The apartment is quiet when you wake up, sunlight barely slipping through the curtains. For a second, it feels like you’re alone, until an arm tightens around your waist, pulling you back into warmth.
“Stay,” he mumble, voice still thick with sleep, face tucked into your shoulder.
You let out a soft laugh, trying to shift. “I was just going to get water.”
A quiet unconvinced hum sounded out as his grip adjusts, not tight, just enough to keep you there, like leaving isn’t an option for you.
“…You can go later.”
You turn slightly, catching a glimpse of his hair messy, expression soft in a way he'd never show anyone else. No walls, no tension. Just this.
“Clingy,” you whisper.
“Only with you.”
That does something to your chest.
You sigh, acting annoyed, but still melted right back into his arms anyway, fingers loosely curling into his sleeve. “Fine. Five more minutes.”
18+, mentions of rough sex, hook up/one night stand, sub drop, female reader. Fluff & cuddles, sweet ending ^.^
•
You’d heard stories from your girlfriends and some women from work about after care. The time to mentally settle down and do other soft things after sex, particularly rough sex. You have experience, being in a few different relationships and some one night stands but you never experienced the joy of after care
So when the time came that you and your hook up finished, you were already slipping your clothes back on. Getting ready to head back home now that things are done. Despite this heavy feeling weighing over your head.
“Where you going princess?” He asked, your ears perked as you looked at him over your shoulder. “Home, we’re done here aren’t we?” You replied softly, your tone even despite the nagging feeling behind it
“Nah, come lay down with me.” He said, his eyes scanning over your face, wondering if you had something important to attend too. When he noticed your hesitation, he stretched out an arm, his muscles protruding as he wraps his hand around your waist, pulling you against his side.
Once he got you comfortable, your face nuzzled against neck, something overcame you and you couldn’t hold back. Tears started falling from your eyes, your hand gripping a small fistful of his shirt.
“Did I hurt you?” He asks, his usual husky tone laced with concern as he took in how vulnerable you are. You shook your head in reply, trying to slow your breathing down enough to answer him.
“Ah, I see” he spoke gently, a large calloused hand pushing strands of hair out of your face. “You’ve never experienced this have you?” His voice is almost like a purr as he watches you reply with a no. He shifts his body once again, him laying flat on his back with you on top of him. Your face resting against his broad chest, his thick arms wrapping around your small frame. Holding you tightly against him
“Don’t worry doll, I’ve got you.” He murmurs. You feel his lips graze the top of your head as he presses a kiss against your hair.
“You’ll never feel that way again. Not ‘s long as I’ve got you”
⨳warnings: nsfw, mdni, oral (m & f receiving), mild deepthroating, cockwarming if you squint, tooth-rotting fluff, heavy on the erotica/light on the smut, unprotected sex with a death god, Renji being an absolute gentleman and a mindful lover
⨳notes: I love that Out of the Ether has inspired me to write more erotica again. I love smut - it has its time and place - but I got my start in erotica and it feels amazing to get back to my fiction-writing roots. This is my longest running series, as well as one of my fics I'm the most proud of and have had the most fun writing tbh. Shame Renji is so underrated. He deserves sooooo much more love than he gets! ❤
⨳synopsis: in which you and Renji Abarai make your heretofore lucid dreams come true
⨳beta reader: @mxgenderbender, as always, thank you for your expertise and love and support! You're so much more than a beta reader to me...you're a dear friend and I love you lots! 💋
← Part 6 ⨳ Part 8 (coming soon!)
continued from Part 6...
He got down on his knees on the floor before you, slowly pushing your knees back. Not too far; just enough to watch your weeping petals unfold before him. Now it was his turn to lick his lips. He pushed two long fingers between your inner and outer labia, opening them to uncover your small bundle of nerves, already swollen and twitching for him.
“Such a pretty pussy. So perfect,” he groaned, mouth watering.
“Renji, please…” you whimpered, afraid you might scream if he didn’t lick you soon enough.
“Please what? Tell me what you want, Y/n…” he coaxed, bringing the pad of his thumb to your clit before brushing so lightly against it that your hips bucked at him like they had a mind of their own.
“Want you to lick me, Renji…“
He flattened his tongue against your opening and licked straight up. Once. Your back arched as his taste buds dragged over your clit. “Like that?” he said.
You put your hands in your hair, ready to start pulling. “Yessss, just like that. Please do it again...”
He swallowed, smirking before taking a long, slow draw of your slit again, lifting off just as he’d done the first time after his tongue cleared your clit. You pressed your fingertips down into your scalp and were about to start begging when the tip of his tongue flicked over your bud. He licked a couple of more strips over you, one over each of your inner labia before bringing his lips back to center and wrapping them around your clit. He sucked it in before flicking his tongue over it inside his mouth. You let out a primal groan, your hands flying from your hair to the bed on either side of you, twisting fists full of sheets beneath white knuckles.
He slipped two fingers inside you, having to fight to stay latched on to you when you pushed down onto his shoulders with the soles of your shaky feet. He groaned an exhale against you, tightening his free arm around your thigh to help hold you down, tongue swirling, eyebrows knitting, getting drunk on your elixir. “Oh gods, oh Renji! Fuck-“
Between your choice of words, the desperation in your voice, and the tightening of your walls around his fingers he knew your orgasm was imminent. His hips involuntarily rutted against the upholstered side panel of your low-profile bed, the tip of his leaking cock slowly grinding against the thin crimson strip of hair beneath his navel. He curled his fingers inside you, tugging on the unmistakable texture of your g-spot, having to flex his arm again to keep you anchored while he sucked your soul from your clit.
“Gonna cum, Renj, oh gods-“ And with that, your spiritual pressure shot out from every pore of your body as Renji’s mouth held fast to your writhing form.
It was the exact same – exact fucking same – sensation you remember having in your dream the night you learned his name in the reiki shop. You panted, breasts rising and falling with every catch of your breath. Renji rose from his knees and leaned over your body as his long, skillful fingers retreated from your pulsing heat. You watched, mesmerized, as he sucked them clean, one at a time, never breaking eye contact.
His cock bounced when the clothed head brushed against your wet slit. Renji’s palms pushed down into the bed when you reached between your bodies and finally wrapped your curious fingers around his dampening tent. You were pleased to discover that he had hefty girth to accompany his length – a cock truly fit for a god.
As you stroked him, he whispered into your kiss, “Oh gods, yes…” his pre now soaking through the fabric of his black hakama.
With one hand around his cock and the other pushing yourself off the mattress, you had him standing before you as you sat on the edge of the bed. You couldn’t wait any longer to taste him. He loosened his hakama, letting it fall to the floor as his large cock slapped against his lower abs. Oh shit, his dick was so fucking pretty.
And…no. Nonononono. No fucking way.
Not only did he have the fishbone pattern inked along his long, lean thighs to match the ones on his arms…his motherfucking impressive, godly dick was tattooed as well, something you hadn’t even dreamed. He had a tribal pattern similar to the ones on his arms - three thick, black lines stacked along the underside of his length, wrapping around to the top of his shaft before tapering off.
You looked up at him with wide eyes, smirking.
He huffed. “See something you like down there?”
“Renji Abarai...you. You have dick tattoos.”
“Yeah, I know.” He was trying not to laugh. “I have ‘em on my legs too.”
“Yeah,” you said, your smirk spreading into a mischievous grin, “but you have tattoos on your dick.”
He couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore. “Do you need a minuuhhhnnfuck-”
You’d lifted his cock and licked the underside of his shaft from base to tip as he pushed himself deeper into your fist. You slid the tip of your tongue along his slit, collecting the fresh precum that oozed out. Oh fucking gods, he tasted so good. You set about milking him for as much of his pre as you could get as he let his head fall back with his hands in your hair.
Your hand fucked what you couldn’t fit in your mouth, his tip rubbing along the back of your throat with each pass. He groaned and looked down to watch the wet head of his cock slide in and out of your lips. The vibration of your moan in the back of your throat traveled straight from the base of his cock to the top of his spine and into the reptilian part of his brain that simply told him to thrust. You choked when he began to push into your throat, which made him stop.
“Shit, I’m sorry, Y/n. You okay? Don’t let me hurt you.”
You popped off of him, leaving a heavy trail of saliva between your lips and his cock, still tugging on it with your hand. “I’m okay, Renj. I’ll let you know if I can’t take it.”
He nodded as you sucked him in again. The way you looked up at him with your mouth stuffed full of his cock nearly did him in. You grabbed onto his thigh with your free hand as he began rocking his hips again, slow and shallow at first. Only because he respected your judgment as to what you could and couldn’t handle, he pushed past the back of your throat, just barely getting his thick head inside before you pulled off of him, choking, saliva dripping from your chin before taking him down again, eager as ever. As long as he knew you were okay, he started to buck his hips a little more as the sound of your gags and chokes pushed him closer to the edge.
“Mmnnhh, Y/n…I’m-“ He was interrupted by his own grunt. You did your best to swallow the head of his cock every time it hit the back of your throat. “Ahh fuck, gonna cum so fucking soon.” As his eyes slid closed he couldn’t help but remember all the times you’d done this to him in his dreams. How many times had he woken up in a pool of his own cum, sticky and frustrated? He needed this release, to finally be received by your greedy, succulent mouth.
He relinquished all control, cursing between clenched teeth while his hands fisted your hair. His head fell back as his hips stilled, cock twitching as he released rope after thick rope of his semen down your open throat. You’d always been one to swallow, but Renji had filled you up so quickly and completely that there was no chance of getting it all down. You did your best, but what you couldn’t swallow leaked out from the corners of your mouth and dripped onto your naked breasts.
He slowly pulled out of your lips as his towering body leaned down to kiss you. “You okay?” he panted, his hands pushing into the mattress on either side of you.
You wiped the corners of your mouth with the back of your hand, nodding. “That was a lot of cum though.”
“I’m sorry, I should’ve warned you sooner, but I’ve never been…umm…intimate with a human before so I didn’t think to mention it…” he said, licking his lips.
“Mention what?” You dragged your fingertips along the tattoos that adorned his ribs, admiring his serratus muscles and the dips between them as they flexed under your feather-light touch.
“That male Shinigami…we have a higher…uhhhh…volume of…well…cum…than humans do,” he explained as he crawled into bed with you on his hands and knees. Just like you’d dreamed he would.
“Didn’t know that. I wonder what else you have to teach me about making love with a Soul Reaper,” you said, biting your lip through a seductive grin.
“Keep looking at me like that and you’ll be the one reaping my soul tonight.”
“You’re quite the smooth talker, aren’t you?” Your fingers ghosted along the ink on the nape of his neck, from the base of his hairline downward. Renji shivered, his eyes fluttering closed. Seemed you’d found one of his weak spots.
“Maybe," he said, shrugging. "But right now I’m telling you exactly how it is." He collected a pearl of his cum from your breast before bringing his thumb to your parted lips. “Suck.”
You closed your lips around his digit, swirling your tongue and moaning around his delicious musk - creamy and salty with pineapple and citrus gracenotes. “Damn, you’re sexy, Y/n.” The way you looked at him with half-lidded (color) eyes made his cock twitch. “Like my flavor?”
You hummed affirmatively as Renji pulled his thumb out of your mouth, leaving a trail of your saliva along your chin and neck. “Why do you taste so good, Renj?” You licked your lips. “Is that a Shinigami thing too?”
“Thanks, but no. That’s just me, I think.”
He couldn’t remember the last time he was so turned on that his usual refractory period was non-existent. His cock hadn’t softened in the least as he nudged your legs open with his thigh. A fresh strand of precum swung from his thick tip as he dipped down and lapped another drop of his cum off of your stomach before kissing you, spreading more of his flavor over your tongue.
“Gonna take my time with you. I hope that’s okay,” he said, his wet lips trailing along your jaw to pull your earlobe between his teeth.
You moaned, pulling him down closer until he was flush against you. “Please…that’s perfect.” You’d barely gotten the last word out when you gasped at his hard cock stroking your puffy clit, mixing his pre with your liquid need as you rolled your hips against him.
“Renji...” you whined. “Need you inside…”
He reached between you and tapped the head of his cock against your clit a couple of times before lining himself up and slowly pushing into you, stretching you around his satisfying girth.
“Mmmfuuuuck,” you groaned, fingertips digging into his arms.
He buried his face in the crook of your neck, kissing and nipping at your delicate skin. He began his slow retreat, his inked cock dragging along your soft inner walls. Your pussy tightened around him as if trying to prevent his escape. But Renji had no such intention, a deep moan emitting from his parted lips when he disappeared inside you again, cursing at your exquisite grip.
Your nails dug into the flesh of his lower back as he buried himself all the way inside you, his throbbing cock nestled perfectly within your needy cunt. He captured your lips in a soft kiss before looking into your eyes and stroking your warm cheek with the back of his fingers.
“Just wanna stay like this for a minute, if that’s okay?” he whispered.
You nodded. “This is perfect. Stay as long as you like,” you said with a smile that sent a thread of heat straight down to the base of his spine.
“Tempting given how fucking amazing you feel...” One of his powerful hands stroked your outer thigh. “...And how beautiful you are.” Your hand moved to hide the giddy smile and warmth that spread across your cheeks, but Renji raised his gentle hand to stop you. “Don’t hide from me, Y/n.”
Your fingers loosely gripped his wrist as his fingertips threaded into your hair. The tip of his nose brushed against yours as he teased your lips with his tongue. His slitted brown eyes had grown darker, his lust blown pupils taking in all of your light. Your body buzzed with his spiritual pressure as it surrounded and submerged you, soaking into your skin and saturating you to the bone. You had gotten so high on Renji that the much-anticipated, thorough roll of his hips sent a sharp, searing ache of pleasure through your core.
"Mmmfuuuck, Renj-" you keened, arching your back up to your shoulder blades. He wrapped his strong arm around your back and set a slow, precise pace, willing you to feel every concentrated inch of his being in the small innermost sanctum of your holy temple.
"Feels so good to be this close to you, Y/n..." He wished he could confess to you all the dreams he’d had that were coming true in real time, down to the way you wrapped your legs around his waist as the two of you strove to get closer and closer to one another.
As he gave you the most sensual fuck of your life, your wandering hands found themselves pushing into his hair. You massaged your fingers against his scalp before gently freeing his long hair from its binding, letting it fall like a crimson curtain to encase your communion of warm, damp flesh. Soft and thick, it fell forward, obscuring the tattoos on his forehead and tickling your shoulders as his pelvis rocked between your trembling thighs.
Heavy sighs left your lips as he buried his face in the crook of your neck, groaning at the feeling of your hot cunt swallowing him whole. He peeked down to the space between your bodies to watch you leave creamy white rings around his heavy girth, contrasting sharply against his black tattoos.
“Need to be closer to you, Renji…”
With one arm around your back and the other gripping your leg, he pulled you with him as he leaned back on his knees, still fucking his cock up into you as your head fell back, mouth agape, your nails digging into his flesh as you clung to his shoulders for dear life. He hissed at the fresh blood-drawn crescent moons in his skin, quickly followed by a contented moan knowing they were evidence of the pleasure he was giving you.
“You feel so good, Y/n…can’t fucking get enough of you…” he murmured against your ear as his fingers carded through your (length, color) hair.
“Oh gods…Renji…” You thrust your hips in tandem with his, meeting his slow, passionate pace.
“I’ve got you.” He wrapped his strong arms around you, one around your waist, the other around your shoulders and pulled you flush against his hard body, grinding his pubic bone against your swollen clit as you slid along his inked thighs.
You moved together as one, a mess of moans and sighs and gasps and breathy voices that spoke of how much you wanted one another.
You locked your arms around Renji's neck while he dug his fingertips into your ass cheeks, using them as leverage to help guide you along his hard length in time with his thrusts.
"Faster, Renj-" you keened in his ear. Angling your pelvis to enjoy the most friction against your sensitive clit, you bucked your hips against him, encouraging him to keep going until he'd nearly doubled his speed. He'd wanted to take his time with you, but he could tell by the way you were whining his name and the increasing urgency of your movements that you were close. He put more power behind his thrusts when he felt your walls closing in tighter around him.
"I know you're close, Y/n...wanna feel you cum." His hot breath fanned into your hair as he spoke, nipping at your earlobe in the process. "Cum on my cock, Y/n," he breathed.
"Ohhhhgods, Renji!" you gasped as your orgasm took hold. Your pussy clamped down around him, radiating powerful pulses of searing heat from your core.
"Mmsoclose..." Renji was only seconds behind you. Whispering to keep his voice from cracking, he asked, "Where?"
"Inside."
He flipped you onto your back, using the crooks of his elbows to support your kneepits as he slammed into you hard enough that the sounds of his skin slapping against yours filled the room.
"Oh gods, Y/n..." With one final snap of his hips, he buried himself with a loud groan, cock jerking as his seed spilled into your twitching womb. "Fuck," he breathed as strands of his crimson hair fell forward from behind his shoulders when he let his head drop, grazing and tickling your breasts and stomach. When you reached up to push a wet strand away from his eyes, he kissed the inside of your wrist. He still hadn't opened his eyes, but a satisfied grin was spreading across his handsome face.
"You okay, Renj?" you chuckled. "Feel good?"
With his grin planted firmly on his face he nodded, finally opening his brown eyes to look down at you. "Oh hell yes, fucking amazing." He lowered himself down to you, keeping some of his weight on his forearms as he kissed your forehead, then your cheek, then your lips. "What about you? How are you feeling?"
You cupped his face in your hands and smiled. "Incredible. Better than I think I've ever felt before."
Stroking your cheek with his thumb, he squinted at you. "Really? That good?"
"Mmhmm...it almost doesn't seem real."
He frowned. "Why not?"
Oh, boy. Careful here. "It...it feels like something right out of a dream."
He smiled at you and nodded. "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean."
You both stayed like that, staring at each other for several seconds, each of you wondering if it would be a good idea to tell the other about your dreams.
Renji finally broke the silence. "Come on, let's get cleaned up," he said, slowly pulling out of you.
He helped you out of bed and onto your feet, his naked form towering over yours as he took your hand and led you to your en suite bathroom. As you showered together, you took turns washing each other's bodies, massaging one another's backs to work up the lathers, exchanging the occasional kiss with smiles plastered on both of your faces like idiots.
Once clean and dry, you let Renji give you a piggyback ride to bed while you rested your chin on his shoulder, breathing in his comforting scent. He sat down on the edge of your bed to let you crawl in before joining you, pulling you into his arms and stroking your back as you fell asleep with your face buried in his chest.
The next morning, you woke up to the inked Shinigami tracing mindless, soothing patterns on your shoulder.
“Mm…morning sunshine,” you said, yawning and stretching before settling back into the little spoon position to once again feel the heat of his body against your back.
His morning voice, deeper and rougher than what you’d come to recognize, sent a tingle directly to your core. “Ohayou," he murmured as he brushed your hair away from behind your ear before pressing his soft lips to your warm skin.
Warnings: none? Crying, being called a cry baby. Sensitive female reader
•
-you were sensitive, always have been, but you never thought you were a cry baby. It wasn’t until you got together with your boyfriend that you realized just how soft you truly are
-“aww, what’s the matter pretty girl?” Your partner coo’s towards you when he walks into your shared room. Seeing your blood shot eyes, mascara smeared under your lashes, and streaks of the black ink stained against your soft skin
-“such a little cry baby, hm?” despite your lover’s teasing, he hates seeing you upset, let alone to the point that tears were shed. He’d kill anybody who upsets you, especially if they called you a cry baby. Only he’s allowed to do that.
-all you manage to mutter out is a faint ‘m sorry”, using your sleeve to wipe away the evidence of your feelings.
-“tsk, none of that baby” his words are soft, devoid of his usual taunting nature. He climbs into bed, wrapping his arms around you, pulling your small frame against his chest.
-you always felt safe around your boyfriend, allowing yourself to be completely vulnerable with him. Which, of course, causes you to let out a soft sob and a few more tears, forming a small wet spot against his shirt.
-you relax further into his chest, feeling a large hand move up and down over your back, something he took to the first time you cried in front of him. Something he does to keep you grounded. Focused. Calm.
-“come on, talk to me mama. Let me know what upset my baby.” His voice is gentle, his tone full of patience as he waits for you to catch your breath.
-he’ll never admit it, especially to you, but he loves this. Loves being able to be the one to make you feel better, allowing his own vulnerability to show, which goes against his tough nature. It only fuels his need to protect you
-he loves nothing more than having a cry baby as a girlfriend.
•
SATORU, Suguru, SUKUNA, TOJI, Choso, Renji, KENPACHI, Kakuzu, Hidan, OBITO, Zetsu, Kisame, pain, orochimaru, + whoever else you see fit ^.^
Phoenix (Chapter 2) 🎀 AU Divorced!DILF!Renji Abarai x f!reader
I don't care what the rest of y'all are doing (I'm such a liar, yes I do), but I'm celebrating Renji's August 31st birthday all week long by posting a chapter of this new fic every day, Monday-Friday. I want to drink this long, tall glass of crimson-haired Shinigami all the way down to the last drop. Here's to the birthday boy - Kanpai! 🥂
Monday, August 30th - Chapter 1
Tuesday, August 31st - Renji's Birthday ❤
Wednesday, September 1st - Chapter 3
Thursday, September 2nd - Chapter 4
Friday, September 3rd - Chapter 5 (Finale)
Word Count: 800
You saw Renji again a couple months after that, and while your friendship felt a bit strained for a while, you’d started seeing him out with mutual friends more often and before you knew it, the awkwardness had worn off completely.
You maintained your distance though, as did he. He was going through a lot and although you wanted to be there for him as much as possible, you both knew that he needed time to heal and the temptation for him to rebound with you was far too strong.
As the months passed, however, the two of you grew inevitably closer. It couldn’t be helped. Not getting closer would’ve felt unnatural, disingenuous. Neither of you had a fake bone in your bodies, particularly when it came to dealing with each other.
🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀
About 6 months after his divorce, you and Renji were talking on the phone quite regularly, at least once a week. One night, you’d been talking about what your respective plans were for the upcoming weekend when the subject of the divorce came up. You and he hadn’t talked much about it yet, but then again the distance you’d maintained until recently wasn’t exactly conducive to such an intimate conversation.
“I’m gonna go pick up my little girl tomorrow. She’s turning 5 on Saturday and she wants to go to the zoo.” Renji laughed, “…and what Ichika wants, Ichika gets”.
You had only seen his daughter a few times, the last being a couple of years ago. She would’ve been too young to remember you, but you certainly remembered her and how adorable she was. She looked a lot like her mother in the face, but she had her father’s unmistakable bright red plume of hair.
You giggled. “Aww, happy birthday to Ichika! Sounds like she’s got you wrapped around her little finger”.
“She absolutely does,” he sighed.
“So, Renji? How are you? And don’t tell me you’re fine. Every time you say you’re ‘fine’ I know you’re anything but”.
“Better, (y/n). A lot better”.
You were about to say something else, but he started speaking again.
“I was twenty-eight when it happened. One day I went over to Ichigo’s house to hang out. I didn’t tell him I was comin' over, but hell, we almost never did. We’d just show up and walk right in, y’know? Like brothers and shit. I hadn’t even gotten all the way through the front door when I looked up and saw him fuckin' Rukia on the sofa”.
“Oh god, Renji”, you gasped, your hand going to your lips.
“I almost fuckin' threw up right there. I legit thought I was gonna puke and bolted back outside, and I could hear both of 'em freakin' out. Ichigo was callin' my name and I saw Rukia standin' in the doorway behind him just starin' at me. Her eyes were fuckin' huge and I could just tell. It was fuckin' over. All of it. I lost my wife and my best friend at the same goddamn time. My world was turned on its head in a single instant. And all I could think about was Ichika and how hard her heart was gonna break when me and her mom split up”.
Renji heard you choke out a sob on the other end. “Hey, (y/n)”, his voice softening, “I’m okay now”.
“I know, but…”, the sound of your voice racked by sobs tugged hard on his heartstrings. “You must’ve been in so much pain, seeing your life being ripped apart like that right in front of your eyes. You didn’t deserve that, Renj-“, you choked on another sob.
“Thank you, (y/n). You know I hate to hear you cry. I figured you’d react more or less like this when I told you, but you're takin' it pretty hard”. He chuckled, “Hey, shouldn’t you be the one comforting me right now?”
When your laugh tore through your tears, he knew you were okay. “I’m sorry,” you said, wiping your tears away, “it just hurts me so bad knowing you had to go through that”.
“Hey, would a trip to the zoo make you feel better?”
“Yeah”. You chuckled again, “Yeah, it would”. Your heart swelled at the thought of seeing his sweet little girl again...and spending time with him.
🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀🎀
For the next few months, the two of you spent more and more time together while still maintaining strong boundaries. It became increasingly difficult as you both fell deeper and deeper in love, more than ever before, which you wouldn’t have thought possible back in high school. As much as you wanted to jump back into each other’s arms, both of you treasured one another too much to risk jumping in too soon and everything falling apart again. The stakes were far too high this time around. So, you played it safe.
