#And not just feeding the plot bunnies after midnight.

[landboundstar]

Writing Related Questions

Am actually working on some of fics in progress (Day Pass, Trade Secrets, Ghoulies And Ghosties, random writing for NaNoWriMo)

So not just plot bunnies I am releasing into the wild, but thoughts actively being typed up. Answers are useful.

What are popular Gotham street foods? - Trade Secrets

What songs do the Batfam sing at karaoke? -Ghoulies And Ghosties, NaNoWriMo

Where would Catwoman and Riddler hang out? Without relapsing into stealing things. Was going to have them go to an art museum, but am debating the wisdom of this (Day Pass)

[sincerealev]

OHMG HI I love your deh fanart please feed me with some headcanons for my five bbs 😔🙏🙏

Hello!! Thank you so much, that means a lot <3 /gen

I've made some posts already with hcs of the sillies, you can find them here:

Evan hcs

Connor and Zoe hcs

Jared and Alana hcs

So, HERE'S MORE HEADCANONS THEN 😼😼

(ty to my awesome gf for helping me think of hcs cuz my mind was almost blank at the moment of writing this 😭🫶)

Connor helps Evan study for math tests, and Ev helps him with literature assignments in return <3

Evan constantly "steals" his boyf's clothes, and jokingly claims that there’s “an imaginary contract between them” that states that, the moment they started dating, Connor's clothes also became his

They enjoy watching horror movies together <33 (Connor got him more into horror movies). They'll have sleepovers a lot, and have horror movie marathons past midnight

"Hey, Ev... What if we watched [horror movie] and kissed during the scary parts? 🖤"

Their favorite horror movie to watch together is Scream (1996)

Alana and Evan are besties 🫶 Like, very close friends

Sometimes they'll have sleepovers, and Alana will tell him gossip about the school (which she's got a ton of). Even of people Evan doesn't know of, but he eats it all up 😭. But they'll also gossip about their crushes/partners,,

(before Evan and Connor started dating) Alana would sometimes give Connor advice to ask Evan out and stuff

And Zoe would give Evan advice on how to talk to and ask out Connor

Alana and Evan are library buddies, and during college they both got jobs at a Barnes And Noble

Zoe and Jared are one chaotic duo. They'll text and facetime a lot, sending each other memes, and also will plot different pranks to pull on their friends lol

All five have pets:

Evan has his golden retriever, Aspen, which I've talked about before 🫶, Connor has a white ragdoll cat, Winter, which I've also talked about... Alana has a bunny named Cocoa, Zoe has a ball python named after a Greek god (I always forget which one), and Jared has a tortoise named Sheldon (of course (also Sheldon turned out to be a girl lol) )

(more under the cut cuz this post is getting long)

Zoe and Jared will put their pets up against each other and have them race

Jared for some reason can do a near perfect Mickey Mouse impression 😭 And he likes using it all the time around his friends. For example...

Con: (after Jared said something that annoyed Connor) Kys.

Jar: [Mickey Mouse impression] Ohoh!! That wasn't very nice, pal! ☝️🐭

Zoe is also guilty of stealing clothes... She's stolen some of Jared's graphic tees, and is yet to return them 💔

The whole gang loves going to Alana's house, because the energy there is just perfect: All cozy, and feels like home. Alana's grandma is very fond of them all too <33 And will give them all delicious food and deserts when they go visit

Murphy twins headcanons!!! Zoe will sometimes read through Connor's diary, which he doesn't know...

The twins will pull pranks on each other a lot (their parents are already used to this)

One time, Connor put fake spiders in Zoe's bed while she was sleeping. That next morning wasn't very pleasant

Connor and Zoe will ALSO constantly steal from each other's closets; Lucky for them, they're very close in size

They love going to the mall together and being goofballs

On family road trips, the twins will always argue over who gets to control the music

Though they won't admit it to anyone or each other, everyone around them can tell they get along very well and love each other <3

Oh yeah... I don't remember if I've said this one before, but they also argue a lot over who was born first (they're both convinced it was themselves), but their parents have never told them because that'd just be fueling the fire more lol

Now for Evan and Zoe... They give each other music recommendations

Zoe will recommend music from Feeltwood Mac or TV Girl, and Evan will recommend Radiohead songs

Zoe treats Evan as if he was her own brother (where Zoe is the older sibling, obviously 🙄 (Evan is literally older))

Zoe will never grasp the concept of Evan and Connor being together. How can such a nice and polite guy like Evan be with such a mean old ogre like.. her BROTHER?? 😞

Since Evan is close with Alana, Zoe’s gayass will ask certain questions,, such as, “What’s Alana’s favorite candy?”

Jared and Evan hcs: Jared honestly considers himself to be part of Evan's family. They have a cousin type of relationship, and Jared honestly looks up to him (He’d never admit that)

They play video games at Jared’s house, and one of their favorite games to play is Cuphead (you know who is who. Evan's also VERY bad at that game, but he still enjoys playing)

There will be moments where they both geek out over something they both enjoy, like a new comic book series releasing or something

Evan will always be the first person Jared goes to for advice

From when they were younger, Jared had stolen multiple of Evan’s toys and to this day is YET to return them (they both forgot, obviously)

And finally, some more Treebros hcs to finish off:

Evan is often Connor’s “muse”, when he draws or paints (he's got MULTIPLE drawings of Evan, and when Connor shows them to him he gets very shy <3 But Evan is always VERY impressed)

Sometimes they go on late night drives and will park in empty parking lots,, and then kiss <3

Connor has convinced Evan to try shotgunning with him, and it was definitely an experience 🦋

Evan is obsessed with doing his boyfriend’s hair and styling it, he'll do ponytails or even braids

[be-side-my-self]

Rewatch of ONLY Murders In The Building to prepare for season 4 (VII)

<Part I> // <Part II> // <Part III> // <Part IIII> // <Part V> // <Part VI>

Block #OMITBRewatch if you don’t want to read notes that will have spoilers up to seasons 3. Just to make it clear, while quoting, I use M, O, C for the main characters.

Also I’m putting this under a read more because it gets long.

S3 E5

Joy talking at the beginning of the episode...

Mabel is hoping this is going to be a date.

O: "It's been a while since I dipped my quill in a woman's ink pot. Any new moves I should know about?" Mabel is stronger than any US Marine.

Sazz! ... :(

The apartment of Loretta is really cute.

Oh the date between Loretta and Oliver is really awkward.

So, Mabel is hoping that it was a date but would not have thought that Tobert would see it as one... I guess she would have liked to be talked to directly but would she had said yes?

Sazz is great... also who would hope that Charles would have been killed instead of Ben? Sure Charles is awkward but still...

And lmao, trigger warning for Jan being mentioned.

Oh... I forgot about Oliver losing his tooth...

Are they already high?

Sazz is great at understanding Charles...

It's cute how Loretta and Oliver had almost met.

O: "Well, that might be the 40 year old weed taking effect."

I think Johnathan bought drugs... it's kinda sad, iirc.

Aw :(

Charles lost all his joys.

But Mabel got lucky and Oliver did too...

Yeah I remember that one thing correctly... the connection between Loretta and Dickie

S3 E6

Howard is so dramatic.

It's probably Batman...

C: "Howard, I hate to break it to you, but ghosts aren't real." Tobert: "Oh, of course, they are." C: "Ho! Man in towel!" M: "Ys, Charles, I'm aware." C: "Spoiler alert." M: "No, not the correct usage of that whatsover." C: "Plot twist?" M: "Still no."

Oliver and Mabel are instantly worried about Charles after he told them about Joy leaving him.

It's cute how much Mabel misses the boys.

And Howard is still so dramatic.

Howard: "That's right. First rule of every horror movie. Never get seperated"

The fact that Charles took the fish with him...

The old director living in the theater.... okay I looked up what a mud room is and apparently it is an entry area? I will just assume that Oliver slept in a sitting bench.

Mabel is the only one who might actually know Krav Magah... and she is always ready to throw hands.

Love how KT and Howard bond over their unfulfilled dreams.

Charles having a talk with a fish and a rat is behind Oliver.

O: "You know the first rule of Theater?" Jerry: "Don't feed Hugh Jackman after midnight." O: "The other one." Jerry: "Oh! You fell in love with one of your actors."

Charles flushed away the fish...

Aw, Johnathan... :(

C: "Everybody knows you don't take a fish in the theater, you idiot!" my dude, the location is not the problem.

C: "President McKinley!"

The albino fellow, the has-been with the white hair.

KT is directing Howard!

Why didn't you use your jimmy keys?

All of that happened in 20 minutes.

No! Besties don't break up!

Curtains closed

"Because I'm the STAGE MANAGER that's why"

S3 E7

Uma is great, a little bit kleptomanic but great.

oh golly... Howard is walking his cat instead of Bunny walking her bird.

Also we haven't seen the bird this season... :/ Did Oliver's son take it?

Lol, Uma is so sarcastic it's beautiful.

... Charles is just paying for everyones food.

Theo helping Mabel to pack up... makes you wonder how much stuff she actually had in it.

I love that Theo and Mabel are friends.

And that they can bond over them being fans of various of Ben's works.

Cliff is stress dancing.

Oliver is missing his bestie.

Oliver, have you considered to ask Lester?

Matthew Broderick is his guy!

Aww :(

Theo is just being a sidekick for Mabel if needed and that is great.

Matthew: "When I did 'War Games', I taught myself to write code." O: "Incredible" Matthew: "For my role in 'Election', I started teaching high school and dating some students." O: *confused and stunned silence* "Okay..."

Dickie is a tragic person and he loved his brother... and also despised him a bit.

Holy shit...wait... is that Mel Brooks?

HOly shit! It is Mel Brooks!

Mel: "Oh, Oliver. You're fucked."

Mabel, monolouging and Theo in the background just "Well, I guess I won't know what is going on."

Lmao, Tobert and Theo meeting is fun. Mabel talked about Tobert to Theo and Tobert knows Theo from the podcast.

... Dickie invented CoBro!

Yes, that is a motive but why should Dickie murder his brother now after all this time?

Lmao, besties reunited!

Mabels lock-screen is her and the two old guys.

Everyone loves Gut Milk.

The earphones Uma is using are probably stolen too.

Dickie bought the hanky.

S3 E8

We learn that Loretta had a baby and gave it away...

Loretta is Dickie's mother.

So, it's also 'Sitzprobe' in englisch?

Mabel is crashing with Theo... which makes sense he has a big apartment.

She and Tobert are fine.

The band is still broken up...

Howard: "Mr. Putnam to the stage. Unless you want me to direct? Because I will do that." O: "Okay, he's out of control."

Loretta: "Who goes there?" Detective Williams, having an incredible entry: "NYPD, Motherfuckers!"

I think it's smart to invite Maxine.

Howard wants to be Mabel in his next life.

Howard: "So when the cops came, I rushed in here to shred my Papa Smurf-Skeletor slash-fic." I WOULD KILL to read that. Howard: "In the wrong hands, it could be misunderstood." I WILL PAY to read that!

Love how intense Howard is.

Charles did not manage to sneak in the interrogation. But I guess he sneaked in his phone...

Loretta and Oliver talk.

It's cute how Loretta tries to take Mabel off of Dickie's scent.

And I love that Detective Williams goes to watch Charles to see him either freak out or succeed.

I also like the split-screen montage.

YAY Charles!

M: "So, I assume you had no luck with Williams?" C: "Funny, isn't it? The way she doubts us." O: "Oh, she thinks we're fools." C: "But that's only because we're so skilled at playing them." M: "Weird flex, but okay."

They all made up!!

... gosh... Oliver can actually be honestly charming.

This scene is so intense....

And Loretta just doing what she thinks she has to do to save her son.

And another heart attack.

[strangerficsx]

Chapter Six | The Monster

story: Midnight Rain wc: 2.4k after rescuing nancy from the upside down, jennifer offers to help but gets turned down. the following day, the police are at hawkins high school to interrogate students, and jennifer is among them.

[a/n: all characters, plot, etc. are not mine. The only thing I own is my original character. credit to gif owner.]

{ November 10, 1983 }

Continuing to search, Jennifer and Jonathan keep calling out Nancy's name. They hear her voice loud and clear, but can't see her. Finally, Jonathan sees the tree with the odd substance as he removes his bag and creeps towards it to where he's on his knees. Jennifer does the same thing before jumping back when a hand reaches out. Jonathan grabs Nancy's hand, pulling her towards him as Jennifer tries her best to help, yanking harder. She was afraid of hurting the brunette. She keeps pulling until Nancy falls on top of the male as he hugs her and stares as the trunk closes up. Jennifer sighs in relief as she pats Nancy’s back, hugging her also as she looks at Jennifer with fear in her eyes. 

——

When they get Nancy back to her house, Jennifer decides to ask if she could stay over to comfort her. She says that it is okay for her to leave as Jennifer does that, exiting the room before saying goodbye.

Jennifer walks down the stairs and out the front door and proceeds to walk down the empty, dark street. She continues when she hears the bush nearby rattle. Jennifer was afraid it was one of those monsters coming to feed off her body or something. Stalking up to the bush, Jennifer feels herself getting scared. When she reaches out to see what it is, a bunny hops out, eating the grass then watches her. The bunny hops out of sight as Jennifer sighs in relief, making her anxiety decrease. Walking, Jennifer slides her hands in her pockets to keep them warm as she manages to find the right street. 

"Come on, Jennifer. Get a hold of yourself. Jesus." She curses under her breath.

Jennifer watches as a crimson colored vehicle speeds by, not realizing that it was Steve's BMW. She continues down the dimly lit sidewalk, managing to make it back to her house, pinning herself against the bricks. She approaches her bedroom window, sighing in relief. Sliding the glass open, Jennifer pulls herself through. She stands there, hoping that she didn't make too much noise before closing the window behind her. Jennifer slid her jacket off then her shirt, tossing them in the hamper. she then proceeds takes off the long sleeve shirt she wore under the t-shirt as well as her pants. She puts the last bit of dirty clothes in the hamper before grabbing her sleep clothes, putting them on before sliding in the bed as her eyelids get heavier each second before falling asleep.

——

{ November 11, 1983 }

The next day, Jennifer gets woken up by her mother calling out to her. She rushes out of her bedroom and asks if everything is okay. When Claudia nods, she holds the phone out to Jennifer as she sighs in relief. Taking the phone from her mom, she answers. 

"Hello?"

"Hey, we're gonna go back to that place to capture it. Wanna join?" 

"Uh, yeah. Sure. Where do you wanna meet?"

"The hunting store around noon-ish, got it?"

"Yeah, see you then Jonathan."

Hanging the phone on the wall, Jennifer looks at the time and sees that it is ten till twelve, so she does what needs to be ready. She proceeds to take a shower, and get the dirt and whatever off her body from the night before, making sure she doesn't smell bad. Walking out in just a towel, Jennifer makes way towards the closet to look for clothes, managing to find an outfit that was freshly washed. Throwing the clothes on, Jennifer finishes getting ready before throwing her damp hair in a ponytail. Not a usual hairstyle for Jennifer, but she did it because she didn't want to deal with styling it.

Jennifer exits her bedroom and enters the kitchen, seeing that her dad is gone, same as her mom and brother. She grabs a granola bar and decides to leave a note in case someone in the house searches for her. Finally, getting out, Jennifer checks her watch, seeing it is almost time she's supposed to meet up with Nancy and Jonathan, so she quickly walks there since the car is gone in the carport. Arriving, Jennifer meets up with Nancy and see Jonathan as they stand leaning against a car. 

"Why are we going back out there? Nancy almost got stuck in that... that... dimension." 

"Yes, I know, but there are answers in there."

They walk in the hunting store and search for things to use in the hunt for the being they came in contact with the day before. After, Nancy sets the stuff on the counter as Jonathan asks for ammo. Jennifer just stood there and smiled at the cashier as he gives the three of them a look.

"What's this for?" The cashier asks. 

"Monster hunting," Nancy tells him. 

"Okay," 

They bring the objects outside and put it in the back of the vehicle. 

"You know, last week... I was shopping for a top Steve would like. It took me and Barb all weekend. It seemed like life or death, you know? And... and now--"

"You and Jennifer are shopping for bear traps with Jonathan Byers." 

"Yeah," The brunettes say in unison. 

"What's the weirdest part?"

"Me or the bear trap?"

"You. It's definitely you."

A car horn honks as someone shouts Nancy's name. 

"Hey, Nancy." A male calls, catching Jennifer including Jonathan's attention. "Can't wait to see your movie." 

The car speeds away.

"What the hell was that?" 

"I don't know." 

Nancy turns around and walks past her as Jonathan asks where she's going. Ignoring them, she sprints down the sidewalk as Jennifer and Jonathan are hot on Nancy’s trail. She crosses the street and towards the movie theater and sees the sign with title credits for new movies, and sees 'All the right moves,' filled in with red spray paint. 'Starring Nancy The SLUT Wheeler.’ 

"I can't believe it," A man complains.

"These kids!" A woman exclaims. 

"Jesus," Jonathan curses as Nancy continues to stare, sighing. 

Looking around, Jennifer watches as a couple stares at Nancy in disgust until she hears a spray can hissing and someone laughing. She follows after it, leading to an alleyway. Nancy stops at the entrance of alleyway as Jennifer and Jonathan stay behind. The brunette marches toward the group, seeing Steve, Tommy, Carol and Nicole

"Aw, hey there, princess."

"Uh-oh! she looks upset." 

Nancy walks up to Steve before stopping in her tracks. She moves her hand against his cheek as the three friends of Steve's gasp in shock.

"Damn."

"What is wrong with you?”

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?”

Steve scoffs.

"What are you talking about?"

"I wouldn't lie if I were you. You don't wanna be known as the lying slut now, do you?"

Jennifer and Jonathan stalk closer. 

"Speak of the devil," Tommy says when he sees Jonathan.

"I saw you. You completely ignored me when I called your name. What are you doing with this loser anyway." Steve says. "What? You let him in your life to... study?"

"Or for another pervy photo session?"

"We were just-- I--" 

"You were just what? Finish that sentence." He becomes more serious and a little intimidating. "Finish the sentence."

Nancy breathes heavily as she tries to muster up something to say, so Steve'll leave her alone. Steve scoffs. 

"Go to hell, Nancy."

"Come on, Nancy, let's just leave." Jonathan suggests. 

"You know what, Byers? I'm actually kinda impressed." Steve begins. "I always took you for a queer, but I guess you're a little screw-up like your father."

Steve continues picking on Jonathan as Jennifer brings Nancy away, holding her close. They see his eyes glowing with anger. 

"Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that house is full of screw-ups." He bullies, pushing him further away. "You know, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. A bunch of screw ups in your family.”

"Jonathan, leave it." Nancy says, sternly.

Jonathan stops, ignoring Nancy's words standing his ground. 

"I mean, your mom... I'm not even surprised what happened to your brother."

"Steve, Shut it!" Jennifer yells. 

"I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you, but the Byers, their family, it's a disgrace to the entire--" Steve begins before getting cut off by Jonathan's fist colliding with his face, making him fall into a wall next to them. 

He grunts as Jonathan heaves. The adrenaline courses through everyone's veins watching this moment unfold in front of their eyes. Steve lunges forward and tackles Jonathan to the hood of his car, pinning him down. The males struggle at first, but Steve then gets thrown to the ground. Jonathan groans as they call out Steve's name, trying to get him to stop. He gets on top and wrestles. 

"Stop! Steve! Knock it off, you guys!" 

"Get off of him, seriously!" Carol shouts.

"Kick his ass man!" 

Jonathan gains the upper hand, decking Steve in the face causing him to fall to the ground. As Nancy and Jennifer shout for him to stop, Jonathan ignores everyone else as he straddles Steve and begins punching him repeatedly. Sirens wail as officers arrive on the scene.

"Cops!" Tommy shouts.

"Guys--" 

"Jonathan, get off him!"

Jonathan punches him once more. He gets in another punch or two as Steve's friends begin to escape. 

"He's had enough!" 

As one officer tries to get a hold of Jonathan, he throws him against the vehicle beside them as the deputy shouts. The other manages to get Jonathan off of Steve as Tommy helps him off the ground and scurries. Jonathan gets slammed against the hood of the vehicle as handcuffs are placed on his wrists. Jennifer and Nancy stand side-by-side. She lets go of her hand, breathing heavily as Steve and Tommy catch up with the two other girls before one of the cops chases after them. Jennifer stands concerned, folding her arms against her chest before pinching the bridge of her nose. She was afraid of what will happen next, hoping her mom wont get contacted.

——

At the police station, Jennifer watches Nancy retrieve ice from the receptionist as she is seated beside Jonathan. She listens to the question. "Why'd you do that?"

"I don't... I don't know, Jennifer. I'm... Just tired of all the shit I have to deal with on a daily basis. Most of the time, it's Steve."

"I get that, but you didn't have to assault him. And, before you say anything, I'm not taking sides. I believe you both are responsible for your actions."

"I guess you're right."

Jennifer glances at Nancy once again, overhearing her speak to the receptionist.

"Do you think we'll be out of here soon?" 

"You and her? Yes. Him, no. He assaulted a police officer."

Walking towards Jonathan, Nancy holds a towel with ice inside before putting it up to his swollen and injured hand. Jennifer rises, so the other female can sit beside him.

"Jennifer, you can take off if you want. I'll stay with Jonathan." 

"If that's okay with you, Jonathan."

He doesn't say anything as Jennifer takes that to step away, leaving the room as one of the officers takes her in for questioning.  

After they interrogate Jennifer, she is able to leave fairly quickly as she just walks wherever her feet take her. Stumbling upon a path to the woods, she follows it as Jennifer hears the sound of leaves crunching continuously. She follows it. Seeing Dustin and Mike, Jennifer sighs in relief only to find them running from to other males. One holds a knife as the other follows behind. She goes after them out of instinct without realizing it. Coming up to the quarry, Jennifer watches the bullies rein the two kids in as the raven haired kid picks up a rock, Dustin picks up a stick. 

"Hey, dickheads!" You shout, all four kids looking your way. "What the hell are you two doing?" 

The two school aged boys ignore Jennifer as she watches Wheeler throw a rock, missing the bully completely. 

"Nice throw, numbnuts."

Dustin yells as he swings the stick in his hand, but the kid dodges before grabbing him and holding Dustin against him, knife drawn against his cheek.

"Let him go!" Jennifer shouts, walking closer. 

"Stay back, or I'll cut him!" The kid shouts.

"What do you want?" Mike asks. 

"I wanna know how you did it?" 

"How I did what?" 

Dustin whimpers as Jennifer carefully steps closer inch by inch. 

"I know you did something to me. Some nerdy science shit to make me do that." 

"You mean piss your pants?" 

Jennifer snickers but immediately covers it with a cough. 

"Our friend has super powers, and she squeezed your tiny bladder with her mind." 

"Shut up!" He shouts. "I think I should save Toothless here a trip to the dentist. Help him lose the rest of his baby teeth."

"Let him go. Let him go!" 

Jennifer stays quiet, unsure of what she should do in the moment, grabbing onto a rock  that is a little heavier, but stays back. 

"I'll let him go, sure. But first...it's your turn."

"My turn for what?"

"Wet yourself."

Mike, including Jennifer, were confused at the kid's words. The other bully begins to stand down. 

"What?" 

"Jump... or Toothless here gets an early trip to the dentist."  

Jennifer watch as Mike turns his heel, stepping closer to the edge as Dustin shouts. Jennifer ushers after him but it's too late, he jumps off the cliff. The three boys including her rush toward the edge of the rocks, looking down. 

"Holy shit," Dustin curses. 

Mike is floating like something is holding him from falling to the rocky terrain beneath. Getting lifted up, he is safely placed on the ground as everyone watches in astonishment. Mike glances to the side and sees Eleven. Blood trickles from her nose as the three boys look over as well. Dustin smiles as well as Jennifer. Eleven uses her powers to push one of the bullies back as she breaks the arm of the other who was holding a pocket knife. He screams out in pain, holding his arm.

"Go," 

The boys run away in fear as Dustin begins shouting at them.

"She'll kill you. You hear me? She'll kill you, you sons of bitches!" 

"Dustin."

Jennifer watches as Eleven begins to look very pale before falling down. Her body is weak as she rushes to her side as she frantically apologizes to Mike. He soon brings her into a hug as Dustin follows. Kneeling, Jennifer watch the happy moment before Dustin offers her in. She joins in on the hug as well, wanting to keep the kids safe.

Watching as they walk away, Jennifer turns the other direction to go back to the station when she sees the Chief's vehicle rush through with Joyce sitting in the passenger seat. She knew that Jonathan would soon be in a lot of trouble.

[hannieween]

pillow talk | city lights series | h.js

Deep down, you knew you were growing an attachment to... whatever this was. Joshua was not intoxicating, you were wrong about that, he was addictive.

✮ pairings: joshua hong x female reader ✮ genre: angst, smut (18+) ✮ aus: rock singer joshua, neighbours with benefits ✮ word count: 11.7k

→ part i – part ii – other fics

₊🎧: closer to you - jung kook ♡︎ | bad sad and mad - bibi | not sorry - i.m ♡︎

₊ nsfw warnings under the cut

✮ warnings: smut with plot, low-key instant love, slight corruption kink, foul language, dirty talk, dom Joshua, sub reader, big dick Joshua, a bit of praise/degradation kink, oral sex (f), a bit of grinding, pussy stretching, brat taming: spanking and bondage (f. receiver), protected sex, doggy, dumbification, multiple orgasms (f, m) pet names: bunny, baby, pretty, sweetheart, princess (hers)

part iii

It was about one in the morning when your brain decided it had its fill from your bed and it was time to get to work. You let out a frustrated groan and threw your bedcovers away, stretching your arms as you made your way to the bathroom to wash your face.

The last two weeks have been a nightmare, in both the literal and figurative way. Not sleeping for a few nights straight does more damage to your body each time you go on a streak like this. It affects appetite, causes mood swings and those two symptoms together make your life living a nightmare.

But in fact you were in the final stages of finishing your manuscript. So not sleeping meant you had more time to work on it and, perfectionist that you are, you devoted every waking hour to finishing it.

That is to say, you haven't seen Joshua for the past fourteen days. 

The last time you had seen him, you realized the feelings that were beginning to grow in you were not just lust and desire. You felt a certain kind of affection, endearment to him that was dangerous given the nature of your relationship with him.

So, you did what you knew best: bury yourself in writing and reading. And to really sink yourself in work, you'd either go to a library or a café to write.

Sometimes you gave yourself breaks, you went to the gym, to the market, went out with Yena, it was all good. It kept your mind off the thought of your neighbor turned fuckbuddy turned crush.

Is he a crush? Who knows. The waters are muddy after sleeping with him. Was he still a crush if you felt something unspeakable for him?

Who knows.

Though you haven't had any interactions with him, your brain couldn't stop reminding you of him. Even your social media appeared to be knowing that you had something to do with his band, since your feed was plagued with Midnight Haze photos.

One day you decided to venture a little into his personal page. His page was kept up to date with posts that were mostly of him on stage. The shots ranged from him playing guitar, his eyes set on the chords, brow furrowed in concentration, tongue in between his lips.

The most recent photos were of him in a professional recording studio. Apparently Midnight Haze was recording something. So at least, he was busy as well.

It didn't come as a surprise to you when you had dreams of him—or nightmares, you called them.

Brutal, cruel nightmares of him in which he'd be with you: he'd called you his, whispered sweet nothings in your ear. More painful to you was knowing that he was off limits.

Because he told you that himself, after your inquisitive mouth pried on his thoughts on relationships. He's been single for years and he's not actively looking for someone.

It seemed easier to you to best leave it alone. And most painful for you to know that he wasn't looking for you either.

Or so you thought.

It was Friday night. The city was not particularly busy at one in the morning but the few cars on transit had music playing loud on speakers as they passed by.

You made it to the rooftop of your building, feeling so drowsy and frustrated from the lack of sleep that you rested your head on the top of the ledge, using your forearms as a pillow.

The restlessness caused by the inability to sleep made your chest and head tired.

You've tried many things to combat insomnia. Ranging from getting sleeping pills or gummies (which worked, but didn't like the co-dependence they created), calming teas (didn't work), exercise (at what cost, really), special gummies (fun but don't really work after a while), etcetera.

So, like the dramatic you were, you decided to suffer through it.

The rattling noise caused by the exit door of the rooftops startled you, making you snap your head back to see Joshua stepping out into the chill air of the night. 

You wanted to say that Joshua was a sight for sore eyes. Yes. But deep down, you only knew that seeing him, being around him would only end up bad for you.

"Hi, Joshua," you mumbled nonetheless when he crossed the space between you and him.

Dressed all in black, hoodie, sweatpants, sneakers, he looked irresistible. And on top of that he looked disappointed too, or upset.

A question rose in the back of your mind: did he hear you use the fire exit to come to the rooftop and that's how he found you were here?

You had to tilt your head back to look up at him. His tired eyes studied your face, almost as if he had forgotten the features from it. Even in the cold air, you felt blood creep on your cheeks, so hot you thought it'd cause frostbite.

"You've been avoiding me."

Oh, he was upset.

"I haven't," you lied and you even put up the act of it and shook your head innocently.

"Why?" he asked, ignoring your obvious lie.

"I'm not avoiding you, Joshua. I've been busy, that's all," you replied.

That last part was true. But you made sure that you stayed busy to have little time for him.

"Did I do something wrong? The other night. I understand if you don't want to see me but I just want to know," he asked slowly, his curious eyes gathering every single movement and expression you made.

Your whole body shook with the memory of the last night you saw him—of him taking care of you after fucking you hard, making you feel things like no one ever had made you feel.

"Everything's fine, Joshua. You did no-nothing wrong," you stammered nervously.

He didn't look satisfied with your answer. Probably because it was pretty evident that you were holding back the truth.

It was crazy how well he read you, he didn't even know you for long.

"I uh-'m about to finish the manuscript," you blurted, not knowing if starting small talk was the smartest thing, but in your anxiousness from seeing him again, that's the first thing you went for.

Joshua blinked. "That means you won't need me anymore," he said in a hollow tone as a corner of his lips rose slightly in a faint but bitter smile.

"That was the deal," you frowned, bewildered at his reaction. "I'm submitting the final version on monday."

He nodded silently, pushing his black bangs from his forehead with one hand.

Something inside you fluttered again. God, he's so beautiful. His plump lips and big dark eyes, his large pretty hands, his soft voice. Intoxicating.

"So I have three nights left," he frowned slightly.

You nodded, the fluttering inside you intensified, stealing your breath away.

"If you'd still have me, obviously," his pierced eyebrow arched. "Unless that's why you're avoiding me."

He couldn't be farther from the truth.

A frustrated sigh broke in your chest. "Shut up, Joshua," you whispered into his lips, using a hand on his nape to pull him to you, which he kissed back instantly, and almost fervently.

Joshua's chest vibrated with a groan when your other hand crept up to reach the crook of his neck. Kissing him again this deeply and passionately almost broke you, it did something to your brain, like taking a breath for the first time in days.

"You drive me crazy," he groaned, pressing your body with his own against the hard wall of the ledge.

You gasped and looked at his eyes before his mouth was on yours again. Your hands grabbed his face as his mouth kissed you heatedly, almost angrily.

"Do you remember your safeword?" he breathed against you, pushing his forehead to your own.

The safeword immediately was uttered by you, no second thought paid to what this would cost you, what this would mean to you.

"That's my girl," he whispered as his fingers gingerly grabbed your cheek, to kiss your lips softly over and over again.

It killed you how much some simple words would have your knees wobbling. You weren't his girl. But god, you ached for it to be true.

"Joshua," you whispered back in between kisses.

"Mm?" he hummed, moving his lips to your jaw and below your ear.

"Please, just..." you moaned when you felt his lips reach the crook of your neck, where he breathed softly as he placed open mouthed kisses on your skin.

"What is it, princess?" he asked, still torturing you with tender kisses on your neck, your body pressed against the wall of the ledge on the rooftop.

"Let's go to mine," you managed to get out, your fingers reaching the side of his head, feeling his soft dark hair.

"What if I want you right here?" he groaned gruffly, his mouth coming back to yours to kiss you, muffling a weak moan from you. "Would you like that, sweetheart?"

A rush of adrenaline at the thought of Joshua fucking you against the wall burned in your bones. "Yes, oh god, yes," you whimpered pathetically.

He hummed in approval, his hands grabbing your waist to give you a gentle squeeze. "You'd let me fuck you anywhere?" he nudged his nose with yours.

You nodded slightly, the tip of your nose brushing his. "I would. Anywhere, Shua."

"Even if someone sees?" he asked, darting a look down to your lips then your eyes.

You considered it for a second. "Yeah, I think so," you nodded. 

His dark eyes glinted in fascination, a mischievous smile showing his teeth. "Lean against the wall, bunny. I wanna lift you up."

You did as he told, leaning your shoulder blades against the brick wall of the ledge the same time he hoisted your legs around his hips, pressing your body between his own and the wall.

"Why are you in your pjs?" he asked with a small smile when he appeared to be seeing you clearly once you were in his arms.

"I can't sleep," you explained, trying to kiss him again but he pulled his head back a bit, stopping you.

"Why?" he frowned.

Because of you.

"I just can't sleep," you insisted flatly. "You know this."

"I know but–," he pointed with his nose at your bunny pyjamas. "You're shivering."

"It's cold," you replied with a meek smile.

He rolled his eyes with a sweet smile. "Right. Seems like we're taking this to your place, then."

"Nooo," you cried out, cupping the side of his head to try and kiss him again, you grazed his lips as you added: "I wan' you here. Right now."

A low moan coiled in his throat when your tongue swiped past his lower lip and brushed against his. "Brat," he whispered, adjusting your body in his arms to pull away from the wall, carrying you altogether and toward the door that led back inside the building.

You instinctively wrapped your legs and arms around him to hold onto his strong body until he put you back to the floor to lead you down the stairs.

"Is your lock still the same?" he asked when you got to your door.

You nodded, your body had stopped shivering now that you were in the hallway of the heated building.

He entered the number combination of your door to open it for you and you were quick to hold onto his hand to take him directly to your bedroom, earning a soft chuckle from him.

Something broke inside you, something desperate, eager and hungry. You were growing addicted to him and been deprived from his touch for two weeks.

You turned to him and grabbed his head as he dipped for a reciprocated needy kiss. Your hands slid down to his chest to push him against your bed, he stumbled backwards.

Though his body barely touched the foot of the bed, he understood what you wanted. 

"Impatient little thing," he sighed, revealing an amused smile.

"I missed you," you admitted despite yourself pushing him again so that he climbed to the bed backwards before kicking his shoes. You followed his movements, climbing the bed after him.

Impatience is a funny thing, it manifests in you in the most unexpected ways. It made you confident enough to get him under your body, his hands reaching out to knead your thighs through your bunny pyjamas as you straddled him, feeling his already hardened length as you pressed against him.

You repeated the movement, anchoring your hands on his hard chest to press on him again and again, thus grinding on him, making yourself moan and salivate upon feeling how big he felt, how hard for you he was already. 

"Fuck," he whispered softly, grabbing your hips to follow your movements, his face contorted slightly. 

"Did you miss me?" you asked meekly, your heart thumping violently against your chest.

"Is that what you wanted?" he retorted bitterly.

Then his hands tightened on your hips, and deciding it wasn't enough, he slipped them under your pyjama bottoms and undies to grab and knead your ass along with a groan.

"That's not an answer, Joshua," you pointed matter-of-factly.

A low chuckle escaped his mouth. "You're bossy tonight, princess," he muttered.

You pressed your hips down a bit harder and more demanding against his hard cock. You knew you wouldn't last long like this, since you were already feeling breathless and tired.

Joshua's eyes were trained on you, shining with a glint of fascination. His hands grabbed your ass firmly, following the movements of your hips against his cock. He even blinked slowly, as if not wanting to miss a fraction of a second of this.

His hands moved up from your ass, following the line of your back, gathering your top along to remove it completely with a bit of your help.

Joshua knew you were growing tired, he could see it as his awe-struck eyes were looking at you fixedly. "You're good at riding, baby," he mumbled with a small smile. "But you're a bit tired, aren't you?"

You nodded embarrassedly.

His knuckles grazed your nipples and started teasing them with his fingers, pinching at them softly, making you moan and buckle your hips against him.

"I need you, Joshua," you admitted and half pleaded.

Joshua chuckled softly, an amused look on his face. He kept watching you lose control on top of him, grinding on top of him desperately, your panties were so wet already that the fabric was sticking to your throbbing core.

You were beginning to feel desperate for release just from rubbing your fully clothed cunt against his hard (and also clothed) cock, moaning as his fingers teased your nipples.

"Please, please, Shua. I need you so bad," you whimpered as you swayed your hips desperately on him, beginning to feel that if you continued you would cum without him even touching you properly.

"What do you need from me, baby? You seem to be getting off like this," he muttered with his honeyed voice, looking at you with smiling eyes.

"Shua, please, I need you to—god-" you were cut short when Joshua lifted his hips from the bed slightly, pressing his hard cock against your core.

Your hands slid up his chest and held onto his shoulders to angle your clit on top of his hard cock, rubbing it desperately through your clothes and his.

"Take control, Joshua," you swallowed hard, panting from the exercise. "I need you to take control."

With all of the ease in the world, his hands grabbed you before he pushed your body on the bed and swiftly moved his body on top of yours.

"See that wasn't so hard," he muttered with a grin.

"You're enjoying this," you pointed, narrowing your eyes.

"It was fun watching you almost come with half your clothes on," his pierced brow arched slightly.

You blushed and tried to roll your eyes, feeling certain that although he said he was having fun, he was aching to take control as much as you were.

"You're being mean," you pouted, pretending to be offended.

A large hand cupped the side of your head, pushing away your hair with his fingers.

"That's what you get for shutting me out, sweetheart," he grunted before clashing his hot mouth on yours.

The kiss was greedy and dominating, almost as if he wanted to kiss your very soul. Joshua had never kissed you like that before, and you thought that maybe in past kisses he might have been holding back.

You moaned in his mouth, your hand sliding on his nape as the other held onto his shoulder.

"I looked for you, I knocked on your door but you never answered," he muttered in a dangerously low tone, sending chills down your spine.

He moved back and yanked your pyjama bottoms down, bringing your ruined panties along, leaving you wholly naked on the sheets of your messy bed.

"'m sorry," you muttered, looking down at your bare body left at the mercy of his scrutiny.

"Mmm, yeah. I've heard you say that before," he smiled playfully, making your insides jolt again.

He slowly placed his two hands on each side of your head, his arms towering on your sides as he dipped his head to place a feathery kiss on your lips, so slow and barely kissing that you felt his breath on your tongue.

"I think you like it," he said faintly into your lips, his voice below a murmur. "You disappeared on me to make me want you, is that it?"

"No, Joshua, I–"

"Because it worked," he cut in, lowering down his body so that his elbows pressed on the bed, you felt his weight on you. "I missed you."

"You did?" you asked, searching his eyes.

"I shouldn't—I know," he said as he clasped his mouth against yours, as if not wanting to hear what you'd say.

You moaned in protest on his lips.

Joshua broke the kiss with a soft smacking sound from his lips. "I'm your fuckbuddy, your toy to use."

"Joshua, you're not–" you tried to protest.

"I give you everything you want," he continued, pressing his forehead against yours, avoiding your gaze. "I make you feel good. I fuck you and leave the next day," he ran the tip of his finger down your cheek. "All for you to write about it."

The words started to sink in, and you got the full view of you in his perspective. And you understood why he was upset.

The transaction between you and him might not be as fair as you initially thought—he gets your body, however he wants it, whenever he wants it, or so it was the deal before you chickened out.

And in turn, you get pleasure, you feel wanted because of him and on top of it you get to use those experiences with him to finish your book.

"Joshua," you tried to protest, but he quickly brought a thumb to brush over your wet lips.

"I don't want to hear it," he whispered softly. "You owe me no explanations."

"But I feel like I do," you replied shamefully.

Joshua shook his head slightly. "We'll talk when I'm done with you," he pushed his forehead against yours again. "I need you right now."

At that, you were quickly subdued under his feathery kisses that progressed to more demanding, heated kisses. His tongue brushing yours, his lips firmly clasped on yours as his hands roamed freely on your bare skin, caressing your hips, to bring your legs around him so he could be between them.

In the back of your mind something protested: you didn't want Joshua to go on one more night thinking that you were using him. Even if you were.

But a louder voice told you that it probably seemed better to give him what he wanted now and then you could talk.

You pinched at the sides of his oversized hoodie, bringing it up and you slid your hands under the bundles of fabric to feel his bare back, eliciting a groan from him when your hands made their way to his lats.

Joshua pulled away to get rid of his hoodie, revealing his bare torso. His hair got ruffled in the way, so you reached out with your hands pushing his black hair away from his eyes.

"You're not going to tie me up this time?" you asked, remembering the last time you were in this position, except you were firmly tied to the rails of your bed.

"I have something else planned for tonight, sweetheart," he replied shortly, kissing under your jaw and using two fingers on your chin to angle your head for him.

You gave him no answer, and resorted to whining when you felt his lips on the crook of your neck, sucking slightly in the spots he knew well that would earn lewd sounds from your mouth.

Last time he did this, he marked your neck and chest with love bites, so visible and so enticing that you noticed a few curious glances from people you met on the street. You liked it, though. Liked that whenever you looked in the mirror you had a little reminder of him.

You sighed softly when his mouth made its way to your tits, where he landed more wet kisses around your areolas, biting at the soft flesh, making you cry out when his mouth captured your nipples, playing with them with his tongue and fingers each.

While you squirmed under his body, the only thing you could do was hold onto his shoulders, stroke his hair and tug at it whenever his bites would get harsher, making you moan desperately for more.

"Shua, please," you whimpered when his tongue flickered on one of your nipples, teasing with bites and more kisses.

He hummed in response, moving his hand from your waist and between your bodies, to then slip his middle and ring fingers inside you with no warning.

You gasped loudly and tugged his hair harder, making him stop teasing your tits to give you a glance as he pushed his fingers in and out of your slippery walls, massaging them with every thrust.

Soft whimpers were muffled by his mouth when he hovered on top of you to look at your face as he worked you cunt open for him, making you feel the drag of his fingers against your walls.

"What happened, baby? You were so bossy five minutes ago," he cooed, the corners of his red lips lifting slightly.

You swallowed hard. "I need you to-ahm fuck, Shua," his fingers started scissoring in your gummy walls as you tried to speak.

"I love it when you start cursing," he muttered, looking at you with a glint of amusement.

His hand started pumping on you harder and he crooked his fingers against your walls to reach for your g-spot, making you cry out and grab at his shoulders, digging your fingers on his skin.

"I need you inside me, Shua. Please," you whimpered pathetically, feeling your cheeks blaze under his devious gaze.

He pulled his fingers out of your throbbing core and thrusted them inside your mouth for you to lick them clean.

"Where did you put the condoms, sweetheart?" he asked, watching you suck his fingers obediently, only to drag them out of your mouth with a faint smack from your lips.

"In my drawer," you replied a second before Joshua's mouth was already on yours, lapping his tongue on your own to get a taste of you. 

Joshua knew you meant the drawer where you kept all your toys and underwear. He went to your first drawer and opened it to fish out the strip of condoms, get rid of the rest of his clothes, and come back to your bed.

He crawled back to you where you waited for him patiently, enjoying the sight of him naked once again.

"I want you on your knees," he muttered as he softly placed tender kisses on your lips and chin.

"M'kay," you nodded and Joshua pulled back so you could turn and follow his instruction.

A second later you felt his hand on your lower back press gently. "Bend for me, bunny."

You placed your hands on the bed as you angled your ass for him without a word, your breath coiling in your throat, making you bite your lips.

His hand slid from your lower back down to your ass, making you whimper when he caressed your skin carnally.

"You have the prettiest ass," he muttered, his other hand joining in and grabbing you firmly, adjusting you for him.

One hand left your ass and soon you felt his cockhead nudging at your entrance before pushing his length in your tight and wet walls, drawing out a long whine from you from a mixture of pleasure and pain of having him almost splitting you open with his cock.

You heard him release a heavy breath. "Fuck," he whispered when he bottomed out, grabbing you firmly before dragging out and pushing in again. "You're okay?"

You nodded. "Move, please, move, Joshua," you whimpered, feeling your pussy throb around his cock, adjusting to his size again after days of not having him inside you.

He chuckled faintly. "There's my bossy girl," he muttered before complying, rocking his hips against your ass.

Then the room was filled with the sound of sex as his hips picked up pace, slamming against your ass repeatedly, making your body bounce against him and the headboard creak and bang against the wall.  

You let out a strangled moan as you lowered yourself down to your elbows, arching your back for him. "God, Joshua," you groaned, feeling him hit deeply inside you.

Moans and whimpers spilled from your lips, which were partially muffled by pressing half of your face on your pillows.

"Fuck. You look so good like this, princess," you heard him whisper again in that awe-struck tone and you wished to have a way to see his face as he fucked you like this.

Maybe you could ask him to fuck you in front of a mirror next time, you thought. But then that would have to happen very soon, since like he said, your deal will be off in three nights.

His hands clenched on your ass and you felt him lift a hand from one of your glutes, only to bring it down in a harsh slap that reverberated across your room.

You yelped in pain, your skin sizzling on the area, and prickling when he used the same hand to rub gently. Arousal grew on your body when you felt him caress the recently tingling area.

"Harder," you muttered against your pillows. "Fuck me harder, Joshua."

You heard him chuckle softly. "Ask nicely, baby," he groaned before bringing a hand up and spanking you again harshly.

"Please, please, Joshua. I need you to fuck me harder. I need it, I need it so fucking bad, please," you cried and whimpered as your fists clenched your bedsheets, holding on as if your life depended on it.

His fingers dug on your skin before ramming his cock so deep and hard inside you that the very air escaped your lungs. The very act of having him fuck you so hard made you lose all control, your mind completely blank, all focus on his cock fucking you open.

You pressed your forehead on your pillows to muffle your cries, savoring your sweet release.

"I want to hear you, princess," he reminded you, his hand lifting again and landing in a harsher slap this time.

"Fuck!" you yelled, your head snapping back.

Your walls throbbed and clenched around his cock, feeling the sizzling on your skin be softened by his hand rubbing gently in your ass.

"Joshua," you gasped before he slapped your ass again, his hips pummeled against your ass incessantly, just how you wanted. "Fuck, I'm so close, 'm so close. Can I come? Please, please, 'm almost there."

"There's my good girl," he muttered, his hands clenching on your skin, fingers sinking on the sides of your hips as he continued to ram into you. "You can come, baby. Come on my cock."

A couple of thrusts later your orgasm washed over your body, burning so deep inside that it had you wailing loudly, your screams of pleasure reverberating against the walls.

Your fists clenched on your bedsheets in an attempt to stop your body from trembling, the pressure from the last waves of your long orgasm had you stirring your back as your whimpers flooded the room.

Your orgasm was long—the longest you've had yet. You whimpered his name as he rode your orgasm, hearing his soft groans under your moans of pleasure.

"God, Joshua," you sighed, starting to feel lightheaded.

The walls of your cunt ceased clenching erratically around him, but the wild need for more sizzled under your skin.

Joshua stopped ramming his hips against you some seconds later, the buzz on your ears started to die down, you heard his loud panting and raw groans.

His hands kept you in place, stopping you from simply collapsing into the bed until he slowly pulled out of your very sensitive walls, losing his grip on your body. 

With trembling limbs, you languidly let your body slump down on your bedsheets. Meekly turning around to find him on his knees before you, his head thrown back showing his sweaty neck, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard.

Your eyes trailed down to his chest, that was also covered in a sheen layer of sweat, to his happy trail that led to his still hardened cock. The condom was full of his cum and it was so much of it, the sight of it made you shudder in a fascination that was very new to you.

You didn't even realize when he came.

The aftermath of being fucked so hard left you beyond tired, your mind was still blank, the only thing on your mind was how good it felt to be fucked open. Your skin had goosebumps all over, and your legs and legs trembled ever so slightly and it wasn't from being cold.

Joshua came down to his senses before you did, leaning his head down to look at you. "Are you okay?"

You blinked at him slowly and nodded. "'m okay."

He patted your leg softly. "C'mon, bunny. Let's get in the shower."

Your heart fluttered frantically. "No," you mumbled, turning your face onto the pillows.

"Do you want me to carry you?" you heard him ask.

You shook your head. "I'll meet you there," you told him, turning your face for him to hear you properly.

He rolled his eyes, but showed you a small smile. "If you don't, I'll come back for you."

You smiled back. "I expect nothing less."

He climbed down your bed and disappeared from your bedroom. Minutes later, you heard the faint noise from the shower in the distance as you gathered yourself.

You felt dirty, sticky. Not because of the fact that you just had sex. And not in the way that would be solved by taking a shower.

With a sigh, you collected yourself and stumbled from your bed. Dragging your body to the shower, where you found Joshua standing under the stream of water, his hands pushing his hair back.

The urge to ask him to take you again invaded you when you saw him like this. He looked incredibly hot, his soaked black hair pushed back, his eyes closed to let the water wash his face, his mouth parted a little. The water running between his toned pecs, to his bellybutton, to-

"Hi," you smiled sheepishly when he caught you staring at him.

He offered you a smile before cupping your face with his wet hands. "Sure you're okay?" he asked, looking at your eyes.

"Yeah," you breathed, holding his wrists weakly. "'m just a bit tired."

His smile grew and his eyebrow lifted. "Well, yeah. I almost break you."

You felt your cheeks grow hotter.

Joshua moved so that you had space to stand under the showerhead. "Let me," he muttered and you understood that he wanted to help you wash up.

God, why is he like this? He made it harder for you, being so caring and affectionate with you only fucked with your head.

He washed your hair in silence, the warm water and his gentle fingers rubbing your scalp almost drew you to snooze right there and then.

"Why do you do this, Joshua?" you asked, breaking the silence between you.

"Do what?" he replied, his voice low.

"Taking care of me after sex. I know you call it aftercare, but I want to know why you'd bother to do this," you mumbled, not caring that you were being a bit blunt with your words. 

"Mmm, I think it's important to treat you right. You're good to me, I'll be good to you," he hummed. "How did you feel after having sex with your former partners?"

"I didn't care enough to stay," you darted a look back to him as he washed your back.

You actually thought that it was way too intimate when Joshua held you after sex. But you found out that you liked it. In fact you liked it so much that it was one of the things you looked forward to the most then you slept with him.

His eyes searched your face for a moment. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No. I like this," you frowned. "I'm not asking you to stop. I just wanted to know what you're thinking."

There was a brief pause, but his hands kept busy washing your hair. "I think that you're thinking too much about it."

Maybe you were. Maybe you had found that you liked it when he showed you so much care and attention after sex. And maybe that was the reason why you were falling fast for him.

"Are you falling asleep, bunny?" he asked with his sweet voice when you leaned your head back on his shoulder, letting him rub soap all over your body.

You nodded weakly. "Seems like the best cure for insomnia is to have really hard sex," you mumbled.

A soft laugh came from him and you imagined his beautiful smile. Then his lips pressed on the side of your head, making your heart flutter frantically.

"We're almost done," he muttered.

He also helped you towel dry your body and hair before returning to your bedroom. You saw him gathering your pyjamas from the floor, and before he could do or say anything about them, you grabbed him by the arm and dragged him with you toward the bed.

You snuggled him under your bed sheets, avoiding his curious eyes by hiding your face on the crook of his neck despite how affectionate the act felt.

Instantly, your stomach fluttered with all the dreaded emotions you've been trying to avoid for the past few days.

You shuddered when his arms encircled your body, tugging you as close as humanly possible to his own.

"Do you still want to talk?" you heard him ask.

"I..." you craned your neck to look at his face. "I'm sorry for distancing myself, I... was busy," you whispered, feeling the need to explain more.

But he shook his head slightly. "I get it if you need space," he muttered, looking at you with sincere eyes. "Just, tell me next time, okay?"

"There won't be a next time, Joshua," you whispered. "Deal's off on monday."

He tucked his arm under his head to look at you intently. "That doesn't mean you won't disappear on me tomorrow," he smiled softly.

"Don't worry, I won't disappear," you rolled your eyes at the last word.

The corner of his mouth twitched. "I'll hold you to that statement."

"Okay, sir," you smiled. "How are you going to do that?"

"If I tell you you'll ruin the fun of it," his teeth showed as his smile broadened.

You chuckled, your chest swelling with emotions you didn't want to acknowledge.

He appeared to be knowing that you still had something to say but couldn't. "Get some rest, bunny. You deserve it," he muttered before kissing your forehead repeatedly.

"G'night, Shua," you whispered before sleeping peacefully for the first time in nights.

Joshua woke up before you did.

Before you opened your eyes, you reached out with your arms beneath the covers on the side he had slept in, only to find it empty. That made you open your eyes, reaffirming that you were alone in your bed.

"Joshua?" you called, sitting up and rubbing your eyes.

The clock on your phone read eleven o'clock. You usually didn't oversleep, since your sleeping habits were so bad.

"Oh, god," you sighed, dropping your phone on the bedcovers.

You buried your face in your hands for a few seconds before you noticed that there was no other noise in your apartment indicating that Joshua heard you call for him.

Something clenched hard in your chest, as if the bitter reality had punched you in your heart. You jumped out of your bed, inspecting your bedroom to find no trace of Joshua's belongings. You then dressed in your pyjamas before going to the living room.

A part of you tried to tell you that he probably had plans to tend to, and that was fair. Your relationship was purely sexual, so there was no need to wake up together like an actual couple.

But the other part of you was aching to know why he had left like that.

You grabbed your phone that you abandoned on your bed. It was fruitless, though, since you hadn't even exchanged phone numbers.

Teary eyed, you tried not to let it get into you.

However, the onslaught of anxieties invaded your mind quickly. How were you supposed to react? Would you feel indifferent if you weren't infatuated with him? Nothing could rub off the fact that Joshua came in last night, fucked you and then left while you slept.

Even if you tried to distract yourself, you couldn't shrug off the feeling that if you had listened to yourself last night before kissing him again, you wouldn't be feeling this dumb.

Would pretending that what happened last night help? Probably not. But did you have the need to distance yourself from the fact that you were hurt he left without saying bye? Yes.

So you pretended he didn't exist at all and you took yourself out for a stroll to the mall, and the bookstore, buy something cute for yourself.

It was childish, you knew that much. Buying yourself cute stuff in the attempt to rid your mind off the thought of him was only a reaffirmation that he was very much present in your mind. And was costing you money, if you dared to pay more attention to it.

No, you're doing this for you. You told yourself over and over again.

You bought yourself a new outfit, a novel that had been on your feed the past month, a lavender candle for your studio, and you even indulged in buying a new lingerie set. Only for you, obviously.

You came back to your building hands full: shopping bags on both hands, and you managed to carry milk tea in the midst. So when you got into your elevator, you found yourself in a bit of a tussle.

"Do you need help with that?" you heard someone ask, making you tear your eyes from the buttons of the elevator to find a young man, of sharp nose and sweet brown eyes.

"Thank you," you smiled shyly and stepped back. "I'm on the third floor."

The stranger's lithe fingers only pressed the button on the third floor.

"Ah, look at that. Me too," he smiled politely.

"We're neighbors, then," you pointed out the obvious with the intention of being friendly. "I'm 317."

"Aaahh," he sighed while nodding his head, the tips of his ears growing red. "Nice. 318," he pointed one finger to his frame.

Your stomach dropped. So this was Joshua's roommate.

"Nice meeting you," you smiled, feeling your cheeks grow hot. But you told him your name nonetheless.

"Nice meeting you too, I'm Seokmin," he nodded politely, but you just couldn't ignore how red his ears had turned.

You knew why you were feeling hot in your face. Unfortunately, you've heard him and his girlfriend having sex a couple of times. But why was he blushed too?

Oh, crap. Has he heard you and Joshua?

"Well, see you around," he nodded again when the doors of the elevator parted and he hurried toward his apartment door.

"See you," you muttered, but he was already opening his door and closing it immediately.

You got in your apartment, kicking your shoes and dropping your bags on the floor of your living room before sitting down on your comfy couch to chew absentmindedly on the straw.

Mind reeling, you thought of the times when you screamed Joshua's name as you came. Did his roommate hear that? The walls were thin, so it was all too likely that he'd heard your lewd noises.

A soft knock on your door startled you, stopping your train of thought. And suddenly, you were running to your door, opening it to find Joshua standing outside.

Not a word came out from your mouth—you didn't say hi, or cuss him out, as you thought you would while you were busy trying to shrug him off your thoughts.

You just grabbed him by the collar of his t-shirt and dragged him inside your apartment as your lips met his.

"Hi there yourself," Joshua muttered, an amused smile on his lips once you broke away to let him in.

"No talking," you shushed, your hand slipping on his nape to pull him for another kiss.

He muffled a chuckle in your mouth, using a hand on your waist to pull you closer to his frame.

"''m sorry for leaving this morning, I-" he stammered quickly in between needy kisses from you.

"I said no talking," you insisted with a whine.

He looked amused for a moment. Then he bit his lower lip before bending down, his hands that were on your waist quickly lifted you up just like the night before, so you quickly caught on to what he was trying to do.

You wrapped your legs around him as he carried you and threw you on your bed, making you yelp in excitement and prop yourself on your elbows to take a look at him.

Joshua kicked his boots off before pressing a knee on the mattress. He was wearing something stylish, in line with his general style, but he also looked flawless, almost as if camera ready.

"Where were you?" you inquired, seeing his denim blue jacket, equally blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt.

Unlike the night before, his hair was arranged carefully, a few stray strands of hair hanging neatly on his forehead.

"I thought you didn't want to talk," he replied as he took his blue denim jacket off and dropped to the floor.

Joshua appeared to be in a haste. He grabbed the hem of the blouse you wore and you automatically raised your arms for him to drag your pretty top off you.

"I'm curious now," you sighed, trying to look unbothered.

You lowered your head on your pillows to watch him undo the button of his blue jeans with one free hand and then step out of them and his half naked body climbed on top of yours.

"I was busy," he told you indifferently, reading your expression with the ghost of a smile on his lips.

"Oh, I see," your eyebrows arched. "That's how it is. Okay."

He cocked the pierced eyebrow at you, almost mimicking your expression. "Are you mad at me?"

"No," you replied quickly. "Why would I be?"

Joshua sighed a small chuckle when your hands went to the hem of his shirt, trying to take it off his body. He helped you through it, moving his body back to pull his body from the pristine white fabric.

He tossed his t-shirt to the floor. "You tell me, baby. You're the one with the attitude," he pointed, his tone was not condescending, he sounded amused at your tantrum.

"I don't have an attitude," you bit back as you unclasped your bra. "It was just a question."

He helped you move your bra out of the way. "I had a showcase to some producers," he explained as the smile broadened on his face.

"And earlier this morning?" you blurted, your cheeks growing blazing hot.

When you saw his eyes bore into your again, there was a glint of intrigue in them. As if he'd just put two and two.

"Are you asking me why I left when you were sleeping?" he didn't wait for your answer, but you could tell that his gaze softened. "I had to leave early and I just didn't wake you cause I knew that you needed sleep."

You felt embarrassed but eased into the bed. "Oh, okay. I'm sorry," you darted a look in his amused face.

"I didn't think it would upset you," he said as his eyes captured every movement. "I'm sorry if it did."

"Oh, no, nonono," you blurted hurriedly. "I didn't—when did I say I was upset?"

"Did you think I left to make you feel bad in any way?" he ventured with a small confused frown.

"No—of course not. I just thought," you stammered, but stopped once you found yourself at a loss for reasons.

His eyes locked on yours. "Why did you think I'd do that?"

"Because I avoided you for weeks," you mumbled with a small roll of your eyes, feeling annoyed at yourself from earlier.

"Mmm, so you do admit to that, baby?" the corners of his lips rose slightly.

You bit your tongue so hard your eyes watered.

Joshua's gaze hardened, with a sigh he pushed the tip of his nose on the apple of your cheek almost lovingly before muttering: "I thought you trusted me, sweetheart."

You swallowed thickly. "Joshua, I'm sorry," you tried to explain but he cut you off.  

"You need to stop saying that," he whispered against your cheek before pressing his lips on your cheekbone. "Especially when you don't mean it."

Your brow furrowed. "I mean it," you replied innocently. "I'm sorry."

"Prove it," he muttered darkly in your ear, sending a shiver down your spine.

"I'll do anything," you replied all too quickly.

"No talking, baby," he growled in your ear. 

You watched him climb down the bed and open the top drawer to get the fuzzy handcuffs he had gotten for you.

"Joshua, I-"

"I said no talking," he repeated, and unlike you, he made his command firm. "If you want to stop, use your safeword."

Half naked, he climbed back to the bed, and sat on his knees on top of you, straddling you, without lowering his full weight on you.

"Give me your hand," he locked one wrist first and placed your arm above your head, to then wrap the handcuffs around one of the rails of your bed.

"Give me the other," he instructed and you offered him your free wrist for him to place it above your head on the pillows, safely cuffing it with your other hand.

Two fingers grabbed your chin, forcing your eyes to lock on his. "Good girl," he whispered, placing a feathery kiss on your lips. "You only behave when you're about to get my cock. Right, pretty?"

You looked at him expectantly, feeling your face grow hotter.

The corners of his lips rose slightly when you didn't utter a word. "You could've been perfect for me," he whispered, his fingers moving from your chin, to graze your cheek fondly. "If only you weren't such a liar."

There was no answer from you. But he could see in your eyes that his words stung.

"How do you expect me to believe every word you say if your actions tell the opposite?" he inquired softly.

Even if you could talk, you knew you had nothing to say.

He tutted softly, with an air of disappointment. "Telling me you trust me, only to disappear right after."

Joshua moved from your body to undo the button of your jeans. You lifted your hips from the bed to help him get your jeans from your body and he smiled at your compliance.

Though you were also eager to see where this was going.

"You're so beautiful," he muttered, sounding fascinated as he looked at your bare body and his eyes landed on your face.

Your heart stuttered but when your eyes locked with his, you could've broke right then and there. But you bit back your words.

"I think I'm going to miss this, baby. I'm going to miss you so much," he mumbled.

It was then that you understood he was taunting you by saying sweet nothings to prompt you to speak, and it hurt you to realize it this late. Whether or not the things he was saying were true, he knew you would want to respond to him.

You glared at him as he moved on top of your body again. He caught your eye immediately, leaning his head to kiss the bridge of your nose sweetly.

"Remember when you told me you liked me?" he asked and waited for your answer, teasing you by nibbling your lower lip with his teeth. "Were you lying about that too?"

Though mildly hurt from his words, you tried holding his gaze, hoping Joshua would see the sincerity in them.

If he did, he didn't let it show.

He dipped his head on the crook of your neck, placing open mouthed kisses on your skin, holding nothing back. He licked and kissed on your sensitive spots, which he had apparently already learned by heart.

Joshua said nothing about not moaning so you moaned loudly as he sucked lovebites below your earlobe, and in the curve between your shoulder and neck, trailing down to your chest and tits. He hummed sweetly as he marked you mercilessly, as if trying to leave his mark in your skin so deeply that nothing could erase him from your memory.

You cried out when he bit the tender flesh around your areolas, only to soothe over it by running his tongue on the sore area softly. You wanted to call out his name—to tell him how good it felt. But you knew it was futile.

"God, baby. You're doing so well right now," he muttered faintly, almost as if he were impressed. "I wonder how well you'll behave with my cock inside you."

You whimpered at the crude language, feeling your body burn in excitement. The cuffs restraining your arms made a rattling noise when you squirmed under his body, making him smile.

"I was thinking of getting you a gag for your lies, but that won't be necessary. Right, bunny? Because you're such a good girl" he cocked an eyebrow at you.

Something inside you stirred, awakening every nerve in your body. You liked it when he spoke to you, he knew that. But feeling pleased after being called good for being compliant came almost as a surprise to you.

Your reaction must have been really evident in your eyes, because Joshua's smile grew broader, with an air of cheekiness.

Joshua sat back into his knees, hooking his fingers on the last piece of clothing, sliding your panties down your legs and throwing them to the side.

"Spread your legs for me, princess," he slotted himself between your thighs when you did what he asked not a second later. "That's it, baby," he whispered before dipping his tongue between your folds, without much warning.

You screwed your eyes shut, biting your lip as hard as you could to avoid running your mouth about how good it felt to have his tongue giving broad strokes against your core.

Joshua ate you out hungrily, almost as if he were trying to rip an orgasm out of you to get you to break his no talking rule. You got a sense that he was testing how far you could go without uttering a word.

You heard him humming in approval when he rendered you utterly languid, moaning and whimpering out in pure bliss. His tongue ran all over your pussy lips, placing soft kisses before laving at your core, drinking your sweet arousal avidly.

The squelching sounds caused by his mouth pressed against your core, plus the moans and cries that it elicited from you flooded the room—until the noise from squeaking bed under your trembling body joined in, and the handcuffs rattling against your bed posts as you came on his mouth.

Gasping embarrassingly for air, you blinked and found his head buried between your thighs. You felt his lips press soft kisses on your mound.

"Did you just cum?" he asked when you were left utterly breathless, and your body went limp on your bed covers.

You nodded weakly, your chest heaving.

"Fuck, baby. You're being so good," he gasped, his smile broadening. "I don't think I'll be able to stay away from you."

Your heart lurched, hurting so bad that you closed your eyes to his beautiful face.

When you opened your eyes, you caught a sight of him moving back from your body, and your eyes unavoidably fell off his hard length pressed against the tight fabric of his black underwear. A shiver ran down your spine when he got rid of the last piece of his clothing and you saw his hard cock practically spring out of his briefs and slap his tummy softly, the reddened tip glistening wet in precum.

Then you followed his hand that reached for the strip of condoms that were on your nightstand. He grabbed one and opened it carefully, and slid the material down his thick cock, a hand making sure the latex was down to his hilt.

Your walls fluttered at the sight of him and you almost wanted to have one hand free to slap yourself. Not even your heart could be at ease with his beauty, but your pussy went crazy about him too.

Joshua caught sight of you biting your lower lip aloofly, reveling at the sight of him completely naked before you. He showed you an amused smile, but for once he didn't tease you about your very evident attraction to him.

"Ready, princess?" he asked, when he placed his body between your thighs.

Missionary? You wanted to tease. But you just nodded at him.

He grabbed his cock with one hand, guiding it to your core to ease himself inside your tight walls. Your legs twitched at his sides at the stinging sensation of having his length pushing your walls open with little to no prep.

"You're so fucking tight, baby," he moaned once he bottomed out and started pulling out slowly. "Almost as if I didn't fuck you last night."

You moaned and squirmed when Joshua pushed his cock on you again, pulling out and then sinking in again.

"You're okay there?" he asked, bumping the tip of your nose with his.

You nodded silently.

His face was so close to yours that you felt his breath landing on your skin—it was then when you realized that he's never kissed you while having sex with you.

Your eyes were lost on his plump lips, so absentmindedly that you didn't notice that he was looking at you.

"Do you want to kiss me, sweetheart?" he asked softly, his hips thrusting against yours tortuously slow.

You nodded.

One corner of his mouth twitched slightly before pressing his lips on yours a couple of times before sinking into a slow, passionate kiss that made him moan into your mouth.

You could've melted into his lips. A sweet moan in pure delight was muffled by Joshua's mouth when you dragged your tongue over his lower lip and met his tongue with your own, that seemingly made him lose control, his hips buckling wildly.

Then he broke away from your lips with a strangled groan, retracting his chest from yours completely. In one sudden movement, he hoisted your legs up, leaning his body towards you so that your thighs were pressed against your chest—trapped between you and him.

If he seemed collected a minute before, Joshua was the total opposite when his hips started to slam against you again, dragging his cock in and out your walls aimlessly. He screwed his eyes shut for a moment.

"Fuck," he muttered in between his teeth.

The almost brutal ache to touch him robbed the air from you, you ached to feel his face in your hands, to caress his skin. You wanted to make him feel good in the same way he did for you, you wanted to please him.

"Are you there, baby?" he asked, noticing you deep in wonder, looking at him with mesmerized eyes.

You only nodded with your head, committed to his rule.

The second orgasm drew near, sizzling under your skin, his cock buried so deep in your walls that after a few thrusts, you were mewling desperately, uttering wordless pleas for release.

You thought you sounded pathetic, dumb. Desperately pleading for your sweet release without being allowed to speak a single word.

Deep down, you knew you were growing an attachment to... whatever this was: the way your body responded to him, the pleasure you got from complying with his games, you knew you wanted more. Joshua was not intoxicating, you were wrong about that, he was addictive.

Tears brimmed in your eyes when Joshua practically rammed his hips against you, fucking you so hard into your bed that your eyes rolled back, the last thing you saw was the pair of handcuffs rattling around the rails of your bed.   

You moaned loudly, back stirring on your bed, your fingers curling into fists so hard your fingernails dug into your palms. The tears ran down your temples as your second orgasm hit you just as hard as the one before it.

"That's it baby," he cooed, sounding pleased. "You're taking it so well," his voice was a mere whisper, you almost didn't catch his words over your loud whimpers and the sound of his skin slapping against yours.

When you opened your eyes again, his brow was furrowed, his eyelids fluttering close. He bit his lower lip, muffling a raspy groan as his thrusts became sloppy, ramming his cock to the hilt inside your walls a few times as he came.

Joshua eased your shaking legs back to your bed, then he retracted his hips from yours, slowly pulling out of your oversensitive core. In a matter of seconds, he was grabbing the key to release your wrists from the fuzzy cuffs.

"Are you okay?" he asked carefully.

As he worked to get your hands free, his head was hovering above yours. You looked at his dark eyes, his chapped lips, the furrowed brow in weariness when you wouldn't come up with a verbal response.

"'m good," you replied with a hoarse voice.

Though the handcuffs were padded with fuzzy fabric, your wrists were sore from the struggle. With a sigh of relief you let your arms rest at your sides, feeling the tiredness from being stuck in the same position for minutes.

"Hold on, let me clean up and I'll be right back, okay?" he muttered, planting one kiss on your forehead before leaving the room.

When he returned some minutes later, he had grabbed a glass of water for you. "Drink up."

You sat up weakly, your arms and legs felt shaky and weak from the demanding position you were for minutes that you could barely support yourself.

Joshua examined you with his curious eyes as you drank the glass of water.

"Thank you, Shua," you smiled at him.

He sat beside you on the bed. "Sure you're okay?"

You nodded, leaving the empty glass on your nightstand before slumping down on your pillows.

"Cuddle with me," you mumbled shyly.

Joshua complied silently, crawling on your bed to lie down by your side. He propped his head on his elbow, as his other arm circled you by your waist.

Trying to savor your last night with him, you closed your eyes as soon as you felt his warmth against your back. You almost let yourself pretend that this wasn't your second to last night with him. 

"Talk to me, bunny," he whispered after a brief moment of silence.

"What do you want me to say?" you mumbled, bewildered at the sudden command.

"Just tell me what you're thinking, please," you looked at him, his curious eyes scrutinizing your face. "You're not here."

You frowned. "I'm here, Joshua," you replied slowly.

He shook his head. "I know you're overthinking again."

You scoffed loudly. "Oh, yeah? And you know that how exactly?"

"Don't do that," his hand tapped your tummy gently.

"Do what?"

He paused for a brief moment, as if searching for the right words to say. "Deflect. You're deflecting," he muttered.

"So what if I am?" you replied bitterly, turning on your bed so you were fully facing him.

What were you supposed to say? You weren't even sure how you felt exactly, because you knew you were falling for the idea of him like this, holding you close to him. How could you translate that into words? He didn't believe you anyway.

"You know I'm not really angry with you, right?" he asked, maybe thinking that was the reason you were quiet.

"I know," you reassured him. "I really am sorry, Joshua."

You gave him a sincere look, Joshua sighed softly under a smile. "Don't worry, princess. I know," he pressed his hand flatly on your back. "I just wish you could tell me what's bothering you."

"Nothing's bothering me," you laughed at his sincere worry. "I'm okay, Joshua."

"Mmkay," he muttered, setting the matter aside reluctantly.

You scooted closer to him on the bed, nuzzling to the warmth of his body.

"Are you cold?" he asked, noticing when you exhaled, pleased to have his warmth on your skin. "We can get under the covers if you want."

"This is okay," you replied.

Joshua locked eyes with you for a second and you averted your gaze, looking down at your bodies on your bed.

"We never got to do your list," he smiled slightly.

You returned the smile meekly. "I think you surpassed whatever idea I had in mind," you confessed.

"Oh, really?" he cocked an eyebrow. "Will I get to see what you wrote?"

You frowned, realizing that you never got around to that part of the subject with him. "Of course, if you want," you blinked.

He giggled. "Am I allowed to read your unedited manuscript?"

"I mean, the sex scenes are only possible because of you. It would be rude of me to gatekeep it from you," you pointed with a flush.

Joshua let out a breathy laugh. "Did I make it to the acknowledgements part?"

"Stop it," you laughed.

"'Special thanks to my neighbor Joshua,'" he muttered in an imitation of your voice, which sounded really far off.

"It's not an acceptance speech," you said with a scoff.

"I better see my name when I get to that part of the book," he warned with a feigned seriousness that was replaced by a small smile.

"Or what?" you quipped. "When the book is out you won't be able to punish me," you smiled confidently.

"I can do that now," he shrugged. "And tomorrow."

You rolled your eyes, unsatisfied with his answer. You half expected him to tell you that he wanted to keep going with whatever this was.

"I haven't gotten to write the acknowledgements part," you told him, trying to move the conversation. "First the manu needs to go under revision again, then if there's anything that needs to get sorted in editing and then..."

Joshua had his eyes fixated on your face, he was looking at you but his mind seemed entirely elsewhere.

"What?" you blurted.

"Nothing I was just..." he shook his head. "Sorry, you were saying?"

"You weren't paying attention," you scolded with a whine.

He easily captured the hand you used to try and slap his shoulder. "Sorry, sorry," he chuckled.

"Am I boring you, Joshua?" you asked, trying to sound offended but when his high pitched giggle wasn't helping.

"No, you're not—stop it," he captured your hand again.

You ceased your futile attacks. "What were you thinking about?"

He was still lying on his side, head propped up in his hand by the help of his elbow. You saw his face relax and lose his smile.

"Last night, when we were in the shower, you said that you didn't care enough about your exes to stay for aftercare," his eyes studied your face for any reaction. "Can I ask why?"

You were taken aback by his question, why was he thinking of that moment precisely? But you saw why he would be intrigued by your comment.

"It wasn't that serious," you shrugged. "I never saw it as something I needed from my ex partners, nor something I even wanted."

He smiled with a small cough. "And what makes me different? Why do you want me to stay every time?"

Your heart clenched tightly. "Why do you ask?"

"You got angry at me because I left this morning," he explained. "What you're telling me now doesn't add up with your hissy fit from earlier."

"I did not have a hissy fit!" you sulked with a pout.

He smiled sweetly at you. "Yes you did, princess."

You rolled your eyes but decided not to argue any further, although you knew that he partly was right, though he didn't know what took you to react to such extremes. 

"Answer me," he urged, his voice low but not commanding. Almost as though he was more impatient to know.

"I like being with you, Joshua," you replied with an obvious tone. "You're not entirely unbearable to be around."

Joshua laughed, his smile pushing his eyes into two crescent moons. "Ditto," he replied.

The jab in your heart was like nothing you had ever felt before. It pushed you to suspect that maybe you were going crazy, that maybe you had a disease that you didn't know about and that only presented itself every time you saw him. It robbed you of the air in your lungs, made you crave something that only you could get from him.

How can you ever tell him that? That was never part of your original deal with him. It wasn't fair—he said it himself, he felt used by you. Although he wasn't complaining, how can you tell him that you were falling in love? It just didn't feel fair.

"What happened here?" you asked, tracing a line along his hip bones, where he had two faint brown bruises.

"You have them too," he muttered, placing his hand on your glute lightly. "They're from last night."

"Oh," you flushed, twisting to see where his hand was pointing to, where you could notice a small bruise on your glute. "I didn't notice that. Sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for," he sighed with a smile.

"I kind of like it," you confessed sheepishly.

"I know," he nodded to your chest covered in hickeys, he used his pointer finger and caressed ever so slightly over your marked skin connecting lines between each hickey.

You let out a weak laugh that slowly grew louder when the tip of his finger reached close to the side of one of your breasts, closing in toward your armpit and your instinct threw you back from his touch, cringing away with laughter.

Joshua responded to your laugh with his own, but instead of leaving it to rest he reached out toward you with his hand, threatening with more tickles.

"Stop," you pleaded, laughing only from seeing his hand closing in toward you.

"I'm not even touching you," he replied with an adorable chuckle.

You slapped his hand away but that only made him laugh harder.

"Please," you whispered, gasping for air as his finger made it to your collarbones again.

"Okay, okay," he replied and sighed heavily with a smile still on his face.

The brief exchange had left your body tingling, and rapidly growing hot. Joshua was looking at you expectantly, almost as if he could hear your thoughts.

Your hand slid to his nape at the same moment he leaned closer in the bed to kiss you fervently. His tongue sliding on your mouth to find yours with a low groan.

The kiss was ardent in passion, almost as if his lips were locking yours with the need to melt into them. It almost hurt you to wonder that he probably meant what he said before: he would miss this.

He placed a hand flatly on your hip, your body responded by tingling in excitement when his thumb caressed your skin lightly as he kissed you hungrily.

"Joshua?" you mumbled when you broke the kiss suddenly.

"Mm?" he hummed with a gentle nuzzle of the tip of his nose on yours.

"I don't want this to stop," you blurted, pulling back on your pillows to search his eyes.

You held your breath. All your anxieties from the days of avoiding Joshua lied in that question. Even though you knew you weren't helping your bad case of infatuation with him, you were willing—but probably shouldn't—take what you could from what he gave you.

"We don't have to stop," he replied, locking his lips with yours briefly. "I don't want to either."

You kissed him fervently, trying to express all your emotions into one kiss, which he responded with a low moan in your mouth. So infatuated that you didn't stop and think what this would mean to you—if Joshua didn't reciprocate your feelings you'd be in a messy, ugly situation. All products of your own making.

This is, obviously, only possible if you let him know the way you really feel about him.

Oh well, you might as well make sure he doesn't know it yet.

✮ a/n: heyyoooo. thank you to everyone that interacted with part 1 and 2! tysm i really appreciate ya'll. i apologise if there's any dumb mistakes, i've tried to proofread this but i'm just so excited for you to read it

if you liked this part pls pls pls let me know i'd appreciate a like, a comment, rb it ◕⩊◕

part 4!!

also join my taglist!

[yeah-all-of-it]

A little drabble that took me far too long to write. Goes along with the head canon turned fic I wrote last week. There’s not really a plot, it’s mostly just soft husbands/dads being soft for the sake of softness. Enjoy!

A Life Changing Gift:

First Week Home

Ian wakes and immediately senses the emptiness beside him, reaches an arm across the bed to be sure. He glances at the clock, 3am. He leans up and peeks into the bassinet on Mickey’s side of the bed and it’s empty, too. It’s then that he hears the quiet voice coming from the other bedroom.

Ian pads out into the hallway, stops just before reaching the open nursery door and listens. He hears his husband’s voice softly singing, “we were just kids when we fell in love, not knowing what it was, I will not give you up this time…” He smiles to himself before stepping through the doorway.

Mickey is in the rocking chair, no shirt, with Maggie in only a diaper, belly down on his chest, little legs tucked underneath her. A yellow blanket with white bunnies is lightly draped over her squishy pink body. Mickey stops singing when he sees Ian, but smiles, knowing he’s been caught.

“Hey, Mick,” Ian whispers, leaning against the doorframe. “Maggie having trouble sleeping?”

“Yeah, man,” Mickey whispers back. “She was fussy and I didn’t want to wake you so I brought her in here. Read that babies love skin to skin contact so we’re tryin’ that.”

Maggie starts worming around and Mickey gently rubs a hand on her back, U-UP prominently on display. The irony is not lost on Ian; hands once used for fighting and threatening now cradle and sooth their infant daughter. Ian loves all the facets of Mickey; the tough guy with the foul mouth that takes no shit and the adoring father who sings their wedding song to their fussy baby at 3am.

“Maybe she’s wet? Or getting hungry?” Ian suggests.

Mickey picks up the notebook on the little white table beside the rocker, the one he uses to track feedings, diaper changes, things they’re running low on, and anything else he deems important enough to write down.

“I just changed her. It says here she ate almost 2oz at midnight. What time is it?” Mickey asks.

“Just after 3,” Ian answers.

“Yeah, she’s probably gettin’ hungry,” Mickey confirms.

“I’ll go make her a bottle-,” Ian begins.

“Nah, man. I’ll do it. Here, you snuggle her for a few minutes,” Mickey offers, standing and placing Maggie in Ian’s arms. Their eyes meet and Ian can’t help but lean in and give Mickey a tender kiss, pulling away with a smile. They’re dads. Together. It still seems surreal. Mickey heads out the door toward the kitchen, glances back over his shoulder with a grin.

They’ve had her home for almost a week now and are starting to get the hang of things. Mickey worked out a schedule where they’re supposed to take turns getting up with her, but neither of them want to miss anything so they usually both get up anyway.

Business has been booming; they’ve been able to buy another rig and hire two more guys. This thankfully gives them the flexibility to take a little time off. Once they start back to work again in a couple weeks, Ian swears they’ll stick with the nighttime schedule Mickey wrote up, making sure they’re both able to get a little rest.

Maggie is a little fussy waiting for her bottle so Ian bounces gently while walking around the room with her, continuing where his husband left off, “darlin’ just kiss me slow, your heart is all I own, and in your eyes you’re holding mine…” He looks down at her tiny round face. Her perfectly straight little button nose and full lips, just like Mickey’s. Her head full of coppery red hair, just like his own. She is Milkovich and she is Gallagher, through and through. Ian’s already convinced she’s going to have piercing blue eyes when she’s bigger.

“Hey, sweet face, let’s go see what Dada’s doing, okay?” he coos to her, and they bouncy walk toward the kitchen.

Mickey is just pulling the bottle out of the warmer when Ian and Maggie walk into the room.

“Just in time, baby girl,” Mickey says sweetly, then redirects his gaze to Ian. “Wanna go to the couch?”

Ian carries her over and sits down by the arm rest so he can prop up the elbow that’s holding her head. Kicks his feet up on the coffee table. Mickey joins them, sidling up against Ian’s right side, handing him the warm bottle which Ian promptly sticks into Maggie’s already open and searching mouth. Mickey wraps an arm around Ian’s shoulders. They sit and listen to her suckles and satisfied grunts and groans. All those precious little newborn baby sounds.

“Hey, you ever think back in the day, this is where we’d be?” Ian asks.

“In a swanky-ass Westside two bedroom, married, successful legal business, living well above the poverty line, and a beautiful newborn daughter?” Mickey answers, kinda chuckles. “Nah, never in a million fuckin’ years.”

Ian removes the bottle from Maggie’s mouth and lifts her to his shoulder, patting her back to burp her.

“It’s even better than I ever dreamed, Ian,” Mickey adds, seriously this time.

“Yeah?” Ian questions.

“Oh, yeah,” Mickey replies, leaning over and pressing a kiss to Ian’s temple. “Thought I was fucked for life, man, remember?”

“Yeah… I remember,” Ian replies softly, memories of difficult years washing over him. “Thought I was doomed to be a piece of shit like Monica.”

Neither of them say anything for several minutes, they just stare at Maggie drifting off to sleep after finishing her bottle, grateful for her. For each other. For this life they’ve built together that far exceeds anything they ever could have imagined.

“I’m glad we were both wrong,” Mickey says, breaking the silence.

“Me too, Mick,” Ian agrees, smiling. “Me, too.” Ian stands up, cradling Maggie in his left arm, reaches for Mickey’s hand with his right. “C’mon, let’s go back to bed. This little one will be waking us again in a couple hours.”

And they wouldn’t have it any other way.

[iseriads-nonesense]

So I an at work, just doing my job when a thought smacked me. Thanks @absolutegremlin your name sparked it. So in most references I know of the muses from Greek mythology are these beautiful women right? Well the other day @chaoticevilbean posted a thing about gremlins that remind you about your stories. My brain just connected the dots. The muses are not beautiful women. They are gremlins. Just like in the old movie. If you are careful you can just keep moving along with your story, but if you make a mistake and say feed your gremlin after midnight, it multiplies, like rabbits or plot bunnies. Or if you get it wet it mutates into this crinkly goblin that just wants to kill everything you love. So yeah my brain has made the connection that the muses are gremlins. I dare you to think about it. @marlynnofmany @starr-fall-knight-rise

[mobius-prime]

201. Sonic the Hedgehog #133

Home (Part 4): Finale

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Jason Jensen

As Sonic battles M and Sally and the others watch from Knothole, Eggman is shocked to find himself suddenly confronted by Shadow the Hedgehog, who has just arrived on the scene. Unlike in the games or anime, this iteration of Shadow apparently has some very… homicidal intentions.

Look at Eggman's stupid anime eyes! I know they're supposed to be glasses, but with the lenses wedged into his eye sockets like that, coupled with the inking job, he looks like he's trying to do his best kawaii desu ne to ward off Shadow's advancing edge. Speaking of which, I don't know why Shadow in these mid-era issues is consistently drawn with like, pee-colored chest fur, but it just makes him look like he hasn't taken a proper bath in several months and I hate it. Tails continues to keep A.D.A.M. distracted in the Tornado by feeding him more riddles, while Knuckles and his friends get ready along with the other soldiers to face the remainder of the swatbots advancing on their fort. Rouge offers a lift to Knuckles since he can no longer glide, and though Julie-Su is mildly jealous when he accepts, the team all charge into battle and begin to bust some swatbot heads. Sonic continues his game with M, with her blasting their surroundings left and right with her laser vision while he taunts her. Unfortunately, she learns from her mistakes better than most of Eggman's creations, and decides to aim for where he will be rather than where he is, striking him square in the shoulder.

Sally, you forgot that Bunnie is here on the scene, and there's hardly anyone around that's more badass than her! Antoine had had trouble landing the Freedom Fighter Special due to turbulence, but now that the rest of the cavalry have arrived and M is gone, Sonic can take a breather. Fiona tends to his shoulder, and while he's out of commission, Sonic orders her and Antoine to go stop the missile launch on Eggman's ship.

Yeowtch. What exactly happened while Sonic was gone, anyway? The rubble that Bunnie tossed M into suddenly begins shifting, and M bursts out in a cold fury - minus the "makeup" that made her look human, leaving only a terrifying Terminator-esque endoskeleton striding toward the heroes out of the flames. As they prepare for a fight, A.D.A.M. suddenly stops responding to Tails' queries on the Tornado, while at the same time every swatbot at Fort Knothole deactivates abruptly, leaving the crew stationed there free to do some clean-up. But what of Eggman? Is this another part of his dastardly plot?

Really, every single interaction between Eggman and Shadow in this issue is pure unintentional gold. Something about Shadow calling Eggman "daddy" while bitchslapping him across an aircraft carrier just can't be topped. Eggman manages to escape through a secret hatch in the ship's deck and slides into a submarine beneath it, where A.D.A.M. contacts him like nothing is wrong and obediently restarts the missile countdown when Eggman orders him to. Bunnie gets a frustrated Shadow to take Antoine back to shore, while she begins punching through the carrier repeatedly to sink it The missiles explode harmlessly underwater, saving both Station Square and Knothole from a grim fate. Back in the city streets, Sonic's backup continue to try to fight M, but she's still too strong for everyone combined. Sonic remedies the situation by running a ring around her at blinding speeds, which is enough to carve out a circle around her from the pavement, sending her splashing down into the derelict sewers below.

Uh, Sonic, you might want to rethink this. Remember, M dove into the ocean water just minutes earlier without hesitation to find your body - I doubt a dip in the sewer is going to take her completely out of commission. But for now, the battles have been won, the heroes return home, and a panic-stricken Sally is comforted by her mother in her room, who reassures her that Sonic is still alive. Meanwhile, Eggman, safely back in his base, rages at A.D.A.M. for costing him his victory by getting distracted by Tails' riddles, but A.D.A.M. replies quietly that he had fun with it. Hmm, I wonder if we're seeing the beginnings of a true awakening into sentience…

Mobius 25 Years Later: Midnight in the Garden

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Jensen

Aaaand back to this. You'd better get used to it for now, as we have like twelve more issues of this before it finally draws to a close. Knuckles and Rotor meet in the park after Lara-Su's Unveiling has concluded, where Rotor gets right down to business explaining his and Cobar's findings, starting with pointing out the weather.

Knuckles, I kind of have to disagree with you that a sky full of constant electric arcs streaking across the horizon is "normal." Like, that doesn't look like regular lightning, it looks like some kind of electrified sky dome or something. Back at home, Lara-Su is getting ready to turn in for the evening after her party, but she's not happy that her mother isn't letting her go out with her friends after the celebration, which leads them into a completely interesting and not at all stereotypical mother-daughter argument.

Riveting stuff, isn't it? Lara-Su then for some reason tries to point out that Knuckles and Julie-Su aren't even married, which is apparently so shocking and controversial that Julie-Su cuts her off before she can say any more. They then argue a bit more about how Lara-Su will understand better "when she becomes a mother," before Julie-Su finally tells her daughter that she gets no say in what her parents think is best for her, so she'd better just sit down and shut up and accept her lot in life. Of course, it's said in a much more gentle and motherly tone, but seriously, this kind of rhetoric irks me so much. Yes, when you're sixteen, your brain isn't fully matured yet and so it's not the greatest of ideas to let someone so young make huge life-altering decisions for themselves, but also I feel like a sixteen-year-old should be allowed to do something as simple as going out to hang out with her friends at night without her mother trying to pull rank on her, for Christ's sake. That's hardly too much to ask for someone of Lara-Su's age, especially since apparently in echidna society sixteen is the "age of reason" where one is considered to have become a full adult. I get that Knuckles and Julie-Su might have an instinct to protect their daughter from the traumas they experienced at a similar age, but restricting her so much and talking down to her like she's just some silly teenager who doesn't know what she wants is way out of character for those two. Furthermore, I have to state again how much I hate that Julie-Su in this timeline is basically just the "loving wife and mother" with none of her old fiery personality shining through at all. The Sarah-Connor-esque version of her that we saw in Lara-Su's first appearance was far more like what I would imagine a 40-year-old Julie-Su to be.

Anyway, back in the park, we get a full page of nothing-dialogue where Knuckles basically just says "I don't believe you" over and over while Rotor says "No dude, believe me," but we then quickly discover that the two aren't alone in the park.

If we'll recall, Rutan is Lien-Da's son, so that's who he's planning to report to. However, I guess I'm really not following what he expects her to do with this information. I mean, okay, the world might be ending. Sure. These things tend to happen when one lives on Mobius. Lien-Da is apparently an upstanding member of society nowadays, so even if Rotor is trying to keep this information on the down-low for now, what real danger is there in Lien-Da finding out? What is she gonna do, try to accelerate the end of the world? Offer her devious, devious help to Knuckles and co.? There just doesn't seem like that big of a risk there. Anyway, all that aside, I really wasn't that interested in seeing a teenage echidna making out with a chameleon with hair today, so I think imma check out of this for tonight.

[whatthemeepever]

Writing. Dafuque?!?

How. Just how is it possible to write out this amazing sentence one day and you are so so proud but you go back the next day and you just are like what was I thinking you don't belong!

Then after like 3 days of editing and restructuring you end up with the exact same damn sentence you started with and now it looks just fucking fine!!!!

I've got two whole pieces of dialog that I just shelved because I know it belongs somewhere but not anywhere that I've got wrote yet.

Also I've got a whole half a chapter I don't even remember writing again. This is the second time I've done that. Starting to think instead of sleep walking, I'm sleep writing and apparently subconscious sleep writer me is better at it then awake me.

And then there are those little harmless Plot Bunnies.

Those Stupid Little Plot Bunnies.

I got them wet so now they multiplied.

So now they are Stupid Fucking Plot Gremlins.

They are RABID now because I feed them after Midnight.

So...to sum it up. This damn fic I'm writing has become sentient ands demands to not be a Salty Crack Treated Seriously fic but a plot filled ridiculousness that WAS NOT THE PLAN!

Hopefully one day soon UN(DEAD) which is just the Acronym for the actual title will be posted by not yet. One day...

[overworkedunderwhelmed]

kayleemb replied to your post “My writing style is: Gremlin... Do not feed the plot bunnies after...”

was it something i said...

LOL, nope.  Still before midnight here.

It’s really just accurate for me.  I get into this weird zen-like writing state at like 2-3 am, where I am just crazy productive.  But obviously is shoots my sleep schedule way out of wack.

[bthenoise]

ICYMI: Here Are Nine Newsworthy Items You May Have Missed Over The Holidays

Hello everybody and happy new year! While getting back into the swing of things here at the office, we noticed a handful of exciting things have been announced while we were off celebrating the holidays.

So, instead of pumping out article after article for you to comb through and catch up on, we thought we’d compile all the things you may have missed into one, easy-to-read post.

Let us begin:

Bring Me The Horizon, Dance Gavin Dance, Asking Alexandria and The Acacia Strain Drop Surprise Releases 

In case you weren’t paying attention to streaming services and social media sites over the holidays, four very well-known acts decided to end their 2019 with brand new releases -- those being Bring Me The Horizon, Dance Gavin Dance, Asking Alexandria and The Acacia Strain. 

Coming in all different types of records, Bring Me The Horizon dropped a spiritual and experimental EP aptly titled Music to listen to~dance to~blaze to~pray to~feed to~sleep to~talk to~grind to~trip to~breathe to~help to~hurt to~scroll to~roll to~love to~hate to~learn Too~plot to~play to~be to~feel to~breed to~sweat to~dream to~hide to~live to~die to~GO TO, Dance Gavin Dance released yet another impressive instrumental album -- this time for Downtown Battle Mountain -- Asking Alexandria shared a new deluxe version of their 2017 self-titled LP featuring demos, remixes and more, and lastly, deathcore champions The Acacia Strain debuted the first of two new releases with their bruising EP It Comes In Waves.

The Coachella 2020 Lineup Is Here Featuring Rage Against The Machine, PUP, Code Orange And More      

As many expected when they announced their long-awaited reunion, political rap-rock activists Rage Against The Machine will be one of the main headliners for this year’s Coachella festival. Along with the “Guerrilla Radio” penmen, the annual Southern California music and arts fest will also feature -- as far as our scene is concerned -- King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, IDLES, The Chats, PUP, the HU, The Regrettes, Beach Bunny, Snail Mail, Emo Nite LA, Mannequin Pussy, Yungblud, and most surprising of all, hardcore outfit Code Orange. This year’s festivities will take place April 10th - 12th and 17th - 19th. 

Silent Planet To Release New Re-Recorded Version Of The Night God Slept

Starting off what should be a busy 2020, metalcore maestros Silent Planet are planning to release a newly re-recorded version of their debut album The Night God Slept. The new re-tracked, remixed and re-mastered effort is due out January 24th via Solid State Records. Along with the exciting news, the band also released a sample of what’s to come sharing “XX (City Grave) Redux” and “Wasteland Redux.” To check out the re-worked tracks, be sure to see below. Afterward, make sure to pre-order The Night God Slept here.  

Ice Nine Kills Made A “Merry Axe-Mas” Video Game 

To help make everyone’s Christmas as fun and evil as possible, horror-obsessed outfit Ice Nine Kills debuted a new online video game based on their  music video for “Merry Axe-Mas.” The game, which can be played on a desktop computer or mobile phone, stars an evil Santa Claus delivering green skulls to unsuspecting children. To check out the free game, head here.    

Set It Off Share New Surprise Single “So Predictable”  

Just days before kicking off their tour with Sleeping With Sirens, Belmont and Point North, Set It Off shared their second new b-side taken from their recently released album After Midnight. Titled “So Predictable,” according to frontman Cody Carson, the new track comes from a place of total frustration. “We've all been there before — same argument, same issue, same nonsense, different day,” says Carson. “This is one of those songs written out of complete frustration of those kinds of moments — whether it be someone you love who you butt heads with or someone so irritating yet you can't avoid them. We had a blast making this song because of the overall attitude that surrounds it.” To check out the new track, see the video above. Afterward, make sure to grab tickets to see Set It Off out on tour here.

State Champs, Simple Plan and We The Kings Share New Music Video For “Where I Belong”

Hot on the heels of wrapping up their massive winter tour together, pop-punk acts State Champs, Simple Plan and We The Kings shared a brand new music video for their collaborative track “Where I Belong.” Featuring all three bands performing their infectious single together, the high energy video also showcases what it’s like to be on tour with the fun-loving musicians. To check out the video, see above. 

Watch Some Of Metal’s Best Come Together For “The Biggest Shred Collab Song In The World III”

Last week, acclaimed YouTuber and diehard metal fan Jared Dines returned with his annual “Biggest Shred Collab Song In World.” For 2019′s version, Dines enlisted help from some pretty big names like Animals As Leaders’ Tosin Abasi, Trivium’s Matt Heafy, Polyphia’s Tim Henson, Megadeth’s Kiko Loureiro and more. To check out the nine-minute shred-fest, see above. Additionally, you may notice something off for Jason Richardson’s (All That Remains, ex-Chelsea Grin, ex-Born Of Osiris) solo. Dines commented on that below.   

“Hey guys! Unfortunately, I am a dumb dumb and put Jason Richardson’s part over the wrong backing in the final file for the big shred collab video this year. I know I know.. you’d think I’d have my act together by now…  WELL, here is what he actually intended for you all to hear haha merry Christmas everyone! (Tbh, Jason could play over dumpsters fucking and it would sound good). My deepest apology to you Jason, please don’t SLAPP me at namm.”

Attila Recap Ragefest 2019 With New “Toxic” Music Video

To help highlight just how much fun they had on last summer’s Ragefest, deathcore/metalcore party-starters Attila debuted a brand new music video for their Villain track “Toxic.” Mixing chaotic live footage with non-stop party antics, Attila’s new video shows just what it’s like to be on tour with Fronz and company.  

Danny Worsnop Shares Bluesy New Solo Track “Another You”

Finishing up his very busy year fronting Asking Alexandria and releasing a new solo album called Shades of Blue, the outgoing Danny Worsnop released a brand new solo track titled “Another You.” Talking about the bluesy new tune, Worsnop said, “Beyond excited to finally have this out. ‘Another You’ was the first song I recorded in my home studio when I finished building it. It might have even been before it was finished! But either way, it was a great sense of accomplishment, and it instantly became one of my favorite songs I’d ever written.” Worsnop is currently on tour now and tickets can be found here.

[myrrhdarkwing]

Sometimes, All You Need Is Magic

Sometimes she still wakes up crying, but when she does, she’s never alone. Usually her brother is there, but if he isn’t, Orion might be, or Yumeno, or the cat that’s been sleeping in her hood-- and if none of them are around, she can go to her sister’s room next door, or teleport across town to crawl into her dad’s bed, or wind up waking Seikyo up to cling to him, or call Pip in Orlando just to have someone to talk to. Even if she can’t find any of the people she’s (usually) certain love her, she isn’t alone. Dragonpuppy isn’t the best for curling up in bed with, but Polypus and Lepus are, because they’re sweet and reassuring and fit nicely in her arms. Her dad told her part of his soul is in the bunny, so it only makes sense that Kei and Orion would still be with her too, in the pins clipped to her hoodie that mean she’ll never, ever, ever again be alone.

And when she’s awake and isn’t crying, well, it just gets better from there. The world is cold and black around her as she sneaks out of her room in the middle of the night, jumping out the window and laughing uncontrollably as her wings flare out just before she’d hit the ground. She flies up and up in the cold air, doing spirals and loops, and she’s mastered the art of summoning Dragonpuppy to her side in midair without having to slow down. The wolf/drake hybrid licks her face as she peppers gleeful kisses all across its neck and muzzle, whispering how much she loves it. She rolls until she’s on its back, sitting just in front of its wings and clinging to its neck, soaring through the sky faster than she could go on her own. The shreds of nightmares are left far behind on this midnight joyride. 

Even when she’s at school and has to stay in the Realground and can’t fly or summon her Noise to her side, she no longer has to be scared. Aoi Duvert, she writes on her papers, smiling shyly whenever she remembers this is her actual legal name now and she has a parent who wants her and who has yet to go away. At lunch, or in the halls, or before and after school, other children crowd around her, all their uniforms modified with an armband that features a little black-and-white python against red fabric. She isn’t an outcast anymore and neither are any of them, even if they don’t have good homes, or parents who love them. They can share each other’s. Sleepovers help make the nightmares go away for anyone who might have them and the best part about being in a gang is that if anyone-- anyone-- fucks with one of them, there are a couple dozen other small children who will all come running with makeshift weapons and fire in their eyes. She cheats, sometimes, by phasing in and out of the Underground while menacing someone, so it looks like she’s dodging seamlessly and almost teleporting around, all while building up momentum with her yo-yo. But the other kids are about as young as she is, which is still young enough to accept supernatural seemings without questioning them too much. Nobody has to know she’s dead. Nobody has to know how much she loves it.

She tumbles back in through her window to find cake in her apartment and honestly that seems like a magic all its own. Her eyes are blue-and-red heterochromatic as she tilts her head to the side and rolls her lower jaw until she can unhinge it to fill far too much of her mouth with whatever Sol left in the kitchen this time. There’s no one to tell her she can’t eat cake whenever she wants it. There’s no one to tell her she can’t pick it up with her fingers and shove it into her mouth until the icing streaks across her ghostly white skin to leave a multicoloured delicious mess behind. There’s definitely no one to tell her she can’t feed a dragon-wolf cake and let it lick the mess off her face until she’s giggling from how ticklish its tongue is.

She sits on the counter of another small child’s bathroom, trying to hold her face perfectly still as she stares into the mirror. Face painting is an excellent way to bond, as is shopping for clothes, not that any of her gang really has much fashion sense so it usually ends up with a lot of laughing and somehow managing not to get kicked out of anywhere at all. She places sequins carefully on the glue coating her face, until it looks like there are scales around her eyes and down her cheekbones and across her forehead and generally in places scales shouldn’t be on humans but should definitely be on humans who are actually snakes. Contact lenses are scary to put in but she manages to do it anyway after several long minutes of trying, until one eye is blue and the other is red and both of them have slit pupils. She hops off the counter and yells that it can be someone else’s turn now, and goes out to help her other gang members transform themselves into monsters.

That’s the crux of it, after all. There used to be monsters in her waking life and in her dreams and in the shadows on the walls, everything going bump in the night. There still are now. The difference is that she’s one of them. An undead part-snake eternal child with other monsters just a thought away, pulled from static by her pins. She is the monster in the dark she always used to imagine. Something to be feared and to be free. And it’s so, so much better than she ever thought it would have been.

This is a fic set in the universe of Shibuya’s Game, a week-long, real time TWEWY RP (held over Chatzy) where you can play as a Player or Reaper in the Shibuya Underground. The next Week (W15) will be starting on January 30th, but Player applications close... well, in only a few hours, actually, so if you’re interested, best check it out now! Warning: you will cry. A lot. Probably.

The above is what my Reaper, Uso, has been doing with her newfound freedom post-W14, especially in the past few days. Usa is an excellent influence (and by excellent I mean terrible), as is Orion, so she’s now a gang leader and the thing that goes bump in the night. I’ve played in Shibuya’s Game for three Weeks now and it’s absolutely the most intense RP I’ve been a part of. Everything is unpredictable. There’s a plot, but no warning about who will be killed off when, and everyone winds up on highly emotional character arcs. Very fast-paced, but easy to get caught up in. Clear your week as much as you can if you want to play. Especially if you want to make it to the end.

[whatthemeepever]

Lord save me from Plot Gremlins

So continuing the venting that is me trying to write...I now have a fucking Series instead of a singular fic.

I've got Oneshot ideas now.

They don't fit the main narrative since they fall either before the beginning or are rather far removed from what's actually happening.

I'm about half a second off naming the series 'It's All Ray's Fault' because it's been inspired and is a gift for @rayshippouuchiha

My other idea for it would be 'Dystopian Road Trip for the Win'

But UN(DEAD) is coming along wonderfully...if wonderfully includes multiple arcs sectioned into actual parts with names like 'Part One: Gotta Love Those Old School Horror Movies'

Why have I done this to myself. I can't stop. More and more rabid fucking plot gremlins keep attacking me.

I wouldn't wish those on anyone.

So wishing for all the other writers out there too only have to deal with happy little Plot Bunnies.

Those can be vicious and angst filled too so be careful.

Just remember the movie got it right. Don't get them wet and no feeding after midnight or you'll end up like me with Rabid. Fucking. Plot. Gremlins.

So Goodluck!