#Activate Chime card by phone

[starzioo]

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐓. 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄.

This is a smut one shot.

Word count: 4.8k

This is gonna be a one shot about Theo!

WARNINGS: SMUT, drinking, smoking, suggestive topics!

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Theo had decided that for the trip him and his friends take every summer that he would take them to tour his home land, Italy. They had been there for about 3 days before Theo decided he should take them to the club his father owns. It was the hotspot of Rome’s nightlife. It was a cool summer night in the heart of Rome. You and your friends had been partying together all night hopping club to club, getting free drinks and gifts from men who had nothing better to do. Of course you never actually engaged in any activity with them. All you did was talk for a few minutes and maybe give them a dance, but never anything further. As you and your friends all cram into the black SUV uber you decide that you’re gonna go to Erotica. Erotica is one of the biggest and most popular clubs in the city. Of course it was gonna be hard to actually get in but a group of totally hot girls? What bouncer wouldn’t let you guys in? The small 5 minute drive to the club was spent taking selfies and having those drunk girl conversations. Beside from your totally drunk friends you were just barely tipsy. “Thank youu~” All of your girlfriends said to the driver nearly in sync. You all got out of the car and examined the long line of others waiting to get inside. You walk up to the bouncer. “Hiii how’s your night going?” you say sweetly tilting your head. “Good. And yours?” The tall and buff bouncer says nonchalantly as he examines you. “I’m gooood~ but I was just wondering if maybe you could let us in…without the line wait.” you say sweetly. “Mmm I don’t know about that…” the bouncer says hesitantly. One of your friends chimes in. “Pleasee~ we would really really appreciate it!” She says now standing beside you. Another one of your friends joins. “Yeah, I mean what’s the harm in letting us in now?” She says sweetly. The man’s sighs. He opens the red velvet ropes that separate you from him. All of your friends cheer and thank the bouncer. “You need ID?” You ask him. “Nah you ladies just have a good night.” He says flirty. You kiss him on the cheek and you and your friends head in. The music is blaring, you can feel the bass in your core. “Where do you guys wanna sit?” You practically yell to your friends trying to get them to hear you over the music. “Let’s just go to the bar! We can try to find someone with a booth!” One of your friends yell back. You lead your drunken friends over to the bar where you all sit. “What can I get you ladies?” The bar tender asks. “Can I get a vodka cranberry? Also can we start a tab?” You say as you hand the bar tender your card. He nods as the rest of your friends put in their drink orders. A few minutes later the bar tender hands you your drink. Nearly as soon as your friends get their drinks they hear a specific song come on. They all run to the dance floor drinks in hand leaving their purses and other belongings at the bar. You sigh. Seeing the sight of all their belongings on the bar.

You couldn’t just leave the valuables there, so you stay just on your phone sipping your drink. Making sure none of your friends valuables get stolen. You’re zoned out on your phone when the bar tender says. “Ma’am? Someone sent you a drink and wants to buy you a booth.” He hands you the drink. “Oh really?” You tilt your head, “and who may this person be?” You ask the bartender. “The bar tender motions over to a group of guys sitting in the VIP section of the club. You see a group of about 7 guys and 1 girl. They’re all sitting on a black couch conversating and laughing as your eyes scan the group one guy is staring back at you. Eyes locking, he smirks slightly. You raise the drink to him signaling a thank you. He nods. You turn back to the bartender. “Did he give you his name?” “No ma’am, he just said he wants you to be comfortable.” He shrugs and goes back to making the drinks.

You finish the ‘sex on the beach’ that was sent to you. You gather your friends things and walk to the hostesses stand at the front of the club. “Someone bought a booth for me and my friends? I wasn’t given a name but the bartender over there told me?” You ask. “Ahh yes, Mr. Nott was very adamant for getting you the best of the best! Right this way!” She says leading you to the VIP space of the club. Once you’re there she leads you to not so much a booth but a full couch fit for about 20 people. The VIP section was nothing short of luxurious with black and gold detailing with dark lighting. The regular purple, red, and blue club lights still reaching. The table in front of the couch is set up with an ice bucket with two bottles of Armand De Brignac Ace Of Spades Champagne. “You weren’t kidding when you said best of the best?” You laugh looking at the expensive champagne. You set your friends things down onto the table. The hostess nods and laughs, “The VIP bar is just back there and your server will be making rounds to your table every so often!” She smiles then leaves to go back to her stand. You immediately sit and text your friends group chat. ‘Come to the VIP section I got a booth!!!’ Almost seconds after you text the group chat your friends are standing infront of you. “Y/n are you joking VIP??” they all laugh and sit down grabbing their belongings off the table. “What can I say?” you laugh shrugging. “Did another lonely old man but it orrr?” One of your friends says as you all laugh. “Noooo actually he was quite handsome.” You say slyly. The table erupts in ‘Oooooo’ “He sent me a drink as well, we didn’t even talk! He just bought a booth for us. All the bartender said was, ‘He said he wanted you to be comfortable.’ like huhhh? And he set us up with champagne aswell!” You say giggling grabbing one bottle from the ice bucket, presenting it like a trophy to your friends. “Ouuuuu Y/n seems like you have a rich boy crushing on youuu~” Your friend says. “Stoppp now who’s gonna drink this with me!!” You say opening the bottle. You pour champagne for all your friends and cheers together then down your champagne. “Y/n~ cmon you haven’t dancing with us allll night!” Your friends say practically dragging you out off the couch and leading you to the dance floor.

With one of your friends behind you, you and her dance together. Dancing as drunk girls do, you were both dancing like you were together. Your hands above your head, you were swaying and dancing like a stripper basically. You had felt eyes on you but you couldn’t pin point where they were coming from. You closed your eyes and swayed your hips. When you opened your eyes again you finally realized who was staring. He’s still sitting on the same couch, his legs man spread, smoking a cigarette. His eyes are scanning your body as you dance. His gaze going down then back up to your eyes. Your eyes meet his. When he realizes you staring back at him, he slightly smirks. You hold eye contact with his as your moves begin to be more seductive and slow. He licks his bottom lip.

You suddenly feel an unfamiliar presence behind you it’s no longer your friend behind you but it’s now an unknown man. As he slips behind you, you still hold eye contact with the handsome man on the couch. His eyebrows furrow and he tilts his head slightly, still holding eye contact with you. Until your break it looking at the man behind you. He’s actually quite cute. Your hips sway against him and his hands lay on your hips traveling from there up and down your body. You turn your head back to look back at the man who was on the couch, but he’s gone. You shake it off and continue dancing. When you feel the man behind you get practically ripped off of you. A man from security was holding him by his arm, with no words being said security pulls the man to the front of the club and forces him out of the door. You still stand there on the dance floor in awe of what just happened. You feel two cold strong hands snake onto you from behind. The figure was pressed up behind you, you feels his head near your ear. “He wasn’t good enough for you bella, he had to go.” He whispers with his low husky voice, an Italian accent laced his words. You smirk knowing who was behind you. You turn around in his arms now facing him. His grasp still tight around your waist. You look up at him, your hands resting on his chest. “And you’re better?” You say flirtatiously. “sai che lo sono. non meritava di toccarti in quel modo.”(You know I am. He didn’t deserve to touch you like that) He says moving your hair out of your face. You smirk at his fluent Italian. “Grazie per tutti i regali, signor nott.”(Thank you for all the gifts Mr. Nott.)You say playing with the button of his shirt. “qualsiasi cosa per te stupendo. Balla con me?” (Anything for you gorgeous. Dance with me?) he practically purs into your ear. You nod with a small flirtatious smile. You turn back around. Your back now facing him, your hands snake up and around his neck. Your eyes are closed, you open them to see your friends giggling and gossiping with each to her about your current predicament. “Who’s that?” one of your friends mouth to you. You mouth back to your friends “VIP” They all start gigging and oooooing at you. You laugh a small bit continuing to dance with the mystery man. His cold slender hands travel up and down your waist only pausing when you turn back around to him. “Come ti chiami, bello?”(what’s your name handsome?)You say running your hands down his neck. “Theo Nott….or as you know me, Mr. Nott. he laughs lightly What’s yours bella?” “Y/n…Y/n Y/L/N” “Your name is as gorgeous as you…” You lightly blush at the compliment, you break the eye contact with him. He lightly snickers at the motion, his laughs come out basically as purrs. “I saw you at the bar and I knew I had to have you.” He says taking a hand off your waist and up to your jaw, gently guiding your face back to his. You look up at him fluttering your eyes. You’re lost in his stunningly icy eyes. His cold hand remains on your jaw, his index finger rubbing back and forth behind your ear. “Come back to my table with me?” He asks breaking the silence. You small smile grows on your face and you nod.

He takes you by your waist and leads you back to the VIP section. You approach the couch full of his group. A couple of the guys are ‘oooo’ing at the couple approaching the couch. They all sit there drinks in hand, “finally got her huhh~” a boy with icy blonde hair says snickering to the dark skinned boy sitting next to him. Theo just rolls his eyes slightly at the remark and guides you to take a seat next to him, his arm resting on the back of couch where you sit. “Shitt~ I had 100 on her rejecting you mate!” Another boy with a scar across his nose says handing the icy haired boy the money. You laugh lightly at the notion. “So what’s your name?” a girl with a chic black bob says sitting up. “Y/n..what’s yours?” You say extending your hand to her. “Pansy, she shakes your hand This is Mattheo, Enzo, Regulus, Tom, Blaise, and Draco.” She says as she gestures to the rest of the boys as she introduces them. You take one of the cigarettes off the table and light it. “I take it you guys aren’t from here?” You take a puff, when Theo gestures for a hit, you pass it to him. “Yeah we’re just here on a holiday, we’re from the UK.” Blaise says. “Theo just insisted we see his country.” Enzo says snickering slightly as he sips his drink. “Mmmm, qualcuno di voi parla italiano?”(do any of you speak italian?) They just stare back at you trying to not look as confused as they are. Theo then speaks up, “No non parlano italiano nemmeno una parola. Sono sempre stati troppo arroganti per imparare.” (no they don’t speak italian, not even a lick of it. They have always been too arrogant to learn.) He snickers handing you back the cigarette. You lightly laugh at his remark. Everyone just stares at you two. “Well atleast I know english, You shrug and sit up from Theo’s arm. My friends are probably looking for me.” You say standing up to walk away when you feel a cold hand grab your wrist. “va bene amore mio, riportali qui.”(it’s okay my love, just bring them back here.) You smile and nod, he lets go. You walk back to your VIP booth and grab your phone to text your friends. “Mert me back at the booth he wsnts me to bring you guys back to his tsble!!” you text them and wait at the table. After a minute or two they all come as a group up to the couch. “Y/nnn who is this mystery man you ran off with?!” One of your friends asks. “His name’s Theo and oh my god is he perfecttt. Buttt he said for me to bring you all back to his section, anddd he has friends.” You say smirking grabbing all your things from the table plus the second bottle of champagne. They all smile and converse about the current situation. Once they’re ready they all follow you back to Theo’s part of the VIP section. You place the champagne on the table. You sit back down next to Theo, his arm wrapping around your shoulder. You introduce your friends as they all find places on the couch. All your friends take a seat next to whoever, but it’s obvious they chose who they thought was the cutest. One of your girlfriends even sat next to Pansy obviously fancying her. You weren’t sure if Pansy swung that way but after a few minutes of everyone conversing it was made clear that she does. “Sooo are we gonna pop open that bottle or what?~” Mattheo says slyly. The group erupts in ‘yesss’s and excitement. You smirk and grab the bottle. Opening the bottle with the bottle opener. *POP* a rich champagne spraying everywhere. Everyone’s laughing and smiling seeing the champagne spray. You fill everyone’s cups. “To new friends?” Draco says toasting his cup in the air, with his arm around one of your friends. Everyone agrees, and guzzles down their champagne. Everyone seemed to hit it off, enough for you to feel confident to leave them by themselves. “Andiamo a ballare”(let’s go dance) You say standing up grabbing Theo’s hand pulling him up. He stands up flashing you that flirty smirk. As you two walk away Draco asks, “where re’ they running off too.” “They’re just gonna go dance.” Your friend says explaining.

You lead Theo to the dance floor holding his hand by barely linking fingers. As you get to a good spot you turn back around to him to see him looking at you with that same expression. You pull him close. His hands landing back at your hips, yours on his neck. Your fingers tracing patterns on his neck. His playing with the fabric of your short dress. You both just stare into each other eyes as you sway your bodies to the loud music. Your bodies so close there’s not even room for thought. As the song changes you turn around, your back now facing him. His hands rub up and down your body, not daring to go high enough to touch your chest. Your hips sway into him, his head dips down to your neck. Peppering kisses from behind your ear to the top of your collar bone. You lean your head back at the notion. Your bodies grow hot with the tension between you two growing. As he stops the affectionate kissing your hands travel back up to behind his neck as you continue facing away from him. Your bodies grinding together, your ass against his pelvis. “Cazzo, sei cosí bello che vogilo rovinare il tuo bel viso” (fuck you’re so fine, I wanna ruin your pretty face.) He purrs into your ear. You make a small noise at his needy sentence. He leans back down to your neck leaving a soft kiss on your pulse. “Fallo allora”(Do it then) You say trying to not fully show your neediness for him. He smirks against your skin. “sei sicuro di volero”(you sure you want that?) He purrs against your neck. “No sono sicuro Theo”(I’m sure Theo) He grabs your hand and leads you back towards the VIP section but instead of heading back to the table, he leads you towards an elevator, you both enter, he clicks the 20 button. When he presses you up against the wall of the elevator. His arms resting on either side of you. He starts leaving kisses on your neck. You lean your head back against the wall giving him more room. “Where we going amore mio?” You say with your breath getting heavier, he smirks against your fastening pulse, he lists his head barely. “My place.” Is all he says before he continues kissing you all around your neck before traveling up to your jaw. Once he gets there your body is getting needy. As he gets close to your lips, you suck in one more breath before giving into him crashing your lips together. Your hands now once again around his neck, one of your legs sliding up his side. His hands aggressively pulling your waist closer to him. Your hands pulling on his hair at the nape of his neck. His tongue colliding with yours. Breathing getting heavier. He presses into you, you could feel him hardening into you. You couldn’t help but let out a noise into the kiss. He breaks the kiss by smiling against your lips, then continues kissing you with hunger. You could feel your heart beat everywhere, especially down there. You wanted him, you wanted him more than everything. You could taste a hint of whiskey on his tongue.

*DING*

The elevator chimed as you both arrived on the 20th floor. The elevator doors opened to a beautiful penthouse. Sleek black marble floors, windows over looking all of Rome, the decor having hints of emerald green and gold. As the doors opened he guided you into the house. Both of you crashing onto the wall, still holding the heated kiss. Only breaking the kiss for him to take off his shirt, revealing his defined and muscle ridden torso. Your hands travel up and down his abs. With nott one word being said he tugs on your strapless dress. With one tug at the top of the dress your tits were revealed. Ofcourse you didn’t wear a bra, it’s a strapless dress. He smirks at the sight of your perky tits, slightly bouncing up and down with every heated breath you take. The sight made him hungry for you and your touch. His hungry hot lips collided with yours once again. You pull your dress down to your thighs and let it fall. You’re left in your black lace panties. He hs you pressed against the wall attacking your lips. You raise your legs to his side, his hand goes to your ass and glides down to your legs. He picks you up swiftly, you wrap your other leg around his waist. You didn’t know where he was taking you, but it didn’t matter, all you knew was that you needed him. You need him bad. Your arms laced around his neck. You break the kiss throwing your head back, he begins kissing your neck with his wet lips. Your body was throbbing at his touch. His kisses travel from your neck down to your nipple, he was practically sucking on you. Leaving purple and red blotches all around your chest “nggh~” was the only response you could let out. You feel him open a door behind you, a few seconds later you’re laid gently onto a bed, him hovering above you. You’re both looking into each others eyes, nearly breathless, he pushed your hair off your face. “You’re a mess amore mio.” He smirks. You lay there legs laced around his body. You melt at his words. He begins kissing your jaw trailing down your body until he’s at your stomach. He back up and grabs your legs, he pulls you to the edge of the bed, as he gets on his knees. He begins kissing your inner thighs surely leaving marks. As his gets closer to your throbbing pussy, you lay there breathless, eyes closed, back slightly arched. Just the thought of him begging that close made your mind run wild. His fingers begin tugging at the hem of your panties. He swiftly pulls them off and throws them across the room. His arms lace around your legs making sure you can’t get away. He lays one last kiss on your thigh. “All this for me? All I did was kiss you bella?” He says teasingly before licking you fold to fold. “mmmhnm” You arch your back at his warm tongue. His tongue travels all around before actually entering you. The noises you were making were lewd. He was fucking you with his tongue, he started slow before sucking on your clit. He found it with expertise. You were trying to suppress your noises. He made the perfect meal out of you.

Your stomach was doing flips. His tongue licked every part of you. His once slow movements fastly turned into more hungry and harsh movements. Your hands entangled in his hair, you pulled on his hair, basically pulling him into you. He let out a moan against you from the hair pulling. The vibrations of his noises sent a shock up your spine. Your back arched, mouth wide open with breathy moans being the only thing exiting. As the knot in your stomach slowly tightened from the sensation you pulled him closer. You were grinding into his face, his nose every so often brushing your throbbing clit. Every time without fail your eyes closed tightly. Your thighs were shaking. His tongue entering and exiting you. The knot tightened, as it did your trembling thighs tightened around his head. As they did his grip around your thighs tightened, leaving you no escape. He sucked on your clit, your pussy was soaked in fluids. Your once perfect hair was now all over, a result from you turning and thrashing your head from the pleasure Theo was giving you. “AhhUH~” you practically screaming as the achy pain in your stomach was waiting to be released. “Please~ nggh~” your noises filled the room. Your breathing getting more rapid. “Theo!~” you moaned yelling his name as the wave rushed over you. Your mind went absolutely blank. With your eyes shut, back now completely arched in the air, your hand gripped his locks tighter. His moans sending more vibrations into you. Your moans were getting louder as the vibrations of energy were flowing thru your body. Your grinds against his face were now shaky and uncontrollable. The liquid flowing out of you and into his mouth, he licked up every last bit. As the last rush of energy flowed thru you, you were left breathless. Only when you were fully done Theo came up. He hovered above your completely unclothed trembling body. His lips and chin dripping. “All night I’ve been waiting to hear how you scream my name.” He says softly as he run his hand through your hair. You lay completely helpless underneath him. He back off you, you lay there catching your breath, staring up at the ceiling trying to recover from the erotic effects he inflicted on you. You hear the *clink* of his belt, causing you to actually sit up. You see him taking off his pants, revealing him in his boxers. His bulge only being covered by a thin layer of cloth. The outline of him being completely soaked in pre-cum. He was huge. You sigh at the view. You throw your head back down into the fluff of the comforter beneath you. After a few seconds he’s back hovering above you. “Amore you’re so beautiful..but like I said I wanna ruin that pretty face..” His eyes dark and full of lust. “Please…” You manage to let out as you lace your arms around his neck. “Please what~?” he teases. “Please Theo..fuck me..” You say with your breath fastening at the thought. “Whatever you want darling…” He smirks. He stands back up and once again pulls you to the edge of the bed by your legs. He lines himself up with your still dripping pussy. His tip grazes you, you suck in a fast breath. He slowly pushes into you, letting out a satisfactory groan. You can’t help but moan at his size inside of you. He was huge. His voice laced with pleasure. “Fuck…” he says as he looks up at the ceiling. His movements were slow at first making sure you were comfortable. With every movement you made, he gained an erotic moan from you. His hips rolled into yours, each time making you take his full size. Your body was reacting with pleasure, not with thought. You swayed your hips into his. One of his hands that were once resting on your hips traveled to your clit. The stimulation of him hit your G-spot repeatedly and him massaging your clit made your body tremble with pleasure. Both of you began to get louder and louder. The sound of your skin colliding together each time filled the room. The head board repeatedly hitting the wall. Your back was arching into the air, your tits bouncing with each pump he made into you.Tears filled your eyes from the pure bliss you were experiencing.

“THEO PLEASE~!” you screamed as he leaned down to you, not stopping the consistent movement into you. His wining noises were music to your ears. This man was not shy with his noises. Your hands now once again in his hair pulling and tugging at every movement. You were both getting louder and louder every second. “fanculo amore mio, sei così buono”(fuck my love you’re so good) The sensation he was giving you was something you’ve never felt before. You could feel his size in your stomach. He was deep in you. His thrusts were getting rougher and deeper. You were both intoxicated with each other. He let out a long moan, you felt him twitch inside you. That sent you over the edge. Your mind once running wild with lewd thoughts, now clear. Your mouth opened wide. Eyes scrunched shut. Your dripping pussy tightened around him. Your hands tangled in his hair gripping down harder. He leans in and starts sucking on your tits again. Leaving dark marks all across your chest. You were basically screaming him nam, along with the other loud erotic noises leaving your mouth. The feeling in your stomach finally released. The sensation of you releasing on him made him cum in a second. Both of you reaching your peaks at the same time. His deep and breathy moans were laced with absolute pleasure. The shocks hitting your body like lighting. Your hips still rolling into his. Liquids dripping down your pussy and down his legs. As you moaned he begins to kiss you again. This time rougher. He was fully entranced with you. His body only wanted you he wanted all of you. You could still taste yourself on him. You both his riding your waves, you both let out moans into eachothers mouths. He continued his pace until he was done. His pace slowed before pulling out of you. Theo finally breaks the kiss, laying on his back next to you. You both lay there absolutely breathless. Your body still shaking. Chest rising up and down erotically. You both continue letting out small noises.

Your body still wanting to be close to him. You roll over laying an arm across his chest as you lay your head on him. One of his arms snakes around you playing with your hair. “Eri una principessa fantastica”(You were amazing princess) he breathes out.

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This was my first time writing smut so lmk how it was! Lmk if I need to fix anything. Sorry for the VERY long one shot lol.

[neiptune]

just her color

cw: 2.7 wc, female reader, violence, gore, it gets pretty descriptive, slightly nsfw (y'all have sex lol), dark academia(ish) setting

“A girl has been found dead on campus” Jean’s brows are furrowed as he skims through his twitter timeline “shit, I think I know who she is?”

“What?” Sasha straightens up in her seat, iced latte promptly put down. The table grows silent, you’ve grabbed Jean’s wrist to peek at his screen in disbelief. Someone dying at your college, the most boring place on earth, is difficult to believe.

“Holy shit” you let go of your friend’s wrist and meet Sasha’s gaze “it’s Yuki. Remember? She used to be in our history class”

She opens her mouth in a small “o”, realization freezing her surprised features.

“Nakamura Yuki?” Eren’s breath catches in his throat “that’s impossible, I literally saw her last week. Didn’t she tutor students with you, ‘Min?”

“Yeah but that was last year” Armin shakes his head “what the hell happened? From what I remember she didn’t care for parties or weird companies”

“Not sure, they’re jut saying she’s been found outside her dorm” Jean puts away his phone with a grim look on his face, cappuccino long forgotten. Connie used to have a crush on that girl, he hopes to find him before he has the chance to get the news from social media.

“Do you guys think it was an accident?” all pigment seems to have been sucked out of Eren’s face and you instinctively push back some of the hair from his forehead.

“An accident? What d’you mean?” you tilt your head to the side, pose the question carefully weighing each word.

“I don’t know. Alcohol poisoning? Maybe someone spiked her drink?”

A shudder teases your spine, almost makes you retract your hand. “So you’re saying… someone did it?”

“Not on purpose. I’m just speculating”

“Why?” Sasha chimes in “stop it, it’s weird. If something’s off, the school is gonna tell us”

“Yeah, right, they definitely will” you scoff.

“Maybe it was like a heart attack” Armin seems unconvinced himself as he finishes his tea, surely gone cold by now.

“Sure, that sounds likely” you push back the mug containing your black coffee, suddenly nauseous “next time my parents ask how things are going up here, I’ll finally have the perfect answer. Oh, you’ll never guess the novelty: girls are being murdered on campus now!”

“No one’s been murdered” Eren is annoyed and eager to change the subject. Everyone else is too. You kinda get it: it’s weird that a girl you all somehow knew is suddenly dead, it’s even weirder that something so dreadful had to happen on your campus of all places.

On the slopes of mount Rokko, in Kobe, nothing really ever happens. You attend a private university that counts a few thousand students and an international exchange program that no one really ever applies to. Your professors like to call the insistution “Kobe’s best kept secret” but to you that’s just a pretentious way to present an old school with an even older set of rules that simply make your lives excruciatingly harder. No visits allowed except for graduations or special ceremonies, everyone is supposed to be in their rooms by 9:30 pm (as security keeps a record of students who are caught roaming in the corridors at night), no one is allowed to leave the building except for Sundays and even then if you don’t have your identity card with you, the chances that you’ll spend the night in the woods are pretty high because security doesn’t really give a shit.

But if they don’t mind leaving students locked outside for the night (it has happed), the appreciation for bribes runs equally high: it’s not uncommon among students to offer as much as ¥308,230 to buy their silence for a plethora of activities. Money is power even on top of mount Rokko and it can be used to secure sex, parties, drugs, alcohol, just like it does anywhere else.

Which is why everyone seems to be asking themselves the same question: who the hell used money to secure an assassination?

Soon after the finding and despite the rector’s efforts, Yuki’s picture was passed around in group chats and social media posts like a collectible card. Most senders had the decency to forward the blurred version of the photo but pretty much everyone saw the first, original variant, and the school couldn’t keep it a secret for a minute longer: a murder it was.

You spent the following days unable to get proper sleep, eyes wide open scanning the ceiling for the majority of the night, the image of that girl’s empty, horrified stare chasing you until dawn, pulse rapidly tapping against your skin at the thought. Sasha doesn’t speak of her nightmares but you’re sure they resemble your own dreams: one hand pointlessly closed around a pale throat slashed open, the dark halo of thin hair framing a face gone cold, liquid red lipstick smeared across lips like a macabre tribute to joker.

If few can get out of the school, basically no stranger can step foot inside. Which means, and every single female student is painfully aware of it, that they are sharing their campus with a killer.

You’ve all been moving in packs lately, no girl has been seen wandering around the school without her friends or boyfriend and you’re no exception: if Sasha is almost always escorted by Jean and Connie, Eren basically refuses to leave your side and has been staying the night more and more often.

“I know cops freak you out” he tries to keep the spirits high, indulges in some humor to ease part of the tension in your shoulders as the investigation unfolds and strangers search your dorm a million times.

“Pigs” you utter under your breath shortly before flashing a smile to one of the officers you pass by on your way to class “how dumb d’you have to be to be still groping in the dark? They’re clueless”

He shrugs, trying hard to suppress a smirk because what the hell, they’re only there because a girl has been murdered and it wouldn’t be appropriate to smile “they’ll never figure it out anyway”

You look up at him, confusion evident by the crease between your brows. Eren clears his throat.

“Everyone knows the school wants to handle this shit internally” he lowers his voice in a murmur “I wouldn’t be surprised if the rector was actually trying to get rid of them”

“What the fuck? Why would he do that? Parents are already freaking out, threatening to pick up their kids and cancel their enrollments, does the rector want to reign over an abandoned bulk of shitty old bricks?”

“How much did you look into those articles about our school that Armin sent us last year?” Eren tilts his head a little, an amused twitch of the lips indicating that he’s about to do the thing you hate the most: be a smartass.

“Not much” you stand defeated and your boyfriend grins.

“It’s not the first time someone’s died here, Gako has a pretty long history of secret societies that are believed to have performed some fucked up initiations. It’s mainly why we don’t have them anymore, at least officially. The degree of independence from the rectorate was pretty high, they essentially had an agreement: vivit et vivet”.

“What?” your brows furrow, skeptical. Eren basks in your confusion.

“Live and let live. Keep your nose out of our business and we’ll do our best to stay discreet”

You refrain from asking where the fuck he even learned latin as a more urgent question arises. “But why would the rectorate even agree?”

“Those students came from some of the richest, most influential families of the Taisho era. Gako cares a lot about history and tradition and…”

“Prestige”

Eren nods.

“They kept the money flowing and the name shining. Those societies were Gako, I bet our current rector himself is an ex member of the Cauda Venenum or whatever the fuck it was”

There’s a pause as the story sinks in, all the implications that single revelation could hold. “Wow. You seem to have really enjoyed those articles, Armin must’ve been thrilled”

He laughs a bit at that and shrugs, pulls you closer to his body, pretends not to notice the inkling shadow of suspicion quivering beneath the surface of your words.

You don’t point out that what happened to Yuki is far from resembling an initiation, nor you dwell on the main undertone of the entire conversation: if what Eren said is true, the case could very well remain unsolved and the murderer would be allowed to roam free through the halls, perhaps for evermore. The mere thought sends a chill down your spine. Vivit et vivet.

The Yuki topic is banned from being discussed with Sasha, she gets nervous really easily and is already painfully on edge every single day. Despite Jean and Connie basically never leaving her side, you know part of her wishes she had a boyfriend to rely on or keep close at night, one that would pull her into him as she wakes up from those hellish nightmares, chest heaving painfully. That’s precisely why you don’t bring up Eren to her: not his weirdly cemented assumptions, not the fact that you want to keep your distance for at least a day or two. And so, as it often happens, Armin becomes the designated listener to all your bitching and moaning.

“He’s just being weird, I guess” you grumble over breakfast, a portion of blueberry pancakes covered in dense syrup “and I don’t know how to make it clear to him”

“How to make what clear to him?”

“That he’s giving me the creeps”

Your friend chuckles at that.

“I’m sure Eren’s simply as freaked out as everyone else, he’s just trying to make sense out of the whole thing. I do appreciate that at least someone went through the material I shared, though”

“I was plannin’ to” you protest “eventually”

“Sure you were” Armin rolls his eyes but there’s fondness in his resigned gaze.

A comfortable silence drapes over the two of you as you keep eating, the chatter floating around the mess hall reaches you like the rolling of heavy, long sea waves. There’s a storm raging outside, although not much can be seen from the stained glass windows that are closer to the vaulted ceilings than the long, wooden tables filled with students. The only real indicators are the distant rumbling of the thunder and a group of pupils who barged through the doors soaked from head to toe.

“I know you’re just as scared, y’know” Armin calmly cuts through the silence, eyes on his now empty plate “even if you always wanna act all tough”

“Yes, I’ll admit I’m slightly nervous at the idea that a murderer is currently wandering around our school and that our rector may very well be doing nothing to actually find said homicidal maniac” the words come out harsher than intended so you try to soften them around the edges “sorry, I just… it’s shitty. And I feel like I don’t get to complain because I have a boyfriend who is always making sure I’m not lonely or scared while…”

“Sasha doesn’t?”

Ugh, Armin. Ever the receptive empath.

You hang your head lower, shoulders hunched. He offers another one of his gentle smiles.

“A student has been found with her throat split open, on campus. I think you get a pass for being nervous about it, even if you have a boyfriend”

“Thank you, ‘Min” the smile you offer in exchange is probably not as sweet nor fully persuaded but you do truly appreciate his courtesy.

When you get back to your room at the end of a very long, tiring and unfortunately wet day (you 100% forgot to bring your just-in-case umbrella and thought running would be a safe, dry enough strategy to bolt from one class to the other), all you want is to kick off your muddy shoes, add some logs to the fireplace, take a piping hot shower and melt into the comfort of your bed. However, it’s not often you have the room all to yourself: Sasha is going to spend the night in Connie’s room, the only place in the entire school where she feels safe enough to get a good night sleep.

You decide to text Eren and ask him to come over. Although you never directly addressed your concerns or discomfort, he must’ve sensed the desire to keep to yourself for a few days and he’s been gracious enough to step back and grant some space. You don’t necessarily feel guilty about it but you’d lie if you said you didn’t miss him and his stupid, sometimes awfully inappropriate jokes. You’re in love with him after all, insufferably in love one could say (and Jean has before).

Eren is the one person you’d do everything for, the only man you could dedicate your entire life to. And it’s not just because he’s attractive, emotionally intelligent, a good friend and just generally a kind, good-hearted person. It’s because he loves you just as much, knows that you were made for each other, like a perfect match determined by a superior force, some higher power, a deity that held a flame to both your hearts and sealed your fate for all eternity. That’s how being in love with Eren feels.

That’s what you always think about when he fucks you into the mattress, as you moan as loud as he likes it, as you beg for him to go faster, harder, whenever he teases you with a painfully slow roll of the hips. He knows you belong to him just as much as he belongs to you and, god, what never fails to send you over the edge each time is the thought that he adores belonging to you more than he enjoys owning you. You have him, all of him, and by god you’ll make sure that never changes.

Tonight, the thought of Yuki infiltrates your brain once more, no matter how much you work to keep it at bay. What did she feel while being slashed open? Did she die from damage to the trachea or the carotid arteries? The latter seems to be more likely, the blood vessels the run up each side of the neck will bleed profusely if severed and she did bleed a lot, probably ended up chocking on her own blood, right as the blood flow to the brain was compromised. Still, you hope her heart didn’t stop too quickly.

Most people believe that cutting a human’s throat is the same as slahing open an animal’s. But you’re not supposed to place the knife at right angle only to press and draw it across the skin: the best way is actually to find the soft spot below the junction of the jaw and the neck, position the point of the knife right there and thrust it in, gently guiding the blade along the bundle of neck cords until you reach the same soft spot on the opposite side. The correct location is not hard to find: tracing a finger back from the lower jawbone to the place where the bone turns upwards and then lowering it slightly is just enough.

You wonder if forensic pathologists have been allowed to take a look at the body, if the autopsy reported that a right handed person has firmly restrained the victim from behind despite no weapon having been recovered from the crime scene.

What a loss, ever the tragedy, a young and pretty life being severed so early on. She was lovely, especially with that little cherry lipstick she’d always carry around, the one that complimented her fair skin perfectly. You didn’t want her to bid farewell to this world with an ugly face, not when red looked so good on her. Burgundy was just her color.

Eren is showering when his phone, left on your nightstand, lights up.

(Aiko, 10:07 pm) hey!

(Aiko, 10:07 pm) working on that paper today was really fun :) wanna meet up again tomorrow?

(Aiko, 10:08 pm) this time I promise coffee is on me

Good grief.

There’s never really an end to the ladies you have to deal with, is there?

[deliciousangelfestival]

Let Me Love You | 1 - B. Barnes

Character: college!Bucky x Female!Reader

Summary: On a mysterious, rainy night, Bucky witnesses a distressing encounter involving his crush.

Main Masterlist || support: Ko-fi

Chapter 1, Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 , Chapter 4 , Chapter 5 , Chapter 6 , Chapter 7 , Chapter 8.

Thank you to anyone who gave a like, reblog, and left a comment. It motivated me to write more. 

Fast-food restaurants are always the quick choice for exhausted students after learning a lesson.

Today, WHAM Burger near St. Louis University is bustling with customers, mostly college students from the university. The aroma of sizzling burgers and the familiar hum of conversations fill the air.

Inside the restaurant, everyone stands in line at the cashier or fiddles with the self-order machine. Even the drive-thru is buzzing with activity. Most cars have to wait, but for Bucky, who is behind the wheel, the wait is inconsequential. However, his friends, Steve and Sam, seem less patient.

“Their double cheeseburgers are delicious. But eating them three times a week? I'm going to hate my favorite food, Bucky,” Steve remarks from the back seat.

Bucky rolls his eyes. “There are other choices, like salads.”

Sam laughs, fingers dancing on his phone screen. “You'd have to put a gun to Steve's head if you want him to eat a salad.”

Bucky chuckles, his eyes focused on the road. Sam and Steve sigh, observing their friend who has become a love fool. Almost every week, they find themselves at this fast-food haven. There's a particular reason Bucky insists on coming here.

Finally, their car inches forward to the cashier's window. Bucky rolls down the window and is greeted by a familiar face.

“Welcome to WHAM Burger. Oh, hi, guys!” Your bright voice cuts through the air, and the trio of friends can't help but smile.

“Hi, Y/N,” Sam and Steve chime in, well aware that Bucky becomes speechless when he sees you.

You flash them a genuine smile, recognizing the familiar faces. Your fingers swiftly input their usual order. “You guys just got back from the chess club?”

Bucky nods, attempting to say more but finding his words stuck. He never anticipated becoming a lovefool, but he fell for you the first time he laid eyes on you.

It was on a snowy day when Bucky first saw you. A girl, squatting down to rescue a stray cat. That quiet moment led to him forgetting his chess tournament appointment, instead accompanying you to the nearby shelter.

You, a stranger in the area, had just landed a part-time job at the fast-food joint. Bucky admired your selflessness and love for animals. Even though you couldn't adopt the cat, he assured you someone would. In gratitude, you treated him to hot chocolate, and in that instant, Bucky fell in love.

However, his friends later shattered his newfound joy, revealing that you had a boyfriend, the quarterback, Lloyd Hansen, and that you were childhood sweethearts.

Back in the present, your cheerful voice snaps Bucky out of his reminiscence. “Thank you so much. Please come again.”

“Yes, yes, I will,” Bucky mumbles, grabbing the card from your hand. The slight touch sends a jolt through him, and he can't help feeling like a creep.

As Bucky drives away from the drive-thru, Sam and Steve enjoy their fries, teasing Bucky about moving on.

“Dude, you need to move on. If not, both of us are going to gain weight,” Steve says, munching on his cheeseburger.

Bucky rolls his eyes. "I didn't invite you." Despite not being explicitly invited, the three always go home together since they live in the same apartment building, and WHAM Burger is conveniently on the way.

Bucky huffs, but he can't stay mad at them. After all, they've been his closest friends since high school. Despite their advice, he can't fathom why his feelings for you continue to grow. If there's a love cupid, Bucky can't help but blame it, as the cupid seems to have misfired its arrow onto the wrong target.

In the rearview mirror, Sam and Steve exchange knowing glances, silently hoping their friend will soon find a way to move on from his unrequited love.

Reader P.O.V

“Shit… shit.” You blame yourself for not bringing an umbrella with you, even though since the morning, you noticed the clouds had a dark color.

You protect the food bag to make sure it doesn't get wet. You had just finished your shift when your boyfriend, Lloyd, texted you to bring food to his practice.

Lloyd and you have been together since childhood, crowned as king and queen at prom night. Everyone says that both of you are a sweet couple.

Lloyd got a full scholarship for his athletics and is studying law. Meanwhile, you received half a scholarship. St. Louis is a prestigious university with famous alumni.

It has been your dream to study here, and you also want to stay with Lloyd. However, growing up, you learned to be responsible on your own, managing your own money and working.

Between studies, clubs, and part-time jobs, you and Lloyd used to be close, but now, it's getting difficult to meet. Lloyd has become busy with practices and interviews since he brought a championship to the university.

But you want to make this relationship work.

When the bus stops in front of the university, you have to run to the university gym.

You sprint as fast as you can despite the heavy rain.

Lloyd is lifting weights when he sees you soaking wet. He grabs a towel and dries your hair. “Thanks, babe. You came all the way here.”

You reply, “It's alright.”

“Has the food arrived?” A female voice is heard from behind you.

You turn around and see a girl with perfect hair, wearing a training outfit that accentuates her body curves.

You glance down at yourself still wearing your work uniform and a jacket.

Lloyd says, “Yup. Here you go,” as he hands the food bag to Nicky. She's the daughter of the university football sponsor. Lloyd have mentioned her name a few times. But everytime you hear her name, you don't feel secure.

You clench your fist, watching their interaction. Lloyd gives Nicky the food you brought with effort through this heavy rain, and Nicky shows a shy smile towards him.

Your heart sinks as you catch the subtle exchange of glances between them. The smile that Lloyd reserves for you is now being shared with someone else. It feels like a stab in the chest, a betrayal you didn't see coming.

Lloyd looks at you. “Could you wait for a while? We will go back together.”

You put on a fake smile that you've mastered at work. “No, it's alright. I came here with an Uber car. The driver is waiting for me.” You lied; your phone battery had already died.

Lloyd nods. “Alright, text me when you've arrived.”

“Okay.”

You turn and walk faster to avoid the eyes of the bystanders. You don’t want your effort to be judged.

When you get out from the building, the rain is still pouring heavily. You grit your teeth. Is this your unluckiest day?

You run faster to the bus stop while crying.

“Y/N.”

You think your ears have mistaken you. With this heavy rain, you hear someone call your name.

It's impossible.

“Y/N!”

The voice becomes clearer. You turn around and see the silhouette getting closer. He comes running while holding an umbrella.

“Bucky?”

Bucky was just walking out from the library. He was in the chess club when he saw you running from the university gym. He wonders what the heck you are doing alone in this heavy rain.

When he sees your eyes red and your nose, it seems like you've just cried. The same happened when he found out you had a boyfriend; his eyes and nose were red too.

And he sees you coming out of the gym; that means the cause is related to Lloyd.

But now he can't let you be like this. He gives you his umbrella and runs back to the library.

You are stunned while holding the umbrella. Bucky suddenly appears, giving you the umbrella, and runs away.

You try to catch up with him, but he runs too fast. You can only shout, “Bucky, thank you!”

Tomorrow, you have to say thank you to Bucky. At least today, someone cared for you. You feel gratitude and confusion at the rain-soaked bus stop. Bucky's unexpected act of kindness adds another layer to your swirling emotions.

The next day, when you went to find Bucky, he wasn't in class. Both of you studied business.

Steve told you, "Bucky got a fever, so he stayed at home." You felt guilty when you heard that because the reason why he got sick is because of last night; he gave you his umbrella.

You asked Steve, "Can I visit him?" Steve couldn't believe what he just heard, but if you came to visit Bucky, perhaps his fever would be gone in a second. "Sure, I'll give you the address," he said, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

You nodded appreciatively, saying, "Thank you," with a sincere smile.

‘Cough, cough.’

Bucky poured water into a glass. He had a fever and a sore throat because of the rain last night. The relentless downpour seemed to echo the storm within him, a storm fueled by the regret of not bringing you home with his car. He couldn't shake the thought that if he had, perhaps he wouldn't be in this sickly state.

‘Knock. Knock.’

He opened the door, never expecting to find you standing there. You held a steaming bowl of hot soup in your hands. “Bucky, I’m sorry. Because of me, you got sick.”

Bucky shyly answered, the lines of worry etched on his face. It wouldn't matter if he had to cross a sea of fire; he would do it for you. “No, it’s not because of you.” He grabbed the food you brought, appreciating the warmth it brought, both physically and emotionally. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do this.”

You shook your head, a genuine smile gracing your face. “You really helped me last night. Thank you.”

Feeling restless and vulnerable in his weakened state, Bucky looked at you nervously and said, “I have something to tell you.”

Author Note:

Hey friends,

If you've been enjoying the content, I've set up a Ko-fi account. Your support through tips would mean the world and help me keep creating. Only if you feel like it!

Here's the link: Ko-fi

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[kaciebello]

Million-dollar idea

Masterlist Money mail ☼ Slytherin boys x Hufflepuff!reader (fem) Summary What else is there to do during summer when you can do everything?  Warnings: no use of y/n Authors note: Haiya! Are you ready for an adventure? word count: 1k Song: Chapel - Madilyn Mei

Summer had rolled around and the kids had nothing to do. No exams to study for, no papers to research, and absolutely no homework. During the school year, that may sound like a paradise. However, the young mind works in mysterious ways.

It has only been a week and the group of teenagers are bored out of their minds. They feel like they have done all the summer activities possible. They have been swimming in the lake that's on the back of the Berkshire property. They have started two water balloon wars, one on brooms. Their summer bucket list has been all checked off and it feels like there is nothing for them to do. Bucketlist they put together because none of them wanted to study for any of their exams. Some, looking at you Mattheo, put down skinny dipping. While others have simply said they wish to bake pizza one night. They even came up with a rotation of the houses they would frequent. Anything but studying for the exams

Lazing around the Berkshire backyard, the kids could be seen basking in the sun. A couple of icy drinks sitting down in the shade, although the ice is melting as fast as it would on the sun. The two Theos were engaging in their 5th game of Uno, neither of them having the right color to put down. Blaise, sitting in a chair with his knees tucked underneath his chin, has been rereading the same chapter of the book since lunch because he always gets distracted. Lorenzo was sitting on a lounge chair he and his girlfriend not so shamelessly claimed as their own. He was watching the said girl, standing above sleeping Draco who had passed out in the sun. She was putting a ridiculously thick layer of sunscreen on his face. He squirmed from time to time but nothing that could stop the girl from doing her job. He turned to his phone, having not checked it since this morning. His only notification being a school email with gibberish that was probably sent by professor McGonagall. She has always been fascinated by keyboards.

An excited sound leaves Matteo as he tries to get everyone's attention, seeming to give up on his game of uno with fifteen cards in hand.

“Come look at this!” He urges everyone on. Turning his phone around for everyone to see.

“A bouncy castle?” Blaise says after yet again putting his book down and coming closer to his friends. Mattheo nods at his question. They all lean closer to look at his phone.

“ Not just any bouncing castle, a water one. We could use one in this heat.” He argues back. The teens could only agree. With nothing to do, a water bouncy castle would cure their boredom for like a week.

“Why do you have Amazon on your phone?” The girl asks.

“Does it matter?”

“No, I'm just curious.”

“Curiosity killed a cat.”

“ I am not McGonagall.”

“Yada yada yada, how much is it?” Blaise chimes in. Mattheo shrugs. Seemingly haven't gotten the information yet. The girl just sighs and lifts her hand, slowly her fingers touches the screen and scrolls down a bit.

£8,000.

“ Oh…” she goes to say something but Theodore cuts her off.

“ 8k galleons? Damn that's nothing, I could afford like 16 of them.” Lightbulb goes off in Matteo's head. It's true. It's true, they all come from wealthy families. If they really wanted to, they could probably rent a cruise ship just for themselves, and it would brearley make a dent in any of their pockets.

“ We buy like 16 and make a water park!”

“Guys-” “ we can buy multiple variants!”

“Guys-” “ we can each have one where we can sleep and stuff!”

“Guys-” “ Although the princess over here will probably share one with Enzo.”

“Guys!” Silence falls upon them as they turn their attention to her. Only angry murmurs from Draco can be heard in the background as he rolls to his side finally facing away from the sun. She gently takes the phone from Matteo and points to the number again.

“ It says pounds, not galleons.” She pointa out.

“ Well how much is that in galleons?” Says Theodore.

“ I don't know.”

“ Look it up.”

“That's the thing. I don't think you can exchange galleons for pounds.” She says slowly. So slow that the guys feel like she's ripping their heart out. Taking her word for it, Enzo turns to his friends.

“ Where the fuck are we supposed to get 8k?” He's met with disappointment and tears.

“ I know!” The girl chimes up, rather than going cheery for their current situation. With question marks on their faces, the boys await their solution.

“ We get a summer job.” Sheer determination in her voice, she's met with silence. She looks down at the boys and sees a bunch of awkward faces, desperately trying to avoid Any form of eye contact.

“ Oh come on guys!” She whined and sits down next to them. Blaise sucks on a breath before talking.

“Ah fuck it, what else is there to do.” Je says and puts his hand in the middle, waiting for the other to join him. The girl smiles and follows his lead. Soon the others join. Together making a silent pack, over the summer, they will manage to get £8.000. And when they threw their hand in the air, the faith of this summer was sealed.

—

A loud slap echoed in the backyard. Draco could only jerk awake and try to crawl away from the assault that just happened to his thigh. Above him stood Theodore, red hand almost as much as the mark it left on Draco's thigh.

“ What the fuck man??” He squeaks out, a look of disgust thrown at his friend.

“ Get up loser, we're going working.”

Next Chapter

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[wwestrang-fan]

Something different pt 3

jey uso x oc reader

warning : a little bit of angst insecurity bit of age gap scars

Jey was in his locker room, putting on his clothes and getting ready to leave the area. Just then, Sami walked in and asked, "Hey Jey, you ready?"

"Yeah, let’s go," Jey replied, exiting the locker room and heading toward the car.

"You want to drive?" Sami asked as they reached the car.

"Nah, I'm good," Jey said, getting into the passenger seat.

During the car ride, Jey took out his phone and started texting Lola, a smile spreading across his face as he read her messages. Sami, sitting in the driver’s seat, noticed Jey's distracted expression.

"What’s got you smiling like that?" Sami asked, a curious look on his face.

Jey glanced up at Sami with a playful smirk. "Someone you don’t need to know about," he replied, returning his focus to the screen, the excitement of the conversation with Lola brightening his mood.

When Jey and Sami entered the hotel, the lobby buzzed with activity, the sound of chatter filling the air. Travelers and guests hurried past, creating a lively atmosphere.

Sami turned to Jey and said, "I'm going to get the keys."

"Okay, I'll wait for you by the elevator," Jey replied, giving a nod as he headed toward the elevator. He leaned against the door, his mind still drifting to Lola and their conversation.

After a moment, he glanced up to see Sami approaching him, a grin on his face as he held out the key cards. "Got it! Room 302," Sami announced.

"Nice! Let's get settled," Jey said, pushing himself off the wall and pressing the elevator button. The doors slid open, and they stepped inside.

When Sami and Jey walked into the room, they dropped their bags up.

"I'm going to take a shower real quick," Sami said, grabbing some clothes and heading to the bathroom.

Jey lay down on the bed, sinking into the soft mattress. He pulled out his phone, scrolling through his messages until he found Lola's contact. He hesitated for a moment, thumb hovering over the screen, before typing out a quick message,"Hey Just got to the hotel. How was your flight?

"It was good I just got back to my apartment," Lola replied. Jey couldn’t help but smile at her quick response, feeling the flutter of anticipation grow. They continued texting back and forth, sharing snippets of their day, and he appreciated how easily they connected, even over screens.

Moments later, he heard the sound of water turning off, followed by the bathroom door creaking open. "Did you leave any hot water for me?" Jey asked

Sami emerged, a towel draped around his neck and droplets of water still clinging to his hair, grinning. "You know I always hog it but I might have left a little for you."

Rolling his eyes, Jey shot back, "Great. I'm so excited."

Sami laughed at jey and tossed him a fresh towel. "Get in there we’ve got plans tonight.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going" Jey replied, shaking his towel like he was swatting away Sami's silliness. He headed toward the bathroom, turning the water on and letting the steam fill the room. As the warmth enveloped him, he couldn’t stop thinking about Lola.

Jey finished up in the bathroom, feeling refreshed. As he walked out, he spotted Sami putting on his jacket.

"You ready?" Sami asked, glancing over at Jey.

"Yeah," Jey replied with a nod, he grabbed his own jacket from the chair and quickly slipped it on, feeling the fabric hug him comfortably.

As they walked out of the room, heading to the lobby.

When Jey and Sami walked into the lobby, Jey suddenly spotted a familiar group gathered near the entrance.

"Jimmy! Naomi! Cody! Damian! Rhea!" Jey said, walking towards them.

Cody turned, a broad smile spreading across his face. "Hey, y’all! Glad to see you!" he called out, his arms open for a welcoming hug.

Jey started exchanging hugs and high-fives with each of them. "I didn’t know you guys were coming" he said.

"We decided last minute," Naomi chimed in.

Rhea, nudged Sami with her elbow. "So, what's the plan?"

"I were thinking about grabbing some drinks first, maybe hit up a restaurant later," Sami suggested.

"Sounds perfect," Cody said, clapping his hands together. "Let’s start with drinks then

The group began to head out of the hotel, laughter and chatter filling the air as they made their way to the bar.

As they made their way into the bar, the group found a large wooden table surrounded by comfortable stools. The atmosphere was lively, with music playing softly in the background and laughter ringing out from neighboring tables. They settled in, excited chatter filling the space around them.

Just as they were getting comfortable, waitress approached their table, her notepad ready. "Hey there what can I get you all to drink tonight?" she asked with a warm smile.The group looked through the menu of drinks.

“I’ll have a mojito!” Sami called, leaning back with a relaxed grin.

“I'll in take a whiskey sour,” Damian said.

“What do you recommend?”. Cody asked looking at everyone

“Definitely a Moscow Mule!” Rhea said, to Cody before turning to the waitress. “And I’d like a bloody Mary please”

“Okay, I’ll take that,” Cody decided, nodding towards Rhea’s suggestion.

The waitress nodded enthusiastically, jotting down their orders. “Great choices! And how about you guys?” she asked Jey jimmy and Naomi, directing her attention to him.

Jey thought for a moment. “I’ll take a piña colada,” he said.

As the waitress scribbled down their orders, Jimmy leaned over to Naomi, who was sitting next to him at the table. “And we take the same,” he said with a playful smile.

Naomi laughed, why, are you trying to get me to try piña colada, huh? What if I don't like it?”

Jimmy faked shock inspiration. Impossible! It’s good you’ll like it.

“Alright, I'll try it,” Naomi replied, i’ll take a piña colada too

“Perfect I’ll be back with your drinks in just a moment,” she said cheerfully before making her way back to the bar.

As they settled into their seats, the lively chatter resumed. Jey felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He took it out and saw that Lola had texted him. A smile spread across his face as they exchanged a few messages. Just then, the waitress returned and placed the drinks on the table.

“Who are you texting over there?” Sami teased, noticing Jey’s grin.

“Uh, no one,” Jey replied, trying to keep his cool.

“Really? The way you're smiling doesn’t seem like ‘no one,’” Rhea said, raising an eyebrow playfully.

Just then, the waitress returned, expertly balancing their drinks on a tray. She placed the mojito, whiskey sour, Moscow Mule, mango margarita, and a piña colada on the table with a flourish. “Here you go! Enjoy!” she said with a bright smile.

“Wow, these look so good!” Sami said grabbing the larger glass.

“Let's drink!” Rhea added, taking a big sip of her bloody Mary.

"Jey took a moment to glance at the screen of his phone, where a new message from Lola awaited him. His heart raced again, excitement brewing as he opened the text and continued their banter, feeling invigorated by the playful connection.

The drinks flowed, and laughter echoed around their table.

"Hey, I gotta go to the bathroom. I'll be right back," Jey said, standing up and making his way through the lively crowd. After he finished in the bathroom, he walked out and made his way back to the table, sliding into his seat.

“So, who’s Lo?” Cody asked, a teasing grin on his face.

“Yeah, when you were in the bathroom, you got a text from someone named Lo!” Rhea added.

“Y’all reading my text now?” Jey replied, a smirk creeping onto his face as he playfully dismissed their curiosity.

“Not reading, just curious!”. Sami replied with a smirk, clearly enjoying the moment.

“Hey, we just saw a text popped up,” jimmy shot back, raising his hands in defense. “You got someone reaching out to you while you’re out with friends; that’s a noteworthy development!”

“Yeah, it’s not every day you get a text from someone named ‘Lo,’” Cody added, raising an eyebrow. “So, who is they?”

“It’s just a friend, okay? Jey explained, trying to maintain a casual demeanor.

"Just a friend? You've been smiling at that phone all day," Sami said, leaning back in his chair with a teasing grin.

Jey tried to maintain his composure, but the embarrassment was bubbling to the surface. “She’s… just someone I’ve been talking to,” he replied, taking a sip of his drink to buy himself a moment.

“She? It’s a girl!” Rhea chimed in, her eyes widening with interest. “I thought you were talking to Alex,” Naomi added, looking surprised.

“We didn’t really click,” Jey said, shrugging as he tried to deflect the attention. The truth was, the connection he felt with Lola was different, electric even, and he couldn't help but smile at the thought of her.

Sami leaned in closer, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “So, what’s she like? Come on, give us the scoop!”

"Nope," Jey said, taking another sip of his drink to dodge more questions.

"Come on, you can't just say you're talking to a girl and expect us not to be curious," Sami pressed, leaning in eagerly.

Rhea chimed in, "Exactly! You can't drop a bomb like that and not share more. Does she even know who you are?"

Jimmy interjected, "Or that you’ve got kids?"

Jey laughed nervously and shook his head. "Alright, let’s just keep it about the drinks," he said.

"Oh, come on! You can’t leave us in the dark," Sami replied.

“Yeah, why are you keeping secrets from us?” Naomi asked.

“I’m not keeping secrets; I just want to keep things private,” Jey explained.

“Sounds like you don’t want us in your love life,” Damian chimed in.

"It’s not like that! I just kind of... early in things; Jey said.

"Okay, okay, we’ll drop it for now, but I’m telling everybody" Naomi declared, and the group erupted into laughter as they ordered more drinks. The atmosphere lightened, filled with shared jokes and speculation about Jey’s mysterious date.

[strangersteddierthings]

Writing prompt from this list, requested by @luciana-rowan. #60. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to seduce me." with Steve seducing Eddie with dnd.

This was supposed to be like 1.2k tops however you activated my secret trap card, which is DnD.

-

“Okay, that’s gotta be all there is, right?” Robin asks as she flips through the book again, pausing to flip back and forth between two pages, eyes narrowed like these pages have offended her personally. She’s leaning against the customer side of the counter at Family Video, and Steve is on the other so they can be facing each other.

Steve is double checking all the notes they’ve written out on notebook paper, Robin’s neat print mixed with Steve’s quick scratchy penmanship. They’ve finally condensed the contents (pages and pages of contents) into easier to look through notes and once they close Family Video, Nancy and Jonathan are going to join them at Steve’s and help him and Robin organize the notes in a way that will flow and be easier to follow.

Nancy because she’s good at the organization part, and Jonathan because he’s the only one of them that’s ever even played Dungeons and Dragons, even if it was only twice (he’s a good older brother, after all).

“Jesus Christ, I hope that’s all,” Steve slides the notebook across the counter and offers up a hand for the Dungeons and Dragons book. They swap, to double check that neither has overlooked anything.

“You know,” Robin says, “this is a lot of effort for one game. Do those kids really have all this memorized?”

“Seems like it,” Steve groans, running a hand through his hair. “That’s why I need the cheat sheet. I can’t be holding up their game for twenty minutes just to look up if something is allowed or not.”

Robin looks across the counter and grins at him. “I think it’s so sweet that you’re finally gonna agree to play. Going to this much effort for it, though... You might make Dustin cry.”

“Well, that’s the goal now,” Steve laughs. “Dustin cries or I’m flipping the table.”

“Well, now I want to be there. Either would be great to witness!”

“It’s not too late to make you a character,” Steve says, aiming for nonchalance and knowing that he might have hit the mark for anyone else, but this is Robin, and she’s always seen right through him. She was the one he ranted to this last time Dustin had asked (read: begged) Steve to join a game, the time that worked because Steve could no longer think of reasons to say no. He had said no, though, to Dustin’s face, but once he got home, he scooped up Eddie’s damn Dungeons and Dragons player handbook. Then called and recruited Robin to help.

Robin’s smile softens into something less teasing. “I can join, if it’ll make this less awkward for you.”

Steve’s surprised by her answer. “Oh. You’d- really?”

Robin shrugs. “Yeah, dingus. You might have had a long-standing weird vendetta about being asked to play but. Well, no one’s ever asked me before, so I guess I never had to think about if I would or not. It’s like you said on the phone ‘it might be nice to just to fight imaginary monsters for once’.”

“Our characters could be twins.”

Robin grins but before she can respond the ding of the door chimes. Steve swipes his hands across the counter, causing the book, notebook, and pencils to clatter behind the counter out of view. Back to work.

-

It all started when Dustin asked him to stay for a game months ago. It was the third Dungeons and Dragons game he’d dropped him off at after they’d survived Hell for the fourth (hopefully final) time.

“We play the game, but it’s also a time to like, catch up and chat,” Dustin said, all but pouting at Steve.

Steve had put his car in park and shut off the engine. “If Wheeler’s basement still smells, I’m leaving.”

“Yes!” Dustin cheered.

So, Steve followed Dustin into the Wheelers’ house, called a hello to Karen Wheeler, and made his way to the basement. There had been several startled looks in Steve’s direction, but he’d just walked past the table and plopped onto the end couch beside El, like it was something he did every day. Eddie, Will, Lucas, Erica, and Mike were already sitting at the table, using whatever they could find as chairs. Dustin and he were the last ones to arrive it seems.

El smiled up at him. “Hi Steve. It is nice to have company. I have been watching by myself, since Max can’t get down the stairs yet.”

Well, fuck. Now he’s got to walk Dustin in every time in case El’s in the basement, all lonely on the couch, watching her boyfriend play make believe. “Happy to keep you company, El. You have any idea what’s happening here?”

“I have an understanding of the story, yes,” El nodded and slid across the couch to be close enough to whisper to Steve. She filled him in on what she knew, which is not much because it was a new campaign, but she had sat with Mike and Will when they made their new characters and had been to the two previous games.

When the game got going, Steve watched as El leaned forward on the couch, elbows on her knees and chin in her hands. She had seemed raptured with the story, so Steve started to listen in, too. Dustin must have done a shit job at explaining how this game was played these last years, because as he had watched it progress it seemed more enjoyable than it had sounded when described.

More than that, Steve watched as the stress of real life melted away from the kids and Eddie. They were no longer a group of outcasts who had gone through Hell and barely survived. They were a group of friends having fun in a way Steve couldn’t remember experiencing since he had been in elementary school.

It was two more games and one pool party at his own house later before Steve got the idea to offer his dining room up for the game. Specifically, because at the pool party he saw Max sitting in his living room and did a double take at her, the pieces slotting together in his mind. Max couldn’t manage the steep stairs at the Wheelers house, but everything she needed to get to at Steve’s house was ground level – kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining table.

Next session before everyone scattered to the wind, Steve had said, “Hey, what do you say about moving this game to my house?”

Everyone sitting at the table whipped around to stare at him, mouths open and everything.

“What? My house doesn’t smell like armpit and, uhh, Max could come hang out again,” Steve shrugged and was almost mowed over by how quickly El threw herself on him, wrapping his waist in a hug.

“Yes! Yes!” She answered for everyone.

The next game was moved to Steve’s house. He’d rotated the couch so it would face the dining room table so Max, El, and he could sit comfortably and had even bought a bunch of snacks and soda.

Eddie had been the first person to show up. It had taken him four trips back and forth from his van to the dining room to unload everything he’d brought.

Steve eyes it all critically. “I haven’t seen you use half this shit when you play at Wheelers, yet to lug it back and forth. Do you really need it?”

Eddie shrugged, “Who knows? Better to have it and not need it or whatever.”

 “You load and unload all this shit every game?”

“Yeah. Wheeler helps usually but he isn’t here so….”

“If you had asked, I’d of helped,” Steve said. “I didn’t know you would need it, or if you’d want it.”

“Oh.”

Steve’s not sure what to think of Eddie sometimes. They’re friends now, or at least friend-adjacent. Well, it didn’t used to feel like ‘friend-adjacent’ until Steve started to sit in on the Dungeons and Dragons games. He got to see a freer side of Eddie, then. One that smiled and laughed a bit more than Steve ever saw. It’s fine. Steve’s fine. He’s not- he is not hurt that Eddie hides this part of himself from Steve.

Besides, Steve knows he’s the problem. Because Eddie doesn’t have this problem with Robin, or Nancy, or Jonathan. He’s seen Eddie relaxed and chill when they hang out, so long as Steve keeps his distance. And even if he hadn’t been sure that he was the issue before, he was after the first time they made eye contact during a game (accidentally) and he watched Eddie reigning himself in. Made himself smaller right before his eyes. Steve doesn’t understand why but he does his best to give Eddie space.

He thinks, maybe, that he makes Eddie uncomfortable on some level. He doesn’t know how, or why, or if he can change it.

Anyway, the next few games after that Steve helped Eddie unload and reload his van until he finally offered for Eddie to just keep the things he didn’t need at his house.

“If you don’t, y’know, use all of this to actually plan each session, you can just keep it here,” Steve said as they cleaned up, Max, Lucas, Erica, and Dustin helping, since Eddie had offered to pick them up and drop them off this time.

Eddie paused in his gathering of papers to study Steve before saying, “You sure?”

“Yeah. It’s not like I use the dining table unless you guys are here. So, just take what you use and leave the rest.”

Eddie took the Dungeon Master book but left his copy of the players handbook.

-

And those series of events have led to this Thursday night, with Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, and himself sitting at his dining room table, making a character sheet for Robin, and polishing up the one Steve had already made, because Steve isn’t embarrassed about asking for help these days. Jonathan even brought him the set of dice Will had given him when he’d played.

Robin’s not going to join until the next game, but she is going to come watch. Jonathan had explained that adding one extra character would be easy to accommodate but adding two was harder.

“So, if you like the game and want to continue, talk to Eddie about finding a good way for Robin to join,” Jonathan says, pushing the finalized ‘cheat’ sheet and character back to Steve. “If you don’t like playing, she can just replace you next game.”

“Dustin’s going to lose his mind tomorrow,” Steve laughs, having found that the papers look good, and he should be ready to go.

“I think we’re all sticking around to see it,” Nancy says. She’s volunteered to bring Mike, Lucas, Erica, and Dustin tomorrow night, and Jonathan is bringing Max and Robin when he brings El and Will.

“Hey guys, thanks for this,” Steve says when they clean up and everyone gathers to head out.

“Anytime, man,” Jonathan nods to him as Nancy gives him a quick side hug. Robin gives him a hug that lasts far longer before following them out the door. Steve had asked if she wanted to stay over but her parents are expecting her home tonight.

Once Steve is alone, he heads to the phone and dials Eddie’s number.

Three rings and, “Wayne speaking.”

“Hi Wayne, it’s Steve. Uh, Steve Harrington,” Steve says.

Wayne doesn’t chuckle into the phone, because Steve’s not certain he can chuckle, but he’s definitely amused when he says, “well, Steve Harrington, Eddie’s not home. I can leave a note for him to call you back. I don’t know when he’ll be here.”

“Oh, a note’s fine. I’m usually up late anyway.”

-

It’s a little past eleven when his phone rings. Steve is half asleep on the couch, but the ringing wakes him right up. And if he trips over his own feet on the way to the phone, there’s no witnesses so it didn’t really happen, did it? “Eddie?”

A soft laugh on the other end of the line, “it’s like you were expecting me, Harrington.”

“I was. Or, uh, I was hoping you’d call any way, not expecting because that feels like… loaded somehow.”

Silence, then, “so what can I do for you?”

“Could you, um, come over early tomorrow? Like thirty minutes sooner could work. An hour would be better, though,” Steve looks down and realizes he’s twirly the phone cord around his finger. He stills his hand and yanks it away from the cord, tucking his fist to his chest to keep it in check.

“Oh, I know what you want,” Eddie’s voice says, suggestive in a way Steve can’t decipher, “Yeah, I can come over an hour sooner.”

He’s been caught before he can even surprise anyone, he realizes. That’s the suggestive tone. Eddie knows. And if Eddie knows what he wants, there’s no way Dustin doesn’t already suspect. Ah well. Surprise ruined but it’ll still be fun for the kids. He hopes. Steve puts a smile on his face so he won’t sound upset with himself when he says, “thanks man. I appreciate it. See ya tomorrow.”

-

Eddie arrives a little more than an hour early but Steve’s not going to complain. He’d been pacing in the kitchen near the front window, so he watched as Eddie pulled up. He has the front door open before Eddie is halfway to the door.

“Someone’s excited,” Eddie wiggles his eyebrows at him as he passes, moving to the dining room to deposit his armful of stuff on the table.

“Nervous, actually,” Steve says, shutting the door and turning to follow. He almost runs into Eddie when he gets to the turn that leads into the kitchen, and dining room beyond it. “Oh, hi. Thought you were at the table.”

Eddie looks confused. “I gotta go grab the lunchbox. Wait- did you say nervous?”

“What do you need your lunchbox for?”

They stand in the kitchen entrance, just kinda blinking at each other for a moment before Eddie says, in a very confused, slow voice, “maaaaybe I don’t know why I’m here early. What did you want?”

Steve heads to the dining room, motioning for Eddie to follow. He pulls out two chairs next to each other, sliding into one and waiting for Eddie to sit in his. Steve reached across the table, to the player’s handbook and the notebook under it, dragging them closer. He turns to be facing Eddie, sitting sideways in his chair now. “I wanted to see if it was okay for another person to join the game. Today.”

Eddie’s eyebrows get lost behind his bangs with how high he raises them. “What? Who do you know that wants to play?”

“Uh, me,” Steve says, pulling the notebook out from under the handbook, taking out his character sheet and flipping the notebook open to the end of his notes, where he’d taken the time to write out some bullet points with ideas for his character backstory. Then he fishes out the dice from his pocket and deposits them on the table.

Eddie is deathly still and absolutely silent. The only movement is his eyes, which flick between the dice, the pages, and Steve’s face. He’s quiet so long that Steve is worried he made a mistake.

“Or, uh, if you’d rather I not- sorry, I just- Dustin tries to invite me all the time so I thought it would be okay,” Steve says, moving to close the notebook. That’s when Eddie comes back to life, his hand flying out to catch Steve’s, halting his hand.

“No! No, of course it’s fine. I’m just- surprised,” Eddie says, slowly, “you’ve been so against it, very vocally, so I’m just surprised.”

“Yeah. I was kind of an asshole about it all, wasn’t I? But when I think about it, like really think about it, I don’t know why I was against even trying it, y’know? Leftover shit from high school, I think. But I’m not that person anymore, so…” Steve shrugs with one shoulder, not sure why he’s telling Eddie these things. They don’t talk like this, usually. Steve finds he wants to, though. “Plus, watching the games, it looks like you guys have fun. Like, real, forget about your day kinda fun. Besides, Erica enjoys it, and she’s the coolest out of all of us. If Erica likes it, it can’t be just a nerd game.”

Eddie laughs and Steve gets to see that carefree smile Eddie seems to reserve for the kids. “Can’t argue with that. Erica is the coolest of this lot.”

“So, here’s what I was thinking,” Steve says, pulling the notebook between them to discuss the ideas Robin and he had come up with. He was going to play a fighter, so he didn’t have to worry about memorizing spells. If Eddie’ll let Robin join, he’d like for them to be twins, or siblings of some sort at least. Eddie nods, jumps on that instantly. Offers for them to have been separated on accident, so they could work on adding Robin more naturally later, with their two characters having been looking for each other this whole time.

Before Steve even realizes it, he’s been word vomiting for far too long about his character’s backstory and why he’d want to join the Party and Eddie has been silent the entire time, just listening to him, a soft smile on his face. “So, that’s what I got for now.”

Eddie let’s out a whistle and says, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me.”

Steve’s brain skips, or freezes, or something, because it just replays that whistle and those words for a few second in his mind before it helpfully supplies the thoughts ‘yes’ and ‘I didn’t know I could seduce you’. He’s just had an epiphany. Unfortunately, his mouth is still working while his brain does this, so it says, “are you feeling seduced, Eds?”

“AHAHA!” Eddie lets out a laugh that is more a bark before he stands up quickly, the chair falling backwards because he hadn’t bothered to scoot the chair back to give him room to stand. “Funny. Dustin’s right, you’re hilarious. I need a cigarette,” and then he all but runs out the front door.

Steve just watches him go before picking up the fallen chair. He can’t wait for Robin to get here. He needs to talk to her.

-

When Eddie comes back in, it’s with Robin, Jonathan, Max, El, and Will. Steve slaps his notebook shut quickly and hopes that Will didn’t notice it. Eddie is talking animatedly with Will upon entry, though, so he seems safe. Robin fast walks to the table and scoops Steve’s dice and shoves them in her pocket, because Will will recognize them if they stay out.

Steve stands, notebook in hand, and grabs Robin’s wrist with his free hand and drags her out back. He makes sure the slide-glass door is closed firmly and leads her around to the other side of the pool. He doesn’t want any eavesdroppers.

“Robin. Ok, so you remember by sexuality crisis last year?”

“Of course, Michael J Fox in Teen Wolf got you hot under the collar,” Robin says, “how could I forget? You cried about it.”

“You cried about yours, too! I just wasn’t there for it.”

“Not mocking!” Robin holds up her hands in defense, “just saying.”

“Robin. I think I like Eddie.”

“Oh!” her eyes go wide, and her mouth stays in a little ‘o’ shape for a moment. Steve stands there, letting her process. “Oh. Ooohhhhhh. That- that makes sense in my mind in a way I cannot put into words. Of course, it’d be Eddie Munson -the exact opposite of Michael J Fox, by the way- to also get you bothered. Why didn’t I pick up on that? How did I not notice this?”

“Because, despite our best efforts, we have yet to successfully combine,” Steve says, linking his fingers the way Robin had that day in Family Video before unlinking them to flip a hand back and forth between them. “We do not have time for you to have a crisis about it because I am having a crisis about it, and one of us needs to be level-headed.”

“Right,” she sobers instantly. “Right. We cannot spiral together. You first, I’ll wait my turn. So, you like Eddie. Enough to…. Want to do something about it?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, that was a quick answer. You… you really like him. Give me the details. What am I working with here.”

Steve thinks about it. “When he held a broken bottle to my neck, I was terrified. And a little aroused.” Robin says ew. “I’ve thought he was hot since then. But… when he came to at the hospital, all high on the medicine. He’d smiled softly at me and the first thing he said to me was glad you’re here, big boy. I think the actual crush started then.”

“Make sense, tracks, what with your hero complex and praise kink,” Robin nods and paces before turning back to him. “And the realization?”

He can’t argue the hero complex and praise kink thing, because they both know that would be a lie, so he answers, “When I was done rambling about my character idea, he whistled and said If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to seduce me and my first thought was yes.”

Robin’s eyes light up before she starts marching in a small circle around him as she thinks out loud. “Fuck, Steve, you really don’t do anything halfway. Alright. So, you want to do something about this, but you have to decide what you want to do. Because you are my soulmate and I want you happy, but like Eddie is also my friend and if you are experimenting… Just. You have to be sure.”

“I’m sure.”

She stops her circling to squint at him and read his mind, he supposes, because her face lights up in delight. “Oh shit! It’s not sexy thoughts! You want to like, hold his hand and cuddle on the couch, and like, cook dinner together and serve him breakfast in bed and bicker about whose turn it is to pick up Dustin from school!”

“Jesus Robin, can you not shout that! We are out here, so they,” he flings his hand in the direction of the house, “don’t hear. But, yeah. I… I like him. A lot.”

“I can see that. Like, really see that. You like him so much that just his company would be enough. Disgusting. Let me think,” she waves him off, like he has been dismissed but instead she’s the one walking away, walking figure eights around area in front of him for a couple minutes before whirling around to say, “You have to make your character a flirt. An outright slut, even. For information gathering purposes of course.”

“What?”

“He plays all the other characters, Stephan,” she says, dragging out his name to make it sound like ‘Steff-fawn’, “and you know he’s good at this… being in character thing! So, like, if you can trip him up by being all flirty, then that’s like, got to be a sign that he likes you, too, right? If he doesn’t like you, he can take it in stride. But! If he’s crushing on you, too, this will be like, too good to be true to him, yeah? That’ll fluster anyone, especially if he plays on our team and probably hasn’t had many guys openly hitting on him. Plus, you can always tell when someone likes you. You haven’t been checking for signs that Eddie might like you because you weren’t even aware it might be possible. And I’m not going to get your hopes up, Eddie could be, like, a totally straight dude, but when will it ever be safer to test this?”

Steve nods. “Yeah… yeah. Eddie is good at this character thing. And I do know when people are interested. And this is safe. If I flirt and he doesn’t react, or if he recoils in disgust, I can write what I’ve done off as it’s the game and I’m just trying to be a good player. Oh God, Robin, what if he’s like not okay with gay people.”

“Then we bodily throw Eddie out your front door, never speak to him again, and tell Will he’s the new Dungeon Master.”

“That seems extreme.”

“It’d be fitting. Eddie didn’t bat an eyelash when I came out to everyone after my date with Vicki. He actually congratulated me. So, if he only hates gay men then he’d be a disgusting lesbian fetishist and he’ll have to go ASAP. I doubt that’s the case, though.”

Steve barks a laugh and jerks his head towards the house, an offer to return inside. They turn towards the house and are greeted by everyone lined up along the glass door and windows that lead to the pool. A few of them (Nancy, Max, Will) have the decency to try and pretend they weren’t watching by turning away quickly but otherwise everyone just stares at each other until Dustin hauls open the glass door and shouts, “Are you two fighting?”

“No, we aren’t fighting,” Steve says as he shoves his way past Dustin and back into the house. “Let me grab the snacks and the game can begin.”

Steve moves to the kitchen, with Robin and Eddie following behind to help gather all chips, dips, candy, and soda and deposit them on any nearby surface in the dining room. Steve then slides into the chair to Eddie’s left, where Dustin usually sits before anyone else can take that seat.

Dustin slides into the chair next to him instead of arguing about it, saying, “Captivated, aren’t you? Guess I’ll let you have my spot so you can pay attention better. Told you this game was great.”

“I’ll be paying plenty of attention, don’t you worry,” Steve says to Dustin before turning to Eddie, who has taken his place at the head of the table, and winking at him, “right, Eds?”

Eddie stops moving for barely any time at all, and honestly, if the whole point of where he sat wasn’t to be close enough to catch and catalogue all of Eddie’s reactions, he would have missed the freeze. “Oh yeah. Steve’s been following the story closely.”

Steve looks around the table and watches the kids exchange glances and shrugs before Eddie begins to recall what happened last game and where the Party is headed now. Steve waits for his cue. Eddie’s got several ways to introduce Steve’s character, just in case the kids don’t grasp onto the plot hooks. But they’re good players, who know when an adventure hook is being dangled in their face. When their characters read the notice board, looking for quests, and come across the one of a man looking to hire help in searching for his lost sister, they buy into it quickly.

“You find yourselves at the tavern where the help wanted poster said to meet. There are three other people inside this early in the day, not including the barkeep.”

“Can I go and ask the barkeep if he knows who put the poster up?” Will asks. Will speaks in the first person who it comes to his character far more often than anyone else, Steve’s noticed.

“Of course. The barkeep is a surly looking dwarf who keeps rearranging the glasses behind the counter. He sees you approaching and listens to your question before saying,” Eddie says in his normal tone, before dropping into a deeper, Scottish accent. “Aye. You passed him on the way in. He’s sitting there, close to the door.”

“Do we approach as a group?” Lucas asks, and after a quick discussion and confirmation that the table their quest giver is sat as has enough seating for them all, they agree to approach together.

Eddie nods and says, “You all approach the table and the figure sitting there looks up as you do. Steve, please describe what they see as they approach you.”

Steve opens his mouth to answer but the table explodes. Dustin shrieks and throws out his hands to grip Steve’s arm and just shake him. “Oh my God. Oh my God. OH MY GOD. STEVE!” Dustin is yelling basically in his ear. Everyone is exclaiming something in excitement, and it gets loud, fast. With no end to the onslaught of screaming in sight, Steve resigns himself to this fate.

It takes far longer than it should for everyone to quiet down, and Steve’s a little red after all of it. Because he hadn’t expected this reaction. He thought Dustin might be a little hyped, sure, but this level of love he feels from all these kids, and for them, and how doing something so small, like joining their game, brings them this much joy… He regrets not joining sooner, honestly.

Finally, they quiet and Steve gets to describe his character, Sir Gregor of House Buckington (Robin’s idea of a last name, he’s not afraid to throw her under the bus for that) and the game progresses. When Steve’s asked to make his first roll of the night, everyone jumps to offer their dice, but he just calls out to Robin. She still has his in her pocket. He shoots a look at Will, who he can see recognizes the dice, and smiles at him as he rolls his first D20.

It's almost two hours into the session before Steve sees his chance to flirt. The Party is trying to negotiate a discount for some healing potions, and they’ve failed their check. They can’t afford the potions and Erica, playing the rogue, offers to try and steal them.

“Can I give Erica advantage by distracting the shop keep?” Steve asks.

Eddie looks intrigued by these. “… Maybe. How would you distract him?”

“Sir Gregor will lean against the counter and say ‘Sorry about my companion’s awkward attempts to swindle you of your goods for a fair price. I should have stepped in sooner, but I was a bit… captivated watching you shut them down’ and try and fluster this guy by flirting with him.”

It’s a mixed bag of reactions from the kids that Steve barely hears because he’s focused on Eddie. Eddie, whose face looks a bit redder than it usually does.

“You wanna… flirt with the shop keep?” Eddie’s voice is a bit higher than normal too. Interesting.

“If that’s allowed.”

“Umm, uh, y-yeah,” Eddie stumbled over his words and Steve can feel himself grinning like the cat that got the cream. Eddie is flustered. Steve has flustered him. Oh. This is going to be a good game. “Roll a persuasion check.” Steve gets a 17. “Lady Applejack, if you would, roll sleight of hand with advantage as Sir Gregor seems to have successfully taken the attention of the shopkeep.”

“I am going to enjoy having Steve play,” Erica says as she picks up her dice. “No one else helps me steal things.”

-

They play for almost four hours, an hour longer than normal, but Steve is surprised by how quickly it slips by and finds that he’s a little disappointed that it has to end, especially since they’ve stopped one round into combat. It’s a terrible place to stop, but if the kids are any later getting home there might be a reckoning done by some parents. The only reason there isn’t one now is because Nancy, ever practical about things, called all the parents about an hour and a half ago to let them know the kids might be an hour or two late getting home.

“We’ll pick up next week,” Eddie says, standing to get a good look at the battle map to copy it into his notebook.

“You can just leave it out so you don’t have to recreate it,” Steve says, like he does every week. “I won’t mess with it.”

And like every week before, Eddie just pulls out his graph paper and starts to track how many squares apart everyone is as the kids pack up their own things and head out. Steve walks them all to the door and Robin hangs back to talk, waiting on the front step. Steve walks out and shuts the door behind him.

“He’s absolutely into you,” Robin whispers. “Do you know that this means? We can go on double dates! I’ll be Eddie’s fake date, because I’m not sure Vicki and Eddie should be left alone to conspire against us but-“

“I think it’s a bit too soon to be planning double dates, Buckley,” Steve cuts her off. “Yeah, Eddie’s into me. But like… into me? Does he even know he’s into me?”

“Right. Could also be in the denial phase, still,” she says, then deepens her voice in a poor imitation of Eddie’s and adds, “I think Steve is hot but in a purely platonic friend-like fashion.”

He laughs, shoving Robin towards Jonathan’s car, where everyone else is loaded and waiting, “go home.”

She leaves laughing and Steve waves them off before going back inside. He finds Eddie at the table, placing the minis carefully back into the tacklebox he keeps them in.

“Seriously, you don’t have to put everything away,” Steve says and Eddie jumps.

“Jesus! Don’t sneak up on me,” Eddie clutches at his heart dramatically.

“I didn’t sneak! You’re lost in your own head if you didn’t hear the door slam or my footsteps,” Steve leans back against the wall, watching Eddie. The other man nods to himself, hands still fiddling with a mini in his hand. The one he’d used for Steve’s character. Steve watches and wishes he could read Eddie’s mind as easily as Robin reads his.

“Thank for playing tonight,” Eddie finally says, placing the mini back onto the table instead of in the tacklebox before turning to Steve. “You did real good.”

Steve gives him a smile he hopes Eddie can see if soft and fond, “yeah? I put a lot of effort into this. Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan helped me.”

“You recruited all three?”

“Yeah. I wanted to put in the effort. I’ve watched several games now; I see how much time you all put into this. It’d be an asshole move to agree to join and not, like, at least read the rules.”

Eddie hums an agreement, “would be kinda asshole-ish, but you’re certainly not an asshole anymore.”

Steve fakes wounded, “you thought I was an asshole?”

“Well, it would be a pretty dick move on my part to think you’re an asshole after everything,” Eddie takes a step towards Steve, then seems startled at himself, like he can’t believe he moved. “Anyway, you willing to play again next week?”

“Yeah, man. Looking forward to it.”

“Cool. Cool,” Eddie nods before turning to gather up the stuff he brought with him. “I’ll see you next week, then.”

“Totally.”

Steve watches Eddie head towards the door and feels something like regret in his stomach. Logically he knows he doesn’t have to rush this. Doesn’t have to fling himself at Eddie immediately now that he knows he wants to, knows that Eddie is at least enough into him to get flustered with his ‘fake’ flirting.

But.

But Steve has lived through four apocalypses and Eddie almost didn’t survive one and life is worth taking a chance on doing things he never thought he’d do (like playing and enjoying a game of Dungeons and Dragons), so- He picks up his D20 from the table and gives it a roll, leaves it up to chance if he should do this now or wait.

It rolls around the table, bounces off the books still left on the table before rolling to a stop.

Eh, 8 is good enough.

“Eddie, wait!” Steve flings open his front door and shouts. Eddie, in the process of backing out of the driveway, brakes. Steve runs across his yard and Eddie, window already cracked, rolls it the rest of the way down.

“Yeah?”

“Wanna go on a date with me,” Steve says, then winces. He used to be better at this. “Please. I mean, go on a date with me. Oh, that sounds worse, like I’m expecting you to. Which I’m not-I don’t expect you to like me just because I like you. Fuck, I’m ruining this. Would you like to go on a date with me, please?”

Eddie just lets him shove his foot in his mouth, but he looks fond more than annoyed. Still, he says, “I, uhh, didn’t know you were… into guys.”

“Guys in general, sure. You, specifically? Ridiculously into you.”

That brings a smile to Eddie’s face. “Yeah?”

“So, uh date tomorrow? After I get off work?”

“Tomorrow,” Eddie agrees easily.

Steve watches Eddie drive away and suddenly he can’t wait for work tomorrow. Robin’s going to implode when he tells her.

-

-

Eddie, after getting off the phone with Steve the night before the game: Oh, he wants to do drugs before having to suffer through watching us play dnd again. Better bring my druglunchbox

[pinkkkkat]

Lottie comforting nat pre crash?

the best they know how to do

thank you so much for the req! i love hurt /comfort

lottienat hurt/comfort, sfw, set pre-crash right after the death of nat’s dad

soccer practice is lottie’s escape. it’s a chance for her to sweat, to be undebatably good at something, to be surrounded by by noise and chat with her friends and get away from the monotonous silence of her home life. it’s also a chance to hear the quick sarcasm and see the blur of speed that is her teammate (and good friend, these days), nat scatorccio

on a random wednesday in the early months of junior year, nat doesn’t show up to practice. it throws lottie off her game, kicks missing and head in the clouds. she can’t even pay attention when coach martinez is chewing her out, nor when coach ben is smiling sympathetically at her. nat is always at practice, she never skips, even showing up drunk if that’s the situation she’s in

it doesn’t take very long for lottie to learn why nat didn’t come to practice. it’s on the news that night, which she watches on a big television in a gray and empty home. tragedy strikes local trailer park, the news anchor says in a fake and dramatic voice, man dead after shotgun mishap, teenage daughter and loving wife left witness to the accident

and on the screen flashes an uncomfortably familiar photo, a brown haired nat smiling stiffly next to a mother with glazed over eyes and a man looking messily stoic. those are nat’s parents, lottie knows even though she’s never once seen them in the stands at a game. if that’s nat and her family, then logic says the man that’s dead must be nat’s dad. it takes a minute for lottie’s brain to catch up with the facts in front of her. teenage daughter left witness? oh my god, natalie

lottie isn’t sure what she’s meant to do, and her leg bobs up and down rapidly while her eyes dart around the room. she’s itching to do something, to help, but she isn’t sure what. lottie knows that nat’s dad wasn’t always very good to her, that her mom was a drunk, but were they close enough for lottie to… for her to what? show up at nat’s? wouldn’t it be barred off as an active crime scene now? lottie didn’t know

the phone rang, and it is with little surprise that she finds jackie taylor on the other line, with shauna chiming in from what is obviously across the room. she indulges jackie in a few “oh my gods” and “i knows,” before jackie’s proclamation that “people are saying that nat did it oh my god lot that can’t be true” causes lottie to panic so much that she simply hangs up on jackie

she paces around her living room before deciding that no, she cannot just hunt nat down. that would be insane, and she wouldn’t even know where to start. her socks pad on the tile floor while she bites at her lower lip, unable to stop worrying about nat. in the end, though, she ends up calling the florist and ordering a bouquet addressed to the trailer and scheduled for the following week, with a card that reads an “i’m so sorry,” and a “love lot,” before going to bed but not really sleeping much at all

so thursday comes as thursdays do, and the last person lottie expects to see in the locker room when she gets there, half an hour early nonetheless, is natalie. but there natalie is, sitting on the bench with her head hung, left leg bouncing rapidly where her elbow rests on it, jostling her whole body and making her shake. lottie stops dead in he tracks when she sees her

“nat?” she says quietly, not wanting to spook her off. lottie wrings her hands, trying to decide wether she should leave, take nat with her, or stay. nat doesn’t look up. doesn’t stop shaking either. lottie moves to sit next to her, not quite touching, but nat jerks up straight when she does anyways, like she’s been electrocuted

“i didn’t do it,” nat says with resolve, but lottie can tell that the girls is seconds away from crying. well, that’s that. the decision has been made for her by the wobble of nat’s lower lip and the fear in her eyes. they cannot stay here, and have nat face the onslaught of questions that is sure to be thrown at her when the other yellowjackets arrive. lottie nods at nat, and stands up only moments after she’s sat down

nat’s eyes follow lottie’s movements and land on her outstretched hand. after a moment of obvious fighting with herself, she takes lottie’s hand, and lottie pulls her up to her feet, bending to grab nat’s duffel bag and sling it over her shoulder before turning to head out of the locker room, dragging nat behind her by their clasped hands

nat is limp, following lottie blindly and without care. whatever lottie is doing, whatever the taller girl wants, is surely better than being at soccer practice or, god forbid, being at home. so when lottie opens the passenger side door to her ridiculous bmw, nat gets in and obediently buckles herself in. once lottie rounds the car and settles into the drivers seat, she reaches over and retakes nat’s hand into her own, intertwining their fingers and turning the key to start the engine

if nat was paying attention, she would notice the worried glances lottie sends in her direction very few seconds, not paying nearly enough attention to the road. she would notice lottie’s thumb rubbing soothing circles into nat’s knuckles, and maybe she would have the sense to be embarrassed. she would notice that they were obviously taking the route to lottie’s mansion, and she would maybe object. as it was, nat was not paying attention, her mind replaying the shot and the splat in a split second loop, over and over

lottie drags nat out of the car, up her front step, into her house and up wining staircase and long hallway to her bedroom. nat doesn’t really come to until she’s startled out of her haze by the feeling of lottie’s tall frame completely enveloping her own, smaller one. they’re stood in the middle of lottie’s room, and lottie is hugging her, pulling nat tight to her chest with tan arms wrapped around her shoulders

nat hugs her back without really thinking, and tears fill her eyes instantly before spilling over. she wraps her arms around lottie’s middle and burrows her face into lottie’s shoulder, tears and snot soaking the girl’s faded yellowjackets t shirt she would only be caught in at practice, which nat suddenly realizes is where they should both be. she doesn’t move for a long time

hours later finds nat asleep in lottie’s bed, and lottie worrying her lower lip between her teeth thinking about what she’s supposed to do now. she can’t let nat go back to her trailer, she won’t survive being there. she can’t send her back there, not without the guilt eating her alive. she’s shaken from her thoughts by nat mumbling in her sleep and snuggling closer, which brings a small smile to lottie’s face

at least she can give this to nat, some comfort and some warmth

eventually she falls asleep. in the morning nat blinks herself awake, confused for a moment as she takes in her surroundings. she suddenly remembers everything; her dad, the gun, a loud shot and a splatter of blood, police lights, sirens, a zombie-like walk to school, the locker room, lottie, lottie’s house, her room, her strong arms and coconut scent, her soft bed, her warm body, and then sleep

when lottie wakes up, she wraps her arms tighter around nat and mumbles “school?” to which nat shakes her head no

and so they don’t go, and instead, the warm glow of the noon sun filtering through the lace blinds finds the pair tangled up in lottie’s bed, nat in lottie’s too-big pyjamas and lottie’s tshirt marked by fresh tears every so often. sometimes, nat talks, yes about what happened but mostly about nothing, kevyn tan or her dumb english teacher or soccer practice

lottie makes laugh when she can, and strokes her hair when she can’t

it’s not a fix, but it’s something. it’s the best they know how to do

[ms--lobotomy]

So happy you all are liking my Mertarion fics! Here's your food for the day. [Previous] [Next]

Summary: You learn to care for the big funny mermaid in your pool.

Word Count: 1016

Content Warning: Mention of the United States, mentions of eating live fish, infodumping about a topic that i find very interesting,

Image Credit: @squishyowl

The supermarket was crowded this Sunday with a selection of well-dressed denizens of your city. It must be the after-church rush. You felt most underdressed for this trip to the store. The line for the checkout was long, and the man behind you sighed as he checked his phone. The music was blaring loud, and you could hear it through your headphones. The cashier raised an eyebrow at you as she slid the last tray of salmon across the scanner.

"Cookout," you said, taking one of your headphones off of your ear.

The cashier stuck out her lower lip and nodded, sticking the tray in the last of your reusable bags. "Have fun at your cookout," she said. You winced at the total in front of you as you put your card in the card reader. Groceries were expensive already without a giant merman in your pool. It chimed, and you took the card out.

"Have a nice day," said the cashier, and you exited the store and hurried to your car.

...

"You told me you like salmon?" you asked, your lower legs dangling in the cool water. "How do you even get salmon? There's no wild salmon in the state," you said, throwing a cut into the pool.

He took it, putting it in a death roll not unlike an alligator would its prey. His teeth were sharp, his pupils (from what you saw, at least) a straight line on his eye. He splashed saltwater everywhere. You squealed, throwing your forearms in front of your face through the worst of it.

"Mortarion, careful, your stitches..." you muttered before he soon stopped his activity.

"Force of habit..." he said after swallowing his first bite of salmon. He had the fillet in one hand and was grabbing at the deep blue tiles that lined your pool with the other. You noticed him running his fingers along them, and smiled slightly. He took another bite and swallowed. "I would much prefer live fish, but this will do."

You shuddered at the prospect of feeding a live fish to the merman in your pool. Where would you even get one? Typhus spent a lot of time at the beach and you would see him there when you went on your off days, but you weren't going to ask him anytime soon.

Meanwhile, Mortarion pulled himself out of the pool a little bit to look at you. "You do not eat live fish?" he asked, his eyebrows raised and his green eyes widened.

"Oh, absolutely not," you muttered, running a hand along your other forearm.

"Oh," he said, genuinely taken aback. "You are a strange one, for sure."

"It's my entire species, actually..." you trailed off. "Unless, you're kind of weird, I guess? I mean, there's weirdos online who eat raw meat but I doubt they'd eat--"

"None of you eat live fish?" he asks after swallowing another bite of fish.

"No... sorry."

He looked at you incredulously. He moved his hand along the side of the pool, towards your dangling leg. He brushed his finger against its side, and you felt your heart beating in your chest much more palpable than normal. As you inhaled sharply, he retracted his hand, looking away briefly. Blood rushed to your face and you looked towards your plants.

The two of you sat in awkward silence for a moment as he finished his salmon before you caught sight of two orange butterflies in your yard. They flew around each other, tumbling through the air before one of them stopped at the passion vine that adorned the trellis and the other flitted around it.

"Oh!" you shouted, eager to fill the void with light conversation. You pointed at the two little beings by the plant. "Look! Butterflies!"

Mortarion's eyes shot towards your little friends. "That's what they look like," he remarked. "I did not expect their wings to be so... extravagant."

"Oh, I think I forgot to mention that," you said, your face going warm again. "Well, that's a Gulf Fritillary. Some people call it the Passion Butterfly, but my mom always called it the first one. Oh, oh! Can you see the iridescent spots on them? They're a little far..."

He nodded. "They have little black borders around them."

"Oh, you can see those?" you asked, your eyes going wide. "I can only see them when they're really close." You let out a slight chuckle before looking down at him. He was awestruck, to say the least. His eyes were trained on the small bugs. His tail swished in the pool, and the rest of him was as still as a statue.

"I have never seen creatures such as these," he remarked after a little while.

"Well, there's plenty of them to see here, especially this time of year," I said. "You see that plant over there? That's a passion vine, it's a host plant for more than one species of butterfly. The Zebra Longwing actually competes with the Gulf Fritillary for this plant!" The butterflies had been moving along the plant, trailing lower and lower.

Mortarion's eyes were still trained on them. "What's the Zebra Longwing like?" he asked.

"Slightly smaller," you said, shifting slightly at the poolside. Your leg brushed against his hand again. Your eyes widened and you tensed up. He turned around to look at you, and you relaxed. He wasn't here to hurt you.

"Is... is that okay?" he asked, his voice low yet raspy.

You nodded, slowly at first before your movement became more vigorous. "It is," you said, lowering your hand to touch his. His eyes widened before he looked up at you.

"Care to join me in the pool?" he asked. He shut his eyes before opening them, looking around almost in terror.

You looked down at your outfit. Shorts that were neither too long nor too short, and a white tank top with a red design stenciled into it. You got up, and he retracted his hand, still staring at you.

"I would love to," you said. "Just let me get changed real quick."

Taglist: @bispecsual @justeverythingnothingelse @bleedingichorhearts @nekotaetae @historitor-bookshelf

[blaire-windsor]

Blaire Windsor’s morning began at 5:30 AM, as it always did. The sunrise hadn’t yet touched the London skyline, but her alarm clock sang a cheerful chime. It was a sound she’d carefully chosen to strike the perfect balance between calming and energizing. There was no room for chaos, not even in her wake-up routine.

Her blonde hair was perfectly tousled even at dawn, but that didn’t stop her from smoothing it into place with deft fingers before slipping into her silk robe. Her first stop was the kitchen, where she whisked together matcha powder, oat milk, and honey. Her small dachshund, Moose, trotted happily at her heels.

“Morning, Moosey,” she chirped, setting a dollop of peanut butter on a tiny spoon for him to lick. His excited tail thumps gave her the first smile of the day — bright, practiced, and invulnerable.

Blaire sipped her matcha latte, staring out of her spotless window at the quiet London street below. Everything had to run perfectly today. With midterms looming and holiday plans with her family just weeks away, the pressure was unrelenting. She tapped her phone to check her to-do list:

1. Review criminal law notes. 2. Draft family law essay. 3. Clean kitchen. 4. Face mask. 5. Call Mum. 6. Walk Moose.

Her chest tightened slightly at the sight of “Call Mum.” Conversations with her family were always a minefield of subtle judgments, particularly from her mother, who expected Blaire’s life to mirror the perfection of her grades.

She took a deep breath, plastered her dazzling smile on, and whispered to herself, “It’s fine. You’ve got this.”

The day began in earnest in her immaculately organized home office. Her desk, with its crisp white planner and color-coded textbooks, was the image of order. For three hours, Blaire pored over cases, her hand flying across her notebook. She rewarded herself with a quick walk to a local café, Moose trotting beside her in a sweater she’d knit him. She ordered another matcha latte, her second of the day, and answered emails on her phone while the barista prepared it.

“Blaire, you’re glowing as always,” the barista commented with a grin.

“Thanks, Harry,” she replied brightly, her flawless smile concealing the knot of tension in her stomach. Compliments felt nice but fleeting, incapable of quelling the inner voice that demanded more.

By the afternoon, her stress reached a peak. Her family law essay was coming together, but not fast enough. The spotless kitchen suddenly seemed imperfect, so she scrubbed the counters until they shone, all while wearing a hyaluronic acid sheet mask. The activity offered her a moment of peace, as cleaning and skincare always did, but then her phone buzzed with a reminder: Call Mum.

She picked up, letting the sound of her mother’s voice wash over her as she twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “Hi, Mum. Yes, everything’s fine. No, I haven’t been overdoing it.”

The dazzling smile stayed in place, even when her mother asked if she’d booked her train tickets for Christmas. Blaire had, of course, but the thought of going home to meet everyone’s expectations made her chest ache.

After hanging up, she collapsed onto her couch, Moose curling into her lap. She rubbed his ears absently, her gaze fixed on nothing. For a moment, the perfection wavered. The spotless flat, the grades, the glowing skin… it all felt fragile, like a house of cards teetering under the weight of her own demands.

But then Moose let out a tiny bark, pulling her back to the present. She smiled down at him, this time softer and more real. “Okay, Moosey. Time for a walk.”

With renewed resolve, Blaire reached for Moose’s leash and set a timer. The weight of the world still loomed, but for now, she could manage. One perfect day at a time.

[merakiui]

FWB prompt with Idia: "You did a good job... so i thought you deserved a balloon. "

I thought that would be hilarious, just gifting him a balloon for finally losing his V-card.

(fwb dialogues)

Idia opens the door expecting the usual rigmarole. You'll shuffle inside, tease him until his hair is burning pink, and then together you'll make a mess out of already messy sheets. Much to his dismay, that doesn't happen right away. Instead you offer a balloon with the words Congratulations! You did it! scrawled in swirling script. He blinks at it, bewildered.

"Uh... What's up with this?"

"It's a little overdue, but it's for you. You did a good job, so I thought you deserved a balloon."

Idia blinks owlishly at it, sorting through the week's events in an effort to determine what may have earned him this sudden gift. He recently beat his own speedrun record, but that's nothing new. He's always making and breaking records. He recently finished his first play-through of a new action RPG, but is that anything to write home about? He lost his virginity and casually fell into the friends with benefits route. He managed to get all endings on a dating sim.

He lost his virginity.

Wait. He lost his virginity. Idia did. Idia never-touched-grass Shroud lost his virginity, and it wasn't in some 2D porn game.

And now here you are, gallantly presenting him with a balloon to celebrate the occasion. Realizing this, he flushes vibrantly pink up to his ears and all the way to the ends of his hair.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! T-Time out!"

"What? Is the color not to your liking? I got a blue one because that's kinda your whole aesthetic. Or should I have gotten pink to match your—"

"J-Just what kind of achievement is that?!"

"A rare one for you."

Idia's not sure if he should feel humiliated, irritated, or a mix of both. But on some levels you're right. He's never actively pursued this sort of route. It was much too daunting even for an ambitious gamer like him. Despite that, you're here and you're sticking around. He feels bad for you. Are you doing this out of pity? Did someone put you up to this? Sleep with the gloomy Ignihyde Housewarden and I'll buy you a lunch for the rest of the month. That was totally the side quest, right?

"Well... W-Well, I... I did it, so leave me alone." He swipes the balloon from you, winding the ribbon around his hands. "S-See ya..."

He wasn't prepared for this event! Not at all! Dialogue with your fuck buddy is impossible! What is he even supposed to say? 'Thanks for tolerating me enough to let me sleep with you'? No way. That's mega cringe!

Your giggle is muffled through the door, but he hears it anyway.

"If you're not busy, can I see you next week?"

Idia freezes. You, someone sculpted by the gods and goddesses alike, want to see him? Again?! He's not dreaming, is he? This isn't a sleep-deprived delusion either, right? He fumbles with his phone, still gripping the balloon in his other hand, and types a cursory reply: yea sure wutevr.

He hears the chime from your phone next, and it nearly shakes him from his skin. This is actually happening...

"It's a date then. See ya, Idia! Enjoy your balloon!"

He almost can't believe it.

Hold on. Did you say date?

[galaxysupreme17]

AU - Family Dinner

Y/n = Your Name

Rio Vidal x daughter!reader!

Agatha x Rio

The news of Agatha and Rio's engagement spread quickly through her family quicker than Agatha would have preferred. She received the latest update during her weekly phone call with her mother, Lilia.

"Your sisters are coming to visit," Lilia announced, her tone warm but tinged with caution. "Jennifer, in particular, has... thoughts about meeting a mortician and her daughter."

Agatha sighed, rubbing her temple. "Why am I not surprised? And Wanda?"

"Excited as ever," Lilia replied. "She's looking forward to meeting Y/n and Rio. Just be prepared, Agatha. Jennifer may need some... handling."

Agatha's lips pressed into a thin line. Handling Jennifer had always been a challenge. "Thanks for the warning, Mom. I'll do my best."

By the time the weekend arrived, the house buzzed with activity. Y/n had taken it upon herself to tidy up the living room, meticulously organizing books and fluffing pillows. The kitchen was alive with the scent of Agatha's famous roast chicken. Rio, ever the calm presence, set the table with a gentle smile, her fingers brushing against Agatha's as she passed by.

"Don't stress too much, cariña," Rio said, leaning in to kiss Agatha's cheek. "We'll handle this together."

"I know," Agatha replied, her voice soft. "But Jennifer has a way of making everything feel..."

"Like an interrogation?" Rio offered with a knowing grin.

Agatha chuckled despite herself. "Exactly."

When the doorbell rang, Y/n darted to the door, excitement bubbling over. Two women stood there, each distinctly embodying their personalities. Ever composed and slightly aloof, Jennifer stepped inside first, her critical gaze sweeping over the room. Vibrant and approachable, Wanda followed, immediately enveloping Y/n in a warm hug.

"You must be Y/n," Wanda gushed. "Agatha's told me so much about you. You're even more lovely in person!"

Y/n beamed. "Thank you! And you're Wanda. I've heard so much about you, too."

Jennifer's gaze settled on Rio. "And you must be the mortician," she said, her tone neutral but laced with subtext.

Rio's smile remained steady as she extended a hand. "Rio. It's nice to meet you."

Jennifer shook her hand briefly before turning to Agatha. "You've certainly... expanded your horizons since the last time we talked."

Before Agatha could respond, Wanda chimed in, her tone light and welcoming. "And where's that famous roast chicken? I've been dreaming about Agatha's cooking for weeks!"

The tension eased slightly as everyone moved to the dining table. Conversation flowed easily, with Wanda's bubbly energy steering topics toward light and pleasant subjects. Y/n, eager to make a good impression, shared stories about school.

"I just got my report card," Y/n said, pulling a folded paper from her pocket and passing it to her moms. "Straight A's. My teachers even said I'm one of the top students in English class."

Wanda's face lit up. "That's incredible, Y/n! You must be so proud."

Jennifer arched a brow. "Well, academic achievement is important, of course. But I hope you're also preparing for something practical, like a career in medicine or law. English isn't exactly... lucrative."

Y/n's smile faltered slightly, but before she could respond, Rio interjected smoothly. "Y/n's interests are diverse, and she's still exploring her passions. We encourage her to follow what she loves while staying grounded."

Jennifer nodded, her expression unreadable. "That's... one way to approach it."

Across the table, Wanda leaned closer to Y/n. "Do you like to read?" she asked in a whisper.

Y/n's face lit up. "I love books! Right now, I'm reading this fantasy series about..."

The two launched into a quiet but animated discussion, discovering shared favorites and exchanging recommendations. Agatha watched them with a small smile, grateful for Wanda's warmth.

As dinner ended, Jennifer continued to sprinkle subtle digs into the conversation. Agatha's patience frayed, but she held her composure. When it was time to say goodbye, she quietly pulled Jennifer aside in the hallway while Rio and Wanda chatted with Y/n.

"Jennifer," Agatha began, her voice low but firm, "I don't know what you hoped to achieve tonight, but if it's anything less than respect for my family, it's not welcome here."

Jennifer blinked, her expression defensive. "I wasn't trying to-"

"Yes, you were," Agatha interrupted gently. "But I'm asking you, as your sister, to try. For me. For them. Rio and Y/n are my family, and they make me happy. That should be enough for you."

Jennifer hesitated, her gaze softening slightly. "I'll... keep that in mind."

"Thank you," Agatha said, her tone final. "Good night, Jen."

A collective sigh of relief filled the room as the door closed behind Jennifer. Agatha turned to Rio and Y/n, giving them a reassuring smile. "Well, that's over."

"Thank the stars," Rio muttered, rubbing her temples. "I thought she'd never leave."

Y/n chuckled, adjusting her notebooks on the kitchen table before diving back into her homework.

Agatha glanced at Wanda, who lingered near the counter with a cup of tea in hand. "You're sticking around, huh?"

Wanda smirked. "Jen drained all the air out of the room. Someone had to stay behind and fill it back up."

Rio snorted, grabbing her mug, kissing Agatha's head, and retreating to the living room. "I'll give you two some sister time."

Once Rio was gone, Agatha sank into a chair at the table, rubbing her face. "Why does she always do that?"

"Because she's Jen," Wanda said, sitting across from her sister. "And Jen thinks her way is the only way."

Agatha groaned. "I can handle the snide comments about me being an English teacher. But her nitpicking Rio's job? That's too much."

Wanda tilted her head thoughtfully. "I think it bothers her more than she lets on. Not the job itself, but how happy you and Rio are."

Agatha raised an eyebrow. "You think she's jealous?"

"Obviously." Wanda leaned back in her chair. "Look, Ags, you're her little sister. In her mind, she was always supposed to give you advice, teach you things, and ensure you were okay. And now she sees you thriving-with Rio, with Y/n, with everything. That throws her off balance."

Agatha huffed, tapping her fingers on the table. "I just wish she could be happy for us instead of trying to find something wrong."

"She'll come around," Wanda said gently. "She always does-eventually."

Y/n looked up from her homework, a small smile tugging at her lips. "She's right, you know. You were awesome, Agatha."

Agatha's heart warmed at the comment. She reached over, ruffling Y/n's hair. "Thanks, kiddo."

"Okay, okay," Y/n said, laughing as she swatted Agatha's hand away. "I'm going to finish this in my room. You two have your... sister chat."

As Y/n disappeared upstairs, Wanda chuckled. "She's such a sweetheart."

"I know," Agatha said, her voice tinged with both pride and wistfulness.

They sat in companionable silence for a moment before Wanda spoke again, her voice quieter. "Agatha, you're doing great. Really. Y/n is happy, Rio's happy, and you're happy. Don't let Jen-or anyone else-make you second-guess that."

Agatha smiled, small and grateful. "Thanks, Wanda. I needed that. When did you become the one full of wisdom in the family?"

Wanda chuckled, "Doesn't happen very often. I always need advice from my big sis. But I can offer some about our sister." This statement caused Agatha to laugh and shake her head.

Wanda stood, grabbed her mug, and set it in the sink. "I should head out before Vision starts texting me a thousand times. But I'll see you tomorrow for coffee, right?"

"Wouldn't miss it," Agatha said, standing to walk her sister to the door.

At the doorway, Wanda paused, turning back with a teasing grin. "And, Ags? Don't forget to save me some of that pie. I know Rio's probably already claimed half of it."

Agatha chuckled. "It's yours-if you bring coffee tomorrow."

"Deal," Wanda said with a laugh, giving her sister a quick hug before entering the night.

As the door clicked shut behind Wanda, Agatha leaned against it momentarily, letting the silence settle. The house was peaceful now, filled with the comforting hum of Y/n upstairs, the faint ticking of the kitchen clock, and the quiet warmth of a home that had seen its fair share of storms-but still stood strong.

She climbed the stairs and made her way to the bedroom. Turning off the light, Agatha drifted to the window. The street outside was quiet, bathed in the soft glow of streetlights. In the distance, she could see the faint outline of a rainstorm moving in, the edges of the clouds illuminated by occasional flickers of lightning.

She stood there for a while, watching the approaching storm. The rhythm of the night-the stillness before the rain-had always soothed her, a reminder that even chaos had its moments of calm.

Suddenly, familiar arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her gently back into warmth. Rio rested her chin lightly on Agatha's head, the faint scent of her lavender shampoo filling the space between them.

"Couldn't sleep without me?" Agatha teased softly, leaning back into the embrace.

Rio chuckled, the sound low and comforting. "You know me. I'm not really one for quiet nights alone."

They stood there in silence, watching as the storm edged closer, its distant rumble filling the room like a heartbeat.

"Do you ever wonder if we'll always have this?" Agatha murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.

Rio pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. "Always," she said firmly. "Because I'm not going anywhere. And neither are you."

Agatha smiled, her hand coming up to rest on Rio's. "You're good at this, you know. Making everything feel... steady."

"I've had good practice," Rio replied, her voice teasing. "You've been my biggest challenge yet."

Agatha laughed softly, the sound almost lost in the growing patter of raindrops against the window.

"Come on," Rio said, pulling her gently away after a moment. "Storm's coming. Let's go to bed before it gets here."

Agatha let herself be led away from the window, their fingers intertwined as they moved to the bed. As Rio settled in beside her, Agatha felt the weight of the day lift, replaced by a calm certainty she had only ever felt with Rio.

The storm arrived minutes later, but inside, there was nothing but warmth and the quiet rhythm of their breaths. And for Agatha, that was more than enough.

[lemonlyman-dotcom]

Hello! Thank you for the tags @carlos-in-glasses @thisbuildinghasfeelings @heartstringsduet & @ladytessa74

Once again, my active wip is Secret Santa so we’re doing Work is Published Wednesday 😝

From my Christmas fic The Greatest Gift I’ve Found, The Sweetest Thing I’ve Known, which was posted last week. I’d love it if you checked it out 🥰

They’re woken up an hour or so later by a sharp knock on the front door. TK trails after Carlos into the living room, fingers curled softly into the back of his shirt.

“Baby, are you expecting someone?”

“No,” Carlos says as he opens the door. There’s nobody there, and TK makes a questioning sound and hooks his chin over Carlos’s shoulder. “Flowers,” Carlos declares. He bends down and picks up a beautiful bouquet of sunflowers in a vase. “Somebody sent you flowers, babe. Who do I need to be jealous of?”

“Jealous of them for sending me flowers? Or jealous of me for getting flowers?” TK asks as Carlos closes the door and brings the flowers to the kitchen counter.

“Hmm, both, I guess.”

“Read the card, babe.”

Carlos’s face lights up as he reads the card. “Baby, nobody’s ever sent me flowers before.”

“First of all, that’s a shame and I’m going to send you flowers all the time now,” TK teases. “But, baby. It’s your first Christmas without your dad. I thought today would probably be hard for you and I just hoped this might brighten your day.” He says the last part with a hopeful tilt of his head.

“Sunflowers,” Carlos says with a thoughtful look. He bends to sniff at one of the flowers. “Those were my dad’s favorite.”

“I know.”

Gabriel had a small garden of sunflowers in the front yard that he prided himself on. They’d just begun to bloom when TK and Carlos went to the house for dinner one evening a few weeks before the wedding. Gabriel had walked them around the garden, showing off the blooms and telling them about his fertilizing schedule and the battle he’d been waging against the neighborhood squirrels that liked to munch on their stalks.

“Baby, that’s so sweet of you-” he pauses where he was beginning to cross over to wrap TK up in a hug when his phone rings on the counter. The screen lighting up with Andrea’s contact name, ‘Mami.’

“I may have sent her flowers too,” TK says sheepishly.

“Babe,” Carlos says before answering the phone. “Hi Mom.”

“Carlitos!” Her joviant voice comes through the speaker. “Is TK working? I tried to call him. He sent me the loveliest flowers. That husband of yours, such a sweet boy.”

“Oh, Mami, he’s right here he must have left his phone in the bedroom. We slept in kind of late.”

“Carlitos, it’s almost 10 am!”

“Oh, they’re young and in love, let them sleep in,” a familiar voice chimes in from the background, tone playfully suggestive. “Carlitos, you better take advantage of having that gorgeous boy in your bed.”

“Hi, Tía Lucy,” Carlos deadpans. “Mami, TK’s right here.”

“Hi Andrea,” he says cheerfully, crossing the room to wrap himself around Carlos’s side like a koala. Carlos wraps an arm around him and drops a quick kiss to his temple as Andrea starts talking.

“Oh TK, thank you for the beautiful flowers, mi dulce muñequito — just so sweet of you. You know, sunflowers were Gabriel’s favorite. I can’t believe it’s been seven months,” she says wistfully. “Our first Christmas without him. He loved you boys so much.”

TK feels Carlos tense, his grip on TK tightens slightly.

“I wish he could have had the chance to see you boys married,” she continues. “To see you as a husband, Carlitos. I know he’s so proud. And he was proud to call you his son-in-law, TK. Even though you weren’t married yet. He’d talk about his son-in-law, the dual-certified medic who saved kids from frozen lakes and mine fields. Although, personally, I wouldn’t mind if you did a few less of those rescues. I’m sure Carlitos agrees with me.”

Carlos huffs a laugh and hums in agreement.

“Well,” TK says, beaming up at Carlos. He rests a hand on Carlos’s broad chest, just over his heart. “I’m proud to be your son-in-law. And I’m forever grateful to Gabriel, and to you, for raising such an incredible son.”

Carlos blushes and shakes his head.

“Thank you, TK, I agree with that.” She says with a sigh. “Well I should let you boys get back to whatever you were doing.”

“Sleeping in!” Lucy shouts in the background.

“Ay, dios mio,” Carlos mutters.

“Thank you, Lucy!” Andrea sings. “Alright, feliz Navidad, boys. We will see you tonight?”

“Yes, Mami. Love you.”

“Alright,” Carlos says once he’s hung up the phone. “Let’s go back to bed.”

“What? Babe, I had to fight you to get you to stay in bed with me earlier. You wanna go back to bed?”

“Yeah,” Carlos says, voice deep as he approaches TK. He’s got a determined look on his face. It’s all the warning TK gets before Carlos grabs him around the waist and hauls him up over his shoulder.

“Carlos!” He squeals as he’s carried towards the bedroom.

“You heard the woman,” he accentuates his point with a slap to TK’s ass, “Let’s sleep in.”

Tagging @whatsintheboxmh @strandnreyes @alrightbuckaroo @bonheur-cafe @apothecarose @noxsoulmate @fitzherbertssmolder @chicgeekgirl89 @tarlosmalec @taralaurel @louis-ii-reyes-strand @herefortarlos @tellmegoodbye @carlos-tk @birdclowns @ambiguouspenny @basilsunrise @freneticfloetry @rmd-writes @thebumblecee @welcometololaland @guardian-angle22 @reasonandfaithinharmony @reyesstrand @your-catfish-friend @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad @iboatedhere @liminalmemories21 @lightningboltreader @never-blooms @theghostofashton @paperstorm and OPEN TAG 🏷️

[ghostchems]

maybe 8 with copia and / or 3 with secondo ??? :)

“i can’t sleep without you here” w mr. popia

You’re up late, trying to finish up grading papers that you had leftover. The light is dim in your room and you have the window open to let the fool air in and to be able to listen to the sounds of nighttime while you wrap your work up.

You aren’t usually this distracted during the day but someone had creeped into your thoughts and your down time. It was all still very new and casual but he would turn up to your office to talk, which sometimes led to other activities.

You’re already distracted, your gaze focused on the nighttime sounds as your mind drifts back to him. Your thoughts are interrupted by your phone’s chime of receiving a text message.

I can’t sleep without you here.

Butterflies flutter in your stomach. You get up from your desk immediately, leaving the papers to be graded tomorrow. There’s a skip in your step as you make your way down the corridor, away from your quarters and towards his.

As you go to knock on his door, it creaks open and he looks at you, dazed.

“Amore, I was about to come see you.” Copia smiles then grabs you, pulling you into his room. A giggle leaves your lips as you are practically tossed onto his mattress, with him following closely behind you. He settles between your legs, his mouth immediately on your neck, planting wet open-mouthed kisses.

It’s impossible for you to resist him. You’re already grinding against him and you can feel him grow harder through his red sweatpants. Copia groans into your neck, his hands roaming over your body. He picks himself up and mouths over your breasts through your shirt. You suck in a breath, carding your fingers through his hair as he moves even lower down your body.

“Fuck, Papa.” You moan as he pulls down your underwear, a finger pressing against your clit. Copia looks up at you, his white eye standing out against the black eye paint he nearly always wore, a smirk playing on his lips.

His tongue licks a strip across your folds and you moan softly, your legs already starting to tremble as he rests your knees on his shoulders. Copia slips a finger inside, then another, pumping them slowly while he closes his lips around your clit.

This is the reason why you have gotten barely any work done in the last few weeks. You couldn’t resist him and he always had to have you, no matter what you were doing. At least it’s late this time and you could stay over and cuddle with him until you both fall asleep.

But right now, heavy sighs and soft moans are pouring from your lips, your fingers digging into his scalp as he pumps his fingers into you. Copia curls them expertly against the bundle of nerves while his tongue swipes over your clit with each thrust. There are tears in your eyes as you arch your back and pull him even deeper into you.

You scream his name and your body lurches while you cum. He makes sure you are licked clean, moaning at the taste of you. You don’t have much time to collect yourself before he has you situated in his lap, his hard cock pressed against your ass.

“I thought you wanted to sleep?” You are breathless but you manage to get the words out, resting your head on his shoulder. His finger lightly traces your jaw while he gazes at you, pupil is blown wide with lust.

“We’ll sleep when I’m done with you, amore.”

[donnerpartyofone]

Vintage holiday card poster weirdchristmas has a regular problem with people trying to tell them how they should run their blog, and they made a comment that really rang true for me:

For whatever reason (maybe because it skews younger?), Tumblr seems to have more of that than anywhere else. Pretty much all the complaints are on here, never on Twitter or FB/IG or anything else. But Tumblr seems to have more of a culture of "I must register my position or I am not an ethical participant in the world."

I'm not active enough anywhere else to say how tumblr-specific this is, but I'm constantly puzzling over why so many people react to a post/blog as if it is directed at THEM, PERSONALLY and they have to like vote on whether it works for them or not. It seems like a rarer and rarer thing to have the appropriate reaction "This has nothing to do with me, I'm not interested, I can ignore this, and even unfollow or block this person if I want." People will correct you on the slightest perceived error (whether or not they have any basis for knowing the answer), and they will also tell you if they have nothing to say, instead of just moving on.

Recently I asked a question about some social behavior I observe, and the vast majority of responders checked in just to let me know they didn't know what I was talking about (or to add something irrelevant as usual); if I were in their shoes, I would have like...not answered a question I didn't know the answer to, I really didn't need to have a list of everybody who didn't have a response. Then I asked a sarcastic rhetorical question about a movie I was watching and someone chimed in to tell me they didn't know the answer and they knew how to look it up, but they weren't going to do it; it's OK that they couldn't detect my (rather obvious) sarcasm, but why fucking tell me they didn't know and would not find out? Why do I have to hear that, who fucking cares? Years ago I had to block someone who had become really aggressive with his (often pointless) replies, and I'll never forget how he replied to a post I made about a TV show or something--you know, it was like, "Hey if anyone saw this show, can you remember the ending of episode X", and this guy replied, "I don't know, I never watched it." It blew my mind, it was like WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME THIS, MY BLOG IS NOT A PHONE THAT I CALL YOU ON, I DON'T NEED TO KNOW THAT YOU HAVE NO RESPONSE. That guy used to constantly, rudely tell me whether he agreed or disagreed with every opinion I expressed, every trivial thing I liked or didn't like, as if my personal tastes were like local government and it was his civic duty to manage them, and he kept doing this even after I said very publicly and explicitly more than once that I didn't appreciate it, and he was extremely sore after I blocked him and he complained to one of my best friends about it like she was going to help him...but with the unwelcome opining and unsolicited advice type stuff, even though I hate it, I understand it a little more than I understand someone just telling me that they have no response to my post. You know how that old addage goes, "If you don't have anything to say, don't say anything at all!"

[lee-banks]

Hello people of tumblr! So, my and my mother's cell plan via TMobile was canceled due to non repayment and our past due fees in December of last year when my mom lost her job. My father refuses to pay it and help us get the phones back on. Our spectrum internet has also been dwindling since then as well which is the only thing we have to rely on at this point. I could get a tech put here to see what's happening and how to fix it, but spectrum techs in my area are highly unreliable and on top of that getting replacement equipment isn't a gaurentee as it's a first come first serve type of situation. Even if we did get the new router and modem, they need to be activated via their app which obviously relying only on internet and having no cell service, it'll be difficult to do that. I looked into maybe getting government phones for the two of us as we'reset to get medicaid cards in the mail and coversge to start Sept 1st. However each company I looked into allows only one phone per household. Now, I'm not comfortable sharing a phone with my mother for numerous reasons including she's always been pretty abusive mentally/emotionally to me and she constantly cheats on my father with random men. Is there anyway we could get more than one phone from a lifeline or any related program? Are there any programs who help pay off debt/past due fees? Alternatively, I do have chime ($Lee4421) if you can donate to help get the phones back on. My mother also has cashapp if you'd maybe like to donate to her instead. Her cashapp will be shown in a screenshot. Last time she checked in May, the total past due was $304.32 but it could have easily gone up to around $642.32 since our bill usually happened on the 5th of each month and they add to it each month it's unpaid. On top of all that, there is an $80 reactivation fee plus unknown taxes. If you can give me any advice, tips on how to navigate this, donations, or even boost this I would GREATLY appreciate it. This is URGENT. Thank you all.

[redflagromance]

Superdim Sunday: Chapter 2

If pressed, she would agree that it was a little crazy to drop everything to drive two hours in the hopes of ruining Hammer's night. She felt vaguely embarrassed by herself throughout the drive, fingers wrapped a little too tightly around the steering wheel.

At least no one knew what she was doing. Her masked activities were clandestine. She could do embarrassing shit and not have it bite her in the ass.

"I don't have to do this." Ji-Min tested out the thought. "I could go home and just let him run wild until he gets picked up by the cops or a local suit."

…Nope, bad idea. Ji-Min sneered. The steering wheel creaked under her grip. The thought was extremely displeasing.

She couldn't let someone else handle him. That was her role and no one else got to do it. She was going to find out whatever half-baked plan he had pulled out of the garbage can of his mind, and she was going to thwart him.

That was what she'd been doing for months now. The newspapers would say that she was a rogue vigilante, with varying degrees of approval. They said that she was Hammer's mysterious nemesis, a shadow that only emerged when he was free to drag him to justice.

The truth of it was that Ji-Min was a massive hater and she couldn't stand to let Hammer have anything.

She stopped at a gas station in a bad mood and got an offensively large cup of tea from a faded machine. It tasted shit. She tossed it out the window and got bottled water at the next stop. The drive really wasn't that long, except that she was too keyed up to turn up music and enjoy it.

The closer to confrontation she got, the more wound up Ji-Min felt. The tension eventually got so high that she parked the car and did some furious calisthenics. She glared at anyone who looked at her, defensive about what she knew was weird behavior. It was necessary.

Ji-Min had spent a lot of time in the gym since her powers came in. If she didn't blow off steam, she'd find herself breaking things by accident.

Before she started driving again, she checked Hammer's social media. Ji-Min leaned on the side of her car and smacked on gum while she scrolled.

"heY r U ready to GOooooo," he had sent to Sunspot.

She'd sent back a thumbs up and a sparkly moon emoji. "Go to bed. You have a big day tomorrow, boss."

"😔 😩 😩 Y don't u love me anymore and be nice o me?"

"Unfortunately, I'm not your one true love 🔨 💕"

"haha 😂 🔥 😘  2 bad!!!"

God, what poor fuckhead was Hammer's 'one true love?' Ji-Min pulled a face and closed the app. Her stomach turned at the thought.

She pushed the disturbing bits away and focused on the eventual crime. If Sunspot was telling him to rest up, then Ji-Min should probably just get a hotel and wait for him to make his move. She sent her sister a text canceling their workout tomorrow morning. Ari sent back a thumbs up and a crying face.

Then she looked up a hotel in the area and checked the price. Feeling spiteful, she logged into Hammer's bank account and sent a $500 transfer to her Swiss bank account. He wouldn't notice. He never did. He might not even know his password. He only ever used his card.

She took a moment to scroll through his recent transactions. Fifty at a gas station, 126 dollars to a pizza place, 7 in ice cream, and a Paypal transfer for 7000 dollars. The note said "clothes."

Her phone chimed. A gray alert came up with some graph and a title about the stock market.

"Oh, fuck," Ji-Min sighed. She opened the app and then went to the settings. She ignored the landing page and its copy of the current stock market happenings. On muscle memory, she opened up the hidden login and typed in the 14 digit code.

The real message showed up.

Warning from Sir Tiger Explosion, it read. Bank robbery this evening in NYC at ….

The tension flooded out of her system. "Again?" Ji-Min snorted. She closed the app and opened up the hater group chat.

Harmes had beat her to it. As she opened it, " 💰 Always love to see someone push the boundaries!!" landed.

Ji-Min cracked a smile. "Innovate. Expand. Boldly go."

"Live laugh love the consistency," said an anon with a pirate hat icon. "Maybe it'll work this time."

"Unlikely," said Harmes. They followed it up with a couple photos of newspaper articles with headlines like "Local Man Attempts to Rob Bank."

Ouch. That wasn't even from the special crimes section. Ji-Min put a crying reaction on the image. Lurkers added crying and laughter reactions as she watched, probably for the same reason.

"Remember when he used the back of his atm withdrawal slip for the ransom note?" Ji-Min typed up. She felt a mean little smile steal across her face.

That got laugh reactions all around.

Feeling better, she shoved her phone back in her pocket and got back in the car. She cranked up the music for the last leg of the drive and arrived at the hotel in a good mood.

She swiped to pay with her Swiss account, and gave a cash tip to the receptionist. She didn't have much to bring in- a gym bag with her change of clothes and kit, as well as the bare basics like a toothbrush and hair supplies. She took her time getting ready by putting her hair up and stacking it with the pins that would support her mask later. When she was done, Ji-Min shrugged on her coat and went for a walk.

She spent an hour casing the city before she decided what to do with her time. Ji-Min got a table at a French restaurant for dinner and ate filet mignon and rabbit. She kicked back in a private corner with a glass of red wine and watched the people eat and walk outside. They were all so distant to her.

She'd never really felt like she was part of the crowd. And now…

Ji-Min finished her glass and left her card carelessly on the table while she went to the ladies room. She saw a server bob their head and hurry over to run the card.

In the bathroom, she checked her hair was staying in place and took a moment to stretch, limbering up her fingers and wrists.

She passed an older woman on her way out. Ji-Min could feel the stare. She didn't deign to look back.

With a yawn, Ji-Min collected her card and slipped it back into her bag. She scribbled a $40 tip onto the receipt and left as much in cash.

It was fully dark out by the time she left. Haunting sirens called out in the distance of the night, tattle tailing on some kind of trouble. She was feeling like trouble herself, personally.

'I'm not ready to go back to the hotel just yet,' Ji-Min decided. She felt the pleasant buzz of anticipation, a thrill down the back of her spine.  Ji-Min slipped her ear buds in and put on something with a thumping baseline beat. She idly used her phone to search the area as she prowled around the streets. The night air was crisp and the air was so fogged with pollution that she couldn't see a single star. It felt exactly like the kind of night for her to be unleashed.

She wasn't too far away from an interesting target.

The Versace store was closed at this hour, and the lights she could see were off. Ji-Min paused outside with her hands in her pockets, looking up. She turned off the music and slipped her headphones into the case.

She could tell that people were still inside. They were probably counting out money and doing inventory. Ja-Min popped in a breath mint and cocked her head at the building, tracking the faint impressions of body heat where workers were moving inside.

It was easier when there were fewer people around. It took her a few minutes to determine how many people were inside and what floors they were on. She casually walked around to the side of the building. She pulled the mask out of her bag and started attaching it, pulling the pins out of her one by one to attach the ribbons to her hair. When she was finished, Ja-Min pulled gloves out of her pocket and slid them on. As she slipped into the shadows, there was no one and no camera to watch her scale the wall.

She settled on a fourth floor window far from any of the lingering employees.

The subtle, cat-burglar type strategy would be to cut a hole in the glass and silently remove it. Hammer would break it with his fist and crash in– but he'd set up a drone first to record it, of course.

Ji-Min took off her gloves so that she could wedge her nails into the frame and pop it clean off. There was an ugly scrape, but the operation was overall very quiet. Ji-Min hummed with concentration and rotated the frame at an angle to maneuver it into the room. She stepped inside and leaned the window against the wall. Then she blinked in the darkness until her eyes adjusted.

She caught her reflection in a mirror while she put her gloves back on. It was hard to tell with her dark eyes, but her pupils were blown out to nearly subsume her whole iris. That was new. The night vision was one of her favorite powers.

When her gloves were back on, she took out a spray bottle and wiped down everywhere she could conceivably have touched on the frame. Then she finally took a look around.

There were cameras.

If the lights had been on, that would have been some small concern. As it was, Ji-Min casually flipped one off and prowled down the deserted department floor. She'd ended up in the home goods section. She dismissed it entirely and crept silently down the stilled escalator.

There was something so poignantly beautiful about the store deserted, dark, and cold.

This was the closest thing to religion that she ever felt.

The first thing she picked up was a thick bangle. It had the brand name emblazoned on it. "This is fugly," Ji-Min said, lips pulling up into a smile. She clapped it onto her wrist. "I don't even want it." She checked the price and let out an incredulous little giggle. "Incredible." She ran a gloved finger down the display and picked up a ring. "Gaudy." She paused. "This has potential, though."

Ji-Min worshiped in a daze as she slipped rings, bangles, earrings, and hair accessories into her bag. She was faintly tempted by shoes and a red dress, but even in her haze she knew better than to take anything that indicated personal information like her size. She could go to another store and buy what she wanted later.

She ended up with an eclectic mix stuffing her purse to the brim. Some of it she would sell, and some she would wear.

She barely remembered leaving. It was as easy as entering had been. She tucked the mask away and made her way back to her bed for the night.

The hotel room was larger than she needed. She turned the bathwater on and asked room service for a pot of tea. When it arrived, she sat it on the edge of the tub and went through her skin care routine. When she finally slipped into the water, she was perfectly relaxed.

After a while, she thought to snake her arm out to grab her phone and check on Hammer again. He'd changed his profile photo since the afternoon. This one was shirtless. Ji-Min let out an annoyed sigh, but her heart wasn't really in it this time. He'd let on more of the details for his plan since she'd last checked.

"The Planetarium?" Her skeptical voice echoed in the steamy air. "Is this going to be like the thing he did with that Aquarium?"

Just like that, her blood pressure was back up.