Kai Watched As She Pulled Away, The Warmth Of Her Body Slipping From His Lap, Leaving Behind Only The

"Well, you sure know how to make a girl blush. You don't look so bad yourself, handsome."

@littledaydreamers liked this for a lyric starter or two

"I'm not sentimental, but there's somethin' 'bout the way you look tonight, mm, makes me wanna take a picture. make a movie with you that we'd have to hide."

Jeyda’s fingers twitched, but he didn’t move to take the mail right away. His eyes, dark and unreadable, flicked from the envelopes to the woman standing before him—Aylin. 4B. Too many words, too much warmth. He wasn’t used to either.

A beat passed. Then another.

Finally, he reached out, taking the stack from her hand with deliberate slowness. The legal firm's gold lettering gleamed in the sunlight, but he didn’t bother looking at it. He already knew what was inside.

His voice, when he spoke, was low, rough from disuse. "Thanks." Nothing more. No welcome, no acknowledgement of her offer. Just that.

Jeyda turned the mail over once in his hand, then tucked it under his arm. His gaze settled on her, not quite meeting her eyes but near enough. Aylin was still watching him, waiting—for what, he wasn’t sure. He didn’t have anything else to give. Not pleasantries. Not reassurances. Definitely not friendship.

Closed starter for @littledaydreamers based on this:

"Excuse me! Are you… Mr Arslan?"

Aylin held out a small stack of mail, the afternoon sun catching the gold lettering on the return address of a legal firm. "I think I might have accidentally grabbed your mail. 4A, right? I’m so sorry! I was in a rush, trying to beat the heat… and honestly, these boxes are practically prehistoric. I'm Aylin, by the way. I live in 4B." She offered a tentative smile, one practiced for calming anxious brides and soothing stressed mothers-of-the-groom.

She took a closer look at the man in front of her. He was… imposing. Tall, broad shouldered but there was an intensity in his eyes, a haunted quality that sent a shiver of unexpected concern through her. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. He didn’t speak, didn't even acknowledge her. He just stared, his eyes fixed somewhere just past her shoulder.

“Look,” she continued, her voice softening. "I really am sorry. Here." She extended the mail again, pushing it gently towards him. “I'm sure you’re expecting these. Welcome to the building. I hope you… settle in okay.”

She hesitated, a sudden impulse tugging at her. Against every ounce of self-preservation, Aylin added, "If you need anything… anything at all… please don't hesitate to knock. I'm usually home, knee-deep in tulle and seating charts, but… I wouldn’t mind a break. Just let me know if there's something I can do." And then, she waited, holding her breath, wondering if she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life.

this is a reminder that i literally do not care if you reply in five minutes, five months, five years.  still owe me something and want to start something new? go for it.  still owe me something and want to answer memes or send memes instead? go for it.  just not jiving with it and want to do something with a different character? go for it.  need to disappear into the wilderness and scream at the sky for a few years? no problem.  you take any and all the time you need.  this is a hobby, it is for fun, it should not ever cause you stress.  you do what you want to do when you want to do it.  i will never be mad bc you drop something or it takes a year for you to answer it.  this is a collaborative hobby that we do for enjoyment and if it isn’t fun, if it isn’t sparking joy, do something else. you take care of you.  

Becca shook her head, a mixture of fear and helplessness written across her face. "No, it's just all over me." She had already checked the room before she called Indiana. The blonde had hoped that if she worked out where she was and looked for more blood, she could piece together what had happened, but other than the small spot she had taken up on the bed, the place was spotless.

Her brow furrowed in confusion as she tried to recall the events leading up to the bloody discovery. "I... I'm not sure," she stammered, her voice trembling slightly. "I think I may have been walking home from work last night."

Indiana could be the best or worst person to call in an emergency, depending on his state of mind. He was loyal, that much was true, and distrusting of people he wasn’t close to, so he would always keep the other person’s secrets, work diligently to keep them safe from harm or discovery in the case that they had done something society arbitrarily decided was wrong. He was still adjusting to the real world, still figuring out the way it worked. When she called him, he didn’t hesitate to find his way to her location, the sight of blood dried on her hands and body not making him recoil the way it might most people. He’d been raised in violence, brought up to respect and appreciate death… sacrifice. Frowning, he grabbed hold of her wrists, meeting her gaze with his own. “Have you found any blood elsewhere in the room?” His eyes scanned but he could see nothing that would’ve caused this much of a mess. “This must be a secondary location.” Pausing, he tried to think of what his siblings would do in this same situation, meeting her gaze again, he inquired: “What’s the last thing you do remember?”

dxrlingdevils​:

“If you can’t fix it, that’s fine. I don’t even know what I did to it, and I can always get the Landlord to get someone to fix it considering that’s partly his job.” Faye stated, arms on her hips as she tilted her head just slightly. “Look, you really don’t have to do that. It’s really not your problem.” She should have known that the place was too good to be true, especially with how quick the guy had been to get her to sign on the dotted line.

“Of course I can fix it. That’s not the point — the point is that it shouldn’t need fucking fixing. You’ve not even been here for three months Faye, what kind of dickhead releases an apartment for a kid that is full of fucking damp and dodgy wiring?” Brax ranted, shaking his head as pushed himself up off of the floor and away from the sparking plug socket. “Would you just swallow your pride and come stay with me? I told you there is more than enough room for you there.”  

plot idea:  i was just trying to have a one night stand with a stranger at the club/bar so i lied about my name and entire life when we met. but after we hooked up i kept thinking about you, so we ended up hooking up again another night and i kept lying. and it keeps happening and now i’m in too deep to tell you the truth so i’m just living this fake life whenever i see you but i really like you

Jeyda’s lips curled into something that wasn’t quite a smile—more like amusement laced with warning. He took in the fire in Rowan’s eyes, the rigid set of her shoulders. Defiance suited her. A shame it wouldn’t serve her well.

"You wound me, Rowan," he murmured, voice smooth, unbothered. He plucked the champagne flute from her hand, deliberately brushing his fingers against hers, and took a slow sip before handing it back. "I’d at least hoped for a 'darling' before the insults began."

But his amusement didn’t reach his eyes. Beneath the cold exterior was something else—something bitter, something resentful. He glanced around the ballroom, at the watching eyes, at the silent puppeteers who had sealed their fates. His father’s presence lingered like a ghost, unseen but suffocating.

Then, just for show—because they were always performing—he took her hand and pressed a slow, deliberate kiss to her knuckles. His lips barely grazed her skin, but the gesture was enough to earn approving nods from the men who had dictated their futures.

When he looked at her again, his steel-grey eyes were unreadable. "Smile, Rowan," he said, his voice quiet, almost taunting. "The audience is watching."

Closed starter for @littledaydreamers based on this

The champagne flute felt fragile in Rowan's grip, threatening to shatter under the pressure of her clenched hand. The forced smiles, the platitudes about unity, the goddamn wedding cake – it was all a grotesque charade. She caught her father's eye across the crowded ballroom. Sal Price, a man who thrived on fear and intimidation, gave her a curt nod, a silent reminder of what was at stake. Her life, her freedom, her family's future, and more importantly the life of her brothers. Of course she'd never tell Brax the real reason why she'd agreed to follow along with their father's orders, the whole point of this was to avoid the blood shed.

She took a large gulp of champagne, the bubbles doing little to soothe the burning resentment in her throat. Tonight, she was a pawn. A sacrifice on the altar of peace. Peace bought with her misery. A shadow fell across her.

She lifted her head and met the cold, steel-gray eyes of Jeyda Arslan, her soon-to-be husband, her captor. "Arslan," she spat, the word dripping with venom. "Or should I call you husband? The thought makes me want to vomit."

Hayden's jaw tightens, the weight of her words hitting like a punch to the gut. His chest aches at the sight of her—so raw, so heartbreakingly certain of something he never meant for her to feel.

"Tilly—" His voice is rough, thick with emotion he barely knows how to contain. He steps forward, hesitant, as if afraid she'll slip right through his fingers. "That’s not true."

He exhales sharply, raking a hand through his hair. "You don't actually think that, do you?" His eyes search hers, desperate for her to see the truth, to feel it the way he does. "I just don’t know how to love you the way you deserve. But don’t you dare think for a second that I don’t love you enough."

open to m / nb .

synopsis — matilda ' tilly ' zhang . the ultimate lover girl forever stuck in her day dreams . her heart is her biggest blessing & heaviest curse , falling in love fast & never truly falling out of it . your muse & tilly have been together for a while , & she's been burdened with the idea & insecurity that his feelings aren't equal to hers . so when a fight breaks out between the pair , she finally finds the courage to address it .

tilly's attempts of calming her breathing are weak , shaky inhale the only thing keeping tears from flooding over the brim of heartsick doe eyes . ' let's face it — . . ' she begins , ' i have always loved you more than you've ever loved me . ' hearing her insecurities spoken aloud is enough to commence the cascade of tears .

Closed Starter for @bloodbared

In the dim confines of their new home, Jude huddled on the floor behind the bed in the oppressive silence that had filled the house all night. She still couldn't believe her father had forced this union on her. All her life, she'd strived to avoid him and his business, his violent lifestyle a constant shadow she desperately wanted to outrun. But somehow, she'd been dragged back into it.

She'd met Z a few times, enough to know their differences were as vast as the ocean, their mutual dislike a palpable tension in the air. The awkwardness of their first night together in the same house was a suffocating blanket, the weight of her father’s expectations pressing down on her like a physical force.  Jude wondered how long she could hide out in the bedroom from him before he'd attempt to look for her.

ofblcssxms​:

The man’s jaw tensed, the apologies falling on deaf ears as he stared her down. “After the attacks they put me in solitary most of the time to keep me safe, prison deaths make for a whole lot of paper work, so I’ve been told. I wrote to you as much as I could. The least you could have done was visit me.” Ivan shook his head, a hand then combing back through his hair as he took a step back away from her, his anger once again rising to the surface. “You knew what you were getting yourself into, I was nothing but honest with you. I told you who I was the very day we met. You should have expected that something like this would have happened eventually.” The thick Russian accent struggled and stumbled around every single word as his blood boiled. “You were my safe haven. You were my light in the dark. You were everything to me, Natalie. Now.. I have nothing. All because you were lonely.” Ivan shook his head once again, his words bitter and unrelenting. The man usually detached himself from such situations, he usually refused to allow himself to feel, but when it came to Natalie.. He couldn’t stop himself.

The tears were falling now. She couldn’t help but to feel sick as she heard Ivan recount his time in prison. The guilt flooded her. It was easy to push it away before. There was a distance between them, not to mention she had convinced herself he wasn’t coming back home to her. “Ivan, I tried to visit you! So many times. They wouldn’t let me see you. They said it was something to do with your paperwork. I just convinced myself that you didn’t want to see me.” Natalie stepped closer to him, wanting to comfort him somehow, to show him she still cared. “That was good enough for me at the time, but these past years have been hard. It made me realise I wanted a safer life - a stable one with someone who would always be around.” The blonde hated herself for what she was saying, but he deserved her honestly. “I’m sorry Ivan.”