#Been going through his scenes a lot and he very rarely has direct conversations with them 😔

[snekatieii]

Dreaming about a world where we see mepad interact directly with the contestants more often. Because every moment we do get to see is so important

[the-chosen-fanfiction]

Philip | Lean On Me | Romantic

Struck by faintness and anxiety, you find comfort with the man you’re secretly sweet on.

Requested by Katie & Nina (merged similar)

The starry sky above is visible through the roof and it casts a gentle ambiance over the dinner table. It is clear that Nathanael has put a lot of love and effort into designing this year’s hut for Sukkot and you observe it with awe as you take slow sips of wine, enjoying the food and atmosphere. Diagonally across from you sits Philip, causing you to be very much aware of your own movements. What has caused this sentiment of bashfulness around the man in question lately has been a mystery as of now.

“We are so lucky to have an architect in our midst.” Mary of Magdala muses next to you, a soft smile over her lips as she takes a few grapes to eat. “I’ve never sat in such an elaborate sukkah.” 

“Me, neither.” you agree with her. “Our father used to build them in our backyard, but it was nothing like this.” 

Across the table, your brother Andrew snorts a laugh at the mention of abba’s tents during the Feast of Tabernacles. Your eyes glitter with amused nostalgia as you look at him. 

“That was something else.” Andrew breathes, smirking behind his cup of wine. “Remember that one time that it collapsed on us in the middle of the night? Simon had the biggest bump on his forehead the day after.” 

You huff a laugh at the memory, Mary smiling at the idea. 

“I have rarely seen abba so guilty before. Or after, for that matter.” you remark.

“What is that about me?” Simon quips, trying to join the conversation halfway through as he swallows a piece of bread. “I heard my name.” 

For a second, you and Andrew look at one another before bursting out into laughter.

“Nothing�� Nothing, just that one year during the Feast of Tabernacles, that we were all sleeping in our hut, when one of the posts suddenly gave way and caused that awful—” You point at your forehead as Simon cuts you off.

“—I thought we agreed to not mention that anymore, (Y/n).” he hisses, directing an annoyed frown your way, “Especially not while in company.” 

You show your palms in defence, Andrew snickering at the scene. Simon glares at him before turning back to his previous conversation with Thomas, clearly not in the mood to talk to his younger siblings anymore about the embarrassing moment in question. 

Mary smiles. “That sounds like quite the experience. My mother tried her best in making our Sukkot feasts good memories, but every time we had a celebration, I just realised how much I missed my abba.” You put a hand on her shoulder and softly squeeze. 

“I’m so sorry to hear that.” 

She shrugs and gives a soft hum. “I’m feeling better about it, now. Grief eases overtime, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” you mutter, “But it never fully goes away.” 

For a moment, the part of the table you’re sitting at it silent. You are the first to break said quietness by clearing your throat. “I’m going to get some water. Does anyone want some?” 

“Me, please.” Philip raises his hand. He hadn’t been part of the conversation, but now you are forced to face him head-on. Trying to keep down your shyness, you give him a gentle nod. 

“Anyone else?” you ask with a voice pitched higher than usual, causing you to once again clear your throat. 

The others shake their heads and you wiggle back on the bench to get up.

The moment you arise however, everything tilts on its axis for just a second. Your head suddenly spins as you close your eyes, irritation furrowing your brow together at how you could have forgotten that you shouldn’t stand too quickly—

“—(Y/n), is everything alright?” Mary asks worriedly, looking up at you. You hold up a hand for her to remain seated before using it to balance yourself a little. 

“I’m— I’m fine. I… I’ll be fine.” 

Andrew gives you a concerned one-over. “You look shaky. I— I thought it was under control somehow. How often has this been happening again lately? The dizzy spells? The heart palpitations?” 

“I said I’ll be fine.” you reassure them, “I’ll be right back.” You step over the bench to head outside, walking towards the table where Thaddeus and Little James had displayed all the beverages quite nicely, and grab the jug of fresh water as well as two cups to pour it into. The first cup is filled up easily, but halfway through the second one, you feel your vision suddenly blur a bit, a faint feeling coming over you. 

It causes the cup to spill over, but when you don’t respond to the water pouring all over your hand, you hear Andrew concernedly call out for you somewhere behind you. “(Y/n)!” 

You don’t even hear his footsteps approach you as your blood rushes inside your ears, your heart starting to pump painfully inside your chest. You drop the cup and step away from the table, only barely caught by your brother. “Oh— Easy— Take it slow— Don’t panic— Get—Get Jesus— Get Jesus!” 

Andrew’s panic only fuels your own as you sit in the grass, disoriented with a spinning head. Short of breath, you gently push him away. 

“Andrew, just— Don’t hold on so tight—” 

“Here, let me.” Simon urges, crouching down in front of you in order to get you to look up at him. “Can you hear me, (Y/n)? Hello? Can you stand up? Answer me.” He waves in front of your face and you slap away his hand, trying to focus on your breathing for your breast aches the quicker your heart beats. “Can you try to stand up? See if your legs work?” 

“—Guys.” A voice way calmer suddenly sounds, although it does not belong to Jesus. “Give the poor woman some space, will you?” Philip steps into your peripheral view as you look up, your head spinning so badly that you’re seeing double. A few gasps are heard from the tent and you realise that you’ve likely got an audience. “Don’t gawk,” Philip tells them, “Just stay inside and we will be back whenever she feels better.”

He silently sits down in front of you, not touching, just kindly keeping an eye on you.

“(Y/n), it’s Philip. Try to calm your breathing, alright? In through the nose, out through the mouth. You’re having a dizzy spell again. Don’t say anything, don’t stand up. Just sit here for a while. I’ll continue to speak to you. Try to focus on my voice, okay? Andrew is fetching Jesus for you. I believe He is currently on a walk with His mother.” Philip gives your brother a look, who gets the hint and rushes off, Simon in tow. “He will be here shortly. In the meantime, focus on your breathing. In… Out… In… Out…” 

You can hear him standing up, seeing his feet walk past you as he reaches the table behind you. You move to turn around and face him, but Philip already speaks up. “I’m here, don’t look at me, just keep looking down. I am getting you some water.” He grabs the cup you had originally filled for him and sits down on the ground again, gently bringing it into your hands, making sure to wrap your fingers around it so it sits snugly inside your palms. You try to take steady breaths, slowly sipping from the clay cup. The water is cool and eases your nerves somewhat.

“There you go. Nice and slow.” 

The timbre of his voice is pleasant as you smile gratefully, daring to let your eyes flicker up to meet him sitting in front of you. He gently smiles, patiently waiting for you to gather yourself, not rushing you in the slightest. Your breathing calms slowly but surely as you watch him. He mirrors a breathing pattern that works for you, making it easier for you to follow. In through the nose, out through the mouth. A blush spreads over your face at how kindly he’s looking after you without anyone asking him to.

“How are you feeling?” 

“A little better.” you say, still slightly out of breath. “My heart is still beating very fast.” 

Philip hums. “Just stay down for a while longer, then. Give yourself time to recover. Do you have any idea what caused your sudden spell of dizziness and panic?” 

You give a small shake of your head. “No. I was just having a good time at the feast, getting some water, and… It suddenly happened without warning. Perhaps I stood up too quickly back at the table, that sometimes causes these sudden attacks of faintness and heart palpitations. It’s not the first time, as you know.” 

A brief silence as Philip registers your words and thinks about what to say next. 

“I know you take good care of yourself, (Y/n). Out of your siblings, you’re the most reasonable and responsible.” You chuckle at his lighthearted comment. The knot of panic in your gut is starting to loosen up, disappearing slowly but surely as you speak to Philip. “Would you be comfortable with it if I checked up on you more often, to make sure you don’t put a strain on yourself?” 

Smiling softly, you nod at him. “Please. I’d… I’d really appreciate that, honestly.” 

Philip gives you a curt nod. “Of course. Your wellbeing is important to me.” You feel a sense of peace at the notion of him caring about you. 

The longer you sit with him, the more you calm down, feeling your panic melt away as time goes by. Your heart slows back down into its usual rhythm. When Andrew and Simon run back with Jesus right behind them, you already feel way more at ease. Philip stands without saying a word, giving the Messiah some space to tend to you. 

The two of you meaningfully look at one another for a brief moment, your heart pleasantly swelling at his smile, until the sight of Jesus’ soft eyes meets you instead. He hums knowingly, cradling your face in His hand as His other comes to rest on your shoulder. “Are you feeling better, My child? Your brothers came to me in quite a panicked state.” 

“I think they’ve got it worse than I do.” you admit in spite of your earlier anxiety. 

“You had someone looking after you very kindly.” He says, his grin growing a bit. “So, how are you doing now?” 

“I’m doing fine, Teacher. Thank You for coming to check up on me.” 

Part of you wants to ask — to request Him to heal you — but part of you is hesitant about it. It’s not that you’re afraid that He would deny you, but you still feel like a burden doing it. You have the privilege of travelling beside the Messiah and have spoken to Little James about the topic of chronic illness quite a lot, and part of you had already made peace with it to begin with. 

“I understand,” Jesus tells you as if He can read your mind; you are convinced that He actually can, since He is the Messiah and all. “I know your thoughts and feelings, (Y/n).” 

“It’s alright,” you whisper, “I’ll be fine regardless of it. What You said to Little James actually helped me, too. Even if not in this life, this is just a speck, right? And in spite of this, I will follow You.” 

Jesus hums, a thoughtful look shining in His dark irises. “I know it isn’t easy for you regardless.” He tells you. 

“I have a good friend to look after me.” you muse. Jesus smiles gently. 

“Just a good friend, huh?” He says. Of course He knows your heart and Philip’s just as much. “It is good to see the two of you be friendly with one another. Keep each other close and let the Father do the rest.” 

Your heart rears inside your chest. 

“Now, take it easy.” Jesus tells you before standing again. Instead of reaching out for you to help you stand, He steps aside to look at Philip. The man in question takes a moment to piece together what the Messiah’s intention is, until Jesus nods towards your still-seated form. Philip takes a deep breath and approaches, holding out a hand in your direction. With clammy palms, you take it, allowing him to help you up. As he hoists you to your feet, you nearly lose your balance again, causing him to gently grab your elbows to steady you. 

“Oh!” 

“Are you okay?” 

“Yes, I’m way better. Thank you.” 

Philip clears his throat. “Would you… Um… Would you like to take a walk? Maybe some fresh air, away from the crowd, will do you some good.” You breathlessly blush, look at your brothers, at Jesus, back at Philip as they all await your answer. 

“I’d really like that, actually.” Philip lets out a sigh of relief as you accept his offer.

Jesus smiles as He watches the two of you walk off. Simon leans towards Andrew, his voice reduced to a whisper as their eyes focus on you and Philip head to the outskirts of camp to enjoy a nightly stroll. “Do you think we should prepare for… You know?” 

Andrew hums. “Honestly, I think Philip is doing a better job than we are in supporting our sister. I think we would be quite lucky to have him as our brother-in-law, to be honest.” 

Simon can’t argue with that, crossing his arms as him and Andrew observe the two shadows strolling past the horizon, feeling a sense of peace come over him at the sight. 

[tiggymalvern]

I listened to the first episode of the Burn Noticed podcast today, where they talk about the pilot. I largely agree with what they say about it, which sums up to... it's not very good. (In all honesty, if I'd watched this pilot blind, I would not have come back for episode two. The only reason I kept going was because the show had been recced to me by a friend whose taste I largely trust, and he said it was great fun.)

The podcast mentions that the director never directed an episode of Burn Notice again, which is telling. And that he rarely directed more than one episode of any show, which is even more telling 🤣. They mentioned some specific details about the directing which I found interesting, because I know pretty much nothing about it. Directing has basic rules of 'how to shoot scenes' which makes sense - like the rules of grammar, they're there for a reason, and that doesn't mean you never break them, but it does mean that you break them for a specific effect and you'd better know exactly why you're doing it. Which is very different from just having bad grammar...

One of the main reasons the pilot doesn't work for me is that the characters aren't right yet. Michael is close, but still has odd moments, like the puppy dog thing with Lucy, which is a tendency he never shows again. Fiona and Sam, my two favourite characters, are so far off that I actively disliked them. Fiona is reckless to the point of stupidity, casually suggesting they murder FBI agents. Sam is sleazy and gross, openly leering after women half his age who are just walking along the street minding their own business. You can spackle those moments (and I do!) but it would be better if we didn't have to...

The podcast talks about how the Nigerian opening scenes are very poorly explained, and we don't really know what's going on, but I think that was deliberate on Matt Nix's part, and a smart move, honestly. You don't want to alienate any part of a pilot's audience by painting any particular place in a bad light. Michael also says in the pilot that he's not a CIA employee per se (which is later thrown out because he absolutely was) and that makes sense too - whether the CIA are drawn as good guys or bad guys, you're going to piss off one section of society by stating it outright, so they shoved that under the carpet for later.

On the podcast itself, the two presenters are fun and personable, but they ramble. A lot. I hope in the future they get more structured and plan ahead, because they kept starting one conversation, getting sidetracked, and then saying, "Wait, we can come back here later. What were we talking about before?"

They also don't seem to know a lot about Burn Notice 😱The woman admits that she loved it when it aired, but she dipped in and out and never saw the whole thing right through. The man does claim to have seen it all, but obviously not recently, as there are factual inaccuracies. Neither of them know that Sugar is a character who returns in future episodes, in one specific example.

I agree with some of their criteria for deciding what makes a good episode of Burn Notice, but not others. They may adapt as they go on, who knows? As with Burn Notice itself, I'm willing to push past the dodgy pilot and listen to more of this podcast in the hope it gets better. We will see!

[greenlikethesea]

deleted scene from the jargyle!

Hi all! I am most likely not putting this in the final chapter, because I am taking the story in a much more nuanced direction, so here's the fight that is mentioned in Three Weddings and a Funeral!

there's some stuff in this that i'm not super happy with, which is why i'm glad it won't be included, but please know that mike WILL have a redemption round it what is eventually published.

“Jonathan,” Joyce says.

Sometimes I wish it had been you that died instead of him, Jonathan thinks in a flash, and instantly has to grip the side of the table to grapple with how evil that thought is. Wrong move, of course, his knuckles screaming in protest, but the pain helps dispel the thought a little bit. Push it away like an embrace he doesn’t want. He looks at Joyce, who is looking at him expectantly, her foot tapping on the floor with impatience. He grimaces as his wrist burns from the exertion of squeezing so hard.

“Sorry, slept kind of weird,” Jonathan grits out, even though he didn’t sleep at all. “I just need a minute and then I’ll get to it.”

“You didn’t sleep at all,” Argyle says. 

Jonathan can’t help it – his gaze snaps toward Argyle, the hurt and betrayal cutting through him worse than the dull ache of his skin, the sensitivity of his scalp. Argyle knows to not get involved in this. They’ve talked about it, how the burdens of Jonathan’s family are Jonathan’s alone to work out. And he’s agreed, has bowed out of conversations even though Jonathan could see his jaw twitching with some kind of remark. So why stop now?

“Just drop it,” Jonathan says, biting his lip to stop himself from tacking on a pet name. He wants to, desperately, wants to soften the blow despite his annoyance, but he feels the tightness in his jaw, the fear creeping up in his gut, hot and acrid like his acid reflux when he eats even a smidge too much.   

Argyle is staring at a fixed spot on the wall, but his tone cuts as if he’s making direct eye contact. “No, actually, I’m not going to drop it. Joyce, maybe you should ask one of your psychic kids instead of your disabled one.” 

“What,” Joyce says, not a question, and oh, Joyce doesn’t know this part of Argyle. None of them do, not really. This isn’t something that Jonathan has had to share.

“I’m very sorry for your loss, Joyce, really, I am,” Argyle says. Jonathan can’t keep his eyes off the two of them now, his skin burning from embarrassment. It’s rare that Argyle drops the surfer boy effect, but when he does, it’s so frightening. “Hopper was a good man and died too soon. And I know you need support. But you have three kids, and two of them are more than capable of putting in some effort. You have me. We’ve got this covered.”

“Of course I have you three,” Joyce says, her smoothing over voice, the one that has everyone else convinced that she’s perfect and oh, that’s just nasty, just cruel, she’s a good mom, she is –

“So what do you need from us?” Argyle says. “From the three of us, that is.”

Joyce stops herself from snapping back with something hot, something mean. Jonathan can see the tension in her neck from her restraint, the tight chord of anger stiff and menacing, but Argyle is immune. This is tame shit compared to Irma, he’s learned, whose posture alone makes her opponents slink away, tail between their legs. 

She heaves a sigh. “He knows he can talk to me if he ever–” 

“He doesn’t tell me when he’s hurting. Why would he tell you?” Argyle cuts her off. 

“I am his mother,” Joyce says.

Argyle laughs, this bitter, mean thing that isn’t new, but it’s rare. “Could’ve fooled me.”

“I beg your pardon?” Joyce says.

“Joyce, I love you a lot,” Argyle says, which means he’s about to completely rip her a new asshole. It hurts to withhold his wince. “And I know you love Jonathan. But you have not been good to him. You weren’t good to him when I met you, and you haven’t gotten much better.”

“Please tell me how much I failed as a mother,” Joyce says. “You do not know what it’s like. You will never know what it’s like.”

Jonathan has been seeing his mother as a person since he was very young, but it’s rare that he sees the confused young woman underneath her self-assured mature self. It’s even rarer that he sees this version of her face off with anyone that isn’t her own reflection, staring herself down when she thinks no one else is looking. But Argyle’s got a glance that could cut through anyone, and he’s not backing down. 

“It’s not that deep, Joyce, so chill out,” Argyle says. “I didn’t say you failed as a mother. But you can’t deny that you put him dead fucking last, and that’s not fair. Everything you know about him is something that doesn’t exist anymore. And I can’t sit idly while you continue to take him for granted. I can’t.”

Argyle’s not just talking to Joyce right now, Jonathan doesn’t think. He’s talking to Irma, and he’s talking to Isabela, and he’s talking to every person he’s had to keep level and cool around while his own emotions get cast to the side. Jonathan feels paralyzed, glued to his chair as the two people he loves most face off in Casa Byers-Hopper’s busy, mismatched kitchen, still too shiny and new to feel like a safe place to Jonathan. 

“Argyle –” Joyce starts, takes in a deep breathe to no doubt launch into some kind of argument – 

– but a crash comes from the living room that completely snaps the three of them out of their tense trance, all moving in unison toward the direction of the sound. It’s El and Will. There’s been a tension between them that has been growing since Hopper was admitted into hospice, festering like a disease, but any other time than right now Jonathan would be oddly grateful for it. Will and El have both been permissive of each other’s bullshit for far too long, both in the habit of preserving Mike’s equanimity by avoiding their own myriad issues. It’s been time for them to have conflict, instead of just skating around it. It’s good for them to hate each other a little, so that they can build the love back up. He just wishes, for all of their sakes, that they would have picked a different time to have a blowup. Leave it to his younger siblings to interrupt the one time anyone has stood up for him.

“Why don’t you fucking do it?” Will yelps, with that awful, sniveling tone that has crept in from years of embodying what Eddie has snidely called New York Will in their conversations whenever he’s come up. 

“I have been doing the laundry,” El says, with that jagged staccato leftover from her youth that still graces her vocal delivery every so often. “You have done nothing.”

“Oh sure, caring for our mother is doing nothing,” Will bites back.

“You do not care. You are an asshole.” Another crash, followed by a yell from Will – something expensive that belonged to him, no doubt.

Fuck, Jonathan’s gotta get in there. He starts to get up, wincing at all of his awful bones creaking, and Joyce and Argyle immediately turn their attention toward him.

“Jonny,” Argyle says, his tone a warning.

“Jonathan,” Joyce says, voice sharp. 

“Later,” Jonathan says decisively, and both of their mouths snap shut in unison, which makes him laugh. It’s all so fucking stupid, all of it. “We can sort this out later. Let’s make sure the kids don’t destroy the living room, please. My cane?”

There’s a beat where neither of them do anything, just nervously glance toward each other, like working together is not allowed now that they’ve fully reamed each other out in front of God and everyone. Whatever, Jonathan does not have time for either of their damage. His siblings are about to destroy the living room. “My cane, please, I don’t think I can make it there without it.”

Argyle springs into action, walking past Joyce to reach Jonathan’s cane, which for some reason is precariously leaning on the refrigerator. He hands it to Jonathan, who grasps on its handle and uses that and the table to pull himself up. 

Alright, Jonny boy, he tells himself. One foot in front of the other. You’ve got this. Be the big brother they do not deserve at the moment.

It takes Jonathan far longer than he would like to get to the living room, Joyce and Argyle walking at a glacial pace to avoid stepping on his heels. When he gets there, the first thought that crosses his mind is loud and panicked: I am so glad Hop is not around to see what this looks like. His old record player is smashed on the floor, not irreparably broken but in at least a dozen pieces that are scattered on the ground between them. Blood is pouring from El’s nostrils. When Will turns his head to look at Jonathan, he can see Will’s telepathic tell – all the capillaries in both of his eyes have burst, giving them a demonic glow. And fuck, they’re not even taking turns with their telepathic blows – what isn’t already broken on the floor is up in the air, including Mike’s camera, which they’re both going to be upset about destroying later. 

In a split second of panic, he throws his cane into the melee.

In a matter of seconds, it is crunched into a ball, but the ensuing noise from its destruction and clatter on the floor is enough to shock the both of them out of their fight.

“Enough,” Jonathan says.

Apparently, that used all the strength he has in his body, because he feels himself start to wobble. The both of them rush forward and catch him before he really stumbles, the evidence of their psychic exertion on their faces, both their hands shaking as they guide Jonathan to the couch. Upon a more careful glance, Jonathan can see that Will’s eyes have no white in them, pink and red with burst capillaries, obscuring his irises. His slender body heaves with exhaustion. The cascade of blood from Eleven’s nostrils has painted her lips and chin a murky red-brown, and Jonathan can also see blood leaking from the corners of her mouth, as if her gums have also splintered. When Jonathan settles in the center of the couch, they flank him on either side. Will’s already crying, and El is going to be there in about thirty seconds.

“I’m sorry, Will,” Eleven says. She’s not great at apologizing, but she will if she has to.

Will laughs wetly, wiping at his eyes. “Fuck, I’m sorry. To both of you. Jonathan, your cane –”

“I’ll figure something out,” Jonathan says. He’s not sure what, but Max and Claire are staying at the house instead of getting a hotel, so maybe he can get something from her. 

“Super happy that we’re all sorry, but let’s clean this up, yeah?” Argyle says. He turns to Joyce, who is leaning against him like he’s a support beam. Their size difference is comical, Jonathan notes, not remotely for the first time. “I would like to finish what we started afterward, if that’s chill with you.”

“I think we can have the conversation without yelling at each other,” Joyce says, nodding and squeezing his arm. “Will you join us, Jonathan? Please?”

Jonathan looks at the both of them, these foundational pillars. The woman who raised him and the man who keeps him steady. They’re both looking at him, not expectantly, but…hopefully. He hasn’t seen that expression on Joyce’s face in a long time, one where all she wants from him is him, rather than something he’s doing. It’s all very kumbaya. Hopper’s eyeroll would be practically audible, if he were here.

Jonathan smiles at that mental image, but also at the people who are alive to see the mess. He squeezes Will’s hand. “Yeah, of course.” 

Without warning, there’s a jangling at the door, as someone attempts to open the three-lock system that Hopper had installed when they renovated the house. It’s a bitch on a normal day, but it’s especially a struggle if you’re doing it with one hand…which Mike, who went out to get groceries and some Aleve for Jonathan, would be doing, since he’s the type of person who tries to get it all done in one go. Of course Mike missed the entire fight. In a way, Jonathan’s glad for it. He knows that Will and Mike are better now, that the three of them have a stronger bond than ever, but witnessing his two favorite people attempt to kill each other would have probably melted his already anxious mind.

Upon walking into the destroyed living room, he immediately drops the bag he’s holding and springs into action, picking up items off the floor. “What the fuck happened here? Is everyone okay? Will? El? Jonathan, fuck, your cane –”

Jonathan doesn’t mean to laugh, really, he doesn’t. And when he does, it’s not at Mike. He just…he looks twelve again, instead of nearly thirty years old. His handsome face is completely overtaken by concern as he springs into action, starts to pick up things off the floor. Argyle, with a gentle nod toward Joyce, joins him in an instant.

Mike holds up the cane – or, rather, the mangled mess of what’s left of it. He holds it out in front of him while glaring daggers in the direction of the Byers siblings. “You guys really had to destroy Jonathan’s cane to work out whatever bullshit’s been brewing for the past two weeks? C’mon. You know that’s bad.”

[sterlingarcher23]

- Robin and Steve proxy dialog 3 - "combine... up to Eleven" -

Robin: "If only we could just combine."

Steve: "...Combine?"

Robin: "No, think about it. I know exactly what I want and I found the perfect girl but I just can't get the courage to ask her out..."

... Meanwhile you go on like, a million dates and you have no idea what you want."

(That could be a nod towards Mike who does have dates with different people but does not know what he wants - or to Max herself who got into the relationship with Lucas and dumped him several times and she doesn't know what she wants because her being bisexual and polyamorous confuses her. Which would make this dialog a direct conversation between El & Max)

Affirmative hum from Steve.

Robin: "So if we combine-"

Steve: "Ohhhh."

Robin: "All our problems would be solved....

.... Because alone, lets face it-"

Steve: "We totally suck."

Robin: "Completely and utterly."

Eleven is a miss! - The DnD game. And both "suck" fighting Henry separately.

But combined. Blue & Yellow. It was this memory that made Max break free.

That high five that even echoed made Max free herself and physically attack Henry. - It's just the thought of THEM that makes this possible. What can they accomplish "if we combine"

Combine... Fuse...

El and Max, two MKUltras fusing, combining their powers, linking: "So if we combine..."

"... all our problems would be solved.

Combining (Fusion) would solve their problems: Max can feel and see through El/the particles and El's wound would be healed because she's with the one she's meant to be. El would physically die, yes, but it will heal both of them, abilities, sensation and memories shared, every thought and emotion too, healing neurological trauma and mental illness (as hinted at with El's mom and Billy). Love heals.

Just like that:

One thing is certain: what happened to Max is a problem that was created to solve it. It has been made clear that she may never wake up again. When Max says that she can't feel or see anything, Lucas assures her that they'd get her help (El in the hospital: I'm here, Max.) And the script plus her dialog parallels with Henry told us what happened to her, that someone needs to open a door for her to come back (and switching places with her). It's a simple "how will they adress the issue" not "if". And combined all of their problems would be solved.

....

Because, let's face it, this dialog was... Not out of the ordinary, they are close friends, what would Robin and Steve actually accomplish if they play wingman? So, it doesn't come out of nowhere but it's a bit weird nonetheless because how is this supposed to work? Steve drawing Vickie's attention towards Robin?

Besides in the scene in which Robin looks at Vickie, Steve appears in the background and... Does Vickie look at Robin? Or at Steve? Does he draw attention to Robin or to himself? Because there's this worried look (there's another parallel of worried looks).

I have my doubts that them combining would accomplish a lot. On the contrary, Steve could turn out to be a problem for Ronance as he wants Nancy. Except he, well, changes his mind. But who knows. Of course the dialog isn't just made for being a proxy but nonetheless, parallels are not a rare thing, I heard. The relationship parallels are there but parallels doesn't mean it's the same, it's more a mirror. But I digress.

Besides "If only we could just combine" does sound weird in itself, no wonder Steve was confused. The way they worded it, is strange and I pointed out other moments of Robin & Steve's dialogs to be also proxies for other moments concerning El, Max and Lucas.

Thanks to @foxin-around1 who pointed out this dialog to me.

[absolutebl]

Why Ai'Hia was so funny in Cutie Pie

in response to @isisanna-blog’s question which tumblr doesn’t want answered directly. 

Can you explain the significance of the ‘Ai’ Hia’ in this weeks Cutie Pie please? I realised something linguistically important happened but didn’t know what!

(Okay a reminder Thai is a language that exists in registers: high, low, frozen. And that it requires the use of honorifics (particles & pronouns) between ages: polite, formal (not the same thing). So something can be said formal but not polite, both, or neither. BL relationships exist within these different registers and levels of formality. Like most languages Thai is ever evolving and flexible with very few hard and fixed rules.)

Ready?

Hia honorific & pronoun

Hia functions the same as phi but is used only by those with Chinese ancestry and is basically older brother (phi = older sibling, no gender) and is slightly more household intimate than phi (more strongly associated with actual brother/cousin/family member).

Like hyung/oppa there is no direct translation but hia is applied to older males by a younger person (any gender). It is used by the younger person to address the older male both directly, Hia Lian, and as a pronoun (you), hia, and also by the older person to refer to themself (I pronoun) when in conversation with someone younger. So grammatically it behaves like phi. 

In UWMA Team calls Win hia (and leaves off the P'Win most of the time - cheeky boy), but he uses phi and P'Dean for Dean. (It’s a bit different in Between Us.)  In Bad Buddy Pat’s sister uses hia with him.

It’s rare to hear hia used IRL on the actor circuit. But New uses it with Zee (Cutie Pie) on and off set, which is interesting. They have a soft but strict older/younger dynamic (Zee is almost a decade older). And Zee has been through the wringer with a pair before so there’s a lot of subtext going on here. You can watch them (and hia) in action here.

In Cutie Pie both couples use hia as both pronoun and formal address: Hia Lian & Hia Yi.

The formal address use of Hia is rare. 

I've never heard it before in a BL until Cutie Pie. So hia is used for I & you, while Hia Lian is used for formality's sake and in third person referencing. This is a *tiny* bit like how mister used to function in old English, as in: Mr Lian for formal address, mister as direct address. These days, it's a little more like master in the kink circuit. 

There's an inherent strictness to the formal application of Hia Lian partly because it is so unusual. It indicates a different kind of relationship than just P'Lian would in other BLs - both more intimate and more structured.

The lost Ai

Ai’+ name is technically supposed to be used between age mates but it is usually dropped in BL and on the interview circuit. It can and is applied in cases where social formality is required - meeting a stranger’s kids who are the same age or something like that.

But in BL it ALSO will be applied with a long drawn out tone when insult is required between close friends. Ae and Pond do it a lot in Love By Chance. In which case Ai’+name is a little like an affectionate “my asshole friend here.” The opposite is also true, Ai can be softened and applied for affection.

Fiat uses Ai’Leeooo with Leo all the time in Don’t Say No. It’s a kind of bratty affection coming from him. Leo, on the other hand, only uses Ai’Fiat when he is annoyed af with his boy. (Remember these two are the same age.)

Ai+name, as a result, almost always implies a downgrade (formality wise) it's used as a sarcastic contrast (rude informal) to what it once was in older versions of the language (formal).

Ai'Hia

Right, so basically, Kuea called Lian his "asshole master" or something roughly equivalent to that in this scene in Episode 5. 

There's extreme contrast in this (contrast = surprise = humor). He contrasted not just an extremely formal type of address, Hia, with an informal one, Ai, but he combined two pronouns that also function as honorifics, but in a highly dishonorable way: Mister Jerkface. Which is a secondary contrast of rude vs polite. That’s double down funny. 

He did all of this while ALSO dropping to low register, so all his other particles and pronouns became informal (or entirely absent). This is how you would talk to a peer/friend. I talk about Duen being the biggest linguistic brat in BL (My Engineer) - this is what he does. 

It's a really bratty and insulting thing to do to anyone older, let alone the older man who is courting you. Because it’s kind of like, linguistically, pulling the older boy down to your level.

Kuea is doing this out of frustration, but it gave Lian insight into how bratty (naughty) Kuea actually could be. (Which I think we all know Lian likes and wants.) But also how, when emotional, Kuea actually *thinks* of Lian more informally, more like lovers. That Kuea would perhaps like to be more relaxed around Lian. That all along Kuea has been performing his high register "good boy" behavior in an effort to both please Lian and be more of the perfect doll he thinks Lian wants.

Kuea’s slip up into informality, but especially using Ai'Hia, was the crack in his armor that Lian has been looking for all along.

It was hope.

It was also absolutely hilarious. 

(source)

[my-shields-are-down]

What's ur thoughts on the break up? Should Tim have broken it off?

Personally if Tim did break up with Ashley then he'd have to face his feelings for Lucy and I dont think he's ready to just yet.

Thanks for the question! People might be surprised by my answer - especially since I have been anti-Ashley (I call her Voldie in most other places, but not today) for awhile now.

I have mixed feelings about “the break up”. Turns out I have quite a lot of thoughts on this (and some tangents), so this might be long.

First, on the surface the manner in which Ashley broke up with Tim was harsh - a total dick move. She couldn’t wait until he was coherent, she had to dump & dash the instant he was opened his eyes? She couldn’t wait until he was clear of anesthesia? Completely heartless. Rude.

And yet, on another hand, she had an epiphany at some point that a life with Tim where he stays in his job and doesn’t retire is not a life she can lead - so she swiftly takes action and goes. I am all about action, deciding or recognizing what works or doesn’t, what you want and going after that?! Fuck yeah, I support that big time. That said, I would have waited - because that was the more compassionate, empathetic way to do it. The way Ashley has been written, neither of those two things would be considered her top qualities. Lucy? Yes, definitely. Ashley? Not so much.

I think there were clues from the beginning of the episode that this could happen.

1) Tim mentions being on Whole 30 - it was Ashley’s idea in reaction to her dad having some health issues. Ashley and her Dad are wickedly close - I bet she is freaking out that his health could be at risk- so she’s desperately trying to control her life. Tim is part of that world - so he gets controlled to.

2) Ashley got WAY too excited about the possibility of Tim retiring. I felt like she was on a game show and the host had just said, “if he retires, tell her what she’s won Bob!” For a first time conversation on the topic she just barreled through all the possibilities and benefits like it was a done deal. Which made me think that she’s had this conversation with her Dad on more than one occasion and Dad regrets not taking advantage sooner - or he says he does.

She then brushes off Tim’s idea of traveling to see a MLB game in every stadium - which first, I raised my hand and volunteered to go with him, and second I think she does that all the time with Tim. The few scenes we saw her in were about Tim changing to meet her wants and needs instead of them growing together in a new direction.

3) Neither Tim nor Ashley asked any questions about the surgery. Granted because of their jobs as first responders, they’ve have some trauma training and advanced first aid classes. But this is major surgery, major not because of method - the fact they can do a minimally invasive procedure is fantastic, but major because the spine is involved. Like the brain, there’s so much unknown about the spine and the nervous system and LUCY is the only one who asks about the dangers involved the surgery. No one asks about side effects, or lasting damage, recovery times, PT, pain management, etc etc. I get being shocked, but this is why you take someone with you to ask questions while you sit there and freak out about knives being near your spine.

4) Ashley just stood there. She wasn’t holding his hand, or sitting next to Tim in the bed providing comfort and care before during or after the doctor’s visit. She was facing him like an adversary as opposed to sitting next to him as a partner or team member. Without knowing how she and Tim interact when alone, I read this as she was starting to distance herself from him. With him, but not.

She’s not overtly affectionate, she’s very reserved, hesitant almost and I think insecure. She rarely looks Tim in the eye for any extended period of time, and she’s not aware or open to Tim. I don’t think she loves Tim as he is. I think she loves the version of Tim that she’s created in her head, if he changes x, y, z then he’ll be perfect. A confident person loves and accepts themselves, I don’t think Ashley does. She kept looking to Tim for validation, that’s not confidence.

I said it in another post, but I think Ashley’s relationship with her Dad really shapes her relationship with Tim. She’s the apple of Jerry’s eye. I am sure Jerry doted on her and always let her have her way. So she manhandles her relationship with Tim to recreate that type of relationship where she’s the focus, and she controls everything.

Because things with her most important male (Jerry) are taking some hits because of his health, Ashley’s relationship with a Tim is receiving the backlash of that. She’s going to want Tim to provide her with a life that gives HER happiness - a lifeguard in Bali, living with Tim off his free money. When she realized that wasn’t going to happen, she bailed and ran.

I don’t think Lucy ever really entered into Ashley’s mind about the break up other than as a passing thought that Tim has a large cop family to support him.

===

I think if we had waited for Tim to break up with Ashley, we would have been waiting a long time. Tim liked Ashley. He cared about her. I think he was stung when she left him - more proof he’s unlovable, that people who love him, leave him. She was safe. Tim knew what to expect in his relationship with Ashley.

Being in a relationship with Lucy is wholly overwhelming for Tim. Like space, it’s undiscovered territory. He’s been in love - but Isobel didn’t know him as well as Lucy does. He has female friends - but he does not long for Angela like he longs for Lucy. I believe Tim doesn’t think Lucy likes him likes him or more importantly doesn’t think she loves him loves him. Yes, she’s attracted to him and yes, she willingly invited Tim into her home for a night of sexual pleasure. But she said it was biology. He doesn’t yet know it wasn’t just that for her.

IMO Tim never would have broken up with Ashley unless Lucy broke up with Chris and she told Tim that it wasn’t pretend for her. That she loves him and wants to be with him. Lucy, however, is waiting for Tim to do the same thing. She’s waiting for Tim to say he wants her, that he desires her, that he loves her. They are both waiting for the other to make the first move.

Right now, Tim’s overwhelmed with feelings. Feelings about Ashley and their break up. Feelings about Lucy. Feelings about her spending the night in the hospital with him. Feelings about surgery, retirement, marriage, babies, his sister, selling his childhood home, his dad dying, etc. He’s got more feelings on top of feelings, intertwined with other feelings that he doesn’t know which way is up. Before he can do anything, he has to untangle them all, acknowledge and name them and accept and process them. I bet he deals with Lucy first because SHE is the most important thing to him.

Thankfully, Tim is much more adept at dealing with them now. He’s strengthened his emotional intelligence muscle (thank you Lucy), but he’s not a talker - unless he talks to Lucy. He’s an avoider - and he’s going to avoid Lucy because it hurts him not being able to fully connect like he wants to. As he realizes how in deep the connection is with her, I don’t think he’ll be able to do it half way. Unless, there’s an imminent threat to losing her, I don’t think he’s going to be able to let her back in not all the way- his struggle with wanting to be near Lucy vs letting her in all the way, will play out on Tim’s super expressive face.

Tim is in feelings overload- so I expect Tim to revert back to TO Tim or try to at least. I loved that version of him. I’ve loved Tim since day one. He was in self-preservation mode. A hard shell and big time walls preventing people from seeing the anguish and heartbreak over losing his wife. Imagine it - you are married and one day your spouse disappears. Gone. How would YOU handle that? What would YOU be like in the world? Would you put up walls so you could cope? Or would all your emotions be on display 24x7? Or somewhere in between? Tim likely will distance himself emotionally with extreme professionalism as a way to keep his feelings hidden and in check. Without Ashley he now has no protection from Lucy, his feelings are going to be more obviously on display. He will probably make some bad decisions along the way. Until he opens back up and let’s Lucy back in.

Anyway… my 25 cents on the topic.

[eleteo125]

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Naughty Wolf (m)

Wolf!Baji x Red Riding Hood!Reader

18+ fic minors dni

Red Riding Hood is a title given to those with the duty of delivering food, crops, livestock, etc. to the wolves in exchange for the protection of the village. But what if you met one of those wolves?

CW: Sexual Content, biting, hair pulling

Word Count: 15,010 (yeesh haha)

A/N: I haven't written anything in a loooong time haha. Also forgive my smut scenes they aren't my forte when it comes to writing. English is also not my first language so have mercy if I made any mistake haha. And lastly @kazutoraholic here's the result of that little thirst post you had about Wolf!Baji hahaha hope you enjoy this too.

In a map of a far away kingdom, there is a dense forest that not many have travelled to. There have been so many sightings of large monsters and predators out for prey. Beasts so strong even the strongest knights cannot defeat. Said beasts has been observed to only reside in the forest not wandering outside so they just left it be. But in the middle of said forest resides a quaint village. As most would assume how could this village survive in such an environment where beasts of great magnitude reside? Well they don’t. They’ve enlisted the help of the “wolves” of the area whom have taken the responsibility of protecting the villagers from outside intruders from entering the village.

Mighty generous some would say but alas, their services are not for free. They have demanded to be provided some crops and livestock from the village every two weeks. And that’s where Red Riding Hoods enter. They are responsible of dropping off said supplies at a certain drop off inside the forest. Red Riding Hoods must be able to easily navigate through the dense forest for faster delivery of the supplies. They don a red hood as an indicator that they are allies to the wolves so as to not to mistakenly attack them.

One of those Red Riding Hoods happens to be your grandmother. She would be leaving for quite a while and come back with great stories of her adventures through the forest. It could be as great as catching sight of the mightily beasts or as mundane as finding a rare herb, you soaked it all up earning you a great curiosity what’s beyond those dense forest. She even mentioned coming across a wolf pup who wouldn’t let her go until she gave him some food. You both laughed at the story while also telling you not to tell anyone and it’ll be your little secret. She emphasized how the wolves are very private creatures and doesn’t really like interacting with humans. She brings life and wonder of what’s beyond the forest and not just a habitat of dangerous beasts.

But one day, your grandmother never made it home. She disappeared. She never came back from delivering the supplies. There’s a rule where once a Red Riding Hood haven’t returned in a week, they are presumed dead and a new Red Riding Hood is titled. A rule some would say is absurd, but considering how dangerous the forest is it seemed to make sense. And most cases where Red Riding Hoods not returning, they either end up found dead or still missing.

Your grandmother’s disappearance could be enough to drive you away from the forest, but you still have hope that she’s still out there. So you resorted to ways where you could go into the forest without trouble. Become a Red Riding Hood.

The only knowledge you have of the forest is your grandmother’s stories which does give information but not enough to get you to be a master navigator. SO you spent the rest of your teenage years studying about navigating and studying the on the forest that is available. After years and years of studying, you finally find yourself fit to be a Red Riding Hood. Teachers and Professors are willing to put in a good word for you when you applied to be a Red Riding Hood. And after going through a tedious process of paperwork and testing, you finally did it. You are now a Red Riding Hood. You may be doing it because you want closure on your grandmother’s disappearance, but you still felt that childlike giddiness now that you’re just like your amazing grandmother.

And here you are at the village gates waiting for the gates to open to enter the forest. Nervous and excited, that’s what you are. You’ve always been a curious little bean, so seeing more of the forest beyond just illustrations and books is beyond exciting. But you’re also nervous because who wouldn’t be when the most dangerous forest in the kingdom is right there where wild beasts could maul you anytime. So yeah, nervous and excited. To calm your nerves, you resorted to count the supplies and double…well triple check in this case.

“Nervous?” a man in knight uniform approached you.

“Atsushi! Yes. Seeing the forest up close like this is…”you looked up and took a view of the forest “pretty intimidating”

“Ah I told you Akkun is fine. Might as well get familiar with each other since I’ll be escorting you to the gates from now on. And if it’s any consolation, this is my first time being near the forest too.”

You chuckled at his nervous face when gazing at the forest which you can definitely relate too. Knowing someone else might relate to you comforted you a little.

“Welp! Off I go then!” you said cheerfully trying to ignore your nerves.

“Take care okay. And thank you for your service to the village.”

“An honor to serve the village. See ya!” you said before taking off.

You’ve been travelling for two days and you came to one conclusion. You were definitely being followed. You don’t really have any evidence you were being followed but you can just feel it. You barely slept last night, but at least you’re already at the drop off point. So you quickly did your tasks so you can travel back home already and hopefully not get mauled by a beast.

Just as you were thinking of that, you heard leaves from a branch rustle. Your face paled and your body was paralyzed. ‘Not on my first day please not on my first day” you pleaded with your eyes closed. You slowly opened your eyes and turned your head towards the direction of the rustle.

You came into eye contact with a guy. No wait, uh, he has dog or maybe was it wolf ears. He must probably one of the wolves. But when learning about the wolves you assumed they would look more…wolf-like and not human-like.

“Hey.” The guy? Dog? Wolf? Said trying to get your attention

“Uhm, can I- can I help you?” you hoped you said that loud enough for him to hear you still were shocked of what you came across.

“Ya got food on ya?”he asked and stepping out from the bush.

“Yea, I just locked it in the drop off point.”

He looked at the drop off point and looked back at you. “That’s great! But what I mean is a spare food you guys have a lot of those right?” he said with somewhat an excited look on his eyes. You even caught a glimpse of his wagging tail behind him.

“Well the food on me is for me while I travel.” You explained while patting your bag.

“Aww. How about a bite then?” he asked stepping near your bag and sniffing a little which caused him to drool a bit.

“No can do, sorry”

“A nibble then?” he asked crouching down next to your bag and looking up at you giving you the puppy eyes. You almost cooed out loud because admittedly he looked cute looking like that. You shook your head “N-no” you faltered.

As you said that, his face turned into a frown and his ears started to droop down. ‘Oh no not the ears, not the ears! Hhnnggg those cute ears and those fluffy hair aagghh!’You sighed and reached for your bag “Alright, fine”

“Hell yeah!” he stood up and took the sandwich you handed him with bright eyes. It isn’t a problem really; you made extra the amount of food for your travels to gauge how much you’ll need for next time. As the guy devoured the sandwich, you started to observe him. Long dark hair one of the noticeable trait of his after his ears. Sharp canines which he made great use of while eating, and amber eyes which were now looking at you. ‘Oh’ how long have you been staring at him? You felt yourself blush at the thought of getting caught but brushed it off.

“So, I hope you enjoyed it!”you tried making conversation

The guy gave you a smile that showed off his canines. “Definitely! It was just as good as your grandmother’s haha.” He said while patting his tummy.

“Wait-huh? My grandmother’s?”

“Was she not your grandmother? There used to be a nice old lady who gave me food all the time when she goes here.”

‘Could it be?!’

“A-are you by chance talking about my grandmother?!” you asked enthusiastically getting close to him in the process…well maybe too close judging by the fact that he stepped back a little.

“Yes…” he said now the one thinking you’re strange

“H-h-how do you know my grandmother and I were related?” your thoughts were going a mile a minute that turning those thoughts into words is a bit of a struggle.

“Well, you both smelled similar.”

“Eh?”

“Your scent.”

You stared at him before backing away and covering yourself “Have you been sniffing me?!”

“Wha- I was sniffing your bag I just got a whiff of you!”

“And how were you able to do that?!”

“I’m a wolf!”

“Oh” you realized feeling a little bit dumb. But at least you got a confirmation of what he is.

The guy in front of you sighed and said “Why don’t we start over. I’m Baji Keisuke, one of the wolves defending you village from the forest a pleasure to meet you.” He held out his hand for you to shake, which you accepted. “Gotta say, didn’t expect for you guys to change the Red Riding Hood so soon.”

Feeling like some tension was taken off, you decided to be friendly. “What can I say, I guess I impressed the village head with my top notch navigating skills.” you giggled at your faux arrogance which also earned the now named Baji a chuckle.

“So… you knew my grandmother?”

“I knew her as that nice lady with good food, other than that I don’t really remember much, was just a pup after all.”

Ah, you remember now. You recall your grandmother telling you stories about a wolf pup always bothering her until he gets food. With how he acted earlier, you definitely can connect the dots now.

“So how is she? Haven’t seen her for a long time.”

At that you felt yourself get sad for a bit. “I was hoping you would know something about it actually.”

He raised his brow at that statement “What do you mean?”

You looked at him before saying “She…she went missing. Here in the forest.”

“Oh. I see.” He said while looking down having a guess on what happened

“Don’t look so down, I still have hope that she’s still somewhere out there!” you declared full of confidence, you were determined to get to the bottom of your grandmother’s disappearance and Baji could sense that.

“Mind if I join you in that little quest of yours?”

You looked at him in surprise and delight you grabbed his hands and looked at him with bright eyes “Really?! You would do that?” you asked brimming with gratefulness.

Baji blushed a little bit at the sudden contact and proximity but you were just so excited to get help from someone that has a connection to your grandmother outside of the village that you failed to notice his flustered face. “Of course. Consider that as payment from the snack you gave me.”

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that.”

He smiled at you at that “Still, I would love to help you. She’s been a part of my childhood too albeit not as much as yours.”

“Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you!” you said while continuously bowing.

“H-hey save your thanks for later once we actually made progress.”

“Oh r-right, ehehe”

“You better get going. You’ve got quite a long journey back home.”

“That’s true. I’ll take my leave then! It was very nice to meet you!”

As you were about to leave you felt him tug at your sleeve prompting you to look at him “Hey what do you say I escort you back to your village?”

“Really?” you asked though you find it hard to say no to a little extra protection from the forest’s dangers “Would that be ok?”

“Of course! Besides I like you!” he declared which made you blush heavily “No-wait uh, that didn’t come out right. What I was trying to say is that uh, your grandmother talks about from time to time so I kind of got an idea of what you were like so yea.” He let out a nervous laugh and though ‘The hell was that explanation, did it even make sense???’

“W-well I’ll be in your care then!” you tried to change the subject since this conversation is making you more and more flustered.

“Right!” he gave you a mock salute and went off to lead the way.

Through your journey, the sunset came about you. Baji stepped forward and held his hand towards the setting sun. He seemed to be gauging something before saying “We got a an hour or so before the sun completely sets. Let’s settle right here and set up camp.”

“Ok ok, I’ll grab some firewood not far from here.”

“Hmm, got a tent with you? I can set it up while you’re gathering.”

“Yes! Yes I do.” You answered handing it to him “Thank you very much.”

“Not a problem. Off you go now make sure to gather enough before dark.”

“I’ll be right back then.” Just as you said that, Baji noticed something move in his peripherals.

Finding firewood wasn’t that difficult and you find yourself content with the amount you have gathered. As you were finishing up, you heard a rustle to your right. “Ah Baji you didn’t have to come here I was…just…” it wasn’t Baji. And judging by the fact that this creature was eyeing you up as its next meal, it was safe to assume that it wasn’t gonna be as friendly as Baji was.

You tried to keep steady so as to not provoke the creature, but that didn’t matter since it started to approach you sizing you up. You’ve had training where you were taught how to defend yourself from these beasts and escape quickly but facing off with the real deal like this caused you to have a mental block.

You tried slowly reaching for your weapon—which is a measly knife—but it’ll have to do. But even the smallest of movements is enough to provoke it and was now charging at you in full speed. You were about to run but in the blink of an eye the beast’s head was crushed. And right on top of that crushed head is Baji’s foot. You were about to approach him but then he started stomping on the beast’s head flattening it to the ground. He then went towards its body and started to slash at it with his claws that you didn’t notice until now. He slashed and diced until all that’s left was just minced meat.

He took out what looked to be a handkerchief and wiped his face and hands before turning to face you. What he saw wasn’t exactly pleasant. You had a pale face with your trembling hands in front of you. He hopes he didn’t scare you too much, but what he did was necessary lest the creature go limping without its head. He took cautious steps towards you and you seemed to be rooted where you stand.

Who wouldn’t be intimidated at such a display? You knew it was necessary for both your survival but that was just too much for you to handle right now. On your first day no less. When you noticed Baji stepping towards you, you didn’t know what to do so you just stayed there. You were so lost in thought that you were surprised when you felt warmth around your hands. You looked down and saw him holding your hands. It was so big and warm and so…comforting.

Baji held your hands tenderly trying to calm you down. Once he felt your hands stop trembling, he asked you softly. “You doing ok now?”

His deep voice was enough to ground you to reality and be at the moment. “Oh I’ll….I’ll be fine. Just trying to process everything really.” Seeing one of the said protectors of your village in action is a lot, add on the fact that you were just in grave danger it’s a lot to take in. And he understood that.

“Why don’t we head back to the camp and rest there for a while then?”

So that’s what you two did. Seated by the campfire while you both stare at the bonfire, both of you not really knowing how to break the ice. You decided and went for it though so blurted out “That was impressive.”

“What is?”

“You overpowering something thrice your size. Didn’t even had a chance against you, you just stepped on it like a small bug.”

“It’s technically our job to get rid of those guys fast and efficiently.”

“Was mincing it really necessary? I mean you destroyed it’s head surely it must’ve died by then.”

“It’s mostly just a precaution really. That thing found us quite near our camp so I didn’t wanna take any chances.”

“I see.” As soon as you said that silence overcame the two of you once again. It wasn’t a comfortable silence nor was it an awkward silence. Just silence.

Baji got tired of it though. He looked at his surroundings before letting out a grunt as he stands up. “Come on, I wanna show you something. It’s not far from here.” He said as he offered you a hand to help you up.

You let him lead the way. You two walked for about two to three minutes until you ended up in a grass field where he stopped in his tracks. Was this the place, there isn’t much to see around here.

Baji suddenly bolted and ran through the fields in different patterns. You looked at him incredulously wondering what the hell he was doing. Before you could ponder on what purpose of his running was, you suddenly see a trail of gold light following after him. It didn’t take long for you to realize “Fireflies!”

They looked oh so beautiful with the moonlit night. As beautiful as they are your attention was on something completely different. Seeing Baji jumping and hopping around somehow made your heart skip a beat. ‘I don’t know maybe it’s his handsome mug?’

“Hey! Come on run with me!” Didn’t have to tell you twice. For the next ten minutes all you two did was run around while also trying to catch fireflies and letting them go not long after. It’s a cute activity except when Baji started to catch them with his mouth asking if it makes him glow. Which you firmly said no and proceeded to scold him, except it happened more than once so now you’re chasing after him to free those poor fireflies.

You managed to tackle him down but when you looked at him there was nothing in his mouth anymore. So here you are lying on top of him. You blushed at your position and quickly got off him for you to then lie down beside him. He was still laughing from the experience doing his best to calm his laughter down. You two are now staring at the stars while lying down and surrounded by fireflies.

“Beautiful place isn’t it?”

“Yeah” you sighed in contentment

“The forest is a scary place. It’s full of dangers and predators ready to pounce on its prey. But at the same time it can also be beautiful. It’s little wonders like these that give life to the forest. What you experienced earlier is a terrifying experience, but I ask you not to let that incident define how you view this place after all, it is my home. And maybe…your grandmother’s too.”

You sat up from your position and turned to look at him. “Thank you.” You chuckled after saying that “How much did I thank you just for today?”

“Don’t know wasn’t really keeping count. Besides,” he sat up “nothing wrong with being grateful.”

“We should take our rest; we still have quite a lot of land to travel through tomorrow. Especially you, you just went berserk just earlier.”

“Are you kidding I could easily take one of those guys again right now with ease.”

“Don’t jinx us.”

“Hahaha my bad, my bad,”

Your two day trip was shortened to a day and a half. And now the village walls is in your view already.

“Woah! Thanks for the help and of course for escorting me all the way here.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. Managing to trek through these forests to the drop off point in only two days is commendable. You’re a Red Riding Hood for a good reason.”

“Oh come on you’re making me blush from those praise.” You muttered while holding your cheeks.

“Oh you got a thing for praises then?”

“What?”

“Huh?”

Baji cleared his throat and said “Well uh looks like we’ll be seeing each other quite often huh.”

“Oh yeah yeah.”

“Until next time then?”

“Of course!” you answered quite enthusiastically

“Save me some snacks for next time then!” he waved at you before disappearing in the forest.

A very interesting first day you must admit.

You’re currently at your home taking your rest until the next excursion in the forest. You’re gonna have to set a routine and a new lifestyle so you can get used to your new job. As you’re taking your rest, your mind started to wander to that wolf you just met. He’s very energetic but you had a feeling you haven’t gotten the full experience just yet.

Now that you think about it, was it normal for wolves to escort Red Riding Hoods? It would make sense since they’re carrying something that the wolves need but that doesn’t explain the continuous disappearances of them. Maybe it happens occasionally. When you were studying, you haven’t come across any accounts that states they’ve been escorted by a wolf before. The only explanation you could think of is that since wolves are private creatures they don’t want them talking about how they are. Well the best way to find answers is to ask someone who’s been a Red Riding Hood before.

“Who did what now?” the man in front of you asked, shock written all over his face.

“A wolf escorted me home and I was wondering if that were normal for us.”

“Y-you came across a wolf?” he asked still in disbelief. He then stood up instantly “Do you realize what this means?! No one has seen any of the wolves for decades now!” The man then started to mutter and spouting details you couldn’t really make out so you just slowly backed away. Well now you know it’s definitely not normal. He was probably just helping you out cause he was familiar with your grandmother…and the food, can’t forget about that.

After all that deliberation here you are again nearing the drop off point to of course drop off the crops and livestock. You’re sat beside a large tree near it taking a little bit of rest before travelling back home again. When you felt well rested enough, you reached for your bag to take off only to find out it’s not there. Well that’s worrisome, but said worries were set aside when you heard someone clear their throat from above you.

“Looking for this?~” Baji asked while holding out the bag as he sits on a tree branch.

“Baji! Come on give it back!” he lowered the bag to you but pulled it out of your reach went you went to grab for it which made you chuckle. You tried to grab it from him multiple times jumping up and down. “Hardi har har Baji, now give it back or else I won’t be able to give you your snacks.” You persuaded which surprisingly worked on him as he jumped down from the tree branch.

He held out the bag to you but went to a sprint before you could grab it. “Catch me first! Hahaha” run after him you did. You figured that he wasn’t running in his top speed as you were able to easily catch up to him. No way were you able to outrun a wolf and you weren’t exactly the fastest either. Just as you thought you were close to him, he jumped up and onto a tree.

He turned to you and held his hand out ��Upsy daisy!”

That caught you off guard “I’m not exactly a tree climber.”

“Don’t worry I got you!” he smiled at you with that wide smile where his sharp canines were on display. With such a charming smile, you couldn’t bring yourself to say no so you took his outstretched hand. You were much surprised when he was able to lift you up with just one hand.

He then handed the bag to you and climbed up higher and reached his hand out again. “We’re going higher?”

“Yeah I wanna show you something”

“How will we get down?”

“I’ll carry you down.”

You gave this a thought if it would be a good idea. You concluded that seeing the forest from a bird’s eye view can be very helpful especially in travelling. “Alright then.”

The higher you two get, the tighter the grip you had on Baji. He couldn’t help but silently smile at the thought that you trusted him in such a situation. Not long after, you two were at the top of the tree where the view of the large dense forest came to greet you. “Wow!” you gawked at the view while Baji basked in viewing the wonder in your eyes. “Look! I can see a little glimpse of the village’s gate from here!” you exclaimed pointing at its direction.

“They are pretty tall.” He acknowledged

You continued to sightsee and take in the large display of trees. You were taken out of your attention when you heard howling. You turned to Baji whose back was on you. You saw his flattened ears on his head, so you adjusted yourself to look at him and confirmed that it’s him who’s howling. “What are you doing?” you asked curiously

He turned to you and gave you a smirk. And that view got you blushing, his smirk along with the wind blowing his hair back with the large forest as the backdrop. After giving you the reassuring smirk, he continued to howl towards the forest for a few more seconds before pausing, waiting for something. Suddenly you heard howling coming from different directions of the forest.

Baji barked out laughter when he heard them. “THOSE ARE MY PALS!” he declared proudly. “You wanna meet them someday?”

“Can I?!?!” you asked excitedly. The idea of getting to know more about him and his friendships excited you.

You realize that your spot right now is a nice place to eat. So you fetched the food that you prepared for him. You decided to cook two servings of stir fried noodles since you figured that this man most likely had a gigantic stomach judging by the fact with how he devoured your sandwich last time.

Baji being the ever vigilant wolf that he is, smelt the food you took out and quickly sat beside you waiting to be handed the delicious smelling food. You even caught a glimpse of his wagging tail.

You held out the container to him but quickly pulled it back as he went to grab for it laughing at his pouty face paired with droopy ears. “Payback time.” He went and grabbed for it again but you managed to swipe it away from his reach. He tried again and again until your entire arm was outstretched while he was leaning on you as he tried to reach the container. It didn’t take long for you two to realize that he was basically hugging you with both his hands stretched out to reach the container and you in between his arms.

Both of you were quick to separate and sat there a little embarrassed flushing at the thought of how close you two were. “Here” you placed the container on his lap.

“Th-thanks”

A few moments has passed and you heard him starting to eat. Baji thinks that it’s delicious! It even reminded him of a certain food he loves back home but his mind is currently at how close they were earlier. You felt warm he could cuddle you all day just stay in your arms basking in its warmth. “Do you like it?”

“Mmfff!” He answered while also nodding his head. “We have something similar back home too!”

“Glad you enjoyed it. So uh,” you looked down from the tree “How exactly are we gonna get down?”

“Hmm? Oh, I’ll just carry you down.” He offered you his back “Just hang on to me and I’ll do the climbing down.

You appreciated that he was willing to do something like that but the thought of hanging on his back at such a height makes you scared that you’ll accidentally let go of him.

Baji sensed the anxiety you were currently having and thought of something else. “Th-then how about hanging from my front then.”

“Huh?”

“You clearly didn’t like the first idea and this is the only alternative I can think of.”

That was quite a smooth move whether it was his intention or not didn’t matter. Nevertheless clinging or basically hugging him until you get down didn’t seem like a bad idea. And you like being in his arms from earlier.

“That’ll do then.”

“Alright! Come on over here then.” He opened his arms with a wide smile trying to hide his fluster.

As you two got into position, both of you couldn’t help but focus on the breathing that’s right next to your ears. You give a pretty tight hug too. He lifted your thighs and guided them to wrap around his waist. The position was admittedly quite suggestive but he didn’t have any complaints and as he’s observed it seemed to be ok with you too. “Hang on tight.” He said as he started his descent.

As he was descending, you couldn’t help but pay attention to the breathing and grunts coming from him. You felt shame for thinking such thoughts so you just focused on the wind in your hair as he jumps from branch to branch and in no time at all you’re both back to the ground.

Once your feet were on the ground, you leaned back from your embrace with Baji. You still had your arms on his shoulders and his hands on your waist with you two just looking at each other. You caught a movement from his head and saw a caterpillar on his hair which made you giggle.

“What?” he asked concerned if he somehow looked silly.

“Nothing you just got a friendly guy hanging on you.” You reached for the caterpillar and let it crawl to your hand. As you wait for it to get to your hand, you felt how soft Baji’s hair actually was. You only assumed when since it looked like it, but getting to feel it it’s even softer than you expected.

The whole time Baji was just admiring you since he didn’t usually get a close look at you so he’s making the most out of this situation. He watched you place said caterpillar on a nearby bush letting it go in its merry way.

After that little encounter, you both agreed to start your journey back to the village. And thus another delivery as a Red Riding Hood has finished.

The both of you developed a routine where every time you are to do your duties, he would meet you at the drop off point, eat whatever you had prepared for him, and then show you a part of the forest he believes you would like. He never failed to bring a smile on your face when touring you through the forest. Then he’ll be on his way when you’re near the village. You’ve had this steady lifestyle for months until one day…

You were waiting for Baji because you just know that he’s on his way to get his precious snack. Your relaxed stated was disrupted when you smelt something burning. ‘That’s not good’ you thought It definitely wasn’t the smell of burning bonfire. You immediately rushed towards the direction of the burning hoping that it wasn’t the start of a forest fire.

Arriving at the scene, you were relieved it wasn’t a forest fire, but that relief was short lived because what you saw was somehow just as bad. There Baji was holding down a beast which is burning. “BAJI?!”

Your call made him turn to look at you. The sight of you made him widen his eyes in surprise “Stay back! I’ll handle this!” he said as he smacked the beast with a flaming torch before jumping away. He grabbed you in a hug and hid behind a tree where you only heard the flames getting bigger before silence.

You tried to look behind the tree but Baji only tightened his hold on you. The sound of something blowing up then overwhelmed you as you buried you head in his chest. A few more moments after that, Baji then loosened his hold on you. Once again you tried looking behind the tree only to find ashes everywhere. Nothing in the surrounding seemed to be burnt; the only evidence of there being a fire was the ashes and a missing patch of grass.

Before Baji could say anything, you smacked him upside the head. “What were you thinking?!?! You could’ve started something disastrous doing something like that!”

“But I didn’t~” he said before letting out a nervous laugh.

You went up real close to his face and said “You better NOT do this again or no more snacks for you!”

“Yes ma’am!”

You sighed and decided to take his word on it for now. “What even drove you to burning that beast?” you asked rubbing your temples

When you looked at him, he was guiltily looking down at his lap his ears droopy too, a clear sign of his guilt “I was hungry.” He said while in a pout.

“Come again?”

“I was hungryyyy” he whined “I easily get riled up when I’m hungry. That beast just attacked me at the wrong time.”

You sighed again not wanting to explore the topic any further. You took out a handkerchief and proceeded to wipe at his face “Look at you, you’re covered in soot.”

“So are you.”

“You know a place where we can wash up?”

Baji was silent for a moment trying to think of any. After a few moments, his face lighted up “I remember, there’s a river near hear with a small waterfall. I remember taking a bath there once.”

“Let’s head there then. Besides, a meal is much better after a bath after all.”

It wasn’t that long of a walk until you two came about the river he was talking about. The water in the river was crystal clear and the breeze around the area was refreshing thanks to the waterfall. You dipped your hand in the water to gauge its temperature which was just right it’s cold enough to be refreshing but not too cold that you’ll freeze. Maybe a little dip won’t hurt.

Unbeknownst to you, while you were observing the river, Baji was already shedding his clothes and was now running towards the river taking a dive. Your thoughts were interrupted when you heard a splash near you. You instinctively tried to cover yourself from being splashed. It doesn’t take a genius to deduct what was the source of that splash. “Baji!”

Baji resurfaced from the water and pushed his hair back all while laughing at your reaction “My bad, my bad.”

“You have to be mindful of others…around…you…” you drawled out after seeing Baji’s shirtless figure. Thank goodness for the sun’s reflection on the water or you would’ve gotten a full frontal view.

“You like the view?” he said with a big smirk on his face while also raising his eyebrow fascinated at how you were ogling him.

You were quick to turn your back to him to prevent yourself from staring. “Wh-why yes, this river is wonderful.”

“Not exactly what I’m referring to.” He teased

“Oh would you just shut it.” You blurted out in frustration. You were flushing so hard right now; you can’t bring yourself to face him like this.

“Oh well, it’s your decision to not take a dip. I mean it would be a shame for you not to experience the very cool river.” He sarcastically said while swimming over to the waterfall and washing his hair thoroughly through it. “ Ahh~ feels like I’m washing my problems away.”

You tried your best to remain firm but you find yourself turning to look at him curious as to what he was doing. And the sight of him washing his hair underneath a waterfall was such an enticing sight that you wanted to join him right then and there, but you were still embarrassed. You haven’t been naked in front of anyone, but the thought of being naked in front of Baji didn’t really bother you, you just felt shy.

Baji finished washing his hair before turning to look at you again. When he saw you still rooted in place, he swam over to you. “Come on take a dip, the water’s great. And weren’t you the one who said that a meal is much better after a bath?”

Few moments has passed of you just pondering the situation before answering “T-turn around.”

“Huh?” he asked in disbelief

“I said turn around. Don’t really feel comfortable being watched while getting naked.”

“Oh, OH right right! Uhh ok!” you heard a few splashes before you turned around to make sure. And there he is, his back turned to you—goodness even his back is such an eye candy.

You quickly make work of your clothes before taking a dip. In Baji’s opinion, the sound of your clothes rustling is much worse for him instead of just outright watching you get naked. Imagination is a powerful yet troublesome thing.

The soft sound of the water rippling as you stepped into the water rang in Baji’s ears refraining himself to look at your direction. “You should give the waterfall a try. It’ll also speed up the process if need be.”

Step under the waterfall you did. And to quote what Baji said, it really does feel like all your worries were being washed away. Baji then went back to washing himself once he was sure that you were settled nicely. Him minding his own business was quickly thrown to the side when he heard you let out a squeal. He quickly turned to look at you and he low-key regretted it. The sight of you and your pretty figure with water running down your body was more than enough to rile him up even more. He wanted to pounce on you right then and there. He clenched both his hands and his jaw trying to maintain what little is left of his self-control. But try as he might, he can’t make himself to look away from you his eyes stayed glued to you and you only, he was starting to have tunnel vision.

That tree branch sure did surprise you, now you felt silly for reacting such a way. You brushed that little incident off and went back to washing yourself which was paused the instant you felt an intense gaze on you. You turned to look at Baji since he’s the only person you knew who could be looking at you.

“Eep!” you squealed—yet again—out of embarrassment, not wanting to see his reaction to how you look so you quickly swan to the other side of the waterfall where he couldn’t or vaguely see you.

The second squeal you let out was enough for him to break out of his aroused stupor. Now with only concern in his mind, he swam near the waterfall but didn’t cross it. “Hey you ok in there?”

“Y-yeah!”

“Why’d you squeal earlier then?”

“You were looking at me earlier and I was embarrassed!”

There was a pause from his side “S-sorry about that I didn’t mean to. I was just concerned. Are you ok by the way?” he asked. You can hear the worry laced in his voice, and he did apologize so you decided to let it go.

“O-o that I was just-uh” you paused a little embarrassed to admit “A branch brushed my leg and I was startled. N-nothing to be concerned about.”

“That’s good.”

There was a pause once again. You only stared at each other’s figure albeit being distorted from the waterfall between you. “You’re beautiful.” Baji blurted out

“Huh?” you blushed at the sudden confession.

“I’m sorry, you were so irresistible to me I couldn’t help but stare I-I…” you saw his figure hold his face in his hands as if in shame “You’re a grown woman, surely you have an idea on what I’m feeling right now.”

You didn’t really have any words, you were speechless. But that’s not to say you disliked the knowledge that he saw you that way. In fact, it excited you. You reached out your hand to his side and took hold of his hands which were still holding his face. “No need to feel ashamed, I’m flattered actually.” You said as you then cupped his cheeks “Besides, you weren’t the only one staring.”

That admittance caused Baji to tense up. The thought of you looking at him the same way as he was looking at you was enough to rile him up again only this time, you were only a step away from him with you touching him. Once again he clenched his fists and jaw to maintain what’s left of his self control “Stop that. You don’t know what you’re doing.” He said with a slight tremble at his voice due to him trying to keep himself in place.

“What if I do know what I’m doing?” right now at this moment, you wanted to be as close to him as possible let him hold you close and do whatever he wants.

You felt some sort of vibration on your hands on his cheek. Was he growling? “You sure know how to rile a man up.” You heard him say through clenched teeth.

You realized you’ve made him wait long enough. You pulled your hands away from him and stepped back further in the waterfall to make room for him. “Come on over, must be lonely out there on your own.”

At first Baji was worried that he scared you off when you pulled you hands away, but you inviting him over excited him even more that he just knows how dilated his pupils were. Good thing the water was above the waist too or you would’ve gotten a view of his tail wagging aggressively.

You watched as he slowly stepped through the waterfall between you and seeing him all wet with some of his hair sticking to his in his naked glory brought you to arousal already.

Baji could say the same too. The sight of you all wet shyly covering yourself out of shyness from him was too much for him that he ended up caging you between his arms and the wall.

You two were close, too close with just a few inches between you as he pinned you. And yet it wasn’t close enough to your liking so you decided to fix that yourself. You threw your arms around his neck and brought your lips together with his which he gladly reciprocated. You felt how he was still trying to be gentle on you so you decided to rile him up. In the middle of your kiss, you gave his lips a long lick making him suck said tongue in turn. He then went to focus on your lips again sucking and biting which made you moan. Said moan turned Baji on even more as he shoved you further into the wall and dove to your neck giving it a hard bite pulling yet again another moan from you. The bite was hard but not hard enough to break skin yet hard enough to leave a mark that’ll be there for days. He gave the bite mark a lick before trailing butterfly kisses from your neck all the way up to your ear.

“I should’ve warned you earlier.” He said kissing your ear “I bite” he then proceeded to nibble at your ear while his hands were now roaming all over you feeling you up.

You didn’t want to be the only receiving end, so you proceeded to feel him up as well. You hands going to places you’ve always been curious about. First being his hair. You ran your hands repeatedly through his hair feeling how soft it is despite being wet. The next is his back; you’ve wanted to feel it ever since you caught sight of it earlier. You traced your hands on every muscle you could feel on his back starting from his shoulder blades and lower. You couldn’t help but wonder what it’ll be like when he’s thrusting into you. Third is his ears. You’ve always wondered if they were sensitive since it always seem to react to the tiniest bit of sound that not even you could pick up. You gave it a tentative touch and watch it twitch. You played with it for a while until you felt Baji’s nibbling to go harder.

Baji pulled away from your ear and dove for your lips making out with you as you both felt each other up. You were indulging in Baji’s kisses too much that you didn’t notice his hands going for your chest until he started playing with you nipples, pinching and twisting it while also squeezing your breast from time to time. The whole time he was doing so, you’ve been whimpering at the sensation. Baji was quick to put your breasts into his mouth sucking and nipping. As he does so, you started to feel something hard between your legs.

Naturally, you went and grabbed for it giving him slow strokes which earned a growl from him. A very welcome surprise for you, so you gladly kept doing it while his bites on your chests grow harder and harder. Eventually, Baji had enough of it. He grabbed your hand that was busy and pinned it to the wall next to you as he buried his face to your neck. “Careful now.” He growled

“Careful of what? I’ll welcome anything you have to offer, Baji.”

He gave you a tender look before going to kiss you again. As he was kissing, his free hand snaked down to your private parts and began to rub at it. Your moans from the action were swallowed by Baji as he kept kissing you. “You’re quite wet already aren’t you.” He said in between kisses.

“You sure it’s not just the water?” you teased

“Why don’t we find out ourselves.” He said with his signature smirk while inserted a finger in you making you gasp in surprise which he took advantage of tasting every bit of you through the kiss. Baji started to pull his finger in and out of you feeling your very slippery walls.

“I don’t know, it seems to me that the wetness is from you not the river.”

You didn’t even bother to answer, only focusing the feeling of Baji’s finger in you. You waited in anticipation as a second finger went up in you pulling a loud moan from you.

“Was two fingers too much for you, babe?” he swirled his fingers in you that made you squirm against him. “How are you going to handle me then?”

“B-baji please!” you pleaded as you looked at him with glossy eyes.

Baji would’ve loved to tease you more, but the sight of you begging and being putty under his hands is the straw that broke the camel’s back. He pulled out his fingers from you and grabbed your legs to lift you up against the wall. While in this position, you can feel his tip rubbing against you. Baji not wanting a moment to go to waste, entered you waiting for you to signal him to enter more until he is fully sheathed within you.

For a while you two stayed like that, basking in this very intimate embrace until you get used to the feeling of him in you. Once you felt ready, you called out to him.

“Keisuke”

“Hmm?”

“Take me.”

Baji gave your lips a peck “Anything my lady wants.”

He then pulled out from you leaving only the tip before slamming back in you. The act caused you to moan and squirm against him spurring him on even more to do it again. The first few moments he gave you slow and heavy thrusts but over time his hips started to move faster and faster leaving you a moaning mess against him. You can hear him growling and snarling as kept thrusting into you bringing you bliss every time. Baji only seemed to get turned on even more as he make love to you. The combination your sounds the feeling of your body against him and the feeling of your insides was driving him over the edge.

He dove for the space between your neck and shoulders and bit you his primal instincts taking over. The feeling of him biting you caused you to grab hold of his hair as you clenched around him.

In turn, the feeling of you clenching around him and pulling his hair only caused him to bite even harder. The act making you clench around him again. And thus it became a cycle throughout your session with his thrusts only growing harder as you two came near your climax. All you could hear was his muffled grunting and growling against your neck, his mouth still occupied by biting you. Not long after the familiar feeling of climax came upon you.

“Keisuke please! I-I”

He paid no attention to your words as kept his pace steady already knowing what’s going on. It didn’t take long until he heard you moan out his name out loud and feeling you cream all over him. He paused for a bit letting you take a breather. He went for a kiss making out with you before continuing to thrust in you again. You let him have his way with you as he chased after his high. A minute or so has passed of him just thrusting up to you until you hear his stuttering moan before feeling him pull out and rubbing himself before shooting out his load. You mimicked his action from earlier and gave him a kiss after his orgasm.

He let you down from your position before pulling you into a hug which you gladly returned. Being in his embrace after such an intimate endeavour felt romantic for you for some reason.

“How are you?” he asked as he strokes your head with so much tenderness you just wanted to melt into him.

“Amazing. I don’t know how else to word it.”

“I wasn’t too rough on you was I?” he asked looking at your bit marks in concern.

You noticed where his gaze was before smiling at him. “I would’ve smacked you upside the head if I didn’t like anything what you were doing. And I told you I’ll take everything you had to offer.”

“That’s good to hear.” He sighed in relief before kissing you. Said kiss started off innocent but eventually grew in fervor where he was now nibbling at your lips.

“B-baji?”

He pulled away and asked you “I know it’s too much to ask of you, but can you handle one more for me?” while caressing your waist.

“H-huh? Already?!” you gaped at him in surprise

“I told you, you’re irresistible to me. And I’ll only do it If you’re ok with it.” He emphasized

You were tired and winded from your first round, but the thought of a second round only aroused you despite what your body feels. You were definitely lying to yourself if you told yourself you didn’t want more.

As an answer to him, you jumped up and wrapped your legs around him again which he swiftly caught. “I’ll be in your care.

Baji definitely lit up hearing your answer. He gave you a deep kiss and said “I promise I’ll take good care for you the whole time.”

And just like that you were once again overwhelmed by the sounds of waterfall, your moans and his grunts inside the shallow cavern from behind the waterfall.

Just as he promised, he took good care of you drying you off, and dressing you up before cuddling you in a soft patch of grass beneath the shade of a tree. His arms felt so warm around you that you couldn’t help but fall asleep.

When you awoke, you realize you were lying down on his lap. The view that greeted you was Baji eating his serving of stir fried noodles. He swallowed the food in his mouth before speaking “Hope you don’t mind me eating while you slept. After all that I got hungry.”

“It’s ok you don’t have to worry about it.” You said as you slowly sat up “Besides better that than waking up to you burning yet another beast. And whose fault was it I was this tired?” you teased

Baji only laughed at your teasing before holding your chin and guiding you to him to give you a kiss. “I’d gladly do all it again if I’m being totally honest.”

You looked at him and said “No one is exactly stopping you.”

He went near your ear and whispered “Is that an invitation?”

You playfully pushed him away “Not right now you doofus.” You said chuckling.

Baji scooped you into his arms and onto his lap hugging you tight “I just wanna gobble you up all day.” He said nuzzling his face on your neck before looking up and giving you another kiss. After having a taste of you he just couldn’t get enough. He wanted to go back for more and more. Baji’s feelings were translated into the kiss where he continued to deepen it while also beginning to nibble on your lips.

You knew where this was going you wanted more of him too, but unfortunately you decided against it tapping on his shoulder before pulling away saliva still connecting you both. You wiped your lips before speaking “Very tempting really, but we should rest. We still have the journey back.”

Baji’s face turned into a pout before burying his face in your neck again his droopy ear tickling your cheek. The sight was too adorable you couldn’t help but pet said soft looking ears. Baji hummed in content as his ears perked up again, taking pleasure in your attention. “Come on, Baji up we go. We still have to set up camp before nightfall.” You coerced while patting his back.

He let out a low whine before standing up picking you up with him which made you giggle while giving him a kiss on the cheek. Once your camp was set up, you two settled for the night, lying down next to each other. It didn’t take long before you’re all over each other again. Both of you agreed not to go further than kissing tonight, after all you still need energy to go home. Who knows how long you two were kissing until you both fell asleep in each other’s arms. Baji holding you close and you holding his fluffy tail.

As you enter the village gates, Akkun happily greeted you “Welcome back! I hope it’s been a safe jou- WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?!” he looked you over in concern

“What’s wrong?”

“Look at your neck! You’ve got bites on you! You have to go to a medic right away!” he frantically said while pushing you to a carriage that was supposed to drive you home.

Oh goodness gracious. Baji’s bite marks didn’t even occur to you. You stepped away from his pushy hands and tried to reason with him “C-calm down Akkun. This isn’t anything fatal; otherwise I would’ve been rushing here. It didn’t even break skin, look just bruised.”

Akkun only looked at you in disbelief “A-are you sure sure? Those look pretty gnarly. Might be safer to get it looked over.”

“I’ll be fiiine~ It’s just some troublesome creature that didn’t let go until he was satisfied.” You said looking back at you and Baji’s intimacy. He really didn’t let you go until he was satisfied. You only chuckled at the memory.

“Sorry if I’m a little bit pushy, but are you sureyou don’t want that looked over?”

“I’m sure. It’ll disappear in a few days.” You then remembered how hard Baji was biting you and concluded that a few days might be too short “…maybe.”

You opened the carriage door before turning to the knight “Thanks for the concern Akkun, but I’ll be fine.” You said before boarding.

“Take good care of yourself. I wouldn’t want the reason for a new Red Riding Hood to be appointed because the last one died.” He jokingly said before closing the carriage door and signalling the driver that everything’s ready.

Akkun watched as the vehicle went off still a little bit concerned. Just then a knight came near him and said “I sense that our little Red Riding Hood has been having fun in the forest.”

Akkun gawked at the statement before giving said knight a light punch to the stomach “Get your head out of the gutter, Makoto!” he scolded one of his subordinates.

“I don’t recall any creature that can give such a bite and not break skin.” A knight with glasses stated.

“Not you too, Yamagishi! Takuya help me out here!” Akkun turned to the person who seemed sane along with him in their little team.

Takuya only turned to him and shrugged “I’m somewhat of a biter myself and those looked familiar to me.”

Akkun gave up, these three can be stupid in their own way at times, even more stupid than Yamagishi.

Seasons come and go faster than we realize and before you knew it, winter is upon the land. Since winter is a very harsh weather for travel, Red Riding Hoods are only required to deliver supplies once a month. As much as you’re happy at the little break from your job, you can’t help but be sad too. Seeing Baji less brought your spirits a little down, but a job is a job and you must see through it if you wanna live comfortably.

So here you are the lone red in a backdrop of a harsh white, like blood in snow. It’s not supposed to be there. You hope that thought coming to your mind is not some kind of bad omen.

Sadly fate followed through with that omen. You being the only red thing among the snow, you are very noticeable and a winter beast has been eyeing you for a while now. You noticed that someone or something has been following you, but you assumed that it was just Baji, but when he didn’t turn up you figured that it wasn’t him and now you’re extra vigilant.

As much as you would’ve loved to run, doing so in such a situation can only provoke what’s been following you into chasing you so you did your best not to make any sudden moves.

You were too focused on not spurring whatever’s been following you that you didn’t notice that you’ve already arrived at your destination. You make quick work of locking in the supplies in the drop off point since you suspected that whatever is following you is after the food.

Just as you were locking up, you heard a loud roar which likely came from the beast that’s now making a beeline towards the place containing the food. You tried to jump out of its way but it was still able to reach you and pushed you out of the way quite harshly. You ended but getting scratched by its claws but at least you landed on the soft snow.

You looked at the beast trying to claw at the container, but failing to get it to open. You took that opportunity to run away and put some distance between you and it. The beast having found the container futile, decided to go after the running prey. Just as you think you have lost the beast, you heard it coming near you. So you continued to run away trying to think of a way to shake it off you tail. You were so lost in thought that you didn’t see the branches that you ran into it. You were quick to get up but wasn’t able to run away since your red cloak got caught. You tried to make quick work on it, but you noticed that the beast is gaining on you. You pulled as hard as you could to your cloak that when it was free you stumbled back and hit your head to a nearby tree.

Now feeling a little dizzy, your run was slowed and a little wobbly. You eventually ran into a dead end. The wall didn’t seem to be too high; you know it’s within your abilities to climb it. But with your dizzy state, you were seeing double and that climbing said wall can result to even more injury.

You looked back and saw the beast slowly coming towards you. All you could do was close your eyes and hope that it won’t be painful. And so you waited…

And waited…

Until warmth envelopes you. You didn’t know what’s going on but you welcomed said warmth. It reminded you of the warmth Baji provided whenever he held you close to him. Oh how you so badly wanted him to be here right now.

You opened your eyes and was greeted by red against white. It was the blood of the beast flowing down onto the snow. You processed that someone was holding you and you were greeted by the comforting dark locks and amber gaze of Baji. He looks at you in guilt as if blaming himself of what just happened. You couldn’t stand the look of him bearing the sins of a mindless beast.

You reached out your hand to cup his cheek and gave him a grateful smile. “Baji, thank you. You saved me you have nothing to be guilty about.”

Baji tightened his hold on you and kissed your forehead. “I know, I just felt responsible since you’re very special to me and I want to protect everything that’s special to me.” Baji leaned down and pecked your lips “You’re one of my treasures. I can’t bear to lose you.” He said his eyes on the verge of tears.

“And I’m still here thanks to you. You protected your treasure.” You returned his kiss before hugging him “Baji, I’m tired. Can I go to sleep?”

“Not yet, we have to get you looked over.” He said worry laced in his voice as he gently stroke your head as if trying to push your dizziness away.

“I’ll be in your care.”

You didn’t remember much that happened after. All you could recall was the cold wind against you as Baji rushed through the forest, the sight of a cave above you along with a lilac haired man with matching ears before everything went to black.

Once Baji is sure that you’re settled, he put on his coat and started to head out.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the guy tending your wounds asked.

“Don’t stop me, Mitsuya. That beast’s body is still intact; I’ll go finish it off.”

Mitsuya stood up from beside you and took hs coat. “No you won’t, I’ll handle it. You watch over your precious. She’d be more comforted if she saw a familiar face when she wakes up.”

Baji clenched his fist, his eyes full of vengeance. “I’ll destroy every bit of that beast. I’d make its soul suffer if I could.” He muttered in clenched teeth his rage leaking out.

Mitsuya knew that Baji being in this state will only be bad for him in the end, so he decided to slap some sense into him. Mitsuya grabbed hold of Baji’s face and made him turn to your sleeping state “Look at her! You want to leave her here just so you could satiate your hunger for revenge?! You already killed the thing, she’s already in a safe state now go take care of her. I’ll handle the beast’s body.”

The sight of your peaceful face was enough to soften Baji’s intense anger and admittedly he really didn’t want to leave you here. If he could he would stay with you forever to protect you from ever being harmed again.

Mitsuya sensed that Baji has calmed down and let go of his face. “I’ll be off now. Take care ok?”

Baji only gave out a nod before kneeling down next to you. Mitsuya smiled at the sight of this Baji not having seen it often. But he’s glad that he has someone special that he can be himself with. No wonder he’s been in a good mood lately. And like that he’s off to the forest to leave the two be.

Morning came, and you roused from your slumber taking comfort in the warmth next to you. It was so familiar that you’re sure that it was who you thought it was. You looked up and saw Baji’s sleeping face his hair cascading across his face that he looked to ethereal. You wish you could burn the image into your mind. He’s as handsome as ever. You lifted your hand and slowly pushed the stray hairs on his face to behind his ears, but the action caused him to stir awake.

You waited for him to open his eyes, before flashing him a big smile “Sorry for waking you.”

Baji stayed silent just looking at you before his eyes widened and sat up quickly and leaning on to you. “Y-you’re awake?! Are you feeling ok, you feel anything unusual, hungry, thirsty?” he bombarded you with questions in concern.

Before you could respond, he dove for the bag right next to him and pulled out a canteen and handed it to you. Now that you’re looking at it, you did felt thirsty so you gladly took it and took a big gulp sighing in relief after quenching you thirst. Baji took the canteen from you as you were finished and handed you a container filled with food which you gladly devoured.

Baji only watched you closely trying to see if there’s anything to be concerned about. So far, you’ve been fine but he couldn’t help but worry after yesterday’s display. “How’s the cut on your arm?”

“Hmm?” you swallowed the food still in your mouth and felt around the bandaged wound. “It feels just fine. It’s like it’s never been there in the first place.”

Baji smiled at the information and gently grabbed your arm. He started to remove the bandages causing you to pull your arm in surprise “What are you doing?”

“You’ll see.” He held out his hand waiting for you to place your arm there. You trust Baji so you gave your arm to him.

He continued to remove the bandage and you were expecting to see a nasty wound, but what greeted you was your clean smooth skin which caused you to stare at your arm incredulously. Baji chuckled at your surprised face finding it cute. “A friend of mine patched you up. He’s no medic, but he’s very well prepared for situations like these.” He explained while caressing your healed arm. “He had an ointment on him that medics back home created made from herbs found in the forest. With a forest so big, there are a lot of things unexplored.” He looked up at you “It would seem that your village hasn’t discovered such a thing just yet.”

“That’s amazing!” you said still looking at your completely healed arm.

“I’d teach you to make it if I could, but sadly medicine isn’t a field I’m very knowledgeable with.”

“Then how about your friend? I wish I could’ve met him too.”

Baji chuckled “He doesn’t know how to make it too. He only carries it around because the rest of us can be muscleheads sometimes.”

“Well I get to learn it someday.” You said leaning into him as he hugged you “It would be a great asset to our village.” The thought of your village made you realize something. “How long was I out?” you asked concern written in your eyes.

“You’ve been out for a day. Why, is something wrong?”

“I-I have to get back home quickly!” you said quickly standing causing your vision to swirl. You wobbled but Baji caught you.

“H-hey calm down. Why in such a rush?”

“I have to get home quick!”

“W-why you shouldn’t even be moving too much. The ointment may have healed you but your body is still recovering from healing external wounds. You can’t be out and about right now especially in this cold weather.”

The reminder of the season caused you to shiver, suddenly feeling the cold. Baji tightened his hug when he felt you shiver. “I have to go home.” You said

“That sounded like there was an ‘or else’ was supposed to follow it.”

“I have to go home or… or I’ll be declared dead.” Baji tensed at that statement.

Baji pulled away from you to look at you but still close enough to hold you. “You’ll be declared dead?” he stared at the distance trying to figure it out but came to no reasonable reason “Why?”

“Being a Red Riding Hood is a dangerous job. We’re aware of what we’re getting into. They have a rule set in place where once a Red Riding Hood has not returned in the designated time, they will be declared dead.” You looked at Baji to see his reaction and he is infuriated. You could see his jaw clenching and his body tense ever since you started to explain the situation.

“Why don’t they send out a search party to look for missing Red Riding Hoods? Surely some of them only got lost.”

“Think about it Baji, you yourself are very familiar with the dangers of the forest. Do you think that those who went missing only got lost?”

“Then how about your grandmother, do you believe she’s dead too just because people who are too lazy to look for them declared that they’re dead?” he raised his voice which caused you to flinch a bit. He reached for your hand and you let him “I’m sorry, but you yourself have experienced the loss of someone out here. You still have hope to find your grandmother remember?” he reassured recalling one of your first conversations.

The rule has always been stupid in your eyes, but after years of studying of being a Red Riding Hood, they must have somehow buried that thought deep in you. Brainwashing you into thinking that said rule is a reasonable one. But thinking about it more, said rule is the reason you’re not with your grandmother anymore.

Too much emotion was going through you that you held on to Baji for comfort. In fact, it was too comforting that you ended up falling asleep in his arms. Baji gave the crown of your head a kiss before laying you back down and letting you rest. You need all the rest you can get because he just knows that you’ll insist on getting home once you wake up. He might even just carry you all the way there.

By the time you woke up, it was already evening. You smelled something good and saw Baji roasting something over the fire.

“Well rested?” he asked when he noticed you sit up.

“Like I could run a marathon!”

Baji sweatdropped and tried to reason “M-maybe not to that extent.”

“Well I technically have to run for a long time until I get home.”

“No need for that, I’ll just carry you. You can just enjoy the ride.” He said with a smirk no doubt confident in his abilities.

You chuckled at him “You know, when you say it like that something else comes to my mind you know.” You said blush slowly forming on your cheeks.

There was a slight pause as Baji processed what you just said just staring at you with wide eyes. He then smirked and said “There you are again riling me up.”

“Do you not like it?” you asked teasingly returning the smirk

“Never said such a thing.” He said as he took out whatever he was roasting off the fire.

You stood up and walked over to him not playing around. You lifted your leg over him and sat on his lap facing him. “Getting bold now are we.” He said his smirk growing bigger anticipating what will happen next.

“Are you still taking me for a ride?” you felt up his chest lacing your voice with a sultry tone trying to get him in the mood.

Baji placed his hands at your waist caressing it and occasionally wandering down to your butt. “In what context.” He teased

“You know…ride you.” You went close to him and gave his lips a kitten lick.

“I’m gonna need you to be more specific, darling.” He said before diving into your neck licking you there before giving you the first hickey of the night while also giving your butt a light smack.

“Please Baji! If you don’t take me right now I won’t be feeding you for the next month!”

“You treat me as if I’m some food motivated animal.” He said kissing you

“You sure act like it sometimes.” You responded in between his kisses.

Baji pulled away and looked at you with very dilated pupils. “Oh really? Then…” he lifted you up from where he was sitting and laid you down on your makeshift bed in the cave. “how about I eat you up. You’ll be my delicious meal for tonight.”

He went in to kiss you and took comfort of his tongue intertwined with yours. He indulged himself on your lips for a few more minutes before working to undress you and himself. Not long after, you two were passionately making out in the nude his hair cascading around you acting as sort of like a curtain, your only privacy.

Baji then slowly trailed kisses down to your neck where he placed a few more hickeys before proceeding to your chest. He took hold of it appreciating the feel of it against his hands before suckling on your nipples alternating between the two. After a few bite marks were given to your chest, he gave your tummy kisses.

You gasped when you felt Baji’s breath near your private parts. He adjusted himself and made room to slowly spread your legs. Guess you really were is meal, he looked starved when he caught sight of your glistening folds. Baji sat up and took a hair tie from his clothes and tied his hair back “Gotta make sure nothing gets in the way of my feast.” He placed your legs over his shoulders, held you down and gave your thighs a few bite marks.

Moans came out of your mouth as you felt his tongue give you a long lick tasting. Oh how he loved hearing those sounds knowing that he was the one to cause those. Baji gave her repeated licks savouring the taste of her burning it to his mind because he couldn’t get enough of it.

Baji was relentless, his tongue overwhelming you with sensations completely new to you. His pliant tongue a completely different experience from his thrusts back when you two were behind that waterfall. He was precise and you felt him everywhere, well it felt like it because the feel of him is the only thing you could feel and focus on.

After spending a while tasting your wetness, indulging himself in your taste. He figured he has tasted you enough that he should pay attention to your needs now. But you’d have to disagree as just his curious exploring was pleasurable as it is. Baji went to look for that bundle of nerves, and as soon as he came in contact with it, he felt you squirm away. Baji took hold of your legs on his shoulders and pulled you back and pinning you down. Now you’re a squirming and moaning mess underneath the mercy of his tongue. The stimulation was too much as you tried to squirm away once again but his tight grip on you prevented you from moving even a single inch from him.

The cave you two were in was filled with your moans and his slurping echoing across it which brought you an ounce of embarrassment and arousal. Just hearing those sounds excited you more, there’s something primalin the act of doing it in a cave, the thought bringing you excitement.

You felt around you trying to look for leverage to hold on to ground yourself from these sensations, but you settled at grabbing his hair and pulling occasionally. Since you couldn’t do anything but receive Baji’s actions, you were curious as to what he looked like and so you propped yourself on your elbows and peeked. What greeted you were Baji’s amber eyes staring at you intensely. The sight of Baji staring at you as he ate you out caused more wetness to gush out of you thoroughly aroused at the thought that he’s been watching you from the start.

Baji has been watching you, anticipating every single reaction he pulls out from you. He must know everything about you and how like to be pleasured, learning every single thing that brings you pleasure and excitement and exploiting them. Maybe even take advantage of it for the next time you get intimate. Everything about you just drives him crazy. He was in a daze he couldn’t stop and before he knew it a loud moan greeted his ears as fluids gushed out from you. He licked off every single drop off you clean before sitting up and licking his lips. He admired you and your limp and heavy breathing form, taking pride at his work.

As you were trying to catch your breath, you felt Baji lean over your figure and placed a kiss on your lips. Soon you felt something prodding at your entrance, but not right now. Not just yet. You sat up and pushed Baji into a sitting position with you leaning close to his face.

“That can wait. I have a different plan for now.” You said as you reached your hand behind his head and pulled his hair tie off his hair. You showed the object to Baji before using it to tie your hair back “Gotta make sure nothing gets in the way.” You quoted Baji from earlier which earned a chuckle from him.

You started to mimic how he went down on you. First kissing his neck and also leaving your little hickey before going down to his chest licking and tasting him. You took your time at his abdomen admiring it while also teasing him making him think that you’ll finally go down on him only to lick upwards again. You gave in after hearing him growl. You looked at him and his size seemed to lean on the bigger side. You weren’t sure if you could take all of him in your mouth, but might as well try.

You gave his tip a kiss and a lick before putting it in your mouth, swirling your tongue around just his tip. Trying to tease him more, you licked from the base of his cock all the way up slowly and flicking your tongue as you got to the tip. That seemed to be what caused Baji to snap. He grabbed you by the hair and shoved himself in your mouth. You giggled at his desperation before you started bobbing your head up and down your tongue still working in action.

Baji moaned loudly, throwing his head back as he indulged in the feeling of your mouth sucking him off. But he wasn’t one to pass up the sight of you and your face stuffed with his cock. He looked down and the sight almost made him come. He would’ve been done for if you were looking at him. Baji was quick to pull you away from him and kissing you. All the while kissing you, he pushed you down and hovered over you just appreciating in your beauty.

You could never tire of the view you have above you right now. Dishevelled hair around you both, his glistening lips, and the warm light of the bonfire made him appear even more sexier. It’s like everything around you was adjusting to you and Baji. Nothing else mattered except this moment between you two.

“Be a good girl for me and lie on your stomach, would you.”

Anything for him. You repositioned yourself and waited for Baji to make a move. You felt him kiss the small of your back his loose hair tickling you and made you squirm a little causing your butt to brush up to something hard.

Baji chuckled “Eager now, are we.” Ah, looks like he mistook it. No matter, you’ll both feel good later on anyway.

Baji’s hands explored your smooth back appreciating the feel of it against his hands and how you react to his every single touch whether it be a slight twitch or a whimper out of you, it excites him even more.

He leaned down to your ear “You ready?”

Once he saw you nod in response, he bit at your neck whilst inserting himself inside you. The feeling of each other’s closeness had you two letting out hot breaths, calming yourselves and letting you adjust to him. When you gave him the go ahead, he started ramming his hips into you. He couldn’t help himself from ravaging you, he’s been holding himself back ever since from the start.

You felt him lean down and felt his chest come into contact with your back as he continued to thrust into you. His pace started to quicken even more so you grabbed the nearest thing to you as leverage which happened to be Baji’s coat.

As soon as he saw you clutching at his coat, it sent him into overdrive standing on his knees and elevating your hips and holding your head down. He gave your butt a few smacks then proceeding to drive his hips into you once again. Baji pulled your hair up causing you to be on all fours.

“Look at you taking me so well.” He moaned out biting your neck once again “This is the third time I’ve been in you, right? You took me so well all times. Made me feel real good I couldn’t stop thinking about you after that.” He said between grunts.

Just as he said those words, he felt you clench at him “A-ahn~ you r-really do like praises huh.”

“You remember that? When I brought you back for the first time. You liked it when I sang you praises. Guess it carries over here too huh. Agh!” your insides clenched at him again. He grabbed your chin and made you face him “Driving me crazy here.” He kissed your lips tongue never failing to explore you.

After a few minutes of you two going at it, you eventually arrived at your climax which had you plop down on the makeshift bed ass still up. Baji rubbed himself a few more times before covering your back in white letting out a sigh of satisfaction.

Your back covered in his cum aroused him again; it makes him want to cover you with even more. But he knows he can’t, you still have to rest for tomorrow’s journey. He leaned down at your shoulder and bit down as his last ditch effort to satiate his current hunger, but sadly it only turned him on even more as he heard you moan in response to his bite.

You can tell that Baji is still raring to go but is holding himself back. “Keisuke,” you called in a breathy voice still trying to catch your breath “What’s stopping you?”

“Tomorrow, you need rest for tomorrow.” He kissed you again finding your dazed look to be irresistible.

“I thought you offered to carry me all the way home.” You teased

“I did say that.”

“And speaking of rides,” You sat up and sat on his lap, your cunt sliding against his already semi hard cock “I haven’t gotten my ride for tonight.”

Baji relented, grabbing your waist and guiding you to hover over his cock. “Do as you please.” He said with a smirk licking your collarbone.

Slowly, you sank yourself onto him with Baji’s arms stiff on your waist restraining himself from just slamming you down on him. It’s your ride, you do as you please. But goodness you sure are a good way to train his self-control because you keep testing him. By the time he’s fully in you, you caught sight of his knitted brows and a few droplets of sweat on his forehead.

You decide to spare him and slowly bounced yourself on him with Baji groaning in pleasure in response. You felt his hand on your waist go tighter. You can tell that he wants more, but you decide to just go at your pace going slowly. You low-key anticipate the impending rough treatment of you when he gets fed up with your ‘teasing’.

It didn’t take long before he’s biting on your neck and is now the one bouncing you on his cock. Baji laid on his back and continued to thrust up into you. You were glad he took initiative in this situation because you weren’t sure if your thighs could hold you up any longer considering his treatment of you in your first round.

Soon enough, you billowed out a moan your body twitching ever so slightly before collapsing on his chest. Baji pulled out of you and closed your thighs together and thrusted in there instead. The feeling of your soft lower lips and thighs rubbing him was what brought him to his second climax of the night. He felt you slowly dozing off on him. He pulled the blanket over the two of you before repositioning you into a much more comfortable sleeping position. He made sure to clean up the both of you before going to sleep himself.

You were woken up with Baji shaking you. When you woke up you were already dressed. “Time to go.”

You yawned and stretched before getting up preparing to leave. Travelling through the forest on a wolf’s perspective is a very new experience. You can’t help but close your eyes in bliss as you felt the wind in your hair blowing against you from the speed Baji was running. You vaguely remember this feeling when you were still injured after he saved you from the beast. You’re just happy you get to experience it again more clearly.

Baji suddenly came to a stop and when you looked ahead there are the gates of your village. On a normal circumstance you’d be happy at the sight of your home, but right now you’re only filled with dread. The gate lock was adorned with a red ribbon.

You hopped off Baji and approached said ribbon. “We’re too late.”

“What?! But you still have the rest of the day to return!”

“I know. They sure are quick to claim my death. Guess that’s that then.”

“You’re just gonna let them do that?!”

“Baji, once the ribbon is set there’s no way they’ll let me in anymore. It’s another one of those stupid rules. I’m not welcome here anymore.”

After all the work you did for them, they’re gonna dispose of you just like that??? Hell no, fuck those bastards, you’re not going back there. “You still have another place you’re welcome to go home to.”

Baji held his hand out to you “Come home with me. You’re more than welcome there. The pack would love you!”

You immediately took his hand. “If I’m being totally honest, I would prefer to be with you rather than stay in a place where not a lot cares about me. I missed you a lot when I couldn’t see you.”

Baji pulled you in for a hug and kissed you. “You’ve always been in my mind too. Now we don’t have to be apart anymore. We can be together whenever we want, wherever we want.”

“Let’s go to your home then.”

“Our home.” He corrected

“Yes, our home.”

And with that the two of you ran into the forest ready to start a new chapter in your lives where a new companion is by their side.

[teklarn]

𝔂𝓸𝓾'𝓻𝓮 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓶𝔂 𝓫𝓸𝔂𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭 - 𝓴. 𝓫𝓪𝓴𝓾𝓰𝓸𝓾 (𝓹𝓽. 2)

 character(s): katsuki bakugou x gn!reader 

a/n: ok so i just started writing on tumblr and honestly in my opinion for my first time posting smth on this the first part did really well thank u for all the likes :) (told from second pov; e.g you, your) reblogs are greatly appreciated :))

summary: bakugou x gn!reader. they have feelings for one another but have no idea how to express them, however y/n has someone pining for their attention. 

genre: a lil bit angsty 

warnings: cursing, jealousy, mutual pining, slow burn romance, aged-up to third year, love triangle (square?), physical injuries, kirishima gets a little toxic, also shirtless bakugou (awooga), a crap ton of time skips bc i can’t write action scenes for shit, bakugou is a flirt (lowkey but yeah), mentions of blood 

word count: 2112

pt 1 , pt 3

- - - 

kirishima had broken the skin on his lower lip with how hard he was biting it. he stood in the bathroom, rinsing his mouth, ignoring the slight sting the water brought. 

y/n was currently being blasted by bakugou, and they were fighting back. 

jealousy panged in his chest. 

bakugou had never let him know about how he felt about you, however kirishima was sure he felt something for them. you and bakugou were both a jumble of prideful and longing stares towards each other from across every room. the tension was thick enough to slice through. and while kirishima would never make a move in fear of ruining the friendship between him and bakugou, as well as him and y/n, gosh it didn’t stop him from wanting to. 

he’d stood on the side, cheering you on to no end. the sports festival last year, the year before that, training exercises, he was always there. kirishima was always there. 

whenever you needed him, whenever you wanted his company. so what did bakugou have over him? sure, the blond was strong and had bigger goals than kirishima, but why should that matter? 

what did bakugou have? why would you want him more when he was never near you? never made an effort to see you to be there when you asked for help. 

it was popular belief that bakugou was a noisy idiot, but he was actually quite a quiet boy. he didn’t bother to raise his hand in class, however he always knew the answer. he spoke rarely and only made conversation with those he was close with if they were the ones to make the effort to converse with him first. 

jealousy, jealousy, jealousy. kirishima despised it. 

whenever did he begin wanting to beat bakugou at something? 

the cloud of guilt welling up in his chest was going to become unbearable, and soon everything he ever wanted to say was going to come up like word vomit at the worst possible time. 

- 

you swiped at your cheek, brushing off the crumbling dirt. your timing had been off, and their flip backwards had landed you in an awkward position. a vulnerable one. 

honestly, though, it wasn’t like it really mattered. bakugou was a bit transparent himself. he wore a smug look like a golden medal, and held back his power just enough to keep you on your feet. 

his cocky attitude was irritating and it drew you in like a moth drawn to a lamp. 

sweat was beading down your temple. the day was exceptionally hot, the sun beaming down on your back like a proud child. 

you and bakugou had been at it for a while. with anyone else, you would have quit by now. it’s not that you gave up easily. no, not ever. but fights could get boring, especially if you were just smashing away at them with your quirk and they were acting like they could take it. 

perhaps you were being cocky. 

this fight, though. this was interesting. not only because it was bakugou; also because you knew so little about him. 

it was likely he never shared anything important to anyone. he was quite introverted. 

it was interesting for another reason. 

it was hot, bakugou sweats a lot. gosh, he looked delicious without a shirt on. he had a built figure accompanied by strong arms and a broad chest. 

he’d filled out quite nicely the past few years. you hadn’t noticed until now how much he’d grown. 

“don’t get distracted.” 

your eyes snapped up from his chest to his eyes. bakugou became a blur, shooting himself off the ground and flipping once in the air before propelling himself back down. 

before you could do anything, bakugou had you pinned, one leg pinning yours, both his hands wrapped around your wrists. he’d ditched his gauntlets, leaving the metal assistants in the sweltering heat, claiming he wanted to give you an equal fight. 

he panted atop you, hands tightening. 

tokage didn’t bother to leave her dorm today, thank goodness. it had just been the three of you. you, bakugou, and kirishima. 

the red head had suspiciously vanished halfway through the fight, though.

bakugou’s crimson eyes bored into yours. neither of you blinked for a moment. perhaps just a small eternity each of you silently reveled in. 

his erratic breaths slowed, and so did yours, although you stayed the same. unmoving, faces neutral but eyes giving away long-held secrets. 

your ears flushed, and butterflies came rising up uncontrollably. you should have pushed him off. instead you gave him a wicked grin, which earned a look from him and you couldn’t tell if he was confused or annoyed. 

“your big ass forehead is blocking the bright-as-hell sun. stay like this,” you mocked, wrenching your wrists from his grasp and snaking your arms around his neck. 

his cheeks burned red. “w-what?” 

“you heard me.” 

he scoffed, tugging you off his neck and standing. “shut up, shitface. we aren’t even done yet.” he readied himself in a fighting stance once more. 

“i thought you said you wanted to stop when you won?” you brushed yourself off as you stood. 

“i know what i said. you probably weren’t even giving it your all.” 

“’course i was.” you cocked your head. “why wouldn’t i?” 

“you’re strong, damn idiot.” 

you feigned surprise, pressed a hand to your fluttering chest. “the bakugou, dynamight himself, complimenting a humble soul like me? oh, i really must be good, then.” 

“not as good as me.” his face dropped from a smile. bakugou never got enough training no matter how early or late he stayed up, or how many hours on the weekends were spent kicking a bag or sparring with friends. hard workers did all of the work there was a still wondered if they were doing enough. the number one spot wasn’t empty, but it was still reserved for dynamight. 

- 

y/n had collapsed on their bed. kirishima was itching to tell them how he felt, however he was stuck at the doorway. 

they weren’t even dressed for bed, nor were they showered. 

he settled with leaving his friend alone, and shut the door softly to find bakugou standing right behind him. 

kirishima jumped back, closing his eyes in relief. “bakugou. what the heck man?” 

“you’re creepy as shit.” 

“i- what? you were the one staring at me while i-” 

“while you peeped in on y/n?” 

“i wasn’t peeping. i walked them back after the fight and they just collapsed. you were off doing something else and you worked them too hard.” 

it wasn’t a shock that bakugou was still riled up from the duel. this boy had the energy of a mad man. 

when bakugou didn’t say anything, kirishima said once again, “you overworked them.” 

bakugou swat away the comment. “only because they’re not working hard enough.” 

kirishima raised an eyebrow. “they work hard. they’re perfectly fine.” 

“fine?” 

“they’re amazing.”

“i know that, shitty hair. you think i’m blind?” 

“everyone can make improvements at their own pace.” kirishima’s voice dropped. 

“you train with me.” 

“it’s an hour before curfew.” 

bakugou jut a thumb in the direction of the door. “so? maybe you need some more practice, too,” he joked. 

“you’re an ass, bakugou,” kirishima released a breathy chuckle. 

the two wandered off to one of the training grounds. it was open, a wide court where they’d both kicked someone else’s ass. 

the sun was just setting, a new cool breeze coming to fill the spot of the violent sun rays. 

it was routine to fight each other out of nowhere. kirishima was usually quite playful, spewing jokes once in a while and taunting his friend. 

this fight was different. his face was stone-cold. kirishima often took the defensive role, as his quirk didn’t allow him to project any direct attacks to bakugou.

it wasn’t like kirishima was angry at bakugou, but as soon as they started charging towards one another, he couldn’t hold back. his chest tightened, arms hardening and joints becoming strong and stiff. 

with one clean sweep of his arm, bakugou was backing away from kirishima, propelling himself to the edge of the arena with a small blast. he’d always been up for a challenge. kirishima was willing to give him one. 

his sudden competitive demeanor seemed to be egging on bakugou’s. the blond tongued the inside of his cheek, grunting as he shot forth, hair flying wildly. 

swiftly, kirishima dodged, just barely missing a blast. his torso wasn’t hardened, so if he’d dodged any later, his stomach would have been scorched. 

bakugou always took their fights seriously. he knew better than to underestimate the boy who had put together his very own rescue mission. 

kirishima’s opponent stumbled from the momentum. he took his chance and brought a hardened elbow down on bakugou’s back, hearing a satisfying crack. 

bakugou was crushed to the ground with the hit. his face smashed into the sandy ground. he coughed, turning over and spitting dirt to the side. 

it took a moment for him to register what he did, but kirishima was at bakugou’s side within seconds. the sun was nearly gone, a pale blue sky flickering with the first sights of stars. 

it was hard to make it out at first, but not impossible. kirishima saw the blood dripping and smeared just above bakugou’s lip. he groaned, cupping his face in both hands as he sat upright. 

“argh” bakugou gasped. “shit, kirishima. what the hell?” 

“i...i’m sorry dude, i didn’t mean to.” i wanted to, but i didn’t mean to. 

bakugou raised an eyebrow and let a smile seep through his pain. “you’re improving, though.” 

“are you alright?” kirishima traced the small cut on his lip from earlier with the tip of his tongue. 

“i’m fine, i’m fine.” bakugou swatted his hand away. he struggled to get up, refusing kirishima’s help. 

“we should head back before this gets any worse.” 

bakugou kept his large hands hovering under his chin to catch the dripping and occasional chunks of blood.  

although he wanted the duel to continue (it was finally interesting) bakugou wasn’t stubborn enough to keep going. so he nodded, once again denying kirishima’s efforts to help him out. 

- 

you were in the common area, fiddling with a rubik’s cube. it was just you, as everyone else was spending the night among each other. ashido had invited you to her dorm a while ago, but you’d denied, wanting to spend a few more giddy moments to yourself. 

the door rattled, and in came your two friends, one with furrowed brows and the other with blood drenching the front of his shirt. 

bakugou’s head was tilted up in an attempt to stop the blood from flowing down. his adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed the blood trailing down the back of his throat. 

“oh my gosh,” you gasped out, racing to the bathroom. you came back with sanitary wipes in one hand and tissue in the other. “what happened?” 

“we were training,” kirishima started, taking a few tissues from the box and handing them to his friend, “and i accidentally hit him too hard.” 

“you didn’t hit me that hard. you barely did any damage!” bakugou objected. you approached him, and through his fingers, bakugou peered down at you. 

you asked him with your eyes, and he gave you silent permission to pry his arms away from his face. “are you okay?” 

“i’m just dandy,” he scoffed. 

“dude, i’m really sorry—” 

“shut the hell up kirishima. i don’t want your pity. i swear this is the only time i’ll surrender to you, you asswipe.”

you didn’t laugh, not even a chuckle. “bakugou, you need to see recovery girl.” 

“what the hell? no way. all she’s gonna do is give me one of those shitty slobbery kisses and scold me for being careless.” 

“your nose is broken,” you said gently. 

“so? can’t you fix it?” 

you raised a questioning brow. “you want me to help you?” 

“can you or can you not?” 

“i can try to set it but you’re better off going to recovery girl instead of settling with―” 

“all i need is possible. i don’t want to deal with that old lady’s shit right now.” using the tissues kirishima had stuffed into his hand, he caught the remaining blood dripping down his nose. “let’s go.” 

you were more than unsure. he would end up with a crooked nose if you made any small mistake, but he didn’t think twice as he grabbed your shoulder and led you in the direction of your dorm. 

- 

kirishima wished he hadn’t broken bakugou’s nose. not because he felt bad, though. 

[wickedpact]

heres a transcript of that gina & greg interview i mentioned yesterday. literally nothing new is in this, but theres a lot of info in this that was scattered in varying interviews/podcasts and i like having all of it in one place for future reference purposes

(link to vid)

Patrick: Hey everybody, this is Patrick Cavanaugh from comicbook.com here to bring you a very special conversation about Netflix's The Old Guard, which just debuted last week, and everybody has seen it-- I believe people have seen it by now, so that's very exciting. And to dive deep into this film, we're actually very lucky to have the film's director Gina Prince-Bythewood, who also directed Love And Basketball and Beyond The Lights here. Hello, Gina.

Gina: Hey.

P: And we're also joined by the film's writer, as well as the writer of the original comic book series, The Old Guard. Also, you might know him from his DC Comics work, Batwoman, and Lazarus, to name a few of his titles. We have Greg Rucka! Hello, Greg.

Greg: Hello!

P: So this film just first debuted last week, and I know you guys have been inundated with fans, just loving it. And let's just get to what fans want to know, right off the bat; I'm sure you're getting daily questions about this because there's so much for an expanded universe. So let's set the record straight: will there be a Tiger King crossover?

[everyone laughs]

Greg: Uh, we're planning an animated series with giant Mech suits, and, unbeknownst to a certain franchise, we're going to crossover with Transformers and-- no. Come on. [laughs]

P: Okay, alright, we’ll hold onto that big crossover stuff. And I know Netflix, of course, hasn’t fully announced what the future might be for Old Guard, but I'm just kind of curious if you guys have had any recent conversations about what you'd like to do in the future—theoretical, nothing concrete, of course. But since the film has come out and you've seen fan feedback…?

Gina: I will just say, obviously, it's an incredible compliment that people want to see more. It means we did our job in this. It was very important that this film has a beginning middle and end. We wanted to focus on this.

Greg: Yeah.

Gina: And get it right. Having people want more is an incredible gift and I would say those conversations were really… Greg and I, early on in talking through the story... knowing Greg knows where this thing goes --and it's pretty incredible-- helped me in terms of directing this one. So I will say we've had those conversations early on.

Greg: Yeah Gina’s absolutely right. One of the things that I'm really-- one of the many things I am proud of is that the movie is a whole, you certainly leave it going ‘okay, there could be more, I can see how there is more’. But it is a complete work. It is not contingent and does not need anything else. That said, there were plenty of times we were having conversations and would jokingly be like, ‘oh that'll be in the next one, we'll do that in the next one. We had to cut this so we’ll put it in the next one’.

P: I'm sure people would be very thrilled, as would I. So we’ll try to remain patient since it's only been out a week--

Greg: I think that's reasonable.

P: [sarcastic] I mean, fans are nothing but reasonable--

Greg: [very loud laughter] You know what 'fan' is short for right? Fanatic.

P: [laughs] So Greg, I'm curious. You know, since this is a pretty unique situation where you wrote the original books but then also came to write the script-- which doesn't always happen all that often. I was kind of curious what that process was like and if, when revisiting that core story, if you were tempted to kind of go off into a new directions, you know, uncharted territory? And how you managed to stay faithful to that story.

Greg: So when Skydance initially acquired The Old Guard, Matt Grimm and Don Granger were the guys that I was working with. And they were very clear that they had acquired it because they loved the source material. So when I was doing the adaptation, it was ‘adapt this story to be told in a screen format, there are changes that have to be made’. I didn't see it so much as like ‘I can go in a different direction!’ as ‘it's a really rare opportunity to have a second bite at the apple’. Most writers don't get to tell the same story twice. And even with the collaborative nature of comics, making a movie is far more collaborative. So… being able to benefit from a lot of very smart people-- and then when Gina came aboard, and working very closely with her on the screenplay, you know, taking her notes, and talking at length about it was… I mean, I love the comic we made, I'm very proud of it. But I think this is a superior story. Because it allowed me to fix mistakes I had made. And I think that it certainly works as the film that we wanted it to be, but it has a lot more nuance and a lot more ‘shading’ than the comics ever could have had. So yeah, I mean, I'm very proud of the work we've done.

P: Yeah, as you should be, definitely agree with that. And I know, Gina, you've spoken about how you treated the source material essentially as a Bible as the blueprint for adapting the movie. So a question kind of for both of you, I was curious what scene or sequence were you most excited to bring to life? And then what scene were you most apprehensive about whether or not you could pull it off as faithful to that original?

Gina: For me, I mean, there was there were certainly a couple... Joe and Nicky in the van.

Greg: [nodding] Yeah.

Gina: Such a beautiful moment in the comic. And I wanted to get it right. I knew the actors really wanted to get it right. As soon as we started shooting, I was like, 'oh yeah, they're killing it'. Also Booker in the mine, the speech that he gives to Nile, it's everything to his character. It explains both Booker and Andy; where they are, and why they are the way that they are in that moment of time. And I know that as a director, I saw a perfect take. But going into those, you hope that, ‘am I able to evoke what I need to evoke in the audience?’ I think that the hardest really was the Kill Floor, given how iconic it is in the comic. It's just so beautifully drawn by Leandro, it pops off the page. So ‘how am I going to be able to do the same thing on film?’ But it really kind of boiled down to ‘what is the story [of the scene]’ and really focus on that first, but also wanting to really give a bit of a homage to what Leandro did too, which was my use of silhouette throughout it.

Greg: Yeah, I think that… Gina just listed all of the scenes. I mean, I wanted to see the armored car, that was enormously rewarding for me… I couldn't wait to see the killing room floor... You know, when we talk about moments of adaptation, I actually —and I thought this was really well handled in the movie in particular— Nile’s death wasn't wasn't easy in the comic, because it needed to have heart. You know, Kiki's performance and the way it's shot is just, it's phenomenal.

P: And obviously you can't really talk about this movie, which is this big action-fantasy movie, without talking about that scene between Joe and Nicky. I'm curious what both of your reactions have been to seeing that moment hit so hard with so many fans.

Greg: I'm overjoyed that we're able to give that to so many people. I am also frustrated that it's so overdue. While I don't think that either Gina or I felt that this was… It was important and special because it was important and special between these characters. But, you know, I mean I’m in that place where I recognize why we are getting the response that we are, and, I'm frustrated by the fact that it's 2020. And… apparently we're the first people to have done this? And you can say that about a lot of the reactions, you can say that about the reactions to Kiki's Nile. You can say that about reactions about Charlize portraying Andy. There’s a piece of me that's like ‘guys, we didn't invent the wheel here. All we did was show you, THERE’S A WHEEL HERE!’. So.

P: Yeah, it's interesting and it is frustrating that it is 2020 and we have to refer to this as an anomaly. That this is not the norm, that as you said, this is we're showing people that the wheel exists. And so Gina, you know, between having a film with two powered, seemingly super-powered characters, in a comic book adaptation, which is largely been devoid of such characters. [I think he meant to say female powered characters?] and being a black woman, directing a comic book adaptation— again, something in 2020 that we have to treat as a shocking revelation— I was curious, if you felt any sort of pressure about that on set, or if it was like just a confidence in the material, and support from your collaborators, that it wasn't even an issue?

Gina: Um, are you talking about the scene-?

P: Just the project as a whole.

Gina: There was a reason I took this film, because it moved me. It has to start there. There's all these things; I love putting a black female in the world, I love putting Nicky and Joe in the world, I love putting Joe’s character in the world. Those are all such incredible driving forces. But foremost, I have to feel and care about the characters in the story. And I did. And so, for me, it felt... I mean I was honored to be able to be the one to give these characters a life up on screen... or in that big screen in your living room. There's, of course, enormous pressure. Not only just doing a film, like the bigness of it. Certainly me being a woman, me being a black woman, and doing this when nobody has done it before… It's about proving myself and proving that women like me can do this, that we do like action, that we can shoot action… Just changing that narrative. So there's pressure to get it right and do a good job, but I feed off of that. It made me work harder because I felt like I absolutely had a responsibility to get it right.

P: And we've talked about Kiki a few times as Nile, of course. And Gina, I know you said it was within five seconds of meeting her that you knew she was the right one to play Nile. I was curious, how did the rest of the casting process go? Did everybody get hired that easily? Or was it a harder search to round out the ensemble?

Greg: Yes. I’m curious too!

Gina: You know, I knew going into this that I wanted great actors for every role and it's pretty amazing how many of my first choices are in this film. I mean Matthias Schoenaerts who plays Booker is an incredible actor and I knew I wanted him from the get-go. We were told he doesn't do films like this, but he wanted to meet, which was the first thing, like, ‘oh my gosh it’s on me, don't blow this meeting’ and he said again to my face, ‘I don't do these movies, but I love this movie’ and he loved the character Booker. And after that conversation and hearing my vision, he was in, which was amazing. Marwan Kenzari, I saw him in this independent film called Wolf—

Greg: Yeahhhhhh.

Gina: Phenomenal. And he was supposed to read for the part. We had a meeting over FaceTime. Then, Zoom was not what it is now. And it was such an incredible meeting. He was so passionate about the material. So passionate about the character Joe. So passionate about wanting to give that speech. His energy… I just said 'you don't need to read, like, you're Joe'. Luca Marinelli, who plays Nicky, I saw his audition. He has this depth to him, those eyes.. where you just, you felt everything, you felt his soul. But I needed to do a chemistry reading, as I would with any love story. And so, we flew him in to read with Marwan. They did this incredible improv, and it was so obvious that these two were Joe and Nicky. It was a really beautiful moment as a director to just… know, and I was so excited to show everybody what they had. It leapt off the screen, their connection; they’d never met before but, immediate connection. Chiwetel Ejiofor, I mean… [awed silence]

Greg: Chiwetel... yeah.

Gina: Yeah. To hear that he wanted to be in this and work with me on this, I didn't need anything else at that point. He's truly a genius. Charlize, you know, there are very few women who can work in the space and we believe them. And that's the thing about her work, and her action, we believe her. And we needed that for Andy. And of course she's a great actress, so it was, you know, that was kind of a no-brainer. So, lastly Harry Melling, you know our villain. It's funny, Don Granger, at Skydance, says you've done a good job with your villain if the audience wants to punch him in the face. Harry brought that reality of those templates of Mark Zuckerberg and Martin Shkreli and really rocked it.

Greg: I had, you know, I'm the screenwriter, right? And I am pretty much involved in the production at the director’s sufferance, and Gina was so gracious to want me present-- and more than that, want me present and say things, right? As opposed to ‘stand here and be quiet’, but I remember when Kiki… when they knew they wanted Kiki, like in that window before all the paperwork was done and so on. Throughout most of the casting I wasn't hearing a lot from Gina, just the occasional update. Like ‘I think we've got…’ and then the Kiki audition came in, and Gina, you called me, Granger texted me, Grimm texted me. And it was all the same thing. It was all ‘we have found Nile, oh my god, there were these two scenes and she had us howling in one and weeping in the other and she is perfect’. And the exuberant joy, you know, I remember you on that call being like ‘NO, THIS IS HER!!’. It's like, this is gonna be awesome.

P: So, and to open things up a little bit more to the actual mythology of the film and the comic book series, I think one of the coolest things is that this film doesn't entirely explore is why these characters come back to life? But we also don't entirely need to know that to just… witness this slice of time in their journey. So I'm kind of curious, maybe Greg you have more insight on this, but I'm curious if either of you have those ideas in your head of what the root of this, you know, blessing or curse, the curse of immortality? Or is that just stuff that's entirely irrelevant to this journey?

Greg: I think it's irrelevant… to the journey of the first film. That the story is a self-contained story and you don't need to know why they are immortal. And I think that the film actually does tell you, not specifically, but the film does provide you with enough information to allow you to draw certain conclusions. Because there are really a limited number of ways that they're going to get this way, right? We do not, for instance, see Nile fall into a vat of regeneration juice, right? That's not why Nile comes back. There is a mythology. We know the mythology. We know the why and that's for later. Yes, maybe it will become relevant to the story, but for this story that was told as it was told? No, you don't need to know why.

Gina: The striking thing, when I read the script for the first time was I didn't… I didn't care. Like, I didn't need it. And that surprised me because I know Greg had talked about another company who was interested in the project [Gina doesn’t say, but it was Sony lmao] kept asking ‘you have to tell us why though, in this story, an audience needs to know why’. He was absolutely right [for disagreeing with Sony]. Because I didn't need to know why.

Greg: It's the Rian Johnson School of, you know, it's Looper. ‘We can spend two hours talking about time travel or you can accept that we're in time travel. Which is it going to be?’ And I think that that is one of the most brilliant storytelling decisions made in the last 20 years in film! Literally 'here it is—DOESN’T MATTER, MOVING ON!’ you know.

P: Yeah. It's definitely a bold direction to take. And to have an issue with 'oh, well, we never learn [about the] immortality!' proves that you just miss the point of what the movie is, and that that stuff is kind of irrelevant for right now. Although I do kind of hope that because it's on Netflix someone's expecting like a post credit scene, but it's the autoplay feature, right? [Greg and Patrick talk over eachother, laughing]

Greg: We did talk about that button as a post-credit scene, the Booker [scene]—

Gina: That was originally supposed to be a tag.

Greg: And there was, for a while, the contemplation of ‘maybe we can still [put the Booker scene in as a post-credit scene] and really that'll be like a great big reward for those people who actually watch credits on Netflix. It’s like, you got a bonus scene!’

P: So another, you know, people are loving the characters, they're loving the performances, but also the action is so cool in it, and it feels reminiscent of some other films. But the urgency and efficiency of all of the action sequences always feel like they have a point, and they're not just ‘look what we can pull off this week!’ You know, it's not John Wick on a horse fighting motorcycles because we don't need to do that. It's, you know, always to a point. So I'm kind of curious Greg, what does an action scene look like in your script? And then Gina, what was your whole motivation for putting these action scenes together?

Greg: I had two approaches in this script and used both. Sometimes I would write the sequence as you know, as a series-- this is what is happening, ‘he swings and then his head goes flying’ or whatnot. But knowing very well that unless the script needed to see-- because the script has to specify what is a must. It's a must. It's a must document. ‘We must see this’. ‘We must know this information’. So for a lot of the time, I would sort of drop into a narrative voice and say, ‘okay, now we watch the five of them proceeded to kick every ass and take every name that they come across and please bear in mind you are watching over 10,000 years of combat experience, combined between them’. And then that's the description of an action sequence, right? The screenplay… it's a construction document. It's not the interior decorator’s document. It's not even the Foreman's document. It's an architectural document. And then you give it to the Foreman of the whole production, who then goes, ‘I agree, these are the important things’, and then you get out of their way and watch them do the thing that they have, you know, become an expert at doing to make it happen.

P: Gina, what's your reaction when you read Greg’s script saying, ‘oh, you know, just five immortal warriors demonstrating 10,000 years of combat experience’?

Gina: It's like ‘oh shit’. [everyone laughs] Like that's a very cool thing to read—

Greg: But how do you film it?

Gina: Yeah, exactly! Then you start at the beginning of the scene and 'what character can we reveal in the scene'? And when you start like that, it's less overwhelming. Because the best action sequences for me, when I go to the movies, are those that have a story to them and that are character driven, that have an emotion. So I really started there in the vision of what they should be and just working with my incredible, incredible stunt team, Jeff Habberstad and Danny Hernandez and Bryson Counts[? I dont know who that is]. Designing these fights to tell this story, to showcase this part of character, to further the story. And that was important as well, that we never wanted this film to feel like… rushing through the story to get to each action sequence. All of this works seamlessly. The quiet moments are just as important as the action moments. And so that was exciting to me. But being able to tell the story, reveal character, that was fun. And then it's ‘yeah, how do we choreograph so it feels as if these characters finish each other sentences, so to speak, in terms of action, knowing where the other is going to be, knowing when somebody's out of bullets and need another clip?' Like all those things, the way that they're always picking up used guns and used clips, just this dance. And it was very cool, you know, to really put that together and see what the team came up with. And then to see the actors embody that, bring character, bring performance to that. Which is why it was so great that I had the actual actors doing most of the work, so that we can see that performance.

Greg: I think you used a word that I think clearly came from what Gina’s describing and talking about with working with Danny and Jeff and Bryson. Which is 'efficient'. Like, if you watch the film, you will see that there is only one sequence where Andy is ever firing more than twice, and it is on the killing room floor. After that, whenever she fires a gun, it's one bullet. It goes exactly where she wants it to go. Everything she does becomes an issue of ‘her style is efficiency—‘

Gina: Yeah, that was a big—‘brutal efficiency’ is a term we talked about often, where they know a kill shot. They are not the type that are going to go in an environment and spray. It's lazy and not who they are. They are not going to ever hit someone by accident. They are too good. And their moral code is not like an ordinary For Hire who are just trying to get the target by any means necessary.

P: Yeah, and also speaking to what I feel set these action sequences apart from other action films is, we're used to, you know, like thumping techno or hard rock or something kick in. You know, I don't think anyone had like, you know, Frank Ocean being in an action film on Netflix on their 2020 Bingo cards. So I'm just kind of curious how you put that soundtrack together and what that process was like.

Gina: Yeah. I love music so much. It's so much a part of me as an artist. And for me, I love songs for scores, songs that can evoke an emotion, and elevate a scene or the emotion of a scene without taking it over. And music for this film was so important, to the tone. It was such a balance. This is a violent film, yet I never wanted it to feel like a celebration of violence. The fact that there was a cost to the killing and then motion to the killing. So always wanted to keep that in mind-- and music really helped with that. There's also a thing of, you know, I'm the first audience and I actually don't like heavy metal. So, it annoys me when I watch a movie and it's this non-stop thump. In the rectory —spoiler alert— when Andy kills 19 people, the music I chose was important because it took away the sting of that. I didn't want an audience to revel in ‘oh my God, she killed 19 people’. No, it was ‘she killed 19 people and you see on her face that this was not fun, this was not easy’. You see that on Nile’s face when she walks out, and the music helped that. I wanted the music to feel operatic, because what happened in that room did have that depth of emotion, so music again— so important for vibe and tone and it was fun to find these songs that could do exactly what I wanted them to do.

P: Greg, the narrative is definitely very faithful to the first two Old Guard series and, you know, blends together in this compelling and unique way… Just as a —you know, we are comicbook.com— so coming from the purest sense of interpreting the narrative... [Greg laughs] like there's definitely the flashback with Achilles from the comic book, and then also the flashback to Booker's hanging scene. Those are our absent from the film. And I was just curious if those were ever in the script or if you want to rework them for the future…?

Greg: No, I mean we also had, in the original series, the flashback that sort of accounts the Joe and Nicky, ‘we killed each other’, ‘many times’ sequence as well. There were drafts where all of that was there. And sometimes in greater detail than others. There was a version where that hospital scene— [in the movie] you get just the right amount of… when Booker's relaying it to Nile in the mine. But, you know, there was more to that, and you can see sort of Achilles' story’s presence in the mine, right? There's a glimpse of the painting. So those things weren't erased as much as… when you make a comic, every choice you are making is an efficiency choice. ‘You have X many pages, how are you going to spend them?’ And I'm not a filmmaker. I'm the guy who wrote the thing. But one of the things I can tell you when watching is that it's the same calculus but exponentially. It is— every single thing you are doing is asking if it's serving your narrative. And I think the trade —because it is a trade— of the Achilles backstory to build the Quynh story has a benefit that the Achilles story alone didn't have, in that the Quynh story —especially as it's relayed in the movie— not only does it illuminate Joe, Nicky, Booker, and of course Andy, but it's also Illuminating to Nile, in a way that… talking about Achilles would have been repeating a beat. Because as beautiful, and as important, Achilles is to Andy's character… Booker conveys that heartbreak with his story, right? So it becomes an efficiency question as much as anything else. I mean, that that's really what it comes down to.

P: Speaking to some of the changes again, I don't want to get to spoiler heavy but there's definitely a big change with one character and their possible fate. Don't want to ruin anything for anyone, so trying to play it safe.

Greg: [laughing] Yeah, how are we supposed to answer this, Patrick?

P: Why don't we just text each other? [everyone laughs] Well, I'm kind of curious. One character's trajectory has changed a little bit. What were the discussions like over, you know, altering their trajectory and what that could mean, you know, for their future adventures?

Greg: Well, how do we talk around this?

P: Also, if anyone's been watching this for 40 minutes and hasn't seen the movie, they've got to adjust their priorities.

Gina: I would say, it was about adding more jeopardy and stakes. It absolutely did that. What I love so much about the story and what Greg created is that these characters are mostly immortal. So there is always that threat. But it just added another level to that. But it also crystallized so well… the fact that the moment that Andy is truly saying ‘I'm done’ a new Immortal shows up in Nile. So it just seemed to work really well and, you know, obviously having Greg be so on board with that and take it and run with it was really important.

Greg: It externalizes the conflict beautifully. And I believe I think David Ellison at Skydance likes the term downward pressure, I believe. [Gina smiles, Greg sees] Did you hear that? Did you hear that during editing? [Gina nods] But it does. Look, here's a fundamental problem; it's actually one of the problems at the heart of Force Multiplied: what's jeopardy to an immortal? Cuz it's kind of, you know, as Joe says, ‘what are you gonna do, tough guy? Kill me?’ You know, ‘if I go, I go. I don't know when I'm going’. So you you need to be able to inject into the story some level of jeopardy. You want to heighten the stakes. And it also externalizes that particular character’s conflict.

P: Gina, hopefully I don't put you too much on the spot with this question. But, you know, any time there's a big comic book project announced its, you know, fans start saying, oh, I'd love this person who's done action movies to do it’ or ‘this person who’s already done 10 Sci-Fi movies…’, you know, like Taika Waititi can't direct every movie.

Gina: I would love him to!

P: I'm just actually kind of curious, Gina, if there are any directors that you're particularly a fan of who don't necessarily have the same, you know, Marvel DC, Star Wars experience that that you'd love to hear get announced as tackling, you know, a big budget comic book movie.

Greg: I would like to know too.

Gina: Certainly, I'm excited about what Victoria Mahoney's going to be doing-- she just did second unit [director] on Star Wars, first woman to ever do that. I dig her brain so much and her aesthetic. I'm really excited to see what she's going to do in the action space, certainly.

P: Yeah, very cool. Really looking forward to her career for sure. And I think we're just about out of time here. We were down—

Gina: [raising her hand] Can I ask a question real quick? Sorry, I just need a definitive answer on this because I got called out on Twitter and I asked Greg--

Greg: [laughing] Ohhhhhhh—

Gina: So is Old Guard, is it a graphic novel? Or is it a comic?

Greg: You got to answer that Patrick.

P: Oh boy.

Greg: [laughing] Literally he's watching all credibility start to evaporate if he doesn't get this right. [holding up a comic of Opening Fire] This is a what?

P: I mean… part of me, knowing that it is part one of a three-part overall series… You know, my brain goes to ‘trade paperback’, you know, like it's a volume collecting a certain amount of issues. But if you ask me before volume 2 came out, it would be collected as a graphic novel, but… they're all comic books. They're all just comic books, everybody. Let's just take it easy.

Gina: Okay, thank you.

P: That's my answer.

Greg: Thank you. Thank you. I think that is the appropriate answer.

P: They're all just comic books. Take it easy.

P: Yeah, but I am curious. Of course, one of the interesting things about the film is that over the course of hundreds… thousands of years, these characters, the old guard have kind of influenced humanity in some definitely interesting ways… And ultimately for good, is a little bit of what we're seeing in the film. And I can't help but wonder… is it possible that the old guard could have unintentionally influenced the world for bad? And have some negative ripples come from their actions, or do I have to wait for a sequel for that?

Greg: I think that is a very reasonable and logical question to ask, especially when you know, there are 19 dead bodies lying in a church. You know what I mean? There is a certain amount— and it's almost fatuous to talk about it but there is always the doctrine of unintended consequences. I will say this goes to something else— and I'll say it really quickly because I know we're running out of time. I think one of the things that I really, really loved about what's being said, in the movie, is that at the end of the film… The definitive statement is, if you take away everything about immortality, what it's saying is that… our choices matter and our actions matter and they matter in ways and to people that we will never see and never know of. We try to put right in the world by doing right. And we do that without ever seeing what the ramifications of it are. And sometimes we're going to succeed, gloriously, and sometimes we're going to fail and we may never know that either, right? It's the choice paralysis that that you get from cheating in The Good Place, right? I can't eat or drink or move because morally it's all wrong, right? But the takeaway from the film is that, ‘yeah, your life matters and what you do with it matters and it matters to people that you're never ever going to see.’

P: So yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think that's a great positive, you know, message for us to leave on. And I definitely think that comes across in the film, especially, you know, from the characters like Joe and Nicky just professing… you know, it's about the time that you have. And you don't know when your number is going to be up. So you just try and do as many good things before that happens as you can, and hopefully the world responds to that. So I really connected with that message in the film. Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me. The Old Guard has been out for… five days. So I look forward to reuniting--

Greg: Does it feel longer to you. Gina? It feels like it's longer for me. [Gina laughs]

P: I look forward to reuniting in maybe 10 more days to talk about the sequel and spin-off and the prequel and all that sort of thing. [Greg laughs] But for now, The Old Guard is still on Netflix. And of course don't be tricked into watching any post-credit scenes because you might end up watching, you know, The Great British Bake Off. Well, thanks so much guys, it was a pleasure.

[uwuwriting]

Incompatible ships w/ Todoroki, Kirishima, Bakugou and Midoiya

Request: hii! i love ur posts so i thought why not request ajbakaha,, can i ask for todoroki, kirishima, bakugou, izuku getting jealous bc their s/o is getting shipped with another student :D (it can be their relationship is still a secret or smth) btw i love your posts!! it's free serotonin!! 😽😽- anonymous

Secret relationships are my favorite trope. This and friends to lovers. I live for these types of fics. Random fact, my allergies are acting up bc I helped take down the Christmas decorations and now my hands are on fire. Love ya. 💖💖💖

masterlist II rules

warnings: fluff, minor suggestive themes not something major though

Todoroki Shouto

-Things like jealousy are a rare occurrence in your relationship. 

-Todoroki is the type of boyfriend who trusts you blindly and would put his own life in your hands without a single hesitation. 

-Sometimes it bothers him how other people effortlessly flirt with you but he knows that nothing will come out of it no matter how much they chat you up. 

-He knows you can handle yourself and get out of  a situation if things start getting out of hand. 

-And if you can’t, he will butt in glaring down at the person who wouldn’t take no for an answer.

-Everyone around you seem to believe that the two of you are really close friends; none of them have caught a whiff of your relationship and you are proud of yourselves. 

-I mean it is pretty hard keeping so many romantic milestones hidden from your friends. 

-But alas you both knew that keeping all of this to yourselves would be for the best. 

-Now, we all know that the girls of your class drool over any remotely romantic interaction you have. 

-Same goes for everyone actually. 

-Oh Kirishima held the door open for you the other day?? I can see a new ship sailing. 

-Sero helped you pick up your stuff when you bumped into a wall? Your knight in shining armor. 

-Really any sort of kind gesture was interpreted as romantic interest at this point. 

-The worst part of it all was the ship they had created and have been simping over for the past three months. 

-You had managed to create an unexpected friendship with Monoma from class 3-B. 

-The agency he interns in is right next to yours so you take the same train and then walk to almost the same building every single day. 

-You see him during patrol, the pro heroes you work under have paired up once or twice so a friendship was inevitable. 

-So imagine the surprise on your classmate’s faces when Monoma began waiting for you outside the 3-A dorm building.

-Mina wouldn’t shut up about how cute you two were together and what a perfect match you made. 

-Soon enough the other idiots joined the party and you were drowned in ‘awwww’s and ‘love story in the making’s. 

-You got tired of explaining that he was just a friend, that you weren’t interested in him. 

-The fact that you could feel Todoroki’s gaze burn through your back didn’t help at all. 

-Your boyfriend had asked you about Monoma because he too found it weird how he waited for you everyday. 

-The boy’s presence didn’t bother him at first. 

-He was lowkey grateful that you finally had company on your way to the agency considering he couldn’t walk with you since his building was in the opposite direction. 

-It started becoming a problem when all he could hear during the breaks was the stupid ship name the girls had created. 

-He could see how visibly uncomfortable it made you and how you would seek for his gaze during those moments. 

-Then they started talking about how cute your kids would be and that’s when Shoto had enough. 

-It’s one thing hearing about how cute your girlfriend would be with someone else and it’s completely different when you hear about their potential offspring. 

-Grabbing your wrist he basically dragged you out the classroom and into an empty hallway, pinning you to the nearest wall before connecting his lips with yours. 

-You let a surprised gasp which gave him the opportunity to slip his tongue into your mouth and deepen the kiss, making you grasp onto his shirt as your knees gave out. 

-After what felt like an eternity he let you go for air before attacking your jaw, neck and collarbones. 

-Soon those soft kisses turned into little love bites. 

- “Sho you’re gonna leave a mark.” 

-Releasing your skin from between his teeth, he admired the reddish hickey he had left at the base of your neck. 

-He was sure your shirt’s collar could cover it up just barely. 

- “That’s the point, love.” 

-Intertwining your fingers, he led you back to class, going to his seat with a proud smirk on his lips leaving a very flustered puffy-lips-messy-haired you in his wake. 

Kirishima Eijiro 

-Kiribaby is not the jealous type. 

-Like only if you give your undivided attention to a puppy and you smother it with all your love and affection then maybe, just maybe, he will pout a bit and ask for his own fair share of love. 

-He trusts you just like Todoroki does.

-Nothing has ever happened to suggest that he should worry about others stealing you from him so he doesn’t worry. 

-Plus you are always together no matter what. 

-Almost everyone from your class knows that you are together so the shipping doesn’t start from them. 

-Oh no.

-It starts from class 3-B who has seen you talk to Tetsutetsu quite a bit this past few weeks. 

-You might wait for him outside their classroom during lunch breaks. 

-They have caught you hanging out outside of the school grounds. 

-So the only logical explanation they can come up with is that you two are either A) dating or B) have a thing for each other and are getting there. 

-Soon enough rumors start circulating. 

- “Did you know that someone from the hero course is dating that metal guy from class 3-B?”

- “Yeah yeah I heard it’s that girl Y/N. They do look really cute together, not gonna lie.”

-Eventually these rumors reach Kiri’s ears and they kinda get to him.

-He knows that you haven’t been hanging out extra with Tetsutetsu since every time you guys go out he is always with you. 

-You are the type of couple who does everything together, literally. 

-Apart from being in different agencies ya’ll are holding hands almost 24/7.

-So he really doesn’t get what everyone is talking about. 

-Mineta doesn’t help. 

-He really doesn’t. 

-He starts making scenarios about what you do while Kirishima is out of the dorms; how you have wrapped both homies around your finger and toying with them. 

-Oh the very vivid scenes he creates with all three of you in a…. compromising position. 

-Kirishima hates that most of all. 

-The words coming out of Mineta’s mouth disgust him to no end and soon enough he is walking to your dorm ready to talk this through. 

-Opening the door you greet your boyfriend with a smile and a quick peck but you immediately know what is on his mind. 

- “Baby what are we gonna do?” 

-You basically whine at the question. 

-He spends the whole night at your dorm brainstorming ideas until you both pass out on your floor. 

-And your solution to the problem? 

-Ignore the whole thing and continue on with your lives. 

-He suggested maybe leaving a mark somewhere *like our boy Sho* but you shot him down saying that they would just think Tetsutetsu did it. 

-After Monoma catches you in your classroom making out on your desk though the rumors soon die out. 

Bakugou Katsuki

-Crazy boom boom boy. 

-Your relationship is a secret because he doesn’t want to deal with all the other idiots gushing over your relationship and getting all up in your business. 

-Your relationship is a sacred thing he has sworn to protect and he won’t let Mineta’s ugly ass hands get anywhere near it. 

-Gonna taint it even with his thoughts. 

-Guard dog Bakugou bark bark. 

-It’s fairly easy to maintain a secret relationship with him. 

-Sure he might be a tiny bit calmer with you and maybe just maybe his eyes linger on you during training but yeah he treats you just like he treats all the other extras he is surrounded by. 

-Now, Bakugou is kinda *read a lot* jealous in general. 

-He doesn’t like when people he doesn’t fully trust or like, talk to you or are close to you. 

-He has butted in on your conversations with Todoroki one too many times and the poor crispy baby is so confused like why are you like this? 

-I just want the chemistry notes please let me get them in peace for once.

-You have chastised him about that manier times but your resolve melts when he pouts *YES HE POUTS AT YOU RWIHPWIE* before wrapping his strong arms around you. 

- “I just don’t wanna lose you, dumbass.” 

-You can barely make out his words as his face is buried in your stomach but you heard him and now you are tearing up at the pure emotion he is showing at these moments. 

-At the end of the day though, he trusts you. 

-He may not trust the other horny extras around you but he fully trusts you. 

-There’s no doubt about that. 

-You can imagine ,though, the instant rage he felt when he heard the girls talking about you and Deku. 

- “They do make a great couple.” 

- “Have you seen how they look at each other?” 

- “Good for her, Deku is perfect boyfriend material.” 

-First of all, how dare you, second hold the fuck up…..when did this become a WhoRe hOuSe?!?!?!?!  

-Legit someone has to shake him out of his stupor after that one. 

-You look at Deku in a certain way? 

-Fucking DEKU?!?!?! 

-THoughts are swirling in his mind almost pouring out of his ears when he hears the voice. 

-That annoying ass voice that he has engraved in his brain since childhood. 

-And the moment his eyes land upon Deku and you speaking, he sees red. 

-He is pouncing on Deku in -5 seconds, the poor green haired boy completely unaware of what hit him, literally. 

-They are on the floor wrestling on another, you screaming at Katsuki to stop and get his shit together while your boyfriend is spewing curse after curse at the OFA user simultaneously asking what the hell he was doing with HIS girlfriend. 

-Aizawa had to break them up. 

-They both got detention even though Deku did literally nothing. 

-Katsuki was denied cuddles for a whole week and he was set on explaining duty now that the cat was out of the bag. 

Midoriya Izuku 

-Izuku is the best boyfriend anyone could ask for. 

-He is loyal, shows emotions, is good at communicating with you, has incredible date ideas although he is kinda forgetful at times and his packed schedule doesn’t leave enough time to spend with you, at least not as much as he wants, but he always tries to make up for it in other ways.

-You love how much trust he puts in you. 

-You couldn’t be more grateful. 

-But Izuku has his insecurities. 

-At times it becomes hard for him to understand why exactly you’ve chosen him to love when you could have anyone you wanted in this school. 

-He can’t wrap his pretty little head around the reason why you stay with him when the only thing you get out of all this is others saying you deserve better than some crybaby. 

-It has become his mission to prove to you that he isn’t what others say he is; he isn’t some crybaby, he is a hero in training who won’t hesitate to risk his life for you. 

-You have reassured him multiple times that you don’t care what others say.

-You fell in love with him, him and all of his flaws. 

-No one told you that you should fall for him and no you didn’t agree to date him out of pity. 

-Most of the time you manage to erase those thoughts from his mind replacing them with the warm feeling of your love.

-But there comes a time when no matter what you say, the words of other people will get the best of him and it will be a struggle to build himself back up. 

-He is thankful to have you by his side during those moments because then he truly feels weak, he feels helpless, he knows these things shouldn’t bother him. 

-He loves you and you love him end of story, but they do get to him. 

-One of the worst times he questioned if he was good enough was during your third year. 

-Being in the support department you couldn’t be by his side 24/7 but you did always manage to see him during breaks to the point the whole class knew you and slowly became your friends. 

-The thing is they thought you two were also friends; neither had ever mentioned your relationship and things felt so comfortable between you that they assumed that you were really close friends. 

-Izuku had suggested keeping your relationship on the down low; him being in the hero course and having created rather the reputation, he was afraid that you would be dragged into something dangerous. 

-Plus All Might advised you two to keep it a secret and All Might’s words are law. 

-Izuku loved how well you got along with his friends, it meant that when he revealed your relationship they would all welcome you with open arms. 

-What he didn’t expect though was for them to start shipping you with someone else. 

-For some weird reason the girls of his class started obsessing over your interactions with Bakugou and soon after that they started trying to get you two alone in the same room, much to your dismay. 

-In reality, Bakugou was the only person who knew about your relationship. 

-He had ran into you as you were leaving Izuku’s dorm room, catching you two kiss goodnight. 

-Bakugou, as much as he disliked Izuku, would never get in the way of your relationship and he hated this ship shit as much maybe even more than you did. 

-Izuku was ready to crawl into a whole and die. 

-You had to stay in his room for almost a whole month to calm him down completely, him flying you to your own building in the morning so you don’t get in trouble. 

-It was a difficult time aand his classmate’s comments didn’t help one bit. 

-The tipping point was when he overheard Mina devising a plan of setting you guys up. 

-He walked down to the common room the next day with you next to him, hands intertwined, a hickey barely visible under the hem of HIS shirt, shocking everyone in the vicinity. 

-A new ship was created *after they harassed you for answers*

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[blazingparker]

tony finds out that peter wants to propose. marriage = very scary thing for tony. tony panics. peter mishears and thinks the issue is that tony doesn’t want to marry HIM. [misunderstandings + breaking up then making up + angst w/ a happy ending].

thanks sooo much for this prompt, anon!!!! i changed it a little so they didn’t break up but they do have a big fight and make up. It’s also a little shorter than i wanted since i can’t really type still due to my wrist injury but i didn’t want to make you wait any longer. i really hope you enjoy this!

read it on ao3!

---

But Your Fears Get in the Way

Peter was going to propose.

Holy shit, Peter was going to propose.

It wasn’t like Tony had meant to overhear, okay? It wasn’t his fault Peter had assumed Tony was in the lab, not in the living room when he got back from patrol.

“Yeah, Ned, I got the ring. No, I don’t know when yet. I’ll let you know. I just-I want it to be perfect, you know?”

Tony had reacted wonderfully, if you must know. He most certainly did not pretend to be asleep on the couch so Peter wouldn’t know he’d overheard, and he definitely did not avoid his boyfriend as much as possible in the following days. It was a shitty move, and Tony knew it, but he didn’t know what else to do. He wasn’t marriage material. What he and Peter had - it worked. If they changed it, if they got engaged, Tony would ruin it. He knew that, and he needed Peter to know that before he lost the best relationship he’d ever had because of his own inability to stop fucking up.

It was just a question of how to bring it up to Peter without breaking his heart and ruining everything anyway. Which was why he’d asked Rhodey to come over and help him out. Tony wasn’t the greatest with words and knew he needed to practice with someone before going out and essentially tell his boyfriend ‘Hey, I overheard you the other day. Sweet gesture, but I’m not marriage material.’

“Tony.”

Tony looked up from the Iron Man gauntlet he was in the middle of repairing to find his best friend standing in the middle of the lab, looking very irritated.

“Hey honey bear,” Tony snarked, sitting back in his chair and setting his tools down.

“You do realize you asked me to come over here, right?” “Course I do.”

“Well, then maybe next time you could put down your toys the first time I call your name instead of the fifth.” Rhodey gave Tony a little smirk and crossed the room, sitting down in a chair across from Tony. The genius ran a hand over his face, looking genuinely apologetic - a rare occurrence for him.

“Sorry, Rhodey. I just-this has got me really shaken up,” he admitted. Rhodey tried not to let his shock show, knowing Tony would shut down and shut him out if he looked like he might be mocking him or not taking him seriously.

“You said Peter wants to propose?” He asked, Tony nodding to confirm the information he’d shared over the phone. Rhodey whistled lowly and blew out a breath, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “That’s big stuff, man.”

“I know it’s big stuff!” Tony almost yelled, reining it back in at the unimpressed look the other man shot in his direction. “I just-I can’t let him. I can’t let him propose. But if I stop him beforehand, I’ll break his fucking heart and he’ll know I overheard him the other night. If I say no, that’d be even worse. If I say yes, I’m just prolonging the inevitable break-up.”

“Why would it be an inevitable break-up? Peter loves you. You’ve been together for four years, Tony. That’s plenty of time for someone to decide their relationship is or isn’t going to work and then act accordingly. Clearly he loves you a whole lot if he’s bought the ring and everything like you said.” Rhodey tried to keep any judgment out of his tone, wanting to understand and not aggravate his friend.

“Because that’s what I do!” Tony exclaimed, standing up so fast his chair rolled backwards across the lab floor. “I ruin relationships. It’s honestly a fucking miracle this has lasted this long, you saw how Pepper and I were before.” Rhodey didn’t disagree - Tony and Pepper had been a hot mess. “I ruin relationships, but I haven’t yet with Peter! So everything needs to just-just stay the same so that I can continue to not fuck it up. For once in my life.”

There was silence after that, Tony’s chest heaving as he breathed in heavily and tried to calm himself down. Rhodey stood from his chair as well, crossing the room to his best friend and gently placing a hand on his shoulder. Tony almost seemed on the verge of tears, something he’d only seen a handful of times before.

“I don’t think you could ruin what you and Peter have,” Rhodey said, holding up a hand when Tony immediately opened his mouth to argue. “But if you’re that worried about it, tell him.”

“Tell him what?” Tony asked, and Rhodey took a second to think about how to phrase his next words. He thought Tony’s fears about ruining his and Peter’s relationships were uncalled for, but they didn’t come from nowhere. There was real fear there that needed to be addressed. Both men were so deeply engrossed in their own thoughts and their conversation that neither noticed the lab door easing open slightly and a head full of fluffy brown curls peeking in.

“Tell him you can’t,” Rhodey eventually suggested. “Just-tell him everything you told me. Talk it out with him. Tell him you’re not ready for marriage yet but that you still love him.”

“I’m not ever going to be ready.”

“Then tell him that, Tony. Tell him you can’t marry him. But tell him, not me.”

The two men jumped at the sound of the lab door slamming shut and swift footsteps running down the hall.

“Who was that?” Tony asked, thoroughly confused.

“It seems Mr. Parker is leaving the building in quite a hurry,” JARVIS spoke up. Tony’s entire chest filled with dread and the room was suddenly entirely too cold. Peter had heard. How much had he heard? Didn’t matter, he heard enough to just leave. He’d done it again, he’d ruined the one good thing he had left--

“I’ve ruined this already,” Tony wheezed, finding it difficult to breathe. Rhodey’s hands landed on his arms, his best friend coaching him through taking some deep breaths.

“You didn’t. We both made a pretty huge mistake, but we can fix it. Let’s go talk to him, we can explain.” Tony shook his head, placing his hand on Rhodey’s and removing it.

“No, I need to fix this. Thanks though.” He gave Rhodey a weak smile before rushing out the door, following JARVIS’ directions up to the penthouse.

-

“Peter!” He called out as the elevator doors opened. He heard shuffling in their bedroom and ran over to the doorway.

Peter was packing a bag. That feeling of dread in Tony's chest intensified as he took in the scene.

“What?” The younger man asked coldly, shoving clothing into his suitcase in a hurried manner that was so unlike him. Usually he treated his things with more care, folding each item carefully before placing it gently in Ben’s old suitcase.

“Just-stop packing, okay?” Tony walked over to where the suitcase rested on the bed and gently tried to block Peter from placing another shirt inside. Thanks to Peter’s ridiculously good reflexes, he was unsuccessful.

“Why? So I can keep listening to the bullshit you and Rhodey were spewing downstairs?” Peter asked, and Tony sighed as he continued to pack. Eventually, the billionaire just started taking the clothes back out of the suitcase, something Peter squawked at. For a few moments, there was just a flurry of movement as Tony took clothing out and Peter rushed to put it back in.

“Knock it off!” Peter cried out after a few moments, catching Tony’s wrists in his hands and holding them tightly.

“Then hear me out,” Tony said, trying to stay calm for them both. On the inside, though, he was terrified. And maybe a little turned on by Peter manhandling him like that--

Focus, Tony.

“Fine,” Peter practically growled as he released Tony’s wrists and took a step back from his suitcase. “Talk, then.”

“First of all, what you heard was taken wildly out of context,” Tony started, and Peter immediately scoffed and rolled his eyes. The younger man crossed his arms over his chest defensively, taking a few steps back from his boyfriend and fixing him with an incredulous look.

“Oh, so you weren’t talking about how much you don’t want to marry me? How you can’t?” He spat out, the words seemingly spearing directly through Tony’s heart.

“Peter-”

“Don’t Peter me. If you didn’t want to marry me, you could have just fucking said so!” Peter said, clearly distressed but trying to hold back tears. “No, but instead-instead, you strung me along for four goddamn years only to tell your friend that you can’t marry me instead of telling me! Do you not see how fucked up that is, Tony?! The second you overheard me you should have come to me instead of avoiding me like the plague! I thought I’d done something wrong, but I guess the only thing that I did wrong was loving you too much.”

“I-”

“No, I’m not finished,” Peter said, pointing at him. Something in his gaze, in the way he held himself in such a defensive way that he’d never been around Tony before, made the genius shut up. “Four years is plenty of time to tell me you don’t want to marry me. Plenty of time for you to let me go so we can both move on. Why didn’t you? What did you think was going to happen? That we were just going to stay boyfriends forever? Newsflash, Tony, in adult relationships there’s this thing called commitment.”

“I have been wholly committed to this relationship for four years, Parker,” Tony growled, more than a little bit of anger peeking through the fear at those words.

“Congratu-fucking-lations! You’re not acting like an adult though, are you? Committing to a relationship means commitment for the future, too! Not just right now.” Peter yelled - he was yelling now - and something inside Tony broke.

“I never said I didn’t want to marry you!” He yelled, and both of them fell into a shocked silence. Tony never raised his voice - not at Peter, anyway. Sure, they’d fought before, but Tony was usually calmer and when he did get angry he never yelled like that. They both took a few breaths before Tony ran his hands over his face and continued.

“I never said the problem was you,” he rephrased, voice softer now as he glanced down at the floor. “I’m the problem, Peter.”

“You’re the-”

“No, stop. Just let me talk.” Tony’s voice was exhausted, defeated even. He knew this was coming, despite Rhodey telling him otherwise. Despite hoping his days of setting relationships on fire and then watching them burn were over.

“Okay,” Peter agreed in an equally quiet tone. He felt slightly bad for screaming at Tony like that, but given what he’d overheard it had felt justified at the time. Now, after seeing his boyfriend look so utterly broken like this? He wasn’t so sure.

“This,” Tony gestured between them. “This is what I do. I cause problems. My relationships start out great and then inevitably I fuck it up somehow. A suit comes to protect me from a nightmare. I forget an anniversary because I’m too busy tinkering in the lab.” He finally met Peter’s eyes. “I take my fears of losing you to my best friend instead of to you, like I should have.” Something in Peter’s eyes softened slightly at that last admission, and Tony swallowed before continuing.

“Four years with you isn’t enough, Peter. Our whole lives won’t be enough. Of course I want to marry you. But I can’t. I can’t marry you because then when I fuck up and lose you then we’re both going to be in for a world of hurt. It’ll be easier if we just stay like this.” Peter took in a breath like he wanted to say something but Tony kept talking. “I’m not saying dating is going to make it so I never screw this up, but it’ll at least let me enjoy this a little longer. Enjoy you a little longer.”

There was a beat of silence.

Then another.

After a few moments, Peter walked up to Tony and gently took his hands in his own, rubbing his thumbs over calloused knuckles.

“You’re an idiot,” he whispered fondly, and Tony tried to jerk his hands out of Peter’s grip. His boyfriend was too fast, though, holding on steadily and continuing those soft touches.

“That’s not news,” Tony tried to joke, but his voice was weak.

“You’re not going to lose me,” Peter murmured.

“I just did! Almost. You were packing!”

“Because I thought my boyfriend didn’t want to marry me. I thought-” Peter broke off, taking in a shaky breath as tears came to his eyes. “I thought you wanted marriage, but not with me. Why would I stay and make us both go through a relationship where neither one of us is ever going to get what we really want?”

Tony could almost kiss his stupid, selfless boyfriend. Of course Peter fucking Parker would put his own heart into the line of fire to make sure Tony got what he really wanted.

“Now that I know that that’s not what you meant, I’m here to stay. Of course I’m here to stay. I love you, Tony.” Peter reached up and pressed a soft kiss to Tony’s cheek, squeezing his hands lightly.

“So you understand why I can’t?” Tony asked, and Peter rolled his eyes. The action was more fond now than it was angry.

“No, I don’t. But we’re going to work on it. As long as what we both want most is each other, then we can work it out. I’m not going to let your fears get in the way of us.” Peter smiled sweetly up at Tony, who felt slightly dizzy. Peter wasn’t leaving him. They were going to be okay.

“I’ll work on it,” he promised, voice barely more than a whisper.

“We will,” Peter amended. Tony simply nodded before leaning down, capturing Peter’s lips in a fierce kiss. He finally pulled his hands free of that soft grip and wrapped them around the smaller man, tugging him into his chest and holding him close.

As they slowly broke apart, Tony barely held back a whine and tried to chase after Peter’s lips. His boyfriend just laughed, placing a gentle finger on Tony’s lips.

“Wanna help me get my clothes off the bed?” He asked, and the older man groaned at the thought of cleaning up.

“Do we have to?” He asked.

“Well, we can’t exactly have fantastic make-up sex if the bed is covered in all my clean clothes,” Peter pointed out, smirking as he mouthed along Tony’s neck before pulling away.

Tony, ever the genius, simply ripped the comforter off the bed and tossed it aside, revealing sheets with no clean clothing in the way.

“Fixed,” he crowed, picking Peter up and placing him on the bed. The laughter that rang out in their bedroom as he climbed on top of his boyfriend was something Tony knew he would cherish.

They had things to work through, that was for sure. But it was like Peter said. As long as they both wanted each other, Tony had a feeling they would figure it all out.

[ohheyalex]

we’ll figure it out together// a dickkory fic

A/N: this fic came to me because i of course wanted to see a scene between kory and dick in episode 10 of s3  while they're in the car on the way to turn themselves in which in the episode it ends up being a shitshow of course. so this is me writing what i wanted to see and ultimately what should've happened in my eyes. so it obviously doesn't follow what actually happened in the show 🙃 i thought that i had written way more but i still hope whoever reads this that you enjoy it, also the gif is also from s1 i know but i loved it 🥰

Summary: While on their way to turn themselves into the GCPD, Dick realizes the many mistakes he’s made and at the top of the list are not being there for Kory and the team.

Kory’s already sitting in the passenger seat when Dick walks up to the SUV. He can’t help but take a moment to just look at her. She’s completely lost in her thoughts and it gives him time to admire this gorgeous woman in front of him. Kory’s head then turns to him and a smile spreads on her face but he can tell that she’s forcing it. She’s apprehensive that much he can tell and fuck, so is he. 

What they’re about to do isn’t sitting right with him. He put them in this position, bringing them here to help was a mistake. 

Coming back to Gotham was a mistake, he finally realizes.

Dick quickly opens the door and slides into the driver’s seat. He’s quiet for a few minutes, gloved hands flexing over the wheel contemplating if he wants to say this right now. He swallows his words down and he feels like shit because this team, this family deserves so much better from their leader.

He starts the car and presses the code to open up the entrance to the bat cave. And a few minutes later he’s on the road into Gotham City.

It’s been five minutes since they started driving and his grip on the wheel is tight. His heart is beating so hard that he can feel like it’s going to burst through his chest. 

Kory has been so caught up in her own mind that she barely noticed Dick silently freaking out. 

She really can’t seem to catch a break with all these visions taking over her body. She hates not knowing what’s going on and she’s getting tired of it. Kory can’t trust her sister completely and it’s in the back of her mind that having her so close will only result in her own downfall at some point.

Dick finally breaks the silence and he all but blurts out, “This is a stupid fucking idea right?” He’s been holding that in ever since he said it an hour ago to the team.

Kory looks at him and she can see how his eyes are darting across the street before him, he’s anxious and she can see the start of a panic attack and it’s surprising her. He seemed so confident that all of this would work out and that there was nothing to worry about.

She takes a minute to answer, deciding to just be honest at this point, “It is.” Kory nods.

Dick can’t help but let out a laugh at her response but then he recovers quickly, “How come you didn’t say anything back there? You agreed with me.” He asks.

Kory looks down, fiddling with her rings as she mulls over how she’s going to answer this question.

She allows herself to just tell him exactly what’s on her mind, “I don’t know Dick. I mean you’re going to do whatever you want anyway, we both know that. And no matter what I say it doesn’t matter in the end. Plus I’ve got my own shit going on and what’s been happening to me lately has been fucking scaring me.” Kory snaps and Dick is momentarily stunned by what she just said.

And even if it stings he can’t help but see the truth in her words. Dick wants to make this right to her and everyone else.

“You’re right. I keep doing that and I don’t know maybe it’s the fact that it’s one of the many things that I picked up from Bruce. He rarely asked for my input on missions, I usually just went along with whatever he said until I didn't.” Dick looks out at the view of Gotham City, it’s dark and cold like it always is and it hits him even more that he made the mistake of coming back to Gotham.

He continues, “I didn’t want to be like that to the team, to you. I respect your opinion and I’m sorry that I keep failing you all. I’ve been going into this situation with blinders on. I haven’t truly appreciated this team, this family. Especially what you are to me and I’m sorry.”

Dick can't help himself when he finishes with, “What’s going on that you haven’t told me?” This is most certainly the worst time to have this conversation but it doesn’t matter to him because it needs to be done. 

And he could be irritating like that.

He looks to his side and he sees her continuing to twist one of her rings on her middle finger, her chest rising a lot faster and her eyes seem so sad to him. Kory hasn’t even looked at him the entire conversation while he’s been risking an accident with how much his eyes weren’t on the road but on this  pretty alien princess.

Dick can’t help it, he snatches off his glove and reaches over to her lap grasping her hand in his. Their fingers instantly interlock with each other almost instinctively as if this was something they’ve always done.

Dick and Kory both feel something jolt between their palms, almost like being shocked. But instead of them drawing their hands back, it made them tighten their hold onto each other even more.

When they lock eyes, he sees a single tear come down that beautiful face of hers and it breaks his heart that he’s been so neglectful of Kory.

She sniffles and clears her throat before speaking,“I’ll tell you everything but we need to focus on what’s about to happen right now and we have to realize that this can go very wrong.” Kory looks at him and the look on her face tells him that she absolutely will. But he needs to know because he needs to do right by her for once and when he looks into her eyes the words he plans on saying to her don’t ever come out.   

Instead he says, “So what do you want to do?”

Kory turns her body fully towards him while still keeping hold of his hand, “I don’t think we should turn ourselves in. We need to find another way to end this before we lose more of our family. We need to figure this out together, Dick. All of us.” Her green eyes stare deeply into his.

She’s right, of course she is. And Dick realizes that his past and Gotham don't define him, not as a person and not as a hero. These people have become his family and they’re the reason he’s alive. He’s going to be a better leader, a better team partner and a better man. And he’s going to get to the bottom of what’s going on with Kory, he decides.

He squeezes her hand that is still tightly intertwined with his before pressing down the left signal light, alerting the team that they were taking a detour. 

Dick turns and gives Kory one of his bright smiles that whenever directed at her, she couldn’t help but feel giddy and says, “We’ll figure it out together.”

fin...

for now 

[arctickat2400]

My Girl <> Tom Felton

Anonymous Request: can u plsss write a tom felton imagine where they meet on set of a movie or show they’re both starring in and they start hooking up, but the reader is around 21/22 and tom feels she’s too young or whatever so won’t commit to her? then he finds out she’s falling for him so he decides to like abandon her and start publicly seeing another older actress and the reader is heartbroken and completely changes from like happy and sweet to quiet and isolated. then tom realises he’s actually in love with her and has to try and make up the hurt he caused her? lots of angst and fluff (maybe even a smudge of smut if ur comfortable) plsssss i love ur writing sm !!

Note: Thank you so much for requesting this whoever you are! I hope I was able to satisfy your request. I've never written something like this before, and half the time I was in the car traveling while writing it and the other half in a hotel, so yeah, we'll see how it turns out. Sorry there's no smut, I'm not that kind of person. I will but rarely add smut to my writings, but I'm a fluff kind of girl and don't write smut very well. Anyways, enjoy!🖤

* * *

Walking around the set, saying hi to the cast and crew, you made your way to your next scene. You feel your phone vibrate in your back pocket and see you got a text from your friend back at home. Laughing at something she said, you begin to text back, but not before your phone drops to the floor on the impact of running into someone. You stumble, but the person steadies you. Looking up, you see that it’s Tom, your co-star, your boyfriend, and yet still your crush for who knows how long.

“Hey, Y/N. Probably should watch where you’re going. Never know who or what could sneak up on you,” Tom chuckles, receiving a giggle back from you. He leaned down and pressed his lips to yours in a sweet kiss of greeting. A shiver cascaded down your spine. Every time you were with Tom, or even near him, you could feel the sparks, and your stomach felt all warm and fuzzy inside.

“Well, hi, to you too, Tom. Where are you off to? Our scene is that way,” You question, pointing in the opposite direction that he’s going.

“Oh, really? These big places always confuse me. Walk with me?” Tom smiles, holding his arm out for you. Your smile widens and you take his arm as he guides you to the set together.

“Y/N, I was wondering, would you like to go out with me tonight? After today’s shooting is done. There’s a nice restaurant down the street, not too far from here.” Tom mentioned and you felt all giddy inside.

“Tom, I would love to!” You almost screamed with excitement but tried to hold back the best you could. You haven’t been able to go out much lately with the movie and all, so you’re always so excited when you’re able to go out and have a nice evening with your boyfriend.

* * *

Once your scene with Tom was done for the most part, you both parted ways. “See you later, my love,” You told him, kissing his cheek and walking away, missing the wide-eyed look on his face.

Tom went to shoot a different scene and you went back to your trailer to get ready for your date with Tom. It was a short shooting day, so Tom was coming to pick you up at 7. You had a little over an hour to get ready as you picked out a cute black, off-the-shoulder dress and some converse. After touching up a bit on your hair, you sat at your vanity and waited.

Tom was rarely ever late coming to see you. That’s why you were surprised when the clock struck 7 and Tom hadn’t come to your trailer yet. Maybe he just got caught up in a scene or talking to a crew member, you thought.

You waited and waited. You even texted him, however, with no reply. You didn’t want to seem clingy, so you just left it at one text. You became worried when you realized Tom was half an hour late. Setting an alarm for 8, you decided you’ll text him again. But, for now, you wait. You looked over your script, trying to memorize your lines for tomorrow’s scenes.

Jumping suddenly at your phone’s alarm, it was already 8 and Tom still hasn’t shown up yet. You shot him another text, asking about his whereabouts before stepping out of your trailer to go and find him.

“Hey, have you seen Tom anywhere?” You asked a passing crew member, but he said he didn’t know, that the last place he saw him, though, was his last scene set. You thanked him, then made your way there, not finding Tom, but finding his friend.

“Hey, have you seen Tom? I’ve been waiting for him for an hour, but he never showed. I’ve been looking around for him, but can’t find him.” You told him, sounding a bit exasperated.

“No, sorry, I haven’t seen him. But, I think he mentioned going out with a friend. Have you checked his trailer?” He asked, a little worried himself. He knows that you and Tom are together so he’s a bit suspicious of Tom’s unknown whereabouts.

“I was just about to go check there. Thanks.” You told him, waving with a smile even though your heart was racing.

You head out of the building and zigzag through the various cast and crew trailers until you reached Tom’s trailer, knocking before climbing the stairs to open the door. He’s never had a problem with you just going in.

“Tom, it’s been more than an hour. What’s going-?” There wasn’t a chance to say anything else as the shock of the sight in front of you silenced your voice. Tom kissing your best friend, Emma Watson, was the thing you feared most. You had a feeling there was something between Emma and Tom, but you wanted over everything for that to not be true. But, here you are, staring at your best friend and your boyfriend, making out.

You didn’t have time to say anything before you were out the door, tears rushing down your cheeks.

“Y/N! Y/N, wait!” You heard Tom’s voice behind you.

“What, Tom? What could you possibly say to me right now? How could you?” You were yelling at him, infuriated.

“This isn’t how I wanted you to find out. I was going to tell you,” He started, but you weren’t going to give him the time of day.

“No, Tom. Just, no. There’s nothing you can say to make this better. Just don’t,” Is the last thing you said to him before walking away, sobbing, back to your trailer, missing the way Tom was staring as you walked away from him, heartbroken and guilty all at the same time.

It’s been days since you talked to Tom. Luckily, you haven’t had to shoot any scenes with him. If you see him walking towards you, you’d walk the other way. If he tried to talk to you, you still wouldn’t give him the time of day and you’d just walk away.

Ever since that day, you wouldn’t greet the cast and crew like you used to. Of course, if someone said hi to you, you would respond, but the smiles became short and fake. You isolated yourself. You would shoot your scenes, then go back to your trailer when you weren’t needed, which seems like all the time lately.

And ever since that day, when you caught him cheating with your best friend, Tom’s been miserable. He hates himself for what he did to you, for hurting you, especially because it was for a stupid reason. He’s vowed to make it up to you, to get you back, because he’s realized that he loves you. So, he will do everything he can in order to get you back, to show you he loves you.

You were walking back to your trailer after a long day of shooting, getting towards the end of the movie, when you were stopped by a very anxious-looking Tom.

“Y/N, please, let me talk to you for just a minute, please,” He begged, although he didn’t really give you much space to agree or not.

“I’m gonna be honest with you, Y/N, I did what I did for a stupid reason; because I thought you were too young and we wouldn’t work because of the age difference. I didn’t think I could commit to this relationship, and I’m so sorry for what I did, not telling you before and making out with Emma and you having to see it. Katie, I cannot tell you how sorry I am. If I could I would take it all back…” But you interrupted him.

“But, that’s the thing, Tom, you can’t take it back. It’s done, I saw it. And with my best friend, of all people. I always knew there was something going on between you two," You took a deep breath. "I can’t deal with this right now, so please, just leave me alone,” You told him before turning around and continuing back to your trailer, leaving behind a sad and heartbroken Tom.

You step up into your trailer, plugging your phone into the charger, and seeing a flash of red in the corner of your eye. How could you have not seen it before?

Laid on your bed were a perfect bouquet of red roses and a note on top. You picked up the bouquet, the beautiful scent filling your senses. You knew who they were from even before you saw the note.

My love,

I know this doesn’t make up for what I did, but I am sincerely sorry. I hope you will give me the honor of giving me some of your time so I can explain.

Tom

Just then, looking down, you noticed a small black velvet box that must have been hidden underneath the flowers. You hadn’t noticed it before. Setting down the flowers and note, you picked up the box, opening it to see a beautiful silver ring with a sparkling diamond in the middle, For me, there is only you, engraved on the inside. Tears were once again beginning to form. You had to go apologize for not letting him speak his case. Some part of you said he didn’t deserve you or your time. But another part is saying he does deserve you. You love him and, even after what he did, he still deserves a second chance.

After slipping your shoes back on and shoving the ring into your pocket, you run out of your trailer and towards the sets to try and find him. You knew he had a scene to shoot soon so he should be around somewhere.

Just as you turned a corner, there he was, that sad look on his face with a mix of guilt and who knows what else. He spotted you and your eyes met. All these emotions were flooding through your mind. Your heart was saying one thing, that you need to run to him and let him explain. But your head was telling you to turn around, run away. You tend to listen to your head over your heart, unfortunately, so you turned around and began walking back, tears beginning to fill to the brim.

“Y/N,” The sound of Tom’s voice made you stop; something about it struck you and made you freeze on the spot. He walked towards you and took a deep breath and continued what he had started before. “I hate myself for what I did to you. I know I can’t undo it, and I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I love you, Y/N. After what I did, I saw you crying, and something in me just snapped, and I haven’t been able to sleep or eat, and…”

“Wait, you love me?” You turned suddenly and looked up into his eyes, tears spilling over onto your cheeks. Tom’s hand makes its way to your cheek, ridding away the oncoming tears as he looks into your eyes with a sincere, sad smile.

“Yes, I do. Baby, I love you so much. And I will do anything to make everything up to you. I will beg you for your love until you take it and love me back…”

Next thing you know, your lips were on his, your lips moving together in perfect sync. You both pulled back for air as you slipped your hand into your pocket and pulled out the promise ring. Tom looked down and smiled.

“Do you mean it?” You questioned him hopefully, looking up into his eyes, his hands on your waist and your arms around his neck.

“I mean it all, my love. Indeed, for me, there is only you. I love you and I always will.” Tom declared, taking the ring from you and slipping it onto your ring finger. Tom placed his forehead against yours.

“I love you, too, Tom,” You exclaimed, your sweet smile that no one has seen for the past several days resurfacing.

“I will make it up to you, my love. In any and all ways that I can, I will make sure you know how sorry I am and how much I love you.” Leaning in, he placed a passionate kiss to your lips, adoring the way your lips feel on his.

“The flowers were beautiful, by the way,” You smiled up at him, and the way he looked at you made you feel like the most beautiful girl in the whole universe.

“Only for my girl.”

[auburnaudry]

Am I Your Forever? - Brock Boeser

A/N: I had lots of free time this weekend now that I’m taking a break from my series. I love Brock and this has been living in my head for a while so I finally decided to write it. I also just wanted to get this out so it’s super unedited, sorry in advance.

Summary: You wanted Brock to be your forever but sometimes he says things that make you think your not his end game. (Ends super fluffy)

Word count: 2410 words

You and Brock had been dating for almost 4 years. He was it for you and you assumed you were it for him, you were perfect for eachother. Your relationship obviously had its challenges but nothing you two couldn’t figure out and over come.

You both were getting ready for Bo and Hollys engagement party and of course Brock was ready way before you.

You were putting your last earring in when Brock came up behind you, slipping his arms around your waste and placing sweet kisses on your exposed shoulder.

“You almost ready” he whispered as his mouth was still attached to you shoulder. He looked up at you through the mirror and your heart melted at the sight.

“Yeah I just need to get dressed then I’ll be ready” he nodded against your shoulder and kept you in his arms, closing his eye for a few seconds.

“Which I can only do if you let go of me” you continued. He chuckled and placed one last kiss to your neck as he let his hands fall slowly down your hips until he wasn’t touching you anymore.

You walked over to your shared closet and slowly slipped your clothes off, leaving you in just your underwear. You took the dress you planned on wearing off it’s hanger and slipped it on. You quickly turned around to call for Brock to help you with the zipper but he was already standing in front of you, leaning on the frame of the closet door.

Brocks cheeks turned a light shade of pink as he was clearly caught watching you changed. Even after almost 4 years of being together he still blushed at innocent moments like that and it made you fall more in love every single time.

“Can you please zip it bubs?” You asked him with a smirk. He didn’t answer, just walked over and motion for you to turn around. He left small kisses on your exposed back as he zipped you up. When he finished zipping the dress he slipped his arms around your waste again.

“Now are we ready? We going to be late if we don’t head over soon.” You and Brock were usually late to most casual events that didn’t have an exact start time. You both got teased about it, everyone thinking you two just couldn’t keep your hands off eachother. But in reality, you too just enjoyed taking your time to get ready and were never in a rush. It’s one of the reasons you two fit so perfectly together, you never put too much pressure on things, you both liked to go with the flow.

The ride over to the party was comfortably silent. You guys were enjoying each others company and the last bit of quiet before you were stuck with hours of loud music and constant talking.

Your stared out the window thinking about you and Brocks future engagement, how fun it will be to be engaged to your best friend and the love of your life. You two didn’t talk about the future too often because, again, you both liked to go with the flow. The few times it did come up though, he seemed excited and like a future with you was something he wanted.

When you arrived to the party, you were pulled from you thoughts by Brocks hand giving yours a squeeze.

“You ready?” He questioned.

“Always” your go to response anytime he asked you that. You entered the party hand in hand and began greeting everyone you knew.

Later on in the evening, you were sitting at your table with other canucks players and their significant others. These people had become family to you in the time that you’ve been with Brock, so the entire night had been filled with laughs and light hearted conversation.

“So are you guys next?” Micaela spoke looking in yours and Brocks direction. Before you had the chance to answer though, Brock spoke.

“No definitely not” he said laughing. Everyone else at the tabled laughed along. You just gave a small smile, pretending to not be hurt by his words. You weren’t one to make a scene and say something in front of other people so you bottled it up and hoped that you would have enough courage to bring it up when you two made it home.

The rest of the night, you were consumed by your own thoughts. Why did he sound so disgusted at the thought of marrying you? Your heart physically ached. Were you stupid to think he was the one?

You tried your best to seem unfazed by his comment but it kept eating away at you.

“You okay babe?” Brock whispered in your ear on the dance floor. You were lucky because he too hated drawing attention to your problems in public.

“Of course, just tired.” You weren’t sure if you voice was convincing enough, but it must have been because Brock dropped it.

“Me too, we can head home soon.” And within the next 30 mins you were saying your goodbye and congratulating Bo and Holly on your way out.

The ride home was quiet, but not the comfortable silence you felt on the way to the party. But you didn’t want to bring up your feelings. You were embarrassed that you were on a completely different page than your boyfriend.

As soon as the car was parked, you hopped out and went inside. You stripped your clothes and threw on your Pjs, too tired to even take a shower. You wiped your makeup off with a wipe and washed your face. As you started to brush your teeth Brock walked into the bathroom. He wrapped his arms around your middle again and kissed your cheek.

“Your sure your okay? You seem off.” He asked looking you directly in your eyes through the mirror in front of you. The eyes contact made you nervous so you looked down at the sink and nodded since you couldn’t respond with your mouth full of toothpaste.

You finished your nightly routine and crawled into bed. Shortly after, Brock turned all the lights off and crawled into bed next to you. He pulled you into his chest and kissed the top of your head.

“I love you baby girl, goodnight” you could tell Brock was a little worried about you but didn’t want to push things, so he didn’t bring it up again. He knew you would bring it up to him if something was really bothering you or when you were ready.

“Love you too, night” and with that you both went to sleep.

...

You and Brock were having a relaxing day at home with the puppies. It was rare that you got an entire day to spend together doing whatever you wanted so you decided on staying home and just enjoying each others company.

You were cuddled up on the couch talking about anything and everything with the TV playing in the background. You were interrupted by Brocks phone buzzing from under you and you were forced to get up and look for it.

“Hey mom” he answers the FaceTime call when he finally found the phone between the couch cushions. You also say hello and then leave to go grab a snack from the kitchen. When you got back to the couch, you focused on the TV while Brock continued his conversation with his mother.

“So when are you two going to get married.” Laurie asked. You weren’t paying much attention before so you weren’t sure how it even came up, but now you were completely focused on how Brock was going to respond.

“Couldn’t tell you, stop asking.” Again your heart sank into your stomach. This is now the second time he was asked about marrying you and his response was the same both times.

Just like the night of the engagement party a couple weeks earlier, you got lost in your thoughts again, questioning your entire relationship.

They continued talking for a little bit and eventually you and Brock said your goodbyes to Laurie. You stayed quiet for the rest of the day and avoided Brocks touch. You were so upset, but again you were too embarrassed to even bring up how you were feeling.

That night you decided to take a bath. You didn’t take baths often but loved it when you had the time. You always asked Brock if he wanted to join, but tonight you were too upset with him. So when he took the dogs on their walk, you went to the bathroom and shut the door.

You filled the bath with bubbles and a fun LED light to set the mood. You had just recently installed a TV in the bathroom for nights like this, so you turned on your favorite show and got into the tub. It was really calm and relaxing for about 5 mins but your body tensed up when you heard Brocks voice.

“Babeeee?” He called through the house. You could hear his footsteps get closer to the master bedroom “Bubs are you in here?” You didn’t respond. You thought maybe he would give up after looking in the master bedroom, but you were wrong.

He must have noticed the bathroom door was shut and the lights were on because soon after he called for you he knocked lightly on the door.

“Hey baby you in there?” His voice was sweet, laced with a little bit of concern, probably since you weren’t in the spot he had left you before he walked the dogs.

“Yeah babe.” You tried your best not to give away the fact that you were upset. You heard the door handle jiggle followed by the squeaking of the hinges as Brock opened the door to peak his head in.

“You didn’t tell me it was bath time.” He looked at you, a little hurt that you didn’t invite him.

“Sorry” was the only response you could think of.

“What’s wrong babe, your acting weird.” He walked into the bathroom and kneeled beside the tub. All of a sudden you felt extremely exposed and wrapped your arms around your chest to cover the bit that was visible over the bubbled.

Tears started rolling down you face and you couldn’t hold it in anymore. Brock quickly stood and undressed himself moving you slightly so he could slip in behind you. He held you, trying to make you feel better, but you didn’t relax into his touch and it was very noticeable.

“D-did I do something?” He questioned. You slowly nodded, turning yourself around in the tub and sitting across from him. His face fell as you nodded and moved away from him.

“Are you breaking up with me?” He whispered clearly afraid of the answer.

“No no of course not I-I would never.” You voice was still a little shaky from the crying. His expression soften from your reassurance.

“What’s wrong baby, you have to tell me.” He grabbed one of your feet as he spoke and started to rub it. You were quick to pull it away because you wanted his full attention on you.

“Do you not want to marry me?” Now you were the one whispering, afraid of what the answer might be.

“What? Of course I want to marry you one day, what kind of question even is that?” You looked at him confused.

“When mic asked when we were gonna get engaged at Holly and Bo’s party you acted disgusted at the thought and today your mom asked you a similar question and again you responded like she was crazy for asking.” He now understood why you were so upset and he felt so guilty “I-I just... it really hurt my feelings, like is the thought of marrying me that bad? And if you don’t want to marry me are we just wasting our -“ Brock cut you off before you could even finish your sentence.

“Please don’t ever think like that, I love you more than anything, I want you to be my wife and I want to start a family with you.” You finally felt at ease with his words “I only responded like that because we are really private about our relationship, and I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable if I said yes and then everyone starts asking questions. And we really haven’t talked about it ourselves much so I didn’t want to put you on the spot. I wasn’t sure if you were on the same page as me, so I responded the way I did to get everyone off our backs.” He reached out and grabbed your hand and pulled you back between his legs with your back to his chest. “I’m sorry I hurt you and had you second guessing us.” You now understood where he was coming from and why he said the things he said

“It’s okay I understand now, I’m sorry I didn’t bring it up sooner.” He kissed your exposed shoulder and you finally relaxed into his touch.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” He spoke after a few short moments of silence.

“Hmm?” You hummed, unsure what he was alluding to.

“About us, our future?” You smiled and grabbed one of his hands from your waste, bringing it to your mouth to place a kiss on it.

“I would love nothing more.” With that, you two talked about your future and when you wanted to get engaged, how long you wanted to be engaged before you got married, how long after you got married did you want to start having kids, how many kids you guys wanted, and so on. You spent so much time talking, the water turned cold and you were forced to get out of the bath.

You both dried off and finished your nightly routines, meeting eachother in bed. Once you were both laying comfortably in bed, Brock pulled you in for a long, passionate kiss. When you both pulled away to catch your breathe he rested his forehead against yours.

“I love you and want to spend the rest off my life with you, please don’t ever doubt that.” Brock whispered.

“Good cause your stuck with me .” The rest of the night was spent kissing and exchanging I love you’s. You truly couldn’t have picked a better guy to spend the rest of your life with. 

[iliveiloveiwrite]

Hello, my lovely ^^ Since you are doing blurbs and I am incapable of writing less than 1k words fics, I would like to ask for a blurb from you ^^ Could you please write one with Benedict Bridgerton using fluff prompt 12) “You’re jealous, aren't you?” // “I’m not!” // “Yes you are!” angst prompt 14) “What happened?” and misc prompt 3) brushing hands by accident. Thank you, Millie, I hope you can write it, no pressure though <3 Love you ^^

Start Again

Fluff 12: “You’re jealous, aren’t you?” // “I’m not!” // “Yes you are!” // Angst 14: “What happened?” // Misc 3: brushing hands by accident. 

For Benedict Bridgerton, London society argue that there was a lot in his life that he needed to be jealous of. For starters, he wasn't the heir - he was the spare. Whilst he was the son of a Viscount, he would never inherit the title or the fortune. For that, London society believed that he should be jealous of his brother - the Viscount Bridgerton. 

However, Benedict found himself rarely jealous of his elder brother. He could see the toll the title took on Anthony; he knew of the late nights in his office as he managed the books as well as taking their father’s seat in parliament. There was a lot on Anthony’s shoulder and Benedict was rather grateful it wasn't him. 

Benedict first experienced envy of his brother on the night he met you. 

A fleeting moment; it lasted less than ten seconds. His hand had brushed yours accidentally as he had unwittingly reached for the same glass of lemonade as you. Benedict had jerked his hand back; shocked at the electricity surging through his arm and to his heart. If he had known any better, Benedict would have realised he had been struck with one of Cupid’s famous arrows.

He had watched the faint flush grow on your cheeks; heard your stuttered apology as you grabbed another drink and left him standing at the table. 

It was as if Benedict knew in that very moment he was going to end this year’s season with a wife. 

Or he had hoped when he caught sight of you talking with Anthony. 

That was when Benedict first experienced the unfortunate sensation of jealousy. 

He watched the conversation from the sidelines; not wanting to be caught snooping by any party. He had to repress the urge to pout, unhappy with the scene unfolding in front of him. He hadn't even spoken to you, but Benedict felt as if that moment his hand brushed yours that he knew every inch of you. 

He didn't want Anthony to know you more than the conversation you were currently having.

“You’re jealous, aren't you?” Eloise accuses, her Bridgerton blue eyes fixed on Benedict’s face as she sidles up to her elder brother.

“I’m not,” He huffs, tugging on the lapels of his jacket in an effort to seem manly. 

Eloise rolls her eyes, already done with the antics of her elder brother. “Yes, you are,” She states, “And you have nothing to be jealous over.”

“Are you sure?” Benedict all but spits, watching you laugh with Anthony, his eyes bright as he watches you tip your head back in delight.

Eloise rolls her eyes once; thoroughly done with the possessiveness of men. “Yes,” She all but shouts, “(Y/N) is laughing at Anthony’s solution of the issue with the land tenants back in Kent.”

“Oh,” Benedict answers, feeling rather silly. 

“Oh indeed, brother.” Eloise answers smugly, crossing her arms in triumph. 

“Where has (Y/N) gone?” Benedict asks suddenly; finding you no longer speaking to Anthony. 

Eloise cranes her neck above the guests; her eyes scanning the room for the familiar colour of your dress. “There!” She shouts, drawing the attention of the guests around them. Eloise points across the room, “That way.”

“Thank you,” Benedict states gratefully, kissing his sister’s cheek quickly before heading in the direction Eloise pointed out. 

Benedict finds you perched on a stone bench; your face in hidden in your hands as the light breeze swirls around the hairs falling loose from your updo. You sniffle, sitting straighter as if having a word with yourself. 

“Oh!” You gasp, holding a hand to your chest, “You scared me!”

“What happened?” Benedict asks, worried at the distraught look on your face.

“I met someone tonight and it’s knocked me sideways.”

“Oh,” Benedict answers, feeling his shoulders deflate as upset settles in his veins. He had hoped to speak to you more; to call on you in the morning, but the likeliness has all but dissipated now. 

You nod, smiling at the brunette, “I spoke to his brother which was nice. I got all the details.”

Benedict perks up at your words. His brother? Could you mean Anthony? Were you asking about him?

“Yes,” You continue, “You see I was so affected by him the first time we met, I'm afraid I bungled it all up.”

“You did? How?”

You laugh. “I ran away! We brushed hands and I had a moment only written about in fairytales and I ran away.”

“I won’t hold it against you,” Benedict smiles, “I rather froze on the spot myself.”

“Can we start again?” You asks, your voice small but hopeful.

“I’m Benedict,” He greets.

“(Y/N),” You offer as Benedict takes your outstretched hand, kissing the back of it. 

“A pleasure, (Y/N).”

(I had to add a keep reading as this got way too long!! Thank you, Gina! I hope you like. Love you too!)