#[He does a pretty good job at that after all]

[gh0stsp1d3r]

Hcs for being Storm’s sister and Logan’s wife? We get to see the softer sides of him no one else does, planning the whole life together, the baby planning…and I know that sex life is BOMB!!

OHH I LOVE THIS

sfw

𝜗❀᧓ your mutation allows you to manipulate light (kind of like dagger from cloak and dagger)

𝜗❀᧓ and Ororo, the both of you are very close. She has a strong bond with you ! She’s the first one to notice your infatuation with Logan.

𝜗❀᧓ she’s also the one who sets you up with him. She’s how you both get closer. You will always appreciate that lol.

𝜗❀᧓  and when you and logan both finally get married, she’s the one walking you down the aisle. it’s a very sweet, small, but beautiful ceremony.

𝜗❀᧓ Logan stares at you unlike how he’s stared at anyone before, with such love and affection it’s almost unbelievable to the others. Usually, he’s a pretty private man, so you’re shocked he even agreed to this wedding.

𝜗❀᧓ ororo also loves to take photos of the both of you. and Logan always rolls his eyes and attempts to get rid of it but it never works. She shows the entire team.

𝜗❀᧓ when it comes to kids, he’s really hesitant at first. He’s scared. He comes around to the idea eventually tho, and ends up loving it after a while.

𝜗❀᧓ ororo is probably the most responsible person on the team, so she is very much so the designated babysitter. She’s also the most loving aunt ever. literally loves that child to death.

𝜗❀᧓ Logan’s such a good dad too. It’s funny because it’s this small little baby in his large, beefy arms. it’s the cutest.

𝜗❀᧓ he’s usually busy and when he comes back home from his job or whatever he’s doing he’s always tired. But he will always make room for his baby <3 he may be on the verge of sleep but they ask to play and he’s getting up to play.

𝜗❀᧓ he truly loves both of you and he thinks the most perfect days are the ones where he wakes up next to the both of you <3

𝜗❀᧓ like you have such a perfect little family, and they are really all you need <3

NSFW

𝜗❀᧓ you’re so right. The sex is BOMBB. (Sex bomb omb)

𝜗❀᧓ he’s rough, and he tends to get lost in it.

𝜗❀᧓ but, he can also be a really soft, slow lover if you wanted. He doesn’t mind either way. He really just wants to see your face.

𝜗❀᧓ he loves to praise you, seeing the smile on your face makes his day. he also loves being praised.

𝜗❀᧓ his breeding kink goes crazy!! and you have to tell him to chill out sometimes with it lol. He feels the need to give you a second child and your like “damn give me a minute”

𝜗❀᧓ he grunts and groans like a goddamn animal. noises he makes r heavenly.

𝜗❀᧓ he’s practically a feral animal when you guys have rough sex, whether that’s him tearing your panties apart or him biting into your neck, marking your entire body.

𝜗❀᧓ and when you guys have softer sex it’s lowkey shocking how sweet and caring he could be. you see this more after youre married and in an actual relationship. But he loves you so much and he can’t help himself sometimes <3

[fastandcarlos]

Dating A-Z Headcanon : ̗̀➛ Oscar Piastri

A ⇴ AFFECTION 

Oscar isn’t overly affectionate, but he does like to have you close. Quite often he can be found holding onto your hand or to your waist to make sure that you’re by his side and where he can make sure that you’re safe. 

B ⇴ BEFORE DATING 

You first met when you were in school, having been paired together for a project. At the start of it you were both too terrified to even say anything to each other, but as you got to know each other more you found yourselves increasingly comfortable around one another, so much so that you even managed to come top of your class for your presentation together. 

C ⇴ CONFESSION 

When his career began to take off, Oscar knew that he couldn’t deny his feelings for you any longer. As he spent less time at home, and with you, he decided to tell you how he felt so you knew that he was thinking of you even when he wasn’t with you. One night before he went away for a race Oscar decided to tell you everything, opening up to you about exactly how happy you made him feel. 

D ⇴ DATES 

Most of the time your dates were quite private, Oscar wasn’t exactly the flashy type, especially when there were plenty of people around. He liked to keep your dates quite simple, usually you would go out for a nice meal or Oscar would arrange for you to do something at home together. He promised whenever he was home that he would organise at least one date for you both before he had to go away again so that he could make sure that you got to spend some quality time together and make some new memories. 

E ⇴ EXPERIENCE 

You were the only ever person that Oscar had dated, and so he quite often felt like he was learning on the job. You and Oscar knew each other incredibly well and so Oscar didn’t really tend to worry that he was doing the wrong thing. At times he would ask other people around him for some tips and advice when he wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing, but you and Oscar were close and so if he felt as if he was doing something wrong, usually he’d open up to you and learn about what it was that you wanted from him instead. 

F ⇴ FIGHTING 

An argument between you guys is rare, you’ve got a good understanding of each other and know when to stop before things run away. Neither of you were particularly loud or argumentative at the best of times and so it was a pretty rare thing to happen. When an argument did happen, Oscar would get pretty cut up about it, he hated the idea that he had upset you and would work hard to make things up to you, particularly if he knew that he was the one at fault for your argument. 

G ⇴ GETTING TO KNOW HIS FAMILY 

His family absolutely adored you; you were a tad nervous to meet his family, particularly with his three younger siblings, but they absolutely adored you. Above all else, you loved making fun of him with his mum, particularly on social media where all of Oscar’s fans could get behind the two of you as well. 

H ⇴ HOME 

Wherever Oscar went, you went, when it came to home. When he originally considered moving out to Monaco he spoke to you about it a lot, wanting to make sure that it was something you wanted to do as well. When you gave him the greenlight, Oscar started to look at making the move, relieved to know you’d be going together. 

I ⇴ “I LOVE YOU” 

He was the first one to say those three words after a race win. It was one that Oscar had fought particularly hard for and found himself overwhelmed at the end of it. As adrenaline ran through his body, the moment Oscar reunited with you those words came tumbling out before he even had a chance to realise what he was saying to you. 

J ⇴ JEALOUSY 

It was quite rare for Oscar to get jealous; he was pretty relaxed and chill about most things and trusted you more than he trusted anyone. If he ever did get jealous, then Oscar would get a little bit more protective around you, he’d stand a little closer and make sure that he was listening to what people were saying to you. He’d never admit it, but you could tell from the look in his eyes sometimes that Oscar was feeling a little envious. 

K ⇴ KIDS 

Having a family was something that you both knew was quite a way off, but that didn’t stop you from talking about it from time to time. Oscar especially knew that you were the person that he was going to settle down with and spend his future with, although he still had plenty that he wanted to achieve when it came to his career before he even started thinking about all those other things in life. 

L ⇴ LAUGHTER 

If there was one sound that Oscar never got bored of hearing, it was definitely your laughter. His deadpan sense of humour could leave you in stitches sometimes with how nonchalant Oscar was about things. He didn’t even mean to make you laugh most of the time, but with his dry jokes and blunt comments you couldn’t help but chuckle around him. Oscar loved knowing that he was the reason for the smile on your face, even if he didn’t realise that he was the reason for it sometimes. 

M ⇴ MISSING 

He tried his best to hide it well, he didn’t like upsetting you by telling you just how much he missed you. But Oscar did miss you. Terribly. He was a different person in the paddock when you weren’t around, he was quieter than usual and would be a bit more distant in meetings, something that Lando picked up on quite a lot during their race weekends together.  He was constantly wishing that you were there with him, checking his phone all the time to see if he had a text or a missed call from you.  

N ⇴ NICKNAMES 

He didn’t have one particular nickname for you, Oscar would just call you whatever came to mind, usually choosing a nickname that he knew would annoy you as he loved being able to wind you up. 

O ⇴ OBSESSION 

Oscar was obsessed with your smile, it made him feel like he was home. His heart raced whenever he saw your wide grin, knowing you were happy was the most important thing to him. 

P ⇴ PDA 

The two of you weren’t huge on PDA, however everyone knew that the two of you were together from the little gestures that you shared. Oscar tended to hold your hand and keep you by his side, particularly when you were entering a busy area, wanting to keep you by his side and out of harm. 

Q ⇴ QUESTIONS 

He asked you for your advice on just about anything, Oscar would ask you for help whenever something was playing on his mind, knowing that you usually had the right answer to help him out. 

R ⇴ RANDOM FACTS 

One thing that no one knew about Oscar was that in the bottom of his race car he had a picture of you. It was positioned so that no one else could see it aside from him, but when he needed a bit of a boost or to see a reminder of you, Oscar would glance down at it. He’d made sure to pick one of his favourite photos of you so that he could remember why he raced, particularly when he was missing you. 

S ⇴ SEX 

He liked to take control when it came to sex, Oscar wasn’t particularly rough, but he was the more dominant out of the two of you. It meant a lot to Oscar, he made sure that each time was special and filled with a lot of love. He quite liked being able to show you how much he loved you, words weren’t particularly a strong skill of Oscar’s and so he loved being able to show you with actions instead. 

T ⇴ TEXTS 

Whenever he could Oscar would text you, especially when he wasn’t at home. He loved receiving your updates and hearing from you, mostly so that he knew that you were safe without him around. 

U ⇴ UNIVERSE 

He didn’t like to make it too well known, but Oscar’s little bubble knew exactly just how much you meant to him, you were his priority and by far the most important person in his life. 

V ⇴ VACATION 

Whenever he had a bit of time Oscar loved to arrange trips for the two of you so that you could escape for a while. Adventuring with you was by far one of Oscar’s favourite things to do, although he saw much of the world, there were always more hidden gems around for you to see too. 

W ⇴ WHINING 

Although he wasn’t particularly needy, when Oscar wanted your attention, he would kick up quite the fuss to make sure that you knew all about it. 

X ⇴ XXXXX 

He loved kissing you when you least expected it, creeping up on you and pressing a kiss to your cheek or against the top of your head. He wasn’t the biggest kisser in the world and so Oscar knew that when he did kiss you it would usually come as a surprise. He didn’t like to just kiss you, he loved kissing you with sentiment and love, knowing that his kisses would often leave you feeling nervous with adrenaline. 

Y ⇴ YOU 

You were his team mate, the two of you were the perfect duo together. 

Z ⇴ ZZZ 

When he falls asleep, Oscar loves to hold onto you. His grip is as tight as possible wanting to keep you warm and make sure that you’re right by his side and not going anywhere. 

˗ˏˋ 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ! ´ˎ˗

[average-mako-enjoyer]

I recently scrolled past this one post that talked about how a certain turian was oh so important to the SR-1 crew because he was working on Mako while Kaidan and Ashley were basically doing nothing. And while I have no interest in "correcting" the author of that post, I'm pretty sure we don't talk enough about how essential Kaidan and Ashley are to the SR-1 crew.

So Ashley is filling in for Corporal Jenkins, which means she has her own unit of soldiers to command, just like she did on Eden Prime.

What does that mean in practice? She does the training, she does the physical and psychological assessments, she does the team building exercises, she writes reports for her CO. If you've ever been the leader of a small team (in Ashley's case, about 7-10 people), you know it's a hell of a job because you have to be both a babysitter and a confidant to fully grown adults who tend to get into all kinds of trouble with each other.

She also maintains the squad's weapons in her off hours, which is wow? Great job, Ash. Now go get some rest.

Kaidan is the staff lieutenant and head of the marine detail, which makes him the third most important person on the ship after the captain and the XO.

What that means in practice is that he's constantly observing and evaluating the work of all the marine personnel aboard the Normandy, working with lower-ranking officers like Ashley to determine how correct and effective their actions with their units are, determining what kind of duties and positions are best suited for each Marine on board (he's definitely responsible for Anderson's decision to take Ashley on board), and doing the same babysitting, training, and confidant duty for not just one squad, but for every member of the marine detail.

He's also a really good tech specialist, so I bet he does a lot of calibrations on the squad's weapons, armor, and omni-tools.

So yeah, big shoutout to the most useless members of Shepard's team, who are literally responsible for keeping this whole Sarenhunting Spectre shitshow running smoothly.

[thewritingrowlet]

The Twins and Their Queens pt. 2, ft. STAYC Seeun

tags: blowjob, creampie, hot seat

length: 8k+

author's note: sorry, I've been pretty busy with work and other irl stuff.

-

“Did he just—”

You nearly can’t believe your ears. Your brother just so nonchalantly admitted that his wife was sucking him off. You scratch your head, only realizing now that you should’ve taken the time difference into account before calling him—you could’ve called earlier (or perhaps later) and not caught them having sex.

“I mean, it’s not like it’s illegal,” Seeun breaks the silence, “they’re consenting adults and legally married, aren’t they?” “I know, but still, I don’t feel comfortable hearing such words from him—it somewhat feels disrespectful, too,” you say. She moves to kneel between your legs that are dangling off the edge of the bed. “If you’re not comfortable hearing it, perhaps you’re comfortable receiving it?” You take a deep breath so that you can turn your focus on your girlfriend. “Perhaps,” you say with a smile, “please, noona.”

Seeun frees you of your joggers, pulling down your boxers together as she does. “Oh, you’re ready for noona, aren’t you?” You inhale sharply as you feel her soft hands stroking your shaft. “I’m always ready for you, noona; I’m your boyfriend after all.” “I never thought I’d date someone younger than me,” she chuckles, “anyway, time for my breakfast.”

Your girlfriend takes your tip in her mouth, her gaze still locked with yours. “Please,” you say, almost too quietly. She winks at you and starts going down your length, the wetness of her mouth giving you goosebumps everywhere. “That’s so good, fuck,” a praise flies out of your lips as you pet her head gently. One of the many things you’ve learned about Seeun is that she loves praise. To her, it’s like getting a shot of excitement and confidence that gives her the spirit to do her best, especially during sex.

Today is no different, obviously. With your encouraging praise circling in her head, she finds the determination to take the entirety of your shaft in her mouth, and you can feel the tip of your cock hitting the back of her throat. “Fuck, that’s crazy,” you mindlessly comment. She removes you from her mouth and promptly takes a deep breath. “You liked that, didn’t you, baby?” You reach for her face and wipe some tears off her cheeks. “Of course I did, but you don’t have to force yourself to tears like this,” you say. Seeun rubs her cheek against your palm like a cat. “You’re so sweet, baby—you might be young, but you certainly don’t lack kindness and maturity,” she assesses. You chuckle. “Please, I’m only 10 months younger than you.”

Seeun says that she wants to finish the job and won’t take no for an answer, so you sit still and let her do what she wants with you. If she prioritized going deep earlier, she now opts to go fast, eager to make you cum first thing in the morning. “Fuck,” you let a profanity fly out of your lips when you feel her tongue running back and forth on the underside of your cock. “I really can’t last long if you keep doing it like this,” you say. “Feew fwee fo cuw,” she utters unintelligibly, and you guess that you’re welcome to cum whenever.

You know that you’re inching closer towards your first orgasm as time goes. “Noona,” you utter with heavy breaths, “please, I’m so close.” Seeun plants her hands on your knees and starts bobbing her head faster, and that’s when an idea enters your mind: what if you thrust forward and meet her in the middle?

To find out, you place your hands on the back of her head and thrust forward, timing it with her movements to ensure maximum pleasure. “Fuck, this is crazy,” you think. With a grunt, you send your first load of the day into her mouth, and Seeun does her best to not panic as her mouth and throat are flooded. After your shaft has stopped spurting out every last drop of your cum, she removes you from her mouth and swallows everything swiftly.

You fall backwards limply onto your back. “We were supposed to get breakfast,” you say weakly. Seeun giggles. “I don’t know about you, but I did get my breakfast.” She joins you in bed and pulls you into her warm embrace. “You did so well, noona—maybe too well,” you praise her one more time. “Aww, you’re so sweet, babe,” she replies, peppering your head with kisses after.

-

You take a lap around the buffet area while holding hands with Seeun, checking out what options you have for breakfast. “Anything catches your fancy, babe?” She asks as her eyes scan the bread counter. “I want that,” you point at a jar of blueberry jam, “I’ll get that on a toast first and then figure out what I’m eating next.” Seeun pouts. “I don’t like blueberry jam—I want peanut butter.”

Without breaking the tangle, you grab a slice of bread, put some butter on it, and drop it in the toaster. Seeun then does the same, which makes you realize something. “Sometimes I forget that you’re left-handed,” you comment. She giggles cutely. “There’s a reason I’m always on your left, babe.”

A ding from the toaster steals your attention, and when you look, both your and her slice of bread are cooked perfectly. “Remind me to get a toaster when we get back, noona—I want to have toasts every morning.” You place the toasts side by side on the same plate, and as unfortunate as it is, you have to let go of her hand. Seeun lets out a grunt to express her disapproval, but you make sure to quickly tend to your toast and then return your hand to its previous position. “I’d like to see you spread peanut butter on your toast with one hand,” you challenge her. She clicks her tongue in playful mockery and quickly smear peanut butter on her toast. “Do you want to see me do it again?”

You look at your surroundings to see if there are people nearby—there’s only that couple sitting at that table in the far corner of the dining area. You pull your girlfriend by her hand until she’s right in front of you. “I love you, Yoon Seeun—I love you lots.” Your words draw a big smile on her face. “I love you too, babe,” she replies, “are you going to kiss me, or no?” Such a question requires no verbal answer—why use your lips to say your answer, if you can use them to show your answer instead?

You hum in satisfaction when you feel her soft lips gently pinching yours, and you swear that time has stopped ticking for you to really savor the intimacy of the kiss. The tangle feels even more complete when you feel Seeun’s palm on your chest. All the while, your heart is screaming at her, “I love you! I love you with everything I have!”

Seeun pulls away from the kiss, leaving you stunned for a short moment. “Let’s have breakfast first, babe—we can figure out what to do after.” Her voice snaps you out of your stupor. “Yeah,” you shake your head to regain focus, “yeah, let’s have breakfast.” You scan your surroundings again and see that there’s a woman around your brother’s age looking at you and your girlfriend, but she breaks eye contact when your eyes briefly meet. “We are both consenting adults; this is fine,” you tell yourself.

You sit at a table near the buffet with Seeun, pulling back a chair for her first before sitting down yourself. “I don’t know how people can dislike blueberry jam,” you comment as you chew your first mouthful. “It’s hit-or-miss most of the time; sometimes it’s too sweet and tastes artificial, other times it’s… meh,” she argues. As you think about her argument, you realize that this jam is indeed quite sweet. “Yeah, it is kind of sweet,” you admit. “Your girlfriend is already sweet enough—why look for other sweet things?” “Says the blushing girl,” you counter, earning a little kick under the table from Seeun.

-

“Mr. Moon, we’re ready; we’re near the buses,” you say to Mr. Moon, your family’s chauffeur, over the phone. “Please wait a second, sir,” he replies. You look to your right where traffic starts and see your car making the turn towards the passenger pickup lane—perhaps not a second but he’s still pretty quick.

With the help of Mr. Moon, you and Seeun put your stuff in the trunk. “Where to now, sir?” You ask him to first make a stop at your apartment building so that your girlfriend can rest and then take you to Han Group’s company building after that. “Of course, sir,” he says.

Once the car starts rolling, Seeun rests her head on your thighs. “Ugh,” she grunts. Her long legs must be bent because of the limited space of the car’s interior. “We’ll get home soon, love—please be patient,” you whisper, comforting her with soft pets on the head.

-

“Excuse me, sir,” Mr. Moon breaks the silence, “we’re here.” You didn’t know that you fell asleep, and when you look around, you see that you’re parked in front of your apartment building. You poke Seeun to get her to wake up, but she doesn’t budge. “I’ll take her upstairs and then come back to you, Mr. Moon.”

You pull Seeun out of the car and put her on your shoulder. Your same-floor neighbors (and a bunch of others) know that you’re dating her, so you don’t have to worry about explaining why you’re carrying her limp body like an abductor. That said, considering the time and day, there shouldn’t be too many people at this building.

You make it to your unit after a short elevator ride and walk. While Seeun lies asleep in bed, you write down a note for her to read when she wakes up. The note reads,

“Love, darling, sweetie,

You fell asleep in the car so we went home first so that you could sleep more comfortably in our bed. In the meantime, I’ll be in the office and talk to the big boss about some stuff.

Please don’t panic. I’ll be home soon.

Yours always,

Shaun.”

For good measure, you poke her a few times until she shows signs of consciousness. “Noona, I’ll be at the office for a bit; I need to make a quick report to my brother. See you later, okay?” Seeun lets out a hum through the tiny gap of her lips, and you’d like to think that she’s got the message. “Cool,” you put on a thumbs-up for yourself, “see you later, noona.”

-

Harvey’s secretary has told you that he’s still in his office, so you swiftly make your way there and deliver some news that you think he’d like to hear.

You knock on his door and promptly hear him telling you to come in. As you enter, your eyes land on the gap between the hanging back support of his desk and the floor—there’s a woman kneeling between his legs. “For your sake, Mr. Han, I seriously hope that’s Yooyeon-noona,” you comment in a serious tone. Harvey smiles at you, and that’s when you see his wife getting on her feet. “H-Hi, Shaun,” she greets you with red cheeks.

“First, you told me oh-so-casually that time that she was sucking you off, and now, you told me to walk in while she’s sucking you off,” you let your annoyance be known. “Where’s your respect for me, Han Hyunjin—shit, better yet, where’s your respect for your wife?” You don’t say your brother’s name in full a lot, so he knows the seriousness of it when you actually do. “Shaun, please, I’m sorry,” he tries to quench your fire, “I don’t—” “Just zip up your fucking pants and talk to me when you’re actually ready. I’ll wait outside with Miss Park—don’t worry, I won’t ask her to suck my dick.”

You storm out of his office huffing and puffing, ignoring his calls to stay, feeling annoyed and disappointed with how your brother behaves (especially since it’s still working hours). “Sir? Are you okay?” Miss Park nervously looks at you when she sees you crashing into the chair on the other side of her desk. “I am, Shion-ah. My problem is with my brother, not with you, so don’t worry,” you say, still panting heavily from the emotions.

The landline on her desk rings. “Good afternoon. Park Shion speaking,” she says into her phone. After a short conversation, you hear her say, “Yes, sir; I will inform him so.” “Mr. Han, the director is ready for you,” she forwards the message to you. You take a few deep breaths to calm down before leaving your seat. “Thank you, Shion-ah.”

You don’t bother knocking this time, opting to just push the door as wide as it’ll open. “Shaun,” Harvey says calmly, “please come in.” Seeing red, you rush towards your brother who’s standing in front of his desk. Yooyeon stands in the middle of you and him, acting as a barrier to make sure no one hurts the other. “You sent me to New York and told me to come see you right after I got back, and this is how you welcome me? I just got off the damn plane, you asshole!”

Yooyeon plants her hands on your chest and gently pushes you backwards. “Shaun, please don’t yell at your brother like that,” she says in a trembling voice, tearing up as she does, “the idea was mine, so please blame me.” You roll your eyes and move to take a seat. “I don’t want to waste more time; I have a girlfriend to take care of—do you want to hear this report or not?”

Harvey reaches his hand out towards your shoulder, but you slap it away. “Believe me, you don’t want to touch me right now,” you warn him. You can tell that he’s very hurt by your attitude, but this will be a valuable lesson to everyone. “Okay,” he wipes his glassy eyes, “please start, Mr. Han.”

After calming down, you open your mouth and start briefing him on the tasks you’ve accomplished during the New York trip. You had a meeting with Bloom Inc. at their office, and without prior briefing, you found out that Bloom had invited one of their partners, Han Industries, that had previously expressed their interest in joining the partnership with us and Bloom. “Han? Like us?” You nod. “Big boss is named Han Jinwoo,” you tell him. “If you remember the OreQuest uproar from a few years ago, that’s one of his companies.” Harvey nods, seemingly deep in thoughts. “We’ll have to look into it more. Thank you, Shaun, you did very well.” You wiggle your index finger. “I want a bonus for this; it wasn’t easy, you know.” “Say your numbers and I’ll figure it out,” he adheres to your demand.

You stand up from your seat and hand him a flash drive. “There’s some stuff in there that you might want to look at.” As you make your way out of his office, you remember something. “Oh, I almost forgot—happy anniversary.” Harvey accepts your message with a small smile, so you turn your back again and continue walking out of his office.

Yooyeon chases you outside and holds your wrist to stop your fast steps. “Shaun, I’m sorry,” she says, “I’m not a bad influence on your brother, though, I swear.” You shrug. “It’s not me you should be apologizing to—it’s yourself. Give yourselves some more respect and don’t talk about sex so openly and carelessly next time because I, for example, don’t give a shit.”

-

You arrive at your apartment again after meeting your brother. When you open the bedroom door, you see that Seeun is in the same position you left her in: right in the center of the bed with her head on a pillow. “Well, at least you’re dressed comfortably.”

After getting changed yourself, you’re now ready to join her in bed. You slowly climb onto her body and rest your head on her chest. “Noona, I’m home,” you whisper. “Baby,” you hear a whisper back from her, “welcome home.” You can feel all the exhaustion that has been weighing down on your body starting to melt away. “You’re so warm, noona.” Seeun doesn’t say anything this time—unfortunate but understandable; she’s sleeping, after all.

-

Soft pets on the back of your head make you stir awake. “Baby, you’re home,” Seeun says in a soft tone. “How long have you been here for?” Your partially awake brain can’t comprehend her question. “Sorry?” Your girlfriend chuckles. “Ah, don’t worry about it. You’re here with me, and that’s the most important thing right now.”

You yawn audibly. “I’m tired, noona.” The pets she’s giving get more intense, as if trying to scrub the tiredness off your body. “Oh, baby, what can I do for you?” “Just stay like this, please,” you say.

This is what you’re looking for in dating someone older than you: relying on someone and being taken care of when you need it. Now, of course, you try and not forget about your part, and make sure you can be that reliable person and take care of your significant other, Seeun, when she needs it.

“Noona,” you move on to the next subject, “you know how my brother asked me to see him right after we arrived, right?” “Yeah, and you went to the office earlier for that—what about it?” You told her how you walked in to the sight of him getting a blowjob from his wife and how angry you got because of it. “It felt disrespectful, you know; we just arrived in the city and shit.” “Language, baby,” she says softly. “I understand why you were frustrated, but still.” You can’t help but sigh. “I made it clear to them that I don’t give a fu—erm, frick—about their sex life and that I don’t want to see anything like that again.”

Seeun says that she’s satisfied with how you handled the situation but also wishes you had had more self-control. You want to protest, but you decide against it; it’s probably best to just accept her words and put it behind you. “I’m sorry for venting at you like that—I mean, you just woke up,” only now do you feel bad about this. Seeun kisses your head repeatedly while assuring you that it’s fine and that she’d rather have you talk about it and quickly move on.

You lift your head off her chest and look at right in the eyes. “I love you, noona,” you say, “like, I love, love, love you.” “I love you too, baby,” she says, a big grin decorating her beautiful features. “Eh, actually, I love you more,” Seeun corrects herself.

“Baby,” Seeun calls for your attention, “can we get something to eat?” “We can—what do you want to have?” She taps her chin as she thinks about it. “Can we get fried chicken?” You’re reminded that she has been craving fried chicken since before going to New York. “We sure can, noona,” you agree to her suggestion.

With a grunt, you gather your might and get off her body, and that is you see a pout on her face. “What’s wrong?” Seeun crosses her hands. “I didn’t say we should go there ourselves,” she gives you a hint. You blink a few times as you think about what she’s trying to say. “Oh,” you palm your face as realization hits, “you want them delivered here, don’t you, noona?” Seeun bursts out laughing. “Oh my God, your face is soooo funny.” She pulls you into her arms again. “You’re so cute, I swear to God,” she says, still giggling.

-

The food delivery app says that your orders have been dropped off outside your door.

Seeing that Seeun is peacefully sleeping, you go get the goodies yourself. You put the big bag on the dining table and unpack it. “Honey barbecue and sweet-n-spicy—nice, we have everything.”

You hear the bedroom door swing open, and when you look, you see your sleepy girlfriend, whose eyes are barely open, standing at the door. You come in for a kiss, which is your favorite way to get her to wake up, and as expected, Seeun puts a hand on your chest, like she usually does. “So soft,” she mutters, “your kiss always feels—” You interrupt her with one more kiss—one that’s deeper and more passionate. “Okay, you need to stop right there, young man, or you’re going to have to take responsibilities,” she warns.

You drag her by her hand towards the dining table that you’ve organized for her. “I have some honey barbecue chicken for you, noona,” you say, your voice laced with excitement. Based on her expressions, you notice that something is amiss. “No fries,” Seeun utters softly. “Oh my God, I forgot.” You slap your forehead for forgetting to order fries. “Would you like to have fries, noona? We can place another order,” you offer her a solution. Your girlfriend shakes her head. “No, it’s fine, baby,” she declines. “Come, let’s eat.”

Seeun lets out a high-pitched hum at the first taste. “Amazing as always,” she says with a full mouth. The way she’s eating makes you hungry beyond measure, so you pick up a piece from your box and immediately take a bite. “Meh,” you’re underwhelmed, “not as spicy as usual.” “Receipt says it’s level 1, babe,” says Seeun. “Level 1? I didn’t choose level 1,” you furrow your eyebrows. You don’t know how it ended up like this or who is at fault, but you’re not really in the mood to figure it out, so you grab a bottle of hot sauce from the pantry and make it to your liking. “Yeah, this is more like it,” you comment at the revised taste.

Seeun’s phone lights up and shows a floating notification on the lock screen. “Your brother is inviting us to his house tomorrow,” she says. You are disappointed that he’s avoiding you and opting to reach you through Seeun, but it’s also understandable since he doesn’t want to risk making you angry again. “For—” “Shane and Jiwoo are engaged, and your brother wants to celebrate it together,” she interrupts you with additional information. “Good for them; Shane is so in love with her.”

“What about you?” Seeun’s question forces you to stop eating and drop your chicken. “Excuse me?” “Are you in love with me?” In your head, there’s only one answer, which is yes, you are in love with her, but you first refrain from saying it—what if she’s hinting at something else? “Yes,” you start, “I am in love with you and would love to stay with you long term.” Your firm and resolute tone provides assurance that you mean it wholeheartedly. “Great to hear,” she says with a smile.

You take a deep breath before continuing your point. “Noona, if you’re wondering when I’ll be proposing to you, then the answer is soon. I’m still working on becoming the best version of myself, because you deserve the best of me, the same way I deserve the best of you.” Seeun puts on a sweet smile for you. “I know, baby, but at the same time, you don’t have to worry about it too much—you’re already such a nice person, you know.”

You thank her for the flattery, but you know that you still need to work on your patience (among other things); it could be disastrous if at one point you lash out at Seeun the same way you did at your brother. “Hey, baby,” Seeun steals your attention, “I told you, don’t worry about it—you’ll be just fine.”

-

You find yourself lying in bed with Seeun after finishing those boxes of chicken. She says she wants to switch and be on top this time, so you take the position on the bottom. “It’s nice to change every now and then, isn’t it, babe?” “It sure is—I must admit, though, I like cuddling you from the top.” Seeun pinches your cheek. “You like it because you can lie on my breasts, you little pervert.” You burst out laughing. “Well, you caught me.”

“Speaking of breasts,” she plants her hands on your chest, “I want you, baby—please.” “Really?” It doesn’t hurt to make sure (or perhaps tease). Seeun sticks her lips on your neck to show you that she’s serious. “Oh, you really want me, don’t you?” The answer to your question is the increased intensity of stimulation on your neck. “Noona, not too much, please; we still have work tomorrow,” you try to make her stop.

Seeun leaves your neck and hovers closely over your face. “If you bring up work in bed again, I will put a tape on your mouth,” she threatens. “Noona, what are you talking about? What is this?” You’re concerned about how she’s acting, because this isn’t how you and she do things usually. Even on days when she’s very desperate for your touch, she never talks like this.

Seeun closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “Just… please don’t bring up work; I’m just desperate for your touch,” she rearranges her words. You place a hand on the side of her face, rubbing it gently. “That’s more like it,” you say, “you know I’ll always try to be available for you, but you need to ask kindly, noona.” With teary eyes, Seeun apologizes profusely, and even though you assure her that it’s okay, she just wouldn’t stop.

“Oh, God, what’s wrong with me,” tears escape her eyes in abundance, “you’re trying to become the best man you can while I’m being such a terrible woman.” “Oh, love,” you pull out a new endearment from the bag, “please, don’t say such thing; you were just too eager—” No!” Seeun screams, denying your attempt at comforting her. “I-I’m a bad girlfriend and deserve to be punished.”

Seeun pulls you into a sitting position before bending over your lap. “Punish me, love.” “Punish you how? I already told you that it’s okay,” you reason. “Just do it, please—make me take responsibilities.” “Fine, if you insist.” You pull down her shorts, thus exposing her soft and round butt cheeks, and rub them gently. “God, I really don’t want to hurt her.” As if hearing your thoughts, Seeun tells you to “make it hurt.”

You lift a hand while your eyes stay locked on the target. “Here I go, love,” you signal. You close your eyes and take a swing at her butt, and the scream she lets out at the impact is heartbreaking. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” you take your turn to apologize. “That was too hard, wasn’t it, love?” Seeun shakes her head. “N-no, that was good—do it again, babe; we’re not even yet.”

You lift your hand again and place your gaze on the target—the previous hit has left a red mark in the shape of your palm, and you swear that your heart is being wrung like wet laundry. “Love, here I go again,” you signal, tearily this time. Seeun braces for impact, and you take a swing right there. “Fuck, that was too hard,” you regret failing to control your strength. “Can we stop now? I don’t want to do this anymore.”

Seeun says she doesn’t want to end on an even number and asks to be hit once again, much to your anguish. You decide to do it quickly this time so that you can just move on to helping her cope with the pain you’ve caused. “FUCK!” She screams one last time after the last hit, marking the end this whole “punish me” show.

“Love—my love,” you gently pull her into your arms, seated on your lap. “I’m sorry, that must’ve hurt so bad, right?” “T-that’s okay, I deserved it,” she insists. “No, you don’t,” you insist back. “I hated that shit, noona. I don’t want to hurt you like that ever again.” “I-I mean, it’s good to know that y-you’re capable of it. Who knows if one day we might need to do it again?” No, you’re certain that you would never need to do it again, but there’s no point in making another counterargument at the moment; you’d rather spend your energy in helping her recover.

-

Sleeping counts as recovering, doesn’t it, because that’s what you and Seeun have been doing for a few hours now—at least until you’re awoken at this odd hour, and for some reason, you feel refreshed and are wide awake.

Your senses pick up the signs of her presence with no trouble; her smell is in your nose, her subtle snores are in your ears, and her skin is touching yours (not the entirety of but still enough).

You place one hand on her butt that you hit thrice a few hours ago, hoping that doing so will make you feel less bad about it. “I’m so sorry about that, my love,” you whisper softly right into her ear. You’re slightly startled when you hear a hum from Seeun, but no, she’s still asleep.

An idea enters your mind: what if you try singing for her? You’re somewhat okay at singing and there’s this song that you’ve been obsessed with recently. You clear your throat slightly to prepare, and here goes nothing:

Be my only one

이렇게 부르고 싶은 이름 내 곁에 (The name I want to call you by)

손을 잡고서 같이 걸어요 (Let’s hold hands and walk along)

비가 오는 밤에도, 외로웠던 낮에도 (On rainy nights, or on lonely daytimes)

그대 환한 빛깔을 내게 가득 칠해줘요 (Please color me with your shiny light)

내가 더 잘할게요, 이렇게 같이 있어준다면 (I’ll do better, if you stay with me like this)

You let out a giggle after singing out that short bit; there’s something exciting about singing to your beloved lady while she’s asleep. “Good… voice,” you hear Seeun whisper quietly. “I love you, baby, and I mean every word I just said.” It’s fine if she doesn’t say anything back; at least you’ve gotten it off your chest.

Much to your surprise, Seeun gives you a peck on the side of your face. “I love you, baby.” “Are you awake, love?” You feel her nodding against your cheek. “How can I sleep when my boyfriend sings for me?” Her praise makes you blush. “Oh, it’s nothing—I’m glad you liked it, though.”

“What time is it, babe?”

“I don’t know, but it’s probably a few hours before sunrise.”

“I want to sleep again.”

You pet her back like she was a baby you’re trying to send to sleep. “Let’s go back to sleep, love. We’ll let the alarms wake us up.” Seeun yawns aloud. “Promise me that you’ll touch me tonight.” “We’re going to my brother’s house tonight, no?” She grunts. “Surely you’re not rejecting me.” “We’ll see what we can do after we get back from his house, okay? I can promise you that, love.” She yawns once again. “Deal.”

-

You knock on the bedroom door and ask if she’s ready to leave for your brother’s house. “Come here, babe, please,” she says from the other side of the door. You enter to see if she needs help choosing what to wear. “What’s—oh.” Seeun hasn’t put on any clothes yet. “Why are you naked, love?” You ask while your eyes scan her from top to bottom.

She approaches you with open arms, wrapping them around you when she’s within hugging distance. “I was trying to see if maybe you’re in the mood for a quick one,” she says. You put on a soft smile for her. “It’s not that I’m not in the mood, love, but you know that I’d rather have a longer session,” you try to convince her to save it for later. Seeun shakes her head. “You’re really lucky I love you; otherwise, I’d leave you for denying me sexual pleasures.” “I’m not denying you anything, love,” you make sure your voice is as gentle as possible. “I’m just asking you to be patient,” you say, despite how you’re starting to get hard.

Convinced, Seeun asks you to leave the bedroom so that she can put on some clothes. “I’m asking you to be patient, he says,” Seeun airs her frustration into the empty bedroom. “You’re really lucky I love you, Shaun.” She clears her head of other thoughts and turns her focus on choosing what clothes to wear tonight. Seeun opts for a plain white T-shirt paired with a black cardigan. She also puts on brown canvas pants to complete the look.

-

When you arrive at Harvey’s house, you see that Shane’s car is parked in the driveway, leaving one vacant space for you since Harvey’s is probably kept in the garage. You quickly pull in next to Shane’s car and get out of yours with Seeun. “This feels like a reunion,” Seeun comments.

As you’re about to knock on the door, it swings open, thus revealing the man of the house on the other side. “Welcome, Shaun—thanks for coming,” Harvey greets you with open arms, and you wonder if he’s moved on from your lashing out. You think that it wouldn’t hurt to hug him (it is the usual form of greeting among you and your brothers, anyway). “The pleasure is mine, hyung,” you say softly into his ear.

Harvey lets you free and then turns to Seeun. “Hi, cookie,” he greets her. “How was New York?” “It was cool, oppa; I couldn’t have enough of the food.” He chuckles. “Well, we can exchange stories later. Let’s get inside for now, hm?”

Harvey leads you to the dining room, where Yooyoen, Shane, and Jiwoo are waiting for you. “Shaun,” Yooyeon greets you awkwardly. You approach her and pull her into a quick hug. “I’m sorry for yelling at you,” you whisper to her. “That’s okay; I understand where you were coming from,” she whispers back. “Have a seat, Shaun.”

You sit next to Shane while Seeun sits right across you and next to Jiwoo, who immediately leans against her shoulder. As the man and woman of the house, Harvey and Yooyeon sit at opposing ends of the rectangular table that’s full of food. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Harvey starts. “We are gathered here today to celebrate Shane and Jiwoo’s engagement and to wish them luck and happiness in their new stage of life.”

You put an arm around Shane from the side. “I left the two of you to go to New York for a few days, and you took a head start, Shane?” “Look, man,” he whispers back, “it was a mess, ‘kay? I was so stumped and proposed on the damn sofa.” Nonetheless, you congratulate him on the engagement and wish him happiness, just like a good (twin) brother.

“Shane,” Harvey’s voice captures your and his attention, “do you have anything to say, maybe to us or to your fiancé?” Shane clears his throat and opens his mouth. “First, I’d like to thank everyone for coming; it means a lot for me and Jiwoo to have your support and affection. Second, I’d like to publicly promise my dear fiancé that I’ll prioritize our happiness over everything else; you know that you mean the world to me, love.” Harvey chuckles. “Even over your brothers?” Shane shrugs. “My brothers are their own men; they can go and figure things out themselves.”

Harvey gives Jiwoo the chance to speak, which she takes after assembling her thoughts. “I know he’s said it already, but I also would like to thank everyone for the support and kindness.” Her glance meets yours as she scans her surroundings. “I haven’t seen Shaun-oppa and Seeun-unnie in a while, so it’s great to have them again.” You show her a kind smile, because that’s how a proper welcome looks and feels.

As soon as her butt lands on her seat again, Jiwoo bursts out in tears, making Seeun panicked—Yooyeon is also panicked but she doesn’t react as much. Seeun asks what’s happening, and that’s when Jiwoo delivers the big news. “I-I’m pregnant,” she reveals, “o-obviously there’s no question who the father is.”

Everyone’s jaws drop; Shane and Jiwoo are expecting just a few days after getting engaged. You nudge your twin who is still stunned, indirectly telling him to go and comfort his fiancé. After snapping out of his trance, Shane moves to kneel next to Jiwoo, making her turn her chair towards him.

“Love, love,” he calls to her. “It’s okay, love; having a child is a huge blessing for us.” “But-but you’re stuck with me from now on, oppa,” she says, and admittedly, you think that it’s a very crazy thing to say, all things considered. “I’m not stuck with you, love—what are you talking about? I got in this relationship with you because I think you’re a great woman to have a life with.” Now that’s a good and reasonable counter. “W-what about my master’s degree? Is-is that deal getting called off?” You don’t know exactly what she’s referring to, but it’s not important for you to know. “It’s not getting called off, love, but we’ll need to figure some things out first, okay?”

You scan the environs to get a grip: Yooyeon and Seeun are tearing up while Harvey is still stunned and has his mouth open. “Man, this is crazy,” you say in your head, and a part of you thinks that you’re understating it. Harvey reaches for your hand and taps it a few times. “Let’s go,” he mouths as he stands up. You follow him towards his back garden with Seeun and Yooyeon following closely behind you.

“Let’s give them some space for now,” Harvey says, taking a seat on one of the benches. You sit on the other bench and are soon joined by Seeun, who immediately rests her head on your lap. Yooyeon, on the other hand, joins her husband and copies Seeun’s movements. “Crazy turn of events, hey, Shaun?” “Tell me about it,” you sigh, “well, I hope things go well for them and the little one.”

Shane comes outside and invites everyone back in, mentioning that Jiwoo has calmed down, and true enough, you see that Jiwoo is now serene and steady when you return. “Congratulations, cookie,” you say, putting a hand on her shoulder, “I wish you eternal happiness.” She thanks you for the kind words and asks that you wish her luck with being a parent. “I’m sure you and Shane will be great parents, Jiwoo-yah,” you say.

Everyone takes turns hugging Shane and Jiwoo to show support before taking their seats at the table again. “I think this is where we start eating,” Harvey says. You and Shane reach for the pizza at the same time, showing those present the twins’ unrivaled dynamics. “Great minds think alike—right, Shane?” He nods while his mouth is busy munching.

-

Shane and Jiwoo understandably excuse themselves from the celebration and leave early; they have some things to talk about in the privacy of their own home, not Harvey’s. You don’t want to be left behind in your brother’s home, so you go home at the same time Shane and Jiwoo do.

“Hah, finally.” Seeun lets out a sigh of relief as soon as the car starts rolling. “Sorry, babe, it’s just that I want to spend some time with you and only you.” You assure her that the feeling is mutual. “I’m going to say this right now: I want to have some fun with you at home, love,” you add. Seeun palms your crotch, assessing if you’re being serious. “You’re not lying, are you?” You shake your head. “No, I’m not.” She leans towards your ear. “Then put your foot on the pedal, baby,” she whispers, giving you goosebumps everywhere. You fiddle with some switches behind the wheel and put the car in sports mode. “I hope your seatbelt is fastened, Miss Yoon.”

Without giving her the chance to check, you put your foot on the pedal like she asks and zip around traffic, making use of the improved handling and responsiveness to pass slower drivers. “Don’t get us killed, baby,” Seeun says nervously. “Just hold on and we’ll be home before you know it.”

-

You have Seeun sit on the edge of the bed while you stand closely in front of her. “Do I have your consent, love?” She taps her chin with her finger. “Not yet,” she giggles. “I need some convincing.” She says she needs some convincing, but it’s her who makes the first move—Seeun is terri-bad at playing hard to get.

You’re pulled onto the bed as your girlfriend does a backwards tumble. “Is this your idea of convincing, my love?” Seeun presses her face into your chest to hide her blush. “You keep calling me love, baby.” You peck her forehead that’s right in front of your mouth. “I have a feeling that calling you love will work better going forward.” You get pinched in the waist. “Oh, don’t play with me like that, Han Jaehoon.” You roll over until you’re on top of her. “How is this playing with you, love—I’m being very honest right meow.”

The sound of her laughing, especially when you’re the cause of it, is never dull. “Oh my God, what did you just say right there, baby?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you play dumb. Seeun slaps your chest repeatedly, feeling highly amused by your little joke. “Oh, God, you’re so—” “Handsome? Cute? Attractive?” “I meant to say funny, but you’re also attractive,” she finishes her sentence.

Seeun undoes the only button of her cardigan. “In fact, you’re so attractive that I’m aroused for you.” You guess that she’s been convinced enough to finally let you in her pants. “Don’t tell me to be patient again, please—I don’t want to wait any longer, babe.” You shake your head. “Let’s do it, love.”

You leave her momentarily to undress, and Seeun uses that chance to also undress. The sight of her complete nudeness makes you stop—how did she even undress that quickly? “Fuck, you look so hot, love,” you utter mindlessly. She summons you to her with the wiggle of a finger, and you’ve never moved so fast in your life before. “I’m hot, and I’m all yours,” she whispers. The tip of your hard cock pokes her entrance. “Oh, you’re ready, aren’t you, baby—go on, then; fuck me.”

With your cock in hand, you slide into her warmth, and the tightness makes you fall limp into her arms. “Yes, that’s it, baby,” she always reacts so well to you, “you’ve missed me, haven’t you?” “I shouldn’t have—oh, fuck—we should’ve just done this earlier.” “Oh, don’t worry, baby; it was worth the wait,” Seeun says between moans.

You feel her hands wrapping tightly around your body and meeting right on your back, reminding you of how perfectly warm sex with Seeun is. “Kiss me, my love,” she uses the new pet name against you, and there’s no reason for you to not kiss her. She lets out a soft moan as soon as your lips touch hers and continues to moan into the kiss as she takes more and more thrusts from you.

She breaks the kiss to announce that she’s almost at the finish line, while you, on the other hand, think that you’re quite far from yours—it’s fine if she finishes first; she’ll help you chase your own finish later. “C’mon, love; cum for me,” you encourage her while making sure that your tempo is steady.

Seeun bites your bottom lip as her orgasm hits, and because of how painful it is, you’re glad that she quickly lets go. “B-baby, p-pull out,” she says weakly. You pull out of her warmth, and that’s when she starts rolling around in bed, her legs shaking out of her control. You lie sideways next to her while petting her head and whispering nice things to her ear, and Seeun does her best to reply.

You estimate that she needs some water, so you get off the bed, and that’s when she surprises you with a scream. “Y-your back, babe.” You stand in front of the mirror to see what she’s talking about: there are odd scratch lines on your back that you guess are caused by her nails—there are little spots of blood on some of them, too. “Ouchie,” only now do you feel the pain. “I-I’m sorry.” You chuckle. “Eh, it’s fine; they’ll be gone soon.” In your head, however, you know that it’d be so painful to shower for the next few days.

Seeun finishes the glass of water that you’ve brought for her within seconds and passes the empty glass back to you right after. “Thanks, baby.” She rewards your nice gesture with a peck on the cheek. You lie on your side of the bed, which you realize isn’t quite a good idea at the last second, thanks to the scars on your back. “Oh, God, I forgot,” you say, regretting your decision and sitting right back up. Your girlfriend asks if she can make it up to you for the scars, but you tell her that it’s not necessary, citing that it was just a heat-of-the-moment thing.

Seeun moves to sit on your lap, and in turn, lets you back in her warmth again—she also lets out a long moan as she slowly impales herself with your cock. “L-let me make you cum, baby,” she offers a most welcome solution. “Have at it, love.”

You thought that she’d just ride you while facing you like this, but it seems like she has a different idea. She turns around (without removing you from her pussy) and plants her hands on your knees. “Oh, this is quite the hot seat—hah, God.” This position allows you to reach around and stimulate her from behind, which you do immediately by placing a hand on her crotch, making sure that your middle finger is right on her nub. “Oh, please, not there.” “Why not, love? Don’t you want to cum again?” “I-if I cum again, I-I might not be able to wake up on time tomorrow for work,” she reasons.

You smirk at this opportunity to use Seeun’s medicine against herself, with a bit of revision. “If you mention work one more time, I will tie you to the bed and leave you alone the entire day.” “Oh, please don’t do that—look, I’ll make you cum,” she tries to negotiate. You chuckle teasingly. “How do plan on doing that without moving, hm?” Seeun’s grip on your knees gets firmer and stronger as she prepares to start. “I’ll move now, baby.”

Seeun slowly lifts her butt off your crotch, and that is when you start rubbing her nub. “You’re so tight, love—fuck, that’s so good,” you praise her. As if getting a boost of energy and confidence from your praise, she starts bouncing up and down at a good pace, and you can see how your shaft is entering and leaving her pussy repeatedly.

To make sure she doesn’t fall forwards, you place your free hand (that’s not busy rubbing her nub) on her stomach. “Can you feel that?” Seeun turns her head slightly. “Can you feel yourself bulging my belly?” You move your hand up and down her stomach as she keeps the bounces going—you indeed can feel her stomach subtly bulging when the entirety of your shaft is inside her. “You’re almost too big for me, baby,” she fuels your fire of ego. “And you’re almost too tight for me, love,” you whisper, “you’re literally squeezing me.” Seeun chuckles. “I’ll always be tight for you, baby.”

Your eyelids feel oddly heavy as time goes by, thus making you think that maybe you’re close to the finish line. “You’re close, aren’t you, baby?” “I think—oh, God, I think so,” you admit. Seeun stops moving and turns around to face you again. “I know you like looking at me when you cum.” “Damn right I do.” You quickly peck her on the lips. “Now move again, please.”

You make use of the fact that her breasts are right in front of your mouth by sucking one of them and grabbing the other. “Oh, I’ve waited so long for that,” she comments. Having heard her approval, you play with her tits more: tugging, nibbling, sucking—everything you can think of.

You’re ready to explode any moment now. “Love,” you call to her, “I’m about to blow.” “G-great to hear, baby.” Seeun turns down the pace, resorting to slower and longer movements. “How’s that for a change, baby?” “Amazing,” you say, “you’re amazing, love.”

This slower pace allows you and Seeun to be more expressive, showing each other just how enjoyable this is—oh, you’re twitching inside her. “Love, you felt that one, didn’t you?” Seeun nods. “Give it to me, baby; make me a mom like Shane did Jiwoo.” You pull her into a kiss by her chin while cum erupts out of your cock in waves.

Seeun is the first to break the kiss. “Baby,” she taps your chin to get your attention, “do you want me to take the pill?” You nod weakly. “We-we’ll need to talk first before getting you pregnant.” “I’ll take the pill later, then.”

Ignoring the pain from the scratch marks, you fall onto your back and pull Seeun with you. “I-I’m so sorry, but I’m so sleepy,” you say, about to give up to your heavy eyelids. “That’s fine, babe; we can clean up later.” You and Seeun yawn at the same time. “I love you.” “I love you more, baby.” She pecks you on the lips once. “See you tomorrow morning, okay?”

[novemberheart]

{overview} You get a promising call from Simon. You get offered a job.

{warnings} fem reader, a/b/o dynamics, innuendoes, soapgaz

Chapter 29 <- Chapter 30 -> Chapter 31

“I have a hand that works, you know?” He half-teased. The said hand was resting against your hip, making no move to leave.

“I like doing this for you,” you replied, holding another bite of mashed potatoes in front of his face. Kyle made a face- not at you but at all the carbs that have been shoved in his face the last few days. He was able to leave the hospital yesterday, all the traveling nearly undoing all the progress he had made. He adjusted himself on the couch, a pained groan escaping him.

“Would help if you didn’t have to move all the time,” you whined, his groan making you wince.

There had been quite a few differences from when Simon was hurt. With Simon you were unattached, with Kyle you felt everything. Not physically, all the pain you felt had been self imposed from feeling bad for him. That only made you feel worse when Kyle pushed down his pain to comfort you.

“Do you want to sit out on the patio tomorrow? It’ll be sunny.” You hummed, walking back over to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

“Didn’t you just get onto me for moving?” He chuckled, trying to slyly get comfortable on the couch again.

“Yeah, but this will improve your mood,” you shot back.

“I’m alright,” he yawned, running a hand over his face. “Just need my girl,” it was so quiet you almost didn’t catch it. You smiled, bounding back over to him. You just got comfortable when your phone went off.

“Simon?” You questioned. There was a sigh on the other line. They had all only gotten a few days off at the hospital, Simon and John being shipped back out to where they were, Johnny filling in for Kyle after he helped transport him back to base.

“Pup,” he mumbled. “You being good?” He hummed.

“About as good as you,” you snickered back.

“Not what I like to hear,” he tsked back. “Your fever go away?”

“It broke this morning. Hasn’t been back since,” you explained, curling up against Kyle’s good side. The pressure and exertion of trying to heal Kyle had caused you to have a near constant fever. “I went out with Anais and Jane yesterday,” you continued.

“Talk to me,” he grumbled. You heard some adjusting on the other line. You wondered where he was. What it looked like. If it was cold or hot. You weren’t even sure if it was day or night.

“We just walked around in the rain yesterday. Vernie likes that rain. She got all wet and muddy,” you yawned. Even just knowing Simon was there made you relaxed. “Simon?”

“Yes, pup?”

“What does it look like where you are?” You questioned quietly. You expected him to shut you down, especially after his sigh.

“You wouldn’t like it, pretty girl,” he replied. “Bare and hot.”

“Is it nighttime?”

“Early morning,” he murmured. You could hear him yawn. You seemed to be relaxing him too.

“I miss you,” you mumbled.

“You’re a tough girl,” he assured. You whined against Kyle, his good hand resting on the back of your head. Why couldn’t he say he missed you? Maybe he didn’t. Yet why would he call you?

“Bye, Simon. Get some sleep,” you mumbled, hanging up.

“Don’t take it personal,” Kyle spoke. He had fallen asleep during the interaction, still filled up with pain medication. Your whine had woken him up.

“Sorry for waking you,” you soothed, cuddling under his chin. Your phone started ringing again.

“What’d I say about hanging up on your alphas?” His voice was rumbly and went straight through you. “Hmmm?” He pressed.

“Not to do it,” you mumbled back.

“I’ll be home in a week,” he told. “I’ll show you how much I miss you then.”

He hung up. Giving you no opportunity to respond. Your mouth fell open, a warm storm beginning in your lower stomach.

“Thanks Simon,” Kyle grumbled, your melted scent making the hairs on his arm stand up.

There was a soft knock at your door, making Kyle’s eyes flash open. He’s been skittish since he’s been back. You weren’t sure if it had to do with the accident, or the fact he was your only line of protection should something happen while the others were away.

“Just Anais,” you soothed, pressing a kiss against his heated forehead. You pulled yourself out of his arms, his grip on you unrelenting. Vernie followed you to the door. “We’re going to go for a walk!” You shouted, grabbing Vernie’s leash.

“I’ll be watching you!” He shouted back, making you roll your eyes. So bloody protective.

“Hey, beautiful,” you smiled opening the door.

“Hello my beautiful girls,” she cheered, a wide smile lighting up her face. She eyed both you and Vernie, the puppies teeth already digging into the toe of her shoe.

“Vernie,” you whined, pulling her away. Anais just giggled.

“Hi Kyle!” She shouted. You turned, seeing Kyle’s arm waving as far as he could reach.

“Hey, Anais,” he greeted. “You girls be safe!” He pressed.

“Dammit, no talking to strangers,” you cursed, closing the door behind you. Anais giggled, interlocking her arm with yours. Jane was waiting by the elevator. You wondered when she would stop being so shy with you. You supposed she has come a long way since you first met. You should just be satisfied that she looks happy to see you.

“We have exciting news!” Anais practically shrieked.

“Oh really?” you hummed, pressing the close elevator button.

“Remember when we entered that baking contest and won?” She questioned.

“We got third place,” Jane corrected a furrow in her thick brows.

“That’s a win to me,” Anais shot back. “Anyways the person who ran the contest, he was also one of the judges- the one with the spikey hair- anyway he's opening a small bakery just outside of base and he asked if we wanted to work there. It would only be open on the weekend, but we'd have to come in on Fridays and get some baking done,” Anais explained. Something in your stomach didn't feel right. Your cupcakes had been so good that someone wanted to hire you? You barely even placed. Maybe the two other teams rejected his offer.

“I don't know if my alphas will let me have a job,” you replied honestly. Omegas working were uncommon. You had to have an alpha sign-off on it. Omegas weren't allowed to have bank accounts either- well without alpha approval. That doesn't even include the act of convincing your alphas to let you go off base, by yourself, working for a man they've never met. It didn't seem feasible.

“Well, can you at least try?” Anais pleaded.

You suppose you could.

“It's really not even working. Just five hours for three days. Fifteen bucks an hour,” Jane added.

“Sounds like he just wants cheap labor,” you sighed. You felt bad once you saw Anais' face turn. “Sorry,” you apologized. “I’ll talk to them, okay? I promise,” you swore. The happy smile returned to her face.

It might be a good thing. Getting out of the house a bit. It would provide you with some sense of routine. You would also be able to make a bit of cash and you would be with Anais and Jane.

It might be a good thing.

“Do you think John and Simon would let me get a job?” you asked. Kyle choked on his tea.

“Why do you need that?” he questioned, wiping his mouth.

“Spending money?” you teased.

“That's what mine and Johnny’s paycheck is for,” he huffed back. He leaned down, pressing a kiss against the top of your head. “I can say without a doubt they would not let you have a job, sweetheart,” he sighed.

“You don't even know what the job is,” you whined.

“Lovie, it could be popping bubble wrap and they wouldn't let you,” he reminded. “What is it though?”

“At a bakery. It's with Anais and Jane too. Just for five hours, Friday and the weekends,” you explained.

“Fridays are Johnny's “day off” you know he’ll pitch a fit,” Kyle reminded. It wasn’t really his day off, just the days he worked the night shift so he got to spend the day with you- instead of sleeping like he should. “What would you be doing? Baking or selling?” Kyle continued.

“We’d all be doing a bit of everything,” you explained.

“So it’s a new business?”

“Yeah.”

“Off-base?” he questioned, making you chuckle nervously. This would be the final nail in the coffin.

“Yes,” you sighed.

“Might be better actually,” he sighed. Your eyes widened.

“Really?!” you gasped.

“Yeah. The clientele will be way different. Won’t be a bunch of worked-up alphas going just to please their omegas. Instead, it’ll be families with kids and people with boring office jobs.”

Why didn't you think of that?

“You think I have a shot?” you pressed, your hands resting on his good knee.

“Not saying that,” he mumbled. He winced when you saw your face scrunch. His hand rested on the back of your head. “You might though, lovie,” he soothed.

You gasped when the front lock clicked. You could hear Kyle shuffling in the living area, like he was trying to sit up. Johnny poked his head in, a happy smile on his face when he caught sight of you.

“Macky!” you shrieked, wrapping your arms around his neck. He chuckled, his hands grabbing the back of your thighs hoisting you up.

“Missed you,” he growled, his teeth playfully nipping at your jaw. He walked you both over to the couch, flopping down with you pinned under him. He purred low in his chest, your scent mixing perfectly with Kyles. The two of you must've been inseparable. Speaking of Kyle, his hand rested on the back of the Scot’s neck, sending a shiver down his spine. “How’s the patient doin’?” he smirked, pressing a kiss against the frown adoring Kyle’s face.

“Was peaceful,” he sighed, going wide-eyed as his lips got caught with Johnny’s. He quickly relaxed, his hand gripping the back of Johnny’s mohawk. They both groaned, sending a shiver down to your toes. You were broken from your trance by the sound of a quiet thud. You looked over the back of the couch, watching as John kicked off his boots. You quickly slunk down not wanting to be seen. Guilt ate away at you as soon as you did it.

You two had made up- kind of. Yet, you wondered if it was just because you were feeling so weak at the time. You dabbed at your eyes, hearing the sound of his bedroom door closing. He had made no effort to greet you. Maybe because he was so hurt you didn't even notice he was there.

Or maybe he was having second thoughts too. Maybe he was caught in a moment of weakness when he apologized to you. What if he lied to you? What if he just said all those things in the hospital to keep you from spiraling so you could focus on healing Kyle? What if he was still just using you to heal his pack?

You couldn't live like this. You pulled yourself off the couch, the heated betas finally pulling away from each other, watching with careful eyes as you approached their alphas- your alpha's door.

His heart was like stone in his chest. If it wasn't for the teeth-gritting pain in his chest he would be completely numb. You didn't even look at him and you went out of your way to hide when you saw him coming. He felt sick. That sickness grew when he opened his bedroom door his eyes immediately falling on the one thing he hoped he wouldn't see.

Your nest was gone.

There was no trace of you in his room. In the whole time he's been away you hadn't stepped foot in it. He bit back a whine, his thumbs clawed at his sore eyes.

There was a soft knock on his door. He sighed, taking a few deep breaths to steady himself. He assumed it would be Johnny, checking up on him or asking if they could order a pizza.

You stared at him, a little nervous. His breath hitched, his first reaction to grip you as tight as he could and apologize profusely until you loved him again.

Did you still love him?

Could you?

Your eyes welled up at the sight of him. He was exhausted, beaten down by the world and you. You didn't want to prolong this anymore. The hurt and sadness. He had been punished enough. You forced yourself forward, your arms reaching up towards his neck.

“Alpha,” you whined. His knees felt like giving out and your mind instantly shut off when he tucked you into the safety of his arms. He shut his bedroom door with his foot, his large hands gripping onto any part of you he could reach. He pressed you against the mattress, his body covering every inch of you. He murmured against you, soft apologies, honest compliments, and assurances. “I’m sorry,” you whispered. He shook his head against your neck.

“I need my omega back, pretty girl,” He sighed. His teeth scraped against the spot he envisioned his mark going. Your heart twisted. Your hand gripped the hair at the base of his neck, pulling his face up to yours. Your placed an experimental kiss against his lips, which he deepened.

You felt complete again.

Hi friends!!!! Hope you liked this next chapter! 🧡See you in three days for Chapter 31! And let me know…….how long would it have taken you to get over the situation with John? Lots of love!

[starshideurfics]

Thirsty Thursday - Loose

steddie, omegaverse, first time, unwed mothers’ home steve

It’s 1953, Steve is 16, Nancy is older, getting ready to leave for college early. Steve only realizes because he’s throwing up every day and Carol says it’s just like Tina before she went away last year. Steve is scared, but excited, because Nancy is so smart and pretty, he knows she’ll be able to take care of them, that they’ll have such beautiful babies.

But when he tells her, she immediately says, “We can’t keep it, Steve. It’s not like I’m going to marry you, like I’ll throw away my entire future!”

Steve just cradles his belly, murmurs, “But pups are the future…”

“I’m not having pups now. Everyone knows how desperate you smell all the time, how do I even know it’s mine?”

Steve cries. “I love you, Nance.”

“No, you don’t. We’re just kids.”

Steve doesn’t know what else to do after that, he tells his mother. She yells and throws things, asking, “God! What did I do to deserve this whore for a son?”

She’s mostly calmed down by the time his father comes home from work. Together, they make plans. Steve is sent away to an unwed mothers’ home two days later.

They take away his scent tokens. He doesn’t even get to keep the clothes he brought with him, wearing the same smock dresses as all the other residents.

He befriends a fellow omega, but Chrissy is already 7 months along, so he knows she will be gone soon.

Steve writes letters, begging to be brought home; his letters go unanswered. In reality, they are never sent.

He and Chrissy cuddle, approximating sharing a nest on her slim twin bed, scenting each other. Steve marvels at the feeling of Chrissy’s baby kicking and longs for the moment he will get to feel his own baby move. It happens the day Chrissy goes into labor, and Steve cries at the feeling. Then he cries again three days later when Chrissy comes home from the hospital, her pup taken from her, never even getting to hold him.

Her parents come to take her home that weekend. She promises to write to Steve, but the home matron intercepts those letters and burns them.

Steve rarely comes out of his rooms after that. Which means he’s in there when the janitor comes in to clean. Wayne Munson can’t stand the pain these poor omegas go through. He helped a few omegas procure illegal abortions in his youth, but now he does what he can for these unwed mothers. He sneaks little treats into rooms, especially chocolate. And he listens, offers a sympathetic ear, and to send letters for them.

Over the summer, he gets his nephew, Eddie, a job in the gardens, cutting the grass. And he tells him about Steve, how much the poor boy needs a friend.

Wayne convinces Steve to get outside and get some sunshine. Eddie is quiet, a perfect gentleman, simply waving hello.

Steve waves back, can’t help smiling. “You like going to the movies?” Eddie asks.

“We’re not allowed to leave the property,” Steve answers with a shrug.

“But do you like movies? Because you’ve missed some good ones, and I thought, maybe I could tell you about them.”

“I’d like that.”

Everyday Eddie tells Steve the plot of a movie or a book. He sneaks in the funny pages so they can laugh at the jokes together.

And then one day, Steve’s gone. He had his baby, and the nurses took her away and gave her to a nice, middle class, *married* couple.

Steve’s parents come to fetch him right away, so he doesn’t even get to say goodbye to Eddie. But he leaves a scrap of paper with his address in his room, hoping Wayne will find it.

He does. Eddie’s first letter comes barely a week later. They keep up their correspondence until Steve finishes high school. Then he packs his bags, steals $5000 from his father’s safe, and gets on a greyhound bus to Eddie.

Steve’s heart is in his throat as the Greyhound bus pulls into the Forest Hills station. What if Eddie doesn’t meet him? If he came all this way for nothing. He knows he shouldn’t think that.

But he’s scared. He’s just got a suitcase, and a decent chunk of it is taken up by all the letters Eddie has written him for the past 20 months. So much ink spilt over telling Steve about going out with friends, his job at the mechanic’s garage, all his plans for their future.

Steve wrote just as many letters back, telling Eddie everything as their friendship blossomed into an honest to god romance. He shared every important thought, every hope and dream, and only a little because he didn’t have anyone else to confide in.

He was a loose omega. No one talked about where he’d gone or why, but they all knew. Or their mothers kept them in the dark, simply saying the Harrington boy wasn’t allowed over anymore and they’d do best to stay away from him at school.

It was a lonely life, Steve can’t help worrying that Eddie will abandon him too, no matter how many sweet words and declarations of love are stuffed into his suitcase.

It doesn’t matter. All his worries fly away when he sees Eddie, waiting impatiently, holding a simple bouquet of white carnations, breaking into the biggest smile when Steve gets off the bus. Steve smiles and runs over to him, laughing when Eddie picks him up by the waist and spins him around, relieved to be wearing a girdle to contain the squish on his tummy.

“I missed you,” Eddie says gently, cupping Steve’s cheek.

They haven’t kissed yet, not being ready the last time they saw each other, and now… Steve feels like he’s spilled his very soul to Eddie, but the thought of touching lips has him suddenly shy.

Not Eddie though, he stares into Steve’s eyes, his own dark pools of devotion spilling over with want and holding him in place. Then he leans in.

The kiss is soft and sweet, lips closed. Steve is the one to push for more, to delicately trace his tongue along the seam of Eddie’s lips. That’s all the permission Eddie needs, the hand still on Steve’s waist pulling him in tighter.

Steve would happily kiss all afternoon, but Eddie pulls back with a grin and says, “We’ve got an appointment to keep, Sweetheart.”

Eddie takes him to the courthouse, and they meet Wayne there as their witness. Getting married is almost too easy, and Steve can’t help crying when he finally gets to sign his name as Mrs. Steven Munson. To have a family to love him rather than see him as their deepest shame.

From there, Wayne takes them out to dinner to celebrate, insisting that the newlyweds share the most expensive dessert on the menu. Steve keeps thanking Wayne for all he’s done, the old beta waving him off and assuring that it’s what he’d do for anyone, Steve just comes with the added bonus of making his nephew happy. Eddie squeezes his shoulder, silently promising that it’s true.

Then Eddie brings Steve home to their little apartment. “We’ll start looking for someplace bigger, once you’re settled. I didn’t want to pick a place you didn’t like; I know how important it is for an omega to feel comfortable at home, like it’s the right place for your nest.”

Steve practically pounces on Eddie at that, his desires overwhelming his nerves as they hurry to get out of their clothes, then Eddie freezes, staring at Steve in his bra and panties.

He presses his legs together, moves a hand to cover his soft belly where the elasticated waistband cinches in, flesh spilling over the top, stretch marks faded, but still visible.

He feels loose, and Eddie is just staring until suddenly he’s not. His hands pull Steve’s to the side as he murmurs, “Oh, Stevie, you’re beautiful. More beautiful than I ever imagined.”

“Eddie…”

“You are! My beautiful omega. My pretty wife. I love you no matter how you look, but you are too damn pretty for a fella like me.”

Now it’s Steve’s turn to praise. “You are my handsome husband. I don’t want anyone but you.”

“I love you,” Eddie murmurs, kissing him.

Things slow down as they remove their final layers, Eddie marveling at Steve’s naked body before finally covering him and sinking into the wet heat of him.

They make love, and Steve finally understands why people call it that, all his quick liaisons with Nancy focused on her needs as she pounded into him, the alpha coming as quickly as possible, never knotting him, to keep them from getting caught.

Eddie takes his time, uses his fingers to make Steve spill again after the first round, gently rubbing him from the inside and keeping him filled until they’re ready for round two.

Within the year, they have a little yellow house on a corner, flowers in the garden and a baby in the nursery named for his great uncle. Little Wayne isn’t a replacement for the pup that was taken from him, but Steve adores finally getting to be a mother.

Steve never stops missing his first baby. In 1978, she finds him, calling the house. Steve cries silently as she tells him about herself. Her name is Cathy (he always wanted to name her Marilyn), she grew up in Chicago, and now she’s studying to be a nurse. She asks if he would like to meet her, and he instantly says yes.

Eddie holds his hand as they wait in the little restaurant for her to arrive. They don’t bring the kids, but Steve has pictures to show of Cathy’s siblings. He has an old picture of Nancy, so she can see what her father looked like. Not that she needs one; Cathy looks just like Nancy, down to her button nose.

But all that matters to Steve is the fact that he gets to finally—FINALLY—hold his baby girl.

[blackenedsnow]

Heyy, if you’re comfortable doing so could I please get some Beetlejuice x fem!reader who’s a single mom? Just pretty much him being soft and comforting letting her know she’s doing a good job etc? Thank you in advance 💕💕💕 can be a proper fic or headcanons I’ll let you decide xx

beyond it

WARNING: References to the stress of single motherhood

PAIRING: Beetlejuice x Single Mother! Reader

NOTE: I absolutely loved writing this!! I hope you enjoy this, and thank you so much for the request 💕💕

SUMMARY: Beetlejuice surprises you by being a source of comfort, helping you see that you’re doing better than you give yourself credit for.

It was late—too late for you to still be up. But as a single mom, you didn’t have the luxury of falling into bed as soon as the day ended. No, there were dishes to clean, laundry to fold, and tomorrow to worry about. And of course, your child had woken up twice already, needing reassurance from a nightmare.

You were running on fumes, slumped on the couch, your face buried in your hands. It felt like all you ever did was work. Just when you thought you could finally close your eyes and sleep, your thoughts picked up again—worrying about what needed to be done tomorrow, whether you were doing enough, whether your child was okay.

“Hey, dollface, rough night?”

This fucking guy.

That voice—raspy, familiar—cut through the fog of exhaustion like nails on a chalkboard. Beetlejuice. You didn’t bother looking up. He was probably lounging in his usual spot, perched on the armrest of your couch with a stupid grin plastered on his face.

"Go away, BJ," you muttered half-heartedly. "Not tonight."

The ghoul groaned dramatically. "Aw, come on! And here I thought we were past the whole 'piss off, Beej' stage of our relationship." You felt a cold presence next to you, then his hand—decaying yet surprisingly gentle—lightly brushed your shoulder. "I mean, after all the times I’ve stuck around, don’t I get any appreciation?"

You exhaled sharply, finally lifting your head. "Appreciation? For what, exactly?"

"For being a goddamn delight, babes!" Beetlejuice beamed, leaning back against the couch and spreading his arms wide. "For hanging around when no one else does. Gotta say, not a lot of folks could handle a single mom with your level of stress."

You rolled your eyes, but you couldn't hide the tiny smile tugging at your lips. "If by 'hanging around,' you mean constantly being a nuisance, then yeah, sure."

Beetlejuice chuckled, his voice rough yet oddly soothing. His eyes, usually wild and manic, softened just a bit as they focused on you. “Ah, you love it. Don’t lie, babe.”

You shook your head, sinking deeper into the couch. "I’m just… tired, Beej. I'm really tired."

For once, he didn’t launch into another sarcastic quip. Instead, Beetlejuice shifted closer, his body language relaxed but attentive. “Yeah, I know. I can see it. You’ve been runnin' yourself ragged for, what, weeks? Months?”

Your eyes welled up, but you quickly blinked the tears away. “I just… I feel like I’m not doing enough. There’s always something I’m missing, something I should be doing better.”

Beetlejuice’s hand rested fully on your shoulder now, his touch surprisingly solid. "Oh, come on, you're killing it out here, babe. You think your kid’s got it bad? They've got you. And lemme tell ya, you’re doing a hell of a job. Better than most."

You glanced over at him, surprised by his sincerity. "Really? You think so?"

“Are you kidding? Babe, I see it. I see you juggling work, taking care of the kid, making sure they're happy. And yeah, it’s messy and chaotic, but guess what? They're fine. They're happy, ‘cause you’re busting your ass for 'em.” He leaned in a little closer, his expression for once free of mischief. “You’re doin' more than enough."

His words hit you hard, in a way you hadn’t expected. You didn’t know why, but hearing it from Beetlejuice—someone who you never thought would care about anything—meant something. It eased the tight knot that had been sitting in your chest all day.

“I just don’t want to mess them up,” you whispered, your voice trembling slightly. “They deserve better than… than this.”

"Whoa, whoa, slow down there, sweetheart." Beetlejuice’s voice softened. He slipped his arm around your shoulders, pulling you in close. “They've got you, and that’s more than enough. You’re not perfect—who the hell is?—but you're trying. And that's what matters. Trust me, when they grow up, they're gonna see that.”

You allowed yourself to lean into him, resting your head against his chest. His suit smelled like a mix of dirt and decay, but there was something oddly comforting about the way he held you, like he was actually trying to be there for you, to support you in his own weird way.

“Hey, tell you what,” he said, his voice low. “Next time you feel like crap, I’ll stick around. We’ll cause some shit together, huh? Might help take the edge off.”

You chuckled softly, wiping at your eyes. “Yeah, maybe.”

Beetlejuice grinned, but it wasn’t the mischievous, cocky smirk you were used to. It was softer, almost tender. “You’re doin' good, doll. Don’t let anyone—including yourself—tell you otherwise.”

You looked up at him, and for the first time since he’d shown up in your life, you realized how much you appreciated him. Not just as the obnoxious ghost who wouldn’t leave you the fuck alone, but as someone who—despite his crude humor and questionable ethics—actually cared. Maybe not in the typical way, but in a way that mattered.

"Thanks, Beej," you whispered, closing your eyes as you let the exhaustion finally catch up to you. "I mean it."

Beetlejuice stayed quiet for a moment, just holding you close. "Anytime, babe. Anytime."

[wisteria-lodge]

Guys who Cry in the Harry Potter Books (and Why)

Men do 30% of the crying in the Harry Potter books, even though they represent 66% of the characters (and that's pretty much as expected).* I’m interested in why the crying happens though, and what it says about the characters. For the ladies, crying is neutral - they all cry, and for all sorts of reasons (tired, frustrated, stressed, emotionally overwrought...) Bellatrix, Augusta Longbottom, Ginny, Tonks… all cry. *Hermione* cries thirty separate times over the course of the books. 

Male crying though, that's something that gets mocked (usually by Slytherins.) Pansy calls Neville a “fat little cry baby,” and after Rita’s article (falsely) describes Harry crying, Draco comes in with “Want a hanky, Potter, in case you start crying in Transfiguration?” Of course there’s also “D’you think [Hagrid]’ll cry when they cut off his hippogriff’s - ” right before Hermione slaps him. So making fun of guys for crying is bad right? 

Let’s get into it. 

1 : Crying because of a death

The most “acceptable” reason for male crying. This happens a lot, we are definitely not supposed to think any less of the guys who do it. Mostly it happens *right* at the moment of death, or maybe at the funeral. The exception is Harry, who cries in Book 3 after talking about hearing his parents dying (although the narrative voice DOES let us know that he’s kind of embarrassed about this...)

“Harry suddenly realized that there were tears on his face mingling with the sweat. He bent his face as low as possible, wiping them off on his robes, pretending to do up his shoelace, so that Lupin wouldn’t see.” 

Then he cries again in Book 7, while visiting his parents' graves. But it’s definitely still crying over a death. Just one that Harry takes a little bit longer to process. 

Crying over a Death: Full Breakdown: 

Amos Diggory: 1 (Cedric’s death) 

Arthur Weasley: 1 (Fred’s death)

Harry Potter: 3 (Hedwig, Lily, James)

Rubeus Hagrid: 4 (Dumbledore, Buckbeak, Aragog, Harry) 

Argus Filtch: 1 (thinks Mrs. Norris is dead) 

Xenophillius Lovegood: 1 (thinks Luna is dead) 

Fillius Flitwick: (thinks Ginny is dead) 

Ron Weasley: 1 (Dumbledore’s funeral) 

Elphias Doge: 1 (Dumbledore’s funeral

2: Crying because of Pain

You’d think this one would also be acceptable. But… it really isn’t? Dudley cries when Vernon hits him (but Harry doesn’t.) Peter Pettigrew cries when he cuts off his own hand, Saw style, but it gets framed as blubbering weakness. Pettigrew framed SO pathetically for the entire resurrection scene - and honestly, for the entire rest of the series.

(Which is strange when you think about it. Like objectively, Pettigrew did GOOD. Sure he only likes Voldemort because he’s powerful, but so do most of the Death Eaters, that’s nothing special. Peter found Voldemort, resurrected him single-handedly (ha.) Found Bertha Jorkins,  i.e. the reason Voldemort was able to plan his comeback. Obviously he has god-tier bluffing and lying abilities, as well as enough willpower to cut off a limb. Being able to turn into a rat would make him a really useful spy. Also his spell, the one that killed thirteen muggles and destroyed a street? Most magic we see does not have a blast radius like that. Either he’s extremely powerful, or he somehow rigged the whole street up to blow beforehand? Maybe he planted magical bombs everywhere, and triggered them after luring Sirius to the right place. Either way, Peter’s formidable. But somehow his job is to hang out and be Snape’s servant? (Is it because he’s not cute?  Is this JKR’s fatphobia rearing its ugly head? Unclear.)

Our last guy crying in pain is Book 1 Neville, after he breaks his wrist during flying lessons. He also “sniffs,” while walking into the Forbidden Forest for detention, which *might* count as crying? But really, Neville cries surprisingly little. We get a lot of “looked as though he might cry” and “on the verge of tears”... but that's not actually crying. And I think that’s because… early-books Neville, yes we’re supposed to see him as a little pathetic. But definitely not as pathetic as Dudley or Pettigrew. 

3: “Childlike” Crying

Sometimes the people who cry are literally little boys. This is also okay. No one is going to judge infant Harry for crying when Voldemort is in the house, or little Severus for crying when his parents are fighting. Interestingly, when Myrtle is talking about Draco crying in her bathroom, Harry assumes she’s talking about someone much younger: 

“There’s been a boy in here crying?” said Harry curiously. “A young boy?” 

But of course, when an adult is crying in a childlike way, it immediately becomes… pathetic. Again we have Pettigrew, who “burst into tears. It was horrible to watch: He looked like an oversized, balding baby, cowering on the floor.” In the Horcrux cave, crying Dumbledore is described “like a child dying of thirst.” Which is also meant to be pathetic, but in more of a ‘Harry has to be the adult now’ sort of way. Also, the potion seems to have made Dumbledore mentally regress back to his youth, so it’s *closer* to a literal “child crying” moment. 

(I considered putting Dumbledore drinking the potion in the ‘pain’ section, but at least in the book I think it’s clear he’s mostly in emotional rather than physical pain.)

Where this gets messy is with the house-elves. House-elves are not children, but they are presented as childlike. They are small and in-your-face, direct even though their problem-solving tends to be very convoluted/not especially logical. I like the present-tense, no pronouns way they speak, but I can’t deny it is kind of baby-talk adjacent. And… house elves are *really* emotional. Dobby, Kreacher (and Winky) cry a LOT. If I had to guess, I would say JKR likes treating house-elves as childlike so it’s more of a surprise when it turns out that one of them was behind everything. But considering that they are slaves, it is gross considering that one of the main real-world justifications for slavery was ‘slaves are childlike, and unable to take care of themselves.'

There’s also Hagrid. With seventeen separate instances of crying, Hagrid easily cries more than any other guy in the Harry Potter books. And… well… he’s also presented as oddly childlike. He seems much more like Harry and Ron’s contemporary than a peer of the other professors - which is weird, since  if he went to school with Voldemort fifty years ago, he’s in his sixties now. But still, he’s helpless in the face of criticism, he’s comically out of his depth whenever he deals with the Ministry, he’s constantly letting things slip or drastically misjudging danger levels. The first three books use “Hagrid gets in trouble, the gang has to bail him out” as a plot point, and in Book 4 his sideplot with Madame Maxime gets treated like a schoolboy’s first crush, with all these jokes about him wearing suits that don’t quite fit, and trying and failing to style his hair. Not to mention, we know she’s flattering him because she wants insider info on the Tournament. But he doesn’t know that. 

4. Crying because of Sports

Oliver Wood cries when Gryffindor wins the Quidditch cup. That's all.

And that brings us to our stragglers. The only non-childlike guys who cry for reasons other than death, pain, or sports are as follows: 

Harry Potter: 1 instance of crying

Draco Malfoy: 2 instances of crying

Severus Snape: 2 instances of crying

Albus Dumbledore: 4 instances of crying

Horace Slughorn: 1 instance of crying

Let’s see what’s going on here. 

Harry Potter

Dumbledore had weakened himself by drinking that terrible potion for nothing. Harry crumpled the parchment in his hand, and his eyes burned with tears as behind him. Fang began to howl. He clutched the cold locket in his hand so tightly that it hurt, but he could not prevent hot tears spilling from his eyes

There’s a lot going on in this moment: Harry is tired, frustrated, disappointed, overwhelmed. But even though it is a complex moment, probably the main emotion is still Harry’s attempt to process Dumbledore’s death, now that he finally has a second to do so. So this honestly could have gone in the “Crying because of a death” category. It’s just different enough that I want to specially call it out. 

Draco Malfoy

We hear about Draco crying once from Myrtle, and then see it first hand: 

Malfoy was crying — actually crying — tears streaming down his pale face into the grimy basin.

The narrative takes a second to let us know that he was ACTUALLY CRYING, just to hammer in that this is something unexpected and not-normal. I think I want to attribute Draco’s tendency to cry - and cry because he’s overwhelmed, scared, lonely - to the character’s slight femme coding. What can I say, he cries for ""girly"" reasons. And so does Snape!

Severus Snape 

“Snivellus” is clearly a nickname meant to evoke the idea of “crybaby,” since “sniveling” is a synonym for crying. We also get this: 

Snape was kneeling in Sirius’s old bedroom. Tears were dripping from the end of his hooked nose as he read the old letter from Lily. 

Crying over Lily’s letter could count as crying over a death… but since he’s crying over a letter, not over a grave or her body (like in the movie), I’m going to say that he’s probably crying because of guilt, emotional overload, or love (especially because he rips the ‘love Lily’ off the end of that letter.) Like Draco, Snape might be getting little bit of femme-coding here. He’s the mean-girl type of bully (versus the mean boy) He cries, he threatens to poison people, which is something we only see women (and Draco) actually doing in these books. Idk, he’s an odd one who JKR clearly has very complicated feelings about. 

Albus Dumbledore 

I was actually really surprised that Dumbledore cries as much as he does, and at such unusual times! He cries when he sees Snape’s doe patronus - because of love or just because he’s emotionally overwhelmed. He cries all through the Horcrux cave, primarily because of guilt. He cries twice during the King’s Cross Station vision-quest, once because of his complicated feelings about Harry while he asks for forgiveness, and once over … Grindlewald.

“They say he showed remorse in later years, alone in his cell at Nurmengard. I hope that it is true. I would like to think he did feel the horror and shame of what he had done. Perhaps that lie to Voldemort was his attempt to make amends . . . to prevent Voldemort from taking the Hallow . . .”  “. . . or maybe from breaking into your tomb?” suggested Harry, and Dumbledore dabbed his eyes.

And okay. JKR announced that Dumbledore was gay just a few months after book seven was published, and I think she was folding in deliberate queer-coding as early Book 6. My proof of that is Dumbledore's increased emotionality - as we can see, it’s pretty unusual for men to cry in the Harry Potter books because they’re feeling “softer” emotions like love, regret, stress etc. It’s something she associates with femininity, and I’m sure she associates gay guys with femininity as well (I mean, that’s a very common thing to do.)

There’s also this interesting passage from Book 6: 

This younger Albus Dumbledore’s long hair and beard were auburn. Having reached their side of the street, he strode off along the pavement, drawing many curious glances due to the flamboyantly cut suit of plum velvet that he was wearing. “Nice suit, sir,” said Harry, before he could stop himself, but Dumbledore merely chuckled.

Now, this is subtle. Wizards out and about in the muggle world often wear unusual colors like purple and emerald green. However. That adjective flamboyantly is only used one other time in the entire series, to describe Fudge’s hand gestures. But here, it is used to describe an outfit, a purple velvet suit which is honestly a little bit Oscar Wilde. And “flamboyantly gay” … those are two words often heard together. 

Also, correct me if I’m wrong, but I am pretty sure this is the only opinion about clothing Harry ever expresses aloud. And, I think @niche-pastiche hit the nail right on the head when were talking about this and they said, "'Nice suit, sir,' said Harry, before he could stop himself," is SO the response of a young adhd boy in the early 2000s trying not to say "thats gay." 

Horace Slughorn

Horace Slughorn cries at Aragog’s funeral, not really out of grief for Aragog, but mostly out of a maudlin sense of togetherness, nostalgia, and camaraderie. And… I do think we have one more slightly morally ambiguous femme-coded guy on our hands? Like Dumbledore, Slughorn is very much a flashy dresser, with shiny hair and gold buttons on his waistcoat. He loves treats and candies (hey… so does Dumbledore. They’re the only adults with a sweet tooth like that.) He loves fancy dinner parties, and is well-connected without being ambitious the way Lucius is. He also (like Draco) is aligned with pureblood-supremacy, but hyper avoidant of violence and confrontation. Except for the Harry example, I think I’d be comfortable with calling all of these last few instances “Femme-Coded Crying.” 

* Methodology - My list of 208 Harry Potter characters comes from TV Tropes, which had the most complete list. I am excluding characters from Cursed Child and the Fantastic Beasts Films. 

In order to find instances of crying, I searched for the words “cried/cry/crying” “tears” “sob” and “sniff.” I counted each crying episode as one, even if crying was brought up multiple times throughout the scene. I made the fairest call I could whenever I hit a “the crying intensified” or the “the tears restarted,” but I mostly judge pretty conservatively when I’m ringing up data.

[midnight-bay-if]

(Follow up to the RO reaction ask where the MC had to do some fake dating for a mission, but it wasn't with the RO)

This is mostly for Taj and Umbra who were very unhappy about it but didn't directly comment on it to the MC like N as they can't enter their head. Though of course if you want to feel free to do it for everyone, as for the others I guess they may feel sort of guilty for their previous thoughts on it for different reasons and what not.

So... what if immediately after the mission, as soon as it's done and MC is back with the RO, they are like "sorry, do you mind waiting a bit before we chat, I need to take a long shower after that!" and going to do so without waiting? Cause like, they acted super professional and convincing about the whole thing during the mission, but it still made them feel utterly disgusted AND disgusting and they are literally miserable now. And well, it clearly shows just how bad MC feels about the whole thing - they can't even enjoy the feeling of a job well done after that. Though just as a mention, the person they had to do the pretend-date with didn't do anything wrong or bad! I'm really just talking about a MC who feels absolutely awful about even pretending to date someone who isn't the RO even if they were good at their job on the spot.

(So sorry about the wait! Hopefully, this is what you wanted. I turned them into two short stories. :) And they turned out much longer than I was anticipating, haha.)

Taj: Taj leans against the closed bathroom door, quietly listening to the water running from behind it. The moment you returned from the mission, you insisted on showering to wash away the icky feeling left behind by having to play pretend with someone else. Your response humbled them greatly. They felt... embarrassed. They were so angry, ready to pout, groan, and dwell in their self-doubt.

They never even considered the possibility that your experience had been even worse than theirs. Selfish. Idiot.

Taj sneaks a glance at the clock on the wall, pondering. It isn't too far away. If they run, they might make it.

With the decision made, Taj grabs their keys, pulls their favourite hoodie over their head, and rushes out of the apartment door. With quick footsteps honed over years of practice, they rush down the apartment block stairs two steps at a time.

At the bottom, Taj yanks open the main entrance for the apartment block, ready to rush out. The overcast sky doesn't appear particularly inviting, but if they are quick, they should make it before suffering its effects.

Pulling their hood tighter over their head to disguise their ears, they rush out into the street. Their feet pound against the pavement, sprinting to try and beat the trappings of time itself.

As they round the corner, they see the stand being gradually packed up. Taj picks up the pace, desperate to reach the elderly gentleman before he leaves.

"Wait!"

The man turns to look at them, eyes slightly wide as they take in their dishevelled appearance. "Can I help you?" He asks.

Taj inhales deeply, desperately trying to catch their breath as they take in the collection of homemade confectionaries on display. It's a stand you've spoken about often. The old man sells his homemade cakes, jams, bread, and an assortment of other goods all day on his stand to make enough money for his family. You always speak of the town's resilience with such... pride.

"Uh, yes," Taj says, biting their lip as their eyes search the goods. When their eyes are set on what they know to be their favourite treat, they sigh with relief. "I'll have two of those, please," they add slightly shyly.

The old man breaks into a grin. "Of course, of course," he replies, carefully bagging the items. "I've seen you before, haven't I?" He continues, scrutinising them carefully. "With MC."

Taj feels their cheeks warm slightly. "Does MC know everyone in this damn town?" They mumble irritably.

The old man laughs. "Pretty much. Those of us from this town take care of one another. Remember that."

Taj understands when they are being given a warning. "I will."

With that, the old man holds out the bag to them, a warm smile on their face. "Good luck to you, then. I know an apology when I see one."

Taj scoffs, though their eyes twinkle with something akin to amusement before setting off back down the street. They sprint as fast as they can, their eyes deadset on the direction of their destination.

Suddenly, the heavens open up, ready to serve their punishment. Rain pelts hard against them; they feel the water soaking through their hood and shoulders to the skin beneath.

"For fuck's sake."

They try not to bristle, keeping their feet moving despite droplets blurring their vision. Without thinking too hard, Taj shoves the bag beneath their hoodie to keep it safe from the elements.

With the apartment block finally in sight, they rush back into the building and up the stairs with superhuman speed.

Water drips onto the apartment floor as they fling the hoodie over their heads, keeping the bag tightly in their hands. The curls of their hair didn't survive completely unscathed, with water droplets gathering at the ends and dripping down to the floor below.

Taj runs a hand through the dark curls, shaking the water droplets out.

"Taj?"

They freeze, bag clutched tightly. They dare glance in the direction of your voice and see you standing there, towel wrapped firmly against you. They try not to stare. They have something to say first.

"Eh... I just... I-- Fuck," they groan, getting frustrated at their own stuttered speech. They hold out the bag to you instead.

"What's this?" You ask, gently opening the bag. The moment they see your eyes light up at its contents, they breathe a sigh of relief. "Is this from Mr. Dales stall?"

Taj coughs, rubbing their arm. "Yes? I couldn't remember his name. But I remembered you telling me about him."

The feel of your arms pulling them into a tight embrace, with a wide smile on your face, makes the wet hair, the burning in their thighs, and the uncomfortable conversation with a stranger entirely worth it.

"I'm sorry. I acted like a prick today," they mumble, tucking their face into the crook of your shoulder.

"You did?"

Taj scoffs. "In my head, I was an ass," they confess sheepishly. "I don't want to be that with you anymore. I want to do better. I won't always get it right... I'm fucked up, angry and petty, carrying a lifetime of hatred, but I want to try. With you. For you."

You stumble backwards slightly, a smile on your face. "Enough of that, you dummy," you say, caressing their face. "Let's enjoy these together, shall we?"

Umbra: Umbra paces the hallway outside of the bathroom. They hear the water running from the other side of the door, and the sound soothes the aching ball in their chest. It's not enough to stop their feet, but it's still pleasant to listen to. With pale fingers, they prod at the marks of their face, trying to determine whether they still stick in the ugly mask they wore at the event. They don't want to turn it on you, after all. It was for them. The one who prodded at you, laughed with you, dared to whisper so close to your ear...

No, no, no... Do not think of it. It was hard enough to smooth out the lines of their face the first time.

They find their mind catching on the way your lip curled in disgust the instant you returned home. You threw down your bag and coat onto the couch, mumbling and disgruntled. They didn't want to intrude on this moment with yourself, but they heard it regardless.

You didn't like pretending. It felt wrong.

It shames them. Seeing you with someone else created an ugliness in them they chose not to control, all while you were struggling to keep the smile on your face they cherish so greatly. How do they make up for that?

Before Umbrs can even question it, they pick up your mobile phone and search through the contacts, one button at a time. They hit the call button as soon as they see the name they were looking for. They can't afford to talk themselves out of this.

"MC? Is everything okay?" The gruff voice sounds out on the other end after just two rings.

"I... It is not MC."

"Umbra?"

"Yes."

Alek sighs, and Umbra can imagine how they are rubbing their face exasperated. "What is it? Why are you ringing from MC's phone?"

"I do not know what else to do."

"All right. Out with it. What's happened?"

"I... I am realising all the small ways I fall short. MC was unhappy today, and I did not see it. What good am I if I cannot even see that?"

A pause. A shuffle of material. Then, an exhale.

"Tell me about it, kid," Alek whispers, barely forcing the words through his breath. "It's a part of being alive. We don't always see the obvious."

Umbra almost quibbles with that bit of observation, but this conversation isn't about them. It's about you. "How can you tell? How do I ensure MC's happiness?"

"If I knew that, kid, these past ten years wouldn't have been so gruellin' for them."

Umbra shakes their head, clenching their free hand into a fist. "I cannot be you."

"Charming... but you are right. And you already aren't. Look, I don't know what happened today, but sometimes people are just unhappy. It happens. You can't always fix it."

"That doesn't seem fair."

"It isn't," Alek says through a sigh. "Now get off the phone to me and go talk to them. You have a habit of making a mountain out of a mole hill. Whatever it is you feel MC is upset about won't be solved by trapping yourself in your own head."

"I... Yes, I should. I am sorry."

"Stop apologising. You know how MC feels about the apologising."

"Right. Yes. Erm... Thank you, Detective Graves."

"Don't call again."

With that, the line goes dead.

Umbra tucks MC's phone back where they got it, just in time to hear the shower shut off from the bathroom. It doesn't feel like enough time; they still need to prepare what to say, how to express how today has made them feel, or how to prepare themselves to hear how today made you feel.

None of it matters the instant the bathroom door opens, and you are standing there, hair dripping, with a towel wrapped tightly around yourself. You are perfect—you are always so perfect.

"Umbra? Are you... all right?"

Umbra nods, then takes a deep breath. "Yes... Are you?"

MC raises a questioning brow. "Is this about earlier? I'm sorry for my mood. Today was just... a lot, and not a particularly enjoyable experience."

Umbra shakes their head, gently taking your much warmer hand in theirs. The feeling in their chest blooms as their pale, bony hands press against yours, and you do not pull away.

"It scares me," they begin, choking out the words. "The ugliness I feel when I see you smiling with another. It's grotesque."

"Umbra--"

"But I promised to be a person for you," they continue, a smile inching at the corners of their mouth. "I am sorry. I let my ugliness take hold today. You must have felt very alone." Umbra steps forward, pressing their forehead against yours. "If you like, we can talk through today together, or simply curl up together and forget about it all. Whatever you want, I will follow."

[softspeirs]

Steer Clear

A/N: Here we are, kids. This OC came to me out of nowhere. I had no plans to write anything for Ev Blakely, but once I started thinking about it, I couldn't stop. Meet Marie.

It was an innocuous request, in his mind. Hey, Fernandez. Run these messages to the Colonel on your way?

She had frozen in place, halfway down the tower steps at his words, and he recognized the look on her face. He's seen it a thousand times since he met her over a year ago.

"I'm pressed for time, Captain." She says. "I have to run these figures to the plotters--"

"You're on your way there anyway." He insists. He holds out a stack of messages. Weather reports, updated communications from nearby bases, messages about incoming ferries happening later that day.

She turns her back on him.

Heads right down the stairs like he hadn't even spoken, and leaves him standing there.

"For fuck's sake," he whispers to himself, and then he's taking off, hot on her heels.

She's like a wraith the way he catches only glimpses of her disappearing around corners, until finally she's in Ops, handing a message to Red at the maps before turning to pass on other messages, her steps quick and efficient.

The room is relatively quiet and he's sure he's not imagining the way people take one look at the two of them and pretty much clear out. They don't want to be stuck inside with them when the arguing inevitably starts.

He sighs. "Fernandez-- can you just wait a minute?"

"Not really, no."

The thing about an impending promotion is that he's starting to understand why Jack hates being Air Exec. He hates being stuck inside, or in the tower, or elsewhere on the base while others are doing the flying. He understands his role. He'll do it and he'll do a damned good job of it, but that doesn't mean he likes it.

Especially because it means he's in close contact with the Ops staff, who are all, except for Marie Fernandez, willing to work with him.

"Do we have a problem?" He blurts, because he already knows they do. The first day he met her she looked at him with.... nothing. She wasn't rude or anything, but he felt like he could have been any other suit standing in front of her, and it hit him in the gut like he didn't expect. "I'm not giving you orders, I just asked if you'd do me a favor." He's aware his tone is hardening. He's trying not to let it happen, but she's just staring at him in that way she does.

"I don't work for you," she points out, tone perfectly neutral, but something about it just grates. He opens his mouth to respond, but she beats him to it. "I work for the Colonel, and he's the one who gives me orders."

His hands go to his hips and he looks down at the ground, clenching his jaw as he fights his temper. "We're working together, Fernandez. All of us." He leans in, "Unless you forgot."

Her eyes narrow. "Because I couldn't possibly feel the same patriotism that you do, could I?" She pretends to think, finger tapping he chin. "I forgot that the only way to fight from the air is in the seat. Us pencil pushers don't count." Her eyes are blazing, a few tendrils of her dark hair escaping from their pins after hours and hours of work.

"You weren't supposed to hear that." He mutters. Not a good excuse, but he can't help but bite back at her. She gets under his skin - he needs to have the last word. It's a matter of pride, is what he tells himself.

"Then don't gossip where everyone can hear you, Captain." She raises a perfectly manicured eyebrow. "Now. Is there something I can help you with? Because if not, then we're busy."

He takes a deep breath, tries to lower his voice. "I'm just asking if you would be willing to take messages when you're on your way anyway--"

"-- And I told you I don't have time. I know you think I don't do anything but sit around and twirl my hair all day--"

"That's not what I think."

"Can I--" Harry Crosby's head appears around the doorframe of his office.

"Not now, Croz--"

"Shut up Harry--"

They both snap at him in unison, and he holds his hands up in surrender and backs into his office. He's been the third wheel of too many arguments between Fernandez and Blakely over the last few months, and he has no desire to get in the middle of another one, even though he's desperate for a few minutes of quiet.

The sudden quiet between them is tense and for a moment -- he doesn't even think she's aware she does it - the wall around Marie Fernandez comes down. Her face is open, vulnerable. She looks exhausted, just like the rest of them.

She takes a deep breath, settles her shoulders, and squares to face him again, and he's suddenly breathless. She is unbearably lovely. Especially when she's yelling at him. And his heart is pounding, and she's saying something but he can't hear her and--

"Well?" She snaps.

"I-- what?"

"I said, the next time you need something from Ops, send one of the other girls. There's no need for us to keep disturbing everyone else." Her voice is quieter than it was a few minutes ago and he hates it. The fight's gone out of her eyes too, and for a crazed half-second, he wants to reach for her.

To do what, he has no idea, but suddenly he feels out of control, like he has no idea how to speak or move or--

She brushes past him. The door slams behind her as she goes back to her office, just outside the Colonel's.

He pinches the bridge of his nose as the quiet of the room settles over him. He knows this has to get sorted. They can't keep fighting like this, not with the invasion so close on the horizon, not when the communication between Ops and the tower is so important.

They need to trust each other, and he needs to keep his big mouth shut and stop taking his frustrations out on her.

He knows all this, but there's a part of him that's itching for a fight, and she's always willing to give it. Perhaps it's the masochistic part of him that came back from Bremen, knowing everything had gone to shit and convinced that it always would.

Harry comes out of his office again, hands in his pockets.

"Don't say it--"

"You can't keep doing that." He says, serious.

"She started it--"

"She's just doing her job, doing what she's supposed to do."

"I asked for a favor! That's all! Goddamn, you'd think I'm asking for her to get in the goddamn seat and drop a bomb on Hitler's house."

Crosby frowns. "Look, I just-- you let her get to you, and I don't know why, but you're driving everyone crazy. We're all tired but this is too important."

He opens his mouth to argue that Harry Crosby of all people shouldn't be lecturing him about being tired, but he bites his tongue. The door behind him opens again, and he looks over his shoulder, expecting her to storm back in and demand he apologize to her, but it's Douglass.

"Fightin' with Marie again?" He asks, casually, leaning against the wall as he bites down on an apple.

"Jesus Christ." Ev mutters.

"I'm just asking because the two of you really know how to clear a room."

"I'm going to go now. Don't you two have anything better to do?"

"Besides bother you? Not really."

"Thanks, Dougie."

Douglass follows him out the door, calling after him, "Just let us know when you're finally going to do something about it so we can steer clear, alright?"

Blakely flips him the finger over his shoulder and walks back to the tower, his gut roiling for reasons he doesn't want to examine. No, he'll steer clear of her from now on. It's best for everyone.

[featherquillpen]

My favorite Hubert support chains in Three Houses

My favorite Hubert supports and why I like them so much! Some possibly controversial opinions ahead! YOLO.

Hubert & Petra

I think the Hubert/Petra support chain is really underrated. There's a ton of Discourse about the Ingrid/Dedue support chain and racism and the overcoming thereof. But the Hubert and Petra support chain does a great job, I think, of showing someone working on their own racism. Hubert's behavior toward Petra in their C support is appalling, and I think Hubert's worst on-screen behavior. It's either the C support with Petra, or his threats toward her and Brigid on the Petra and Bernie paralogue in non-Crimson Flower routes.

The context is all-important. Petra is a political hostage. She was brought over to the Adrestian court at age 9. Hubert is an Adrestian noble. At the time of the C support pre-TS, Hubert is 20 and Petra is 15. The power dynamic between them is deeply skewed in Hubert's favor. He could do nearly anything to her short of kill her, and get away scot-free. It's pretty much Hubert's modus operandi to threaten people in C supports, because he's so paranoid about any potential enemy of Edelgard's. But to do so to someone who is already so utterly in his power, and Edelgard's, is just cruel.

The B support is still fairly bad. But in the A support, Hubert turns it around.

Hubert is now clear that he believes in the new accord between Brigid and the Empire. Indeed, it's obvious by implication, and more clearly spelled out in Hopes, that he was part of making that accord. And now he's stripped of his last excuse to keep judging Petra. I think one of the highest compliments Hubert can give is to say something like this:

Overall, I love this support as an example of a character working on their racist bullshit.

(I will briefly add that I adore their support chain in Three Hopes also. In that chain, it's Petra's turn to threaten Hubert, and he's SO INTO IT. Just like "Oh shit, a good threat. I respect that so much.")

Hubert & Dorothea

Talking of threatening people in C supports, you know who Hubert doesn't threaten in their C support? Dorothea.

Hubert just likes Dorothea right away. No threats. In fact he's quite open about his feelings about Edelgard right in the C support, and that's a very personal topic!

The whole support chain is about love. And it's even better because their ending together is platonic. And about being spies together, which is so sick. (As far as I can tell, and let the internet correct me if I'm wrong, Hubert is the male ("male") character with the most platonic endings with women, after Alois, who is already married.) I really love it because Hubert opens up very deeply to Dorothea about his feelings for Edelgard. As an aro-spec person, I really relate to the way Hubert and Dorothea talk about Hubert's feelings for Edelgard.

it's very lovely character growth for Dorothea because she sees how profound and transformative non-romantic love can be. That she doesn't need to have romantic love in her life to be happy, whatever society has told her about the necessity of marriage for women to be happy. And that's reflected in the fact that she has a platonic ending with Hubert.

I just can't find their A support anything but hilarious in the best way. They're talking about love, and superficially it's about them getting married, but they don't get married in their ending or have any romantic relationship, and the subtext is screaming that the A support is completely about both their feelings for Edelgard.

I'll take "very normal things to say when you're proposing to someone" for 500, Alex.

Hubert & Bernadetta

I have said it before and I will say it again: you can easily read a metaphor into this support about Bernie giving Hubert space to be gender non conforming or trans femme.

Bernie is way more scared of men than women, and behaves accordingly in their C support, but Hubert then expresses great gentleness toward Bernie and also a deep discomfort with this "scary vampire man" persona, which is sometimes useful but more often painful and heartbreaking. Bernie is really sweet and understanding about this, and even makes that flower in the A support, which you can interpret as Bernie saying "I see this side of you that doesn't fit into masculinity and I want to help you express it." After all, as Hubert says, it's a gift you'd give a female friend, or someone you have romantic feelings for.

What I really like about the moment where Bernie gives Hubert the flower is that it's a moment of Hubert being the one who needs support, through this feeling of pain and uncertainty about this frightening ghoul persona, and Bernie doing the caring. A lot of Bernie's supports are about people trying to help and support Bernie. And that's great! But I love that in this support chain, Bernie also gets to do the supporting.

That dynamic continues in their amazing paired ending, where Bernie goes on great adventures and Hubert stays at home and keeps house. Incredible. Iconic. Let Hubert be GNC. Let Hubert be a housewife.

Hubert & Ferdinand

Much has been said about this support, but I think I have a new take that I haven't seen before. Something that Hubert says to Ferdinand in Hopes helped me really unlock something important about their support chain in Houses.

In Hopes, Hubert and Ferdie are talking about Ludwig, and while Ferdie expresses hope that maybe his father can change, Hubert says something like, "Once someone strays from the path, they can never return." This reflects a broader aspect of Hubert's character, which is that he doesn't seem to believe in redemption. Not for nobles. Not for anyone who's done wrong. Especially not for himself.

Ferdinand does believe in redemption. Not only believes in it, but embodies it. Ferdinand has a remarkable redemption arc. Hubert in the C support with Ferdinand in Houses clearly believes that because of Ferdinand's really fucked up beliefs about nobility and about the power he deserves, Ferdie has strayed from the path and can never return. He's a lost cause. But then Ferdinand proves him wrong.

I think what a lot of fandom gets wrong about this relationship is that they think that Ferdie proved Hubert wrong because he was actually a good guy all along. That's not true. Ferdie pre-timeskip is in many ways genuinely toxic. He secretly believes that he should be Emperor. He bangs on about being the only legitimate heir of House Aegir, and his Aegir bloodline, all of this noble bloodline eugenics stuff that is ruining his classmates' lives. And in three out of four routes, he fights against Edelgard to preserve his noble power and prevent her taking it away from him, upholding this entire rotten system. But in Crimson Flower, he proves Hubert wrong, because he proves that people who stray from the path can return. That phrasing in Hopes about returning to the path gives me some feels, because in Judaism, the word for redemption, teshuvah, basically means "return." It's a belief in the goodness of people. You were on the path to start with. You left it, but you're returning. You're going back to your own fundamental goodness and ability to follow the path.

I think a big reason why Hubert is so impressed with Ferdie by the end of their support chain, and why he comes to love him, is because he proved to Hubert that people can change and can be redeemed. And if that's true of Ferdie…. then maybe that can also be true for Hubert. Ferdinand represents hope. Not just hope for a future after the war, with his visions of education for the masses, but hope that anyone, even the most spoiled noble, even a soul blackened by murder and moral compromise, can work toward redemption. I think it's really beautiful.

And then we get the A+ support which is just pure gay disaster tire fire. Absolute nightmares, both of them.

I find the Ferdibert paired ending deeply funny. Hubert thought he'd die in a ditch and be remembered as the Butcher of Fodlan or something, and now he's a Twin Jewel who everyone thinks is based. I'm also amused by the detail in the JP version of their ending where Edelgard is jealous of their romance. Poor Edie going "where's MY gay enemies to lovers slow burn, HUH?"

Hubert & Edelgard

Agggghhhhhkkkggghhkkkk so. Um. Finally. Last but not least. The Hubert and Edelgard support chain. This is my Hubert stan account origin story. This relationship is what made me go "I need to understand every last thing about Hubert von Vestra." Because here we have Hubert, who is leaving chloroform-soaked rags lying around, looming like a vampyr, cackling unhingedly in crit lines, and threatening people left and right in C supports, and then you see Hubert and Edelgard's C. And that's when you first get to see the real Hubert. That bright heart.

The direct JP-EN translation of this is "I shall make a show of spilling blood to paint the scarlet path1 you tread," where 'scarlet path' is a reference to the walkway in a theater, which is so sexy of Hubert to say.

I also love the C support because she's opening the door wide open for Hubert to leave. It shows the importance of consent and freedom in their relationship. All the people who talk about Hubert being "brainwashed" or "manipulated" into his role clearly left their brains at the door during this support.

I don't even know what to say about the B support, it's just the best. It's perfect. My heart is filled with rainbows. Nobody does it like them. Though I do love that at the end of the B support Edelgard's like "tell me ur secrets Hubert!!!" and he's like "OH LOOK AT THE TIME I GOTTA GO" and flees.

I can't talk about the A support without referring to the Teaspoon Translation because the EN is so badly botched. When I first saw their A support, I was disappointed. And then I discovered it was Treehouse at it again.

JP Edelgard would never dare assume that Hubert is heterosexual.

I also adore the JP version of their paired ending, from Teaspoon:

In their later years, after accomplishing what they set out to do, they found a talented successor and disappeared. Even in their retirement, spent just by themselves, there were likely no romantic exchanges even to the end.

Queerplatonic partner icons. Shipping is nice and all, but no romantic relationship between characters in this game will ever appeal to me more than what Hubert and Edelgard have going on.

[rey-jake-therapist]

SPOILERS EPISODE 7

I'm so, so, SO scared of what Sauron will make Celebrimbor endure to make him say where the Nine are. We know he will stop at nothing to get this information. And Celebrimbor will resist because he knows that Sauron is sure he's following the right path (deceiving himself, in his own words), and thus impossible to reason with. So he will resist, but somehow Sauron will realize that he didn't hide the rings somewhere but trusted someone with them. But how much torture will he inflict to Celebrimbor before he comes to this conclusion and chases the person who ran away with the rings? I dread to think of the pain this man will endure before Sauron understands he's beating the wrong bush 🙁

Will he be surprised to see Galadriel's the one who carries the rings? Does he even know she's here? I was surprised that there wasn't any indication about that in episode 7. I didn't expect him to do anything to free her from Adar (I predicted a while ago that she would be a bait for Elrond, not Sauron), but it was a tad disappointing to see no acknowledgement of her presence. Maybe it's meant to surprise him, after all.

And Mirdania.... She was really just a plot device, wasn't she? 😅Their last interaction was interesting, to say the least. Twice, we saw Sauron touch Mirdania; the first time it was pretty obvious that it was because she reminded him of Galadriel, I'm much less sure about the second time.... It was probably just manipulation. But during their last interaction, she touched his arm and he remained frozen, annoyed even by this unsolicited gesture. This shows alone how much in control of everything and everyone Sauron wants to be. He had no affection for this girl, so he didn't want her to touch him. He even pushed the cynism to the point of promising herr she would be "rewarded" for the good job she had done, knowing perfectly that he would soon get rid of her.

The way he sacrificed her really showed how dispensable Mirdania (and everybody else) was, to him. And let's not forget the timing!! Galadriel's nearby and will soon meet him for an epic fight. Does he know she's here, it's unsure but it screams "my ex is back in town, it was fun but girl you have to go" 😅

Charlie Vickers said that to Sauron, people were just little bugs. I guess he holds a few people, such as Celebrimbor and Galadriel, to higher standards, because he can play these will power games he likes so much with them. They make the game interesting because they're strong minded and will fight back (even if it pisses him off when they do!). All the others are just insects he can crush without a second thought.

This dialogue about Morgoth was very enlightening, to understand how Sauron's mind work, and why he's the way he is now. I loved that the show didn't ask us to sympathize for him; as Celebrimbor pointed out, he chose to submit him (and "countless of others") to the same suffering he was himself subjected to. We saw first hand in season 1 how he could have decided to change his ways, the opportunity Galadriel gave him to take another path, but decided repeat the old patterns instead.

For the audience, it will be heartbreaking to see him slowly but surely sinking deeper into the darkness, because despite all his evil deeds, we can't help but liking him (well at least I can't! 😩), and we know the goal he pursues isn't bad in itself.... It's his methods, and his insistance in wanting to control absolutely everything and everyone that ruins any good intention he could have regarding Middle-Earth....

[herefortheships]

What is your opinion on the Beetlejuice 2 Dream Theory?

My short answer is that it's plausible, but not likely that that's what the writers or Tim intended. That said, every viewer is entitled to their own interpretation. When a piece of media leaves the author's hands, then it doesn't belong exclusively to the author anymore; the story takes on a new form when it falls in the hands of the audience ("the death of the author is the birth of the reader" etc).

I'd have to rewatch the movie with my brain prepared to point out references that may show that everything we're witnessing as the movie plays out is not real.

As for my personal interpretation, I don't think that's the case. There was indeed a dream sequence at the end though; we have to decide, when does the dream start? Was it when Betelgeuse and Lydia were dancing in midair? (Betelgeuse does break the 4th wall to tell the audience "I love a good dream sequence", so that's possible). Or was it later after Lydia says her goodbye to Delia? I've only watched the movie once so far, so my thoughts may change when I rewatch it, but for now, this is where I think the dream starts:

I think the dream started with Lydia quitting her show. She may not have quit it at all, as a matter of fact, but her dream started with this because she's now hoping for a fresh start and quitting her show is part of what she has identified as her ideal life, going forward. She's dreaming about a perfect life, believing herself rid of Betelgeuse and Rory and her past, and starting fresh with Astrid, focused on being her mother and being there for her this time. Astrid and Lydia only have each other now after the loss of Delia and Charles, as far as family goes. All of that from that moment on is the dream. In truth, she isn't rid of Betelgeuse, and she is pretty isolated now. So she is shaken awake by the nightmare (I already made a detailed post about that, so I won't go into detail about the dream and what I think it means here). I think the dream ends when she hears/feels Betelgeuse in bed with her. Betelgeuse isn't gone and he's still very much in love with her, which may not be a very comforting thought to her just yet lol.

Now as I'm writing this, as a matter of fact, her little jumpscare when feeling Betelgeuse in bed with her might have a double meaning. Why was she dreaming about him being in bed with her? To be honest, when I first saw that in the theater I thought the wedding had gone through, since they were sharing a bed now! Lydia may be beginning to realize her feelings about Betel have changed, which understandably scares her right now. Then she wakes up again and he's gone. There is a question here, was he part of the dream or was he truly in bed with Lydia? Maybe he was there after all (which is what I personally believe).

Anyway, I am beginning to ramble, but Tl;Dr: There was a dream, but it starts when Lydia quits her job (or maybe after she quits, when she and Astrid are in vacation together).

Again, if it's the same theory I read (which I totally love and find super intriguing), it does make good points, so in short I would say it's plausible. Today I read a post about how the name "Richard" repeats in the movie in several instances, which may add to the "none of this is real, it's all a dream" theory. But to be honest, for me at least, there is more reason to believe that what we witnessed in the film did happen, and Astrid, Rory, Richard, etc are all real and part of Lydia's life.

That Lydia isn't married to Betel by the end of this film doesn't mean her feelings about him will remain as they are and that she will never accept him or even love him, though. This movie was SO a setup for a third film and I am sure of that. It was left open ended so in the event it didn't land well, the franchise could be set to rest with this sequel which was mostly a passion project for those involved, but now we know the movie was a massive hit, so it's very likely and I have no doubt we will get a final third part. There is a LOT of "the rule of three" around Betelgeuse, starting with the fact that you need to say his name three times to summon him. "Third time's a charm", you know what I mean? So I believe the final movie will see them married (yep, not just together or just friends, but married). Marriage is a very important theme in Beetlejuice, both for the series and the titular character himself, so that wedding will happen and it will go through next time, for better or worse (and I hope for better!) Again, rule of three applies here. I think the story is prime for either a soulmate story, or a tragic "true love will set you free" kind of story in which Lydia has to marry Betelgeuse in order to free his soul so he can move on (it was pointed out to me that this resembles the story of Corpse Bride, which is also a movie directed by Tim Burton). If he goes with the latter, then that doesn't mean Lydia won't love him and will just marry him to free him (as in she’s his true love but she doesn’t love him back romantically); she may still fall in love with him, but will find a way to break his attachment/curse to set his soul free and "let him go" for now (it could go either way tbh 😭), and they can still find each other in the afterlife. And wouldn't that be nice? If the two of them can move on to a better place in the great beyond in the finale? To spend eternity together in peace.

Anyway, rambling again! This is my answer. Sorry for replying a little late (and "yapping" so much lol), but trust me I was thinking about this question all day.

[richeeduvie]

Can we have some soft dom lalo… maybe from his perspective bc you write him so well 😩

Sweetest Touch - nsfw Blurb

warning: 18PLUS, edging? tiny blurb, fingering. Soft dom Lalo, bruising.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.

He feels like a boy when he thinks about how squeezable you are. A damn boy.

"Princess, you're doing so good."

The little noises you make mean you're struggling, you're struggling under the guy and Lalo...he almost can't move, but he's got a job to you - keep you squirming so he can laugh at you, make you cry, then scoop you up all together. What he does every other night, that or just fucking you to Hell. That's an English saying, no? But you couldn't go to Hell if you tried. The sounds you make prove you're an angel, Lalo doesn't care if others wouldn't get it.

But nobody else can hear the way you are under him.

"Lalo!"

Lalo could almost laugh at the way he squeezed your breast too hard at that pequeña thought. Yeah, who else would hear your little mewls.

"Gatita, shh. It's too easy for you to do good."

He kisses where he took his fist. Kiss sweet, sweet Princesa.

Lalo takes in a breath, he's not gonna try and figure out what movement is a choice to make you squirm and what is because of the hot pit in his chest, what he doesn't know he's doing until you're whimpering. Why'd he do that, Princesa? You're in front of him. How stupid would he be to waste that? Make himself weak.

"You're a sweet whore - you only know how to do good like this, hm?"

"But I'm gon-gonna...I'm gonna cum-"

"No. You're not."

His words are low in the back of the throat, just flipping at the muscles. His cock throbs.

If he's not gonna shoot him cum all over you right now, you're not gonna cum on his fingers. You can listen to him, you're good at that too. His sweet girl who listens. Who needs to listen.

He's got ideas if you don't.

Lalo closes his eyes as fire rolls over him. Damn it.

He pumps his fingers in your pussy and you clench around them every five, six seconds. Tight, warm - perfect and needy, everything about Princesa, Princesa, Princesa asking for more. You've drenched his hand in the past ten minutes, messy whore.

Lalo's lips part.

"Ah!"

"Shh, Princesa. Shh..."

And your pussy around his fingers feel so good, every single time - but Lalo doesn't know it's how he's biting your breast that makes the night even more better until you're crying.

"Can I cu-"

"Ask me again and I'm gonna turn you over. Don't be more of a fucking whore than you have to be."

There's no pretty and high whimper on his muscles cause of his words. Okay, Princesa. Whine. Whine like a brat. He'll just push his fingers inside you slower, nothing with rhythm.

"...Can I cum, pl-ah!"

It's red. It's Lalo hearing nothing but you....you asking him again? You asking him again? The hell?

He stops biting down, cause then...Lalo was biting down harder after taking his hand to your throat, squeezing.

"You want another bruise?"

Lalo kisses your nipple gently, then your neck, then your ear coming up. He's gonna laugh later, he can make his words and kisses so sweet without his hands going the same way.

"You want another kissy?" His thumbs run over your jaw, and yeah, it's on him that he knows you can't answer. "You want another besito?"

Lalo knows you're gonna nod, but maybe he shouldn't say that cause he didn't think you would ask again. His mistake, yeah.

But of course, Princesa nods. He doesn't go back on his word. His kisses where he squeezed tightly.

"Even with the slut you are, you like me sweet. Of course Princesa does."

[jackiepackiee]

HAIIII! I wanted to ask for a Genya x reader where he's confessing to a Hashira!reader? I've been currently obsessing over this man and there is NOT enough content for him on here. Anyway, thank you! Have a good day/night and drink water! - Pax <3

𝒟𝑒𝓂𝑜𝓃 𝒮𝓁𝒶𝓎𝑒𝓇

𝒢𝑒𝓃𝓎𝒶 𝒞𝑜𝓃𝒻𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝐻𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓇𝒶! 𝑅𝑒𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓇

You’re in for a RIDE with this one

Let’s get off with the basics, you’re obviously around Genya’s age

This being so, you’re the second or third youngest with Shinobu and Muichiro

Meaning you’re pretty well liked and highly respected

No wonder he fell for you, because his type is definitely strong and highly determined

Now the question everyone is asking before the confession… Sanemi

You two get along fine, like he does with the rest of the group

He has no reason to dislike you, you do your job and respect the master

Don’t get in his way and he won’t pay you much mind

Until now…

Until he is hiding behind a cover of trees and bushes with Gyomei and Mitsuri your biggest shippers watching you and Genya

Genyas face is bright red as he looks at you. Tilting his head downward, at first to catch your eye, but then even lower so he saw his shoes.

His Mohawk fluffed up the way you always liked, which he always made sure to brush out before seeing you. You had complimented it once and ever since then he’s warm it like that.

His arms lead behind his back and you couldn’t see his hands. Not that you paid it much mind. His face was too much to look at.

Bitting his lower lip, he swayed on his feet in deep thought. Cheeks not quite having caught up to his muscular physique, they puffed out in a huff. All in a few seconds, but staring at him felt like staring at a painting for hours.

What snapped him out of this thought train was a purple petal hitting his nose, causing it to scrunch.

“What are you laughing at?” He huffed again, sinking back his reaction from the sudden attack of wisteria.

You yourself took back your smile, stifling it.

“Nothing~”

But you failed to keep quiet and laughed again, putting your food down to cover your face.

This was your tradition. After a particularly rough mission for either of you you’d both have lunch in the wisteria garden near the butterfly estate.

“Don’t cover your smile.” His words came without hesitation, until he seemed to realize what he said and looked away again. Embarrassed at indirectly confessing he wanted to see it.

He loved nothing more than you smiling… or something romantic and cheesy like that.

You both went on silently for a while, eating and walking the surrounding.

Until a question filled your mind.

“What’s the occasion Gen? Neither of us have had missions?”

Choking on his food he caught him breath before looking at you.

Putting his chopsticks down, looking into your eyes.

“I… I have something to tell you?”

Nodding, you put your food down too in order to give him your full attention. Small gestures like that were what made him fall…

‘Damn it, now or never’

“Ever since…” His pause was welcome, the air of the conversation still drifting. But he looked to the wisteria petals on the grass.

“Ever since we’ve become friends. And mister Himejima sent us on that mission together…”

Purple eyes met yours once again, not matching the pink of his cheeks.

“You’re the strongest, loveliest person I know.”

Even with his eyes so unsure, he was more determined in this moment to be honest than ever before. To go through with everything he wanted to say since the moment he knew he fell.

But you spoke, and he faltered.

“Gen…”

You’re unsure tone, soft and calming as it always was. Although he was anything but calm.

“I’m so sorry! I-”

You lunged forward, placing his hands under yours. Gently with a sort of softness he hadn’t felt in years.

“Genya.”

Blush bloomed on his cheeks, enveloping his nose to the tops of his ears.

“…Yes?”

He had to be confident, he couldn’t just back out now. Even if you rejected him-

“I like you too.”

Oh.

God, you were so much more straight forward. If he hadn’t been so distracted by your words, he might’ve noticed the nervous expression on your face as well.

“You do?… Really?”

You attempted to pull your hands away, but he moved to hold them. Interlacing fingers so you were closer, even with a hand he made you feel secure.

“More than anything Gen.”

You murmured, becoming shyer with the second. Letting down the harsh hashira exterior you had to your soft side only he saw.

“God, you’re so beautiful.”

You both left out a huff of a laugh, and looked at each other.

An unspoken agreement that you didn’t need labels or some rules, you just needed each other.

And that was entirely enough.

Then… you hear happy sounds come from the bushes?

Babbling about puppy love

And out stumbled Mitsuri with Gyomei and Sanemi behind her

Gyomei’s tears were following freely as ever at the young love and Mitsuri was literally jumping up and down

And while Sanemi gave Genya a glare, you could see the happiness in his eyes that his brother would experience some normal happiness in love

[eyedoeluhn]

Surprise, I think Brocktons celestial forge is handling characters badly. I don’t think the current “main pairing” (used loosely as possible since it’s one date) for our main character, Joe, is good. At all.

Crystal/Joe is at best extremely bland and basically nonexistent in the ideal platonic form of BCF that exists in a plane of perfect forms. In the real world I think it’s pretty creepy and Joe is also a massive piece of shit.

For context, to those uninitiated to BCF Joe is an ‘oc’ based off of a canonical character who is mentioned in one line and never named or expanded on. Specifically he is the man who attended college with Parian and contributed to her trigger by pressuring her to date him. That is a can of worms for another post because my god is this a terrible decision and Parian is handled fucking horribly. But LordRoustAbout has taken it on himself to expand with details on this event.

there’s an attempt to make Joe sympathetic, his perusal of Parian was fueled partially by a total social ineptitude and the spurring of his classmates, and he also found the entire situation harmful and ended up dropping out partially related to this and it tied into his own trigger event. Which….alright, whatever. But this did leave Joe with an aversion to romance and also apparently an incurable inability to understand it beyond bare minimums despite eight million powers related to it. This came up several times as online shipping is a major concern for Lord and thus Joe, but he didn’t have a love interest until Crystal.

The dissolution of New Wave is a major part of BCF. Frequently we have paused to see their points of view on how much of a big deal this is. In short, Joe, in a move at the time was unilaterally acknowledged as really fucking stupid but then he now pretends wasn’t his fault, confronts Panacea after arming the Undersiders for the bank job which went significantly worse for the Wards. He acknowledges he’s the person who did this, then goes on a long rant about what his ‘fanon shard’ has told him and trigger theory, basically bringing up Panacea’s actual father but more importantly the fact that there’s been infidelity within New Wave. This entire conversation is recorded and gets back to them. This is consequentially a huge fucking deal and is also timed just right to fuck over a lot of New Wave’s operations just in time for shit to get serious. So the city is fucking falling apart and basically looks like the Leviathan decided to pop in early with eight million effects, and Crystals entire family (yes including Lightstar, it was bad enough that he moved all the way back just to try and mediate the situation)is actively also falling apart, and these are both directly Joe’s fault. Now, you say, well to be nice to Joe it’s not his fault that Brandish and Manpower fucked or anything. Which is true, he didn’tcause the rift, but he is the one who voluntarily instigated the situation it for literally no reason for what became the worst possible moment, and is now not telling Crystal this.

Joe has met Crystal around three times, once in college, once at an event where she asks him out because he’s so hot and once on a date. The amount of stress Crystal is under as both her family life and her life in Brockton literally falls apart at the seams is pretty blatantly clear. Joe just does not fucking care. He does not find it that weird that he’s lying to this woman to date her about not knowing intimate details about her life or interfering with it. She has absolutely no idea Joe is the fucking maniac terrorizing her city or is the guy who got her cousin locked up for this entire time and destroyed her position as a cape either. She is completely oblivious, which I find extremely fucking weird.

Also this is WORM. Crystal is like, eighteen, nineteen or something like that. The most generous possible aging of Joe is in his early twenties. I think literally every part of this relationship gives me the creeps. I want Joe to stay far away from her.

Oh, and the date chapter produced what for me personally is in the running for one of the worst moments in all of BCF.

What. The. Fuck.

Joe. What the FUCK is wrong with you?

the entire city is a fucking warzone because of him. Until like, five minutes ago, there was active lava flow, giant streaks of frozen land, FUCKING GLASS SHARD CLOUDS. Half the city is under a field that blocks all electrical devices from fucking working, there’s giant craters and the Protectorate, New Wave, PRT, police department, hospitals, and firefighters were all targeted during the attacks so they’re operating at half fucking capacity with a million other problems that are half because Joe didn’t want to use more than one robot (DESPITE SHOWING HE COULD INSTANTLY FABRICATE MORE HIS FIRST OUTING) and half things he could fix instantly but chooses to not, and one hundred percent things directly attributed to him.

So, Brook here is telling Joe about the fact that she is fucking volunteering with multiple groups to raise funds and help the community in this absolute fucking mess that he caused, a completely normal COLLEGE STUDENT (Joe is a fucking dropout) with NO POWERS who is doing MORE THAN JOE EVER HAS to help these people

and his first instinct is to snark that obviously her major is easy.

Joe.

YOU DROPPED OUT. You lazy, malicious piece of shit are going to sit here and give this woman shit for cleaning up your mess. You aren’t fucking funny. You’re evil, frankly, and this entire date pains me to read. This isn’t funny. This isn’t endearing. I don’t feel happy that Joe is being ooh relatable he’s getting snippy. I feel frustrated that he’s avoided any meaningful effort to anything positive and then regards this random person who’s been perfectly nice to him and is frankly an incredible human being with derision.

fuck you joe. Jesus Christ.