#//already put these on the sideblog but i'm putting them on here too

[melonelle]

just chiming in with my experience as someone who got a lot of notes like three years ago and now it's a dead simblr.

we used to be a proper community; from 2015 to 2019. i think people nowadays don't know how exciting it was to just log on to see people sharing cc just because it was a passion project; that was the norm.

i'm so thankful that there's still people doing the same thing now in this artificial wasteland that simblr has become.

now i think that our decline as a community started with the monetization of cc, now cc isn't a passion project that you can appreciate and be thankful that the creator decided to share it in the first place. it's a product that you buy, and you better like it because you're paying for it.

also, as someone who used to support a lot of creators on patreon back in the day, i don't think that i did it because i actually wanted to support them; instead, their cc had become an exclusive item, and i just couldn't wait to get it.

it's gotten to the point where i think that of the 15 creators i used to be a patreon of, now if i could i'd only support 2, and one of the is not longer active, so let's get that number back to 1.

now the popular cc creators only come here to post their links to patreon, because they are making bank and they no longer need to build a community for it to happen.

or they give the collections to popular simblrs to post with a similar model to a sponsored post, and that's when you get content fatigue because i have seen like five different simblr posting the same damned collection, and even if it has not been released to the public i'm already tired of seeing it.

and i carry some of the fault too, back in 2018 i had no problem with reblogging cc that i liked or other people's posts, but somewhere along the way i got into the mindset that i needed to build my own brand (which i think is what's currently happening on a major scale now) and that meant i only had to post my own stuff. during the time, i was getting a lot of notes; it was getting to the point where i stressed myself with getting posts out just to keep the roll going, and then it came the burnout that made me leave the community for a couple years.

now for me, simblr feels so artificial on a large scale. i think that's probably because a lot more people realized you can make an easy and big buck creating cc for this game, and ea won't care or put rules in place to prevent this happening because they want a piece of the cake too, so they'll never go against big name creators.

but that has left us with a community that feels more individualist and artificial than never before.

dude, it's unreal because i have around 2.5k followers here, and i actually prefer to spend my time here on tumblr in my fandom-specific sideblog, where i have less than 150 followers, but whenever i post i get a real sense of a community responding to my posts.

hell, i have even posted some of my sims there, because if i were to do it here in simblr my post feels like a drop in the bucket.

I've been seeing alot of people felling discouraged from simblr and feeling like they don't belong

Especially when there is alot of posts going around telling you not to focus on popularity etc

But im here to tell you ITS NOT YOU

You did nothing worng you do infact belong here its not your fault people in this community are not interactive (and yes its just this community im in two other fandom spaces and they work just fine people here are the outlier)

And my proof that its not your fault?

I have 3200 follower (all real people i removed the bots myself)

So you would think i would get alot of notes and feel included right?

WRONG

3k+ followers and this year the most notes i got on any non cc post i made was 15 and on cc posts it was 56

The only post that got alot of notes all year was my simblreen treats post and you would think with 3k people watching it would be 1000 notes or something but no last time i checked it was barely over 100

There are like 3 people that occasionally talk to me sometimes on my posts lol (very thankful i know no one owes me anything)

And i have had this blog for 6+ years

My point is

You belong just fine and i personally am happy you are here

Its not your fault people are being stubborn and refusing to reblog on the reblog website

(imma be real with you if i owened this website im removing the like option this is the reblog website you don't need to only like stuff but i dont own it so 🤷‍♂️)

[mechahero]

//Some things for Lambda's sideblog that I wanted to post to here.

[makaira-art]

Ace Attorney x Paselabo Collaboration Cafe Translations

Translated from this website

Announcing the commemorative Collaboration for the release of "Ace Attorney 456 Apollo Justice Selection"! Original illustrated goods are being sold again. Event period: 1/25/2024 - 2/29/2024 Host store: Paselabo Tower Shinjuku Store

To commemorate the release of "Ace Attorney 456 Apollo Justice Selection", A collab cafe will be left from January 25th, 2024 at the Tokyo/Shinjuku "Paselabo Tower Shinjuku Store", selling takeout drinks! We have decided to resell the illustrated goods that were released at the 2021-2022 Monster Hunter Bar in Akihabara and Anshin Oyado in Nagoya! Don't miss this opportunity!

Collab Menu Reproduction of popular drinks from past collaborations! The drink inspired by Blackquill has become a hot coffee that's perfect for the cold season. Please enjoy our new food menu!

◆Takeout menu (700 yen, 770 yen w/ tax) Apollo Justice: Hot-blooded Hot Lemonade Take a breather with this warm berry lemonade. "I'M FINE!" Hot lemonade, cranberry juice

Phoenix Wright: No Objections! Apple Soda There are no objections to this apple-flavored blue drink! Blue lychee syrup, pink lemon syrup, apple juice, soda, apple chips

Miles Edgeworth: Splendid Black Currant Tea A drink with black currant flavor and a gentle sweetness. Black currant (cassis) syrup, iced tea

Simon Blackquill: Shut Up! Although Blackquill is a prisoner, he also holds the impressive title of Prosecutor. See for yourself if it is sweet or bitter!! Coffee, chocolate syrup, fresh cream, pocky

Nahyuta's Holy Ghost Funeral Soda Satorha!? If you drink this, your soul will be saved! White soda, energy syrup, gold powder

One original postcard will be distributed per takeout item.

◆ Cafe menu

(Translations for food items/drinks not seen in the takeout menu) Apollo Justice's Perceiving Taco Rice ~rings included~ Has onion rings that look like his bracelet. Includes bright red sauce and bright white rice that is inspired by Apollo! Rice, lettuce, onion, taco meat, mixed cheese, salsa, ketchup, onion rings

Klavier Gavin's Melting Neopolitan The silver accessories that Gavin wears are made with silver powder, and the gooey egg is the same color as his hair. The neapolitan and egg match perfectly together. Neopolitan, egg, chili peppers, silver powder

Athena Cykes' Mood Matrix Tropical Sweets Happiness (Green) Anger (Red) Sadness (Blue) Surprise (Yellow) A dessert with colored sauces that looks like the mood matrix! How do you feel!? Dorayaki dough, mango, whipped custard, chervil (french parsley), powdered sugar, 4 types of sauce (blue raspberry syrup, muscat syrup, strawberry sauce, mango sauce)

Maya Fey's Kurain-style Spirit Mediumship

This drink resembles the costumes worn by those at the Kurain school of spirit mediums. However, even if you drink this, you will not be able to channel spirits. "You need to stop judging things based on narrow-minded cultural assumptions, Nick!"* Kyoho grape syrup, milk, tapioca

*The direct translation of this line is something like "You've got to see more of the true nature (of things), Nick!" in reference to the infamous ladder vs. stepladder debate. However, these are my translations, so I'm putting the localized version of that line, since it also became a meme in English. Nice to know this particular exchange crossed the language barrier!

Collab special items ■ Collab cafe in-store menu order perks: original character stand (12 types) If you purchase one collaboration menu item at the cafe, you will receive one at random.

■ Takeout drink order perk: Key visual postcard (1 type) Customers who order one collaboration drink will receive one of these postcards as a present.

GOODS MENU

1) "Ace Attorney" series 20th x Pasela (special outfit) original trading can badges random from 14 types | 440 yen 2) "Ace Attorney" series 20th x Pasela (special outfit) original trading acrylic standees random from 14 types | 880 yen 3) "Ace Attorney" series 20th x Paselabo (special outfit) original tranding acrylic keychains random from 14 types | 660 yen

(The second half of the goods menu is the same can badges, acrylic standees, and keychains but in the characters' regular clothing)

※ This product is a resale of the "'Ace Attorney' series 20th anniversary collaboration" event goods. ※ All goods are sold randomly, designs cannot be chosen. ※ Pictures shown are images and may differ from the actial product ※ It is possible to purchase goods only at the Paselabo Tower Shinjuku Store. ※ There may be purchase limits imposed on in-store purchases. Thank you for understanding. ※ We will accept orders at the mail order site "Paselabo store" from 12:00 on Monday, January 22nd. Please check the product page for delivery times.

Paselabo online store

Thanks for reading all my translations. Seems like there will be a chance to order merch online, so if you wanted it you can try and proxy it! It is blind box, though. I ran through these translations the past hour, so apologies for any mistakes. I'll be uploading more translations of things such as the Capcom cafe collab menu on here, too. There are also a few blurbs for art (such as the Valentine's & White day art) that I've yet to see translated, so I'll post those here too at some point.

[drtanner]

You know, I think I'm starting to understand why the sharing culture on this site is such dogshit now.

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I spent several solid hours going through my art and writing tags as far back as 2012 and manually deleting everything I found, including all of my own reblogs, because I don't expect my opt out from having my blogs' data scraped to be honoured, and seeing the difference in the way people interacted with my work back then and the way they interact with it now (or the way they don't interact with it at all, more specifically) was deeply and tragically enlightening.

tl;dr, despite having had a fraction of the followers back then that I have now, as well as being an objectively better artist and writer than I used to be 10+ years ago, my work travelled further and people engaged with it more, and they also sent me asks with drabble prompts and questions about my OCs all the time, whereas none of that happens at all anymore. This place was a lot more communal back in that pre-2016 era and generally a lot more rewarding and fun.

There's been plenty of posts going around over the last few years begging people to reblog because that's how this site works, but every one of those posts always winds up lousy with people saying they just click "Like" on things because they like them but not enough to put them on their own blog, or because they don't want to clutter their blog, or because tagging things is too much effort or whatever, and I'm noticing a pattern. There's something that all of these common responses have in common:

All of these people are wholly concerned with themselves and the way their blog looks, or what their blog is supposed to be for, or some other similarly entirely self-centred point of focus.

Listen. Other people have already tried to explain to you that that's not what this place is about or what this place is for or that you can make as many sideblogs as you want if you're trying to curate something specific, and they've had little success in emparting understanding to you, so I'm going to try a different approach.

Here are ten (10) benefits of reblogging that will make this site more fun and engaging for you, personally! ( b ._.)b

You get to keep the thing for yourself, but you also get to pass it along for other people to play with, too! Best of all worlds. How often do you get to keep a thing and share it?

Look in your Activity after you reblog something you enjoy to find other people who like the same things that you do! This is a terrific way to find new people to follow.

Sometimes you'll make a comment when you reblog something and later find that an awful lot of strangers are reblogging it from you directly for some reason. This is usually because someone else later down the line made a much stupider and worse comment and those strangers are now all clicking on your reblog so that they can reblog the post without that other person's stupider and worse comment on it. I like it a lot when this happens. You can get a lot of new followers this way, too!

Even if you don't have the time or spoons to play with jpegs like dolls yourself, your reblog can put the post in front of those folks who do. Playing with jpegs like dolls is half of what makes this site function; give it a bit of time, and the jpegs will cross your dash again with new additions. As it is with anything you love, set it free, and the love will come back to you one hundredfold. 💜

Look in your Activity after reblogging some art or writing to see people going nuts in the tags. You can also go nuts in the tags if you want; everyone loves seeing this when it happens, especially the artist or writer themselves.

Commenting with your reblog is like raising your hand to share your opinion with the whole room, whereas reblogging with your comment in the tags is more like whispering to the person next to you and keeping it between yourselves. Contrary to what you might have been told by others, both are perfectly fine and good and they each have their place. You can do both on the same reblog, even! Take part in the conversation!

If you're too shy to talk, reblogging without commentary is a lot like parallel play. You're all enjoying the same thing quietly together!

When you reblog things a lot, you'll start to see the same people popping up in your Activity feed all the time. These people are your friends whether you actually talk to them or not.

Stuck for something to say? Point out something you liked about the post! It can be something small! Acknowledging things that make you happy out loud is good for your mental health and also your soul.

Reblogging also invites other people who are doing all of these things to find and follow you!

There's so much to do on here beyond checking your dash and occasionally looking at the For You tab. You can discover all kinds of people and things by making a bit of an effort and having a poke around in your Activity feed and on the blogs of people who interact with the posts you're seeing and passing along! I promise you don't need an algorithm to do this for you; the action of exploring the landscape around you on this website is fun in its own right!

Get out there and see who your neighbours are. 💜

[navybrat817]

We'll Always be Friends

Pairing: Best Friend!Bucky Barnes x Female Reader Summary: It's time to have dinner with your friends, but your mind keeps drifting to Bucky. Word Count: 1.9k Warnings: Light angst, tension, friends reconnecting, unrequited feelings (or so you think), slight feels (it's me), Bucky Barnes (yep, he's a warning) A/N: More Dreamboat and Butterfly from my Reconnect AU and a direct continuation of Waiting a Little Longer! ❤️ Beta read by @whisperlullaby, but any and all mistakes are my own. Please follow @navybrat817-sideblog for new fics and notifications. Comments, reblogs, feedback are loved and appreciated!

You found it difficult to leave your room, even with your friends waiting downstairs. Reconnecting with Bucky though, it made sense why you wanted to be alone with him a little longer. That wasn't fair to everyone else. The group didn't hang out quite as often during the duration of Bucky and Dot's relationship, but you were looking forward to spending time together and catching up this week.

We've weathered through tough times and deserve some fun.

Bucky put his hand on your lower back as you made your way down the stairs. The man could hardly hug you when he was with his ex, but now he wouldn't stop touching you. Just like in your room minutes ago. Not that you were going to push him away. You more than missed the affection that used to exist between you two and each minute that passed seemed to make you fall back in sync. As long as you didn't get too comfortable, it was fine.

Everything is fine.

Everyone was gathered in the brightly lit dining room, food already spread out on plates as chatter filled the room. Steve, at the head of the table, chuckled at something Sam said. Sharon laughed as well and you couldn't help but smile as you observed them. Perhaps you were imagining it, but the atmosphere wasn't as thick as it had been over the last couple of years. Even Natasha's subtle smile was gentler, more relaxed.

Like old times.

"Hey! Finally!" Sam smiled once he spotted you, bringing everyone's attention your way. Steve's smile didn't quite reach his eyes when the girls greeted you, making you tense up a little. "We were about to send a search party after you two."

"No need for that," you smiled a little when Sam pushed his chair back. "No need for that either," you teased as he walked toward you, but to no avail. He enveloped you in a hug before you could stop him. The man was almost as tall as Bucky and Steve and just as muscular. The three of them were beautiful giants in your eyes.

"Nope. Not getting out of a hug," he said, dropping his voice to a whisper. "Give Steve one, please. He thinks you're upset with him."

You felt a little sick to your stomach as he pulled away. You hadn't meant to make Steve feel bad. "I will," you whispered back before you gave the blonde a small smile. He looked like a golden retriever who had his bone taken away. "Do I get a hug from you, too?"

Steve's shoulders dropped in relief as he got up. "Of course, you do."

Like Sam, Steve's hug was warm and friendly. They never held onto you for too long or linger the way Bucky did. A quick embrace and nothing more.

"It's good to see you. I'm sorry I rushed off when you got here," you said, wanting him at ease.

Steve shook his head and gave you a rueful smile. "I'm the one who should be sorry," he said. You didn't get a chance to ask him why before he went back to his seat. "And it's good to see you, too."

You turned your attention to the girls instead who looked perfectly at ease on their side of the table. Natasha and Sharon were as gorgeous as they were intimidating. A sultry redhead and a blonde bombshell, they could come across as unapproachable from a first glance. But they were fierce and loyal friends. You were lucky to have them in your life.

"Please, don't get up. I will hug you both after dinner," you begged when they scooted their chairs back. "I appreciate you waiting for us to join you."

"So the boys get hugs, but we don't. I see how it is," Natasha teased.

"No one hugged me," Bucky pointed out.

"No one likes you," Sam chimed in, drawing a laugh from the girls.

"Butterfly likes me just fine," Bucky said, making you nod and bite your tongue so you didn't blurt out how much you really liked him. "Sit next to me?" He asked hopefully, pulling out your chair for you.

"Since these are the only two chairs left, sure," you teased, gazing up at him as you sat down. He stared back at you before he took a seat. "How was the drive?"

"The storm slowed us down, but Steve got us here safe and sound," Sharon answered as everyone began to eat. Steve wasn't one to brag, but you caught him grinning for a split second. "But what about you two? Did you get up to anything before we got here?"

Just snuggled with Bucky and fell asleep in his arms.

Bucky looked up from his plate as you glanced at him. "We wanted to go swimming, but the rain ruined that plan and we ended up taking a nap," you said.

Natasha's eyes darted between the two of you. "You ended up taking a nap," she repeated slowly. "You slept together?"

Bucky coughed and shook his head as your eyes went wide. The redhead looked pleased with herself as she waited for an explanation. "I. We. No?" You answered.

"We fell asleep together on the couch. That's it," Bucky explained once he recovered from his cough. "Nothing happened."

That's it. Nothing happened.

You curled in a bit on yourself when Natasha frowned. "Yeah. What Bucky said," you agreed, ignoring his gaze.

You had no reason to feel sad. It wasn't as if Bucky meant anything by his response. He gave Nat an honest answer. So why did it feel like a brush off?

Steve cleared his throat when the silence stretched on. "Well, I'm glad we're all here."

Good ol' Steve breaking the tension.

"Yeah. When's the last time we all went to the beach together?" Sam asked. "Was it last year? The year before?"

Bucky moved his chair closer to yours, but you didn't acknowledge it. "Two summers ago for Steve's birthday."

Right before Dot.

Everyone was either kind enough not to voice the connection or didn't want to talk about her.

"That's right. You guys bought him a red, white, and blue Speedo," you said, remembering the redness in Steve's cheeks when he opened the present. A few drinks in and he ended up wearing them.

"They looked good on me. It would've been rude not to wear them," Steve defended himself as Sam laughed. "That was a good day."

"It was," you agreed, glancing around the table. "Perfect weather and company."

We'll always be friends.

Bucky caught your eye when he nodded. "You found a seashell on the beach and you were so excited because the color was the exact same shade of blue as your bathing suit," he said, smiling to himself as you listened. "You said it had to be some sort of good luck charm and made it your mission to find one to match my swim trunks so I'd have some good luck, too."

He remembered that?

"That was why you kept running back and forth between Buck and the water," Steve grinned, nodding to Bucky. "He wouldn't tell me what you were doing. Just that you were looking for the perfect shell."

"I was determined to find it," you giggled as Natasha and Sharon shared a look. "I must've brought dozens of shells over."

It was silly when you looked back on it, but Bucky obliged and let you have your fun. In fact, your whims and nature never once seemed to bother him. He supported them.

"You didn't give up. And about twenty minutes later, you found one," he said, rubbing the back of his neck when he added, "I still have that seashell."

You took a breath before a bashful smile crept up your face. "You kept it?"

"Well, yeah," he replied, casually putting his arm around the back of your chair. "You gave it to me."

The room went quiet and you felt everyone's eyes on you, but your focus was on Bucky. "I had no idea."

The thought that Bucky held onto something so small and seemingly insignificant because it came from you had your mind running a mile a minute. Why not get rid of it? Maybe the shell reminded him of Steve's birthday and he didn't want to let that go. The voice that led with your heart said he kept it because you gave him a tiny gift.

He kept something because I gave it to him.

Your smile widened before the flash of a camera went off, the softness leaving Bucky's eyes as you both blinked.

"Sorry. Couldn't help myself," Sharon said with an innocent stare when you tore your gaze away from Bucky. "Need photos for the scrapbook. You understand."

Bucky kept his arm on your chair as everyone began to eat again. "You're making one for this trip?"

"Yeah, I want to take as many pictures as I can."

In the past, Sharon had put together photo albums and scrapbooks full of memories of the group. Sometimes for herself, others as gifts to her friends. Each one was beautiful and special, a way to reflect on the past and appreciate the time together.

"No rain tomorrow, so plenty of chances to get some outdoor photos. Maybe we can play some beach volleyball. Three on three," Sam suggested.

"You just want to show off," Natasha smirked. She wasn't wrong. The guys enjoyed the competition. "But let's make it interesting. We win, you boys have to do all the chores this week. You win, we'll take care of them."

"And if we win, you boys also have to take us to the carnival in town and win each of us a prize," Sharon added, pointing at Steve. "I know you had the carnival on the list of things to do."

"And if we win, you'll win each of us a prize?" Steve asked.

"We have to win because I'm terrible at those games," you said. They were fun, but you couldn't remember ever winning a prize.

Bucky leaned over as the group began to debate whether or not carnivals rigged the games. "I'll win you a prize no matter who wins the volleyball game," he promised.

"I'll hold you to that," you said, giddy at the thought of him winning you a teddy bear or some other stuffed animal.

"You two up for a little drinking tonight or do you plan on falling asleep on the couch again?" Sam joked, interrupting your private conversation.

"I will drink. But if I have too much, Bucky has to carry me to bed," you said.

"What happened to calling me 'Dreamboat'?"

He's pouting and it's adorable.

"Okay. You carry me to bed if I drink too much and tuck me in, Dreamboat."

"Deal," he easily agreed.

"To the best week ahead!" Steve announced.

"And get ready to get your asses handed to you tomorrow," Sam added.

As everyone began to playfully argue again, you made a mental decision not to drink too much. Alcohol had a way of making people lose their inhibitions and the last thing you needed to do was blurt something personal out in front of the whole gang. Bucky promised that the two of you would talk and you would. Sober. But a fun night could be what you needed to kick off the rest of the week.

Things will start to come to light in the next part or two. A calm before the storm, if you will... Love and thanks for reading! ❤️ Masterlist ⚓ Bucky Barnes Masterlist ⚓ Ko-Fi

[damazcuz]

I don't think people responding to the scrambled "uh oh, we got caught" Tumblr AI announcement with "just nightshade and glaze all the art you post guys! it's your own fault if you don't do that small step! It's ok we'll get through this!" are Getting It:

Everything has already been scraped, including the account you haven't been able to access since 2015. Yes even the private, locked sideblogs of all your old art. Did you glaze it? did you nightshade it? in 2015? can you log in and check? no? Opted in.

This also includes any writing, creative or otherwise, posted to Tumblr. Did you nightshade the poetry and fanfiction you posted to Tumblr on your old account in 2018? why not? not a plan-aheader huh? Opted in!

It's opt in by default and by design. People who left Tumblr ages ago will likely not hear about this and won't know to regain account access and opt out. People who have died won't be able to log in and opt out. People who deleted past accounts or sideblogs won't be able to log in and opt out. People whose content is reposted here from Pixiv or other external sources by unrelated third parties won't have any way to say "hey half of that blog is MY stuff. Opt ME out."

Sorry. They just have everything ever put on the site. And you didn't opt out in 2015 when you lost access to your login email, so it's included. This is on purpose because they don't WANT people to be able to opt out, they want people to stay opted in saying "well my art sucks so I'm poisoning the data model 👍" while posting jokes and creative writing, they WANT you to say "well I'm unaffected" and keep posting photos and text and stuff. Midjourney wants that and Tumblr wants to do anything it can to satisfy Midjourney and scrape some cash out of that deal.

I'm sorry because I love this place too, but genuinely the decisions being made here are business decisions being put into place by a company trying to squeeze the last drops of blood out of a stone. Tumblr is not your friend. Staff is not your friend. Automattic is not your friend. The CEO has hopefully PROVEN he is not anyone's friend. This is a business first and a product that they are selling, not to you and me, but to advertisers and partners. Tumblr will ensure that Tumblr users see their ads and supply them data.

Frankly I do not trust this company or this website and I cannot in good faith just believe that they're going to look at my opt out checkbox and say "okay! ^_^ we will remove everything Dama has ever said or done from our AI scrape. we promise to do it!" and then actually do it. They already have the data. They can just claim that whatever is produced through machine learning based in part off of my data is unrelated, came from other sources, etc. I do not have trust in this website. I don't see how anyone could at this point.

I feel like I'm watching a trainwreck from the inside and no one wants to get out of their seats and try hopping off into the safe grassy field. Wait, they say. Let's see if the train just climbs back onto the tracks, they say. The fire and explosions are all part of the process, they say. Eventually people will stop panicking or dying and it'll be a smooth ride, they say. Just look at how bright the horizon is.

[viesantewrites]

𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝

(𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧)

Robert Fischer (Inception) x Reader

note: Hey guys, I‘ve rewritten this story a bit and decided to post it on my sideblog. I've changed some of the themes and also that the main character is no longer an OC named Victoria, but the reader. I think this story is kinda difficult to write, which is why I've rewritten it several times. I love plots like Shutter Island and tried to do something similar here & it‘s also a story about parasocial relationships and unrequited love.

summary: The reader is hopelessly in love with her boss Robert Fischer, but he doesn't seem to be interested in her. By an unexpected coincidence, they meet in the city and his sudden intense affection for her confuses her. The reader begins to suspect that something is wrong, and when she finally uncovers the truth about her encounters with Fischer the heartbreaking reality is revealed to her.

you don‘t have to watch the movie to understand the story.

age gap, but the characters are both adults. Robert is 37-39, is divorced and has a child. The reader is about 28/29.

word count: 5000+

warnings: topics like mental illness, depression, this is a quite dark and heavy story

It was just half past seven when she heard the familiar footsteps in the corridor approaching the office next door. A key was inserted into the lock and a moment later the door opened.

Glancing around to make sure her workspace wasn't too messy, she threw an old paper cup into the bin before her boss poked his head through the door.

"Good morning, Miss YLN, so busy already?" he asked with a tired smile. "It doesn't reflect well on me as a boss to have my assistant here before me. I'm sorry, Monday mornings are always a bit stressful for me."

"No problem, Mr Fischer. I've already sorted the mail for you, it's on your desk," she said kindly, watching him as he took off his coat and hung it on the coat rack, a little damp from the rain.

"Thank you, I can count on you."

He was a very elegant, handsome man, about ten years her senior, with dark hair, blue eyes, high cheekbones and an elegant black suit. She must have stared at him a little too long, because he turned to her with a questioning smile.

Immediately her cheeks flushed and she turned back to her computer screen, but by then Mr Fischer had already approached her and put some documents on her desk. "Please scan them all and email them to Mr Parker, he's been waiting for them for days," he said to her. "It would be best if we sat down together later and quickly discuss my tasks for today, there is a lot to do. If I'm not mistaken, I have a client meeting at three today."

"At two, sir," she corrected him, handing him a planner with today's date thickly underlined.

He started to grin. "You see, this is exactly why I have an assistant."

Fischer disappeared into his office.

She sighed slightly and went to work scanning the documents. She had been working for Fischer Morrow, one of the world's largest energy companies, for barely a month. Their headquarters had moved from Sydney to London after the death of their CEO, Maurice Fischer. Her current boss, Robert Fischer, was a direct descendant.

She liked Fischer Jr a lot. He was friendly, supportive and didn't get angry when things didn't go to plan. But in some ways he always seemed so unapproachable. For example, he never talked about his private life and YN had no idea who he was outside of work. Then again, he was her boss and his private life was none of her business. But deep down she admitted that she was very interested in him.

The days flew by and she finally felt as if she had been employed by Fischer Morrow for an eternity. But who Robert Fischer really was remained a mystery.

One evening, as she was about to leave, she quietly opened the door to Fischer's office. He was sitting in front of his computer, his chin resting on his hands. "Have a nice evening, Mr Fischer." He jumped slightly, obviously not having heard her come in, but then he smiled. "Thank you, you too."

YN looked at her watch. "It's almost half past seven, don't you want to finish your work soon? Don't you have a wife waiting for you?"

Mr Fischer shrugged. "I've been divorced for a few years now, and I only see my daughter at weekends. The only thing waiting for me is an empty, dark apartment."

YN held her breath. It was the first time he had told her anything about his private life. But in the same second, he seemed to regret his words.

"No one waits for me either," she said. "Except for my cat."

Fischer raised an eyebrow with a smile. "At least that's something."

Finally she said goodbye and left the office. But all the way home, she kept thinking about her conversation with Fischer.

Was he perhaps as lonely as she was?

Tired, YN lay in bed. She didn't even have the strength to change her clothes and remove her make up. Although she wanted nothing more than to get out of that itchy, uncomfortable dress and tights. A quiet meow sounded beside her and she felt something soft brush against her arm. Smiling, she pulled the cat closer and buried her face in its white fur.

Since leaving her small home village for London, she had no one to talk to. Her old friends had all left her and moved on with their own lives. Robert Fischer was the only one she spoke to regularly, though it was far from a friendship. With the cat in her arms, she turned to the other side. But what if she had feelings for him?

Maybe she should tell him. But wasn't that too much? He was still her boss, after all, and there were probably plenty of women who were interested in him.

She quickly pushed the thought aside and closed her eyes.

Robert Fischer turned curiously when he heard the quick clicking of heels in the corridor. Panting, his assistant opened the door and dropped her bag on the desk.

"Miss YLN, are you okay?"

Her hair was messy, her coat hung loosely over her shoulders as if she hadn't had time to put it on properly, and her lipstick was a little smudged.

"I… overslept," she said, panting. "I'm sorry."

Fischer looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "It's okay. But it shouldn't happen again."

"Of course not, sir," she replied immediately.

He quickly disappeared into his office and returned with a thick stack of papers and a folder.

"Would you be so kind as to sort these documents alphabetically for me? They've been on my desk for days and I haven't had a chance to get to them. I know it's not an exciting task."

She nodded and took the heavy pile from his hand. Fischer thanked her and hurried back to his office.

Sighing, she set to work. But with each page, she found her concentration fading and her mind wandering. Her head ached, her eyes burned and she felt incredibly tired. But she tried not to show it, kept working as hard as she could and finally put the sorted file back on Mr Fischer's desk.

Exhausted, she walked back to her office, sat down in her chair and buried her face in her hands. She was shivering and her ears were ringing. Was it because she had forgotten to take her medicine today?

"Miss YLN?" she heard her boss' voice.

She turned immediately and forced a smile. "Yes, Mr Fischer?"

"I have an job interview scheduled for ten, would you be so kind as to prepare the conference room for it?"

"Of course, sir."

He stopped halfway and looked at YN questioningly. "Are you okay? You look so pale." She nodded quickly, forcing a smile. "Everything's fine, Mr Fischer." Fischer looked at her, raised his eyebrows, then handed her the key to the meeting room and disappeared back into his office.

A strange feeling of dizziness spread through her head as she walked down the long corridor leading to the conference rooms.

What was wrong with her today?

When it started to get dark outside, YN finally turned off her computer and reached for her bag. The strange dizziness had improved during the day, leading her to conclude that she simply needed a break from work. Fortunately, it was Friday. She knocked gently on Fischer's door, as she always did before leaving, to wish him a pleasant evening. He was sitting there as usual, his chin resting on his hand, deep in thought. He glanced up briefly and nodded politely, noticing her in the doorway. He looked stunningly handsome today, even after this long and exhausting day.

"I didn't ask you how the job interviews went this morning," she asked curiously. Fischer shook his head. "Terribly," he said. "None of these people I'd want in my company." His voice was cold and dismissive, and for a moment she thought he was referring to her, even though she knew he meant someone else. She smiled awkwardly and shrugged slightly. "Well, maybe the next one will be better."

Fischer remained silent.

"Have a good weekend, Mr Fischer."

"You too, Miss YLN." He gave her a friendly smile.

"Do you have any plans for the weekend? I know a good restaurant, would you like to join me?" The moment she realised what she had just said, she bit her lip, her face turning red. Had she completely lost her mind? She desperately hoped he hadn't heard what she'd asked, but it was too late. She could see Fischer raise his eyebrows in confusion and stare at her.

"No, Miss YLN. I'm not interested. I keep my work and personal life strictly separate." She immediately looked down, embarrassed. Thoughts raced through her mind like a rollercoaster and her cheeks felt as if they were on fire. "I'm sorry, Mr Fischer, I shouldn't have asked you that." She finally grabbed her bag and left the office without another word, feeling Fischer's gaze on her back.

It was drizzling lightly as she walked through the busy streets of London. The cold air did her good and she felt her head clear a little.

Why had she done this? It had been clear from the start that a man like him would reject her. But the words had come out of her mouth as if she had completely lost control. She felt a tear roll down her cheek and quickly wiped it away. She didn't want to have a mental breakdown in public, even though it felt like Fischer had torn her heart into a thousand pieces. Suddenly the strange dizziness returned and her vision blurred slightly. The sounds of London became muffled, as if she were incredibly far away.

"Miss YLN, wait!" she suddenly heard a voice behind her that seemed to be getting closer.

She turned around. The dizziness had disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Startled, her eyes widened as she saw the person in front of her - it was Mr Fischer. What was he doing here? Had he followed her? She tried to speak, but all she could manage was a hoarse stutter.

"I wanted to apologize, Miss YLN. It wasn't very nice of me to brush you off like that," he said with a gentle laugh. His voice sounded strangely different, softer than usual. Wordless and spellbound, she stared into the pair of light blue eyes before her, apologetic and gentle in their expression. She knew Mr Fischer had blue eyes, but she'd never noticed how incredibly bright they looked.

"It's okay, don't worry," she managed to say, her knees shaking with excitement.

"No, no, Miss YLN. I'll think about the dinner offer, okay? Just because we work together doesn't mean we can't have dinner together, does it?" Fischer suggested, and she nodded slowly, then smiled.

Why this sudden change of heart?

"Well, see you soon." He waved goodbye and YN, still completely confused, raised her hand in response. But before she could form another thought, he had disappeared into the crowd.

Carefully, YN pressed the shutter on her old camera, focusing the lens on the small lake in front of her. Satisfied, she lowered it. She was confident that this snapshot would turn out well. This park was a place she often visited to clear her head and pursue her passion, photography, as it offered many beautiful subjects. Especially now, in autumn, when the trees were covered with colourful leaves and the silence was slowly descending, with only the occasional pedestrian passing by.

Her dizziness had eased a little, but not completely. Fortunately, it was Saturday and she had the whole day to herself. YN sat down on a bench under a tree that looked to be at least a hundred years old.

She sat there for a while, lost in thought. Eventually she got up and made her way to the West End. The streets of London were noisy and busy as she walked, looking for a warm place in a café and something to eat. Crowds of people rushed past her, music played from somewhere and loud voices filled the air. Exhausted, she rubbed her temples. Maybe she should have stayed home and rested.

Suddenly she held her breath as she spotted a familiar face in the crowd. Dark hair, high cheekbones and piercing blue eyes. Fischer. But before she could think, he had already noticed her and started to smile at her.

"Miss YLN, how nice to see you! What a coincidence!"

It was the first time she had seen him in his casual clothes rather than one of his business suits. But this was no less elegant and stylish. He was wearing a well-fitting black coat, a grey knitted jumper underneath and black trousers. It was so strange to see him outside his office at Fischer Morrow Company. Suddenly he didn't seem so unapproachable and distant anymore.

"What are you doing here?" she asked curiously.

He paused for a moment. He seemed to be considering whether or not to tell her.

"I took my little girl to her friend's house for a sleepover. She's been asking me for weeks because her mum won't let her."

"So you're a cool dad," YN replied.

Fischer rolled his eyes. "I'm the one who lets her get away with everything. We had to turn back twice because she realised she had forgotten her favourite stuffed animal and her toothbrush."

She laughed softly. In a strange way, she enjoyed him talking so openly about his life.

"Oh wow, that looks amazing. It's quite old, isn't it?" Mr Fischer pointed to the camera around her neck. "From the 1960s. But it takes incredibly good pictures for that time," she explained. Fischer seemed genuinely impressed. "Do you have more like it?"

"I have quite a few. From the 50s to the 80s, actually, and of course some modern digital cameras. Photography has been my passion since I was a child," she explained. Fischer looked at her with an interested smile. "So there's actually film in there that needs to be developed?" she nodded in confirmation. "Some photo shops still offer that service, yes."

Mr Fischer seemed genuinely interested in her hobby, asking her questions about it as they walked side by side through the streets of London. She felt incredibly comfortable in his presence and hoped he wouldn't leave so soon. Finally he pointed to the camera again. "Would you take a picture of me, please? I'd like a 60's style photo of myself." YN's heart began to beat faster in her chest. What had he just said?

"Of course, Mr Fischer," she replied nervously. "Robert. My name is Robert," he replied. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks, completely surprised. No one at Fischer Morrow Ltd called him by his first name, and outside the company she had only heard his uncle, Peter Browning, call him Robert.

"Let's find a nice spot for the photo," he said, letting his gaze wander until it settled on a beautiful fountain.

Carefully, she picked up the camera, took a few steps back and held it directly in front of Robert's face. "Smile, please," she instructed him, finally pressing the shutter.

A pedestrian who had just passed them looked at YN with a confused expression and shook his head. Frowning, she looked after him before carefully tucking the camera into her handbag.

Are you hungry?" asked Robert. "We could go to a restaurant."

Surprised, she looked at him. "I don't know…" she said hesitantly, biting her lower lip. In fact, she had never expected to be asked such a question.

He looked at her with raised eyebrows and she could see the disappointment in his eyes. Finally, she worked up the courage to say what was on her mind.

"It's just… To be honest, you told me yesterday that you were someone who kept your work and personal life strictly separate. Maybe it would be better if we did. After all, I'm your employee."

As much as she wanted to spend time with him, she was afraid of developing even more feelings for him. Robert nodded slowly and shoved his hands into his coat pockets.

"I really like you. I just never wanted to show it, that's why I was so reserved with you and told you I wasn't interested in you".

She closed her eyes and let out a sigh as a ton of thoughts went through her head. Robert finally nodded at her with a slightly disappointed look on his face and turned on his heel.

"Wait!" she called after him.

He stopped immediately and looked at her hopefully.

"Let's give it a try, shall we?"

"YN… is that a French name?"

Robert's voice sounded slightly tipsy as he grinned curiously at her, twirling his wine glass casually in his hands.

He had taken her to a rather fancy and expensive place, the walls were dark wood panelling, the chairs were covered in red velvet and soft jazz music was playing on one of the radios. Robert looked hauntingly beautiful that night. His skin seemed incredibly soft and flawless, his jawline even more prominent, and his blue eyes shone almost ghostly in the dim light, almost like he wasn’t real…

She smiled, nodded and took a sip from her glass. "My father is French. I grew up in France but moved to England when I was 15."

He nodded with interest, rubbing his chin with his finger.

"And you? I heard you're Australian," she asked curiously.

Robert laughed and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Well, my accent makes it obvious."

YN blushed and looked down at her plate. What a stupid question.

But Robert didn't seem to mind too much, because he started talking about his life in Sydney, how he had finally moved to London after his father's death, and she listened with interest.

But suddenly he stopped and looked at her thoughtfully. "But I'm probably just boring you."

YN immediately shook her head. "No, you're not," she told him. "I find it really interesting to find out all this about you."

At that moment a waitress came to their table with a smile and asked YN in a friendly tone if she had enjoyed her meal. But the waitress paid no attention to Robert, YN noticed with surprise. Perhaps she was just being extra polite to the lady.

Robert pulled out a black leather wallet and rummaged through it. Quickly, YN pulled a few notes out of her habdbag and handed them to the waitress. "Keep the change," she said.

The waitress looked at her with wide eyes, "Thank you, ma'am," she said gratefully, "have a nice evening.

Then she turned and left the table.

"You didn't have to do that," Robert said. "As a gentleman, it's actually my job to pay."

She shook her head in amusement. "I bet that's never happened to you before, has it?"

Robert shook his head and took the last drink from his glass. There was a moment of silence between them.

"Okay. So what's the plan for the rest of the evening?"

She looked at him in surprise. As soon as he said the words, she felt a tingle in her stomach.

The church clock struck twelve as she crossed the street hand in hand with Robert. It was freezing, and she had pulled her scarf so far up her face that only her eyes and nose were visible. Her date looked at her with amusement. "Are you going to rob a bank?" he asked, laughing out loud.

"Shh!" she snapped at him, putting her fingers to his lips. "You'll wake up the whole neighbourhood."

Although it was quite dark and she could only make out Robert, she knew that his typical mischievous grin was back on his face. She pulled him firmly behind her until they reached the small white building.

"Is this where you live?" Robert asked.

She put her finger to his lips for a second time until Robert stopped talking and looked silently into her eyes. Her heart was beating in her chest as she finally stood on her toes, put her arms around his neck and placed her lips on his. Robert returned the kiss without hesitation and gently pulled her into his arms. YN could hardly believe what was happening. It was everything she had secretly wanted for months. They remained like this for a moment before she finally let go of him and reached for her key.

She felt for Robert's upper arm and finally pulled him into her apartment, closing the door behind him. She immediately wrapped her arms around him and began to kiss him again. His lips were a little cold and tasted of wine. Together they stumbled backwards into her bedroom, taking off his coat, which she tossed carelessly to the floor.

Robert's fingers stroked carefully along her hip and fumbled a little with her belt while she was busy putting little kisses on his neck. With slightly trembling hands she pulled his jumper over his head and Robert took her hand.

"Are you nervous?" he wanted to know. She remained silent.

"Don't be," he whispered softly into her ear, taking her in his arms again and pulling her onto the bed. Breathing softly, she clung to his chest, leaned back and finally closed her eyes as she felt his warm skin against hers.

The sun shone through the half-open curtains, creating a narrow, bright streak across the floor. Blinking, she opened her eyes and stretched. But immediately a sharp pain shot through her head again and she held her forehead tiredly. Confused, she sat up and tried to remember what had happened yesterday.

But when she heard soft breathing next to her, she turned quickly and all the events of last night came back to her. Smiling, she looked over at Robert, snuggled up next to her in her beige blanket, sleeping peacefully. Tenderly stroking his messy hair, she lay down beside him again and then began to caress his bare chest. Perhaps what they had done was wrong. After all, they were two people who should never have fallen in love. But it had happened, and it felt so right. They remained in this position for some time, Robert asleep and YN lost in thought.

Her eyes swept through the bedroom until they settled on a small white box on her dresser. Quickly sitting up, she reached for it and put a small pill into her mouth. Eventually, Robert began to move a little beside her, opening his eyes tiredly. Smiling broadly, she gave him a small kiss on the tip of his nose.

"Good morning," she whispered.

"Good morning," Robert murmured in a raspy morning voice.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"Yes, wonderfully." He yawned loudly and took her into his arms as she laid her head lovingly on his shoulder.

"Wait, what time is it?" he suddenly wanted to know.

"Quarter past ten, why do you ask?" she replied.

"Shit," Robert muttered as he let go of the hug, jumped out of the bed and started to pick up his clothes, which were strewn all over the floor.

"Wait, wait, where are you going?" she asked, looking at him in confusion.

"I should've picked up my daughter by now," he replied, hurrying to get dressed.

Sighing, she pulled the blanket around her a little tighter. "Can't it wait? Can't you stay for breakfast?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm sure she's already waiting for me.“ Robert dodged her questions, grabbing his coat on the floor and sighing when he saw her disappointed look.

He walked slowly towards her, stroking her chin with his finger, and finally whispered: "We can catch up later." Then he put a soft kiss on her lips before turning around and disappearing through the door. She sank back into the pillows and pulled the blanket over her head.

The rest of Sunday flew by. Mostly because her mind was on Robert and she could hardly wait to see him again tomorrow at work. She had probably never looked forward to a Monday in her life as much as she did that day.

The next morning, YN carefully applied her lipstick and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She noticed that the collar of her white blouse was a little crooked and quickly adjusted it. She wanted to look her best for Robert today, so he wouldn't change his mind and lose interest in her.

Humming softly, she put on her black high heels and grabbed her handbag. She quickly put another pill into her mouth and put the box in her bag. Her headache was completely gone and her head finally felt clear and light again. In a good mood, she breathed in the fresh morning air and made her way to work.

Her heels clicked on the floor as she walked down the familiar corridor of Fischer Morrow. The lights were on in Robert's office. She ran a final hand through her hair, smoothed her blouse and opened the door to her own office.

The air was stuffy and hot. Coughing, she ran to the window and opened it.

"Good morning, Miss YLN, I hope you had a nice weekend," a familiar voice sounded from behind her.

Startled, she turned to see Robert's face as he stuck his head through the door, as he always did.

Why didn't he call her by her first name? Confused, she stared at him, trying to form a clear sentence. "But… But… we spent it together…" her voice finally broke. Her head suddenly hurt again.

He seemed so different again. Not the Robert she had spent the weekend with, not the one who had apologised for being too rude to her, not the one who had made her laugh and told her about his life. He seemed more like the one she had worked with for months, the one who never revealed anything about himself.

"Miss YLN? I haven't seen you since Friday, when you left my office after… asking me that question."

Her heart almost stopped. Suddenly her knees gave way and she sank to the floor.

"Are you okay? Are you feeling unwell?" Concerned, he bent down to her. "Do you want to go home and rest?"

She nodded slightly and wiped a tear from her eye, which had turned her fingers black from the carefully applied mascara. Then she got up and left the office.

At home, she lay motionless on her bed, tears streaming down her cheeks. She couldn't think straight and her throat felt incredibly dry. The door to her room, which was only ajar, opened gently and something small and white slipped through. Sniffling, she stretched out her arms and lifted her cat onto the bed.

Everything that had happened that weekend had been fake. She had made it all up. And all of this happened because she had forgotten to take the pills against her delusions. Robert hadn't really followed her on Friday evening; it was all a figment of her imagination. While his real self was still sitting in the office, probably not thinking about her at all. Everything suddenly made sense: why Robert looked a bit different, why his voice sounded different, the waitress who ignored him on Saturday because she couldn’t actually see him, the pedestrian who gave her a confused look because she was talking to herself while taking the photo.

The photo.

She immediately got up, put on her shoes and ran to the photo shop where she had left the film to be developed. Her heart raced as the staff handed her the envelope with the photos. Trembling, she finally grabbed the Saturday night photo, without looking at it herself, and held it up to the staff's face. "What do you see?" she asked.

The young man looked at her in confusion, but remained polite. "The fountain at Piccadilly Circus. Great picture, it turned out really nice."

"Anything else?" she asked.

"No, ma'am," he replied, and it felt like a slap in her face. Fischer had never been there with her. Only her lonely and sad mind had led her to believe that he was interested in her and loved her. Tears welled in her eyes and she left the shop without another word. When she got home, she immediately took the white box of pills from her handbag, rushed into the kitchen, opened it and poured the pills into the bin.

Crying and with burning eyes, she finally lay down on her bed and buried her head in the pillow as her cat purred softly beside her. She must have stayed like that for hours, as the sun began to set again outside her window. When she finally lifted her head and wiped the tears from her face, she saw a dark haired man sitting beside her bed, looking at her lovingly with his pale blue eyes. A smile suddenly appeared on her face and she began to laugh, pulling the man into a tight hug.

some explanations because i know that story is kinda mind-fucking:

• Is Robert Fischer all a creation of the readers mind?

- No he actually exists, he’s her boss and she‘s in love with hin but she imagines dating him.

• When is he real, when is he fake?

- - The Robert Fischer in the office is real, he turns her down when she asks him out, leaving YN heartbroken. The moment she leaves the office, she starts to imagine what it would be like if he apologised to her, so the man who follows her is just her imagination. The real Robert Fischer is still in his office at Fischer-Morrow.

When she visits the city on Saturday and meets "Robert" and goes on a date with him, it's also just her imagination. That's why other people react to her with confusion, because she's basically talking to herself all the time. On Sunday morning, when she wakes up next to him, he's still fake. When she takes her pills, he quickly "disappears" (he says he has to pick up his daughter...) because they stop her delusions.

On Monday morning, when she gets back to her office, the real Robert Fischer is there again, who hadn't seen her since he had rejected her on Friday evening.

When she gets home, she throws away her pills and her delusions start again. The man who sat next to her on the bed and comforted her is again the imaginary version of Robert.

[toji-sweetheart]

🩷🌷 hello, I haven't really written anything new it feels like besides kinktober and I'm really itching to write still so here are some prompts under the cut along with the characters I'm really into writing as of right now! so if anyone wants to send a prompt (some are smut + fluff and maybe angst!) please do!

these prompts are taken from my sideblog! there are some dark content prompts as well!

characters: Katsuki + Levi + Eren + Toji + Shiu + Suguru + Enji + John Price + Kyle Garrick + Simon 'Ghost' Riley - also number seventeen you can just send the sentence you want!

person A being passed around a friend group

multiple yandere loving person A

werewolves sharing person A in the pack

person A’s professors find other ways to help her grades

person A and all her step brothers

person A x her step brother and his best friends

person A x her step dad and his best friends

person A x her bosses

person A on house arrest x her security guards ( a lot of ways this can be twisted — different species, different circumstances, etc. princess x her bodyguards)

person A is a scientist studying alien life forms — they take turns using her so she can “study better”

person A is traded to a dark king in return for her kingdoms safety (whatever reason you want), only to be shared between him and his royal court (including brothers & best friends)

person A is a highly fertile woman in a dystopian world, shared amongst lords in hopes to reproduce

person A x the men sent to kill her

“This is for stress relief only,” Character A grits out as they drive into Character B again, hands pinning their hips to the mattress and revelling in the way Character B whimpers at the roughness they’re exhibiting. “No other reason.”

Character A and Character B are embroiled in a heated argument when Character A spits out, “How about instead of using that pretty mouth of yours to argue with me over something you’re clearly fucking wrong about, you put it to better use?” (or, alternatively: “You sounded so much better when you were moaning my name last night, so how about we get back to that instead so I don’t have to hear you barking at me about something you’re clearly wrong about?”)

Character B calling Character A a term of endearment while they’re messing around and Character A freezes, heart thudding loudly in their chest. “What the hell did you just call me?” they ask, and Character B proceeds to call them that again, saccharine sweet, with a shit-eating grin gracing their lips.

❛ no one can know about this. ❜ ❛ i'm sorry. you know i didn't mean it like that. ❜ ❛ you still love me, don't you? ❜ ❛ promise me not to do this again. ❜ ❛ you hit me! ❜ ❛ but you said you loved me … ❜ ❛ i didn't tell anyone, i swear! ❜ ❛ you promised me you'd stop this. ❜ ❛ you know what's going to happen if you try to pull this stunt again. ❜ ❛ don't you dare leave me! ❜ ❛ you aren't scared of me, are you? ❜ ❛ stop it! please, just let me go! ❜ ❛ is there something you forgot to tell me? ❜ ❛ but i do know better than you. i thought that much was obvious. ❜ ❛ so you leave me no other choice. ❜ ❛ i'm doing this because i care! ❜ ❛ why did you do that to me? ❜ ❛ will you just shut up about it already? i told you i'm sorry. ❜ ❛ you're really testing my patience today. ❜ ❛ i only did this for you! ❜ ❛ this is all your fault! if you'd just listened to me, it wouldn't have come to this. ❜ ❛ please don't be mad. ❜ ❛ i'm worried about you. ❜ ❛ you have no idea what you're talking about! ❜ ❛ i'm sorry, i don't know what came over me. ❜ ❛ stop being so dramatic. ❜ ❛ god, you're making this way too easy for me. ❜ ❛ did you just disagree with me? ❜ ❛ do i need to remind you who you belong to? ❜ ❛ nobody else will ever love you the way i do. ❜ ❛ who do you think they would really believe? you or me? ❜ ❛ what the hell is wrong with you? ❜ ❛ you remember what i told you would happen if you leave, don't you? ❜ ❛ you are nothing without me! ❜ ❛ you still haven't learned your lesson yet, hmm? ❜ ❛ it's obvious you're not trying hard enough. ❜ ❛ so you're saying this is my fault? ❜ ❛ you're only making this worse for yourself. ❜ ❛ go on, keep telling yourself that i'm the bad guy when deep down you know this is all because of you. ❜ ❛ don't you understand yet? i'm only doing this because i love you. ❜

“I hate that you spend so much time with them, that’s all.” “Oh? And is that you’re new friend?” “Stop overreacting, there’s no reason why I would leave you for them”

[persmo]

Idk if someone who follows syspport and non alter CDD follows the main blog here, but to be sure I'm gonna reblog it in both blogs so hi, this is the main of the person behind those two blogs!

I'm gonna take a break from both blogs for a while, the two blogs were made by alters who haven't been fronting anymore because of personal life problems, and though I can handle the blogs as I'm qualified and I know information, I don't have enough energy and motivation to keep them active, I'm tired, I been running both blogs for like a week and I don't have more energy TT

So take it as a semi-hiatus, why semi and not full hiatus? Because maybe I'll do some posts in both blogs, that doesn't mean I'm gonna be active but I like the blogs and sometimes I have fun doing content in them or at least I find it entertaining because of the topics the blogs are around

I'm gonna answer the asks that were send before I make this post, but any other ask or submission done after this post is gonna be there for a long time, I won't be closing asks, you can send more submissions in both blogs if you want, just keep in mind that is going to take longer for me to answer it, that's the more hiatus part... When I com back full with both blogs I'm (or tf who's in front) gonna answer ALL THE ASKS, so your ask isn't going to be ignored or deleted, just delayed if I know how to word correctly-

Not 100% sure how long this hiatus is gonna take, maybe the whole month? Maybe not?... I don't know how much is gonna take for me to pass through this hard period of time that's making me put in hiatus this two blogs, if you're interested in this blog I'm gonna reblog this post to update when the hiatus is over!

You can still go and talk in my other sideblogs or in this sideblog, I'm not going to be super active but I'm gonna be more active in this other blogs rather than this ones (Maybe some blogs will get a hiatus like treatment, but come on they're already in a more long hiatus)

That's all I can say for this post cause Idk what more to add... Thanks for reading and I hope this semi-hiatus doesn't take too long to be able to return back to work and answering asks/submissions!!

[miru667]

How do you manage to stay in a fandom for so long? I'm always mario jumping from fandom to fandom every 3-6 months

Oh, so many reasons. I think I've answered this before but in a much more concise way so idk what happened here when I tried to answer again from scratch but uhhh I wrote a lot lol?? Long ramble time. 😂

I found this fandom at a point in my life when I really emotionally needed it, so I got really attached to it. I stayed because of the friends I've made in it and because of the OCs I got invested in, both mine and other people's, and every so often something invigorated my interest like a new roleplay I got to join or new concept art that got discovered.

I'm also just a really dedicated person (for better or worse) and I still have ideas that I want to get out there creatively. I don't get a lot of free time, and I rarely have energy for hobbies after work so my time passes slowly in the sense that I may still be in the middle of appreciating a thing, meanwhile everyone else has already sped through and processed it and moved on.

So I've gotta be really careful about choosing what to spend my limited time and energy on. It sometimes takes me a whole month to draw a piece of art that I'm proud of. It would be a huge waste of my time to spend so much energy on a fandom that after 3 months I think I might not care about anymore.

And like, if it's going to take me a month to draw 1 thing, what am I going to choose? Fanart of a character from a show that I just finished that I might possibly move on from in 3 months? Or art of my darling Audrey OC that I've been developing for years and whom I know will always bring me joy for the rest of my life? It's not a hard choice! Like I'm sure it's obvious by now but I really love my oc. It's gotten to the point that I look for her in every media I consume. I like characters because they remind me of her, and I like plots because they remind me of her. When I watch a movie and end up loving it, I'm not going to be drawing fanart for that movie, I'm more likely going to be drawing Audrey Grace in some way that's consciously or subconsciously inspired by that movie. I'm sure other people with beloved ocs can relate to that, too.

Back to media consumption: I'm constantly watching new things, shows, movies, letsplays, and I'm able to love them just fine, but I never participate in their fandoms (unless you count reblogging fanart as participation. I personally don't). I just don't feel motivated to and I feel like it's unnecessary. I shouldn't need to prove anything. You can appreciate media without engaging in fandom. In fact, I encourage it, because a lot of what I see in fandoms these days is just stressful, at least to me. And I don't want that stress. I'm much happier as a person when I don't have to read other people's opinions, discourse and drama over some show's themes or ships or whatever. I can just quietly revel in my own enjoyment of the show without being tainted by anything else, and my love for it is not any less valid than the person who's livetweeting their loud emotions while watching the same show and putting out fanart 1 hour after every episode. Bless them, though.

And I guess that's mostly what I do these days with the Onceler fandom, too. Appreciating it more quietly these days, I mean. It's just that...I have a fandom related oc so I draw her. And I have friends here so we do stuff together and we reference fandom inside jokes no matter what activity we're doing. If I encounter art that deeply moves me personally, I reblog it, just like I reblog art for other media on my sideblog. When anyone has a fandom history related question, I'm eager to answer because I don't want the past to be misrepresented or misunderstood. And also, since it's been over a decade, this fandom has long ago become my daily normal. I can do whatever I like but I can't really "leave" this fandom unless I delete all my social media and cut off all my online friends. And delete my memories of the past 12 years of my life as well. Just become a completely different person.

So I guess I can reverse the sentiment: I can't relate to people who hop fandoms every 3 to 6 months. 😭 All the power to you, but that's just not the way I happen to live my life, nor the way I engage with the media I consume! The Once-ler fandom was the one exception. It was special.

But who knows, anything can happen in the future. I'm not so proud that I'm purposely blocking myself from looking at other fandoms or anything. I just go with the flow! Right now I'm slowly making my way through jjba, an omori playthrough, a Plague Tale playthrough, and urusei yatsura season 2 (the new anime). Probably nothing will come out of any it except for a bunch of Audrey inspos, but again, who knows. XD I'm also going to an idkhow concert soon, and I've bought merch from their store already. Does that count as participating in a fandom? Maybe not. But now that I think of it, even if I "join" another fandom, it doesn't necessarily mean I'd leave the onceler fandom either, so maybe it wouldn't matter haha.

Thank you for the ask and thank you to anyone who's read my entire answer!

[quin-draws-smooching]

Heya! 😋

Came across this sideblog through your main. Point is, I noticed you haven't posted here despite saying you wanted to everyday and so I'm a bit worried about how it's affecting you.

I'm not tryna remind you and worry you lol. But I know how committing to something and stopping after a bit can affect one's morale and mental health so I wanted to try and help cheer you up, even if you're already cheer, just in case.

Just a reminder that this was something you wanted to do as a hobby, and so there aren't actual consequences to sometimes not doing it! You're allowed to have breaks and get back when you have the energy yk. I'm just worried you'll beat yourself up thinking about this and I thought I'd try and help as you have for us.

Take things at your own pace. You're doing awesome. Hobbies are meant for fun, so don't stress yourself out by worrying about not doing them all the time and just do em when you feel like it. You got this, and I believe in you, and I'm sure others do too! Your wellbeing comes first, before all this.

I think that's all from me this time lol. Just wanted you to take care is all. Thanks for reading if you managed to get this far, I know I sometimes type alot. Anyways, take care, quinybear. (Sorry couldn't help myself haha)

Nnooooooo but this is so kind!!

\lol/

Oh my goodness, thank you! Seriously - no cap, or whatever the kids say, I mean this genuinely, this is just the most sincerely sweetest thing I think I could've gotten and I'm so touched.

I love the looking out in this, thank you.

^_^

I'm doing alright with my art - it's always been a complicated thing for me, drawing vs writing (writing is just so easy comparatively for me) but art's ever been the struggle.

I have stopped drawing, kind of - life's gotten hectic and I dropped the little daily habit I had going, but I guess more correctly I put it down. I didn't want to stress trying to keep up with it, but I wasn't going to stop drawing entirely either.

I am 100% doing things at my own pace, and I'm sure I'll get back to a point where I can do my daily sketches, and I'm just not going to stress about it until then =3

T-T seriously though, my heart.

but I'm doing good - I'm making sure I don't stress myself out over my beloved hobbies, and as frustrating as it can be to set them aside for a bit, I know that it's better to do that than let it break me.

Thank you so much for your kind words and your concern ❤️

[roachsideblog]

Goretober Day 5 is here, everyone!! See Day 2 on my other sideblog for nsfw stuff (NO MINORS). Days 3 & 4 were skipped because I went to the aquarium and helped some friends with an event :3

Also thanks to @nonsenseafterdark for making the prompt list I'm using!! Find that here <3

I actually wrote two drabbles for this (under the cut). In both of them Roach gets #fuckedup and Ghost saves the day <3

First - 426 words where Ghost is a good lieutenant

TWs: graphic violence, gunshot wounds, blunt force trauma, facial trauma, eye injury.

Second - 870 words where Ghost is a violent, protective boyfriend <3

TWs: graphic violence, emetophobia/vomit, facial trauma, robbery.

~~~

1:

Roach was cornered. Empty hallway, no cover, completely weaponless after a previous scrap with a group of enemy soldiers, a three v. one he barely escaped. There was only one man this time, and Roach already managed to disarm him, gun skittering across the room into the dark. Unfortunately, the man found an improvised weapon: a long, thick chain sporting a hefty padlock on the end. He spun it to the side like a propeller, preparing to bash Roach’s head in with about a kilo of stainless steel. Roach covered his face.

The man loosened his grip and let the padlock fly. It zipped through the air directly into Roach’s abdomen. The Sergeant’s knees buckled and he doubled over, putting his arms out to catch his fall on reflex. This left his face vulnerable—the enemy swung the chain to the side this time like a right hook.

It slammed into Roach’s cheekbone. Shattered his eye socket. Fucked up his nose. He screamed and dropped to his knees in agony, then looked up just in time to see the chain start spinning again. Scary part was, he could also see the floor.

A gunshot blasted down the hall. It was impossibly loud as his assailant’s face exploded towards him like a Chestburster crawled out. The body collapsed forward onto him.

Shrugging it off revealed Lieutenant Ghost. Expression usually unreadable, the man’s eyes went wide and he sprung to Roach’s side.

“Christ alive, Roach, what happened‽”

He pointed to the chain. There was too much blood pouring from his nose to form any words. It drained from his sinuses into his mouth, too, and welled up from his eye until it rolled down his cheek. The bone below his skin was likely blown to bits. It seared with white-hot pain that throbbed from every heartbeat. His nose bent into his field of view on the left side at nearly ninety degrees.

Roach went to feel the wound until Ghost snatched his wrist. “Don’t touch anything.”

Suddenly, he realized why he could see the floor: his eye dangled into the lock-shaped gash where his cheekbone once was. “Fuck,” he said through blood and bone splinters. He coughed and gagged, once more reaching to cover the wound.

“I said leave it alone, Sergeant! Keep your head. Are you hurt anywhere else?”

Roach was dazed. Confused. Probably concussed. He stammered but managed to reply, “Nothing deadly.”

Ghost handed him a pistol. “Good. Let’s get you out of here. I want to see that pretty face of yours pieced back together.”

~~~

2:

Roach groaned. The bubbly, breathy sound echoed in the bar alley, loud enough to reach the street yet not enough to outcompete the roar of traffic nor the bass from the club he just left.

Now a mystery hand fisted his hair, knee driven between his shoulders to keep him down as it yanked his skull up. His spine protested. Blood dribbled down his neck from his slack jaw and crooked nose. He wriggled in protest.

All he wanted was a smoke.

“Shoulda just let me ‘ave your wallet, mate,” his attacker hissed. “Fair’s fair: break my nose n’ I’ll break yours, yeah? I’ll fuckin’ kill you.”

Roach’s eyes crossed. His nose deviated from the midline of his face. Then the pavement approached full speed and the blood pool splattered his face. Not all of it was his. No, he gave the fucker a run for their money; were he sober there'd be no contest. Sidewalk gravel and at least one tooth stuck to his forehead, scratched his cheeks. The pain was blinding.

He stopped struggling to puke frenchfries and beer, didn’t have the energy to start again, had barely enough to scrunch his eyes in protection from the stomach acid. It burned his empty tooth sockets and scraped skin.

“Eugh, fuckin’ minging… You done bein’ difficult?”

He just laid there.

“Took you long enough to give up. Shoulda just listened.”

Roach’s assailant repositioned to crouch beside him. They began rifling through his pockets, the search thorough as it rocked Roach’s limp form. He let out a pathetic, agonized whimper.

“Christ. Look, I’m not a bad bloke. I’ll do you a solid. We’ve got time now that you’re not fightin’ me, so I’ll just pull your cash out. Leave the cards behind. Too many cameras now for card fraud, anyway.”

His wallet slid from his front right pocket. He heard his bills pulled out—a few twenty pound notes—then felt it land on the small of his back.

“Cute photos in there. Those your boyfriends? I bet mohawk hits it from the back, huh?” They snorted. “Naw, I'm just kidding… Forty? That’s all this was for? Hope your hospital bills are worth it, sheesh…”

Roach didn’t move.

Their attitude shifted. Their laugh trailed into a nervous giggle. “Hah, I didn’t kill you, did I?”

A foot nudged his side. The pain in his face was so white-hot and dizzying he couldn’t do jack shit about it. Vomit slowly flowed towards him as he lie in the low point of the gutter.

Mercifully, a hand grabbed his shoulder and lifted him out of it. Pray was all Roach could do: pray they were done, pray his neck wasn’t broken, pray there was only a concussion, pray he didn’t puke again and choke on it. His head hung.

“C’mon. On your side.”

They positioned him facing towards the curb so he’d be less likely to drown in puke. They even moved him upstream of what was already there.

The alley door opened. His attacker jumped to his feet and tried to book it. Roach heard them grunt as the newcomer somehow stopped their escape.

Ghost’s voice exploded in the air like buckshot. “The fuck you think you’re going, prick?”

The sound of his boyfriend’s voice brought peace to Roach’s mind. No doubt the man would return violence in kind, if not worse. Roach’s pain was dampened by the sweet serotonin of revenge.

“Hey, hey, no worries, mate! Wasn’t me! I’m on my way for security! Thank god you’re here; I’ll watch him while you get someone—” They choked. Roach knew the satisfying sound of someone getting grabbed by the throat when he heard it. Next he heard their body hit the ground beside him.

“You’re dead meat,” Ghost growled, then decked them. The force slammed the back of their skull into the asphalt. Again. Again and again and again until they stopped choking. Ghost grunted in exertion from the energy he imbued into each one, the cracking wet impacts of head wounds filling the air.

Resting on the ground aided Roach’s dizziness. He managed to peel himself up onto his hands and knees. Even spotted the cigarette he didn’t manage to light even with his blurry vision, broken in half in the middle of some scattered butts.

He groaned. “Don’t kill him, Simon!”

“Oh, thank god!” Ghost exclaimed, jumping off Roach’s assailant to kneel by his side. The other person gasped for air when he got up. “You okay? Look here, love.”

Roach let himself be repositioned. The world spun as Ghost’s hand cupped his sore jaw and turned him.

“Fuck, you need a good dentist. How’s your head?”

“Concussed.”

Roach’s assailant tried getting up as quietly as possible while they spoke. A fool’s errand, considering their ragged breathing as they stumbled over beer bottles.

Ghost whipped around to beat them again until Roach stopped him. “You don’t need a murder charge.”

Reluctantly, he relented and pressed a kiss to Roach’s temple, vibrating with rage as Roach’s attacker limped into the night. “Let’s get you to a hospital. That your wallet right here?”

Roach nodded. He grabbed it, slung Roach’s arm over his shoulder, and helped him to the car.

[thebumblebeesystem]

Pinned post, introducing myself

(Edit 11/22/2023: This post is outdated and I have plans to make a new one when I have the spoons. But I'm leaving it for now since I'm too tired to do otherwise.)

I've been waiting to make a pinned post until I knew what to say, but I've finally realized I can make a pinned post in which I can say that I don't know what to say yet. 😅 I'll babble about myself and hope I say something of interest.

Edit: My non-ffxiv posts can be found at @bumblebeesystem, and a list of all of our system's sideblogs can be found at @bumblebeesystem-hub.

Hi, my name's B'Elarra. I'm tentatively trying out Bee as a nickname, but I don't know yet if it'll stick or not. I'm a DID (dissociative identity disorder) system. I'll find a link to put here explaining it for people who don't know what that is when I have the spoons to.

I'm non-binary. My pronouns are they/them both to be gender neutral and, as a system, plural. I'll sometimes talk in I-language, sometimes we-language, depending on what feels natural that day. I don't mind being spoken to in singular (i.e. "you"), but it always feels good if people refer to me as plural (i.e. "you all"). No worries if you don't, though.

I'm a Twitter refugee, but I haven't been on Twitter all that long. I joined it in September 2022 because I wanted to be a part of the ffxiv community there. It never really did feel like a good fit for me. Twitter is for talking short and I tend to talk long. I found it hard to condense my thoughts enough to fit there, even with doing threads. So while I'm not glad the platform has blown up for the thousandth time, and I'm not glad to see all the broken friendships as a result... I'm very glad to end up here, and to find so many others here as well.

I'm autistic and an introvert who likes being around people (with breaks to recharge) but doesn't know how to people myself. I flail and get all awkward when someone talks to me and I don't know what I'm supposed to do back. So, thank you to the emotional support extroverts that have adopted me. You're much appreciated.

I'm in my 30's. I live with my husband (he/him) and partner (they/them). We're polyamorous, but not a triad. The two of them are good friends with each other. We have three cats, a bunch of snakes, and a whole lot of isopods. (The reaction I usually get to that is "you mean those roly poly bugs? You can keep them as pets?" Yes, you can keep them as pets!)

As far as ffxiv goes, the characters and ships you'll see here will be varied. As a system, many of us have our own characters and ships, and who we'll post will depend on who is around. Here's some of who you'll see. I'll take different screenshots for this post eventually, but for now, I'm just re-using what I've already got. The pronouns I'll list are for the characters. The player is always they/them, though.

B'Elarra (she/her): Her polycule is B'Elarra/Aymeric, B'Elarra/Haurchefant, B'Elarra/Estinien, and Aymeric/Estinien. B'Elarra has two daughters that she adopted as a single mother. Haurchefant lives.

B'Elano (he/him): His polycule is B'Elano/Erenville and B'Elano/G'raha

Baylen (they/them)/Merlwyb

B'ayana(they/them)/Lucia/Maxima (triad, and Maxima is genderfluid)

Mireya (she/her)/Barthovieu, with his son Philipallais (Heavensward carpenter quest npcs)

Lyse/Hien

Luna (she/her and they/them)

Adria (they/them)

Merri (she/her)

I also like taking screenshots of locations sometimes.

Anyway. I plan for this blog to be primarily ffxiv, but other things will probably creep in as well. I'll get a feel for what tags are here and how to use them and such. Questions are welcome, but I ask that they be specific. Vague questions make me freeze.

Thank you for being here!

[sharkboyandlavalieb]

(I'm currently nursing a nasty hangover and am feeling emotional so please accept this and remember me as I was in my better days)

I have so many thanks...too many thanks actually for everyone that follows this sideblog. I've had it for YEARS, but never spent much time socializing with the fandom until the recent boom. I was immediately welcomed from so many people and it means a lot. ❤️

A huge thank you to my unhinged discord buds who listen to my ramblings, give advice/critique on graphics and gave rise to my ultimate 'ron is a grower' headcanon (we have pics for proof). you're all amazing @basilone @almost-a-class-act @cody-helix02 @currahee @latibvles @gorgeousundertow & so many others that I'm blanking on your urls 💗

Biggest appreciation to @snarkyliebgott for always sifting through my nonsense and responding with kindness and equal nonsense (i.e.: what would put easy company in a coma first). They're the first person I felt truly connected to in the fandom. I feel like I could write gibberish and they'd completely understand. I'll always support my georgian sugar plum peach!! ✨

@ronald-speirs - I think you were the first person to interact with my red cross graphic (the first thing I've made for this fandom since 2019) and you've been a wonderful friend ever since. Our convos (no matter how short) make me laugh every single time. You, your edits and screencaps are A GIFT!

@saturnwisteria - for always being on my dash and in my notes on both this account and my personal! I hope we can have more interactions in the new year!!

@mutantmanifesto - not only is your artwork breathtaking and amazing, but you yourself are amazing and so friendly to talk to. I get so excited when I see a new mention cause it means you've fed us another masterpiece we are not worthy of.

@ewipandora - I couldn't forget you on here!!! We just became mutuals this month but I already feel like we've been following each other all year! (your webgott kink post had me weak, thanks again for that bread)

@historyl3sbian - I really thought I was already following you and realized a few days ago I WAS A FOOL! Your text posts make me laugh every. single. time I never get tired of seeing them. Thank you again for letting me use them as inspo for my own unhinged creations. Keep being groovy ;)

also @mercurygray for creating this holiday positivity train and giving me the idea to make this post. It's what jolly ol' saint luz would of wanted.

xoxo - sharkboyandlavalieb

[navybrat817]

Reluctant

Pairings: Max Burnett x Female Reader, Nick Fowler x Female Reader, Max Burnett x Female Reader x Nick Fowler Summary: Max and Nick say you're not playing a game, but you find yourself to be a reluctant player anyway. Word Count: Over 1.3k Warnings: E.S.C., reference to threesome, possessive behavior, manipulation, bickering, slight feels (it's me), Max Burnett and Nick Fowler are kind of assholes (and they're warnings, okay?). A/N: Didn't plan for more this week, but here we are! Set after The Truth Will Set You Free. ❤️ Not beta read and written on my phone, so any and all mistakes are my own. Moodboard by yours truly, banner by the wonderful @sgt-seabass, and divider by the amazing @firefly-graphics . Please follow @navybrat817-sideblog for new fics and notifications. Comments, reblogs, feedback are loved and appreciated!

Laying in bed in the unfamiliar and impersonal room, you wondered how it came to this. True to Max's word, he didn't tell you where he and Nick brought you after their little interrogation. Though you were angry, it didn't stop you from letting them wreck you once they got you back to this room. Their stamina shouldn't have surprised you, but it did and you graciously took them up on their offer to rest.

They were even nice enough to clean you up.

Not that it did you much good. While your body needed to recoup, your mind didn't stop racing. You felt like you hadn't slept at all.

What do they want with me?

"Get up."

Nick stood beside the bed already dressed for the day in jeans and a light blue sweater. It should've frightened you how quiet could be, especially since you hadn't seen him come back into the room. You could smell breakfast on the other side of the door, tempting you to leave. Despite the small growl in your stomach, you didn't move.

"Good morning to you, too. And no. I'm sore and worn out thanks to the two of you."

Only a little sore. I could go again.

Nick sighed and extended his hand. "You're a better liar than that. And as much as I love seeing you in bed, you can't stay here all day."

"Why not?" you asked, letting the sheet fall as you sat up and stretched your arms over your head. You didn't miss the way Nick eyed the swell of your breasts with a kind of hunger that made you shiver. "I should be on vacation and it's not like I have a job at the moment."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," he said, his hand still waiting for yours.

"What? You have a job for me?"

"Possibly working with me, yes," he answered without going into more details. "Now get up. I won't ask again."

"Are you always so bossy?" you asked rhetorically.

Reluctantly, you placed your hand in his and allowed him to pull you to your feet. Instead of backing up to give you space, he tugged you close so your naked body brushed against his. You stiffened in his grasp when he grabbed your chin, but you didn't push him away.

"I can't have you uncomfortable being close to me if we're going to work together," he said as his thumb swept over your lower lip. "But I'm happy to remind you how much you liked me being inside you if that's what it takes."

You allowed Nick to slip his thumb past your lips. The stretch you felt when his cock breached you earlier was a beautiful thing. Being between his and Max's bodies, you fell to pieces. The problem is you didn't recognize yourself once you put yourself back together. You had some jagged edges before you met Max, but you were no longer your own puzzle master.

You were a puppet on a string.

Nick hissed when you bit down on his thumb and wrenched his hand free. You didn't draw blood, but you wanted him to feel a sting. It wasn't wrong that part of you felt a little vindictive.

"Not interested in working with you, Nick," you said as you grabbed his hand. Looking into his eyes, you brought it back to your mouth and kissed the bite mark on his thumb. "But thanks for asking."

"Told you so," Max said from the doorway, clad in boxers and a t-shirt.

Your stomach twisted as you glanced at him. There was still so much you needed to say to him. Was your head even in the right place for it?

Nick glared as the darker haired man. "Yeah? And you think you're in her good graces?"

"Working on it," he shrugged.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" you said, your patience starting to run thin. "We still haven't talked about what the two of you did! I should be on a beach enjoying my day, but now I'm stuck here. And I don't feel like playing any games today."

"We told you this isn't a game," Max said, pointedly ignoring the fact that they played you. "And if it were, do you really think you're winning? We have your phone, ID, and passport locked up for the time being in case you try to run."

"And even if you manage to leave, you don't have access to your money. You don't have anything. Who would help you?" Nick added.

Maybe the man back home you don't know about.

"So I'm a prisoner unless I do what you tell me. And here I thought I was winning because I got the two of you. I'm so lucky. Instead of one dick to deal with, I have two."

Your heart pounded as you glanced between the two of them. Both of them smiled in return.You expected that they'd have full control over the situation. Some part of you deep down thought you deserved this. Most people in your life before didn't care if they ever saw you again.

Most. Not all. But why are these two so eager to hold onto me?

"I thought we fucked most of that brattiness out of you," Nick mused as you tried to shove him away. He didn't budge.

"That's the thing about brattiness. It comes back," Max smiled.

You would know all about that.

"You watched me," you accused Nick, not having to fake the tears that swelled in your eyes. "And you lied to me," you spat at Max.

"Don't look at me like that," he said.

"Like what?" you asked, keeping your gaze as impassive as possible as you blinked the tears away.

"Like I'm going to hurt you," Max said as he walked toward you.

"You already did," you pointed out.

"And I'd do it all over again if it means having you here," Max told you, gripping your chin the way Nick had moments ago. "But we won't hurt you again now that we have you."

The conviction in his voice had your next breath a bit shaky. You stared into his eyes, trying to see beyond the walls he built. You thought you knocked them down, but he had more right behind them.

And Nick was another story. You'd have to peel back the layers to get to the root of him. It was a matter of how to do so.

Because neither of them were sorry since they got you in the end.

"I don't trust either of you. You have to realize that," you said.

Nick brought his mouth to your ear. "We know and can't change what we did."

"But we can show you that it's better to face forward," Max said, brushing his fingers along your neck.

"Show me? How?"

"We know you won't trust our words uet," Nick said, bringing a hand to your hip. "So you'll have to trust our bodies for now."

"It felt good, didn't it? Taking both of us?" Max asked, his voice softening as you briefly closed your eyes. "You nearly soaked the sheets."

"And you did soak our cocks," Nick said as you trembled. "You can do it again."

Before you let them get any further, since your body liked the idea of being between them again, you slipped out of their grasp. "After I eat breakfast," you said, grabbing the nearest discarded shirt to put on.

"After breakfast," Max agreed all too easily.

"And maybe we can talk about the job," you said to Nick. "I'll have to have separate conversations with each of you because I'm still pissed."

Maybe I can tear you each a new one for basically keeping me hostage here.

"A maybe is better than a no," Nick smiled.

You ignored their lustful stares as you stepped backwards toward the door and left the room. You were their prey, but you could also be the predator. It was just a matter of setting the trap.

And if you truly wanted to escape these two men who seemed hellbent on owning you.

Oh, what will we do with them? Hehe. Love and thanks for reading! ❤️

Masterlist ⚓ Read Between the Lies Masterlist ⚓ Ko-Fi

[ql-of-all-time-bracket]

Since it's been about a day since polls have started, here's a few notes:

256 feels like a lot of qls BUT I decided to go through all of the posters for qls I have downloaded from running doyouknowthisql and make a list of all the ones NOT included in this bracket. I ended up finding 200 MORE qls just from like my personal list of stuff (granted a lot of those 200 are really obscure or have low ratings on mdl). I'm positive that if I really looked hard, I could find another 56 and theoretically could have had a 512 bracket (which is insane. 256 is already so much to manage). anyways just goes to show how big the ql industry is these days and how it's impossible now to keep up with everything being made

don't forget we'll have a loser bracket! due to randomness of the seeding it only felt fair that shows would get a second chance. qls have to loose twice to be officially out of the game

at the 3 day mark for any poll, I'll reblog the ones that are within 5% of each other. it's just too many polls at once to keep reblogging (when we get to semifinals and finals that might be different but we've got a long while yet before that's relevant)

it is too much work to put propaganda on each poll BUT if you want to send in propaganda for any ql featured here, that is a-okay! as long as it's positive (no dissing other shows) I'll post it! you can send them in to the asks (which I finally turned on btw. I always forget that they default to being off when making a new sideblog) or tag me in a post/reblog. I'll only reblog the stuff I'm tagged in!!!