#911 set design

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Costume Meta 812 Disconnected

Ok so this would’ve been out a couple of days ago if it hadn’t been a super busy week at work and if a certain something relating to Bobby hadn’t distracted me so this didn’t get finished! It’s also a monster post - I got very carried away with colour theory - but it’s all done now - in the Knick of time before 813 starts - so lets dive in!

I will be focusing on costumes, but there will be quite a bit of set stuff in this meta because it is relevant as it interacts with the costumes, but also because yellow and blue colour theory really was out in full force in this episode which made me so very happy! We also had red and blue colour theory playing out as well in the first Buck and Eddie video call - but we’ll get to that in a little bit. 

Let’s start with orange and brown colour theming - the two colours I have spoken about in a lot of my other metas as being the overall colour theme for the season. Here in this episode we get a lot of orange and brown cropping up - especially in connection with Eddie. Most noticable is the amount of brown Eddie is wearing and the journey it goes on through the episode - both in terms of quantity of it, and also in terms of shade!

We see the first brown Eddie is wearing on his yellow ochre cream and brown plaid shirt  - the cream and yellow ochre are the more dominant colours, but the Brown is there. After that the next time we see Eddie wearing brown, it is again at the Diaz house. In fact at the Diaz house, we only see Eddie in shades of brown. The rest is below the cut to save your dash!

I have to say I love Ryans answer to the question about Eddies costumes for this episode. As a costumer it’s always great when you have an actor who is invested in what their character is wearing, how they wear it and why they are wearing a certain item. It makes the process collaborative and so much easier - you can really get to know what that actor is seeing in the script and how they are intending to play each scene - what their read on where the character is at and where they are going. Ryan talking about Eddie wearing different clothing in El Paso and how he wanted that to be a thing that we could see is exactly right - it is likely what ABP and her team were intending on doing to some extent, but Ryan specifically stating that he felt that should be the case makes it clear that he too is viewing Eddie as reverting and trying to fit himself back into that mould he broke free of. And the fact that we see the El Paso Eddie most clearly in the costuming when he is around his parents and when he is selling his car makes it even clearer where they are going with their intentions when it comes to costuming, and costuming Eddie in particular in this episode. More on that a bit later!

With the idea of Texas Eddie being different from LA Eddie firmly in mind, lets start with the costumes he wears when interacting with Helena and Ramon. This shirt with the yellow ochre is the brightest of all his outfits for the episode (technically the white tee is brighter, but the grey hoodie tones that outfit down making this one brighter!) and its interesting that we see it as his second outfit - at a point when he is still full of hope and optimism about reconnecting with Chris and the move being a good thing. This is Eddie in the closest colouring to yellow that we’ve seen him in a long time - it’s Eddie closest to his truest self - but even that is at cross purposes because of the check patterning - indicating that its not going to go well for him. In this scene he’s full of hope at beginning to reconnect with Chris and he is hopeful of the job at the firehouse and that having his own place will encourage Chris to move back in with him. After this - when the ps5 doesn’t work in getting Chris back to him and we see his parents undermining him at every turn, his colours mute and become dull and actually drain Eddie of colour as they are not a great choice for him tonally.

Which is exactly what we see with the final Diaz family scene which mirrors the first. This shirt, it is a much darker and more muted toned shirt - where before the yellow ochre and cream were the more dominant colours, here we have the brown being dominant with the beige and green taking a back seat. It’s a reversal of the ochre shirt in the same way that this scene is a reversal of the first scene. Where the brighter colours and lighter tone was indicative of Eddies hope and joy at being reconnected with his son and the possibility of a firefighting job - making him feel like he had stability and that he was succeeding, the darkening and more muted tone of this shirt is indicative of the impact his parents are having on him, and the fact that none of his hopes around his move to El Paso appear to be coming to fruition. The check pattern is indicating that what is happening in that scene is important and will come into play shortly and its also the first time we see Eddie in green toning in this episode - playing into the idea that the army version of Eddie is creeping back in - we’ve barely seen Eddie in green in seasons 7 or 8 - compared with how often we used to see him in it. In fact the only time we’ve actually seen him in green in the past two seasons have been in scenes that have played into that idea of a battle or conflict of some kind. For example - Eddie is in green in 704 when he arrives at the hangar, or he’s in green when he’s out on the boating lake with Kim, or when he’s trying to sublet his house - all scenes that are part of a building conflict within Eddies life.

So to have green appearing here is all about that thread of conflict starting to creep in. If that is meant to be the conflict we get with Chris discovering he’s not a firefighter but an uber driver (which is more an internal conflict) or if its about establishing the up coming conflict with his parents - Mom - remains to be seen - my feeling is its likely to be about both as they are likely connected. He is also not wearing his watch at this point either - which I will come back to in a moment.

In the middle of this we have this burgundy shirt - which is very brown toned. There is no check here, so its not about establishing check theory - although Ramon then takes up that check theory mantle and wears check is shirt is interesting to me and not only because it almost matches the mug! It looked much more maroon toned in the stills we got, but seeing it on screen, it is definitely more burgundy. Burgundy is a colour that is meant to represent power and sophistication. But it is also a colour that is connected to being prideful, introspection, being reserved and compassionate but also being a control freak. It also ties into the colouring I spoke about in my stills drop meta about the Diaz kitchen in 517. In that meta (read it here) I spoke about the darker red centred around Ramon being a symbol of poor health, while the brighter red in that scene surrounding Eddie was about him being in a healthier place, and that it was a symbol of Ramon missing out on things - on time and is what we’re kind of seeing in play here - this is Eddie not in a great place - his life is not going how he’d hoped - he’s struggling with connecting with Chris, he’s not a firefighter and he thinks that’s the only thing that Chris has ever been proud of him for so he’s failed there, he’s actively lying again and the job he has got is not going well and he had to give up the truck as part of that and he is having to let his parents provide for Chirs even further as he doesn’t have money coming in. He is also dealing with them undermining him, so it’s a symbol of everything compounding on him. To further add to this - he is not wearing his new blue strap watch - a symbol of the life he has left behind in LA (as it’s a firefighter watch). The fact that this scene and the brown check shirt scene are both missing the watch is pretty revealing. If you look at all the Eddie scenes across the episode you can see the watch in all of them, except these two - the two scenes when Eddie is at his lowest and feels like the biggest failure, when he isn’t having any success in anything - including getting to hear his son actually ask for his opinion on something he wants to do. Eddie feels like he is against the clock ans we actively see him missing out on something he came back to El Paso to try and do - parent his son. He has placed importance on being able to financially provide for Chris and he’s failing at doing that and then he is asleep and so misses Chris actively choosing to include him in his life and weigh in on an decision. The watch returns the moment Eddie starts making money - when he is able to provide in a financial way for Chris again - he has time once more.

It’s also one of the few times we see his hair not in his Texas helmet hairstyle around his parents - which to me feels like its about showing him as the not put together Eddie he’s trying to portray to his parents - when he’s asking for his parents to cover chess club fees because he’s not yet making any money as uber Eddie - its about showing us that his parents are seeing Eddie as a failure in that moment.

The other scene we have at the Diaz family home is on the couch when he is handing a computer game to Chris. I will talk about the insane amount of yellow and blue in this scene later on, but for now, we’re looking at costumes. You can see yet more check on Ramon in this scene, while Chris is in horizontal stripes - in yellow ochre and brown. Helena is in pale pink and white vertical stripes, while Eddie is in a solid black Henley and back to wearing his new watch - like I said above - he has time on the parenting clock once more.

In many ways the black Henley is a symbol of both Texas and LA Eddie - we see him wearing Henley’s of multiple colours in both environments in the show. Black ones however seem to be heavily attached to scenes that lead into issues - most of which surround Chris.

As a very quick rundown of when he wears a black Henley we have stolen money interrogation in 215 (which is attached to the flashbacks of arguments with Shannon about Chris’s surfing lessons and money), Eddie picking up Chris after Shannons death in 217, and in 218 when Bobby returns to the firehouse but Buck is still not there and Eddie makes his ‘almost’ comment about things being back to normal. Then we don’t see another one until Eddie takes in Hoover in 605, in 609 when he is playing computer games when Buck tells everyone he has successfully helped to create life, in 614 at Pepa’s house when she is setting Eddie up on a blind date, which ultimately leads to him dating Marisol, and finally in 701 When Buck talks to Chris about dating and Eddie then gives Chris the letter Shannon wrote for him.

As I hope you can see, most - but not all - are connected to Chris is some way - the only ones I would say aren’t directly connected to Chris are the 218 one at the firehouse and the sperm donor one in 609 - although it is connected into the concept of fatherhood - and that is what I think the black Henley means on Eddie - its about Eddie as a father and his ability to be able to provide for his son being called into question in some way - financially or through the provision of a second parental figure - either Shannon as Chris’s actual mother, or through the family expectation that a mother figure should exist in some way - which is then technically connected back to Shannon because Marisol is caught up in the Kim of it all (that part of this is technically a retcon as the Marisol of it all and the subsequent bringing back of Shannon within that arc wouldn’t have been known when the 614 scene was shot). The thing with all these scenes is that they precede issues of varying degrees treat Eddie encounters as a father.

Here in this scene we have Eddie able to provide for his son - financially - but Helena is still subtly calling him out and we know that he is lying about his income source at this point in time and that this lie is going to get discovered - it’s preceding the issue he is about to face of Chris discovering him in another lie.

We see Eddie in this episode wearing blue a couple of times, the first time we have the blue Eddie is as we open the episode with him at the 270 El Paso firehouse. Eddie is wearing what is effectively a blue check version of a firefighters uniform - navy trousers, black shoes and a blue shirt, even down to the belt with the square silver buckle imitating a firefighter belt. Eddie is also wearing his firefighter watch - adding further to the blue on blue of this costume. The shirt is a navy check over a lighter blue background, which is obviously not fully replicating a fire fighters uniform shirt, but it is about playing into check theory - that its Eddie at a crossroads and that things are not likely to go well for him at the firehouse in this episode (the dialogue is suggestive that the hiring freeze will end and he’ll get to become a firefighter again, but that he will also fulfill the captains fears and leave - when LA tugs at him and pulls him back) - but the use of all blue is really about pushing the narrative of Eddie identifying himself as a firefighter. It’s check theory establishing the fact that Eddie has relied on that identity as a firefighter in the same way he did with his identity as a soldier. It’s telling us that Eddie isn’t going to be able to identify himself through that route anymore - it’s about stripping that part of him away in the same way they removed his identity as a father. This is the deconstruction of Eddie in costume - giving a nod to his past (for now) career as a firefighter, whilst also setting him up as a wearer of check as he becomes ‘more Texas’ and essentially reverts back to pre LA Eddie - the one we saw in 315.

Then we see him in his new home in a short sleeved blue Henley with khaki green trousers. This costume was perhaps the most interesting choice in the entire episode to me and becasue even more so after Ryans interview answer about Eddies style changing in Texas. Becasue this costume is the one that most loudly speaks of Eddies style in LA - and it really helps to showcase the duality of Eddie in this moment - something his costumes across the entire episode play into. Around his parents - at their house specifically - and in that opening scene at the firehouse, we get a lot of check and a lot of clear nods to Texas Eddie. While in other scenes - when he’s talking to Buck and therefore connected in to LA, or in the last scene when he reconnects with Chris, we see his costumes closer to his LA style. You can see this style most clearly in his first video call with Buck - he’s just found out he hasn’t got a job at the firehouse in El Paso and is contemplating a return to LA so he can at least keep on providing for Chris.

The blue is a greyish blue and has that muted tone to it I spoke about earlier, but it is very much an outfit I would associate with LA Eddie and its doing multiple things in this scene, its connecting him into LA yes, but a part of that is showing where he actually belongs - the fact he’s wearing it when the El Paso captain calls to tell him about the hiring freeze is about the fact that part of him is still in LA - but it also connects him into being a firefighter because Eddie doesn’t wear blue that often - he does wear it, but its infrequent in his non uniform attire. It’s also about connecting him to Buck in two ways, firstly the few times we do see him in blue outside of his uniform, it is nearly always connected to Buck in some way - think Poker date, or the conversation about his dad in Chris’s room in Hero complex or when he’s telling him about the will or asking Buck for Help with Chris when he won’t come out of his room. And secondly, by having them both in blue for this scene and then also having them both connected into red - Bucks apron being the same maroon red as the chair Eddie sits in. Both aspects of this connection to Buck are about showing the depth of the our connection and also about Eddie listening to and hearing Buck - which is also something we see in those other scenes when Eddie wears blue.

The other thing its doing is telling us that when Eddie is alone - when he’s isn’t performing in any way, he reverts to wearing what he would wear in LA - that is his true style and true self. The show is literally showing us who Eddie is - at a moment when he’s had everything he holds as his identity stripped away from him (just like he’s stripping off that wallpaper I will get to in a minute!) - he isn’t a firefighter and he isn’t a father (in this moment as Chris is still not back with him and Eddie is feeling that divide) - the two things he has put at the centre of who he is and all he is left with is the parts of himself he hasn’t considered part of his identity - LA and Buck - its about that red string of fate connecting Eddie to those two things. That is why we have the red armchair in use here and why they have changed out Bucks usual firehouse apron for the maroon one. (I am going to point out that Buck is seemingly working on a salad at he firehouse - if you want to add it into salad theory then feel free to do so😎)

We also have the blue of the denim shirt. This outfit mirrors the one from the above scene - the blue and khaki combo - but a more Texas version. I’ve already written a lot about this outfit in my pre episode meta - and I stand by a lot of what I said about the repeat outfit of it and how it is connected into the concept of family and being on the right path, but also how it is connected to breaking free. I wanted to see the scene in full before I committed to anything solid around Shannon and Eddies grief and while we didn’t get anything explicit in the scene around Shannon - Eddies difficulty and sadness over giving up the Denali really does play into that concept of it being tied to Shannon and his grief and of letting her go. The reason I say this is because up to this point he hasn’t had much luck in connecting with Chris and things are not looking great for him, but in getting rid of the truck he does actually start to make progress and even though he lies about his job, he is able to salvage things with Chris - he owns up to his lying -thanks to Buck stopping his spiral and prompting him into making contact and actually pushing a bit - something he hasn’t done up to this point (that we’ve been shown) and his doing so bears fruit and he gets to reconnect with Chris - the act of letting go of the truck (and also his conviction that being a firefighter is the only thing Chris is proud of him for) symbolically is Eddie letting go of the last piece of his old life and that final piece being gone essentially frees Chris from the burden of it as well. I don’t know how much the show is going to show Chris and Eddie rebuilding their relationship from here - or if it will contain much angst (my feeling is that it won’t - that the angst will come from the Helena and Ramon side of things in Texas - but I do know that they’ve effectively cleared that final hurdle and that Chris and Eddie will just be seen rebuilding their relationship into something new before they return to LA. The key scene link with this outfit is the one from Eddie begins - it sets this costume as Texas Eddie, but it also connects into a scene where Eddie and Chris bond and begin to forge a new relationship - after his fight with his parents. The fight hasn’t happened yet but this outfit marks the same point in Eddie and Chris’s relationship as it did in Eddie begins - the actual beginning - when they were actually on the same page and able to connect - in a period after Shannon had left (the car representing Shannon leaving in this 812 scene).

A slight detour from costumes so that I can talk about Yellow and blue colour theory and its insane levels and use in this episode! I have already mentioned it a couple of times above and I did speak about it at length in my pre episode meta as well, but now I have seen the full extent of the car lot, and seen more of Eddies house and the make up of those scenes, I have a lot to say!

Car lot first - soooooo much yellow - like an insane amount of yellow as you can see in the picture above and below - Eddie is literally surrounded by it. There is also a lot of blue there as well in the scene - it’s just not visible in these screen grabs - but it is in the stills.

The Diaz parents house - which I’ve spoken about at length is also heavily coded yellow and blue - you can see the couch in the picture I included earlier, but below you can see a wide overhead shot which really highlights just how much blue and especially yellow there is. We‘re set up for Eddies arc of self discovery and now he has regained some grasp on fatherhood - we will be able to watch him continue to dismantle himself through his fixer upper and then build the new version of Eddie - but we’re still in the deconstruction part right now (more on that in a minute!) It’s no coincidence that the entirety of the Diaz parented house is yellow and blue coded. The screen grab of the wider high up angle shots we got show us the blue and yellow of it all - it’s essentially queer coding Eddies childhood in my eyes - the house being multiple shades of yellow and it being on the walls, while the blue is more there in scent form - chairs and curtains or dish towels. Yellow is Eddies colour and there was no reason for them to have gone that heavy on the yellow and blue coding in this episode around Eddie (espeically when you consider the madney scenes are heavily red coded!) in his parents house if it wasn’t about playing on the yellow and blue colour theory. They could have chosen any colour combination to decorate Helena and Ramon’s house but they chose these colours because Eddie is the main character here and Helena and Ramon are essentially plot devices - there to serve Eddies storyline and therefore their home is there to serve that same narrative, hence why it is colour coded for Eddie.

I’ve gone on and on about how yellow and blue colour coding in media is about queer coding - how it stems from the Wizard of Oz and the ‘friend of Dorothy’ being code for being gay and how it really found its feet during the Hayes code era, but how it has essentially become shorthand for queer subtext when it was still taboo for queer narratives to be told and how that has then transferred into actual queer media as an indicator of it being queer media (Heartstopper, RWRB, love Simon, stranger things, Mary and George etc etc all using the colour theory as part of the visual narrative), so to have Eddies childhood home (we assume - its certainly implied in Hero complex to be the case) so heavily yellow and blue coded (yellow especially) is suggestive that Eddies queer arc is going to stem from his childhood. Espeically as like I said in my pre episode meta - the yellow and blue is much more heavily surrounding Eddie than others in those scenes - look at Chris and Ramon on the yellow couch while Eddie is on the armchair - the room is yellow dominant - the darker yellow walls, the yellow of the couch and armchair themselves. But while the couch throw cushions are brown toned the throw cushion on the armchair is blue - subtly placing Eddie in the yellow/blue colouring while Chris and Ramon are yellow/ brown coded. Even Ramons blue check shirt is helping surround Eddie in the yellow and blue as he reaches over to hand Chris a computer game.

At the dining table during the scenes set there, the yellow walls and blue curtains are much more heavily surrounding Eddie compared with anyone else. Ramon and Chris have a lot more of the white of the cupboards or the nets at the windows in their backgrounds, and in the case of Helena, the net curtains and the painting makes up her background, breaking up the yellow and blue. We even have the very yellow lampshade positioned above Eddie during the scene - yes Ramon also appears under it, but it’s held in shot over Eddie far longer.

The fact that it’s specifically the walls that are yellow is also key. The show is very heavily playing on the metaphor of a house being a representation of the person who owns/ lives there - it’s something they’ve been doing with Eddie since the beginning. We were shown the LA Diaz house in season 2 early on and shown that all the spaces Chris occupied were far more decorated than Eddies bedroom, with brighter colours used in the decorative aspects such as furniture, pictures and carpets etc while Eddies room is painted magnolia with a simple dark blue bedspread, sparsely furnished and no art on the walls - it was all about showing us that Chris is Eddies focus - that he comes first in every aspect of who Eddie is - to the detriment of Eddie himself. The bedroom being sparse and cold is symbolic of Eddie neglecting himself - his own wellbeing. We only see this change slowly over time with the introduction of a bit of art on the walls - which all connects into his Texas and Mexican roots but plays on the idea of it being an inhospitable environment - cactus artworks suggesting prickliness. After he has destroyed his room we see the most drastic change - Eddies room gets colour - the walls are painted blue and we get new artwork, new lamps and furniture. The room is still cold though - the blue is icy and the art is a black and white photo of El Capitan and the yellow toned painting of a lone cowboy on a horse. Its saying that Eddies room is still not a warm and comfortable and inviting space - that his mind isn’t - that he still has a mountain to climb and also that he is a bit of a Lone Ranger.

So here, in what we are going to assume is Eddies childhood home, to have the walls being multiple shades of yellow is about the concept of yellow representing the very fabric of who Eddie is. Like the foundations, the walls and roof of a house are fundamental aspects of the structure - they are basic requirements of a house - and are therefore representative of the core parts of who someone is - Eddie in this case - and because it is his childhood home these walls are showing us who young Eddie is/was. They’re telling us this is the Eddie that needs to be rediscovered and then they further this concept by having Eddie ripping down the wallpaper in his fixer upper house - revealing yellow walls beneath the blue - in a yellow that is the same colour as the walls in the Diaz family house - suggesting Eddie is getting back to who that Eddie is.

The blue check pattern wallpaper in Eddies new house is also giving us information about Eddie - its telling us that check pattern theory is in play in Eddies life in a big way - indicating that big change is coming in the fundamentals of who Eddie has become - that the very fabric of who he is currently is going to be changed.

There is something to be said about Eddie removing the blue from the house and revealing the yellow of his childhood underneath. It’s not just about the fact that that Buck is blue coded while Eddie is yellow - which is important and plays on the idea that we are stripping back Bucks perspective of Eddie and seeing the real Eddie to a certain extent, but its also about Eddie removing layers of the things he himself has hidden behind - he’s hidden behind Buck and allowed himself to not get lost exactly, but to almost fade down. It’s about the show giving us Bucks pov on so much of Eddie that we don’t actually see who Eddie is and this plot line is about the fullness of Eddie being revealed - that we’re able to now see Eddie without the Buck goggles on - but also that Eddie is able to do that as well - Buck has provided Eddie with a huge safety net up to this point - stepping in and being that coparent to Chris with him and having his back at work. Eddie now gets to figure himself out - he still has Buck in his life and Buck is still going to have his back, but Eddie is learning to do things for himself to a much greater extent and this shows that transition for him. The entire house is a metaphor for Eddie finding himself now he has had everything stripped away from him. He is starting to put some of himself together - setting up furniture and making it feel a bit more homely even if the building itself needs a lot more work and its no coincidence that we see Chris coming to him at the moment we get to see that he has actually made inroads in that unpacking himself and setting up his living room - a space that is a shared one which enables him to be vulnerable in a way he hasn‘t really done before with Chris.

The show was given us box POV on so much of Eddie that we don’t actually see who Eddie is and this plot line is about the fullness of Eddie being revealed they were able to now see Eddie without the buck goggles on and without his identity as a firefighter but also that Eddie is able to do that for himself as well. we saw this concept played out to a certain extent in Season five after Eddie‘s breakdown when he left the 118, but he was still technically a firefighter then but was physically there providing Eddie with a huge safety in it stepping in and supporting him. Eddie is now in a situation where all that has been taken away from him and he now gets to figure himself out – he still has back in his life and is still going to have His back, he’s still a safety in it – as we see through the video calls, but Eddie is learning to do things for himself to a much greater extent this episode is about setting that up and showing that transition for him.

I do just quickly want to mention the sagey green wall at the far end of the room which appears to be the wall with the doors that go through to the bedroom and bathroom parts of the house. The fact this wall is green is playing into Eddie‘s army green colouring, the bedrooms are the most private spaces in a house and therefore are representative of your innermost self, your truest self. We’ve seen this metaphor play out before with Eddie when he destroyed his bedroom back in season five it was about him trying to destroy part of who he was at his core. so using Green on that wall is suggestive that Eddie is not ready to deal with that part of himself yet and that is why he’s focused on the living room, the shared space of the house and will work his way towards the bedrooms. 

Staying with the set aspect of it all for a little bit longer - we need to talk about couch theory because sue it was doing some very heavy lifting in this episode - and not just because Eddie mentions that he might need to sleep on Bucks uncomfortable couch! Because when Eddie is making that comment his couch is in shot – I need his covered in a dust sheet. At his own couch is not available to him and the show is taking great care and effort to establish the idea that Eddies couch is the right couch – but it’s the one both buck and Eddie are comfortable on and that they are able to be themselves on it and leather filters down. But falling asleep there easily after the lightning strike when he was having trouble sleeping on his own loft, Eddie discovering joy for himself heavily featuring the couch and then we also see both of them sat on it together for the very first time after that – showing them sharing joy and sorry together and just being able to be – not needing to say a word.

There is something to be said about Eddie removing the blue from the house and revealing the yellow of his childhood underneath. It’s not just about the fact that buck is blue coated well Eddie is yellow which is important and plays into the idea that we are stripping back box perspective, Eddie and seeing the real Eddie to a certain extent, but it is also about Eddie removing the layers of things he himself has hidden behind most of his life. He’s hidden behind various people or jobs for most of his life, Helena in the beginning, Shannon in his team and young adult is, the army, Chris as soon as he was born, and Eddie became a father and since moving to LA, being a firefighter and buck. This allowed himself to, not get lost exactly, but it just exist in the safe space that these people and jobs help create and that meant he didn’t have to examine those parts himself at his core.

It being covered over with a dust sheet here in this scene is about protecting it – it’s the most important thing in the scene – it’s literally the only piece of furniture that Eddie has covered up, yes there are things still in boxes, but may many of those are semi unpacked and none of the rest of his furniture is covered to protect it. Eddie is tearing down the house, but the couch is the one thing he has chosen to ensure has protection from the fallout while he literally stripped back the walls – stripping back the layers of himself.

It’s also a metaphor for Eddie not wanting to look at what the couch represents in that moment – that he is not ready to examine what the couch means – family, love, and comfort. Is a way of Eddie denying himself those things – he is still punishing himself and he needs to work on the fabric of himself before he can begin to examine what exists on the couch. Doing this also gives us a parallel with fucking 601 choosing not to replace his couch and just use the armchair – to work on himself before he finds a couch that is the right couch for him. In this scene Eddie only has his red leather chair to sit up. He is denying himself the comfort and love the couch provides. It is a show building further layers to the couch metaphor, which they take even further with the living room itself.

Eddie does eventually set up the living room - even as he is still working to remove the blue wallpaper - but he only sets the couch up once the blue is removed from the couch side of the room - so that the walls around the couch are yellow - bringing yellow and blue colour theory into play once again. The other thing about the living room itself is the way that its been set up to replicate the way he had his living room set up in LA - the front door behind the couch to its left, set up in front of the fireplace, with the red leather chair to the left of the fireplace. The room is narrower, so it’s a more compact version, but even the windows are located the same positions, they have even set up the dining room shelves in a position that mimics the large carved cabinet in Eddies LA living room set up (I assume the cabinet is in one of the bedrooms and that’s why we don’t see it - because it wouldn’t actually fit there!)! This is showing us that LA is where Eddie actually wants to be - where he feels he truly belongs - it’s about that home he had set up in LA being the right home for him and the couch now being set up is about Eddie being ready for Chris and Chris is the only one to sit on it - Eddie hugs Chris on the couch, but he never actually interacts with it himself.

And then there is the additional fact that in the previous episode, Buck sets up his own furniture in the Diaz LA living room in the same layout that Eddie had his - Buck toys with the idea of having the furniture in a different layout as you can see from this screen grab below

but the show makes a big effort to then show us that he has it set up to replicate Eddies layout. It really shows us that they belong together - that they are a family and that set up is a representation of their family dynamic. The other aspect of Buck decor is how cold it is - Buck is making it home by setting it out in the same way, right down to the armchair as Eddie had it but the colouring of his furniture doesn’t work with the cream walls where it did in the loft with its industrial and darker toned spaces. The loft was all greys and blacks and white and warm toned browns and high ceilings. But Eddies house is magnolia and the ceilings are lower and the lighting is brighter and coming from all angles instead of from one. Because of this it makes the space look like it lacks in colour - Eddie had coloured furniture and a rug to add warmth to the space, as well as the art on the walls, but Bucks furniture and art is making it look very flat toned and bland. It really plays into the idea of Bucks world being drained of colour without Eddie in it (not that he has been drained of colour, but the world around him).

The other aspect of the set design - before we go back to costumes, is the three magnets on Bucks fridge! Yes magnet theory is back in business! we only have the three magnets on Bucks fridge - which I find very interesting considering the fact that he had gone for a full assault of magnets and pictures on his fridge during 8a. the fact we have a yellow magnet, a blue magnet and a white/grey magnet and their positioning is making me thing about the sun moon and earth. Buck is the blue magnet as per yellow blue colour theory, and Eddie is the yellow one and I think the grey one is meant to represent Tommy.

The reason I think this is because it’s meant to be a play on the way Eddie and Tommy had been lit around Buck, as well as the use of lighting in 811 for the Tommy scenes - the use of darkness for the hook up especially (in fact its no coincidence that the majority of the BT scenes took place at night!). In 704 we were shown Eddie being bathed in light - glowing with light haloed around him, Tommy in that same episode was always in shadow or darkly lit - you can see it very clearly during the basketball game, but the loft scene between Buck and Tommy also shows Tommy being lit darkly and partially in shadow.

Even the kitchen scene in 811 shows Tommy always in shadow - he never goes near the windows - always in the shadow of the cabinets or on the far side of the room away from the light. This is because Buck is the earth and he orbits around Eddie - who is the sun, while Tommy essentially orbits around Buck (he’s a plot device that’s what they do!). The sun generates its own heat and light, whereas the moon can only reflect the sun’s light.

This is a play on the fact that Buck has misunderstood who’s attention he was trying to get - its no mistake that scene at the loft took place at night while all the times Buck was trying to get someone’s attention it was bright daylight. The moon is known as a symbol of enlightenment and transformation (and madness) and those are both things Tommy has helped Buck with but at the end of the day, the moon is borrowing its light from the sun in the same way Tommy is borrowing light from Eddie. The sun is a life force, but the moon is not - its reflected light can help guide you in the dark when it is full, but it cannot sustain life. That is exactly what we have seen play out with Buck Tommy and Eddie so far - Buck has been enlightened by Tommy, but he cannot be sustained by that - he needs the sun - Eddie - to thrive!

Back to costumes now and while we’re here, we’ll talk about Bucks teal. Teal is such an interesting colour - its a combination of of blue and green and can lean in either direction - this one is more blue toned - its almost peacock blue - but there is enough green in it to class it as teal (Bucks phone case is more peacock blue) Teal is a colour of clarity and openmindedness and objectivity and wisdom. These are all key traits we see Buck exibitiing in this scene - especially objectivity and clarity which he provides to Eddie and which Eddie takes on board and as a result is able to really make some inroads into healing things with Chris.

We are also meant to draw a comparison between Buck and Chris - who are both on Eddies dash in shades of blue. Buck is obviously in teal as we;ve just discussed, while Chris is in a blue that looks like Bucks normal blue. Chris being in blue here is really important as blue is a colour associated with trust, responsibility and protection - the little photo of Chris here is a representation of what Eddie is trying to regain - his parental responsibilities for his child who he wants to protect (and feels he failed) and Chris’s trust and Buck in his teal hoodie is able to provide the wisdom clarity and objectivity that allows Eddie to begin to do just that later in the episode.

I do just want to quickly mention the tree air fresheners while we’re here as well. We see Eddie fit a blue tree to his rear view mirror at the beginning of his uber Eddie arc and he then purchases a green one and switches them out just before he picks up Ezra and Chris and it remains during his talk with Buck. It’s no coincidence that we get this colour switch at this moment in time. The blue tree is representing those traits we spoke about above - trust, responsibility, and protection and blue can also be a symbol of reliability as well as conservatism. These are all traits Eddie needs to be an uber driver and that is why we have the blue tree there during the montage of his adventures in that job. But in the scene with Chris and the chat with Buck the green colour meaning is needed. Green is growth and renewal, hope and the future, but it is also judgemental. Eddie is judging himself in this couple of scenes and he thinks Chirs is too, but Buck also helps him to find some hope for the future and we see Eddies growth in the fact that he takes on board Bucks advice and actually actions it which leads to the renewal of Eddie and Chris’s relationship.

There is a second aspect to the green tree as well - back in 701 Eddie talks to Buck about Chris dating multiple girls and asks him to talk to Chris about it. They are dealing with a small car fire and Buck hands the cars owner a green tree air freshener and says that it wasn’t a total loss when he asks. We have a parallel conversation here between Buck and Eddie and once again - it’s not a total loss for Eddie - he has a chance to salvage something.

Let’s finish up on Eddies grey which has an interesting journey with Eddie. We’ve seen him wear an increasing amount of grey in the seasons where he is going through mental health arcs - so seasons 5 and 6 are grey heavy. This seaosn so far hasn’t been, but we get a pretty sizeable chunk of this episode with him in grey.

We start with the montage of him dealing with all the various issues in his fixer upper house showing us a hint of the reality of what Eddie has purchased, and then we spend all of his time as an uber driver with him wearing a grey hoodie over a white tee. Grey is a neutral, balanced colour and is also ambiguous and considered a colour of safety, professionalism and practicality.

The fact that they have been increasing the amount of grey Eddie wears as we go through the seasons where he is dealing with his mental health is interesting, because of its neutrality as well as safety, but here in this season I find interesting not only on that front, but also its ambiguous connotations. The fact that we see him trying to settle into his fixer upper house - dealing with leaks and faulty electrics etc whilst wearing grey (or grey blue as that is what he was wearing in the scene when he didn’t get he firefighting job - it needed to be both blue and grey!) makes that ambiguity clear - Eddie is unsure about what he is doing - if it is the right thing to be doing at all. It also ties that ambiguity to Eddie tearing down and rebuilding his life and himself - ambiguity about which way it could go - success or failure - but also straight or queer. Its a bit of a tease from the wardrobe team as to Eddie’s arc - that the straight or queer question is one that needs to be asked and if that needs to be asked then the answer will fall in the queer camp - hence the yellow and blue coding in the rooms themselves.

The hoodie over the white tee is essentially Eddie in uniform and it plays into those other meanings of grey - safety professionalism and practicality - once more all things we see Eddie exhibit in his uber driver scenes - especially when he has learnt the unwritten rules of being an uber driver from his very helpful passenger. The blue ties and zip give a little nod to the trustworthy and protection and responsibility elements of blue as well all working together with the grey but also still keeping him connected to his blue firefighters uniform in a low key way - suggesting things he learnt as a firefighter are relevant to him i his job as an uber driver.

Right, I’m going to stop waffling now as this has got super long and is super late! As always, I hope you enjoyed this costume meta that was more a set meta and colour theory conversation than about the costumes this week, and thanks for taking the time to read it - it means a lot to me.

Tagged people below and do let me know if you want adding to the list!

@lover-of-mine @spotsandsocks @fruityfirehose @wanderingwomanwondering @livingwherethesidewalkends @buddiediaz118 @bewitchedbewilderedbisexual @satvojihusana @elvensorceress @icebergeddie @buckleyanddiaz @eddiedisasterdiaz @kejfeblintz @cookie-kat777 @leothil @bucksbelly @kyoteugly @bi-moonlight @somebodycall911onabc @trudayss @chaosandwolves @lemotmo

[facetimebuddies]

omfg. their fridges just. MATCH.

[thehotpilot]

save me bucktommy champagne bottle

[firewasabeast]

am i crazy, or the thing behind tommy in bucks loft has never been there before?

i thought there was only a bike there, why is the loft has so much new decor this season, if not to show in an emotional montage how empty it will be when buck’s moving in with tommy 🫣

Yes, it's new! My headcanon is the first time Buck went to Tommy's house, he saw it looked lived in. It wasn't messy or cluttered, just lived in. There were pictures of people that Buck didn't know, and Tommy didn't feel like talking about. There were plants and mix-matched furniture. Decor that matched the season, etc.

When Buck left the next morning after breakfast and entered his cold, lifeless apartment he immediately wanted a little of what Tommy had, so he grabbed a photo album and put some pictures on the fridge, then started making little changes everywhere else.

[housewifebuck]

they really thought they could put him in front of the bi flag for this whole scene and I wouldn't notice

[originalcrime]

Just thinking about the Tommy Kinard/Abby Clark parallels. They’re both older, they both represent Buck discovering something new about himself and what he wants out of a relationship, they’re unique among his love interests for having a more intimate understanding of the first responder psyche.

They’re also foils: Abby always has the upper hand during her relationship with Buck, while Tommy lets him set the pace. Abby’s love for her mother informs so much of who she is, while for Tommy it’s his distance from his father. Eddie encourages Buck to move on from Abby, while he encourages him to pursue Tommy.

Anyway. Much to consider

[bibastibootz]

excuse me, what?! WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART?!??!?!?!

[thisshitisridiculous]

on the one hand love you props and set design people, you work so hard with so little funds and you have to provide so many things with so little notice i love you but also on the other hand why the fuck is eddie prioritizing packing his outdoor furniture

[eddiebestdaddiaz]

I'm sure this has been pointed out before, but the fact that THIS PICTURE is perfectly in frame and visible

when Eddie tells Buck he is thinking about moving to Texas

that picture is the MOMENT Eddie decides to officially leave Texas and take Christopher with him the first time. the moment that eddie says it's like they are talking about completely different people because Christopher has never heard his grandparents yell. when Chris tells Eddie he misses him all the time and Eddie asks if Chris wants to come with him... together... Eddie saying he will never leave him again....

And the scene is framed so it's in focus....

[guardian-angle22]

911 lone star fashion -> every grace outfit

↳ 1.07

[stagefoureddiediaz]

Oh hello magazines in the hospital waiting room. I see you!

Stress in yellow and blue, an architectural magazine darling in pink

Sparring magazine dot to dot in yellow and blue (and green) and surf magazine

Sparring dot to dot and surfing - set up in the same way Eddie (sparring) and Buck (surf) are sat across from one another in the waiting room. almost like we're meant to connect the dots between them?! the way sparring and surf are parts of buck and Eddie's characters, but also tie into the tsunami arc...

Stress being above the sparring magazine - a reference to Eddie being put through it in upcoming episodes?

architectural magazine a reference to building something - a home together - a life - something unique.

Darling in pink - something something about Buck being naïve or innocent about his feelings at the moment

[rimatsu]

Ok convince me to reject caution and embrace delusion. Why are you so hopeful? 

the safe bet is definitely caution. but regardless of initial intentions, nothing is ever set in stone in the 911 writing room and that’s reason enough to remain hopeful. still, when people say the chances of a reconciliation are non-zero, i think that’s low-balling it. at the very least, we’re at 10% chance, 90% faith.

granted the interviews i (unwillingly) absorbed via osmosis don't exactly inspire confidence but again: 1) tim is fickle as the wind and writers can change their minds at the drop of a hat, 2) nothing that was directly stated by actors or showrunner contradicts the idea of a makeup arc, 3) if the breakup was intentionally designed as a temporary hurdle they’d imply otherwise anyway (oh god i sound like Them don't i.... this is a cry for help)

the reasons why 8x06 could qualify as a temporary split have been extensively discussed so i’ll try to be brief (spoiler: i failed) before tackling what i’d like to see in 8b. buckle up buttercup, i’m a yapper:

1) the breakup wasn’t written as definitive or unfixable. buck and tommy didn’t part because of irreconcilable differences or because passion/attraction fizzled out. if they wanted that door closed, tommy could’ve simply said he was uninterested in pursuing long term commitment with buck, that they’re not compatible in the long run — there: a clean, uncomplicated break. instead, we’re told that tommy desperately wants to be the person buck settles down with, but he’s convinced buck is propelled by the excitement of novelty, that he suspects buck is latching onto him for the wrong reasons, that he can’t allow himself to merge their home life together in fear he’ll never recover once buck wants out. the implications here being tommy is in love with buck already. for his part, buck came to the realization that he wants a future with tommy and immediately decided to pursue it because that's just the type of man he is: never one to do things by half-measures, seeing no value in waiting once his mind is made up. so there’s no conflicting desire there. they want the same thing: permanence with each other. the next two episodes also paint a strange picture if the goal is a definitive separation. buck bakes excessively in an attempt to cope when he never needed a coping mechanism following a breakup before, and we’re told several times that he wants to reach out — in fact buck was about to reach out until he was physically stopped. in total, 3 tommy mentions so far. usually we get the one and then buck moves on to greener pastures (abby notwithstanding, but she's an exception and not the rule, main character privilege and all). we were even deliberately shown that tommy considered contacting buck on his own. that's establishing regret and a desire for reconnection on both sides of the equation. again, that’s a never seen before: tommy is an outlier. completely unnecessary if the breakup is a done deal. whether they follow it through or not, the aftermath was written in such a way that there’s ground for a reconciliation if needs be

2) this is the first buck break up to happen during the first act of the season, something that’s normally reserved for the finale for maximum impact. why this distinction? strange placement for the end of a romantic storyline if you ask me.

3) they're never going to replicate a LI that checks out as many boxes as tommy does, or recapture the romcom magic that was 7x04-7x06. and it's fine if they don't, not all endgame romances need to be the most memorable of the bunch, but it'd be stupid to let the remaining potential go to waste. it's undeniable, the show is nearing its end, i don't imagine they get renewed past s10. if they go the natalia route again and introduce a LI at the last moment, it's going to pale in comparison to the other viable option, one that has pre-established history and connection to buck/the 118. inadvertently or not, they set up an epic love story of intertwined fate. tommy has literally haunted the narrative since the pilot: one of the very first thing abby reveals is that she’s not over tommy breaking off their (retconned) engagement. as such, tommy has played a pivotal role in shaping buck into the man he is today: if tommy hadn’t transferred out to harbor station, buck wouldn’t have found his family and his life purpose. if tommy hadn’t left abby, buck wouldn’t have realized that emotional intimacy and romantic connection is what he seeks. if tommy hadn’t kissed him, a huge part of buck’s identity would’ve remained buried and unexplored. how are they possibly going to top a red string theory dating back 8 seasons? they can’t. i’m sure they’re aware of that.

4) why bring our attention to tommy’s admiration and envy for a tight-knit unit like the 118, on three separate occasions, if the ultimate goal isn’t to reward him and integrate him into the makeshift family?

5) idk what it's worth, if it's worth anything at all, but there’s been a substantial amount of displeasure voiced over their breakup. tommy is buck’s most well-received LI to date. they took a risk with the Big Bisexual Reveal and it paid off with increased engagement and viewership. if they were still debating a reconciliation, surely they've heard that at least some people will eagerly welcome a makeup arc with open arms.

i'm a broken record so i'm probably repeating myself but here goes my ideal timeline for the rest of the season (not a speculation, not wishful thinking, but a secret third thing):

i'm gonna operate under the assumption that the breakup happened solely so buck could be at his lowest for the kidnapping plot line with a minimal/reduced support system (no boyfriend AND no best friend around when his pregnant sister is abducted). in other words, i don't think buck will be in a place to venture back into the dating world by 8x09-8x10 quite yet (i don’t actually buy the buck-dates-the-serial-killer theory). he's handled the breakup fairly well but now with the kidnapping & eddie gone/in the process of moving, i assume that's when he really starts to spiral.

(if we get a fourth tommy mention here, i'd say it's a promising sign. it’d be a purposeful way to keep him in viewers’ radar after the 4-month break)

i think getting maddie back after a few days of fear and uncertainty will be a breakthrough for buck and he’ll make a conscious decision to move on from his funk by the end of 8x10.

ideally “jumping back into the pond” would take place in 8x11 to 8x13, starting with a comedic montage of buck in a string of various failed dates. this is the part of the season where i expect him to utter the word bisexual, probably when the topic of exes comes into play. every other queer identity in the show gets labeled and stated in no uncertain terms, but bisexuality is ever only vaguely implied (nancy in ls) or shown but not explicitly spoken (buck and eva). it’s frustrating. personally i choose to believe buck’s lackluster reaction to maddie’s questionable “how many men did she turn gay?” joke was intentional on the writers’ part. it was the perfect opportunity to reaffirm his sexuality but buck didn’t bc he's not fully in tune with his queerness yet. yeah he speedran through his coming out but recalibrating your entire identity after 3 decades of presumed heterosexuality is a complex process rifled with ups and downs. i hope it gets explored with more care and depth in future episodes.

supposedly we know two things: the fling is another form of coping mechanism, and it's short-lived. chances are it's going to be a woman, and i'd love for it to be a bi girl bc 1) yay bi4bi m/f representation, 2) he's dating someone who can intimately relate to his experience and can maybe offer some additional clarity where clarity is still needed.

my other preferred scenario is that he meets a guy who immediately clocks that buck is still hung up on his ex and not emotionally available for anything more than casual fun. basically give buck a sex friend who can expose him to the LA gay scene. if my memory serves me right, OS said he'd like to see buck in queer spaces. i would like to see it too (we could’ve had that exploration with tommy but i digress….)

long story short, he eventually meets someone he has chemistry with, but it's still not as easy or companionable or butterfly-inducing as it was with tommy. buck gets back home from the seemingly successful date and he just... starts baking — wordlessly communicating to the audience that he’s still plagued by Tommy Thoughts.

now if i put on my clown shoes, i’d say the bts pictures of the 217 engines suggest an upcoming bucktommy reunion on a call (surely they were made for a reason. right. RIGHT????), ideally in 8x14. i’ve babbled about it here, but the sparknotes version is:

- there's a 5 alarm high-rise fire requiring ground and aerial ops. tommy is tasked with delivering firefighters to the roof, including the 118. the chopper ride to destination is understandably awkward but professional enough

- tommy joins ground ops once he’s completed his maximum hours of flight. he ends up trapped in a pocket of rubbles with buck after a partial structural collapse. that’s when they hash it out. it’s not pretty: they’re on edge and exhausted and full of adrenaline and words aren’t sugarcoated or minced. but they’re honest, and afterward they understand each other’s perspective.

it has been said before, but i don't think buck registered the underlying message of the breakup. we know he doesn't handle rejection well, and it's likely he was so hyperfocused on being told no that he didn’t compute the “no matter how much i want to be (your last)” part. that’d explain the 118’s strange response to the split. if i was told “my boyfriend broke up with me because he thinks i'll eventually break his heart once i figure out he's not who i truly want” i’d strongly advise communication before calling it quit prematurely. but if my friend told me “my boyfriend broke up with me when i asked him to move in bc he doesn't think we'll last bc i don’t know what i want” i would trust that they relayed the correct story and i too would discourage contact.

anyway buck has stated that he doesn’t want to chase after someone who doesn’t want him before, but now he knows that wanting was never the issue with tommy, that the breakup was fueled by insecurities and fears and trauma rather than disinterest. at first, it’s presented as reaching a necessary closure: once the fire is contained, buck and tommy part way with another “see you around, buck. i truly hope you find what you’re looking for” and a bittersweet smile. except now buck has had another breakthrough, he’s full of renewed resolved and clarity, and he’s ready to fight for this relationship, so he shows up at tommy’s doorstep the next night and pleads his case.

in 8x15-8x16, we see them readjust to being a couple except this time, it's with the knowledge that they both want serious in the long run. maybe they discover facets of each other previously kept under wraps for the sake of 'keeping it light and breezy'. also they fuck/fade to black on screen (this is imperative)

the last two episodes are focused on the closing disaster, whatever that might be. in this hypothetical timeline, we get a few more glimpses of domesticity. maybe even establish the setup for a move-in next season when bucktommy discuss buck’s lease.

you can have the helicopter crash as a treat for s9. once they're truly settled with each other and it's bound to be more devastating.

voilà <3 apologies and congratulations for your perseverance if you made it this far. the answer was never supposed to be this lengthy or tangencial oops can you tell i’m obsessed. terminally ill even

[armiliadawn]

In Your Hands

Word count: 911

Masterlist

Summary: In your hands, he’s no longer a Captain. He belongs to you. Offered, vulnerable, ready to burn for you. Notes: Big thanks to my lovely @jintaka-hane for reading it over and giving me her precious advice. You’re the best, girl 💖 Tags: Kid x F!reader, NSFW, Explicit Content, Sub!Kid, Dom!Reader, Bath scene.

Steam wrapped the room like a curtain - thick and warm - blurring the edges of the real world. Candles cast golden reflections on the stone walls, and the deep bathwater shimmered softly. The air smelled of warm stone and infused herbs.

You were already in the pool when Kid joined you, the hot water caressing your skin and soothing the tension from your body. He entered without a word, his steps slower than usual. The water rippled around him as he slid in, the candlelight tracing the lines of his shoulders and scars. He leaned against the edge, his one good arm resting casually on the stone, and his eyes locked onto yours.

You held his gaze without flinching and didn’t move. Not right away. Time seemed to stop, trapped between the stone walls and the enveloping warmth of the water, in this intimate space where nothing existed but him and you.

Then, with deliberate slowness, you moved closer. Your thighs cut through the water, brushing against his, and you settled astride him without a word. Your bare body slid against his with natural fluidity, warm skin seeking his, finding, adjusting. Your hands clung to his neck, your legs tightening around his waist.

He was already hard. Already ready. But you still waited, just to watch him suffocate with desire. His gaze was sharp and burning. You could see the muscles in his jaw clench slightly.

And you, you were already sweating and glistening.

“Are you planning to stare at me like that all night?” you whispered.

He answered without a smile, his voice low:

“I’m giving you control. Show me what you want.”

You didn’t thank him. You leaned in slowly, your breasts brushing his chest, and murmured in his ear:

“I want to make you lose your mind.” You gently bit his earlobe. “But slowly. Very slowly.”

He drew in a deeper breath, a rough sigh escaping his slightly parted lips. A shiver ran down his back. His body, solid and tense, trembled for a brief moment. Barely. But enough for you to feel him vibrate against you.

He said nothing. But his gaze darkened, growing more intense, more ravenous still.

You had set him ablaze with a single sentence.

Your hips moved in a slow ripple, a first movement, almost imperceptible, yet already precise, sensual, calculated.

Kid closed his eyes for a second.

You wrapped your arms around his neck and pressed your lips to his without hurrying. A long, deep kiss in which you poured everything you hadn’t yet said: your want, your fire, your hunger.

Then you straightened, your eyes locked onto his, and guided your bodies with exquisite precision. You sank down onto him in one fluid motion, taking him into you without a sound, without a sigh, your eyelids heavy with focus.

He let out a ragged breath, his head falling back. His one good hand clutched the edge of the bath, as if holding on to keep from losing himself, fighting to stay in control.

You waited for him to open his eyes.

“You’re mine,” you whispered.

And you began to move.

Slowly. With a sensual control, each ripple of your body carefully measured, designed to make him tremble beneath you.

Your hips moved with grace, your rhythm deliberate, every friction precisely controlled. You kept your hands on his chest, your nails grazing his skin, drawing burning lines.

“You’re not saying anything,” you murmured.

“Because I want to feel you, not interrupt you.”

You smiled.

“You won’t last long.”

He smiled back, breathless, his hand now gripping the edge of the bath tightly.

“I’ll last as long as you decide I do.”

You leaned in again, your lips brushing his throat, your voice lower:

“And if I want to torture you all night?”

“Then you will. And I’ll beg you for more.”

You picked up the pace gradually. More pressure, more rhythm, each movement deeper than the last. Breaths tangled between you, growing shorter, more erratic. Clinging to his shoulders, you tilted your head back slightly, letting your damp hair cascade down your spine.

Kid looked at you like a man on fire. He was used to dominating. But now, he no longer knew where his body ended and yours began. It was dizzying. And it was heady.

And you rode him like you would a stallion: with strength, with mastery, with wild love.

Water splashed against the walls around you, the stillness of the place broken only by your moans. By your quickened breathing. By the barely contained rumble in Kid’s throat.

Everything became more intimate than silence itself.

When you felt your own body nearing the edge, you clutched his hair, pressed your forehead to his, and moaned against his lips:

“Come with me. Now.”

And he obeyed. Your orgasm was deep, long - almost silent - a heavy, burning wave that left you both trembling, entangled, breathless, your bodies pressed tightly together.

You stayed there, perched on him, panting, your eyes closed. Only the soft lapping of water against the stone broke the silence that had returned.

He wrapped his arm around you, keeping you close, his forehead resting in the crook of your neck.

For a while, neither of you spoke.

Then you murmured, still half out of breath:

“ It’s dangerous, letting me take the lead.” Kid let out a faint laugh, still too dazed to think straight. “And that’s exactly why I’ll let you do it again.”

Tag list : @jintaka-hane @novemberhope @imveryyellow @lxshoxk @fanaticsnail @daydreamer-in-training @pandora-writes-one-piece, @alwayssassydreamer. Feel free to let me know if you’d like to be added (or removed) from the tag list.

[leighsartworks216]

Honey, I'm Home

Zayne x gn!Reader

Wrote this literally at 2-3am last night while trying not to fall asleep. And now I'm trying to quickly post it so I can get breakfast before the place I want it from gets too busy lmao

Inspired by this video

Warnings: domestic fluff, established relationship, desserts & sweets, sleepiness, kissing, couch cuddles

Word Count: 911 (oh)

Main Masterlist

First Love and Deepspace Masterlist

Second Love and Deepspace Masterlist

AO3

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“I’m home,” Zayne calls into the house as he shuts the door behind him. He shucks off his coat and toes off his shoes, putting them neatly in their places, before following the sound of the TV to the living room. A bag of goodies crinkles in his hand. “I got you the…” His words trail off as he takes in the sight before him.

You lay along the length of the couch, head propped up on some decorative pillows. A soft blanket drowns you, layered and bunched up all around you to compensate for its excessive size, having been initially meant for use on a king-size bed. One of your arms drapes lazily over your eyes to protect them from the lights of the room and the TV. The other rests over your stomach.

Earlier, you’d sweetly asked if he could pick up something from the bakery on his way home. Of course he agreed. He didn’t expect you to already be asleep when he got back, though. He wonders if you had a long day, or if the comfort movie you have playing eased you into sleep on accident.

He creeps closer. Trying to soften his steps and keep the bag from making too much noise. He sets it lightly on the coffee table once he’s close enough. With the push of a button, the TV screen goes dark, and he sets the remote back in its designated spot. The sudden silence is filled with your even breaths.

He moves part of the blanket aside so he can sit on the edge of the couch, his hip against yours. Carefully, he lowers your arm. “Darling?” He holds your hand, absentmindedly rubbing the back of it with his thumb. “I’m home, love.”

You breathe deeply as you stir awake. Eyelids fluttering, you force your tired eyes open enough to see your partner, bathed in the lamplight. His fond smile warms you to your bones. You smile dumbly in return. “Hey…”

He brushes your cheek with his long fingers. They’re soft and warm. You manage to angle your head ever so slightly into his touch. “You’ll hurt your back sleeping out here.”

Your arm feels like lead when you lift it to brush his bangs out of his eyes. That quickly leads to you running your fingers through his hair. He chuckles softly.

“Do you want to go to bed?” he asks.

You shake your head. “Not yet,” you murmur. “Wanna keep lookin’ at you.” You seem to be on a mission to try keeping his bangs from falling into his face. You try tucking them behind his ear, pushing them up over the top of his head, gathering them into a little ponytail. He jostles the last one from your sleepy hold and guides your hand to his cheek instead. “How’s your day?”

He turns to kiss your open palm. His warm breath fans over your skin. “It was busy today. I had a lot of surgeries.”

“Did’ju eat lunch?”

He nods. “Mhm. Thank you for making it. It was delicious.”

You smile brighter, like you just found out his parents are coming to visit. “I’m glad.”

“How was your day?”

“Good,” you hum. “Long.” You yawn. He brushes away the little tears it brings to your eyes. “Really boring. Mnh! Did you go to the bakery?”

“I did.” Your hand slips down to his chest as he turns and draws the bag closer, sliding it across the tabletop. He pulls out a couple of boxes, marked with the logo of the bakery. “I got your favorites. They had a sale on macarons, so I got us a box each.”

You poke his collarbone, drawing his hazel eyes back to you. “And no stealing from my box, Mr. Sweet Tooth.”

He gives you a wry smile. “I’ll exhibit some self-restraint.”

Your fingers trail with intent up his neck, coaxing goosebumps to jump out on his arm, but the execution is messy and lazy otherwise. Once they reach the sharp angle of his jaw, you guide his face down to yours. He kisses you sweetly. It’s chaste, but no less adoring. Every time he pulls away, you pull him back in, over and over, until you let out a satisfied little sigh. His heart runs rampant in his chest.

“We should get you to bed,” he whispers, so close that speaking any louder feels blasphemous. “The sweets can wait until tomorrow.”

You hum, quieter this time, as sleep begins to creep in once more. Your eyes are fighting to stay open. It’s a losing battle. Zayne smiles and stands up. Your arm slips from his jaw to your lap. He releases your hand in favor of releasing you from your blanket prison and scooping you up into his arms.

The trip from the couch to the bed is fuzzy. You remember letting your eyes close, and the way you rocked with each step. His heartbeat resonated through you, until you’re pretty sure your heart adjusted to match his rhythm. You remember the cool caress of your sheets as he laid you down, and the soft press of lips to your forehead.

“I’ll be back soon. Goodnight, my love.”

You mutter something incoherent back, but the message is loud and clear. He kisses your forehead again, covering you in the blankets. By the time he returns, you’re already dreaming of eating sweets with him beside a fire on a cold winter’s day.

---

Tag List:

@the-golden-jhope @deepzombieyouth @huen1ngk41 @armycaratlover @cheesemachine44 @nyx2021 @angel-jupiter @thelittlebutton @pikachuzhc @pomegranatepip @cordidy

[formerly-windblume]

Obey Me Brothers - The Period Pain Simulator (HCs)

AFAB MC in this story!

TW: Mentions of periods, blood, and period pain.

𝕃𝕖𝕥’𝕤 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕟𝕠𝕨, 𝕀 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕖 𝕘𝕠𝕖𝕤 𝕒 𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕖 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖…

You decided to order a period pain simulator after seeing trends online of men giving them a try and suffering. As being the only AFAB individual in a house full of testosterone it only makes sense to see if it too works on demon men- after all, a man is a man regardless of species, right? Surely seven demons could withstand a mere period pain simulator…. Right….?

Lucifer

He knows about periods, yes, Lilith herself did go through them- however, as far as he was aware, they were not as excruciating. She just was a moody muffin who became overly blunt and would be extremely hungry. Yes, she did want to throw hands at times but he shrugged it off for the most part.

Yes female angels have periods too, he has been witness to some rather brutal ones where the female angels just get insanely emotional or start wanting heads to roll. Demon females too, he’s seen plenty at the local grocery store go bonkers over snacks and the hygiene products.

He had no idea exactly how painful these could get, oh boy would he find out.

Was hesitant at first, after all, you seem to be in agony during your monthly visitor but he decides to give this a go just to see how you truly feel. He’s seen plenty of females, angel, human or demon, go through them and each have their own unique emotional range and pains.

What can possibly go wrong? It’s just a silly human device that is made to simulate period pain. How could this ever hurt the great Lucifer himself?

How bad can it REALLY be? Sir, prepare to feel some agony.

“Is this even on? Hmph, this is easier than I thought.”

Sir, that is because it’s only at setting 1, be ready for worse.

Immediately eats his words the second you crank it up to about three, he refuses to admit it hurts and simply says he’s a demon, this is nothing.

Crank it up to about five and he is already sweating, he still refuses to throw in the towel and admit defeat. He must hold out for as long as possible.

“Y/N… you really feel this?! Every month?!”

“Yes, but imagine more pain and blood gushing out of your southern hemisphere- oh and tender breasts, followed by a fever, bloating, nausea, and insane cravings.”

“Remind me to curse Father out more for this- ahem- design flaw…”

You crank it up to seven and he caves. He is done. He has unshed tears in his eyes and is on the bed writhing in agony.

“Honey, want to try levels nine and ten? That’s how it usually feels for me on the first two days.”

He literally looks you in the eyes and says he will never do that again, however… he just discovered an interesting punishment device in this thing.

I feel bad for the sorry chap who has to suffer the simulator by the hands of Lucifer himself.

After experiencing the period pain simulation he will go even more above and beyond for you during your period.

He runs to the store faster than Mammon when he hears the word “money” to buy you snacks, pads, and anything really.

“You know, level 10 is the equivalent to early labor pains.”

Oh absolutely not, nope, and he thought level 6 was labor pain.

You are hereby exempt from taking classes in-person while on your period. You will become an online student those days and you will be required to relax and take it easy.

If his grudge for his Father wasn’t already big enough that grudge just skyrocketed so high it’s practically a missile to the Celestial Realm.

Mammon

He’s mildly familiar with periods, despite having a little sister he’s still an idiot as to how biology works in that sense.

He has an F (32.60%) in biology currently

He understands the b*tchy attitude and the craving part but the blood part…? Not really. Tell him about bleeding for a week straight and watch this man dial 666 (Devildom’s 911) for immediate assistance in getting his human to the hospital because of Father above you are obviously dy*ng and you need help.

The minute you tell him about this simulator and how it’s supposedly painful and can simulate a period he gets curious and thinks this is a great way to show he’s manly enough for you.

Mammon, you will suffer worse than any of the punishment Lucifer has put you through.

“Can’t hurt worse than any kick to the balls! Ha! This is simple! I’m the GREAT Mammon, I got this!”

Mammon, sweetie, a kick to the balls is nothing to this. It’s scientifically proven that period pains are equally as painful as a heart attack.

He whimpers as the simulator is strapped on

“Y-yo what gives?! It hurts!”

“Mammon, it’s not even on…”

You turn the dial onto the lowest setting, one, so far Mammon is holding strong, nothing too serious.

“Just feels like I gotta fart- like, not a big one but a good sized one.”

Turn it up to about three and he is already clutching his gut and whimpering.

“O-ok! N-now I feel like I gotta sh*t! But there ain’t any sh*t to sh*t! Y/N THE HELL IS THIS?!”

You crank it up to about six and he gives up. He is on the ground crying like a baby.

He swears that Lucifer gives less painful punishments than THIS.

“TURN IT OFF!! YO Y/N TURN IT OFF!! THIS IS WORSE THAN ANYTHIN’!! GETTIN’ KICKED IN THE NUTS IS NOTHIN’ TO THIS!!”

He will also swear that getting “the cut” was less painful than this simulator and will wholeheartedly d*e on that hill.

“This is like… my third lightest day in terms of flow, so yeah- this is painful but just uncomfortable.”

“TF YOU MEAN JUST UNCOMFORTABLE?!”

Man is ready to throw hands with your uterus and demand it stops hurting you.

Mammon feels even worse knowing he picked on his little sister when she was on her period and vows to never anger a lady on her monthly ever again.

“I-is it true ya don’t get this when yer pregnant…? If so, uh….”

Leviathan

He’s heard of periods of course, mainly from anime and manga. He knew of them a bit back when Lilith was around but never really thought much of it.

He is legit scared of them though because Lilith would bite and would get extremely moody on hers and he only ever was aware of the emotional aspect of periods.

Little girl chased him into his room and became very chihuahua like when on her monthly.

He thought the blood part was something only in anime and manga but…. Shh, Y/N, let him figure that out himself.

He’s familiar with the trend, he spends his time scrolling through FabSnap for trends or other things.

“LMAO what normie stuff! Putting themselves through pain from some measly human machine ROTFL!”

“Levi, that measly human machine hurts worse than getting kicked in the balls and is as painful as a literal heart attack.”

“Y/N, PLZ, that’s gotta be some normie rumor and they’re acting in front of the camera- that thing is so small that it totally can’t do something like THAT! LOOOOOOOLLL!! So yeah, my balls are fine, I’m fine, and I’m NOT gonna look like a normie whining on the floor!”

He lifts his shirt and puts the stickers on where they belong he sits in his beanbag chair and waits for whatever you have to throw at him.

How bad can this normie thing be?

He feels a small ounce of discomfort when it’s at one, just brushes it off and is slightly unfazed.

“Just feels like I ate something weird- lmao like that really awful Ruri-Chan collab I went to in-”

To shut him up you crank it to three.

“Ooofff! W-why does it feel like I really gotta sh*t? Is that all a period is? Feeling like you gotta run to the bathroom all the time?!”

Oh Levi, if only you REALLY knew….

You crank the simulator up to six and he screams like a baby, his scream is so high pitched it may have almost broke Henry’s fish tank….

You crank up one more level and oh goodness is he screaming even louder.

“TURN IT OFF!! TURN THE DAMN THING OFF OMG!! THIS HURTS!! OMG THIS HURTS!!!”

“That’s like- my second or third heaviest day, give or take. Sometimes it feels worse. That’s still doable but hurts.”

He will legit look at you with the face of ‘what the absolute f*ck’ while crying.

Like Mammon, will wholeheartedly d*e on the hill of “the cut” hurting less than this simulator- hell, that was wimp level compared to a period pain! Level uno!

Totally the tutorial for the game called pain.

Leviathan will want to throw hands with your uterus and will feel immense guilt realizing how he didn’t do enough for Lilith when she was still around.

“I-if anime has taught me anything t-then I um… t-then I’m gonna treat you m-much better, y/n…! W-wanna watch some anime now…?”

Please give him hugs after that simulator! He needs that desperately!

Satan

Oh he knows, he’s very well aware of how periods are painful, sometimes even more painful depending on the person.

Satan has heard of the simulator and is aware it’s supposed to be excruciating for men, however, that will probably not have any effect on him- he’s a demon. Demon males are stronger than human males-

What? Lucifer was in agony?! Lucifer caved from a mere period pain simulator?! Mammon and Levi too?! Challenge accepted.

You’ve never seen this man rip his shirt off so fast and strap on the simulator in your life. He was eager to prove he is stronger than that stupid Lucifer.

Level one? Really? Is that thing even on? This is NOTHING!

“This is easy, nothing, if this is what a period truly feels like then it’s not too unbearable. Perhaps the books were wrong.”

He eats those words immediately when you crank the simulator up to four.

“O-okay, this is uncomfortable. I feel like I seriously have to run to the men’s room… there’s nothing to release yet it feels like I have food poisoning… hhhnnnggg!!!”

You crank it up to six and he is in tears and gritting his teeth. Agony is setting in and he is digging his nails into his pillow.

“MOTHER F——”

A lot of swearing, not just modern swears, oh no, he will let out swears from the first ever civilizations and ancient peoples. If there was ever a swear word dictionary you best believe this man would have written it.

“SON OF A MOTHER [insert any swears you so wish here]”

Ok, please get one of those TV censored buttons in here. The bleep button will be going nonstop at this point…

“HOW THE [censored] CAN YOU [censored] EVEN [censored] TAKE THIS?!”

If you could tally every swear this man has said you may have filled an entire notepad by now and then some…

Please see your nearest Purgatory Hall for an angel’s blessing to your ears once this has concluded, thank you!

At seven he is still trying his absolute hardest not to break, he absolutely has to beat Lucifer, he needs to be better than him! He refuses to fail!

Please insert any swears from the 14th century here please and thank you! :3

You crank it up to eight and that is it, he is immediately caving, he yells in absolute agony into his pillow. He is sweaty and in tears.

“W-what the absolute f*ck was that?! That… the books never said it would hurt that terribly! How are you even alive, Y/N?! If it’s truly as painful as a heart attack you seriously need to take the week off!”

“Hm? A week off? Well, about that, we usually just suffer silently as we go about our days. Chocolate is a game changer truly.”

His jaw drops, he cannot begin to comprehend how the hell you are even able to walk after going through such a painful experience. Let alone how it even feels to have a full crimson waterfall for 24 hours seven days a week or less depending on the person.

“Oh and I’m also moody, nauseous, bloated, crave weird things and purposely read sad books or watch crime shows. In the mornings for some people it can mimic that of morning sickness and really make it unbearable. Fevers included.”

Watch this man begin to go through all his books to find ways to curse your uterus into never harming you again.

“Y/N…? Did I beat Lucifer? What level did he cave at?!”

You tell him he caved at seven and this man’s ego has skyrocketed. He is the most cocky man in the Devildom.

Congratulations, Y/N, you just literally made this man so full of himself he will probably not go back to normal for at least another 666 years at the least….

Asmodeus

Oh hon, he KNOWS about periods, he knows all the dirty details that come with it and literally everything about them. It’s kinda his thing.

Oh you didn’t know he tracks your cycle too? Oh hon, PLEASE, this man knows what’s up! Did you honestly think he did not know how to track these things? He helped his own little sister track hers and understand how to track them.

He’s heard of this trend going around and he can’t help but feel bad for every AFAB person who suffers period pains for real and without a simulation machine.

“Hon, you want me to try this out? Alright then~ a little pain can be fun you know~” *insert little winks and smirk*

Asmo, no, not THAT kind of pain…. *sigh*

Please don’t bonk him, he will make that hornkee jail worthy too…

He gets into some cute and comfy shorts from Victoria’s Secret and takes off his shirt. He makes sure to get on his bed so he feels at least some comfort.

Asmo is actually legitimately scared, he knows they are painful, he has seen you in agony and understands that there is undoubtedly pain in the package, he just does not know how much pain.

Can it be worse than the pain of getting his jewels busted? Definitely. Is it as painful as a heart attack? Science says yes.

He straps the stickers to his lower abdomen and braces for what happens next, he gets even more prepared by putting a pink fluffy headband on to pull his hair back in case he starts sweating… eew! Hon, no, sweat is totes gross and he cannot sweat and ruin his hair!

You turn it on and he winces, it’s not too painful, just uncomfortable. He understands this will only get worse and oh Diavolo is he bracing for impact.

“Y/N, hon, would you be a dear and hold my hand~?”

You comply hold his hand, he’s already squeezing it a little but not too tightly.

You crank it up to three and he is already wincing more and doing breathing exercises like he is a woman in labor. Admittedly, it is rather entertaining to witness…

“Oh goodness, hon, this… HHHNNNGGGGG…!!!! Oh this is certainly getting uncomfortable…”

You crank the device up to about five and he squeezes your hand tightly and lets out some swears. Sweat drips from his brow and he legit looks like he is a woman giving birth.

“Y/N, OH MY GOSH- OH F—! HHHHNNNGGGGG!!!! IT HURTS SO MUCH AND NOT THE FUN KINDA PAIN!!”

“You can do this, Asmo! You made it to level five and that’s incredible!”

“SHUSH!! OH DIAVOLO IT FEELS LIKE ITS AT TEN! AAAHHHH!!”

However….. RIP your hand and your ears as this man screams. A LOT.

The device goes to seven and he squeezes your hand even harder, honestly, you’re surprised it’s not broken.

“I FEEL LIKE I HAVE TO PUSH!! OH DIAVOLO THIS IS- AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!”

Push what? Nothing. Sir, you have nothing to push. You are definitely holding back your laughter as this is almost as good as the top Hollywood acting you see in films. Get this demon an award!

Breathing exercises continue and he continues to unintentionally look like he is having serious contractions and about to pop out a child- he’s not but… the simulator is doing a number on him for sure.

Don’t worry, he won’t spawn a random demon like a certain brother of his. Won’t mention any names… but… Lucifer…

You turn the device to about eight and that is it… he is done for.

His poor face is a mess with tears, some snot, and all red… give him a hug, a blanket, some chocolate, some skincare products, and a ton of kisses!!

“H-hon… how in the realms do you survive that agony?! How does anyone survive that?! Are we sure you didn’t strap a labor simulator on me?! Because if you hurt that much you are staying right here with me and I will make sure you feel incredible during your monthly visitor~”

“I feel all that along with the bloating, crimson waterfall of doom, the bizarre cravings, the mood swings, and the need to- ahem… fill in the blank…”

Say no more. This man is READY to go! Hon, you need only say the word and he is all set and ready to pounce!

“Before we do all that, hon, perhaps we can have a quick cuddle session~? I could use that after what you did to me~ and since you had your turn being in control…. Fufu~ you’ll be on the receiving end when we have our fun, love~”

Hello? 666 (Devildom’s 911)? Yes, I’d like to call an ambulance for Y/N when Asmo has finished his… yeah… Y/N may need a wheelchair…

Beelzebub

Oh? Periods? Like in Writing Class…..? No, Beel, sweetie… like the week of blood and agony.

He knows about them a little bit, he understands that there’s a super painful time for AFAB people but never knew it meant blood.

Beel remembers Lilith being very moody and hungry when she was on hers, he remembered how mad she would get if anyone touched her sweets.

He may have almost suffered a broken nose because she was really upset he ate her chocolate cupcakes and now understands that you need sugar to feel better.

Is it medicine…? Sort of, Beel, sort of like medicine, sweetie.

You have to hold his hand and explain the whole process and why it happens, he does get a bit confused but now understands why you smelled like iron those times- he just thought you are a big juicy steak and got all the juices on you somewhere.

“So you bleed for a week or a few days…? And you don’t… you know…. Go…?”

“Yes, for a a few days to a week, no biggie, it’s all part of the process. See? I’m alive, don’t look so scared, Beeley Bear!”

Give him some head pats and make sure he knows you won’t be d*ing anytime soon because of a period.

After promising to take him to a buffet for lunch he agrees to try the simulator, it truly did not take much convincing as he truly wanted to understand and also…. Food.

Beel will take off his shirt and get comfortable in a pair of workout shorts before putting the pads on his lower abdomen.

He is actually very nervous, while he can take pain and all he does actually get scared.

You switch it on to level one and he is confused, wheres the pain?

“Is this even on, Y/N…? Did I break it…? I’m sorry…”

“No you didn’t break it, Beel, this is just level one of ten.”

You crank it up to three and he is starting to feel something. Not much, but something.

“Feels like… hmm… feels like I may need to run to the little demons’ room but not too bad. Is this normal…?”

You nod and crank it up to about five and he has a hand over his belly wincing a little, he truly feels like he needs to run to he little demons’ room but knows there is nothing there.

“So all this is just the feeling of seriously needing to run to the little demons’ room…? So far so good I guess… just feels very uncomfortable. Like a tummy ache…”

“Yeah, it feels like that at times, I get it, but there is obviously more to it than feeling like you need to make a mad dash to the nearest available ‘little demons’ room’ as you put it.”

Crank it up to eight and he is legit starting to feel the pain.

“Y-Y/N… Y/N this r-really hurts now…. feels like when I ate a can of expired tomatoes from 400AD….”

Y/N, you made Beel start to cry, I truly hope you feel terrible now… he has tears in his eyes and is whimpering like a puppy.

You immediately turn it off because quite frankly seeing Beel upset was what truly did it for you.

“I’m sorry for eating your snacks during that time of the month, Y/N, for now on, you can have my custard and as many of my snacks as you want. Oh, and if you wanna go to a restaurant for lunch or something let me know! You’ll get anything!”

Beel is literally the sweetest guy ever, he will literally make sure that you get everything and more during that time of the month because you deserve it.

Belphegor

He knows a bit, not much but definitely enough, he understands that hormones play a huge part and make you an emotional mess, he also understands that there’s blood involved and that there’s weird cravings but the rest? Fill in the blanks.

He remembers Lilith being extra clingy with him when she was on her period, yes she would threaten to bite if he so much as moved the wrong way when she would hop into his bed at night.

One time Belphie made the stupid mistake of saying Lilith looked like she was ran over by a stampede one morning when she had a rude awakening with the crimson flow of doom and got slapped for it.

Like Lilith, you seem to have inherited the same attitude along with a plethora of others… lovely.

“So that’s why you’re always extra b*tchy- hormones and pain, huh? I get it, I’d be just as b*tchy if I were in your shoes- oh I can be in your shoes…?”

Belphie is a bit confused at first at what you mean, he first thought you meant a trip to Solomon to make a potion that would give him the sensation of a period but apparently not.

Oh thank goodness, gives him an excuse not to get out of bed and to remain in his pyjamas and cuddle you and his favourite pillow.

“So is it supposed to hurt or anything? If so this is weak as f—k.”

“Belphie, it’s not even on.”

“Oh… then turn it on before I consider forfeiting and taking a nap, nap time is about now- O-oh…”

Turning it on shuts him up immediately and he sits there a bit confused.

He looks mildly uncomfortable, still a bit confused as to why it’s not that bad- after all, you make it sound as if your insides are literally becoming outsides.

“That’s it? Y/N, not gonna lie, this is boring. I thought this was supposed to be painful.”

Turn the dial up to about four and he’s wincing a bit.

“O-oh sh*t… Y-Y/N I really feel like I need to run to the little demons’ room…! Hhnngg….!”

“It feels like that, doesn’t it? That feeling lasts about two to three days for me depending on flow and length of period.”

He just glares at you as you turn it up to six, he is clutching his pillow and swears just as much as Satan… he also breaks out the 14th century swears along with the first ever swear words of early civilizations.

“SON OF A [censored]! THIS [censored] [censored] HURTS LIKE A [censored]!!

That’s cute, Y/N, you thought Satan was the swear word machine. No, it’s Belphie. This boy can swear! And this little sh*t can get away with it too because he’s the youngest…

“Want to cave in, sweetie?”

“F—K NO! I WANNA BEAT LUCIFER…!”

Turn the dial up to seven and he’s starts crying loudly, this honestly hurts too much for him and it is not pleasant in the slightest.

“TURN IT OFF DAMNIT!! TURN IT OFF…!!”

He has sweat pouring from his brow and tears streaming down his face and looks like a hot mess, you immediately take the stickers off his belly and give him a huge hug.

“Y-you go through that…? Every month or so…?”

“Yes, but of course there’s blood, mood swings, cravings, waking up nauseous sometimes with a small fever, and even being bloated. Sore breasts too on occasion.”

“How the absolute f—k are you even allowed to leave the house and go about life with all that?! No, you are gonna stay with me and cuddle. No way you should have to go through that.”

Belphie will literally buy you any and all products you need from Akuzon while you cuddle because there is no way you should be made to move- well unless you need a new pad or tampon or something or to go…. But food? He will ask his twin to be the delivery guy with snacks and drinks.

“What the f—k was Father thinking when he made this? I mean- I know why it happens and all but what the f—k was his overall logic?!”

Like Lucifer, has plans of giving Father the what for with this “design flaw”.

“New prank idea- make a potion to use on Lucifer that makes him feel this pain for a week straight!”

Belphie…. No….

Belphie yes 😈

———

- Windblume

[vivicas-dollhouse]

Every breath you take

Every move you make, ill be watching you

Genre: dd-dne smut

Characters: ticci toby, female!yn

Desc: after a series of misterious break-ins, you come home drunk to a masked intruder that is deadseat on using you however he wants

Cw: rape, stalking, creampie, cutting, blood, blood as lube, penetration, pnv sex, assault, crying, handcuffs, alcohol, alcohol abuse, break ins, pantie stealing, i think thats it

If you are sensitive to any of this, DO NOT READ!! And dont come into my inbox either.

2.4k words, enjoy!

There had been a few things out of place when you got home that night. Sure, you had been drinking, and maybe it was just that: a mistake, but the feeling of unease didnt fade. There had been a knife on the counter when there shouldnt have been, and you had sworn you had put away that laundry. You didnt know if anyone would even bother to break in and not take anything, it was a small apartment on the edge of a quiet town. There were no signs of a forced entry, just a heavy feeling in your gut. Surely it was nothing.

Coming home from the bar was a Saturday ritual. You left for the local dive at the same time, making sure to lock the door behind you and calling the designated driver to pick you up. You went, had a few drinks, and came home around midnight. It was a traditional way people everywhere spent their nights, simple as that.

This time something was different.

You sighed, stumbling through the entryway and kicking off your red stilettos. You slammed the door behind you, walking into the kitchen to set down your keys. Head light as a feather, you set down your purse and rubbed your eyes. You glanced at the clock on the stove top.

*2am..? Its much later than i thought..*

You grabbed a glass from your cabinet, fumbling with it for a second before steadying your hands. You filled up the glass with water, taking a long drink with your body cooling off almost instantly. God, it had been a rough night hadnt it? You certainly didnt mean to stay out that late, time clearly got away from you. You walked out of the kitchen, pausing to click off the lights.

Then, you saw it.

There was a single rose placed on your coffee table, a sight that made your heart stop. You stared at it, a feeling of dread sinking through your clothes and into your bones. You looked around, almost scared to find out why the rose was there. There was nothing, your door had been locked and you were on the second floor. You crept closer to the rose, seeing that there was a note underneath the stem. You picked up the rose, wincing as you pricked your finger.

“Call 911 and you die,”

You felt all your nights food come up to your throat. This had to be a joke, right? Some kid had snuck in, maybe you had left this and you couldn't remember, something had to be a reasonable solution. You stared at the note, sitting on your couch across from it. Your brain rattled through all solutions, but none of them seemed plausible. Maybe… maybe it was nothing. Surely it was nothing.

Yet there was that incident that you swore was all in your head. The time something felt out of place after a night similar to this one. Maybe it had been more real than you thought. Either way, you couldn't call anyone now, it WAS a threat and you were taking it seriously. You headed back to the kitchen, taking a knife and setting the rose on the counter.

You walked through the apartment warily, looking around every corner with the knife raised. You flicked on the lights of your bedroom, and looked at your dresser. It was open. A wash of fear rolled through you, the goosebumps on your skin raising as you saw what drawer was open. Your panties had been rifled through.

•••

When weeks had gone by since the incident, you had noticed more and more panties were going missing. No matter how many times you changed the locks, someone had gotten in. You had thought about installing security camera, but the cost seemed far too much. You worked at walmart for gods sake, you were barely making rent as is. The only solution was to buy more underwear. You didnt know what to do, so you just continued your life as normal. You didnt tell friends or family, as the note still weighed heavy on your mind. Just act normal, keep the stalker happy and dont die.

You had gotten into the habit of drinking far too many drinks at the bar, and your friends had noticed. They had asked what was wrong, you couldnt handle your alcohol well. You tended to drink to the point of collapsing, and your friends didnt like that. They started leaving without you because you stayed at the bar so long after they had finished their drinks. It was upsetting, but you didn't blame them. Who wants to deal with an incompetent drunk?

You had called an uber at 3 in the morning, arriving home at around 3:30. You clambered out of the car with your heels and purse in hand, stumbling to the door of your apartment. You leaned up against the door frame, searching your bag for your bundle of keys. Your head wasnt in the right place, it was becoming harder and harder to think as time went on. You eventually found your keys, shakey hands sliding the key into the lock.

You clicked the passcode on the second lock you had installed, opening the door. You sighed in relief as you opened the door, the cool air conditioning cooling off your warm body. God, it was nice to be home. You set down your things, slamming the door behind you.

You swayed through your living room, you just wanted to go to bed. You didn't want to change, you didnt want to eat, you just wanted to sleep. You pulled off your top as you walked, throwing your heels on the ground with the shirt. As you entered your dark room, you kicked your skirt off and collapsed into your bed, head empty as you fell into a drunken slumber. You didnt care to check the house, you just let yourself fall asleep.

“Hello gorgeous, you look stunning,”

You bolted upright, eyes darting around the dark room. Nothing.

“Hello?” You called out, shaking. Surely you were hallucinating, you were very drunk. There was no way someone was in the apartment, it didnt make sense.

Suddenly, a hand covered your mouth. You screamed and flailed, attempting to grasp any part of this attacker but your limbs were far too heavy to cause any real damage even if you could get him.

“Shhh, im not gonna hurt you love, i just wanna show you my devotion,” the man stuttered, words broken up by small tics.

You felt a gloved hand wrap around your left wrist and a metal ring surrounding it. You felt all your adrenaline soaring through you, but it wasn't enough. You knew it wasnt enough, the man was easily overpowering your efforts. He clicked the other cuff around your wrists, making a pleased hum.

“Listen, if you be a good girl and don't scream, i wont kill you and display your pretty body all over your house, got it cutie?”

You nodded frantically, sobbing into his hand before he let it go.

“Nonono, this cant be happening,” you cried, shaking your head as you got your first look at your attacker. He had a mask on with orange goggles over his eyes with measy brown hair.

“Its happening darling, so enjoy it,” he whispered, climbing onto the bed and pushing you down. “Ive been watching you, tracking your every move and taking those pretty panties of yours, im.. im in love with you.” He paused, straddling your hips. “You really tried to keep me out, and I admire that. But you dont seem to get it. Your mine, and im going to show my love to you.”

You began to sob loudly, the reality that you were trapped under a psychopath who was going to do.. it. You shook, terror shooting through every bone in your body.

“Please dont kill me, please dont hurt me, please,” you babbled, words catching in your throat as you said them.

“Psh, im not gonna if you be a good girl, dont worry your pretty little head my love,” he cooed, sliding his hands up your torso and pulling out your breasts from the bra you were wearing.

“Fuck, your so much more beautiful than ive ever could have ever imagined (y/n),” he groaned, watching you squirm under his body.

“Please no, no please don't rape me,” you stuttered, hiccuping as he ran a hand over your right nipple and squeezing it a bit.

“Its not rape if you consent, and if you want to live your going to say yes to me, or this will be the last thing you ever experience,” he growled, running his hands down to your waist.

“Fuck you,” you spat, your heart racing faster than you thought possible.

“Your lucky your so beautiful, you would be dead right now and id have to fuck your corpse. So,” he said, pulling a knife from his pocket. “Your gonna say yes,” he sternly said.

You begain to sob again, shaking so hard the bed was moving. “No, no no no, please god no,”

Toby grumbled, pressing the knife into your stomach fat and cutting. You gasped as the blood beaded up in the wound.

“Cmon baby, i bet this hurts. I dont wanna hurt you, but i need you to say yes to me,” he whispered, continuing to cut into your torso in the shape of a heart.

You cried harder, gasping at the sharp pain pressing against the knifes blade.

“Your so pretty when you cry (y/n), but god your so stubborn. Whats it gonna take to break you? I can do this all night. No one is coming to save you,“ he droned, cutting deeper into you.

You knew he was right. It was so late, no one you knew would help even if you were late. You had isolated yourself so badly with your alcohol habits that you weren't even sure who was your friend.

The cuts stung as he pressed harder and harder into your stomach, the blood pouring out of the wound and staining your sheets. You cried out in agony, desperately trying to hold out from giving in. You had no way out but to give in to his demands.

“Fuck, ill say yes, just stop,” you begged, a deep sense of shame wearing heavily on your mind. Your head was still foggy, and there was a glimmer of hope that this was just all a bad dream.

“Good girl, im so proud of you,” the attacker cooed, sliding his hands down your black panties and pulling them off. He fumbled with his jeans, unzipping the fly and sliding the denim to his knees. You choked out a cry as he groaned with the release of his dick, finally accepting your fate.

He pulled his boxers down his thighs, discarding the bloody knife at your side. He removed one of his gloves, stroking his cock with a sigh. He ran his fingers over your cuts, making you squirm with the agonizing pain. He used the blood to coat his dick, forcing your legs apart.

“Fuck, you look so beautiful when you cry. Your driving me crazy my love, how can I resist that body?” He huffed, slowly inserting himself into you with a moan. He filled your pussy with his cock, groaning as he began to thrust into you.

“Your so beautiful lamb, so fucking precious and breakable,” he moaned, grabbing onto your hips as your cunt sucked him in. You cried loudly, tears, drool and snot rolling down your face. It was horrific, you had never known such fear in your life. He was raping you, and he was going to get away with it. No one would believe you.

“Pretty girl, pretty fucking girl,” he stuttered, drunk on your tight pussy. He was tearing you open, it felt like fire in your entrance as you were completely filled. You felt a deep shame in your chest, a immense sadness and despair covering your skin.

“Fuck,” the attacker moaned, rutting into you as fast as he could. You knew when men were going to cum, that they got sloppy with their thrusts and started panting. The idea that he had no condom, that he was most likely going to cum into you was more degrading than the actual assault. You felt him slide out momentarily and felt a glimmer of hope, but as he reinserted himself you cried out in pain. He had completely tore you open.

“My lamb, you look so fuck- so fucking pathetic, tell me you like this,”

You recoiled in shock. Was he insane? That much was obvious, but did he really mean it?

“What?” You whimpered, watching as he reached for the knife. “No no, ill say it,” you cried, a broken sob escaped your mouth as vomit rose in your throat. “I.. i like this..” you sobbed, watching his head roll back as he moaned.

“Good, im so glad my love,” he moaned, becoming sloppy before he gasped loudly, filling you deep inside with his cum. You sobbed and shook your head, trying to wake up from this nightmare you had found yourself in. He pulled out, slapping your inner thigh with his cock.

“Dont move. Ill let you go. No ones gonna believe you, and i know how to get in so dont try anything, got it?” He barked, picking up his knife and putting his glove back on his bloody hand. You nodded frantically, desperate to make this man leave. He put his pants back on, pulling you up into sitting and calmly undoing your restraints with a click.

“Goodbye lamb,” he whispered, walking into the hall. You sat there, staring blankly at the wall. It wasnt a dream, you had actually been assaulted. He was gone. There was no justice, no matter how much you scrubbed, the filth of this night would never wash off.

Three weeks later, the cuts had begun to scar. You hadn't gone to the bar again, terrified that somehow you would see him. You heard his voice everywhere, you couldn't even go to work without paranoia. You had been throwing up every day for a while, and a horrific thought filled your head.

You sat on the floor of your bathroom, staring at a positive pregnancy test.

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Inspo song