#ANYWAY I worked super hard on this it took me like two weeks

[robindaydream]

Movie night with the gfs.

[writingouthere]

neighbor!Sukuna x single mom!reader; your ceiling is leaking at 3 in the morning and you don't know what to do so you go ask for help from the man across the hallway(inspired by real life events that were not nearly so charming).

no need to have read the others in the series but can be read as a week or two after the aquarium date.

cw: Sukuna being a menace

Sukuna had always been a light sleeper so when there were knocks on his door at 3am, he was up instantly. The knocks weren't even loud but he found himself annoyed enough to stomp to the door. If he wasn't sleeping, the people below him didn't need to be either.

He yanked his door open, prepared to make whoever it was regret every moment of their existence but it was you, holding your daughter and clearly on the verge of tears.

You seemed contrite when you saw his expression but before you could even start to apologize, he was slipping on his boots and grabbing his key.

"What's wrong," he asked.

"It-it's the ceiling, I woke up and it was leaking water. It's getting everywhere and I don't know what to do and the landlord isn't picking up."

Sukuna rubbed your arm, trying to give you some comfort and you relaxed a little.

"Okay, let me come take a look. I can call the super, he's probably more likely to answer than the landlord." You nodded and he followed you back to your place. Holding his hand out to stop you at the door as he made to go in first.

Sukuna heard the water pouring in before he saw it. He had never been in your apartment before. It was clear that a woman there. There was color everywhere, more blankets than made sense for two people and the walls were covered in photos and artwork. It felt soft, it reminded him of you. And now, it was being ruined by water raining down from the ceiling.

"Why don't you wait in my apartment. You both look like you could use some rest. I'll sort this out," he said, handing over his key. You looked ready to protest but then your daughter started crying.

"Go, I got it."

You looked so relieved and he wiped away a few tears from your daughter's face and pressed a kiss to her forehead which helped bring the tears down to a more tolerable snuffling.

"Thank you so much, I don't even-"

"Don't worry about it. You two just go settle in the guest room and I'll wake you up when it's settled."

You smiled at him and you seemed to hesitate before you went up on your toes to give him a quick peck on the cheek.

Sukuna couldn't stop himself from grinning as you took your daughter out the door and towards his apartment. He turned around to look at the mess that was your apartment. It looked like a pipe must have burst in the apartment above yours. Annoying, but a quick fix when caught this early. He grabbed his phone, opening it to call the super before a thought came to him that just wouldn't leave.

It would be a shame if you had to terminate your lease because of unsafe conditions, after all you must still have a good six months left on it. He knew you didn't have any family in the area and it would be a lot for a working mom with a kid as young as yours to go apartment hunting all the sudden.

Of course, he did have that guest room. Plenty of space for the three of you and it wouldn't be hard to bring over the stuff you needed while you looked. His apartment was bigger than yours, even though it was just him.

Even if it was a tight fit, his lease was up at the end of the year anyway. You could always get a bigger space, one for your soon to be growing family.

Sukuna pocketed his phone and took a seat at your dining table, away from the water. He figured it would only take another hour before the damage passed the point of no return.

He hoped you and your daughter were resting well in your new home.

[kacchans-waifu]

k*nktober week one : dubcon/s*x pollen

SEXY CURSED SPIRIT — on a mission, satoru gets hit by a cursed spirit. unbeknownst to you, the curse's technique happens to be a phenomenal aphrodisiac.

word count: 1.3 k

content warning: dubcon, unprotected sex, unestablished relationship, oral sex (f. receiving), creampie, not proofread minors DNI

a/n: okay so i completely missed my own deadline and this is highkey buns but trust i will be making up for it during the rest of the month so just bear with me, chat

requests | k*nktober masterlist

Satoru Gojo, the strongest jujutsu sorcerer of the modern era, the honored one himself, was stuck fucking his fist, alone in his room, with nothing but the thought of you running through his mind.

It wasn’t often that Satoru messed up. In fact, he almost never did. Today was one of those “almosts.”

He had been looking forward to this mission with you since Yaga assigned it. He was always super happy whenever he got to work with you, and, unfortunately, a bit careless—he’d always been a bit of a showoff anyway.

“I think it went this way,” you said, carefully walking down the alley. Satoru followed close behind, his strides far from as careful as yours. The cursed spirit the two of you were after was nothing too special. You, specifically, didn’t know about how it worked, as that information Satoru decided to withold from you— “It doesn’t matter, it won’t get a chance to show us when we show up,” he boasted. The most you knew was that it���s abilities were not completely lethal.

What you learned later was that he was only half telling the truth. The full truth was far too embarrassing for him to say.

—

“What the hell happened to him?”

You held the door open for Satoru, who was being held upright by Ichiji—Satoru refused to be held by you. “He got hit by the curse we were after,” you answered.

Shoko guided Ichiji to a bed to place Satoru down. You followed closely behind. As they laid him down, Shoko questioned you as to what you knew and what happened. In all your panic, what you didn’t notice was the prominent tent in Satoru’s pants.

“S-Shoko…get her out of here,” Satoru requested weakly. Shoko, at first confused, took one look at his “situation” and asked you to leave.

—

“Y/N, you really…shouldn’t be here…”

Satoru hadn’t let you into his room yet, but you could hear him on the other side. He sounded weak and out of breath. Desperate, even.

You stood outside of his apartment, holding a bag of medicine, tea, and soup. You didn’t know exactly what was wrong, but your panicked and concerned mind raced to get anything to help him feel better, especially after the message Shoko gave you. “I was worried, so I wanted to check in.”

“I told you…to stay away from me…” He was leaned up against the wood, slowly stroking his hard cock. He had already came five times before you showed up, and each time he imagined he was fucking you.

With heavy breaths, he wondered what you looked like on the other side, what you were wearing, what expression you had on your face. All that raced through his mind was you.

“Satoru, let me in.” You swore you could hear a moan from the other side of the door. “Shoko said you were asking for me.”

“I’m serious, Y/N…” Suddenly, he felt himself cum in his hand. Despite that, he was still impossibly hard. “I don’t know what I’ll do…”

“Just let me help you—“

The door opened and you were met with Satoru, cheeks flushed and eyes clouded. He was panting and looked down at you like a wolf watches a lamb. You barely processed the fact that he didn’t even bother to cover himself up when he pulled you inside harshly and into a heated kiss.

You tried to push him off of you, but the strength of the strongest living sorcerer was beyond overpowering. He held both of your wrists with one hand before just barely closing the front door and pinning you against it. Your face was hot when you felt him groan into your mouth and his knee pressed against your heat.

After what felt like forever, he pulled away, leaving you both panting messes. “DId Shoko tell you what this curse did to me,” he asked, half lidded eyes looking down at you. You let out a weak “no” before he picked you up and bent you over the nearest surface. “Been thinking about you…That’s what this stupid curse—” You feel him yank down your bottoms and panties— “is doing to me…”

Satoru takes a moment to admire the sight in front of him—bent over and helpless. He took two fingers and swiped them in the wetness between your legs and, god, you were soaked. Suddenly, he gets on his knees and spreads your ass cheeks to get a better look at your drooling pussy. “So pretty,” he mumbles before burying his face in your heat.

You moan loudly at the sudden contact, letting him spread your legs for better access. “S-Satoru…” Your legs go weak as he sucks on your clit and fucks your hole with his tongue. Thankfully, he was holding you up, fingers gripping onto your thighs tight enough to bruise.

It’s not long until he makes you cum with a loud, whorish moan. Desperately, Satoru laps up every bit of your release.

You were going to raise yourself up, but you felt Satoru press you back down onto the counter and grip your hips. He strokes his angry red cock and practically shoves it into you, bottoming out with a guttural groan. “Oh, f-fuck…”

His thrusts were initially slow—you could feel him actively restraining himself—but with a low apology, he quickly began to pound into you. You’re an absolute mess as he holds you down and perfectly hits that spot inside you. Satoru is absolutely losing his mind. To think, because of some stupid cursed spirit with an aphrodisiac ability, he’s finally able to have you like this. “You sound so sexy, Y/N…”

“S-Satoru, I’m gonna…” Your legs begin to shake as you feel your orgasm ring through you. Satoru whines at the feeling of your pussy squeezing around him, only hastening his pace to feel it even more. With the same harshness, he fucks you through his orgasm, aiming for another one. “I-It’s too much…”

“C’mon pretty, just give me another one,” Satoru begged in between moans. “Just let me fuck this curse out of me…”

He makes you cum another two times before moving you to his room. He kisses you desperately, like he’ll die if he pulls away from your lips. His hands are on you the whole time, grasping at any bit of you that was within reach. “You’re so perfect,” he repeats as he fucks you in missionary.

Your legs are resting on Satoru’s shoulders as he goes for your fifth orgasm of the night. Your moans morph into whimpers and cries as he continues rough thrusts. Your arms are wrapped around his neck as he makes out with you. Satoru growls into your mouth and his thrusts grow erratic and impatient. It was clear that he was set to cum any minute.

“God, you’re so perfect for me, Y/N…” His eyes are locked on you, never wanting the image of your fucked out face and glistening, naked body to leave his mind. “Wanna have you like this all the time…”

You’re under him, repeating his name like a mantra as you feel yourself closer to cumming. “I’m so c-close, Satoru…”

“Fuck baby, I’m cumming…” As you clench around him, you feel Satoru spill into your sopping cunt. He whines and moans unabashedly as you milk him for all he’s worth until you both end up passing out in his bed.

When he wakes up the next morning to find you passed out next to him, he readies an apology. Though, once you assure him that it was fine and you were happy to be the one to help him, he asks if you’d be willing to help him with a new growing problem.

[cheruverse]

screw that pillow— screw himself too!

saiki k. x reader

✦ — notes : i can't sleep without cuddling a pillow it feels so incomplete and empty and it irritates me ARRGGHHHHH

୨୧ cws : touch starved reader. fluff.

✦ — warnings : established romantic relationship. probably ooc saiki.

you and SAIKI planned to watch a movie at his house while having both of your favorite sweets at the same time.

saiki had just teleported to buy coffee jelly and your favorite desert at a convenience store.

you stared at the open window of his bedroom. it's a sunny day. the sunlight pooled through the window, giving your room a lukewarm ambience.

the birds chirped as the wind breezed in the room. the cool breeze was subtly brushing your face.

you inhale the fresh air, and relax for a bit as you bask in your lonesome.

that was when you realized that you were feeling tired and drowsy. your eyes were starting to close on you. your mind goes all the way back to monday; you remembered you didn't get enough sleep this week because of some class report that was super important for your grade.

you fight the urge to sleep and occasionally flick yourself on the forehead a few times to wake yourself up. it worked, but it didn't stay for long.

curses. it's getting hard to stay up. you wouldn't want to ruin a date, would you?

.. or maybe you should go and get some shut eye for a bit. saiki's gone for a few minutes so you have some time to take a power nap.

you yawned, rubbing your eyes slowly. it wouldn't hurt, right?

yeah, it wouldn't.

you close your eyes, deciding to snooze for a bit. you grab a nearby pillow and cuddle with it, and the pillow smelled like saiki.

you slowly feel your drowsiness enveloping you, and immediately fall asleep.

saiki teleports back with a bag filled with coffee jelly and your favorite dessert, and sees your figure cuddling a plushie.

'figures, i knew they would be sleeping by now.' he rubs his eyes through his glasses. he's aware you hadn't had enough sleep this week, and the lack of sleep made you miserable.

saiki stared at the pillow you were hugging. he knew you were touch starved and absolutely hated it. he'd swat your hand away if you tried to pinch his cheeks, or if he was feeling petty, he'd teleport behind you if you wanted to surprise him a hug; he's not the one to like physical touch.

he's seen you cuddle plushies and pillows in your sleep and he took you as the type to become cuddly and clingy in your sleep, but why is he getting so worked up just because of a mere pillow?

'no, it's nothing to me. why would i get—'

then it hit him hard. saiki, an all knowing and powerful psychic, getting jealous because of a lousy pillow? absolutely foolish. he wouldn't feel like that at all!

this is something silly to be absurd about, and he felt preposterous; not only on that damn pillow but himself too, for getting so pissed at it for some stupid reason. screw that pillow— screw himself too!

a sigh escapes his lips as he sets the bag down at his table. he wouldn't mind spending the rest of the day sleeping in with you anyway, he's tired too.

he walks to his bed, carefully lying down as to not wake you up. the two of you are in close proximity and he becomes hyperaware with his surroundings, his mind racing with his thoughts.

it feels weird for him to be this close to you, even if you had exchanged kisses and hugs in the past, but you always initiated them. this time, he's the one initiating.

he reluctantly encircled his arm around your waist, pulling you close. he feels you shifting to snuggle up to him, your head leaning to his chest.

maybe this wasn't all too bad.

saiki closes his eyes and immediately felt lightheaded after, enveloping your warmth as he falls into deep slumber.

you're going to have to wake up to a lazy psychic after.

reblogs are appreciated! ♡

[i-arch-my-backula]

Telling slashers you like 'hot old men'

I am an old man lover and enjoyer for life. I love hot old men I hope I become one when I'm older. So what better way then to make a post appreciating all of the hot old men I'm in love with. I know some of these men aren't like super old but it's still kind of old ok? We're talking an age range from 30's-50's. Also this was buried in my drafts since like April.

Includes: Doomhead, Mark Hoffman, Peter Strahm, Hannibal Lecter, and Bo Sinclair

Warnings: None I can think of

Doomhead

He honestly thought you said something else when you first said it. You two were watching a movie together and you made a comment on how you love "hot old men".

When he asks you to repeat yourself and you confirm that you said you love hot old men he laughs. He knows he's an older man but you saying that is really funny to him.

"Are you calling me an old man, sugar?" He asks you, pressing a kiss to your cheek. After you clarify you don't mean it in a negative way he just keeps laughing quietly.

He'll bring this up from time to time when he sees fit. He honestly might play up the 'old man' act just to tease you about it even more. But he's not too offended that you said it.

Mark Hoffman

You and Hoffman are coworkers and you've been dropping hints to him about your attraction to him. Today you were working with Hoffman, looking over some tapes when the discussion of how long you've been in the force came up.

When Hoffman mentioned when he graduated from the police academy and made a comment about how he's old you smiled and said, "Good thing I love old men."

He laughed it off at first then got a little defensive about how he's "not that old". You explained to him that you never meant it to be rude, you just meant to say that you find older men attractive.

He just nodded his head and went back to watching the tape over. But over the next few days he kept thinking about what you said. It's the most outwardly flirty you've been with him before. When he next sees you he asks you out and you accept.

Peter Strahm

You're on a date with him after being introduced to each other by a mutual friend. He took you somewhere nice and he's driving you home. You both feel a strong connection.

He mentions how long he's been working in the FBI and makes a comment about how you must think he's so old. But when you chuckle and tell him "Don't worry, I love old men." He chuckles too.

Peter isn't too much older than you but he still finds your comment funny. He asks you why and when you talk about how older men are more mature, provide stability, and they're just hot, he smiles and puts a hand on your thigh.

He thinks about your comment for awhile after the date. The comment and how well the date went leads him to asking you out again, which you of course say yes to.

Hannibal Lecter

You met Hannibal at an opera and he found you very attractive. He invited you over for dinner later in the week and you accepted. He made sure to make an impressive meal for you, which isn't hard for him to do.

You two start talking over dinner and Hannibal talks about his career as a surgeon then as a psychiatrist. He makes a comment about how you must think he's very old and you reply with, "I don't mind at all. I love old men."

He chuckles and says he's not that old. You tell him you know that but you start talking about how you love a man who looks more mature and has his life well put together.

The dinner goes well and he invites you over again later in the month. But he can't stop thinking about your comment. He knows he's an older man but he doesn't think he's that old. But the comment doesn't get to him too much because you like him anyway.

Bo Sinclair

You're sitting with Bo in his garage while he's working on a car. You're reading an old magazine when you start to giggle. He asks you what's so funny and you talk about how hot this model is.

When you show him the model Bo talks about how he looks pretty old to which you reply with "I love old men." Bo sets down his tool and looks at you.

"Are you saying I'm old, darlin'?" He asks you. You think for a moment before you tell him no. Bo is in his early 30's and you don't really consider that old.

You have to explain to him that by "old men" you mean men in their 40's and above. Bo will tease you about this constantly. Any time you two see an older man, either it being in a movie or a victim he asks you if he's your type.

[love-quinn]

— PARTIAL CREDIT

summary — when a new member of the waitstaff starts undermining you, you worry that your job might be in jeapordy. carmen knows you better than you think.

warnings — swearing, i think that's it

pairing — carmen berzatto x fem!waitress reader, semi (?) established relationship

pronouns — she/her

word count — 2.2k

note — i know i fully dropped off the face of the earth but unfortunately i was too busy channeling waitress reader a little too hard, i actually have to leave for work in a few hours but i really wanted to get something out. this 100% isn't inspired by true events or me projecting in any way, anyway i hope you enjoy!! <3

Being the only waitress at a successful restaurant is hard. During the dinner rush, between wiping tables, grabbing drinks and running food, you’ve slowly learned to be more adaptable to the Bear’s new clientele base. That’s not without its struggles, of course. 

Fortunately, Carmy and Natalie seem to understand that it’s a major handful to simply do your job. Which is why Richie thought it appropriate to call you in two hours early to meet the new waiter.   

Liam’s nice from what you’ve gathered. He’s been working with you at the Bear for about two months at this point, most of that has involved you and Richie training him, and he’s been very receptive to your instruction. 

Sure, sometimes he mutters under his breath when a customer asks him for something, but hey, they’re annoying sometimes. And sure, sometimes you find him in the walk-in on his phone, but you’d be lying if you said you were never on your phone at work. He’s had no complaints, and the work is always done to a standard that’s expected (he is still in training, you’re not delusional). 

You’ve worked at the Bear since they were still the Beef, right after Carmen took over. He realised Richie couldn’t keep up with the stuff at the front by himself, so he’d gone with the cheapest option available and thanked god every day that you weren’t awful at your job. You had just graduated from UofC and if you didn’t get a job when you had, you would have been pretty much out of options. You had no work experience outside of being a TA in college (which apparently didn’t have a lot of transferable skills, according to most of your potential bosses). You hadn’t been able to score an insane internship, you didn’t make super stellar grades, you’d been too busy being desperately poor and struggling to keep up.

You’d been really lucky that Carmen had taken a chance on you when he had, and you had been desperate to show him you were aware of that. Liam didn’t seem to have the same sentiment.

He was the same age as you, and he’d actually gone to UofC as well. He’d gotten a pre-med degree but wanted to take some time off before he went for his MD at Rosalind Franklin. 

He picked up on the work fairly easily, remembered when you showed him where the cleaning supplies were, showed him how to work the buttons on the till to ring in orders, and introduced him to all the staff. They were nice to him, nice enough. It took them a while to warm up to him, just like it took them a second to warm up to Carmen, to Sydney, to you. 

But now, several months in, they all got along enough that work was going well. You didn’t have to work six days a week if you didn’t want to now that Liam was there to lighten the load (you did, you made sure Natalie knew that). Now, you could actually take your lunch break without worrying they were being completely overrun. 

On the whole, things seemed to really improve. 

Until, of course, they didn’t. 

You started hearing whispers, soft remarks of “Oh, I did that for her,” to Richie about greeting table seventeen. Small “I wonder why that wasn’t done, I’ll just do it quickly.” 

“Not to be that person, but I noticed that a lot of the straws haven’t been stocked up. I feel like I have to do it every time. I just wonder what she’s doing when she’s back here…”

You do your best to not let it get to you. He’s never worked in the service industry before, he’s probably just doing his best to make sure that his efforts are being noticed. You were almost lucky, in that way, that you were the only real waitress they’d hired. 

It’s an unusually warm day as you slide in through the back entrance to work. You’re your usual twenty minutes early, lucky that there’s enough work to do that Carmen often encourages punctuality (and thus, fairly compensates for it). 

Liam is scheduled today, but he’s leaving after the lunch shift. You get your break while the kitchen does prep-work for dinner, and then you’re coming back for dinner as well. 

Marcus is in his corner, kneading bread dough with a concentrated look on his face. You brush past him with an airy hello that he returns with a half-hearted wave, not looking up from his task. 

Tina is on vegetables, and she stops you for a moment to ask about a shipment arriving. You assure her that you’ll check when you get to the other side of the kitchen, making your way to the front.

The chairs are already all down, table cloths clean and freshly washed. Sydney went down to the laundromat to get them all clean that morning; she’d texted you and asked if you wanted to come but you told her that you really, really didn’t. 

Your first job is a pre-opening sweep, then a restock, then a menu review. You have 87 minutes until service, and Liam should be here in the next fifteen minutes or so. You have just enough time to go and bug Richie into showing you more pictures of Eva’s last birthday party. 

You stick your head into the office just in time to catch the tail end of a sentence that you definitely weren’t meant to hear; “...doesn’t even stack the chairs? What is she doing here?”

Your work anxieties - the idea that every time something goes wrong it was your fault, that one missed drink or late appetiser would have you fired, that every time a customer berated you it was actually your fault - had definitely eased some in the six months you’d been working there. You’d stopped thinking that every time someone was complaining it was about you, but that meant that when they really were talking about you, you knew. 

Liam’s standing there, leaning up against a pile of papers that Carmen is staring roughly at. He looks tired - when doesn’t he? - and like he doesn’t really want to hear whatever it was that Liam was saying. 

“A lot more than you do,” Carmen grumbles. He runs a hand over his face from the bottom up, coming to a rest when it’s gripping onto his curls. 

“I’m always covering her sections,” Liam groans. “The amount of time that Rich’s given me her table’s drinks, it’s insane. We should start pooling our tips.”

Carmen wants to say a lot back to that. That his name is Richie, and calling him Rich doesn’t make him any more like the finance frat bros that Liam is so desperate to associate with. That tip pooling would be insanely unfair to you considering Carmy’s pretty sure Liam’s made less than what you make in a day. That he stacks the chairs because he likes to, and you know that. 

Instead, he settles on “you’re always covering her sections because she’s always covering up for you when you screw up.”

Liam looks like he’s unsure whether or not to go ghostly pale or beet red at the statement. “Wh- has my performance not been up to scratch, sir?”

Carmen stands. “I didn’t really notice it, at first, cause everything was going so well. She’d never tell on you, she knows what it’s like to struggle at a job.” He looks disdainfully down at Liam’s too-new dress shoes. Professional but impractical as a waiter. From what Carmen’s noticed, this is the second pair he’s ruined. “She’d never tell me that your silverware is never rolled, so she’s been staying late and rolling every single one of them. She’d never tell me that your tables are never cleared away. She’d never tell me that you had six meals comped in your first month because you couldn’t be fucked writing shit down.

So yeah, maybe you get her tables a refill when she’s too busy telling one of us one of your guests was coeliac because you forgot to, but that does not give you the right to look down your entitled fucking nose at her.” Carmen gets close, not close enough to the point where it could be uncomfortable, but much closer than he’d ever get to Liam if he could help it. 

“You don’t like picking up her slack? That’s fine, that’s fucking fine, because to be honest, it seems like you’re creating more work for her anyway. You’re done.”

He looks pointedly towards the door to the small office. 

Liam knows exactly what Carmy’s telling him. “Sir, I-”

Carmen raises a finger and points. “You’re fucking done.”

Liam scampers away so quickly he doesn’t even see you eavesdropping. 

Carmy knows, though. He seems to have a sixth sense for when you walk into a room. If you’re not planning on coming in to confront him about firing Liam then he has no intention of bringing it up with you. He sits down, putting his forehead on his fist. “Sir.”

You’re standing right in the door, it’s practically impossible for Carmen not to notice you. But he pretends, allowing you the chance to slip away and act like you hadn’t just witnessed him firing Liam for being slightly mean to you. 

He opens his eyes to see you standing there still. 

“You didn’t have to do that,” your voice is soft. The collar of your shirt is tucked underneath on one side, and Carmen has to resist the urge to reach up and smooth it out. He’s not quite sure why and he doesn’t feel like unpacking it. “He’s still learning, I don’t mind helping him out.”

Carmen doesn’t mince his words. “He’s a dick, don’t defend him.”

He swivels away from his desk and gestures for you to sit. After a second of hesitation, you perch yourself on top of the small surface. You’re not sure who moves first, Carmen to reach up and take your hands or you to reach down to let him. Neither of you have ever spoken about it, like a lot of things. How he always makes sure you get extra food and you make sure Carmen isn’t bothered while he sets up the dining room. 

You hadn’t realised how much Liam had been heightening your anxiety while he was there. “He’s not allowed to do that to you.” Carmy sounds genuinely pissed. “You do fucking everything out there, he’s not allowed to come in and treat you like some sanctimonious fuck. You… you should’ve come to talk to me about it.” He gives in. “You could’ve.”

“I didn’t want to be a problem.” You admit quietly. “You have enough without me.”

Plenty goes unsaid between you and Carmen. You don’t talk when he drives you home in the dark, in the snow. But he’d be naive to believe that the same rules applied to everyone else. The kitchen staff talks, none more than Richie. Carmy is surprised he hadn’t decked that pre-med asshole already. 

“You’re not a problem, honey,” he says gruffly. You stay silent for a moment before realising that’s probably all you’re going to get out of him. 

“I need to go prep dining for service,” you say after a moment, not wanting to speak too loudly. 

Camry’s grip on your hand tightens and for a brief second he feels panic set in. You clearly are feeling okay, so it’s not that he needs to check on you. You’re well ahead of schedule. There’s no reason for Carmen to keep his hand enclosed around yours. And yet he does. And yet you let him.

“Liam was just in here bragging about how dining room prep was already done,” he says after a short while. “You’re well ahead of time.”

“He is,” you point out airily. “I’d never want to take credit for his work.”

Carmen squeezes your hands once, eyes crinkling at the sides. You both know you need to go over everything Liam did in an attempt to make himself look better, not one hundred percent trusting him to have done it properly. There’s 56 minutes until service before Carmen finally lets you go (and only because he has prep he needs to get done).

Plenty goes unsaid between you and Carmen. You don’t say anything when he cracks his office door open for you when you need a breather. You don’t say anything when his station’s been cleaned for him miraculously while you’re waiting for him to finish paperwork.

Luckily for you, the rest of your coworkers seem to understand this time. Nobody mentions Liam or his absence. No one mentions the stars drawn on the band-aid on Carmen’s wrist. And, most surprisingly pleasant, no one mentions how Carmen has started calling you honey more than perhaps your real name.

It makes it even nicer when everyone heads out, leaving you and Carmen alone in the restaurant for the night. They seem to have miraculously developed tact over the last 24 hours, but you’re pretty sure nothing could have stopped Richie from telling everyone about the way that Carmen holds your hand the entire way to your apartment. 

[steddieas-shegoes]

headcanon- steve secretly being insanely good at something, maybe chess or something similarly associated with intelligence. when everyone finds out they are surprised and doubtful leading steve to have the realization "oh. you guys genuinely think I'm stupid."

Steve loved seeing how things worked, he had since he was too young to actually figure things out by himself.

He got caught pulling apart his dad’s office calculator when he was nine, insisted he could put it back together, and did.

It took him a week, but he did it.

Then it was the house phone.

Then his desk lamp.

The toaster.

He always got them back together and working, but his parents weren’t very pleased if they caught him in the process.

Still, he loved the feeling of understanding how certain wires connecting meant something would light up or how one color wire would make something produce a number and another would produce power.

He continued doing it with random objects for years.

The concussions made it harder, his vision going blurry if he focused a little too long on a small part of the technology, his frustration making it even worse.

When Eddie found out, he gave him an old amp that wasn’t working anymore, said it probably would never work again but he could take a look inside.

Steve got it working in two days.

Wayne gave him their VHS player when it stopped rewinding, didn’t want to have to buy a new one even if they did have the money for it now. He had it fixed in four hours.

The oven in the new Munson home randomly stopped working, so of course Steve was called.

He came during Hellfire, ignoring the strange looks as he waved and made his way straight to kitchen.

He got to work, humming to himself as he made sure electricity was cut off from it, that there was no gas hookup anywhere, and pulled it from the wall.

The wiring inside was relatively straightforward, and he saw the problem almost immediately.

A loose wire connecting from the heat source to the controls. Easy fusing. Done.

He tested to make sure it was fixed, and ten minutes later, he was calling Wayne at work on the house phone to let him know it was fixed.

When he turned around, Dustin and Lucas were standing in the doorway, mouths open.

“You’ll catch flies like that. You know Eddie leaves the windows open all the time.”

“You fixed the oven?”

“Uh. Yeah?”

“By yourself? Like the inside of it?”

“Yeah?”

“How? That’s so many wires and stuff.”

“It’s not that hard.”

“That’s like, electrical engineering shit.”

Steve realized what was happening just as everyone else walked into the kitchen.

“Oh. You guys don’t think I’m smart enough.”

He felt like he hit a brick wall.

“What’s going on?” Eddie came to stand next to Steve, arm wrapping around his waist.

“We didn’t know Steve was smart.”

The words were unintentionally harsh, but Steve and Eddie flinched anyway.

“Steve’s incredibly smart. He fixes all kinds of things.”

“Eds, it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine. They know better than to make assumptions about someone based on grades in school or how they understand certain things.”

Steve shrunk into Eddie’s side, doing his best to hide his face while he held back tears.

“You can all apologize or you can leave.”

There was silence for a moment and Steve was almost convinced that they’d all left.

He turned his head to see everyone staring at him.

“We’re sorry, Steve. Really. Eddie’s right. We shouldn’t have assumed you weren’t super smart just because you didn’t do well in school or don’t understand us when we ramble.”

Will was always a good kid, maybe his favorite at the moment.

“‘S okay guys.”

Eddie’s fingers tightened on his waist for a moment.

“So do you fix all kinds of stuff or just appliances?”

“I like to take stuff apart and put it back together. Sometimes I just end up fixing something along the way.”

“So you could look at my walkie?” Max piped up. “It keeps going to static in the middle of me talking.”

“Sure. Probably just a disconnected wire between the speaker and the button.”

Max beamed back at him, not just happy he would try to fix it, but proud.

Everyone started asking if he could fix things they had, surprised when he agreed to it all.

They filtered back out to the dining room area where they played, except for Dustin.

“What’s up?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that you’re stupid or anything. I know you’re not stupid. I was just surprised. I shouldn’t have been; you’re always finding the crossed wires with us and fixing those.”

Steve pulled him into a hug.

“People aren’t nearly as easy as electronics, dude.”

“Yeah, but you make it look that way.”

Steve quickly became the group’s engineer, always fixing what was broken, whether it was a flashlight or a bad day. He was pretty good at putting things and people back together.

[exhaslo]

Hiii i was wondering if you could do a miguel x cinnamon bun reader who’s a chubby baker and catches Miguel’s eye sometime when he was out as spiderman and decides to wife her up. And now that they’re together since she’s always baking at home miguel comes home to the smell of cinnamon buns and her as well who’s filled with flour on her face. You can make it smutty if you want, i was just thinking that this scenario was cute 😭😩

have a good dayyy

Crying bc I wrote like half of this before Tumblr froze and deleted everything so I gotta rewrite it again.

Anyway, this is a cute idea. It would be super adorable if Miguel didn't like sweets either...so...without further ado...Time to write again

Warning: None, just fluff, light mentions of sex

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

You owned a small bakery in the middle of Nueva York. It was no surprise that the smell of your bakery would attract anyone walking down the block. The aroma of your desserts would attract even the most grumpiest of people.

You were working in the kitchen, sweating as you tried to perfect your latest batch of cupcakes. You took a look around at your workers, smiling as they had fun while making your desserts. You loved your job.

"Hm, I'll take whatever you recommend. I don't really like sweets." A voice from outside said.

Your ears perked up as you heard such a phase. Your curiosity got the best of you as you poked your head out of the kitchen. You saw two men at the counter with your cashier. One was giddy with joy, ordering a bunch of sweets while the other had a stern look at his face.

Slowly, you made your way behind your cashier, avoiding the tall man's gaze. He was handsome, but also somewhat scary. Pulling one of your not so sweet desserts, you carefully placed it in a cute box and slid it towards him on the counter.

"T-This is on the house. I...I hope you like it." You whispered, glancing up at him.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't think anyone but this idiot heard me." The man said while pointing at his companion.

"Migueeeel!"

"Thank you," Miguel said with a fanged smile.

You felt your cheeks flush as you rubbed your eyes. You had to be exhausted from working because you swore you saw fangs. Returning your gaze to the handsome man, you smiled as he took a bite. His eyes widen, licking his lips,

"It's good,"

Miguel was surprised by the delightful treat you gave him. He glanced towards you, caught off guard by the cute smile you gave him. He watched as you hurried into the kitchen, shaking with excitement. Unable to stop staring, Miguel looked back down at the dessert.

"Shall I get more of those for you~" Gabriel, Miguel's brother, said with a silly grin. Miguel nudged him away,

"No. I can get these myself."

----------

Miguel was swinging around the city, patrolling for any crime. He stopped, catching whiff of something ridiculously sweet. Disgruntled, he stoop and searched for the source of the smell. His shoulders sunk, spotting your bakery.

Perhaps you were working on a new recipe? Miguel made it a habit to stop by once a week. He enjoyed your company. You were different. Miguel was willing to try anything you gave him as long as it meant seeing your smile.

Sitting against the roof of the building, Miguel just sat there and watched you. You were hard working, helping every customer and your employees. He knew the struggle of managing a business. Hell, Miguel was technally in charge of two companies, if the Spider Society counted as one.

"Haha! She probably eats all her sweets! Look at her!" A rude teenager yelled as his obnoxious friends laughed alongside him.

"P-Please leave!" You begged.

Miguel stepped in once he saw tears form. He jumped onto the sidewalk and quietly walked behind you. His presence scaring the teenagers away. You whimpered, rubbing your eyes and sniffing before turning around and yelping.

"It's okay. I just scared them away," Miguel whispered, not wanting to spook you.

"Thank you," You whispered, still shaking. Miguel wanted to comfort you, but he knew this wasn't the right time or place,

"Don't let those kids get to you."

"I-I'm used to it...A chubby girl who owns a bakery. I hear it a lot." You whispered. Miguel grinded his teeth together,

"You're beautiful."

"Haha, thanks. That cheered me up," You said with that sweet smile of yours, "Here, let me give you a treat as thanks."

You hummed happily as you held Spiderman's hand, leading him into your bakery. Your customers were surprised, but went about their business. You looked behind the counter and took out one of your newest desserts, placing it in a cute box.

"I just made this, I hope you like it."

You watched as Spiderman's mask slowly disappeared revealing his lower half of his face. Your eyes widen as you saw fangs when he took a bite. Your smile widen as you thought of your regular Miguel, whom you liked.

"It's good." He said. You just giggled,

"Thank you."

--------

Miguel was determined to wife you up. He had started to stop by your bakery three times a week, chatting and getting to know you on a deeper level. Once he found out that you were single, he did not hesitate to ask you out.

Miguel wanted you. He was determined to protect you and keep his sweet little baker by his side. You were so sweet and cute that Miguel was having a hard time restraining himself. He wanted to swing you in his arms and make you his.

By your fifth date, Miguel kissed you. He held you close to him, enjoying your flushed cheeks and shy expression. He was your first for everything and Miguel was going to savior everything about that. He was going to enjoy giving you everything.

By your twelfth date, you admitted to him that you knew he was Spiderman. Miguel was slightly embarrassed, but felt a weight off his chest since he didn't have to hide it from you anymore. With his secret known to you, Miguel was able to give you even more affection due to his powers.

The first time you guys had sex, Miguel went overboard. He joked about you being his dessert for the night and ended up filling you like one of your cupcakes. He had to apologize to you, but you weren't complaining. It was the best night of your life.

Finally, after a few months, Miguel offered to have you move in with him. You were hesitate, but after some reassuring, you agreed. You were currently in your shared house, making a new recipe while waiting for Miguel to return from work.

"Mhm~ I wonder if my customers will like this~" You cooed, trying the cookies.

"Of course they will. You're the one making them," Miguel hummed as he wrapped his arms around your waist.

"Miguel~ You're home!" You chirped. Miguel kissed your neck, his hands groping your tummy,

"Missed you, baby. Couldn't stop thinking about you all day,"

"M-Miguel," You glanced away, feeling flustered, "D-Do you want to try my cookies?"

"Of course, but I'll be enjoying my cookies later," He whispered, groping your breasts.

"Miguel~"

Miguel chuckled lowly, capturing your lips in a kiss before willingly tried the cookie. He scrunched his face up, still not liking sweets, but told you that they were amazing.

You chuckled towards him, letting him know that you'll make some dinner. Miguel wanted to complain, saying something about feasting on you, but you managed to convince him to shower. You couldn't help but smile, happy that you found someone who loved you just the way you are.

"Oh, (Y/N), I've been meaning to ask," Miguel started as he came out of the shower, "Did you give Spider Chef a recipe for a Spiderman burger that looks like me?"

"..."

Miguel sighed heavily, "It's a best seller." He muttered,

"Yai~ I knew it~" You cheered happily.

Miguel resisted a chuckle as he watched you do your cute little cheer. You were defiantly going to make it up later. Miguel did think it was time for you to have little helpers after all.

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

Hehe, hope you enjoyed~

Part 2 (smut)

[empressdede]

Me, U & Jealousy - Chapter Five

Previous Chapter

This story is written in both past and present. Italics is written in the past and regular font is written in the present.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Chapter Five

Sorai and Jada were having a girls night until the boys show up again to ‘babysit’.

“What do you mean you never finish?” Jada asked in almost disbelief and Sorai shrugged her shoulders.

“I just don’t think it’s possible.”

“Oh bitch, it’s very possible. I could confirm that myself. So he’s never made you have an orgasm?”

Sorai shook her head, and she was kind of embarrassed to admit that. “I give it to myself from time to time so I know what it feels like. But Cameron…. I don’t know. Like he’s super excited about it and then he’s going at it and at first it feels good.”

“Okay so when does it stop feeling good?”

“After a while. I don’t know what he does but… and sometimes he sucks too hard so it hurts.” Sorai continued, stopping when she heard Jada scoff.

“Is that why you guys broke up?”

Sorai rolled her eyes. “No. He keeps complaining about the Fatu brothers. Especially about Sefa, he thinks there’s something going on between us.”

Now admittedly, there is some tension between the two of them but they had agreed after the house party they attended two years ago that they would not cross those lines with each other again.

After he took her home, he had kissed her again ‘just one last time’ he had claimed and then agreed to never cross those lines with her again.

But damn was it hard, especially when Sefa started working out for football Junior year. She already didn’t like Monica, but was starting to not to like her even more. She was finding herself more envious of the girl.

Sorai pushed those feelings to the side though because Cameron decided to actively pursue her. So for two years, she’s kept her attention on Cameron.

Her and Cameron were very compatible, he really liked Sorai and loved spending time with her; but whenever he had a chance to really get her alone, her ‘brothers’ were quick to snatch her up. Especially Sefa.

She doesn’t blame Cameron for feeling the way that he does… she felt the tension her damn self. But he was a friend who was almost family. How could she even cross those lines anyways?

Jada rolled her eyes this time, “I thought he said he wasn’t insecure about him? They let everyone know they’re your brothers and he knew that two years ago, why is he acting up like that now?”

“Said things were different from when we were sixteen… I dont know Jada. Every other week he complaining about something.” Sorai shrugged. They’d be back together before she knew it so she wasn’t really stressing it.

“Bitch you better than me, I would’ve broke up with him for the bad head alone. Is the sex even worth it?”

“He almost makes me cum when we have sex; just not when he gives me head. But Cameron said most girls don’t even cum and that it’s normal.”

“Bullshit.” Another person voiced out, causing both girls to snap their heads towards the door. When the fuck did he even get here?

“Do you ever knock?” Sorai asked, squinting her eyes at him.

He shrugged. “Y’all knew I was coming over. And don’t think you slick either, I heard what you said.”

“Ugh, Joseph give it a rest. We’re grown now you know?” Jada responded to defend her friend.

“So grown that I still have to come and watch over you guys when Sorai’s parents leave for the weekend?” He asked sarcastically with a raised eyebrow.

“First of all, my dad asked the twins to pass by and CHECK UP on me. Not babysit. So you’re actually here for no reason.”

“Twins were busy so they sent me. All for me to hear about how Cameron can’t even do his job right.”

Jada couldn’t help but laugh cause she agreed with him. Cameron was misleading her inexperienced friend into thinking those kinds of performances were acceptable and it was not.

Sorai rolled her eyes at her friends, how fuckin mature. “Ha Ha Ha.” She dryly replied before continuing, “I don’t understand what the big deal is anyways, it doesn’t even feel that good”

“Yes it really does. I’m talking about toe curling, body shaking, eyes crossing. Girl it’s literally so good. Do not let that boy lie to you cause he sucks.” Jada scoffed shaking her head. “I could hook you up with somebody who could give you the experience of a lifetime and you can see what you missing.”

“I wish the fuck you would. Piss me off if you want to Jada.” Sefa replied, glaring at her.

“What!? I know a guy who could -“

“No.” He dismissed which caused Sorai to raise her eyebrows at him.

“And since when do you make decisions for me?”

He shrugged, “I don’t. But one word to Joe and it’ll be all of us jumping yo lil friend. Cameron barely got out scott free, he still got one waiting on him too.”

“Sefa that’s not fair, you get to rotate between Monica and whoever else but I can’t get new experience from someone else? Mind you, I’m grown.”

“Mind you, I don’t care. Yo momma left like $20 downstairs so what we getting, pizza or Chinese?”

He had to change the subject, and he didn’t care how obvious it seemed to either of them. Sorai was not linking up with no fuckin random. The thought of it almost pissed him off, he wish Jada would just shut the hell up.

Sorai didn’t need no new experience from nobody. She just needed to sit her lil ass down somewhere before she get somebody else fucked up for no reason.

Sorai rolled her eyes. There was no winning with Sefa, so she let it go.

“I’m sick of pizza, get Chinese.” Jada replied, and Sorai nodded in agreement.

“Orange chicken and white rice with some egg rolls.”

Joseph nodded his head and left her room to go make the order.

Jada was the first one to speak up, smacking her teeth and hitting Sorai on the arm. “You need to tell Joseph that he can’t keep you sheltered forever. Sneaking off all the time gets tired after awhile don’t you think?”

“Even if Sefa wasn’t a problem, the other three would literally kill me. Joe almost took Cameron’s head off for bringing me home late one time.” Sorai explained with a shrug, “They’re the big brothers remember? They just want to look out. I just wish Sefa wouldn’t be so hard on me. We’re literally the same age.”

“Then tell him that!” And Sorai gave her friend a tired sigh in response. They both knew no matter what Sorai told Joseph, he was not going to listen to her. If he didn’t want her doing something, he went out of his way to make sure it didn’t happen.

She thought of it as his way of looking out for her and even though she hates it, it’s nice to know that he cares so much.

But in reality it wasn’t because he cared so much; Its more so the fact that he was selfish. He didn’t know how long he could play pretend with her anymore and he almost didn’t care who knew it.

Joseph barely let her out with Cameron as is and the times that she was with him for longer than he liked; it was because Monica was occupying his time.

And he really hated that damn brother bullshit his brothers had instilled to the whole world. The idea was nice and all but he was not her fucking brother and he did his best to show her that; especially two years ago at Britney’s party.

Sometimes, he swore she would look at him in a different kind of light but then she’d be right back in that stupid boys arms and he’d disregard the thought completely.

Joseph shook his head to focus on what he came downstairs for in the first place.

Meanwhile upstairs, the girls - really it was Jada - tried to come up with a plan on expanding Sorai’s horizons while she was currently single.

"We could see if Matthew got some fine ass homeboys." Jada suggested which made Sorai roll her eyes.

"Just cause they’re fine doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing. We need somebody who got good reviews."

Jada busted out laughing out of nowhere before jokingly stating, "To bad we can’t go to Joseph, do you hear how Monica be bragging? He would’ve been perfect."

Sorai laughed with her friend, shaking her head to make it seem like she was disgusted with the suggestion, but her body littered with goosebumps as she really thought about it. She remembered exactly everything Monica has ever said about Sefa when it came to that. Was he really that good? Curiosity really got the best of her.

Unknowing of the dilemma Jada just sent her best friend through, she continues to suggest another boy with good reviews. "We could hit up TJ, I heard he was really good. Actually, Rose said they hooked up at some party over the summer and he gave her a time to remember."

That piqued Sorai’s interest just a little bit, "How good of a time?"

"Aye man, what the fuck did I just say?" Sefa states as soon as he enters the room.

Jada rolled her eyes, "Joseph, please grow up. Rai grown just like you. You not the only one who wanna have cake and eat it too."

And to be honest, Sorai completely agrees. She was old enough to make her own decisions and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out just who she wanted to cross those lines with. But for now, she decides to change the subject for the sake of both of her friends.

“Can we just forget it and just watch white chicks?”

Jada smacked her lips, glaring at the annoying Samoan, “Look at what you did, you happy now?”

“Jada, can you be serious for even one day in your fucking life?” He retorted back to her.

Sorai rolled her eyes again, “Can y’all not? Let’s just watch a movie and forget about it.”

“ She saved you this time but the next time you work my nerves, me and Rai, jumping you.” Jada threatened which caused Joseph to roll his eyes and ignore her. He didn’t come here to argue, plus it didn’t matter.

He said what he said, and nothing was changing that. So, after putting the DVD into the slot, the group of friends found themselves comfortable in Sarai’s room; the girls on the bed and Joseph on the air mattress until the Chinese food finally came.

“Sefa, go get the food.”

“Why I got to go get the food? It’s your house.” he only argued to be annoying. It didn’t stop Sarai from pouting at the thought of getting out of bed, which caused him to smack his teeth and get up wordlessly.

"Oh shit, tell him to grab the drinks from the kitchen." Jada reminded, which caused Sorai to groan. She forgot about that.

"You think he’ll go back downstairs and get them?" She asked which caused Jada to snort.

Joseph would not make the second trip and they both knew that. Sorai through her head back to let out a loud groan and threw the covers off her body to slide out of the bed. "We have Coke instead of Pepsi, that fine for you?"

Jada nodded her head as a response and snuggled under the covers while Sorai left to go downstairs. A small giggle leaving her lips when she caught Sefa going through the food to ensure everything they ordered was there.

"They forget your eggrolls one time and now look at you." She teased.

"I’m not gonna take that from someone who cried when McDonald’s gave her the wrong meal."

Sorai’s eyes opened wide as a gasp escaped her lips, "I was on my period Sefa; that don’t count." She defends which caused him to laugh and turn around to face her.

"According to you, a lot of things don’t count." he stated with air quotation marks and she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Don’t do that Sefa, that’s not fair."

"I’m just saying." He replied with a shrug, and Sorai knew it wasn’t fair to dismiss what happened between them at the party two years ago; but the two of them made a promise.

"How was I supposed to tell anybody that-"

"You don’t have to tell nobody nothing but at least when it’s just us, we could be honest with each other. I mean, do you regret it?" he meekly asked, and Sorai couldn’t help but feel guilty, she didn’t think dismissing the event would make him think she regretted it.

"No Sefa, I don’t regret it." She assured to him softly and he flashed her a smile at her honesty.

"If you want me to be honest when it’s just us… I think about it sometimes." She confessed and there it was again.

That thick tension between the two that could barely be cut by a knife. The admission causing butterflies to swarm in her stomach and the conversation she had with Jada reemerged in her head.

"Just sometimes?" He questioned and Sorai shrugged in response.

"Do you think about it?" She meekly asked, and her shyness caused him to chuckle.

"Don’t be nervous Rai."

"I’m not! And answer the question Sefa."

He grabbed her arm to pull her flush against him before he answered quietly, "I always think about it Rai."

Goosebumps littered her skin at his admission, and she searched his eyes to see if she was being dishonest with her. But she couldn’t find anything that gave away that he was being deceitful.

"…sometimes, I want to do it again." and that made Sorai bite her lips.

She thought it was just her who felt like that. She wanted to test the theory of what would happen if she let him know that the feeling was mutual.

"Me too." She whispered out to him and with the same boldness from last time, his arms wounded around her waist and pulled her even closer to press against him. This time, though Sorai was ready.

Sliding her hands up his arms until they both wrapped around his neck and they both leaned in. Unlike last time, he grazed his lips against her to prepare her, but that was all they could do because Jada’s "WHERE THE HELL Y’ALL AT?" from upstairs caused them to break apart.

It reminded them where they were at, and even though in the moment they wanted to succumb to their weakness, they decided to press into those kinds of matters later. ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The walk to the locker room was shorter than Sorai really wanted it to be and Jada held her hand the entire way.

“Listen, it’ll be okay. Fake it till you make it okay? And soon as you’re done we can race out of there.” Jada promised and Sorai nodded her head at her best friend. She liked that plan, and it was the only one they could come up with given the last minute heads up.

“Hey, look at me.” Jada softly asked, causing Sorai to turn and look at her. The state of panic did not leave her eyes and albeit Jada had no clue what she was walking into, she refused to let the girl she seen as a sister walk in there like that.

“…Tell me your okay and we can walk in there.”

Sorai shook her head because she wasn’t okay and she is so grateful for Jada being here for her; being so patient with her and letting her collect herself first. She didn’t know what she did to deserve her but God, was she thankful for her.

“It’ll be a big opportunity.” Jada pushes one more time, to maybe steer her mind away from the people at hand and instead to focus on her job. It works.

“If Paul sees this and he likes it then I could get another chance to Interview the main event on Raw instead of smackdown.” Sorai replies, nodding her head at the goal she just placed in her head. Jada kept her eyes on her, watching Sorai calm herself down and steady her breathing.

Sorai squeezed Jada’s hand before whispering out, “I’m okay.”

Then she knocked on the door.

Eddie opened the door, flashing both girls a smile and widening the door to let them in. “Alright, good luck ladies.” The producer stated before locking the door and walking out of the room.

What the fuck just happened? The girls thought to themselves as they took in the setting of the room. There were no cameras, no microphones, just the boys in the room, waiting for her. They just set her up.

“Sorai-“ Joe started but she was quick to cut him off.

“Is my job a joke to you, Roman?” Sorai asked, furrowing her eyebrows at him. The blood in her body starting to boil as she thought about them really setting her up.

But Joe took a step back when the name,‘Roman’ came out of her mouth. She’s calling them their stage names as if he was a stranger and he didn’t know how to feel about that, but he was determined to find out today.

“No Sorai, your job isn’t a joke to us. But you’ve been avoiding us so we didn’t know what else to do.” He answers honesty. They had to go to the extreme for this and even if they didn’t get what they were looking for, Joe made sure that she would have done at least three interviews for the next couple of shows.

“So instead, you have me come here under false circumstances. Instead of pushing myself to get more interviews, I’m here…wasting my time.”

“Baby sis we just want-“ He tried again but Sorai was quick. She had already turned her back to leave, Jada’s hand still linked with hers. Only to stop in her tracks when she finds the twins standing in front of the door.

“No more running Rai, we need to talk.” Joshua stated this time. Sorai’s demeanor was almost breaking and she didn’t want to break down in front of them. They didn’t deserve it.

“Let me out or I’ll scream.” She threatened.

“You can scream but we already warned security if they heard anything coming from this room to ignore it until the show starts.” Jon speaks up with a shrug. “It’s been two months Rai, you’ve had your space.”

Jada, who knew first hand that this could go on forever raised her hand to silence the room. “Okay, listen. Guys do you really think this is necessary?”

“Rai is family and everything can be handle within the family. Kinda hard to do when she keeps running from said family.” Joe speaks up again.

Sorai shook her head, trying to keep her thoughts from making her spiral. “What do you want from me?” She finally asked.

“What happened when we left Rai?” Josh asked, the twins has moved away from the door and walking in front of Sorai so that they could have this conversation properly.

“Nothing happen.” She dismissed with a shrug. “Is that all?”

“No. Rai, please.” Jon pleaded, taking a small step toward her, “we just want to fix it sis.”

“Did someone break your heart?” Joe asked and damn was that question, the stone to make her walls crumble.

Her lips quivered and she shrugged again. “It doesn’t matter.” She croaked out and she could see their shoulders sink in relief.

As if this wasn’t something they did per se.

“Who broke your heart sis?” Jon asked, and the tears she fought so hard to keep back spilled over.

Her eyes scanned the room one more time, making sure to make eye contact with all of them, her eyes on Sefa’s the longest before turning to face Jon again. “You did.” She whispered.

The surprise look on their faces was one to die for. Of course they don’t remember.

“Us?” Joe questioned, eyebrows furrowed in thought. “What did we do?”

“Joe, I don’t want to talk. Please.” Sorai begged, the tears still silently flowing from her eyes. “I know that you want to talk but I’m not ready. If I’m still so important to you, can you respect that?”

“Well, what are we supposed to do Rai? Just sit and let what you said just slide?” Josh spoke up this time.

Sefa couldn’t take it anymore. “Rai.” He called out, bringing the attention to him.

Her heart ached in her chest at the sound of his voice. She turned and faced him, “Sefa, please; I can’t.” She begged and his heart broke but he wanted answers too.

“Rai-“

“You promised Sefa, please.” She cried out and he sighed.

“Let her go.” He told his brothers who immediately began to disagree with him.

“No.” Josh stated

“Man what hell is you talking about?” Jon questioned

But Sefa stood his ground, even if it didn’t make sense to him either. He did it for her.

“She don’t wanna talk; just let her leave. We can’t force her to talk, that ain’t right.”

Jada seemed to agree, grabbing onto Sorai’s hand again to pull her out of the locker room.

If there’s one thing they all knew, it was that Sefa’s save was only temporary. Eventually they were going to seek the truth from her, no matter what it took.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

A/N: I’m 50/50 about this chapter. I’m not sure how I feel about it. Tried my hardest to make it better but this is what I got🤣 I hope you guys still enjoy it though cause baby this took forever to make.

Y’all know what I regularly say; Gimme love🥺🫶🏾 And Like, comment and repost if you’d like.

(If you have not been tagged for this story previously and I have tagged you now, it is because you are apart of my official taglist. If you do not want to be tagged in this story, please let me know and I can remove your tag🫶🏾 Thank you)

Tagging the lovelies: @southerngirl41 @reci1996 @skyesthebomb @christinabae @leighla3 @whatdoeseverybodywant @harmshake @yana3sworld @angiedawn02 @theninthwonder @headoftheetable @romansthrone @wrestlingprincess80 @blacst4r @alyyaanna @raya-hunter01 @paigereeder

[thoughtsforsoob]

txt - s/o who struggles with food

a/n: this going to be a very angsty work so please bear with me...i'm feeling very angsty these days. anyways, this hits a little close to home so I understand if you're not able to read this. please be kind to yourself. i'm always here to chat if you ever need anything. please enjoy.

warnings! I will be discussing ed's and food and everything within that realm so please read this at your own digression! (you're not alone. if you're going through something right now, please seek help. it can be hard but you've got this! I believe in you!)

Yeonjun

Yeonjun for sure takes a while to notice anything is ever happening. He just gets so busy with work that he forgets. Sometimes, he struggles to take care of himself for this reason so he can definitely understand the struggle of taking care of yourself enough. When he does find out, he does all he can to help you. He's really caring towards his partner. 

By this point, Yeonjun hadn't seen in person for about 2 months. He was off on tour with the group. Of course, you two had facetime sessions when you two had a moment to spare but it still couldn't have prepared him for what he would face when he got home. The moment he arrived at the airport back home, he immediately asked to go back to your shared apartment. When he arrived, you met him at the door but the way you looked was very different. You appear thinner and it was quite obvious. Yeonjun tried not to make his reaction obvious but he couldn't help the way his eyes went wide when he laid eyes on you. You frown at him and after some talking, you spill about how you were so angry at yourself for the way you looked that you just kinda stopped eating right. Yeonjun makes it his mission to help you feel better and he helps you get back on track to eating enough like you did before. 

Soobin

This section does mention making yourself vomit so please read with caution!

Soobin is also so good when it comes to comforting others. He gives the best hugs and always knows just what to say to help you feel better. when he finds out you're having trouble with your relationship with food, he is absolutely heartbroken. He hates the idea of you struggling with something that he feels should make you happy. He is always going to do whatever you need him to do so you can recover. 

You and Soobin had been together for a few months now and everything was going really well. You both were very happy with one another and were getting along great. The only problem was that Soobin had no idea about your relationship with you. You would do your best to hide the fact that you were never able to get yourself to keep your food down. It made you feel so disgusted but Soobin had no idea. On this particular night, Soobin had come over to your apartment to eat dinner. You were usually able to run off after dinner under the guise that you needed to use the bathroom. Tonight, however, Soobin had become suspicious when you took longer than usual. He goes over to knock on the door but before he can even do that, he panics when he hears you crying and throwing up. He opens the door immediately and lets himself in. He looks really sad and even helps you clean up when you finally stop. You can;t help but open up to him when you see the pain in his face after watching you do this to yourself. He does his best to understand and help you get better, suggesting you talk to someone about this. He is really supporting you on your recovery journey. 

Beomgyu

This one hits a little close to home 😕

he isn’t super observant about your eating habits but he definitely notices when the snacks start to kind of disappear from the pantry. And it wasn’t just them going like normal, they were going a lot faster than normal. You usually only go out shopping for snacks once a week but have been going every three days lately. It was worrying him. Not so much because he was worried you’d gain weight, not in the slightest. He was worried because he was thinking you were going through something and weren’t wanting to tell him.

When you get home from work one afternoon, you see him in the kitchen at the dinner table. You were so excited to see him since he was usually still at work during this time. He looked worried and he asked you to sit down, so you did. He didn’t beat around the bush and straight up told you about his observations. It made you feel angry at first. Why was he bringing this up? Did you gain weight? Was he calling you fat? But then he explained why he even brought it up and that he just wanted to help. You broke out into tears and told him all about what was going on in your life at the moment and how eating made you feel comfortable. He totally understood and offered to help you work through it in different ways since snacking wasn’t the best idea. You accept his help and it starts to feel better

Taehyun

How dare his pretty girl think she’s ugly? He just can’t fathom why you would starve yourself or even think that you’re not good enough for some reason. He always does his best to combat this by complimenting you as often as he can and making sure he keeps track of whether you’ve eaten or not. He knows it’s a little frustrating for you when he’s constantly asking you if you’ve eaten but it’s just before he cares and he doesn’t want you to get sick. 

in this scenario…it was a few days until your wedding. you had been trying to hide it but you haven’t eaten much over the last week, causing you to feel weak. When the day finally came, you fainted as you were getting your hair done. Everyone in the room with you was panicking and they called taehyun to come help you wake up. He made sure to pick up some snacks from his dressing room and some water for you to drink. He had an itching feeling that you were starving yourself but didn’t want to accuse you of anything. When you wake up, he’s sitting over you with a worried look. “Oh dear. You’re awake. You had us all worried. I think I know why this happened though.” You had a guilty look on your face and he already knew what happened. He convinces you that you need to eat something now so you don’t feel weak on your guy's big day. He’s so proud watching you eat your snack and drink water and he makes his feelings known. 

Huening Kai

He is very caring and sweet and always knows when something is wrong with his girl. He started to worry when it was Wednesday and he hadn't seen you eat or heard about anything you've eaten since Monday night. He knew it was only a day but he was so worried. He didn't want you to go without eating. luckily, he'd planned to hang out with you tonight after schedules! he picks up your favorite meal and drinks for you to eat when he arrives. 

he gets there and knocks. when you open the door you hug him and give him a kiss hello but you kind of start to change in demeanor when you see the bags of food he had. you hadn't let yourself eat in the last two days and the sight of food was just too much for you at the moment. All you could think of when you tried to eat was being laughed at by a group of girls your age who were making comments of your weight when walking down the street. you finally break down and kai follows you, leaving the food at the table. He finally gets you to let him hold you, let him wipe away your tears. you tell him everything and he was so good at just listening. He coaxes you back to the table and even feeds you if it makes you feel more comforted.

[kyojurismo]

Hi, I don’t know if I am doing it right. This is an emergency request. I have had the worst week ever at university and, since I live alone, I have no one really waiting for me when I come back. I have stumbled on your acc yesterday and I was wondering if you can write some headcanons about “comfort sex” with Douma, Muzan and Akaza when the reader comes home from a bad day at work/university. Female reader, if it’s not too much to ask for!💕

Thank you so much!

▸ ANSWERING. k now i feel both bad and stupid bc apparently i just imagined to write some reqs, idk man. anyway, here we are. hope you’ll enjoy it <3

▸ FANDOM. kimetsu no yaiba

▸ CHARACTERS. muzan kibutsuji, douma (upper rank two) & akaza (upper rank three) x fem!reader

▸ RATING. nsfw

▸ WARNINGS. smut, vanilla sex, oral sex (f receiving), fluff, praising, um they’re human i guess? it’s up to you yeah, not proofread

MUZAN KIBUTSUJI

muzan sensed something was wrong

you were clearly stressed and the fact that you had a bad day was written all over your face

“come here, darling,” he patted his laps and you approached him, sitting down

he would kiss you so lovingly while caressing your tensed up body

he would lay you down on the couch, start undressing you and kiss all over your skin

he praised you, filling you with compliments while he reminded you to ignore whoever made you feel bad

“you’re smart, everything will work out the way you desire.”

his thrusts were gentle and slow

the pleasure overshadowed everything, making you forget about your bad day

muzan was here to make love to you, keep it in mind

his big hands caressed your shoulders and your hips

he teasingly pinched your nipples, because he knew that it makes you laugh sometimes

when you two are finished he would keep you close to his body, secured into his warm embrace

“i love you, darling.”

DOUMA

douma saw you were upset and simply decided that all you needed was a good fuck and some food

okay no, let’s slow thing down

he would take you to your bedroom

undress you

kiss all over your pretty face

then would let you lie down on the bed

and boom, he’s between your legs

douma was born to satisfy you (he thinks so)

he probably ate you out for a couple of hours

your thighs always ended up squeezing his head

his nose bumped into your clit while he used his tongue on you

his thick fingers thrusting and curling into your warm channel, wet sounds filling the room

his reward? your moans and whines

when he finally decided to leave your poor pussy alone, who’s now all puffy and wet, most of his face is wet with your juices

there was a smirk on his face while he looked down at your trembling body

then he ordered your favourite food and ate it in bed with you, cuddling and chatting about random stuff (:

AKAZA

this man is straight up from heaven

because as soon as you enter your house he’s there to welcome you, kiss you passionately and show you what he prepared for you

when it still wasn’t enough to cheer you up, he decided to take you to bed

he took his time with you

his lips probably kissed every inch of your skin

he payed special attention to your breasts, sucking and licking your hardening nipples, then your stomach and just after all that, his lips connected with your throbbing clit

his lips and fingers worked to make you cum

twice

then he freed his cock, pumped it a few times and sank into you

“you’re doing so good, sweetheart.”

“oh, fuck. you really needed that, huh?”

he’s so lovely and gentle 😭

his thrusts are slow but hard, akaza knows how to make you see stars

and your moans and your grip on his shoulders are the confirmation

you arched your back before cumming a third time

akaza came soon after, you could feel the spurts of white coating your walls while his cock twitched

cuddles because you deserved to be treated like a princess <3

▸ BEFORE LEAVING. reblog and comments are super appreciated. i strangely don’t hate it??? lol, thank you for reading by the way !! <3

[idkaurl]

Getting Together

Bruce noticed the change almost immediately, it was hard to get anything past him and they weren’t being very subtle about it. The hand holding and public groping was a dead giveaway, he can’t say he was surprised though, Diana had never been shy and Clark had always been easily turned into putty by her.

 Still, though not surprising, the change was very different. The once inseparable trio was now damaged. It wasn’t really their fault; they still made an effort to be around him. It was him who had done the damage. He was happy that they had finally gotten together, but something inside him was tearing him apart. He felt too many things when he saw them together now; anger, envy, sadness, it hurt, so he did the thing he was best at and started tearing himself away from the source of the pain.

 It was easier said than done to pull away from his two best friends. It’s hard to avoid someone when you work with them almost everyday. Needless to say, they took notice. He knew it was only a matter of time before they began questioning his odd behavior, and he was right.

 ~~~

Bruce sat at the computer in the watchtower, he was going over some files, nothing super important, he had really just been trying to look busy. He tensed up slightly as he heard a familiar set of heels heading in his direction. Of course, Diana would be the first to approach him. 

He felt her presence beside him as he kept his gaze on the computer in front of him. She was quiet for a moment before her hand made its way onto his shoulder, “Bruce,” she said calmly, “why don’t you take a break? Me and Clark were thinking we could all grab dinner together.”

He huffed, “I can’t Diana, there’s too much to do,” he lied. He knew that was a dangerous game, lying to both Diana and Clark was an almost impossible task, still he did.

He heard her sigh beside him, “Bruce, there is no work to do. You’ve been avoiding us for weeks,” she stated. It wasn’t a question, it was an observation, “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“There’s always work to do Diana,” he stated simply, “and I haven’t been avoiding you, I’ve just been busy.” Against his better judgment he continued, “you two seem to be getting on just fine without me anyway.”

Silence filled the room, he internally cursed himself for putting it out there, he should have just let it be. He felt her grip tighten on his shoulder and for a second he prided himself for rendering Wonder Woman speechless.

That silence was soon filled with the sound of wind coursing through and suddenly Clark was there. A flash of anger crossed Bruce’s eyes, not that they could see it with his cowl still on, Clark could probably sense it through his heartbeat though.

He kept his gaze forward, avoiding them, hoping they’d just leave him be. No such luck. “Bruce,” Diana tried again, “please,” she turned his chair, forcing him to face them, “we miss you.”

He jolted at the sudden change of position, glaring at the two of them, but staying silent.

“Come on Bats,” Clark chimed in, “I know you have to be missing us too,” he teased. Those words stirred something within Bruce. He did miss them, he missed them so much it hurt, but it hurt worse to be with them and see what he could never have.

He huffed pulling himself up from the chair, “I’m taking my leave,” he stated, “you’re right Diana, work here is done for now. I’ll be heading home to check on Gotham then.”

“Let us come with you,” Clark chimed in, “it’s been a while since we’ve come to visit Gotham.” Bruce shot a glare in his direction, why wouldn’t they just leave him alone?

“Do what you want,” he said simply, making his way towards the zeta tube.

There was no surprise when he found both of them following him, and soon they were standing in the Batcave. Bruce immediately made his way towards the large computer to scan for surveillance, ignoring them as they followed.

He took a seat and started clicking through the cameras he had placed through Gotham. It seemed like it was pretty quiet tonight, just his luck. “Bruce, can we talk?” Diana asked after a while of silence.

“Talk about what?” he growled out.

He felt a soft hand reach out to caress his face, “I think you know,” she stated.

He heart stilled at the touch before quickly speeding up, he kept his words level though, “what is there to talk about? If you are referring to the nature of your developing relationship, I am well aware of it and it does not need to be discussed further,” he stated.

She hummed, softly stroking his face, “Clark, I think we might have given him the wrong idea,” she said sadly.

“It appears that way,” Clark agreed, inching closer to the two of them.

“You can’t think we’d want to have a relationship without you, can you?” she asked Bruce. He stilled, did he hear her right?

“What?” he asked dumbly.

He saw both their mouths start to turn slightly upward into the shape of a smile, “We love you Bruce, both of us,” she smiled. Clark nodding shyly beside her.

He felt her hands move to remove his cowl, reaching a hand out to stop her. If they removed his cowl his emotions would be on full display, he wasn’t sure if he could handle that right now.

“It’s okay Bruce,” she said calmly, “it’s just us, let us see how you’re feeling.”

He slowly dropped his hand away, allowing her to remove his cowl. He saw their faces drop when they saw his. He knew he didn’t look great right now, but their expressions only solidified that.

“We’re sorry Bruce,” Clark stated, “we didn’t mean to do this to you,” he started.

“Do what to me?” Bruce demanded, anger flaring up again.

“Hurt you,” Diana ran her hand through his hair softly massaging his scalp. He found himself leaning into the touch, he’d missed them. He felt tears threaten to prick at the corners of his eyes.

Diana slid onto his lap easily, pressing soft kiss to his temple, “shh,” she hushed, as she continued petting his hair. His eyes widened in alarm when he felt himself be lifted in the air, Clark had scooped them both up in his strong arms and was carrying them up to the manor. Bruce stilled, allowing them to do as they pleased. He was still confused, but he figured he’d enjoy the moment while it lasted.

It wasn’t long before the reached Bruce’s bedroom and Clark deposited them both onto the bed before climbing on himself. Bruce found himself stuck in the middle, between his two best friends. His two best friends that he was in love with. There, he’d said it, to himself at least. It felt good to admit, even if he knew it couldn’t be. He was sure this was all out of pity. They had seen the affect their relationship had on him and were feeling guilty, this was all this was. Even so, he was going to soak it in while he could as greedy as that might be.

~~~

He must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew he woke up to the sound of the soft murmurs of conversation around him. In his comfortable, sleep-dazed, state he couldn’t quite decipher what they were talking about, but he was certain of one thing; it was about him.

He sighed, pressing his face against something warm and firm. He felt hands softly massaging his back, “go back to sleep darling,” he heard a voice whisper in his ear, “we’ll be here when you wake up, we promise,” and then he did.

~~~

When Bruce woke the second time, he was much more coherent. His eyes widened as he realized the position he was in. He had thought it was all a dream, but the proof lay right before him as he found himself still sandwiched between the two. His face had been pressed up against Clark’s chest and he felt Diana pressed close against his back.

He moved to try and pull away, but he found himself trapped under the weight of their strong arms as they each had one arm wrapped around him.

He looked up as he felt a sleepy kiss be pressed against his forehead, Clark’s sleep riddled eyes looking down at him, “good morning,” he smiled, and Bruce felt his heartbeat speed up. He felt the vibrations of Clark’s soft chuckle as he was still pressed against his chest and suddenly felt another set of lips on the back of his neck, “good morning,” Diana smiled, wrapping her arm around him more securely as if he might try and run away.

“Good morning,” Bruce grumbled out, his tone exposing his confusion.

“Did you sleep well?” Diana asked. He could practically hear her grin.

He made an affirmative sound, “Better than I have in a long time,” he found himself admitting.

He heard them both hum happily in response, “I’m glad,” she purred into his ear as she leaned over to give Clark a kiss.

Something stirred in him at the sight, want. He felt her hand start to trail up his chest, trailing over his muscles, all the way until her hand rested at his chin. She cupped it in her hand, encouraging him to turn towards her. He allowed it, looking into her eyes, “can I kiss you, Bruce?” she asked softly.

“Yes,” the words left his mouth before he could even second guess himself and she acted quickly, pressing a soft kiss to his lips as well.

She pulled away far too quickly in his opinion, but he found himself being pulled back in the direction of Clark, “me too,” he asked, “can I kiss you too?”

“Yes,” he found himself answering on instinct, once again being pulled into a chaste kiss before he could back out.

Clark pulled away and Bruce found himself blinking confusedly at what had just happened. Diana hushed him, “I can tell that brain of your is running a mile a minute,” she chuckled into his ear, “you don’t need to think about it, this is real, we promise,” she smiled, “we love you.”

“We love you,” Clark reaffirmed, kissing his forehead once again.

Bruce felt the tension leave his body at their words, a soft smile forming on his face, “I love you too,” he said. 

They held him tighter, pressing soft kisses against his skin and he let them. He didn’t know how long this happiness would last, but he decided he’d embrace it while he could.

[pepsiboyy]

beyond the contract - part 2

P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8

pairing: matt sturniolo x reader summary: where the sturniolo triplets are part of an organization known as the eclipse alliance, matt has constantly failed to pull through with pulling the trigger on a target. fed up, their boss gives matt one last chance, where he is sent to northside high school to get some answers out of a girl. warnings: mentions of weapons (guns), blood, and cursing!! author's note: hiii part one is doing kind of good so i guess its time to write part two !! <3 WC: 1974 lowercase intentional !!

"class, today we have a new student."

my eyebrows furrowed as i examined the new boy. he was very clearly nervous, and i could tell he had a bit of a hard time talking to the class.

"hi, i'm matt," he breathed and took in a sharp breath. i smiled softly at him as i sat up in my seat. i already knew where this was going.

"psst," i whispered, causing the brunette to turn in my direction. "here," i mouthed, pointing at the seat beside me. this kid had to sit down eventually or else the teacher would dig into his life story in front of the entire class.

once he set down his things, he turned to me and whispered a soft, "thanks," before he took out some things.

i smiled softly as i looked at him. this guy was stunning, probably one of the most beautiful guys i had ever laid eyes on. in the least weird way possible. or something.

"no problem, she rambles anyways. needed to get you outta there as soon as i could," i mumbled back and chuckled, shooting him a soft smile. i held out my hand as i watched his eyes scan the room. was he looking for someone? i shrugged it off when he moved to shake my hand back, and i shook his hand firmly. "name's y/n."

matt smiled at me and nodded quickly and pulled his hand back to his lap. "nice to meet you, y/n. your name's pretty."

i felt my cheeks heat up, but played it off and thanked him with a soft smile.

-

i took a few steps towards my front door before pushing the door opened and turning towards my dad, who was sitting in the living room and reading. he shut the book at the sound of the door opening, and i smiled softly. "i'm home, dad."

he immediately stood up and smiled, making his way to the kitchen. "hey, kiddo. how was school?" he whispered as he began to wash the dishes in the sink.

"good, there was a new kid so i showed him around throughout the day.." i trailed off as i began collecting my things. "anyways, i'm going upstairs to do homework." i smiled at my dad before giving him a soft side hug and heading upstairs.

-

after some time of doing homework, my mind felt like it was trailing off severely. i had gotten hardly any work done. my dad had gone off to work, so i had the house to myself. with a soft hum, i carefully slid my phone out from my pocket and pulled up the newest contact created, matt.

i stared at it for about five minutes before finally composing a message, typing and reading it out loud to myself before backspacing. this repeated several times before i read it out to myself again.

"hey matt, glad i met you today... i hope that today was an alright first day, and i could be of some help. see you tomorrow." i took in a soft breath and hit send before quickly shutting off my phone and setting it on the side of my bed.

for some reason, matt made me super nervous. in the best way possible. he seems like he keeps to himself, and someone who doesn't open up much. yet, that makes him so intriguing. i found myself thinking about him many times throughout the day, and to add on top of it, he's pretty cute too.

living alone with my dad was always something, especially since he was always out on a business trip. he works in an office, and while i try to visit him sometimes, he tells me he's busy that day. and the next. and the next week. month. year. so i stopped trying. he never really talked with me in general other than asking me how my day is going.

my mom is out of the picture. she left us when i was about eight years old, and i never got to find out why. dad talks about her a lot though, and how beneficial she was to him overall. he really loved her.

i guess matt reminds me of my dad in a way, being so mysterious. but what can i say, i met him just today.

i sighed and turned to the clock, groaning as i read the time.

1:03am.

-

"hey," i breathed, looking at matt and smiling at him. we had both sat down fairly early before class.

matt turned to me and smiled softly before going back to his phone and scrolling through instagram.

i scrunched up my nose, blinking a few times as i looked down at my finished homework and back at him.

"how was... your night?"

matt shrugged in response, and i bit my lip. was he upset about something?

"did you get my text last night? i was worried i sent it to the wrong number."

wrong. i knew it was his number, but i wanted to know if he had at least read it.

"oh, sorry, i must have opened it on accident." matt mumbled before going back to what he was doing.

my face fell as i stared at him in disbelief. "right," i replied, before turning my head to the front of the classroom.

-

class came to an end, and i turned to matt. he hadn't spoken to me the entirety of class, and i was beginning to wonder if something was wrong. maybe he was having second thoughts about coming to this school?

"hey," i muttered, putting a hand on matt's shoulder as he began to walk away. he stopped in his tracks and looked down before taking a very visible breath. i bit my lip before i removed my hand. "can you talk to me? is something up?"

matt turned around slowly and looked at me, his bright blue eyes making contact with mine.

that was another thing about him i couldn't stop thinking about. his eyes.

"yeah, sorry. i just have had a lot on my mind," he responded before taking a deep breath and smiling at me.

"i understand. did you want me to go over some of the missing work with you after school?" i questioned, looking at him with a soft smile.

"oh, yeah sure that might be... good," matt breathed, looking away and rubbing his neck. "is your place cool? mine is kind of... a mess. or any place. it doesn't have to be yours-" he rambled, but i cut him off with a soft chuckle.

"my place is fine. my dad won't be home, so.." i trailed off before my cheeks turned pink. "sorry, i mean that in the least weird way possible." i chuckled nervously, and matt nodded with a shy smile.

"right." he breathed before he turned to begin walking to our next class.

-

i sat on the couch in my living room, staring at my wall as i waited for the doorbell. i had deep cleaned my house, and to be honest, i still felt like it was a mess. the idea that this new boy who i had known for a day and a half was coming to my house, not to mention he was incredibly attractive.

ding dong.

i shot up from the couch and booked it to the door, quickly opening it and chuckling softly. "heyy," i breathed, smiling as i stepped back for matt to come inside.

with a few steps, matt made his way through the door and smiled softly. "nice house you have here," he mumbled before he tried to hold in a laugh. "sorry, not to be weird. i just.. think it's nice? i don't know.." he trailed off.

i could tell he had mentally facepalmed and i shrugged before making my way up the stairs to my room with him. "my schoolwork and everything is up here, we can work on it all in here." i smiled as i pushed the door open to the room.

it was a quiet and simple room, one with white and beige walls with hints of greens and browns. there's some posters of my favorite bands and shows, but not too many to where it looks like clutter. i carefully took a seat on the end of my bed and turned my head to matt, who was standing awkwardly in the doorway.

i chuckled and waved him in. "you're welcome in, you know." i smiled.

his cheeks turned a soft shade of pink as he chuckled and moved forward to carefully sit beside me, a generous amount of room between us two.

"should i put some music on?" i questioned as i stood up and connected my phone to the small speaker on my nightstand.

matt shrugged and played with his fingers for a few minutes before reaching into his backpack and pulling out a few books.

i watched him for a moment before i mentally slapped myself.

right, we're studying.

i put on some hotel ugly on shuffle, and matt's head shot up as he looked at me with a shocked look. "i love hotel ugly," he breathed, and i chuckled softly, sitting back down.

"i picked them up more recently, their music is really soothing and.." i trailed off as i looked at my hands and shrugged. "sorry, i'm rambling." i smiled as i pulled out my own books and materials.

-

matt stared at me as we studied. a lot. and every time i turned to catch him, he would clear his throat and look away.

"can i get you something to drink?" i asked as i stood up, rubbing the back of my head and stretching softly. "we have water, orange and apple juice, root b-"

"i'll take that," he interrupted, smiling warmly, "the root beer."

i chuckled and nodded before heading out of my room and to the fridge. with a soft hum to myself, i carefully grabbed him and i both a can of root beer.

my mind wandered. matt seemed like somebody who kept to himself, but i could tell that with time, he would open up. with that thought, i made my way back up the stairs.

"i got your root beer," i chuckled and turned to matt, who was standing by my dresser and looking at the different famed pictures.

i carefully set the cans down on my nightstand and made my way over to him, blinking. "you okay?" i asked, looking at him.

"why are you alone in all of your pictures here?" he asked, turning to me, and i blinked a few times before shrugging.

"well, my mom is out of the picture, and my dad usually takes the pictures." i shrugged and took a seat back down on the side of the bed, taking our root beers and handing him his before opening mine and taking a sip.

"can i ask what happened to your mom?" he asked, taking a seat beside me and opening his root beer as well.

i smiled sadly as i looked in front of me blankly. "uhh, she walked out on me and my dad when i was about... i wanna say eight?" i shrugged. "it's always been me and my dad, but we only talk once a day, honestly. he's busy with work, and i respect that." i smiled and hummed.

matt listened to me and nodded, humming softly through each statement.

a few moments go by and matt lets out a deep sigh, standing up and stretching. "wanna get out of here?" he questioned, smiling softly.

i blinked a few times and stood up as well, smiling back. "i mean... sure? where are you thinking of going?"

matt chuckled and began walking, motioning me to follow him.

"i know a spot."

I HOPE THIS WAS FREAKING AWESOME pls let me know what you guys think!!! i took a bit of a break off tumblr and whatnot for a break graaah and comment to be added to taglist!! taglist;; @star-saturn-xx @sturniolo-girl @p1xieswrld

[p-oisn]

let's get positive ! (⁠ʃ⁠ƪ⁠＾⁠3⁠＾⁠）

(the content below the cut contains mentions of sensitive topics such as implied su*cide & sh so pls scroll if you're uncomfortable w those !)

this is a long rant about life basically .. 💩💩

i was going to make a post like this sometime later anyways bc i felt .. like a nice person ... but i made it a bit earlier than i expected bc i saw a post from oomf that really made me think .. so here u go

this comes from my own PERSONAL experiences and this is js my point of view yk !!! im no expert on any topic HSHSJ this is js the way i cope plz dont come for me in my asks ... i am aware that it isn't the same for everyone but , i hope this message can be helpful to some extent </3

if you feel like like life is leading nowhere n you feel like giving up I PROMISE it will get better bc i felt the same for two whole years n i will say that i have improved a LOT since . yes , it took me longer than i expected but i didn't give up and you shouldn't either ! it was hard n there were times i felt like i wasn't making any progress / improvement but in the end , it still got better

be kinder (to yourself, first) ☆

i think the first step to loving yourself is to forgive yourself .. its okay to try over n over again , you're still human n i think ppl tend to forget that often bc they're so tough on theirselves . let's not forget that your body is actively trying it's best to keep u alive , your WBCs for example ! (let's appreciate these little guys for trying their best 🎉🎉) your body too , deserves to be loved back , for fighting so hard just for YOU! so pls don't hurt yourself in any way </3

appreciate yourself for achieving even the smallest of tasks because even if it wasn't something big , YOU DID IT ANYWAYS ! every small achievement of yours deserves to be appreciated . even if it's momentary happiness , appreciate yourself while it lasts . i understand that sometimes even small things could be such a hassle but you can always reward yourself later ! i personally like to buy donuts everytime i finish something (this could come in handy when you're really craving something if you get what im saying ..)

It's okay if you're going at a slower pace than other people , what matters in the end is that you get it done ! everyone is not the same so it's unfair to put yourself down for such things .. also applies to comparing yourself to someone because in the end you'll still be you .. even if you don't like it .. that makes you unique ofcourse , there's only one of you in this world so embrace yourself for that !! you're one of a kind (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)

oh, but, life's the same, it's boring ... ☆

yes , a lot of days could end up being the exact same because like , there are 365 days in a year so you can except most of them to be similar .. but as a new year starts , ofc many things change without you even noticing it , you grow older ofcourse , and you could be starting a new year in school , you meet new people and so on ! if you compare your life from a year ago or even a few months ago to now , you'll surely notice a few differences atleast so .. life is not reaaaaally the same right .... everyday is a new experience ! literally anything and i mean anything could happen the next day , you could even win the lottery who knows 🤫

when i felt like everyday was the same , i tried changing my patterns .. (my current favourite thing to do is go on a walk ! sometimes i take my dog w me , it's super fun) i would do small things that i dont usually do like sketch ! or i attempt cooking something new .. but obviously there were a LOT of days where i did nothing , sometimes even weeks , and that's okay ! we all deserve days where we do nothing ESPECIALLY if you're someone who is working or js in school / college everyday .. you deserve that break

i think a big factor is being unproductive ? don't get me wrong , i still am my same unproductive self at times unfortunately , n sometimes they do get so bad that they lead to a terrible burnout .. n i went through a rly bad burnout not long ago n trust me you do not want to get this far :( how do i deal with this ? (let's take studying as an example here) well i always start off with small portions , even if it's just a page or two . n then i slowly keep increasing the amount of pages i read .. n yes ofc , i understand how brutal burnouts can get sometimes n that's why it's important to not overwhelm yourself by attempting to finish a big portion of your studies in one go .. just take it easy , let the information marinate in your head for a bit before you move on to the next topic .. so basically what im trying to say here is don't overwhelm yourself with big tasks especially when you're already burntout

friends .. they're great ☆

the thing that honestly improved my life by a mile is getting good friends .. I've had my fair share of bad friend groups so trust me when I say this , it's better to be alone than with people who drain you mentally because . you deserve someone who treats you the way you actually want to be treated .

"but it's hard to make friends" i completely get this because i am a very shy person myself </3 but i think you could start by trying to make friends online ! its easy to find someone with similar interests on the internet .. so when you feel down atleast you know that there's someone on the other side of the world who cares for you ..

but this doesn't change the fact that solitude is AMAZING too (tbh i could go on for a really long time on how i love being by myself but this is already getting super lengthy ...) you can be your own friend too ! (okay see now this seems insane but if it makes you happy WHO CARES AMIRITE) i personally enjoy my own company like omg .. she can get a good laugh out of me sometimes ... you can do whatever you want when you're alone ! you can dance to your favourite playlist or experiment with a bunch of stuff ! if you get bored you can watch your favourite movie or consume your favourite piece of media that no one gets like you 🤫 so , as much as making friends sounds great , let's appreciate solitude too !!

ah, life can be beautiful sometimes? ☆

one of the biggest reasons i go on walks almost regularly is to remind myself how beautiful the world can be sometimes .. (atp half of this is me convincing you all to go on walks) i live in a beautiful neighbourhood n there are a lot of different flowers and fruits that grow here and that makes me really happy . going on early morning walks especially is soo fun , the world is so quiet then and you can even watch the sunrise 🥹

another thing is buying myself things i like ... especially clothes ... if you think you would look good in something then js go ahead and buy it ! don't mind what other people think because like ... YOU are wearing it and if people around you have a problem with that then i think they should close their damn eyes and not look at you if it bothers them that much 🤦 you deserve to feel confident and comfortable in your own skin , you deserve to dress the way you want to ! so if you feel like dressing a particular way would make you feel better .. GO FOR IT !!! this applies to other things you like, maybe accessories, merch or stationary that look cute .. it's okay even if people judge you for your style because in the end they're the ones who are boring and miserable because they spend soo much time hating on others 😒

life is soo much more fun when you take care of yourself trust me ... you deserve to be taken care of !! so spoil yourself once in a while i promise it's okay as long as it makes you happy <3

to sum it all up .. yes , good times don't last forever but so don't bad times , and you and i both can get through a bad day because life is still going on (⁠*⁠˘⁠︶⁠˘⁠*⁠)⁠.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ bad times too , will pass . so please believe in yourself and hold on !! i love you

again, this is all how*I* like to cheer myself up so pls don't take anything here in a bad way 😖 all of this was made with good intentions and im so sorry if i still ended up hurting anyone in any way ..

[canmom]

авантура Цанмома у Београду

avantura Canmoma u Beogradu, or, the adventure of canmom in Belgrade

it's another one of these 'travels of canmom' posts! last time we went to Gamescom in Germany. this time I went to Belgrade for a company event.

I can't actually talk that much about this one because the main thing I was doing was cooking up game pitches for what we might work on next (kind of like a game jam but just for concepts), and while that was very interesting and I learned a lot about how to get ideas across in limited time and make judgements about what videogames might sell and how long they'd take to make and such... it is however probably not something I can talk in too much detail about yet, because we might end up making these games, so I can't be like 'the theme was x and we pitched y'.

so instead I will mostly talk about Belgrade! and show some of the photos I took that don't have game developers wandering around in them.

that's Nikola Tesla airport. did you know that Nikola Tesla was from modern-day Serbia (at the time, the Austrian Empire)? I didn't but I do now!

most of the week was spent in this fancy villa...

...which is called the Villa Saga Paradiso. it must once upon a time have been some stinking rich family's holiday home, because it's a super weird building, with such features as a pool table, swimming pool, tennis court, library, and even a weird kinda stage thing on the top floor. definitely full of weirdly shaped rooms and interesting old furniture, it felt kinda like a place a moomin might hole up. so here's some pics of the place.

also the view was kinda insane...

also! here's a pic of a Serbian snail that came out rather nice:

anyway on Saturday we went into the city centre to do some more touristy shit. I went to the two places in Belgrade that presumably everyone goes, namely the Fortress and the Temple. but I also got some shots of the city centre...

(also a tram shot for the trams girls in the audience)

so as you can see, the vibes of central Belgrade are p Southern European sorta architecture, lots of pale stone walls and tiled roofs and the like. but you also have these crazy cool looking tower blocks from the communist period...

...which were unfortunately quite hard to photograph out of a moving car window.

But yeah, we were on our way to the fortress.

Belgrade Fortress has a pretty storied history. At one point it simply was Belgrade; even after that, it's been occupied by variously the Byzantines, Turks and Austrians, who all made various additions and modifications to the fortress, and sometimes accidentally blew it up. Nowadays it's become a kind of park and tourist area, surrounded by the river, and thus some pretty impressive views...

as well as various things that tourists might like to look at, like statues of dinosaurs and tanks, and people dressed Historically.

apparently you're only allowed 30 images in a post, so let me make another one for the Temple, which was the craziest building I saw, and the butt statue...

[elizabethwritesmen]

𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚜

chapter 2 : poconos

pairing: firefighter!steve harrington x reader

summary: steve comes over to help y/n put up halloween decorations, and old feelings start to resurface.

warnings: smut to come. angst and fluff.

a/n: still no mention of christmas but i promise it’s coming! this one is more halloween themed. slow burn, like always. make sure to read chapter 1 first! link below!

chapter 1 | chapter 3 | chapter 4

The job search over the next few days was brutal. I was exhausted from all the “I don’t think you’re the right fit,” and the “We don’t hire right before the Holidays.” Not to mention the “We just don’t need you right now.” Everything changed, though, in late September.

I was at the music shop, whining to Robin about my fruitless venture to end my unemployment. She was trying to pay attention to me and do her end-of-day inventory at the same time, curled up in the recliner she had in the back room. It was more like a studio apartment than a staff area. It had a pullout couch, two comfy recliners, a bean bag chair, a TV, a tiny kitchenette and a bathroom.

“Why don’t you just come work here?” She asked me, glancing up from her paperwork.

“Here? Like at the music shop?”

“No, in the parking lot directing traffic.” Her sarcasm dripped from her, and I couldn’t see her roll her eyes but I was sure she did.

“Well… do you even need anyone? I know having friends work together can cause problems, too. I don’t want to make things weird.”

“Y/N, you’re like, my oldest friend and we’ve never even argued. I’m not gonna be a hard ass or anything, so there won’t be any opening for conflict. Come in late, I don’t care. Wear what you want. Honestly I don’t care if you show up at all, so come all day every day or a couple days a week. You can do customer work while I do paperwork and I’ll pay you 15 an hour for whatever you work. I’ve been needing to hire someone, I just don’t have the time to get everything done anymore without staying super late.”

“You’re really ok with that?” I asked skeptically, and she stared up at me, annoyance on her face.

“Yes, stupid. Or I wouldn’t have offered. You’re here every day anyway, you might as well help. Plus you’re my best friend, I would love to work with you!”

“Okay, when do I start?”

“Tomorrow if you want.”

“That sounds great!”

And just like that, I had a job. It paid well, considering I was living in an inherited house and my car was paid off. Plus, it was so lax. When Robin said she didn’t care, she wasn’t kidding. We were basically just hanging out all day, it wasn’t hardcore like any job I’d worked before, and we were more like partners than employer and employee.

Only a few days passed before I saw Steve again, the front door bell jingling to signal his entrance. I looked up and the first thing I saw was his hair.

“You working here now?” he asked, eyeing the way my hips were situated in a stool behind the counter. I nodded.

“Robin took pity on me and gave me a job,” I shrugged.

“Naturally,” he grinned lightly, the polite kind you give to someone you don’t know anymore.

“How are you?” I asked, desperate to fill the silent void between us that had never been there before.

“I’m okay, just tired. Thought I’d stop by and annoy Robin for a few minutes before my next call.”

“Busy day?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

The silence stretched on again, and I couldn’t think up a Titanic to break the ice. Thankfully, he did it for me.

“How’s the cat?”

“Great!” I grinned all toothy and big, pulling out my phone and showing him recent pictures.

“Oh, he’s gotten so big. What’d you name him?”

“Poconos.”

At that, he faltered, his jaw opening slightly as he stared at me. He was speechless for a few seconds, and I watched as he regained his composure. “Oh.”

“I figured, you know, it fit since you’re the one who gave him to me.”

He just looked at me. Really looked at me for the first time since I’d seen him again. He had the same look in his eye that he did when we were teenagers, and seeing it was like a breath of spring.

“I should stop by and see him one day,” he casually stated as if it were nothing, “Just in case he misses me.”

“You know, he actually did tell me that he misses you, now that you mention it.”

“Is that so? Well then I’d better stop by soon, I hate to keep him waiting. How’s tonight? On my way home from work?”

“Tonight is perfect.”

“Great,” he was smiling. Like a real smile, wide and bright, filling up the room with energy so positive and radiant I could get a tan from it. I returned it tenfold, and we stared at each other like that until Robin walked in from the back room and interrupted us.

“Are those smiles I see?” she asked, feigning shock as we rolled our eyes. “I never thought I’d see Steve smile that big again. Guess it’s the Y/N effect.”

“Shut up, Robin,” he sighed, an edge in his voice like she said something she wasn’t supposed to.

“Hey! I’m just glad you’ve forgiven her!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air defensively, “Did she tell you about tonight?” I frowned, slightly confused, and so did Steve. “Seriously? You don’t remember?”

“I guess not,” I shrugged.

“We’re putting up all your Halloween decorations. We planned this like, forever ago!”

“Oh shit,” my eyes widened, “I forgot that was tonight.”

I turned to Steve apologetically. More so for myself than him, I was looking forward to him coming to see the cat. He just grinned, “Well since I’ll be there tonight anyway, I might as well help you with it.”

“Really?” I raised a brow. He nodded.

“Great!” Robin clapped, pulling out her phone, “I’ll let Eddie know to come over too. Is he off tonight?”

“He should be, but I don’t know whether he has Candy tonight or not.”

“Candy?” I inquired, “Why would he need candy?”

Steve and Robin shared a look and chuckled, explaining to me, “Candy is Eddie’s 6 year old.”

“Eddie has a 6 year old?”

“Yeah, he knocked some groupie he met at a concert up a few months after you left. He didn’t even know until he opened his front door nine months later and saw a car seat there with Candy inside it.”

“So the mom just left her there?”

“Yeah, with her birth certificate and social and everything. All he knew about her was that her name was Candy Priscilla and she was definitely his. So he got custody and he’s been raising her since.”

“Candy Priscilla?” I furrowed my brows comically, “He never thought to change that name?” I didn’t mean to be mean but… whew. I’d never heard that one before.

“Well at first, he had too much on his plate. And eventually it just grew on him,” Robin shrugged.

“Well,” I hummed, “She can come too. I’m sure she’d love to help, and I bet she’s cute as a button.”

“Okay. I’ll go call him and ask.”

She walked away, leaving Steve and I alone again.

“So…” I drawled, “Guess tonight turned into a group thing.”

“Just like old times,” he mused.

“I’m glad you’re still coming over.”

“I wouldn’t miss a chance to watch you almost fall off a ladder trying to hang fake spider webs.”

I rolled my eyes, defending myself, “I would NOT almost fall! I’m so coordinated!”

“Y/N, I’m the one who brought you to the hospital when you slipped and broke your foot. Do you really wanna have this argument with me?”

With a huff and an eyeroll, I mumbled, “Fine. Whatever. Either way, I’m glad you’re coming.”

“Me too,” he sighed, almost sounding relieved. “I gotta get back to work but I’ll see you and Poconos later.”

“Can’t wait,” I grinned shyly as he left.

Robin came over directly after work and brought a change of clothes to spend the night. The idea was that we’d decorate then watch scary movies to get in the Halloween spirit until we fell asleep. Now, though, the boys had thrown a wrench in our plans.

Soon after we got there, Eddie showed up and helped us drag all the boxes of decor out of the basement and attic. He had his little girl with him, and she was the spitting image of him, curls falling over her little head and bouncing everywhere as she ran. She was wearing a little Metallica T shirt and a pair of red leggings, with some tennis shoes adorning her busy feet.

“She’s perfect, Eddie,” I smiled, glancing at her. He beamed proudly.

“She’s the best,” he hummed, and I could almost see his heart overflowing with happiness. “Candy, come here!”

She raced over to us, her face flush from activity, “What’s wrong, daddy?”

“This is Y/N. Me and Aunt Robin are helping her put up her Halloween stuff, you wanna help too?”

“Yeah!” she squealed excitedly, her huge smile showing off her missing front teeth. She skipped to me, reaching up for me to hold her and I obliged, “You’re pretty. I didn’t know daddy had a friend as pretty as you.”

“No, you’re pretty,” I poked her nose and she giggled. “What decorations do you want to be in charge of, Candy girl? We’ve got fake spider webs, skeletons, and some inflatables.”

“Me and Daddy will do the skeletons,” she told me and I pointed them in the direction of the box.

“I’ll do the inflatables, you take the spider webs,” Robin stated, “Steve can help you when he gets here.”

“But won’t you need help?”

“All I’m doing is dragging them out into the yard and using your grandpa’s blower machine thing to blow them up.”

“Well they’re still heavy. Steve can help you and I can hang the webs alone.”

“Dear God, Y/N, you’re so dense. This is my way of forcing you and Steve to spend time together, so just go with it!”

“Robin!” I screeched, “You’re awful!”

“I just want you to be boyyyyfriendddd and girllllfriendddd again!”

“We were never boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“Just because you didn’t admit it doesn’t mean you weren’t.”

With that she flipped her hair and walked away from me, beginning her work. I rolled my eyes, dragging out the boxes of webs and fake spiders, and deciding where on the house they would look best.

About a half an hour passed before I heard tires heavy on gravel and a big black truck pulled into my driveway. Steve stepped out of it, still wearing his work clothes but he looked so handsome in them I could hardly complain. Once he caught sight of me, he smiled, then dropped his tailgate, pulling out two huge spotlights. They looked heavy so I jogged over to help him.

“What’re these for?” I asked as we set them on the ground on each side of the house.

“It’s gonna be dark tonight, so I borrowed these from work.”

“Oh, thank you. These will help a lot!” I grinned, hooking them up to one of the many extension cords I was using and watching as they lit up the cabin and yard.

Just then, Candy came sprinting over. “Uncle Steve!” she squealed, her hair falling all over the place and her arms outstretched for him to pick her up. He did, spinning her around and laughing.

“Hey, shorty,” he cooed, and I couldn’t help the way my tummy fluttered. He was still as good with kids as ever.

“Have you met daddy’s new friend?” She asked him, “She’s really pretty. Don’t you think she’s so pretty?”

He smirked, whispering something in her ear and she gasped, shouting, “Y/N, he said you’re the prettiest girl in the whole world!!!”

I raised a brow, “Is that so?”

“Yes, but he told me not to tell you,” she sheepishly added, “Sorry Uncle Steve.”

“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that,” he gave his best evil laugh as he tickled her into a fit of shrill giggles, and I couldn’t help but giggle along.

“Okay, okay, break it up,” Eddie intervened jokingly, “You’re making an old man jealous. My own kid likes you more than me.”

“Of course she does, I’m the best!” Steve winked.

“The best at being the worst.”

I rolled my eyes at their banter. Some things never changed.

“You losers gonna keep chatting or get to work?” Robin shouted from the other side of the yard, and we heeded her words. Eddie and Candy went to work on skeleton duty and Steve followed me to the boxes of webs and such.

“Maybe I will get to see you fall,” he smirked as he did his best to organize the pile and set up the ladder.

“No chance in hell,” I rolled my eyes, stepping onto the rungs one by one. I swayed a little and he placed his warm hand on my back.

“Would you rather me hang them and you hand them to me?”

“No, you’ll do it wrong.”

“I would rather do it wrong than take you to the ER for a broken bone.”

“You’re not doing either.”

I got a few hung up and grinned victoriously, starting to climb down the ladder but I slipped, gasping. Steve caught me easily, setting me gently on the ground.

“Careful, sweetheart,” he whispered, his mouth right against my ear, his words casting warm breath over my skin and littering me with goosebumps. He was solid behind me, his hands tight on my waist. His chin was resting against the side of my head, and neither of us made any moves to pull away. Instead, I turned my head to the side, staring up at him.

The moment was intense. I could feel my pulse racing and I was sure he could, too.

“You can do the rest,” I quietly offered, and he smiled, nice and slow.

“Smart girl.”

I shivered at those words. I could tell he felt it by the way his eyes slightly widened, taking every reaction to heart, and he pulled me closer to him by my hips. We were only interrupted by Candy’s little voice.

“Y/N, daddy told me to ask you for super glue.”

I snapped out of my trance, staring at her dumbly. Steve rescued me, stating, “I’ll take her to get it.”

“You remember where it is?” I asked.

“I told you, I remember everything.”

He walked inside with her, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I could still feel him. He was so close I could’ve kissed him. If I could count every time Steve got just close enough to kiss me but never did… No wonder I left all those years before. It was pure torture, having what you want and need right in front of you and not being able to take it. I shuddered to think that all my feelings were flooding back. My sad desperation seeping into my bones like a cancer, sealing my fate, except this time I had nowhere to go.

I sighed, moving the ladder and boxes to the other side of the house just in time for him to return.

“You didn’t have to move all this, I had it!” he pouted.

“I wanted to. Besides, you were on an important super glue mission.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t have left you here alone but that was life or death.”

“I could tell. I’m impressed you were able to get the job done by yourself.”

He laughed at that, the real kind of laugh that he used to give me before I left. I hadn’t seen it in so long, it made my heart swell.

“I almost forgot how funny you are, Y/N/N.”

I flushed. He hadn’t called me that since…. Well, also before I left. It was a silly nickname, really. A play on my name that I would only ever let him get away with. Not that anyone else would ever use it anyway. Steve would’ve given them an earful and made them apologize for stealing his favorite girl’s best nickname. He was possessive like that, but in a friendly kind of way.

“I don’t know how you could forget, I’m basically a comedian, Stevia.”

He had about the same reaction to his nickname as I’d had to mine. I’d always called him Stevia, because he wasn’t sweet enough to be real sugar and wasn’t cool enough to be Splenda. It was a joke, of course, but it stuck, especially when I wanted to get on his nerves.

“We should probably get to hanging these,” he took a deep breath, changing the subject. I nodded, taking over the job of handing him what he needed while he climbed on the ladder. Anytime he placed something slightly off from where I wanted it, I let him know swiftly and he rolled his eyes and groaned before moving it. I could tell he was annoyed with me, but not really annoyed. Just the I-can’t-wait-to-be-done-with-this annoyed. And after about an hour, he got his wish, so we went around helping everyone else finish up. Around 9, everything looked perfect, and I clapped with joy.

“Thanks SO much guys! It’s perfect!!” I squealed, bouncing on my toes, excitement overwhelming me.

“We aim to please,” Eddie shrugged.

“Now movies?!” Robin suggested, and all of us nodded but Eddie.

“I wish we could stay, but one of Candy’s friends has a birthday party in the morning and if I don’t get her to bed soon, she’ll be impossible to wake up.”

“Please, daddy?” Candy stuck out her bottom lip, letting it tremble slightly for dramatic effect.

“Another night. I promise.”

“Okay,” she sighed, dejected. She gave Steve and Robin both big hugs, then came to me and reached her arms up. I was slightly surprised, but welcomed her in, and she mumbled, “I’m gonna miss you. I want you to marry Uncle Steve so I can see you all the time.”

I blushed from head to toe, and Eddie snorted. I was too scared to glance at Steve, but I had a feeling he was blushing too.

“That’s enough, Candy. We can see her all the time anyway, even if she doesn’t marry Steve,” Eddie grabbed her from me, “But it would be cool if she did.”

I glared daggers at him as he said his goodbyes and left.

“I see nothing has changed,” Steve commented, glancing at his feet briefly.

“Nothing ever does,” I shrugged, walking past him and through the front door. He unplugged the spotlights then walked in behind me. Robin followed, dragging in all the boxes and putting them back in the basement.

“What movie do you guys wanna start with?” I asked, scrolling through the Halloween section on the TV.

“Something extra scary,” Robin requested and I nodded, handing her the remote.

“You pick it, then.”

“Oh, I have the perfect thing,” And with a smirk on her face, she chose Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the one movie I could never make it all the way through.

“Rob,” I huffed.

“What? It’s fine!”

“Robin,” Steve snapped, his voice low, “Pick something else.”

“Why?”

“You know Y/N doesn’t like this movie.”

“What are you, her body guard? She’ll be fine. It’s just a silly movie. And we’re grown now! She can handle it.”

“Robin.” His voice was even lower as he glared her way.

“It’s fine, Steve. She’s right, I can handle it.”

She put the movie on and I curled up on the opposite side of the couch from Steve as she did the same in the recliner across the room. I sighed heavily as the movie began to play.

I made it a few minutes in before the killing started, and I instantly regretted it. Every time there was a nasty or scary scene, I could feel Steve’s eyes on me, watching me cringe and flinch. Eventually, he moved to my side, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch and covering us up with it, his arm around me, pulling me in tight. I couldn’t believe I was that close to him, my heart was beating out of my chest.

“It’s okay. It’s just a movie.”

Just then, Poconos came out of nowhere and jumped on our laps, wiggling his still small kitten butt. I let out a snort, petting him lightly.

“Wow, he’s gotten bigger,” Steve mumbled low enough not to disturb Robin.

“He has. He’ll be full grown soon I think.”

“Still, he’s just a baby.”

We were interrupted by a flash coming from Robin’s phone. She took a picture of us.

“Sorry, you guys are just too cute,” she laughed, putting her phone away. We rolled our eyes, focusing back in on the movie, and I hardly noticed how his thumb traced little circles on my shoulder. Hardly.

Once it got to the scene where a guy gets sawed in half hot-dog style, I groaned and turned to Steve, hiding in his shirt like I always had.

“I remember this being the part where you’d always leave the room.”

“And you’d always follow me.”

“Yeah, I’ve never actually seen the end of the movie,” he chuckled, the sound vibrating my head where he rested his chin. The hand that was on my shoulder found it’s way to stroke my hair, comforting me through the most traumatic scene of all time.

“You never watched it without me?”

“Well if you weren’t gonna see how it ended, it didn’t feel right for me to.”

“Steve,” I sighed, gazing up at him. I could see the dim TV light playing off his features, highlighting them beautifully. He was everything.

He looked down at me as well, and our eyes locked. That had been happening a lot. I winced at how easy it would be to just lean up and kiss him. How perfect it would be. And when he started to lean it, I thought for a moment it might happen. He was so close, his lips almost on mine, I could feel my world slowly collapsing. Then he leaned down to whisper in my ear instead, “The scene is over, it’s safe to look at the screen now.” Shit. He had to know what he was doing to me.

I turned away from, doing as he said, trying to focus on the movie but it was hard. His free hand, the one that wasn’t in my hair, started at the top of my arm and slid it down slowly and gently to my wrist, then found my own, playing around with it for a second before simply holding it. His grip was warm as he squeezed, and I squeezed back, taking a deep breath as my heart swelled again.

The rest of the movie felt like it went on forever, but it finally ended and Robin yawned loudly.

“I’m gonna go to bed,” she announced, grabbing her bag and making her way to the guest room.

“I thought you wanted to watch another movie?” I called to her.

“Not anymore, I’m beat. But you two should!”

The room was silent for a moment. Steve’s hand was still holding mine, but his other hand had moved down to my back, his grip firm.

“You probably have to go soon, huh? It’s pretty late,” I mumbled, unable to keep the disappointment out of my voice.

“I can stay as late as you want me to. I’d rather be here than go home to an empty house.”

“Yeah, at least here you have a cute cat to snuggle with,” I grinned, calling Poconos over and watching as he jumped onto our laps again.

“I think he might be the best cat ever, I can’t believe I gave him up.”

“Yeah, that was pretty stupid of you.”

“Hey now, I gave a cute cat to a pretty girl. I’m a hero.”

“You really think I’m pretty?”

He furrowed his brows at me, “Didn’t you hear what I told Candy? Prettiest girl in the world, hands down.”

“What about Angelina Jolie? Megan Fox? Scarlett Johannson?”

“None of them hold a candle to you,” he shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Why didn’t you think I was pretty in high school?”

“I did, but I was terrified to tell you. The kids used to pick on me for it all the time, especially Max.”

“She used to pick on me, too. She thought I had a crush on you.”

“Well, you did. Didn’t you?” he asked, and I paused, panicking slightly as I stared at him. “That was our thing. We liked eachother more than we should’ve. That’s what made us such good friends.”

“You say that like you had a crush on me, too,” I rolled my eyes.

“I did!”

“Whatever.”

“Really, I did. Swear. Why do you think I tried so hard to make out with you the night after you graduated?”

“No you didn’t! You totally pulled away from me!”

“Because I was nervous and I psyched myself out!”

I huffed, bumping his arm lightly, “Well that was stupid of you.”

“Would you have left if I had kissed you?”

The mood changed. Suddenly, it was much more serious, tension flowing in the air between us.

“No,” I told him honestly.

“Everyone told me I was the reason you left. That’s why I was so angry when you came back, I couldn’t understand why. I still don’t understand why.”

“Some things don’t need to be understood. I’m back now, and it was a mistake.”

“Yeah, and we’re just going back to the way we were like no time has passed. I don’t understand this, Y/N. Not at all. I’ve spent 7 years wondering what I could’ve done to make you stay. Wondering why you didn’t want to stay. Wondering if I did something to hurt you. To make you wanna get away from me.”

“You didn’t.”

“Then what was it?”

I stared at my lap, unsure how to proceed with the conversation. I couldn’t believe he hadn’t figured it out yet, but I was counting my blessings.

“Forget it,” he sighed, “It doesn’t matter. Let’s just watch another movie.”

“You wanna stay?” I stared hopefully up at him, my eyes glassy and wide, “Even after we argued?”

“Of course I wanna stay. You’re my best friend.”

“You still think of me as your best friend?”

“I never stopped,” he smiled, tapping my nose, “Besides, I knew you’d come back. Nobody can resist the Harrington charm for long.”

I rolled my eyes, handing him the remote, “Just pick a movie, stupid.”

He grabbed it from me and began scrolling, settling on some B movie about a slasher. We settled in, getting comfy with each other again as we watched. Halfway through, though, I felt myself starting to doze off.

When I woke up, I was in Steve’s arms being carried through the hallway to the master bedroom. I furrowed my brows for a second, “Steve? What’re you doing?”

“You fell asleep, I’m taking you to bed.”

“But I wanna stay up longer with you.”

“I know, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’ll come see you at the music shop then we can do something when you get off if you want to.”

“Of course I want to,” I smiled, pulling myself closer to his chest and snuggling into his warmth. A second layer, we were in my room and he laid me down gently, kissing my forehead.

“Sleep tight, Y/N/N.”

And with that, he was gone. I could faintly hear his tires as he pulled out of the long driveway.

Three months before graduation

It was far from the first time Steve had parked down the road from my parents’ house and waited for me so we could sneak out to the cabin. It was easy, really. His parents didn’t give a damn what he did and mine never really noticed me missing.

I climbed out my window, hopping onto the ground gracelessly and setting off for his car. It was quicker to go through the treeline in my neighbor’s back yard than to walk on the street, so that’s what I did. There was also no chance of anyone seeing me that way.

Steve was standing by the passenger door when I walked up, smile engraved on his pretty face.

“It’s about time, I was starting to worry about you,” he stated as he opened the door for me, making sure I was completely in before shutting it behind me. He climbed in on his side, pulling off quietly.

“I’ve walked that path about a million times, Steve. I’m perfectly safe. Besides, even if I got kidnapped it would be worth it for the chance to do this with you.”

“You’re too sweet,” he smirked, giving my thigh one gentle squeeze then returning his hand to his own lap.

The ride felt shorter than it was, I suppose the company helped with that. There was never a lull with Steve, he just talked and you always wanted to hear what he had to say. Plus, his hair captivated attention on its own. Finally, we pulled into the rough driveway and he parked.

“It’s a shame it’s too cold to swim,” I sighed, staring off at the water before me.

“It’s fine, I’m in more of a bonfire mood tonight anyways.”

He lead me gently with a hand on my back to the fire pit. I always loved that part of the yard, fairy lights were strung up over it and there was an assortment of patio and folding chairs around it, along with a picnic table beside it.

He set to work on getting the fire going, adding logs, sticks and kindling. Fortunately, the only time my parents used the cabin was to have a fire when it was really cold, so supplies were always stocked up in a little shed beside the place. I shivered as I waited for him to get it going and he turned to me, concern showing on his face. “Here,” he pulled off his jacket and handed it to me.

“I can’t take this, you’ll be cold.”

“I’m working up a sweat carrying these logs, I’ll be fine. Plus, the fire will be going soon. And I’d rather be cold than you be cold.”

“Fine, whatever, sacrifice yourself and your warmth,” I shrugged, yanking the item from him and slipping into it, breathing a sigh of relief. It was so warm from the body heat he’d been cultivating, and it smelled of his cologne.

“You look cute like that,” he smirked, sparing me a glance. I gave him a once over as he continued working on the fire.

“So do you.”

I could see a slight blush on his cheeks in the glow of the flames he’d finally created. Soon, it went from flames to fire, and he pulled a folding chair right next to mine, so close we were almost touching. Almost wasn’t good enough for either of us though, so we reached for each other, clasping hands like we needed each other to breathe. It was always like that. We always needed each other, more than anyone else.

“You sure you don’t want your jacket back?” I asked him, but he shook his head.

“I already told you no.”

I smiled lightly, turning back to the fire. We sat in comfortable silence for a while before he broke it, saying, “I can’t believe your graduating so soon. I’m so proud of you.”

“Do you think we’ll still do things like this after I graduate?”

“I think we’ll still do things like this when we’re in our 30s and you’re married. You’ll be sneaking out of your husband’s bed just to meet me here, at our spot.”

“What about you? No wife?”

“Absolutely not. I don’t need someone telling me all the reasons I shouldn’t be friends with you.”

“You’re silly,” I giggled, “You always have new girlfriends. Surely you’ll get married in a couple years, have a few babies. The real American dream.”

“You’re right, I do always have new girlfriends, and they never like you. Why do you think I don’t keep them?”

“If you found a girl you really just couldn’t live without, you’d have to cut me off, and that would be okay because she would be worth it.”

“I already found a girl I really just couldn’t live without.”

I glanced over at him to see he was already looking at me, his eyes heavy, shining in the orange light.

“You could find a way,” I insisted, tugging on my hand lightly until he let it go then folding it in my lap. I wanted the distance. I wanted this conversation to hurt less, and I thought letting him go would be the way.

“Let’s go on a trip,” he suddenly changed the subject.

“What?”

“A trip. Let’s go on one, after your graduation. Just for a weekend or something. We can get a cheap motel room and eat trashy food and see whatever we wanna see. Just me and you.”

“What about Robin and Eddie?”

“They can come, if they really want, but I am not rooming with him so I hope she’ll be willing to.”

“Well where are we going?”

“Anywhere you want.”

“No, it’s your idea. You pick.”

“I always wanted to go to the Poconos.”

“Why the Poconos? Isn’t that mountains or something.”

“Yeah, I think so. I don’t know much about it but I like the name. Poconos. Poke-a-nose. I think it’d be funny to see how many times I could poke your nose in the Poconos.”

“You are so goofy.”

“That’s why you love me so much.”

“I do. I really, really do. Okay, so we’re going on a trip to the Poconos. Me and you are sharing a room, Robin and Eddie are sharing a room. Or you could room with Robin and I could room with Eddie?”

“Absolutely not. Me and you, one room, one bed.”

“One bed? We’re not in a fan fiction.”

“Fine, two beds. But I get to pick what we watch on TV.”

“Deal. What’re we gonna do there?”

“Get drunk. Sight see. I’m gonna buy you some kick ass lame souvenirs and you’re gonna keep them forever. And there’s gonna be a lot of nose poking going on.”

“This sounds like the best trip ever.”

“The first of many, I hope.”

“Oh definitely. We’re gonna be travel buddies ‘til we’re geriatric. Two veggies in a Volkswagen bus.”

“Oh my God, you’re the worst.”

“It was funny!”

“It was not.”

Our banter continued for the rest of the night until he eventually put the fire out and brought me home. Every second with him felt like it was almost too much, suffocating me with how badly I loved him.

That was the night I started to think about leaving. I’d applied to colleges that were far away as a “just in case”, but maybe one of them could be serious. Anything would be better than pining after Steve for the rest of my life. I had to get away before high school ended and my real life began because seeing him all the time with no breaks or interruptions would’ve just been too much. He would be fine if I left, I told myself. He can still go on the trips and see the sights and poke the noses. He wouldn’t miss me too much.

He wouldn’t miss me.