#… but then I get nervous and doN’T. but this is your friendly reminder post that if I’m following your blog…

[waitimcomingtoo]

Come See About Me

Pairing: Tom Holland x reader

Synopsis: Tom realizes he got you all wrong and slowly falls as he learns more about you during the press tour

Masterlist

“Oh shoot. I’m press with Y/n all week.” Tom said as he read an email from his team.

“Is that a bad thing?” Harry asked him.

“Not necessarily. I just don’t really know her that well. She was super reserved on set for the few days I shot with her. I wonder why they paired me with her.”

“Well, you’re the same age, right? The movie team probably just want to start romance rumors for publicity.”

“I don’t think that will happen. I barely got to know her during filming. I doubt anyone will see chemistry between us.” Tom replied. He started pacing around his hotel room and felt uncharacteristically nervous for the day ahead.

“Well for your sake, let’s hope you don’t see chemistry between you either.” Harry snorted.

“How do you mean?” Tom frowned.

“You know how messy relationships in the public eye can be. Just don’t go falling in love with this girl, okay? I do not want to watch you pine after your dark and mysterious costar.” Harry warned him.

“Psh. I won’t fall in love with her. That would never happen.” Tom scoffed and continued scrolling through his phone. He ended up on Instagram and saw that you had recently posted a photo. It was just a simple selfie in your hotel room which was probably just a few doors down from Tom’s. He found himself smiling and gave the photo a like. He may not have gotten to know you on set, but there’s no reason he couldn’t get to know you now.

“But if I did, why would that be bad?” Tom asked as he deep stalked your Instagram.

“The way I see it, there are two outcomes if you choose to pursue her. Option one is you get swept up in the excitement of promoting the movie and start reading into every little interaction between the two of you because that’s what the public is doing. So you convince yourself you’re in love with her and maybe she’ll even convince herself of the same thing. But once the press tour is over and you get to be with each other without any reason or purpose, you realize you never actually liked each other. And that’ll just end up breaking both your hearts. Even worse if only one of you realizes you never actually liked the other. God. That would be a nightmare.” Harry shivered.

“Okay.” Tom said slowly. “That was oddly specific. So what’s the other outcome?”

“You fall in love with her on this press tour and then it ends before you get a chance to tell her. So she flies off to film another movie and you’re stuck kicking yourself for not being honest with her sooner. And I’m stuck watching you whine about it.” Harry said simply.

“Or, hear me out, secret third option.” Tom proposed. “I fall for her and she falls for me and we have a great relationship. And maybe it lasts and maybe it doesn’t. But at least we gave it a shot. That could happen, right?”

“Maybe. But either way, she’s getting on a plane at the end of this press tour. And you can’t fall in love with someone who’s worlds away. Remember that.” Harry reminded him.

“I’m not gonna fall in love with her.” Tom insisted.

“Promise?” Harry asked skeptically.

“Yeah. Promise.” Tom said weakly. He looked at your picture one more time before shutting his phone off.

The next morning, Tom got into a black van that was going to take the cast to the building where the interviews were taking place. You got into the car shortly after with a huge smile on your face that Tom had never seen before. You were in a nice dress and full glam already, unintentionally earning yourself Tom’s full attention.

“Good morning.” You said enthusiastically as you sat in the seat beside him. He was slightly taken aback by how friendly you were being since he had only ever seen you being quiet and reserved.

“Oh, hello.” He smiled in surprise. “Good morning to you too, darling. How are you doing?”

“I’m really excited for today.” You admitted. “I haven’t done a big press tour like this before. I know they can be a little boring and repetitive but I can’t wait.”

“Yeah. These tours are pretty crazy. You get to see a lot of amazing places which is really cool. But you also get to answer the same question 100 times a day for a month straight. You’ll learn the highs and the lows pretty soon.”

“I’m ready for it all. But thanks for the warning. I appreciate any tips I can get.” You chuckled.

“You’re welcome. And don’t worry. You’ll get used to waking up at the crack of dawn and having a bunch of people you’ve never met poke you with makeup and hair stuff.”

“When?” You asked through a yawn. “Because I have a full face of makeup on before my brain is fully awake and it feels so very, very wrong.”

“Not soon enough.” He sighed. “I’ve learned to stay half asleep while the nice ladies apply my concealer.”

“Oh, so this complexion isn’t natural?” You teased and pointed to his face.

“Nope. You’re not the only one in full glam right now, darling.” He humored you, making you laugh.

“Careful. You don’t know if you can’t trust me yet. I might sell that piece of bad boy information to a news site and get you exposed.” You warned. It was Tom’s turn to laugh and he felt amazed that he had never seen this side of your personality before.

“I hope you don’t. I was just about to say that I’m glad I can share your first big press tour with you but now I feel we may have begun an enemies arch.”

“No. We can’t be enemies.” You whined playfully. “Because I was gonna say that I’m glad you’re here too. You always seem so relaxed and funny in interviews. I’m really hoping I don’t come off as nervous as I feel today.”

“Don’t worry. You won’t. It’ll feel just like a conversation.” He assured you. He was pleased to know you were a watcher of his interviews and wondered what else he’d uncover about you that day.

“Thank. I really appreciate you helping me with all this.”You said sincerely.

“It’s no trouble. If you have any other questions, just ask. I’ll help wherever I can.” He told you.

“Thanks, Tom.” You smiled at him. He smiled back and suddenly remembered what Harry had said the night before about not falling in love with you. Tom was just one conversation in and already struggling to keep his promise.

Once the van arrived at the building, you and Tom had makeup touch ups and were then sent into the junket room.

“Wow. I haven’t seen the poster yet.” You gasped and touched the poster with gentle fingertips. Tom watched you admiring it and smiled when he saw how proud you looked.

“You look good up there. I hope to see you on more posters.” He said and nudged you slightly.

“Like in Playboy?” You asked and looked insulted.

“What?” Tom gulped. “No, no, no. I didn’t-“

“I’m just messing with you.” You cut him off and nudged him back. He felt his hearts too racing and cracked a smile.

“You really had me for a second there, darling. I didn’t realize you had such a sense of humor. I guess I never heard you say much on set.”

“Thats because I found it hard to shake my character after filming all day. I guess I’m not used to separating that yet. I loved my character and all but I’m so glad to be done shooting her. She’s so dark and dramatic. It really affected my mood on set.” You told him as you both sat down in your chairs.

“Oh, wow. So you’re not quiet? You were just in character?”

“Quiet? I’ve never been described as quiet.” You laughed. “I was just in my emo phase on set because the material I was shooting was so dark. It bummed me out all day.”

“But you’re not bummed out today?” He asked with a coy smile.

“Fuck no. I’m ready to party.” You whispered to him just as the journalist came in. He burst out laughing at the unexpected expletive and earned himself a look from the journalist.

“Well alright then.” He chuckled.

That was the first of many times you made Tom laugh that day. The more interviews you did together, the more he learned about you and your personality. He paid attention to every anecdote and personal story you shared and was more and more fascinated each time.

When it came time for day two of the press tour, he could not wait to get back in there with you. The interviews were in the hotel that day and Tom got to the junket room first. When you got there, you handed him a hot cup of tea.

“For you.” You smiled and sat beside him. Tom looked at you curiously and you gestured for him to sip it. He took a sip and widened his eyes when he tasted it.

“This is exactly how I take my tea.” He said incredulous.

“I know. I was listening when you ordered at breakfast yesterday.” You said proudly.

“Thank you, darling. I really appreciate that.” He smiled fondly at you before taking another sip.

“Well I wanted to thank you for all your help yesterday.” You smiled shyly. “I was really nervous yesterday until we talked in the car. You made my first press day really memorable. So I did the normal courtesy of eavesdropping on you and brought you your favorite tea.”

“That was very kind of you. And you made my day yesterday a lot better than I was expecting so I should be thanking you too.”

“Then I’ll loudly tell someone else my favorite way to drink tea so that you can eavesdrop and surprise me.” You joked as the journalist walked in.

“How are you guys doing today?” The journalist asked to start the interview.

“I’m doing really well now that Y/n brought me tea.” Tom answered and took another sip.

“I’m also doing really well but because Tom didn’t bring me tea.” You said and looked at Tom to see if he found it funny.

“Why would that make you happy?” He laughed.

“Because I hate tea.” You shrugged.

“What? Don’t you know that is the worst thing you can say to an English person? And you just told me you had a favorite tea.”

“That was a joke. I actually hate tea.” You admitted.

“How can anyone hate tea?” Tom asked in exasperation.

“It’s just like hot, flavored water. I don’t understand what’s good about it. I hate soup too.“

“Soup too?” Tom gasped and pretended to clutch his petals.

“I think soup is so nasty. Why would I ever want to eat hot blended food?”

“If you hate soup and you hate tea, then what do you do when you’re sick?”

“I watch Fantastic Mr. Fox under my covers like a normal person.” You answered, making him laugh.

“This is very disturbing information to learn so early in the morning. You’ve surprised me, darling.”

“I’m sorry you had to find out like this.” You shrugged with a laugh.

The next day, Tom was pleased to see you already waiting in your chair for the interview to start. You were texting on your phone but looked up when he came into the room. Your makeup artists was touching up your lipstick so you couldn’t smile at him and opted for a wink. He found himself blushing at the wink and sat beside you.

“Morning, darling.”

“Good morning. No tea today?” You teased.

“I’ve already had my tea, for your information. I chugged it while I got my makeup done.”

You laughed but he wasn’t actually kidding about getting his makeup done. He was just happy that it made you laugh. Your makeup artists finished up and you checked your makeup in your phone camera.

“You look pretty.” Tom said before he could stop himself. You looked over at him in surprise before smiling.

“Why, thanks. So do you.” You said and shot him another wink. He blushed and looked down at his lap at the compliment.

“God, I’m gonna be thinking about lunch this entire interview.” You whispered to him.

“You didn’t eat at the craft service table?”

“I can’t eat that early in the morning.” You waved your hand. “It makes me nauseous. Now I’m wishing I did though. My kingdom for a cheese stick.”

“I hate cheese.” Tom grimaced.

“What? Even in stick form?” You asked him.

“Even in stick form.” He humored you. “And you can’t judge me because you hate the two most comforting foods on earth.”

“I’m judging you so hard right now.” You mumbled. Tom laughed as an idea came to him.

Before your next interview, Tom made a quick stop at the bakery across the street. You were already in the room waiting to start by the time he got back. He quickly fixed his hair before holding out a little brown paper bag.

“For you.” He said with a bashful smile.

“What is this?” You asked as you took the bag.

“Open it.” He said as he sat beside you. You gave him a curious look before opening the bag.

“Scone?” You gasped and looked up at him.

“Scone!” He smiled proudly.

“You got me a scone? Why?” You wondered and took the stone out of the bag.

“Because it was easier to find than a cheese stick.” He chuckled.

“I love you.” You cupped his chin before taking a bite of the scone. Tom froze and felt his face turn bright red at your words. You realized he had gone quiet and looked over at him.

“Sorry. Was it too soon to say that?” You asked with a mouthful of scone.

“I think so. Aren’t you supposed to wait three months?” He chuckled and touched a cold hand to his burning face.

“Too bad. The introduction of the scone sped up our relationship and now we’re in love.” You shrugged and took another bite. Tom laughed again and looked down at his laugh.

“So, uh, speaking of our relationship. Have you seen the way fans have been shipping us since our last few interviews hit the Internet? How weird is that?” He said and forced a laugh. He didn’t actually find it weird, he just wanted it see how you felt about the possibility of a relationship.

“I was actually deep into the fan edits last night to be perfectly honest with you.” You said through a laugh.

“Were you?” He asked in surprise.

“I was. And I heard that we’ve been secretly dating since May. Did you know that?”

“I did. I forgot to tell you. I’m sorry, darling. It must’ve slipped my mind.” He played along.

“That’s okay. I can’t be mad at you since you blessed me with a scone.”

The journalist came in once you had finished your scone and the interview began. Tom was barely paying attention to the questions and only focused on hearing your answers. He loved that he wasn’t getting to learn new things about you that he was too shy to ask.

“Unpopular opinion?” The journalist asked.

“A lot of people think cats are girls and dogs are boys but the real take here is that all seagulls are boys.”

“Woah, what? What makes all seagulls boys?” Tom asked you.

“A girl would never act like that.” You said simply, making Tom laugh.

“My unpopular opinion is that Y/n’s best movie is Look Mom, No Hands.” Tom said, making you burst out laughing.

“I know you did not just bring up my Disney Chanel original movie from when I was 11.”

“Yes I did. Because I watched it last night and I cried when you made the winning goal even after your glasses broke from the soccer ball hitting you in the face.”

“Oh my God.” You laughed. “The drama.”

“It was! The opposing team totally kicked it into your face on purpose because they knew you were the underdog. But nevertheless, she persisted. You made the winning goal and your team won the championship.”

“Wow. Way to spoil my movie from 15 years ago. And why were you even watching that?”

“Because I needed to know who I was working with everyday. It’s a part of your lore. Now that I know you’ve starred in a DCOM, I know I can trust you.”

“I was not the star. Bridget Mendler was the star. I was just the quirky best friend.” You reminded him, making Tom laugh.

“Well you were the only one I was looking at, okay darling? You were the star for me.” He said as he looked over at you. You smiled at his answer and nodded your head.

“Good answer. Favorite snack?” The journalist asked.

“Oh no. You’re gonna think I’m weird.” You smiled sheepishly.

“What? I could never, darling. What is it?” Tom asked and turned in his chair to face you.

“I put mustard on popcorn.” You grimaced.

“What the hell?” Tom’s nose scrunched in disgust.

“See! I knew you’d think I was a little freak.”

“Mustard? On popcorn? Why would anyone do that?”

“You’re thinking it’s worse than it is. Yellow mustard on lightly salted popcorn is really good, okay? Don’t knock it until you try it.”

“You’re gonna have to make it for me. Because I cannot imagine it’s good.” Tom shook his head.

“If I can get my hands on some mustard during this press tour, I will be at your door in a heartbeat.”

“It’s a date.”Tom replied, making you smile.

“It better be.” You answered, and he returned the smile.

Tom was fully in it now. Every second that he wasn’t with you, you were the only thing on his mind. You started spending your evenings together and grabbed dinner every night after your interviews. He was falling fast and getting worse and worse at hiding it. He posted a photo of the two of you that the paparazzi had taken while you were out to dinner and captioned it “I’d wait out in the cold all night just to take pictures of her too”. He tagged you and it wasn’t long before you were in his comments saying “he’s so obsessed with me it’s honestly embarrassing”. He smiled at the comment and wrote back “yes, and?” before going to bed.

The press tour was coming to an end and on the last day, Tom walked into the junket room to find only one chair in the room.

“Oh. No Y/n?” Tom asked his manager.

“Nope. Solo interviews today.” They replied. Tom faked a smile and sat in his chair. He hoped his disappointment wasn’t as obvious as it felt as he gave the interview alone. He did a few more solo interviews throughout the day and eventually got to his last one. It wasn’t long before the door opened up and you walked into the room with Tom’s water bottle.

“Hi. I’m crashing. Sorry.” You smiled sheepishly and walked into the room.

“That’s quite all right. Do you want a chair?” The journalist asked you.

“I’m good.” You smiled politely and sat on Tom’s knee. He immediately blushed and looked up at you.

“What are you doing here, darling?” Tom grinned.

“I finished early so I brought you juice.” You said and handed him the water bottle.

“What? No way.” He smiled in appreciation and opened up the water bottle to see apple juice inside.

“Juice!” You cheered.

“Juice!” He echoed. “Thank you, darling. What a nice surprise.”

“Well I had to get you back for the scone.“ You told him.

“So Tom, I have to ask about your Instagram post from yesterday. You tagged Y/n in an interesting place, Tom. Care to comment on that?” The journalist asked now that you had joined the interview.

“He tagged me there because it’s where you can usually find me.” You chuckled.

“Wait, I’m lost? Where did I tag her?” Tom asked. You and the journalist exchanged a look before you pulled out your phone to show Tom his own post from the night before. He had accidentally tagged you right on his crotch, making him turn red when he saw his mistake. And when he pieced together what you meant by what you had just said, he turned even redder.

“Oh my God. I swear, I’m just Instagram stupid. I didn’t mean to tag her there.” Tom explained.

“Yes he did. He tagged me in my location. Because that’s where I am.” You kept up the joke just to tease him.

“Where?” The journalist laughed.

“On Tom’s dick.” You shrugged. Tom covered his red face with his hands as you and the journalist laughed.

“People know that about me. If they can’t find me, they don’t ask “hey where’s Y/n?” because they already know where I am. It’s my happy place. My sanctuary. My home away from home.” You continued.

“No. No more. My mum watched these.” He playfully scolded you.

“Hey, you started this.” You reminded him.

“And I’m ending it.”

“Actually, I’m the one who has to end it. That’s all the time we have. Thanks guys.” The journalist said. The last interview was done, meaning the press tour was officially over. You stood up and adjusted your skirt before looking at Tom. He smiled softly but felt his disappointment return. The tour was over which meant today was his last day with you. He knew you’d keep in touch, but it would never be like this again, and that’s made him sad.

Instead of wallowing in his sadness, Tom did something about it. He stopped by the corner store before making his way to your hotel room. In his way there, he ran into his brother Harry. Harry took one look at the bag of popcorn in his hands and knew what was happening.

“You fell in love with her, didn’t you?” Harry snorted.

“Shut up.” Tom groaned. “I can still fire you.”

“You did the one thing you said you wouldn’t do. Now look at you. One your way to eat the most American combination of foods I have ever seen. You’re a disgrace to your homeland.”

“I couldn’t help it, okay? She made me fall for her. It’s all her fault, really. Now leave me alone. I have a girl to surprise with a disgusting snack.” Tom said and went on his way. He took a deep breath before knocking on your door. You opened your door for him and he held up his bag of supplies.

“Hey, you. What’s this?”You raised an eyebrow.

“Mustard and popcorn. You little freak.” He said with a teasing smile. Your lips curved into a smile as you stared at him.

“Get in here.” You instructed.

He went into your room and shut the door behind him as you poured the bag popcorn into two bowls. He did his best to hide his disgust as you squirt mustard over them both.

“Here. You’re gonna love this.” You said as you handed him his bowl.

“It smells like mustard.” He grimaced.

“Well, that’s 50% of the ingredients.”

“Okay. I’m doing it. I’m eating one.” He said and popped a mustard covered piece of popcorn into his mouth. You watched him as he chewed it and could tell he hated it.

“Well?” You asked.

“I’m gonna throw up.” He answered.

“Spit it out.” You laughed.

“No. You like this so I’m gonna force myself to like it too.” He said a begrudgingly swallowed the popcorn. You laughed at him but your smile slowly faded and you looked a little upset.

“What’s on your mind?” He asked you.

“I don’t know. I’m feeling kinda down tonight.” You told him.

“You are? What’s bothering you?”

“I guess I’m just sad the tours over. I don’t like when things end.” You admitted with a sad smile.

“I’m sad it’s over too. They usually exhaust me but I don’t know. I particularly enjoyed this one.” Tom replied sheepishly without meeting your eyes.

“You did?” You asked as you ate your popcorn.

“I did. Mostly because I enjoyed getting to know you.” He admitted and finally looked up at you. You smiled in surprise and scooted closer to him. Tom gulped and looked down at his lap. The tour was officially over so if he didn’t want you to get on a plane without ever knowing how he felt, he was gonna have to speak now.

“You know, before the tour started, my brother made me promise that I wasn’t gonna fall for you.” Tom admitted.

“What?” You laughed softly. “Why would he make you promise that?”

“I don’t know. He said it would only end in two ways.” Tom said and looked into your eyes with a sheepish smile.

“Which were?” You wondered.

“We get caught up in the excitement of the movie so we start a fling and then breakup when the tour ends.”

“Well that didn’t happen. So what was the other option?”

“I fall for you and never tell you. And the tour ends and you get on a plane and I regret it for the rest of my life. But I guess that option didn’t happen either since I told you.” He said as he never dropped your gaze. You stared into his eyes for a moment as you processed what he had just admitted.

“Well, what if there was a secret third option?”

“Secret third option?” Tom asked with intrigue.

“I mean, just because the tour is ending that doesn’t mean it has to be the end of you and me, does it?” You said and leaned in even closer.

“It doesn’t?” He gulped at your close proximity.

“I don’t think so. And look. You bought me food. That makes this is our first date.” You explained as you held up your bowl of popcorn.

“Well I’m happy to hear that but don’t expect a kiss with your mustard breath.” Tom mumbled out of the corner of his mouth.

“What was that?” You played along.

“I said you’re so pretty and I have a giant crush on you and want us to be together.” He said quickly.

“Much better.” You smiled and popped some popcorn into your mouth.

Tag List 🏷️

@thebookwormlife @imanativeofswlondondahling

@tom-hollands-wifey

@whatareyouhidingpeter @takenbyheartstrings

@imyourliquor-youremypoison @andreasworlsboring101

@peterparkoure

@justcallmehitgirl @jackiehollanderr

@emmamarshmellow @unbelievableholland

@sovereignparker @every-marveler-ever @undiadeestos @eridanuswave​ ​

@solarxmoonchild @canyouevencauseicant

@quaksonhehe @lovelessdagger

@thesuitelifeofafangirl @marshxx @nooneinvitedfascistbarbie

@maybemona

@alexxcorona113 @lethal-wisdom

@pandaxnienke

 @officialsimppage @peterbenjiparker @itsemohours

@freakofmusic25 @tomholland85

@olixerwxxd @leilanixx

@whereismytelephone @so-very-asleep @white-wolf1940

@spideyspeaches @hihiweezing

@mathletemadison  

@dhtomholland @insomniac-nerd-posts-things @prancerrparkerr

@hallecarey1 @adayasgeorgia @blackwidowisthebest @imawhoreforu

@ciarahollands

@nellabellaa @pinklxmonade @boogywoogywoogy

[rinneverse]

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ࿐ ˚ . DON'T YOU TRUST ME? ♡

— sampo x f!reader. updates sporadically! read on ao3 here!

୨ৎ syn. your friend, your pal, your fuck buddy—sampo koski—seems to be getting closer and closer with every heated exchange. you wonder, briefly, if there’s something more lurking under the surface of it all. you have a strict rule set in place, though: don’t catch feelings.

୨ৎ current wc. 12.4k.

୨ৎ cw. friends w/ benefits (yeah it's cliche so what), fem reader, lots of sex. alot., pining, pining, did i mention pining, sampo is a little bit of a sleazebag but we love him for who he is, modern au!belobog, alcohol mentions, sampo likes to call you pretty girl (but other pet names are mentioned too), sampo is also generally implied to be bigger than reader, each chapter comes with their own individual warnings - please make sure you read those, too!

୨ৎ love, oak! ༉‧₊˚. this series is dedicated to my wife (swe), and to all my fellow sampo likers out there. very nervous posting this since its my first series ive ever posted on here ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡ i hope it doesn't disappoint!

୨ৎ friendly reminder: minors and ageless blogs DNI !!! nsfw content ahead !!!

ㅤㅤ[ I. ] HEAVEN & BACK.

੭* ‧₊° you remember the beginning of your relationship with sampo koski, and think about where you're currently at now. sampo surprises you when he asks if you'd like to stay the night... and to your own surprise, you agree. (6.8k)

ㅤㅤ[ II. ] UNDER PRESSURE.

੭* ‧₊° you wake up and are left to ponder the repercussions of staying over at sampo’s. bad decisions are made. (5.6k)

ㅤㅤ[ III. ] EMPTY.

tba.

ㅤㅤ[ IV. ] CALL ME BACK.

tba.

ㅤㅤ[ V. ] OBSESSIVE.

tba.

ㅤㅤ[ VI. ] LOVE IS (NOT) EASY.

tba.

please don't repost on other platforms. rbs and comments are super appreciated ♡ !!

[lottielovelace]

princess — chapter two

(ghost x könig's-sister!reader)

summary: Finally you get a chance to visit Simon. You just hope he hasn't forgotten about you. (aka two people trying their best to hide how incredibly into each other they are)

originally posted on ao3 (chapter length: 1,318 words)

Rating: M

Relationships: Simon "Ghost" Riley x Reader, background platonic relationships

Ao3 Tags FOR THE FIC AS A WHOLE, bolded is for this specific chapter: Past Rape/Non-con / Rape Recovery / Male Victim of Sexual Assault / Canonical Rape/Non-con (Simon's) / First Time / Getting Together / Manchester as a setting / disclaimer: author has not been to manchester / Simon does bare-knuckle boxing as a hobby / Sparring as Flirting / wrestling as flirting / Identity Porn / Non-Explicit Sex / reader is konig's half sister / Unmasked Simon "Ghost" Riley (while on leave) / reader knows that simon is in the military but doesn't know he’s ghost / medium speed burn

this is a part of a series and a multichapter fic (Ch1, Ch2)

Author’s Note: Happy Valentine's! I did promise more Simon this time

The next day, you headed to Stuart's bright and early. You didn't want to spend any longer in your crappy hostel than you had to.

You got off the tram, walked a couple blocks, and flashed a friendly—if nervous—smile at the secretary. She returned it with an encouraging thumbs up and beckoned you to enter the training area.

Only one figure stood in the ring, his back to you. The workout garb revealed so much more than the heavy winter garments he had worn undercover in the prison.

You let the door slam behind you.

He whirled around: hair rustled, undereyes dark, sweat sheening over scarred skin. God, he was beautiful.

"Hi," your voice was breathless.

“I thought I saw you earlier,” if Simon was surprised, he didn't let his voice betray it.

“Where?” you asked, tilting your head inquisitively.

“Yesterday, on the street.”

You tried your best not to visibly wilt as you began your retreat.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Simon squinted in confusion, “What for?”

"I didn't realize you didn't want me to— and then I go barging in on your life like—"

"No, no," Simon interrupted, realizing what you were trying to stammer out. “I wasn’t avoiding you. I just—“ he tensed for a moment, conflicted as he found his words. "The only reason I didn't talk to you was I wasn’t quite sure whether you were real or not.”

Oh. Right. You knew Simon wasn’t normal, but this was a harsh reminder that he was a soldier, with all the messiness that came along with the job title. You felt so silly for forgetting. Soldiers came with body counts. Baggage. Ghosts. You knew firsthand from your brother and Horangi that it could make things, relationships, life… difficult. Worth it, but not easy.

“Does that happen often?” you kept your voice light and airy. He trusted you enough to confide this, you didn’t want him to regret the decision or fear that he'd scared you off.

“Not when I’m on the right meds. Glad to know you’re real, means I don’t need a new prescription.”

A devious smirk emerged on your face, “Only happy at that?”

“No… it’s just—“ After all your angsting over seeing him, it was nice to see someone else do the squirming for once. It was also kinda cute. There was a power in your words having this man, this killer, damn near flustered. “It’s good to see you. Really good.”

You cocked an eyebrow, “Likewise.” You approached him slowly, gently placing your hands on his forearm. "See, real as can be."

Ghost's expression remained unchanged, but his pale face flushed.

"Good. Did you come here just to see me or…"

"Or what?" you asked, curious as to his suggestion.

"Well, I am supposed to be supervising open gym. Did'ya want to spar?"

You pondered for a moment. "I wouldn't be against it."

"Any experience with hand to hand?"

You shrugged off your sweater, "I've taken a couple of self defense classes." You kept your answer purposefully vague. He didn't need to know that you'd received many a private lesson from a former ROK Special Mission Brigade member (one who wanted to ensure no harm came to his 여동생). "But not bare-knuckle boxing."

Simon chuckled lowly, "Yeah, 't's not the most practical style."

"Then why do you…"

"On the battlefield, you do what you have to to survive. Playing dirty isn't just allowed, it's required. I'm used to taking any advantage I can. It's… nice to not do that for once. To let my skills stand on their own." A wry smile. "Make sure they haven't atrophied too much." His smile dropped, "But let's not box."

"Why not? Think I can't handle it?"

"It's not… I just, I don't want to hit you." There was something in his tone that hinted that striking someone he—well, you didn't know if "loved" was the right term yet, but someone he cared about hit a little too close to home. "Let's…" he thought for a moment, "wrestle instead. Would that be alright?"

"Sure."

"Let's try starting with a simple lockup. Normally I would try to pair you with someone closer to your weight class but," he gestured at the empty room, "not really an option right now. Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."

He wasn't lying. His grip was gentle, with no force or malice behind it. Arms wrapped around each other, he offered little resistance as you twisted, catching him off guard and knocking him down.

Simon was pleasantly surprised.

"That's good," he said from the ground, still flat on his back. "Solid form."

"Beginner's luck," you responded bashfully, bending down to look at his face. The same eyes you saw at the prison stared back up at you.

Getting to his feet, Simon ordered "Another."

While a little more cautious, he still wasn't fully on alert. This was a mistake.

THWAP!

Once again, he hit the mat first.

This time, Simon stood up with a dangerous look in his eyes.

No orders this time as he wordlessly commanded you to lock up again.

His grip still wasn't entirely engaged. You assumed that he still hadn't learned his lesson. You were wrong.

He didn't try to overpower you, use his size or use his muscular advantage to force you to the ground.

He just moved, darting with a quickness unfathomable for a man of his size. You blinked, and it was your turn to hit the floor. Looking up at the ceiling, you could see Simon's shit-eating grin staring back at you. For such a quiet man, he really did have an expressive face. You wondered how that worked on the field. Maybe he mostly did stuff over the comms.

You got up carefully, a plan blooming in your mind.

"I want to go again."

Simon happily obliged you, locking up. He gave you an opening to attack. When you did nothing, he went for a repeat of the last round.

Only this time you knew better.

This time, as your body fell, you tucked and rolled: resulting in you on top, triumphant. Simon seemed a little impressed. You were about to brag when— BAM! He used your distracted state to flip you, now pinning you beneath him. You squirmed trying to get any leverage, to no avail. His weight was enough to trap you. His unmoving weight. Simon had frozen, going deathly still.

Why— oh. Oh.

Simon was the first one to break the silence.

"Do you know how to get out of this?"

"I have a guess."

"Guessing isn't good enough," he chided. "Not when somebody wants to kill you. Or—" he inhaled sharply. "Worse."

You didn't like that you couldn't see his face right now. Using Horangi's training, you strained against him as if trying to brute force your way out—only to juke him, suddenly striking the other way, and driving your elbow into the soft of his solar plexus. He fell off you with a low groan at a timbre that made you blush.

Finally you could see his face. Despite now grimacing from the pain, he also appeared to be… relaxed by it and its grounding familiarity.

"Good practice," he declared, still a little weak.

"You're a good teacher," you sat up beside him.

"I'm afraid I didn't teach you very much."

"A good partner then,. Simon's demeanor seemed to ever so slightly brighten at your words. You laughed, leaning back. "I need a shower."

He winced.

"The ones at the gym are broken."

"Shit!"

Simon raised an eyebrow as if saying that was a bit of an extreme reaction, innit?

"What's wrong?"

"The hostel I'm staying in doesn't have a shower."

Simon's nose wrinkles, "Doesn't sound like it'd smell all that pleasant."

"It really isn't."

A beat.

And Simon spoke up, voice as fragile as his hopes.

"You could come to my place."

[possibilistfanfiction]

i know you're working on it so no rush at all but i will love to read some poor unsuspecting queer person having a giant crush on cait only to be met with handsome vi, thank you!!

[rip to this queer person just trying to flirt, who wouldn't be a little overwhelmed by cait lol. a counterpart to this silly guy. on ao3.]

//

you show up early because you’re nervous; you remind yourself that you’re an impressive, competent person, a badass attorney, a great uncle, a thoughtful friend — you can do this. it helps, immediately, when there are a few other people early too, milling around the trunk of an suv, laughing and dividing gear between themselves into their packs. you don’t have any real gear yet, beyond a pair of beginner shoes and a chalk bag, mostly because you have no idea if you’ll like this hobby or not, but you’d seen one of your acquaintances post the flyer for the event in their stories, and it was free, and this year you’re pushing yourself to get outside more, to try new things, to be brave. 

you take a deep breath and then turn your car off and grab your backpack from the passenger seat. when you start to walk over to the group, a little cold in the morning and grateful you had decided to layer warmly, you breathe a little easier because they all look toward you and smile.

‘hi,’ one of them says, and she’s — unfortunately for you, but also very fortunately — kind of devastatingly beautiful: she’s tall, with sleek dark hair and bright blue eyes and a horribly charming gap in her teeth when she smiles in greeting, dressed in what you can tell are nice climbing clothes, even if you don’t know a whole lot about the sport. ‘i’m caitlyn. you’re here for the queer crush climbing clinic?’

she has an accent, clipped and proper, god help you. you get it together, though. ‘yeah. yes. i’m alé.’ you offer a hand to shake, way too formal for the situation, but she accepts it without any fuss.

‘wonderful,’ she says. ‘i can’t quite remember what gear everyone needed, but i know i packed it according to the spreadsheet. jayce —‘ she points at a handsome man with broad shoulders and a friendly grin — ‘should be able to get you fitted for a harness and a helmet if you need.’ 

you nod and jayce motions you over to the trunk, very neatly organized, and walks you through the basics of how a harness should fit, and how adjustable their new helmets are. you fight down a wave of nausea when he asks if you’d like a men’s or women’s harness, but then he just tells you that one might fit a little more comfortably than the other, and it’s up to you because there’s no significant differences overall. still, when the men’s harness feels just fine and jayce deems it to be a perfect, safe fit, you breathe a sigh of relief, and he gives you a high five. ‘i love the color of that one,’ he says, and then grabs a helmet to hand to you. ‘cait got all of these new last week; we’re really excited,’ he tells you, like it’s totally normal to just buy fifteen climbing helmets, but whatever. a queer climbing collective that has a gear library and hosts beginner outdoor clinics is definitely not something you’re going to complain about. 

you get your harness back in the bag and shoved into your backpack, and the helmet clipped to the outside, like jayce had suggested; you’re worried you’re going to have to wait awkwardly, because you kind of got here way before any of the climbers were supposed to show up, but no one seems bothered.

‘we’re going to go rig the routes,’ caitlyn says, and you can feel yourself blush just being around her. ‘jayce is going to hang out here to wait for other climbers, and then they’ll do the approach together, so you’re totally welcome to just wait here. but if you want, you can come with us while we set everything up; could be fun to see, if you’re interested.’

you — thank god — refrain from making a joke about how you’d probably follow her off a cliff, and instead nod totally normally. ‘that would be really cool. thanks.’

‘of course,’ she says, and then hands you a climbing rope with a wink that makes you, kind of just a little, want to die. ‘carry this over your shoulders if you think you can?’

you stand up straighter. ‘i definitely can.’

one of the other people waiting rolls her eyes with a little scoff, but she takes off out of the parking lot. ‘let’s go,’ she says, annoyed. ‘i wanna climb before i belay for seven million hours.’

caitlyn rolls her eyes fondly. ‘ignore her; she’s just grumpy her pack is so heavy.’

‘yeah, yeah,’ she says, then turns toward you. ‘anyway, i’m jinx.’ she points to the third member of their trio, who seems quite peaceful for this early in the morning and that full a pack. ‘this is ekko.’

he waves and takes off down the trail confidently, surefooted and relaxed. jinx follows, and caitlyn makes sure to stay close behind you. she’s quiet, probably to let you focus on the trail, which requires you, closer to where you assume you’ll be climbing, to scramble around on some rocks, using your hands. you’re a little embarrassed, because jinx and ekko hadn’t had to, but caitlyn compliments you as you approach an intimidatingly tall rock face, and you chance a look at her, cheeks slightly pink from the hike, eyes bright. 

your voice comes out a little hoarse when you say, ‘thanks,’ but she doesn’t mention it.

/

jinx and caitlyn get all set up to climb, including a little squabble about whether or not jinx actually needs a helmet which ends in her admitting a very dramatic defeat and putting one covered in stickers on while she grumbles, and ekko kicks back near you after he’s laid out some ropes and other gear. he explains that they’re going to sport, or lead, climb the routes, putting what are called quickdraws — he shows you one — in bolts that are already in the wall, and then set top rope anchors for everyone else to climb: on top rope, he says, there’s really no way anyone will fall, and, ‘cait is great at setting anchors; she knows, like, every safety thing ever invented, i’m pretty sure.’ he glances over at jinx starting to climb, already zipping up the wall, and smiles something tinged with a lot of fond devotion. ‘jinx, not so much, but she’ll be really safe for this clinic, at least. and cait will check everything anyway.’

it’s kind of amazing, to watch them do something that you know will be really hard for you, and have it look so easy. ekko explains what cait’s doing on belay that’s great technique in case jinx falls — ‘this is an easy route for her, but you never know’ — and you’re drawn by caitlyn’s careful hands, the rhythm she has feeding and taking slack with jinx as she clips into each bolt that speaks to hours and hours of doing this together. it’s not hard to tell that ekko and jinx are kind of in love, or whatever, but cait isn’t here with anyone who seems like a partner, so you still have some hope. you haven’t dated much since you transitioned, and it’s time to get back out there, according to all of your friends and your therapist, at least.

jinx finishes whatever she’s doing at the top of the route, and then cait lowers her smoothly while jinx takes each quickdraw off the rope and out of the wall. they give each other a little fist bump when she gets down, smiling happily, at ease and in their element. 

‘ekko,’ jinx calls, untying her knot and then hopping out of her climbing shoes with a grimace, not caring that she’s barefoot on the cold ground, ‘wanna belay cait on the 5.10a?’

he gives a lazy salute and gets up with a kind smile, dusts his pants off and leaves his warm jacket on the rock next to you, and walks over to caitlyn. they go over some safety checks, you surmise, and jinx sits next to you after she shrugs into ekko’s coat over her long sleeve t-shirt with a happy little sigh, and then rummages around in her bag and pulls out a to-go mug and some chips. ‘breakfast of champions,’ she says, grinning and offering you the bag, licking some fake cheese dust from her fingers, which also have some chalk residue still on them. 

you politely decline and think about all the possible conversation topics you could start, but then caitlyn begins to climb and you’re entranced: she looks like she’s dancing, easily crossing her feet sometimes, smoothly resting, putting quickdraws in, clipping in the rope, and then continuing on without any pauses, one fluid, precise motion, over and over. 

jinx notices and rolls her eyes, but there’s no malice in it. ‘she’s pretty good. but don’t ever tell her i told you that.’

you laugh, a little more in the world with it. ‘secret’s safe with me.’

‘it helps to be, like, a million feet tall with the longest legs on the planet,’ jinx points around another mouthful of chips and washes them down with a swig of coffee as as caitlyn easily navigates a far reach. ‘at least on routes like this.’

all you can do is nod, breathless, as caitlyn reaches the top, not even breathing hard, and then sets up another anchor. ekko lowers her after she calls out that she’s done, and he gives her a high-five, easy and familiar. they wave jinx over and she gets ready to belay ekko on the third route while caitlyn walks off back toward the parking lot, telling them that she’s going to go help jayce with the rest of the gear library and helping lead the approach for the rest of the group who’s arrived by now. you watch her walk away, her climbing pants just tight enough to give you an idea of what might be under them: god fucking bless.

/

it’s easy, once other people arrive, to feel like you’re all in it together: you do an ice breaker with your names and pronouns, how much climbing experience you have — you’re relieved to learn that most people have little to none, just like you — and what flavor of ice cream you’d be. there are so many trans and non-binary people, and a lot of people of color, and you can tell that, even if the climbing itself might be a little scary, it’s a good space to be in: you’re already grateful for it. then caitlyn goes through a bunch of the basics: a figure 8 knot, the way they rigged top rope anchors, how the belay device, called a grigri, works, and what grade each route is, from easiest to most challenging, so that everyone has a good understanding and feels as safe as possible. it’s thoughtful, and organized, and kind, and it only makes your giant crush even worse. you sit with a few people, too intimidated to go first once everyone actually gets to start trying it out.

after a few people go, though, the route caitlyn is belaying is open, and you decide that you can fucking do it: you’re brave and you’re strong and she grins when you walk over, your climbing shoes already hurting your feet and your heart beating hard.

things are fine, totally cool and you’re so chill and normal, but then you struggle tying the knot. 

‘do you mind if i help?’ she asks, and you shake your head, gesture for her to go for it. suddenly you’re hit with her perfume and her shiny her hair is, how close her face is, her thing, dextrous fingers very, very close to your body as she explains each step and guides the rope through the loops properly. you have to clear your throat when she finishes, which is mortifying, but she just smiles and shows you that her grigri is locked and loaded properly. ‘you can start whenever you feel comfortable,’ she says. ‘i’ll keep it tight, so that you’ll be super safe.’

you will your brain to ignore i’ll keep it tight and instead struggle, so hard, even at the beginning of the route. it’s a little embarrassing, especially since this is the easiest route, one jinx had climbed in, like, a minute, doing a ton more than you, but then caitlyn shouts some encouragement, and helps you with some suggestions when you get stuck, unsure what to do at a certain point in the route. you make it almost all the way to the top anchor before you get a little freaked out and ask to be lowered down. caitlyn smiles so genuinely — her tooth gap on display again — and the sun hits her face just right, and it’s kind of like the proudest moment in your life.

‘great job, alé,’ she compliments, and you thank her, your voice as steady as you can will it to be. 

/

eventually, caitlyn gets to take a break and, just your luck, sits in a camp chair jayce had set up right next to you. she stretches her feet out, legs crossed elegantly, and rifles through jinx’s gigantic backpack which is, apparently, full of snacks, before pulling out some trailmix and offering you some. you take a handful and thank her.

‘how are you enjoying the day so far?’ she asks, and you can tell she’s genuinely invested. 

‘it’s really awesome,’ you answer honestly. ‘i’m trying to spend more time outdoors and move my body more, so this is super cool. climbing always seemed like such a hard thing to get into.’

she frowns in understanding. ‘it can be. that’s why i started this collective, with jayce, a few years ago. taking out the cost of gear and having experienced climbers volunteer has, at least as far as i can tell, helped a lot of people get into it.’

‘well, i for one can definitely say that i want to keep learning more.’

she perks up, pleased. ‘we host meetups at some gyms, too. if you ever need a free guest pass, you can dm us on the account and we can get you set up. gym climbing is a lot less stuff, at least. and no hike there.’

she laughs at her own joke, and you’re glad you’re sitting down because you’re a little weak at the knees from it all: the lilt of her accent and the tune of her laugh and her perfect skin, the way her practical fleece stretches across her chest and then, when she takes it off, the set of her shoulders and arms, dainty but so strong at the same time. you force yourself to ask questions about her life — she’s a doctor and she works in public health, which makes her a good person, let alone a hot person — and she seems honestly invested when you tell her about your legal work on tenants rights. it’s not a first date, obviously, but you kind of maybe think it might feel a little like one. it’s easy to enjoy her company, but then jinx calls to you and asks if you’d like to climb again, and it would be silly if you didn’t, especially after caitlyn pats your shoulder encouragingly. you make it to the top of this one, and you hear jinx and caitlyn cheering you on, and the weather has warmed up in the sun. 

/

things are going great until they’re really not. it’s not that anything happens, really, at least nothing scary or bad, but you’d talked on and off for hours with caitlyn and you were working up the courage to ask if she maybe wanted to grab a late lunch after this, since it seems like the group is kind of winding down. but then a new person shows up, an adorable, blocky-headed pitbull training behind her closely, his mouth open in the best puppy smile. she’s seemingly a little harried but with gives a big, genuine smile when jinx grins and shoots a finger gun in her direction. ekko calls out a hello from where he’s belaying, and jayce sighs in relief.

‘vi!’ he says, and the new person sets her pack down and waves. ‘thank god. cait says you’re gonna clean everything?’

’sure am. i really am sorry i couldn’t be here for the whole morning.’

he waves the thought off. ‘i’m just glad you could make it, even though you didn’t have to come after a shift, you know.’

vi shrugs, then stretches her arms over her head. her shirt rides up a little, and you see abs and a trail of hair up toward her belly button, and you’re just kind of sitting in admiration until it all comes crashing down. caitlyn finishes lowering a climber and then gets off belay and walks — or, more aptly, saunters — over to vi, who grins like she’s watching the sun rise after the longest winter night. 

‘hello, darling,’ caitlyn says, and then leans in to kiss vi quickly. your heart sinks as vi gently touches caitlyn’s waist, at the hip just over her harness. 

‘hey,’ she says, her voice a little rough around the edges. ‘sorry i’m late. how’s the day gone?’

‘splendidly, i think,’ caitlyn says, happy and at ease. ‘and don’t apologize, i told you that you didn’t have to come at all.’

‘yeah, but i wanted to.’

‘well,’ caitlyn says softly, ‘i’m glad you’re here.’

you sigh in disappointment, a little stormy, before jinx plops down next to you with a laugh; it might be even more mortifying that someone had noticed how down bad you were. ‘don’t worry,’ she says, ‘cait is annoying as fuck, actually. vi is my sister, so i’ve had to put up with this shit for years.’ the dog wanders over to her happily, putting his big, dirty paws on her chest while she laughs and lets him kiss her face and greets him with nonsense baby talk he seems to love. it soothes things a little, when he snuffles at your leg and looks at you with his big eyes, asking for a scratch behind the ears. ‘this is their dog, atlas.’

it’s an alright consolation, you guess, to have had a beautiful day outside with cool new friends and what you think could become a great new hobby, and to get to hang out with the friendliest dog you’ve ever met; it’s not the worst, you’ll admit, to watch vi, who takes her shirt off to reveal scars across her chest and scattered around her stomach, and then a muscular back and arms covered in gorgeous tattoos, climb the routes easily to, as jinx tells you, clean the anchors, when everyone declares themselves too tired to climb any longer. 

you all pack out and get back to the parking lot soon after, the hike back feeling easy after you’d done so much; vi loads some gear into a cool vintage bronco, letting atlas hop into the back seat before helping caitlyn finish loading everything into her subaru. ‘see you at home?’ she asks.

caitlyn brushes back vi’s short, messy hair from her forehead for a moment, tender, and vi sinks into the touch. ‘drive safe.’

vi backs up and then salutes with a grin. ‘always do.’

caitlyn rolls her eyes and waves to vi, then waves to you too as you head off to your car. you got a few people’s numbers, so that you can try out the gyms they climb at and maybe go to a few meetups together: you tried something new, and you were brave, just like you’d set out to be. 

[igotanidea]

First choice : Jason Todd x fem!reader

Summary: you don;t know what you have until it's (almost) gone.

A/N: this is lightly based on one particular scene from "little women". If you watched it, you'll know.

Warnings: usual Jason ones - swearing and a bit of angst. Apart from that fluff.

***

„Don’t leave with him.”

„I’m sorry?”

“Don’t. Leave. With. him.”

“And why exactly shouldn’t I?” Y/n crossed her arms over her chest, putting down the t-shirt she was folding before packing it into the suitcase. She was supposed to leave Gotham. Most probably – for good.

And she was not doing this alone.

She was about to go with Tom, the guy she met a couple months ago at work. At first, there was nothing but friendly feeling between them, but he clearly wanted more. So once he got a promotion and was posted to the branch of the company, he went as far as asking the CEO to second Y/N with him. And that got the girl slowly falling for Tom as well and convinced her to give him a chance. Since then, they have been on a couple dates and shared some innocent kisses but this acquaintance was promising. Finally Y/N found someone who would treat her right, who would give her peace, unlike the bats. Of course she loved all the Waynes , but it was a nervous lifestyle and it was slowly taking toll on her health.  

And that’s how Y/N ended up picking up her clothes, getting ready to take off and leave everyone and everything behind.

Leaving Jason.

“Why Jace?” she repeated scanning his face “Tom likes me and I like him. Maybe we can work things out between us. Shit, I hope we work things out, cause he might be my only chance for getting in a good relationship.”

“That is bullshit!” Jason exclaimed “You know that! That fucker is doing nothing more than encircling you like a prey! You mean nothing to him.”

“How dare you?!” she took a few steps towards him raising hand, almost slapping him across the face but stopping in the last second. “Nah.” Her eyes flashed “that’s what you want, isn’t it? You play your games, you want to mess with my head. Well, it’s not gonna work.”

“You’re gonna die out of boredom with him.  He doesn’t know a single thing about you. For your last birthday he bought you a ticket to the rap show! You hate rap! And one time he took to the restaurant with sea food, which you are allergic to! He’s ordinary! And you know you need thrill! You need night actions! You need working with Babs, with bats, with Red. That’s who you are. ” Before she could move away he grabbed her wrist in an iron clad  grip. “

“Let go of me.” She hissed warningly

“No.”

“I said…. Let. Go. Of. Me.”

“And I said no.” their eyes met and this war of nerves and tensed gazes made them both shiver. It was like a lightning between them. The question was, who was going to give in first. “I can’t do that……” he whispered

“Why?!” she cried out “Why are you trying to destroy my only chance for happiness?!”

“Your …. Only chance? Fuck! Y/N are you serious!?”

“YES! For God’s sake, you do nothing but cause havoc! It’s been like that for our whole life!” she yanked free of his hold and moved a few steps back.

“You deserve someone better!”

“Huh. Really? Someone like you, Jason? Someone who will give my heart attacks every night? Someone who will make me worried and creating scenarios of getting hurt, injured, captured or killed? Someone who will ignore me, cut me out, won’t talk to me, keep me in the dark?”

“Princess.”

“Stop calling me that….” She sobbed and started punching his chest. “Why can’t you just let go?”

“You know why….”

“You are being mean. This is not fair!”

“How am I  being unfair here?!” he shouted “ME? How can you even say that? I’ve spend half of my life loving you and yet, I’ve always been a second choice for you! How do you think that feels?!”

“What…..? But….?” She stuttered but now he was on the roll.

“Let me remind you. You were 20 when the first guy broke your heart and …..”

“You broke my heart first!”

“What…..?” now it was his turn to stutter

“I cried at your funeral, Jason! I mourned you after you got buried! I was in deep depression for months. Don’t you think that leaves a scar?!”

“But I came back. I came back to you!”

“It doesn’t mean anything!  It’s in the past. It’s too late. And don’t say you care, cause you are just acting selfish, as always.”

‘No. No princess. This is not how this Is gonna go. If you need a memory refresher, here we go. When your first boyfriend broke your heart, who was it that hold you, hugged you and did not let go for the whole night you were crying on the couch? Who was there for you? Say it!”

“You were.”

“Yes. And then the next day you were just acting like nothing happened. You run back to him the second he called to apologize. Don’t you think that hurt me?”

“Jace….”

“And every other time when you were broken, scared, worried, shaking in fear or pain who was there for you? Who picked up the pieces? And even then you were always looking up to Dick! My freaking brother! Tell me something, Y/N” he came closer, and she had no way to run, cornered, “why am I always second best for you? Why?”

“Fuck!” she yelled and without any hesitation pushed herself into him locking his lips, letting all the anger, passion and craving for him out. At first he was taken aback, a bit, and the first thought that came to his mind was that he was going to end up alone and played by her again, but the way her body aligned with his, so damn close, so damn perfect got him crumbling. Out of instinct, he took a step forward, trapping her between the wall and his body, grasping her neck and tangling hand in her soft hair, the other gripping her hip pulling her closer. “you were never….” She gasped pulling for air “you were never second….. fuck, Jason.” Y/N fisted his jacket with a mix of anger and frustration.

“Don’t leave with him” he begged caressing her back, desperate to keep her with him, desperate enough to swallow his pride and get on his knees “I don’t want  you to leave. Please Y/N. Stay. Stay with me.” He nudged her nose with his, mouth hanging open, brushing over hers, so damn close,  wanting nothing but to kiss her again, but at the same time unable to.

‘I’m tired of playing games, Jace…..” she whispered closing her eyes.

“This is not a game, you know it….”

“Then say it. Say it to prove it to me.”

“I love you. I’ve always loved you. But I was so scared of this feeling. For so fucking long.”

“And now….?”

“Now I want you. If you’ll take me…’ he couldn’t hide that pleading tone in his voice. He was begging her to want him, to need him.  So desperate to not be tossed away like a used cloth, to not be forgotten and abandoned, not again. He begged her to love him back.

“I will.” Tears started falling down her cheeks. “I…. I will….I love you too, Jace…..” She sobbed and her whole body shook because of that. “But….” She swallowed hard and took a sharp inhale “Promise me you won’t hurt me. Promise me you won’t break my heart. Promise me you’ll love me right and won’t hide things from me….. please….I don’t want to be hurt again…..”

“Oh, baby….” He wrapped his strong arms around her, engulfing her in his warmth, hiding his own tear-stained face in her hair, kissing her head repeatedly. Only now he realized that they were both equally broken, life in Gotham and their past making them so similar. They were both scared of being alone, unloved. Having that belief that all life would offer them was scraps. “I swear. I swear to you……” he struggled to say those words because of the lump in his throat. ”you are my first choice too….” Jason added and her arms tightened around his waist. “will you stay now?”

“Yes….” She pulled back and looked into his eyes, filled with hope, relief, love and care, just like hers. “I’ll deal with tom later, but now… can you just hold me like this more? I need this. I need you.”

“You have me, baby. I’m yours. And don’t worry about a thing. I’ll take care of the man who wanted to take you away from me…..”

“I seriously hope that’s not a death threat, Red.” She laughed lightly and it was the prettiest sound Jason ever heard.

“Can’t make any promises on that…..”

[melicious-compliance]

Uh, hi. This is my blog. You can be here, if you wanna. If you want a lot of reblogs on your dash, you can follow @melicious-compliance-reblogs.

DNI: younger than 13 (breaking tumblr TOS), nsfw/kink, radqueer, abdl, ddlg + variants, ageplayers and petplayers (“sfw” or not), anti-endo (and syscourse in general), anti-agere/anti-petre, people who can’t disagree with things and not be hateful — And if I don’t like you, I’ll just block you.

While I’m not uncomfortable with minors interacting, keep in mind that I am an adult and neither our life nor our regression is perfect, and we might post about that sometimes. More on that in the My Stuff section.

It’s kinda hard for me to be online consistently, so please be patient with me if I don’t respond to things right away.

If you wanna be friends, please just send an ask! If you get nervous doing things without structure, just say: “Hi! Nice to meet you! My name’s [your name].” Anon asks are on, so you can sign the ask with a sideblog’s url, or use some other sign-off if you want. I’m not gonna judge.

My People

I have a little! I am proud to be called Mama by my sweet, most adorable little princess @tiny-petal-princess. And we have a caregiver, the amazing and dependable @yourstarryknight. I also have a wonderful girlfriend, @valeries-starry-dream! My host has her own sideblog, @itty-bitty-bunbun. Vae loves talking to people and making friends!

About Me

My name’s Mel. That’s kinda important to say, I guess. I think I use she/he. I don’t know a lot about who I am as a person, so I list it here. To remind myself, I guess.

I’m a member of a system, but I’m not gonna say which one. If you know, please don’t say anything about it. I’m also a subsystem myself, so… yeah.

We collectively struggle with depression, anxiety, and hypersexuality.

I’m kinda goth/emo, I guess. I’m not sure what the difference is…? But like, only in aesthetic. I wanna be cute and act cute, and I think dark/black stuff is cute.

Collectively, I am a caregiver-leaning flip. Technically. Melody is a little, and the rest (I think) are caregivers.

I’m quite stubborn, but uh, easily flustered too.

I want to be seen and heard. I want to be known. I want to exist.

I’m also a recovering addict. I’m not gonna say what from, not in my pinned post, at least.

My Stuff

This will most likely be an agere-based blog, as well as just a personal blog. I’d like to have a life and make friends and stuff.

I can’t promise that what I’ll post is always gonna be child-friendly, since life is a mess sometimes. That stuff will be tagged #melinoe’s mess so filter that if you don’t want to see that! This is not an NSFW blog. I think there is a fair distinction between NSFW and not child-friendly. I am an adult, and I’d like to talk about adult things in a respectful manner.

Our Facets

We all use the same names. But, we will tag our posts when it’s relevant. They will be tagged as:

#🧡🖤 - Melinoe, less kid-liking, more adult. (22)

#🧡🤍 - Melissa, pious, very pure. (22)

#🧡🩶 - Melanie, pretty chill, likes kids. (18)

#🧡💖 - Melody, little. (2-5)

Other Tags

#hosting posting - Stuff I post for my host.

#yappint - Original posts.

#still yappint - Self-reblogs, when I add something to it.

#i thought i had a reblog tag - Reblogs where I’m talking to people.

#going forward going back fic - The ISAT agere fic my host and I write.

Taken Anon Sign-offs

🦝 | 🌿☁️

[melodygatesauthor]

Weekly Update - 06/18/2023

As a reminder, I do weekly updates. You can see the original post here for details on what will be in these!

Updates Below the Cut:

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Long/Chaptered Fic Updates

A Bit Dodgy - There WILL be an update tomorrow! 06/19/2023. We have chapter 13 incoming! (Will be out later in the day than usual because I haven't had time to edit. Sorry!)

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Mini-series Updates

Blue = should be posted this week

Pink = In progress actively (working on but will not be posted this week)

Red = Backburner Fic (not working on this week - will work on a later date)

The Fractured Moon - currently working on These Fractured Knights (TFM Bonus Chapters) 🫣😏 - No new updates this week though.

Feeling You Can't Fight is DEFINITELY coming out this week on Wednesday! (I know I said that last week but this week I mean it!) I was hoping to post it last week but I didn’t get around to editing it! My goal will be to put out a chapter a week for the next 6 weeks for this one (fingers crossed - will post more often if I finish the chapters sooner than that) but we will see!

Summary

You are the new staff manager for the National Art Gallery in London, replacing the prior manager who you'd heard was unpleasant to work for...and that was putting it kindly.

When you meet the nervous, but friendly, gift shop clerk, you can't help but fall for him almost immediately. When it becomes clear that you can't shake this desire to give Steven everything he deserves and more, you can only hope that he feels the same way about you in return.

It WILL include the other two boys as well. - Coming this week

Working on a secret series based on a series of artwork done by an artist in the community. Hoping to have that out this week! - Coming out the week of 06/25/2023 I hope!

Not a Doctor - I’ve been asked by a few people, and I personally have been considering it for a while, doing a part 2 to this fic! It won’t be coming out this week, but it’s in the works! (Still in the planning stages)

Worth the Risk - taking a small step back from this for now. It’s not at the top of my inspiration list so I’m moving it down the line temporarily. - will work on a later date

The Good Doctors - idea by @burnincrown - Dr. Marc Spector - It's going to be a long time in the works, and it will probably replace TFM when that one is done. In development - Work on it a different week

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Requests Updates

As a reminder, once these requests are finished, my requests will be closed for good. You can see the post explaining that here. Thank you again for the support and understanding!

If your request is in blue, that means I'm going to try to work on it this week (06/18-06/25). If it's in pink, I'm going to try to work on it a different week. It's taking me a while to get into the headspace for some of them so thank you for your patience. Green means it's scheduled for release!

Moon Boys X f!Reader by @simpforbritgents

Asking for something like Feeling Flustered where the moon boys are doing guided phone sex.

Moon Boys X f!Reader by @mercuryrosesixx

Moon Boys w/ a f!Reader w/ nipple piercings. - Release Date: 06/20/2023

Marc Spector X f!Reader by @blueflowerhat

Marc shower sex based on AI prompt.

Nathan Bateman X f!Reader by @campingwiththecharmings

This is the prompt that hit me like a Nathan-shaped mac truck! -> “if you don’t like my teasing why are you moaning”

Nathan Bateman X f!Reader by Anon

Cam girl reader x Nathan - Nathan turns to a cam girl, he's been kinda stalking her. (Excited hehe)

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That's all for now guys! I love you all and thank you so much for all the support you continue to give no matter what. You're amazing <3

[xeymol]

Woah new pinned post jumpscare.

Hello I’m pie, you can call me whatever you want tbh. pie, xey, xeymol, weird void cup, whatever as long as it’s not mean i don’t care lmao

(Used to be known as SoggyMuppet)

Commission sheet

Some important information about me:

- i am EXTREMELY nervous and shy so I apologize if I tend to be awkward with any interactions with anyone

- I may be shy but I don’t mind getting asks, I actually kinda love getting them wither it be answering actual questions or getting doodle requests

- I absolutely love and adore making gifts for people especially if I consider them a friend so gifts for others should be a fairly common sight

- I tend to go for long periods of time without posting, it’s not because I feel I need a break or because I have artblock (may possibly be the case at some point actually) but it happens because I just have a genuinely hard time getting my ideas on paper

- if you ever want to send an ask but your Nervous or I seem scary please know I’m quite harmless and I don’t mind getting asks, it may take me awhile to respond but do know It’s nothing against you and I either just haven’t checked my notifications yet or I’m just taking awhile to type my answer (possibly also drawing something to go with it)

- I am extremely apologetic so I apologize if that gets annoying, I’m just a strong overthinker and I get overwhelmed by it easily which leads to me apologizing a lot for very small thingys

- unreasonably anxious and overly sensitive, if your going to be rude to me please at least be straight up, I can’t tell if or when someone is being jokingly mean and that causes me to overthink and become stressed

- I am very forgetful, some things leave my head instantly so I need to be reminded of things multiple times

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Random Info:

- my persona is some sort of Eldritch creature made of void with a cup for their head, their name is granola

- I absolutely ADORE birds, I can’t draw them for shit but I love seeing pictures of them

- I am not funny. my humor is absolutely horrible, I try to stay family friendly on here but an adult joke might slip sometimes, though I do cuss a lot so I guess I’m not very family friendly💀

- I genuinely do not make sense half the time and when I do it’s either weird or concerning, I’ll say shit like “holy shit Freddy fazbear in portal 2 real not clickbait?!?!?!?!“ or “will skin you alive then boogie on your corpse” and other strange shit, I have something wrong with me

- I have horrible grammar and spelling, autocorrect loves to fuck me over so I’m sorry if a sentence ever comes out wrong on accident

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

My main interests right now are:

- space

- horror/body horror

- making strange critters

- a few of my personal projects

- don’t starve/don’t starve together

- regretevator

- Roblox pressure

- animal crossing

- POKEMON‼️

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

I usually make fanart for whatever fandom I’m in at the moment but there’s a rare chance I may share if stuff and or original story’s I’m working on, most of what I post is doodles but there is a rare case of fully rendered art. I might post kinda gorey or body horror and genuinely just spooky art one day and if I do I’ll definitely put a warning and try my best to tag it properly, I enjoy making sorta cutesy silly shitposts most the time and I tend to get sorta extreme with my facial expressions lol. I’ve been drawing for technically all my life really, I’m not the best but I’m very devoted to art and designing characters and story’s, my art tends to have heavy shading and overall a sort of dark atmosphere and that’s just due to my immense love for horror and spooky vibes

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anyways that’s all I have for now, I’ll add to this if I ever have anything more I feel I should add

Goodbye for now, hope you have a lovely day/evening/night💕

___________________________________________________________________________________________________Commission status: currently open🙏

[hyungseos-cafe]

warnings: mentions of scabs

genre: the boyz 98 line as tattoo buddies

word count: 626

Juyeon- 

Super hyped the week before the tattoo, but loses his mind the day before and the day of. The week before he’d be like “Okay, so you know I’m getting vines that wrap around my forearm, right? The winding vines represent the trials and tribulations of life and the leaves represent what you learn from them. That’s deep, right? Or is it too deep?” Then the day before Juyeon calls you on the phone, breathing heavily “HOLY SHIT YOU NEED TO OPEN THE FRONT DOOR! I’M SLEEPING OVER I’M SO NERVOUS” 

Before the tattoo, he covers his arm in topical numbing cream while chugging a gallon of pineapple juice.

“Juyeon, you don’t need to drink all that juice for one tattoo”

“No, but you don’t get it, I'm getting a tattoo on my forearm! It’s painful!”

During the tattoo, this poor boy nearly gets kicked out of the shop from asking his artists so many questions, he needs to know everything about getting his tattoo and aftercare. What he doesn’t know is the scabbing and how freaking itchy it can get. 

Kevin- 

Have you seen how many tattoos he has? The day of the appointment, he’d show up with snacks, headphones and his finn plushy all ready to go! 

“Here, I packed you some extra snacks!” he almost yells in excitement while shoving said snacks into your arms. 

During the appointment, he’d be making friendly conversation with the artist, asking them about their tattoos and how they began their career because he was intrigued.  

Post tattoo Kevin is an absolute sweetheart and kind along with feeling the post high of getting fresh ink while alsohaving the looming thought of wanting another. 

“Here, make sure to keep your tattoo clean and wash it twice a day with non-scented soap! Oh and don’t go swimming with it and keep it out of the sun!” 

“Got it Kevin, thanks” 

Chanhee- 

Chanhee would be so calm and schedule an appointment for the two of you, asking the shop if bringing extra supplies was okay. By extra supplies, he means snacks, blankets if it gets cold and plushies for emotional support. 

He would ask the artist if it was okay for him to sit by you while they were working on you. He would hold your hand the entire time, sharing stories of the other boys, specifically that one time in a drunken rage, Changmin bit everyone.  

“Hey, look at me, it’s okay. You’re doing so well” 

He’d squeeze your hand reassuringly while looking into your eyes. 

After the tattoo, he’d treat you out to ice cream for sitting through the pain of getting a tattoo 

“Make sure to wash your tattoo okay! Remember to take off the bandage once the four hours is over okay? I’ll remind you” 

And yes, Chanhee texted and called to remind you to take off the bandage and wash the tattoo. 

Changmin- 

404 Error! Changmin not found. 

“Changmin, come on! You promised you’d get a tattoo with me!”

“I made no such promises”

“Fine, i’ll just go ask Kevin”

“Wait no! Fine I’ll go with you” 

Poor boy is a nervous wreck on the way to the shop and nearly shits himself during his session. So much so that the artist asks you to check on him, he was so pale, like dangerously pale and on the verge of tears. 

After the tattoo, he turns into a puppy and is all clingy, like the annoying type of clingy, not the cute clingy like the weird drunk friend clingy. 

“Let’s go home and watch movies, come on, doesn’t a movie sound good right now?” 

The next day, he challenges you and asks if you want another one, only for you to recall the tantrum he threw the day before.

[icelordofwinterandwendigos]

So I was abit nervous to write this but I decided to do it anyway

So to let everyone know before I say my say

I am a asexual transman I have nothing against the LGBTQ community and fully support it so don’t go around saying I’m a homophobe or anything

And I don’t judge for people for ships even ones I hate cause I know I can’t change their opinion but I thought I should say it

So personally in my opinion I been noticing people in the LMK fandom getting abit to obsessed with the shadowpeach ship

To let me explain the shadowpeach shippers are getting abit out of hand cause I notice when they found out canonically in a earlier verison of JTTW wukong had a wife named princess jiaozi they were freaking out upset and keep saying macaque is jiaozi

It was kinda ehh but I pay no attention then I notice a toxic shadowpeach shipper attacked one of my favorite artist for Shipping themselves with macaque and saying and I quote “it’s wukong and macaque not you and macaque stop uploading videos of that kind”

And I seen a lot of people having drama over this ship

And it personally made me cause to make this post cause this to me is getting abit out of hand and it feels like error x ink ship from undertale (despite ink being canonically aroace and error hating his guts)

So I don’t know to say this but I wanna explain abit how shadowpeach won’t work cause ( I personally want to make sure no one goes and calls me a homophobe or ran the pits of hell upon me)

AGAIN this is just my opinion if you ship shadowpeach then alright go ahead I know I can’t change your mind but as long as your not being a toxic fan it will be fine

To start the first one reason why it won’t work for the most obvious

Wukong is already married to jiaozi now before you say “well where is she in the show? Or in the book?” It’s because she was in a Earlier verison of journey to the west before the one we know and from what I know it’s REALLY hard to get their hands on the older verison of jttw But she does exist

Besides Lmk only ever mentioned the Buddha and I personally think they won’t show him cause there was only one mention him and he was never seen again same goes with gaunyin

For the second one

It would personally be toxic now yes it seems they did make up but me personally I wouldn’t want to date or marry the guy who killed me by using his staff as a baseball bat and blame me for getting him stuck into a mountain and then when I come back to life I am blind in one eye

And I don’t want to date the guy who attacked my master and trying to take over my mountain and then ATE MY SUBJECTS while trying to pretend to be me and later tried to kill me and my student and later hunt us down for us to be killed by a crazy bone winter witch

And for the last

They call themselves sworn brothers not before you say anything to me when someone has a relationship with the word brother father mother sister aunt uncle in the sentence I automatically think they are family

So seeing them being in a relationship makes it sick to my stomach and plus they do act like slibings Hell wukong even called the two of them Monkey bros (abit out of topic but as he said that it reminded of me of the Mario brothers) but anyways you can see what I’m going with

Now I believe you can ship whatever you want as long as it isn’t toxic or harmful as long your just having fun then good

But please don’t force your ships upon people and to not ingore the character could be in a canon relationship let’s not turn monkie kid into a toxic place let’s don’t this become the next undertale fandom or anything let’s turn this into a fun community with friendly and respectful fans who knows how to draw the line at

Now I hope you all have a good day and think you hearing what I say

[hphmmatthewluther]

Bringing Good Tidings, Part 2: Childermass Goes Awry

Here's my first part of this collab between me and @endlessly-cursed ! Apologies for the slight delay! Continuing from her last post, we rejoin Lachlann and Henriette as strange goings-on begin to threaten the holiday...

(Featuring ocs from @endlessly-cursed , @camillejeaneshphm , and @that-scouse-wizard )

The next few days passed with much merriment from those in attendance, though Lachlann continued to worry about the nagging feeling that he was about to be caught off guard by something. As he mingled with the other guests, he was able to pass off any of his nervous glances as “Serf’s Intuition”, which always got a polite laugh from the other guests. But, of course, there was one person he couldn’t keep it hidden from. His wife, Mathilde, looked up at him in a way that only someone who’d studied his entire biology to know how best to poison him could know.

“What is it?” she asked at one point late on the 27th of December, the children already in bed by now (if not asleep, at least in their bedroom). “Is it about the Lord of Misrule business in a couple of days? I doubt you of all people would find it too humiliating, you always have been quite good at dismissing any funny looks.”

“It’s not that.” Lachlann said bluntly, shaking his head for a moment before shuffling closer. “And it’s not even about who that Lord of Misrule is going to be…if anything, I wish that were the explanation…”

“But it’s not, is it?” Mathilde raised an eyebrow at her husband. “You don’t get nervous when dealing with Betwixt. More…mildly irritated.”

“Can you blame me? They cursed our bloodline because of what happened back then…and whenever it comes up I try to tell them how I tried to find another way, but…”

Mathilde placed her hand on his shoulder. “You really can be quite stubborn sometimes. It would take a miracle to get Betwixt to like you, so I suggest moving on. Even they’ve learnt to do that, from what I’ve heard.”

“Oh yeah, that Spaniard woman they married. I honestly can’t believe they settled down after the strop they pulled when Hen- what?”

Mathilde pointed to the woman standing in the door, who had a friendly smile on her face as if recognising Lachlann’s utter embarrassment. “You are somewhat right, Lam.” Henriette began, walking forward and sitting down with the other two. “Betwixt never was one for mortal traditions…or monogamy. Still, they took the time they needed, met a nice immortal, and now they’ve got a family. In fact, I hear that Lady Sancha is expecting her 4th child, hence why Betwixt is only coming for one day.”

“Oh, how lovely for them!” Mathilde exclaimed, Lachlann detecting no amount of her normal snark. “The child must be due soon, in that case.”

“Quite soon, I imagine so, yes.” Henriette confirmed. “Seeing them will be a wonderful change from the routine of these feasts…not to mention tomorrow.”

“Don’t remind me.” Mathilde chuckled, looking over at the corridor that led to their children’s room. “How do your children deal with it? I think Caitílin is just about growing out of being fully terrified by it now, like Sam and Simone are, and Fèlix is still too young to fully understand what’s happening, bless him.”

Henriette smiled as Mathilde recounted their children. “I’d say it’s the same with us, yes. It’s always interesting to see who tries to act all tough and unafraid and who still voices their fears. Speaking of, we ought to get our sleep if we want to be ready for the Mass tomorrow. Still, it’s only for one day. How bad could it be?”

Lachlann bit his tongue and refused to comment on how dangerous it was to ask questions like that. “I suppose we’ll see. Goodnight, Henriette.”

Henriette made her way back to her room, where her husband Frederick was already sleeping. She didn’t blame him, considering how restless the children could get during Childermass. She laid down next to him, shuffling close. As she closed her eyes, she found herself thinking about Lachlann and Mathilde. To say they weren’t a traditional couple was something of an understatement, after all, he was a former serf and she was a former assassin who’d been tasked with killing him. They talked and acted like all the other couples in attendance, of course, but then there were moments when they’d mention what happened during the Mage Wars, and it was obvious how it had given them such a different perspective. They seemed almost untouchable, seeing as most other nobles were terrified of this new clan, too afraid to try to interfere with their matters. This was where Henriette’s mind settled as she drifted off: that her role in maintaining a noble family was one thing, but to get one started was an entirely different beast.

***

The morning silence was broken by the sounds of bickering from the next room. Lachlann leant forward, gently moving Mathilde’s arm from his side, giving her a brief kiss on the forehead. “I’ll handle it, darling.”

Mathilde hummed in relief, trailing her hand down his chest as she settled back in the bed. “Bless you, Lam.” she whispered, Lachlann smiling for a moment before getting dressed and heading out into the other room. Inside, he instinctively took a head count of his children. Caitílin, the oldest, was currently trying to force Fèlix, still very much an infant, into the arms of Sam, the second oldest. Simone, meanwhile, the second youngest, was seemingly content to watch this play out. Lachlann took a seat next to her, waiting for the others to notice him.

“Morning, Daddy.” Simone said, smiling up at him in that way all siblings do when they’re the one not in trouble.

“Morning, sweetie. What’s all the fuss about?” Lachlann whispered back. Simone simply chuckled and pointed to the others.

“It’ll be good for you!”

“I have no clue what I’m doing!”

“Time to learn, then! You’re inheriting the Line, after all.”

“Line, Line!” Fèlix laughed, clearly enjoying the rocking motion, before looking up and seeing “Daddy!”

Caitílin and Sam looked up and finally noticed their father, both stepping back leaving Fèlix staggering in the middle for a moment before Lachlann caught him, picking him up and holding him.

“All up and early, I see. Cait, didn’t your mother say it was your job today to look after your brother?”

“But why? If I’m not inheriting the Line, surely I shouldn’t have those responsibilities!” She said, sounding out the longer words in a way that suggested they weren’t originally hers.

“But I don’t know how to do all of it!” Sam pleaded.

“Neither do I, but you have to do it anyway.” Caitílin said, as if that ended the matter, her face dropping when she saw Lachlann’s expression, which made it very clear that it didn’t.

Lachlann cleared his throat. “Here, Sam. I’d like you to take your brother over to your mother’s room and she’ll get you something to eat. Simone can help you. Can you do that for me?” 

Sam thought out the process in his head, before nodding. “Yep! I can do that!” Simone looked over and nodded as well.

“Excellent. Now, Caitílin, out here please.” Lachlann said, pointing to the balcony overlooking the snow-covered fields. The youngest three Doherty children looked at each other, shrugged, and left the two in the room. 

They walked over to the balcony, Caitílin sighing as she leant against the wall. “I’m the only one who can see over the wall, the others need me to lift them up.” she said, proudly.

Lachlann smiled at her, before looking out over the fields. “Cait, where’d you hear about all this line stuff?”

She shrugged, tracing a pattern in the snow that had fallen onto the very edge of the wall. “Dunno. One of the other children at the feasts was talking about how since he’s the oldest and a man he gets to inherit the Line of his family.”

Lachlann nodded, understanding perfectly. “And you thought that meant we’d be giving this “Line” to Sam instead.”

Caitílin looked up at him. “Well, aren’t you?! You need a strong line to keep the family going, and that means choosing someone suitable. Well, I’m far more capable at most things than Sam, and I actually want to do it!”

Lachlann shook his head. “Cait, you do realise what a Line is, right? It’s a continued legacy going all the way back through noble families, all the history and betrayal and fighting.” He traced a line in the snow, all along the windowsill. Then, at one end of the line, he put a very tiny dot.  “We…don’t really have a Line yet. Your mother and I are the first Dohertys. That’s what you and Sam have been bickering about.”

Caitílin leant over, staring at the little dot in the snow. “...That’s our Line? That’s all it is.”

Lachlann nodded. “Pretty much, yeah. Not so important now, right?”

She shrugged, leaning back from the wall. “I guess not. Can we get breakfast?”

He smiled, taking his daughter by the hand. “Of course. Come on, let’s go and find the others.”

They left the room only to hear more yelling from the others, though this time it was not bickering.

“Mum, Dad! Look! It’s the Lord of Misrule!” came the yelling.

“On Childermass?” Caitílin asked, confused. Lachlann, however, looked more afraid. 

“Cait…don’t let go of my hand.”

***

For Henriette and Frederick, the morning seemed oddly quiet. She’d been expecting more arguments between Juliana and Denefigu. But no, there was nothing. At least not until there was a loud knocking at the door. Frederick shuffled in his sleep, clearly assuming it was one of the kids, but it was far too heavy for that. Henriette moved out of bed and got dressed quickly before opening the door, seeing someone who definitely was not one of her children. They were dressed in an incredibly odd costume, consisting of a large green overcoat, matching stockings, a bright gold and silver-covered shirt, and an olive wreath wrapped around a large jester-like hat. It could only be the Lord of Misrule, and that meant…

“Betwixt?” Henriette asked, surprised, watching them breathing heavily as if they had run all the way here. 

The Monarch of the Changelings looked up at her, nodding. “A-Apologies…M-Merry Christmas, I…I wish I could say I’m here early for a good reason.”

“I’ll say. It’s Childermass, you know, the day when all the kids are hiding, hoping Herod’s ghost doesn’t come back and get them.” Henriette explained.

“Yes, that’s what I mean.” Betwixt said. “But that’s Catholic tradition. While that and the Fae sometimes are intertwined…and by that I mean they stole from us and our worshippers….sometimes there are differences. Childermass is one of them, and it means that we have to go now.”

Henriette nodded, suddenly aware of how deafening the silence was. “Explain, Betwixt. If something has happened to my children…”

“Your children will be fine, I’m sure…provided we hurry and deal with this as quickly as we can and get them back inside before it’s too late.” Betwixt held out their hand to her. “Come on, we’ll Apparate.”

Henriette looked back at her husband. “Darling, there’s a bit of a problem. Get dressed and meet us down there, alright?” Turning to Betwixt, they took their hand. “How’s life now you’ve settled down, then?”

Betwixt couldn’t help but smile. “It doesn’t feel like settling down, I’ll tell you that much.” With a loud crack, they were gone, as Frederick prepared to bring certain non-magical elements to the fray.

They arrived outside in the snow, Betwixt taking a moment to adjust their tall hat as they surveyed the frost-covered area. “There!” they exclaimed, pointing out at a group of children surrounding someone who was wearing identical clothes to Betwixt, albeit with a strange mask covering the face. The two set off through the snow, their path bringing them past the castle gates. As they ran past, Lachlann and Caitílin emerged. Lachlann saw Betwixt. Betwixt saw Lachlann. The two slowed as they approached each other.

“Don’t tell me you think I’m responsible for this?” Betwixt asked incredulously.

“I wasn’t sure at first. I heard the Lord of Misrule was here on Childermass of all days, and you’re dressed as him, and we all know you’re not exactly a fan of Christian traditions like these.”

“I most certainly am not, that’s true.” Betwixt said, shrugging. “But even I am not enough of a fool to mess with the bizarre magicks of the Yuletide season. However…it would seem that someone is.” They pointed over at the other Lord of Misrule. The two looked back at each other for a moment, before sharing a brief nod, sprinting towards the False Lord.

Henriette followed closely behind, finding herself next to Caitílin. The eldest Doherty looked up at her. “Merry Christmas, Lady Henriette!”

“Merry Christmas, my dear child.” Henriette responded, noticing her children near the Lord. “Though it would seem someone is conspiring to take that merriment away.”

Eventually, they arrived before the False Lord, the children looking very confused as to why there were now two Lords of Misrule. The Fake looked like they were about to say some in-character nonsense to keep the children entranced, but only managed to get out “Well, well, well-” before Lachlann and Henriette blasted them with their wands, Lachlann using a lightning spell and Henriette using an orange and red hex that burned through the air like a flame. The Fake skidded through the snow for a moment before coming to a stop.

Betwixt blinked a few times. “Hmm. I’ll have to tone down what I had planned.” they muttered to themselves. “Still, we are in luck. For a second there I thought the real Lord of Misrule was there, and…” they paused, looking around at the children. “But that couldn’t be right, because I am the real Lord of Misrule!” they began, before catching themselves. “Apologies. It is still Childermass.”

The Fake slowly got to their feet, their mask having fallen away. Lachlann squinted at the face for a moment before raising a moment. “Hang on a second…weren’t you one of the Silver Kingdom’s Royal Advisors?”

The other changeling’s face contorted until the eyes were blank and the skin pale. “I assumed you wouldn’t recognise me, seeing as you were so callous with destroying our home. I am indeed Advisor Pridestone, and do excuse me Monarch, but I thought it fitting to try and teach these insipid mortals a lesson.”

Betwixt had their hand in their arms. “Oh, god, Pridestone, this does not help matters. Firstly, I have already dealt with enacting revenge on Lord Doherty, which means you don’t need to do it, nor do you need to get Lady Henriette’s family involved too.”

Pridestone sneered at her. “She worked with those abhorrent sorcerers that sealed our Kingdom, and helped build a school on top of it!”

Henriette simply sighed. “I apologise if my actions displeased you, my good sir. But I find your method of dealing with grievances to be rather heavy-handed and crude. Not to mention unoriginal, seeing as we all heard of the fascinating tale of a Piper in Hamelin who did something rather similar.”

Pridestone floundered for a moment, their blank eyes staring daggers at Henriette. “Crude?! Unoriginal?! How dare a mortal speak to me like that, I-”

They took a step forward, but were repelled by two more volleys from Lachlann and Henriette. Pridestone went flying into the snow, landing headfirst. Before anyone could say another word, the children erupted into a chorus of cheers, crowding Lachlann and Henriette as Pridestone got up and fled the scene. Lachlann found his own children had made their way closest to him.

“Dad! That was amazing!” Sam yelled, holding Fèlix in his arms who had taken to yelling “Dad! Dad!” over and over. Lachlann picked Fèlix up, nodding at all of his children, watching as Henriette did the same to those that were hers. At this point, a crowd of the other parents were coming out too, Mathilde and Frederick at the very front. But at that moment Lachlann’s eyes were on Betwixt, and their eyes were on the trees of the area, which formed a large forest. Mist seemed to be falling in. Betwixt turned to Lachlann.

“We played right into their hands.” they said, scowling. “I told you, bad things can happen when certain magical energies mix…Let’s just hope it goes away, and we can enjoy the festivities in peace…well, relative peace.”

Caitílin tugged on Lachlann’s arm, grinning, all thoughts of inheritance and family lines forgotten. “This is the best Childermass ever! Why couldn’t we do this every year?”

Lachlann shrugged, ruffling her hair, though he had a nasty feeling that by the end of this they were about to find out why exactly that was.

[frstson]

RULES; The rules may be lengthy but they’re there for a reason: To keep you and me safe. I’ll be able to tell if you didn’t read them, but really it’s for your own good. No password to send it. Just please read them.

❖ Please don't follow me unless you actually plan to interact/write with me. I hope this doesn't come across as rude or mean but I'm kind of tired of being followed by people that never once interact with me or my posts. To me, it kind of defeats the purpose of us following each other? I'm not asking for a lot really... Just some genuine interest from both parties!

❖ I am not duplicate friendly! Again, nothing against you if you happen to write the same muse as I do. I've just had faaaaaaar too many issues in the past to the point it just makes me uncomfortable now so I will not be following you if you RP the same characters as I do. I do make exceptions for multimuse blogs as those don't give me nearly as bad anxiety compared to single-muse blogs. Again, sorry!

❖ No drama whatsoever! If you engage with this, make a habit of interacting with such things, make call-out posts, etc, then I won’t follow you and I certainly don’t want you following me. I’ve had enough of it and having things hurled my way, being dragged into some against my will, being subjected to harassment/bullying/stalking myself- I won’t stand for it. Not anymore. If you can’t settle your issues like adults privately then get away from me. I will write with who I choose, I will interact with who I choose and if you have an issue with that, then you’re more than welcome to unfollow and block as well. I’m willing to accommodate, but I will not be forced to do things I don’t want to.

❖ OCs and Canon characters are welcomed! I’m willing to RP with anyone as long as you got information regarding your muse/muses, a rules page (an about you isn’t needed but somewhere showcasing your age or mentioning you’re an adult would be ideal as well).

❖ Please don’t God Mod. Nobody likes that, so don’t do it. I control my character. You control yours. Simple right? This includes metagaming, being rude and or mean to my muse and not expecting retaliation on their part and getting upset about it, etc. You’re an adult so I’m hoping you can act like an adult!

❖ There is to be no killing or massive harm to any of the muses here. Unless we’ve talked about it prior or plotted such things out, don’t go hurting my muses. That’s god-modding and like I said, nobody likes that. Small injuries that are not fatal are okay (like smacking, hitting, throwing, etc), but anything beyond that we must discuss prior to RPing. The same goes for me as well. If I do something that does not sit well with you or I do something that seems over-powering you are more than welcome to IM me and tell me such. This is no issue. Remember: Communication is key.

❖ Don’t claim to know everything about my muses. Unless you’re a close friend or we’ve talked about it before starting, chances are you may not know much about them. This may be subject to change if you happen to be a friend of theirs, family, or enemy but otherwise don’t meta-game.

❖ Responses may be slow and take time. I suffer from a schizoaffective disorder, social anxiety as well as ADHD (inattentive type) which can be draining, and I may need to take a break from time to time. I hope that you can be understanding of this and know that sometimes I take a long time to reply. It isn’t my intention to make you wait too long. I’m an overly anxious and nervous person in general so talking to others is not my strong suit, but I’m getting better and at least trying!

❖ You’re more than welcome to poke me if you want to RP or if I owe you a reply. I am forgetful and I don’t mind reminders at all! Just don’t be a butt about it though, okay?

❖ Any IC comment post, IC status post, drabble, asks, art- WHATEVER REALLY! They’re all available to reblog or comment on! Please, that’s why they’re there for the most part. By all means, reblog or comment on them if you wish! I don’t mind and certainly encourage it!

❖ I do not do greeters. If you wish to interact with me then sending me asks, memes, liking my plotting/starters call is usually the best way to get things rolling with me! I’m also more than willing to provide my Discord if you’d like to plot things out further!

❖ If you need something specific tagged, tell me. I tend to RP NSFW themes such as gore, abuse, sex, and other triggering things. If there is something you wish for me to tag or a special tag you’ve made, then tell me and I will be more than happy to tag it. I mostly tag fairly common triggers and use the format — tw example being blood tw. Also, no. I will not RP non-con or rape-type scenes, so do not ask.

❖ I will not RP any NSFW-related things with minors. I’m an adult and I’d like to RP with other adults, thank you. If you RP a character who is under the age of 18, I still won’t RP any NSFW-related things, especially sex.

❖ Concerning shipping. This blog is multiship and each relationship occurs in different timelines/universes. Also, I based things on chemistry. I’m also open to platonic relations (such as siblings, family members, and the likes) or even poly relationships. Just ask and we’ll see what happens. Regardless, no cheating will be involved.

❖ This blog is mutually exclusive. This means I have to be following you and you have to be following me for us to write together (honestly it just makes my overly anxious brain easier to deal with if we know each other to some degree). Having said that, you’re more than welcome to send in asks to my muse but please don’t make them into threads if we’re not mutuals.

❖ I’m okay with personal blogs following me. Especially if said blogs have a side blog that may be an RP blog. If that is the case, please tell me! I have no issue with this. The only issue I do have is if you’re a personal blog, you do not reblog any of the RPs I’m doing. You may like them but do not reblog them. Notifications are wonky enough as is and personal blogs reblogging threads tend to get confusing and even upset others. Also please don’t like my starter/plot calls if you are not an RP blog as well. If you’re a personal with an RP side blog, again please let me know in some way. I’d REALLY would like it if personal blogs would not mass-like my posts if that’s possible as well. If you do this, I will block.

❖ Anon hate or harassment of any kind will not be tolerated at all. The anonymous feature is a privilege and if you misuse it, I will take it away. I’m not here to get mixed up in drama anyways. I’m here to write, have fun and explore. Refrain from any slurs or derogatory terms as well. I fully support those of the LGBTQ community (as I’m apart of it as well) and you will not face any hate here. This does not apply to muses who say such things IC as that may be how their character is portrayed. Just don’t be an asshole, alright?

[melodygatesauthor]

Weekly Update - 06/04/2023

(Just realized I forgot to post this yesterday hehe)

As a reminder, I do weekly updates. You can see the original post here for details on what will be in these!

Updates Below the Cut:

Long/Chaptered Fic Updates

Currently I'm working on A Bit Dodgy, as many of you know. There WILL be an update tomorrow! 06/05/2023. We have chapter 11 incoming!

----

Mini-series Updates

Blue = out this week

Pink = In progress actively

Red = Backburner Fic

Worth the Risk I had wanted to put out Part 3 last week but between the Pride Event and working on my celebration posts, ABD and requests, it just got to be too much! It's going to sit back for just a short bit while I finish up some stuff. - No updates this week.

The Fractured Moon I'm always chipping away at this one. I'm actually adding some adjacent parts to it so it will be a little longer than I originally thought which is exciting! - No new updates this week though.

Feeling You Can't Fight is coming out this week on Wednesday! My goal will be to put out a chapter a week for the next 6 weeks for this one (fingers crossed - will post more often if I finish the chapters sooner than that) but we will see! This is for the @flightlessangelwings pride event, and the summary is as follows:

You are the new staff manager for the National Art Gallery in London, replacing the prior manager who you'd heard was unpleasant to work for...and that was putting it kindly. When you meet the nervous, but friendly, gift shop clerk, you can't help but fall for him almost immediately. When it becomes clear that you can't shake this desire to give Steven everything he deserves and more, you can only hope that he feels the same way about you in return.

It WILL include the other two boys as well. - Coming this week

Working on a secret series based on a series of artwork done by an artist in the community. Hoping to have that out this week! - Coming out this week! (I hope)

Requests

1K EVENT REQUESTS HAVE TAKEN PRIORITY OVER REGULAR REQUESTS. THEY ARE SHORTER AND I CAN GET THEM DONE FASTER. - There are still 13 to go but I'm tearing through them quickly.

I still have a sizeable amount of regular requests. REQUESTS ARE STILL CLOSED CURRENTLY.

(I didn't manage to get to any of them last week but I am planning to work on some of them this week for sure).

If your request is in blue, that means I'm going to try to work on it this week (06/04-06/11). If it's in pink, I'm going to try to work on it a different week. It's taking me a while to get into the headspace for some of them so thank you for your patience. Green means it's done I'm just working on editing now.

Blue Jones X f!Reader requested by @saraicus

There are 2 prompts in particular that I liked from the list you sent so I'll be doing them. - His eyeliner running down as he’s banging you against his desk - You’re a new patient and he just grows overprotective towards you. Doesn’t want you to meet other men and keeps you in solitary confinement for his jealousy sake.

Moon Boys X f!Reader by @simpforbritgents

Asking for something like Feeling Flustered where the moon boys are doing guided phone sex.

Moon Boys X f!Reader by @mercuryrosesixx

Moon Boys w/ a f!Reader w/ nipple piercings.

Marc Spector X f!Reader by @blueflowerhat

Marc shower sex based on AI prompt.

Steven Grant X f!Reader by Anon -

Steven and Reader are both virgins. Marc is guiding/coaching Steven.

Doctor Marc Spector X Patient Reader by @burnincrown

Role Reversal (sort of) of Not a Doctor - Marc is the doc, reader is the patient and he takes advantage - Dark Fic

Nathan Bateman X f!Reader by @campingwiththecharmings

This is the prompt that hit me like a Nathan-shaped mac truck! -> “if you don’t like my teasing why are you moaning”

Nathan Bateman X f!Reader by Anon

Cam girl reader x Nathan - Nathan turns to a cam girl, he's been kinda stalking her. (Excited hehe)

That's it for right now. I'm a busy lady as usual but I like having a few different projects going at once! More coming soon! Thanks for always being so awesome and supportive. Love you all!

[blueskilled]

⥫ Rules and Guidelines ⥭

⥱ PERSONALS/NON-RP BLOGS: You’re welcome to follow me and like my posts, however please do not reblog my threads or art tagged with “do not reblog unless” or any variation of that. This is to keep my notifications clean and my friends safe. Thank you for your cooperation. ⭀

◓ RP Etiquette Applies: No God modding, metagaming, etc. etc. If there’s something here you don’t already know about or are new to rping in general, come talk to me to settle out confusion. I’ll help!

◓ All players must be 18+: I’m an adult and I only wish to roleplay with adults. This is not a space that’s safe for minors. Please do not lie to me for both of our sakes.

◓ I do not accept unprompted M!As: Or anons causing a change to my character or their state, for clarification. Unless I ask for it, I won’t answer these types of asks.

◓ OC and Crossover friendly: Please have a bio for your character that I can read through, even if they’re canon. I’m less likely to attempt to write with characters I can’t learn about or get ideas for.

◓ Duplicates friendly: I’m a-okay with and actually encourage duplicates on this blog. I am a little nervous about it in the pokerpc for some reason, but I really want to get to a more comfortable place with this, so I appreciate any help other Cyrano players could give me.

◓ Shipping: Hanekoma cannot be romantically shipped canonically. However, non-canon ships of all kinds are welcome, and platonic and familial ships can become canon. I ship with chemistry, and even if we come out of the gate with a ship in mind I would still like to build up to it.

◓ About Connections: Connections are my main/affiliated, canon relationships. I do not make mains calls and I will most likely not be the first person to come discussing making a muse canon to Cyrano’s universe. I am extremely uncomfortable with doing so and would really much rather be approached about this potential instead. OCs are also welcome to be canon muses to Cyrano’s universe.

◓ NSFW threads are extremely rare: Mun is a severely sex-repulsed asexual and is not generally comfortable writing explicit scenarios. I’ll only write smut with mutuals I really trust, and even in this case, there must be plausible build up to the scenario. I will not write it with new mutuals and I will not write it with mutuals I do not already have an ooc relationship with. All smut threads must be tagged appropriately, and they must be cut both for my comfort and my audience. Please respect my boundaries regarding this rule especially.

◓ Liking and tagging: I tag all triggers as “[trigger] tw” and will often add “ask to tag” which means you should inform me if there’s a tag I’ve forgotten that you need. I also like (❤️) threads to signal that I consider them finished and do not expect a response. It’s okay to continue the thread if you want to continue, though.

◓ Patience and Reminders: I don’t mind if you spam me with reminders if you think I’ve forgotten something, even if you do it a lot. However, I ask you not to get short or impatient with me as I do have a life outside of roleplay that takes priority. Just don’t get angry and we’ll be golden.

◓ Drama: I will not be bothered by you posting drama (call outs, etc.) but please understand I do not personally support it and will not participate in it in any way. Feel free to tell me if you think I’m interacting with someone dangerous, but please understand that I won’t always take your advice and I will make my own decisions regarding who I do and don’t interact with. You are free to send me receipts, but I don’t personally trust them and I will most likely make decisions based on my own personal experience and observations. Thank you for respecting my boundaries regarding this.

◓ Mun Information: Please read my mun page as there is important information about me there that may effect your comfort level with interacting with me.

⥱ Rules are subject to change without prior warning, so please check back if you’re ever unsure about something and always feel free to contact me regarding them! ⭀

[rainbow-femme]

My thoughts on the whole “make the internet child friendly” thing is that no one under the age of 18 should feel comfortable on the internet

If you are not a legal adult there are so many ways for you to be harmed through the internet, and the more comfortable minors feel the more at risk they are of being taken advantage of

When I was growing up at the beginning of the internet age I was constantly shown informational videos on how people could get my name and address from just a screen name, To Catch A Predator was on and showing all the ways adults posed as minors to trick them into being abducted, and even shows like Catfish on MTV were always there to remind you that if you did not already know someone in person you couldn’t be sure who they were online

For years I only went into sites geared towards kids and even then with strict rules on how to keep any identifying information out of my screen name and to never answer personal questions online. While YouTube existed, a large chunk of the videos didn’t involve peoples faces like almost all do now

When I got a tumblr at 16 I knew porn could come up at any time and I was cautious of how I used it because of that. People regularly scoffed at the idea of clicking a link you were sent in a message and who could be so dumb as to click one

I don’t want kids to feel safe on the internet because they aren’t, and people looking to take advantage of kids want them to feel comfortable. They want minors using their legal name, posting videos of their school, showing their face as they wear school sweatshirts. I’ve seen so many recent stalking cases that happened because the person used the Snapchat map feature that allowed people to see where they went and for how long every day

I think that it’s good to accept that kids exist on the internet and getting rid of some of the more horrific Wild West aspects is good (Chatroulette type situations, easy to stumble on beheading videos) but the amount that social media sites are telling people they’re safe for minors and said minors can let their guard down makes me very nervous. It is not difficult to film your 13 year old nephew for a TikTok, post it like it’s your own, then ask the other 13 year olds who like it where they go to school

And this is not me blaming Gen Z or calling them stupid, as I said the only reason I knew how to be safe was because the culture around me so heavily pushed all the tactics on how to be safe and what the consequences of not being safe were. Gen Z grew up with shows about how great is to be a successful teen vlogger, with child influencers, with teenagers who put their face and identifying information in Vines being tracked down and given prizes by Ellen DeGeneres. The entire culture they’re being brought up in is designed to tell them that being open online as a child isn’t just cool it’s a way to be successful and validated

So yeah I don’t want any site telling parents or their kids that it is a safe place for minors, that their information is being protected, or that none of the content can harm them

[marlynnofmany]

The Oddest of Odd Jobs

Captain Piercing Sunlight rubbed her knuckles together, making yellow scales click. It was a more worrying sign of agitation than when Paint did it. The good captain was concerned.

“I imagine more opportunities will be posted soon,” she said, staring up at the job board. Not a single one of the posts was a request for a courier ship, or even passenger transport. It was all local stuff for this colony world. Surprising, really, since the people living here surely needed stuff they couldn’t make for themselves yet, but nobody seemed to be asking for a delivery.

“We could try the other colony,” Kavlae suggested, pointing vaguely over her shoulder while a gust of wind ruffled her head frills. With the sky-blue tone of her skin, she looked cold in the breeze, but that was normal. “I spotted a big spaceport while we were coming in.” Kavlae always noticed alternate landing sites; it was part of what made her a good pilot.

Before Captain Sunlight could reply, Zhee hissed sharply, which I’d learned was the bug-alien equivalent of a skeptical snort. “They’ll know we came from this one,” he said. “The local news said there’s feuding already.”

“What, really?” Kavlae asked while Captain Sunlight sighed deeply. “Weren’t the colonies started by the same group? They’ve got the whole planet to share, and they’re feuding?”

“Territorial species,” Zhee said with a dismissive click of his pincher arms. “Not enough food-plants to go around, apparently.”

“Keep your voice small,” warned the captain with a pointed glance at the nearest large passerby, who could crush any of us with a single hoof. Not a species to insult carelessly, or even on purpose. Six limbs, two of which were sometimes arms, lots of muscle, and even antlers. Nobody had told me the species name yet, but I was privately calling them Space Moose.

“Fine, fine,” Zhee said, folding his pinchers grumpily and glaring up at the board.

Captain Sunlight looked up as well. “Is there anything on here that looks do-able?” she asked, addressing all three of us.

I studied the grid of job posts. The rest of our crew was busy getting supplies — I hoped we weren’t about to skim over something that another person would catch. But just as I thought it, my eyes fell on a posting from a human ship.

“Oh, someone lost a dog!” I exclaimed, pointing. “They couldn’t find it before they left. That’s so sad.”

“We can keep an eye out,” Captain Sunlight said. “Our ship doesn’t have any of the fancy bio-scanners for seeking out that sort of thing.”

I read the whole post, looking for details. A three-year-old husky, male, “exceptionally fluffy,” named Matt. Which was short for Mattress. I loved him already.

“How recent is the post?” Kavlae asked.

“Just two days ago,” I said. “I hope the dog is okay. It says they last saw him at the edge of town.”

“There is a thriving ecosystem here,” Captain Sunlight reminded me gently. “The animal can surely find its way.”

“But he’ll be lonely,” I said, forlorn. Poor Mattress.

Before I could whine about it further, Zhee laughed and pointed at a different post, tapping it with one of his little wrist fingers. “Look at this. Anyone fancy being an exorcist today?” At his tap, the post unfurled a map and a sound clip. He pressed play.

A very familiar yodeling howl filled the air. Unsettling, if you were an alien herbivore. A glance at my crewmates showed that none of them recognized it either.

I grinned. “You guys, we have to be exorcists today.”

* * *

“We saw it again just last night,” said the enormous space moose, his deep voice going high with nerves. “It actually went into our shed, and no one is ready to go see if it’s gone yet.”

“I will check for you,” I assured him. Captain Sunlight was letting me take point on this job, and Zhee was doing his best to keep his sarcasm to himself. Kavlae looked nervous.

“You don’t need anything else?” the space moose asked. “Armor, weapons?”

“No, I’m pretty sure this ghost is friendly,” I said, holding up the only two things I had brought: a sheet of fish jerky and a clip-rope from the cargo bay. “At least, he should be happy to see me. But you guys stay back, okay?”

The towering behemoth was more than ready to stay behind. Several other moosey faces peered through a long window in the house nearby. They hadn’t even come outside. Captain Sunlight told Zhee and Kavlae to stay where they were, and to give the human space to work.

I looped the rope over my shoulder and approached the shed on quiet feet. The post had said the dog wasn’t aggressive, but I knew full well how unpredictable fear could make an animal. (People too, really. All the more reason for the others to hang back.)

The shed was big, more what would pass for house-sized where I was from, and it just seemed to get bigger. Plain-looking otherwise. Flat beige walls and a slanted roof, no windows. A door that stood open. A spill of pellets all over the floor, which proved to be from the torn corner of a bag like I’d seen at the market.

Grain stuff, so hopefully okay for a dog’s system, I thought, hesitating outside the doorway. As long as he didn’t eat more than his stomach can hold. Here’s hoping it tastes bad.

I cleared my throat. “Ma-att,” I singsonged. “Matt! Mattress! Here, boy!”

A rustle and a thump was all the warning I got before a very large and exceptionally fluffy dog charged out and tackled me to the ground.

The moose bellowed in panic and my crewmates shouted. Mattress licked every inch of my face, prancing and whining while I did my level best to sit up.

“It’s okay!” I called out between licks. “He’s just happy! Here, boy, do you want a treat?” I scrabbled for the jerky that I’d dropped, and managed to redirect the dog’s attention without losing a finger. I got to my feet while he tore at the jerky, tail wagging at light speed. Good thing it was the soft kind of fish jerky. At this rate, he might have hurt himself on the stiff kind.

“Are you all right?” Captain Sunlight asked from where she stood.

“I’m fine!” I said with a wave.

She and the other two had stepped away from the space moose, who seemed to be making an effort to breathe his way through a panic attack. I didn’t blame them. The poor guy looked equally likely to pick fight over flight.

Better get everybody settled, I thought, turning back to Mattress and finding the rope where it had fallen. He had a collar, thankfully. While he finished gulping down the food, I clipped the rope to his collar and wrapped the end around my hand multiple times. Then I stroked that thick fur and murmured praises.

“Is it safe?” asked the space moose in a strained voice.

“Yes, just a moment,” I said as Mattress started prancing about again. “Matt, sit.”

He sat. Huzzah. I stroked his head, and his tail thumped the ground with gusto.

“Good dog.” I took a step and tugged the leash. “Heel.”

He sprang up and trotted after me, tail wagging and tongue lolling, though with slightly less chaos-gremlin energy.

“Good boy,” I said, then led him over to where everyone waited. I didn’t get too close. “Sit,” I repeated. He sat.

The space moose was calming down admirably, though his eyes were still a little wide. “You do seem to have it well under control,” he admitted. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” I told him. “This guy just wants to go home. We can handle that.”

“You have my gratitude,” the moose said. “And now, money. Extra for speed.”

Captain Sunlight handled that part, while I stroked Mattress in a subtle search for injuries or problems stuck in his fur. He returned the favor by licking my ear with far too much saliva. I tried not to grimace, and wiped it off with my sleeve. “Good dog.”

“All right, let’s get this animal to the ship,” Captain Sunlight said.

“I’ll call up the owners for you as soon as we get there,” Kavlae said, checking her pocket communicator for the phone number from the post. We’d all saved copies.

“I’m sure they will want to see their animal in the cameras,” Captain Sunlight said, turning to me. “I trust you can keep it calm inside the cabin?”

I assured her that I could. We said our goodbyes to the space moose and his family watching from the house, then headed back to the spaceport.

Mattress followed happily, though judging by the panting, he was thirsty. There probably hadn’t been much to drink in that shed, and the jerky on top of alien kibble was bound to make things worse.

“We’ll get you a bowl of water right away,” I promised him. “Okay, boy?”

Mattress looked up at me with alert ears and that particular doggy smile.

Captain Sunlight got out her own phone. “I’ll have Wio ready one for us. How big of a bowl do you need?”

“Um, just have her fill one of the smaller cookpots. He looks pretty thirsty.”

Kavlae asked from a fair distance away, “How can you tell?”

“He’s breathing hard,” I said. “With his tongue sticking out like that.”

Zhee was also giving the dog a wide berth. “Is that why it’s doing that?” he asked. “I assumed the animal was showing off its teeth for the benefit of anyone who might offer it harm.”

“No, he’s smiling!” I said. “Look at that; that’s a happy face. Just a little thirsty.”

Zhee muttered something disparaging about predators being allowed in close range. Kavlae laughed, and Captain Sunlight shook her head.

I looked from face to face. “You guys don’t keep pets, do you?” I asked. “None of you?”

“None like that,” Captain Sunlight said. “Nothing that could kill us, no.”

“He wouldn’t do that!” I said with an exaggerated ruffle of Mattress’s fur. “He’s a good dog! And look how fluffy! Such a nice soft pillow, he’d probably let you take a nap on him.”

“No thanks,” said Zhee. “I don’t see the appeal.”

“You don’t see the appeal? Do—” My smile slipped when I really looked at Zhee’s exoskeleton. “I don’t think you can fully appreciate the feel of soft fluffy things, can you?”

Zhee’s unimpressed scoffing confirmed my suspicions. I looked to Captain Sunlight, and her own scaly hands. “What about you? Not a big deal?” I didn’t wait for her answer before turning to Kavlae, the vaguely fishy humanoid with frills everywhere. “You have proper skin! Come pet this dog!”

She didn’t want to, but under my insistence and Mattress’s continued good behavior, she finally edged forward and brushed a hand across the copious floof.

“Oh, that is soft,” she said.

“See? And he is such a good boy.” I patted him some more, and he responded by licking both of us.

Kavlae yelped, pulling back.

“It’s okay,” I hurried to say. “That means he likes you.”

“Oh,” Kavlae said. She sniffed her hand, then retched. “Oh, he smells!”

I looked down at him and had to admit, “Yeah, that’s another thing dogs do.”

“To the ship!” Captain Sunlight announced. “For water, a phone call, and then a thorough cleansing! Which I’m sure our favorite animal expert can handle, yes?”

I sighed. “Yes. I won’t enjoy it, though.”

Zhee hissed a laugh. “Maybe you can take a nap on the creature afterward.”

“Maybe! Just you watch. Might have to tire him out a bit first though. I’m sure nobody would mind a game of fetch in the cargo bay, right?”

Captain Sunlight gave me a look, but she didn’t say no.

~~~

The ongoing adventures in backstory for this book! More to come.