#<-prev tags (which were me on my main account)

[titichan]

The Taste of Betrayal

Chapter- 1

A Sukuna x Yuuji x Gojo Fanfic...

Tags: Vampire!Au, Vampire-Hunter dynamics, Bottom!Yuuji, Top!Gojo, Top!Sukuna, Threesome, M/M/M, Sex toys, Bondage, Slight bdsm, Rough sex, A little bit of gore, porn with Plot, Slight mentions of Meimei and Nanami, Author is Sukuna's bitch ;], Other tags will be added as I commence

Note: Alright, so this was my veryyy first ff- which I had started 5 months ago (And still isn't complete lmao). Due to some problems, I was kick outta my prev Ao3 account, and really really wanted to continue this fic- so, while I wait for my Ao3 invitation, imma continue uploadin' here 😘

'The humans have been divided into three categories-

The Humans or, the prey

The Vampires or, the predator

And,

the Hunters, the protector of the prey'

Amidst the busy streets of Tokyo, a hunter was perched on a lone building- aiming at a vampire.

Clothed and masked in black, he was barely noticeable but- his pink hair stood out, shining under the dim moonlight.

He focused at the target and pulled the trigger.

'Bulls eye'

'A clear shot indeed. Yet another vamp' down.'

"Yujii-kun, did you get 'them'?"

A feminine voice echoed from his ear bud. Tapping on it, he spoke, " Yeah, but it isn't 'them' either. "

-

He was just going through the documents, when the same feminine voice was heard, "Yuuji-kun"

He looked up, and saw a dazzling woman standing beside him with two cups of coffee in her hands. As she placed the coffee cup on the table, her silver-like hair swayed- partly revealing her lavender eyes. "Meimei-san"

She smiled, "No need to worry dear, the mission was successful. But, I believe the 'main' mission is still pending?"

She sat down on the sofa in front him. "Yes, I'm very much aware of that."

He stood up. "Got what I asked for?" He said, eyeing the box beside her. The silver-haired smirked, her well-manicured nails clicking against the box. She opened it, and there was a fake ID card and a black hair wig.

He picked up the box. "Though it's my first time going undercover- I don't think I'll fail."

Meimei took a sip of the coffee and shrugged, "Says the best hunter who has nailed each and every mission. Still, I'm really lucky to be your guide, you know."

He responded with a nod. "I'm grateful to you too for getting hold of this mission..." He paused, touching the scar on his face, "...for it's the most probably the ardent clue that could be linked with that day."

Meimei sighed, "Now, now- sit down, will you? Let me show you how to wear the wig."

After she got him ready, she winked "Oh my- I guess we have a lady killer here~"

Totally unfazed by her words, he started packing up for tomorrow.

She caught hold of his arm, signifying him to stop.

"Don't worry about the materials, I've got them safely packed."

Before she went back to her room, she softly said, "Have a safe trip, Itadori Yujii"

-

It was early morning, when Yujii entered a grandiose office building. He was silently scanning the surroundings, when he heard someone from behind.

"Mr.Itadori,"

He turned to face the source of the voice.

A blonde man most probably in his late 20s- his cheek bones were prominent and his speaking, punctual.

"I'm general secretary Nanami Kentou. Nice to meet you."

As he followed the blonde man, Nanami continued, "You're quite early for the first day of your work."

Swiftly, The 'black-haired' answered, "...I just wanted to familiarize myself with the internal structures of the company before starting."

Nanami suddenly stopped at a particular and a humongous door. "You're diligent. But, I'm afraid I will have to intervene into your plans."

He motioned towards the door, "Shall we start by greeting the chairman?"

He knocked on the door, "Chairman, Mr.Itadori has arrived."

When the doors were to be opened, Yujii slowly and cautiously positioned his gun by the back pocket of his suit- just in case.

But, when the doors opened, he saw a tall man leaning against the desk.

"Welcome, " His vivid oceanic eyes gleamed under the morning sun rays.

"I'm Gojo Satoru."

Yujii was captivated by his beauty. Still, he somehow snapped back to reality and bowed, "...I'm Itadori Yujii."

The white-haired smiled and approached him. Suddenly, he offered his hand, "Shall we shake hands?"

Though he was already disgusted and had sworn not to respect a single vampire, he still shook hands with him.

"I'm looking forward to work with you."

He didn't let his guard down at that, his grip on Satoru's hand tightening. When he retracted, looking at him, the white-haired man's eyes were glinting with a hint of 'interest'.

Smiling to himself, Satoru went back to his seat. Signalling to the guest seats nearby, he softly spoke, "Please, have a seat over there."

After getting settled down, his superior demeanour resumed, as he prompted towards Yujii, "Now, shall we start the work which needs to be done right now?"

That did make the hunter flinch a little, but he was quick to compose himself and replied, "....Yes sir."

[sillylotrpolls]

Dropping the bit for this results post (cardinal tumblr sin, I know) for the purposes of some light analysis and commentary.

Explanation

So, what was going on with this poll? Judging from the notes most of you clocked what was going on, but a sizable number didn't pick up on the joke. I attempted to make said joke as obvious as possible without completely giving the game away, tagging #gandalf in the original post and including "tongs" as an option, but that ended up confusing some readers who recognized every name but that one and were convinced they'd missed a reference. These are the risks you run with referential joke polls.

@bamboozled-bumblefuck did a good job explaining in the notes:

#prev tags that's the joke#that gandalf isn't listed#it's riffing on those polls that are like [everyday item] what do you call this thing?#a poobie? a blipper? a nuttybutt?#when it's like. a vaccuum or some shit. something with a few odd regional nicknames but primarily known as one name#and the one main word it's usually known as isn't listed

This was also a variation on past "too many names" polls, highlighting the truly absurd number of names Tolkien gives to some of his characters - except, perhaps not absurd at all when you think about how long-lived many of his characters are and take into account regional differences.

On top of that, I was aiming for a joke about regional superiority, with the supposed OP clearing favoring the Sindarin (Elvish dialect) name and being biased against the Khuzdul (Dwarven) one. As @queerofthedagger picked up, the implication was meant to be that OP was an elf of Mirkwood. That's why they also considered Olórin acceptable, because that's Quenya (fancy Elvish dialect). For more specific details, you'll want to read Tolkien Gateway's list of Gandalf's other names.

Incidentally, when first drafting the above reply, I was attempting to imitate as faithfully as possible the sort of animosity I usually see in these sorts of regional polls gone viral. I realized almost at once that that animosity was not only way too mean, it wasn't fun at all despite being a clear parody in my own eyes. Something to be wary of if you ever try satirizing these kerfuffles yourself.

Result analysis

So, with all that out of the way, the results! I fully expected "other" to win, but it placed a close second to "Mithrandir," 23.8% to 26.5%. I suspect this is because I included "That @#!*@$!💥💢" as an option, which garnered a quite respectable third place with 21.7%.

But why did "Mithrandir" so much better than the other options? It's entirely possible that every voter for that name was going from the books, as I do have a very high number of Silm-reading followers. But were people also that influenced by it being listed first and labeled "correct"? I wonder.

Also interesting is that "Tharkûn" was polling near dead-last (less than 1%) until the above exchange, which eventually boosted it to 4.2% and sixth place. This suggests that at least some people read the post before voting, and then voted out of spite. The latter I'm quite willing to believe, but the former surprised me.

There were also write-in votes for "Mr. Big Naturals," "Stick-elf," and "Disturber of the Peace."

But the most succinct was this comment from @weepylucifer:

#you mean fucking gandalf???

I tried to list them all, even the weird regional ones that I'm pretty sure no one ever actually uses. ("Greyhame," seriously?) Put your answer and where you live in the tags so we can see what everyone calls him around Middle-earth!

Remember to reblog for bigger sample size!!!!

[withyounct]

What’s wrong kid? (8)

Reader x Single dad!Jaehyun 

Genre: Fluff

Words: 3.7k

Prompt: You notice a child crying at a school playground. You decide to see what’s up and meet an extremely stressed/extremely handsome father.

Prev | Next

A/n: Enjoy!

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?” You muttered completely hanging upside down on the couch doing nothing as the pressure of blood flowed into your brain. Ten, who was scrolling through his phone, used his free hand to poke you with a stray pillow.

“We’ll drink and get over it. Are you okay?” He was met with grunts as you slid onto the floor. He was gearing up to join you when the doorbell rang. Very swiftly, you enforced the ‘nose goes’ rule and smirked as he begrudgingly went to answer it.

You were pleasantly surprised to see Johnny’s gigantic stature from your place on the ground.

“I think you’ve been over more than Jaehyun. Congratulations. What do you want?” You turned into a sitting position. Johnny, still in his ‘casual’ suit and tailored made trench coat, chuckled and held out a hand to help you up.

“I'm bored and would like to have a father-daughter afternoon.” You tilted your head in confusion because Johnny was the cool uncle type rather than father, but the rare innocent smile on his face forced you to keep the thought to yourself.

You were content with staying in your nicely heated apartment lounging around all day, but unfortunately you had a soft spot for him. You took his hand and was brought up. Telling him to hang out with Ten for about twenty minutes, you ventured into your room to get ready.

You put on some light makeup and picked out a Johnny approved outfit. It was snowing out, so you stole one of Kun’s scarfs as Johnny pulled you out into the cold.

He told you that he didn’t have any definitive plans as you drove onto the highway. You were about to criticize his poor planning when you got an email from the Men’s Wearhouse. You scanned the email and looked up at Johnny. 

“I can feel you boring holes into my face, what’s up?” He asked not looking away from the road.

You weighed your options; it would be easy and convenient to have Johnny take you, but the possibility of him telling Jaehyun was risky. On the other hand, the thought of having to leave your house later to do something you could do now was annoying.

“I trust you more than I should.” You sighed. “I need to pick up Jaehyun’s gift.”

“I’ll beat you to it. If I tell him anything you’ll kill me.” He smirked. “Where are we going shorty?”  

You scoffed and inserted the address into the gps.

“It’s how much!?” You held on tightly to your card, eyes blown out in shock. The older gentleman that helped you before had his same warm smile which somehow made things worse. 

“The total is $150.” He gestured to the screen. You were too focus at the price that you missed Johnny’s whistle behind you.

“Man that’s pricey. By your standards of course, but I got it.” Johnny said coolly going into his pocket. You stopped his arm with more force than needed.

“I will end you.” You threatened, but the pout you displayed made you look more like a sad kitten than anything. You swiped your card before you could regret it and was handed the velvet box. The man wished you both happy holidays as you exited the shop. You were too busy looking at your bank account to care that Johnny took the gift out your hands and inspected it.

“Boring and right up Jaehyun’s alley. Congrats.” He carefully placed it in one of your coat pockets, making sure to button it close. “Come on, let me treat you to lunch.” He didn’t wait for you to reply as he intertwined his arm with yours and dragged you to the car.

Johnny was pretty predictable, so you weren’t surprised when he took you to some upscale ritzy restaurant. Upon his instructions, you didn’t look at the prices of anything and ordered a steak that you were a hundred percent sure cost the same as rent. You were sipping on the sweetest wine the place had to offer when you realized something. 

“You’re a good friend.” You said suddenly, leaning back into your chair. Johnny looked up from his food in confusion as you continued. “I hope you genuinely like hanging out with me, but your trying to help Jaehyun figure out what to get me, right?”

“Clever guess, but wrong. Jaehyun already bought your gift.” He laughed reaching over the table to ruffle your hair. “I really just wanted a father-daughter day.” He smiled softly. 

After lunch you spent the rest of the afternoon trying to stop Johnny from buying everything he thought would look cute on you and failing. It was nearing the evening when you finally talked him into taking you home, complaining that neither of you had any arm room left. 

“Something tells me that you were always this wealthy.” You stated, stuffing the rest of the bags in the back seat and hopping in yours.

“What gave me away? My complete disregard of a price tag or the car?” He joked. 

“Both.” You laughed. “No offense, you just give off a ‘trust fund kid, never eaten ramen’ vibe sometimes.”

He chuckled, but nodded. “None taken. You’re half right. Came from money. My father owns an information company in Chicago, while my mom owns a fashion company in New York. I was set the moment I was born.” He said proudly.  “I was kind of an asshole as a child and was sent to this boarding school in New Jersey. It was middle school when I met Jaehyun. I’ll let him tell you all the shit we got into, but he was the first person to introduce me to ramen. He loved it, but I wasn’t much of a fan.” There was something in his eyes that soften ever so slightly as he traveled down memory lane in his head. “I’ve known that loser my whole life.” He smiled more to himself than to you. 

“You make him happy.” He used the red light as an opportunity to look at you. “I’ve seen him hit rock bottom and try his hardest to fill holes that were impossible to fix. Hyunjin does a good job, but she herself has holes that she's too young to notice. But you,” His laugh was light in wonder. “you just appeared out of nowhere like an angel and started sewing their holes shut.”

The light changed and he sent you one final smile before turning his attention back to the road. “So thanks for that.” 

The rest of the car ride was filled with music as you were rendered speechless. Johnny didn’t pressure you into saying anything and you appreciated it. He helped you bring all the bags up into your apartment. 

You knew he wasn’t much of a hugger, but you found yourself wrapping your arms tightly around him. You felt the light vibrations of him laugh as he hugged you back. 

“I take it I'm your new favorite.” He laughed, ruffling your hair as you let go. “See you later shorty.” He smiled as he left. 

It was early in the evening and it was right around the time you would make your way over to Jaehyun’s. After trying to find the closet space for all the new clothes that was gifted upon you, you found yourself getting ready to do just that.

But, there was a moment of hesitation as you skidded over to your phone. You’d totally forgotten that Renjun and Yangyang were leaving for China in the morning. You smiled and opened up the group chat, adding Kun and Ten to it.

‘Let’s do something tonight!’ You sent the message and it took exactly three minutes for you to regret your life choices. Jaemin made a poll and clubbing became the main victor. You sent a ‘I hate you all’ text, tossed your phone, and grabbed one of the outfits Johnny bought you. You still had on makeup from earlier, so you were the first one done. 

You wandered into Ten’s room and flopped on his bed as he got ready, wrapping yourself into a cocoon with his covers.

“Someone put in very little effort.” He judged, getting up from his desk chair to sit next to you. He handed you his eyeliner, a silent gesture for you to help him.

“Someone has a man and would rather go laser tagging.” You shot back as you gently tight lined his eyes. “You know you and Kun are our responsible sober adults’ tonight.” You informed. You were met with rolled eyes that contradicted his smile.

“Someone’s got to keep the kids safe.” 

It didn’t take long for everyone to arrive. Kun and Ten took four each and headed to the downtown clubbing district. Ten was ready to throw both you and Jeno out the car since you both rather be anywhere but there and wouldn’t shut up about it.  No one questioned Jaemin as he ushered the group passed the long line into the club. You turned to see him high-five the bouncer and laughed because that was such a Jaemin thing to do. 

You wandered passed the dancefloor and various bodies to the bar. Ten, who immediately forgot about his adult responsibilities, had ordered a raspberry vodka. You smiled as you swiftly took it out his hand and downed it, shooing him away in the process.  

You weren’t much for dancing, so you found a comfortable place at the bar where you could watch your friends act like complete fools. You turned to order another drink when one was placed in front of you. You looked up confused at the bartender only to have him nod his head at the male sitting next to you before walking off. 

The really handsome guy that you just now noticed smiled at you. Smiling back and noticing his drink, you called over the bartender again and ordered another drink. He was confused, but placed it in front of you. Smoothly, you slid it over to the stranger who looked more confused.

“Returning the nice gesture.” You stated, spinning around on the stool to look at your friends. Even in the poorly lit room you could see the murderous intent in their eyes. Laughing, you threw up a ‘okay’ sign and they returned to their dancing. 

“Seungcheol.” He introduced, holding out his hand. 

“Y/n. Taken.” You smiled as you shook his hand. Your smile widened as he laughed.

“That’s okay. I hope the drink wasn’t too awkward.” He nervously rubbed his neck. You told him it wasn’t. 

Naturally a conversation started between you two. You were both dragged there by your friends, who were oddly dancing around each other. Somewhere in between the jokes, laughs, and drinks, an existential crisis creeped its ugly way into your mind making it a bit hard to focus. In every case before now, you would flirt a little and make out in the bathroom until one of your friends would drag you home. 

The conversation gradually became one-sided on his part; you tried to stay engaged, but with the aid of alcohol in your system you eventually fell flat. He was quick to pick it up, stopping midway through a joke to look at your sudden somber disposition. With a bit of hesitation, he lightly tapped your hand.

“Okay why do you look like a kicked puppy? Am I bothering you?” He worried, moving a bit back into his seat to give more space between you two. His dejected tone caught your attention and you hurriedly shook your head. 

“No, its just.” You sighed, letting your cheek lean into your palm. You let out an empty laugh and continued to shake your head. “Nothing.”  You lied.

There was something in his eyes that soften as you played with your empty drink. “I know it’s usually the bartenders that listen to random people problems, but that guy looks like he hates everything and I'm an excellent listener.” He offered.

You weren’t one to flood people with your troubles, friend and stranger alike, but there was something comforting and accepting about him. You sighed. “My boyfriend said I love you a few months back and I haven’t said it back.” You found yourself saying. You watched his face grimaced. “Yeah, I know.” 

Wordlessly, he got the bartender’s attention and pointed to your empty glass. 

After securing you another drink, he continued.

“So, what’s the problem?” He asked. 

“That’s the thing, there isn’t one. He's downright perfect. Even with a kid.” You paused for a moment. “His daughter is amazing which makes him more amazing.” You groaned letting your arm fall as you laid your head on your forearm. 

“Ah, you’re afraid.” He acknowledged. You sat there and let his words simmer for a moment. In your more sober mindset you would deny immediately, it was a stupid reason to be afraid, but somehow you found yourself nodding.

“There's just too much finality with the word love.” You confessed softly to the point you weren’t sure he heard you. He looked down at you sadly as he traded out your drink with water.

Silence engulfed you two, the music and loud laughter for the outside world that seem to dim made its way back into your ears. The alcohol making everything slightly louder than you were comfortable with. 

“I know I don’t know you well, but let me ask you one question that you don’t have to tell me the answer to.” His soft eyes had a sliver of sharpness around the edges. “In this moment right now do you see yourself growing old with him?” 

You of course knew the answer; you’ve had countless daydreams about it. Waking up every morning wrapped in his arms, helping Hyunjin with her hair before school, late minute dates, forcing Jaehyun to watch more horror movies with you, tending to the garden with Hyunjin, putting her to bed, watching her grow up, arguing, making up, the whole nine yards. Until you’re both gross and wrinkly. 

You didn’t notice the smile make its way on your face until Seungcheol proudly pointed it out. 

“Take out your phone, I want updates.” He pulled out his phone and you two exchanged numbers.

It was nearing midnight and you were beyond ready to go. You couldn’t fathom how your friends had the energy to keep going, but they always had a way of surprising you. With a sad smile you turned towards Seungcheol.

“Not that you’re not amazing company, but I'm tired an-”

“I got you.” He waved over your friends. Kun, who finally manage to get out of Ten’s grasp, saw and about ran to you. He, of course, was ready to throw hands just in case. But, after some talking you calmed him down and introduced the two. You turned to pick up your bar tab when it was whisked away by Seungcheol. 

“Have a good night.” He winked, disappearing to the other side of the bar before you could protest. Laughing and shaking your head, you returned your attention back to Kun. Biting your lip and looking past him you could see the rest of your friends still having fun. You didn’t want to take Kun away from that, but wanted nothing more than to crawl in bed. 

“Can you call me a ube-”

“I’ll drive.” He cut you off. “Ten’s with them. He's more responsible than we give him credit for. I’ll come back after dropping you off.” He smiled. It wasn’t every day that Kun complimented Ten, so you decided not to tell him about earlier. 

“Jaehyun’s place right?” He asked, a cheeky smile gracing his face.

“You’re the best.” You hopped down for your stool and leaned on Kun as he guided you out the club. You made sure to stop by Renjun and Yangyang to hug them bye and wished them safe travels.

The car ride was filled with Kun’s ballad playlist which was a welcoming change from the loud EDM music you had to suffer through. Just like you the first time, Kun stood and gawk at how nice Jaehyun’s house was. 

“My baby is moving up in the world.” He whistled. He walked you to the door making sure you had your keys before hugging you bye. 

The living room lights were off and given the time you guessed he retired to bed. Clumsily, you dropped your bag on the couch and made your way down the hallway. You stopped by Hyunjin and snickered at her chaotic sleeping form, looking apologetically at the stuff animals at got kick or punched on the floor. Gently you closed her door and noticed Jaehyun’s office light was still on.

You wandered over and leaned against the doorframe. He was too focused on his laptop and you decided not to alert him to your presence yet. You stood there for a few minutes watching him in deep concentration, smiling at how soft he looked in his ruffled hair and round glasses.

“Boo.” You said, craving his attention. You laughed at how he jumped in surprise, but melted when his smile blossomed. He got out his seat and made his way over to you.

“What are you doing here?” He smiled holding your face.

“I missed you.” You whispered. He cooed at the statement and leaned in for a kiss. He quickly leaned back and looked at you confused.

“Alcohol?” He asked.

You nodded. “I went out with friends. Kun drove me here.” 

He gently stroked your cheek and thanked you for being responsible. You told him he could return to his work, but he wasn’t having any of that. Abandoning his laptop, he guided you to the bedroom. You walked into the closet and grabbed one of his shirts to change in. When you walked back into the room he was seated on the bed, your box of skin care by his side. He smiled and padded the space next to him. Chuckling, you sat yourself.

“I'm not that drunk. I can do it.” You explained.

“Nope. I want to.” He beamed. He pulled out your makeup wipes and gently wiped your face. You started to laugh which caught his attention.

“You’re going to need to use more force than that.” You laughed handing him another wipe. He made an ‘o’ shape and applied a bit more pressure. He used more wipes than needed, but you kept that to yourself. After he was done, you went to cleanse your face with the promise he could finish the rest. 

He had seen your routine countless times, so you closed your eyes and let him go at his own pace.

“Did you have fun?” He asked quietly.

“Kind of. I mostly talked to this guy at the bar.” You answered honestly. His hands stilled for a millisecond. It was something you would have missed if you weren’t hyperaware of his every movements. 

“Oh. What did you talk about?” 

“You. He was a chill guy.” Your eyes opened slowly as you smiled. You saw the smile make its way on his face as he nodded.

“Well I'm glad you kind of had fun.” He finished padding in your eye cream and tapped your nose. 

“Beautiful.” The same amount of love in his eyes was being conveyed in his voice as he tucked a stray hair behind your ear. Your heart picked up speed at the intensity of his gaze, so you got on your knees and engulfed him in a hug. You smiled at the melodic laughter that calmed your very soul as he held onto you.

“Man I should do this more often.” He gently stroke your head, swaying you side to side.

“Thanks for being you.” You mumbled softly into his neck. He placed a kiss on the crown of your head before pulling the cover to tuck you in. He left to put your box back and turn off the lights.

“The park by my office is decorated as a winter wonderland. Lets go with Hyunjin tomorrow.” He crawled into bed.

“I'm down.” You said with no hesitation. 

“Let me guess, you’re going to be bouncing around like a child.”

“Without a doubt.”

“I'm getting beach flashbacks.” He sighed, but there was no mirth behind it.

You found your usual place cuddled into his chest. “Goodnight my human teddy bear.” You joked.

“Goodnight my beautiful doll.”

It was one of those rare times, you were awake before Jaehyun. Usually you would wake up in a cloud of confusion, wondering what events you had to do that day or other random thing. But, there was nothing, just clarity. You grabbed a piece of hair and started to tickle Jaehyun’s nose. His hand was on your side, so on instinct he tickled you back. You’re laughter brought him out of his dreamy state. 

“Stop, I need your undivided attention.” You giggled trying to come down from laughing. 

“You always have my attention.” He smiled, draping his arm back over your side.

“Thanks.” You started. “I need to say this before I overthink or wuss out. So, I wanted to say this last night, but I had alcohol in my system and I'm not tactless. But, you were doing the most mundane thing and I swear my heart was going a mile a minute which is becoming a frequent thing. I was going to wait till Christmas to make a grand display of my feelings while I gave you your really lame gift, but that’s not how I am and that’s not what love is to me. It’s the feeling I have right now warm in your arms with messy hair and sleep in my eyes, which is fine because you tell me I'm beautiful every morning.” You smiled. “I love you Jaehyun.”

“I know.” He whispered, smile beaming brighter than ever. You move your arm to hit his chest, but was stopped when he grabbed your face and place a kiss that took your breath away. Your eyes fluttered close and you let yourself get sucked into his warmth. He slowly pulled away and bumped foreheads with you. The laughter that left him was that of a child on Christmas day. Pure happiness. It was infectious and you found yourself laughing too. Grabbing his cheek, you placed a chaste kiss on his lips.

“I love you dummy.”

[dyscrasia-eucrasia]

Part 5

<<Prev | Next>>

Like every day, Angel woke up to an alarm at noon. And, like every day, he considered sleeping in. But he'd established that his Instagram stories started updating at 12:30, and he refused to break that routine. 

He dragged himself out of bed and over to the kitchen. He was in a bulking phase, which meant that at least he got to eat a lot of calories, but even then he had to check the notebook he kept next to the fridge to make sure he was hitting his macros. Breakfast wound up being oats made with peanut butter, greek yogurt, and protein powder. It was ugly to look at and nearly as bland, since there was no sugar to liven up the flavors. That was the sacrifice that he had to make for the sake of his physique - giving up basically everything that tasted good and living on a diet of peanut butter, chicken, and brown rice. 

After he finished choking down his breakfast, he had to take a minute to search his apartment for his wireless earbuds. He popped them in his ears, grabbed his phone, perched himself on the window sill, and proceeded to take a dozen selfies, all with slight variations, until he got the perfect one of himself turned just slightly towards the window, his earbuds clearly showing, the street outside visible but artistically blurry. It took him a few more minutes in Facetune to edit out the puffiness under his eyes and a blemish that was forming on his chin, not to mention lighten his skin and up the saturation of the blue dye in his hair. He needed a dye touch-up, but no one on Instagram needed to know that. 

It took him a few more minutes to craft his story post, carefully weighing the benefits of a filter that gave him dog ears and deciding how many emojis he wanted to use. 

Then of course there was the matter of what to say in the story. His first post of every day was a 'song of the day' post. It took him a minute to think of what song to use. Ultimately, he wound up writing: 'Listening to Bad Guy today! Love Billie Eilish!' and then took another minute to choose the exact font style, color, and positioning. 

He hadn't actually been listening to Billie Eilish. He liked her music, sure, but lately he had been on a nostalgic kick, listening to nu metal. But it wasn't #relatable to post about listening to Coal Chamber. How many people even remembered that the band existed? Certainly none of the e-boys that followed Angel's account. 

No, Angel's brand didn't work with a maligned, forgotten genre from the late 90s. He'd made a name for himself as goth-lite. Not really goth, but not an e-boy either. Rather, he was just a touch edgy, but still firmly in the mainstream gay community. 

All the more reason to keep Bacchus to himself. It was totally against his brand to go to shows with mosh pits. 

'Tell me what song you wanna see me pole dance to!' He added to the post, making a comment field for people to respond. Within seconds, answers started to pour in, mostly Top 40 sex jams. 

He spent a little longer scrolling through Instagram, commenting on videos from other dancers. Every comment was upbeat and encouraging, even if he thought their dancing was a bit shit. There was no room to be critical on social media. He had to treat everyone as if they were his best friend, even if he didn't know them. He was still building his following, and any drama could ruin that. 

His DMs were full, as usual. Most of them were thirst-DMs, a couple were shady sounding guys offering to be his manager. Nothing interesting enough to respond to. 

A notification popped up at the top of his screen from Grindr. He automatically tapped it to go to the app, only to be greeted with a blurry dick pic. He wasn't against dick pics, but they had to have a bit of effort put into them. This one was just lazy. The guy didn't even look like he was hard. 

He tapped the back button to look at the rest of his messages. A lot were dick pics. Some were asking for a hookup. One was a message from a guy he'd hooked up with a few days ago, saying that he had a nice time and asking if he wanted to get together again. 

The guy had been alright. A nice enough bodybuilder who had been surprisingly gentle and considerate during sex. But his personality had been as bland as the meal-prepped chicken sitting in Angel's fridge. Angel knew he could do better. But it never hurt to have the guy on-call as backup if he felt the need to get laid right away, so he snapped a selfie and sent it to him, with a short note that simply said, 'I had fun!' 

With that, he'd had enough social media, and it was almost time for his workout, anyways. 

Thirty minutes later, he met with his personal trainer. He paid a hefty fine for one of the best trainers in the city, someone he trusted to help him sculpt his physique without making comments about trying plastic surgery. His trainer was cute, nice, and painfully straight, which was something Angel had specifically looked for. He didn't want to be distracted by a guy who may or may not be interested in fucking. 

Like always, working out kicked his ass, and like always, he took a sweaty selfie in the locker room mirror with his shirt lifted to show his abs and posted it on his Instagram story. 

His day was far from over, though. He had to stop by the smoothie shop and take a photo of his smoothie - milk, whey powder, greens, banana, and peanut butter - and then go out and take photos around town until he found something that made it look like he was doing something interesting that day. He eventually found a corner of a building that had been tagged with a dozen Mothman stickers and snapped a selfie in front of it, captioned it 'Hanging out with my fellow spooky kids!' and posting it to his main Instagram. 

And then the boredom set in. He didn't really have anything planned for the day, and he still had plenty of time before he had to go to work. Sure, he could go home and put on some makeup and take artful thirst-trap selfies, but he'd done that so recently. He didn't want to make his Instagram nothing but thirst-traps - he had to make sure he was attractive to multiple types of brands if he ever wanted a sponsorship. 

The thing was, trying to be an Instagram star was lonely. He had friends, but they were either work colleagues - and thus rivals - or other micro-influencers. All their conversations were about collabs and SEO and ways to boost engagement. To outsiders he no doubt looked like he lived a lavish and incredibly fun lifestyle as a stripper, but they didn't see the day-to-day boredom or the awkwardness behind running into people who knew him from the club out in broad daylight. 

He wanted someone to talk to who wasn't a part of all that bullshit. 

Of course, as soon as he had that thought, he realized that he wanted to talk to Demie again. 

He wasn't sure if he should. He'd just called him that morning, after all. 

It wasn't that he was worried about coming off as desperate, but more that he was worried about scaring Demie off. He was absolutely certain that Demie was gay, but he was also sure that Demie was a country boy, and country gays were different from city gays. Country boys had such an endearing gee-shucks quality about them, like they were trying so hard to be beer-drinkin', truck-drivin' bros, but they were just a little too soft-spoken and shy for that. 

Demie - from what Angel could tell - was a guy who wanted to be cool to other men but who was also painfully nervous around them. 

It was absolutely adorable, and Angel wanted so badly to get him into bed. 

But getting that kind of guy into bed was a challenge. It was like hunting a deer. Move too fast or too loudly, and he'd run off into the woods. 

Or so Angel assumed. He'd never actually gone hunting. That was too much a white person thing to do. 

Fuck it, he decided. Demie was the first real connection he'd made in a long time. And it wasn't like he was asking for a hookup. He just wanted to talk. 

He settled onto a bench where he could still see the Mothman stickers and dialed Demie's number. The phone rang with no answer. No shit, it was a Monday afternoon. People with normal 9 to 5s worked at that time. 

Well, at least he could leave a message and give Demie his number. He realized he'd never actually told Demie how to contact him. 

Eventually the answering machine picked up. "You've reached Demie and Elaine," Demie's voice said. "If you're trying to sell us something we don't fucking want it. If you're trying to get on our property, we have guns and we're not afraid to fucking use them. Bye." 

"Wow, your answering machine is pretty aggro," Angel said. "This is Angel, but the way. I realized I didn't give you my number. So, y'know, just in case you want to get in touch…" 

He left his number and hung up. He sat staring at the Mothman stickers a little longer. He kind of wanted to send a picture of them to Demie, since Demie in a way reminded him of a cryptid - shy and kind of elusive. But of course, he couldn't, since Demie didn't have a cellphone. Still, he took a non-selfie picture of them anyways. Just in case he got to hang out with Demie sometime.

[enifo-talks]

Rest of prev talking thing is in tags. So read that before you read mine or this will be very confusing lol(sorry I just dont like talking in the tags most of the time)

Yea, I can understand being frustrated by the fact a team you like is being called toxic and all of that. Especially if you can't find any healthy content of them (which remind me I need to make that healthy PICS content I've been planning to do since yesterday).

The thing I really do disagree about is I think CC!Pearl was mad at the fact people were mad at her (the content creator) for just reteaming up with the gggs and weren't even willing to give them a chance, not because people were calling them toxic and telling Pearl to run jokingly.(Though that could of also been apart of that post, I don't go on reddit so i don't know what Pearl was replying to? If she was replying to a post telling Pearl to run away from ggg because of it being toxic and you send me a screenshot? But for now it's not explicit enough for me. Unless if she made a new post about that? If she or any of the other ccs did say they are upset about this, i'll stop calling them toxic)

Also yes, you are right about we should add critical tag thingy when ppl main tag it. I've been guilty of that, of course it was just a joke, but I should of added/j and tagged it properly(Also people shouldn't main tag on Scott or on Cleo thing posts. For me personally, since like I said I don't know if Pearl is also mad about the whole wanting pearl to run away because of a toxic team, we shouldn't even main tag on with pearl so she doesnt get upset).

I also somewhat disagree with the whole people are forgetting about Cleo. Ive seen more posts with Scott and Cleo together than just Scott and even some pointing out Cleo is more toxic out of the two. Of course you and me don't view the same content, but I just think I'm more of a reliable source sense I've been actively seeking out this content and (it could not be true this is just me critical thinking) it seems you been avoiding it. I'm not saying homophobia doesn't exist for this fandom, but I much rather look another way around because calling ppl homophobic without really knowing them is an awful thing to do.(same with sexist, racist and etc)

(Also personally for me I just brought Gem into this because Gem did try to take Pearl away in Secret life. I'm not really a gempearl shipper anymore, but some ppl are bringing her in for shipping purposes which really isn't even that bad.)

Btw pls don't read this as me being negative towards you or being snobby. I generally just want a conversation with you because I love talking to people who don't have the same view as me it's so interesting. (And if you don't that is fine. It's also fine to block me. I can understand trying to get rid of all content you don't like, make sure you don't forget to block my main account too.)

it’s okay guys pearl will leave *that* alliance and then be with someone else who actually cares like gem and joel or the bam girls guys it’s gonna be okay guys we have to stay strong guys gUYS-

(Is it delusional for me to think that if gem sees first hand the way scott and cleo treat pearl she would actually be like "Hey hold on don't be mean-!"?)

it’s okay…it’s okay…someone will see what’s happening between ggg and actually talk to Pearl about it…she’ll realise that this isn’t good for her…trust…

(Honestly anon I’m so tempted to write something along the lines of Gem comforting Pearl, if I stay in this torment nexus for long enough I’ll have enough motivation)