#lea e me alone

[calware]

context

guy who lives in my building keeps trying to talk to me but i don't like him (one of his friends is a nazi and when i brought it up he brushed it off) what do i do… do i just ghost him??

[cherry-bomb-ships]

CTRumble season 2 trailer just dropped and like

Wait wait okay why was this one emote kinda

[lawnclown]

wpuld u still love me if i put antonio variações in da hdb playlist

[tropicana1983]

sonic adventure 2 is so fucking charming it's unreal. what is happening

[yanxidarlings]

honestly idk what this is but i was in a tad of an angsty mood and this was supposed to be for an ask but it kinda sucks and i didn't like how it fit into the ask but i didn't want to not publish it if that makes sense? so here's a lil oneshot of reader meeting his yandere's

THE HOGWARTS EXPRESS: YANDERE! MATTHEO RIDDLE X MALE! READER X YANDERE! THEODORE NOTT

starting at hogwarts was a moment of excitement for many young witches and wizards. coming of age to learn how to execute spells and brew potions was a formative moment in a wizards life. from a long line of pureblood ravenclaws, m/n l/n was escorted across the platform by the familys house elf. the sight of countless figures bustling around was overwhelming. instinctively, m/n l/n covered his lower face with his hand "young master" the house elf called out, but the boy was zoned out. tugging the mittened hand of the boy, the house elf repeated "young master, you must board the train now"

the attention of the boy was finally earned, "okay" was all he said as he shook off the house elf's hold. the two boarded the hogwarts express, shuffling through the crowds of students searching for a free compartment. m/n l/n was quiet as the house elf guided him to an empty compartment, barely looking up as he followed the elf's lea-

bump "'m sorry" was all he muttered before run-walking off, not looking up at the individuals face or waiting for a response.

"that was rude, young master" the house elf chimed as they came to a stop, the smaller creature opening a compartment door and handing the boy his bags. his mouth opened to speak, but no words came out. with a bow, the house elf left m/n to his own devices.

e/c eyes stared blankly out the window, hands clutched, mind swirling. now that he was alone the panic would settle in. 7 years, leaning his head on the glass, i can't keep this up for 7 years, the train took off, the reality of everything setting in.

abrubtly, rudely disturbing the male's panic session, the compartment door opened "there's that son of a bitch!" "who the hell do you think you are" "you filthy mudblood" a voice rung. snapping his head to the door, with wide, disturbed eyes. the other boy dragged m/n out of his seat by the collar "'m sorry" the dark haired boy mocked, "do you know who i am?" m/n remained quiet "oh and now your going to stay quiet like a fucking baby" nothing "a mudblood like you better learn to respect his superiors" m/n surpressed a giggle at the others words.

the boy looked like he was about to explode with fury. his fist bundled up and his grip on m/n's shirt tightened, just as he was about to give the other a black eye, another voice spoke "calm down riddle, he bumped into you he didn't curse you"

the bo- riddle's fist only became redder as he turned towards the other, also dark haired, male "don't fucking tell me what to do not-" riddle was unable to finish his sentance as m/n's fist collided with his face.

nott had an agape expression as riddle cradled his nose, turning to stare at m/n with wide eyes.

riddle looked as if he was about to say something, trying to figure out how to respond. m/n had already sat back down again "are you done" he spoke, doing his best to stare directly into riddle's eyes. "yes he is" nott answered for the other as he pushed pass riddle and sat down "theodore nott" he extended his hand, an unreadable expression on his face. riddle eventually spoke "mattheo riddle".

m/n did not say anything for a while, eyes studying the two- mattheo and theodore, before finally replying "ok. please leave now"

they did not leave.

mattheo scoffed "you've got a lot of nerve for a mudblood" m/n was staring out the window again. he sighed lightly, standing up and grabbing his luggage, without a word, he left. that was enough socialization for one train ride.

leaving the two intruding males behind. "why wouldn't he reveal his identity if he wasn't muggleborn" mattheo didn't know if he was talking to theodore, or himself "you look disappointed, riddle, got a crush already?" mattheo began to lunge towards theodore, but stopped himself half-way, sitting back, and folding his arms. mattheo riddle did indeed have a crush.

the rest of the train ride passed by quickly, the first years were guided off the train by a tall man that introduced himself as hagrid, who ushered them towards these small rowboats. mattheo found himself rushing to the same boat as the boy who had punched him earlier, missing by just a second. he stared at the other from a distance as they travelled towards the castle, and as they were led towards the great hall, ignoring the chattering of his 'friends'.

"lorenzo berkshire" professor mcgonagall called name after name "slytherin!", "susan bones" "hufflepuff" "draco malfoy" "slytherin" "michael corner" "ravenclaw", m/n fiddled his fingers as he awaited his name being called, the feeling of an intense stare didn't help his nerves either, he glanced up for a moment to see mattheo riddle glaring? at him from the slytherin table. at least ill be in ravenclaw, away from him m/n soothed to himself.

"m/n l/n" professor ... mcgonagan? called out. carefully walking up to the stool, he sat gently. the hat was placed upon his head, mumbling to itself, before letting out a gasp "that is strange" it muttered. dread filled m/n's stomach, it knows, he could've cried right then and there, but he knows better, he knows what would happen.

"slytherin!" the sorting hat finally yelled out. for a moment, he didn't move, "are- are you sure" he quietly asked the hat, "positive, that's where you belong".

and with that, mcgonagan ushered m/n towards the slytherin table, the only free spot next to a blonde first year, that's gotta be a malfoy, m/n thought to himself as he approached the table. "im malfoy, draco malfoy, i think we'll make good friends, l/n" the blonde had already outstretched his hand. if he weren't now sharing a house with the boy, m/n would have ignored him, but his grandmother would kill him if he insulted a malfoy, so he just nodded "sure we will".

the whole feast, malfoy wouldn't shut up, my father this, my family that, not to mention the kid on his left, lorenzo berkshire, kept trying to strike up a conversation. theodore nor mattheo didn't say anything, but didn't stop staring, m/n could see a cut on his nose from the impact, and the outlines of a forming bruise. i should probably apologise for that.

[jermer10]

Oh god.. this is a bit depraved but here we goHello! Uh if you are taking requests right now, could you maybe make a spicy TF2 mercs x male!reader where the reader is into weapon play (could be their reactions to simple things .. like a gasp from the gun touching their skin to something more smutty, your pick!)It'd be nice to have all mercs but if too much sniper, soldier and engineer would the the 3 favs!

TF2 male s/o with a weapon kink

18+ only, male reader | tried to add some heavier nsfw, i hope you enjoy anon!

includes: soldier, engineer, sniper tw: sexual content, weapon play kink

drabbles under the cut :P

Soldier: - Soldier knew about this kink long before he had started fucking you - he may be stupid, but he knows what an erection looks like, and you were always rock hard after watching him bash an enemy to death with his market gardener - so he decided to confront you, like any concerned teammate would - ARE YOU ATTRACTED TO ME, MAGGOT?", he pressed the shovel into your throat, backing you into a corner - subtly isn't his strong suit - "what the f..fuck..?" your skin crawled with arousal - you couldn't speak, let alone think with the rusted edge of the weapon tugging at your skin - "why do you ask?" you choked out, face flushed in embarrassment - Soldier shamelessly palmed your erection, "THAT'S WHY." - you groaned, jaw slack and eye brows furrowed. you expected Soldier to relent, yet he continued to stroke you through your pants. - subtly DEFINITELY wasn't his strong suit, and to be frank you were enjoying the way he was man-handling you - "I SHARE THIS...ATTRACTION." a sickening grin plastered on his rough features and his shovel pressing harder into your trachea - his body was so close to yours, backing you against the concrete walls of the base and forcing himself onto you - your eyes rolled to the back of your head as he continued to grope at your cock - "fuuuuuck Soldier p..leas..e..." your voice was gruff, the words seemed to be drawn out of you "PLEASE WHAT, CUPCAKE?" you didn't take him for a tease - "fuhck me!" you plead, throatily moaning at the cold, stinging sensation of the shovel cutting into your throat, your cock throbbed, the fabric rubbing your dick raw - you didn't have to ask twice, Soldier pushed you to the ground, ass up, knees scraping against the concrete floor, and market gardener pressed strongly between your shoulder blades

Engineer: - he would never admit it, but if he had a dollar for the amount of times he spent fucking his fist thinking about stuffing you with the muzzle of his shotgun, he would be rich - so when was walking past your room and noticed your door ajar, hearing the unmistakable slick sounds of masturbation, he couldn't help but peer in, hoping to get some new material - and when he saw you fucking yourself with a pistol and breathily moaning his name, he knew that he had to help - "hey darlin', seems like you were callin' out my name?" he knocked on the doorframe, smirking at the way you scrambled to cover yourself - "now don't you worry, y/n...i'm here to help," your face was burning - he positioned himself behind you, leaning against the wall and pulling you into his lap - Engie pulled the gun out of your puckering hole and began thrusting - your slutty moans, accompanying the praising whispers and sticky noises of the gun and your asshole meeting repeatedly, bounced off of the walls in your bedroom - Engie, feeling the high from the moment and the power he held in his fist, clicked off the safety on the gun - you began to shake, adrenaline coursing through your veins and the fear that at any moment the trigger could be squeezed - he lazily stroked your cock with his right hand as his left drove the gun into you - even if he did kill you, you would just respawn with no memory of the last hour or so, but he wanted you to remember everything - it was all becoming too much for him, he could feel himself reaching climax as your writhing body pressed into his chest and crotch, and when he finally came, you came with him - ropes of cum lathered his hand and your bare chest, Engie was impressed, to say the least - but despite your joint climax, he wasn't finished with you

Sniper: - Sniper's hide site was in a heavily concealed room sitting atop a random abandoned building - where he was and what he was doing didn't matter, you had been targeted by the enemy team's Sniper, and despite the fact that from where he was perched you seemed clearly annoyed, he couldn't help but see the redness in your face as the other Australian cornered you time and time again with his kukri - countless backstabs from Spy, bonks with Scouts bat, nothing came close to the way your face would go beet when he held the knife to your neck before swiftly ending you - Sniper wanted to try it for himself, clearly you had some sort of attraction to him - and he would be lying if he didn't find the idea of forcing you to suck him off while holding a blade to your throat hot - he signaled you to come up to his spot, making sure no one followed you - "hey, what's up man?" you huffed, you looked exhausted - Sniper felt awkward, but the erection in his pants was unrelenting and the way your eyes met his with a sort of nervous lust didn't help - "on your knees." he simply stated, unsheathing the kukri from his belt holster - your face went blank, did you hear him correctly? was Sniper wrong about his assumption? - "oh god, you saw me with the other Sniper..." realization hit your face, and so did an embarrassed flush - you bashfully knelt, doe-eyed looking up at the New Zealander-Australian man - Sniper unbuckled his pants, his cock springing out into your face - he held the knife up to you "suck." he commanded, his face flush and his palms sweating profusely

[whumblr]

Experiment

Continuation from Scary words - pt 1 here

-

After the A for asphyxiation, Roman had effortlessly weaved into B for broken voice.

Dani had crumbled to the floor when he finally removed the cane, clutching her throat, broken gasps wheezing and whistling past her lips.

Unfortunately, it left her right where he wanted her; slumped over on her knees, back exposed.

And while he already had his broken voice, he couldn’t resist following it up with a few broken screams ripped from a broken throat.

It felt like her windpipe had shattered and the shards had lodged on the inside of her throat, each breath stabbing them in further.

“Do you want to continue your ABC’s?” Roman’s voice snapped her back to the present, to the library, where he was sitting at the reading table, her sitting in her chair on the other side of the room. “We only have D for drowning and E for electrocution to go before we can dive into flagellation. I’d say we can tick off D and E at the same time, even…”

She would gladly undergo those things if she got her C for castration. But unfortunately, they’d crossed the C off with, of course, the caning that followed after he broke her voice. She’d already unleashed her own ABC’s with asshole, bastard, and creep for starters, but he’d just tutted and pointed out that her voice and throat needed healing and that insults weren’t helping. What she needed was silence. Enforced silence, if necessary. He even threatened a gag or a collar. So for the past few days, the only thing she could do was curl up in her reading chair and give him her deadliest glares.

Roman had remained unperturbed. Brought her fucking tea with honey, placing it next to her pile of books on the side table with a genuine smile as she was reading. She couldn’t thank him; wasn’t allowed to thank him if he wanted to draw out some words to have an excuse to collar her, not that she wanted to thank him. She glared at the tea – tea with honey was fucking disgusting and the smell made her even more angry – and she wondered if it would even help a crushed throat.

Infuriatingly, it did.

“I’m good.” Her voice was still hoarse but at least by now she was allowed to speak again.

“Good, ‘cause I was thinking more of E for experiment.”

She didn’t like the sound of that.

“See,” Roman continued, as if her silence was one that invited him to keep talking, “Pain can be influenced by a lot. The body has its ways to reduce or relieve pain, by hormones, adrenaline, endorphins, name it. Not to mention there are outside influences like the various painkillers and drugs. And it gets me wondering… if it can be reduced, then could it also be increased?”

He got up and gestured for her to follow him to his office. Reluctantly, she did. She uncomfortably looked on as he rummaged about in a drawer of his desk and he pulled out small case. He put it on his desk and opened it to reveal an injection needle and two vials with, judging by the unnatural blue colour, questionable content.

“What does that do?” she heard herself ask.

“Supposedly, it inhibits the release of adrenaline. That alone should up the magic for a bit but it should have the direct opposite effect of painkillers. Instead of blocking neurotransmission of pain, it stimulates the neuron and sends more signals to the brain.”

Oh, the wonders of unethical research.

“And, of course, you need a test subject…” she said, eyes on the blue liquid.

“Naturally.”

“You know, the man who started the pain index tested everything out on himself. I think should try these experiments on yourself as well. Otherwise your peers will just think you’re a pussy.”

“Well, there’s only one peer involved in this research and you already think I’m a pussy, so I don’t have much to lose.”

Pussy was a bit of an understatement in her humble opinion… And true, he didn’t have any of her respect left to lose.

“But my sense of pain is already increased due to stress…” she tried.

“We’ll just have to make a note of that in the footnotes.” Well, at least he acknowledged it… with a malicious grin that is. He closed the case with the syringe and carefully took it in his hands. “Now, come with me.”

She followed down to the basement, already knowing that the footnotes were a non-existent thing. This was purely to sate his own curiosity. And by god was she hoping that he bought – or made? – a dud. A harmless dud. She dawdled in the middle of the empty room, watching him.

“Let’s start… modestly.” His hand roamed over a row of knives and he picked a small – compared to the other things on display – hunting knife. “You wanna lie on there?” He gestured the knife towards the metal table.

She absolutely did not, thank you. No way she was going to make this experiment easier on him.

Roman shrugged. “I agree.” And he snapped forward.

He grabbed her by the front of her shirt, got her off-balance, and pushed hard. Her world tilted. Her shoulder blades crashed against the cold, concrete floor. And before she could even get a dazed “fuck…” past her lips, Roman was already on top of her, having both wrists pinned under his knees.

“Stay with me, Dani dear,” he snapped his fingers in front of her face, “I’m going to need your honest responses here.” He held out the hunting knife in both hands and unsheathed it dramatically.

The sight of the knife helped more than the annoying snapping in her face; she snarled and started to buck against him, trying to get her wrists free.

He merely tutted and leaned over her, resting the blade just above her wrist. “Don’t, you don’t want me to slip. Like I said, we’ll just start modestly.”

His eyes were intently focused on hers, taking in every twitch, every bit of fear written over her face.

She didn’t have that luxury. Nor did she want to see the hunger on his face. Her eyes were fixed on the knife, ready for the—

His first cut drew a sharp intake of breath. But more in surprise than because of the pain. Luckily, it was barely more than a scratch and barely squeezed out a drop of blood.

But his intentions were made clear when he moved the knife a few inches up. And the prick of the tip breaking through skin grew sharper as it started to carve its way through.

Roman let the blade roll along on its curve, the edge sinking in up to where the sharpened lighter grey part thickened into the rest of the blade. He rested a hand just under her elbow and leaned his weight on it when she started to struggle. The knife resurfaced with a red hue and he dragged the tip to the other end of her arm to complete a full line.

Dani grit her teeth, squeezed her eyes shut, keeping any pain bottled up, merely letting part of it escape in a frustrated grunt.

But the third time the knife broke skin, she flew up with a surprised yelp. The knife sank in deeper than before, and instead of feeling the sting of easily parted skin, this time she felt him force it through deeper layers. The quick slice was replaced by a slow dragging, drawing out the pain, until inch by inch, the build-up became too much.

She let out a cry. Let her head fall back against the concrete. Judging by the pain, she wouldn’t be surprised if he was close to or already carving directly into muscle. She clenched her teeth, forcing herself to keep a ‘stop!’ – or worse, ‘please’ – well contained.

Roman shushed her and despite his concentration on his carving, a smile started forming on his face.

“Now then,” he said, admiring his three cuts. He pulled the knife away, put it down, and he reached for the case with the needle. “Round two is the real deal.”

Like unsheathing the knife, he made a show of it. Stabbing the needle in the small vial, pulling the plunger back slowly while keeping his eyes locked with hers, flicking the syringe and putting the vial neatly back in the case. Slow, calculated, because he could. Then his thumb rested on the plunger and Dani braced herself.

“No,” she growled and tried sit up. “No you are not—"

Immediately his hand shot around her throat, cutting off her air, pushing her back down. And with just his thumb on her chin, he forced her to face sideways, giving him full access to her exposed neck.

Dani whimpered when she felt the needle pierce skin, when she felt that goddamn blue potion enter her system.

Roman sat back, leaning to the side to put the syringe back, but again his eyes didn’t leave hers. And they both waited for something to happen.

Nothing happened. As far as she was concerned. It was probably just her imagination… that the little bones in her wrists grinded painfully under his knees, rolling and bumping into each other with each movement he made. She just... hadn’t noticed before, what with the knife carving her up, that’s all. And it was just stress, or the aftermath of her struggle just now, that made the bruises from last week’s caning flare up, her shoulder blades tensing against the hard, unyielding concrete. Her throat flaring back up was because of that first surprised cry after days of silence.

And the three cuts over her forearm stinging harder than before was just part of his stupid placebo plan. Maybe after the initial fight and cutting up, adrenaline had just ebbed dow—oh shit.

Supposedly, it inhibits the release of adrenaline.

“Is it working?” Roman asked in the sweetest voice, noticing how her face fell.

“No,” she growled, shifting uncomfortably.

He hummed a note of disbelief. “Now for the before and after…”

He slashed the knife over the small of her wrist, matching the small scratch on the other and didn’t even bother with her response, immediately resting the tip a few inches above it.

It pricked out more than a lone drop of blood; tears started burning in her eyes. Pain, fear of a more intense pain, and the complete lack of control taking its toll on her.

Besides. If this worked, and probably even if it didn’t work, this was going to be waiting for her with everything he did. Beating. Injection. More severe beating drawing out more pain. Knifeplay. Injection. See what it does. Five whiplashes. Inj—

A gasp combined with a cry of pain as he repeated his process, letting his blade roll along. It was like acid slowly crawled over her skin, biting its way across, burning deeper, nibbling at her nerve ends.

“Ohh, I think it’s working,” he crooned as she twisted her head away. He rested a thumb under the cut, lightly pulling it open.

“No! No, it’s— AahH!" And this time not just the tip but almost the whole freaking knife dug into her arm.

She trashed under him, screaming, crying, voice tearing up her throat again. But it didn’t stop him from dragging out that final line, mirroring the gash on her other arm. He pushed her back down, leaned his weight heavier onto her wrist as she pulled and twisted wildly to get free.

Maybe it was her panic, maybe it was the accumulation of everything, maybe it was that goddamn drug, but it hurt worse than before and she just couldn’t take it. She screamed with every bit of skin that was forced apart and when he was finally done, she fell down on her back, shallow panicked breaths mixing with soft sobs.

Roman hummed and wiped the blade on her shirt. “And here I was sure that it worked…” He considered her, wicked grin on his face. He nudged up a little, letting her wrists slip free. But she was too dazed to do anything and she remained down, trying to catch her breath, just watching how the blood tickled down her arms.

“But well,” he continued, picking up one of the vials and holding it up in front of his eyes. Not even a quarter of it had been used. “If you say it’s not working… maybe we need a bigger sample size.”

He rose and neatly packed everything back into its case. A whimper rose up when he picked up the knife but he shushed her gently and held out a hand for her.

“Let’s disinfect all this first, shall we.”

-

Continued here

Tag list: @firewheeesky @myfriendcallsmeasickwoman19 @whumpawink @painsandconfusion @whumpifi @whumpy-daydreams @whumpyourdamnpears @auroragehenna

[mikasa-imadebiscults]

hello! can i request a few nsfw scenarios for sekido? maybe with a female reader that puts him in sub space easily. thank you!

(I knew someone was going to request something for Sekido eventually, I hope you don’t mind that I only do 1 scenario but anyways this is a good request, thank you.)

Back In Your Place

100 Followers Event: 22/31

SUB! Sekido x DOM! FEM!Reader

(Warning: NSFW, public sex, choking, marking, Mistress kink)

Before you started dating Sekido, Sekido always thought that he would be the dominant one in the relationship no matter what. Well that was until he met you.. let’s just say he quickly got put in his place.

It was in the middle of the night and you were sitting on a wooden bench, enjoying nature and getting fresh air. Sekido finds you there and sits next to you, pulling you onto his lap. You were now on his lap facing towards him, your legs on either side of his waist.

You knew that he was in the mood, you could feel his bulge right through the fabric that was covering his crotch. The thing is, you were not about to get dominated by him.

You grabbed him by the neck with one hand and the other hand grabbed his kimono. You flipped both of you over so that now he’s laying down on the bench and you are now sitting on his bulge.

Sekido acted like he was angry, but you knew that this turned him on so much when his bulge got bigger. You applied some pressure on his neck and with the other hand you opened up the kimono to reveal his muscular chest.

You bent over to kiss his chest, soft kisses turning into soft bite marks, soft bite marks turning into hard bite marks, making sure that they will stay there for a few days.

You ripped off the rest of his kimono and waited a few minutes to admire the masterpiece you made all over his chest. You then moved up to sit on his abs, one hand still on his neck while the other is reaching behind you to grab at his dick and stroke it.

As you were stroking it up and down very slowly, you let go of his neck to allow noises to come out of him. The hand that was originally on his neck now was grabbing his chin and was forcing his mouth open.

Sekido moaned out, it has only been a few minutes but he was already so so desperate for you to make him cum. Just how do you do it, he thinks to himself. It wouldn’t be long before he was begging.

“P-leas-e rid- ahh~” Sekido moaned out struggling to form a coherent sentence, cheeks turning a even more darker shade of red then his eyes. His face didn’t look angry anymore, instead it looked submissive and that alone made you wet down there.

“Aww you want me to ride you? Well that’s too bad, you were being so disobedient trying to dominate your Mistress.” You felt that he was close so your hand stopped stroking his dick, to edge him on.

“Hmm just how are you going to make it up to me?” You questioned.

Sekido looks to the side trying to avoid eye contact with you, he has a slight smile on his face. He starts to think to himself, how in the hell are you able to love a person like him.

He hopes that..maybe..just maybe..you will stay with him long enough so that he can marry you, like you always dreamed of..

Masterlist

In the Masterlist there’s a link to make requests

[mammalsofaction]

Don't Leave Me Here Alone

Rating: E

Relationship: Heinz Doofenshmirtz/Perry the Platypus

Tags: incredibly emotional smut, fuck or die, human Perry, talking Perry, bath sex which is incredibly inadvisable considering Heinz's age specifically, a Perry that is so so whipped for his nemesis

Summary:

I need you, he thinks. Loudly, loudly, never loud enough. "Heinz," he says instead, and Perry realizes he has said short of nothing else since he has arrived, as if he scantly remembers any other words. The heat has travelled; flushing and concentrating in his system into points beneath his breastbone, his throat, and most urgently, his groin, and he refuses to look up for fear of Heinz seeing him bleeding tears as hot as magma. When he presses his face into the pudge of Heinz belly, lips brushing the small scant of skin along the line of his belly, Perry does not mistake the sharp intake of his breath.  I need you, Perry thinks again. "If-you need me to leave, I-," The hand on his nape fists, tight-but-not-quite pulling, and Perry shuts his mouth with a click, for fear of moaning. Another hand brushes down the side of his face, and the sweat that sticks up the front of his temple. And Heinz says, equally quietly; "Come on." 

He's burning.

Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated is dark when Perry lands on the balcony of Heinz's laboratory, and Perry shucks off the straps of his jet pack from his shoulders with a vengeance. Distantly, he notes that it must be the hours right before dawn; Heinz's sleep disorders and insomnia often translate into working well into the witching hour, and he wakes by 7 or 8 to begin his schemes. 

Perry had left for his mission on Tuesday, right before Sundown. How many hours would that make before he could crawl his way here? 8? 12? 

Perry itches to tear his own skin off. 

He gets to the kitchen, lights left unlit which leaves him scrabbling the drying rack for a cup, a mug, a bowl, anything. He could not tell if he was making a ruckus, and he is not entirely sure he cares. The sound of running water from the desperate twist of the tap was akin to the angel's choir, and the first gulp to drink was nirvana. Tap water spills down the front of his shirt, mixing into various chemicals, sweat and blood, and he is abruptly overcome by the need to take them off, off, off. 

He refuses to stop drinking while he does it, no doubt tearing the garment into rags as he pops all of his buttons with his head dunked down beneath the running water of the sink. Perry feels irrational. He feels mad. Like a snarling, sick thing. 

"Who is that?" Demands a voice from beyond the kitchen. "If you're here for my money I'll have you know I have this place armed to the teeth. I'm an evil scientist, you know, I've got this umbrella and I am not afraid to use it. For violence reasons, and not the weather." 

The familiar, nasally tone--one that does not sound as sleepy as it should be--makes him smile, despite himself. His insides churn with a nauseating rush of emotions; warmth, bliss, heat, relief, hunger, need. Perry clenches every muscle in restraint, his jaw, his biceps, his muscles. The joints of his fingers dig painfully into the stonework surrounding the sink, and it creaks in alarmed protest. Perry does not answer. The light flicker on with a soft click, and Perry does not turn around from the sound of Heinz's disbelieving gasp. 

"Perry the Platypus ?" Heinz demands, as if it isn't obvious. Who else could it be? "What did they do to you?" 

What did they do, he asks, and not what are you doing here? How did you get in? Do you even know what time it is? 

Heaven, Earth and every listening God, Perry has missed him. 

He feel a gentle touch to the back of his shoulders. Perry stiffens, before he unclenches, all at once, and he slumps into the flooding sink. Heinz swears, and Perry lets the man manhandle him as he'd like, pulling and tugging and pushing and sitting him down into the straight backed wooden chair of the dining table. He leans into the headrest as Heinz fusses, muttering to himself as he pats Perry down, clinically checking for wounds. 

He knows how Perry made his way in. He knows why, too. Perry's told him months ago, when he demands an explanation for having found him beaten and bleeding into his love seat by the fireplace. I don't have anywhere else to go. 

Heinz knows who did this to him. Or rather, he knows who let them do it. Knows there is no talking Perry out of his career choices. 

Heinz was, first and foremost, a scientist, and for all his fondness of talking and mumbling and asking, it is so that when time comes he knows all the right questions to ask. 

What did they do? 

"Heinz," Perry mumbles, when he feels the man checking over his cranium for injuries, and investigating for concussions no doubt.  Heinz doesn't answer. "Heinz," he calls again, louder. and finally the man stops, eyes wide and alarmed and blue as a baby's bassinet. 

Perry doesn't quite know what to say, now that he's gotten the man's attention. He had unconsciously grabbed for his wrist, and he makes his grip gentle. "I'm fine," he tells him, and Heinz scoffs, straightening. 

"You are very clearly not fine, Perry the Platypus." He argues, fuck, and Perry loves that, loves his stubborn fire, how much he cares, the way his codename rolls straight off of his tongue like butter on a hot pan. "You're burning up for one." The penchant for stating the obvious is less attractive, he won't lie, but it's an impressively accurate deduction to make without tools and bionic arms, Perry thinks. "Sheiße, and your pupils are huge, Perry the Platypus, were you drugged? Are you high right now?"  

High? Is he high? Was he drugged? When was he drugged? Was it the food his captors had fed him? Something in the bullets they used when they captured him? A gas released in the air when Perry had trashed their laboratories? 

Had something spread through contact of the girls he had been sent to save, feverish and shivering in cuffs and manacles strapped to dirty beds and locked rooms? A residue from the skin rubbed off as he carried each one of them to safety? 

He doesn't know. It had not felt so important to think about, at the time. He had just felt so angry. He had thought of the burning heat in his chest as rage, but here he was now, leaning into his nemesis' touch in the man's kitchen at dead o'clock in the morning hours later, fantasizing about sucking the man's kind soul through his cock. 

Read the rest on ao3

[insom-nom-nom-niatic]

Female reader x Troy Otto after he "died" the reader was the one who stabbed him after he got to grabby you her she stabs with his knife and ran off she the only doctor so she valuable to the group he would also like his knife back. Maybe after a couple month he finds her and I would like some choking but anything would good

SORRY IT TOOK FOREVER!!! I hope you enjoy it.

CHARACTERS: Troy Otto X Fem Reader (third person for some reason cause that's what happened)

WARNINGS: It's made for FTWD so you should know the basics. +SMUT (read at your own risk. I'm nobody's mom) +Choking +Somewhat past possible attempt at r**e but he didn't didn't and he'd have stopped.

“Turns out being stabbed a second time hurts more than the first.”

“Good. I meant for it to hurt.” Her voice cut through the air like his knife did as it cut through his muscle. Her features showed no sign of surrender or fear, only sincerity in her words as the torch flame flickered their shadows on the cement walls. 

Troy raised both hands in surrender, his eyes glancing down to the same knife once stained with his own blood and back into her eyes. His shoulders tensed under his black jacket as her knuckles faded to a paler color gripping the handle of the sharp blade tighter. She had no reason to trust Troy after the last meeting the two had, yet, looking at the man out of his element and with no one around to make him feel taller than he already was, there was a certain chord he hit somewhere in her stomach. She didn’t feel that she was in danger, rather and oddly the opposite.

“Maybe it hurt a bit more because of who it came from.” He stood still as a tree, looking back to the woman through his eyelashes subconsciously. He was here on a mission to bring her back, but seeing her now and the life she’s had since that day months ago made a pit in his stomach open and swallow his heart whole. 

It had been 6 months give or take since she fled. Fled into the cold, rainy night unsure of what terrors where beyond the small compound. But she had to go, at least that’s what her body told her to do in the moment, there was no turning back. It took about a month for her to miss what she had. A roof over head, food and water, and most of al the protection that one Mister Otto provided. 

Ever since day 1 of finding the group, back when there was only a few of them, she could always feel something different with Troy than with any of the other men or women. He looked at her different. Talked to her different. He acted, well, gentler with her than anyone else even as the group grew to more than a few dozen. He told her on multiple occasions how they all needed her… how he needed her. 

He said that same thing the night everything changed. 

“You didn’t listen and forced my hand, Troy. Do you think I like starving out here on my own? I couldn’t come back and deal with any possibilities of YOU.” 

Ouch. Troy felt her words like a punch in the jugular. His eyes couldn’t hide the wince of pain he felt as his blue and white orbs fell to the ground at her boots astrown with holes. He thought back to that night, a night that has haunted him since. The look in her eyes when he felt the searing heat of his own blade slicing his flesh open. The apprehension that was once in her eyes now flickered with rage as she looked directly into his one good eye, pulling the blade back with force and bolting out the door, leaving his howls of pain and his own anger behind her. 

She left him alone. A nightmare he had only ever shared with her. 

“I know,” Troy’s entire expression fell like the edges of his lips. Her grip on the blade loosened as he continued. 

“I have regretted that night since, regretted what I tried to do and-” his eyes caught ahold of hers, both stomachs dropping at the same time before he continued. “-not listening to you. All those times that I told you that the group needed you, I wasn’t lying. They need you more than they need me so if that’s what it takes then-” 

“You’re going to leave for me to come back?” She cut Troy off mid sentence, shocking them both. The grin pulling at the ends of his lips to her question secured the answer both knew, but Troy was honestly questioning if he would do as he said for her. 

“Is that really what you want, darling?”

“No, no, no, no. Don’t you call me that, Troy.”  His voice changed back to the Troy she knew, the Troy that made her so irritated and yet welcomed and needed. His little pet name she only ever heard him reserve for her. She hated how much she loved it, but now was not the time for his little mind games. 

“Look-” Troy lowered his hands, resting both comfortably on his hips with his head rolling back in a stretch before meeting her gaze again. “-I know where you’re at now so the option is to come back with me willingly now or I’ll carry you kicking and screaming and the walkers can pick us both off together then leaving the group without a doctor or a leader.” 

The look he gave was unfaultering even through his bluff. She knew Troy wouldn’t force her to accompany him if she didn’t want to, and looking around the small cement room she didn’t have many reasons to NOT want to go back. But she knew if she didn’t go now, he’d end up sending a large enough group to her coordinates that she’d have to leave. It was a decision of eating roadkill for another week or not, and the growing smirk on the brunette's face solidified the answer. 

“You’re not getting your knife back.” 

“Oh c’mon!” She returned the smirk, sliding the sharp, freezing blade into the back of her jeans whilst kicking dirt on the smoldering fire, dimming the light in the room to the single lantern behind the tall brunette. 

A pit in her stomach arose, looking back at the small dug out she called home for the last few months before carrying on behind the footsteps of Troy Otto.

Her nuisance.

Her monster.

Her torment.

Her protector.

And possibly, her savior.  

As night ran into day, both she and Troy’s speed wavered. His footsteps lagged with each step whilst her hands pulled her weight forward tree after tree, both too stubborn to say it was time for a rest. 

Suddenly, a low growl came from the ditch 5 feet from their left. One growl turned into 5 moans, turned into 10 grunts and so on. Both stopped in their steps, hearing the rumbling below the dirt embankment grow with each step they took. 

Sharing a glance, She pushed Troy’s shoulder towards the sound, egging him to go see what they are facing. 

Begrudgingly, Troy cautiously snuck to the edge of the embankment, peering over for a heartbeat or two before a few large footsteps brought him back to her. His hands resting on her upper arms, somehow soothing, while his eye searched the surroundings opposite from the sounds. 

“C’mon, this way,” Troy whispered into her ear before pulling one hand along behind his back. She didn’t pull away, didn’t even notice what he’d done until the cold recaptured her skin moments later. 

As the sun set on another night somehow still breathing, she watched as Troy set traps surrounding the small camp you both had made within only a few good minutes. He swore he would stay awake throughout the night, keeping watch, and yet he paced the perimeter around the small camp fire you’d made, placing leaves and anything that would alert to movement around. 

As he finally sat opposite of her, she couldn’t helo the smile that arose her lips. 

“What?” Troy asked, his cheeks heating from within. That look, the look he’d only ever felt from her made his stomach ache with a hunger he’d only felt a handful of times. He rose to his feet once more, turning to hide the flush he knew she’d be able to see on his skin. 

“Oh c’mon, Troy. Don’t be like that!” Her tone changed to playful and open, like she once was with  him. Glancing down at her shivering fingers, the realization set in. She hadn’t felt this way, hadn’t sounded like that, since she’d been in his company. And even then, it was only ever in HIS company. 

“Come sit. Please?” 

A large breath left Troy’s chest, battling his own heart and mind was something he was used to but having her here again made his whole body numb. He finally obliged, turning on a heel and padding his large footsteps ever softly on the dirt towards her. Looking around one more time for any signs of the deead, or worst any living, before taking a seat beside her. His nose once again thanking him for the fire light in the dense cold. 

“You saved my ass back there,” Her words were soft, sincere. “So thank you, I guess. If it was just me again I probably would have been toast.” 

“You would have been fine, I’m sure.” Troy played with the scar on the back of his left palm. His right thumb digging into the rough scales of skin, the heat she gave off next to him nearly matched that of the fires. It felt good, warm. Yet, he the uneasy feeling was unwavering. 

“You‘ve known that all this-” she gestured to their surroundings. “-This was never MY strong suit. I patch up the people that are good at this kind of thing. People like YOU.” 

She earned a chuckle from the brunette, his shoulders shaking slightly bringing his eyes back up to meet the fires dancing flames. 

“I suppose you always did do a pretty decent job at fixing me up.”

“DECENT?! Oh, I did a whole hell of a lot better than decent with the stitches in your bicep, or your calf, or your left, and don’t forget about the right pec. I bet you can’t even tell you ever were wounded.” 

“You didn’t do a very good job on my thigh-” Troy stopped after that one word. He shouldn’t have said it, he shouldn't have brought it up. Dead silence fell between the two, not even the crickets had the guts to make a sound. 

“I made sure to not hit your femoral vein if that’s any consolation.” Her voice was that of a mouse. So quiet that Troy wasn’t sure if he had merely imagined it. Until he glanced slowly in her direction, catching that look of shame she had only shown once or twice, making his frown shift. 

He wanted to give her a side eye, cautionary and intense, but he had decided to sit on her right which meant his side eye had to be a full look over for his good eye to catch the way she sucked in air through gritted teeth.

Smooth Troy, very smooth. 

He felt her weight shift a tad, looking over to see her body in a full shiver before trying to hide it again. He rolled his jacket off his broad shoulders, catching the back and draping the hefty coat around her. The look she gave him didn’t need words, as he gave a half smile and turned back towards the glowing flames. 

What seemed like hours had passed in silence, comfortable silence, before Troy felt her weight lean into his side. His head swiveled in her direction, his breath caught in his throat when he felt the closeness of their faces in the dimming light. 

She didn’t turn away this time when he gave into his impulse. His flesh melting with her own. He never fully understood how humans had the ability to somehow find their partner’s lips in the dark until that moment when everything seemed to click. 

Neither one was expecting this, rather the opposite. She was expecting to not live to see their group again and he’d figured she was going to end him with his own knife one night in his sleep. But as life has it, something in their fate changed. 

Feeling his warmth only inches from her, she caved. Pressing her weight into him in a full kiss, her eyes drifting closed taking in his lips, his scent, his touch. Both grasping for skin as they weaved their lips together, his tongue nudging at her bottom lip while his hands roamed her body.. 

A sudden pressure was released from her waste band. Cool air drifting over exposed skin as Troy’s lips curved against the pulse of her neck. His chest wavered with a deep chuckle as his head fell backwards with a toothy grin in a croak of laughter. 

“This is mine now,” Troy waved his knife in the air above the two, like a child finally getting back their favorite toy. “Well... again.”

Sitting back on her elbows, the woman shook her head slowly, unable to help the grin growing on her features. He was such a literal pain in the ass but when he was like this, when he wasn’t so serious and did that little giggle of his she couldn’t help but fall further down his rabbit hole. 

His eye caught hers again, shadows flickering in the movement of the flames at their feet as he curled one arm around her torso moving to hover over her form without ant loss of eye contact. He was afraid he’d see that fear in her irises again like the last time they were this close, but he caught submission, adoration, maybe some excitement instead. 

His body moved against hers, clothing against disheveled clothing causing friction against both their skin. She was sure he could feel the heat radiating through her body where his hips rolled against hers. His sweet moan filling her senses as his eye bore down on her. His eye grew dark, lustful, wanting more than just the friction of clothing. He wanted to warm her up in the cool dark night in more ways than just this. 

The small bite of her lip and a nod gave him all the leeway he needed. Not a second passed before his lips were suctioned back onto hers. His tongue forced its way through partially opened lips as his fingertips did the same to her waistband. She was in such a flurry she didn’t even realize where his hand had disappeared to until his lips traveled to her ear, whispering how wet she had become before a wave of heat ran up her spine, arching her back against his touch as his cold hand palmed her most sensitive bundle of nerves. 

Choking on air, she breathed deeply into the skin exposed on Troy’s neck above her. Her fingernails gripped the jean jacket covering his shoulders as he nipped little bites down her neck and onto her chest. His movements faltered as he glanced up, catching sight of the woman clenching her eyes closed, teeth gritted on her bottom lip sure to cause blood. Something about that aroused Troy further, quickening his hand free from her jeans and making short work at removing the slightly damp piece of clothing. 

Staring down at her form, Troy felt his member twitch, longing to be free from it’s confines. She wore a simple pair of blue panties that caressed her just right, barely covering her modesty from what he could see in the dimming fire light. Her thighs twitched under his gaze, her meat looking as delicious as the shy giggle that escaped her swollen lips. 

His gaze shifted up her body, taking note of every cut and bruise that covered it before locking gaze with her again. Her eyes had darkened as his did as he shrugged his light jacket off, throwing it towards a tree to their left. His white T-shirt following suit. 

From where she lay, she could see the bulge in Troy’s pants shiver with every movement she made beneath him. Her foot nudged his ass whilst he removed his shirt earning a throaty groan from the brunette between her legs. She scanned his body in the shadows, her gaze stopping on the last wound she cured. A large scar on his abdomen still ever present as a wave of his cries of pain fled like a stream through her ears. 

Troy saw the way her eyes changed, knowing she was occupied elsewhere in that pretty little mind. Clearing his throat, he regained her attention only to give her a little show taking off his jeans. He forgot she hadn’t seen the scar she herself gave him until the moment her eyes once again fell. Her fingers reached out, pulling her to sit in front of him as she ghosted her fingertips over the scaled skin. 

She sure did a good job leaving her mark. 

Troy gave her a moment, but no longer than that before his fingertips caressed her chin. His callouses rubbed her soft, cold skin raising her attention to look him in the eye. The smirk she was met with sent another shiver down her spine, this time accompanied by a hefty gulp and a new warmth dripping from her core. 

One hand dipped lower, finding her folds with ease, applying just enough pressure to earn a whimper from her as his other hand draped around her neck. With a catch in her breath, her eyes shot open with a smirk feeling his fingertips close around delicate skin. 

Her own fingers traced harder over the scales on his thigh but eventually gave in to his touch, leaning backward until her back once again met the cold, hard dirt. Her hands dug small scrapes through the pine needles cushioning around her. Troy’s grip on her throat didn’t relent as his other hand delved one digit, now warmed between the two, into her glistening core. With every pulse that clenched down on his finger, his own member reciprocated. 

The cold air around them was a welcomed element. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to resist her much longer as he rubbed his clothed cock on her inner thigh. 

He wanted her to need him. 

He waited for her to need him. 

He needed her to need him. 

As his name dripped from her lips, Troy couldn’t hold back any longer. He didn’t waste time undressing any further as he pulled his underwear down just enough to release his begging cock before replacing his finger with a much larger fulfillment. 

He watched as her eyes clenched shut, a single tear running from one corner of her eye glistening from the shallowly dancing flames. His grip on her neck released at the feeling of her nails raking down his bicep. Her touch melded with the sweet smell of her arousal and gasps of breaths, his thrusts unrelenting. Filling her to the brim over and over. Watching her face contort in ecstasy whilst he sucked in his bottom lip to keep from silent. The only thing he couldn’t muffle were the grunts and groans that escaped him and the sound of bet skin meeting wet skin with such force and need that would make even a nun blush. 

Troy felt her begin to spasm in an eruption of an orgasm. 

It was in her breathing. It was in her nails grazing his skin. It was in the way her body contracted around his cock. It was in the way she whispered sweet-nothings only he will ever know as she bit down on his shoulder, surely leaving yet another one of her marks on his skin. 

He knew he needed to pull out, his own release matching hers. But the way she felt, how she looked, the way she smelled and sounded filled his senses and all Troy could think about was painting those glorious, tight walls of her with his seed. It was a dangerous game they were playing, he knew that. 

And still he did as he pleased. 

His body fell atop hers. All strength leaving him in his release as he collapsed above her, limp dick still within her walls feeling every pulse her body made. 

Everything was silent, the world seemed to disappear as the two soaked up each others heat as the sweat balls rolled off each others skin and into the earth below. 

When the sun began to rise, shining brilliantly through the fog lifting from the tree tops, the pair shared a look. 

“We should get going I suppose. One more day to camp, right?”

Troy nodded silently, a small grin returning to his swollen lips as he chewed his tongue slightly. “I’ve been used to sleepless nights, but this one took a bit more out of me so keep it slow.” 

The woman giggled hopping to her feet and extending an open hand down to Troy, both fully knowing if he took it he'd pull them both down.

“Who knew you’d be such a little chatter box after intimacy, Mr. Otto. The sleeplessness wasn’t fully my fault I do recall.” 

Troy leaned his head back against the tree where both were once propped up on, a toothy smile adorn on his tired and satisfied face. His chest heaving with a silent laugh before shoeing her hand away with a grunt to his feet.   

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

@intertexts OKAY. FINALLY GETTING MY SHIT TOGETHER AND WRITING THIS ALL DOWN SO ITS NOT JUST ROTATING IN MY BRAIN ANYMORE

NEW HAVEN WARDS MARK WINTERS ESSAY (except its more like. stream of consciousness me being insane over him)

>> its been too long, simurgh is too close. she fucking ROCKS half the city with an earthquake before she shows up. ashe runs inside as the roof collapses. his mom is trapped- she had grabbed her phone and some other small essentials and was on her way out when she got pinned by the rubble. ive typed this part out already in another post but as shes yelling at ashe trying to get him to leave, she realizes he wont go by himself so she texts mark . its kind of a shot in the dark- part of her hopes he hasnt evacuated yet so he can come get ashe and get him to safety, but she immediately feels this sense of dread for thinking like that because then that also means he's in as much danger as they are. and she can hear the singing now- some tiny part of her brain logically knows its too late and theyll be trapped by the quarantine protocols anyway, but. they can still get out of that alive. they just need to get there. anyway the important thing here is that the last thing ever hears from his wife is a text that says "ashe athome cant lea e come get hjm"

adding jonesys stupid fucking image in here bc it's so funny to me and is fr how I felt typing this whole thing up for like 4 hours

>> okay going to try my hardest to keep this chronological but i KNOW i will get distracted from that halfway through. starting from the simurgh attack. assuming simurgh attacks look pretty similar to each other, ive been imagining this a lot like the one we actually got to see with the travelers. the notice to evacuate went out in the early afternoon. (im going to say on a wednesday because thats the day i used in my fic and this is OUR AU i get to make the emotionally devastating rules. not that that matters to anyone but me. its a little treat.) so. mark was at work, ashe was at school, i like 2 think ashes mom works in somehting to do with old things or books or whatever so she was probably at work too. her IMMEDIATE thought is to go get ashe from school, because of course it is! (worldbuilding side note i think there are probably evac protocols in place for schools where. first priority is to keep the kids Togehter and get them out first so theyre SUPPOSED to evacuate straight from there and then meet up with their parents when everything is safe. but in a real emergency what parent is going to trust that and just leave their kids safety up to someone else?) she gets to the school and it is absolute chaos with all of the other parents trying to do the same thing. she gets ashe, goes to call mark to tell him where they are and- oh, yeah. she forgot her phone at home this morning. i just. like. the mundanity in that. its a normal morning, she maybe woke up late and had to rush out the door, got to work realized she didnt have her phone, had the thought like "damn thats frustrating. oh well, not like ill need it, ill just get it when im home later" we've all had days like that!!!!!!!!! but it becomes fucking heartbreaking in this situation because it means she now has No Way of contacting her husband to let him know that she has ashe and to tell him not to go to the school (because hes probably thinking the same thing) and to get out and where to meet them when theyre out. she KNOWS its a bad idea, she knows it would be catastrophic if they took too long... but all the other cars are going in the opposite direction, the road back is completely empty, surely they can be fast enough? she knows exactly where she left it, itll take two seconds and hey maybe the roads will be empty enough at that point they can get out even faster. so they fucking RUSH back home. she tells ashe to stay in the car wiht the doors locked while she runs inside.. he is scared and confused and doesnt want to be alone so after. maybe 30 seconds of her being gone he gets out of the car and goes inside.

>> switching to mark pov finally. evac notice goes out, he fucking books it to his car. but because its important to me that hes a little bit of a coward. this is where he hesitates. he knows he should find his family. meet up with them, make sure theyre all okay and they all make it out together. he's also logical. he knows this is a bad idea and his wife's job is closer to the school, shes probably already got ashe and theyre on their way out too. he can just leave. but he hasnt heard anything from her. thats not like her, she would call or something if they were okay, wouldnt she? so he kind of. panics over what he should do. he starts driving, telling himself he'll make up his mind on the road. hes about halfway to the end of the quarantine zone when he gets the text. has a moment of "fuck why are they there?" before immediately deciding to go get them. finds the aftermath of ashe's trigger. ashe is in breaker state, unresponsive except for... why is he laughing. hes sitting on the floor, knees up to his chest hands over his head jsut kind of. staring into the middle distance eyes unfocused quietly loopy laughing like hes totally unaware of the. scene.

>> mark is like. frozen there for a minute obviously horrified and he thinks ashe is having some kind of mental break at the shock and horror (he doesnt. understand that ashe killed her yet) until he goes and tries to get him to stand up and . oh the floor is unstable and bouncy like a trampoline and as soon as he touches ashe's shoulder hes knocked back by a pain in his hand that suspiciously feels like a joybuzzer turned up to 11. okay! fuck! his kid is a fucking parahuman and his wife is dead and the singing in his head just keeps getting louder and he knows what that means and he knows they have to get the hell out of there but hows he gonna do that when he cant get within 5 feet of ashe-

>> i think he just has to like. sit there and talk to ashe. which is a uniquely horrible punishment because it kills so much time in a situation where they need to get out, now, and the whole time theyre in the same room with whats left of a bloody corpse (but he cant think about that right now) and he has to be calm and keep his voice low because every sudden movement makes ashe's powers flare up again in response to a perceived threat- its MESSY, its SLOW its TERRIBLE but he needs ashe to calm down enough that he can actually talk to him and get him out. he eventually does (it feels like hours later, it was probably only like.. 10 minutes) and the weird distortions stop and mark just. runs forward and picks him up and takes him out to the car before ashe can. see what else is in the room.

>> he doesnt even bother putting ashe in another seat in the car he just holds him in his lap as he drives (oh god there are wings in the sky) just. as fast as he fucking can to whatever checkpoint or hospital or safe zone there is for any survivors. theres. not many. enough that the two of them can get lost in the crowd if they try hard enough but . not enough to fill an auditorium. he's maybe got a bunch of really small scrapes or bruises from the process of trying to get ashe to calm down but he doesnt know whether ashe is actually hurt or not so he goes to find some sort of medical attention and the whole time hes thinking "maybe this is a bad idea. i shouldnt tell them ashe has powers what if they take him away" and he gets the same sort of rundown about quarantine and payment that krouse got and mark is just standing there fucking shaking, hes still carrying ashe, he hasnt put him down since they left the house (ashe is still out of it- not because of his powers but because of. everything) and i think thats the breaking point where mark makes up his mind like. fuck this. we cant stay here, we cant go through all of the bullshit protocols, we cant wait that long (he can still hear simurgh in his head- what if shes pushing him to make this choice? is that exactly what she wants? who cares im getting my son somewhere safe)

>> i think mark is really good at. compartmentalizing and pushing down any emotion thats not anger and turning to logic in panic situations rather than emotion. so he hasnt like. fully processed any of this yet. he was more focused on "solve the problem, get out, get safe" to actually think about the fact that. oh my wife is dead. ashe doesnt have a mom anymore. ashe has powers now. how is he gonna deal with a powered kid? he never really cared about capes what does he even do now? i dont think any of this hits him until theyre out of the quarantine zone hiding out somewhere safe (as safe as they can be after. all of that) and his head is quiet and ashe is asleep and he looks down at his phone and sees the text and it all comes crashing down like. oh my god that was real. shes gone. he doesnt even have anything of hers and he never will because their house is basically gone and they can never go back and- FUCK HIM UP!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK HIM UP i want him to have a fucking breakdown . villain origin story moment he realizes nothing is ever going to be okay or normal ever again because theyve been marked by simurgh and hes already broken a huge fucking law how much worse can it get? what else does he have to lose. everything in his life revolves around keeping them safe and keeping ashe out of danger. simurgh be damned if hes going to become an agent of chaos it might as well be on his own terms to protect whats left of his family.

>> i think they move around a lot after that, never staying in one place for too long, never doing anything that make people look at them too closely. mark does a bunch of odd jobs, but its hard to get a job when youre legally dead and have no experience with making a fake identity so. theres a lot of stealing. never anything that would garner cape attention, at least at first, and if people started to get too suspicious theyd just pack up and move again.

>> and then mark does something that DOES draw cape attention. idk what it would be, but it captures the attention of. a guy who knows a guy who works for overlord. hey man you seem like you could use a job. off the books. so he joins up as like a... foot soldier mercenary whatever for overlord. this job is risky- hes essentially a full time criminal now (but what does that matter, he already broke the law), he has to spend extended periods of time away from home, he has to kill people sometimes now... but the money is worth it. he's okay with being a number, a blank face in the crowd, because it means he wont get the immediate fallout if something goes wrong. that gets put on whoever his boss is. ashe is maybe 13/14 by this point, he can take care of himself at home. mark gives himself a limit, hes never going to be away from home for more than 3 days (which he eventually extends into 5 days, which then turns into a week-). he is. really fucking good at his job. hes smart, he can be ruthless when he needs to be, he's efficient. no identity means no friends which means no slacking off on the job. this is all he has, he needs this, so hes good at it.

>> he starts to move up the ranks, take bigger (but never riskier) jobs, and it catches overlord's attention. overlord offers him a promotion. offer being in air quotes here. he lays everything out plain and simple- youre good, youre going to join my personal elite team, i know who you are and why youre running. i can offer you an out, get you and your son (oh god oh fuck overlord knows about his kid) a new life, a new identity, nobody will have any reason to suspect you. and also in order to join you have to take this (cauldron vial!!! + canon parallel to the like. forced experimentation on harttawa)

>> mark doesnt want pwoers. he doesnt want to be a cape. but overlord knows about ashe, knows about their history, and if he turns down this offer theyre both fucked. so logic takes over emotion again and he accepts it, leans into the position, stays as fucking ruthless as ever. but its Different now. hes a cape, he has a secret identity, a name, people are Looking at him now, even if all they see is a costume.

>> silly sidebar for ME here but this period of time is where he meets tide :] forever thinking about ur nhw tidalwave post. fight to maim, not kill.

>> a couple years pass like this and its Fine. ashe is 17 now, mark knows hes fucked up (theyre both fucked up) but hes too deep into this job now to give it up. its kept them safe and in place for this long, he can fool himself into believing they can stay like this . ashe does not have the same train of thought. hes lonely, hes miserable, hes bored, he just wants to have a life! they fight a lot about this. they fight a lot about this and sometimes mark leaves in the middle of it because he gets called on a job so nothing ever gets resolved. they have a particularly rough fight and mark gets pulled away in the middle of it to answer a phonecall, and when he comes back ashe is still pissed but hes just so tired and defeated that hes like "listen. we'll deal with this later, i have to go for a few days, there are groceries in the fridge, do whatever you want, just stay here, be safe, dont be stupid" and then he leaves! and ashe is still pissed and his dad is a hypocrite (why does he get to go out and use his powers and put himself in dangerous situations when ashe gets in trouble for floating the tv remote to the kitchen table while hes eating breakfast, and never gets to leave the house or go to school or have friends or-) . and this is where he makes the decision to sneak out the first time!!

>> he starts sneaking out more often, usually only when he knows mark is gonna be gone for extended periods of time, he gets good at disabling the tinker devices, he has friends!! everything is good!!!! mark finds out when he gets home from a job early and ashe is gone. and he fucking freaks out, hes ready to tear up city streets, hes ready to go on a fucking rampage... but then he hears the window open as he climbs back into his room . its a big like. "oh shit" moment on ashes part, he doesnt think hes ever seen his dad this angry before, he threatens to put bars on the goddamn windows, etc (mark has a reason to be as angry as he does- if anything ever happens to ashe everything hes ever done will have been for nothing. but its still. harsh.)

>> i think once everything cools down from this they do have an actual talk about it that isnt a fight; ashe tells him he has friends now and he just wants to be normal, be a kid, he cant spend anymore time in his room its killing him knowing hes wasting his life like this etc. i think mark maybe reluctantly agrees to letting him go out with his friends (he doesnt know who they are yet, ive GOTTA believe he knows tide hes had to have fought or at least seen the wards before, theres no way he would say yes to this if he knew thats who ashe was talking about) but gives him strict like. dont use your powers ever, curfews and check in texts and a code system and its a little Too Much but ashe is just. giddy at all of it because !! curfews are a thing Normal kids get!! he gets to go hang out with his friends without the looming threat of sneaking out to do it !!!

>> ashe starts using his powers anyway because his friends are capes and !!! he is also technically a cape!! he can help!!!! i think he starts out by beggingggg to go on patrol with them sometimes (i wont even do anything, i just want to see what its like, you guys know i have powers too i can handle myself, dont be like my dad etc etc) i think the wards are pretty reluctant to do that bc they know what its really like but. man. its ashe. he deserves Something. it becomes more frequent and serious and the prt handler tells them they should recruit him.

>> mark is sooooooo fucking against ashe joining the wards. because of course he is he has to be. ESPECIALLY considering. hey. hes a villain, working for one of the most notorious villains in the city, being put in a situation where he has to choose between fighting his son or losing overlords protection is a HUGE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO. (he would choose to say fuck overlord with no hesitation, no way he would even consider the other option, but he also knows what kind of consequences a choice like that would have)

>> hey. actually. that gives me an idea. what if thats exactly the scenario that leads up to the whole trickster thing. overlord wants to be proactive, launch an attack on the wards, they just got a dangerous new member lets go see what kind of powers theyve got. mark obviosuly refuses. overlord does not take being told no very kindly. hey what if this is how mark gets the lizard stuff. instead of getting it as a side effect mutation of his powers, he pisses off overlord, the guy who has a morbid fascination with animal human hybrids and genetic experimentation. ive solved everything!!!!!! (<< guy who is fucking insane. please imagine me with mad science hair and crazy eyes as i am saying this. dr. cross who?)

>> mark effectively goes missing while overlord has him captive, ashe is freaked out because his dad has never left without telling him first, but maybe it was an emergency or whatever... until his hard limit on jobs passes. its been over a week and no contact whatsoever. hes gone. ashe gets fucked up about this

>> mark is unconscious for the entire trickster thing. he was unmasked for the experimentation so when the heroes come to clean up the aftermath they dont recognize him as one of the villains (tide does. tide doesnt tell anyone) and take him to. a hospital rather than prison. he is fuuuucked up when he wakes up. gotta adjust to a WHOLE lot of freaky lizard things. hes kind of out of it, understandably, so nobody... tells him. its only a few days later, when mark is more lucid and can stand on his own two feet without losing balance, and when he can see properly again, tide visits him (tide has been visiting him the whole time, not that he'd remember it much, because who else will. who else will!) tide tells him ashe is missing. he breaks the news as gently as he possibly can because its gonna be a shitshow either way (he knows how mark is gonna react no matter what. waiting doesnt help either because then hes just pissed that he was lied to for days ("you coudlnt even stand, how was i supposed to tell you then?" "i dont know, i wouldve done something. he could be anywhere by now")

>> mark goes sooooo rogue. he goes so very rogue. hes literally got nothing to lose anymore. the wards try to work with him, try to help him, because theyre looking for ashe too, but he thinks theyre too slow, too good, too afraid to do things that actually need to be done. he goes too far and gets put in the birdcage.

>> i think he probably loses it a little bit in the birdcage. hardcore despair depression that turns into just this awful terrible rage. hes mad at himself for not being able to stop it, hes mad at ashe because this is what he WARNED him about for YEARS and if he only would have listened, hes mad at the world, hes mad at SIMURGH . all nhw mark winters knows is be so full of grief and rage at all times

>> breaks out of the birdcage (still insane abt this btw) and goes back on his. sort of rampage. the wards stop him (tide is. retired at this point. that happened while mark was in jail) and they try to talk some sense into him, maybe they get him to slow down just a little bit, enough to tell him what theyve learned (not much). mark and everyone else eventually learn about muse. mark winters worlds most miserable man is watching every single one of his nightmares play out in front of him and he realizes this is what simurgh marked them for. hes watching his son, unmasked, level a fucking town in some gaudy outfit he knows ashe would never wear and hes calling himself muse and thats not what his laugh sounds like and

>> okay im a little more fuzzy past this point. i said this mostly joking before but i DO think there should be a moment where. mark is up against muse and hes trying to talk to ashe like he did that first night to get him out of breaker state and ashe gets one lucid moment where he just starts crying and babbling about losing marks jacket and hes so sorry but that only lasts about 2 minutes before trickster gets control of him again. this is the catalyst for them realizing that yeah, ashe IS still in there and it might be possible to break him out .

>> god. all of that was plot and i didnt even talk about Little Things which are my favorite. heres a collection of Little Things:

>> i want him to keep his weird terrible lizard biology <3 maybe its not as smooth a transition as in canon, maybe hes just got the scales and the eye and not. the tail or infrared sense or whatever. but he Could. as a Treat for Me.

>> i actually... ironically think mark is a better dad in this au than he is in canon. like. dont get me wrong hes still awful and he sucks but. hes working with the knowledge here that no matter what he does he and ashe are still doomed and hes always waiting for the other shoe to drop and hes more scared and theres nothing he can do about it so. he makes more of an effort to Actually Care about his son. before overlord he never wouldve missed a birthday for anyhting. theyre all each other has.

>> that little bit of dialogue i typed up for mark earlier. stay here, be safe, dont be stupid. be safe, dont be stupid. he says that a lot, always in that order. enough that when ashe is with the wards sometimes he'll also say it. dakota "im going to pick up the pizza" ashe from the couch "be safe dont be stupid" (IMMEDIATE recoil as he thinks about it for more than a second because he has an oh god i sound like my dad moment. but everyone else finds it endearing)

>> THE COAT!!!!!!!! THECOAT. i think about the coat a lot. its just. a random one that ashe grabbed from the closet the first time he snuck out. but it was a good size, exactly as baggy as he likes, hey! he found old money in the pocket! so he just like. claims it as his own and neither of them ever say anything about it but its suuuuch. comfort clothing for ashe and he doesnt like thinking about why. it just is. he wears it EVERYWHERE all the time, its the one piece of clothing the rest of the wards never steal beacuse they know its important to him.

>> there is exactly one (1) surviving picture of ashes mom outside of their old house and its a crumpled polaroid mark had in his wallet from when ashe was a baby.

>> he will never admit this to himself or anyone else but. as much as mark is scared for ashe and scared for both of their safety and what it means for them to be simurgh victims... he is also scared OF ashe, even just subconsciously . he has nightmares about finding ashe that day, laughing. about what mightve happened if he wasnt able to break ashe out of that state. about what mightve happened if he had never gotten that text and continued on with the evac protocols. i need that blonde man to be fucking miserable

>> literally always thinking about your tidalwave post. never not thinking about your tidalwave post. i dont even have much to add here other than i really like nhw tidalwave a lot. the aftermath of the leviathan fight makes me crazy even if thats mostly one-sided on tides part.

>> his tinker specialty is power enhancement. he makes devices that make his and other peoples powers stronger or extend their range. the drawback is that the devices need to be Connected to the person using them in some way (thinking about the ports he has on his back in canon. his gauntlets clamp down on his forearms. overlord had him make each of the capes under his power something that enhances them too so theyve all got little. gadgets embedded in them somehow) (begs the question can he also make things that dampen powers? is this falling too far into Trump category?)

>> he got ashe his headphones as a birthday present when he was like... 15 . their fights had been getting more frequent as he had to be away from home more and ashe was fully in his angsty teen "i hate my dad" phase, but mark had been working w overlord for like a year at that point and money wasnt as much of an issue anymore so he got ashe like. the most high quality noise cancelling headphones he could possibly find.

okay i think thats all. its nearly 1am lmao!!!!!

[beefstockcubes]

Being horny for no reason is so stressful sometimes. Like lea e me alone

[cherry-bomb-ships]

K I'm about to post gayass cute thoughts don't look <_<

But uurgh... UUUUUGH So I've always thought that R. Marie kinda likes keeping her full name a secret, just cuz its not really necessary for anyone to know and of course, R. Marie sounds much more intimidating. But of course, Cortex would want to know what the "R" stands for, and I'm sure he'd be persistent in pestering her about it as often as he could get away with, until finally she snaps and gives in. She'd probably just blurt it out in the middle of him asking yet again, like "It's RUBY, alright?!? My first name is Ruby. Are you satsfied?!" before she storms off in a huff (which is definitely to hide her blush).

Cortex would probably just stand there for a moment or two, letting this new info sink in for a moment. And then for the rest of the day, he'd just keep repeating her name to himself. Even while working on blueprints and machines, he'd just keep repeating it under his breath, and I guarantee he'd have the MOST dumb lovestruck grin the whole time, would probably play with his hair a bit too UGH 💀💖💖 After waiting so long to know what it was... he'd just like how it feels to say 💀💀💖💖💖💖

[ramblingoak]

Hello Oak!!

I’m writing to you because like many others I absolutely DEVOURED the existing parts of The Cardinal’s Bride last night. I loved it so so much and I’m very excited to read The Morningstar as well. Your construction of the Wild West world, diff. dynamics between Ghouls, the buildup for the reader and The Cardinal - ETHEL AND HAROLD??? Etc spark so much imagination and joy.

I wanted to really show my appreciation in some way, bc I have craved good escapism and this really helped me out amid weird moods and stuff irl… so these are my fav line(s)/moment(s) from every Chapter (spoilers) w/ my silly lil reactions …..

-// < 33 @copium-copia

Chapter One: Heading West

“You snuck a peak back at the two women and glanced briefly out to the street before pulling the poster off the window. It seemed such a silly thing to do, but you figured if you were being forced to marry a boring bank owner like Mr. Saltarian you should allow yourself a small thrill. Something to look at when lying alone in the dark in your new home.”

Omg omg omg yess I’m keeping the poster !! this surely won’t lead to consequences : )))

___________

Chapter Two: La Principessa

“She should be scared, she’s marrying fucking Saltarian.” Ooo storm’s brewing !!! Anyone else get a lil hot under the collar at Cardi Copia’s mere mention of Saltarian this way ??

Satan’s Dick !

Hehehe Ciaooo Cardinal🥰….. “Mi scusi Principessa, are you looking to collect the bounty?”

YES READER GET HIS ASS/NOSE

_______

Chapter Three: Promises “But…you have been whispering for me at night” ummmmmmm - /pos

“She’s not fucking riding with you Swiss.” ummmmmmmmm !!!! no I’m not hehe you’re so right, Cardinal

SUNSHINE MOMENT + Sunshine’s perspective on CHOICE YES PLEASE

“Clearly it meant a lot to you, so I wanted to replace it.” my face 🤭!

Okie dokie!!!

Brizio my beloved

“Faster, eh? Good idea, Principessa!” - what if I swoon -

His hands agh his hands, p leas ,e ________

Chapter Four: There’s Something about Mary

YESSSS I love to justify my hatred and apathy for Saltarian yess

“There are plenty of pretty girls in the world, Mr. Goore, I don’t plan on wasting my time mourning this one.” cold as fuck ??? /pos

“You pregnant, Sweet Cheeks?” // “Excuse me?” Your indignant question was nearly drowned out by The Cardinal’s sudden laughter. You shoved your elbow back into his gut and he groaned before muttering ‘sorry’ into your ear. hehehe

_______

Chapter Five: Copia

Aether & Sunshine bickering hehe

“Sunshine, stop giving her knives!” 😂

GET THEIR ASS READERRRRRR

Copia/Reader Reunion 🥲

“We’ll have to find some time for that, eh?” gahhhh

___________

Chapter Six: The Newlywed Game

“Si, si fine. You’re very dangerous. Now pay attention.” 😊

“I’m helping love blossom here, Mountain. Take some notes.” SUNSHINE I LOVE YOU

“Cowboys were strange.” :))

“Oh you are trouble, Mr. Emeritus.” !!!!

He was blushing. YESSS BOYYYY

“Maybe you start dreaming about me, eh? Maybe your hands start wandering…” shhhhhhh

“Copia had snuck up right behind you so when you turned around you nearly smacked into his chest.” Ooooooooooooooooooo

Copia didn’t say a word, he just moved his hands to your waist and then lifted you onto the dresser. STAYFUCKINGCALM.jpg

“I have a reputation to uphold Principessa.” ✨

___________

Chapter Seven: The Ministry

tumblr user @ramblingoak you are simply too damn CLEVER

I just. This is… my favorite chapter? They’re all my favorite chapter. But the whole concept is so cohesive and the characterization is so specific and I can see the scenes in my mind??

“I do and if you could bring yourself to give a shit about anything but getting your dick wet you should too.” it’s funny, it’s in-character, it crystallizes this relationship, I’m ??

Copia kissed with his whole body. Ehehehe…

“Copia! These are clean sheets keep him away.” / “Ai, Brizio is clean.” Cope is not here for the #BrizioDisrespect

More hair was hanging down and you couldn't help but hesitantly reach out to brush it back just like he did to your own hair. / “Go to sleep, Principessa.” / You jumped at the sound of his voice, jerking your arm back and shoving it under the covers.

Before he could answer the door to his office burst open, Mist quickly striding in. The look on her face was one Secondo hadn’t seen for nearly 10 years. OH SHIT OH FUCK

__________________________

Chapter Eight: Playing House

Th.e.. The whole chapter. .

Dewdrop flinched when Ethel pushed the end of the barrel closer to him./ “Nothing! Unholy shit, your barn is fine!” / hehehe

The ROSARY WHAT IF I SOB

“Do you remember this morning, Principessa? When you said I could touch you?”

“I’ve been thinking about touching you here all day.” OAAAAAKK

“Because it’s getting harder for me to stop.” BOY

“Did you rub your clit like this? Is this what you like?” gaaaaaaaaaa

Every time you tried to reach for him he’d gently press you back down into the bed. “Soon, Principessa. Soon, I promise you.”

“So this is what you do when I leave, eh?” oop. Maybe .😳

“Ciao, Principessa.” Copia turned towards you and gave you a lazy grin. “Cat got your tongue?” king shit

“Mr. Emeritus put a shirt on!” HEHE

The doggy hair shake so cute I SWOON

“Tsk, so many buttons. I’m not sure I like this skirt.”

“What can I…Copia what should I do?” / “Just touch me, it won’t take much.” GAH

Copia twitched and hissed when you lightly nipped the skin under his jaw. “Ok, ok fine. You’re developing some bad habits, Principessa.” PLEASE why isn’t he REAL

You squealed and kissed Copia on the cheek, blushing a bit when you realized you’d done that in front of the others. Ehehehe yayyy

______

I really hope this is amusing for you rather than annoying ---- thanku so much for putting so much time and effort into this fic. It's been not-so-easy being human lately, and you made my night much brighter !!

um again I'm @copium-copia if you wanna be ghesties or anything

It's not annoying at all!! Oh my gosh, you are so sweet 😭

I appreciate you taking the time to find your favorite parts. I appreciate you taking the time to READ my story to begin with. I'm so glad you are enjoying it and I hope you continue to do so! You're the best, thank you sooooo much 💙

[game-set-canet]

can i get a domi thiem imagine where his gf loses a match and its rough on her and he cheers her up

An (un)fortunate way

Pairing: Dominic Thiem x f!reader

category: fluff, bit of sadness (i guess?)

warnings: none

Author’s Note: sorry that it took me so long to publish this imagine - life can be very hard sometimes, but i hope you like it! also: English isn’t my first language, so I’m very sorry for mistakes!

* Y/N = your name * Y/L/N = your last name

MY  M A S T E R L I S T

(not my gif! credits to the owner/creator!)

♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦ - ♦

You just lost the match.

A lump is forming in your throat as you walk to the net for the handshake.

You lost the match. Which means: no second round for you. You lost the first round of the US Open.

“Don’t you dare start crying in front of the whole crowd!”, you try to admonish yourself. Your hands are shaking, and you are barely able to speak, your "congrats! very well done" at the net is more a huff than actually pronounced.

Your match was a disaster – just like the rest of your season. But losing the first round of a slam was a new low in your negative series of tournaments.

As soon as you stepped into the tunnel your vision becomes blurred because tears start to well up in your eyes and when you realise that the camera crew behind you is turning around and leaving, you start to cry.

*** *** ***

Your team is already waiting for you. Your coach is the first to approach you, you can see that he isn’t sure what to say: “That was…unfortunate.”

“Unfortunate?!”, you hiss through tears, “I played like shit! I have seen five-year-olds playing better than me!”, more and more tears are streaming down your face.

“No, Y/N, you-”

“Stop it, Dad!”, you drop your bags on the floor and try to push past them. You don’t want to talk to them or even see them, because they would immediately start to try cheering you up, saying things like: it's not so bad, it could happen to anyone – and that’s a lie. You shake your head and give them a sad and at the same time contemptuous look: “I don’t want to hear it! It would have been lies after all…”

A hand carefully grips your right wrist and holds you back with gentle force.

You don't have to turn around to know that it is Dominic.

"Let go of me, Domi," your voice is shaking, “I want to be alone.”

He immediately shakes the head: “No, you don’t.”, he is almost whispering.

“Domi, I just need a few minutes for myself, and I don’t want to talk with anyone!”

“No talking then…but let me come with you…”, he smiles shyly at you.

“I…I just…I- I need…I don’t know what…”, a single tear runs down your cheek and you look at him desperately and helplessly, “I don’t know how to step in front of the press now.”

“Take your time. They can wait.”

Domi would never ever let anyone wait for anything. He was way too polite for that. But when you two got together he kinda sorted his priorities new and from the very beginning he has put you above everything and everyone.

You can’t help but smile a little and nod.

*** *** ***

You found an empty massage room.

You sink down the wall and sit with your legs drawn up on the cold tiles while Domi locks the door and then sits down next to you.

After some minutes of silence, you whisper: “Can you imagine how stupid I am? Like…I fucked it up. I fucked up the first round…all the preparation for nothing…”

“It’s not nothing, it’s a lea-”

“Don’t you dare saying ‘It’s a learning process’!”

Domi closed his mouth again and lowered his head in embarrassment. Instead, he grabbed your hand and gave it a light squeeze.

“I mean…I played like an amateur! Foot-fault, my first serve was nowhere to be found, more double-faults than in my entire last season, not a single solid volley and don’t get me started about the stops…”, your voice breaks and tears start running down your face. All you felt was disappointment, anger at yourself and pain. And shame.

Domi hesitates, cradles his head from one side to the other: “You…you do realise that you're making it sound worse than it actually was, right?”, he takes a deep breath and quickly continues talking, “Yes, you didn't play well but your opponent played the best match of her career so far! I think, your coach is right: it was unfortunate.”

You smile a mirthless smile: “Ah, yeah, of course…and my bad run in Cincinnati? Or during the Canada Open? Wimbledon was embarrassing and I got beaten by 7 players outside the Top 20 and 3 players outside the Top 90 this year and-”

“And you came back from a serious injury in April.”, now Dominic looks directly at you, “Yes, you had an unfortunate run during the last couple of weeks and yes, there will be one or two ugly headlines about today’s match and yes, some people will talk shit but haters gonna hate. And we both know – and everyone who understands and loves tennis knows – that you are more talented than 90 % of the whole WTA tour and that you gonna be back at your best soon…just…don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re doing pretty amazing…”

You stare at him and feel a knot in your throat: “Don’t do this!”

“Do what?”, Dominic frowns, apparently he had expected a different reaction from you.

There is a little smile on your lips: “Don’t try to cheer me up!”

“I’m your boyfriend! I HAVE to try to cheer you up!”, he starts laughing softly, “That and after we got back to the hotel I’ll organise you as much chocolate as you can eat, and we’ll watch your favourite movie-“

You look at him with big eyes: “But you hate that movie!”

Your boyfriend shakes his head vigorously and makes a throwing away hand gesture: “Shhh, that’s not the topic of this conversation! Sooo…we will watch your favourite movie and you will drink your favourite tea and-“

“The hotel doesn’t have Rose-Lavender Tea I already asked at the reception yesterday and-”

“And I have a little bag of it in my suitcase, so: no worries!”

You don't hear the rest of what he says, you can only think about how much you love the man next to you.

You rest your head on Domi’s shoulder and close your eyes: maybe Domi was right, and this bad run was just unfortunate and even if the rest of the season will be as bad as it is now, you know everything will be okay. Because you have the most amazing man by your side.

[jules-has-notes]

New Bern, NC — VoicePlay live performances

Even as they were swiftly approaching the completion of nearly 100 shows at Disney World for the season, VoicePlay popped up to North Carolina for a full holiday concert on the weekend before Christmas.

.

With the amount of travel Americans tend to do between Thanksgiving and Christmas, this comedic medley is extra relatable during the holiday season. If only all of our family sing-a-longs sounded this good.

Details:

title: Road Trip

original songs / performers: [1:27] "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" by Tiny Tim; [1:45] "Orinoco Flow" by Enya; [2:03] "Cum On Feel the Noize" by Quiet Riot; [3:12] "Big Shot" by Billy Joel; [3:25] "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister; [3:34] "Voices Carry" by ’Til Tuesday; [3:52] "Shout" by Tears For Fears; [4:07] "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by War; [4:17] "That Smell" by Lynyrd Skynyrd; [5:00] "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Chicago; [6:25] "We Just Disagree" by Dave Mason; [6:45] "Hello" by Adelle

written by: "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" by Al Dubin & Joe Burke; "Orinoco Flow" by Eithne "Enya" Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin & Roma Ryan; "Cum On Feel the Noize" by Noddy Holder & Jim Lea; "Big Shot" by Billy Joel; "I Wanna Rock" by Dee Snider; "Voices Carry" by Robert Holmes, Aimee Mann, Michael Hausman, & Joey Pesce; "Shout" by Roland Orzabal & Ian Stanley; "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by Papa Dee Allen, Harold Ray Brown, B.B. Dickerson, Lonnie Jordan, Charles Miller, Lee Oskar, Howard E. Scott, & Jerry Goldstein; "That Smell" by Allen Collins & Ronnie Van Zant; "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by Peter Cetera & David Foster; "Hello" by Adele Adkins & Greg Kurstin

arranged by: Geoff Castellucci

performance date: 20 December 2015

My favorite bits:

Eli starting to doze off and tip over until he's startled awake by Earl's yelp

Tony using his flowy jacket as a blanket

sleepy Geoff rubbing his eyes as he's rudely awakened by the bickering

Earl's little bunny nose sniffing

the exchange of annoyed watch tapping

Layne almost getting Eli to break with the different interruption

Trivia:

VoicePlay made a professionally filmed version of this medley / skit during the 2014 Sing-Off tour.

Layne usually interrupts with "Royals" by Lorde, but sometimes changes it up, as he does here, to try to make the other guys laugh.

.

These guys love The Nightmare Before Christmas, and have recorded several songs from its fantastic soundtrack. But this was the first one to join their live show repertoire.

Details:

title: What's This?

original performers: Danny Elfman as Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

written by: Danny Elfman

arranged by: Layne Stein

performance date: 20 December 2015

My favorite bits:

those lovely opening harmonies

Tony excitedly getting in everybody's personal space

the alternating pliés and relevés to emulate the carolers' vehicle in the movie

♫ "I might possibly go daffy…" ♫ followed by Layne putting a quack in his percussion line

slo-mo snowball fight!

♫ "cozy in their dre-eam ⇓ laaand ⇓" ♫ "That was weird." "Sorry."

their monster walks as they regroup

that sharp, clean final chord

Trivia:

This song was a staple of their holiday shows for many years, particularly during their Disney World residencies for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

They finally recorded it with J.None for their 2017 holiday EP "Warm Up", and filmed a video to go with it that they released at Halloween of that year.

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This bouncy tune is a great way to get an audience dancing in their seats, and VoicePlay alway performs it with gusto. Meet the guys, and hear a little of what they can do.

Details:

title: For Once In My Life

original performer: Stevie Wonder

written by: Ron Miller & Orlando Murden

arranged by: VoicePlay

performance date: 20 December 2015

My favorite bits:

Earl and Tony starting to step-touch together, then just giving in to the groove

everyone else cutting out for Eli's ♫ "won't desert me-e-e" ♫ riff then coming back in behind ♫ "I'm not alone anymore" ♫

everyone getting a moment in the spotlight for an introduction

those jazzy scatting lines leading into the key change

and a lovely ending chord

Trivia:

This song had been part of their live shows since their 4:2:Five days. The earliest clip I've found is from a performance in 2011 when their friend Jarrett Johnson subbed for Ryan.

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Listening to this song is certainly a treat, but watching them perform it is at least half the fun. Sometimes friends being a little competitive makes them all better.

Details:

title: Elvira

original performers: The Oak Ridge Boys

written by: Dallas Frazier

arranged by: Geoff Castellucci

performance date: 20 December 2015

My favorite bits:

Tony startling Earl by skittering his fingertips down the back of his head

troublemaker Eli encouraging Earl to take center stage

that glorious pop timbre in Tony's solo

Geoff reclaiming the spotlight with that extra deep ♫ "mow mow" ♫

the "Earl can go low, too" gag is never not funny

the other guys' expectant expressions in the back during the tense final confrontation

and that big ending is always fantastic

Trivia:

This number was a longtime fan favorite staple in their live shows, including the 2015 Sing-Off tour.

Because the visual component of this performance is such an interaction with the audience, they have never filmed a video for it, but there is an audio recording available through their Patreon.

Geoff also helped arrange the version that their pals in Home Free recorded with The Oak Ridge Boys earlier in the year.

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Anyone who grew up watching the Rankin-Bass stop-motion animated holiday specials knows these songs. But most people have never heard them quite like this.

Details:

title: Frosty the Snowman & Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

original songs / performers: "Frosty the Snowman" by Gene Autry; "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" by Eddie Cantor

written by: "Frosty the Snowman" by Walter "Jack" Rollins & Steve Nelson; "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" by J. Fred Coots & Haven Gillespie

arranged by: VoicePlay

performance date: 20 December 2015

My favorite bits:

Layne letting his inner kid out during the intro banter

Eli's smooth delivery on the opening lines

the harmonic stacking in ♫ "when they placed it on his head" ♫

those syncopated backing vocals during Earl's "Santa Claus" verse

Eli flailing in the back when the other guys start rapping

that crunchy ending section

Trivia:

The boys started performing this mashup during their 4:2:Five days. The earliest recording I've found is from their stint as castmembers in the Polar Express Conductors holiday show at SeaWorld in 2011. (Go hear Layne sing bass!)

It was a staple of VoicePlay's holiday shows for many years, particularly during their Disney World residencies for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

They recorded a swingier version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" with their friend Michael Andrew for their 2012 holiday album "Peppermint Winter".

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It can be easy to overlook even the most talented vocal percussionist in an audio mix. Your ears forget that all those beats are coming out of a human body. But those skills are undeniable when he's the only one on stage.

Details:

title: Layne's drum solo

written & arranged by: Layne Stein

performance date: 20 December 2015

My favorite bits:

that initial deep kick

the random squawk

dropping into a half-time groove before transitioning into a more electronic section

♫ "Ding!" ♫

and the big finish

Trivia:

Percussion solos are a time honored tradition among modern a cappella groups. It can also be fun to hear beatboxers' differing styles when they team up as they did during the 2014 and 2015 Sing-Off tours.

When Layne started up again at the end, he was transitioning them into the start of "A Crimpella".

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VoicePlay don't just have one crowd-pleasing medley of phonations. They've also got a holiday version. There really are a lot of unusual lyrics in Christmas carols, and these guys make them incredibly fun.

(I think I caught everything, but if I missed a song, please let me know so I can track it down and add it to the list.)

Details:

title: "Most of the Songs" holiday medley

original songs / performers: "Mele Kalikimaka" by Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters; [0:06] "Pat-a-pan", French / English carol; [0:08] "Deck the Halls", English carol; [0:14] "Frosty the Snowman" by Gene Autry; [0:18] "Carol of the Bells", English carol; [0:27] "Coventry Carol", English carol; [0:41] "Welcome Christmas" from How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966); [0:55] "Hava Nagila", Jewish folk song; [1:03] "I Have a Little Dreidel", children's Hannukah song; [1:08] "Angels We Have Heard on High", French / English carol; [1:31] "Up on the Housetop" by Gene Autry; [1:38] "Dominick the Donkey" by Lou Monte; [2:00] "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by Gene Autry; [2:03] "Jingle Bells", American carol; [2:06] "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from The Nutcracker; [2:38] "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", English carol

written by: "Mele Kalikimaka" by R. Alex Anderson; "Pat-a-pan" by Bernard de La Monnoye; "Deck the Halls" English lyrics by Thomas Oliphant, set to 16th century melody from Welsh carol "Nos Galan"; "Frosty the Snowman" by Walter "Jack" Rollins & Steve Nelson; "Carol of the Bells" English lyrics by Peter Wilhousky, melody from Ukranian New Year's song "Shchedryk" by Mykola Leontovych; "Coventry Carol" 16th century English Christmas carol; "Welcome Christmas" by Albert Hague; "Hava Nagila" by Moshe Nathanson & Abraham Zevi Idelsohn; "I Have a Little Dreidel" English lyrics by Samuel S. Grossman, melody by Samuel E. Goldfarb; "Angels We Have Heard on High" English lyrics by James Chadwick, to the traditional French tune "Gloria" as arranged by Edward Shippen Barnes; "Up on the Housetop" by Benjamin Hanby; "Dominick the Donkey" by Ray Allen, Sam Saltzberg, & Wandra Merrell; "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by Johnny Marks; "Jingle Bells" by James Lord Pierpont; "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" modern arrangement by Arthur Warrell

arranged by: VoicePlay

performance date: 20 December 2015

My favorite bits:

Tony's little salsa groove as the beat kicks in

the adorable swaying choreography during "Welcome Christmas"

some Hannukah representation for the two Jewish band members

Geoff's robust "ho ho ho" 🎅

Earl's wonderful braying for "Dominick the Donkey"

Eli's exaggerated air bass at the start of "Sugar Plum"

that final descending drum fill from Layne

Trivia:

This medley also dates back to their 4:2:Five era and the SeaWorld Polar Express Conductors show. (Go hear Geoff beatbox!)

It was a staple of VoicePlay's holiday shows for many years, particularly during their Disney World residencies for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.