#{technically we never decided who would start but i figured i owed you one since i've replied to a few of your starters}

[lokilickedme]

So I’m at work yesterday and my supervisor decides to break the one cardinal rule of keeping me as an employee, and that’s to never ever ask me to put on the headset.  We’re a sometimes crazy-busy tourist-centric ice cream parlor (the last stop for mountainbikers and hikers before you hit the mountain) that also makes fairly good food (not “fast” food...our cook is slow as hell and also legally blind so yeah no we don’t fit that category by sheer technicality thanks to Andrew’s inch-thick lenses that honestly probably need to be another inch thicker for him to see the damn grill)

Anyway

So supervisor is like listen, I gotta pee so bad I can taste it and I haven’t had a break since, like, last Thursday so I’m gonna clock out and go take a nap behind the dumpster (or something, I dunno I wasn’t listening over the wheezing roar of the cream spinner) and I nod and say okay yeah sure babe whatever go have your meltdown you’re owed one, and as I’m reaching for the hammer to take a whack at the chugging dispenser she puts the dreaded headset in my hand.

I look at her.  She looks at me.

“I got you one.  You’re the only person here that I trust to do everything.  You can do this.”

“I quit.”

“No you don’t, Andrew will kill himself and you can’t have that on your conscience.”  I glance over at the kitchen window.  Andrew the mostly-blind cook is nodding pathetically and making a praying-hands gesture at me.  “Put it on and give it a try, please?  Come on I haven’t peed since noon yesterday, I’m dyin’ here.”

She’s cute as hell, my supervisor.  And she’s giving me the big brown puppydog eyes, so I begrudgingly take the headset.  I’m such a fucking guy sometimes.

She runs for the exit.

A minute later I hear her voice over the headset.  “Push the button closest to your temple to talk to the driveup intercom, push it again to mute.  Middle button talks to me.  Don’t worry about the other four buttons.”

You can all see where this is going, can’t you.

I push the middle button and tell her sweetly to fuck herself.  She giggles from somewhere far away, probably peeing in a ditch I dunno I can’t be bothered to stop what I’m doing long enough to look up.  I’m trying to figure out how to make three brownie sundaes out of the last two brownies without anybody noticing they got shorted and had their brownie replaced with an Oreo when I hear a sound that strikes fear into my soul.

The driveup dinger, ringing in my right ear.  The blind cook starts cackling from the kitchen - he has a headset too, but he’s not trained on either window or register and thus has immunity.

Geezus hellfire it’s gotta be me.  I ignore it, they’ll go away in a minute.

“Answer it!!” my supervisor hisses in my ear.

“No, I quit.”

“Answer it!!”

Goddammit.

“Why can’t Andrew do it?”

“Andrew isn’t trained on register.”

“He can take the order and repeat it to me, I’ll put it in the register.”

“Take the order!!”

Fuck

“Yeah hello, welcome to - whatever this is, you want some ice cream?  We got ice cream.”

Kitchen boy is howling while my supervisor screams the deathscream of a person of authority who’s just made a career-ending decision against their own better judgement and is currently watching it explode in their face while they’re sitting on the toilet.  That’ll teach her.  The day I took this job I said no headset, I have to be able to read a person’s lips while they’re talking to understand them and I warned her, I fucking warned her it would go badly.  She really should have listened to me.  It’s too late now though, I’m taking the goddamn order.

Andrew is hooting from the kitchen.  I’m gonna smack him in the dick with a spatula the next time he walks past me I swear to god.  So I take the order and it goes pretty much without a hitch with the exception of me having to ask the customer three times to repeat themselves because I can’t see their damn mouth telling me what they want, then I commence to preparing it and then I ring the customer out and give them their ice cream.  End of.  And then I take the headset off and drop it by the sink because I’ve done what I said I’d do.  I can hear supervisor screaming at me through the little earpiece across the room while I make sundaes for the nice elderly couple who had the decency to come into the lobby instead of pulling up to the drive through and putting me through hell, and as is my custom, I ignore it.

A minute later supervisor is standing in the doorway, hands on hips, glaring at me.  “Put it back on.”

“I quit.”

“No you don’t, think of Andrew.  Put it on, you did fine.”

“Will I still get my final paycheck if I tell you to fuck yourself in front of a customer?”

“You’ve done that twice this morning already.  Put it on.”

“Does it matter if the customer is over a certain age?  Like, 75?”

“Put it on.”

“Why don’t you just take the driveup orders while you’re peeing instead of yelling at me through the headset?  If you can talk to me you can talk to the intercom.”

She’s already gone, so my argument for taking orders from the ladies room is pointless.  I can see cars lining up outside.  Andrew is still laughing from the kitchen.  I make a nice pretty little ice cream cone, dip it in cherry sauce, and hurl it at his head through the window.  I don’t think he even saw it, he’s pretty damn visually impaired but I’m sure he was wondering a couple of minutes later what the hell was making that godawful sizzling noise from the fryer.

In the end I put the headset back on, and I took the incoming orders, and it went okay for the most part - nobody died, I didn’t screw any orders up, and once the rush was over my supervisor comes back on and tells me I’m doing great, but I don’t hear her because I’m busy making the last driveup order and muttering an impressive litany of vile curses to myself over the drone of the shake machine.  The machine, like everything else in this fucking brokedown palace, is held together by chicken wire and a whole lot of prayers and a halfassed deal with Satan and today’s the day it has chosen to go out in a blaze of glory.  It explodes the shake all over me with all the noisy blast of spewed milk and chocolate sauce and ice cream that you’d expect to be involved in a malfunction involving a rotor spinning at just about 5000 rpm, and the bulk of the spewage that doesn’t hit me in the face heads straight for the front of my pants.

I scream JESUS CHRIST!!! and drop the whole thing on the floor, where the remaining contents of the cup go right ahead and explode all over my shoes.  I’m soaked tits to toes.  I can hear supervisor giggling over the headset, which is now the only dry thing I’m wearing.  “Goddammit Trina the shake machine just shit the bed and unloaded itself all over my crotch!!”

She’s laughing so hard now.  So so hard.  It kinda hurts my ear how loud she’s laughing.

“My damn crotch is soaked straight through to the goddamn cotton panel of my panties Trina!!  People are gonna wonder how the hell I’m pissing milk and chocolate sauce I mean it feels kinda good but THIS IS A HYGIENE ISSUE TRINA send me home I quit I’m done this is it GET OUT OF THE DAMN BATHROOM AND MAKE THIS SHAKE FOR THE DRIVE-THROUGH BECAUSE I’M LEAVING I told you not to put me on this thing!!!!”

There’s another set of laughter coming over the headset when I stop ranting.  It’s not kitchen boy, he’s staring at me through the window like he’s equal parts scared and turned on and supervisor has turned off her headset and retreated to the office because I’m obviously teetering on the brink of murderous intent and I guess she figures plausible deniability is the way to go in this situation, since obviously the cops will be coming soon.  So where’s the second set of laughter coming from...?

Oh...

Oh no

I forgot to mute my headset link to the driveup intercom.  I’ve been broadcasting my soaked crotch adventures to the entire parking lot, including the lady whose shake just blew its load on my pants.

“Aw fuck.  Tell me I didn’t just say all that over the headset.  Somebody please say it, I don’t even care who just somebody say it.”

Supervisor isn’t answering me anymore, so kitchen boy replies over his headset.  “Yeah, and you said fuck just now too.”

“Fuck.”

I can still hear the lady outside laughing.  I suddenly can’t remember which button mutes me, not like it matters anymore.  “Andrew baby, I’ll give you a dollar to cash this lady out at the window and give her her shake.”

“No way.”

“Five dollars.”

Silence over the headset.  Driveup lady has gone silent, obviously waiting to see how the negotiations go.  “Nope.”

“Come on Andrew, I’m dyin’ here.  My pants are wet.  Don’t make me do this.”

“I don’t know how to do cashouts.”

“I’ll teach you right now.  Come on, I can teach you before she even gets to the window.  Come on.”  At this point I’m willing to offer the kid a quick feel in the walk-in fridge if he’ll just do this thing for me.  I can’t look driveup lady in the face, not with the contents of her original order trickling slowly into my various crevices, not after I effbombed her through the intercom god knows how many times.  I’m hitting all the buttons on the headset but don’t know what the hell I’m doing so I finally just take it off and throw it in the sink.  “Come on baby, little man, sweetiepie, please?”

Andrew is making gestures at his ear, pretending like he can’t hear me now that I’m off the headset despite his skinny ass being less than ten feet away from me.  Dick.  Somebody’s gettin locked in the freezer tomorrow.

In the end I cashed the lady out and handed her her new chocolate shake, and as I’m giving her her change she says “It sounds like you’re having quite a day.”

I’m squidging when I walk and my vagina feels like when you rub vaseline between your thumb and forefinger and I’m pretty sure chocolate administered internally via the urethra causes UTIs so yeah lady, I’m having quite a day.  Take your damn shake and your change and get gone, I gotta go out behind the dumpster with a pressure washer and take care of this.

.

Today I arrive at work and Trina gives me a look, but doesn’t mention yesterday.  Our boss works with us all morning and after about two hours she holds up a headset and asks if I want to do driveup for her while she’s on break.  Trina yells from the office before I even have a chance to respond:

“NO SHE DOESN’T DO HEADSET!!!”

Damn right I don’t.

.

[queenxfthedxmned]

closed starter for @wcrldofchances​ // gabriela & ryder

raul vargaz had been a rival cartel leader for quite some time now.  gabriela ran her business a bit more ethically than most cartel leaders, and for some reason the others didn’t like that about her.  however, when it came down to it - gabriela would always do what needed to be done in order to protect her business, even if it meant getting blood on her own hands.  the last straw when it came to raul was when he allowed a child to get hurt during one of his drug runs, and for that he had to suffer the consequences. children were always off limits when it came to this lifestyle. she’d always heard through the grapevine about a con man killer who killed for what seemed to be sport.  gabriela would do the dirty work herself, but if she didn’t have to it would be ideal.  being that her right hand man recently decided to quit the cartel business, she needed someone to take his place.  temporarily at the very least.

it took some work, but eventually she found ryder valdez, just the man she’d been looking for, residing in a motel not far from where she ran most of her drug runs.  obviously a man like him was hard to find, but being that there were some heightened level of robbing's nearby, she was able to put two and two together.  she knocked on the door of his room, leaning up against the doorframe as she waited.

[jungshookz]

what if y/n's friends come by for a surprise visit or smth and mr park is like right there, how would that work out 😟

:-) 

➺ pairing; park jimin x reader

➺ genre; balletteacher!jiminiverse!! smerhaps smut (slightly suggestive content!!!) also y/n’s not good at improv and it shows womp womp 

➺ wordcount; 2.4k

                                     »»————-　♥　————-««

“god, you smell good...” jimin murmurs against your neck, his fingers giving your hips a gentle squeeze before his hand slides down to hitch your leg up against his waist 

you’re so warm and so soft against him... 

he’s obsessed with you 

“you say that a lot.” you tease quietly, reaching up to tangle your fingers in his soft hair before tugging lightly, “we should probably get up soon... we can’t spend the entire day doing nothing.”

“well, we won’t be doing nothing-” jimin pulls away suddenly before pressing his forehead against yours, “we’d technically be doing each other-”

“what? oh my god, you are such a boy-” you feel your face flush immediately and you turn to the side so you don’t have to look at that cocky smirk on jimin’s face that never fails to make your tummy flutter 

“c’mon, pretty girl...” jimin purrs lowly, taking the chance to bury his face into the crook of your neck again before rolling his hips against yours, “i wanna make you feel good.”

the chains hanging around his neck tickle against your heated skin and your eyelids flutter when you feel jimin’s hand creeping towards your centre 

“i-” you perk up in alarm when you swear you hear the slight sound of the front door clicking shut, your brows knitting in concern as you stare up at the ceiling 

...and then you hear faint footsteps...

...and you’re pretty sure that’s the sound of giggling... 

...

what the hell

are there people in your apartment right now 

oh my god 

are there people in your apartment right now?! 

“oh my god-!” you immediately shove jimin off of you, wincing when he rolls off the bed and lands on the ground with a loud thump

oops

“ow-! what was that for??” jimin whines quietly, sitting up before rubbing at his lower back, “also, you are… so much stronger than you look-”

“sorry, sorry-!” you whisper, frantically pulling your shorts up your legs before grabbing a shirt off the end of the bed, “you need to-”

“party of five for miss y/n y/l/n! get your ass out here, girlie!”

"you know, i bet she’s still asleep-” 

you feel like you’re about to pass out when you hear lisa getting closer to your bedroom and you reach up to run a hand through your hair in panic 

“uh- no! no, i’m up!” you announce loudly before clearing your throat, “just- just gimme a second, lisa- don’t come in here because i’m, like, super naked right now-” you chuckle nervously before spinning around to face jimin (who’s still a little dazed from hitting the ground so hard and so fast, which explains why he’s just sitting there basically doing nothing), “jimin, hurry!”

“fuck, hold on- did you- did you know they were coming over today?” jimin hisses, scrambling up from the ground before pulling the sheets up around his hips so that his lower half is decently covered, “where the hell is my shirt…?”

“oh, yeah, i planned for them to come over the same weekend you’re here so we can all get together and i can tell everyone that mr. park was the one who gave me that hickey they saw last week-” you pause before looking over at your currently-denser-than-a-block-of-tofu boyfriend with wide eyes, “obviously not, jimin! you need to hide-”

“but you’re wearing m-”

you don’t give jimin much of a chance to say or do anything else before you’re grabbing him and basically shoving him into your open closet

“i-” he raises a finger and you shake your head, slapping his hand down quickly

“not a single word-” you warn, shoving your hand against his chest to push him in even deeper before abruptly pulling the closet doors shut

your bedroom door swings open right as you trap jimin in your closet and you spin around with a wide smile, pressing yourself up against the doors, “i’m not doing anything!”

“good morning, sunshine!” lisa chirps, her smile faltering as she takes in the state of the room, “uh…”

geez louise

she knew you were messy, but…

the blanket is drooping off the bed, your clothes are strewn everywhere (your panties are literally hanging off the lamp) - it looks like someone came in here and ransacked the place, if she’s being honest

“i’m doing some spring cleaning.” you chime in as soon as you note the look of concern on her face, “you know how it is! everything has to be super messy before it becomes super clean.”

“it’s… it’s nowhere close to spring, so i wouldn’t call it spring cleaning.” she snorts, crossing her arms before turning on her heel to look at you, “so, how much time do you need to get ready? the girls are waiting in the living room.”

“i, um- it’s just that i said…” you trail off, trying to find the right words to let her down easy, “you know, i did say that i wasn’t going to join you guys this weekend, so i will... not be getting ready... because i won’t be leaving the apartment?”

“oh, i know you said that, but… this is the second time this month that you’ve ditched us to hang out in your apartment by yourself! that’s why we decided to come and surprise you and drag you out instead!” lisa smiles, your heart skipping a beat when she starts to walk closer to you, “now, let’s pick out a cute outfit for you-”

“no!” you snap, slamming yourself up tighter against the closet doors, “no way!”

“woah-!” lisa stumbles backward in surprise before frowning at you, “jesus… what’s your problem this morning? god, you’re so jumpy-”

“i’m fine! i’m just- uh- i’m on my period so- you know how it is since you are also a human girl who has her period every month-” you cough into your fist before letting out a chuckle, “there’s just something about bleeding profusely out of your hooha that drives you crazy, right?! just girly things. so crazy. it’s wild.”

“what are you talkin- wait, what are you wearing?” lisa suddenly changes the subject and you frown before looking down at your-

?

oh 

oh no

this,..,., 

this is not your shirt

this is jimin’s shirt

and you’re pretty sure lisa knows this is jimin’s shirt because she made a comment last week about how nice and biteable his arms looked in it when he pushed the sleeves up

and yeah, one might think that all white t-shirts look the same and that there’s really no difference between them, but lisa pays special attention to detail and would be able to tell about fifty white t-shirts apart if she had to 

“a… white t-shirt?” you scoff playfully, trying to play it off and keep things super chill and super casual, “my goodness, you’re certainly a little ditzy before mimosas-”

“well, yeah, it’s a shirt, y/n, but...” she places her hands on her hips before tilting her head, her eyes narrowing into slits, “it looks so familiar and i can’t quite remember where i’ve seen it…”

you chew on the inside of your cheek anxiously as she continues staring at you

god

you hate this

you’d very much like for a wormhole to appear and swallow you up if that were possible 

should you say something??

you’ve been quiet for too long

you should say something and change the subject so that she doesn’t have enough time to figure out that you’re wearing mr. park’s shirt because then that’d lead to a discussion as to why you’re wearing mr. park’s shirt and then that’d lead to oh, yeah, by the way, i’m in a relationship with our teacher and before you got here we were in the middle of having sex so it’d be great if you could leave-

“you know, you’re probably thinking about a shirt you saw in a magazine or something- i-” you’re cut off when seulgi suddenly wanders into your bedroom, immediately letting out a snort at the sight of your bedroom

“wow, y/n! i’ve heard of disorganised chaos, but this is a little much.” she whistles lowly before turning to face you, “what’s taking you freaks so long?”

“we were about to pick an outfit for y/n but- hey, does that shirt look familiar to you?” lisa asks quietly, seulgi leaning in a little closer before pursing her lips in thought

“mm… i don’t know. just looks like any old ratty t-shirt y/n would own. why?”

“ratty-“ you gawk, looking down at your shirt, “this isn’t ratty!”

“okay, miss fuzzy-legwarmers-”

“okay, you guys should probably leave because my cramps are, like, killing me-” you step away from the closet for the first time since lisa came in before gesturing for the two of them to go, “i promise i’ll come to brunch next week, but right now, i just need to be by myself-”

(and you know it would never happen but you hope the closet doors won’t spriNG open like they do in the cartoons when the closet’s been overstuffed)

“are you sure you don’t wanna join us? we’re going to talk about how yummy mr. park looked in class on friday-” seulgi turns to glance at you with a smirk as you continue to shove them down the hallway and back out to the living room, “and we all know how you just won’t shut up about mr. park-”

“hA, okay- very funny-” you chuckle nervously as you glance back towards your open bedroom door, hoping that jimin won’t be able to hear any of this 

you don’t need to embarrass yourself in front of him any further! 

“there’s no point in denying it, y/n!” lisa chirps, “you looooove mr. park and you just wanna sit all over that pretty face-”

“you know, i already know that i’m never going to live that down and you guys aren’t helping-” you grumble, shoving against their backs to get them to move faster, “you basically remind me of it every day-” 

“aw, c’mon! you know we’re only teasing, you wuss.” seulgi rolls her eyes, “besides, i wanna talk about how sexy his arms are, so if you come to brunch with us, i can do all the talking and the fantasizing on your behalf- do you think he’d be able to pin you down using one hand?”

you feel your cheeks flush because you happen to know the answer to that particular question (the answer is a big fat ABSOLUTELY he can)

“you know, i don’t know why you always get so quiet whenever we talk about him-” wendy chimes in once the three of you reach the living room, “this is a safe space! we’re all allowed to talk about how much we want mr. park to fuck us into oblivion-”

“i just feel like-” you choke, clearing your throat quietly before averting your gaze to the ground, “you know, he’s our- he’s our teacher, so… so it’s a little weird? to be talking about all the things you want him to do to you?”

also you’re dating him and it’s weird to hear about how much your friends want to fuck your boyfriend 

also they talk about him like he’s a piece of meat - and yes, you’re guilty of displaying the same behaviour sometimes - but it’s still not cool!! 

jimin’s so much more than just a (very) pretty face and a (very) fit body 

“you were the one who said you wanted to sit on his face-”

“yes, i’m aware- you know, i only said that to get seulgi to shut up- anyway!” you scurry over to the door and hold it open before gesturing for everyone to get the hell out of your apartment, “it was wonderful seeing you girls, but i’ll see you on monday at class-” you force a smile on your face and praY that no one is too suspicious of your very odd behaviour

you think you’ve done a decent job at keeping it cool so far... right? 

“fine. but we’re not going to share any of the details that we talked about as your punishment.” lisa shakes her head disappointedly as she adjusts her purse strap over her shoulder, “it’s your loss! you don’t get to dream about having sex with the most beautiful man on earth-”

you almost let out a snort but you stop yourself before it happens

you’ve never been one for bragging, but... you don’t have to dream about having sex with the most beautiful man on earth because you’re already having sex with the most beautiful man on earth 

(what you’re trying to say is that God has favourites and you clearly made the list) 

:-)

“well, that’s a consequence i’m just going to have to suffer with-” you push your bottom lip out in a pout before waving frantically, “goodbye, you guys-!”

you let out a breath of relief as soon as you slam the door shut behind you

holy moly

that was close!!!!!

that was TOO close

you and jimin need to have a better plan to prepare for this if it happens again

hopefully this won’t happen again but you can never be too sure... 

maybe you should take your spare apartment key back from lisa 

“are they gone?” you jump when jimin pokes his head around the corner and you nod before shooting him a thumbs up

“yes, thank god- but that was… that was way too close.” you shudder, turning and making sure the door is double-locked before walking towards jimin, “i don’t even know what i’d do if they saw you.”

“judging by your improv skills, you’d probably tell them i’m mr. park’s twin brother-”

“you know, that’s actually not half bad!” you raise a brow before reaching down to brush your fingers against the growing red spot on jimin’s bare chest from where you shoved at him earlier, “also, sorry i pushed you onto the ground. and then shoved you into a closet.”

“eh, i’m fine.” he hums, taking your hand before turning and walking back towards the hallway, “also, i’m going to have to ask to join one of these brunches one day since i seem to be a hot topic.” 

“oh my god, jimin-”

“by the way-” he glances at you over his shoulder for a split second with a particularly cheeky smirk, “i don’t think i need to remind you again that the offer for you to sit on my face still stands...”

“oh my god, jimin-!”

✨why don’t you explore the rest of the library while you’re here?

💫or perhaps you want something shorter to read?

🌟or something even shorter?

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (March 14/2021) -     The Plan

Tommy tells Tubbo and Ranboo about his plan to kill Dream and they establish a space to stake out the prison. 

While they plot, though, an old friend makes his return!

---

VOD LINKS:

Foolish

Tubbo

Tommy

Ranboo

Captain Puffy

Eret

---

- Tommy walks over to look at the prison. He has a plan to kill Dream.

- He briefly greets Sam Nook and shelters him from the rain

- First, he heads over to Snowchester to explain to Tubbo and Ranboo what’s gong on. He makes it there and looks in the mansion. Foolish sees him, having thought he was dead.

- Tubbo and Ranboo come over and explain the manor house. To discuss business, they go to the execution room.

- Tommy asks Tubbo about getting married without him. Then Tommy opens up to Ranboo about feeling lonely about Ranboo stealing his best friend.

- He then tells the both of them that he died in prison and Dream is planning on breaking out. When he was dead, he spoke to Schlatt and Wilbur. Tubbo asks if Schlatt’s changed his ways.

- Tommy explains that time passes faster in death.

- Someone made an explosion on the top of the prison, Technoblade owes Dream a favor and might be a problem, Tommy wants to stake out the prison.

- Tubbo asks why it’s different now. Why didn’t they just kill him to begin with? Tommy tells Tubbo that he’s only planning on reviving Wilbur. The revive book wouldn’t be used for good.

- Ranboo agrees with Tommy. Tubbo asks why they wouldn’t want to revive Wilbur — Tommy tells them that Wilbur’s different now and can’t be let back. Tubbo still has doubts about the plan.

- They decide to make a space near the prison to observe.

- Tubbo leads them to his detective room

- Tommy tells them that Sam has failed his job and went against his orders to not let anybody else visit. Ranboo and Tubbo ask who else has visited since — Tommy doesn’t know.

- Tubbo shows him the evidence.

- They go back to Tommy’s house and Tommy reads Puffy’s message.

- The Egg comes up in conversation. Ranboo thinks it’ll solve itself.

- They go into the Nether to gather resources

- They spot Punz on top of the Eggpire meeting room and briefly speak with him. Ghostbur also shows up.

- Tommy asks if Ghostbur remembers him being dead and speaking with him. Ghostbur says the last time he spoke with Tommy was a couple days ago.

- Tommy asks about Wilbur, not Ghostbur. Ghostbur’s been away, he doesn’t remember.

- Ghostbur points out how everything is red. He likes it, red’s a good color. Like blue but wrong.

- Tommy asks Ghostbur if he wants Wilbur to come back.

  Ghostbur: “The world needs structure and order, and he was good at that.” Tommy: “The world needs less villains, and he was a villain if I’ve ever seen one.” Ghostbur: “Sometime’s the line’s a little blurry… A villain is just a hero you haven’t convinced yet.”

Tommy: “No, but he started as a hero, and then he was the villain. I don’t think we should bring him back ever.”

- Ghostbur loves being able to walk around, he loves being able to touch things

- Tommy tells Ghostbur that he spent months with Wilbur, and Wilbur can’t come back. Ghostbur asks about the time conversion in Limbo.

Apparently in the afterlife, Wilbur spent a month explaining hemorrhoids 

- They show Ghostbur the prison

- Ghostbur asks why Tommy doesn’t want Wilbur back again. Tommy says when they were trying to bring him back, he still thought there was some “brotherness” there

- Ghostbur points out he spent a lot of time with Schlatt, and Schlatt’s “the bad guy.” Schlatt and Eret.

- They say there are a lot of other bad guys out there, like Dream. Ghostbur says Dream was nice to him, though.

- They ask about Tubbo and Ranboo’s marriage (they got married for tax reasons initially) and they also bring up Michael.

- They introduce Ghostbur to Michael.

- Eret points out that he tried to revive Wilbur a while ago in chat. Ghostbur doesn’t remember.

- They head to the McPuffy’s and encounter Connor on the Prime Path. He gives Ghostbur his stabbin’ knife back. Ghostbur asks if Connor has his Chekhov’s Gun.

- They introduce Ghostbur to Sam Nook

- Sam Nook tells Tommy that Awesam gave him specific orders to keep Tommy away from the prison for his own safety. He says he might have to report this to Awesam, and he won’t be pleased.

- They continue building the tower

- Ranboo tells Ghostbur he hasn’t seen him in a while. Ghostbur’s been sleeping. The resurrection was stressful — he got a glimpse of the other side. He’s back because Tommy needed him, and he heard it through the grapevine.

- Ghostbur asks why they’re trying to break into the prison again. Ranboo explains that they need to kill Dream, or else a lot of bad things — even things Tommy doesn’t know about — might happen.

- Ghostbur says that Dream was a bad guy, but then they were friends. Ranboo explains that Dream tends to manipulate to gain power, and they need to get rid of him because he still has power.

- Ghostbur asks what the worst he could do is — Ranboo says he could bring back the “villains” in this story.

Schlatt? Mexican Dream? 

- Ghostbur asks if bringing back Wilbur is off the table. Ghostbur is scared. Not scared of Wilbur, but scared of going back to nothing. He likes being here.

- Ranboo never knew Wilbur, only Ghostbur. But it seems like Ghostbur is Wilbur’s good intentions.

- Ghostbur’s read Wilbur’s memoirs (though they’re destroyed now), and explains that Wilbur started out with good intentions.

Ghostbur: “Now more than ever, I think it’s really important we have a leader.”

- Ghostbur is willing to help, whether that means keeping Ghostbur or bringing back Wilbur. Ranboo doesn’t know what would be best, though.

Ghostbur: “History is written by the winners.” Ranboo: “Yeah, and he…technically won.” Ghostbur: “But he lost, everyone hates him.” Ranboo: “I don’t think that everyone hates him. I don’t really hate him, I mean it’s like hearing about a historical figure.”

- Ghostbur leaves to get snacks, leaving Ranboo to ponder. Tubbo never told him much about Wilbur. He doesn’t know — he doesn’t think they need a leader.

Ranboo: “Because if someone rules everyone, then when the leader becomes corrupted, then — well, we see what happens.”

- He doesn’t think anyone really wants Wilbur back, so why is it even a question? All they know is that they have to kill Dream. The only person who might want Wilbur back would be Phil.

- If they can get rid of Dream, then everything will be good! If Dream comes out of prison, the voice might come back too. And the one thing Dream will want is revenge against the people who put him in the prison in the first place.

- Ranboo needs to be involved and not stand idly by. As the person with three lives, he has the upper hand.

- Ghostbur returns with snacks! He also gives Ranboo some blue

- Ranboo goes back to his house and looks at his vault, where he has an extra set of maxed Netherite armor. The others need new sets prepared.

- Puffy sees the Red Banquet decorations being set up in the Egg Room

- As she walks around on the surface, she talks about how Tommy is making an effort to better himself with therapy

- She’s heard a rumor today about her “duckling,” Dream — that people are plotting to kill him. 

- Dream has done wrong, she says,

“But, more than anything else…murder…is not a proper consequence to another murder. Two wrongs don’t make a right. And although I’m not a Dream apologist — believe me I hold him more accountable than most — there’s a reason that I haven’t visited him. And…it’s because I don’t think, right now, he deserves it. But…as much as he’s wronged Tommy, as much as maybe Tommy thinks this will help him in the long run, in some way, shape or form…I think it’s gonna hurt Tommy more than anything. I think, ultimately, Tommy’s gonna feel guilty for this and we don’t — I don’t know how he’s gonna handle it! I don’t know if Tommy’s meant to be the one to go through something like this again, even if it results in Dream’s death.”

“See…the thing about morals is, everybody has different ones.”

- She says Dream needs to pay, and the walls of the prison aren’t secure enough to contain his chaos. She doesn’t think it’s as impenetrable as Sam says it is.

- Dream is stuck in prison, but he’s still the topic of discussion on everyone’s minds — which Puffy sees as the jail not doing its job.

- Everybody has now seen how they’ve reacted to Tommy’s death, including the people who didn’t care, and they now have to come to terms with that.

“More than just therapy is coming to the Dream SMP."

Upcoming Events:

- Quackity’s business opening

- The Red Banquet

- Eret’s lore stream

END OF WEEK RECAP:

3/8 - Ponk’s preparations, Michelle is brought to Snowchester

3/9 - Ponk’s last warning to Foolish, Hannah gets trapped with the Egg

3/10 - The Eggpire’s attack on the Temple, Sam rescues Hannah

3/11 - Nothing much happens

3/12 - Tommy exits Pandora’s Vault

3/13 - Nothing much happens

3/14 - Tommy plans to kill Dream, Ghostbur returns

[satoruvt]

for a moment i forget to worry

pairing → xu minghao x reader

word count → 3196

genre → fluff + angst, college au ↳ tags: strangers to friends to lovers </3, college kinda sux, ROOMMATE CHAN MAKES AN APPEARANCE OR TWO, dance major minghao, reader is completely lost but its ok who isnt, lots of cute couple stuff, pov ur entire relationship with minghao. thats it, a sad break up scene, a solid amount of crying

summary → there’s something about minghao. maybe it’s the way he dances, vibrant and youthful, or maybe it’s the way he loves you. based off of hunger by florence + the machine.

warnings → i hint at sex but its pretty vague, i also mention a breakdown type deal (revolving around school/life after school)

a/n → first of all this was NOT supposed to be 3k words i dont know how it happened. second of all i’m only kind of happy with this HAHA i feel like the story itself isnt bad but i wanted it to match the song more ... idk :/ i hope u guys like it regardless !!!

pieces of you masterlist

The first time you see him is by accident.

Really - all you’re doing is trying to find Chan. You’re passing by the practice rooms, looking into them in hope he’ll be there, stopping to gaze at decorations and medals and trophies lined up on the walls. It’s when you approach a room that music plays from that you think you’ve found Chan, but when you gaze in, it’s definitely not him.

You don’t know who it is, but he moves like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

It’s hypnotizing, almost makes you want to drop your things and dance with him. There’s a sense of youth that comes from him and it’s almost overwhelming - but it’s not in energy, necessarily, but rather from the precision of his movements, the technicalities that he seems to both follow and break at the same time. Something vibrant seeps out between the seams of his body, colors you can barely recognize as they splash against anything they can reach. It’s almost tangible. 

You watch him long enough for him to finish his performance (an unknowing one) with the last notes of a song you forgot was even playing. His eyes meet with yours, slow as he completes an eloquent turn, and at the same time, a hand meets your shoulder.

A small wave of embarrassment washes over you, and you turn towards whoever touched you, effectively breaking eye contact. “What are you doing here?” Chan asks, hair still wet from what you assume was a shower.

“Looking for you,” you tell him, following as he starts to walk towards the exit. “I wanted lunch, and you owe me for that time I took your British literature quiz for you.”

Chan groans but agrees to pay, and you laugh, though the world seems a little paler than it did a few moments ago.

The second time you see him is by chance.

(Maybe.)

You’re waiting for a lecture to start, tapping your fingers against your laptop idly as you watch students trickle in last minute. It’s not a strict course, but it does start at nine in the morning, and most everyone shows up with a coffee.

You look down to brush a stray hair off of your table, and when you look up again, the dancer from before walks through the door, then looks right at you.

You feel a blush heat your face and it’s like he wants to make sure that you know that he knows, because he almost refuses to look away. You break eye contact first (like the last time, you remember for no reason) but still watch as his figure moves up the stairs, past the rows, and you hope he’ll just move past you too…

He doesn’t. He takes the empty seat right next to yours, and you don’t say anything, instead finding the peeling sticker on your laptop incredibly interesting. The professor comes in and decides that today he’ll take extra long to set everything up, apparently, and you want to scream.

“So,” the dancer says, voice quiet. It takes your breath away, the way he sounds. “Mind if I ask why you were watching me the other day?”

You cast a glance at him - not too long, you don’t think you could handle more than five seconds tops - and finally open your laptop so it makes you look busy. “I was waiting for a friend.”

“And?”

The smile in his voice is palpable. You’re already exasperated.

“You…” you start, finally deciding to look at him as some sort of subconscious power move. “You’re a beautiful dancer. It was hard not to watch.”

Beautiful doesn’t even cover half of it, but you figure he already thinks you’re weird for watching him, so you hold back the thoughts of youth and vibrancy and color. The dancer looks at you, almost blank for a moment, before a soft smile draws itself on his face. It makes your heart beat a little faster. He says “thank you” with a gentle tone, sincerely felt.

The class starts, and the two of you don’t speak throughout the next hour and a half. You type out notes on your laptop and you see him write down names of the paintings being shown on the projector, little thoughts and notes written afterwards.

By the end of class, your professor assigns an optional partnered project, and you’re more than prepared to head back to your apartment and start on it yourself. The dancer stops you before you leave, however, asks if you’d like to be his partner.

(And he says it like that, would you like to be my partner, polite and somehow sweet.)

You know your answer. “I don’t even know your name,” you stall, standing from your chair. 

“Minghao,” he tells you. “I’m Minghao, and I’d like for you to be my partner.”

You say yes easily, put your number into his contacts even easier. The sky is blue when you leave the lecture hall, trees dotted with pink and purple flowers, and it is all so bright that you forget it wasn’t this way in the first place.

The third time you see him is for school.

Underneath the excitement of giving Minghao your number, there is the knowledge that it’s for the sake of an assignment. He texts you the day after to ask if you’re free to meet up to work and you tell him sure.

(Sure is what you send back, but he doesn’t have to know that you burst into Chan’s room immediately after, plunging face first into his bed just to scream into his pillows. Chan had sighed, turned around in his desk chair to look at you, then asked what happened. He gave you two minutes to rant and then kicked you out, back to your own room.)

You and Minghao agreed to meet at the library on a day that neither of you had any afternoon classes, and you get there early, spend some time working on other classes. You have somewhere around thirty minutes to freak out to yourself before you see Minghao come in, dressed like he knows what he’s doing to you (which is really just a hoodie and jeans, but you think it’s the cap that really pulls the whole boyfriend look together), smiling when he finds you at a table in the corner.

“How are you?” is the first thing he says when he sits down, and you pull down your laptop screen a little to see him better.

“I’m good,” you say, feeling your heart pound. “What about you?”

Minghao sends you a kind smile. “Really good. Should we get started?”

You lose count of how many times you see him after that.

Meeting up to work on the project soon becomes just meeting up, and after the project’s done and turned in, it happens even more. You hang out and get lunch, send each other texts and stupid videos, take walks around campus together. The weeks pass, summer mellows into fall, then into the early days of winter. You develop a genuine friendship with him, finding comfort in his presence, looking for him wherever you go. 

(Although the crush is still there, potent and patient, stubborn in a way you’ve never experienced before. You wonder if it’s a sign of some sort.)

You’re in one of the practice rooms with him, sitting in the corner. You had a class nearby and he’d wanted to practice a little more, so you told him you’d work on your own stuff while he finished up and then the two of you could grab something to eat.

But you made a small error on your part - the dancing. You’d forgotten the way he moves (you haven’t seen him dance since that first time) and in no time at all you’re letting your screen go dark in front of you and watching him. Honestly, it’s not your fault, you really can’t help it. 

But of course he notices.

Minghao meets your eyes through the mirror and raises his eyebrows at you, and all you can do is look away, desperately try to get your laptop up and running again so at least it seems like you weren’t watching him for too long.

“You’re staring,” he says, long after you’ve looked away.

“Sorry,” you tell him anyways, immediate, quick. 

Then he says, “I never said anything about stopping.”

In a second, you look up from your laptop and up at him. He moves closer, crouches in front of you. His eyes are kind - they’re never not - but you think you see something a little more in them. “Sorry, I think I missed that last part,” you respond, blinking. Minghao smiles like you’re endearing.

“I said I want you to keep looking at me.”

You think you’re barely breathing when he shuts your laptop for you, slides it off of your lap and onto the floor (gently, with care, and it’s a wonder to you how he can focus on that right now). He practically crawls over you, one of his hands eventually reaching the junction of your jaw and neck and holding there. “I’m gonna kiss you now, if that’s okay,” he says, but doesn’t move. You nod as soon as his words reach your brain, eager and quick.

And the next few hours get a little wound up in your head, a little mixed in with the feeling of his body - that moves so youthfully, with so much vibrancy that it reaches everything around you - melting into yours and the sound of him asking you to tell me what you need, honey, and the still-playing slow jam music he was practicing to.

You watch him sleep next to you, hand curled around yours against his pillows, and think that nothing bad could ever touch him.

The two of you… come together, after that.

Neither you nor Minghao use any proper labels, but you both seem to know. No labels are needed, really. You have each other and that’s all there is to it. And everything is really good.

You work together and laugh together like you’ve always known each other. He tries to teach you to dance with him when you’re in the practice room with him, pulls you up by your hands and guides you through your giggles. He was the first person you called when you realized that you had no idea what you were working towards, didn’t have a clue what you actually wanted to do with your life. He gets along well with your friends and you text his because they’re basically yours, now, too.

Winter turns back into spring, slow and easy. Vibrant and youthful. You’re not able to meet Minghao’s parents, but he meets yours (and you’re sure a quick introduction to his mom over a FaceTime call has to count for something). The two of you take advantage of the newfound warmth of the season and try to get out as much as you’re able to, with picnics and city dates and anything you can think of. A drawer in his dresser is reserved for your things, you bought an extra toothbrush for him to use when he stays over.

You watch him dance. It still feels like the first time, like color and breathlessness. You tell him he’s beautiful every time, feel yourself fall a little deeper when he still gets bashful amidst his comedown. You tell him you love him for the first time after he gets done with a performance - a proper one, for a showcase of the dance club he’s in. He says it back.

You think he put all the stars in the sky just for the two of you to gaze at them together.

Things shift the beginning of your junior year.

Minghao tells you about a program he’s applying to, a proper dance academy in New York that could really kickstart his career. Training under some of the best choreographers and performers in the world.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” You ask him after he tells you, and he shrugs, leaning back in his chair. You’re studying at his apartment tonight.

“It’s just…” he frowns. “It’s so far away, you know?”

Oh. You hadn’t even thought about that, too caught up in the excitement of him being able to apply at all. A quick sigh leaves your lips, and then you reach for his hand, hold it between both of your own.

“That’s okay,” you tell him, though now that you’re thinking about it, you feel nervousness in the pit of your stomach. “We can work something out, though, when we get that far. We’ll figure it out.”

Minghao nods, a fond look in his eyes. He pulls one of your hands to his lips. “We’ll think about it if I even get accepted,” he says.

It’s bittersweet, but a promise nonetheless.

Fifteen minutes after you get a call from Minghao, there’s a knock on your door. 

You wouldn’t necessarily say you’re worried, but, well. Everyone’s experienced the jump of anxiety when they get hit with the “I want to talk to you about something” line. Nonetheless, you stand from the couch to open the door, mentally preparing yourself for any and everything. 

“Hey,” you greet when you see Minghao, opening the door to let him in. His face is unreadable. “Everything okay?”

He walks a few steps into your apartment, waits for you to close the door before turning back around to face you. Then he holds up a piece of paper, the creases from where it was folded still bending. You send him a confused look.

“I got in,” he says, a grin breaking on his face, and you blink, then feel your jaw practically hit the floor. Minghao only nods like he understands, and before you know what you’re doing, you launch yourself at him, holding him close.

“Oh my god, Hao, that’s amazing,” you say into his sweater, then step back to get a proper look at him. Youthful, vibrant. “I’m so proud of you.”

He seems to soften at your words, pulls you back into him again with a gentle kiss to your head. “Thank you for believing in me,” he tells you, tenderness palpable in his voice. All you can do is squeeze him tighter.

Minghao spends a lot of time away from you after that.

You’re not really hurt in any way - even though he got into the academy in New York, he still has to practice. You get it, this is important. He doesn’t text you as often, isn’t able to stop by as much, and you miss him, but you know how much this means for him. But it gets… weird, almost, after a while. Strange, even for him. It feels weird that he’s set to leave at the end of January and it’s December and he’s distant.

Both of you are laying in your bed, looking at the glow-in-the-dark stars on your ceiling, when you decide to bring it up. “You’ve been… kinda far away lately,” you start, nudging him with your shoulder gently. “Everything okay?”

His eyes stay on your ceiling, but you feel the way he sighs. “It’s about the program,” he says.

“Okay.”

“And about… you and me.”

Oh. That doesn’t… sound the best. “About, like… what we’re gonna do?”

Minghao nods.

You say, “I wouldn’t mind visiting every so often. It’d be hard, but I’m sure we could find something to work.”

Minghao shakes his head, says, “no.”

You pause, and when you look at him he’s already looking at you. What does he mean by no? Does he want you to move with him? Or does he -

He reaches for your hand and you think oh.

His eyes are a little glassy. You feel the tears come, too.

“Oh,” you say out loud. Minghao squeezes your hand. “So this is… this is it?”

Your room is suddenly cold, and you want to crawl under the covers and stay there. The person in front of you is blurred into something unrecognizable, but you can’t be bothered to blink away your tears.

“I think so, love,” he whispers back to you. “I think it has to be.”

The two of you cry like that for a while. In your bed, loosely intertwined and broken. Even the way Minghao cries carries a kind of vibrancy that’s overwhelming, makes you think of the first time you saw him so long ago, and now -

When you manage to get a better grip on yourself, you ask him if you can still see him off at the airport. He says, “I don’t know what I’d do if you didn’t.”

Then you ask if you can kiss him again. He responds by kissing you first. 

And it’s sad, it tastes like salt and sorrow and you feel like the promises you never got the chance to make are broken. It feels like the most beautiful blue you’ve ever seen, and you know it’s only a branch of Minghao’s color.

He leaves soon after that, pulls on his shoes and his coat and turns around at the door to give you a tired smile. After he’s gone, you drag yourself to Chan’s bedroom, and once he sees the state you’re in, he offers up one side of his bed. Neither of you say anything, but the friendly reassurance of his hand in yours says enough.

You don’t fail to notice that everything seems to be washed out, a blandness you’re not used to.

The last time you see him is at the airport.

It’s a cold day, despite being sunny. The airport offers little warmth, but you figure it doesn’t matter. You won’t be here for long. 

It doesn’t take you very long to find Minghao - you still look for him wherever you go, even if you’re not looking for him. Even then, it’s still so easy for you to find him, to pinpoint that vibrancy, that youth. He’s talking to a few others, you think you met them. Soonyoung and Jun.

Minghao meets your eyes and you freeze, but then he waves you over with a gentle smile. You follow like you think you always will. 

You greet Soonyoung and Jun and the four of you talk, albeit a little awkwardly, even when Soonyoung tries his hardest to lighten the mood. Eventually he has to leave, and Jun follows with a shy goodbye. They both hug Minghao before they go.

You’re not sure what to say, but after a minute, you find words. “I don’t know what I’ll do without you,” you tell him, a little selfishly. 

Minghao says, “you’ll do good. I know you will. I’m not worried about you.”

He pulls his phone out of his pocket to check the time, and you think he’ll give you a stiff and sad goodbye, but he steps a little closer to you. Looks at you the way he used to.

“Maybe…” he starts, then pauses. “Maybe we’ll meet again.”

Maybe, you think. Maybe.

“I hope so,” you tell him, then watch as he leaves.

[scripts4dreamers]

And Stuff

AN: When you decided on a life of academia, you’d never expected to meet someone like Spencer Reid 

Characters: Spencer Reid Pairings: Spencer Reid x reader Spoilers: None Warnings: Mentions of crime and violence, alcohol

------------------

You hated this stupid paper, you really really did. You stared blankly at your screen, reading and rereading the same two paragraphs in the vain hope that something would stick, but it was all gibberish.

“Hey, there’s my favorite PhD student,” a familiar voice called, collapsing into the seat beside you, “coffee?”

“Please,” you sighed gratefully, wrapping your hands around the disposable cup and taking a deep sip. It was perfect, just warm enough to shock some life back into you, “I owe you one, Prof. Reid.”

Spencer wrinkled his nose distastefully, and you laughed.

“I told you I hate that,” he said.

“And we both know that’s a lie,” you teased back, “you love being called Professor.”

“By my students,” he admitted, “not by you. How’s the thesis outline coming along?”

You sighed, “it’s not.”

“Can I take a look?” Spencer asked, reaching out towards you.

“Noooooo way,” you said, closing your laptop quickly, “not until it’s done.”

“But, Y/N-“

“No, Spence! It’s terrible.”

Spencer stuck his tongue out at you but didn’t press the issue as he pulled a stack of unmarked essays out of his satchel. You and Spencer had met a few years ago, when you’d both started a BA in philosophy. It was your third undergraduate degree, but like Spencer’s hundredth, and you’d bonded over your love of academia almost instantly. By now, meeting in one of the common areas to study and work together was almost a ritual, twice a week at least, every week of the semester. You loved it, you relied on it really. Without Spencer you were sure you’d have lost your mind years ago.

Spencer couldn’t always stay long, after all he was still a hot shot FBI agent, but even just the little bit of time you did have together was like a breath of fresh air. You both looked forward to the chance to talk about something other than your jobs for once.

“I’m sure it’s not, Y/N/N,” Spencer assured.

“Mhhm,” you said unconvincingly, “what about you? Did you get your epistemology paper in on time?”

“Oh yeah. I’m not sure anything I wrote technically qualifies as an argument, but it’s done.” Spencer replied, his eyes tracing the papers in front of him at lightning speed and marking as he went

You could see the signs of exhaustion on his face and your stomach pinched with concern. Spencer was a genius, you knew that better than anyone, but even he wasn’t immune to the stresses of university life. He was always burning the candle at both ends, taking on more than any reasonable person could ever hope to accomplish, and that was before he started teaching an intro to criminology class. It worried you.

“Spence?”

He looked up, his eyes still glassy and faraway, the hint of a smile on his lips, “Mmhmm?”

You frowned, “Are you okay? You look exhausted.”

Spencer nodded, “Did you know that some studies have shown that an adult man can actually survive on as little as two hours of sleep a night without showing outwards signs of exhaustion?” He rambled, gesturing at nothing with his hands, “Sleep deprivation will, of course, affect your mental capabilities over time, but the amount of time that process actually takes is fairly individual. In my case-“ he looked over, noticed you raising your eyebrows at him, and laughed, obviously realising just how tired he was. “Yeah I’m a little tired,” he admitted, “it’s just been a long week that’s all. I was up for a few days for a case,,” he nudged your shoulder with his, “you know if you took me up on my offer I’d probably have more time to sleep.”

“Me? Join the FBI?” You scoffed, shaking your head, “No way. I’ve never even held a gun.”

“Neither had I before I joined.”

“Yeah but you’re-“ you gestured in his general direction, “you know.”

“I’m what?”

“You know,” you huffed, feeling your cheeks flush with embarrassment, “strong. And brave. And stuff.”

Spencer laughed but he looked pleased with himself nonetheless, “you think I’m strong and brave?”

“And stuff,” you clarified, “I’m an academic. I’m perfectly happy in a dark room with my dusty books and manuscripts, thank you very much.”

Spencer nodded, stealing a sip of your coffee and grimacing at the taste, “is there any sugar in this at all?”

“You tell me,” You answered, “you bought it.”

“Well there’s obviously not enough, you can still taste the actual coffee,” he said, just as his phone started to beep frantically.

Spencer took it out of his pocket and frowned at the screen. Your heart sunk a little but, when Spencer looked up at you apologetically, you shot him a small smile.

“Duty calls,” you said simply.

Spencer nodded, packing his stack of papers back into his satchel, “I’m sorry, Y/N/N. I’ll see you back here on Friday?”

“Sure,” you agreed, “if you’re back by then.”

“And you’ll send me your thesis outline when you’re finished with it?”

“Of course.”

Spencer wrapped one arm around your shoulder, giving you a quick hug, “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Enjoy your day.”

“Good luck, Professor,” you smiled, waving him off, “and thanks for the coffee!”

He waved back at you, half jogging and already on the phone as he vanished into the incoming crowds. You watched him go, sighing sadly as you turned back to your unfinished outline.

“Okay, Y/N, you can do this. Spencer’s written like three of these, let’s go.” You muttered, “The psychological implications of linguistic progression, think.”

You threw yourself back into your research, losing yourself in the methodical nature of your work. The coffee next to you got cold.

————————

Spencer was flushed by the time he made it into the office, his cheeks hurting with the effort of suppressing his smile. Time with you always did that to him, no matter how drained he was when he first arrived.

You were like a ray of sunshine on an otherwise very gloomy day, and ten minutes with you was better for his mental health than a whole weekend’s worth of sleep. You were sweet, and funny, and you let him ramble about whatever he wanted to and even pretended to listen. Meeting you for coffee every week had become more than an act of friendship, it was an act of self care, a thin thread holding what was left of his sanity together.

His phone chimed and he smiled down at the message, a picture of you sipping your coffee and giving the cameras a big thumbs up:

Go kick some bad guy ass, Wise Guy!

He started typing up a reply but, before he could, someone interrupted.

“Good date, Pretty Boy?” Morgan greeted.

“It’s not a date, Morgan, you know that,” Spencer replied, fondly, “it’s just coffee with a friend.”

“Oh yeah it’s totally not a date, just a biweekly coffee hangout with someone you’ve been in love with since forever.”

“Yeah, exactly,” he smiled.

“But it did go well, then?” He retorted with a knowing smile.

Spencer smiled and nodded, “She thinks I’m strong and brave and stuff.”

“And stuff?”

“And stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” Prentiss interjected.

Spencer froze, “I don’t know, I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Does she know you’re not dating?” Prentiss asked.

“What? Yes of course! Or-maybe? I don’t know we haven’t exactly talked about it.” Spencer replied.

“No, she doesn’t know,” Morgan clarified.

Spencer opened his mouth to argue but, before he could, Garcia cut in.

“Okay my little geniuses, it’s a weird one today. Let’s get briefed,” Garcia called.

“When do we get to meet her?” Prentiss whispered as they took their seats.

“Never,” Spencer replied.

Emily pouted, “you’re no fun.”

Spencer smiled but, as the briefing went on and the picture of their newest case got clearer and clearer, so did something else; they couldn’t do this alone. They needed help, very very specific help. His heart sunk. As they headed to the jet, Spencer pulled out his phone, wishing to God he didn’t have to.

“Hey, Y/N, remember how you said you owed me one?”

—————————-

This had to be some sort of nightmare, you thought to yourself as you stepped off the jet. When Spencer had first called you, you’d laughed, told him to stop joking around and tell you what he actually wanted but, as it turned out, he was serious. They had a case, he’d said, one that required a certain set of expertise, one that only you had. And you couldn’t really say no could you? Not to Spencer.

And now you’d solved it. It was over. Your hands were shaking and you’d never been this tired in your life, but it was over. You felt a hand on your shoulder and jumped.

“Hey, it’s alright, kid,” Derek Morgan assured you, “you’re okay.”

You nodded, even though it wasn’t a question and gave him a small smile.

“I know.”

Derek nodded, his dark eyes boring into you in that way only members of the BAU could, like they were looking into you and not at you, so you tried to look brave.

“You did good work on this case,” Derek said, walking back to the building with you, “without you I’m not sure we would’ve caught the guy.”

You shook your head, “Spen-Reid would have figured it out eventually.”

Derek pressed his lips together, “Probably, but even he said it would’ve taken him days to reconstruct the language from scratch, even without adding the psychology behind it. In that time who knows how many people our UnSub would have been able to get.”

You looked over your shoulder to where Spencer was standing at the base of the jet’s stairs, looking everywhere but at you. He’d been acting distant for a while now, ever since Hotch had decided to strap you into a bulletproof vest and send you in to talk a maniac off a ledge. The UnSub had been having some sort of psychotic break, he’d forgotten how to speak English and communicated exclusively in a language he’d created himself, a combination of several that pointed to details about his personal life. It was fascinating, in the worst way possible, a real life application of the theory you’d been working on for years. It would make your thesis a piece of cake to finish.

The thought made you feel nauseous.

“Is he-“ you asked Derek, pressing your lips together nervously, “is he angry at me or something?”

He frowned, “Reid? No. He’s crazy about you, he looks forward to those coffee dates with you every week for days.”

You flushed, “They're not dates, Derek.”

“Oh yeah, sorry,” he replied, sarcastically, “slip of the tongue.” He ruffled your hair fondly, “Go on, talk to him, I’ll call you a cab when you’re done.”

You nodded and hung back, letting Derek’s hulking form vanish into the FBI building as you made your way slowly back toward the jet. Spencer was staring up at the moon, looking pensive and beautiful and painfully sad.

“Hey, there’s my favorite profiler,” you greeted gently, “you alright?”

“Hey,” he replied, still looking up at the moon, “why didn’t you go inside with everyone else?”

“I was waiting for you,” you explained, “I wanted to see if you’re okay.”

“If I’m okay?” He laughed incredulously, meeting your eye, “Y/N, I’m out here because I’m trying to figure out what I could possibly say to make up for what I just put you through.” He explained, “This...this stuff-it’s my world, not yours. I should never have brought you into it.”

“Spencer you needed me, your team needed an expert and, no offense, but your social circle isn’t big enough to have two experts in linguistic psychology.” You teased gently.

Spencer chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest.

You stepped forward, resting a hand gently on his bicep, “You made the right decision, Spence. I’m glad you called, I’m-“ you paused, “I’m glad you let me help you.”

Spencer snorted, “And it nearly got you killed.”

“It didn’t nearly get me killed-“

“Yes. It did,” he insisted, “the UnSub was psychotic, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t have killed you on sight. Hotch should never have let you-I should never have let you go in there.”

“But I wanted to and I’m fine. The case is over, Spence, we’re in the clear.” You assured him, “Things can go back to normal now.”

“No, they can’t!” Spencer practically shouted, turning to face you, his eyes red and puffy. You instinctively stepped back and Spencer pressed his lips together, looking guilty, “Y/N, I-knowing you were in danger and that there was nothing I could do about it...it killed me. You were never meant to know about any of this, you were meant to be safe! I was meant to keep you safe!” He explained, running a hand through his hair, “You were the one thing in my life that this stuff couldn’t touch and now-“ he breathed, “now everytime you look at me you’re gonna think about this, and him, and everything I put you through and-“ he met your eye, “and things will be weird and you’ll stop wanting to talk to me. Things won’t be the same, Y/N.”

You flushed and stepped forward, “You're worried that I’m not gonna talk to you anymore?” You asked. Spencer didn’t answer, but the way he avoided your eye and worked his jaw seemed like answer enough, “Spence,” you smiled, “you’re like...my favorite person in the world. This stuff,” you gestured around, “what you do, it doesn’t change that. In fact I think it’s kind of incredible. You guys tracked down a serial killer based on nothing but some muddled letters, who does that?” You laughed.

Spencer didn’t respond, but the edges of his lips twitched, like he wanted to smile. You watched him for a moment, the way he held his head, the way his eyes darted up to yours. He was just as beautiful as he’d always been, but there was something more now. He was vulnerable, you realized, really vulnerable for the first time since you’d known him. No matter what he said, Spencer was reaching out to you.

“Your world is messed up, Spencer,” you continued, stepping forward and taking his hand, “but you aren’t. We aren’t, and I’m glad I got to be there when you needed me. We’re good, okay?”

“Do you promise?” He asked, his voice small.

You squeezed his hand, “I promise.”

Spencer nodded, squeezing back, and let you slowly pull him back towards the FBI building.

“Besides,” you continued, “you still owe me a look at my thesis.”

Spencer snorted, “That’ll literally take me 3 seconds.”

“Show off.”

“What? It’s true.” He laughed.

You suddenly realized that Spencer was still holding your hand and, when he saw you looking and tried to pull away, you held on tighter. Spencer smiled nervously, and you felt a rush of something warm and promising flow through you.

“Hey, Y/N?” He started nervously.

“Yes, Spencer?”

“Are we dating?” He asked.

“After today? We’d better be. I’m expecting at least a dinner after almost getting shot for you.” You teased, bumping his shoulder with yours.

“That’s so not funny,” Spencer replied, but he was smiling when he said it.

“It’s a little bit funny.”

“Fine,” Spencer agreed, stopping in his tracks and pulling you towards him, “it’s a little bit funny.”

And that’s when he pulled you in, cupping your face with his hands and pressing his lips to yours. Just like that, the weariness of the day melted away, disappearing into a kiss that tasted like burnt coffee and sugar and the best champagne you’d ever had. Spencer was strong and sure. He kissed you like it was the only chance he’d ever get, like he wanted to burn the memory of you into that brilliant mind of his forever. When you broke apart it felt like the earth had shifted beneath you and you stared at one another, breathless and smiling like teenagers caught making out beneath the bleachers.

“Oh yeah,” you laughed, “yeah you definitely owe me dinner.”

“Woohoo!” Morgan cheered.

“Ooooo, Y/N and Reid sitting in a tree,” Prentiss sang, “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“Go get ‘em, Lover Boy,” Garcia joined in.

Spencer laughed, letting his head fall down onto your shoulder, humming when you threaded your finger through his hair.

“Can we-um-can we maybe continue this at a later date?” Spencer asked, “Like maybe at dinner? Or,” he checked his watch, “breakfast, maybe?”

You looked back at Spencer’s team and felt, with a sudden rush of clarity, that you were looking at a group of people who would soon be staples of your life.

“Let’s go get coffee with the others,” you answered, “and then after that,” you tilted his head up and kissed him softly, “you can take me to breakfast.”

taglist: @ourfavoritesergeantbarnes​ 

[lloydskywalkers]

hey idk if you’re doing requests but if you are can you give us the fluffy kai and lloyd sibling content we deserve?? like ummm maybe kai helping lloyd to do homework or something even tho they don’t go to school lmao 😂 i just need something pure :)

i am so very behind on replies but!! in my defense, i started a response for this, got about 10K words in, then realized i needed to give it an actual structure. this is not the 10K words one, but it is, technically, fluffy Kai and Lloyd sibling content? i hope it’s something along the lines of what you wanted :’D

Lloyd decides he wants his ear pierced at three forty-five in the debatable hours of the morning, which isn’t the oddest thing Lloyd has ever decided he desires at that time. But it isn’t usual, either, so Kai decides he probably does, at least, need to ask what brought this on as he begins superheating the edge of the needle so neither of them end up with tetanus, or something.

He’s a responsible brother, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to tell Lloyd no. That would require Kai pretending his own piercing never existed, which is impossible, since Lloyd was the one to help him out back when it got infected and Kai almost lost his entire upper ear.

“It wasn’t that bad,” Lloyd rolls his eyes. “You were just being a baby about it.”

“Oh yeah?” Kai shoots back. “Look who’s talking. I haven’t even touched your ear yet and you’re already wincing.”

“You’re taking forever,” Lloyd says testily. “Why can’t you just pierce it already?”

“Excuse me for trying to make it look good,” Kai says. “But if you really want an off-center piercing, be my guest.”

“No, no, make it look good,” Lloyd protests, straightening where he’s sitting across the bedroom floor from Kai.

Fortunately, they’re in the monastery tonight, otherwise they’d be crammed into the bathroom, or wherever else in the Bounty they wouldn’t wake everyone up. They’ve stashed away in Lloyd’s room, since he’s the furthest from Zane and therefore the least likely to be caught, if something goes wrong. Not that anything’s going to go wrong, of course, but you can never be sure, with them.

“Where’d you want it, again?” Kai asks, as he squints at the tiny earring stud they scavenged from Nya’s bag. He figures she’d support this as a worthy cause enough not to mind. Hopefully.

“On the right side?” Lloyd drums his fingers on the edge of his knee, a bit anxiously. “I sleep on my left more often, so yeah, the right. Just — just the normal ear piercing, for now.”

“For now, huh,” Kai mutters, carefully measuring out rubbing alcohol over the earring, before deciding to drown it in the bottle, for good measure.

“Well, I might decide I want another,” Lloyd crosses his arms. He winces. “Unless Sensei or the others kill me for this, first.”

“Lloyd, if piercing your ear is the worst thing you ever do as a teen, I’ll give you all the piercings you want myself,” Kai says. “And if anybody gives you trouble about it, just make some snarky comment, like, ah—”

“An earring is better to be stabbed with than a knife?”

“…FSM’s sake,” Kai sighs, staring at the bottle of rubbing alcohol and briefly entertaining how it’d taste. “Sure. Why not.”

Lloyd doesn’t look entirely reassured, even with his fun little jokes. “It is better than being stabbed with a knife, right?” he asks. “Like, I can do knife-stab pain, but I was kinda hoping it wouldn’t hurt that bad, you know…?”

Kai rolls his eyes. “It’ll hardly hurt at all,” he assures him, as he reaches for the little cotton balls and soaking one in alcohol. “I promise. You’re a ninja. With the pain tolerance you have, you’re probably not even gonna feel it.”

“Uh-huh, if you say — hey!” Lloyd flinches back from his hand, eyes wide in betrayal.

“Would you relax, it’s just the alcohol,” Kai frowns, going for his ear with the cotton ball again.

Lloyd makes a face, but lets him dab the alcohol on this time. “It’s cold,” he complains.

“Keep whining about it and we’re going back to the clip-on earring plan.”

“No, no, I want them pierced,” Lloyd says quickly. Kai smothers a laugh at how he attempts to appear relaxed, swiping the cotton ball over his earlobe once more for good measure. Satisfied that Lloyd, at least, won’t suffer any immediate crippling infections, Kai grabs for the needle they’re using, soaking the tip in alcohol.

“You…you know what you’re doing, right?” Lloyd asks, suddenly apprehensive now that the needle’s come into play.

“Of course I do, who do you think I am?” Kai says. “I pierced Nya’s ears when she was younger. I would’ve pierced Jay’s the first week we met, but he chickened out last minute.”

Lloyd presses his lips together, hiding a laugh. “If you’d come up to me with a needle the first week we met, I probably would’ve booked it, too.”

“I wasn’t bad,” Kai huffs, kneeing him in the side.

Lloyd runs a hand through his hair, spiking the edges up as he scowls, pitching his voice deeper. “I’m gonna be the green ninja, and none of you losers better get in the way—”

“I never said that!” Kai exclaims, swatting Lloyd across the head as he cackles. “You watch it, or I might slip up with the needle.”

“Sounds like something a green gi-stealer would say.”

“You’re such a brat,” Kai grumbles, hiding the heat rising in his cheeks by busying himself with the earring packaging. “I never sounded like that. And you’re one to talk, with that squeaky little evil laugh you used to do.”

“Alright, I’m dropping it, I’m dropping it,” Lloyd says hastily, his teasing faltering at the threat of turning the tables.

Kai smirks, shaking his head. “Alright,” he says, flexing his wrist once. “I’m gonna ice your ear so it’s numb, then do the actual piercing. You want a count down?”

“Surprise me,” Lloyd says, his hands fisting anxiously in the edges of his sweatshirt.

“Sure thing,” Kai nods absently. “So,” he starts conversationally, as he presses the ice to the back of Lloyd’s ear. “What did bring this on? And don’t give me the teen rebellion thing — seriously, this time.”

Lloyd hesitates, then sighs. He bites his lip, his eyes staring somewhere beyond the ceiling. “I dunno,” he mutters. “I just remembered, the other day, that I’d thought they were super cool as a kid.”

Kai stifles the urge to remind him that he’s still a kid, and continues to listen instead, nodding at him to go on.

Lloyd makes a face. “I don’t know. The mission today was — it was dumb, and I didn’t like how I felt afterwards, so I guess I wanted to do something stupid.”

“Ah,” Kai exhales quietly. He’d had a feeling it was about the mission, but he couldn’t be sure. It hadn’t even been that bad, on the whole, but the sound of Cole’s head cracking against the floor was enough to escalate it right into terrible territory.

Kai’s still thanking his stars that Cole’s got such a thick head. Concussions aren’t fun, even when they do have the chance to treat them immediately.

“I just…I thought maybe it’d be nice to mess up on purpose, for once,” Lloyd continues, his voice quiet. “When I wasn’t trying not to.”

Kai’s frown deepens at that one, his hand hovering where he’s caught the edge of Lloyd’s ear, his thumb pressed against the end of the needle. His sudden concerns over Lloyd’s potentially earring-destroying, Oni/dragon blood are swept away by the plaintively depressing tone Lloyd’s using. He opens his mouth, then shuts it, hesitating.  

He understands the sentiment, of course — probably too well to really put into words. Kai’s not exactly a stranger to messing up. He’s definitely not a stranger to beating yourself up after you mess up, either. He also understands, too well, how it can all build up sometimes — the constant fear of failure, the pressure not to mess up.

Sometimes you’re just struck with the irrational desire to mess up on purpose out of pure spite. Kai gets that. And Lloyd’s at least rational enough to pick something that won’t hurt anyone, and is more likely to get a laugh out of them all, if anything. Kai tries not to roll his eyes fondly.

Plus, Kai would be lying if he said it doesn’t warm his heart that Lloyd’s come to him for it. Which he should, of course, Kai’d better have first dibs on Lloyd’s first piercing, but still. The sentiment, and all.

“Well,” Kai finally says, realizing he’s left Lloyd hanging. “I don’t know about messing up, because this looks pretty rad. But it was definitely your call, so remember to tell Sensei that when he sees it.”

“Yeah, sure.” Lloyd takes a breath, squeezing his eyes shut. “Okay, I’m ready. Stab my ear, Kai.”

“I already did, moron. Did you miss what I just said?”

Lloyd’s eyes pop open, and he blinks. “Huh? For real?”

“Told you,” Kai snorts. “Ninja pain tolerance. Ear piercing’s got nothing on Cole when he scores a hit on you in practice.”

Lloyd’s frozen for a moment, then he scurries over to the mirror, brushing his lengthening hair away so he can get a proper look at it. Kai hovers behind him, suddenly slightly anxious.

“Do you, um, do you like it? You can always take it out, if you don’t. It’ll close over on its own, and you can like, get an actual professional to do it—”

“Shut up, Kai, I love it,” Lloyd beams, tracing his finger over the little silver stud. “I look cool.”

Kai lets out a tiny breath of relief, smirking in satisfaction instead. “As close to cool as you can get, beansprout.”

“Whatever,” Lloyd rolls his eyes, before returning to admiring himself in the mirror. “You’re just jealous I have a super cool piercing, and you don’t.”

“Hey, I gave you that piercing,” Kai scowls. “Just wait until my ear finally heals, I’ll show you cool.”

“Gee, yeah, I can’t wait to see what cheap skull earring you infect yourself with this time.”

“Alright buddy, you’re toeing it dangerously close to the line,” Kai grabs Lloyd in a headlock, digging his knuckles into Lloyd’s thick hair as he yelps, struggling to pull himself free.

“Ow, hey, Kai, watch my ear—”

“Little jerk,” Kai finally releases him with a huff.

“Too bad you’re stuck with me forever,” Lloyd replies, making a face as he brushes his hair back into place.

“Plenty of time to watch you make more mistakes, then,” Kai replies, easily.

Lloyd briefly tenses up, his expression working. Kai slings an arm around his shoulder, briefly squeezing.

“It wasn’t your fault, Lloyd,” he says, gently. “Cole’s gonna tell you the same thing, ten times over.”

“Y-yeah, okay,” Lloyd murmurs, staring at the rug. “I got it.”

Kai eyes him for a brief moment, then shakes his head, carefully flicking the edge of his ear. “This, however? Is definitely your fault. So don’t go selling me out when Sensei bites your head off for it.”

“I’m not a sellout,” Lloyd huffs. “This’ll be nothing. Wait ’til you see what he says about my tattoo, that’ll be the real meltdown.”

Kai barks a laugh out at that, sweeping the cotton balls back into the bag. He then pauses, Lloyd’s word choice hitting him.

“Hey, what do you mean, your tattoo.”

“Oh, would you look at the time—”

“Lloyd, I swear to FSM, if you went and got a tattoo without me—”

[scvrllet]

our secret place / r.b

Pairing: Regulus Black x Reader

Summary: You’ve grown used to taking autumn walks by yourself but weren’t agaisnt having someone join you

Prompt: Going For A Walk

Words: 1.6k

A/N: This is my piece for @eleven-times-lively​​ and @masterofthedarkness​​‘ A Very Harry Potter Halloween event. bro it was 1:21am when i wrote this because i forgot i had to have this posted for today

Dried leaves littered the ground in hues of red, orange, yellow and brown. The trees were bare and the air was becoming cooler with every passing day. Winter was getting close which meant you had limited time to enjoy the autumn weather before snow would pack down. 

For the past six years you enjoy your autumn walks alone, or at least tried to. After your third year you had grown used to the feeling of loneliness but that didn’t stop the feeling entirely.

Before you were sent to Hogwarts, you would take autumn walks with your friends and family. It became a tradition to spend at least one day out in a forest or park where the leaves crunched beneath your feet. It was one of your fondest memories and one thing you missed the most while away at Hogwarts. Taking those walks alone felt lonely and going on walks during the summer time with your friends and family felt different. You quickly realized that you’d have to settle for those walks. 

From time to time you’d miss the laughter and conversations made during those walks you once took with friends and family but you knew there was nothing you could quite do to fill that void. Your friends didn’t seem to like the idea of walks, finding there to be ‘better things to do instead’ as they phrased it so you had stopped offering and just went by yourself.

You’d be a little sad at first when you started your walks, wishing for one of them to run up and join you but it never happened. You could only dream.

Today you took the same path as you always did. The narrow path behind Hagrid’s Hut which, after a few twists and turns, would lead you to a wider walking trail lined with tall trees. If you’d walk far enough, you’d even come across a pond with ducks and frogs and flowers all around it. The area was beautiful and even more during the autumn season. You had discovered the area when you were taking an old route back in fourth year and had gotten lost. This resulted in you ending up near the pond for the first time and after you found an easier way of reaching it, you made sure to visit it as much as possible to bask in its beauty. 

When you neared the pond, you stopped frozen in your tracks when you heard laughter from the pond. You were certain that no one knew about it but if someone had found it, why have you never ran into them before and more importantly, why today. 

Debating on whether you should turn around to leave or stay to find out who it was, you eventually chose the lather and quietly walked towards the source of the laughter.

Their back was facing you as they crouched down at the lake. A flock of ducks in the water were in front of them and you assumed that was the cause of their laughter. Ducks were amusing creatures after all. As the figure of the boy at the pond became clearer to you, you had briefly forgotten about being quiet which led you to walk into a tree. 

“Ow. Stupid tree!” You muttered, scowling at the tree as you rubbed your arm which thankfully, didn’t get cut on the rough bark. 

“Are you okay?” The boy from the pond asked, now standing in front of you with a concerned expression. 

“Oh yeah, I am. Thank you.”

You had felt like you had seen him before but you couldn’t exactly pinpoint how. There was just something about his grey eyes that seemed so familiar to you.

“How did you find this place?” He asked you.

“Found it back in fourth year. Well, I technically got lost and stumbled in but same thing.” You replied causing him to chuckle. You raised a brow at him before asking: “Something funny?” 

The boy didn’t stop like you had expected him to but instead smiled at you. “Yes, I find your story rather funny. Probably because I found it the same way as well, except it was second year for me instead.” He said, finding your shocked expression amusing and another reason to laugh. “Did you think that only you knew about this place too?” 

Embarrassed for having thought you were lucky to have found a secret spot all for yourself, you faced the ground and nodded. Hopefully he would assume it was the autumn breeze that was making your cheeks red and not because you were feeling embarrassed. 

“Well then, seeing as for the past four years I’ve only seen you here, it can be our little secret. I doubt the other students would have the nerve to go so deep into the forest.” He suggested and you smiled at him, an action he mirrored back before realizing he hadn’t introduced himself and extended his hand. “Regulus Black by the way.” 

So that was why he seemed so familiar. The Blacks were a well-known pureblood wizarding family in Great Britain. Aside from being one of the most noble and ancient pureblooded families left, they were also known for their good looks. Notable features of the Blacks were cool grey eyes and black unruly locks, both of which Regulus had inherited. It was a wonder how you haven’t recognized him sooner.

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N).” You replied as you shook his hand. It was cold, you noticed, soft but quite cold. 

“How have I never seen you here?” Now it was your turn to ask the questions. He had mentioned that he’s only ever seen you here before so that would have meant you should’ve seen him as well. 

“I didn’t want to bother you.” Was his answer and a wave of realization washed over you. 

“And that’s what I’m doing right now. Oh god I’m so sorry, I can leave if you’d like?” You offered with a weak smile. Perhaps you shouldn’t have decided to investigate who the person by the lake was. Especially when he’s been purposely making sure not to bother for the past two years. Merlin you were an idiot. 

“No no, it’s alright. I don’t mind you being here, honestly. It is our secret little place now after all.” 

You scanned his face for any sign of lying and/or silent pleading for you to go away but you found none. He genuinely didn’t mind you being here when he could’ve been alone and despite only having met him five minutes ago, you didn’t mind having him here either. 

“Well since it’s our little secret, how do you feel about going on a walk?” It felt like you were holding your breath as you waited for his reply. 

You had to stop yourself from signing in relief when he said: “I’d like that.” with a small smile. You mirrored the expression before motioning for him to stand by your side before walking down the pathway that led towards the pond. The two of you walked for what felt like hours but the fact didn’t seem to bother any of you. A majority of the time you were both too busy laughing or talking to notice anyways. 

It wasn’t until when the sun had started to set behind the mountains that the two of you realized just how long you have been out. Extending his hand out for you to take, you hesitated for a moment before clasping your hands in his. When you were firmly holding his hand he smiled at you before running , catching you off-guard and pulling you along with him.

When you were finally able to match his pace and run alongside him, still hand in his, the two of you laughed as you imagined what would happen if Filch had caught you sneaking back into school when students were supposed to have been in their Common Rooms. 

“If we get caught you’re buying me a Butterbeer.” You said when you neared the school. 

“Deal.” He replied before walking inside the school with his still holding your hand. 

The halls were empty and you could hear the faint noise coming from the Great Hall. You could both probably make it there without getting caught if luck was on your side. 

“Students in the corridor! Students in the corridor!” Filch’s voice echoed through the hall that you and Regulus were walking through. 

“Shit.” You heard Regulus mutter before turning the corner and running down the hall. The two of you ran through many different corridors and hallways before he pulled you into an empty classroom and locked the door. It was then that he had finally let go of your hand.

The two of you stood there, hands on your knees as you tried to catch your breath before breaking out into a fit of laughter. 

“Did you see his face?” 

“No, I was too busy trying to make sure he didn’t see us!” 

“I’ve never seen his eyes go so wide you should’ve seen it.” 

Silence followed after you had both calmed down. Had it been with anybody else, just standing there in front of each other, it would have been a very awkward experience but for some reason, it felt normal when you were with him. 

Despite only knowing him for a few hours, it felt normal, like you were supposed to be doing this. 

The two of you looked at each other with lazy smiles, enjoying the comforting silence until you opened your mouth to say: “You still owe me a Butterbeer.” 

“Only if we can do this all over again after.” He said. 

You knew you were supposed to say no. It would risk you House Points. Bloody hell it could even risk you expulsion if you were to get caught enough times and yet you agreed and shot him a warm smile. 

“As long it’s with you.” 

----------

Regulus Black Taglist: @marvelsmerc @hec1930 @jjklefttoe @mxchiefxmxnagement​

General HP Taglist: @birdie-writes @lunaralpha270 @tinylumpiaa @slytherin-chaser @bloodblossom73 @pcseidcnsvoid @mischiefsemimanaged @accio-rogers @iamak20 @klaus-m-trash @obsessedwithrandomthings @susceptible-but-siriusexual @masterofthedarkness @lupins-sweater @hariosborn @vernon-dursley @slytherinwriter618 @missmulti @sambucky8 @a-c-lee @criesinlies 

Permanent Taglist: @sleep-i-ness @emmaloo21 @62442-am @flowersgrewbackasth0rns @un-limit-edd @angelicbabybutterfly @a-golden-sunflower-vol-6 @aliyahcat111

join my taglist!

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

A Miraculous TikTok Account

Part 24

First

Previous

Next

People were starting to settle down as the night stretched on.

Chat felt kind of weird about the sleepover, if he was being honest. He was technically the host, but he hadn’t planned any of the activities. They also hadn’t let him help out at all. Sure, it seemed they were throwing the sleepover for him, but it felt weird to not be involved at all when it was being held in his own room.

(He also wasn’t stupid enough to think that they had decided to do the sleepover for purely innocent reasons. Rena and Ladybug were paying just a little bit too much attention for it to be mere curiosity. He had nothing to hide except for the trash and clothes he’d stuffed in his closet to make his room look cleaner, though, so he was fine with it.)

Still, it was kind of nice.

He looked at the other four.

Carapace was sitting cross-legged a few feet away, his back facing away from everyone as he worked on his bracelets. He was singing random showtunes to himself, but his singing was getting cut off at random due to his giggles at whatever he was doing. Chat tried to peek over his shoulder and Carapace gave an overexaggerated gasp and flung himself across the floor to keep the bracelets out of his sight.

“No peeking!”

“Alright! Alright!” Said Chat, shaking his head exasperatedly even as a smile threatened to make its way across his face.

Carapace narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously for a moment before slowly returning to his spot.

Ladybug was apparently only half awake, though it was hard to tell if this was the effect of the wine or the lack of coffee. Carapace had given her his hoodie when he’d seen her shivering and now she was swamped in the fabric. This didn’t seem to bother her, though, as she barely swayed in time with his singing.

Rena had finished all her bracelets for everyone already, opting to just make braids of each of their costume colors. Now she was weaving thread into Chloe’s hair.

Chloe was putting the finishing touches on her fifth bracelet. They were all the same, alternating black and yellow threads. Still, it took a while to make all the knots necessary for hers.

He looked down at the friendship bracelet attempts in his hands and bit his lip. The strings he’d chosen were knotted and bent awkwardly and, really, it was beyond repair --.

He gave up, tossing down the attempts and grabbing new strings. He started just spelling out everyone’s hero names on strings that were the colors of everyone’s eyes.

“Done,” he said, his ears burning with shame. He didn’t know anything about friendship bracelets or friendships and general and if it wasn’t clear to everyone before they’d definitely have figured it out now --.

“Wow. Amazing job, Chat. You’re a master craftsman,” said Chloe, sarcasm dripping from every letter she spoke.

“You… you don’t have to wear it.”

Chloe scoffed. “Shut up. I’m never taking it off.”

“Oh… but you don’t have to, really --.”

“I’m. Wearing. It. Screw. Off.”

“... okay,” he said, a tiny smile playing at his lips.

He gave everyone else theirs and, though he noticed they were all putting them on their ankles where they’d be harder for people to see, he couldn’t help but be happy that they were accepting them at all.

Carapace held up his five completed bracelets with a bright smile. “Tada!”

He walked around and started tying them to everyone’s wrists.

Chat saw both of the bugs look confused as they read over the block letters on theirs, Rena gave a short puff of laughter when she saw hers, and then he finally got to see his...

FURRY.

He rolled his eyes at Carapace but let him tie the bracelet to his ankle.

“What’s a ‘buggie’?” Said Chloe in a voice that said she was pretty sure she didn’t want to know.

“It’s a furry, but for bugs.”

“... how do you know that?” Asked Ladybug, sinking back into Carapace’s/her hoodie with a yawn.

“A few years back I joked that I was a furry and someone told me I was technically a ‘scaley’. Obviously, I had to know if everyone else was a furry after that or something else.”

Rena snickered. “Likely story.”

“It’s true!”

“Hm. Sure. Chloe, I’m done with you. Ladybug --.”

“I have an important meeting for work tomorrow, sorry.”

“Fine. Chat, c’mere.”

He hesitated before he made his way over and allowed her to start messing with his hair obediently.

Chloe shuffled over to Ladybug. There was a beat before Ladybug lifted the bottom of the hoodie and allowed Chloe to climb inside.

Carapace groaned. “Why are you stretching out my hoodie?”

Ladybug smiled and brought a hand up to stretch the neck so Chloe could pop her head out the top. “Forgot it was yours, honestly.”

“I hate you.”

“Guess I won’t fix this, then.”

“Wait -- Ladybug -- listen -- I didn’t mean it --.”

Ladybug and Chloe laid back and stuck their tongues out at him in unison. Carapace glared halfheartedly at them for a little while before walking over and laying on top of them.

“Ughhhh get off you’re heavy,” complained Ladybug. “You’re going to crush me.”

“Good. I’m squashing two annoying bugs.”

“Renaaaaa,” tried Chloe.

“Can’t help right now, I’m doing Chat’s hair.”

“Rena,” tried Carapace.

There was a moment’s hesitation before Rena gently tugged Chat over so she could help Carapace smother the two and still add colors to his hair.

“Nooooooo…”

“Chat help,” Ladybug squeaked, reaching out a hand in an attempt to pull him closer for help.

He considered the hand for a minute before pointedly looking away, a smile pulling at his lips.

Ladybug mumbled a curse and resigned herself to the fate of being crushed under three of her housemates.

Rena eventually finished with his hair and she took a picture to show him the results. He’d always wanted to do stuff with his hair, and since his haircolor was so light it wouldn’t have been hard, but his dad had never allowed it…

He smiled brightly and sent it to himself.

Rena shielded her eyes and he looked up at her, his smile dropping into a confused frown.

“Are you okay?”

“You’re, like… sunshine incarnate. Can’t look at you dead on, it’s too bright.”

“Right? He could give Adrien Agreste a run for his money,” joked Carapace.

He wasn’t sure if he was blushing because his housemates thought of him like that or because his civilian identity was apparently that popular. Still, he brought a hand up to cover his mouth as a new smile stretched across his face.

Rena slipped off of the pile of miraculous holders easily and took a seat about a meter away with her phone, leaning back in a pile of pillows. “Carapace, Ladybug, both of you should get to sleep. You both have stuff in the morning.”

“But --,” tried Carapace.

“I WILL knock you out if I have to. And there’s no coffee to keep you awake.”

The two groaned quietly and Carapace fell beside the two bugs. Instead of leaving, though, he just grabbed the nearest blanket and wrapped it around the three of them.

Chloe scoffed and started shifting around in the blanket/hoodie prison she was currently trapped in. “Hey, let me out, I’m not tired yet.”

Ladybug and Carapace wrapped an arm around her and held her still before she could get up. “We have to sleep, you have to sleep.”

“I don’t --.”

“Pillows don’t talk,” said Ladybug, nuzzling her face into Chloe’s neck with a yawn.

Chloe didn’t look particularly happy about it, but she did quiet herself.

Carapace reached his free hand towards Chat without looking over and he stared at it before taking it. He was pulled down to join the cuddle pile so fast that they knocked heads. There was a mumbled ‘ow’ and a hiss of pain, but otherwise it was hard to tell that it had happened.

Rena tossed a pillow at the lightswitch, which was… odd, but it did turn off the lights, so… yay?

He closed his eyes and wrapped an arm around Carapace’s stomach. He could hear the others’ steady breathing as they drifted off one by one.

But, for once, Chat wasn’t finding it easy to sleep.

Some things are easy to ignore.

For example, Chat could, for the most part, ignore the knowledge that he was likely the only person in the house who was genuinely interested in being friends. Everyone else was perfectly happy being friendly (because who wants to fight people in their own house?), but that’s not nearly the same thing.

But, since Chat was starved for affection, he opted to ignore what he knew to be the truth. Did it really matter if Carapace was only allowing him to hang off of him for the sake of preventing a strong akuma if he was getting the physical touch he hadn’t received since his mother had died? Did it really matter if Ladybug was only playing nicer for the sake of convenience if it meant he could get compliments from her instead of insults?

Kinda. But he was willing to push those thoughts aside.

And, while he wanted to ignore this problem too, he really shouldn’t. Their safety was much too important for that.

There should be very few people that knew where they were. There were the people who Chloe had hired to help her move in, Master Fu, each other...

But that didn’t explain why Chat’s room was left untouched.

The only thing that made sense for that was his dad… He tried to brush the thought aside like he had been doing for the entire night, but it was far more difficult when the others were asleep and weren’t serving as a distraction.

Would his dad sell him out? Sure, their relationship wasn’t near ‘close’, but that didn’t mean that his father hated him, right? His dad had known for a while, though, almost since the beginning. Why would he sell out now? The information was slightly more valuable now that they were living together, yes, but was that enough to make him betray his son for a super terrorist?

Worse yet, could his father be Hawkmoth? He didn’t think so, because his father had been akumatized multiple times, but there was nothing saying Hawkmoth couldn’t akumatize himself. Then again, he’d been pretty interested in Chat’s ring when he realized who he was… or was that just innocent curiosity? He also lived in the center of the area that Ladybug had mentioned she’d traced the akumas to, but so did every rich person --.

Carapace pulled him closer, his hand sliding up his back to work at a knot in his back.

“Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?” Chat teased, even as he pressed his face against his shoulder.

“You’re too tense.”

He let himself relax a bit. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s not your fault you’re the worst pillow ever.”

“Even worse than Chloe?”

“Somehow,” said Carapace, and Chat could almost hear the smile in his voice.

And, because it’s really hard to have bad thoughts when you’re cuddling a friend and getting a massage, Chat fell asleep in minutes.

~~~

Taglist

@nathleigh @sassakitty @th1s-1s-my-aesthet1c @blueslushgueen @woe-is-me0 @ladybug-182 @cas-and-their-refusal-to-write @trippingovermyfeet @melicmusicmagic

[pinky-the-elephant-room]

Rejuvenate

AN: @liliesoftherain​ @keishiins​ I’m reuploading this because Tumblr hates my guts. I got the idea from Ronda Rousey stating before her matches she would have intense sex with her husband. I was intrigued with the idea and wondered how many athletes do the same thing? Anyway enjoy this request

❉ Warnings: Praise Kink, Sub Bokuto, Bondage, and little bit of Breeding kink at the end? Bokuto x Fem Reader.

❉ Disclaimer: Sex is not a cure for mental illness. Since we don’t know why Bokuto has mood swings I played around with the idea. Please don’t take this seriously.

❉ Summary: As part of the Jackals, Bokuto no longer had the luxury of messing about in this matches. But little did his teammates know he had someone special picking up the slack at home.

❦❦❦❦❦❦❦

t’s not until you lose something that you start appreciating it for what it was. For Bokuto, it was his team, and more specifically, it was his setter Akaashi. He never realized how bothersome his mood swings were because he was too busy dwelling on his emotions. But when he started playing professionally, Bokuto no longer had the luxury of his teammates looking after him anymore. Technically, Tsum Tsum did his best (best meaning he just ignored him until Bokuto’s mood settled), but he was unsatisfied. He was starting to hate that the tiniest things would unsettle him and affect his play.  

He tried everything from calming teas and even listening to rain ASMR before falling asleep. But his mood swings kept happening. Bokuto was at the end of his rope so much so he decided to visit Akaashi at his college. He had sent him a text letting him know he would drop by; hopefully, his old teammate would have something for him.

The university itself was pretty large and was known to attract international students from across the globe. Even now, Bokuto could see several foreigners staring at him in curiosity, but he just shrugged it off, thinking it was his eccentric hair (but really, it was his frantic pacing).

His face brightened when he saw his friend leisurely walking towards him.

“Bokuto-san, how have you been?” Akaashi inquired.

“Akaashi! Your school is so cool! I should come here more often,” Bokuto said while excitingly looking left to right.

“Please don’t,” murmured Akaashi, who was promptly ignored by Bokuto.

“Keiji! I thought I told you to wait for me,” a feminine voice called out.

Bokuto turned around to see a girl with a womanly figure walking towards them.

“Gomen, Y/N. I thought you already went back to class,” Akaashi replied to the girl.

Bokuto looked at her fascinatingly. She was beautiful, to be frank, and her beaming smile radiated happiness.

“Oh, who’s this?” she asked, looking at Bokuto directly, making him more nervous than he had felt in a while.

Akaashi turned to Bokuto only to narrow his eyes at his smitten face.

“This is Bokuto Koutaro. He was the captain of the volleyball team I was on in high school.”

She let out an excited gasp. “The Bokuto? The one you comp-“

“Anyway, this is Akaashi Y/N. She’s my cousin,” Akaashi cut in, confusing Bokuto.

Y/N sent a teasing smile to Akaashi.

“Our mothers are identical twins, and we were born in the same year. So, we’re more like siblings than anything. I should be calling him Keiji-ni, actually. It’s nice to meet you, Bokuto-san!”

Cousins? Now that she was closer, he could see the resemblance. They had the same dark hair and bright blue sharp eyes. But Y/N’s hair was longer coming down to her waist, and her eyebrows were neatly trimmed, unlike Akashi's. She also had the pinkest pair of lips Bokuto ever had the pleasure of seeing, or was that makeup? To be honest, he could never tell.

“What do you think, Bokuto-san?” Y/N asked him hopefully.

She had asked him a question which Bokuto wasn’t even listening to. Too busy staring at her animated face the entire time.

“Not today, Y/N. Maybe some other time. Go to class,” Akaashi said, almost sternly.

She pouted and said, “Fine! I’ll see you later, Bokuto-san.”

Y/N bowed politely, to which Bokuto scrambled to return before she walked away.

Akaashi muttered, “Don’t even think about it. She’ll eat you alive.”

His yellow eyes still on the retreating figure of Y/N, Bokuto distractedly replied, “what do you mean by that?”

His former teammate opened his mouth to say something but changed his mind.

“Do what you like, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Bokuto should have listened to the almost ominous warning by his friend, but he was too excited.

“You mean it?! Can you give me Y/N’s number then?”

Akaashi grimaced; nevertheless, he fetched his phone before complying with his former captain’s request. The two friends talked for a while before Akaashi had to leave for his class. By the time Bokuto had arrived at his lonesome apartment, he had realized he had forgotten to ask Akaashi for the advice he initially sought out him for.

Still, he considered the day to be productive and successful while staring goofily at Y/N’s number.

Over the next couple of weeks, Y/N and Bokuto exchanged texts. When he had first texted her, she was cordial and pleasant.  As his interest became fairly apparent over time, Y/N responded to it with the utmost enthusiasm. Thankfully, Akaashi didn’t seem too opposed to it; instead, he made Bokuto promise to treat his cousin well. They had been dating for only a month when she asked him to take it a bit further. He honestly thought she was a virgin and was quite speechless at her question. Y/N was a petite and genial individual; in fact, Bokuto often worried that he would eventually drive her away with his boisterous attitude. And so, he was adamant about taking it slowly with Y/N. Only for her to flip the script and proposition him.

❦❦❦❦❦❦❦

“Did you have fun?” he asked earnestly after another date,

“Of course! Next weekend I'm free, so we should go out again,” Y/N replied cheerfully, swinging their interlocked hands.

Bokuto watched her closely and leaned in for a kiss.

She didn’t back down and instead tugged him closer. Their lips connected just barely before she moved back, but it was enough to entice him.

“Bokuto-kun, do you wanna come in? My roommate’s with her family for the weekend,” Y/N proposed.

He swallowed nervously and nodded. Her dorm was a standard two-room affair but standing in there, Bokuto felt such dread and excitement in the pit of his stomach.

Y/N took her time while removing her hoody before, with a teasing smile, she tried to help remove his jacket.

“You’ll get hot if you keep this on,” she cooed while pulling down his zipper.

Bokuto’s heart started racing out of control when he felt her small hands unashamedly caress his toned upper body in the guise of removing his jacket.

He distinctly heard something hitting the wooden floor but was way too preoccupied with helping Y/N unbuckle his belt to notice.

That night Bokuto was never so glad in his life to be wrong. She was no virgin. The way she roughly yanked his hair and demanded him to be faster and harder. It was hard to imagine Y/N not having prior experience. Despite him clearly being on top, it felt like she oversaw the entire affair. The praises that spilled from her mouth each time a particular thrust compelled her to see stars caused him to feel like he just scored a winning point in the finals. Her sleek legs that wrapped around him prompted him to renew his smooth but rough rhythm. Y/N eventually kept having to rewrap her legs each time he pulled out before she gave up and just splayed her legs to the side. That made it easier for him to reenter but strained Y/N’s muscles. She didn’t seem to care too much, though, as her nails embedded into his back. Bokuto lost count after her sixth orgasm and his fourth. The night continued into the early dawn. He barely slept, yet he found himself not caring after possibly having the best sex of his life.

❦❦❦❦❦❦❦

Bokuto felt at ease as the whistle blew and signaled the end of the match. The Jackals bowed to their devoted fans, and he could feel his teammates’ eyes on him subconsciously. Tsum Tsum was whispering lowly to Sakusa, who didn’t seem to be paying too much attention to whatever Tsum Tsum was saying. Even Hinata seemed subdued despite them winning the game. But Bokuto wasn’t bothered; he was satisfied. Y/N was out there in the bleachers waiting for him. Now that he won, she owed him a night of relaxation and back massages.

Even in the locker room, it was hushed, and only the bangs of the lockers resonated in the quiet.

Bokuto turned around when he felt someone tug at his uniform.

“Oh, Hinata! Good game, and that smash at the end was great. But you still have a long way to go before you can catch up to your teacher,” Bokuto loudly complimented while slapping Hinata’s back harshly.

“Ne, Bokuto-san, can I ask you something?” Hinata nervously inquired as he rubbed his back.

Bokuto looked at the younger boy and realized he was acting weird. Hell, he could tell all his teammates were listening to their conversation inconspicuously.

So, he just shrugged and motioned Hinata to go ahead.

“How come you’re so focused nowadays?”

Bokuto could almost hear the underlying question, ‘why haven’t you turned into emo Bokuto lately?’

Tsum Tsum, who had a towel in hand on route to shower, stopped to listen in. Even Sakusa, with his wet hair, stood by and didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave.

“Well, Hinata...” Bokuto began as his thoughts drifted back to last night.

They stumbled blindly through his dark apartment, not bothering to turn on the lights. Y/N let out a shriek of delight when Bokuto hoisted her into his arms and went straight to his bedroom.

He pushed back her hair and sucked wherever her neck was visible.

“Y/N, babe, want you right now. No. I need you,” Bokuto corrected amid his trailing kisses.

She grabbed the back of his dyed hair and pulled.

“On the bed then. I’ll grab my goodies,” Y/N encouraged.

He cocked his head in confusion at the mention of goodies but tugged off his shirt and shorts in a hurry. Bokuto tossed his clothes somewhere at the side of the bed, where he could find them easily in the morning before making himself comfortable on his bed. He could hear her fiddling in his bathroom but waited patiently. Y/N always rewarded him whenever he did precisely what she asked of him.

She stepped out of the bathroom, hiding something behind her back.

“Oh, did you start the party early?” she asked, eyeing his naked body with amusement and hunger.

“Yeah, but I’d rather you take off your clothes and join me,” Bokuto replied as he pointedly stared down at her white wrap dress.

“One sec. Let me show you my present.”

Y/N presented him with two pairs of silver handcuffs.

Bokuto tried to play it off coolly, but he didn’t think he managed as her cheeky grin widened at his flustered composure.

Y/N got on his bed and ordered, “Sit back. I want to see how good it looks on you.”

She didn’t even need to say please as he hurried to do what she asked. Placing a quick kiss on his forehead, she managed to get both his hands cuffed and attached to the bed frame separately.

“Now, the real fun begins. Do you trust me?”

“Do you even need to ask?” Bokuto joked.

While sliding down his body to make herself comfortable, she pushed his chest back down.

His soft member laid against his thighs. Which he supposed that Y/N wasn’t satisfied with because she immediately went to work.  

Y/N started by placing her hands on his firm thighs to which in turn made Bokuto jolt. But settled down at the soothing touch of her slender hands. Slowly but surely, she started to blow on his member. Feeling her hot breath, he shivered and clutched the bed sheets. It seemed like Y/N was in a playful mood, and that usually meant Bokuto was in for a long night.

That grip only got tauter when she started doing eskimo kisses to his cock.

Bokuto let out a low “fuck” when he felt tentative kitten licks while she traced the throbbing, purple veins along his shaft.

Y/N pulled back his foreskin to reveal the head. She rubbed the tip spreading the watery precum before sucking. She reveled in the familiar intoxicating taste and then swallowed him whole until his cock hit the back of her throat. Feeling the need to gag, Y/N took his member out of her mouth.

“Ko-kun, you taste so good. Maybe I should keep this up all night?”

“No, don’t,” he gasped.

Bokuto let out a groan when he tried to pull Y/N’s hair to make her take him deeper. But the handcuffs prevented him from doing so.

She let go of his cock entirely and shimmed out of her dress. Her bra and panties were next to go, and Bokuto’s eyes never strayed from the moment she started getting undressed. Y/N made herself comfortable and settled on top of his right thigh.

He felt his thigh’s muscle flex instinctively when he felt the soft lips and coarse trimmed hairs of her cunt. She already complimented him multiple times on how much she appreciated his physique. But she was paying extra attention to his bottom half tonight, apparently.

Unfortunately, his situation only got worse with her grinding against his thigh.

“Please, babe. I- I can’t wait,” he stuttered, which was an accomplishment of itself.

Y/N only laughed and said, “Come on, Ko-kun. You can do better than that. Remember last time how you begged so nicely? You can do it again.”

Bokuto imagined her swollen clit sliding along his bare skin. Which, he wasn’t wrong about because each time her center dragged against his leg, it wasn’t hard to notice the wetness she left behind.

“Ko-kun, should I just get myself off like this and leave you handcuffed until the morning?” Y/N asked wickedly.

“Don’t you dare-,” he started but let out a yelp when she pinched his inner thigh.

“Don’t be rude! I was just kidding, but I might do it for real,” she warned as she aggressively humped his thigh.

“F-fuck! Fuck!”

Oh god, he definitely felt the fluid dripping down from her cunt now. Bokuto could even hear the wet squelching sounds as she slid back and forth.

“Ko-kun, I wanna ride your face,” Y/N panted.

Bokuto’s eyes lit up, and he replied, “Are you going to uncuff me?”

“Nah, I think you’ll do fine just like this.” She didn’t say anything more as she leisurely crawled up his body.

Usually, he would have held onto her thighs while she sat on his face. But now, he could not do much once he caught a whiff of Y/N’s distinct scent. When her pussy was near enough, he licked the puffy clit that stood out so readily. Perhaps that was all the encouragement she needed because soon Y/N was aggressively shoving herself into his face.

“That’s it. Lick it all up. Don’t let a single drop go to waste,” she cried out while simultaneously pulling his hair.

He could barely breathe from her cushy thighs and the way her hands purposely kept him in one place. But god Bokuto loved it whenever she got like this. He could tell from her unsteady movement and the heavy breathing, Y/N was close. Laying his tongue flat, he licked from top to bottom and finally inserting the tongue inside her cunt. She lost her mind, convulsing uncontrollably.

“Fuck me! I-I’m going to cum.”

Y/N started enthusiastically grinding, and suddenly, an outpour of watery fluid started running down his cheeks. Her soft moans escalated to piercing screams before yielding to the spellbinding ecstasy.  Bokuto helped her ride it out by slowly sucking on her clit.

“Ko-kun, stop... Too much,” Y/N whimpered, pushing his face away from her overwhelmed pussy.

She scooted back a few inches and collapsed on top of his chest, trying to recuperate from her intense orgasm.

“Y/N, how did I do? Tell me.”

“Yeah, you were amazing. You were such a good boy.”

He felt lighthearted and incredible despite his erection still being prominent to the point of almost being painful.

Bokuto attempted to turn Y/N on her side so he could enter from that angle, but the handcuffs once again stopped him. He turned wide-eyed, totally forgetting about the cuffs attached to the headboard.

“Y/N help me out here,” he asked, kissing her sweaty hair.

She snapped out of her exhaustion to grab a pair of small keys on the nightstand. Y/N soon freed his hands, and he noticed his wrists were red from the metal straining against his skin.

Bokuto positioned Y/N in such a way that she lay on her side but was facing him. Her bangs were damp with sweat and stuck to her forehead. Still, she was visibly glowing, just like she always does after their sessions.

“My turn, ok?” he murmured, leaving love bites on her humid neck.

Sliding one leg in between her legs, he then encouraged Y/N to encircle his hip over the leg he just slid in.

Now Bokuto could easily clutch her firm butt while kissing her lips. With an erection that was now beginning to purple, he decided he had waited enough. With one swift nudge, her sopping entrance gave away to his cock.

“So good. I—” she stuttered as he hammered away. “Yes. So good.”

Y/N tucked her face away in his neck.

“You’re doing amazing. Keep going just like that, babe.”

His breath hitched at the ongoing praises, Bokuto’s skin becoming more heated by the second. His heartbeat racing out of control and tingles resonating down his back.

“I’m close. Gonna cum,” he groaned.

With a sensation that started at the base of his length before it coursed throughout his entire cock, the closer he got. Then as Bokuto got to the point of no return, he could no longer contain the inevitable release. He couldn’t control himself as his eyes shut and his body started shaking. He almost wished he could recount the entire experience, but Bokuto himself had blacked out right after he spilled inside of her.

He later would open his eyes to his body still on the side and entangled with Y/N. The deep-seated satisfaction from knowing he ejaculated inside of her left him bone-tired but rejuvenated at the same time. In no way were they ready for a pregnancy but god damn it if the thought didn’t leave him content beyond comprehension.  

Bokuto snapped out of his flashback to Hinata, still looking at him expectantly.

And with a smirk that was uncharacteristic of him, Bokuto said, “Let’s just say I have a girlfriend who’s been taking real good care of me before each game.”

[jessiebanethedragon]

Unabashedly

The four times you caught Rex staring, and the time he caught you. 

The first time you met the Captain of the five-oh-first, you figured he was staring because of how unusual your presence was. As a Jedi who spent their time learning from the force in nature, to Rex you were an enigma. You noticed that his hamlet stayed focused on you long after you had formerly been introduced. 

“Captain Rex,” You said, and like a shiny at the 79's for the first time, he blushed. Thank the maker for helmets, he thought. “I know trust doesn't come easy and all, and I know I’m not exactly a typical jedi per say but…” You trailed off. He was still watching you, and awkwardness filled the space between you. Anakin coughed, trying to waver his captain's attention. He didn't need his jedi senses to  tell him what about you was distracting Rex. 

“Can I speak to you outside for a moment Rex.” Oh he was in for it now. 

The second time you noticed his watchful eye was mid battle. The movement of you and your lightsaber was captivating. He had never seen a Jedi move so gracefully, it’s like you were dancing on a tank, surrounded by clankers, and oh - right he was supposed to be laying down cover fire!  

“Captain!” Fives was yelling at him, “we need you down here.” Fives, as usual, was being a blessing and a curse. And as usual, when Rex thought he was being stealthy in his staring, the entirety of his crew knew he had a soft spot for one particular jedi. Fives calling him down from his vantage point had two main objectives. One, it was actually useful to the battle, and two hopefully it would snap him out of his daze. Fives had no such luck. 

“What’s the update Captain?” You asked, having jumped off the edge of a tank that was smoking from every corner. 

“We are expecting air support any minute general.” He said, not turning your way. Your messy hair, flushed face and soft smile, he thought to himself, might actually cause him to go into cardiac arrest.  

“Perfect!” You exclaimed as Kenobi’s troops finally arrived. “Now this is what I call a party!” laughter boomed from Fives, who found your energy far too incorrigible for everyone elses liking. 

“What are you at General?” He asked curiously. 

“42 clankers and…” You trailed off looking at the remnants of your previous escapade. “One tank.” Fives grumbled. “Something wrong?” you feigned innocence. 

“This is so unfair.” He threw his hands up in the air, and smiled as he saw another battalion of droids coming up over the ridge.  Without warning he took off towards them. “I can still beat you yet!” He called back. 

“Please don’t tell me you…” Rex started 

“Bet Fives I could kill more clankeers than him?” You finished turning back to him. He nodded, crossing his arms unamused. “Don't tell me you don't approve, captain.” 

“It’s not that general it’s that…” you cut him off again, 

“How many times do I have to tell you I'm not a general, I do have a name you know.” you playfully hit him in the shoulder, but with all that armour you doubted if he could feel it. 

“Okay but still, gambiling isn't allowed.” He started watching the troops begin their forward assault. 

“What if a very lovely Jedi was to share the spoils of war with you?” You cheekily asked. 

“Depends on what you win.” he stated, finally playing along. 

“You just have to wait and see won't you captain.” You yelled back to hin, taking off into the battle, his eyes never leaving you as you ran off.   

The third time, you barely remember. It was late, really late, and everyone had been up for days thanks to a prolonged siege of Ryloth, or was it Bespin? You were too tired to even think about keeping things straight in your head. And of course at two in the morning (even though technically even traveling through space there's no time zone to really follow) Anakin Skywalker had decided on one last briefing before landing at your destination. So when you walk into the meeting room still in your sleepwear of course, everyone's a little shocked. But  Rex, Rex is enchanted. Your hair is messy and keeps falling in your face, the baggy shirt keeps falling off your shoulder and you try to right yourself to no avail. 

“Want some?” He asks, crossing the room to you, he’s already in half his armour, but only his blacks on the top half. Much to your delight. You eye the cup of caff he’s holding out and sleepily nod.

“Thank you.” You tell him and in your exhausted induced genius you decide that right now, as the briefing in a room full of people, Rex’s shoulder is the perfect place for your head. In your time working together, there wasn't anyone else you trusted more. There wasn't anyone else you liked as much as Rex and while you were beginning to worry about the attachment you had to him, your sleepy self didn't really care at the moment. 

“When we land here…” Anakin rambled at the holomap, all eyes on him, you leaned more and more into the comfy pillow of a man next to you. And very, very slowly, his arm snuck around your waist to support you just a tiny bit more. Him staring at your tiny figure from above, curled into his shoulder and chest, his mug of caf in your hands, hair smelling of that wild soap you always used. His mind repeated one word over and over as he stared. Heaven. 

If you were caught now, both of you would be court martialed, but the room was dark, and everyone was tired. And even though Anakin could clearly see both of you, he couldn't help but smile. 

The four, and most recent time you noticed his lingering gaze, was the one and only time you had lost a bet to Fives, you tried to get out of it, claiming that having Echo support him in winning meant disqualification but after you had him bleach his hair for winning the clankers bet, you couldn't back out of this one. And either way, it was just one night, just one night in the 79's and then you’d never have to do it again. 

“Looking good General!” He teased, offering you his arm before leading (pulling) you out of the cab

“Fives it is literally just me in a dress, I look how I always do!” You told him. 

“Maybe you always look good.” He said with a wink, both of you stopped for a moment before laughing. Next to Rex, Fives had to be your best friend. 

“Sorry sugar,” you drawled out jokingly once you get inside the brightly lit bar “You may be pretty but maker do I love blondes.” He chuckled, 

“I’d like to point out I was a blonde.”  He said, nudging you. “Or is it a particular blonde you love.” Your face goes more red than a sith’s lightsaber at that. 

“Remind me never to tell you anything again.” You said looking around for the nearest alcoholic beverage. It’s then you see him, that particular blonde. He’s shuffled off in a booth in the corner, learning on his elbows, unabashedly staring. 

His top half was only covered by his blacks, and this time you’re fully awake to appreciate the way his muscles are outlined by the material.

“He’s been looking at you like that since you walked in. You know for a jedi there’s a lot you don't notice.” Fives whispered in your ear.  Before finishing a drink you hadn't even seen him pick up.  You turned back to make a sarcastic comment (one of your lesser appreciated skills) when Tup shouted:

“Hey captain come have a drink with us!” Your eyes widened as Fives starts a laugh that sounded more like a witches cackle than anything else. And just as you were able to formulate an escape plan you feel a presence behind you. 

“Well, correct me if i’m wrong but that doesn't look like Jedi approved clothing.” Rex mumbled to you. And your brain worked double time to think of a fantastic comeback. 

“It’s for when I go undercover.” -nailed it. Rex raises an eyebrow, with a half smile, he still hasn't taken his eyes off of you. 

It happened again that night, or maybe it didn't ever stop. But you’d had enough drinks to feel less shy. And as the hours passed by you ended up all in a both, you in the middle while the boys sang a song they apparently learned on Kamino. But the underlying message suggests that they most certainly did not. You’d been leaning on Fives for a while oblivious to Rex’s glare until he’d come over and yanked you into the squishy cushion with him. One arm sneaks around your shoulders and you can smell the whiskey on him, on you? Eh who cares anyways.

“Ibac'ner cyar'ika” Rex was whispering, you weren't sure what any of it meant, but given his tone you didn't really care. Anything to keep his voice that deep and smooth and close to you.

“What does that mean?” you asked, your mando’a was coming along, but you didn't know nearly enough. 

“Mesh'la.” He said, tracing the collar of your dress, still staring at you. And of course the second you both lean that little bit closer, Hardcase still his drink on you.  

You’re in the medbay, the incessant beeping tells you that much. You think it’s maybe because you and Ventress got into a bit of a disagreement. She wanted to kill you and you very much didn't want to be killed. All things considered, you're impressed. All she managed to do was graze your side. 

“Kix?” you ask as your vision adjusts to the clone by your bedside. But it’s not Kix at all.

Rex is still wearing all his armour, except his helmet is on the floor. He’s covered in mud, blood, and who knows what else. His hand rests on his gun, and his head is slumped over. He’s asleep. A pang of longing hits you, he looks so delicate right now, and it’s at that moment you realize how in love with that stupidly loyal, stuck up, serious commander you really are. 

“Starin’s rude ya know.” he says, eyes still closed. 

“I figured I owe you a few for all those times I’ve caught you.” He hums in amusement, stretching and coming fully awake. 

“I don’t stare.” He states pointedly. 

“Oh really? What is it you do then?”You question, teasing him. 

“I appreciate.” He says. And you scoff. 

“What about me do you appreciate then?” 

“Your personality, skills as a fighter, and the fact that you are unabashedly you.” He says moving closer and taking your hands in his. “You’re stunning, impossible, and about the only person in the universe who I'd leave the republic for.” And I mean, who wouldn't kiss him after that. And it’s long overdue for the two of you anyways. It’s gentle, like you’re both afraid of feeling what you feel. But the way his lips touch yours blocks out the anxiety, the way he moves to hold you close destroys any idea that you have of ever letting him go. And when you finally break apart he smiles and says:  

“But that ass of yours sure is a bonus.” You use both hands to push him over.

[anonthenullifier]

Fic request for touristy Maximoff family? (bc Vision's 'drunk' awkwardness in Wandavision ep 2 where he apologised to a handrail, is something that I as a Brit intensely and deeply relate to, and it reminded me of them hiding out in the UK in IW which also made me v emotional- they deserved better!)

Thanks for the ask! They really did deserve better and hopefully might get some happiness at some point. I hope you enjoy their family day trip!

***

“Where are the witches?”

Vision folds the map into a square and slides it back into his fanny pack, nonchalance embedded in the action  “Oh, there are no witches.”

This isn’t what Billy wants to hear, “You said this is Witch House.”

“I did, yes.”

The conversation circles back around, “Then where are the witches?”

“Well technically there were never any true witches here in the first place.” Billy stares at Vision, betrayal drooping his mouth down into a deep and unforgiving frown. A history lesson isn’t going to save the moment, and yet her husband tries, determined to share the two weeks worth of research he’s conducted since they decided on the trip. “It is called Witch House because it was owned by Judge Jonathon Corwin who presided over some of the witch trials. Now, though some like to say witchcraft was rampant at the time, it in fact was -”

“But I wanted witches.” This is true, it was Billy’s only request—spooky witches to be precise. “You said there’d be witches.”

Tommy isn’t fully invested in the trip, having voted to go to an amusement park for their fall get-away, but he never passes up an opportunity to pile onto a complaint. “Yeah, where are the witches, dad?”

“Salem has far greater historical value than just the witch trials.” Not a smart tactic, which Vision realizes as soon as he says it, face scrunching up at the misstep while the gears in his eyes rotate furiously to the left signifying he’s attempting to figure out how to regain their confidence. “Um, from my understanding there may be some modern day witches in the village who provide tours and demonstrations. We can stop by once we have seen everything.”

This earns some consideration from their ten year olds. “Real witches or like herbal tea witches?”

Tommy piggybacks on his brother’s question, “Will they turn Billy into a frog?”

“No one is being transformed into an amphibian,” Vision reassures them.

“Lame.” Only a half hour in and the L word is out in the open, a new record for the Maximoffs.

Wanda rolls her eyes at the rebuttal and studies the building in front of them, a foreboding tiered facade with black wood trim that would fit right into a horror movie. Briefly she wonders if it was always black or if that was added to enhance the supernatural identity the town developed once they realized the tourism potential of their sordid past. If ominousness is what sells here, she knows how to reclaim their trip. “Vizh,” her husband meets her gaze,the exasperation of parenthood making him seem particularly desperate for her thoughts, “There was at least one witch you can tell them about.” Confusion crinkles his brow, “Agatha.”

Realization dawns, as if he had blocked out all memories of dear old Agatha. “Ah yes Agatha Harkness.” The name falters on his lips, uncertainty making residence in his body with the wringing of his hands.  “I am not sure they are old enough to hear about-“

“You owe us a witch, dad.” Tommy is very dedicated now, a grave frown on his face and an arm wrapped tenderly around his twin’s shoulders. “Billy deserves a witch.”

Vision folds, shoulders inching down in submission of their desires. “Agatha Harkness,” it is not that they have had bad experiences, per se, with Agatha, but she always intersects with their lives at moments of both wonderful highs and crippling lows, which is why Vision seems to weigh her name so heavily. “You will not see the name Agatha Harkness in any of the books about Salem.” Wanda can feel Vision mentally shut the books of information he’d acquired for the day. “She was a witch, a real one and very powerful as well as very old.”

“How old?” Billy’s eyes are shining at the change in tone for the trip. “Like ancient?”

“Positively ancient.” An enormous grin erupts on Billy’s face, while Tommy stands unusually rapt. “There are accounts of her presence all the way back to 10,500 BC, there are even rumors she was involved in the lost city of Atl-”

A cloyingly sweet and chipper “Excuse me,” breaks the story and the atmosphere. The voice belongs to a short, blonde haired woman in a puffy vest and flannel shirt, “I couldn’t help but overhear your tour and was hoping we could join.” The we is a man a few years older than the woman, his gray mustache thick enough to hide whatever his feelings are about the request.

Vision’s lips part and then close a few times, hand half raised as he processes the intrusion. “Oh um, this is a uh private tour,” a nervous, placating smile tries to shoo away the couple. It doesn’t work, neither does his, “Terribly sorry for the confusion.”

Typically on their trips people come up to them because they are Avengers, but Wanda doesn’t detect the same motivation from the couple, neither seeming to actually recognize them. The husband appears a bit concerned about Vision’s appearance while the wife assumes it is for show, “Oh well, you just seem dressed the part, you little devil,” Wanda tries not to laugh, something Tommy fails at, chuckling at the way the comment wilts his father further. Whoever this woman is ignores the reaction, soldiering on ahead as if it is her job to get what she wants. “And you are giving this beautiful family such a lovely tour. We’d love to join in.”

Vision weighs his response, eyes first surveying the very clearly matching sweatshirts they are wearing, this year’s travel theme the Maximoff Bunch. Each of them has a navy sweatshirt with Cambria font declaring their role-- Vision’s sweatshirt (that is real clothing, not molecularly manipulated so that he has a keepsake from their trip) is emblazoned with Papa-ya, their less than thrilled 10 year olds are sporting ones labeled Bil(ly)berry and Tommy-rillo, and Wanda’s deviates a bit with Mom-osa, Vision crushed to not find a fruit close enough to mom to complete the bunch. This should be enough to convince this woman that they are all a family and not a tour group...and yet she just keeps smiling sweetly at Vision until he gives in. “We’re happy to pay.”

Now Vision turns towards Wanda, searching for a response or a rescue. She doesn’t get a chance to help, Tommy speaking up first, “Fifty a person fair?”  

“Thomas I do not-”

“Completely fair.”

The glare from Vision assures their son that they are going to talk about this on the ride home, Tommy’s impulsivity almost always at odds with Vision’s desire for control and planning.

Vision turns towards the couple, hands clasped tightly in a sign that another apology is on it’s way but it is stopped by Billy recentering their attention to what is most important. “How can Agatha be so old?”

Faced with numerous smiling and eager faces, Vision seems to accept his newfound role with a deep, soundless sigh, “Well, she is a very powerful witch, one who even survived the Salem Witch Trials.”

“No way!”

“Very much so. Let us return to 10,500 BC first.” Now that he is free to regale them with history, albeit seasoned with a heaping amount of occult, Vision finds his element. They learn about how Agatha came to be in Salem, about the Witch House and the judge who dwelled there, of the frenzy that occurred in people pointing fingers at anyone who was suspicious or merely disliked. The boys are enraptured listening to the tales of injustice and prejudice and, as they move from the Witch House to the hill on which many witches were burned at the stake, their little tour group increases in size, a trail of eight people joining on.

Surprisingly her husband takes it all in stride, welcoming each new person and asking their name. What really seems to excite Vision is when their crew asks questions. One of the newbies stops him during his soliloquy on what behaviors were deemed witchy. “Is it true that witches danced naked?”

Vision’s charm is on full display, lips cocked to the side as he shakes his head at the idiocy of the past, “Merely a salacious rumor because titillation is more convincing than honesty.”

A voice from the back of the group declares, “That’s because history is written by lonely men.”

Without missing a beat, her husband nods appreciatively at the running commentary from this particular guest, “A very astute observation, Taiyah, yet again. Now let’s turn our attention back to the Court of Oyer and Terminer.”

As the tour keeps moving through the harrowed landmarks, Billy is at the front, always just to the side of Vision, soaking in every word of information. Tommy, on the other hand, oscillates between the front and the back, eventually deciding to stick with Wanda. “This is starting to get a bit lame.”

“Your father and brother are having fun.”

His annoyed sigh seeks companionship, which she won’t give because she’s enjoying herself as well. “It’s just so much talking.” It is more than Tommy is ever willing to listen to, his mind and body always seconds, if not hours, ahead of them all. “Where’s the excitement?”

Sweeping the environment is a key aspect of missions and right now Wanda has assessed that the majority of the group are crowded around a tree, listening to the story of how Agatha supported parts of the trials out of a need to cull the weaker witches and remove her competition, it is a dark aspect of the tour, barely a sound existing to interfere with Vision’s explanation of the witch’s intentions. “Watch this.” Tommy stares at Wanda as she lifts her hand, scarlet undulating around her fingers, and then she flicks a finger, the tree trembling mightily despite no breeze to speak of. Several people gasp, one woman screams, and instantly Vision locks eyes with her, not one to ever be deceived by her influence. She expects irritation at disrupting his story, but instead there’s a little spark of mischief in his swirling irises, an almost imperceptible uptick to the left corner of his mouth that takes all her energy not to go and enjoy.

“Don’t you all tell us not to do that?” Tommy’s voice is bated, eager to figure out if their limits on use of powers in public is about to be lessened.

“No one goes on a witch tour without hoping for a little bit of magic.” The shit eating grin on his face is almost a perfect replica of Pietro’s and one she can’t help but mirror. “Just watch and learn.”

***

By the time they reach the Witch Village, the agreed upon conclusion of their tour, Vision can’t get a word in edgewise, the entire group riled up, swapping observations of the branches that moved without wind, the sense of dread that engulfed their minds at the guilty verdict of Agatha, or the heat they felt when the pyre was verbally lit. It’s this sense of awe that makes not a single person listen to Vision’s insistent, “Sorry, please, I do not want your money. Please, keep it for yourselves.” Instead of listening to him, everyone shoves their payment into the cup that Tommy so helpfully procured from the concession stand nearby.

Once all the people are gone, it is just the Maximoffs once again.  “Was that sufficient in witches?”

Billy’s enthusiastic nods sends his hair bobbing with glee. “So awesome.”

“I have a question,” this comes from Tommy, who has already bought an ice cream cone with their earnings, the swirl of chocolate and vanilla towering up from his fist, “would we have been considered witches back then?”

“Well,” Vision’s arm snakes around her waist, pulling her until their hips are touching, the pride in his voice wrapping her even more snugly with his affection, “your mother already is a stunning one.”

“Gross.”

“And I no doubt would be viewed as inherently supernatural and thus evil,” something that is said with levity instead of the usual depths of despair that accompanies Vision’s grapple with humanity. “The two of you would also be suspect, simply from your parentage but also, well-”

“So the answer is yes?”  Vision concedes with a nod. “Great, wanna go take a picture in the arm thingies over there?” They follow the ice cream cone as it points them towards a small square where people are taking turns putting their heads and hands through the holes.

“That would be a pillory,” Vision helpfully defines, but neither of their sons are listening, having already taken off to join the line for the photo op.

Wanda takes their brief solitude to encircle his waist with her arm, squeezing him tight and kissing his shoulder. “You have fun?”

His arm moves to rest along her shoulders, “Surprisingly yes, it was a bit exhilarating to have a truly captive audience.”

Wanda hugs him tighter, “Good.” Billy and Tommy wave them over, only ten people now ahead of them in line. They look so carefree, jostling each other with whatever it is they are bickering about now, their happiness with the day unashamedly stitched into every movement. Given who they are, Wanda is glad they are alive now and not during a time of greater hatred. Which brings her mind back to the woman who made the tripa success. “Vizh?”

“Hmm?”

“When do you think we should let them meet Agatha?”

They stop, Vision sometimes unable to think and walk at the same time, and the toil in his mind is palpable even without her powers. “I believe,” he too takes in their sons, a fluttering smile on his lips the longer he stares, “it might be best she remains a story for a little bit longer.”

[magicalmarauder]

Growing Pains

Pairing: Peter Mendes x Reader (Mendes Triplet AU) 

Words: 4.3k +

Summary: You’ve grown up with the Mendes Triplets. They are your very best friends, there for every up and down of each other’s lives. What happens when you and Peter start dating? How will that affect the dynamic between the four of you? 

Warnings; Slight language! 

A/N: I’ve been obsessed with the Mendes Triplets AU recently and thought I’d give my own a try! Let me know what you think and if you’d like to see any more of this AU from me! 

You had grown up with the Mendes boys for most of your life. In fact, you couldn’t recall a time when they had not been there. For every birthday party, graduation, heartbreak, family drama, and so on they had been right by your side and you by theirs. Your friendship had withstood the test of time, your bond proving to be unbreakable. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

However, as time had gone on and you had all grown up and gotten older, feelings had changed and relationships had shifted slightly. Specifically, between yourself and the youngest triplet, Peter. The two of you had always had a special bond with you being closer with him than the other two. Your childhood together had been riddled with adventures of you both sneaking out late at night to have stakeouts in your tree house, confiding your deepest fears and secrets to one another, and comforting each other through every difficult moment and every heartbreak.

He had been there when your very first relationship had blown up in your face, leaving your heart shattered. Although Peter, Raul, and Shawn had never been a fan of the boy, they had all been there with open arms and endless cuddles to help ease the ache of your very first broken heart. Nevertheless, Peter had been the one to go to every length to see you smile, to lend his shoulder for you to cry on, and to make sure that you knew how loved and special you were. Likewise, you had been there when Shawn’s career had taken off, leading the middle brother away to far-off countries for months at a time. Despite the fact that you were closer to the brothers than anyone and had a first-hand view into their relationship, you were still amazed at the depths of their bond. They had been inseparable their entire lives, never spending more than a day or two apart and then to suddenly be so far away from each other had caused a deep ache in each of their hearts, especially Peter’s. Peter had always been the more soft, sensitive one out of the three and as such, the separation had hit him harder. Honestly, without you he didn’t know how he would have made it through those first few months. Although Raul was still there and able to understand what it was he was going through, it was you who had been his anchor during that time.

It had just always been that way. They were your boys and you were their girl. But Peter had always held a special place in your heart, slightly different from that of the other two Mendes brothers. And it was something Shawn and Raul had noticed straight away both in yourself and in their youngest brother. While they held nothing but sisterly affection for you, they could see the longing and love in their brother’s eyes for you that wasn’t quite like that held for a sibling. They had never confronted Peter about it, and with his shy nature, it was something he had never felt the need to bring up, even to the two people he trusted most in this world. It had simply remained an unspoken, understood thing for years and years. Until one fateful day when you and Peter had been hanging out in your treehouse for old times sakes and feelings were blurted out, tears were shed, and lips met in a passionate, long over-due embrace.

That had been about a month ago and both you and Peter had never been happier. You had both unknowingly been holding onto these secret crushes for years, torturing yourselves over a love that you believed to be unrequited. The two of you often laughed over how stupid and oblivious you both had been and scolded each other playfully for not confessing sooner, but secretly you were content. No matter what happened, no matter the pain and heartbreak you had experienced in the past, it was all worth it if it had led to this moment, to the two of you being together as you were meant to be.

However, with that being said, the two of you had still been so nervous to come clean and open up about your relationship to his brothers. The four of you had been inseparable since you had been in diapers. You were worried how this would affect your friendship with Shawn and Raul, completely at a loss as to how they would react to this information. Nevertheless, you and Peter both knew that this was something you couldn’t keep secret. And so, the next day, you and Peter had decided to come forward at your weekly movie night.

Before pressing play once again on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, you and Peter had nervously announced that you had something to stay. Shawn and Raul had looked at each other in confusion before returning their gazes to the two of you.

Peter, anxiety spread clearly across his features, grabbed your hand to calm him down before taking a deep breath. “Y/N and I are dating,” he blurted out, squeezing his eyes shut briefly before nervously returning his gaze to the two boys before him.

Shawn and Raul had merely gaped at the two of you for a few moments, taken aback with not only the news, but how bluntly it was delivered, before both let out whoops of joy, pumping their firsts in the air.

“Fucking finally!” Raul had shouted, before delivering a quick punch to Shawn’s arm. “You owe me $20, asshole!”

“Wh-what??” You spluttered out in confusion. “You placed bets on us??”

“Well, yeah,” Shawn shrugged, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And if the two of you would have come to your senses a little sooner, I wouldn’t have lost,” he grumbled, reaching into his back pocket to pull out his wallet, and hand over Raul’s winnings.

“Oh, shut up,” Raul rolled his eyes. “You’re an international rock star. $20 isn’t going to break you. If anything, we should’ve made the bet for more.”

You and Peter merely gaped at the two boys in front of you, not expecting this reaction at all.

“C’mon, you two,” Raul scoffed, noticing your silence. “You two were so obvious! You’ve been pining after each other for I don’t know how many years now! It was only a matter of time.”

You and Peter continued to stare in silence before turning to each other, small smiles beginning to form on your faces. Yeah, looking back, you guess it was pretty obvious.

. . . . . . . . . .

Shortly after coming clean, Shawn had been whisked away for another leg of his worldwide tour and Raul’s business in the mechanic shop had picked up, leaving him with very little free time to spend with you and Peter. It was nice to have uninterrupted time with your boyfriend, especially at the beginning while you were still navigating the transition from friends to couple. However, you couldn’t help but miss your other two boys. That had been your biggest fear all those years spent pining after Peter. First, you had been concerned that his feelings for you were not reciprocated. And secondly, you were afraid, that if by whatever miracle Peter DID return your feelings, how that would affect your relationship with the other two Mendes boys.

Nonetheless, Raul finally had a free weekend from work and Shawn had just returned for a small break in his tour, leaving the four of you with your first opportunity in over a month to all hang out and catch up with one another. Truly, it would be your first time navigating this new relationship dynamic and balancing these new roles.

“Ready to go?” Peter murmured, coming up behind you and placing his hands on your shoulders softly, pulling you from your thoughts.

You smiled at his reflection in the mirror, admiring your handsome boyfriend, still slightly unbelieving that he was finally yours.

“Yeah,” you sighed, letting out a giggle when he made a funny face at you through the reflection of the mirror.

“You look beautiful,” he sighed, placing a gentle kiss on the top of your head before moving to turn you around and wrap you in his warm embrace.

You sighed in contentment, wrapping your own arms around his torso and burying your face in his strong chest, inhaling the comforting scent that was Peter.

“I love you, Peter,” you breathed, lifting your head to look him in the eye, conveying the indisputable truth of your statement with your eyes.

“I love you too, pretty girl,” he smiled before dipping his head to press a gentle kiss to your lips.

Pulling away, he offered you one more sweet smile before reaching down to grab your hand and pull you along. “C’mon, we can’t be late. Shawn and Raul were already teasing me about how they would know now that we were sucking each other’s faces off if we’re late.”

You laughed. “Well, they’re technically not wrong.”

Peter rolled his eyes but couldn’t hide the grin that broke out across his face.

“Let’s just go.”

. . . . . . . . . .

As soon as the two of you set foot in the basement of the Mendes family household, you were immediately tackled to the ground by two burly figures.

“Y/N!” They both shouted simultaneously, crushing you to themselves.

“Ok, ok, ok!” You called out. “I missed you too, but I’m about to die from lack of oxygen if you don’t let go of me!” You laughed.

The boys apologized, laughing, as they pulled you up and placed you firmly back on your feet. You couldn’t help the tears that began to well up in your eyes as you beheld the two in front of you. Your goofy, curly-haired, wonderful best friends.

“Aww, Y/N, enough of that emotional crap,” Raul grumbled good-naturedly.

“I can’t help it!” You defended. “I missed you guys!”

“Well, we missed you too,” Shawn promised, before he and Raul both pulled you into another tight hug.

“C’mon, Y/N,” Shawn stated, grabbing your hand and pulling you over to the couch. “Sit with us.”

Shawn plopped you down on the sofa, quickly taking a seat to your left while Raul immediately sat down on your other side, leaving no more space for Peter on the couch.

“Hey!” He protested, once he realized what had happened and that he would have to sit alone in the armchair. “That’s my girlfriend you’re stealing, you know?”

“Yeah, we know,” Raul rolled his eyes. “That’s exactly why we get to steal her tonight. You get her every day. We haven’t seen her in a month. We’re long overdue for some special Y/N cuddles.”

You flushed, happy that things were just as they were before with your two best friends. Although they seemed tough and strong to everyone else, you knew the truth: that they were really giant teddy bears with hearts of gold who craved touch and affection. And lucky for you, you were one of their favorite people to supply that affection.

Looking up at your boyfriend though, who was still standing in the middle of the room, you noticed that he looked less than impressed with this situation.

“It’s ok, Pete,” you murmured, doe eyes looking back up at him in an attempt to calm him. “After the movie, you and I can cuddle all you want. Shawn and Raul are right, they haven’t seen me in so long. They’re far overdue for some attention.”

Peter huffed, but stepped aside before reluctantly falling into the armchair, a small pout prominent on his lips. You smiled secretly. You knew he was trying to look put-out and upset, but really, he just looked too damn adorable.

“Alright, let’s get this show on the road!” Shawn called out, pressing play on the movie before settling down as the familiar theme music began to fill the room.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

About an hour into the film, Peter remained stoic in the same position he had first found himself in at the beginning of the movie, much to his disappointment. Looking over at the crowded sofa, a scowl overtook his expression as he saw Shawn cuddled up into your side with his head on your lap, your fingers running absently through his curls and Raul asleep on your shoulder, your head resting comfortably on top of his own.

That should be me, he thought bitterly. That’s my girlfriend, not theirs.

Sensing his heavy gaze, you turned your head to meet his eyes, offering a smile at your boyfriend. However, that smile quickly transformed to a frown when you were met by an icy look from Peter before his gaze returned steadily to the television set.

Before you could dwell on the odd reaction any longer, Raul turned his head slightly to the side as he stirred, pressing a gentle kiss to the crown of your head. Smiling at the boy by your side, you nestled yourself further into their warmth, choosing to simply enjoy being reunited with your best friends.

. . . . . . . . . . 

Once the movie was over, you tried to stretch out your limbs, but found that impossible as you were still entangled with the two giant Mendes boys. Groaning as you nudged them away from your body, you stretched out your stiff muscles before relaxing back against the sofa, the two boys immediately following your every movement and curling back into your warmth.

Peter glared daggers at the sight before him, becoming increasingly more upset that after a long week of work, he was unable to do the one thing that he had been looking forward to: cuddling up next to you and watching a movie as he reunited with his brothers. However, this night had not exactly gone as planned. Never had he imagined that he would have to sit all alone on a completely separate chair while his two brothers attached themselves to his girlfriend like needy koala bears. He was your koala bear. Him. You were supposed to be giving him your attention.

Also, Peter couldn’t handle the thoughts of insecurity and jealousy that would flit into his mind as he repeatedly glanced over at the three of you. Although he trusted his brothers, and you as well, with his life and knew none of you would ever do anything to hurt him, he couldn’t help but wonder if one day you would wake up and realize you had chosen the wrong triplet. Peter closed his eyes in frustration. Really though, why would you pick him? You could have chosen the famous rockstar or the mysterious bad boy that had girls chasing after him wherever he went. Instead, you had somehow ended up with Peter. The quiet, shy, awkward, nerdy Peter. Sometimes, Peter thought that it was just too good to be true. Most of the time, however, he was able to combat these thoughts away, reassured of your love for him by your soft touch and gentle words of love and devotion. However, it was hard to remember that right now as he had now spent the last three hours watching as you were wrapped in the arms of his brothers.

Taking a deep breath, Peter decided that he was being irrational. In an attempt to turn the night around, Peter leaned forward slightly in his chair, causing you to turn your attention over to him. “Hey, Y/N,” he murmured. “Why don’t we head out? We can grab something to eat on our way home?”

Before you could respond, Shawn piped up from beside you, throwing his arm around your shoulders and pulling you into him. “No, Pete! You guys just got here. I haven’t gotten my Y/N fix yet. Why don’t we all go out for ice cream or something?”

Raul quickly agreed and you shrugged as well, thinking that was a fair compromise. After all, you were here to hang out all together and catch up after so long. You didn’t really want to leave straight away either.

Peter, on the other hand, didn’t look as pleased with this suggestion.

“But, Y/N,” he protested. “You said we could go home and cuddle after the movie night!”

“I know, Pete,” you sighed. “But we came here to spend time with your brothers. Shawn’s going to be back on the road soon and we’re all going to be so busy with work,” you reasoned. “We can cuddle together anytime.”

Peter simply huffed in response, pulling his phone out of his pocket and dutifully ignoring the lot of you as he seemingly scrolled through his Instagram.

Shawn and Raul shared a look, using their secret triplet telepathy to communicate, something that you usually found cool, but now found obnoxious as you were left out of the loop.

Trying to ease the tension that was now heavy in the room, you sat up and directed your voice at Peter. “Why don’t we all go out for ice cream like Shawn suggested?” You began. “I’ll share with you Pete,” you sang softly, hoping that your offer would pull him out of his mood.

However, your words achieved the opposite reaction of what you had been hoping for. Peter gave a slight grunt in acknowledgement to indicate that he had heard your words, but otherwise gave no response.

Having enough of their brother’s attitude towards his girlfriend and their best friend, Shawn and Raul both stood up simultaneously, towering over their brother intimidatingly before Raul reached down and snatched the phone out of Peter’s hand.

“Hey!” Peter protested. “Give that back!”

“Not until you learn some respect, dumbass,” Raul reproached.

Peter opened his mouth in indignation, ready to contradict his brother’s words; however, Shawn landed a quick punch to his arm and continued on scolding the youngest triplet. “Raul’s right, Pete. Learn some respect. That’s not the way you treat your girl. I don’t know what your problem is, but you better get the hell over it and fast.”

You looked down, not really knowing what to say or do in response. This was definitely not a situation that you were prepared to deal with tonight.

Luckily, you didn’t have to say anything. Peter had hung his head in shame, quickly realizing what a dick he had been. Peter naturally had a very kind, sweet nature. It was usually Raul with the attitude. But Peter couldn’t help it. You made him absolutely crazy. The logic flew out of his brain around you. It was one of the things he loved and hated about being with you.

“You’re right, guys,” Peter breathed out, shame coursing through his veins. “I’m sorry.”

“We’re not the ones you need to be apologizing to,” Shawn corrected.

At that, you looked up, noticing three pairs of eyes now on you.

“We’ll give you two some privacy,” Raul offered, him and Shawn moving toward the doorway, the soft click of the door closing echoing in the silence left by their absence.

“Y/N,” Peter sighed regretfully, standing from his previous position on the armchair to make his way over towards you.

Silently, you looked up at him, eyes meeting his apologetic gaze. “I’m so sorry, Y/N, they were right. I was being a dick. You didn’t deserve that.”

“Then why did you act that way, Pete? I don’t understand. Everything was fine and then all of a sudden . . . “ you trailed off.

“I know, I know,” Peter sighed, running a hand through his curly locks. “It’s so stupid though.”

Reaching out, you took hold of his hand, squeezing softly. “If it caused you to get that upset, it’s not stupid, Peter. Just tell me. That way we can avoid a repeat in the future.”

Peter let out a breath. “I was jealous, ok?”

“What?” You questioned, taken aback, definitely not expecting that.

Peter groaned, lifting his face up to the ceiling in frustration. “See? I told you it was stupid.”

“No, baby, no,” you reassured, bringing a hand up to caress his cheek, gently bringing his face back down so you could look him in the eye. “It’s not stupid. I just don’t understand,” you explained. “You know your brothers and I are just best friends. There’s never been anything more between us. Was there something I did or said that made you think something was happening? Or . . . ?” You trailed off, still not quite seeing what had caused Peter’s jealousy.

“No, no, of course not!” Peter exclaimed. “I know there’s nothing going on between you and either of them. I know that! I trust you and I trust them. It’s just . . .” Peter struggled to get the words out. “It’s just . . . how do you know you made the right choice?”

“I’m sorry?” You questioned, flabbergasted. “Made the right choice in what?”

“In me!” He shouted, desperation flooding his voice. “You could have had either one of them. I know people talk. It doesn’t make sense to them. You’re so beautiful and kind and smart. You’re perfect! Why would you want to be with me?” His breath came heavily, panting at finally letting all these pent-up emotions flood out of him. “I’m the awkward, weird one out of the three of us. You’ve always been just as close with Shawn and Raul. Why didn’t you choose one of them?”

You stared at him in astonishment for a few moments, trying to collect your thoughts at the admission of your boyfriend, your heart breaking. You had never guessed that he felt that way.

Sighing, you scooted forward until you were practically sitting in his lap. Gently, you grabbed his face in both of your hands, forcing him to look directly at you, needing him to see the truth and importance of what you were about to tell him.

“Because they’re not you,” you stated simply.

Peter’s brows merely furrowed in response, clearly not understanding. You almost rolled your eyes. How could this sweet, beautiful boy be so completely clueless of how much you loved him?

“Because they’re not you,” you reiterated. “I love you, Peter. It has always been you,” you stated softly, leaning forward to place a gentle kiss to his nose.

“It’s true,” you continued to explain. “You’re not your brothers. You’re not musically inclined like Shawn. You don’t have that whole bad boy rep going on like Raul, but Peter, that is what makes you special. You’re you. And there’s no one else like you, baby,” you promised.  “I love you because of who you are. You’re my sweet, wonderful boyfriend. You’re the one who takes the time to listen to my day because you genuinely care about each and every detail. You’re the one who geeks out over books and can quote Star Wars by heart. You cry with me while watching those cheesy rom-coms I force you to watch and you kill spiders for me even though you’re terrified of them yourself!”

Peter let out a small chuckle at that, a lone tear escaping from the corner of his eye. Gently, you wiped it away with the pad of your thumb, stroking the soft skin of his cheek.

“You make me feel so safe and loved and special, each and every day Peter. I’ve loved you since we were kids. I’ve never had eyes for anyone else. I’m sorry if I made you doubt that tonight. It’s definitely a transition with your brothers now that we’re dating and I guess I just didn’t want your brothers to feel left out now that we’re together,” you admitted. “I’m sorry,” you apologized.

“No, no, no,” Peter shushed you, strong hands coming up to rest over your own that were still cupping his cheeks. “I’m sorry,” he stressed. “I let my insecurity get out of control and caused me to act out. You’re right, it is a transition now that the relationship roles have changed and that’s just something that we’re all going to need to adjust to. It’s going to take a bit of time, but we’ll get there. I need to get over my insecurities and my brothers need to understand also that you and I need some alone time,” he explained softly.

You nodded. “Exactly. It’s all about compromise and taking the time to learn and navigate these new dynamics.”

“I’m sorry for being an ass,” Peter apologized, smiling slightly at you.

“It’s ok,” you assured. “If the roles had been reversed, I might have been just as jealous.”

Peter smirked. “Oh, yeah? Maybe next movie night, I’ll have to cuddle up with Shawn and Raul and leave you all alone on the armchair.”

You scoffed, hitting his arm. “Oh, hell no. You three aren’t leaving me on that chair by myself. I’ll lay on top of you all if I have to!”

Peter laughed. “See? It’s no fun sitting off all alone,” Peter pouted.

You giggled. “Maybe we should all just invest in a larger sofa?” You offered.

Peter hummed in approval, leaning forward to press a lingering kiss to your temple. “Maybe we can convince Shawn to buy it,” he chuckled.

“Yo!” Two curious heads popped around the corner. “Have you two lovebirds made up yet? I wasn’t kidding about that ice cream,” Raul stated.

You laughed, standing up and pulling your boyfriend up along with you.

“Yes, you goofs, let’s go!”

The two boys cheered and Peter rolled his eyes playfully, slinging his arm around your shoulder.

“That is, if Pete’s little jealousy streak is over,” Shawn teased, wiggling his eyebrows at his brother.

“Oh, Y/N, what am I to do? My two insanely attractive brothers are just so irresistible! How could you ever resist them?”Raul imitated Peter dramatically, throwing a hand across his face.

“That’s it, you better run!” Peter called out, removing his arm from around you before sprinting off after the two laughing Mendes brothers.

Shaking your head, you followed after them. Life was certainly never dull around the Mendes triplets, but you certainly wouldn’t have it any other way.

[shadow-assassin-blix]

Nothin’ Holdin’ Me Back

Santiago “Pope” Garcia x Reader

The last of the Shawn Mendes song fics. Will be working on new set soon. Um. Let’s see. Warnings.... insecurities? I guess. 

Everything tag list: @mikeisthricedeceased​

Oscar Tag: @m-1234 

I wanna follow where she goes

I think about her and she knows it

Santi woke up to an incoming text. He smirked when he saw the name, ‘Daiquiri.’ He opened the text to see it was a message asking him to come over and that she was lonely.

He chuckled at her message. He had been seeing her for a few weeks. He had met her at a bar a while back. All she drank was frozen Daiquiris because that’s the only drink she liked. After several drinks, the both of them had stumbled back to his place. It might not have been the best experience for both of them, but the next several times certainly made up for it.

He got dressed, brushed his teeth, and after making sure he had his keys, wallet, and phone, he was gone. She lived only a couple blocks from him, so he simply walked over to her place. He had a skip in his step, as he went up the stairs to her townhouse. He knocked on the door, waiting with a smirk.

It took her a moment to answer, and she looked frazzled.

“Hi. I’m sorry. We’re… this… My home is throwing a hissy fit, and apparently wanted a pool,” She complained, glancing back toward her kitchen with a groan.

“I’m sorry. I wasted your time,” She apologized with a small sigh, looking down.

Santi sighed softly, lifting her chin back up. “Tell me what happened?”

I wanna let her take control

'Cause everytime that she gets close, yeah

Just like that, their usual get togethers became something more. Soon, he was over to help her fix random stuff. Or he saw these flowers and they reminded him of her.

She wasn’t going to complain. She enjoyed spending more time with him. He always knew how to brighten her day with small, simple gestures. She was beginning to love just seeing him randomly, and not just for sex.

Sometimes he would come over just to talk. He often has nightmares about the incident in Colombia and just wants someone who will listen without judgment. She liked that he would confide in her. It made her feel like he trusted her.

One night, it was about 3am when he called. She had gone to answer it, but he hung up before she could. She stared at her phone, after trying to call him back twice with no success. She laid gnawing on her lip in worry. She decided to just go to him.

She got up threw on some sweats and a cardigan, hopping into her car and driving over to his place. She stepped up to his house and knocked. Waiting. Soon enough he answered the door.

She looked him over, spying the sweat on his face, and how worn out he appeared.

She simply pushed past him, taking his hand into hers, once he closed the door again, and led him back to him his room. She laid down, pulling him with her, and making him lay down. He situated himself, lying on top of her, his head resting on her chest. He sighed once, before holding her to him tightly. She ran her fingers through his hair, lulling him back to sleep.

She says that she's never afraid

Just picture everybody naked

After that night, they hardly left each other’s side. Besides work, they would often have dinner with each other, or would just spend the day together on a weekend. There were some evenings where they would go and hang out with friends, but they always missed one another.

Santi was tempted to introduce her to the guys but wasn’t sure if he was ready for it. His team were his family, and he didn’t want to risk them hating each other for whatever reason. On a deeper level… was he ready for that? Was he ready for her to see him entirely? That level of commitment that he has never shown before?

It scared him a bit. He knew that he really liked her. Hell, he would even go as far say that he loved her. But did he really? He’s never known love before. He’s never been with a girl long enough to get to that point (or ever wanted to get that close).

One night, he came over and wanted to talk some things out. He forgot however, that she had her girlfriends over for a girl’s night in. So, when he knocked on the door, he wasn’t prepared for all the giggles and laughter he heard, as she opened the door.

“Santi? Hi. Why are you here baby?” She asked him with a smile, slight concern in her eyes.

“Oh. Sorry. I forgot tonight was girl’s night. I just wanted to talk about some stuff. It can… wait. I’ll let you get back to... everything,” He tried to backtrack, wincing slightly.

“Um. Before you go… would you… would you like to meet them? They seem to be under the impression that I made you up,” She mock whispered to him.

He chuckled at that, and said, “If it doesn’t bother you or them, sure. Why not?”

A few minutes later he met her three best friends who all made vague threats to castrate and murder him, if he ‘shattered their best friend’s heart.’

He figured if she was okay with him meeting her best friends, it was time for her to meet his.

She really doesn't like to wait

Not really into hesitation

A week later, she was strolling into a bar, looking for Santi and his friends. She spotted them, and quietly analyzed the group that was with him. There were 3 men, and a woman who had a small baby with her. All 3 men were tall, and well built. Two were blue eyed but one was blonde, the other brunette. The third was tan, with dark hair and eyes. He was currently making faces at the baby trying to get her to laugh.

She slowly made her way over to them, even though she felt like she was interrupting them.

Santi turned his head and spotted her, a smile breaking out on his face as he beckoned her over. She shyly walked up to him, kissing him on the cheek. He introduced to her everyone and pulled out her chair when she went to go sit next to him. He called her by her nickname Daiquiri which made her laugh a bit.

She was quiet for most of dinner, mainly because they made her nervous. She was afraid of saying something and them taking it poorly or something. She wanted them to like her; these were the most important people in his life.

Halfway through the guys got up to go play a round of pool, and she was left with Maria, Frankie’s girl, and their baby, Isobel.

“You can relax around them you know?” Maria softly tells her once they were away.

“I… I’m having a hard time doing so” She admitted, feeling slightly defeated.

“I understand. I was the same way when I first met them too. They have like a hive mind, and inside jokes that I still don’t understand. But they are all genuinely nice guys, so breathe. Loosen up,” Maria assured her, shaking her teasingly. “Here. Hold Isobel for a moment, I gotta go to the bathroom.”

Maria hands her the baby, as she stood up and the walked away. She stares at the baby concerned for a moment, gently adjusting her in her arms. She sighed softly, looking down at her. Isobel giggled at her, as she grabbed a lock of her hair.

“Oh? You like my hair? Please don’t tug on it, princess. I know. It’s very tempting, but ow,” She winced slightly as Isobel gave it a sharp tugged.

She gently untangled her hair from the teeny tiny fist with baby hulk strength. Once her hair was free, she simply just started talking to her. Isobel watched her with an odd look of awe as she spoke, and soon fell asleep in her arms. She didn’t know quite what to do, so she just stayed there, somewhat rocking her.

When Maria returned, she was pleasantly surprised to see that Isobel was asleep, and helped Daiquiri lay her gently into her baby carrier.

She looked up to see what the guys were doing and wished she hadn’t immediately. A pretty young girl, was standing next to Santi, heavily flirting with him, and he… from the looks of it… wasn’t ignoring her advances. In fact, he looked a lot like the night they first met: leaning to the side, a hand in his pocket, and a smirk on his face.

She bit her lip. She wasn’t quite sure what to do. They never really said they were exclusive. Never really spoke about what they were to one another. She looked down, not wanting to watch anymore. She just quietly pulled out some cash, to pay for her meal and tip, before quickly leaving. If she had been paying attention, she would have noticed that the girl who was over with Santi, had walked away from him, frowning.

Pulls me in enough to keep me guessing, whoa

And maybe I should stop and start confessing

Santi hadn’t realized what had happened. All he knew was after he and Frankie won their game, he looked over to where Daiquiri had been and sees she was no longer there.

Maria, however, was and she was frowning deeply at him. He made his way over to her, and asked, “Where did she go?”

“Probably home. Since you seemed to have a grand ol’ time with malibu barbie over there,” Maria informed him with slight disgust.

“Malib- what are you talking about? I told her she was too young for me, and that I had a girlfriend?” He defended.

“That’s not how it looked from here,” Maria tells him with a sigh.

“Shit. What do I do? I… I’m in love with this girl Maria,” He begged her, stressing, running a hand through his hair worriedly.

“Go. After. Her.” Maria explained slowly.

Santi nodded, quickly paying for his tab and rushing out. He was freaking out on the drive to her place. He didn’t know what to say or do to make this right. He just knew that what she saw wasn’t what it seemed.

He quickly parked in front of her house, and rushed up to the door, knocking.

He heard a slight shuffling, before the door opened slightly.

“What Santi?” She asked, her voice cracking, as she stood there, not even opening the door wide enough for him to see her.

“Can we… can we please talk? I swear. I wasn’t flirting with that girl. I was telling her I had a girl,” Santi desperately tried to plead.

She snorted lightly, not quite believing him.

“You don’t have to explain. It’s not like we…” Her voice faltered for a moment. “It’s not like we said we were exclusive. So. Technically you’re perfectly allowed to do whatever you want.”

“Baby… that’s not… that’s.. I..” He didn’t know what to say to that.

“Look. I’m tired. Um. I just want to go to bed right now. We can… talk later… or something,” She told him as she closed the door.

Confessing, yeah

'Cause if we lost our minds and we took it way too far

I know we'd be alright, I know we would be alright

A talk… that she kept avoiding. She wanted to talk to him, but then her mind would think up all the reasons why she shouldn’t bother.

‘You weren’t exclusive.’

‘This was just a friends with benefits thing.’

‘You didn’t mean anything to him.’

‘He’s known for not settling down with one chick.’

‘Why would he settle down with you?’

The last thought, in particular, was the main reason why she’s been avoiding him. She knew the moment she met him that he wasn’t the type for commitment. But for a while there, she let herself hope. She really thought that maybe he had changed.

So, she avoided his calls and texts. She avoided his knocks on her door at all hours. Some of her friends wanted to go and beat him up for hurting her. She told him to let it go, that she was the idiot who fell in love with him.

Her best friend, however, had a different thought. One night, she came over to talk.

“Okay. Imma say something. I want you to listen to me for a moment. If you truly meant nothing to him, why is he blowing up your phone left and right? Why is he trying to talk to you constantly to explain?” Amanda, her friend, questioned.

She didn’t know what to say to that.

“Go. Talk. To. Him. Let him explain fully what happened. If nothing did, then fucking move on. You are miserable, so go. To. Him,” Amanda stated firmly, pulling her to the door. “I’m locking you out of your own house, bye.”

Amanda shoved her out, and she heard the lock turn.

“I hate you!” She shouted at her through the door.

“Love you too. Go fix things with your man!” Amanda called back.

She made the awkward stroll over to Santi’s place, shivering because it was chilly out and she had no jacket.

When she stood in front of his door, she bit her lip, fidgeting with her hands.

She slowly reached up and knocked.

If you were by my side and we stumbled in the dark

I know we'd be alright, I know we would be alright

Santi… was not doing okay. He hadn’t realized it, but she had become his anchor. She grounded him when the days or nights got rough. It had only been a few days, but he was struggling. He was having a hard time sleeping.

His head jerked up when he heard the knocking. Thinking it was one of the guys, he sighed loudly, getting up from the couch and answering it.

He was surprised when he sees her there instead.

“Hi,” She whispered.

He looked her over, noticing her eyes were puffy from crying and she was slightly shivering.

“Did… did you walk over here? Honey. It’s 34 degrees out! Get inside,” He stated, pulling her in, rubbing her arms with his hands.

“Amanda. L-locked me out. T-told me to come t-talk to you finally,” She slightly stuttered out, as she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to warm up.

“Did Amanda think to check the current temperature before doing this? C’mon. C’mere.” He beckoned leading her to the couch where he threw one of the several blankets she brought over on various dates, around her shoulders.

He went into his kitchen and quickly made her a cup of hot chocolate, bringing it over to her gently. She took it from him, the warmth of the mug, immediately taking the chill from her hands. He sat next to her, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close.

It took some time, but soon enough her shivering had subsided.

“I wasn’t flirting with that chick. I swear. I almost lost that game of pool, because I kept watching you. Seeing you hold Isobel… drove me crazy. I never thought about that kind of stuff before…” He quietly explained to her.

“I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions, I should have… let you explain. I… I just… figured… you were bored of me or something…” She mumbled back, sniffling slightly.

“Nah. I… I’m crazy for you baby. I can’t imagine being with anyone else. I… I love you,” He whispered pressing a kiss to her head.

I know we'd be alright, we would be alright

Oh, I've been shaking

She felt her breath catch as he confessed that. She could feel her lip tremble and tears well up in her eyes. She wasn’t expecting that.

“You don’t have to say it back just yet. I just want you to know… you’re it for me. I don’t want anyone else. No one else can compare to you,” He said sweetly.

She bit her lip and nodding her head slightly. She slowly finished her drink and Santi set the empty cup into the sink, rinsing it out. She got up and walked over to him. She stood behind him, and slowly wrapped her arms around him, resting her face against his back.

She raised herself to her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to the small scar at his neck. She felt him shiver slightly at the sensation. He slowly turned around to her, his arms going around her waist.

“Umm. Would… would you like to stay the night?” He asked her hesitantly.

She nodded her head. She bit her lip for a moment, before going back onto her tiptoes and pressing a kiss to his lips.

He kissed her back, his hands moving down to her thighs.

“Jump,” He muttered against her lips.

She does so, and he catches her, walking the two of them up to his bedroom.

I love it when you go crazy

You take all my inhibitions

It took some time, but the two of them got back to normal routine. They had a long conversation together, which ended in him officially stating that he was hers, and she was his.

Santi realized from that conversation that meeting all of the guys, was a little intimidating. So, he tried again, but one at a time. Frankie and her immediately hit it off, especially when Isobel recognized her and got very excited.

Will was a bit more cautious but soon they were having conversation about dominos and fidget spinners and weird traps. They are now planning a whole elaborate chain reaction of dominoes.

Benny was overactive and excitable, but she got used to it fairly quickly. He was a bit like a overgrown puppy in her words.

Soon enough, they were going out with the whole group. One night, they had gone out with the whole gang and were playing a game of darts. The guys for all their military know-how, were awful. She kept laughing at all of them when they would try to go for the bullseye and failed.

Santi dared her, “You try then.”

She took the darts from him and tossed all three into the bullseye with ease.

Santi stared at her in awe, “How?”

“A lady never reveals her secrets,” She teased moving away from him.

He chased after her, grabbing her and tickling her. Her laughter was high pitched and infectious.

When she finally got over her giggles, she said something that he wasn’t expecting.

“I love you,” She said breathless.

Santi couldn’t stop smiling all night. He wasn’t sure what the future held in store for him, but he knew one thing: he had the love of his life by his side.

Baby, there's nothing holdin' me back

You take me places that tear up my reputation

Manipulate my decisions

Baby, there's nothing holdin' me back (oh whoa)

[penaltbox]

your side of the bed - roman ahcan

feedback & reblogs are always so appreciated!! if you like it, let me know your favorite line or part 😊

word count: 3k

__

You glance up from your phone, seeing the tv show playing far later at night than you needed to be awake, but not remembering a single thing that had happened during that episode or any prior. You glance over to your left and see the back of someone who had been there plenty of times now but who you still weren’t used to. 

Technically speaking he was your boyfriend. He did everything you asked, went out of his way to be sweet to you, and his mom thought the world of you. From the outside looking in you had it all and you felt like you owed him for all the good things he did for you, but something always felt missing. Something was always off. He didn’t feel like home the way Roman had. 

__

You think about the night everything fell apart more frequently than you wanted to admit. The two of you didn’t always get along but you didn’t fight every time you were together either. You were quick to butt heads on some things, but being together always had a spark that you knew you’d be chasing your whole life. 

You were out with Ro and his friends one night, trying to wind down after a long week and two tough games on their end. You’d been a little irritated that day, but you didn’t think you were super crabby. He had other thoughts though and made them known. 

“If you’re gonna have an attitude all night just go home. I don’t want to deal with it,” he says, shaking his head after you glare at some girl who had come to try and talk to the boys. 

“What are you talking about?” You ask, not realizing your face had betrayed your thoughts that way. 

He laughs a little, but there’s no humor behind it, “don’t act better than her just because you hang out with my friends now. You used to be in her position not that long ago.”

“I didn’t even do anything. What’s your problem?” You ask, your temper flaring a tad over his accusations. 

“Oh don't start with that. Why do you always have to pick a fight when I put you in your place?” He says, quickly backing you against the wall so he can keep the inevitable argument between you two. 

You lean back against it and glare up at him, knowing this tactic well. It wasn’t your first fight at the bar and sometimes you both lost your temper so he’d started corralling you to try and keep things calm. It worked sometimes, when he didn’t talk down to you like he was now, but other times the boys still picked up on the problems that would arise as your voices got louder and would usually have to intervene. 

“I’m not picking the fight. You started this!” You poke his chest, knowing it would start him up. 

He takes a deep breath before he mumbles through his teeth, “don’t fucking poke me like that.”

“Or what? What are you gonna do, Roman?”

“I’m gonna tell you to shut the fuck up and check your attitude. Why are you so goddamn crabby tonight?” He asks, his voice raising a little already. 

“I wasn’t crabby but if you keep being a dick and telling me what you think I am, it’ll change really fast,” you roll your eyes and try to push him out of your way. 

“I’m not dealing with this tonight. I’m not your babysitter,” he scoffs, but puts his hands on the wall on either side of you to keep you in front of him. 

You clench your jaw then, hating that he was pushing you around in public, “let me go. I wasn’t in a bad mood until you started being an ass and telling me I was. You won’t stand here and act like you’ve got all this power over me because you can hold me in place.”

He smirks then, like this is some game, “you never seem to complain when I hold you in place in bed.”

Your patience has worn out and his comment is ill-timed. You push his arm down and step around him, determined to go back to your drink and talk with people like you had been before he decided to unnecessarily give you a hard time. 

“I’m sick of you treating me like a little kid when we fight,” you say, looking over your shoulder at him, “why can’t you just be fucking nice to me?”

“Are you kidding me?” He asks louder than you expect, but he’s quick to glance around. A couple of the boys look over and you know you’re being watched after that outburst, “I am nice to you and it’s not fair for you to try and say that. I’m just trying to make sure everyone has a good time tonight by checking your attitude early.”

You feel your jaw tense again and you somehow cool your tone down as you explain, “I’m not a child, Roman, and I would really appreciate it if you let me be my own person rather than making sure I fit into your little group here. If you want someone that just does what you say then I’m not the girl for you.” 

Roman’s jaw drops a little at how even your tone is and how serious you sound. He’s quickly stuttering, trying to spit out an apology but you’re quicker than him. 

“I’m fucking done. I can’t deal with the bullshit that comes with you and this team anymore,” you say, a statement that would end up being so untrue but you had no clue then, “We’re done.”

You weren’t sure exactly what you expected, but suddenly Roman straightens up and shrugs his shoulders. You frown a little at the action and he seems to finally know what he wants to say. 

“Fine, go then but don’t talk to us anymore either. This isn’t your group to be friends with,” he says, his tone cold and unfamiliar. 

You glance around at the boys you’d become close with, the ones who you’d spent so much time with over the last half a year, and especially the ones you really liked. You swallow hard but know you have to play it like this doesn’t hurt. But it really fucking does. 

You look back at Roman and give him a little nod before turning and brushing past Owen who calls your name softly. You can’t look at him, your composure wavering at the sound of your name coming from him, but you swear you hear him yell something at Roman as you stay on your path out of there. 

You make your way out of the door, spilling out onto the sidewalk of Lake Street. You have to take a couple deep breaths as you try to stop the tears from falling but it doesn’t work. You turn and head towards your apartment, not having any patience to wait for an Uber. You hardly make the turn onto State Street when you hear your name called. 

This had to be a sick joke. He embarrassed you like that in front of so many people and now he wanted to chase you down and make amends? You feel the sadness start to quickly switch over to anger as you quickly turn towards the voice, tears still burning down your face. 

“What do you want?” You spit out, but you gasp right after, “Mike, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was you.”

He gives you a little smile as his hand scratches the back of his neck, “he shouldn’t have done that. He shouldn’t argue in public with you just because he thinks you were in a mood. It just makes problems for everyone.”

“Oh,” you mumble as you wipe at the tear tracks, surprised by the closest thing you’ll get to an apology for the situation, “thank you?”

Mike blushes a little and gestures randomly towards the street, “I didn’t want you to have to walk home alone either. That’s not safe.”

“You coming with me then, Vorlicky? Am I the chaperone here or is that you?” You joke, finally smiling a little. 

“Hey now,” he laughs, walking past you down the road, “you coming with, pretty, or are you just gonna cry in the street all night?” 

It’s your turn to blush then as your stomach flutters a little. You duck your head to try and hide your smile, but you quickly match his pace. It had been a long time since you flirted the way you and Mike did that night. It was light and the banter came easily. He’s good at getting your mind off the issue at hand and before you know it the late hours turn into early morning and you let him crash on your couch eventually.  

When you didn’t hear from Roman for the next week, you figured he really was over it. You’re heartbroken and you hate that it ended the way it did. You had so many questions and problems with him just giving up on you two, but Mike provided a pretty good distraction that you didn’t expect to have. 

—

You knew Roman’s friends hated you. How could they not? You had broken up with one boy and then pursued another on the team. They didn’t say anything out loud but you saw the looks you got from his group whenever you were all in the same place. 

You never brought it up though. You opted to stay quiet and take on a different approach than the first time. You didn’t get drunk around them anymore or argue loudly, even when you had an opinion on something. You kept to yourself unless one of them asked you something and you always deferred to Mike when a decision needed to be made. 

You hated every minute of it. You were a shell of what you used to be but you had yourself convinced if you just got through school then things would turn out okay eventually. You wouldn’t have to see the team anymore and you wouldn’t have the reminder of the one you’d lost staring you in the face every time you wanted to see your new boy. If he even lasted that long. 

It wasn’t like Roman was completely gone though. It wasn’t just seeing him with the guys that happened every now and then; no, there was more than that. There was still this odd level of contact that was happening and it was on purpose from you, but you weren’t sure about him. Every Instagram story was checked by one another, always being one of the first few to watch it. Neither of you had unfollowed the other on anything and you refused to take down any pictures from vsco. That didn’t set extremely well with Mike but he never said too much on it either. You couldn’t quite let go of him even though you technically had someone new. 

You stare at your bed one Saturday, silently thinking about all the nights Roman has been taking up the space, and some of yours as well. You can’t help but wonder what would have happened if you tried harder to get him back. When you look back on things you know he deserved an apology, too. You’d gotten a little out of hand and let your temper run the show. Not once did you take a step back and tell yourself to calm down for a second rather than escalating the situation. 

You know you could have done things differently but you didn’t and now you had what you had. You were stuck home on a weekend but you were more than okay to have the place to yourself for once and you were soaking in the quiet. 

You would finally get to sleep alone that night, the boys having plans to go out and you definitely didn’t get those invites anymore. As you get changed, you swap his shirt out for one of Roman’s to wear to bed that night. You know you should have gotten rid of it when you broke up but you just couldn’t do it. You knew it wasn’t right, but you stored it in the back of a drawer and only pulled it out when you knew Mike wouldn’t be around. 

You slip into bed, mind racing all over again. It was quickly nearing 2:00 in the morning and yet you couldn’t seem to slow down. You realize you’re laying on his side of the bed and you pull an extra pillow closer, hugging it tight. Your heart strings tug a little as you remember how much he used to beg to be the little spoon. You never denied it, but you did pick on him just a bit for it. 

—

“You’re too big for this,” you giggle, but do your best to wrap your arms around him. 

“No, it works! I promise,” he says, his laugh easily filling the quietness of the room with a sound you loved to hear. 

He scoots down the bed a little and wraps his arms around your waist, lifting your leg up over his hip. He finally gets comfortable and lets out a sigh as your fingers begin to run through his hair, gently massaging his head every few swipes. 

“I love that you always do this,” you admit quietly, barely above a whisper. 

He hums and keeps himself squished against you, “I’m glad you still let me. Don’t tell the boys.”

“And risk you not doing this anymore?” You ask, “not a chance.”

—

You never did tell any of the boys about it and you never would. It was too intimate of a moment, only a memory to you now, for other people to know about it. It was also something you didn’t have with Mike and you weren’t sure you ever wanted him to try. He didn’t ask for it or pull you close and bury his head in your chest like Roman would. He liked to have his hair played with but everyone pretty much does so you never saw it as a big deal. 

Sometimes you really missed having a big tough hockey player all curled up and needing some extra attention, especially once it got dark outside and you were left alone with your thoughts of how things used to be. 

You know you’re not about to fall asleep so you do what you’d been doing for the last couple months since things ended: Post a story and see what Roman would do about it. He would be the only one who would know you weren’t on your side of the bed and you wondered if he even remembered or not anymore. 

It’s a simple picture, one that someone else would glance over in an instant. The soft glow from the string lights over your bed showed the side you were on and a little slip of red fabric - his shirt - with your tv on in the background. You put a little ‘no sleep’ comment with a crying emoji and shrink it, placing it right above the spot where you can see the shirt. 

It’s all so subtle that you’re not sure he’ll even realize it but you have this feeling that you need to just post it. Your heart is hammering for some reason as you tap through the screens, posting it to your story and then making sure it uploads right away. 2:03am is what your phone tells you and you sigh, swallowing at the lump that formed suddenly from your next thought. He probably had someone else keeping his attention. They were out at the bar and some new girl probably was getting that signature smirk from him instead of you. He didn’t need to check on you anymore. 

You lay back down and get comfy all over again, still holding the pillow close like it would somehow make things feel better and make the tugging feeling in your heart go away one of these days. Your mind wanders to the last time he was in your bed and you have to shake your thoughts. 

He was gone. He wasn’t yours to miss anymore. Why couldn’t you just accept that and move on?

You feel your eyes finally getting heavy as you do anything you can to think about something, anything else but him. You’re about to doze off when your phone vibrates in your hand. You frown and lift it up, heart stopping when you see what the notification is on the screen. 

‘roman_ahcan3 sent you a message.’

You read it over and over, trying to see if you’re imagining things, but you’re not. You open your phone to pull up the message as quickly as the page will load and you’d be lying if you said the contents of it didn’t take your breath away. 

‘That’s not your side of the bed’

You have to pull yourself together and read it again. He noticed. He had taken the time to watch your story, look at it, and then send you a message. You can’t believe this played out the way you’d wanted it to.

But why now? Why did he choose this story to respond to? There had been plenty of other chances to say something or make a comment. This wasn’t the one you expected to get a reaction from. 

‘No, it’s yours’ 

It’s bold and feels too forward. You regret it immediately and consider unsending it but he reads it almost as quickly as you send it. You’re panicking now because you’re sure he’s about to tell you to knock it off or that you can’t say that anymore. But he doesn’t. 

‘Is it really mine though? Still?’

You know your response as soon as you read his questions and you type it out faster than you can even process it. Every word is honest and you know you mean what you’re saying. 

‘If you come back it is.’

[sepublic]

Luz and Eda

           I’m thinking about how Eda’s first time transforming was probably one of… if not THE most traumatic event of her life; That she’s so terrified and had her bodily autonomy violated in what sounded to be a physically painful way, turned into something she’s not, and then she turns for help and… A bunch of ADULTS, who are supposed to represent the best of society, who are meant to inspire future generations?

           They don’t help- They immediately jeer and start throwing rocks at Eda, and she runs off… Her own sister does nothing to help, and it must’ve been an incredibly humiliating experience. Who was it that first cured her? Eda’s potential friend from the Bard Track? Principal Bump?

           …Regardless. It really recontextualizes Episode 1’s ending, even moreso than The Intruder. Because again, not only was there this shock that anyone would want to willingly hang around with her, instead of going back to –what Eda presumes to be- a loving and comfortable life… But Eda no doubt sees herself as a monster and a freak because of the curse. It’s already enough expecting others to reject you because of this, especially since Eda never told King either until she got ‘outed’… But considering Eda’s first memory of becoming the Owl Beast was pain and rejection?

           Like, Eda must be TERRIFIED at the thought of transforming, because she’s already been ‘outed’ this way once and been actively hurt for it… So a part of her must be panicking at the idea of this human being around her, wanting to tell Luz to get away from her, she’ll get hurt, that it’s for her AND Luz’s sake… She’s wondering why this stranger is so endeared to her, and what could POSSIBLY be going on back home that would make Luz immediately prefer a freak like her…?

           And then add onto Luz’s hugs, which Eda doesn’t recognize, not because Lilith is a bad sister –not to say she isn’t either- and it’s just… Such an ALIEN concept to her, this idea of being acutally accepted as a person. To actually be chosen, not as a last resort, but out of an active desire to be with her… And when Eda realizes she’s transformed, she’s been outed to this human kid who clearly doesn’t realize how awful she is?

           Luz… doesn’t care. She’s more fixated on what she’s learned today, and she barely even bats an eye.

           I imagine that prior to THAT scene in The Intruder, Eda was actively holding off on being close to Luz, on teaching her, because she just knew that Luz would eventually see Eda for ‘what she really is’ and be turned off, and leave… Or Eda’s curse would be revealed, and THEN Luz would immediately book it out of there! So no point in getting close, in establishing anything meaningful…

           …But still, this human is also clearly alone, so she’s got to take care of her. And even if Luz is obviously misguided, she deserves to be treated well for such an unconditional kindness. But then seeing Luz accept Eda’s curse, continuing to stay even when there’s seemingly nothing Eda could provide by this point, as Luz learned her own way of Magic on her own… With Eda being a criminal and a monster, an active liability towards Luz?

           Luz still chooses Eda, not because she’s her last option… If anything, Eda is Luz’s first choice, amidst so many other ‘better’ options. And it just… BAFFLES Eda, but also gives her hope that maybe the life she chose for herself isn’t so worthless after all. That maybe there really IS something to it, that Eda wasn’t just lying to herself when she said that she enjoyed her current life and thought it was meaningful!

           Luz told Eda that she was a person, and one worthy of love… That she was someone to stick with in spite of the law or any other risks, because that’s how much Eda meant to her! That there was no pragmatic benefit for sticking with Eda, if anything there was nothing but risks… But Luz loved Eda and her lifestyle THAT much! Luz stuck by her side, this random human who seemingly has nothing else to gain from Eda besides Eda’s own personal charm, when her own sister prioritized her entrance into the Emperor’s Coven over looking after Eda when she first transformed… As if Lilith had rejected her for being a monster (and this was BEFORE Eda knew the culprit behind the curse)!

           Like, guys. Amidst everything else we have in Season 1, post-The Intruder, and it’s no wonder Eda is willing to throw her life for Luz, and outright treats her existence beforehand as practically meaningless until Luz came along. Luz was a chance for Eda to do things right, to help a kid succeed where she failed in being her own person, while still having friends and a proper education… Maybe Eda felt like a ‘parasite’ to society, especially with how others regarded her, as if she contributed nothing.

           But now? Eda feels like she’s contributing everything towards Luz, and she’s not necessarily treating Luz as something to vicariously project her missed youth through… Because in the end, even if Luz hadn’t succeeded where Luz had failed, Eda had fallen for his funky little human from the get-go when she chose her, when Luz decided that she LIKED Eda that much in spite of everything telling her otherwise! That dang… Eda must really be THAT good, huh?

           And… it really does continue this idea of characters who have had nothing beforehand, who have had so LITTLE prior to meeting this one person… That when this one person DOES extend grace, and make them feel like something again? Then those characters all collectively decide to dedicate their lives –to varying degrees, some more dependent than others- for this one person who makes them feel happy. And for some of them, like Eda, the idea of failing that one person who thinks highly of you, of lowering that good opinion they have of you, of not being able to live up to the very reasons that made them decide you were worthwhile… It’s terrifying. And so some do EVERYTHING to abate that kind of failure.

           Of course, Luz would never ask this of anyone. Her love is unconditional, all she wants is for those closer to her to be happy, and be their own people, by any means possible… She’d HATE to have so much power over others, and it shows! Others, though… Other characters, I have to wonder if they’re exploiting this kind of grateful dedication? Perhaps people like Emperor Belos or Mrs. Blight abuse it?

           So it says SO much to Eda, when Luz’s own life is on the line, and she prioritizes Eda’s… That Eda isn’t even in danger, Eda seemingly has NOTHING to lose here… But Luz focuses on her. And then, right THERE, Eda really understands that this kid wants nothing but good for Eda, that it isn’t a matter of figuring out what Eda provides for Luz that makes the girl stick around, and then giving that… It’s simply just wanting Eda happy.

           And at that point? Of course Eda is going to give her life for Luz. And when Luz comes back to stop the petrification, Eda has to reassure her that there’s no need to justify or make up for their relationship, that Luz doesn’t have to prove anything to Eda and ‘hold her end of the bargain’ by being the faithful surrogate daughter that allegedly made Luz so worthwhile…

          No, Eda wants Luz to know that she loves Luz for who she IS, not necessarily for the acts of kindness she gets from her –though those definitely contributed to those close feelings- and that Luz isn’t obligated to keep doing these kind acts… That really, TRULY, their love is unconditional. Luz expected nothing of Eda, so Eda expects nothing of Luz.

          Maybe Eda felt the need to make up for who she was in her relationship with Luz by giving Luz everything the girl had wanted from Eda… But it’s clear in the end that Luz doesn’t love Eda for what she gives to her, not necessarily. Real love isn’t founded on such a system of bartering and trading… So Eda tries to remind Luz that she doesn’t love the girl for what Luz has to give Eda, not necessarily. 

          By this point, Luz doesn’t owe Eda anything, and she doesn’t have to keep doing grandiose gestures for Eda just to earn more and more love… No, Luz has reached a point where all love from Eda is pure and unconditional, and always coming no matter what! Luz just being Luz and being happy is all Eda could ask for, if one wants to be technical… So Eda doesn’t need Luz to take care of her, to love her back.

          And she wants Luz to know that.