#(to whom he was engaged for two weeks to) that he broke things off with because she's a nut who wouldnt stfu about the end times and

[radioconstructed]

⌖ We don't know exactly WHY Tucker Carlson (that's a drag queen name, COME ON) was fired but I CHOOSE to believe that a GERIATRIC Rupert Murdoch became INCREASINGLY uncomfortable with him saying MILQUETOAST STUFF like "we should say a prayer," because it reminded him of his RELIGIOUS NUTJOB EX-FIANCE, who also believed Mr. Carlson is a messenger from God, and he couldn't WAIT to cancel her FAVORITE SHOW!

⌖ I REFUSE ALTERNATE EXPLANATIONS!

[veltana]

The winter rebound

✦ Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Fem!Reader

✦ Word count: ~3,6k

✦ Rating: Explicit

✦ Warnings/tags: Avengers!Bucky, alcohol consumption, fluff, pwp, smut, oral (fem receiving), piv sex, safe sex, dirty talk.

✦ Summary: You go with your friend to Stark's holiday party

✦ Note: This was the first thing I wrote and published when I got back into the marvel fandom, so it's a super self-indulgent piece! But I hope you like it anyway! As always, please comment and/or reblog! Asks are always welcome!

Masterlist | AO3

It was Friday. You watched yourself in the mirror and told yourself that you would have fun tonight. Forget about your ex of five years who broke off your engagement a month before the holidays, whom you had spent the last three weeks crying over.

Tonight you were accompanying your best friend to the annual Stark holiday party, and you would not think about him once during the night, while you danced and drank yourself into a stupor.

Standing outside the huge compound made you anxious. Maybe it was too soon to meet the real world without him. No! Don’t think about that asshole! You cut yourself off before your thoughts started to spiral.

“Come on!” your friend Lily laughed. Her genuine smile was contagious and you returned it, squaring your shoulders and forcing every dumb thought down before you took her arm as the two of you made your way down the gold and red carpet. At the end, two large glass doors were opened by life-sized mechanical nutcrackers.

“I sure hope those don’t spring to life and ruin this party too,” you mumbled. Lily giggled, “Don’t worry, I helped with the software, unless Mr. Stark went a completely different direction there should be no worries.” “So there is a possibility,” you joked as the doors closed behind you.

If she answered you didn’t hear because you were too busy taking in the amazing winter-themed party. The waiters were also dressed as nutcrackers and there were dancers in amazing outfits performing all over the floor. Music played in the background and some were moving to the beat while others stood around and talked.

Honestly, you had expected more people, like at least two hundred but there were only about fifty in the huge hall. Not only the regular people, like your friend, who helped with software, hardware, management, and the day-to-day running's of the compound, but it was impossible not to notice the heroes also in attendance.

Not all of them were there, no sign of Thor or Loki, or the Guardians, but this was your first time so close to any hero ever, you would take what you could get.

“Come, I’ll introduce you to everyone,” Lily said and started to pull you along while you gazed at the shifting decorations adorning the walls, obvious to the blue eyes that followed you with interest from the bar.

Too many names spun through your brain, accompanied by the alcohol your friend had been plying you with.

Everyone you had met so far had been incredibly nice and friendly and hadn’t minded when you asked all the dumb questions about working at such a place.

Finally, it came down to the big event, meeting Mr. Stark and maybe the rest of the Avengers currently there.

Lily stepped up to her boss and greeted him and Pepper Potts like they were friends rather than her superiors and then introduced you. Not a lot of people got to shake hands with Iron Man and Pepper Potts but now you had, and it was totally normal.

“Interesting hair color,” Tony Stark pointed out. “Is it meant to look like that?” It was such an old man thing to say you could only laugh as Pepper elbowed him in the ribs. “I am sorry,” Pepper apologized but you waved it off.

“He is paying for everything I drink, so if he wants to make fun of my hair, it’s fine.” Pepper gave you a relieved look and was about to say something else when a voice interrupted.

“It looks like the Aurora Borealis.”

Bucky Barnes had appeared out of nowhere, like the skilled assassin he had been trained to be. It was like he had materialized out of thin air at your side and you jumped when he spoke.

Before you knew what you were doing, you reached out, slapping your palm against his hard chest, and said “For fuck’s sake,” while your other hand rested over the heart trying to work its way out of your chest.

Then you realized what you’d done and pulled back your hand quickly, covering your mouth. Bucky stared back at you, mouth slightly open, while Lily and Tony both cackled in amusement. “That’s what you get Barnes,” your friend pointed out.

With a crooked smile, Bucky just said, “How about I buy you a drink to make up for it?” and held out his arm. “As long as it’s crazy expensive since the old man made fun of my hair,” you shot over your shoulder at Tony as you took the offered arm.

Your friend winked at you before she returned to her conversation with Natasha Romanoff, whom you would just have to say hello to some other time.

Bucky led you the short way to the bar and you eased your way on to the chair, making sure not to get tangled in your long dress, as Bucky leaned over the bar and asked for the most expensive champagne they had.

“I’m Bucky,” he said. “I know,” you smiled at him before introducing yourself too.

In no time there were two flutes in front of you, he offered you one, saying cheers before you took the first sip. The unabashed moan that left you wasn’t meant to be sexual but Bucky stopped his glass halfway to his lips to just stare at you. It cracked you up, “Sorry,” you said, “I’ve never tasted champagne this good before.” He also took a sip, his eyes widening a little, and when he’d swallowed all he said was, “Wow.” “I could get used to this,” you took another mouth and closed your eyes.

When you opened them again you found him looking at you and it made a shiver go down your spine. For the first time in a long time, you felt desire pool in your lower belly. “Will this make up for Stark’s comment?” he asked. “It will absolutely!” you promised. “I think your hair looks great and I’m like twice his age so…” he trailed off.

“My friend, Lily, has told me about these crazy old super soldiers, but you look spry for your age,” you winked at him. “You can only imagine,” he flirted back, and your cheeks heated. You had forgotten about this, about the utter intoxication of flirting with a man and having it returned to you.

After several weeks of drought, your body suddenly knew what arousal was again and flooded you with it, making your heart beat twice as fast and your skin flush. “Oh, you want me to think of everything you can do?” you asked with a raised eyebrow. “Anything you want, doll,” he leaned forward, “But I’m sure your imagination won’t hold a candle to the real thing.” “Are you going to show me?” “If you want to,” he smirked and you felt yourself grow wetter by the second.

You leaned in too, unable to resist him and not wanting to either. You wanted to get lost in him for as long as he would have you. He finished off the rest of his champagne like it was a shot of liquor.

“Come on, I have just the place,” he smiled, holding out his hand. Not even second-guessing yourself for a moment you finished your glass and let him lead you away.

Bucky took you through a side door, into a corridor that led to the heart of the compound which was now deserted, and finally into a large room with a domed ceiling.

It looked like a cinema almost, except the screen was the whole ceiling, and in the middle of the floor was an enormous sofa-like thing that easily fit several people.

After Bucky pressed something on a side panel the room lit up with the Aurora Borealis.

You let go of his hand, staring with huge eyes at the display. Maybe you had misinterpreted his intentions and they were actually pure, not at all the filthy things you had thought this would end up being.

Never had you been happier to be wrong.

This time when he appeared out of nowhere he didn’t scare you, he gripped your waist with the vibranium arm and spun you into his chest, before using his other hand to pinch your chin between his fingers.

“I’m going to kiss you, tell me if I should stop,” he breathed. Instead of answering with words you surged up and crushed your lips against his, wrapping your arms around his neck, and pulling him impossibly closer.

It was almost like he expected you to be timid or something because, for a few seconds, he didn’t move, but then he rushed into action, moving his lips and kissing you like a man starved.

Desire flooded you, making every one of his touches feel like fire even through the fabric of your dress. He moved you backward until your knees hit the oversized sofa, and you laid down.

Bucky’s face was burning with desire as he looked down on you, before he could move or say anything you grabbed your skirt and pulled it up until it bunched around your waist so that you were able to spread your legs without restraint.

The growl erupting from his chest made you smile and you crooked your finger toward him. He knelt between your legs, grabbing your thighs to spread them even more before he leaned down over you to capture your lips again.

The action made the hard cock in his jeans brush against your heated core, making you moan into his mouth.

He pulled back, eyes wild, “Your sounds make me fucking crazy.” he groaned, moving his hands down your naked legs, caressing them and gripping them, like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to be rough or gentle.

“Hope so,” you smiled and started to tug at his suit jacket, needing to see his body. He obliged by sitting back and ridding his upper body of clothing. As soon as you could your hands splayed out across the expanse of his naked torso, feeling the hard muscles under the soft skin.

Your eyes grazed over the scars on his left shoulder but didn’t pay it any mind. The man had trauma, that was no secret, but tonight you didn’t need to delve into that. Instead, you sat up, kissing the skin you could reach and licking at his nipple, making him moan most deliciously.

He reached around you to unzip your dress and you whined when you had to move away from him to let him pull it off you. Now you were almost completely naked with the super soldier, except for the thong you wore that did little to hide anything from him, and your heels.

Without another word, he stood up and unbuttoned his pants, peeling them off and kicking off his shoes in the process, before he was back over you. Now it was his turn to taste your skin and when he closed his mouth around a nipple, using his vibranium hand to pinch the other, you released a high-pitched mewl you never heard from yourself before.

That only spurred him on, alternating between sucking and licking at you, squeezing or pinching your sensitive buds. The pleasure was too much, like you would implode or maybe even come from just him playing with your tits. You fisted the fabric under you, pushing your chest even more into him as moans and words tumbled from your lips.

“Bucky, please!” you tried forming a coherent sentence but failed. “What do you need, doll?” he asked, lips shiny with his spit as he looked up at you. “Touch me, make me come, please Bucky,” you didn’t want to wait another second for the pleasure you had missed for a lot longer than the weeks since your break up. This temporary connection with a stranger was already better than what you had experienced over several years.

“Can I taste you?” his voice was husky, filled with restrained want. “Yes!” you smiled and raised yourself on your elbows.

You watched as he kissed his way down your form, pulling off your thong and throwing it away. He grabbed your thighs and spread them wide before letting the thumb of his vibranium hand slowly drag up, separating your folds, groaning, almost whispering “Fuck, your pussy is perfect,” and leaning in to carefully lick up your spread lips. You fell back, staring up at the beautiful display as Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, one of the Avengers, ate you out with perfection.

Every move he made sent sparks through your entire body and pulled cries from you. Your hands tangled in his hair, not pulling or pushing, just needing to anchor yourself on something. Nothing would hold a candle to this for the rest of your life you suspected, because even though you had just met, Bucky Barnes took his sweet time, caressing his hands up and down your sides, down your legs, and back up again, using his tongue and lips to make your body blaze.

Your crescendo built steadily, as did your voice, the closer you got the more you pleaded and begged, even though he was doing exactly what you wanted him to. When two fingers on his right hand breached you with no problem your back bowed, the pleasure rushing through you, and when he crooked them and moved them inside you, it was everything the dam needed to break and the coil inside you snapped.

You screamed his name as the orgasm hit you like a freight train. What was even better was that he worked you through it, coaxing every last drop of pleasure out of you before you had to instead beg him to stop.

"Too much," you whimpered when the uttermost tip of his tongue gently floated across your clit. "No, darling, not enough. A man could get addicted to hearing you scream his name."

You whimpered again, your body rocking with overstimulation at every pass of his tongue. It was wonderful to hear him say those things but you needed more.

"Please tell me you have a condom so you can fuck me," you groaned and that made him stop, staring at you from between your legs before kissing up the side of your thigh to sit back on his heels before he got up. He freed himself from his underwear before he bent down to grab his pants and pulled a condom from a pocket and that gave you a chance to admire him. His cock was hard, glistening, and a lot bigger than what you were previously used to, but that only sparked more excitement in your lower stomach.

"Hands and knees, baby," he smiled and made a twirling motion with his fingers. You wasted no time rolling over, and getting into position. His flesh hand slapped your ass playfully when he knelt behind you and when you moaned he chuckled. "You like that huh?" he asked as the tip of his cock started to press into you.

He was big, you whined and whimpered with every inch he pressed into you. Maybe why he took his time eating you, because he needed you to be as aroused as possible for it to fit. You clawed at the fabric, feeling like you were having an out-of-body experience with how he filled you.

"So good, taking it all," he praised when his hips were finally flush with your ass. Trying to answer him with words was out of the question, instead, you rocked your body, feeling his cock press against everything inside you, giving you the most delicious sensation you probably ever felt.

His hand landed on your ass again and that spurred you on, starting to move a bit faster. "Look at you, fucking yourself on my cock," he sounded a little breathless and you wished you could see him. "Do you like it, darling? Do you like my cock filling you to the brim?"

Fuck, Bucky Barnes had a mouth on him you had not expected. He grabbed your hips and helped you along, starting to fuck you deep and hard, pulling almost all the way out before shoving back in again.

With every move, you cried out in sheer ecstasy. Bucky kept on telling you how good you sounded, he didn't mind at all that you were loud.

The pace was hard but not hurried, he seemed to like taking his time, not rushing through the action just to get to the finish line. But it was driving you mad, it felt like you were at the precipice constantly, ready to tip over but needing something more to do it.

Then he grabbed you around the waist and pulled you up until you were flush against his chest, his pace never stopping. "Hi, sweet thing, enjoying yourself?" he wasn't even winded and you were a panting, whimpering mess, feeling like you were about to lose it.

"Yes, Bucky, please touch me, make me come again." He kissed your shoulder, "My pleasure," was his answer and his left hand descended on your aching clit.

A shudder and a scream passed through you when he started to rub small circles over it. Suddenly you were so close to the edge you could almost taste it, and Bucky knew it too.

"That's right, come on my cock, doll. Can you do that for me? Be good and come for me?" he said between kissing up your neck, moving the arm around your waist up to grab your jaw, and turning your head to the side. The kiss was sloppy but delicious, and with the aid of his fingers and so full of his cock the orgasm took you by full force, making you shake in his grip.

He released your mouth and let the sounds you made fill up the room, pressing his mouth to the side of your head and telling you over and over again how fucking good you felt coming around him.

If he hadn’t held you up, you would have collapsed no doubt, but Bucky had no problem keeping you up as he found his own release, pressing his forehead against your neck and mumbling obscenities, his hips stuttering against your ass.

Now he was breathing heavier, holding you tight against him with both arms, letting his fingers draw random patterns on your skin.

You were in a post-orgasmic haze, only existing in that moment with no past or future, only his warm body, and a sated need. "Gonna need to let you go now, darling," he said in a low voice "Lay down." His arms loosened around you and you braced yourself with your arms and eased yourself down on your side.

Bucky got up, probably to dispose of the condom, before laying down behind you. You hadn't expected him to want to cuddle, but he draped his arm across your side, pulling you flush against him.

"You okay?" he asked in a whisper. "Fan-fucking-tastic," you answered with a small laugh and felt a million times lighter all of a sudden.

After a few minutes of laying there, you felt like you'd been gone from the party long enough, but judging by Bucky’s heavy breathing, he had fallen asleep behind you.

He didn't wake as you gathered your things. When you found the thong, you looked at it, looked over at his gorgeous form laying there, and giggled as you found his pants and stuffed the thong down his pocket.

With the help of some items in your clutch, you patched up your make-up and fixed your hair before slipping out and closing the door behind you.

It was a small miracle that you could find your way back to the party but you did and immediately went to the bar for a drink.

Lily found you minutes later and she just raised an eyebrow, you shrugged and tilted your glass towards hers, clinking them together, and then you both burst out laughing.

*

Monday rolled around and it was hard to work because you kept getting lost in the memories of Friday night.

His eyes, his scent, his voice as he said those things to you. You squeezed your legs together and stifled a low moan.

Suddenly your phone chimed and pulled you back into the real world. A text from Lily.

[So, Bucky Barnes just came by and asked for your number. I gave it, of course, just so you know!] [Okay? Did he say why he needed it?] [Apparently, you left something(????) here on Friday and he wanted to return it.] [Hmm, okay, thanks!] [What did you leave?!?!?!?] [Don't be so nosey, go back to work!]

Your stomach did a flip when the next message was from an unknown number. It had a picture attached, your thong tangled in his fingers, and the text [You left these.] For a second you imagined him using them as he got himself off. You bit your lips as you responded. [Keep them or throw them away, I have more, don't worry.] even added a little wink-emoji.

[I want to return them, personally. Are you free this afternoon?] His response was quick and very to the point.

A wonderful shudder traveled through you at the thought of seeing him again. You had meant for this to be a one-time thing, something to get you back into the world and learn to exist without your ex but there wasn't any harm in seeing where this could go, and hopefully, you would have a lot more amazing sex on top of it.

[Sure, I get off at five.]

[roseykat]

TITLE: Venom Biter

PAIRING: Minho x reader

SUMMARY: The end of a relationship between you and Minho turns as sour as it could ever get. A lovers to enemies trope.

WARNING: minors DNI with this post or my blog. I create NSFW SKZ related content and I know I won't be able to regulate every single interaction with those posts so please do not engage with my work or page whatsoever.

TAGS: breakups, hate sex, post-breakup sex, unprotected sex, swearing, angst, manhandling, push and shove, spitting, choking, oral sex (f!reader receiving), angst, strong hints of degradation, use of degrading names such as 'slut' and 'whore'.

A/N: this was originally meant to be for one of the days I had planned for Kinktober but I was up to my neck in work and I didn't want to post something sort of half-assed so I had to hone down on most of the work for this piece.

MASTERLIST

“Broke up?” Chan’s eyes refuse to blink. “You two broke up!?”

His confused filled stare shoots for the direction of his best friend, Minho, who quietly sits opposite him across the table. He looks slightly withdrawn or…off colour. It can’t have been the gruelling two hour lecture they finished before heading out to lunch. If it were that, Minho would be complaining his head off saying how boring it was or cursing himself for not changing his minor earlier. 

He’s just not his usual self. In other social settings, he could talk until the cows came home. But the entire hour that they’ve spent together at lunch, Chan has been doing all the conversing and only receiving vague one-word answers. It wasn’t until he asked what was up with Minho that his friend dished out the news that he and his girlfriend - you, had split up.

“Why?” Chan proceeds, still swimming in shock.

A sigh leaves Minho’s mouth. He truly doesn’t feel like revisiting this subject. When he even thinks about the answer, all he can recall is the firey shouting match you both had the day things crumbled. 

“It’s messy,” he replies with a cloudy and ambiguous answer. 

“If you talk about it, then it might help you make sense of it all.”

He groans this time, “I really, really don’t want to do that. What’s done is done.” 

“Done?” Chan questions, still not letting up on an interrogation. “You were in a relationship with Y/N, for years. You guys talked about a whole future together. That’s not something you just sweep under the rug and forget about.”

If there’s one thing he almost did forget about, it’s that you were friends with him - not just Chan, but the seven others as well. After all, it was Minho who introduced you to those select people whom he calls his brothers. They would’ve found out eventually if Minho refrained from telling them who you were dating all those years ago.

Though naturally, you became very close with them. 

“We’ve both chosen to do that so there’s nothing really much left to dispute.”

Chan’s eyebrows furrow, realising he left out a crucial question to the situation, “why did you guys break up in the first place?”

Minho feels like he’s going to run out of sighs, “she doesn’t love me anymore and I don’t love her anymore. That’s literally all there is to it.” 

“You’re telling me you both fell out of love - at the same time,” Chan responds, still having a difficult time trying to comprehend his friend's situation.

“Pretty much,” Minho confirms with a nod. 

Chan finds that extremely hard to believe from his friend - the very person who would enter a different realm whenever he was in a five centimetre radius of you. His eyes would glaze over as if he were possessed; always fixated on you, he’d smile more than he usually would, and was comfortable in the space around you. 

There had to be another reason, surely. 

But it had almost been three weeks since Chan dissected the news out of Minho, and it was almost like pulling teeth trying to dive for the details. Each attempt was as fruitless as the next and in the end, Chan just plucked the same answers.

Regardless, it seemed to play out better than expected. Minho saved himself from having to dish out explanations as to why you wouldn’t be around anymore. As a result, telling Chan was the best option and since the others didn’t know, Minho was okay with him telling them so that he didn’t have to. 

In saying that, Minho left out very central details of what happened leading up to the breakup. He never mentioned the constant fighting, the lying, the false accusations, the shouting matches, up until the point where you were both swimming in the toxicity the pair of you created. 

He also absconded from the fact to Chan that not only did you both separate, but you’ve also both come to view the other differently and not through a good lens. Minho shouted it in your face the other day to which you did the same; “I hate you.” And that was that.

But his friends probably didn’t need to know all of that. 

Since that day, you’ve been in the process of trying to find an apartment for yourself which isn’t easy. You want to remain in town and not too far out so that you don’t have a long commute to work, and at the same time, you don't want to break the bank trying to find a nice place to rent in the city. All in all, it was tough, but you were ready to just leave. 

Having packed up the majority of your stuff in boxes, all you had to do was wait for landlords to contact you back about possible vacant apartments. Thankfully Minho was lenient in allowing you to stay until you found a place. 

You slept in the spare room, mainly keeping to yourself and the boxes of things surrounding the space. Occasionally you would have to lock yourself in there and throw on some noise-cancelling headphones whenever Minho brought around another woman to sleep with.

It was his house, you knew that and now that you have no ties to him and he’s letting you stay, it was never your place to question his actions. 

Still, that could never lessen the hurt. It was painful which is why you hated him so much. You don’t know how a person could move on so quickly after so many years of being told how much you’re loved. It was like he never meant it. With that being said, when you eventually managed to find a decent place, you were free from Minho. 

All of your items were ready to be moved out, taking a couple of days to actually get them to your new place. In the tiring process, you also had to factor in your work schedule which meant it would take longer to continue moving your stuff. Nonetheless, you had the majority of your boxes out of Minho's house with only a few remaining that you needed to swing by and pick up.

"Something wrong?" he wears a blank look on his face when you arrive on the doorstep to his house.

"Some of my stuff is still here, can I come in to grab it please?" You ask politely. He gives a silent answer in return by opening his door wider for you to walk in before he goes back to whatever it was he was doing.

You make your way into the spare room where the last of your things remain, but there is one odd detail you notice as you approach the items. What was supposed to be taped down lids to the boxes had in fact been opened; not in the state you had originally left it in. 

"Minho," you call out, hoping he heard you.

Sure enough, he did. Minho walks into the spare room with a puzzled expression, wondering why he's been summoned, "what?"

“Why are these open?” You ask, lifting one box off of the other to check if the rest were open as well. “Half of my stuff isn’t in here.”  

“You were coming back for those?” he replies with a question. 

“What the hell else would I be coming back here for?” 

“That's what I thought when you got here,” he says. “I thought it was for other things that you left behind, not ones in these boxes."

Your eyes never leave his face, tracking any sudden shifts in his muscles to try to figure out if he’s actually telling the truth or not. Even though you and Minho aren’t together, you're sure he wouldn't do anything malicious out of spite.

“So why is half my stuff missing?” 

Minho pinches the bridge of his nose, “I thought you didn’t need any of it and that you left it here on purpose for me to deal with or throw out.” 

“So what…” you trail off, expecting his answer. Minho hesitates for a few moments, sitting on the fence about whether he should actually tell you or not. But the least he can do right now is be honest. 

“I told the…girl I bought around the other day that if she wanted anything-“ 

“No you fucking didn’t.” 

“-she could have whatever was left in the boxes,” Minho finishes the rest of his sentence which would’ve been better for you not to hear. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“What the fuck is wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you for leaving them behind in the first place!” Minho argues back, trying to defend himself here even though he knows he’s in the wrong. “You were gone for a few days Y/N, I thought you just left!” 

“I never left them behind! I told you how long it was going to take my things to move!” You shout at him, tears brimming your eyes. “Now my stuff…”

The hurt genuinely sets in. Minho feels a sharp stab of pain in his chest when he sees how visibly upset you are. He knows that he’s been nothing short of a dickhead within the past month and now he’s gone and made things worse. It’s no point in him now to say that it was an honest mistake.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know, truly.”

You shove him backwards into the dresser, knocking down some of the empty photo frames that were once homes for pictures of you and Minho, “you’re not sorry. You’re the fucking worst.”

Taken aback by your actions, Minho turns behind him to see the frames flat on the surface then looks back at you, “seriously Y/N, I would not have done that out of spite.”

“But it’s the fact that you still did it!” You raise your voice at him and shove him back again. “You didn’t bother calling or texting me about it when you should’ve!” 

Minho predicts your next move and catches your arms to stop you from pushing him back impossibly further into the dresser. He shoves you back, the back of your knees hitting the edge of the bed which causes you to land on it behind you.

Before the surprise kicks in, Minho is kneeling on top of you, nearly straddling your lower half as he starts pinning your arms to the side of your head. Yet with a split second of momentum to break free, you struggle but manage to flip the tables and pin Minho on his back. 

You mount his hips before your mouth comes down to kiss Minho so aggressively that it takes him a moment to react. With any other woman that he’s slept with so far, he would allow them to be on top. But because it’s you, and supposedly hates your guts, not to mention his untapped pride, it’s not going to happen. So Minho fights back, kissing and biting nearly every part of your upper body in the process until you’re under him. 

He sucks large, deep, red hickies into the skin of your neck, in places where everyone would be able to see them. Minho would want people to know that you’re just a whore he uses. Especially for the next guy you sleep with who would go down on you and see the myriad of hickies that Minho would eventually put between your thighs when he rips your pants down. 

“Wanna play this fucking game with me,” he rasps before yanking down your off. 

Despite being a dickhead Minho will still eat you out for prep. But it’s not soft and teasing when he does go down on you. It’s tongue and finger fucking you until you’re dizzy from how hard you’re about to cum. It gives you the opportunity to pull and tug on his hair until his scalp starts burning, forcing you to be as vocal as you’ve ever been. 

His fingers curl up into that sensitive spot while his tongue and mouth work simultaneously. He’s always been good at giving head, but unusually better now that he’s relatively angry. In the back of your mind, you supposed it helped having not slept with anyone for a month, making it easier to reach that peak of delicious, eye-rolling ecstasy. 

“Fuck!” you scream out, voice projecting throughout the room as Minho sucks on your clit. “Fuck you…you’re gonna make me cum.” 

Those words are something Minho could never get tired of hearing you say. Even in the headspace that he’s in now, he wants nothing more than to hear how good he’s making your body feel. However, he doesn’t need verbal confirmation from you to know that you’re about to cum. When your walls seize and clamp around his fingers, when you’re trembling around his head, Minho knows what that means. 

The quick drag of his fingers is only light work for him, pumping at a pace that has you panting to try and keep up with it. As a result, it’s not long before Minho brings you to your sweet release; a toe-curling burst of euphoria that has you silently creaming around his fingers. 

He has no patience for you to descend from your orgasm, sucking his fingers clean as he pulls away from your pussy. He gets to unbuckling his belt faster than he can even comprehend that this is still happening. 

“H-Hurry,” you whine, trying to quell the hunger for Minho’s cock while you wait.

His eyes squeeze shut, hissing as he coats his length with your slick, “shut the fuck up.”

Despite being in a haze post-orgasm, you manage to sit up quickly to turn and push Minho down by his shoulders. You find yourself straddling his hips once more, reaching down and behind for his cock, aligning it with your hole. Minho allows you to work for it yourself, watching his cock vanish by the second as you sink down. 

“Mmm…f-fuck,,” you whine, unable to come to grips with how much you miss him filling you out. 

Taking a couple of slow strokes up and down allows you to realise that never in your wildest dreams could you ever imagine hate sex with Minho would be this…rough. Both of you pushing, shoving, and manhandling each other around, speaking to each other with such disregard for the other person's feelings – beyond the point of degradation.

“Come on,” Minho grunts, fingernails embedding themselves into your hips so that the indents remaining become as equally as vibrant as the hickies blooming on your neck. 

You look down at him with disgust before your hand lowers to his throat, choking him out by the sides of his neck. That familiar feeling of restriction to Minho forces him to repress his sick enjoyment of it, even more so when you start really riding him. 

“Fuck you,” you strain out, trying to assert some degree of control even though you’re battling with oversensitivity from your previous orgasm. 

You slam your hips down repeatedly, building up a good pace and rhythm that’s enough for small moans to force their way out of your mouth. With a cock like Minho’s, it’s impossible to keep quiet no matter how much you try. However, as you work for your own orgasm, you don���t want to give him any satisfaction by making him think that he’s the one doing it; yet in reality, he is. 

Nonetheless, you continue to use him just as much as he’s using you until the luxury of pleasure accelerates in the pit of your stomach. In saying that, it doesn’t take long for Minho to find that information out as you continue to ride him. The observation is clear-cut;

“Nobody’s fucked you since me haven’t they?” He asks you breathlessly, watching you roll your hips deliciously over his cock. “Know how I can tell? Because you keep fucking clenching around my dick.”

Your eyebrows furrow, struggling to find an answer for him because he is right and that’s not your fault, “s-so what? Want me to stop?” 

“Didn’t say that, did I?” He argues back, too proud to say ‘no’. “Just…just keep moving.”

A firm hand of yours catches his taut jaw, and while his mouth is open, you lean down and spit right in it. 

You curse right at him, “fuck you.” 

His eyes lock with yours and for a moment, Minho is shocked, but not in a bad way. In that moment you despised him so much that he made you do something a normal person would find disgusting. Although it’s not long before a sick smirk spreads across his face, failing to pretend as if he didn’t just enjoy that, swallowing it back. 

“Course you’d be into that you fucking whore,” he rasps, his body jolting every time your hips slam down. 

“I’m not the whore who’s taking it,” you snipe back at him. 

Your comment riles Minho, resulting in him nearly bucking you off his body before flipping you onto your stomach. He yanks both of your hands behind your back as something for him to latch onto when he pushes his cock back into you, and starts fucking hard and fast. 

“Yes, yes, yes, fuck…” you whimper, eyes fluttering shut. 

The new angle makes his dick slip in just that extra bit deeper, achieving a sensation which you miss all too much. With the amount of relentlessness that Minho puts behind his thrusts is nothing but a fast, brutal, and unforgiving type of fucking. He’s not holding back with you, no matter how much you hate him and he hates you, he will fuck you to tears.

“Such a fucking slut,” he drives forward nastily. “Needy, loud, slut.” 

Your choked moans and whimpers are typical responses to hearing him call you that name again. In bed, if you weren’t his lover, you were his slut. Minho wouldn’t care less if the bed broke beneath him trying to fuck you like the whore you always wanted him to treat you as. But it was phenomenal.  

Now, that’s only a distant memory clawing to come back. 

“Make me cum…make me fucking cum,” you demand, acknowledging how close you are to the cliff of ecstasy.

Minho's breathing picks up from hearing the pure desperation in your voice, and so does his pace. His only release is not but a minute away, respecting that and also his motive to continue rearranging your guts. 

Yet the possibility of keeping up any longer draws to a short term. Minho’s hold on your wrists behind your back becomes a solid death grip with no chance of escape until the wet heat from your pussy has his hips jumping out of rhythm. 

His head tilts to the sky, the pleasure screaming at him from the base of his cock, “y-yes, fuck I'm cumming.”

At that very instant, Minho’s release rocks him over. His hands let go of yours in lieu of grabbing onto your ass instead. The pain and sting of his fingernails scraping deep into your flash forces strained whimpers and mewls from your throat, helping to push you over the verge of your second orgasm. 

“Y-Yes, cumming, oh fuck-” you cry out with a shaky voice, stiffening while your hole seizes rhythmically around Minho’s length. 

The pleasure is throat-gripping, making you forget the words to express how good you feel. Except, in the vapour of your orgasmic haze, you still don't want to accept the fact that it's Minho who makes you feel that way.

He pauses for a moment then thrusts hard back into you, making you keep the warm load that you were so undeservingly given, regardless if your walls are spasming and contracting it out. Then just as he was fast to try to get inside you, he's just as fast when he pulls out and flops beside you.

The air in the room becomes breathable again now that your heart rate isn't racing to the heavens, but picks back up quickly when you decide to hop off the bed and get dressed. You couldn't care less if you were sore and unbalanced. The thought of staying in the room with Minho any longer was suffocating.

“About your stuff,” he starts, filling the silent void with an exasperated voice. “I’ll try to get it back.” 

You zip your jeans up, “don’t bother. I know you did give it away for whatever reason, but for what reason is something I’m betting you’ll take to the grave with you.” 

Minho is up and now following suit by putting his clothes on. If now is the time to get one thing off of his chest, it’s now. Since the day you both separated, there has been no proper conversation. Both of you are too stubborn to admit wrongs and fix rights, but in your eyes, it's too far gone. There’s no going back to a good thing that was once more. 

"I won't if we can just talk it out," he offers the opportunity to you.

“Minho, the nights that I had to listen to you fuck someone else in the next room right after we just broke up was a clear sign that we did not need to talk it out. All it made me do is realise that you didn't actually love me."

“That’s not true,” he shakes his head as you hear a twinge of desperation in his voice like he's pleading his case. "That's not true at all."

"It is though," you correct him. "You were free to sleep with whoever you wanted to because we had broken up at that point, but not a day after that did you wait."

Minho follows through with his explanation, “I was trying to get you out of my head. Spending too long just thinking about you makes me want to lose it. It didn't mean that I never loved you before."

“So you’re just going to continue being delusional? To fuck your way through trying to forget me?” You question, nearly laughing. "I honestly think you're just being pathetic."

He shrugs, “if it means that I don’t have to feel heartbreak, then yes.”

Part of you gets it. Minho’s found a vice and is using it as a tool to deal with his pain. But you’re in pain too, and you haven’t done anything to upset him ever since you split. Maybe it is as bad for him as he says it is. Maybe he doesn’t truly know how to navigate himself out of this like you’re attempting to.

It’s almost a rebuttal to your statement about whether he truly loved you or not; if he’s using other people to drive the thought of you out of his brain because it’s too painful to deal with, then maybe you were more than just a lover to him. 

"I mean this in the nicest way possible, but I cannot stand being around you anymore because of how much it hurts to know that you're not actually with me. I'd rather try to forget your existence in order to not feel that type of heartbreak," Minho explains, his words coming from a place inside him that must've just opened up.

But he continues, "the second we split, I needed every last memory of you out of this house. But I know that this hurts you too and that this past month I’ve hurt you and that’s no justification to say that my reason is because you mean more than my entire life.”

There’s an ache in your chest that you’ve never felt before, a blend of all the emotional pain that could’ve been prevented had the two of you just talked. But that ache is fuelled by the fact that you can hear the waiver in Minho’s voice, and even though his back is still turned to you while he sits on the edge of the bed, you’re sure he’s crying.

-

A/N: Dare I say that I want to make a part 2 to this where Minho and reader try to rekindle, things are pretty tender but they sort of want to make it work...

[benedictscanvas]

could you possibly do a benedict bridgerton friends to lovers fic with maybe some jealousy thrown in there? i adore your writing 🫶🏻

this request could not have come at a better time! i finally started my bridgerton rewatch recently and i can feel myself sparking with ideas yet again :) || 2k words, tw benedict is PINING & this is much more suggestive than my usual content, so 18+ please!

can't bear it - benedict bridgerton x reader

He looked bored. It was the first thing you noticed upon entering the ballroom and, in truth, it was often the first thing you noticed upon entering any ballroom. Over your years of friendship, it seemed you had a highly trained eye to seek him out amongst any crowd.

Just as your eyes strayed to him, as if he had similar training, his found you. What had been a dull stare at the ground to avoid any accidental eye contact with the Mamas scattered about the room quickly became a bright and excitable gaze locked to yours and you returned his slow-spreading smile with a rather unladylike grin.

"Hi," he mouthed, a grin of his own now twisting his features. You shook your head at him fondly, biting the inside of your cheek in a foolish attempt to stop your grin from growing any wider.

You were lucky to have a sister with whom your mother was preoccupied. It made it easy to hurry along the sides of the ballroom, exchanging nods with those you passed without stopping to greet them properly, to end up next to Benedict in record time.

You stood side by side, your usual routine, the backs of your hands inches apart but both facing outwards, as if surveying the rest of the room. Each one of your senses was entirely tuned into him as soon as you entered his presence, but it would not look as such to any onlookers.

"You'll start more rumours if you keep trying to communicate across such wide distances, Lord Bridgerton," you began, eyes fixed on the twirling couples so you didn't sneak a glance in his direction, "I thought we were attempting to rid ourselves of the clamours for our engagement."

"They can hardly read into a mere greeting," he responded easily, the words a mere murmur from the corner of his mouth, "I am a gentleman, as you know, and it would be impolite to simply ignore you."

"It would. You couldn't ignore me if you tried, anyway," you mused, "You'd get ever so bored."

"Always so self-important."

His mutter makes you bite back a smirk. Perhaps facing away from each other did nothing to hide your obvious conversation after all. Violet would be sure to notice, you knew, and may once again force Benedict into explaining the lack of proposal between the two of you.

In recent weeks, however, you had been struggling to explain it to yourself. Benedict was so dear to you, so utterly different to the men that regularly bored you, that once you had struck up such unlikely friendship, it seemed you valued it far too much to take it any further.

That, and there had never been any indication that Benedict himself saw marital potential within you. He was by no means a shy man. If he wanted you, you were quite sure he would have swept you off your feet by now.

And what a sweeping it would be, in those strong arms barely concealed by the crisp white shirt, billowing fabric...

"Good evening, Miss Y/L/N," a voice broke you from your spell, and your gaze accidentally drifted to Benedict in surprise before landing on the man interrupting you, "I believe I was promised a dance last we met, and I have heard you are a lady of your word."

You had to fight to keep yourself from frowning as you wracked your brains for his name. Unfortunately, you came up entirely empty and had no choice but to respond vaguely.

"I certainly would not like to gain a reputation for breaking promises," you smiled as taught, taking in handsome features and arms that didn't fill in a shirt nearly as well as Benedict's. You shook that thought from your head as you placed your hand in the unnamed stranger's own, "It would be an honour."

There was a splutter to your left, no doubt Benedict struggling to conceal his amusement at the sudden change in your tone. You allowed the man to lead you to the dance floor, turning subtly to send Benedict a wry smile but finding him staring right through you, expression anything but amused.

It wiped the smile clean off your own face.

His face was thunder throughout your dance, you noticed, however much you tried to focus on the pleasantly mundane conversation provided by your new partner. He really was quite good looking, if only you could appreciate it, but you were entirely preoccupied by Benedict's new foul mood and what could have caused it.

As the dance ended, you bowed politely to your captor, which was the only word that came to mind for him, and hurried in the direction of your favourite friend only to find him gone. This time you did frown, despite your mother's warnings of wrinkles, and picked up your skirt lightly as you slipped out of the ballroom.

Searching side room after side room proved useful. You soon found what could be described as a studio, with large windows to let the light in but currently only cast moonlight across the canvases spread around the room. The moon also lit up half of Benedict, who was stood at the window, staring out into the gardens.

"Be prepared to hide under that desk if anyone should come knocking," you said, startling him as you clicked the door shut behind you, "I shan't let you compromise my honour just because I have to chase after you when you're having a tantrum."

He glowered at you at the mention of a tantrum, the kind of look he usually levelled his brothers with rather than you. It was new territory and you found yourself quickly floundering.

"I did not bid you to follow me."

"And yet here I am," you reminded, taking a tentative step, "So why don't you put a stop to this strange mood and tell me what's wrong?"

"I'd rather not," he said curtly, his voice a little wrong as he turned to face you at last. Were those tears? "Please return to the festivities and I will join you momentarily."

You'd never seen Benedict cry before. In fact, you weren't sure you'd ever seen a man cry in your life, and the sight was terrifying. You wanted nothing more than to wrap him up in a long overdue embrace, but you kept yourself stock still in the middle of the room.

"Benedict..." you began, not sure where you were going despite the plea in your voice, "Please. I have never seen you like this."

He laughs, but its harsh.

"You must not be very observant then, Y/N."

"I beg your pardon?"

"In fact, you must be positively blind. Maddeningly so. How do you ever get anything done?"

You could feel tears of your own welling up in your eyes and blinked them away furiously. It was a great effort to keep your voice level when you spoke.

"I have known you to be many things, Bridgerton, but you are not cruel. I am sure I have done nothing to deserve such vehement insult, so-"

"I quite disagree," he interrupted, face fierce as he stalked over to you until he was right in front of you. Your chest heaved as you looked up at him, eyes wide, and felt the rise of his chest almost against your own, "You are observant, Y/N, and far from blind. It is your cruelty at fault here, not mine. It is yours."

He hissed the last word, pointing a finger at you so close to your chest that your head was spinning. His closeness was intoxicating, his scent crowding you out of enough oxygen and his words were making you lightheaded with panic.

"You're not making any sense," you murmured. His fingertips ghosted across the fabric of your dress near your hips, barely there, and nowhere near the skin underneath.

"You must see it," he mutters back, all gritted teeth and barely concealed restraint, "You must see that I worship you. That I always have."

Your inhale sounded more like a gasp. He shook his head above you, moving closer until his chin was pressed hard into your temple and you keened into the touch.

"I know you do not feel the same. And you are not obligated to, I swear it. But taunting me as you do. Playing with me only to dance with another..." he trails off, breath shuddering, and you can hear those tears in his voice again, "I can't bear it. Please, Y/N, I cannot bear it."

Neither can you.

You reach up and take his face in both hands, finding chiseled cheekbones and jawline, thumbs either side of his lips as you pull him until you can look up into his face again. Your gaze flickers across his face, and you wipe the tears from his face with shaking fingers.

"You're blind, Benedict," you say, leaning up on your tiptoes until your lips brush his, soft, like the ghost of his fingertips against fabric. You know what you want him to do and you need him to do it first, need him to take your lead and run away with it.

When he fists his hands in your dress at your hips and drags you into him, your prayers are answered.

He opens your mouth to his, still gentle but insistent, demanding more, more, more of you. You'd give him everything, right here, mainly because you know he'd never take it. He seems more than content with the here and now as it is, especially when your hands slip into his hair and he lets out a low grumble of a moan that you feel everywhere.

He's trying to pull you closer still when you break for air, gasping it in as the two of you pant into each other's mouths. He runs a hand down your hair, your neck, your arm, until he intertwines his fingers with yours, chases your lips for a peck, then another, then another. You meet him with a lazy grin.

"I dance with the Lords of the ton every ball," you breathe out, "I'd have noticed if you reacted like this every time."

Benedict was grinning too. He looked far more like himself when he did.

"They are usually old, ugly fools," he said, wrinkling his nose in distaste at the thought, "I always hate them having their hands all over you, but watching a young charming bastard who may just have a chance with you hold you as I have always dreamed of doing? It was enough."

"He never had a chance, my Lord," you assured, tracing his hairline, his earlobe just to see him shiver, "You are, as already accused, blissfully blind. Blind as a bat, I should think."

"Recent developments would suggest that to be true," he mused, glowing in a way he wouldn't usually when wrong. Then, all too quickly, his face briefly fell, "I truly apologise for all that I said to you, Y/N. There is no excuse, it was cruel."

"Hm," you agreed, "It was. Although, I can think of a multitude of ways you can make it up to me. Would you care to hear them?"

His eyes lit up at the realisation of your teasing. It was familiar, exactly what had drawn you both to each other time and time again. It was likely what would keep you together for eternity.

"I would like nothing more."

"How about I sit right up here..." you began lowly, moving to take a seat on the desk, "-you sit yourself underneath this desk, and we can have a conversation about compromising my honour."

You grinned at him wolfishly. It looked almost as if his eyes rolled back into his head already, but it wasn't long until he was kneeling in front of you, hands on the hem of your dress.

"And what would you know about compromising your honour, Miss Y/L/N?"

You ran a hand through his hair and used it to roughly yank him forward, until his nose was pressed to the fabric of your dress, exactly where you wanted him. It was easy to see it now, as he stared up at you in total awe: the way he worshipped you.

"Let's find out, shall we?"

if you’d like to request something, please do so here! i’d love to hear from you, sunflower <3

[starstruckbyacomet]

Goodbye for Now

Almost 2 months ago I posted a list of possible hurdles that Oliver had warned us about (link):

It's possibly because of something from Tommy's past (we might get a Tommy Begins of some sort).

It possibly would happen through episodes 8x05 and 8x06.

Buck will go to Bobby, Maddie, and Eddie for support during that period.

Buck might find out about Tommy's past (being a racist and mysoginist a-hole) and couldn't accept it, or

Tommy might meet Carla. Carla might tell Buck that Tommy had lied to Abby and used her as a beard in the past. Abby was hurt badly because of it, and Buck couldn't accept it.

Buck might break up with Tommy.

Buck might try to date another man or a woman (if they want to emphasize that Buck is bisexual, not gay).

When I made the above list, I half-jokingly wrote down the worst posssibilities I could think of. The purpose of my post back then is to prepare other Tevan shippers who at the time had doubt about the relationship. I told them that grown-up relationships had all sorts of challenges, including break-ups. I also told them to watch Disney Princess movies if they couldn't handle it.

Who knew that almost 2 months later I have to swallow my own pills?

As contradictive as it sounds, I'm not happy that my predictions come true, including the possibility of Buck dating men & women again (prediction #7) which could happen based on interview with Oliver Stark (link)

Will Buck and Tommy make up?

Negative sign:

There are two interviews with Lou which I still refused to read, because the writers used to be Buddie baiters. But according to fans who have read it, the break up seems final.

Positive signs:

A)) 9-1-1 official Instagram account wouldn't follow Lou in the first place if he wouldn't stay for long term. Last time I check, 9-1-1 account still following Lou.

B)) Things that I wrote in my previous post still stand (link).

Tim and Oliver has said they wanted Buck to get out of the relationship hamster wheel and have a steady meaningful one instead.

Unlike Abby, whom they broke up with Buck because Tim had difficulties in writing her interaction with other 118 family members, Tommy has known most of the 118 family even before Buck does. There is no difficulty in making scripts where Tommy interacts with other 118 members without Buck's presence.

And the most important reason is: THE RATING IS HIGH when Tevan relationship is going strong.

My conclusion: There are 2 options:

The break-up is only temporary, to spice things up. Unfortunately, the timing is really bad because it is aired after the fuck-up US election result 🤦.

Tommy is moving to the new 9-1-1 spin-off, which probably located in Hawaii (link). If this happens, the break-up might be permanent, but it will be good for Lou's career.

What's next?

Although I think Tommy will come back in the 9-1-1 universe, I'm still upset. The 2nd term of Trump and Tevan's break-up happened within the same week! WTF??? I refuse to deal with both at the same time.

This is a list of what I will and will not do, and what I've done:

I will not harrass Tim Minear, Oliver Stark, or even the show on social media. I will not post my disappointment on unrelated social media contents. We have experienced how annoying it was when toxic Buddie fans did it. I refuse to do the same. I suggest other Tevan fans too. We are better than that.

I have unfollowed all 9-1-1 related social media accounts, both official and not. Yes, it is included 911bts and 911cast Tumblr accounts. I think this is a healthy way to voice my disappointment and to maintain my mental health.

I will stop watching the show until Tommy is (or, is officially announced to be) back on screen. The only exception will be when they show Bathena's new house for the first time, because I've been waiting to see it. Other than that, just no. Not even when Eddie reunites with Chris, if that happens before Tommy is back on screen. This step might even save me a few bucks, actually 😅.

I will stop engaging with 9-1-1 related contents on the internet. I will not read any articles about the show. I will not comment, post, reblog or do anything with contents about 9-1-1 on the internet.

I will stop reading 9-1-1 fics because I never comfortable following ships which are against canon. That's why I don't ship Buddie. And now that Tevan broke-up, I cannot engage with AUs where they are still together.

If you think Tevan will make up, why do you quit the show? Because:

I consume entertainment contents to be entertained, not to be depressed. I used to skip sad chapters on novels, and only read them when I'm ready. Buck without Tommy is a sad chapter for me, so I skip it.

This is my way to voice my disappointment in a healthy way. Things that matter the most for the show are rating/viewership and rating/viewership-related metrics. My actions may not have significant impacts to the show, but I am satisfied, nonetheless. Especially, after Oliver's comment that he has actively asked Tim Minear to 'Let Buck F–k' men and women (link). His ask is not only a regression to slutty Buck 1.0 (which we thought he has grown out of), but also strengthening the stereotype that bisexual people are easy to fuck around. A stereotype that a lot of bisexual people want to shred.

Tim Minear and Oliver Stark have the right to make the story as they see fit. This show is not customed to my preference. I'm very much aware of that. This is a "love it or leave it" product. So, I choose to leave it. For now.

To my followers: As I mentioned in my account, you can unfollow me. I use Tumblr as a scrapbook, not to gain followers. I was actually surprised and felt a bit guilty when people start following me, because I don't create arts, gifs, or fics. So, feel free to unfollow me. No hard feeling.

To other Tevan shippers: I know this is beyond disappointing, but please keep your online behavior in check. Please keep in mind that if you post your disapointment in social media, toxic Buddie shippers will eat you alive. Even if you don't, Buddie shippers will be gloating all over the internet. If you can't handle it, I suggest to forgo any interactions in 9-1-1 social media, at least temporarily.

Special thanks to my fellow Tevan fans and the lovely Buddietommy multishippers whom I've met during this journey. I hope we'll meet again. What a roller-coaster ride.

Now, back to Disney Princess movies... 😂

[insomniac4000]

Right Person Wrong Time A Willne fic

Will sat there, his blue eyes brimming with tears as he stared at the photo. You were there, big smile on your face, eyes listening, nails manicured to perfection as the diamond and sapphire ring sat on your forth finger of your left hand you held up so proudly. The problem? The man in the photo next to you wasn’t him. He was tall and with dark hair but that was where the similarities ended, his eyes were dark not only in colour but Will always thought there was a dark tone to them and he didn’t like the way he was holding your left wrist in the photo, it was possessive in nature like he was telling the whole world to back off, it was like it was a specific message to Will to leave you alone.

The first time you had introduced Will to David it was a polite meeting but awkward, it would have been obvious to anyone else that the pair took an immediate dislike to each other but were putting aside their differences for you. That was only eight months ago, a month before Will and Mia broke up and now only eight months later you two were engaged, it was moving quick, too quick for Will’s liking but he knew he had to be the supportive friend, the role he had played to you since you first met at uni.

“Come ‘ere,” Will managed to say when you had come home after your weekend away where the engagement took place. He opened his arms and you fell into them giggling, still on a high from all the excitement.

“All we need to do now is find someone for you, we’re thinking of getting married in December so you’ve got a little while to find a date,” you explained to him as the pair of you let go of the hug and made your way to the sofa.

“December?” Will asked his voice going a little high.

“I know, I know it’s soon but David said it’s doable.”

“I thought you always wanted to get married in summer,” Will replied crossing one of his long limbs over the other, his grey tracksuit bottoms riding up his ankles as he did so.

“I did, but David said doing it on our first anniversary would be sweet, and he doesn’t want to wait,” you shrugged.

“What about what you want?” Will asked. For the past few months he had grown tired of watching you bow down to David’s every whim. He knew he didn’t like David but this was more than that, he had slowly started seeing you change and he was worried for you, he had never thought David was right for you and now other people were starting to see the same thing which had only increased his worry, it had proved it wasn’t just Will’s dislike of David clouding his mind there was something happening and it only increased his concern.

“It’ll be fine, it’s just a compromise,” you explained fiddling with your hair, a habit you had since you were very young.

“Y/N a compromise means you both have to give up something. Look I’m not going to dictate anything to you but it just seems to be you’re the one giving up stuff more. You’re moving in with him even though that means giving up your dog, now he’s planning the wedding? Something just makes me feel really uneasy,” Will told you earnestly. You looked at your lap in embarrassment, Hercules was your six year old black Labrador whom you adopted four years ago. David had managed to convince you it was the best thing for you to move into his rented home rather than he move into your house which you owned, you can’t remember how it made more sense to do this but it did. The saddest part was there was a no pets rule so in a couple of weeks time Hercules was moving in with Will.

“If you’re having second thoughts about taking him then I can make other arrangements..” you suggested causing Will to shake his head furiously.

“No, I’d much rather have him here where you can see him and know he will be looked after, I just think it’s sad you’re having to give him up,” Will told you in earnest, you nodded in both understanding and in agreement as you let out a small sigh. Your life had changed so much in the last few weeks, you remember pleading with David to let you keep him, you had even argued about it, in trying to make it up to you he had booked a last minute get away to the Maldives which is where he ended up proposing. Your mind was in a spin, you had so much you needed to do and sort out and very little time in which to do it in, you didn’t know whether you were coming or going most of the time now and spent a lot of your days confused. Usually it was spending time with your friends including Will which gave you some much needed down time but right in this moment you were feeling more confused than ever.

You had cut that visit short, you genuinely had a headache but there was also a slight discomfort being on Will’s sofa that you hadn’t felt before. It was a mix of feeling there was something wrong with you being there mixed with not feeling as welcome as you had before but you couldn’t put your finger on it. Really you had mainly gone there to pick up Hercules as Will was looking after him during your break. When you got to your house you were a little surprised to see David sitting on the sofa on his laptop, he had told you he was going to work most of the day so assumed he would be at his own flat.

“Hey babe, great news,” David smiled. You frowned at the sight of his feet with his brown shoes on resting on your coffee table, it was one that you had picked up from Marketplace and had antiqued yourself. You house was small, two bedrooms and one bathroom but it was yours. You had scrimped hard to gather enough money together to buy it and you had a hobby of making furniture and interiors unique so everything in that house meant a lot to you, now you were thinking about it you were very sad that you were going to have to say goodbye to all of it.

“What?” You asked clipping off Hercules’ lead before sitting down next to him, you tapped his legs in an attempt that he would get the hint and place his feet down but he never did.

“I’ve found our wedding venue, although the only date they had was November 20th which is a little earlier than planned but we’ll sort it all out.”

“What?” You managed to choke out, to say you were in shock was an understatement, you had only been engaged for less than twenty four hours and hadn’t even talked about potential venue ideas.

“It’s the country club a friend of my uncle owns, I didn’t want to wait considering we want to get married so soon, it’s an old family friend so we can get a great deal but still need a deposit to secure the date.”

“David, please PLEASE tell me you didn’t put a deposit down?” You asked, you ran your hand down your face as you watched his mouth slightly twitch into a scowl. A country club would be way down on your list of places you wanted to get married, not that you had anything against them say but you preferred old buildings, or something a little bit different, something with character.

“Why wouldn’t I?” David replied nonchalantly not seeing the problem.

“I would like to think we would make big decisions like that together!” You exclaimed raising your voice a little, you were angry and hurt. All of the excitement over the engagement had just washed away from you, it was like all of the fun, joy and anticipation had been taken away from you.

“Well I’d like to think that my fiancée would be a bit more fucking grateful I’m actually helping out instead of sitting on my arse!” David snapped back, causing you to physically step back a little, you had never heard him that angry before and in your opinion he didn’t have a right to be.

The following day Will made his way into the office, he was filming with James which he loved, despite the challenges that came with it but he was struggling to muster up any excitement.

“Hey man, how are you?” James asked with a concerned look on his face as the northerner walked in and slammed his backpack on the desk.

“Fine,” the Geordie sighed but the musician frowned and placed a hand on Will’s shoulder.

“I saw on social media. How are you doing?”

“I was okay, she came over to get her dog and she was just so different, he’s going to control every aspect of that wedding and then her life and then I’m never going to see her again.” Will sighed in despair.

“Do you really think he’s that bad a person?” James asked, he had only met the guy once and although David seemed a bit stuck up there were no major red flags.

“He’s making her give up her dog James, the guy’s a prick. Let’s film this video,” Will added sadly taking off his hoodie to start the shoot.

Everyone in the office was worried about Will, from Mikey and Orlaith whom he saw for multiple hours a day, to Jim who saw him once a week when he travelled up to film, to other people he shared the office building with such as Chris, Theo and Chip. On multiple occasions Chris asked Will to go out with him to see if they could get him a girl and he could forget all about you but Will never took it up. Will was honest when he went onto The Fella’s podcast and said all he did was go to work, go home and watch the TV. His mind was always clouded by you, mostly the thought was were you okay as he had a feeling that deep down you weren’t happy, and Lord knew he was miserable. The two of you had met first year of uni in the halls, he had the room opposite you. He was a hapless eighteen year old who didn’t know much of anything, you taught him to cook just a few basic recipes but it stopped him from living off kebabs and vodka. When you had to move out of halls the two of you moved into a house share together with two other friends but Will then broke your heart when he  announced he wasn’t going to pursue his degree anymore. The two of you had one drunken kiss one night but when the two of you both admitted it was a mistake and you were better off friends in order to save face and that was that. Will then got a girlfriend and from that moment the pair of you had never been single at the same time. When Will got with Mia you honestly had thought that was it, they had drifted apart a couple of months before the split but by that point you had started to date David and you assumed that they would get back together. The moping shocked you a little as you had never seen Will like that before but little did you know Will wasn’t just mourning his relationship with Mia, he was also starting to mourn his friendship with you.

Will sighed when he heard a knock on the door, it was seven pm so he assumed it was some kids messing about or something wanting to sell something, the sound of the football match flowing in the background, Will wasn’t sure what the score was or who was even playing, his mind too preoccupied with other things. His phone buzzed, to his surprise he saw your name flash up, he scrambled off his sofa when he read the words ‘it’s me I’m outside’.

He opened the door, the rain hammering down causing your hair to be stuck to the side of your face, Hercules was by your side and similarly soggy.

“Come in out the cold, what’s happened?” Will asked rushed, noticing the suitcase by your other side.

“We had an argument. Will…” you started but couldn’t continue as you watched the tall man walk straight over to the kitchen. He placed the kettle on before shuffling to the bathroom, not a minute later he reappeared with two towels, throwing one in your direction before placing the other one over Hercules who thanks Will with a good shake.

“Did he hurt you?” Will asked not looking at you once, he couldn’t take it if you said yes and he could see something.

“No, well he grabbed my wrists to try and stop me from leaving,” you explained. If Will wasn’t touching your dog right now he would have balled his fists up, you continued to talk after some silence, it being evident Will wasn’t going to fill it.

“You were right Will. He’s all wrong for me, he tried to tell me it was because you were jealous but I don’t care of that’s true or not. He organised the whole wedding without me, I can’t believe I almost let him give up Hercules, I mean how stupid can I be,” you started wail, you weren’t just upset you were angry at yourself. The mullet haired man embraced you as quick as he could, the pair of you stood there swaying from side to side for a while enjoying each other’s company. You two hadn’t hugged like that since your grandmother had died.

Very few words were exchanged that night, one of the things they really treasured about their friendship was they could be in each other’s company and know exactly what the other person wanted. The spare room was offered without question, tea was drank and coffee was purchased the next morning. You thanked Will as the pair of you sipped your beverages, hot for you and cold for him.

“Can I ask you a question?” Will proposed as he swivelled in his seat to face you.

“Shoot,” you replied giving him a small smile, so much had happened over the past few days all you wanted to do was cry but you were determined to keep a smile on your face, it was just who you are.

“You said yesterday that you didn’t care if I was jealous of that arsehole or not, I just want to know what you meant?” Will felt guilty for doing so but the thing that made him up most of the night was because he was playing that part of the sentence over and over in his head, he needed to know.

“It’s not important,” you shrugged it off taking another sip of your coffee.

“It is to me. I know I was right about him but I have to be honest, part of me was jealous,” Will admitted sighing, he felt like he was going to burst if he kept it in much longer. Your eyes widened and jaw dropped as you took in the information.

“Why are you telling me this now?” You exclaimed, you’d had enough of men lying to you and using you and never thought Will would be part of that list.

“Because I’m a selfish bastard and can’t wait until you meet someone new and I go through all of this heartache again. I’m also a gentlemen and know you’re far from in the position to go down the road again, I just need you to know.” There was silence after Will spoke which was deafening to him.

“If only you had told me this five fucking years ago. You’re right Will, I need some time to get over all of this, but when I do you’ll be the first person I call,” you said placing a hand on his knee. The right time will come.

[queenmiarys]

Please excuse any errors or mistakes and I want to say thank you to whom all reads. Happy Sunday everyone.

Through  Hell and back

Trr none royal

Pairing: Olivia x Anton

Chapter summary: it's Juliana's birthday and Olivia cut loose and has some fun but confused about Anton's reaction after the party.

Warning: mentions of attempted rape, being tipsy and light profanity.

All characters belong to pixelberry I just borrowed them for my stories.

Word count 1,928

Song inspiration:

Part 2 Green eyed monster

It was Sunday afternoon. Olivia turned over and grabbed her phone, it was now 2pm. " Oh shit Liam."

She dialed his number."I'm so sorry but on the way?"

    

"Liv, we talked with Kiki earlier and she explained your date went over, so I understand I told her to let you sleep, besides you are coming to Juliana party tonight right? 

"Sure I'll be there."

Are you bringing this new guy along?" 

"I don't think so."

"Really you should invite him."

When Olivia arrived at the party, everyone was having a good time. "There you are, Max said, slurring his words." So we don't get to meet this new guy?" Kiki said that he was hot,  but I bet not hotter than me." He laughed, I could already tell he was tipsy. . 

"Babe, come with me so you can cool down some." A wicked grain from Juliana all it took and he followed her upstairs.

—------

Liam and Mia had walked over to Olivia.

"My love, would you mind if I spoke to Olivia for a moment?" Liam said to his girlfriend 

"You know I don't mind, baby." 

Once they made it outside." So you really like this guy Anton?"

"He's okay, but honestly I really don't know him well. We just went on one date."

"Have you talked with Drake at all?"

"No not at all, it's been over a year since we spoke."

"Here's the thing, remember Riley?"

l

"You mean his girlfriend??"

"Yeah her."

 

"Would you just get to the point already?"

"He asked her to marry him last week." 

"Why would you be afraid to tell me this?"

"Well No one really knows how serious the two of you were, but  I knew you both loved each other and despite him meeting this Riley girl you'll always be his first love and the same for you."

"Liam it doesn't mean anything." She couldn't stop the tears from falling.Liam just held her without saying a word for a few minutes. 

"I'm here for you, we can talk about it if you want or not."

"Did you know he was my first?"

"I figured as much, you were so  very young."

"Come on, you guys are only 2 years older than me."

"True, but you know how Drake is, you know he went against his own rules and took a chance with you only being 16, I remember right before you got together you two were always at each other's throats, I remember when he confused he had feelings for you and wanted to come forth, he thought you hated him, you know I encouraged him to just talk to you and treat you better."

.

" Thank you for that, um We should go back in before they come looking for us." She said to change the subject and to keep from reliving the past, besides he's engaged now. 

"Yeah I suppose so, so when do I meet this Anton guy?" Oh look at that smile you really like him huh?"

"He seems alright." 

They returned to the party. "Come on people let's dance the night away a very drunken Bertrand yelled out, Maxwell re entered the party with a change of clothes on, Bertrand and Maxwell broke into dancing to,  it actually look like Max had taught his brother some moves, what was impressive was that Bertrand was so drunk he threw off his shirt, and throw it over his head to Penelope who caught it and was super excited, Bertrand winked at her, until he saw Savannah walk up behind her. 

—--------------- 

Drake called Juliana on FaceTime. " Hi Drake oh hi you must be Riley?" 

She smiled. "Yes, nice to meet you."

"Same here he's told me so much about you

"Excuse me, but I called to wish you Happy birthday kid, I really wish we could've been there."

"I totally understand." She said giggling. Some things never change. Drake will always be himself, she thought.

Olivia was walking past, Juliana was talking and she heard Drake voice but also another female, she peeped in to see a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes,  her heart sunk in her chest, it's been over a long time she thought who could blame him for moving on it had been 2 years she was brought from her thoughts when she heard Juliana speaking again

"Look guys, I hate to cut things short, but I need to get back to my party."

Okay Juliana talk later."

—-----------

"So that's Maxwell's wife?" She's beautiful." 

"So are you, Brooks, and yes I was certainly surprised when Beaumont got married, he was pretty wild back in the day." 

"I've only met Liam in person, and your sister, I would like to meet everyone else, and that video call doesn't count."

"One day you will, Liam has invited you to his wedding, you know I'm the best man so I would be going down early.

" Just how early?" 

"I need to go a week in advance." 

"I can't let them have you for a week." She teased pulling his 6"3  frame down to her 5"4 and kissed him."I love you Mr Walker."

"I love you too."

He couldn't help but to think of Olivia and the way she used to do the same, only Olivia stood 5" nothing. He closed his eyes and shook his head. 

"Baby I need to take a walk, just to clear my head." 

"Okay baby, don't be too late." 

He walked to a nearby park.

" Liv, stop, why do you act like you hate me so much?" 

"Drake please just go."  " I didn't ask you to be my knight and shining armor."

"Look at me, did Jason, just try to hurt you?" She started to cry. That was all the confirmation he needed. "That son of a b**** , "Beaumont, can you sit with Liv till I return?"

"Go ahead, I won't leave her." 

Once Drake made it inside  Jason was standing surrounded by several  females. "Just who I was looking for, I'll  teach you to never touch a lady when she says no." 

Drake punched him and he fell to the ground,  Drake continued to punch him. Until Liam jumped in front of him,  pleading with him to stop. 

"Drake you're going to kill him, come on go with me and get some air."

They got outside." What the hell happened?" 

"That sob tried to rape her, she's a mess, Liam you know how I feel about her."

Once he returned home Riley questioned him going home "Oh, so you want to go without me?"

"Brooks, it's my best friend's wedding. I can't miss that."

He pulled her over to him, and gently kissed her neck." 

"Come on, let's  go take a shower, we will meet up with your mom in a few hours.

"We can just get ready then."

Brooks, I love you, but you take forever to get ready for like 2 to 3 hours and on top of it all, you hate waking up it takes you 30 minutes to wake fully up." 

"Let's pick something to wear,  and take our shower together."

4 hours later. 

"Brooks,  get up  it's been 30 minutes, it's 9:30 we are supposed to meet your vmom in an hour. " 

"I'm up." Drake was just staring ." Don't worry it's going up in a messy bun, it's only mom."

__________________

Olivia work up to her phone Vibrating, she and Juliana, joined by Kiara and Penelope all fell asleep while watching a movie, everyone was drunk except Mia 

"Hello?" She answered. "Oh Anton, how are you?"

"I'm good, so did you have fun last night?"

"It was okay, wish you could've come, me and most of the girls ended up watching a movie falling asleep."

"So you are still there?"  A hint of jealousy came into his voice. But he quickly changed his tone

"Yes I am, 

"I have to go, talk later." He quickly hung up the phone in her face. 

She stood there in shock for a moment. "Is everything okay?" Mia asked whom Olivia didn't know was in the room.

"Yes it's fine, I got to get to work." 

"Me and Liam both too, it's a good thing I own my own business." Today I'll do 12 till 8.

"There you are my love." Liam gave her a kiss and handed her some money. Remember no ATM use, remember off limits."

She let out a sigh. "Okay I promise. "

"Gotta go." he gave her one more kiss

"What's this you not getting money from the atm?" You have new shoes and a new handbag? Olivia said, rolling her eyes. 

"It's the reason Liam went all crazy on me, and he's been very strict on what I spend, I mean the man puts my bank account to shame. He's only 22, he gave me 20 bucks and said that should be enough for lunch." 

"He's always saved up, but he's also indulged in his lavish gifts as well. "

"He's just showing me how to save and what I should invest in, well I must be going now."

Everyone rushed off to work.

—-----------------

Two weeks later,  Anton had come over for dinner. Olivia wasn't the greatest cook, but her mom taught her a few Pasta dishes and how to make the sauce to go with them. "It smells wonderful in here, I didn't know you could cook."

"Well not really,  these few dishes I know were passed down from my mom, I used to help her a lot." 

There was a knock on the door. "Ki did you forget your keys?" She said as he opened the door revealing her father and brother standing there. "Father, Joel

"We just came to see, would you like to go get a bite with us?".

 

"While father I have company, and I cooked

"You cooked as in food?"

"stop it, of course I cooked food silly .

"you must really like this new guy?" Can we meet him

"Sure brother, come in." She opened the door and they all went into the dining room and introduced them, her father knew who Anton was already

"Anton this is my father Lionel and my brother Joel

"Nice to meet you." They both said in union.

They sat and talked for a while, but it was just something that Joel didn't like about his sister new man.

"Sis I hate to run but I got some stuff to handle."her brother said as he stood up to leave.

She hugged her brother and walked him out.

"So what do you think brother?" 

"I honestly don't know yet sis, I mean so far I don't like him, he just has a negative vibe and until then I can't say what it is but I don't like this guy sis."

"You don't like anyone I date so what else is new?" Are you dating anyone ?"

"I was just hooking up with this guy named Kevin." 

"So no one special?"

Maybe when I'm old enough, 27 is still young and beside no one looking for me to marry or have a child, since I don't swing for the right team, as aunt Lucinda always tells me how it's a sin to date men and all."

"You can't listen to her, she is so wrapped up in us but doesn't see that Amber is Bi and Casey may be as well, it'll serve her right for looking down on people." 

"Thanks you're the best little sister."

"I'm your only sister." She said with a big smile..

"Let me get back to Anton." She hugged him and went back inside.

Anton sat in the dining room talking to her father but watching the scene out the window. 

"Dinner was delicious, but I must be going." He hid how angry he was that her dad and brother crashed their date.

@kingliam2019 @choicesficwriterscreations @twinkleallnight @alj4890 @kaitycole @karahalloway

@honey358luv @harleybeaumont @kingliam-rys @tessa-liam @bebepac @dcbbw @mom2000aggie

@lolablackwrites @luvquit @shewillreadyou @yaniradolton @yolandawalker @yourmajesty09 @storyofmychoices @queenrileyrose @ao719 @angelasscribbles @aussiegurl1234

[odd-kid-42]

I dunno who to ask for for the unhinged thing, so let's go with Fusataro and Paresse, mostly 'cause Shift of Tone's first two chapters were centered on them, PLUS a character of your choosing that ur Totally Normal About, any fandom!

Copying your own words, OH BOY

Fussa first: God, I need to finish "Shift in Tone" because as I filled out Fussa and Paresse's charts I remembered where I was going with the story. Fussa is great. What do you do when you are helping to destroy the world and suddenly have to 1) keep going to your shitty job and 2) have a fourteen year old who used to be your robot/roommate/paycheck of revenge? Probably has daddy issues but we're not going to unpack that. Doesn't make me sad as much as I want a play-by-play on what is going through his head because epilogue left Fussa and Rage washed up on the beach before Mizho showed up as the one evil douji user whom I imagine kept her wits about her.

I know Paresse is your man, so this is specifically how I imagine him in SiT. Paresse does make me sad, and post-epilogue is one of recovery in my mind. I interpreted the sin of sloth to be one of apathetic detachment towards oneself and others, so Paresse suddenly having Human Emotions (TM) and experiencing Grief (TM) for things never returning to the way they were hits a chord to me. Suddenly needing to engage with the rest of the world while speedrunning Self-care (TM) and the confusion of oh shit the bigger goal is gone. I didn't act and there were consequences I am only now feeling without Mizho catching what is going on is the snow globe I am shaking him in for a bit before Mizho hauls ass on giving the "Being a human kind of blows, but at least there's penicillin now and the steady betterment of the world fucks a bit." speech amongst other words of encouragement.

I'm so sorry I am obsessed about Dndads and you watch it consume me instead of doing KDU stuff. Keeping the rant short, Walter the Immoral is a side character who used to be a famous swordsmith until the tip of one he rushed to make broke off and killed the great hero wielding it, so he was cursed to be a frog monster essentially and abandoned by his family. In the course of the canonical story, he: adopted an eight year old, build a motorcycle from ye olde medieval material to find his eight year after thinking he had been kidnapped, fended off hired mercenaries trying to kidnap the main characters' five children for weeks on end by himself, lost his legs (and shrugged it off because he built himself a wheelchair from scratch and could still fight), watched his eight year old sacrifice himself (unnecessarily!! genuinely, unnecessarily), and then piloted a mecha in the final fight before ducking out of the s1 narrative worse than he started somehow. I have normal feelings about him (/lying).

If I dwell on how the cast treated his son (Paeden) and him too much, I show my ass on the internet because genuinely what the fuck was that. Thank god Walter is somehow well-adjusted and didn't murder them all in the end. Hell of a podcast (/derogatory).

[m4xence]

Conflict of Interest

Summary: The days before the big ball was approaching mercilessly fast, and Pantalone felt desperate when he approached his ex-fiancée with the proposal. But Yelan, to the banker's surprise, wasn't that opposed to the idea.

Modern AU

The end of the month was always incredibly stressful. Papers with all sorts of settlements and bills were piled up on the table. To make matters worse, not everyone brought their expense list on time.

Pantalone spent most of his time in the office or archive, organizing documents with settlements and expenses for the past month. He leaned against the desk and put the papers with bills into the appropriate file.

He looked at the rest of the documents piled up on the desk. After sitting at the desk for a few hours, his spine began to hurt. A moment of rest wouldn't hurt him, would it? After a moment of thought, he left the room, remembering to lock the door. He didn't want some recruit to mess with his documents in the archive.

"Did you know that coming with a companion is mandatory?" he heard Dottore's voice as he entered the kitchen.

Their boss, Pierro, decided that a banquet was a good idea to celebrate recent investments and business meetings. At least that's how it looks from a third-party perspective. However, in reality, the ceremony was intended to exchange confidential information with other allied organizations.

Pantalone just sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. This day was extremely nervous and he didn't want to worry too much about the banquet that was to take place in exactly a week.

"Dottore, can you stop reminding me about this now? I have too many things on my mind," he leaned against the table. "Columbina is behind on payments, and Arlecchino still hasn't provided me with my orphanage papers for last month."

"Can't you go with your fiancée?"

Pantalone froze in place and dug his nails into the table. He completely forgot to mention that he broke up with her... When exactly? He was so absorbed in work that every day seemed to blend into one. When did Yelan take her things and move out of the house? Two weeks ago, maybe three?

"We broke off the engagement," he replied after a short thought. "Difference of interests."

Dottore rolled his eyes. Of course, the banker won't tell him directly what it was about, he'll just give a random excuse.

"Well, what can I say, it's a real shame, but that's no excuse," he finished his coffee before putting the mug in the sink. "Anyway, I'm going with an old friend of mine from when I was studying at the Akademiya."

Pantalone remembered that Dottore had once talked a little about his youth at the best academy. He mentioned one brunette particularly often, with whom he had done a few projects before he was fired.

“We recently reconnected,” Dottore continued. "So I figured I'd take advantage of the opportunity. Anyway, I'm sure you'll find someone else for this evening. Women are crazy about people like you," he snorted under his breath, then left the kitchen.

There was dead silence in the room. Pantalone crossed his arms over his chest, looking out the window. The sun was slowly sinking below the horizon, painting the sky blood red. Suddenly an idea occurred to him. Although the plan looked a bit desperate, he saw no other option.

***

He felt desperate. Last night he wrote to Yelan asking to meet at a café they used to frequent. At first, he thought she had blocked his number, but to his surprise, she replied quite quickly.

There was still some time left until the appointed hour, but he began to be tormented by obsessive thoughts about whether she would come. He tried to calm down by drinking his favourite coffee. Suddenly, the door to the cafe opened and a woman with dark blue hair and green eyes like emeralds walked in. She looked around the place for a moment, then approached the table.

"Did you think I wouldn't come?" she smiled gently under her breath, sliding the coat off her shoulders. His coat, which she brazenly took when they parted. "I was curious what you wanted."

"I know how this sounds, but could you pretend to be my partner again?" he felt like a complete desperate, but he had no other choice. He didn't want to listen to Pierro complaining that the operation failed because of him. "I have an important evening meeting at work in a few days and coming with an accompanying person is mandatory."

"That's why you wrote to me yesterday... Well, yes, I could have guessed" She started tapping her nails gently on the table. "Hmm, let's think..."

Yelan smiled softly to herself. She knew that every second of silence made him look desperate. And she could use it to her advantage by making him beg her for it. But was she that heartless towards her ex-fiancé?

"Okay," she smiled to herself as a hint of relief crossed his face. "But everything has its price, a banker like you should know that."

Of course, he was aware of it. In the world of big fish, nothing comes for free, especially if you want to ingratiate yourself with Yelan. He happened to have an ace up his sleeve.

"There will be only important figures at this banquet, not only our allies but also those who are not in our favour. From what I know, you are still working for Ningguang and trying to track down the remnants of an organization stealing valuable treasures, this would be an opportunity for you."

Yelan considered the offer, her fingernails beating a louder rhythm. They both had hooks on them, which they used at every possible opportunity. The arrangement looked good, they would get what they expected, and Yelan wouldn't let go of one more little tease with her ex-fiancé.

 "Okay, send me the time and place of the banquet," she gathered her coat from the chair, then gently brushed his arm as she left.

***

The day of the banquet came sooner than he expected. He left work early and spent the entire afternoon getting ready. In terms of clothing, he chose a black suit with gold elements.

He felt excited and impatient inside, almost like a teenage puppy getting ready for a date for the first time. He should calm down. He was not a scared youth, but a serious banker. Yelan was no stranger to him either. After all, they once lived together and even shared a bed. Until they started getting in each other's way.

Yelan was breaking up Fatui's smaller branches, and this was slowly depleting the company's money. In their case, it was difficult to separate private and professional life. They saw no better solution than to break off the engagement and go their separate ways.

Before leaving, he checked several times to make sure he had sent her the address. Even though he knew he had done it a few days ago, this feeling made him open their conversation again. He felt like a teenager in love and he was slowly fed up with this feeling.

***

The hotel where the banquet was held was located on the outskirts of the city and was a big fish centre. From politicians to the heads of underground organizations, these walls heard and saw everything, from immoral acts to simple drunkenness where someone spilt important information.

However, the employees, given the appropriate amount, did not react at all to what was happening inside. They acted as if corruption and illegal dealings did not exist at all.

Pantalone arrived early but judging by the parking lot filled with cars, others arrived even faster. They probably wanted to taste the goods prepared by the hotel before the boring and false conversations began in earnest.

He didn't have to wait long, because Yelan got out of the next car. He had to admit she looked stunning. The dress was long to the ground, with an open back and a blue colour that highlighted her hair.

Once he recovered from his first step, he slowly walked over to her and gently took her hand. Yelan moved closer, feeling the other guests' eyes on her.

"Remember that we are supposed to pretend to be engaged," she whispered, glancing at who had arrived this time.

Pantalone, to keep up appearances in front of the others, smiled slightly, as if she had told him an interesting anecdote.

"I realize that it's just one deal, one evening, and then we go back to our own business."

So as not to arouse further suspicion, he took Yelan's arm and they started towards the entrance. They passed a couple of couples at the reception desk but didn't even pay much attention to them. They headed to the elevator, which took them to the top floor with a terrace offering an amazing view of the night city.

Already at the entrance, he noticed Dottore leaning against the wall and talking to a woman whose purple dress revealed a lot. It was probably his school friend whom he told him about recently.

***

The hours slowly passed and the crowd around them became thinner and thinner. Most went to their rooms, minding their own business, or were dragged along by more sober companions.

Pantalone had to admit that he was having fun with Yelan, even if they were there for completely different reasons. Maybe he was behaving like a puppy in love and his old feelings were still there.

They went out to the balcony, wanting to breathe some fresh air and get rid of the strong smells of expensive perfumes and cigarettes. The view was amazing. In the distance, you could see the city sparkling with colours, and the stars in the sky were more visible than usual.

Yelan leaned against the railing, looking beyond. Pantalone stopped next to her, but his eyes were more focused on her than on the panorama.

"I must admit, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Yelan looked up and their eyes met.

"Maybe there is a chance to renew old contacts?" he smiled slightly to himself as she stood up and moved closer.

"Who knows... Maybe one day..." She ran her nails along his shirt, stopping her hand on his chest. However, she slowly moved away and started to walk towards the exit, but before the door, she looked at him for a moment. She smiled to herself, which was a discreet invitation to follow her.

Before anyone could sober up and notice someone was missing, the two were long gone and enjoying their time alone.

[tehuti88-art]

6/14/24: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's characters from my anthro WWII storyline are Bernhard and Tanja Dannecker, younger siblings of Margarethe and Christof Dannecker, children of Else Dannecker, stepchildren of Ernst Dannecker. (I haven't drawn Else's unnamed/deceased first husband yet.) I don't know much about them as they and Else are estranged from Gret throughout most of the story; only Christof shows Gret any sympathy for what she went through. There'll be more about them later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se.

Regarding their design, they're white Pomeranians.

TUMBLR EDIT: I'm not 100% certain but I estimate that Christof is maybe two years younger than Gret; Bernhard is two years younger than Christof; and Tanja is a year younger than Bernhard. Thus one reason they all look around the same age in my art, despite Gret being around 20 or so, meaning Bernhard and Tanja would be around 16 and 15 in this art. (Their father was a poor, low-ranking member of the Wehrmacht and Nazi Party--cannon fodder, Ernst Dannecker calls him, even though he was once such a soldier himself in the Great War--who was killed on the Eastern Front pretty early on. Else's children were born in relatively quick succession, and in one adult WIP I make passing mention that there were a few miscarriages and a stillbirth in among them.) Another reason they all look the same age is that they're purebred Pomeranians--compare them to their mother, who also looks the same. (Whenever I draw their biological father, he too will look the same.) They're all relatively petite in size--people keep mistaking 5' tall Gret for a child when she's full grown--and so always look pretty youthful compared to the Danneckers, who are purebred Siberian huskies (and are pretty tall in general, Walther isn't as tall as his son but he and Margit are both taller than average and I estimate Dannecker himself is probably around 6'4").

The rest of this will be truncated in Tanja's entry to save repetition.

Not much to say about Bernhard and Tanja, they're more background characters than anything. I've gone over most of the relevant info in the entries of the other family members already linked. (For even deeper info, see also Dannecker's parents, Margit and Walther.)

I never go into detail yet DISTURBING PLOT FOLLOWING, beware.

The gist of it is that Commandant Dannecker marries the widowed, destitute Else solely to gain access to her oldest daughter, Margarethe (about 14-15 at the time), who irrationally reminds him of his own deceased mother, Margit, with whom he'd been engaged in a relationship since adolescence. (His father, Walther, discovered this and sent Ernst off to military academy to break it off, yet WWI broke out, Dannecker went to the front, then came back home all grown up--and now, much stronger and fitter--and ended up murdering his own father so he and his mother could be together. Margit had no hand in this, yet went along with Dannecker afterwards, both out of love and fear. She justified the relationship, BTW, by mentioning how her father justified the same when she was young...hinting that this has been going on for generations.) Dannecker even wonders if his mother (from beyond the grave) sent Gret to be his bride in her place...it's quite messed up. Anyway, he grooms the entire family for a while--lavishing them with gifts and a comfortable lifestyle, making them dependent on him--before starting to abuse Gret much the same way Margit abused him. Gret is also targeted by Josef Diamant, a prisoner in her stepfather's labor camp, who plans to seduce her to help him kill Dannecker before Dannecker can kill him; except Gret decides to go along with this plot willingly. After the deed is done, she tries to contact her mother, yet Else refuses to believe her beloved Ernst would ever do such things; she's forced to acknowledge it's so only when Christof tells her that he witnessed the abuse one night, and then her reaction is to accuse Gret of seducing her husband. She willingly chooses a man who victimized her daughter, and who never even loved her, and disowns Gret.

Christof is the only family member to show Gret any sympathy; he helps her gather some things and go on the run (nearly getting shot by a jittery Diamant in the process), and continues to help provide for her throughout the war; afterward, he's the only one to get back in touch. Else never forgives her for Dannecker's death. And Bernhard and Tanja, who were also spoiled by Dannecker and brainwashed by Else to believe Gret is the bad one, keep their distance as well. (Incidentally, one threat Dannecker uses to keep Gret in line is that he'll do the same to Tanja--which he really has no interest in doing, he has eyes only for Gret--and will imprison her family in his camp. So the entire time, Gret keeps quiet in hopes of protecting the same family that turn their backs on her afterward.)

I don't know if Bernhard or Tanja ever reestablish communication with Gret or not. I'd like them to, but it seems more realistic for them not to. They always knew Dannecker only as a loving and devoted stepfather, and have no reason to doubt their own mother. IRL, it's all too common for victims to not be believed, even by those closest to them, and if I can't get anything else realistic about my story, then I'd like to get the emotions and interpersonal interactions accurate. At least Gret has Christof.

[Bernhard Dannecker 2024 [‎Friday, ‎June ‎14, ‎2024, ‏‎12:00:07 AM]]

[misunderstoodxmike]

ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏʏ ɪs ᴍɪɴᴇ || sᴇʟғ-ᴘᴀʀᴀ

     everyone seemed concern when mike abruptly excuse himself from the table.  to make matters worse, his reasoning was weak. no one was buying it and there was no doubt that he would have been followed if Liam didn’t have their attention. thankfully no one was going to interrupt or leaving the kid hanging.  mike just needed to get out of there before he ended up having a panic attack.  it wasn’t that things going well because they were.  chris and liam were bounding and talking like they had been their entire life.  the two were practically oozing happiness.  liam was still unaware that chris was his father.  the issue was that somehow his relationship with chris kept being brought up. it was mostly liam who didn’t know any better but didn’t make things any better. what was mike supposed to tell the kid that he cheated on his dad whom was standing before him.  while also mentioning that he was engaged and about to be wed to another man?  there was a real possibility that he may have a third dad too.  not to mention that he was still very much in love with chris and the feeling may not be mutual.

   mike took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.  that was the exact reason why he came out here but instead it seemed that he was working himself even more. it was quiet for a moment before he heard his name. ‘well, look who we have here, the great mike.’  he turned his head to see someone that he hadn’t seen since high school. “Matthew?” he responded as the male walked closer to him. ‘oh, don’t act like you don’t know me! not when you have ruined things for me!’  mike could tell that he was intoxicated and wondered if that’s why he was talking nonsense. “i’m sorry? i don’t know what you’re--”  he found himself being cut off as a finger was being jabbed into his chest. ‘shut the fuck up! you ruined my rehearsal dinner!  all because you’re a slut who got knocked up!  it’s not our fault that you don’t know who the father is!  now you’re choosing to make my fiancé, your baby daddy of the week.”  slowly everything making sense, Matthew was Chris’ fiancé. the other male’s words hurt especially since he seemed to have knowledge about what went down between him and chris. did that mean that chris still or at one point held a grudge against him?  

   he made a mental note to talk to chris about it.  if this was all an act then he needed to know.  his thoughts being interrupted by the drunk and jealous fiancé.  ‘did you hear me?! stay away from my man! he’s mine and i’ll be damn if you try taking him away!  you need to give it up! everyone can see that he loves me.  keep your bastard kid away from him too!  god only knows how fucked up that kid is!  weren’t you also drinking when pregnant too?  what a fucking trainwreck! chris dodged a bullet.  i won, he’s marrying me and we will be starting our own family. why did you think it didn’t take long to for him to start dating me after you two broke up? i stole him from you! he wanted me all along!’  the grin on his face only pissing him off. it was one thing to come for him but attacking liam was an entirely different thing. not to mention the drinking struck a note. did chris tell him? the rage inside him built with a bit of jealous as he went in for the attack. “really? you seem to be confused. he’s the only person that i’ve every slept with and it seemed to be mutual.”  the look on Matthew’s face fell at his words. “is that why you’re bitter and angry? you haven’t been touched by him? you probably haven’t touched him either! do you even know what he looks like naked? such a shame!  i remember a time that he couldn’t get enough when we were together! our sex life was so active that i was worried that we were sex addict. i’m surprised that i didn’t get pregnant much earlier!”  there were so many emotions going through the other’s face. ‘you n-need to give it up! i’ve had enough! you can't destroy our love. your silly games won't work. the boy is mine. you might as well throw in the towel. what makes you think that he wants you?’ the other repeated seemingly speechless. mike let out a bitter laugh. “you seem to misunderstood, he told me.  see I tried to hesitate, I didn't want to say what he told me. he said without me he couldn't make it through the day, ain't that a shame? lets think about where he is at right now? he blew you off to be with me and his son. oh, he also confessed that he hasn’t been able to move on from me and that he didn’t want to proposed to you. i think he’s exact word was his one and only. has he ever said anything like that to you?”  there was silence which made him smile. mike decided it was time to walk away before things got more heated. before opening the door, mike turned around to say one more thing.  “he was my love right from the start. he belongs to me. the boy is mine.” 

   he closed his eyes for a moment, letting go of the breath that he had apparently held in. mike had gone out to calm himself but ended up more stressed and tense then before. not to mention that he was more confused than every. what had chris told matthew? did chris mean anything that he said. what did the future hold for them?  as much as mike didn’t want to give matthew the reason, they were engaged and chris never said anything about breaking it off. he wanted to ask but wasn’t prepare for the answer. mike would just have to see how things played out. as he walked back to the table, mike bumped into someone else. either he was just really clumsy or had bad luck. the other person held him before they both tumbled down. ‘Mike?!’ the other person said which made mike mentally curse. did everyone just know him? who else from his past decided to make an appearance?  would he be running into his PE teacher too?  although this person was different. “Jordan! oh my god!” he said fixing himself that he could give him a proper hug. mike held onto him for a bit too long but the other didn’t seem to mind. ‘i haven’t seen you since... you.. erm.. quit the team.’  the other talking in code. he knew exactly what he was referring to. the last time that mike had seen him, he was falling apart and pregnant with chris’ baby. the only other person outside of his family that knew about that. not to mention that mike had kissed him in his emotional state, only to get rejected, not for lack of interest but due to the fact that mike was in a very vulnerable and jordan didn’t want to take advantage of that.  after that he pushed everyone away, and when he did get better, just forgot to keep in touch but here he was. 

  despite that, jordan didn’t seem to break physical contact. ‘did you..’ he asked looking down to his stomach. mike nodded his head, “yeah.. he’s name is liam. we are actually celebrating his birthday. do you want to met him?’  he asked which earned him a nod and smile. they returned to the table, and while standing there, jordan unintentionally wrapped his arm around mike. “guess who i ran into! you guys remember, jordan?  we used to be on the same lacrosse team? friends as well.”  it took his family a moment before they recognized him. they had a similar if not better reaction than chris when he came over. they asked what he was doing there. ‘i got invited to a rehearsal dinner.  actually you remember matthew?  he’s apparent getting married and invited me. it seemed that it didn’t go as plan since he went on a rampage. kicked everyone out, i think his fiancé bailed or something. i didn’t want to stick around to endure a drunk rampage which is why i bumped into you.”  the male answered before he hugged both the montgomery women, lifted aria’s daughter, shook his dad and aria’s husband hand before turning to his attention to chris and liam. ‘chris, right?  you’re were mike’s boyfriend-- oh, are you two back together?’ he asked looking between the two of them but mike answered. “oh no, he’s engaged to someone.. erm.. he is matthew’s fiance.”  it was clear that he wasn’t expecting that as he winced. ‘i am so sorry about that. i didn’t know.. i thought it was a different chris, sorry dude, i didn’t mean to shit on him.’ jordan deciding not to put his foot in his mouth moved on to liam. “is this the birthday boy? i’m sorry that i didn’t bring you anything but here.’ the male pulled out his wallet and gave him a fifty dollar bill which liam accepted and charged jordan in a hug. ‘thank you, thank you! we are best friend now! i like you more than the rest of my dadda’s friends.’  a smile broke out on jordan’s face as he embraced the small kid. ‘no problem, and i guess i have a new best friend. that means we have to hangout more. me, you and your dadda.’  he turned his attention to mike. “as much as i would like to stick around, i’ll let you guys enjoy your night. i don’t want to intrude on a family moment. i should get some rest since i have an early practice. actually, you should come to our game. a few guys from high school are on the team. i’m sure they’ll love to see you. here.’ the male pulled out a card with his number. ‘give me a call, we can catch up since there is a lot to talk about. it was really nice to see you, mike, i hope that we can see each other again.’ the male pressed a kiss on mike’s cheek before saying goodbye to everyone and leaving a blushing mike. they all stared at mike before liam broke the silence. ‘dadda got a boyfriend!’ which caused some of them to laugh. “shall we bring out the cake.” he asked avoiding the topic and chris. 

[ohifonlyx33]

A movie pitch for a Christmas movie with adult Kevin McAllister ...Call it "Home Alone Together" or something

OK so Home Alone is probably my generations #1 Christmas movie.

But I just want the a new movie with Macauley Caulkin as Kevin McAllister, taking the franchise somewhere new but gloriously cliche in the most self-aware and genuine way. It's still fun, it's still Christmas. It's still sincere. But now a movie about an adult Kevin, moving out of the Slapstick Family Comedy Genre and veering into the Hallmark Holiday Genre. The two are not so incompatible if you think about the sentimental moments Kevin and his mom have in the original movies.

We open the movie seeing where Kevin is at in his life. He's made a lot of money from some startup company or something. Maybe he invented his own version of a Security Camera Doorbell, but he sold it to Ring and now lives off a passive income stream or something. He's in his late 30's, single, cynical, and struggling. He is bored and disillusioned. The magic is gone and he is alone because of a deep-seated fear of abandonment that even caused him to push his fiancé away until she broke off their engagement (he never told her the details of why he hates Christmas... or what he did to the Wet Bandits). That was two years ago, and he hasn't dated since. He still has some PTSD from his multiple encounters with the Wet Bandits (what they tried to do to him scares him, but what he did to them haunts him). The child who once loved Christmas now dreads and fears it. Every year the family tries to reach out to him, but he ignores them, like they ignored him.

This year they all plan to come to his house, so like a sane, well-adjusted person he just... puts his house on the market a week before Christmas, packs up his stuff, and leaves to buy a house in a quaint little village called Brighton, Michigan (it's a real town apparently and it's EXACTLY what I had in mind).

The tone shifts away from the opening of every Home Alone Movie Ever (aka "the McAllister's are Making Holiday Plans and how does Kevin feel about that?") into Hallmark territory. (aka "Moody City Character Moves to Small Town").

Anyway, I think you can see where this is going... Enter his romantic interest, played by his real life partner Brenda Song of Suite Life fame. Let's call her Joy Leigh just to be unsubtle.

Joy is a sweet, warm, loving woman who runs the inn where he is staying while his new house is being renovated. And it's Christmas. She LOOOOVES Christmas, but this year is hard because it's the first one without her parents and this her first time running the inn by herself. She needs help understanding how to run the business of things... something she will come to learn Kevin is well-equipped to help her with. Hint, hint. ;)

Despite his cynical and grumpy demeanor, they have some good repartee. Joy wants to learn his story and help cheer him up. But as he starts to warm up to her, he sees her own sadness and wants to cheer her up. He starts helping her with finances. She asks about his family. They commiserate over missing the joy of a holiday they once loved... They start to really connect. Maybe even have a bit too much wine, get lost in the moment, and kiss.

Meanwhile his entire family is looking for him and trying to find out where he went. Joy accidentally answers a phone call and it happens to be Kevin's mom... and anyway she gives away a little too much before she realizes what she's done.

Kevin is upset. She tells him "Yeah, I shouldn't have done that. But it's not like you have to be alone. You chose to be alone because you're scared of being left alone again. Don't do that to yourself. Not when you still have people who love you."

Then we learn that a couple of background guests at the inn (whom we've seen Joy interact with despite Kevin's mild suspicions) have actually been casing the place (would it be too on-the-nose if they were twins brothers? or maybe just one of the Sprouse brothers and a female accomplice?).

At this point the tone of the movie shifts back into home alone territory for a bit. It's an escape and survive scenario. The other couple staying at the inn is also in danger... they're locked up and held hostage. These aren't just regular thieves. They enjoy violence. They're doing this for the sadistic fun of it.

It starts out with Joy freaking out and Kevin saving her, naturally slipping into survival mode, looking for the nearest clothes iron, going full MacGyver, etc. But he's scared to actually commit to it. As Joy sees him trying to choose between fight or flight, and as her shock wears off, she starts to actively help him. "You were a kid trying to survive. You made it into a game to cope with the situation. Those people, and these people now, they are the ones that chose to hurt other people. Now we have to do whatever we can do to stop them." Then she explains that they just need to get to the front desk where she keeps her gun for self-defense.

But when they are outwitted by the criminals, Kevin is NOT having it. They had the upperhand after a week of casing the place (while he was making moon-eyes at Joy, no less). The gun is gone. The phone lines are cut. After some confrontation Kevin lets himself get taken so Joy can escape.

But she knows this inn better than they EVER could. And she, in turn, launches a full-on assault against the criminals to save Kevin. Turns out she and Kevin are cut from the same crazy cloth. 😍

The movie ends with his WHOLE family finding them in the nick of time and asking Kevin if he would please just move back to the city. No. He's going to stay and help run the inn and improve the security. With Joy.

"When I was a kid," he tells Joy in front of his mother, "I hated having a big family and lots of people around. I thought I wanted to grow up and live alone. So I tried that. Turns out, it's not so great after all. I can't go back..."

"So what will you do?"

"Well, I was thinking... I really like it here." (They share a knowing glance.)

"Well, I know someone who needs some help running a business. She could probably use better security too." Joy says.

"Will you at least come to Christmas dinner?" Kevin's mom asks.

No. But there is room at the inn, and they are more than welcomed to have a nice quiet Christmas dinner here with him and Joy.

In the end, Kevin makes peace with his past. He accepts that his family truly does care about him, though it may be hard for him to see them often. But he learns that it's not good to push people away when they are trying to have a good relationship. He learns to move past his traumas and open up to someone. And Joy gets to spend Christmas with his family since she doesn't have her own. Everyone is happy.

[kuroos-babie]

Falling in Love with a Single Mom HCs

Akaashi x fem!Reader | Daichi x fem!Reader | Oikawa x fem!Reader

[ Headcanons/MiniFic ]

Request:  🥺👉👈 if you could do more single mom headcanon-fic-things LOL SORRY IDK WHAT TO CALL THEM and w/ akaashi, daichi, and oikawa? THANK U i love u and your writing you're so sweet  —anonymous

a/n: okay so strangely enough, i thoroughly enjoyed writing oikawa's and it's probably my fav out of these three 😳 thank u for giving me the chance to write these and thank u for the kind words! i hope u like it 👉👈

❀ he’s been noticing you more and more — sat on the corner of the cafe he frequents during his breaks

❀ you would always order the same drink and sit on the same table by the window, he would occasionally glance at you, admiring the way sunlight hits your skin and the way the cafe music seemed to be playing solely for you

❀ but you always left too soon for his liking, 15 minutes before 2 in the afternoon to be exact

❀ he never knew where you went or what you did outside of the little cafe he sees you in everyday

❀ but soon enough, he was given a chance

“excuse me, is this seat taken?” 

he saw your eyes look up at him in surprise and your lips curve into a small smile, “oh! no, go ahead”

“sorry for the trouble, i didn’t expect it to be this packed today”, he said in an attempt to engage in small talk

“it’s no problem at all” you assured him with another smile, “i often see you here, do you work nearby?”

❀ the two of you continued to chat until akaashi needed to remind you of the time

❀ but of course before you could even leave he'll ask you for your number saying

"i'd really like to know you more, if that's alright with you"

❀ of course it's alright with you sjckskdks

❀ the two of you would meet at the café everyday, except the weekends — same spot and same time, until it became part of your routines

❀ keiji took his time getting to know you and openly expresses his admiration for you

❀ of course you liked him back, he was sweet and considerate, he was everything you would like in a partner

❀ but you just needed to make sure of one thing before diving headfirst into a relationship

"akaashi-san—"

"keiji", he corrected, reaching out for your hand

the warmth of his hand helped eased your nerves of bringing up something that may potentially be a huge deal breaker

"keiji, we've been meeting for a while and i thought maybe it's time i tell you,"

❀ when you said you have a daughter, you never would've expected him to say "can i meet her?"

❀ you almost cried then and there— it had always been a big deal to the guys you met before, you being a single mother

❀ keiji sensed your relief and squeezed your hand in reassurance that it really was no big deal to him

❀ well it was, but it wasn't something that would easily shake up his resolve of being with you

❀ meeting your daughter for the first time was set in the same café, on a saturday half past noon

❀ he smiled seeing the quiet four year old on your lap, curious eyes and a small smile as he held out the little bunny plushie he got for her as a gift

❀ weekend café dates became frequent with the three of you and soon became home dates— alternating between your and keiji's apartments

❀ your daughter loved when he read to her, having her sat on his lap with a picture book in his hands

❀ more often than not, you would catch him fast asleep on the couch— picture book on the floor and your child snuggled up against his chest

❀ during these moments, especially, you couldn't help but imagine spending every day with them both without having to part ways by the end of it

❀ and of course, when he wakes up, keiji can't help but think the same thing when he wakes up to you smiling softly at him and the little girl who kept a part of his heart inside her tiny little hands

❀ your son met him first

❀ he just got out of the police academy and was assigned near the elementary school gates

❀ kids would often come up to him with fascination in their eyes

❀ and it wasn't a different case with your seven year old son

"hey mister are you a policeman?"

"sure i am, why do you ask?" he answers with the softest smile, crouching down to the child's level

"that's so cool! mom said my dad was a policeman, maybe you're my dad?"

he watched the boy's eyes widen in realization and he couldn't help but chuckle

"sorry, bud, but i don't think i have a child yet neither do i have a wife"

"well do you want one?"

❀ that effectively painted his cheeks in red, standing straight up and ruffling the boy's hair, urging him to go straight home

❀ everyday your son would come up to him to ask him the same questions and saying the same things

"would you want to be my dad?"

"i think it'll be sooo cool to have you as my dad"

"let me ask my mom if you can be my dad"

❀ jesus help this man pls

❀ he found it all to be endearing and soon enough he looked forward to chatting with your son for a few minutes every afternoon on his way home from school

❀ your child would always brag about how nice you are, how pretty, and just how amazing of a mom you are

❀ an amazing lil wingman if u ask me

❀ it wasn't until one of his day offs that he met this wonderful mom that he always heard of— and boy was he stunned

❀ he was out grocery shopping, skimming the aisles when he heard the familiar voice of your son

"mama, it's the policeman i was talking to you about!"

before you even had the chance to react, your child bolted through the spice aisle and cling to this man's leg

you quickly caught up to him and was about to apologize to the stranger when you saw him get to your child's level and pat at his head

"oh hey, didn't know i'd catch you here"

"i'm with mama! now you can see just how pretty she is!"

❀ the comment made both your faces heat up but even moreso when daichi looked up at you, absentmindedly muttering a "she is"

❀ your son had the proudest grin on his face >:)

❀ the three of you went out for lunch then which you insisted to be for all the trouble your son has caused him— who so conveniently disappeared to the playhouse to leave you two to yourselves

❀ it didn't take a lot for daichi to be absolutely smitten by you— admiring how you could handle a child and a job all by yourself and still managing to have that pretty smile on your face

❀ he had to thank your son his little accomplice the next time they have their afternoon chat

❀ and maybe start planning on "Operation Get Mom and Daichi-san Together"

❀ started as students sharing a class and later on became inseparable best friends

❀ you two met in college

❀ tōru would rave on and on about how much better you were than "iwa-chan" whom he never lets you see during their facetimes bec you "might fall for him and choose iwa-chan over me"

❀ he was there to witness you going out with an orgmate, there to listen about the first time you got laid, and of course he was there to comfort you when your ex left the moment you told him you were pregnant during your third year in college

"do you want to keep it?"

tōru held you close as you cried, his soft voice mingling with your sobs

"i d-don't know"

you buried your face on his chest, prompting him to hold you tighter and rub comforting circles on your back

"whatever you choose to do, i'll be here", he promised "i won't leave you"

❀ the moment you decided to keep your baby was the moment it was decided that oikawa would co-parent with you

❀ during your pregnancy, he came to your apartment everyday and stayed over on weekends

❀ he kept his promise and never left your side even after you gave birth

❀ he practically moved in with you, staying up late at night to care for your child so you could get some rest, he changed schedules and skipped classes to let you continue going to yours

❀ it was alright, he said, afterall a pro volleyball team was already eyeing him— he was set even before graduation

❀ the both of you fell into a steady rhythm of domesticity

❀ eating breakfast together, taking turns changing your daughter's diapers, cuddling in the same bed and having sleepy conversations about the future and how you're both thankful of the other

❀ it was never established what you two were— you just knew that you were each other's constant and that you promised to stay with the other until god knows when

"what're you planning to do then?"

"i don't knoooow~ iwa-chan help me out here~"

"well, for starters, you should go and tell her— y'know, about argentina"

there was a moment of silence between the line, tōru mulling over his options

"i don't want to leave her" was his quiet reply

"i know you don't, but this opportunity may never come by again, don't let it slip"

❀ it was a few weeks before your graduation, your daughter now more than a year old, when he received the call inviting him to play for argentina

❀ on one hand he knew it was the chance of a lifetime, but when he looks at you in his arms with your daughter on your chest, he couldn't even think about leaving you

❀ it was less about the promise he made and more about how he couldn't imagine his everyday without the two of you

"y/n-chan~"

you only hummed in response but looked up to meet his eyes

"if i were to get invited to go to the other side of the world to play volleyball, would you come with me?"

he held your gaze with hesitation

"i'll go anywhere with you, tōru, i thought you knew that by now"

a small smile of relief graced his face as he exhaled, closing his eyes and rubbing his face against yours, "thank you"

the next few moments were spent in comfortable silence before he broke it with a chuckle, "is it too late now to ask you to be my girlfriend?"

"tōru, we're basically a married couple for the past two years"

...

...

...

"so will you marry me for real?"

[spidernerdsblog]

Match made in Hell : Prologue

A/N : Well this series will be hella angsty. Hope you like this. Feedbacks and suggestions are always welcome.

Pairing : Mob! Tom Holland x Reader

Summary : you always wanted a simple life but to be born as the daughter of a dangerous mobster turned out to be a curse for you. Everything changes when your father gets your lover killed and forcefully marries you off to another mobster as a part of a deal. You hate your father and your husband the only thing you seek is now revenge. Will you ever be able to fall in love again or this burning hatred inside you will consume you?

Warnings : 18+,mentions of blood, murder, death, misogyny, implied sexual theme.

SERIES MASTERLIST

It’s the middle of the night as you sneak out from the backside of the dingy motel you and Ethan chose to hide for two days before catching a bus to Virginia. You were headed to the NY port bus terminus as you cautiously walked through the dimly lit alleyway. Both of you carrying a duffel bag in your hand as you briskly walk down to the main street.

"Ethan come on'' you whisper yell looking back to your boyfriend who was walking right behind you with whom you have planned to elope and start a new life away from your father's clutches who happens to be the mafia king of Northeast United States and wants to forcefully marry you off to another mobster of Europe to expand his territory and grab hold on their turf.

"Y/N are you sure your dad will not find us trying to flee right under his nose?" Ethan asks nervously. You smile softly as you put down your bag. Your hands reach up to his face cupping it gently.

"Don't you worry honey. I have a friend over there who has made all the necessary arrangements. In a few hours we will be in our paradise far from all of this. Just you and me, baby."

"But what if your dad already knows about us and sent his men to kill me."

"By the time daddy will come to know about us running away he will have nothing to do. He has no power in the southern states so we will be safe." You press your forehead on to his before stepping away from him and are about to turn around to resume walking but then the inevitable happens.

BANG! a gunshot was fired from a near distance.

You flinched at the deafening sound and felt something graze past you as some viscous liquid splattered on your face. You run your hand through your face to find blood stains and look at Ethan with horror in your eyes, a bullet has punched it's way right through his chest causing a hole in its wake as blood oozed out, his white shirt slowly turning scarlet red.

"Ethan!! oh my god!!" you gasped and rushed to him. Ethan felt dizzy, his vision going blurry as his body began to collapse. You quickly hold on to his weight slowly crouching down to kneel on the pavement placing his head on your lap.

"No! No! No, This can't happen!" You didn’t know what to do as you franctically pressed your hands together on the wound on his chest trying to stop the bleeding, tears running down your cheeks.

"Mija" your throat went dry at the deep voice. You turned your head to find your father standing all tall and powerful, face expressionless with his hands stuffed inside his pockets and right by his side is your step brother Julian. In no time his hunch men surrounded the area.

"Daddy he's dying do something please." you sobbed.

"You shouldn't have tried to run away Mija or else poor Ethan would have been alive to see tomorrow's daylight."

"C'mon now get up." He reached out his hand to you.

"What? No! Daddy please help him. He'll die. I'll do whatever you say, marry whoever you want but please save him." You begged him as fat tears rolled down your cheeks.

"It's too late for that Mija. You should have known well that after your engagement you are just a safe-keeping of the Holland's for us. Son-in-law is really upset with your behavior. He is the one who helped us track you down."

"Jules at least you try to understand." You turned to your step brother in despair.

"Enough sister we have to go, we don't want the whole NYPD chasing us for a petty collateral damage." he says sternly.

"You already are a big disgrace to the family. Thankfully my step brother-in-law is very generous to accept you even after all this."

"No I'm not going with you anywhere, either you shoot me like him or else I'll do it myself." You scrambled up back on your feet and with a swift move snatched the gun from the holster of one of his men standing near you. You pointed the gun to  your head holding onto the trigger.

"Y/N Martinez enough is enough! Drop the gun now!" your father commands agitated.

"No!" you shakily press the trigger a little more as tears pricked your eyes.

"You'll not do that Y/N." your father warns again.

"Oh hell I'll do if I don't get to live with the love of my life then you will not get what you want." you spat trembling in rage.

"Y/N no.. No" Ethan croaked in pain, the angry demeanor you had softened at his voice.

"Ethan, honey.. " you dropped to your feet kneeling beside his weak body.

"if you die then I die too." You sniffled. Ethan threaded his fingers to yours.

"No, Y/N you - you have to live. For me. Promise me."

"No" you whimper.

"Promise me Y/N, this-this is my last wish" He took large gulps of air while he spoke. You screwed your eyes shut feeling helpless at the given moment.

"I-I promise Ethan." Your voice quivered.

"I love you Y/N.." he smiled weakly as his voice trailed off as it was becoming difficult for him to breathe.

"I love you too baby." You sniffled. Ethan's eyes were droopy as he struggled to stay awake. He was barely breathing.

"No, no Ethan, stay with me please." you clutched onto his hand desperately. He swallowed his last breath of air before succumbing to eternal sleep in your arms.

"Ethan?" you shake his lifeless body. "Ethan wake up!!" all was in vain as Ethan's limp body lay on the pavement.

"Ethaaan!!!" you wail.

"Take care of the body. I need to handle my ever rebellious daughter." your father ordered.

"Okay boss." one of his capos obliged.

"Now c'mon and let's get you prepared for your husband." your father grabbed on to your arm.

"No,no,no" you try to grasp onto Ethan's lifeless body. Your father ripped you apart from his body forcing you to stand up on your feet.

"It's your last week with us anyway, spend some time with your mother, make some happy memories, she will miss her only daughter the most."

"Happy memories?! You took every ounce of happiness from my life, you are a monster! You all are! I hate you!" you screamed struggling hard to free yourself from your father's firm grip.

"One day you'll know everything your daddy did was for your own good. So stop fighting and do as you are told like a good girl" Your father and brother Julian dragged you to the car. You were a walking dead when you reached your home which seemed a prison to you now. Your mother came rushing to you.

"Oh sweetie you're safe. Thank god I was so worried." she wrapped her arms around you in a hug.

"Mom.. Ethan.. He's gone." You broke down in her arms.

"It's ok sweetie. Don't worry everything will be fine. You are my strong girl I know you will get through this" she cradled your face pecking your forehead trying to console you.

"Ask your daughter to stop acting like a brat and learn how to be a good wife to her future husband and tend to his needs. Don't want the Holland's point fingers at us saying we didn't raise our daughter right."

"Why did you do this Victor?"

"After so many years are you questioning your husband Rosette?"

"No, I'm questioning a father and how could he do this to his only daughter?"

"She brought it upon herself." your mother was about to say something but was cut off by your father.

"No! I don't want to hear anything more about this. Just do what I said." he says sternly.

******

"The Martínez's will arrive in a week, start making all the necessary arrangements."

"Once the deal is done you will be taking over our family business son are you ready to sit on this throne?" The senior Holland asks his eldest son Tom in the presence of his younger twin sons Harry and Sam and Tom’s future consigliere and best friend Harrison as he stood in the middle of the spacious conference room patting on the big leather chair placed right in the middle of the wooden round table from where he has been running this empire all these years commanding men to do all his dirty work and sealing fate of people who didn’t comply by his wishes.

"Always ready dad." Tom stood tall.

"I know you are, my son. This is the day I have been waiting for all my life."

"Okay now enjoy your last few days of freedom of a bachelor before you are a married man." he pats his shoulder proudly and was about to leave the room but turned to him again.

"One more thing you need to keep a tighter hold on your woman from now on Tom. Her carefree days are over, she needs to be made aware of her responsibilities including giving the family an heir."

"Yes dad."

As his father leaves with the twins Tom slumps down on one of the chairs with Harrison beside him. He lets out a long sigh taking out his phone.

The first thing he does is open your Instagram page and go through your pictures which has turned out to be a habit for him for the last three years. Harrison was sitting beside him as he saw your pictures too. Some were with your college friends, some you attending one of your dad's galas in the prettiest designer dresses and some bikini clad sunkissed aesthetic pictures of you on vacation on some exotic island. Tom thought you looked unearthly in every picture but his mood would go sour seeing the comments below of several guys objectifying your body. He felt like hunting them down and chopping off their fingers with which they typed such lewd comments.

Though he himself wasn’t a man of high morals either drinking, gambling, bringing in girls every night in spite of being engaged to you though each night he wished it was you on his bed, not some random hooker he picked up from the bar. He is well aware that you don’t like him and despise this whole marriage. But he has nothing to worry anymore now because in a few days you are going to be his for lifetime. And he is confident that he will win you over eventually.

"I see why you are hell bent to marry her, she's a siren." Harrison remarked snarkly, breaking Tom from his thoughts.

"Hopefully she sounds like one too" Tom chuckles.

"But you really want to spend the rest of your life with her? She doesn't seem to be the one to follow rules."

"She's always been a wild horse since childhood that is why I like her even more and trust me wild horses are more fun to tame Haz. I can assure you in no time she'll be roaming around like a puppy around me."

"And how do you know you'll be able to tame a headstrong girl like her?"

"That will not be an issue because once I make sure that my child is inside her she will have nothing to do." He smirks. "Motherly instincts, you know how that works. After all, she's a woman. How much ever she hates me she will never separate her child from his father."

"And once I will have her father removed from the picture and taken over their empire she will have nowhere to go."

"You know she'll hate you more than she already does after you kill her father."

"Her father is no less than a monster. I will be doing her a favor actually." Tom once again glances at a portrait picture of you.

"Princess your kingdom eagerly awaits your arrival." he mutters to himself with a smug grin on his face.

.................................................................................

Taglist in bio or just send an ask or dm I’ll add you

[cheeseburgersstuff]

Hi can u pls write steve rogers x barnes!reader like(enemies to lovers trope) modern au plsss

Hey, nonnie!! Thank you for requesting this! 💕✨ I hope you like it :')

LOVEABLE

Steve Rogers x Barnes Reader

Warnings: language, asshole reader, mistakes, shitty writing:') 

Master-list

You rolled your eyes for the 10th time. Nat, your best friend and not to forget the girlfriend of your brother gave you an annoyed look.

"C'mon why do you hate him so much? He is such a sweetheart." She said, taking a sip of beer.

You looked at her incredulously, "sweetheart? He is a fucking asshole! He always talks shit…" you were about to express your feelings about him when Nat cut you off.

"And what about you? You gave him respect?" You frowned at her words, why was she defending him.

You opened your mouth to reply to her but she didn't let you speak.

"I think you should date him, it's shocking you are not together knowing each other from your childhood." You kept looking at her with an open mouth.

She looked at the corner and got up from her seat.

"Consider what I have said," she said and walked off, probably to your brother, bucky.

You scoffed, shaking your head. You can't stand that blondie, from the start. The moment that guy became friends with your brother, you started to dislike him. 

Bucky stopped spending time with you, it was always about Steve from then. 

He is coming for dinner. Sorry tiger, Steve and I are going to the movies.

Your plans with bucky were ruined because he had to take care of that cute little shit who got beaten by some bullies.

You didn't know why he looked cute to you even with his small fragile frame, he was just so perfect for everyone. So polite, so respectful.

But you knew the truth, he was a shithole, who always found it amusing to annoy you, he knew your dislike for him so rather than doing something to make himself a bit lovable for you, he started to irritate you.

Those annoying mimicries turned into snarky comments and remarks throughout the years.

And that cute little shit was now a big hot asshole you have ever met.

You still couldn't stand him. If it wasn't your big brother's birthday party, you wouldn't tolerate standing beneath the same roof as him. This was how much you hated him.

You sighed again, checking the time waiting for your boyfriend, John.

You looked around to see if he came but there was no sign of him.

Suddenly your gaze fell on a blond girl, throwing herself on Steve, who was quite enjoying her company.

It looked like he felt your gaze and looked towards you. He smirked at your eye contact. You rolled your eyes and turned your back towards them.

You were getting bored when he came beside you.

"Hey, sweetness." Again that teasing tone.

You ignored him thinking he would leave but of course, it was steve grant rogers, he never took a hint.

"Why so lonely huh? Your idiotic boyfriend is not here." 

That made your blood boil. You turned and pointed a finger towards him.

"Shut the fuck up. Do not talk to me and don't even dare to call him an idiot." You hissed at him.

Steve only chuckled and grabbed your finger gently pulling you towards him. You looked at him with wide eyes and tried to pull your finger outta his grip.

"You gotta keep your eyes open girl or else you will keep waiting for him in every party and he will be enjoying with some—"

"Shut up rogers" she yelled and pushed him away. A few people stared at both of you but you didn't care.

"Just because you were fooled by your  fiance doesn't mean everyone is out there cheating on their partners. Not everyone is like Peggy carter" you whispered those words pure-hearted but as soon as those left your mouth, you regret them. 

Your breath was heavy with all that emotions. You looked up at Steve and felt more guilty.

His jaw was clenched. You expected to see hate and anger in his eyes but you saw the worst, sadness. 

He didn't say anything just looked at you for a few seconds and walked away. 

You ran your hand from your hair in frustration. You crossed the limit you knew, you just wanted to make him angry.

Your eyes fell on bucky and nat, they gave you a disappointed look before running outside towards Steve.

~

It had been a week since that disaster and your guilt was doubled in those days.

You just couldn't forget the emotions you saw in those beautiful baby blue eyes.

You were thinking to apologize to him, it was difficult, very difficult but necessary.

But you didn't see Steve after that night. Mat and buck weren't talking to you, just a few words here and there. 

You felt like a criminal. You remember the day when Peggy broke the engagement, three years ago. He was so sad that day, you even heard him cry in bucky's room.

You remember how happy he was on his engagement day. The way he looked at her, the love in his eyes, you felt so weird that day. 

You didn't even want to attend his engagement party but of course bucky forced you. That little shit trapped you to come along with him, saying you were just jealous. 

You would have broken his head hearing if Nat didn't come between you two siblings.

Anyway, you still were thinking about his red puffy eyes from all the crying session when suddenly you buzzed bringing you out of your thoughts.

You looked at your phone. It was a text from an unknown number, with an address and time, along with a picture of your lovely boyfriend with some girl. You couldn't see her face clearly.

You frowned seeing that message. Now you wanted to know whether steve was true or not. 

A part of you believed him, yes you disliked him but still, you knew him from. your childhood.

He would never try to create misunderstandings between you and your boyfriend just to annoy you. 

"Still you talked shit about his love life huh" your inner self made you feel more horrible.

You groaned and fell on the bed with a thud. 

You decide to go to that address and then you would apologize to Steve as well.

~

It was a small cafe, you arrived a bit earlier than the time mentioned.

You didn't know who texted you and who's gonna bless you with their presence there. 

You kept waiting outside the cafe. Some time passed and no one appeared and you started to think it was some silly prank on you. But suddenly you saw John coming out of his car with some bimbo.

She was clinging to him. They didn't notice you and were walking inside the cafe when you marched in front of them.

The expressions on John's face, you would have laughed in any other situation with that moment you were furious.

He called your name with shock, of course not accepting you there. 

That girl just looked at you with confused, annoyed expressions.

You kept looking at him with anger, not knowing what to say.

That is what happens with you, always saying wrong things at the wrong time and when you have to say nasty stuff, nothing comes out of your mouth.

This was your anger.

"Who is she Johnny" that girl with her annoyingly high-pitched voice.

You cringed at her, "his girlfriend" you glared at her.

She got shocked at the revelation, "which I assumed you didn't even know about" you added.

And then it was two of them, she started to fight him ignoring you and the other people around you.

And strangling you were enjoying it. And suddenly she slapped his face. You covered your mouth with shock and to control your laughter too.

She walked off still cursing towards him. John glared at you. His eyes were filled with eyes. And that moment you thought why were you with that asshole.

Suddenly he grabbed your arm and forcefully dragged you towards the corner.

You freed your arm from his grip. You opened your mouth to talk but he cut you off.

"She slapped me in front of everyone because of you. How did you even get here huh" you were beyond shocked at his words.

And this is the guy for whom you talked shit to Rogers. She groaned internally.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now? You are the fucker who is cheating on me and still have the audacity to blame me! Like wow," you yelled at him.

He grabbed you again, this time with much more force, "do not talk with me like that" he murmured.

"Let me go, you idiot. Steve was so right about you, I was so stupid to defend you!" You hissed still fighting to pull him off.

"Oh, so suddenly Steve is all good and I am bad huh? Maybe you are the one cheating on me. Are you fucking that— 

Suddenly he got pulled off of you and was on the floor with a bloody nose.

You looked up and saw an angry Steve glaring at your now ex-boyfriend.

For the first time in your life, you were so happy to see that hit asshole.

John got up for the floor and tried to hit Steve but blocked him by grabbing his fist.

"Don't even try with me, Walker." He freed his hand with a force.

John glared at him and then you, "you will regret this, bitch" he hissed and then walked off.

You sighed in relief and looked towards Steve.

Suddenly you remembered your words and felt awkward. 

"You here?" You asked timidly. Steve was amused by your tone but didn't say anything.

"Umm..yeah. Buck called here" he said.

"And here I am" suddenly bucky came out of nowhere.

"I just wanted to show her how wrong she was to defend that guy," Bucky said looking at you still with disappointment.

"And things she said— he was saying but Steve interrupted.

" seriously buck. I told you to leave that matter." He sounded annoyed and you wanted the ground to swallow you.

Steve sighed and started to walk away. You could feel tears forming in your eyes. Bucky cleared his throat causing you to lookup.

He was giving you, go after him idiot, look. Steve lived near that area, so you ran towards the way his house was. 

Bucky smirked and pulled out his phone. 

"All done" he texted Nat. Finally, their plan to set these idiots up was about to fulfill.

Soon you found him walking on the side road with his hands in his pockets.

"S...steve" you called hesitantly. He turned around to look at you with a bit of a shocked face.

You walked closer to him. "I—" you looked around there were only a few people but still you didn't feel comfortable.

So you grabbed his hand and pulled in the corner, a small alley. 

 He raised his eyebrows at you, making you feel weird in the stomach.

"Steve about that night" 

"It's o—" he was about to say.

"Please let me speak," you said pleading yet a bit annoying tone.

"What I said was horrible, I should not have, no matter whatever the reasons were. Steve, I am so sorry about that. I didn't even mean those words, I don't know why I said those things" you were rambling when you felt his thumbs cleaning the tears from your face.

You didn't know when you started crying. 

"It's okay sweetheart" his voice was soft, just like his eyes. A worried frown was on his face, you wanted to smooth out with your fingers but controlled yourself.

"I surely was sad but I wasn't mad at you. So stop crying now" you nodded but still feeling bad.

Suddenly out of nowhere, something came into your mind which you blurted without thinking.

"Maybe you should come for coffee tomorrow at my house. It will make me feel better and—" he raised his eyebrows encouraging you to speak.

"Maybe we could take a long overdue but necessary fresh start?" You pulled out your hand for him.

"Truce?" She smiled. 

Steve chuckled and shook your hand.

"So it's not a date?" You knew he was annoying you. You rolled your eyes but then bit your lip.

"Umm. Well if you want…" you said looking up at him.

Suddenly his gaze fell onto your lips and then to your eyes. Your heart was beating violently.

He grabbed your face with both of his hands and started to lower his face.

His lips felt so soft against your, so perfect. They molded perfectly as if meant to be together. 

He kissed you softly and slowly, savoring that moment. Loving the feeling of them against his. 

His kiss literally took your breath away and you inhaled deeply after being apart.

"That was long overdue too" he whispered, resting his forehead against yours. You chuckled kissing the tip of his nose.

You couldn't believe you just kissed him. That hot asshole you claimed to hate suddenly seemed all loveable to you...

[army-of-mai-lovers]

Jet and Yue’s Deaths: Were They Necessary?

Two of the most common ideas I see for aus in this fandom are the Jet lives au, and the Yue lives au. I’ve written both of these myself, and I’ve seen many others write them. And while yes, fanfiction can be a great way to explore ideas that didn’t necessarily have to be explored in canon (I’m mad at bryke for a lot of things, but not including a Toph and Bumi I friendship is not one of them, even though I wrote a fic about it), it seems to me that people are mad that Yue and Jet are dead, to varying degrees. There’s a lot to talk about regarding their deaths from a sociopolitical perspective (the fact that two of the darker-skinned characters in the show are the ones that died, and all the light-skinned characters lived, is ah... an interesting choice), but I don’t want to look at it that way, at least for right now. I want to look at it as a writer, and discuss whether these deaths were a) necessary for the plot and themes of ATLA in any way whatsoever and b) whether it was necessary for them to unfold in the way that they did, or if they would have been more impactful had they occurred in a different way. 

(meta under the cut, this got really, really, really long)

Death in Children’s Media

When I first started thinking about this meta, I had this idea to compare Jet and Yue’s deaths to deaths in an animated children’s show that I found satisfying. And in theory, that was a great idea. Problem is: there aren’t very many permanent deaths in children’s animation, and the ones that do exist aren’t especially well-written. This may be an odd thing to say in what is ostensibly a piece of atla crit, but Yue’s death is probably the best written death in a piece of children’s animation that I can think of. That’s not a compliment. Rather, it’s a condemnation of the way other pieces of children’s animation featuring permanent character death have handled their storylines. 

I’ve talked about this before, but my favorite show growing up was Young Justice, and my favorite character on that show was far and away Mr. Wally West. So when he died at the end of season 2, it broke me emotionally. Shortly thereafter, Cartoon Network canceled the show, and I started getting on fan forums to mourn. Everybody on these fan forums was convinced that had Cartoon Network not canceled the show, Wally would have been brought back. And that is a narrative that I internalized for years. Eventually, the show was brought back via DC’s new streaming service, and I tuned in, waiting for Wally to also be brought back, only to discover that that wasn’t in the cards. Wally was dead. Permanently. 

So now that I know that, I can talk about why killing him off was fucking stupid. Wally’s death occurs at the end of season 2, after the main s2 conflict, the Reach, has been defeated, save for these pods that they set up all over the world to destroy Earth. Our heroes split up in teams of two to destroy the pods, and they destroy all of them, except for a secret one in Antartica. It can only be neutralized by speedsters, so Wally, Bart, and Barry team up to destroy it. It’s established in canon that Wally is slower than Bart and Barry, and it’s been played for laughs earlier in the season, but for reasons unexplained, the pod is better able to target Wally because he’s slower than Bart and Barry, and it kills him. After the emotional arc of the season has wrapped up, a literal main character dies. There’s some indication at the end of that season that his death is going to cause Artemis to spiral and become a villain, but when season 3 picks up, she’s doing the right thing, with seemingly no qualms about her position in life as a hero. In the comics, something like this happens to Wally, but then he goes into the Speed Force and becomes faster and stronger even than Barry, in which case, yes, this would have advanced the plot, but that’s probably not in the cards either. 

In summary, Wally’s death doesn’t work as a story beat, not because it made me mad, but because it doesn’t advance the plot, nor does it develop character. Only including things that advance plot or develop character is one of the golden rules of writing. Like most golden rules of writing, however, it’s not absolute. There is a lot of fun to be had in jokey little one off adventures (in atla, Sokka’s haiku competition) or in fun worldbuilding threads that add depth to your setting but don’t really come up (in atla, the existence of Whaletail Island, which is described in really juicy ways, even though the characters never go there.) But in general, when it comes to things like character death, events should happen to develop the plot or advance character. Avatar, for all of its flaws, is really well structured, and a lot of its story beats advance plot and develop character at the same time. However, the show also bears the burden of being a show directed at children, and thus needing to be appropriate for children. And as we know, Nickelodeon and bryke butted heads over this: the death scene that we see for Jet is a compromise, one that implicitly confirms his death without explicitly showing it. So bryke tasked themselves with creating a show about imperialism and war that would do those themes justice while also being appropriate for American children and palatable to their parents. 

The Themes of Avatar vs. Its Audience

So, Avatar is a show about a lone survivor of genocide stopping an imperialist patriarchal society from decimating the rest of the world. It’s also a show about found family and staying true to yourself and doing your best to improve the world. These don’t necessarily conflict with each other, and it is possible for children to understand and enjoy shows about complex themes. And in a lot of cases, bryke doesn’t hold back in showing what the costs of war against an imperialist nation are: losing loved ones, losing yourself, prison, etc. But when it comes to death, the show is incredibly hesitant. None of the main characters that we’ve spent a lot of time getting to know die (not even Iroh, even though he was old and it would have made sense and his VA died before the show was over--but that’s a topic for another day.) This makes sense. I can totally imagine a seven year-old watching Avatar as it was coming out and feeling really sad or scared if a major character died. I was six years older than that when Wally died, and it’s still sad and terrifying to me to this day. However, in a show about war, it would be unrealistic to have no one die. Bryke’s stated reason for killing off Jet is to show the costs of war. I’ve seen a lot of posts about Jet’s death that reiterate some version of this same point--that the great tragedy of his character is that he spent his life fighting the Fire Nation, only to die at the hands of his own country. Similarly, I’ve seen people argue in favor of Yue’s death by saying that it was a great tragedy, but it showed the sacrifices that must be made in a war effort. 

Yue

When we first meet Yue, she is a somewhat reserved, kind individual held back by the rigid social structures of the NWT*. She and Sokka have an immediate attraction to one another, but Yue reveals that she is engaged to Hahn. The Fire Nation invasion happens, Zhao kills Tui, and Yue gives up her life to save her people and the world, and to restore balance. Since we didn’t have a lot of time to get to know Yue, this is framed less as Yue’s sacrifice and more as Sokka’s loss. Sokka is the one who cares for Yue, Sokka is the only one of the gaang who really interacts a lot with Yue on screen, and Sokka is the one we’ve spent a whole season getting to know. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call Yue a prop character (i.e. a character who could be replaced by an object with little change to the narrative), she is certainly underdeveloped. She exists to be unambiguously likable and good, so we can root for her and Sokka, and feel Sokka’s pain when she dies. In my opinion, this is probably also why a lot of fic that features Yue depicts her as a Mary Sue--because as she is depicted in the show, she kind of is. We don’t get to see her hidden depths because she is written to die. 

In light of what we’ve established earlier in this meta, this makes sense. Killing off a fully-realized character whom the audience has really gotten to know and care about on their own terms, rather than through the eyes of another character, could be really sad and scary for the kids watching, but not killing anyone off would be an unrealistic depiction of war and imperialism. On the face of it, killing off an underdeveloped, unambiguously likable and good character, whom one of our MCs has a deep but short connection with, is the perfect compromise. 

But let’s go back to the golden rule for a second. Does Yue’s death a) advance the plot, and/or b) develop character? The answer to the first is yes: Yue’s death prompts Aang to use the Avatar State to fight off the Fire navy, which has implications for his ability to control the Avatar State that form one of the major arcs of book 2. The answer to the second? A little more ambiguous. You would think that Yue’s death would have some lasting impact on Sokka that is explored as part of his character arc in book 2, that he may be more afraid to trust, more scared of losing the people he loves, but outside of a few episodes (really, just one I can think of, “The Swamp”) it doesn’t seem to affect him that much. He even asks about Suki in a way that is clearly romantically motivated in “Avatar Day.” I don’t know about you, but if someone I loved sacrificed herself to become the moon, I don’t think I would be seeking out another romantic entanglement a few weeks after her death. Of course, everybody processes grief differently, and one could argue that Sokka has already lost important people in his life, and thus would be accustomed to moving on from that loss and not letting himself dwell on it. But to that, I’d say that moving on by throwing himself into protecting others has already shown itself to be an unhealthy coping mechanism. Remember, Sokka’s misogyny at the beginning of b1 is in part motivated by the fact that his mother died at the hands of the Fire Nation and his father left shortly thereafter to fight the Fire Nation, and he responds to those things by throwing himself into the role of being the “man” of the village and protecting the people he loves who are still with him. Like with Yue, he doesn’t allow himself to dwell on his mother’s death. This could have been the beginning of a really interesting b2 arc for Sokka, in which he throws himself into being the Avatar’s companion to get away from the grief of losing Yue, but this time, through the events of the show, he’s forced to acknowledge that this is an unhealthy coping mechanism. And maybe this is what bryke was going for with “The Swamp”, but this confines his whole process of grief to one episode, where it could have been a season-long arc that really emphasized the effect Yue’s had on his life. 

In the case of Yue, I do lean toward saying that her death was necessary for the story that they wanted to tell (although, I will never turn down a good old-fashioned Yue lives au that really gets into her dynamism as a character, those are awesome.) However, the way they wrote Sokka following Yue’s death reduced her significance. The fact that Yue seemed to have so little impact on Sokka is precisely what makes her death feel unnecessary, even if it isn’t. 

Jet

Okay. Here we go. 

If you know my blog, you know I love Jet. You know I love Jet lives aus. Perhaps you know that I’m in the process of writing a multichapter Jet fic in which he lives after Lake Laogai. So it’s reasonable to assume that, in a discussion of whether or not Jet’s death was necessary, I’m gonna be mega-biased. And yeah, that’s probably true. But up until recently, I wasn’t really all that mad about Jet dying, at least conceptually. As I said earlier, bryke says that in the case of Jet’s death, they wanted to kill a character off that people knew and would care about, so that they could further show the tragedies of war and imperialism. Okay. That is not, in and of itself, a bad idea. 

My issue lies with the execution of said idea. First of all, the framing of Jet’s original episode is so bad. Jet is part of a long line of cartoon villains who resist imperialism and other forms of oppression through violence and are punished for it. This is actually a really common sort of villain for atla/lok, as we see this play out again with Hama, Amon, and the Red Lotus. To paraphrase hbomberguy’s description of this type of villain, basically liberal white creators are saying, “yeah, oppression is bad, but have you tried writing to your Congressman about it?” With Jet, since we have so little information about the village he’s trying to flood, there are a number of different angles that would explain his actions and give them more nuance. My preferred hc is that the citizens of Gaipan are a mix of Earth civilians, Fire citizens, and FN soldiers, and that the Earth citizens refused to feed or house Jet and the other Freedom Fighters because they were orphans and, as we see in the Kyoshi Novels, Earth families stick to their own. Thus, when Jet decides to flood Gaipan, he’s focused on ridding the valley of Fire Nation, but he doesn’t really care about what happens to the Earth citizens of Gaipan because they actively wronged him when he was a kid. That’s just one interpretation, and there have been others: Gaipan was fully Fire Nation, Gaipan was both Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation but Jet decided that the benefits of flooding the valley and getting rid of the Fire Nation outweighed the costs of losing the EK families, etc, etc. There are ways to rewrite that scenario so that Jet is not framed as an unambiguously bloodthirsty monster. In the context of Jet’s death, this initial framing reduces the possible impact that his death could have. Where Yue was unambiguously good, Jet is at the very least morally gray when we see him again in the ferry. And where we are connected to Yue through Sokka, the gaang’s active hatred of Jet hinders our ability to connect with him. This isn’t impossible to overcome--the gaang hates Zuko, and yet to an extent the audience roots for him--but Jet’s lack of screentime and nuanced framing (both of which Zuko gets in all three seasons) makes overcoming his initially flawed framing really difficult. 

So how much can it really be said, that by the time we get to Jet’s death, he’s a character that we know and care about? So much about him is still unknown (what happened to the Freedom Fighters? what prompted Jet’s offscreen redemption? who knows, fam, who knows.) Moreover, most of what we see of him in Ba Sing Se is him actively opposing Zuko and Iroh. These are both characters that at the very least the show wants us to care about. At this point, we know almost everything there is to know about them, we’ve been following them and to an extent rooting for them for two seasons, and who have had nuanced and often sympathetic framing a number of times. So much of the argument I’ve seen regarding Jet centers around the fact that he was right to expose Zuko and Iroh as Firebenders, but the reason we have to have that argument in the first place is because it’s not framed in Jet’s favor. In terms of who the audience cares about more, who the audience has more of an emotional attachment towards, Zuko and Iroh win every time. Whether Jet’s actually in the right or not is irrelevant, because emotionally speaking, we’re primed to root for Zuko and Iroh. In terms of who the framing is biased towards, Jet may as well be Zhao. So when he’s taken by the Dai Li and brainwashed, the audience isn’t necessarily going to see this as a bad thing, because it means Zuko and Iroh are safe.

The only real bit of sympathetic framing Jet gets are those initial moments on the ferry, and the moments after he and the gaang meet again. So about five, ten minutes of the show, total. And then, he sacrifices himself for the gaang. And just like Yue, his death has little to no impact on the characters in the episodes following. Katara is shown crying for four frames immediately following his death, and they bring him up once in “The Southern Raiders” to call him a monster, and once in “The Ember Island Players”, a joke episode in which his death is a joke. 

So, let’s ask again. Does this a) advance the plot, and/or b) develop character? The answer to both is no. It shows that the Dai Li is super evil and cruel, which we already knew and which basically becomes irrelevant in book 3, and that is really the only plot-significant thing I can think of. As far as character, well, it could have been a really interesting moment in Katara’s development in forgiving someone who hurt her in the past, which could have foreshadowed her forgiving Zuko in b3, but considering she calls Jet a monster in TSR, that doesn’t track. There could have been something with Sokka realizing that his snap judgment of Jet in b1 was wrong, but considering that he brings up Jet to criticize Katara in TSR, that also does not track. And honestly, neither of these possible character arcs require Jet to die. What requires Jet to die is the ~themes~. 

Let’s look at this theme again, shall we? The cost of war. We already covered it with Yue, but it’s clearly something that bryke wants to return to and shed new light on. The obvious angle they’re going for is that sometimes, you don’t know who your real enemy is. Jet thought that his enemy was the Fire Nation, but in the end, he was taken down by his own countryman. Wow. So deep. Except, while it’s clear that Jet was always fighting against the Fire Nation, I never got the sense that Jet was fighting for the Earth Kingdom. After all, isn’t the whole bad thing about him in the beginning is that he wants to kill civilians, some of whom we assume to be Earth Kingdom? Why would it matter then that he got killed by an EK leader, when he didn’t seem to ever be too hot on those dudes? But okay, maybe the angle is not that he was killed by someone from the Earth Kingdom, but that he wasn’t killed by someone from the Fire Nation. Okay, but we’ve already seen him be diametrically opposed to the only living Air Nomad and people from the Water Tribes. Jet fighting with and losing to people who aren’t Fire Nation is not a new and exciting development for him. Jet has been enemies with non-FN characters for most of the show’s run at this point. There is no thematic level on which the execution of this holds any water. 

The reason I got to thinking about this, really analyzing what Jet’s death means (and doesn’t mean) for the show, was this conversation I was having with @the-hot-zone in discord dms. We were talking about book 2 and ways it could have been better, and Zone said that they thought that Jet would have been a stronger character to parallel with Zuko’s redemption than Iroh and that seeing more of the narrative from Jet’s perspective could have strengthened the show’s themes. And when it came to the question of Jet’s death, they said, “And if we are going with Jet dying, then I want it to hurt. I want it to hurt just as much as if a main character like Sokka had died. I want the viewer to see Jet's struggles, his triumphs, the facets of Jet that make him compelling and important to the show.” And all of that just hit me. Because we don’t get that, do we? Jet’s death barely leaves a mark. Jet himself barely leaves a mark. His death isn’t plot-significant, doesn’t inspire character growth in any of our MCs, and doesn’t even accomplish the thematic relevance that it claims to. So what was the point? 

Conclusion

Much as I dislike it, Yue’s death actually added something to atla. It could have added much, much more, in the hands of writers who gave more of a shit about their Brown female characters and were less intent on seeing them suffer and knocking them down a peg, but, in my opinion, it did work for what it was trying to do. Jet? Jet? Nah, fam. Jet never got the chance to really develop into a likable character because he was always put at odds with characters we already liked, and the framing skewed their way, not his. The dude never really had a chance.        

*multiple people have spoken about how the NWT as depicted in atla is not reminiscent of real life Inuit and Yupik people and culture. I am not the person to go into detail about this, but I encourage you to check out Native-run blogs for more info!