. You look at Jake.âThe fort,â he says. You nod in agreement and follow him and your daughter down the hall.
ââ ââ â ââ ââ â
Three months later, Mia stops calling you my Y/N. She starts calling you mama.
It happens on a Tuesday. Not a special Tuesday. Not a significant one. Just an ordinary Tuesday in February where the sky is doing that flat grey thing it does in late summer when the heat hasnât broken yet and everything feels slightly sticky and slow.
Youâre doing her hair. The Wednesday morning routine has migrated â itâs every morning now, most mornings, because somewhere between October and February the question of which apartment are you sleeping in stopped being a real question. Youâre here. You live here, functionally, in every way that matters except the technical one. Your toothbrush is here. A drawer is yours. Gerald the succulent has been relocated to the kitchen windowsill where he gets better light and Mia waters him every second day with great ceremony.
Jake is in the kitchen. Coffee is happening. Mia is between your knees on the couch, holding Mr. Bunny, and youâre doing two neat braids because she has decided braids are her preference this week and youâve been practicing. âTighter,â she instructs.
âIf I go tighter itâll pull.â
âI want tight braids.â
âYou want braids that feel comfortable and also look good.â
She considers this negotiation. âOkay,â she concedes.
You keep going. She hums something to herself, swinging her feet, and you work through the second braid, and itâs quiet in the good way, the way that only exists when everyone in a space is completely comfortable. âMama,â Mia says.
âHmm?â You tie off the braid.
âCan I wear the yellow dress today?â
Youâre reaching for the second hair tie when it lands.
Mama.
She said it like it was nothing. Like it was the most natural word in the world. Like sheâs been saying it her whole life, which â you realize, with your heart doing something enormous and unsteady in your chest â maybe in her head she has been.
âYeah,â you manage, and your voice comes out almost normal. âYeah, baby, we can find the yellow dress.â
She scrambles off the couch and heads to her room, completely unbothered, Mr. Bunny trailing from one hand. You sit there. In the kitchen, the coffee maker finishes its cycle.
Jake appears in the doorway with two mugs, takes one look at your face, and stops. âWhat happened? Are you okay? Whatââ
âShe called me mama,â you say.
The mugs go onto the coffee table. Jake sits beside you and looks at you with an expression that is doing the same enormous unsteady thing yours probably is. âJust now?â
âJust now.â Your voice is not quite steady. âShe asked if she could wear the yellow dress and she called me mama and then she justâ walked off. Like it was nothing.â
âY/Nââ
âIâm not upset.â You turn to him, urgent, needing him to understand. âIâm notâ Iâm not upset, Jake, I justââ You press a hand to your chest. âI donât know what to do with this.â
He looks at you for a long moment. Then he takes your face in both hands, careful and deliberate, and presses his forehead to yours. âI do,â he says quietly.
âYeah?â
âYeah.â He pulls back just enough to look at you. âYou say yes. Thatâs what you do. You justâ say yes.â
From down the hall: âFound it!â A pause. âMama, can you do the buttons?â
You close your eyes. âOkay,â you breathe. Yeah.â You open your eyes. Look at him. âYeah. Okay.â
He kisses you, quick and soft, and then you get up and go down the hall to do the buttons on a yellow dress, and Jake stands in the living room doorway watching and the expression on his face is the most complete thing youâve ever seen on a human being.
That night, after Mia is asleep, Jake asks you to move in. Not impulsively. Not as a reaction to the morning. You can tell heâs been thinking about it for a while â thereâs a particular quality to his stillness when heâs been working up to something, and youâve learned it the way youâve learned all of him, gradually and permanently.
Youâre on the couch. Late. The lamp on, the city quiet outside. His hand in yours. âMove in,â he says. You look at him. âProperly,â he says. âNot the drawer and the toothbrush. All of it. Gerald and everything.â
âGeraldâs already here.â
âI know.â The corner of his mouth moves. âConsider it a trial run.â
You look at your joined hands. At the apartment that has been yours in every meaningful sense for months. At the hallway where Mia is sleeping with Mr. Bunny and her color-organized stuffed animals and absolute certainty that you will be here in the morning. âYeah,â you say.
âYeah?â
âObviously yeah, Jake.â You lean over and kiss him. âObviously.â
He pulls you in and holds you there, and you feel him exhale slowly against your hair. âSheâs going to lose her mind,â he says.
âSheâs going to tell Gerald first.â
âSheâs going to tell Gerald, then Mrs. Kim, then Sandy, then everyone at daycare.â
âIn that order.â
âIn that exact order.â
Youâre both laughing, quiet so you donât wake her, and it settles into something warm and certain. âHey,â Jake says. âI love you.â
âI love you too.â You press your face into his shoulder. âBoth of you. The whole thing.â
âThe whole thing loves you back,â he says simply.
You tell Mia in the morning. Jake does it, at breakfast, with the careful measured approach of a man who has learned that toddlers receive important news better when theyâre eating something. âHey Mia. You know how Y/N stays here a lot?â
Mia looks up from her toast. Looks at you. Looks back at Jake. âYes.â
âHow would you feel if she stayed here all the time? Like, lived here. With us.â
Mia blinks. Puts down her toast. Looks at you with enormous serious eyes. âLike forever?â she asks.
âLike forever,â Jake confirms.
She stares at you for a long moment with the focused intensity of someone making a very important assessment.
Then she gets down from her chair, crosses to you, climbs into your lap uninvited and completely certain of her welcome, and wraps both arms around your neck. âOkay,â she says into your shoulder. âYou can live here.â
âThank you,â you manage, arms tight around her.
âGerald will be happy,â she adds.
âHe really will.â
She pulls back. Looks at your face. Puts her small hand on your cheek exactly the way she did on the very first morning, in the hallway, four months ago when she was looking for her rabbit. âDonât cry,â she says kindly. âItâs good news.â
âI know.â You laugh, wet at the edges. âHappy tears.â
âOh.â She considers this. âOkay.â Then, satisfied, she climbs back down, retrieves her toast, and resumes breakfast.
Jake is looking at you over her head with an expression that could power something. âTold you,â he mouths. You shake your head, still smiling, still blinking hard.
The whole thing loves you back. Yeah. Yeah it really does.
The move takes a weekend. Itâs not a big move â your apartment was small and youâve been migrating things gradually for months without meaning to â but thereâs something significant about doing it officially. Carrying boxes across the hall. Hanging your clothes properly in the wardrobe. Arranging your books on the shelves beside Jakeâs.
Mia supervises. She is a very involved supervisor, offering opinions on where everything should go and occasionally redirecting items she feels would be better placed in her room. You negotiate firmly on the throw blanket. You surrender the small lamp without a fight because sheâs put it next to Mr. Bunny and it does look good there, objectively.
By Sunday evening the apartment is a comfortable chaos of rearrangement and youâre all sitting on the living room floor eating pizza from the box because no one has the energy to locate the table under the moving debris.
Mia is in your lap. Jake is beside you, shoulder to shoulder, pizza slice in hand, looking around the apartment that has shifted and expanded and settled into something new. âLooks different,â he says.
âGood different?â
He looks at you. âYeah. Really good different.â
Mia tilts her head back to look up at you from your lap. âCan we build the fort now?â
âWe live in a fort,â you tell her, gesturing at the surrounding box landscape.
Her eyes go wide. She looks around. Looks back at you. âWe live in a fort,â she breathes.
âWe live in a fort,â Jake confirms solemnly. She is overcome.
You and Jake look at each other over her head, laughing, and it is â this moment exactly, pizza and boxes and a delighted three year old and the lamp in the wrong place and Gerald on the windowsill â it is everything. Absolutely everything.
ââ ââ â ââ ââ â
A year later
The morning of the wedding, Mia wakes up at five forty-three AM. You know this because she comes and stands beside the bed and breathes on your face until you open your eyes. âItâs today,â she whispers.
âIt is,â you confirm.
âIâm the flower girl.â
âYou are.â
She absorbs this with great seriousness. Then: âI need to practice.â
âMia, itâs not even sixââ
âI need to practice.â
Jake makes a sound beside you that is him absolutely not laughing. You elbow him. âOkay,â you say. âBut quietly. So we donât wake the neighbors.â
She nods, solemn and focused, and turns and walks very slowly back down the hallway, scattering invisible petals with great ceremony, narrating under her breath â and then I walk here, and then here, and then I find mamaâ
You lie there in the early morning grey and stare at the ceiling and think about the word mama the way you have thought about it every day for the past year and a half. The way it still does something enormous to your chest. The way you donât think it will ever stop.
Jake rolls toward you. Presses his face into your neck. âMorning,â he murmurs.
âYour daughter is practicing flower girl technique in the hallway.â
âSheâs been planning this since we told her.â His arm comes around you. âShe asked Sandy if she could practice at her house. She practiced at daycare. She made Theo be the groom so she could practice walking toward someone.â
âSheâs extremely prepared.â
âSheâs extremely her.â He presses a kiss to your jaw. âHow are you feeling?â
âGood.â You turn to face him. His face in the early light, sleep-soft and certain and completely, permanently yours. âReally good. You?â
âBest day of my life,â he says simply. âAfter the day she was born. And the day you moved in. And the day you said yes when I asked.â He pauses. âTop five, at minimum.â
âThatâs very good company.â
âYouâre very good company.â He kisses you properly, slow and warm, and from the hallway comes the sound of small feet completing another practice lap.
ââŠand then I find mama, and sheâs the prettiestââ You pull back from Jake, blinking hard. He looks at you. Reaches up and brushes his thumb under your eye, gentle.
âSheâs not wrong,â he says.
âItâs five forty-five in the morning, I look terribleââ
âYou look like the person Iâm marrying today.â He holds your gaze. âWhich means you look perfect.â You press your face into his shoulder and hold on for a moment.
From the hallway: âOkay Iâm ready. Can we have breakfast now?â
Sandy comes at nine to take Mia for hair and getting dressed â a situation Mia has been anticipating with the focused excitement of someone who has been told she gets curls and a flower in her hair and has not stopped thinking about it since.
She submits to the process with remarkable patience, sitting very still while Sandy works, only turning her head twice to update you on developments. âItâs getting curlier,â she reports.
âI can see that.â
âDo I look like a princess?â
âYou look exactly like a princess.â She nods, satisfied, and returns to stillness.
When itâs done she stands in front of the mirror in her small white dress â simple, with a yellow sash, because she requested yellow and you would move mountains before youâd say no to that â and looks at herself for a long, serious moment.âI look nice,â she concludes.
âYou look incredible,â Sandy says.
âYeah.â She turns to look at you. Her eyes go wide. âMama. You look so pretty.â
Youâre in your dress â simple, exactly what you wanted, nothing complicated â and your hair is done and youâre holding your bouquet and youâre trying very hard not to cry and failing slightly.âSo do you,â you tell her.
She crosses to you. Reaches up and takes your hand, the way she did in a hallway a long time ago, completely certain of her welcome.âDonât be nervous,â she tells you.
âIâm not nervous.â
âGood.â She squeezes your fingers. âDaddy loves you the most.â
âHe loves you the most.â
She considers this with genuine fairness. âHe loves us the same,â she decides. âEqual. Like a tie.â
âThatâs exactly right.â
She nods. Pats your hand once, settling the matter. âOkay,â she says. âLetâs go get married.â
The venue is small and warm and full of people who love you.
Mrs. Kim is in the third row in her best jacket, already dabbing her eyes. Sandy is beside her. Jakeâs parents flew in from Brisbane â his mother cried when she met you and his father shook your hand for a very long time and said thank you for making them happy and youâd had to excuse yourself to the bathroom for five minutes after that.
Your own family. Your friends. The people who have been the walls of your life. And at the end of the aisle, Jake.
In a dark suit, hands clasped in front of him, hair the way you like it. Heâs talking quietly to the celebrant and then someone touches his arm and he looks up and sees Mia in the doorway.
His face does what it always does when he sees her. That open, completely unguarded thing. She waves at him. He waves back.
Then he sees you behind her and his face does something else entirely.
The music starts. Mia goes first. She has been told, approximately as many times as you can tell a four and a half year old anything, that flower girls walk slowly. Measured. Elegant. She lasts four steps.
Then she spots Jake at the end of the aisle and she goes â there is no other word for it â feral with excitement, sunflowers clutched in both fists, petals going in every direction except down, grinning so hard her whole face is the grin, half walking half skipping half something entirely her own.
âDADDY I FOUND HERâ she announces at full volume to the entire assembled gathering. âI FOUND HER SHEâS HEREâ
The room erupts. Not polite wedding laughter. Real laughter, the kind that comes from somewhere genuine, rippling through every row. Mrs. Kim is crying laughing. Sandy has her hand over her mouth. Jakeâs mother is gripping his fatherâs arm.
Jake is crouching down to catch Mia as she reaches him, scooping her up, pressing a kiss to her chaotic curls, the flower in her hair somehow surviving the sprint. âGood job,â you hear him tell her.
âI practiced,â she says, very serious.
âI know you did, baby.â He sets her down. She takes her position with great dignity, as though the sprint did not happen, as though she has been standing here elegantly the entire time.
And then Jake looks up at you. You walk toward him. The room goes soft around the edges â not blurred, just quiet, the way things go when youâre paying attention to the only thing that matters. The faces on either side are warm and familiar and you see them without seeing them because youâre looking at Jake.
Jake, who opened his door on a panicked Tuesday morning and showed you his worst fear and his whole heart in the same thirty seconds.
Jake, who makes coffee before you ask and remembers every small thing and says what he means with a simplicity that still sometimes catches you off guard.
Jake, who watched you fall in love with his daughter before you fell in love with him and let it happen without trying to manage or protect or preempt it, because he trusted you, because he looked at you and knew.
You reach him. He takes your hand and holds it like heâs been holding it his whole life. âHi,â he says quietly.
âHi,â you say back.
Beside him, Mia has taken your other hand. She holds it with both of hers, feet planted, present and accounted for, witnessing this with the gravity it deserves.
The celebrant begins. The vows are Jakeâs own words. You knew this. You wrote yours too, separately, privately, the way youâd agreed. But hearing them â in his voice, in this room, looking at his face â is different from knowing.
He talks about the morning Mia escaped into the hallway and how he stood in your doorway afterward watching you crouch down to his daughterâs level and felt something shift that he couldnât name yet and didnât try to.
He talks about Wednesday mornings with the hairbrush. About leftover pasta and late night texting and the drawing on the fridge.
He talks about the way you love Mia â not as a condition of loving him, not as an extension of it, but first, entirely and separately first, because thatâs who you are.
She picked you, he says, before I had a chance to. And she has never once been wrong about anything important. Beside you, Mia straightens slightly at this. You feel her grip on your hand tighten.
Iâm not a man who believed in easy, Jake says. I thought love was supposed to be something you work and worry at. And then you moved in across the hall and you were just â easy. Everything with you has just been easy. Not without difficulty. Not without fear. But easy the way breathing is easy. The way I canât imagine not doing it. His voice has gone rough at the edges.
I love you. I loved you in October and I loved you in February and I love you today and Iâm going to love you when Mia is grown and gone and itâs just us and Iâm going to love you in every ordinary Tuesday that comes after this one because thatâs where you live. In the ordinary Tuesdays. And I want every single one of them.
The room is very quiet. You are absolutely crying. You decided before today that you werenât going to cry until after the vows at the earliest and you have failed completely. âDonât cry,â Mia whispers, helpful. âItâs good news.â
Laughter moves through the room like a wave. Jake laughs too, wiping his eyes, and you laugh through yours, and it breaks the solemnity just enough, the way the best moments always do â serious and true and then suddenly full of light.
Your vows. You talk about duck pajamas and a stuffed rabbit and a small hand in yours in a hallway. You talk about a crayon drawing on a fridge and a child who put you in her family portrait before you knew you belonged there.
You talk about a man who carried his daughter on his shoulders through a farmers market and came home to make dinner and knocked on your door with leftover pasta and showed you what it looked like when someone decided that loving people well was the most important thing they could do.
You taught me that, you say. Both of you. You showed me what it looks like when love is a decision someone makes every single day without drama and without conditions. Mia does it for everyone she meets. You do it quietly and completely and I want to spend the rest of my life doing it back. You look at Jake.
I love you. I love our ordinary Tuesdays. I love Wednesday mornings and Saturday markets and bedtime stories and all the Gerald updates and every single version of this life weâve built in an apartment across the hall from where I used to live alone. I love your daughter.
You look down at Mia. She is watching you with her whole face. Completely still, completely focused, taking this in with the seriousness it deserves.
She is the best thing, you say. She is the absolute best thing, and I promise her, today, in front of everyone who loves us, that I am here. I am not going anywhere. She is mine and I am hers and that is permanent and unconditional and nothing will ever change it.
Miaâs lip wobbles. Just slightly. You watch her decide, with great effort, not to cry, because she is a flower girl and flower girls are professionals and she has a reputation to maintain. She squeezes your hand instead. Very hard. You squeeze back.
I now pronounce you married.
Jake kisses you, and the room rises, and somewhere in the noise you hear Mia announce to no one in particular and everyone simultaneously:
âTHATâS MY MAMA NOW. THATâS OFFICIALLY MY MAMA.â
And then, apparently satisfied that this has been adequately communicated, she inserts herself between the two of you and takes both your hands and holds on.
Jake looks at you over her head. He doesnât say anything. He doesnât need to.
The reception is everything. Mrs. Kim dances with Mia for forty-five minutes straight and neither of them stops. Sandy cries every time someone gives a speech. Jakeâs father gives a toast that makes the whole room laugh and then immediately cry. Your own people hold you and tell you they knew, they always knew, from the moment you started talking about the little girl next door like sheâd hung the moon.
Jake dances with Mia first â tradition, heâd decided, she gets the first dance â and you stand at the edge of the floor and watch her stand on his feet, both of them swaying to something slow, her head against his chest, his hand spanning her whole back.
You take a photo. You will look at that photo for the rest of your life.
Then he passes her off to his mother and comes to find you, hand extended, and you take it and let him pull you out onto the floor. âHi wife,â he says, like heâs trying the word out.
âHi husband.â
He smiles. Pulls you closer. âHowâs it feel?â
âSame,â you say honestly. âExactly the same. Justâ more settled.â
âYeah.â His hand moves on your back. âLike itâs been true for a while and now the paperwork caught up.â
âExactly like that.â
You dance. The room moves around you, warm and full of people you love, and Mia is somewhere in it, probably telling someone about Dave the worm or Gerald or the structural integrity of forts, and it is â all of it, every piece â everything. All of it everything.
She falls asleep at nine fifteen. Mid-sentence, apparently â Jakeâs mother told you later she was explaining the color organization system for the stuffed animals and then she simply stopped explaining and was asleep, curled in the chair with her flower crown half off and her shoes long since abandoned and the last of her sunflowers still in her hand.
Jake carries her out to the car at the end of the night, limp and certain and completely trusting the way only sleeping children are, and you tuck the seatbelt around her and push the flower crown gently back from her face. She doesnât wake up.
She wonât remember being carried, wonât remember the drive home, wonât remember being tucked in. But in the morning sheâll wake up and come and stand at the side of your bed and breathe on your face until you open your eyes, and youâll ask her how she slept and sheâll say good and youâll ask if she had fun at the wedding and sheâll say yes I was the flower girl with the proprietary satisfaction of someone who performed their role excellently and knows it. And sheâll be right. She was, without any competition, the best part.
Later. Much later. His penthouse â your penthouse, it still catches you sometimes â quiet and dark except for the city light through the windows. Mia asleep down the hall. The flower crown on the kitchen counter. Your bouquet in a glass of water because you couldnât throw it, it was too pretty.
Jakeâs jacket over the chair. Your heels by the door. You and Jake on the couch the way youâve been a hundred times before, his arm around you, your head on his shoulder, the easy comfortable weight of each other. âHey,â he says quietly.
âHey.â
âMia told Theoâs mum today that she picked you.â
You lift your head. âWhat?â
âAt the reception. Apparently she walked up to Theoâs mum completely unprompted and saidââ Heâs smiling. âShe said I picked her first. Before Daddy even knew.â
You stare at him. âSheâs four and a half,â you say.
âI know. Sheâs extremely perceptive,â Jake says. âAlways has been.â
You think about a Tuesday morning and duck pajamas and the end of a hallway. The hand on your cheek. Youâre nice. The absolute certainty of it. The way she gave you her fingers without hesitating like she already knew. âShe did pick me first,â you say softly.
âYeah.â Jake presses a kiss to your hair. âShe really did.â
The city does its quiet nighttime thing outside the windows. Down the hall, Mia sleeps. You and Jake stay where you are, warm and settled, in the ordinary extraordinary life you built one Tuesday at a time.
ââ ââ â ââ ââ â
Three weeks later, on an ordinary Wednesday morning, Mia sits between your knees on the couch.
Youâre doing her braids. Jake is in the kitchen. Coffee is happening. Gerald is on the windowsill. Mr. Bunny is in the orange section of the stuffed animal shelf. Everything exactly where it should be. âMama,â Mia says.
âHmm?â
âWhen Iâm big can I be a flower girl again?â
âWhen youâre big you can be whatever you want.â
She considers this carefully. âI want to be a flower girl and a paleontologist and a cat.â
âAll three?â
âOn different days.â
âThat seems manageable.â She nods, satisfied. Swings her feet.
From the kitchen, Jake: âBraids today?â
âBraids,â Mia confirms, with the authority of someone whose hair decisions are final. You finish the first one. Start the second. The morning does its ordinary thing around you.
Mia tilts her head back to look up at you, upside down, grinning. âI love you, mama.â
You smooth a hand over her hair. âI love you too, baby,â you say. âSo much.â She rights herself. Goes back to swinging her feet.
Outside the window the morning is doing what mornings do, indifferent and ongoing and full of ordinary things.
In here it is warm. In here everyone is exactly where they are supposed to be. This is just the beginning. And it is everything.
ââ ââ â ââ ââ â

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CONTENT WARNING. MDNI, fem! reader, law student! reader, lawyer higuruma, 6.9k words, age gap (24&36), fluff & smut, slow burn? game of thrones references, porn with plot, unprotected sex, office sex, rough? sex, sloppy makeouts, multiple orgasms, overstimulation, higuruma is an EATER, reader lowk a pillow princess, spit, praise, choking, pussy spanking, dirty talk, belly bulge, big dick higuruma, he loves eye contact, dacryphilia? heâs mean & cocky if you squint. enjoy!
your pen sits between your teeth as your eyes switch from the thick textbook splayed open on your kitchen island and your laptop screen.
the cursor blinks for the millionth time in your setup word document. countless words plastered in that irritating format of times new roman size twelve that youâve done a thousand times over.
words mutter under your breath as you multitask in reading, taking notes, and applying the newfound information to your assignment.
âhey, is your prof still asking you guys to take internships?â
your roommate comes from hibernating out of her room, eyes glued to her phone as she saunters over to the kitchen.
you barely catch the words that fly out her mouth, brows furrowing as you look up from your work for the first time in hours. the swivel stool you sat on creaks as you sit up straighter, cringing from how long you held that crouching position.
âuhâŠ. no.â you shake your head, confused as to why she brought it up. she was never the type to dwell on your life as a law student unless overhearing about a case study that seemed âtoo juicyâ to skip out on. âdeadlineâs like, next week so theyâre just talking about the paper due the week after to describe our experience so far.â
âoh.â she says, sounding surprised. âwell, did you find anything?â
you hum. âiâve got an interview tomorrow. itâs multi-hire so iâve got a good chance. why?â
ânothing really.â she shrugs, taking a breath as she scavenges the freezer, grabbing the first pint of ice cream she sees. âa friend of my cousin works at this law firm and i think she said theyâre looking for a temp since sheâs going out of the country for a while.â
you nod, chewing on the end of your pen. âsend me their info. iâll check it out.â
so thatâs exactly what you do. your roommate helps you exchange information with this friend who youâve learned to be is a young woman named shimizu. she worked as a assistant for an independent defense attorney, higuruma hiromi.
youâve heard his name a few times from news outlets, primarily known to take on difficult cases but nonetheless highly skilled and quite honestly a prime example of what you hoped to become as far as talent.
shimizu was going overseas for a little over half a year. thatâs entirely way more than what your assignment calls for but you would be paid well plus it could serve as the perfect job to strengthen your experience in law.
it didnât take much for shimizu to hire you, her eagerness to hurry up and leave was clear. she sent you an email describing her normal routine, things to keep an eye on that higuruma normally forgets and a warning to just be patient for any cases he picks up.
naturally, you were nervous. palms sweating as you clutched your purse and tucked the folder shimizu provided tightly between your arm.
your heels clack with each step you make up into the building then finally, in bold letters, âhiguruma law officeâ. you knock, looking around as you wait for a response.
âcome in.â
the voice is so deep it sends chills down your spine. anxiety pools your chest as you twist the handle, making slow hesitant steps into the office.
itâs small but not cramping and fairly neat. you continue forward, making your presence known. who you assume to be higuruma sits at a chair, pen scribbling against a paper at an incredible speed.
he doesnât look up at first, deeply sighing and too focused on the work in front of him. that is until he takes notice of your silence following your entry. his eyes immediately lift, dragging over your attire for a momentary second. âiâm sorry.â he clears his throat, standing then approaching you with his hand out. âhow can i help you?â
âi⊠uhm⊠iâm y/n.â you meet his hand with a nervous smile. âiâm filling in for shimizu?â itâs embarrassing how unsure you sound as if you hadnât met shimizu yourself telling you detail for detail about the duties of the job.
his brows furrow slightly as he slowly slips his hand from your weak grip. he checks his watch then runs his fingers through his hair. âright, right. i forgot about thatâŠâ he sighs, moreso to himself and then nods, pointing to the empty cubicle beside his. âtake a seat, did shimizu already inform you on what weâre currently working on?â
you nod, carefully setting your belongings down and making yourself comfortable on the chair.
âcould i see? if you donât mind.â he stands over you, watching as you turn the monitor on with quickness and log in to your email account, surfing through the important ones you had starred before finally landing on shimizuâs.
higuruma leans over, his presence immediately makes you feel small and you can slightly feel the weight of his chest as he gently grabs the mouse from your hand.
you keep your eyes on the screen, fiddling with your fingers while he looks at the lengthy details relayed. suddenly, he takes a breath then clicks forward and slides the keyboard over.
âlooks good.â he finally stands, eyes dropping down to you. âweâll just be working on that for today. if anything changes iâll let you know.â
for the first three weeks of working for higuruma goes the same way. coming into the office, saying hello, and him sharing any updates on the current case. some days call for extremely long hours, others are your typical. then there were days like today where youâd be traveling together and have to stay overnight at hotels.
one room, separate beds.you and higuruma hadnât crossed that bridge of being comfortable with one another just yet. it was still awkward smiles and brief exchanges of conversation only in relation to work.
with the work day being over, you showered and decided to walk around the hotel for a bit, maybe grab a bite to eat. you also brought your textbooks and laptop so you could use the time to study for the baby bar you have coming up.
you sat at a table, eating as you focus on your studies. no more than half an hour passes when a figure approaches your table.
âmind if i sit?â
your eyes lift at the deep voice, widening for a short second as you realize it to be higurumaâs. he stands there in a plain black t-shirt and same colored plaid pajama pants with a plate of food in his hand.
it was different to see him in a more cosy state rather than being suited up. when you focus on the fact heâs still there, tilting his head as he waits on your response you sit up and nod a bit frantically.
âyesâyes, of course. please sit.â you gesture to the seat ahead of you which he takes.
itâs silent for a moment as youâre more frigid now, eyes glued to your book without reading a damn thing. higuruma pops a fry into his mouth, looking around the semi-packed dining area before returning his attention to you. âyouâre still in school?â
you nod, âin my first year.â
he raises a subtle brow at that which you donât even notice considering youâve found it difficult to always make eye contact with him.
âfirst year?â he hums, chewing down on another fry. âyouâre young.â
âi guessâŠâ you laugh shyly. âitâs not like youâre old.â
he smiles at that, leaning in with his elbows on the table as he continues to take singular bites of his food. âyou donât think so? how old do you think i am?â
you shrug, finally lifting your eyes to scan the features of his face.
he was obviously older than you but you only deduced that from the way he talks and conducts himself yet he didnât share any facial features that gave away his age.
âthirty?â you squint, not wanting to guess too high and he gets offended.
he chuckles, shaking his head. âno, but iâm honored you thought that low. iâm thirty six.â
âstill young.â you smile, dropping your eyes back down.
âso whatâre you learning?â he sighs, leaning back again, spreading his long legs to be more comfortable and points at your books.
ânothing really.â you mumble. âjust studying for the baby bar.â
âwowâŠâ he nods partially in shock, suddenly thinking of the age gap between you. itâs been so long since his days of staying up all day and all night long when preparing for that exam. âyou think youâve got it? i could help you out.â
you definitely donât got it. there were still at least another two months before youâd have to take the exam. all the current information you were learning was still processing and quite honestly you had a habit of doubting your skills and werenât sure if youâd be able to get the score youâre aiming to achieve.
you shake your head at higurumaâs offer. âno, itâs okay. you already have so much going on. i rather not add to that.â
âiâm offering.â he smiles warmly, wanting to assure that it wasnât a big deal as he crosses his arms lazily across his chest.
itâs only for second that you ogle the surprising size of his bicep when itâs contracted. you shake your head again. âiâll be fine. thank you though. i appreciate it.â
higuruma hums not pushing any further on the subject. âdo you drink?â he asks after swallowing down a bite of his burger.
âsometimes.â you shrug, clicking through your documents of notes that you were hardly paying attention to with higuruma making small conversation.
âwould you like to drink now?â
the second time you look at him you see the teasing look in his own as if heâs urging you to loosen up for the night. heâs clearly in the mood to get to know you. perhaps one night of a few drinks wouldnât be so bad.
âi supposeâŠâ you sport a bashful smile, clicking out of your tabs and shutting down your laptop. you set it aside with your textbooks as higuruma orders your first round of drinks.
it starts off timid as if heâs testing the waters with some cocktails then began to try a little of everything. tropical drinks, shots, beer, and wine. of course you limited yourself to one of eachâ aside from the shots due to the fact you had a busy day tomorrow but it was surely enough to get you a bit passed tipsy.
higuruma proved to be holding his liquor better than you, smiling fondly as you babble on about the targaryen family line. at first he was curious about a video you were laughing at from tiktok and had to explain it was from game of thrones. you then learned he never watched the show and thought heâd find major interest in it.
you would yap about the politics, power, family, loyalty, and corruption. though once you got to the targaryens, higuruma had to pause at the mention of inbreeding.
âso whatâs the difference between velaryonsâs and targaryenâs?â
âvelaryon and targaryen are house names.â you giggle, toying with your straw. âfamily lines. being valyrian is like, their racial background.â
âinterestingâŠâ he nods, sipping on his rum & coke. âand whatâs the relationship between uh⊠daenerys? and jon?â
âi really shouldnât be telling you this.â you laugh. âdonât you want to watch it now?â
ââŠi guess youâre right.â he grins, followed by a sigh as he stretches his arms over his head. âshould we watch it tonight?â
you check the time on your phone, it was late. nearing midnight. it was tempting to indulge in a late night watch of one of your favorite shows but youâd probably regret it by the morning.
you bite down on your bottom lip, hiding the smile that wants to show. âitâs lateâŠâ you sigh out. âwe probably shouldnât.â
âthen letâs start now.â he urges, opening his wallet and dropping a few dollars to cover the tab and allow the server to end their night with a more than generous tip. âcâmon.â he gestures his head, holding his hand out to you.
even with being a little drunk, you still felt shy coming in such close contact with higuruma. as you lifted your hand to connect with his, he guided you through the hotel and it grew quieter upon reaching the elevators.
heâs still holding your hand, waiting for them to open. you attempt to ignore the way his thumb gently brushes against your skin rhythmically and how this must look to bystanders. the thought is cut short when the doors finally split open and higuruma lets go of your hand to palm your lower back.
higuruma follows you in, pressing the floor number. you stand side by side, him humming a soft tune whilst you stare down at your feet to avoid meeting his stare that you could feel burning into you.
it was like a breath of fresh air upon reaching your floor and seeing the doors open. higuruma places his hand to your back again, guiding you down the quiet hall before reaching your room.
he presses the keycard to the sensor, following you in. you take slow steps inside, dropping your laptop and textbook onto your bed.
âwhatâs it on?â he huffs, turning on the tv.
you make yourself comfortable under the sheets, sighing in relief from the cold. âhbo.â
he surfs for a few seconds before shaking his head. âi donât think this tv has that.â
âohâŠâ you frown then look at your laptop. âi mean, we could watch it on my laptop?â
he turns, thinking on what that means.
you both knew that meant laying down on the same bed, next to each other. he rubs his chin in thought. âonly if youâre okay with it.â
your body grows hot but you nod slowly, scooting over to make space for him. he eyes the empty space for a few seconds, making hesitant steps forward. âare you sure? we could always watch it another time.â
ââŠitâs okay.â you spoke softly. âi want to watch it with you.â
he smiles at that, proceeding to lift up the covers and tuck himself under the covers beside you. the immediate warmth of his skin brushes yours and the two of you look at each other the moment heâs settled.
his eye contact is so intense and⊠unsettling almost that it has chills run down your spine. you want to look away but higuruma speaks up before you can.
âyouâre really shy for a future lawyer.â
your brows furrow at his statement. âmânot.â
âyou are.â he chuckles, eyes low as he can feel the crash from all the drinks overtake him.
âi think itâs just you.â you boldly argue.
he raises a brow. âyeah? what about me makes you so shy?â
you open your mouth but nothing can follow through especially with him so close you can feel your stomach churn when you catch yourself looking at his lips. âjust⊠shut up.â you huff, grabbing for your laptop.
higuruma laughs, watching you log into hbo, searching for game of thrones. he steps out of the bed momentarily to turn off the lights before you can press start.
you settle the laptop atop both your legs, sighing as you press play on the first episode.
within the first thirty minutes, you fall asleep, your head rested against higurumaâs shoulder. he stayed up through three episodes, thoroughly enjoying the cause of events but forced himself to go to sleep or else heâd be having a rough day.
by the time the morning comes and your alarm goes off, you groan softly, eyes struggling to flutter open. you aimlessly search for your phone, shutting off the annoying sound before laying back down but then you feel a touch of skin.
you fully open your eyes, face twisting in fear at the sight of higuruma in your bed sound asleep. you werenât that drunk where you didnât remember wanting to watch game of thrones together but you werenât sure why he stayed on your bed through the rest of the night.
you poked him, the action immediately waking him up. he breathes heavily, eyes fluttering open. he turns his head to face you. âgood morning.â
ââŠmorning.â you mumble, all the slight confidence you gained last night completely gone. though you did feel a certain comfortability now around him.
âsleep okay?â he husks out, lifting himself from the bed.
you nod, nervously twisting the sheets.
he checks the time. it was still early and you wouldnât be meeting with your client until the afternoon. âdo you want breakfast?â
âsure.â
âanything in particular?â he grabs his keys from the nightstand, swinging them around his pointer finger.
âyour choice.â you shrug.
he hums. âgo shower. get dressed. iâll be back.â
you do as he says, showering, getting dressed, then eat breakfast with him once he gets back.
the day follows on as planned, you meet with the client, discuss the case, write down details, aim to search for more evidence and layout options.
for the next few weeks, you spent long hours traveling with higuruma to collect more evidence in support of your case. for a time you were able to juggle all the work but the stress of your bar exam coming up was starting to take a toll.
you wanted more time to study but you also had to sacrifice a lot of time to help higuruma. so you start to force yourself to stay up most nights, hardly getting any sleep, caffeine intake drastically rising.
it not only began to present itself through your physical presence but with the way you interacted with higuruma. at first he could understand having been in your position of working between school, studying, and work but as the weeks passed he noticed your decline was starting to affect your work performance.
heâd allow for a few things to slide but not at the risk of a client's future behind bars. so when he asks you a question and you remain too zoned out to answer, heâll sigh.
ây/n.â
âhm?â youâll hum, pen twisting between your teeth, completely focused on the textbook laid out.
âlook at me.â he commands, tone still gentle as he waits for your eyes to meet his. higuruma was completely aware of your inability to do so but he couldnât care at the moment. so when you only lift them for a second as if to show you were listening then drop them back to your computer screen he shakes his head with a sigh.
you donât even notice him stand then come around to palm your chair until he shuts your laptop closed and snatches the pen from your hand. he ignores your surprised reaction. âis this becoming too much for you?â
you frown, opening your mouth to say something but you canât follow through. instead you shake your head.
he spins you in your seat, forcing you to face him. âcan you look at me when iâm speaking to you, please?â
âhiguruma, iâm sorryââ you start with a small pout, not listening to what he asked.
âyou donât need to apologize. just look at me.â
itâs silent for a few seconds and you finally flicker your eyes up to look at him. a hand rests on the chair, the other on your desk completely caging you in. you can smell the strong but warm scent of his cologne that radiates off his skin and clothes.
âis this too much for you?â he asks again. âi can give you a break.â
ân-no.â you deny his inquisition. âthe work is fine. itâs just⊠the studying. iâve got my exam coming up really soon, iâm sorry.â
âitâs fine.â he assures, âlook, on the weekends and on our breaks, iâll help you study. itâs not nice seeing you like this, okay?â
you nod and he stands at his full height, comfortably squeezing your shoulder then patting your head. âtake a nap. you look like you need it.â
there was about one more month left until youâd have to take the exam and higuruma keeps through on his promise and dedicates any moment of extra time he has to help you study.
his methods actually allowed you to gain more sleep, balance work more appropriately, and retain the information easier. you genuinely felt like you were learning. you even complimented higuruma on his skills of teaching, claiming that heâd make a great professor.
this continues throughout the month until it was time for the actual day. he helped you study in the morning for a bit, not too much as he didnât want to override your brain. he got you breakfast and decided to drop you off at the testing site.
âiâll be right here, okay?â
you nod, looking at him with a solemn smile. you hesitate at first but overwhelmed by your emotions you reach over the console to give him a hug. âthank youâŠâ
he lets out a breath that sounds close to a laugh, hands coming around to circle your body. his palm rubs up and down your back in a comforting motion. âyouâve got this.â he whispers. âgood luck.â
you head into the building, gone for a total of three and a half hours. he fell asleep in the car for about an hour until he hears three rampant knocks to the passenger window.
he sees your figure standing there with other individuals following out the building. immediately, he unlocks the door, watching you hop into the car without a word.
âhow do you think you did?â he sighs, turning the ignition of the car.
you can only shrug, anxiety riddled through your body. passing was the only option for you. you opted out in taking it the first month the exam is taken so youâd have more time to study. this was your last chance or else you wouldnât be able to advance in your studies.
higuruma takes in your worrisome expression, reaching his hand out to gently squeeze your shoulder. âshould we go out for some drinks?â
you let out a small laugh, looking at him and nodding.
the two of you settle for some small bar, doing the same as before. indulging in every kind of drink but still keeping limitations. eventually, higuruma suggested to watching game of thrones and you in your slightly drunk state of mind couldnât deny.
you end up at his home because you were too scared of what your roommate might say if you brought higuruma home. you step into the threshold, eyes wide as you stare around in awe.
âwhy is it so empty?â you giggle, noticing the lack of⊠anything.
it was as if he simply bought the house and disregarded buying any furniture, dishes, and utensils. does he even live here? was your initial thought as you scavenged through his pantry, cabinets, and refrigerator only to find nothing that could saturate your hunger.
âi spend most of my time at the office.â he huffs, tugging off his suit jacket and tossing it on his sofa. âi mainly come back here to shower and change clothes.â
you hum, clutching your purse as you continue to look around, dragging your fingers along surfaces.
thatâs sort of become your lifestyle too now. youâve no doubt seen higuruma more than your own roommateâ which supported why you definitely couldnât bring him over without warning.
he steps towards you, pointing to your purse and jacket. âwould you like to shower?â
âthatâd be niceâŠâ you nod, handing him your belongings to toss with his jacket.
he grabs an extra towel he luckily had and his pajamas for you to wear since you didnât have any clothes of your own. âi plan to order some food, do you want anything in particular?â
âdealerâs choice.â you smile at him. he nods, leaving you to shower as he picks on what to eat. you shower for about half an hour as you spent half of that time snooping around his restroom for any indication of a woman being here.
it was surely none of your business but you couldnât help but find yourself intrigued by higuruma. naturally, amongst the things you wondered about was if he shared a life with someone. though it shouldâve been obvious with the way he never spends his time at home and the simple fact of you being here.
you dried yourself off, putting on his clothes and unsure of where to put the used towel, you walk into his bedroom searching for a hamper. though you find yourself eager to just look around. there wasnât much to find except for the basics.
you open his closet and find a wide range of suits all in black and white along with his pajamas that were the same color. he also had a distinct collection of watches and cologne.
you end up spraying the different fragrances into the air, adoring the mixture of them being woody, earthy, and citrusy. you take one, spraying it onto yourself.
âhaving fun?â
you turn fast on your feet, startled by his voice. he sports a teasing smile and you canât help but feel your body grow hot in embarrassment. âum⊠sorryâŠâ you laugh nervously, placing the cap back on to the cologne and settling it back in its original spot.
he shakes his head, fond of how you looked, âitâs alright. i ordered chinese.â he then hands you the remote to the tv and his phone for you to track the food. âlog in to hbo. iâll go take a quick shower.â
you nod, heading back out and taking a seat on his sofa. you log into hbo and as you waited, you ended up using his phone to scroll through tiktok. you definitely couldâve used your own but it felt more fun to use his considering the fact he didnât even have the app in the first place.
the food arrived and within ten minutes after higuruma was done with his shower, fully dressed. he was wearing the same thing as you with the exception of his clothes looking larger on your frame.
he takes a seat beside you, spreading out the arrangement of food he bought on the mini table he had. you press play on the show and hour after hour you felt happier, completely forgetting that you even had an exam today. forgetting that you spent months worrying about this very day all thanks to higuruma.
you always grew a certain amount of courage after drinking so it went without a thought for you to sigh after feeling full then lean sideways to rest your head on his shoulder.
âthank you for today.â you mumble, eyes glued to the screen.
higurumaâs sprawled back, legs spread until you lean against him.
he doesnât want to think too hard about the current proximity, simply enjoying the moment as he throws an arm around you so youâd feel more comfortable snuggling up to him.
âyou deserved it.â he squeezes you gently and you donât say anything in response, just cozying up to him some more.
from that day, you and higuruma grew closer than ever and you began to notice that you often thought about him, smiled at him more, opened up, and gained the courage to look at him longer.
with every compliment, touch, and night that you spent at his house watching game of thrones whilst eating food, there was no denying that you shared particular feelings for him.
and as the weeks past, you began to wonder what you should do with these feelings until the time came where the scores for the bar exam were out. the two of you were sat in the office per usual, and you received an email notification describing that the scores for the exam were out and where to check them.
you swallowed thickly, logging in to your admissions portal.
âdid you ever get a copy of the prosecution's discovery?â higuruma asks, mindlessly flipping through a file.
his question is followed by silence and heâll lift his head. ây/n?â
upon the continuous silence, higuruma rolls on his chair, peeking his head over to your cubicle to see you hiding your face and your shoulders shaking. concerned at the sight, he stands, and approaches you to palm your shoulder and thatâs when he begins to understand that youâre crying when a fragile sob falls past your lips.
his heart burns at the broken sound. âwhatâs wrong?â his eyes lift to your monitor and see the familiar page of the exam results. he scrolls through the letter to see youâve passed.
a laugh of relief spills from his throat, glad that your reaction isnât due to any devastating news. his hand circles around your wrist and tugs at it. âcome here.â
you slowly stand, allowing your emotions to flow upon feeling his arms encircle you tightly. youâll cry into his chest, managing to thank him through your tears. heâll shush you, rubbing at your back and cradling the back of your head.
âyou did such a good job.â he murmurs into your hair.
he continues to mumble praises into your hair and ear, holding and consoling you until your crying has calmed down. once he hears you letting out small breaths to control your breathing, he pulls back, wiping at your tear stained cheeks. âiâm so proud of you.â
your body grows hot at the compliment paired with his stare as he gently cups your cheek, thumb swiping across the skin.
you let out a shaky breath, not sure if it was from your crying or that feeling pooling between your legs. your eyes drop down to his lips then back up to his eyes. higuruma does the same and you canât help but curl your fingers around his dress shirt.
both of your breathing picks up and neither of you are sure of what to do in this moment. you can feel his free hand drop from your back then down to your waist as you each exchange flickering looks between your lips and eyes.
âhigurumaâŠâ you breathe out and he shakes his head, closing his eyes then pressing his forehead to yours.
âhiromi.â he corrects, switching his hand that cups your cheeks to palm the back of your neck. âmy name⊠say it. thatâs all i need.â
you fight the whine that bubbles in your throat, gripping tightly onto him as you open your mouth. âhiromiâŠâ
he gives in at the immediate desperation his name holds, roughly pressing you against him so your lips could meet.
the two of you have your hands moving everywhere along your bodies and a gasp rushes from your lungs as he frantically lifts you onto the desk.
items clatter everywhere as he knocks them away whilst dipping his tongue into your mouth. itâs frantic and eager the way your mouths clash together. soft groans and moans spilling into the air as papers crumble beneath your figure.
you kick off your heels as hiromi hikes your skirt around your hips, pressing your back against the surface and knocking your legs open with his knees, revealing the lace panties hidden underneath them.
he presses himself against you with a rough groan, one hand hoisting your leg at his waist, whilst the other taps your cheek then grips your face to press into them. âopen.â
your jaw widens, and hiromi hums before spitting in your mouth then leaning in to connect your lips again.
heâs hard and big.
itâs all you can think of as your tongues mesh together in perfect harmony.
weeks of built up feelings that you both tried so hard to fight all falling at the seams. you reach up to tug at his black roots as he unconsciously ruts himself against your clothed core.
you take advantage when he finally pulls away, a string of saliva following with him. his lips are swollen and covered in spit as he leans down to kiss along your jaw, then suck at the skin of your neck. you pant feverishly against his ear, gripping tighter onto him each time his bulge connects with your clit just right.
deep shaky breaths fly through his nose as rolls his hips, eyes squeezing tightly from the tightness building in his pants. it felt so fucking good to hear those soft whimpers and moans escape your lips. âfeels so good.â he groans, pressing his forehead against yours. you two practically rubbing against each other like bunnies in heat without even starting the main course.
you whimper feeling yourself clench around nothing. your hands grasp for higuruma and he hums, kissing just below your ear. âgonna cum?â
you nod, mouth slacked open as he breathes harshly against your neck. âthatâs okay, sweetheart.â he huffs, using his free hand to travel down between your bodies. fuck, he thinks the moment his fingers feel how drenched your panties are. your eyes blow wide as he pinches your clothed clit then rubs in tight circles. âyou can cum, itâs okay.â
âoh my god.â you tremble and writhe against his lengthy figure, clawing at his back and arms as you feel lost on what to hold on with your orgasm building every second.
he stops the movement of his hips, grasping your neck so youâd be staring straight at him as he picks up the pace of his fingers. âcome on.â he licks his lips, maintaining the eye contact he forces you to hold. âi wanna see you. youâre almost there.â
âhiromiââ you choke on the air, threatening to close your eyes but he shakes your head, warning you to keep them open as your body trembles from the euphoria that overcomes you.
âgood job.â he wipes at your forehead and cheeks, standing to his full height. you use his tie to lift yourself up, meeting your lips again and immediately sloshing your tongue with his. while he fumbles to unbutton your shirt you do the same then aggressively toss off his tie. his large hands grope at your breast before unclipping your bra to flick and twist at your nipple. you moan into his mouth, fingertips caressing the light muscles of his abs.
he finds it quite amusing how you flinch with each twist and tug but nonetheless you let him continue his worship of your body. he leaves your skirt cinched around your waist, squeezing your hips then slowly tugs your panties down your legs.
you canât imagine what he plans to do next until he drops both his hands behind your thighs, pressing them down as far as he can before bending down to dip his head between your legs.
his tongue flattens against your leaking hole, sucking up all slick your pussy produced. you reach straight for his hair, choking on a moan. âw-wait, i canât.â you tell him, quivering at the sudden sensation. it certainly didnât help with how big his nose is, he had the advantage to nudge it against your clit each lick and suck.
âi just want to taste you.â his voice vibrates against you, eliciting a strangled moan out of you. âis that okay, love?â he pulls back momentarily, mouth and nose coated in your juices as he presses a kiss to either side of your thighs.
what gets you is the fact he genuinely waits on your response. you nod feebly and he presses a kiss to your clit. âthank you.â is all he says before continuing his actions. your eyes immediately squeeze shut and youâre not sure if youâre trying to push his head or pull him closer. regardless, your back arches off the desk, pulling at his hair as he holds you down to prevent any more of your squirming.
a sound of absolute satisfaction rumbles in his chest and higuruma loses himself in your taste. heâs quite filthy really. you wouldâve never expected him to be the type of man that relentlessly switches between licking, spitting, and sucking the way he does. a small pool of liquid has likely formed under you by now.
âr-romi, mâ gonna cum.â he hears, feeling the way you buck up against his mouth and quite literally has to force himself off you at the announcement. he seethes in a breath, huffing and puffing, licking around his mouth.
higuruma stands straight again, unbuckling his belt, letting out a soft breath as he no longer feels constricted. your eyes fall when he drops his pants and briefs. shit. i mean, you figured he was big but not that fucking big.
you yelp as he pulls you to the edge of the table, slapping his thick cock against your drooling hole that pulses around nothing.
âcan i?â he collects your mess between his fingers, spreading your folds and gliding his shaft between them.
you nod but higuruma shakes his head then grips your neck to pull you up. âtell me, sweetheart. can i?â
âp-please.â you look up at him, all doe eyed and desperate. his hand squeezes your neck and keeps you looking at him as he uses his other hand to pull you closer, prodding in just the tip then slowly pushes himself into your warm, gushing cunt. your mouth slacks open at the stretch, gasping for air as higuruma squeezes tighter from the way you sporadically clench around his length.
heâs only halfway in and itâs taking all his energy to not cum. your pussy is torturously sucking him in, so much so a quivering grunt echoes from his chest. he pats your thigh in response. âease up, itâs just me, darling.â he tells you, and you want to laugh at how serious heâs being. ease up? not fucking possible when at least eight inches length and formidable girth was pushing itself into you.
once heâs finally filled to the hilt. your legs cross around his hips, grasping his wrist, preventing him from squeezing too tight on your throat. âyouâre always such a good girl⊠so smart and beautiful.â he praises, leaning in to peck your lips then follows with butterflies kisses along your jaw and neck then comes back up to meet your lips again. your mouths twist slower, fiery and brimmed with passion to distract you from the roll of his hips.
âso warm.â he moans against your lips, biting down and sucking on your bottom one. he finally lets go of your neck, pushing you on your back again then clasping both thighs as leverage to pummel himself deep into your pussy. he groans along to your whimpers and moans, dark eyes focused on the imprint that shows itself on your stomach with every thrust.
his light abs glisten with sweat, his brows furrowed as he zones into the way he disappears in and out of your pussy that sucks him in and coats his base white.
papers crumble beneath your fist as your moans are pulled closer together, the indication that your orgasm was fast approaching. the effect likely to be huge since you already had your first and was denied your second. hiromi grunts, fixing you into a mean semi-mating press, legs over his shoulders as his balls mercilessly slap against your skin to echo around the office space.
âgonna cum.â you quiver but higuruma smacks your clit as if thatâs supposed to help.
âhold it.â
âi-i canât.â you look at him, pouting.
his eyes snap up to meet yours and he smacks you again. âhold it.â
he somehow moves faster and harder, harshly breathing with sweat beading down his temple. after a minute, youâre completely spent, eyes watering as you shake your head. âromi, please. i canât hold it.â
âshhh.â he huffs, pressing his palm over your mouth, viciously chasing the high of his orgasm. he rolls his eyes shut, sticking two fingers into your mouth. âgo. hurry up and cum.â
itâs only a few seconds after his command that your waves come crashing down, body yearning to close upon itself due to the overstimulation but higuruma keeps you spread open, still thrusting for what feels like over a minute.
he pulls out, a hand immediately coming to pump at his length, the other angling your body just right so when he forces your mouth open, hot spurts of his cum land on your breasts, chin, and tongue.
hiromi takes a breath that sounds like heâs inhaling fresh air, squeezing at his tip to extract every ounce of his fill. he takes a good and long look at your weak body, collecting his remains that landed on you to push back into your mouth.
âso beautifulâŠâ he cups your cheek, holding you upright since you clearly canât. âyou alright? did i hurt you?â
âno⊠iâm okay.â you mumble, staring up at him as if he held up the moon and stars. âwas i?⊠okay?â
âabsolutely, love.â his brows furrow, gently caressing your skin as he looks at you. âmore than okay. perfect.â
you smile shyly at that and he has a similar question on his mind as he helps in cleaning you up. âare we okay?â
âam i okay for you?â
hiromi has begun to understand your naturally shy and timid nature but it also crossed his mind that your sense of overthinking would come into play with your age gap.
it wasnât drastic of course but he would never want to put you in a position that made you seemingly uncomfortable.
you nod with a small smile, gripping his bicep and pulling him in to press a gentle kiss to his lips. âmore than okay⊠perfect.â
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its ok if as long as it's not inside, right? ᥣ anal + toys ᥣ backshots ᥣ cuddlefuck ᥣ this ᥣ riding ᥣ deeeeep breeding ᥣ (tw) ghostface ᥣ somno ᥣ stuck! ᥣ fingering both holes
pussy eating ᥣ eating you out ᥣ jerking off to you ᥣ toys ᥣ riding ᥣ public sex ᥣ pounding + hair pulling ᥣ hole swap ᥣ groping + rough sex ᥣ 69 ᥣ pussy eating ᥣ the condom broke!
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