i love yuri, lesbians, queer women, sapphic media, wlw ships that arenβt canon, wlw ships that are canon, unsuspected yuri, forbidden yuri, doomed yuri, slow burn yuri, teen romance yuri, spooky yuri, cute yuri, woc yuri, masc4masc yuri, fem4fem yuri, fem4masc yuri, u-haul yuri, and any other kind of yuri.
Simon never heard his father say sorry, or please, or thank-you, or I love you.
In their house, when his mama would put down hot, heavy casseroles, her skin damp with sweat, eyes darting for some sweet words, his father never said one word of thanks, let alone 'some'. Only waved his thick, impatient hand.
His father never took the plates to the sink. Never noticed when she stayed up at night to sort the screws by size and purposeβorganizing the chaos he left behind just to find one damn hammer.
His father never said βplease can youββ only grunted with that bitter mouth, glared with those unkind eyes when he needed something.
Simon never heard him say I love you. And he couldnβt believe his eyes the day his father plucked out his baby brother from his mama's arm, and didnβt spare one glance for his Ma. She didn't deserved that, did she? Her weak frail body, cracked murmuring lips β she should be celebrated with adoration, comfort, love.
Love, and an infinite of it.
His father never sat beside her just to drink tea. Never told her about his day. Never asked about hers β what she did, or liked, or wanted. Never reached out his thumb, however calloused it was, to wipe away the sprout on her chin. That he was grateful she's next to him, that he loved her.
So when life happened, and Simon was left to pick up his pieces and place them in a way he wanted to beβhe thought whomever he will be, anything, but his father.
Anything but him.
And then life happened again but this time it arranged itself in beautiful ways. Because you came with it this time. You and all your silly lovely ways, you who kissed your knee before resting your chin, you who cheered up catching up with fridge' light switching off, you so beautiful, so kind, made up of sundust. His sunshine β lighting up his world.
And God, he was so, so grateful. Every moment, every day !
βI love you,β heβd say the moment he wakes up next to you. Pressing his love on your lips, on your shoulder, on your neck.
βI love you,β when you spill milk in the morning daze and stare at it like it might disappear.
βI love you,β when he wipes your chin and kisses your forehead.
βI love you,β when he takes your hand in his and rubs it between his palm, why ? Because he'll spend his whole life keeping your hands warm than anything else.
βI love you.β because he loves, loves, and loves you so much that it hurts, so much that it heals, so much that it's everything sweet ever happened to him.
βI love you.β for all the ways his father failed, and Simon too, as a son, as a brother β failed to save his mama and lil' brother. I love you, because in loving you he is allowing himself to be loved.
Families are meant to be comfort, yours brings none. But Simon does, and with him you can have a new familyβ
CWβ mentions of family struggles, reader is neurodivergent but diagnosis never specified (I'm not a professional, but I'm writing from experience). lots of guilt and angst, a bit of a ramble.
He's heard it. The way you bite your tongue when mentioning your family. Father and mother said so frigidly, yet with an evident guilt written over your face with bright red letters.
Simon has only met two of your sisters, but he knows there's almost a whole clan tucked away in the countryside that you haven't visited. Since when? He doesn't know and he doesn't push, there's no reason to make you so uneasy. Especially since he doesn't open about his own familial woes. It's a subject that subconsciously the two of you decide not to speak on. No reason to open such wounds.
When he returned home later than usual, with take out from your favorite restaurant and a bouquet of flowers as an apology, his ears pricked up to the tight sound of your voice in the bathroom.
Never a good sign.
Disregarding the take out on the counter, he hunted you down and felt himself almost shrinking away at your body curled up on the cold tile. Phone pressed against your ear and vacant eyes that don't even look to find his as you speak. The word cuts like a knife falling from your lips, "βyes mum, I know. I'll try."
Though he cannot hear the words spilling out of the phone, Simon's certain it's cruel. His knees creak as he bends to meet you on the floor. Calloused, rough hand brushing over your hair with a gentle touch that makes you shiver. It breaks you from the cold call, a breath of warm air after a long frigid winter.
"okay, yeah." He wants to pry your fingers away from your phone. The grip tight enough that your knuckles burn white. Wants to coax you off the tile, a place you only go when your body and mind are betraying you after a long day. The hard floor and surfaces that cut off all other senses, grounding you in a way that makes him hurt. Makes his resolve crumble.
When the words, "goodbye mumβ" and the blunt dial tone that signals the woman on the other end of the line has hung up, he pulls you into his arms. You do not protest, you do not even squirm. Melting into the steadiness of his body.
"Sorry I was late." Don't mention the call Simon decides, not until you offer it that is. "Brought dinner."
You nod, his throat tightens and bites the urge to yell. Not at you, no. At your fucking mother, at whatever reason or thing had made you upset.
His doe, that's what his captain had labeled you. Small and soft compared to the wolf that he was seen as. His doe that Simon would bend and break the world if you'd ask. But you never ask, always holding back from something. The cryptic words left by your sisters makes him point the blame towards your parents. Caregiver wasn't an appropriate title with the way you spoke in hushed tones with your older sister, hand shaking as she consoles you.
"Come on, doe." The name that he'd agreed fit you so well tumbles from his mouth, split lipped, with adoration. Those same lips find your cheeks, kissing away at the salty, soft skin. Wanting to lick clean any crystal tears that spilled from your lashes. They flutter open and close like butterfly winters as you register his words. Recognition finally crossing your vacant face.
"They want me to come homeβ" You stop. No, not home. This apartment was your home, its walls and ceiling were what kept you out of the elements. The bed that has molded to the positions you and Simon fall into, like a dominos in place. The farm house hadn't been home since your girlhood and you had no other choice but it.
Simon recognizes the change, feels you incline your body closer to his. Listens to the long drawn out pause as you choose the right words that fits your feelings.
The words come out, a regurgitation of whatever your mum had said over the phone. Impersonal, unloving, only guilt and duty."They want me to join the rest of the family for Easter. It's fallen on my aunt's birthday this year and it's due time I visit anyway."
Who's due time, Simon does not know. Nor does he agree with. That term was just a way to guilt people like you, children who'd crawled away from the home with bloodied knees and heavy baggage, back into the place that had made them complacent. He would not let his doe return to that.
"Do you want to?" It's a simple question, but it is more than you used to receive. Or still receive now at work or with friends. When had someone last asked if you wanted to? Selfishness was a trait beaten out of you by your father, greed ridiculed from you by your mother.
"I shouldβ"
"Didn't ask that, Doe. Asked if you wanted to." He cuts the obligation out, blotting it from the situation like misspelled words are covered with white-out. Simon didn't care about the shoulds, he should've done a lot over his life. But that doesn't mean he would, nor would you. "Do you want to spend your Easter holiday with them?"
Silence, he knows what you want to answer but can't find the strength to say. But Simon won't speak for you, so he slides his hand down to find yours. Flesh against flesh as he squeezes his grip, reassuring you and offering up a shred of strength. He'd offer it all up should you ask.
"Be selfish, Doe. Shouldn't waste your time on those who don't deserve it. Y'know that, love?" Simon reminds, letting his hand slip from yours to tilt your chin. Brown eyes that are the ocean you're sinking in, every day growing weaker yet somehow stronger from him. "We can enjoy the holiday on our own. Capt'n's wife extended a lunch invite to us. Or, stay in and sleep the day away."
His offer finds a resting place in your rib cage, the choices being tucked into a special place nestled between your heart and lungs. Simon was giving something that would seem so little to some, but so much to you.
"Yeah?" You finally speak, voice barely a whisper as your body comes to a still. Guilt falling away in your lover's arms. The ink on his arms binding you together in safe warmth.
Here he was, the escape you'd spent so long looking for. Teeth that graze but never bite, strength that builds but doesn't destroy you. Simon, for all his silence and flaws, was a looming shadow that you could rely on. The person who had become your home, where you had a place tucked under his chin. Your heels next to his boots, your trinkets next to his books, your body next to his body. Flesh on flesh. Love on love.
"Be selfish. Be blunt. Be mean to that mum of yours if you want."
Somehow, his words arouse a soft little laugh. Blushing your cheeks to replace the flushed color from before. A rose in bloom in spring in front of him.
Simon presses a kiss against your forehead, wishing his split lip was softer. Soft enough for you. But it's soft enough not to smother you, letting you breathe in the damp air. "Promise me that, Doe."
You look up, lips pressed in a line. That was a promise you didn't know if you could make.
"Promise me you'll be selfish sometimes? I can take it." He says with solid certainty, enough to make you sure.
"Promise."
So you spend the weekend with the man you now know to be your family. In the warmth of your colorful flat, under the covers and on the sofa. Skin to skin. Love to love. Man to woman. Wolf to doe.
On one of the few occasions where Simon went out to the pub with the rest of the task force, he insisted he had to leave early. He had business.
He had you waiting at home.
So, he took out his wallet to pay for the two beers heβd allowed himself to have, not wanting to be drunk by the time heβd gotten home to you.
Johnny noticed it first.
βWhoβs that?β Johnny asks, pointing to the picture of you and Simon, grinning like a cheshire cat.
Kyle looks over at the photo and grins. Price was curious too, but made no move to be as nosy as the other two.
βMy wife.β
Simon puts the money down on the table, ignoring the flabbergasted look on Johnnyβs face and the laugh Kyle gave upon seeing it, Price even gave an amused smile.
βWhat do you mean βwifeβ?!β βWhyβd ya never say anythinβ!β
Simon walked out of the pub, dead set on returning to his wife.
Farmer!Simon who takes reader in as his pretty little wife but turns out to have some nasty secrets? But don't worry dearie, here's a rabbit, here's a lamb, grow some flowers, bake some bread. Don't worry about where your husband goes for hours on end. What he does when he's away won't hurt you, right? The shed is locked tight to keep out wildlife. And don't pay too close attention to the fact that your rabbits all have the same eyes as him...
This is what happens when all you read is horror romance novels...
i donβt think we talk enough about the dichotomy of both the apollonian and dionysian sides of price and how that translates to him loving the fall of icarus (gaz) even more than the manipulation of the assent. how he takes prophesy so far as to force the sun down gazβs throat and make an oracle of him for himself
Phillip Graves x Reader who comes out only at night, smiling a little too wide for him to relax, never coming into the house, disappearing when heβs not looking.
Phillip Graves who starts living in Appalachians, a job forcing him and Shadows to go off the grid, forcing them into places with signs βtonight these mountains will be just as cold as they were 2,000 years agoβ, his boys not in awe from the impromptu trip.
Old superstitions dying hard even in men like them.
Phillip who goes out for a smoke in the middle of the night and notices a pretty thing watching him.
Eyes too sharp, smile too wide, face a little too perfect. It makes his spine itch, it makes him want to curl in on himself, it makes him want to cry.
Reader that stalks just on the edge of their property, watching him and Shadows, making small talk with some of them. Asking their names.
Asking where they come from. Asking if they are alone.
Asking if anyone knows they are out here.
Reader who never actually comes close enough to properly look at them, always in the corner of their vision, slipping away when they try to look closer.
Careful and friendly, chirping βhey Phillipβ, chirping βhowβs it going, boys?β, chirping βyou look good enough to eatβ.
It puts Shadows at ease and grates on Gravesβs nerves.
He doesnβt like not knowing things, not being able to look in your face too long, not being able to get answers.
But to actually look at them Phillip or his team would need to leave the premises of the house, the safety it for some reason grants.
Itβs few weeks later when they get a little accustomed to the strange thing lurking outside, some of them going as far as to have a little flirty banter or share few jokes when out smoking.
After all, they never come close to the Reader and the Reader themselves are never outright hostile. Just unnerving. Smiling like they know how it ends.
Smiling like they are waiting for something.
Phillip doesnβt like it. Phillip doesnβt like it at all, he doesnβt like watching some of his men return half delirious after going out to βsmokeβ β eyes a little too wild, chests heaving, lips wet.
But thereβs little they can actually do and as it was said, whoever pretty thing that took liking to his team and him isβ¦they arenβt attacking.
But the tension is palpable in the air, cracking between all of them, like the storm is coming and the primal instinct deep inside of them makes them restless. Thatβs the only reason why Phillip gives a green light to drink a little.
Just enough to take the edge off. After all, they need to be alert and ready if anything was to go down.
But some of them have a little too much and it makes air a little too light, tension draining from shoulders, legs getting stretched out as they are trading salacious stories and good-natured jokes.
And in the heat of the moment, on the peak of fun β one of them whistles.
Sound cuts through the air like hot knife through the butter, sharp and high. A signal.
Multiple hands fly up quickly, old superstition to never whistle in the house especially not after sun goes down, rises their hackles.
And for a moment they donβt even notice another sound. A softer one.
Tap-tap-tap. Tap. Tap-tap. Tap. Tap. Taptap. Tap-
Itβs soft and rhythmic, vaguely familiar β pattern recognition kicking in when it repeats.
Pattern recognition kicks in before his sense does and Phillip feels a chill run down his spine, sharp intake of breath near him just a very unfortunate confirmation.
His men stare behind his back and god, he hates things like that, thatβs why he doesnβt fucking watch horror movies, thatβs why he lived as long as he did in his line of work.
But the tapping repeats when he doesnβt turn around, cold sliding to his fingers, cooling him off, blood pumping in his ears and he fucking hates the way his brain made connection before he consciously did. Because the tapping repeats and he knows what it means.
Tap. Tap. Taptap. Tap. Tap-tap. Tap-
Because the first thing they teach you is fucking Morse Code.
Phillip slowly turns around, finally able to see your face but it doesnβt feel like a victory.
It feels like defeat.
Because you are smiling too wide, eyes squinting from light β shadows on your face sharp and wrong and too fucking dark.
You tap a finger against the glass of their window again and Phillip forces himself not to look away, not to curl in on himself, not to wail because your smile splits your face and humans surely donβt have this many teeth.
Phillip finally knows what you were waiting for. Not for them to come out to you, not for them to slip and let you snatch them like naive lambs into the forest and stuff your belly.
You were waiting for an entirely different thing.
You tilt your head to the side, flashing him sharp points of your canines, leaning in, watching him through the glass.
Smile too wide and eyes too sharp, none of them moving a fucking inch of their bodies, blood flowing back to the head, leaving limbs cold and them shivering.
But you tap on the glass again. Soft, rhythmic sound that makes their hearts pound harder.