#AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE LANGUAGE USED

[hellfire--cult]

Edit of Eddie: pitifulbaby

Chapters: Masterlist (Go here to see list of chapters, plotline and general warnings.)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Non-Traditional Omegaverse, Slow burn, Modern!AU, Mechanic!Eddie

⚠️18+: some angst, some fluff, smut, breeding kink, unprotected, fingering, feralness, rough, smacking, dom eddie

wc: 13.1k

A/N: sorry it took so long, this was barely proofread and @andvys read this and thought it was good enough to post LMAO

Anyways, Enjoy! ❤️ And don't forget to always support me by hitting the reblog button or leave a comment!

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CHAPTER 22

You were playing with your fingers, trying to not let your nerves eat you alive before you could even voice your concerns to your best friend.

Robin was just talking your ear off as she drank the coffee in the nice tea house you two liked going every once in a while because there was a little strawberry pastry you loved since the moment you first tasted it. No one could recreate it, and you craved it every other week. This time, you hadn’t. You used it as an excuse to get Robin out and have a private talk with her.

A girl to girl talk. You needed help. You needed some insight and since Robin is the one who knew the most about your ‘relationship’ with ‘Jeff’, she was your best bet. She knew almost everything. How good you felt, how amazing the sex was with him, and today you decided it was the time to tell her how everything changed. You needed your best friend.

“And so, Steve almost threw the frying pan over my head because– how was I supposed to know that I shouldn’t have used the metal bristles of the sponge on it to clean the burnt grease?” She shook her head and then took a sip of her coffee. You smiled nervously and mimicked her, trying to appear normal, nonchalant, but Robin may be oblivious to many things, but never to your body language. “You haven’t touched the pastry.”

“Huh?”

“You love that pastry. What’s wrong?” You looked down at your small plate and– fuck, you didn’t take a single bite. Your stomach was in knots so you haven’t been able to grab it even. Realizing your feelings for Eddie had taken a toll on you, to the point of sometimes being a little clumsy when you were around him. You felt your cheeks burn, and afraid of him noticing your nervousness, you always turned away from him when you felt as if you were sweating.

Your appetite had also changed. Sometimes you binged food, sometimes you became nervous when you knew he would come over or you would go to his house, the anxiety knotting your stomach and forbidding any food to stay down. But you also loved being with him. Those nerves, that anxiety, that noise in your ears went away each time you saw him. It didn’t feel like just sex anymore, or maybe you were a little delusional… but that’s why Robin was here.

“Um… I– I need help with something.” You began and she sat up a little straighter, putting her coffee down. 

“Oh? Okay, I’ll do my best.” She gave a reassuring smile and you took a deep breath, not really knowing where to begin. You had to be careful with your words, even if it hurt you hiding it from Robin.

“I… I want to become exclusive with… Jeff.” You stared at Robin, waiting for her reaction. Her mouth was slightly open in surprise, and she remained silent for a second. Your heart was racing wildly as you waited and when you didn’t receive any response you opened your mouth to talk to her again, only for her to squeal loudly, alarming many of the guests, turning their heads around towards the two of you. You winced and motioned for Robin to lower it down, embarrassed. “Shut up Robin!”

“It’s just– this is huge!!! When– Why!? Oh my god, you like him… You realized you like him!” She excitedly talked, giving that fact away and you licked your lips, slowly nodding at her and then looking down at your lap. “How!? When did you realize!? Give me details, come on, you always give me details!”

A small smile started appearing on your lips as the memories flashed– the difference from when you first started hooking up to now.

“The dynamic changed… We started kissing hello and goodbye… We talk more after sex, and sometimes we kiss and– and then nothing. Sometimes he doesn’t kiss me with the hope of getting laid after, or to get us riled up…” Robin listened, a smile plastered on her lips as she listened to you, her feet kicking slightly at your giddiness.

“And? Anything else?” You giggled and bit your lip, looking up at her.

“He… He made a deal with me… I don’t know how serious it was, but he sounded serious… He promised that when we turn 30, if we are single, and we still want kids… He would– He would have a baby with me.”

Robin’s jaw dropped to the table, her hands coming to cover it as her eyes went wide. You gave her a smile, your hands coming to cool your cheeks that felt heated up. You couldn’t help the warm feeling inside of you as Robin was stunned in front of you. After a few seconds, her hands dropped, smiling once again at you.

“Oh, that is fucking sweet! I bet he was serious about it! I didn't know Jeff could be this romantic.” You nodded slowly only for your smile to slowly drop, your hands coming to rest on your lap. At your reaction, Robin frowned, tilting her head to the side. “What’s wrong?”

“I– I don’t know if he wants exclusivity…”

“After telling you that!? You are being an idiot if you think he doesn't after THAT.” She retorted but you sighed, your head falling backwards to then return to look at her.

“Then why hasn’t he asked?”

“Uh, maybe cause he doesn’t know YOU want exclusivity? Have you thought about that?” She replied and you knew it was logical, but at the same time your self consciousness ate away at you like a piranha.

“Well it’s just… I don’t know if E– Jeff fucks other people, you know? I don’t know what he does on the days we don’t see each other…” You answered and Robin sighed, rolling her eyes at you.

“I can absolutely bet that he doesn’t fuck anyone else.”

“And how are you so sure?” You asked, raising your eyebrows incredulously and she smirked, picking up the cup before taking it to her lips.

“Well, haven’t seen any story from Jeff showing himself in the mirror anymore. Have you?” And you blinked a few times, frowning. Oh, Jeff also did the things Eddie did… when he was single.

Your heart almost jumped out of your chest at the realization. Jeff was in a relationship, that’s why he stopped, and Eddie– Eddie hasn’t posted any thirst trap or picture on the mirror like he did before… he sends those directly to you, to entice you, to lure you in. It worked every single time, but your pictures also worked on him. There was one time you took a picture with your legs spread open in front of a mirror, showing off your thong at him, and he hadn’t replied. In just a few minutes, your doorbell was ringing insistently.

“Oh… fuck, Robs, you think I have a chance?” You looked up at her with eyes full of hope and she smiled at you, putting her cup back down.

“You bet your fucking ass you do. If everything you have told me is still happening, and the deal was absolutely serious… he likes you. He definitely likes you.” You bit your lip as you smiled through it, feeling the butterflies dancing around your stomach, happiness just blooming from inside out as Robin giggled at you.

“Should I just ask him? Would that… prompt me to confess? Oh, I don’t know if I’m ready to confess Robs… How did you do it with Nance?” You asked and Robin winced, making you frown.

“We confessed headfirst.”

“What!?” Your eyes widened and she laughed, shaking her head.

“We confessed after our first kiss… We knew we liked each other even before we startEd hooking up… But we wanted to see how we connected before jumping into something official.” She explained and her experience was way different than yours. Eddie and you started because of physical attraction, not because of emotional attachment at all. Your nerves slowly came back as you didn’t know how to tackle this topic with him.

“Fuck… Fuck, then… How do I not give myself away so easily? I don’t– I don’t want to tell him I like him yet… I just want the exclusivity to see if he wants it too… To make sure I am not delusional and stuff.” You explained and she nodded, humming in thought. A cheeky smile broke on her lips as she looked at you.

“Can I ask something intimate?” You tilted your head, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Sure…?”

“You use protection? Never unwrapped?” Your eyes widened at her question but you nodded. She then pulled a big wide smirk as she leaned on the table to whisper to you. “Never ever?”

“No…”

“I may have an idea then…”

You waited outside Eddie’s front door, a bottle of wine in your hand as you tried to stabilize your butterflies, even if a little bit.

You couldn’t come up with some other plan, so you had to follow Robin’s yes or yes. It was good, but you were incredibly nervous. What if he didn’t want to? Or worse, what if you found out the one thing you didn’t want to know? What if–

The door opened, and Eddie was already smiling as he leaned against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest. He was wearing only his black sweatpants, scruff on his chin and jaw, a fresh shave, his hair tied in a bun over his head with some strands falling down on the side of his face. Eddie now always looked good… way too good and your knees buckled more than they ever did before.

“Well, that was quick, Princess.” You rolled your eyes at his comment, already walking in, pushing by him. The smell of pizza filled your nostrils, your stomach doing a turn as you realized he had ordered dinner. New dynamic. Eating dinner together. 

“You better not have ordered pineapple pizza.” 

“Of course I did, I know it’s your favorite.” You heard the door closing and you turned around to snap at him, only for his arm to wrap around your waist, quickly, not even giving you a chance to react that he was pulling you close to him, his lips instantly clashing with yours. You couldn’t help the small smile that appeared in between the kiss, your hormones jumping all over the place and you had to calm down your racing heart somehow. 

He pulled away slowly, the smack of lips echoing throughout the little foyer. His lips had a playful grin on them, his other hand coming to grab the wine from your hands, looking at the label of it. 

“Hmm… White wine. You feeling like drinking sweet today, Peach?” You rolled your eyes at his teasing. He chuckled as he pulled away from you, his hand remaining on the small of your back as he pushed you into the house and towards the kitchen. He let go of you and opened a drawer. You spotted the pizza box on the island counter and you immediately opened it, a smirk appearing on your face.

“Half pepperoni and half anchovies. Aww, you remembered my tastes.” He chuckled at you, popping the wine bottle, and you looked at his back as it flexed from the strength of that action. You bit your bottom lip and shook your head to snap you out of your thoughts. 

“Of course I did. Hard to miss when you are quite literally the only person I know who likes anchovies in her pizza.” He poured two glasses of wine and put the bottle on the counter. He turned around with the drinks and handed one glass to you. You saw him reach his glass towards you and your breath hitched, clinking your glass against his. He smiled and took a sip of the wine, and you saw his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down, making you shift in your place. 

You snapped out of your thoughts as you sat down on the stool, taking a sip of your own wine. You already weren’t feeling any hunger thanks to your stupid nerves. Thanks to the butterflies and the anxiety that were eating you away, consuming you. You had to focus, you had to pretend that everything was normal. That having dinner with him was normal. And having wine…

Yes, you could do that.

“So, is Gareth still suspicious?” You asked as you reached for a piece of pizza. He sat down on your side, taking a slice for himself with a sigh.

“Yeah. He won’t get off my ass. He is always pestering me and he doesn’t buy that you are pretending to fuck Jeff because of some other guy.” He spat those words with a certain… anger behind them. Some venom. Or maybe you were imagining it. You hummed at that, knowing that Gareth was a little noisier than before. 

“I mean, you can tell him, it’s not like he–”

“Oh no. No. Gareth’s tongue goes loose whenever he drinks, and if he does that when our group is mixed with my work group, you can bet he will tell. Actually, he would call the fucking news and make a header for it.” You giggled at his words, nodding in understanding. 

“Alright, not telling Gareth. Just keep ignoring him and denying it. He will get bored eventually… right?” Eddie then looked at you as if you were stupid, his eyebrows raised with a very serious face.

“You really believe that, huh.”

“Okay, point made.” You both kept eating, chatting away about each other’s days. Just like friends. Just like best friends. But this was different, wasn’t it? You weren’t just that. You weren’t just two friends fooling around anymore, were you? You have been seeing each other for months now, it would be stupid to be considered just friends… but maybe– maybe that was just you.

But it was moments like these where he laughed while keeping contact with you. Like playing with your fingers, or squeezing your thigh as you talked, wiping away some sauce that stuck to the corner of your lip. Those soft touches that weren’t there before, and you reciprocated it. Putting the strand of his hair behind his ear before he ate it with the pizza. Jokingly pretend you were going to wipe your mouth on his shoulder as he flinched away. Wiping crumbs away from his beard whenever he ate. 

It’s those little touches that normal friends do not do. You don’t do those with Robin, nor with Jonathan, or with anybody else. You’ve never seen Eddie wipe Nancy’s mouth the way he does with you, or grab Steve’s hand out of nowhere. Friends do not touch the way you two do, putting the sex aside. These little gestures were the things that made you feel hope that, maybe, Eddie felt the same way you did. 

“So, is the training taking a toll?” Eddie asked as you both cleaned the kitchen, putting the leftovers in the fridge with Tupperware and throwing the cardboard box away. You took a sip of your drink, trying to gain more liquid courage with each passing minute.

“Kind of. Liana is ruthless, but I am learning a lot… I will do okay once she goes on leave.” He gave a smile your way, leaning down to peck your lips softly, and you just wanted to melt in your place. A small gesture that told you he was proud.

“You’ll do great, Peach. You know that.” He turned to start washing the dishes and you were biting your lip as you took a longer sip as he gave his back to you. You could do this. If he doesn’t take the bait, then it was worth the shot, wasn’t it? You calmed your breath before it went out of control, not wanting to make it sound ragged. You didn’t want to stutter.

“Can I… ask you a question, Eds?” You tried keeping a friendly tone, a tone that would not give you away. You saw his hair bounce a bit as he nodded.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Did you… Well, it was part of the deal–” You stuttered. Shit. “Did you get tested…?”

You felt sweat all over your fingertips as you finished your phrase. You were staring at his back, hoping that he would realize. Hoping that he wouldn’t brush it off. Hoping that he wouldn’t dismiss it or pretend to be dumb at your question. That hope was crushed when he responded quickly, his tone normal, not even phased.

“Yeah. I’m clean. I actually received the results like two weeks ago.” He responded and you felt a little stupid… You had checked yourself a month later you two started fucking, knowing you wouldn’t have sex with anyone else but Eddie. No one could make you feel the way Eddie made you feel. Physically and emotionally. 

Yet, your ego, your pride, your heart only crumbled to the floor. You also realized he didn’t even have the faintest idea of what you were asking, or why you were asking it. He just dismissed it. And what if in those two weeks, he had sex with someone else apart from you? That cleanliness he talked about might not even mean anything by now. 

You had to answer him. You had to act normal once again, and you wondered if you would be able to keep the appearance even later on, knowing what would happen once he went to his room with you. You gulped, took a deep breath, downed the last bit of your wine, and walked towards him, placing the glass next to him for him to wash next.

“Yeah, me too, all clean…” You weren’t even going to continue this topic. You wanted to have a moment to yourself to calm down. The plan didn’t work because maybe he didn’t even see you or wanted you in that way. In a way that would have made you special, different from the rest. “I’ll uh… I’ll wait for you upstairs.” 

You kept the appearance, kissing his bicep as he grabbed your glass to wash it next. You walked towards the couch where you left your bag, hurrying up the stairs in order to prepare yourself for the night. You had to stop your heart and your stomach from turning or it will show later on. He would notice, you know it very well. He had figured you out many times before, and he could do it again.

That irked you slightly. He was supposed to read people like the back of his hand, didn’t he? How could he not have noticed your intentions? But maybe he did, he just played dumb. You dropped the bag onto his bed, letting a sigh escape your lips as you tried to calm yourself down. To shove the slight embarrassment away, very far away. It was fine. He probably was fucking other chicks and he didn’t want to risk it. 

That only made your mood plummet to the floor. You shouldn’t have thought of that. You shouldn’t have. There was no way you could pretend you were going to be okay with this thought running wild through your brain. Fuck. You fucked the night up. You completely fucked it up and it was all done by you and you only. Eddie wasn’t to blame for how you were feeling right now.

You felt the very well known lump in your throat, threatening to get bigger. You swallowed it down as you filled your lungs with air, trying to steady yourself before Eddie came up the stairs. You wouldn’t be able to explain yourself, and he would know if you were lying or not. He always did. You shouldn’t have asked that. You really shouldn’t have. You should have come up with some other plan, or maybe even getting the balls to ask him straight up to be exclusive.

But you didn’t want to drive him away. You didn’t want him to get scared of the situation, of how intimate it would become, much more than what it was right now. You shook your head, needing to clear it. You took off your sneakers, to then pull your thin sweater away from you, throwing it into the bag. You were left with your black spaghetti strapped tank top, no bra underneath, knowing where it would end up at the end of the night, and you unbutton your jeans, pulling the zipper down.

You debated into going to Eddie’s drawer and getting some sweatpants. You didn’t know if you were going to be able to pretend you were okay. Maybe you could tell him you had a stomach ache because of the wine and you doubt he would kick you out… He wouldn’t. He definitely wouldn’t. But your body didn’t know if–

Suddenly, two arms wrapped around you, making you gasp due to the scare. Your heart raced with the adrenaline of it, completely shocked by the fact you hadn’t heard him coming up the stairs at all. His wooden cologne, bitter, yet sweet, filled your nostrils and your lungs. His left hand slid over your stomach, pulling you flushed against his body, while the other caressed over your chest. He leaned over your shoulder, his breath hitting your ear, sending shivers down your spine.

“Why did you ask that, Peach?” His voice was low, rough, almost a whisper but not quite and it made your knees tremble slightly.

“I– It was part of the deal and I just remembered it, that’s all…” You lied. Fuck, why did you lie? Why did your nerves get the best of you again? He was right here, having chased after you and you just lied. He tsked at you, his right hand moving from your chest towards your neck, his digits wrapping around it, not yet putting any pressure.

“Now, you know you shouldn’t lie to me.” It felt like a threat, a warning for you to tell the truth. You felt his grip tightening around your neck, and you heard his breathing coming out in shudders through his nose. His body felt hotter than before, or maybe it was the situation and your nerves heightening your senses. Your hands came to grab onto his forearms, trying to center yourself.

“I– I just… I just wanted to ask…” Your head was suddenly pulled back as his hand gripped you from your chin, his digits pressing onto your cheeks. His head slowly rose up, his eyes staring down at yours. You trembled underneath his grip, his left hand moving inside the elastic of your panties, taking advantage you had popped your pants open. You shivered as you felt his fingertips run over your clit, a little whimper getting caught in your throat.

“I’ll give you one more chance, or I will fuck the truth out of you.” You felt a rush of heat in your fluttering pussy at the threat, at the promise. His eyes were sharp, strong, feral, pupils completely dilated and it felt as if he were going to eat you alive. His fingers pressed against your clit, a little harsher and your back arched a little at the sensation. “Or maybe, I will just not let you cum tonight. Edge you over and over again–”

“No–! No… okay, okay–” You closed your eyes as you tried to gather up the courage you lost before. You had to be brave. You had to. “I… fuck…” 

“Come on. Ask me.” It almost sounded as if he knew what you wanted to ask. What you needed to ask. What you wanted to know. What you… needed to know in order to feel pride. In order to feel special. 

“Since you got tested… have you been with anybody else?” 

He held you against him, and you felt the entire world go a little silent at the question. Him included. You were afraid of opening your eyes, the butterflies in your belly threatening to make you puke. You fought the fear, slowly cracking your eyelids open, only to see him staring at you… his eyes wild. You felt a vibration against your back but maybe it was your plain imagination.

His hips pressed against your ass, a little gasp escaping your lips at the suddenness and you could feel the hard bulge against you. He was really fucking hard. Your mouth instantly salivated, your eyes burning with need and desire as you awaited his answer.

“I have not.” Relief washed over you. For weeks he had been yours and yours only. That was a good sign for you, something that calmed your nerves and settled your anxiety down. You couldn’t relax though, as his grip on your neck made you stand straighter, a little hiss escaping your lips. “You?”

You locked eyes with him and both of you were breathing heavily, but Eddie felt like he was panting, like an animal. You knew that your answer would let the two of you cross another line together. Another boundary. Another stage that is not normal for friends to do. You gulped as your heart exploded in your chest, telling you to get what you wanted, what you craved. 

“I have not.”

You didn’t have time to process anything that was happening that you were suddenly pushed forward, roughly, onto the bed. You groaned in surprise, looking over your shoulder to see Eddie towering over you, his chest on full display, moving up and down with ragged breaths and if you had enough imagination, you could see steam coming out of those nostrils. 

His hands instantly moved to grip your hips, turning you around, and making you squeal slightly at the manhandling. He grabbed the edges of your pants and almost ripped them off from your body. You were surprised by how quickly he was going. He was acting desperate and you were so amazed by it. Your eyes widened as you crawled back on the bed, your hands pressed against the mattress, still staring at him. He was moving on top of you, kneeling and caging you underneath him, between his knees.

“Now, let me see if I got this right, darling.” His hand shot up to grip your chin again, making you keep looking at him as he leaned closer, his nose almost touching yours. “Are you telling me you want me to fuck you raw?”

“I– I never said–” His grip tightened and you whimpered a bit at the pressure, a glare coming your way as he groaned at you.

“I am not playing games right now. So tell me what you want before I lose my fucking patience, Peach.” 

You realized then that you were not in a situation to play around. You should not lie to him. You should not avoid this talk or your needs. You knew Eddie wanted it now. You knew Eddie desperately wanted it the same way you did. Your eyes turned half-lidded at that fact, the proof right in front of you. Another line. Another stupid line.

“I… I want to feel you cum inside of me, Eddie.”

You saw him tremble slightly at your words, his mouth open just a bit as he let shaky breaths out. He was just staring at you as if shocked. Suddenly, you felt as if the room grew hotter, more suffocating, his features darkened as his lips came closer to yours, brushing against them. Your arms trembled from keeping yourself up and because of his actions. 

“You have no idea what you just did.” 

Before you could ask what he meant by that, his lips clashed against yours, his tongue instantly invading your mouth, not giving you a second to process anything of what was going on. You tried to keep up with his movements, but he was ravishing you as if he had gone celibate for months, and this was just a kiss. 

Your body was on fire, his free hand gliding towards one of the straps of your tank top, pulling it down your shoulder to then free one of your breasts, almost ripping the fabric off your body. His palm engulfed it, grabbing onto it roughly and you were already losing your mind to his touches the more he touched, the more he rubbed, the more he kissed you. 

It was intense, more intense than any of your other times together. He felt animalistic, never having seen him like this before. You were loving it. The fact he was coming apart thanks to the prospect of doing it without a condom for the first time with you, knowing that he hadn’t done this before, or at least in these couple of months he had been with you, with anybody else. You were sure of it and you didn’t know why.

He pinched your left nipple, making you moan into the kiss, the saliva gathering in your mouth from how intense it was, from how his tongue was being shoved down your throat almost. He pulled onto your perked bud, a whimper now leaving you as he pulled away from the kiss. He growled as he gave you a push on the shoulder, making you lose your balance on your trembling arms, your back falling onto the mattress. 

Your eyes went towards the bulge in the sweatpants and you gulped the saliva that gathered, wanting to have him inside of you once and for all. It was slowly dawning on you that he was going to fuck you without a condom for the first time, feeling him cum inside of you and you weren’t sure how you were going to be normal after it. You weren’t sure if you were going to become addicted or not. You were more inclined that you were going to.

He huffed a breath as he moved backwards, getting up from the bed, at the foot of it. His hands instantly grabbed onto the hem of his sweatpants and his boxers, discarding them in one single shove, kicking them away from him. You squirmed in the bed, your legs pressed together to cause some friction on your clit, rubbing them together as you looked at him. Your face was contorted in pleasure and now with neediness, his desperation transferring to you now.

His eyes were fixed on your covered cunt, only for his fingers to hook on the elastic of your panties and pull those away from you. He threw them towards his night table, and you knew he was gonna keep those to himself. You didn’t care anymore about the pairs you have lost. Knowing Eddie was keeping them like trophies filled you with pride. Again, you felt special because of it. You felt like you were making a difference.

Your legs were pressed together once again, and he growled at the action, his hands coming to grip your knees and roughly spread them open. You gasped at the suddenness, your head looking down at him, whimpering when you saw how he was looking at your glistening cunt. His jaw was clenched and you could see veins popping on his inked chest and his neck. 

Fuck, you needed him inside of you, right now.

“Eddie…”

“Shit–” You heard him curse through his teeth as he clenched his eyes as if fighting something, and you moved your hips towards him, urging him to do something. His eyes opened again, glaring down at you, pupils dilated in sizes you’ve never seen before. You were breathing heavily, the need to have him going to levels you’ve never felt before and you didn’t know why. It also felt hot, as if forty heaters were in the room right now.

His knees pressed onto the bed again, and you were seeing him debating, making you frown a bit, not knowing why he looked pained, or as if he didn’t know what to do. Your eyes drifted towards his cock, seeing it twitch, bob up and down as he kept looking at your center. You could feel your juices slipping down and probably onto the bed as you waited for him to do something, just anything.

You moved your hips again, swaying them upwards only for his hands to grip your sides tightly, pushing you down onto the bed with a growl. Your eyes widened when you saw his face. He looked as if he had– No. You were delusional from the heat of the moment. He couldn’t have bared his teeth that way at you. It was just your mind playing tricks on you, that was all.

“Eddie– Please, do something–” You begged, your throat closed up and he clenched his eyes again and you felt him tremble on top of you, huffing a pained breath. 

“I know– I just want to bury myself inside of you and you–”

“Do it!” You almost cried, your cunt clenching over nothing and he opened his eyes to look down at you. It wouldn’t be the first time you would go without foreplay, so you didn’t understand why he was so worried. You were always wet for him, always ready. There was never a time where you had a painful experience taking him without foreplay. 

He shook his head at you, his left hand shooting to wrap around your neck and you felt his rings digging into your skin. Your hands flew to grab onto his wrist as you felt blood rush to your head. Again, that glare, that look that told you that if you dared defy him, you would get punished.

“Don’t order me. Not tonight.” It took you by surprise but you weren’t new to Eddie’s dominance, yet this felt a little different, a little more threatening. You only nodded as you felt his right hand go over your breast, giving your nipple a twist before he kept moving downwards. You were writhing underneath him, the touch sending shocks all over your body. 

Your mouth opened into an ‘o’ shape as you felt his fingers press against your needy clit, your pussy fluttering already with want. You could already hear the squelching of your juices as his fingers glided over your slit, coating them in your juices. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head as you felt two fingers moving inside of you, finally having some pleasure being given to you.

You wanted to talk, you wanted to beg like you always did, but you felt like you would order him if you did. Something felt off but it was good. It felt as if Eddie was dominating you in every way, in body and soul. You couldn’t describe it, but it was as if whatever he did to you, you were going to take, and you would feel elated to do so. You felt as if there was nothing Eddie could do wrong tonight, nor things that would hurt you.

His pace was bruising, but you moaned loudly, your belly twisting with pleasure from it as he curled his fingers inside of you, rubbing against that spongy part you loved. His grip on your neck didn’t relent, pinning you down as your back arched at his movements, only for his fingers to press tighter on your pulse points, warning you to stop moving.

The noises of your juices echoing with your moans and your panting as he moved at a quick pace, up and down, twisting, it was just driving you insane. You gasped when you felt him scissor you inside, over and over, prepping you for a cock you knew too well by now. A cock your body knows and takes as if it were part of it as well and it was just slotting back where it belonged.

“Eddie–” You moaned his name and he let go of your neck, a choked breath coming inside your lungs as your foggy brain cleared up once again. You blinked as you stared up at him, his eyes still fixed on your face, the strands of his hair falling down. His fingers rested inside of you, curled, as his palm came in contact with your clit. Your hands gripped the sheets underneath you to brace yourself, knowing what was coming next. A move Eddie loved to do on you, knowing how much you came undone underneath him because of it.

He started moving up and down with rapid motions, the squelching now nastier, louder, juicier than before and you felt yourself cry his name, head falling back as your eyes closed. You felt heat all over your body, crashes of electricity just travelling all over your nerves as you were ravished by him. You knew this was different from all the other times because of how intensely he was looking at your face. The way it contorted. The way you reacted. The way your body moved. The way your lips moved when calling his name. 

“You honestly– You don’t know what you got yourself into, sweetheart.” You couldn’t even process his words, your brain and your comprehension completely squashed by him just finger fucking you. Your belly turned over and over again, Eddie always knowing how to get you there in minutes. You were amazed by it each time. 

Your body trembled as you felt that fire start to ignite in your belly, your pussy fluttering around his fingers as he kept the brutal movement. Your clit was being abused by his palm and your eyes were filled with tears of pleasure as your moans grew louder, almost whimpering the closer you got to your climax.

“Eddie, Eddie, Eddie–” You chanted his name, signaling him you were close, and he loved it. He had confessed in the heat of the moment how he loved to hear you call his name when he was pleasuring you. Yet, you didn’t do it on purpose. You just wanted to call the name of the man who was giving you such pleasure that you didn’t know where your mind was. He growled, his free hand coming to rest on your breast, squeezing tightly as he kept the pace of his fingers.

“Yeah– Come on, cum on my fingers. I’ll give you what you want if you do it.” That was all the encouragement you needed. Your hands flew to grab his forearm as he pressed you down onto the mattress when you started trembling, almost flailing your limbs when you felt your cunt clench all around him, tightly, and your belly just exploded as your vision blurred. 

You screamed his name, choked it, and he groaned at the image before him. You were in heaven in this very moment and he didn’t know it. He rode the orgasm out of you, waiting for you to stop clenching around him to slow his movements. You were panting underneath him, aftershocks rushing in your body, a little spasm here and there. 

“Good girl… Always a good fucking girl for me, aren’t you, Peach?” You sighed at his words, trying to catch your breath. He slowly pulled out of you, your wetness all over his hand, his fingers. You saw it glistening when he brought it up to his lips, giving a lick from the bed of his palm to the tip of his middle finger. Then his eyes landed on yours, and he leaned over, his coated fingers coming to rest on your lips.

You slowly opened your mouth and he immediately pushed his middle and ring fingers inside. You gurgled around the digits, tasting yourself as your tongue swirled around them. You whimpered against him, his fingers thrusting slowly in and out of your mouth, and you felt the slickness of your climax just coming out of you as you clenched around nothing.

Your eyes locked with his, and his nose was flaring as he inspected you, only to then rip his fingers out of your mouth. You gasped a bit at the loss of it, his other hand finally leaving your chest, letting you writhe underneath him like you have been wanting to. You felt like a sex doll, and you were actually loving it. You enjoyed this, a little too much.

“Eds–” You begged one last time, and a small squeal escaped you when he caged your left leg between his knees, pulling your right leg over his left shoulder, manhandling you to position you where he wanted and where he needed. Your cunt was now wide open for his access, and you gasped when you felt the tip of his cock running over your slit.

“I can’t believe you are letting me fucking do this.” With that comment, he pushed in and you could only bite the pillow underneath the side of your face as you felt him going in. You are assuming this was not gonna go slow at any point. By how quick he was pushing himself in, you knew this was going to be rough, and you wouldn’t want it any other way.

You made yourself snap out from the pleasure and you turned your head to have a look at him. His left arm was wrapped around your thigh as he watched how he went inside of you, without protection, for the first time ever. You saw how his features were contorted, in extreme pleasure, just as much as yours were. He was already breathing heavily, and you wondered if he would have been like this if it were someone else. 

Would he–

You suddenly whimpered loudly, being thrust upwards as he slammed himself inside of your heat in one single thrust. You were surprised at the rush of it, at how quickly he wanted to be inside, how desperately he needed you. He groaned as he rolled his head over his shoulders, his eyes closed in ecstasy as you tried to adjust to him. He felt so hot inside of you, and you adored it. 

“You feel amazing… So amazing like this…” He moaned your name as his eyes locked with your face, your upper body contorted upwards to be able to look at him properly. His hips started moving back and forth, setting a slow pace as he experienced this new feeling. As he felt you against him for the first time ever. 

“It– It feels so good, fuck–” Your eyes closed as you felt every ridge, every vein, and maybe you were exaggerating but it did feel different. It did feel so different than when he wore a condom. You don’t think you could go back to using them after this… and much less if he does cum inside of you. 

His head was thrown back as he sighed in pleasure, the digits around your thigh tightening, leaving marks on your skin as his belly started burning in need. Your face fell to the side, your eyes closed as he felt deep, almost in your throat as he thrusted and rutted all the way in and almost all the way out. He was feeling you all over, and you already were choking on how full you felt.

You gripped the pillow with your left hand as the other one held onto the sheets to your right. You were a little contorted, but you didn’t care. You could hear his puffs, his heavy breathing, and a growl that came out of his throat every now and then. He was feeling good, you knew he was. But you weren’t even aware of how much you were affecting him. You didn’t know what you had done to him. 

His head fell to look down at you, his free hand coming to grip your thigh as well, and suddenly, out of nowhere, he started ramming into you. Your eyes widened as the slapping of skin and the squelching of your juices invaded all of your senses and you couldn’t even get a proper moan out. You were choking at each thrust, feeling him in your throat over and over again as you bounced back and forth on the bed. 

You could feel drool leaving the corner of your lips and running down your cheek and towards the pillow below you as you turned your head to look at him. You felt tears building in your eyes as he kept his pace. You noticed the veins in his arms popping up, his fingers branding themselves on your skin and you couldn’t even feel the pain if there was any. Your entire body was reacting to him in ways it hadn’t before. 

“I’m going to fucking ruin you, Peach.” And you wanted him to. You believed he would be able to. Eddie didn’t know you were already ruined inside and out for him. He had ruined you for anybody else. You knew no one could compare to Eddie, and no one ever had in the past, not even Henry. You only nodded dumbly as his name kept falling out of your lips at each thrust, your cervix being punched over and over again.

He was grunting your name as he kept that bruising pace, brutal, and it should be painful but it’s not. Not to you. Never to you. You were losing sense of where you were, or what you were doing the more he brought you to a hazy state of pleasure. You were becoming cock drunk, way too cock drunk. The only other time you felt like this was your first time with him, and maybe this was sort of like a first time too. Maybe that was the reason. 

“Please–”

“You feel good, don’t you?” He asked through gritted teeth, and his hips slowed down again, probably for him to catch his breath, keeping a swaying of going in and out as if grinding. You nodded only for then to receive a bite on your thigh, rather harshly, making you arch your back with a gasp. “Answer me.”

“Good– So good, Eddie–” Content with your answer, he kissed the place he bit on your thigh, to then lick it as he kept the movements of his hips. You could feel your belly beginning to turn once again, heating up at each thrust. You looked at him and he didn’t even look tired, yet he was almost sweating, his breathing jagged as he slowly started picking up the pace again.

His nails were scratching your skin, and you knew you would have to take care of that thigh in particular thanks to his fingers and his bite, but at least you would have a reminder of what went down tonight. How he was marking you without care, and even if you had to be extra careful with your friends later on so they wouldn’t see, you loved when he did so. You loved being marked with hickies, with kisses, with scratches and bites from him. You just had to avoid wearing a skirt or dresses until those marks would go away now.

He was just staring at where he was going in and out of you, and you were oblivious to how gone his pupils were. How his nostrils flared and how the veins of his neck were popping out, how his belly was already burning at the prospect of what you had let him do to you. You were oblivious to it all. 

Suddenly you gasped as he pulled out completely from you, dropping your leg from his shoulder and throwing it to your left, joining your other one. You stared at him in awe and then you directed your eyes at his cock, and your mouth salivated with the need to have it in your mouth, looking more delicious than it ever has. 

“Turn around.” His order was imperative, no room for jokes or to play around. You couldn’t be a brat tonight. You trembled as you fully laid on your stomach, waiting for his next instructions as your pussy fluttered with need. “Fours.”

You planted your hands on the bed as well as your knees and raised yourself up only for his hand to rest on your upper back, surprising you. Suddenly you felt being pushed down again and you frowned at what he wanted until–

“Ed–”

“Keep your ass up.” You don’t remember doing this position with him. You barely did any doggy, most of the time just letting Eddie guide you through the positions unless you were feeling like dominating the situation for the night. 

But the prospect of doing that position filled you with glee, knowing you would be able to feel him just as deeply as you did before. You let him move you, your chest coming in contact with the mattress again as your hands gripped the pillow underneath your head. You felt his knee nudging in between your legs so you would spread them apart. You slowly did and you arched your back even more, trying to show off your ass to him.

The room felt even hotter. More suffocating. 

You managed to look at him over your shoulder and Eddie was just staring at your position with almost wide and gone eyes. His body trembled and his hands twitched at his sides. You frowned, wondering what was happening to him, only for his hands to come slamming on your ass. The smacking sound made you gasp and he fondled your cheeks, spreading them so your pussy would also spread for him.

“Look at you. You have no idea what this is doing for me. You seriously don’t have the slightest fucking clue.” You whimpered at his words only for a slap to land on your right cheek, a whine escaping your lips as you jerked forward. “Ruined. I hope I fucking ruined you.” 

You frowned slightly at the aggressiveness of his voice, almost as if he were actually angry when he said that. You were about to look at him again only for his hands to grab your ass again and he guided his cock towards your slit once more, pushing inside of you in one sharp and brutal thrust. You gasped as your nails dug into the pillow, your eyes wide in surprise.

He didn’t even wait, his thrusts becoming manic, feral, his hands gripping your ass cheeks as he pulled you to him at each movement he did. You were moaning into the pillow, feeling your g-spot being hit on sharply at each thrust, and fuck, fuck, it felt so good. It felt so fucking good. He felt so perfect like this. He was moaning over you, groans leaving him thanks to the strength he was putting in. 

You were not coherent. You didn’t know if you had talked or if you were just moaning or if you were at least making sounds. You just felt the tip of his cock deeper than ever, so your right hand left your pillow, guiding it towards your belly, wanting to see if you could– Your eyes widened as you cried his name against the pillow and his head snapped to look at you, frowning slightly. 

“You– You are so deep, holy fuck– Oh, god–” You were panting at each moan, at each word, and your hand went back to grip the pillow as he kept his pace. He moved his left hand, mimicking your movement to put his palm on your belly and press. His movements halted, his eyes widening as he rested deep inside of you, making you whimper into the soft cotton.

He could feel himself. He could feel the tip of his cock resting inside of you and you were– You were enjoying it. He could feel how deep he was inside of you and this– This was making every fiber in his body ignite. He rutted his hips, feeling his tip moving inside of you with his hand and– Shit, shit, shit.

He straightened up, his hands coming to grab your waist, bruisingly, and start to ram into you, leaving you as a blubbering mess as your belly coiled into itself. Your tears and saliva were falling onto the pillow underneath your head as you felt him invade every single one of your senses. Your spongy spot was being hit without any mercy, making it almost painful from how sensitive it was. 

You didn’t know how long Eddie had in him, but you were sure you could feel him faltering a few times, but you didn’t know if it was because he was tired or if he was close. You wanted to climax again, knowing how much Eddie loved it when you did it around his cock. You drove your hand between your legs, ready to touch your clit, only for a hand to come and slap your right ass cheek in a bruising manner that made you cry out, looking at him over your shoulder. He was glaring down at you, puffs of air leaving his nostrils.

“Don’t you fucking dare touch yourself. You will cum when I tell you to.” You were stunned at his commands, but you couldn’t do anything but comply. You didn’t know if you would be able to comply, so you closed your eyes and tried to drive your mind away from how exquisite you were feeling, but it was almost impossible.

“Eddie– Eds, fuck, baby, please– Please, let me–” You begged as you whimpered into the pillow, feeling the burning sensation grow and grow, your cunt fluttering around him in warning. His pace was turning vicious as he slowed down a bit in order to change positions. He stopped his movements as he pushed your bottom part down, your back thanking you as you touched the mattress with your belly now. Your back was becoming sore and you hadn’t noticed from how good you were feeling. 

You were breathing heavily, heaving almost, as you felt a soft kiss on your right shoulder. His hands were now on the mattress, at each side of your rib cage. You could hear his breathing, ragged, trembling, almost sounding as if taking breaths in was painful to him. You needed to cum. You needed to and it seemed as if Eddie was close as well when his hips started to slowly move again. He spoke through his teeth, a groan joining his voice.

“I’m close. I’m so close, darling–” You now understood that he wanted you to cum at the same time that he did. You could do that for him. You could. You wanted to make him feel so good, engrave yourself into his memory… ruin him for everybody else. Let him know, no one could make him feel the way you do. You nodded as your lower back screamed in pain when you arched your ass upwards just a bit so he had better access.

He growled as he raised himself up, his chest no longer pressed against your back, holding himself up with his hands and arms as he picked up the pace of his thrusts. You moaned into the pillow as the burning in your belly returned even worse than before. You whimpered in need as you closed your eyes to try to drift your mind away from it. Your heart was bursting as well, and your bpm was probably off the roof, to the point of being hospitalized but you knew it had to do with more than just what was happening physically.

You fluttered around him as your climax was rapidly approaching you, but so was his. His thrusts then turned rough, slow, and deep. Pulling almost all the way out slowly, only to quickly slam himself back in, jerking you upwards and knocking breaths out of you. You wanted to look at him but you suddenly felt his left hand come to wrap around your neck from the front, his fingers gripping your chin as he made you pull your head back, your eyes now facing the headboard. His body came back down, his right hand gripping the pillow as well, right next to your hand as he breathed into your ear.

“You ready?” You nodded desperately, closing your eyes as his thrusts were now short yet fast, your moans being gurgled as he made you keep your head up and to your side, his lips coming to rest in between the crook of your neck and shoulder, grunting and groaning into it. Your name was whispered into your skin as you felt your g-spot almost vibrating from the thrusts he was giving to you. 

You felt his teeth run over your skin and you moaned as you could feel yourself clenching, not being able to hold on for much longer, but you needed Eddie’s approval. You had to hold on for a few more seconds but you were burning. It was already painful trying to hold your climax back, tears running down your face as he kept ramming himself into you.

“Please– Please–” You begged, you implored, you needed to cum. He was growling now, his breathing suddenly jagged as his hips faltered slightly and you knew. It was here–

“Cum. Cum now–” And instantly, you clenched around him, your vision turning blurry and white from your tears and the ecstasy mixing together. Your belly just shrinking into itself as you came around his cock and then–

You gasped, the breath leaving your lungs when you felt the warmth invading you inside. You felt him snap his hips in with a new shot of his cum inside. Then another. Then another. You were milking him as you still came around his cock, and he was growling, his lips no longer against your skin, but they felt muffled. You couldn’t turn your head, you didn’t know if you even could thanks to his grip. 

His hips stilled deep inside of you, pelvis against your ass and you just felt so full now, the feeling of him cumming inside of you being a complete out-of-body experience you were not sure you could go back from. You were both breathing heavily, a mess of drool, tears, sweat, and your juices, you didn’t even know what else mixed in. You were in heaven, a gone smile appearing on your lips as you choked some breaths in.

It seemed he noticed he was still holding your head up by your neck and chin and he slowly let go of you, placing his hand right next to your head as he raised himself up just a bit to be able to look down at you. He was trembling on top of you, a groan escaping him when you clenched from the aftershock of your orgasm. 

“Shit… Shit– Peach, fuck… are you okay?” Your eyes were closed as he looked at your profile and you had a satisfied smile on your lips, giving him a slow nod. His body was burning you almost, and you wondered if he had a fever but you can check that tomorrow. 

“That… That was the best sex I’ve ever had…” You admitted in your gone state, and maybe you will be embarrassed by it tomorrow, but it could wait. For now, you were enjoying this little moment, this little bubble of aftermath. He chuckled a bit on top of you, leaning down to place a kiss on your shoulder.

“You bet your ass it was mine too. Never came inside someone before.” You opened your tired eyes at that, turning your head to look at him, surprised. He was looking down at you with his soft eyes, no longer the feral look in them. 

“You… never have?”

“Let’s say I never had the trust to do it with anybody before.” He admitted and you felt your heart flutter slightly. You were special. You definitely were. And you couldn’t even think of anything else right now. You wanted to kiss him, you wanted to tell him that he was special too. That he could remain special, but he cut the moment off as he slowly pulled out of you, both of you groaning at the loss and letting a sigh leave when he was gone.

You turned around on the bed when he kneeled back and stood from the bed, his legs wobbling a bit, making you giggle. You felt sweaty, sticky, burning all over yet sated.

“I need to shower…” You said as you groaned at the idea of not sleeping right away after this. He chuckled as he stretched, probably feeling the soreness in himself as well.

“Joining you on that one.” You slowly sat up with a groan, feeling all of your limbs hurting but you weren’t going to complain, because the reason why they were sore was the best reason of it all. 

“Hell no, you love cold water, even in winter.” He rolled his eyes at you, and then you– You gasped, crossing your legs over each other, putting pressure a bit as you flushed all over in embarrassment. “Um… Eddie?”

He tilted his head at you, confused at your posture, a little bit of worry crossing his features, “You alright? What is it?”

“Can you… get me paper? Toilet paper…?” He blinked once as he processed your request. You gulped as you squinted at him, trying to get him to move because you were going to make a mess. “Eddie–”

You saw how his eyes started scanning your legs, as if it was clicking what was happening right now in his head. You shivered at the intensity of his scanning, at how his eyes started to slowly lose that softness. His arms came to cross over his chest as he stared at where your center was pressed closed.

“Open your legs.” Your eyes widened at his request and you gave a nervous chuckle, shaking your head.

“No, it will just make a mess out of the sheets and–” And he leaned over, coming closer as he kneeled on the bed again, tapping on your right knee with a glare in his eyes. You trembled at the sight, your heart picking the pace it had a few minutes ago.

“I’m not asking, Peach. Open your fucking legs.” He wasn’t joking around. His pupils, blacked out completely, were staring into you in a daring manner. You took a shaky breath in as you felt your body start to burn once more, the situation just making your arousal return to you and you didn’t even know how it could be possible.

You whimpered a bit as you uncrossed your legs, the embarrassment of being so bare for him washing over you as you slowly spread yourself for him. He was kneeling in front of you, his eyes falling to your cunt. 

“Holy fucking shit…” He cursed as you clenched when you tried to hold in the cum that was slipping out of you. His cum. His spent. He was flowing out of you and you could see the vein in his neck start to pop out once again. 

“Eddie, it’s making a mess–” You saw him fix the bun in his head, and your eyes drifted south, eyes widening when you saw him get hard once again. You gulped in anticipation as your pussy fluttered at the sight, the soreness now in the past. His hands came to rest on your knees as his eyes came to look into yours.

“We’re gonna have a long night. Think you can handle that, Peach?”

And the only thing you could do was nod.

Your eyes fluttered open, having had the rest of your life just now. 

Yet, your body was screaming. You had gone at it with Eddie one more time yesterday, just as intense as the first one. It seemed like a great idea then, but right now your body was calling you stupid in every single language of soreness. You whimpered as you tried to adjust yourself on the bed, looking up at his ceiling.

His arm was wrapped around your waist, his breathing slow as the thin sheet covered the both of you. You had taken a shower before going to sleep, and he had offered himself to help you when you told him you had to clean yourself inside. You declined, with a slap over his head, knowing how that might end up and you knew your body would hate you for it… even if you wanted it. The prospect of Eddie fingering his cum into you–

You groaned at the thought. What had Eddie Munson turned you into? Who the hell were you? You turned your head to the side to see him sleeping, and then, something else caught your eye. Your pillow… it was ripped. Right next to your head. You hadn’t noticed yesterday night, way too cock drunk and then too tired. Did you grip it too tight? No, you couldn’t have. Did he grip it? He probably did many times… 

You couldn’t ponder on it that much when you saw Eddie’s eyes slowly open, adjusting to the orange hue of the room thanks to his blinds. He whined as he closed them again, and you knew he was feeling the soreness. You gave a small chuckle, now noticing how dry your throat felt. 

“I think we overdid it yesterday night, Munson.” Your voice was hoarse, overused, almost but not quite painful. He chuckled a bit, all rough and groggily. He sounded so good like this, you thought. 

“Yeah, no shit. It was your fault.” You rolled your eyes at him and he cracked one eye open, a smile on his face. “Morning.”

“Morning…” You looked at the pillow and then back at him with a frown. “What happened?”

You saw him doubt for a second, lifting himself up a bit on his elbow to look down at it. He gulped and it seemed as if he was debating in telling you something or not. He ended up chuckling a bit, shrugging a little.

“Probably gripped it too tight. I honestly don’t know.” You hummed at his response, and it was a possibility. The two of you were feral last night, not yourselves, not even for a second. Your heart thumped in your chest as you knew there was another instance to be talked about. 

“Are you superman or something?” You joked and he shook his head at you, leaning closer to you, his upper half coming to cover your body as his left hand rubbed circles on your hip. The other coming to cradle you over your head. You looked up into his eyes as he leaned to greet you with a soft kiss, the contrast of yesterday’s roughness too big to miss. You kissed him back as your right hand came to rest on the back of his head, your stomach fluttering with butterflies.

He pulled away after a few seconds, inspecting your face as he then looked down at your body. He winced a bit as his nose scrunched, making you frown in confusion.

“I kind of went overboard with… the hickies and bites yesterday.” You knew he was talking about your thighs. He had been biting them all night. Then the digits on your waist, your hips, the slaps on your ass. He made sure to mark himself last night on you. You groaned, flicking his forehead with your fingers. “Hey–”

“Idiot.” Nerves invaded you as you pondered how to get to this topic with him. How to not give yourself away. How to not be heartbroken if the answer is no. You were snapped out of your thoughts when you felt him nudge your nose with his to catch your attention.

“Where did you go, Peach?” His question made you freeze, feeling almost nauseous as you looked into his eyes. He didn’t have a clue on how he made you feel. He didn’t even know what he did to you. How he fucked you up, how he ruined you, how he stitched himself into your heart without him meaning to.

“I…” You looked away as you bit your bottom lip with nervousness, playing with the hairs on the back of his neck. It had to be now. “I… I just need you to be honest with me.”

He tilted his head in question, “with what, exactly?”

“Um… I–” Fuck, you needed to breathe. “I need you to be honest if… If you sleep with other people…” You weren’t even looking at him, not wanting to see his reaction. How his eyes were staring into you as if you were talking nonsense.

“What–”

“I just want to… play it safe… Even if you sleep with others using protection, I– I don’t… want to risk it.” Were you clear? Did he get where you were going with this? It was dirty play, dancing around the question and disguising it as worry of getting an illness. Of catching something from him and his other endeavors. 

Your chin was grabbed by his left hand, making you turn to face him, and your breathing hitched when you saw those intense eyes from yesterday come back. His breaths were coming out in puffs through his nostrils, as if containing certain anger.

“And you would be honest too?” You gulped, and you nodded slowly. As if you could sleep with someone else but him right now. As if you could even imagine someone who can compare to how you felt with Eddie. His jaw clenched a little as he stared down at you, “So, if either of us fucks someone else, we’re back to condoms.”

“I… yes… correct…” Your voice was small, knowing what this implied, and you hoped that Eddie wasn’t scared of it. You hoped that Eddie wouldn’t run away from this, but– Maybe he just will say okay, and it ends as that… and then it would just be a matter of time until he came to you and tell you that you had to use condoms again… and you would know that you weren’t that special at all. Not even by letting him do this.

Yet–

“Then I guess we ain’t fucking anybody else, Peach.” 

Your heart bursted in your chest as you stared up at him. You wondered if he knew what this meant. You couldn’t believe it– You felt so happy. You felt like you'd just won the lottery with this. Yet, you wanted to hear him say it, so you played your little game. Your little act of friends, a little smirk appearing on your lips.

“Oh, we talking exclusive, Munson?” You weren’t expecting his grip to tighten a bit on your chin, your smile dropping as he stared into your eyes and your stomach just flipped on its own.

“You bet your ass I am.” His voice was strong, determined, but also shocked, as if he himself were surprised by his own words. You have him. He was yours, and he will be yours only until… until– It didn’t matter, but for now, Eddie Munson was just for you. You nodded slowly, your hand coming to rest on his left bicep, your fingers caressing the skin softly.

“Alright… just you and I.” Finally a small smirk broke on his lips, and you could finally breathe. The soreness of yesterday now a memory as you tried to conceal the happiness you felt inside of you. Just Eddie and you… You couldn’t wait to tell Robin– You blinked and looked at the clock on the bedside table, feeling a little dejected now.

“What’s wrong?” He asked and you licked your lips, turning to look at him again.

“It’s already 11 AM.” By this time, you were long gone as well as he was when he went to your house. You had a little breakfast, a kiss goodbye and that’s it. The mention of Robin in your head just simply made you return to the real world, to leave the little bubble you created with him in his room. 

You watched him debate a little with himself, as if he were measuring his words right. He looked at the clock for a few seconds and then slowly turned back to you. You could feel his heart against your chest, but you didn’t know if it was beating fast, or it was your own just overlapping the thrumming of it. 

“You could stay…” He slowly talked and your world stopped for a second and he cleared his throat a bit, “I mean, if you have nothing else to do today, then…”

You wanted to smile so wide right now, but you had to hold yourself back. You had to keep your giddiness down. Your butterflies were in full bloom as you saw him become a little flush and that shimmer of hope ignited again as you stared at him. There was a chance, wasn’t there? 

“You just want to fuck me again.” At your words, he laughed, shaking his head at you, frowning a bit.

“I know you are way too sore for that, sweetheart.” Your eyes widened and you swatted at his bicep as if offended.

“I am not, maybe you’re just trying to disguise you're the one who is sore as fuck by blaming me.” He raised an eyebrow at you, a playful smirk coming to his lips as he slowly started to climb on top of you and your smile completely fell from your face.

“Wanna test that theory?” His knee came to rest between your legs and he pressed forward, and instead of a pleasured moan, a whimper came out of your lips. The overstimulation had made you way too sensitive, your clit was probably puffy, and your cervix was bruised. Yet, you felt the rush of arousal come over you again. “That’s what I thought.”

You whined and you pouted up at him but then it dawned on you a bit…

“So, what should we do then?” You asked, a little shy. The only thing you two did when alone was eat, fuck, talk a bit, sleep and that was it. If he wasn’t going to fuck you… what were the two of you gonna do all day? You saw how his eyebrows frowned a bit, and you noticed he was having those same thoughts running through his head. After a few seconds, he shrugged a bit, acting nonchalant.

“We have lunch, then, I beat you in Mario Kart again, and maybe we can watch something.” Your mouth fell open at that, acting offended and challenged as you stuck up your nose at him.

“I must tell you, I have been practicing in Mario Kart, and I am pretty sure I can beat you.” His eyebrow raised at you, and you felt those butterflies all over your body now. They were no longer resting in your belly. They had flown all over your limbs, your arteries, your veins, your head, your heart… you were just filled with them as he smirked your way.

“Let’s make a few bets then… How does that sound, Peach?” 

And you agreed. You stayed. When you two got up from the bed, you could barely stand straight, making the both of you laugh like crazy while you tried not to fall down the stairs. It ended up with Eddie carrying you all the way down, princess-style, joking that he was Mario right now, saving the princess. 

It felt domestic as you watched him cook for you. He complained about some pains as well, so he gave you a muscle relaxer to see if that eases your pain as he took one for himself too. You spent it playing games, betting stupid stuff to one another only for you to lose every game. You owed Eddie two pizzas, one blowjob, and three creampies. 

And in between those moments, you kissed him, he kissed you, with no other intention but to just place lips over other lips. No other movement done, just kissing. No rubbing, no ulterior motives. Your heart soared towards the sky, and if he was doing it just to keep fucking someone raw or not, for now, it was fine to not have that knowledge. For now. It might soon explode inside of you, but you were happy today. A small win, yet huge.

At 8 PM, you were ready to leave, and when you two were at his front door, he had pulled you into a deep kiss, wrapping his arms around you, making you flush against his body as you wrapped your arms around his shoulders. He pulled away a few seconds later and you had to take the leap now. It was your turn. You had to make sure this was not a one time thing.

“I… This was nice… spending the day together…” You softly said and he nodded slowly, a small smile breaking on his lips. 

“Mmm… Maybe we can see each other during the week?” And that would be new. That would be another development and–

“Stay over and leave for work the next day?” You asked and you two stared at each other for a few seconds before he slowly nodded again. Your heart burst with stars as you saw how he agreed with you and you couldn’t be any happier. You couldn’t wait to go home and just scream into your pillow and call Robin excitedly to tell her about it. About how… you are basically not that single anymore. 

“Yeah…” His smile turned into a sly smirk as he leaned over to press a kiss to the pulse point of your neck, making you sigh. “Maybe even have a quickie so we can start the day all freshened up… Bet I would get my work done in an hour.” 

You giggled at his words and that made your stomach tumble over again. Another dynamic that changed… Three dynamics to be exact changed today. You two were exclusive… You two were going to spend nights and days together… You two will now have morning sex which is something you’ve never done because… hookups are not together for that long the next day.

But this meant you two would. This meant that he wanted to spend time with you, intimately and out of that. Just like you have been wanting.

“Oh, I bet you would.” You joked with him and he gave a small kiss to your lips to then finally let you leave.

When you reached your apartment, you immediately started jumping in excitement only to wince in pain and hold your hip from how sore you felt. You laughed and squealed into your fists and you wondered if Eddie did something like what you did just now in happiness. You wondered where Eddie’s thoughts were all day with you. You wondered if he felt the same way you did. If his heart raced when he looked at you. If he had butterflies whenever he kissed you. If he felt warm whenever he hugged you…

You will wonder for a little longer… for now, you could be happy.

Because Eddie Munson was yours to have… Only yours.

And you were his.

end of chapter 22

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Taglist: @katethetankk @seatnights @notwantingtoadult

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@sarcastically-defensive17 @ghost-proofbaby @lesservillain

@take-everything-you-can @nope-thanks @eddiesxangel @andvys

[alternate-real-ities]

Research Report: Subject J - Asian Flu

Prepared by: Dr. Amara Patel & Dr. Liam Chen

These diary entries, obtained through confidential sources, detail the personal experiences and transformations of a young man identified only as "Jake" who has been unknowingly infected with the recently emerged Asian Flu (AF). His accounts provide invaluable firsthand insights into the virus's effects on its host, spanning from early symptoms to advanced stages. Thus, with these entries, we aim to better understand the virus's effects and timeline.

Diary Entries:

Dear diary,

I woke up feeling a bit off today, but nothing major. Probably just another case of the common cold going around. I didn't let it stop me from starting my day as usual - working on my laptop at home while sipping coffee. My muscles were kinda sore too, but I thought it was just from my workout yesterday.

I did notice something strange though - when I caught my reflection in the mirror, my pecs looked a bit bigger than usual. Probably just my imagination, right? They're not exactly massive to begin with on my scrawny frame. But hey, maybe I'm finally making some progress at the gym!

Anyway, enough about me and my silly feelings. I'm going to bed early tonight. hopefully I'll feel more like myself tomorrow.

Dear diary,

Woke up today feeling even better than yesterday! I breezed through my work and couldn't wait to get back to the gym. When I stepped into the locker room, a few guys checked me out appreciatively. Normally that would make me blush, but now it just gave me this weird rush of confidence.

At first, I thought the gym machines felt a bit too easy today. Like my body was used to working at higher intensities than I realized. And why were my pecs tingling so much? Probably just a funny nerve thing, no biggie.

When I got home, I caught another glimpse of myself in the mirror and… holy shit… are my muscles bigger? Like, way bigger than they should be after one intense workout. Also, I didn't look as pale as I usually do?

This can't be real - something's going on, I just don't know what it is… Hopefully, I'll have more time to think about it tomorrow.

Dear diary,

Okay, so something is seriously wrong with me but I can't put my finger on it.

I can't stop sweating, even when I'm just sitting around doing nothing! My clothes are always soaked and I stink like a damn animal in heat... And don't even get me started on my fucking pecs - they're so sensitive right now. Like every brush of fabric against them sends a jolt straight to my dick.

I called in sick to work today, couldn't handle trying to make sense of all those spreadsheets and emails. It's like everyone's talking in a foreign language now, I just don't get it no more. I keep telling myself this is all stress-related but deep down, I know something ain't right.

At the gym today, I kept having to increase the weights because anything less felt like a joke now. There were these two Asian guys there who kept glancing over at me admiringly between sets. Normally I'd be flattered but nervous about such obvious stares. Instead, I found myself flexing subtly in their direction, feeling this bizarre urge to show off my body.

And to top it all off, I've been having these crazy horny urges nonstop. Like, I'm constantly rock hard and leaking pre-cum like a fucking faucet. It's embarrassing as hell. I ended up jerking off about three times today already but it did nothing to satisfy this insatiable hunger in my balls.

I'm scared… I don't know what's happening to me. Maybe this is all just a bad dream and I'll wake up soon. Please.

Dear diary,

Fuck… what's happening to me? I'm struggling to type this entry because my fingers feel too thick and clumsy on the keyboard.

I went back to the gym again today because I couldn't stay away, even though part of me knew something was seriously off. The Asian guys from yesterday were there again and this time… fuck… I walked up to them and started chatting like it was the most natural thing in the world. Talking about protein shakes, the best ways to sculpt chest muscles, shit I wouldn't have given a second thought to before.

They kept touching my arms admiringly as we talked, marveling at how fast I must be growing. And I fucking liked it. Craved more of their attention and praise. We ended up in the locker room together…

I'm not proud of what happened next but I couldn't control myself. I was too drunk on this new sense of power and desire coursing through my body. The next thing I knew, we were all naked, touching each other, moaning like animals…

I can't think straight anymore either. It's like all the smart stuff is leaking outta my head and being replaced with nothing bro.

And the smells… everything smells so much stronger now. My own stink, sweat and musk, it's so intense!

I'm losing control here diary… I feel like I'm turning into one of those dumb gym bro stereotypes and it scares the everloving shit outta me. I almost can't recognize myself in the mirror anymore.

Tomorrow, I'll go see my doctor to finally understand what's going on.

Yo diary, it's your boy Jake and lemme tell ya, today was fuckin' EPIC dude! Like, the most awesomest day ever since this crazy shit started happening to me.

Woke up feelin' like a million bucks, muscles all twitchy and ready to dominate. I hit the gym real quick, just a lil warm-up ya know? And oh man, did I catch some looks! All those bros were starin' at my gains, probably wishin' they had a physique like mine hehe.

After that, I decided to take my rock hard bod for a walk in the park. Felt good to let the sunshine warm up my bronzed skin and show off these sick pecs. I was strutting real confident-like, just basking in all the attention from thirsty bitches and dudes.

Then, get this diary… I bumped into this super cute lil twink at the park! He was practically drooling when he saw my massive package tentin' in my shorts. I couldn't resist, had to show him what a real man feels like down there haha.

We found a lil spot behind some bushes and I bent that boy over and gave it to him HARD, diary. Pounded his tight boyclit so good he was screaming for more. Fucked him so deep he'll be tasting my cock for days! Blew the biggest load right up in his guts too, hah!

I'm gonna hit the gym again later for some more gains, maybe see if I can find another thirsty boycunt to bust in after. Life is fuckin' great diary!

Analysis:

Based on Jake's diary entries, we can confirm the progression of AF symptoms aligns with our current understanding: rapid muscle growth, cognitive decline, personality changes, and increased sexual aggression. His accounts also highlight the virus's insidious nature, as he remains largely unaware and unconcerned about his transformations.

To better understand the virus's transmission dynamics and long-term effects on secondary hosts, it is imperative that we identify and locate the twink (hereafter referred to as "Subject TW") with whom Jake engaged in sexual activities at the park. There is a high probability that Subject TW has been infected with the Asian Flu through this encounter.

Locating and monitoring this new potential subject could provide crucial insights into the virus's sexual transmission rates, incubation periods for secondary infections, and further manifestation of symptoms in diverse hosts.

This final surveillance footage from a concealed camera in a bustling city gym captures Subject J (center frame) engaging with his newly acquired "bros". This clip represents the most current documentation of Jake's behaviours and physical state, obtained while maintaining strict contamination avoidance protocols. The timestamp indicates this recording is approximately three weeks after his initial diary entries.

Caution: Viewers are strongly advised not to approach or engage with Subject J or his associates without proper protective measures in place, as their sweat and other bodily fluids pose significant infection risks.

Please direct any inquiries or resources needed to pursue this lead to Dr. Patel or Dr. Chen.

[End Report]

[the-froschamethyst4]

Hey so I wanted to request for a ghost x reader, let say she is a new team member top of her field. The only usually thing is that she fights funny, she fights like Bayonetta. If you don't know how Bayonetta is please check her fighting scenes on YouTube.

I really love your writing and hope you can do the request soon. Tag me

Kicking Ass, Taking Names Later

𖤐Pairing: Ghost x Sargent! F! Reader

𖤐Pronouns: She/Her

𖤐AN: Tbh, had no idea who Bayonetta was but a quick Google and YouTube search later figured it out. And yeah…that is a very…interesting…fighting style and I’ll be getting right on that ( @tired-writers-world )

𖤐Warnings: smut, harsh language, dancing fighting style, kissing/making out, codenames, badly translated French,

𖤐Summary: She's the new Sargent for Task Force 141 and Ghost just can't seem to take his eyes off her, when she is training

————

————

"Alright, she's crazy," Price says, watching his new recruit to Taskforce 141, her name is Y/n L/n and she isn't really new to the Military, she's a Sargent.

She was transferred from the French Military to be here for a mission with the 141 men. She was fortunate to be here, and now when it came to training the boys got to see how quick and cheeky her fighting style is.

She was training with Gaz. Gaz was getting second hand of how good she is. She had him in a headlock, her legs around his neck and she was giving him some teasing words.

"I was told you were good," she says.

"Then l-let me go and I can show you," he grunts. She let's him go and they stood up, Gaz pushes his thumb against his nose thinking it was bleeding. Y/n stood tall, hands behind her back as she waits for Kyle's attacks.

He rushes at her, but Y/n dodges his punch, she moves behind him and kicks his back foot out making him land on his knee.

"Hey!"

"You're not showing me that you're good." She gives him a teasing smile.

"Just hold still then."

"Fine," like Gaz wanted she stays put and he starts to charge at her again, pinning her to the mat and Soap who was standing off to the side ready to mediate when it was necessary watched as Gaz held her wrist and was throwing some playground insults at her, only to feel legs wrap around his neck and yank him backwards off her body.

She cat flips up on her feet and looks at Gaz who held his neck while on his back.

"Sorry for going to hard on you," she says. She puts her hand out for him to take, which he does.

"Yeah? No problem, and no hard feelings," he gives her a smile.

"Y/n!" Price calls for her. She turns and sees the man standing with his arms crossed over his chest, she takes a towel and wipes her forehead.

"Evening Captain," she says with a smile, she then turns to the man standing next to Price. "Who's he?" She asked.

"Oh, right, Sargent this is my Lieutenant Simon Ghost Riley."

"Ghost? Oh yeah, Gaz and Soap was telling me about you," she slightly giggles.

"Something funny about my name?" He asked, a bit serious.

"No, but you get dropped on your ass a lot," she was talking about training, Ghost may know what he is doing on the field, but during training he gets his ass handed to him quite often.

Her giggles were the only thing Ghost was really focusing on.

"You speak English pretty well," Simon wanted to change the subject. "For a French woman."

"I learned English in the second grade, and after that, I started to use it more then my native language."

"I don't hear an accent?"

"I hide it very well, when I speak English." She says to him.

"I can't tell if they're flirting or she's trying to get under Ghost's skin," Gaz whispers to Soap.

"Maybe both," Soap whispers back.

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

During the mission, Y/n was partnered up with Ghost to go into this bunker, they were on a search and rescue mission while also trying to stop this illegal weapon smuggling, and cartel.

Y/n was in front while Ghost covered her 6.

"Go ahead," she says.

"Hand signals, Sarg."

"You think I use hand signals? Go, Lt," she whispered yelled at him.

"Use them," he grumbles while walking by her. She rolls her eyes and now she was covering him.

The rest of the time it was silent between them. Ghost looks over his shoulder feeling Y/n had pushed up against him.

"You're too close, Sargent."

"I'm trying to look too."

"How are you a Sargent, but take things so unserious?" He asked, annoyed.

"I do take things serious!"

"Back up," he growls under his breath, and she did.

"Will you two stop bickering?" Price says over their earpieces.

"Why'd I get paired up with the French woman?" Ghost says.

"Because she's good," Price reminds Ghost, who looks over his shoulder seeing Y/n have a smirk on her face.

"Because I'm good," she teased Ghost.

"So good she doesn't use hand signals?"

"Shut up, I'm good and you know it," she walks by him and points her gun up and she goes around the corner.

"Hey, you can't just take off," Ghost whispered yelled and chased after her.

"Oh here we go," Soap joins in.

When going through the bunker, Y/n was off on her own looking at a room that looked like was burnt. She picks up a few burned items and picked up a burnt stuffed giraffe. The head was hanging on by a tread, and she felt tears in her eyes.

"What the hell?" Ghost walked.

"I think they were holding children here..." she shows him the stuffed animal.

"Sick bastards."

"Let's move on," she drops the stuffed animal and wanted to leave this room behind, but she doesn't want to forget about it, she used the back of her hand and wiped the tears away from her eyes and Ghost watched as her emotions almost showed.

"Sarg-"

"Let's go," she says again.

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

They got to a door that looked like a safe, Ghost had battered the door opened and as they had abruptly entered the room guns and lasers were pointed at the both of them.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" The man in front yells. A small amount of men pointed their weapons at them.

"DROP THEM NOW!" Another yells, Ghost with a grunt tosses his gun to the ground and Y/n does to, both putting their hands up and placing their hands behind their head.

As Y/n kept an eye on the guy in front her hand goes to the handle of her dagger that was held in the back of her vest. She quickly pulls it out and throws it at the front guy.

He holds his bleeding neck and drops to the floor, the men tried to fire at them but Ghost grabbed his pistol and fires at one of the guys. One goes after Y/n.

She lifts her leg and kicks the guy in his stomach sending him to the ground, but he gets back up and tries to go after her feet, she jumps and lands on the guys back, not hard enough to break his back but enough to put him in some sort of pain.

Another goes after her but she swings her foot out tripping him, the one she jumped on, grabbed his dagger from his vest, Y/n grabs his wrist fighting with him, pushing him back taking his hand and twisting it downwards to his stomach.

He was trying his best to avoid the end from going into his stomach, but giving his hand a good push the blade had gone into his kidney.

The other man had something a bit...bigger. A fucking machete, she backed up as the man swung the bigger knife. Her back hit a table and she jumps on it. He tries to slam the blade down, but she had jumped over him.

And grabbed the pistol from the dead mans vest and pulled it out and fired a few shots at the man.

Ghost had some blood on him, but he watched Y/n and how she could handle herself, and her fighting style was weird, he didn't know what she was doing but it was impressive.

"Allez (come on)," she says, he shakes his head and follows her.

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

After the mission that turned out to be a success. Ghost had sat across the table from Y/n. She was drinking a beer while speaking with Gaz.

Ghost was still amazed she could fight like that.

"Y/n, where did you learn to fight like that?" Ghost had asked her making her stop her conversation with Gaz and looked at Ghost.

"What do you mean? I've always fought like that."

"I know, but like...did the French Military teach you?"

"Yes and no. They did but I put my own twist on it," she smiles at him. "Pourquoi veux-tu apprendre aussi, Ghost (why are you wanting to learn too, Ghost)."

"I don't understand," he says.

"Why Ghost, do you want to learn?" She rephrases.

"No, not really, I have my own fighting style thank you very much, but...damn...I've never been so impressed with how someone fights like you."

"I fight like a girl."

"A very...very hot girl." He confesses.

"WOAH! GHOST!"

"MATE COME DOWN!"

"Oh?"

"Sorry...I think..." he questioned himself. "It's just impressive, that's all," he says, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

"Aww, someone likes Y/n," Soap teased and Ghost smacked him upside his head. "Ow!"

"Shut up," he mumbles.

"Ghost, even though we didn't seem eye to eye at first, I am flattered...we should work together some other time," she smiles at him.

"Sure," was all he said.

"HEY LOOK CAP'N IS ABOUT TO SING!!" Soap yells as the guys all cheered for Price stepping onto the stage. Ghost had his head down but moved his eyes up to look at Y/n who was smiling at Price singing oh so awful, but it was just funny to watch.

[akanemnon]

Hey, how are you?

Hope your doing fine....

I have been reading the comics and loving the posts you make. I wanted to ask you genuinely how are you feeling about all this. It must be very taxing to keep up with a fan base that wants more and more of your work and mind, I just hope your not stressing and overworking yourself. I'm now in my second year of college and I've had meltdown and shutdowns over my assignments (I do games and animation btw), I have just calmed down to start thinking properly and I have released that THIS IS how content creators deal with.

(Also I'm sorry if I'm just repeating a question that someone else asked)

I don't post here alot but I do on other platforms for fun but nothing too serious just silly lil art pieces :P

I hope this comment tells you that we really are grateful for all you've made for us to enjoy together!

Lots of love for me! 💖 I hope you have a nice day.

HA YOU'VE LOWERED YOUR GUARD!

Get punched in the butt .w.

I've said it before, but I never expected all of... THIS.

I never was a big artist and I would rather throw myself out of the window than to view myself as such. But I kinda have to come to terms with Twin Runes being popular. By all means, I am VERY grateful for every reader. For every person who engages with the story. For everyone who holds emotional value in this story. I know for a fact there are people out there like that.

There are people out there who translate this comic into other languages. There are people out there who put their heart and soul into dubbing it. HECK, there are even people who make music for it. I STILL don't get it. But I am honored that people would put their time and effort into honoring the comic in their own ways. Guess it means I'm doing SOMETHING right.

But I dunno if I'm doing a good job at being an online presence. I only know I'm doing a good job drawing and and doing an alright job writing a story. I don't know how to engage with an audience, but I'm trying. Part of me wants to scream at times. And the other part of me tells the one that wants to scream to shove it.

I try to treat people with respect, but I sometimes wish it happened the other way around as well. But I've noticed that people are either intimidated by me, or absolutely have no filter at all. (The kinds of asks I get are concerning at times...) I guess that is what you're getting into when you become a decently big online person.

Despite that I never expected this story to make it big at all, I am very glad I ended up creating it. Because there's always something to learn. I wanna be better. Not just as an artist.

[kittenwriter]

I've been contemplating this the whole day and looking at some of the other reblog chains on this post, and I now think that some of this is a distinction that's not being made by... anybody... in these conversations: people who smoke versus the act of smoking. (To some extent it's in the language. You know how we talk about person-first versus identity first? "Smokers" posits smoking as a fundamental part of their core. I wonder how/if the conversation would change if we all started using "people who smoke.")

Because I shared an apartment for an entire year with people who smoked quite a lot of pot and while there were a lot of problems in that apartment, the pot wasn't one of them-- they were considerate and careful about where they smoked and I rarely if ever smelled it. (From them, anyway. The people in the next apartment down were another matter.) Similarly, I have a coworker who smokes cigarettes and she just... periodically disappears for ten minutes; doesn't affect me at all.

The way "form community with smokers" is usually phrased, it's often unclear whether what's meant there is "banning people from smoking at the organizing meeting is anti-leftist and makes you practically a cop" or "don't assume that everyone who smokes/does drugs/whatever is a bad person who can't participate" or even "you can hate them all you want but you have to be able to work with them because there are more Nazis than us." (Lest people assume I'm making up someone to be mad at with the first one, I assure you I have met these people. More than once. I've also seen posts in the other reblog chains of this where if that's not what they mean I cannot tell.)

I have no interest in banning people who smoke from anything-- I have an interest in banning the act of smoking in public spaces, in the same general vein as "your right to swing your fist stops at my face." And I absolutely get why people who can't be around smoke for whatever physical reason get angry and defensive in response to statements that come across like "banning smoking at the meetings makes you a bad leftist" whether or not that's what their interlocutor is actually trying to say.

You don't have to like weed but I find people who are vehemently anti-weed but claim to be left leaning infuriating. If you go into a rage because you smelled someone smoking pot, how the fuck do you expect to form community with people addicted to meth? It's easier to say you hate smokers than to say you hate all drug users in leftist spaces because one makes you sound a bit like a square while the other is the writing on the wall. You aren't anti-weed, you're anti-drug user and anyone who uses substances is not safe around you.

[markantonys]

scattered other 3x04 notes (including book spoilers):

there is no redstone doorway in rhuidean. i haven't seen anyone else mention this yet, but it was the #1 thing on my mind for the entire episode! do we think moiraine's and lanfear's fates will be different in some way in the show, or will they manage to wind up finding a doorway to fight in front of anyway? because show!rhuidean visions had it very specifically limited to the tree and the orb that were entrusted to the aiel, there weren't additional objects of power being carted around with them. and from the pic of moiraine glammed up and holding the orb in 3x08, it does feel like the orb is going to be relevant to their big fight. but how? do they get sucked into the orb and transported to finnland? or do they really both actually die for real and mat's missing eye foreshadowing in nynaeve's test vision was for naught?

i love that they kept the future AU of moiraine and rand hooking up LMAO i howled, it was so funny. and i wish they'd lingered longer on the Evil EF6 AU so i could get a closer look, they all look SO hot as evil versions!!!

Queer Randcestor has my WHOLE heart <333 that made me so happy!! the closest we will get to seeing queer rand onscreen haha (fic premise: present-day rand gets a bi awakening triggered after having experienced having a husband through the eyes of his ancestor djkfgj)

and the Hobbit Randcestor being in a little bestie trio with mat and perrin knockoffs! <3 josha did a pretty good job with an irish accent considering how incredibly hard it is to do regional accents in a non-native language! i hope donal and ayoola are proud! also, he did so well with having so much old tongue dialogue, it sounded great!!

i was SO thrilled that rand & avi got a little solo moment together in rhuidean. that was wonderful!! we can see them starting to see each other in a different light and understand each other better. avi being like "whatever, see you later wetlander (semi-affectionate)" and rand smiling after her <3

i miss mat-as-rand's-rhuidean-companion so dearly, but i can definitely understand how that wouldn't have fit with the show's version of rand's s3 emotional arc. i'll always have the book version of rand making the wise ones let his emotional support boyfriend defy all custom and tradition by coming to rhuidean with him! (although i didn't love moiraine getting mat's gag of "unloading an improbable number of weapons from increasingly-unlikely places"; i'm fine with shifting moments to different characters when appropriate, but that moment feels like it's more about mat than about rhuidean, so i would've preferred it stay with mat but happen in a different context than stay in the rhuidean context but happen with a different character. but that's a very minor quibble! and the moiraine moment was played fairly straight, so maybe mat can get an overtly comedic moment of a similar gag later.)

me seeing sevanna: oh no she's hot!! haha ONCE AGAIN they have struck us with hot villains. if Hot Sevanna and Hot Couladin want a third, i am available!

bair telling rand and egwene that their paths don't align, she really said "oh my god break UP already" jdkjfg i do think their breakup will come in the next episode or at the LATEST in episode 6 (maddy mentioned having a "cathartic" scene with josha under the block 3 director, so surely that has to be the moment when they finally talk everything out and decide they have to put their relationship to bed), but we shall see!

[rigelmejo]

Some language learning apps:

Notifyword - free, closest I cpuld find to a free alternative to Glossika with the feature to upload your own sentences/decks/spreadsheets, and it makes audio using TTS and plays them. However I did not test it enough to see if it schedules new/reviews so you don't need to manage figuring all that out yourself. It has potential, I will check into the app again in a year.

Smart Book by KursX - free, used to be my favorite app to read novels as it could do parallel sentence translation, then something broke on my version and it crashed whenever I opened a novel. Now any chinese book I add epub or txt shows me a black screen, no text, making the app unusable. Its easier to read in the web browser now. Which makes me sad because this app was so good back when I got it. Then something broke and I haven't been able to fix it. I paid for premium for this app I liked it so much, I'm really sad I can't see text in books in it anymore. If anyone knows how to fix this problem please let me know? Maybe it's a txt file setting? But then why do the epubs also not load text? Anyway great app... if it works for you. Sadly its broken for me.

Live Transcribe - I don't use this enough. It transcribes what people say (or audio), then you can click to translate the text.

LingoTube - only free app I know where I can put in a youtube video link, and it will make dual subtitles/let me replay the video line by line (including repeating a loop on one line), click translate individual words. Excellent for intensive listening. I'm usually lazy so I just watch youtube and look up an occasional word in Google Translate or Pleco. But this tool is excellent for intensively looking a lot up in a video/relistening to particular lines.

Duoreader - basic collection of parallel texts. No options to upload files, but super nice for what it is. Totally free.

Chinese:

Hanly - a new free app for learning hanzi. Looks great, has great mnemonics and sound information and you can tell it was made with love/a goal in mind. It's still new though so only the first 1000 hanzi have full information filled out, making it more useful for beginners. As the app is worked on more, I'm hoping it will become more useful for intermediate learners.

Readibu - free, great for reading webnovels just get it if you want to read chinese webnovels. You can import almost ANY webpage into Readibu to read, just paste the url into the search. So if you have a particular novel in mind you may want to do that instead of searching the app's built in genres.

Pleco - free, great for everything just get it if you're learning chinese. Great dictionary, great (one time purchase) paid features like handwriting, additional dictionaries, graded readers. Great SRS flashcard system, great Reader tool (and free Clipboard Reader which is 80% of what I use the app for - especially Dictate Audio feature which Readibu can't do).

Bilibili.com app - look up a tutorial, it is fairly easy to make an account in the US (and I imagine other countries) using your email. The algorithm is quite good at suggesting things similar to what you search. So once I searched a couple danmei, I got way more recommended. Once I searched one manhua video, more popped up. Once I searched one dubbed cartoon, more popped up. You can easily spend as much time on this as you'd like.

Weibo - you can browse tags/search without an account. I could not make an account with a US phone and no wechat account. Nice for browsing tags/looking up particular topics.

Japanese:

Tae Kims Grammar Guide - has an app version that's formatted to read easier on phones.

Yomiwa - this is the dictionary app I use for japanese on android.

Satori Reader - amazing graded reader app for japanese with full audiobooks for each reader (which you can listen to individual sentences of on repeat if desired), individual grammar explanations for each part, human translations for each word and sentence. When I start reading more this is what I want to use. Too expensive right now unless I'm reading a bunch, as only the first chapter (or first few) of each graded reader is free. I would suggest checking out the free Tadoku Graded Readers first online, then coming to this app later.

[rickgrimesdoingrickthings]

"Yes, I love hugging you." His cheeks still were flushing red. "I love...everything about you. I fell in love and every minute with you I love you more, and I'm not joking. I want to spend my life with you." He smiled when she pecked his lips and closed his eyes when she nuzzled their noses- he absolutely loved it, he did it as well, feeling their bond strengthen even more, Rick loved her love language, and when she stopped, he briefly rested his forehead against hers.

Rick listened carefully as she spoke, melting at her words, giving her as soft smile- she wouldn't judge him...that made him feel...lighter. "Okay...I'll keep that in mind...- you might find I'm too...cheesy though...." His voice had never been softer as well, he was relaxing enough to show her his true self- someone sensible who wanted to bond and share love. That was Rick's essence; it was simple and sweet and peaceful, and so underestimated by others.

He smiled when she leaned to kiss his neck- it felt so good, he was feeling loved after all. It sent shivers down his neck, made him feel numb almost, and his skin all senstive.

"Yeah, when you move. We've just done it, so I get all sensitive for a while; we've done it quite a lot...which is...good...and....- aaahnm-" He wasn't expecting she would move her hips again- Rick blushed all over again, his nipples got hard and his lips parted at the pleasure. Wow...she was...actually being a little dominant. He loved it- he loved to share dominance, to give her space to do what she wanted to him- feeling Wren on him felt like heaven, made him feel he belonged to her, all of him, and that made him feel crazy for her.

"I always want you Wren." The way he rested his head against her chest as he answered seemed so adorable- the tone of his voice and the load of affection he put in every word- it strongly hinted sex was just a detail compared with what he wanted- Rick was such a romantic. "What I'm doing to you?" He chuckled shyly. "I'm just...loving you." Rick smiled, nuzzling against her- he seemed very happy.

"Mnm....I love you too." He answered, his voice so honest, he was so calm and relaxed around her- and he was so happy it was mutual. "Okay...I'll stop...- but I'm being honest...you saved me...and...I'm so happy I can...make you feel good..." he muttered. Indeed, he did worship her- in a healthy way.

"Don't worry, I'll talk to Carl about it. He really likes you, Wren, I doubt he would dislike the idea of us being together." Then he chuckled as she said she wasn't ready to get off him. "I also like your noises..." he replied, melting at her touches, her hands feeling all of him, it relaxed and excited him at the same time- he absolutely loved her caresses, they made him want to purr again, groan in pleasure. "I also love everything about you. Every detail." That man was really in love. Her words meant the world to him.

"Uhn? Don't hate you? For wha-" He arched his head back and took a deep breath when she started having him- he really wasn't expecting it, what made it even hotter- his cock was still so sensitive due to their recent love making- he imagined they would just cuddle but damn, feeling her on him taking control, enjoying him, fucking him...- that took him to the moon.

He just couldn't move his eyes for a while, panting in pleasure as she moved her hip up and down. "....I....I also love when you fuck me like this...really..." Rick said between trembling breaths, surrendering to her. "I also want you to have me...Wren...I want you to claim me too...I'm all yours..." he was blushing hard, but not because he was ashamed- he was just so happy, it felt so intimate- and he had never shared such an intense connection with anyone-

As she moved her hip, his tip quickly got wetter inside her- he came a little bit, lubrificating them more, taking him to heaven as she kept having him- she was tight around him, every time she moved he felt his cock being pulled a little and getting massaged back into her, it got him moaning every time she went up and down, he really couldn't decide what part of it was better. "Wren...ahnmm....it's so good...." He whispered as his body arched back, all of him so sensitive. If was his first time getting topped by a woman, not having to do all the job, and it felt absolutely amazing, being fucked by her- he could just do nothing...just relax and surrender...and let her enjoy him and do it her way- he loved it. He was surprised at how good it was, not being the one leading it, just being fucked by her, it was new and so sweet- the way she moved up and down would make him come bit by bit, giving him some orgasm every time she tightened around him, not all at once but a bit every time she had him.

@littlewrensx

"I love to cuddle. I'll definitely cuddle you every night. And every morning I can. You might even ask me to let go of you a little bit when you find out how hugging you makes me feel."

Rick felt calm, loved, safe, he felt special and in love. And with that love being corresponded, he felt a warm sensation in his chest and so much happiness.

When she grinned and asked him why he had cursed, he blushed and smiled, his lips pouting a little. "Yes...yes it's what I wanted." He hid his face against her and chuckled silently, so happy they were together, so happy she had accepted his love, his cheeks still so red whenever she grinned at him, or teased. "...it's...that...every time you move...- I...it...it hits...strong." His cheeks got even warmer when he heard himself trying to explain it. He was falling for it wasn't he? Maybe she just wanted to hear from him that she could fuck really good and make him go crazy. But he felt that saying in such way could sound...a bit rude or...too blunt...?

"Y...yes...it's what I wanted." He looked down to where their parts were connected, that warmth still so present in his face, even his nose getting red now- specially after seeing her breasts so close, so hard, so pretty- all of her. He let another soft moan escape when he contemplated their position, when he felt her hands running over him. "Mnm...yes....please do that..." he whispered, looking down, hiding his face a little, still a bit timid around her, specially when she touched him- some spots were really sensible- he was still too timid to ask her to caress them, so he would just let her find them out.

"I'm not naive anymore to believe in heroes and such...but...you are my hero." he smiled, eyes so in love for her. "You're my light, Wren...you...gave me my world back..." he whispered to her.

"Fine...he's ditching you...a little. But...he...he'll come back. He told me a lot about you during dinner when you were busy and I was still eating. We could play cards all together next time so you two can teach me." He was realizing how happy he was...and how it had been such a long time he hadn't felt that way.

"Scarred? Oh no...I locked the door and closed the curtains so no one shows up here. Christ no, don't even make me imagine that-" Rick giggled sheepshly. Wren had called him love...

...

His heart even beat faster.

"When I do...what? I'm just...relaxing my troat and...groaning..." The sound was very similar to some weird purring though. "You're running your hands all over me...while...having me...still...and...warm...holding me..." His eyes met hers. "Mnngh...it...it's so good...it feels so good...Wren..." He kissed her neck, exchanging the caresses, hands feeling her sides and ribs, slowly cupping and feeling her breasts and chest, moving his hands to carress her back and give it soft scratches.

[keyboardsmashess]

The Siren, or The Heart of the Matter

Chapter Thirty Two: The Intervention, or Righting Some Wrongs

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x OFC

Warnings: language, fluff, angst, canon-typical violence, smut, implied abuse MINORS DNI. A/N: Second-to-last chapter, my loves 🥲 Can you believe it?? I just started working on my next project, though, and it's in the same universe as this one! So don't fret, you'll see our Cleo and Bucky again ❤️

Summary: Cleo and Bucky tie up a loose end and start to learn what life looks like after... everything.

Chapter Directory

Avengers minus Thor (only use when 🔨 off-planet or to talk shit about Loki)

Katniss: Where is everybody?

Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist: I’m in the lab with the doc

Giant Green Rage Monster: We’re looking over some of the tech from the sub, trying to figure out how Sapros got his powers.

Katniss: Hard pass ✋

Katniss: Anyone else?

Nat TonyifyouchangemynameagainIsweartogod Romanov: I’m in the gym practicing my knife-throwing.

Nat TonyifyouchangemynameagainIsweartogod Romanov: I could use a moving target if you want to join me.

Katniss: You know, we used to be fun 😞

Katniss: Clucky? What are y’all up to?

Lite Brite: What in the flying fuck is a Clucky?

Katniss: It’s your couple name - Cleo + Bucky = Clucky 👩‍❤️‍👨

Lite Brite: Kill it with fire.

Katniss: Listen, I don’t make the rules 🤷

Loverboy: Where are you, Barton?

Katniss: … I don’t think I want to hang out anymore

Katniss: Very busy. Lots to do.

Loverboy: I’m asking for a completely non-violent reason.

Katniss: Nope. Byeeeee 👋

Lite Brite: I think you should be wearing significantly less clothing.

Lite Brite: OMG NO NO NO

Lite Brite: THIS WAS THE WRONG CHAT

Lite Brite: NOBODY READ THAT

Lite Brite: BRB changing my name and moving to Mozambique

Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist: 🤮

Katniss: 🤮

Nat TonyifyouchangemynameagainIsweartogod Romanov: Barf.

Loverboy: 😏

Captain Underpants: I’m going to ask Maria to schedule a training about workplace boundaries. Sincerely, Steve Rogers

******

The Quinjet touches down in an abandoned parking lot on the outskirts of my hometown, and Bucky reaches out to grab my hand, stilling my nervously fiddling fingers. “We can turn around and go home right now,” he says.

I shake my head. “No. I have to do this.”

Natasha gives me a feral grin. “Good, I was hoping you’d say that.”

“Nat,” I say, eyeing the plethora of weapons on her belt. “Do you really need that many knives?”

She shrugs. “I like to be prepared for any possible outcome.”

Clint grins and hefts the quiver full of various tricked-out arrows. “Twinsies.”

“Are you forgetting that you’re only here for backup?” I say, looking at them pointedly.

Steve pats my arm with a gentle smile on his face. “I think this is how they cope with their anger,” he says, nodding to our friends. “But don’t worry, we know the mission - you and Buck take the lead.”

Tony sighs, chewing on a piece of an apple. “I still think you should let me go the corporate espionage route and financially ruin him. Takes a bit longer, but the fallout is so satisfying.”

Bucky comes up behind me and takes my hand, squeezing it once in a comforting gesture. I had been reluctant to share any of the information he and Nat had found on my stepfather with the rest of the team, but after the submarine - after getting Bucky back and finding out about my dad… Well, I’ve decided to turn over a new leaf. I’m trying to share more, much to my therapist’s delight. It’s disgusting and horrible, but also kind of great.

I survey my assembled friends, none of them besides Bucky and I necessary for the mission, but all of them here for me - with me - just the same. I give them a grateful smile. “We all know I’m shit at mushy stuff, but… thanks, guys.”

Clint mimes wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. “Oh my god, that was so beautiful.”

I roll my eyes and Nat punches him in the shoulder. “You ready for this?” she asks me.

I tap my glasses, helmet extending into place over my head to match the suit I’m already wearing. “As I’ll ever be.”

Bucky and I draw more than a few stares as we walk up the street of gaudy McMansions leading to my mother and Robert’s house. He’s quite the sexy intimidating sight, in the black tactical suit that leaves his metal arm on full display. And though I absolutely love it, the Sirensuit isn’t exactly subtle, either.

“Ten bucks says we’re on a gossip blog within the next hour.”

I huff a laugh, knowing he’s trying to distract me from our task. “A whole hour? I say no more than thirty minutes.”

His eyes crinkle in my favorite version of his smile - the one that tells me how much he adores me - and he shrugs a shoulder. “Fair enough.”

As we near my parents’ front door, my crystal starts to throb. I squeeze my eyes shut and take a deep breath. 

“We can turn back any time,” Bucky reminds me, and I open my eyes and nod.

“I know,” I say. “It’s fine. I’m ready.”

My mother’s car is absent from the driveway, just as we’d planned, so when I ring the doorbell, I know the approaching footsteps are Robert’s.

“Wha- Cleo? Is that you? And Sergeant - what are you doing here?”

I tap my glasses again, helmet retracting. I’d wanted to wear it as an intimidating shield, I suppose, but here - facing him - I decide that I want him to have to look me in the eye. “We’re here for something that is long overdue, Robert.” I stride past him into the house, not waiting for an invitation, and Bucky follows behind me.

Standing in the middle of the foyer, I pull out the device Tony gave me and click the button. Holographic versions of the files Bucky and Nat assembled blink to life in the air between Robert and I, and I watch the blood drain from his face.

“What the hell is this, Cleo?” he asks, clearly aiming for anger but sounding more like a scared little boy.

I casually flick through the pages, showing him the sheer quantity of data we have at hand. “This is a lot of things,” I say, voice deceptively light. “The police might call it evidence.” He blanches, but I continue. “My team might call it a reason to Avenge.” Pages fly by, and I watch the reflection of the collected information flicker in Robert’s wide, fearful eyes. “You might call it a rather large skeleton in your closet. But me,” I say, spreading my fingers to zoom in on a photo from my childhood. “I call it the beginning of a story.”

With a wave of my hand, the hologram disappears, and I return the device to my pocket. “And today, Robert, we’ve reached the ending.”

His fearful eyes dart between Bucky and I, but Bucky remains (as we discussed) standing in front of the door with folded arms, backup if I need it but otherwise simply a blockade. A very, very angry blockade.

I lift my hands, levitating off the ground, and Robert shrinks before me, a shadow of the man who once brought me so much pain. Reaching one hand forward, I squeeze my fingers, Robert’s airway constricting as I do, and he scrabbles at his throat with his own hands, clawing at empty air. Bucky says nothing, and as Robert’s face turns a deep red, I know he would remain stoically silent and allow me to play this thing through to the end, if that's what I wanted. Robert’s face turns purple now, and I imagine he’s starting to see spots in his vision. His pants darken and I realize he’s wet himself in fear. All the while, Bucky stands at my back, allowing me to choose - always allowing me to choose.

After one more moment to take in the scene before me, I wave my hands and Robert inhales a gasp of air, falling to the floor as tears leak from the corners of his eyes. My feet gently touch down on the hardwood of the foyer, and as Robert wimpers on the floor, I pull a letter out of my pocket and arrange it carefully on the key table. My mother’s name is written on the envelope.

I take a step toward Robert and he scrambles backward in an awkward crab-crawl, eyes wide in terror. My hands haven’t touched him once - a courtesy he did not extend to me - and yet he still cowers in fear before me. My face is grim as I look down at him. “You have no power over me anymore, Robert, and you never will again.”

Sirens wail in the distance as Bucky and I exit the house, hand in hand, leaving the front door wide open. The police can close it when they’re finished.

******

As always, Meg answers on the first ring. “Cleo? How’d it go?”

I hope she can sense my grin through the phone. “It was everything, Meggie. I finally feel like I have closure, whatever the hell that is.”

She sighs, relieved, and sounds much less tense when she speaks again. “Did… did you take him out?”

I laugh, loud and unrestrained, and she makes a little sound of offense. “You don’t have to speak in code, weirdo. You have a secure phone now, remember?”

“Alright, then, did you kill the bastard?”

I laugh again at her matter-of-fact tone. “No, I didn’t.”

“But whyyyyy?” Meg whines. 

“He isn’t worth it. I - I know what it feels like, now, to do that,” I say, picking at my fingernail. “And he’s not worth the pain it would cause me. Leaving him to rot in prison is enough.”

She sighs. “God, when did you become so damn reasonable?”

“If it helps, I scared the piss out of him. Literally.”

“Now we’re talking,” she says, and I really can sense her grin through the phone. “Tell me everything.”

******

Natasha Romanov has added you to a new group chat 💬

Intervention

Romanov: This is an intervention.

Barton: We love Clucky - really we do 🙏

Barton: But enough is enough 🛑

Rogers: I told you I didn’t want to be a part of this. Sincerely, Steve Rogers

Stark: Wait, what’s happening?

Romanov: We’re holding an intervention to tell Cleo and Bucky to stop eye-fucking each other in public places.

Stark: Oh hell yeah, count me in. Those two are gross.

Stark: I do miss the nicknames, though. You have no panache, Romanov.

Blake: Cleo can’t come to the phone right now because she’s changed her name and moved to Mozambique. Leave a message at the beep. BEEEEEEP.

Barnes: This is ridiculous, you guys. We’re not that bad.

Banner: … it has been kind of a lot

Blake: Et tu, Bruce?

Stark: What happened to Mozambique?

Blake: 😑

Barnes: Mind your own business and let us be happy.

Barton: I would, but now I can’t enter the gym without having flashbacks of you two on the weight bench 🤮

Rogers: Maria says the MANDATORY workplace boundary training is going to be next Thursday at 2:00 PM. Sincerely, Steve Rogers

Rogers: Also, did someone clean the weight bench? Sincerely, Steve Rogers

******

“Now I know where you get it from,” Bucky says.

“Hm?” I look up from the stack of papers to see him setting an impossibly heavy box of books down next to me.

“Your book hoarding.”

I huff a small laugh, smiling up at him. “Why do you think I fell in love with a supersoldier? Who else is going to carry all my books for me?”

He rolls his eyes but bends down to kiss me, distracting me for just a few moments. Or minutes.

Finally, I pull back, placing a hand on his chest to keep him from chasing my lips with his own. “Down, boy. I have a lot of work to do.”

Bucky crosses his arms. “You’re the only one setting a deadline.”

I sigh. “I know, but if I keep putting it off, I’m afraid I’ll chicken out and leave this stuff in storage forever.”

His eyes soften. “Alright, I’m sorry. I’ll stop distracting you.” He sits down in a chair on the opposite side of the desk and pulls a stack of papers toward himself. “Where do we start?”

I look up at him again, eyebrows knit. “What do you mean, where do we start?”

Bucky grins crookedly. “Well, I know I’m not as smart as you, but I figure four hands are still better than two. Put me to work, Dr. Blake.”

Now I’m the one who causes the distraction, leaning across the desk to plant a grateful kiss on his lips. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.”

In an effort to keep me on their good side, given the inevitable blowback from the media surrounding the employment of a HYDRA operative as a tenured professor, Culver decided to waive the requirement that I present my thesis to a committee in order to graduate. They accepted the final draft of the written copy immediately, and I had my degree by the end of the day - no ceremony required. I’m mostly relieved that I didn’t have to jump through that particular hoop, but part of me is still a little disappointed. I suppose it doesn’t really matter in the end, though, as I’ve committed to remaining an Avenger for the foreseeable future.

I sigh, looking at Bucky. “I don’t really know where to start, to be honest. I’ve just been reading through everything and trying to organize it chronologically, for lack of a better system.”

He nods, thumbing through the stack of papers in front of him. “What do you want to do with everything once it's organized?”

I frown. “I hadn’t really gotten that far.”

“Maybe figuring that out will help you decide how to move forward.”

I cast my eyes around the room Tony is letting me use to store my father’s research. It’s full to the brim, and it’s absolutely overwhelming. “I just… If I make a decision about what I’m going to do with his things, it’s like I’m…” I rub at my eyes. “It’s like I’m making it real, that he’s gone.”

Bucky nods, understanding in his gaze. “Yeah, I get that. But Cleo, you have to give yourself permission to not be ready yet. It isn’t going anywhere, and you have a whole bunch of people in your corner willing to help you when the time is right.”

I reach across the table and take his left hand, running a thumb over his metal fingers absently. “Now you sound like Dr. Benally.”

He smiles. “Well, she’s a smart woman. And generally speaking, if your therapist tells you something, it means it’s a good idea.”

I level a flat gaze at him. “Oh, so you listen to everything Dr. Raynor tells you?”

“Uh,” he says, freezing. “On second thought, there’s no time like the present.” He grabs the stack of papers again and starts reading them with gusto.

I giggle and push back from the desk. “I’m teasing. You - you’re right. I don’t think I’m ready, just yet.”

Bucky stands and takes two large steps to reach me, pressing a tender kiss to my temple. “I’m proud of you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I say, and he laughs, throwing an arm around my shoulders to lead me out of the room.

“Y’know, since you aren’t busy anymore, I had some ideas for how we could fill the time,” he says, raising an eyebrow at me.

Heat pools in my belly instantly at his words alone, and I pick up the pace. “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit. You might be smarter than me, Sergeant Barnes.”

He groans, and we all but sprint to his apartment. 

I really could get used to this.

[incorrect-jojolands-quotes]

so, trying to explain the whole thing that happened in chapter 24

From what Japanese readers have mentioned, there's some nuances regarding the use of Japanese when talking about men and women that is very difficult to translate and localize in English. Because of this, the scene can be misinterpreted as two characters intentionally being transphobic and/or one character having their gender incorrectly confirmed. Let me try by best to explain:

The term Howler used on Dragona is 女, which Jodio then mentions 女性. Both 女 and 女性 translate to "woman" but 女 is particularly used in what's I can describe as "informal" settings. From the start, the gang are in a business setting with Howler, in which "proper and formal" language is needed to match the situation. Acca proceeded to call Dragona 女, which is considered rude to use given the meeting started out as a business exchange. In fact, the term 女 can sometimes be used to belittle or speak harshly towards a female individual; remember that Acca was yelling at Dragona the whole time, demanding he follow his orders while manhandling them. An English equivalent would be him calling Dragona "girl"/"chick"/"bitch" (the last one is probably too harsh for the context at hand but you catch the drift) and "woman" could also be used. Notice how in English, the term "woman" doesn't always have that connotation that 女 in this context would have in comparison. But, with no exact translation, the closest thing to do is to translate Acca's use of 女 into "woman" and simply read it with a demeaning tone on the reader's end.

Seeing how insistent Howler is at calling Dragona in such a way, Jodio advised Charming Man to confuse Acca enough that it deescalates or at least halts the situation. This is where 女性 and 男性 comes in.

Similar to 女, a similar equivalent to 女性 would be "lady"/"female" as well as "woman". And the equivalent of 男性 would be "gentleman"/"male" in addition to "man". Jodio most likely is pointing out that Acca continues to refer to Dragona as a more insulting version of a female but decides to throw him off by having Charming mention Dragona is actually AMAB. In other words, the scene could also be translated as "Tell Acca that Pink-Chan isn't female- there's nothing wrong with that." Charming then reiterates this as Yokohama, with his line being translated as "Pink-chan is male but there's nothing wrong with it" as an alternative to what he stated by the translations. Both cases don't indicate that Dragona identifies as male but rather they are biologically male and nothing more; there's no indication of what Dragona themselves actually identify themselves as just male or whether their identity matches their biological sex. But, given that "woman" is still the closest term and more accurate thing to use with all this context and the scene at hand, that ends up being the words the translators use for the scene. However, that last part about "Pink-chan"'s biological sex being an unimportant issue is reiterated by both Jodio and Charming after their stafements and I think it's telling that two separate characters say that.

This still isn't concrete proof that Dragona identifies completely as male nor that Jodio and Charming are intentionally transphobic.

Remember that Charming is pretending to be Yokohama, a man we don't know much about besides being called a piece of shit by Acca. He gets giddy seeing Acca's incoming downfall and, although a bedroom matter, calls his wife 雌ネコ (which is somewhat derogatory), so we can assume the original Yokohama isn't such a good person in general. Charming proved himself to be a good actor (even going as far as fool Jodio in the beginning) and most likely is playing into Yokohama's true behavior with his random comment about Dragona's appearance. Charming is also just doing as Jodio asked him, seeing that Jodio was trying something out as a diversion. He's simply playing a character, and there's no proof yet that Charming does share similar sentiments.

Another thing with Jodio is that we still don't know completely what Jodio knows about Dragona's identity nor what Dragona is really comfortable with. Context clues do indicate that Jodio DOES know what Dragona is comfortable with and wouldn't intentionally misgender or use Dragona's identity as AMAB out of malice. Dragona is fine being called "big bro" (there is no equivalent to "older sibling" in Japanese though and there are cases where women could be called some variation of "big bro" as term of endearment i.e. Ermes Costello being called 兄貴 and Araki approving it) by both Jodio and Barbara Ann. Jodio, as we see, only inflict "unnecessary" pain towards people who hurt his family or out of self defense. He doesn't hesitate to kill Bobby Jean but he only does one drop and doesn't kill Lulu or hurt her further despite the opportunity. He was willing to burn down a bus full of people but ceased killing them all because he considered the trapped bird an innocent victim. He attacked the cops and went as far as still kicking them even after beating them in response to Dragona being harassed by them beforehand. With that in mind, Jodio only went with the approach not so much to hurt Dragona but sees it as an opportunity to distract Acca, and Dragona most likely picked it up and played along with it without thinking that it was done to hurt them. We may have a folllow-up scene where Dragona might provide some thoughts on the approach, but we can tell that what Jodio did wasn't just him being intentionally transphobic.

Something to also note: The current English translators particularly localize as little as possible for their translations (compared to the previous translators of the series). While some localization is done here and there (the MRI joke for example), it's why you notice suffixes like -chan/-kun and terms like senpai and kōhai retained in the text despite the story being set in Hawaii. What you see in Chapter 24 is the closest thing you can get to what the original text was, so what is translated is almost exactly Araki's writing. Even if you plug the text into something like Google translate (you can see that even what Google says seem to match up), you'll see what was written is very close to what was translated into English. As weird as Charming's statement towards Dragona after Jodio's suggestion were, it's Araki's idea and not just something the translators intentionally added.

The reason why Google translate is awkward is the way Japanese uses pronouns. In modern times, it is rare to use third person pronouns when speaking, so it's why you notice Google is saying "you" when given no context of what the scene is given. Up to now, the translators actually have to guess what pronouns are used and it's a big part of why Dragona is often referred to as they/them (and initially he/him). This is also why translations done by purely online translators and AI are looked down upon and shouldn't be trusted. But even so, you can tell this is what Araki had in mind with this particular scene and not something the editors simply inserted.

Chapter 24 is one of many examples so far in this part where this scene is rather difficult to understand and can be misinterpreted unless you're familiar with Japanese and how it's structured. Hopefully, what I provided gives some sort of context that explains the scene a bit better. Does this condone what Araki's approach is? Not really. I still agree with many that it is rather awkward and unnecessary when the fireboats later on created the distraction needed soon after, as well as the dialogue used even caused me to misunderstand the scene at first too. Not only that, the attempt ultimately failed as Acca escalated further, and it doesn't seem to really add anything else. It did buy them a bit of time to turn the money into counterfeit and change hands though, but I'm not sure if it's worth it.

With all this in mind, how do you interpret this scene?

[undead-cypress]

A few metaphor doodles and screenshots I either forgor or didn't think was worth separate posts. Also some language notes at the end

(the formatting of this post keeps getting screwy, bear with me for a sec)

Probably the first doodle back when I just started the game and the MP resource management was DIRE. Baby needs drugs

Started new game plus, but in Japanese so I can enjoy the puns. There's a few things that are specific to Japanese, like specific visual puns, formal/informal speech and honorifics that are untransferable but not much can be done about that. The English localisation is honestly spectacular. I'll put in a few notes about it after the read more below.

I'm also noticing a lot more little details, like the lines on that pillar is Maria's height chart - the letter that looks like n written on the pillar corresponds to M on the cipher they released with the OST

There are two mice at the inn at the beginning of the game even though I remember there being four by the end. Is it because Maria sees us as family at the end 🥺

Ok on the 2D sprite it's not as obvious but I'm just noticing on the 3D model that the lines under his eyes are eye bags. Are you doing ok buddy

Also, the ppl hunched over in the streets have fully modeled faces

POV: You're a Sanctist guard at the opera house who just watched your mage buddy get beaten to death by teenagers with sticks

Major spoilers below

9/24 lmao

And the two screens that sent me into hysterics at the endgame. Convenient censor bar will ALWAYS be funny

Notes so far on NG+ in Japanese (as of rn, just finished the Regalith Cathedral dungeon):

- Gallica kind of speaks like a kindly babysitter coaxing a child into doing their first tasks. Which is kind of exactly what she is. I've described it to people before as kind of like a children's TV show host? She uses "atchi", which is what really young girls use, or adult women mirroring young girls in children's TV shows use. Since she doesn't otherwise talk like a young girl and uses pretty complex vocabulary, it's much more of a kindergarten teacher vibe.

- Strohl has wildly swinging speech styles towards people he's casual with (Will, Maria, Fabienne), people he respects (exactly one person, Grius), and people he doesn't respect (literally everyone else). It's almost jarring how aggro he is in Japanese, because it just comes off as catty in English. Especially in the beginning when they're in a military setting, imagine if he just added "shithead" after every time he said the word "you" to everyone that's not Will and Grius. He also swears a lot. Like, a lot. Maybe I just didn't notice the first time because while "damn" and "bloody hell" are teeeechnically swears in English they don't register to me. Let Strohl say fuck!

- Grius sounds much more curt and reticent, less expressive.

- flashback Will and Prince doesn't have different accents, Will's voice is about half an octave higher than Prince

- Will has somehow avoided using "I" this whole time. Idk what personal pronouns they use. And unless I've somehow missed it, nobody has used a gendered third person pronoun for them either, everyone always just used the inputted name. Will also doesn't tend to speak in full sentences and trail in and out. Voice wise they sound pretty much exactly the same as in English. Incredible matching

- MORE USES BOKU. That threw me. I was expecting ware (hyperformal) or watashi (neutral). Boku is used by either young boys, or to show deference to someone of a higher age or social standing. More either thinks Will is older (impossible), of a higher social class (interesting), or he doesn't have a high self esteem (most likely).

- Hulkenberg has two modes: formal customer service mode, which is her out of battle mode. Even toned and gentle sounding, not really like English Hulkenberg at all. And then there's HYPERFORMAL BATTLE MODE where she swaps to using "ware" and sounds EXACTLY like English Hulkenberg. I suspect she'll be in this mode more and more as the game goes on. Her Jpn VA also does Yor Forger from Spy x Family, honestly that's perfect casting. Strongest baby guard of all time

- Zorba's voiced by Sugita (p5 yusuke, fe Chrom), so his voice is DEEP. No fun accents, but good evil cackling. Major win for the localization in this case because every English instance of an insult, be it "heathen", "vermin", "blaggard", "knave", "cur" etc was all just 貴様 (you, extremely derogatory) in Japanese. English Hulkenberg and Zorba gets real creative with it, but Strohl less even though he has probably used 貴様 the most out of anybody. They probably ran out of words he'd say after the first 18 times he used it.

- I'm not sure what title Louis has tbh because his followers just call him Louis-sama

- Louis sounds a bit more serious and less mocking but otherwise not much different in text.

- Rella sounded so much like Japanese Fuuka I looked it up and she IS! Welcome back 🤗

- some archetypes are named differently. Not really a big deal tbh. Warrior was Fighter, Mage was Magician, Brawler was Monk, etc. Mostly just to make them sound cooler in English.

- Another major win for the English localization is "horse drawn carnage" was originally just "horse strike".

- "peerless stonecleaver" though, was 断岩無双烈空斬 which, while it is literally what it means, has the vibes of what a kid thinks a cool anime sword move should be called. Idk how to articulate that better in English tbh

- The title for the lineage is written in Japanese kanji but the individual classes are in katakana, usually using loanwords, but even the Japanese titled classes like ninja and samurai are written with kana in classes.

Was also thinking that in English, everyone has British Isles accents except for Will and Gallica, and thinking maybe that was the in-universe Eldan accent? Until getting to the Sanctum and everyone there also had British Isles accents. Then you meet Agrica, who has the same accent. I must be forced to conclude: Will has a FAIRY accent.

I must also be forced to extrapolate: there exists countries outside of Euchronia with Australian, New Zealand, Newfie, Texan, Socal, Mid-Atlantic, Jersey, Cajun, etc, accents. That sounds so fun

[moki-dokie]

Twice, my best friend has crossed a boundary with me. The first time it was unintentional. I made it very clear afterwards. The second time she ignored it.

Both times she was drunk.

And we aren't talking about I had a few drinks drunk. Hers is the I had a few drinks after an entire bottle of whiskey and a few shots for good measure drunk.

I gave her a good telling off. She apologized. She owned up to it. I forgave and life moved on. Water under the bridge.

Today, a couple of months later, she's finally taken the step to go to AA. I couldn't be more proud of her for it. She said that telling off had been eating at her so badly that it managed to break through the bullshit that drives her to drink out of control. And not because I had to get firm with her, but because I did it with the same unconditional love I come at her with everything else, because I treated her as a person, because I was willing to forgive and keep loving her - despite how badly she was triggering my PTSD.

I know a lot of people would have written her off, thrown her out, deemed her as abusive and predatory and whatever other therapy language people love to blithely throw around. Maybe drunk her is those things. But drunk her is a diseased her.

Something people forget about alcoholism is that it is indeed a disease. It can fuck a person up as badly as depression can and can go just as dismissed because it isn't always seen.

Of course, none of us are obligated to forgive transgressions even from a person not of sound mind - but I think a lot of people could do with just a little more patience and a little more kindness. Especially when you know something is wrong with them. sometimes that's all it takes to give someone the push they need in the right direction.

I'm especially jaded about drunks. I'm especially fucked up with PTSD from drunks. There are legitimately few things in this world that actually, authentically, very seriously send me into a terrible horrible bad bad bad place like drunks, because my sole parent was a highly abusive one. Like I'm lucky to be alive today kind of abusive. I tried and I tried and I tried with her, thinking if I just keep trying maybe she'll finally get help. But eventually, I finally realized she never would. Just like she'd never apologize. Or like she'd never even own up to having ever done wrong. So five years ago I cut her out of my life, cold turkey. Which eats at me, because she is mostly disabled and lives alone on a farm in the middle of nowhere with no stable income except some very meager oil royalties that dwindle more each year. I know one day I'm going to get the call I dread the most. And she'll have been alone. And I will feel guilty, probably forever, because that is how she has hardwired me to feel. But it was high time I started protecting myself, so I'm willing to take on feeling guilt forever if it means I can start healing in other ways, which I have.

She is also diseased. She was diseased before I came into this world, though. I don't blame her, nor do I love her less for the things she cannot control. But I do blame her for the things she can, and for all the sober opportunities she's had to simply admit fault and say sorry. I blame her for trying to use my brother to drag me back into her mess. I blame her for all the times I have cried and pleaded with her to get help when she had a clear enough mind to hear me and she's refused.

My best friend needed only a stern talking to and it crushed her to know she had hurt me even a little. My mother refuses to acknowledge the fact she has put my life in jeopardy on multiple occasions and inflicted emotion wounds that will never fully heal.

Alcoholism does not discriminate. It doesn't give a single shit. My best friend is lucky she's only been in the clutches of it for a few years, and that i have a lifetime of experience navigating how to handle drunks like her to have eventually and finally broken through. Both of them, however, I treated with love and kindness until the point I couldn't anymore. For one, that was enough. For the other, she's likely to die alone, having pushed away every friend and family.

You can't change them all, but, idk, I think it's worth trying sometimes. It's worth enduring a little more pain sometimes. It's worth assessing the risk rather than flat out avoiding it sometimes.

I couldn't save my mother, but no one can except herself anymore - and that isn't my fault. I tried for far longer than I ever should have. But I did save my best friend. And if I hadn't tried, I would have felt some of the blame. Because not only is she my friend and I love her, but she is just human like the rest of us and it isn't her fault she's succumbed to the vicious cycle that she was already genetically and societally predisposed to.

There's really no point I'm trying to make to the masses here. Just that this sickness can manifest in wildly different ways. And it's too easily dismissed and too easily enabled and too easily accepted. And that my friend is getting help and she's not going to drink or pill herself into an early grave. And that I'm thankful beyond words for that.

[biancadoes1]

I haven't seen the yungblood pics you guys are talking about and I know a lot of us are getting tired of this. Everything. Or maybe it was me kinda expecting A's repeated appearances but also it made me realized something.

If there is one thing Luke is really consistent with his appearances with A is that, he cannot act like an actual boyfriend in love with his girlfriend, and he cannot act like he is genuinely enjoying her company. And we cannot see Luke's smiling whenever he is making physical contanct with A.

And the consistent Luke's off body language.

I'm so glad I have a relative who studies Kinesics and I showed her Luke's all public appearances with A. And she pointed out really interesting things.

● If there is a repeated physical signs of discomfort or like a monotonous facial expression, something massively is WRONG behind the scenes. (She was talking about how off putting Luke's facial expression is. And I haven't told her about them being alleged couple.)

● I know a lot of people misinterpret body language, but if you want to know how comfortable someone is with other people, just see how much of distance their body is with others. If the distance between is like, not even a tiny insect or an air can separate them, not even a single gap, that's when you can tell the level of comfort two people have. (I showed my relative the vid of Luke and A at the water in Italy and she was gagged by how much of that screams stress all over.)

● Look how his body is always, like always facing away from her. That's a clear sign of someone being forced to keep somebody who is he not comfortable with. (She's talking about the BOSS event here)

● The nervous energy he was exhibiting in all events(that I showed my relative) is not normal when he is with her company.

And then I told her they are apparently a couple and this is her response.

My relative also said, "You don't need to be an expert to know if someone is genuinely feeling discomfort at the company of someone they don't want to be around. Say, I can tell from the things you showed me, it seems like the guy(Luke) was really trying his best to keep that uneasiness under wraps whenever he was with her. And it starting to show, because his body is start to fidget whenever it can now. And the forced posture, and the distance is loud. He is leaning his body away from her, through pics or vids you can see it. Even while they are walking despite the attempt to conceal it via physical contact. He may be holding her hand but the distance between their interlock hands and his body is so visible. Whoever is this people may be, people needs to realize that his facial expression is like a cry for help. And I'm not even kidding. That vid of them sitting in a table? The silence and the reduced participation with each other? That's a clear sign of a forced. That alone should tell you that something is incredibly wrong, despite you telling me they are couple. In my truest opinion, they are not."

I tried to asked somebody to know if we are just being delusional or not. And I'm glad to know at least I am not the only one seeing that consistent uneasiness with Luke's face whenever he is with Antonia.

Let me know your thoughts B. Thanks!

First off, I love posts like this with opinions from outsiders. It's refreshing and helpful to get a temp check for what most of us (on this blog at least) are currently thinking.

I agree with all of this, too. This is what most of us have picked up on and why we're all tired af right now 🤣

But it's nice to see it from the perspective of someone who studies this because it shows how damn noticeable it is.

It's VERY easy to glance at pics of them and believe them to be a couple. That's fine if that's the case and all people choose to do. However, when you take the time to look back at all these appearances just this year alone? It really doesn't speak to two people in a relationship at all. Add in everything since June 2024 and it paints a really different picture than what the current surface level view provides.

Thank you so much for sharing anon ♥️

[chthonion]

👀 The version of things where Annatar does use the Benign Necromancy Thing to help Maglor when he runs away?

Answering asks waaaay out of order because this one is easy: I might as well just go ahead and drop the outtake under a cut.

You can see that the intensity wasn't yet where I needed it to be, and also that...as soon as I raised the intensity a bit, it was clear that no one was ever going to allow this. But it was a pretty neat thought.

---

Maedhros puts his arms around his brother and stands there, his face grim and alone and far away, his chin resting on Maglor's head.

"It's all right," he says again, as if he's said it a thousand times. "It's all right. You can come back."

Annatar cannot see Maglor's face, from this angle, but he can see Maedhros's, and--he doesn't like it. He doesn't like the helplessness, the loneliness, the hurt.

Annatar looks at Maedhros, only at Maedhros, and says, "Do you remember what I did when Curufinwë hit you, in Mandos?"

Pause.

"Wait," Maedhros says. "Can you still do that?"

"You never actually explained that," Ambarussa says warily.

"Try it," Maedhros says. "If you hurt him, I'll kill you."

"Trust me, I'm aware," Annatar says dryly. He comes up closer to the creek, so that he's near enough that he won't have to exert himself, and closes his eyes so that he can find the edges of himself.

His spirit is here; the world is there--

He reaches those edges out, as he has long been in the habit of doing when he didn't have a body to get in the way--

Finds Maedhros's spirit, steady and hurting, and discards it; finds Maglor's, all diffuse and blurry at the edges--

He narrows in on Maglor's spirit and clamps down, slow but inexorable, pressing the diffuse and disintegrating edges back together again.

Maglor jerks in Maedhros's arms, gasping for breath, struggling suddenly against the embrace. Annatar steps back, holding his hands up, as Elrond takes a threatening step forward.

"Shhhh," Maedhros says. "Shhh, Mags, it's all right, I'm here. Everyone's safe."

"What the fuck," Maglor says in Westron, and then, when Annatar starts to let the pressure up, "No, don't stop."

Annatar reasserts the pressure.

"The fuck," Maglor says again, in Westron, and then, in Sindarin, "Let go, I need to breathe." And, when Annatar starts to let up, "Not you, don't you dare make me do this by myself."

Annatar clamps down again.

"Me?" Maedhros says.

"Yes, you," Maglor says, and, when released, falls promptly to his knees on the ground and presses his hands to his temples.

"Hmm," Maedhros says, and crouches down so that he can keep an eye on his brother's face.

"It's fine, it's fine," Maglor says. "Who in Music's name is doing--that?"

"Me," Annatar says. "Should I stop?"

"No," Maglor says.

"Tell me when you're done with it, then," Annatar says.

"Why on earth," Maglor says, slipping back into Westron, "is this a thing you know how to do?"

"It's useful for other things too," Annatar says, in the same language.

"Quenya?" Maedhros says. "Sindarin? Any language we all speak, please?"

"Sorry," Maglor says in Quenya. "Sorry, it's fine, I think I've got it now." He looks up at Annatar. "Let go?"

Annatar lets go. Maglor sways for a moment, disoriented, and then shakes his head and steadies himself.

Then he blinks at the river, and blinks at the trees, and says, "Wait. Where are we?"

[emiqip]

ok so my ability to write anything consistent has been temporarily siphoned away from me but i NEED to share a vision with you guys.

after a few months of traveling with the apocalyptic family, Orion discovers he apparently has developed some feelings for the very big very handsome guardian in charge of the group of feral children. And who can blame him, really? Tall, rich and a Father! Zoowe-mama!! Too bad he most likely has no chance to begin with like c'mon he's sooo out of his league it's not even funny...

Shockwave wants to bag that human and he wants to bag him NOW! Running into Orion had been a particularly pleasant surprise: having someone to aid him in managing ten rambunctious kids while traversing the apocalypse, was a very welcomed thing- and that someone being exceptionally endearing was just an addition to it all! But alas, he and the human come from two very different worlds- two souls forever cursed to never truly vow their love for one another in fear of painful rejection *clutches her pearl necklace*

The children are so fucking done- the only two adults believe they're good at being subtle about their feeling for each other when they're clearly painfully NOT! God, they might be children but they're not stupid- Skids suffers the worst of it all being the only reliable translator between mer and human language and trust me you don't know how awkward it is not only watching your parents clumsily flirt but being the one who's in charge of making that communication happen!!

To put an end to it all the kids start hatching a plan: raid an abandoned high quality clothing store and steal some suits (they're all clearly too big for any of them- but it only gets ridiculous when Blue tries his own and gets completely drowned by it + the twins sharing one jacket like two racoons in a trench coat situation). Next they find a half destroyed restaurant and try to tidy up a bit to set the right atmosphere (TC and Soundwave end up being the two in charge of this).

Without revealing anything they manage to ambush Orion and get him to wear one of the more fancy clothes they found in hopes to fix whatever fashion catastrophe has hit this man. After they sort of forcefully get him to a secondary location- aka the restaurant (no it's not kidnapping if you live in a sunken lawless city) where Shockwave is waiting for them at a table that looks comically small compared to him.

Orion just computer crashes for a minute because maybe it is the atmosphere, maybe the moon and the stars are twinkling brighter this evening or maybe it is the background lull of the gently crashing waves, but tonight- tonight the mer is a beacon of radiating beauty and he- little plain simple old mundane Orion- is the sole focus of those crystalline blue eyes...

The evening is a success, of course!

Blue became their waiter, even putting on a very bad french accent and using a piece of algae as a fake mustache. The food tasted horrendous but it was totally worth it saying the smiles on their kids faces after finishing their plates.

And if at the end of their date, after the kids ran off to bed- basking in each other company they shared a silent kiss nobody was there to witness it besides the quite starry sky.

ah i love them they remind me of this image /hj🩷

au belongs to the lovely lovely @keferon :D

[ranticore]

When creating new terms and words like Kattakati for different settings (Kosa, Siren), what's your process? Do you base it off words that actually have meaning in our language, or do you go with what makes sense sound-like? I remember you talking about the etimology and language of Siren being derived from english, so I'm also curious about how that's going!!!

i haven't managed to make a lot of headway but the general shape of air-languages on the eastern continent is determined by landstrider harpies, as zeta themselves don't use verbal language. landstriders use a lot of repeated vowel and consonant sounds in their words - the syllables should feel somewhat bouncy. and this is because landstriders spend hours at a time in travel and a lot of their speech has to sort of develop around their own hopping gait - so multisyllabic words get broken in between hops with distinct split-second pauses on landing. idk if this is practical or realistic at all but i was trying to imagine the type of words someone would invent if they spent 80% of their time running and had to speak around their pacing and breath regulation. so kat-a-kat-ee or the like could even be spoken over four paces (though would probably take two - katta-kati)

a lot of concepts like these don't have an english root because they're describing something which entered the lexicon long after "original" english died out. in the time it took for the early zetas to colonise land, evolve terrestrial forms, and start to integrate enough that spoken language could be used to refer to their cultural concepts, english was no longer spoken and its descendants had lost intelligibility with english. meaning that any new words coined after that point were wholly original. soo there's not much i can say about the process of warping english words into neo-english, so far it's mostly been me trying to tease out what point in the timeline this word would have been coined, who would have used it, and how closely related it would be to its wider family tree. i am so bad at conlangs lmaoo i haven't actually begun to start the process of making rules and stuff for this evolved english