#I KNOW THIS WAS LIKE ALL DIALOGUE BUT I GAVE YALL A LITTLE BIT OF AZ AND LENA AT THE END

[shroomyv]

ᢉ𐭩-A BIT OF APPRECIATION

Pairing: Mohawk mark (normal AU) x f!reader

Synopsis: you had a long day at work, tired of being unappreciated and annoyed. Your usually annoying boyfriend finally picks up on it and decides to do you a favor to show that he appreciates you and your company~

Warnings: smoking, rain forest pussy, corny dialogue most definitely.

W.C: 1.6k (whew…)

A/n: omg…I’m ngl yall…😭 this may be my worst story ever produced. I’m so fricken sorry dudes and dudettes but I’m so mother freaking exhausted. Hopefully…it’s not to bad? And if it is I can always js delete it. ALSO ALSO!!! Thank you guys for all the support on all my post holy hell. Love u guys thank u thank u. Now imma quit yapping so u can read this bs.

Another grueling day at work knocking the wind out of you. You had finally made it back to your apartment knocking as the door opened.

M! Mark stood at the door smiling as he held it open for you.

“Wow, you look like shit!” He said teasing you before you grabbed his nose pinching it. You honestly weren’t in the mood for antics today—you were truly exhausted.

“AH- GOD DAMN” he yelped in pain before you just kicked off your heels walking right past him. You just face-planted into the couch—melting into it in seconds. He walked over to you as he stood above you waiting for your attention. You weren’t giving it so he moved even closer starting to annoy you.

“Hey…hey…psst…hey…hey you stink…hey…hey…hey…if you don’t respond I’m gonna go blow up the fucking city.” M! Mark just kept bugging and bothering you until you finally looked at him. Your brows were furrowed in anger as you looked like you were about to rip his face off.

His smile finally dropped—he wasn’t cheesing so much now. Now he wanted to actually know what was wrong with you. Usually, you’d come into this house all sunshine and rainbows but today you looked absolutely tossed.

“What’s the matter, lady?” He said as he bent down to your level wanting to be as close as he could so he could at least attempt to get a read on you.

“Nothing…” you said not wanting to answer as you just stuffed your face into the couch cushions

“Bullshit” he replied quickly as he wasn’t taking that crappy old answer. He wanted to know what was wrong.

You rolled your eyes at his foul mouth response but it finally got you to respond with the truth “I’m just tired…they had me doing all these shoots, all these retakes, it was exhausting and “not good enough.” So we have to redo the shoot tomorrow. I’m just fucking tired of not getting appreciated or something.”

“Well…fuck them! They’re fucking pathetic losers or dickheads. I never caught your boss's name either you should tell me his name!” M! Mark's voice raised a bit in anger at your boss's behavior.

You knew if you gave him your boss's name, he’d try to kill him in a heartbeat. You just rolled your eyes shaking your head no, it cheered you up a bit as you started smiling again.

“Finally got a smile out of you again lady. Since nobody else is fucking appreciating you can I do it?” M! Mark said with a grin. He rarely ever asked for anything—you just assumed he was fucking with you again, wanting to get another kick out of your suffering.

“You just wanna fuck with me again don’t you.” You said lifting up softly as you glared at him. If he was fucking around you were in no mood for it.

“I mean…if you let me then sure I want to fuck with you again.” A cocky smirk covered his face as he was at your legs now. He softly rested his face on your thigh—smushing it into the warmth as much as he could. You were honestly a bit surprised at his behavior. However, after the day you had, you’d let that man do anything to please you. Your hand went to his face rubbing it softly as he leaned into it more.

God, you wanted to grab him up and keep him forever already. He could be such a dick head then turn around and act like he was a little angel. You sighed before giving him your answer-

“You have my permission, BUT, I don’t wanna lift a single fucking finger or do anything. I just lay and you worship me like a statue and give me what I want.”

Any other day, M! Mark would argue how that wasn’t fair in the fucking slightest and you’d two just fight for who was on top. Today, however—was his time to shine and please you (even though you were clearly still in charge.)

“Yes ma’am!” He had a kind of aroused excitement in his voice before kissing your thighs furiously. God you loved seeing him like this—pleasing you without any argument. Your hand stroked his hair, rubbing at his Mohawk softly.

His hands snaked at your skirt—pulling it off as quickly as he possibly could. The only thing stopping him from getting to your pussy now was your panties.

“Finally, getting to the good bits” he was practically starving for your pussy and you had just gotten back home not even hours ago.

“Were my thighs not good-“ you said sarcastically trying to fuck with him and use his words against him

“Hey, don’t give me that shit lady. You know what I meant.” He snarled out before sliding your panties off of you as quickly as he could

You were excited for him to start but remembered something…you hadn’t shaved in a little bit.

“Awe wait Mark- I haven’t shaved and-“

He cut you off instantly-

“You think I give a fuck about that? Why the fuck would I care if you shaved or not it’s not like it’s gonna change the taste of your damn pussy” he was swift with a comeback before he finally just ripped off your panties. You were honestly in love with the fact that he just didn’t give a shit—he didn’t judge the shit you were insecure about, he admired it at that.

He finally got to your pussy—he was practically frothing at the mouth already and you two hadn’t even begun. It was honestly turning you on seeing him like this for you. For a second—he wasn’t even trying to eat it. He just sat there in front of it inhaling and taking in the scent.

“Hey hey! Are you gonna eat it or just fucking stare!” You said with an impatient tone using your foot to nudge him. You weren’t just about to be wet and aroused for nothing now.

“Aye- don’t rush, it’s gonna happen regardless!” He snapped back at you before digging in. His tongue softly lapped over your pussy before sliding itself into your hole. You shivered a bit as your body jolted up due to the pleasure. He licked up your slick from your hole before moving onto your clit—sucking it like it was a hard candy.

“Oh! Oh fuck mark! That’s..that’s good!” You huffed out as your hands went to his shoulder’s to try and get any kind of support. He knew he was doing good—so he kept pressing his tongue down harder, making swirls with his tongue on your clit as one of his hands latched onto your thigh. He loved it so much he couldn’t just leave it the hell alone.

“F..fngh- FUCK!” You moaned out frantically as you came. M! mark kept licking at your vagina till you finally said something

“H..hey! I came already what are you doing?”

“Scho?” He said in a muffled voice as his mouth was still full of your pussy. He lifted up on the couch closer to you now as he kicked his pants off. Both of your pants and underwear in a pile on the floor with each other. He lifted your thigh a little bit before sliding himself into your warmth.

“Oh…oh fuck mark…” you moaned out softly as he kissed at your neck

“I’ll take that as I’m doing good and you want me to plow the shit out of you?” M! Mark said with a devilish grin as he began to pick up the pace. He moved in and out of your pussy as best as he could while still being sensitive to your tiredness.

“Oh…oh fuck yes baby. You’re so…fucking tight….” M! Mark moaned out in pleasure as he kept fapping inside of you. He honestly wanted to cum already but he tried to hold back a bit to make it last longer.

You reached your hand to his face as quickly as you could before you’d be jolting again due to the pleasure of your boyfriend snapping his hips into you. His face cupped and cheeks squished as you pulled it down kissing him. Your lipstick covered his lips in a mark before you latched onto his neck keeping him down.

You planted kisses all over his face left and right—you two both struggling to hold back now as you huffed out for dear life. Both your lips fought each other as you kissed roughly. It was absolutely brutal and beautiful as your senses were being attacked. Your tongue rolled over his before letting go to pop a few more kisses on his face to get right back to mouth fucking each other. It was finally enough to make you fucking pop.

“Oh..oh mark…ngh…” you moaned out in pure ecstasy as you cummed tightening around m! Mark's cock as he quickly followed suit

“M…mother fucker…” he choked out before collapsing on top of you and laying on you. You were satisfied with his work and so was.

You two lay in each other arms in satisfaction as you kissed his face more and more while he reached for his pants on the ground. He reached into the pocket—grabbing a cigarette and lighter before lighting it and tossing, the lighter aside.

He inhaled the smoke before blowing it out as he smiled at you.

“That was certainly something…” he said with that devilish grin he always kept on his face before passing you the cigarette letting you have your own puff of it.

“You fucking said it…” your boyfriend covered in your kiss marks, you both covered in sweat, and you were both satisfied in each other’s arms smoking a cigarette. You were grateful that at least this crazy fucker appreciated you.

[eir-trixa]

WOTTG SPOILERS AFTER THE CUT

.

.

.

Can you believe Rick is validating me in my Percy-is-the-most-empathic-character take? I have legal basis but boi does it feel nice to have canon confirmation.

Second that book was short af I got the gist of it all while reading for like an hour.

Third, we addressed everyone else’s trauma. Percy’s still the group therapist LMAO 😭😭😭

Fourth, my son is such a good kid yall, this is why I lose five years of my life when someone insults or when he insults himself jfc my child.

Im honestly still processing and I have to reread the ending. Did it address Percy’s issues? Im going to go with “a bit” and call it a night. I mean, I guess it did? Percy got to unload and help Gale and Hecuba. We got an insight to how he’s managing to stay up and fighting and good despite all the shit he’s put into. Honestly the fact that he saw the humanity in Gale and Hecuba, that he saw their pain and grief and thats what made them trust him, that is so good. And the way he related to them. Goodness. And it highlights again how good a person he is, how much he feels and cares. I mean, he cried cause he had to send Mrs O Leary away, I cant with this kid-

I supposed what Im left unsatisfied with is how he still perceives himself as dumb? Baby, you survived San Fran for two months as a homeless kid without memories and pursued by different monsters who cant die. Youre the furthest thing from dumb.

He cant see this of course and while it was slightly addressed(?) by Annabeth telling him to his face that she doesnt give him enough credit, that he’s pretty smart, I dont think thats enough for addressing this particular issue. There was a time in the middle that he almost snapped because he thought Annabeth probably thinks him too dumb to know what to do next. Which I understand is frustrating to him. But to be fair this book made him look at Annabeth for a solution a lot. Theres also little comments about how when he cant think of anything - which is every 60 seconds apparently according to him- he looks at Annabeth. This doesnt help the co dependent allegations LMAO. Idk, I will die on the Hill that Percy is one of the smartest people in the series, not just emotionally but also in strategy. And theres, of course, nothing wrong with looking at the genius strategist for answers. Ive mixed feelings because definitely this is more of a Percy-insecurity issue than an Annabeth-being-bossy issue. But okay. One more book, heres to hoping we get more heart to heart on that front because Im 999998% sure she doesnt mean to make him feel stupid, Percy’s just got a lot of demons to fight but this in particular they need to figure out together. Still, its obvious how much they care for each other still. If only Dave and Hana did not piss me off at the start Id probably be a little more lenient about this.

Annabeth’s fatal flaw also makes a comeback, we love to see it.

And Sally Estelle Jackson. Now we have to find out wth is Percy’s middle name cause if Sally has one odds are she gave her son too. Trust me. Im Filipino. Iykyk.

Lastly, while I will forever and ever and ever support the trio from pjotv (theyre perfect and have done nothing wrong ever) I can see Rick’s injecting their personalities into the books. Im not sure if he does this on purpose or just subconsciously LMAO. Some of Grover’s dialogue is definitely inspired by Aryan. Percy being Lanky? Walker through and through, especially with his growth spurt lmao, and Annabeth’s confidence? All Leah. I can see what Rick’s trying to do. Ive no opinion on this, just pointing it out. I do love love love the live action. Just. I can see you Rick. You aint slick.

So there. I probably would need to reread the book properly at some point.

[shakespearean-dream]

TW!!! — blood, scarring and mild body horror ahead 🥲

benny’s turn!

before i start i wanna clarify i hesitated a bit on posting this because lovely mutual @vor-leser just posted his benny interpretation (go look at it and follow him btw), and idk if we like mind melded or smth but our human benny’s are super similar LOL. i damn near scrapped the whole thing out of fear someone would get mad at me but i Would Not be able to start over and get this done ever so this is as good as we’re gonna get. 😭 my apologies niko love u /p

this has been like a full 7 days in the making 😭😭 the art block that i felt coming on while doing ellen and ted hit me like an optimus prime sized semi truck this week along with a depressive episode so i definitely appreciate that happening and i am not upset about it at all! /s i’m totally good so don’t worry or anything /gen, mental health is just weird and i also wanted to explain the gap in my posts 😔

i do not know how to feel about this drawing if i’m so fr with you; i’m proud of myself for AM-ified benny cause i think i got the slowly rotting from the inside out primal freak energy down pretty good, but on the other hand this feels kinda empty?? i usually have a lot more commentary squished in here but i think my brain’s a little fried 🤦‍♂️ i love drawing me some beautiful buff men though so drawing normal ben was familiar territory. however his wack ass haircut i gave him is his punishment for being a PRICK!!! go sit in the corner and think about ur actions benjamin.

like ted n the rest of the sillies i’m not straying too far from canon with his personality, he’s an ass and a murderer and a hella smart dickhead who desperately needs to be punished by the universe (thank you for that one AM). hot take i did not like his “redemption arc” in his game scenario and i don’t think with how he was throughout the entirety of his life (and also throughout the game, main example his inner dialogue) he would actually go out of his way to help the kid because he means it??? n prove he changed to the guys he killed cause he means it??? i dunno maybe AM torturing him made him have a main character “omg i’ve been in the wrong this whole time!!1” moment like the game suggests i’m just not buying it 💀 i’m sure it’s just cause bennys scenario couldn’t be too long and they couldn’t fully flesh him out which i won’t fault the game makers for. i’m a steven universe fan, i know what time constrictions can do to a plot and redemption arc 😭 looking at you white diamond…

his wife n kids are up top and they’re kinda neat to me— i was considering the hc that part of the reason manya (his canon wife) left him is because she realized she was a lesbian which would be funny as fuck considering benny’s also One Of Them Queers 😭. i think during the brief times he was home and able to parent his daughters they got really scared and tired of him, one because he’s just a very threatening powerful and overbearing man, but also because i feel like he would’ve been on their ASS about everything. grades, extracurriculars, friends, wardrobe, this guy was micromanaging his family to an annoying extreme (ofc because of his perfectionist complex). he probably loved manya and the kids in his own weird way, but it was more contractual to him than any real personal relationship. maybe he inherited that from his own parents?? i doubt he ever talked to them after he moved out.

that’s about the end of my thoughts on this fucker. 🥲 funny storyyyy i just remembered i have laundry to finish so im gonna go do that, lord help me. thank you for reading all this if you did!!!!! we’re over halfway through so who do yall want next? wanna save AM or nimdok for last? i’ll see u guys later :]]]

[yougavemeyourheartyouknow]

On thin ice (Hockey player! Miguel O’Hara x Figure skater! Fem! Reader)

A/N: Yall know that tiktok sound that goes “My life is the crown, and yours is politics, and I will not trade one prison for another. I’m sorry I looked at Mrs Riley and lightly grazed her left tit.” That’s literally me writing thoughts/ descriptive paragraphs vs writing dialogue. Anyways lol. Not Proofread so excuse typos and gramatical errors, excuse If Miguel is ooc.

(Y/N)- Your name

Cursing, using of cannabis, mentions of throwing up (like nothing serious, but thought I’d mention it.) Miguel being a jerk, (Y/N) being a jealous jealous jealous girrrrl (read that I’m your head like in the unreleased Lana del ray song.)

Word count: 1.3k

Serious Masterlist

Chapter 10: Do I wanna know, if this feelin’ flows both ways?

—

“What a fucking asshole!” You hissed under your breath.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have ignored him for 3 weeks.” Kate snickered as she playfully hit your shoulder, you just shot her a small glare, causing her smile to widen.

“Not funny.” You huffed, tone still quiet, crossing your arms on the dining hall table, and resting your head in your arms.

“Aww, poor (Y/N)..” Logan jokingly cooed, as he began to rub your shoulder from where he sat next to you.

From the other side of the uni’s dining hall, sat Miguel with some of his teammates from the hockey team, which wasn’t what upset you. What did upset you was what he had sitting in his lap, or rather, who. On Miguel’s lap, sat some cute blonde from your English class, she was a pretty little thing for sure, you couldn’t deny that, and even though you knew you had no right to feel the tightness building in your chest, had no right to feel your whole body get hot all over like you could combust into flames at any moment, didn’t mean you didn’t still feel it.

You wanted to find yourself disliking her for something that wasn’t her fault, maybe in an attempt to make yourself feel better about the situation, give yourself a reason to shift the blame onto something, or rather someone else. But despite your best efforts, you know you couldn’t bring yourself to dislike her, you didn’t even know her name, and the thought of hating another girl because of a man? You couldn’t. And much less the man being Miguel??? No way.

You let out a sigh and slowly lifted your head up and took a bite of your food in front of you, trying to zone in onto the conversation that Kate and Logan were having, but you could only do so for a few seconds at a at most. Finding your eyes drifting to Miguel’s table from time to time, a glimpse of him wrapping his arms around her waist here, a peak of him lightly kissing her neck there, it made you feel sick to your stomach. Wanting to make you puke the half of your sandwich you’ve eaten. Your lucky you were too far to hear the girl’s giggling or Miguel whispers in her ear, you felt like if you could have hear them as well as see, you’d have to leave the building in order to keep yourself from getting too-

“Jealous?” Logan’s word’s snapped you out of your thoughts, you let out a hum as you turned to face him, seeing the knowing smirk on his face. “He’s probably trying to just make you jealous.” He shrugged, but Kate’s face scrunched up in disagreement.

“Or maybe he got tired of you ignoring him and he moved on.” Kate said, popping a fry in her mouth. Logan gave her a questionable look, one that almost looked like he was asking her “you seriously think that?”.

“Can we not talk about this anymore? I’m already too busy this month to think about some hockey player.” You spat out last words that came of your mouth like they were poisonous, and although Logan agreed with your hatred for hockey players, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes a bit at your dramatics.

—

“I’ll see you later honey~”

Miguel had to stop himself from cringing, as he opened the girls car door for him, “you too.” He mumbled back with a half-ass smile, as she got in, before he closed her car door and she drove off. “Finally…” he sighed as he rubbed his forehead.

Maybe Miguel shouldn’t have picked a girl that was so clingy to try and make (Y/N) Jealous, but it’s too late now since you’ve already seen him with her around campus, so there was no going back. Okay, that’s a lie, he could totally dump her, but he was too stubborn. He’s thought about it, but then he’d think about how it would make that pretty little face of yours scrunch together in annoyance whenever he’d kiss the blonde on her neck, or how you’d not-so-obviously be glaring at him from across a room whenever he’d rest his hands on the girl’s hips. What was the girl’s name again? He’s been seeing her for a week and he still can’t remember, he should have written it down on a sticky note or something.

I mean he really didn’t care about her, all he cared about was you. He knew he was being a major A-hole, but in all fairness, when wasn’t he?

Once Miguel reaches his dorm, he opens the door to find Peter laying on the floor, a blunt between his lips, and the room covered in smoke, the pungent smell of Cannabis filling the small cramped room despite the window being open and the two lit candles on the nightstand. Miguel quickly steps into the room and closes the door behind him, before fixing the towel Peter had pushed up against the crack between the floor and the edge of the door, to prevent too much of the smell from leaking out.

“How long are you gonna keep this up?” Peter asked as he took a long drag from the blunt, his bloodshot eyes slowly wandered over to meet Miguel’s. Miguel didn’t need to ask Peter about what he was referring to. Miguel opted to stay silent instead, kicking his shoes off and placing them next to the door, before walking over to sit on the floor, leaning against his bed as Peter sat up and took the joint from between his lips into his hand and offered it Miguel would gladly accept it.

Taking a deep inhale, he felt the smoke fill his lungs as they felt like they were being lit a flame, being a hand up to his chest to help soothe the temporary burning sensation as he coughs a bit, puffs of smoke leaving his chapped lips, before he instinctively licked them. After a few more moments of silence that felt longer than it should have, Peter spoke up again.

“You both are acting like a bunch of middle schoolers.” He stated as he took the blunt back from Miguel.

“You don’t know what your talking about, your fucking high Parker. Literally.” Miguel shook his head as he sat back more against his bed, feeling the effects of the joint already start to take effect on his body.

“I don’t need to be sober to see that both of you are into each other, but both of you are too stubborn to say anything.” Peter deadpans.

“Can’t we have this conversation when we aren’t getting stone?”

“If we didn’t you would get too angry.”

Miguel let out a huff, knowing Peter wasn’t wrong. He took the blunt from Peter’s hand and took another hit. If he was gonna have have this conversation right now, he needed to be really fucking high.

“Miguel, as your best friend, and your dorm mate,” Peter places a hand on Miguel’s shoulder, “I want to tell you this in the most honest but respectful way, okay?” Peter raised a brow as he waited for some sort of response from Miguel, which he got in the form of a head nob. “You’re being a fucking idiot. Stop acting like a high school fuck boy that plays mind games and just talk to her. I get you don’t believe in ‘talking about feelings’ or whatever. But you can’t just mess with her and expect shit to sort itself out.” Miguel looked at Peter with a confused look, wondering we’re all of this sudden wisdom came from, maybe it was the wee- “wanna order McDonald’s?” Peter asked with a shit-eating grin, causing Miguel to let out a heavy sigh. That’s the Peter he knows.

—

Taglist: @tayleighuh @cowboylikeevie @coralineyouareinterribledanger @jukioku @loser-alert @migueloharaspookiebear @serpentstarr @littlexscarletxwitch @darksidescorner @sukioyakio

[enniewritesathing]

I just looked at the poll result (that button was for me really) and uhm.

(i guess spoilers for the result under the cut and also cut to spare yall w/e I’m gonna say)

out of 20 (it was 20 bc i voted, but it’s 19... rounding it up is easier because i can’t do math woth shit lol)

no one voted for any of my early stuff. which, valid I guess because I was absolutely horrendous on formatting it -- not even ‘script’ style. lots of blanks in between shots. the only reason I didn’t go back an edit it is because I guess I wanted to keep it as a progress thing. Started from here, now I’m here, etc. That said, I can probably see someone skipping over them completely bc of that. (or maybe I’m just projecting a little bit idk). On the other hand, idk John fighting a literal demon?? how can you not vote for that lol

5 voted for The Werewolf 4 for The Incident (which I am surprised because that story as a whole has the least amount of notes... granted the CWs and subject matter(s)-- and it’s the only story I have that doesn’t have any sort of dialogue. Kind of a fill in the blank sort of deal. 1 each for the proposal and country side, 2 for multiple/other, 4 haven’t read any/or didnt like anything in particular, and 2 (minus me) wanted to see results.

I’m trying to think of a takeway here. I was shocked that I got 19 votes and usually when I poll things, the turn out is very low for the amount of followers that I have (that’s if they did it bc obviously anyone can vote). Let me put it this way, only 2.5% voted. (I think.) idk how many are actually active, lurking, or abandoned.

as a story teller (on/off), it’s... hm. I don’t know what to feel about it. I got ideas and half the time, I go through with it because I think it’s interesting. (that and putting the boys in A Situation is fun). but I also think they’re just niche (or I should say it’s not aesthetic enough with reshade and whathaveyou and I gave my thoughts in the post via tags; it’s not that far back).

It’s pretty rare i get a message about any of it and I guess the lack of feedback/comments is getting to me (or even rarer, an ask that’s a follow up question to what i posted). like yes, I want to talk about things!! future things! speculation even. anon’s on! links have the posts in chronological order! everything’s finished! i put nav links in each story post so in the off chance someone rb’s it, you can start from the beginning!

maybe it’s because of how i do things that work for me. parts are long. there’s a fair amount of reading. it’s in script (storyboard?) format. i’ve tried being short with things but it never plays out. i even went textless once -- what you see is what you get. it’s like ‘oh, i’m not reading all of that’. i have a sneaking suspicion that’s why. it’s too long. no words on pics. or maybe it’s not interesting. (visually or otherwise)

it feels like this when I’m RBing my own work

it feels bad, yall!! it’s like im begging and that sucks. sometimes I ask, why do I bother. why do I bother with tags, why do i bother with anything. rarely a story post will leave here. like, is it not worthy of like ‘hey check out this cool thing’ (or a rec list of sort? does anyone still do that?)

. . .

on the other hand, i don’t think there’s a takeaway here and i’m really way too much into this and hurt my own feelings. (ofc 🙄) it is what it is and I should just let this go and go to sleep it’s 330 in the morning

[whatisthismandoinghere]

So I’ve watched a good chunk of seasons 3 and 4 of Laramie as well as a few from season 1 and I am now gonna make it all yall’s problem and bless you with my commentary and clips from each episode, enjoy I guess 😂

Without further ado, S1.EP1 Stage Stop

Not the outlaw being upset they spelled his name wrong in the newspaper 😂

Jess’s introduction to Laramie was absolutely terrible, poor guy just got shot at. Absolutely love how he just ignored the lawman when he was told to stop though, a very Jess thing to do 🤣

Jess and Slim’s first meeting is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Let’s take a look at it, shall we?

I mean the first shot alone where they show the sign “Sherman Ranch, No Trespassing” and then cut to Jess just lounging around like he owns the place 😂 

And the dialogue:

Slim: What’re you doing here?

Jess: Gettin’ a crick in my back!

Plus this gem:

Jess: I had 3 or 4 swallows out of your private stream. My horse helped himself too, so you just figure out what I owe you, and I’ll be on my way. Oh, and uh, I looked at a bird flying over. Will there be a charge for that?

Look Jess I love you so much but who gave you the right to be so freaking sassy 😂 (we adore him for it though) but Slim had valid concerns, I see both sides of the situation here. I mean Jess, you should’ve read the sign, and I can see why Slim is wary of strangers, but I too would be ticked off if someone just showed up and was holding me at gunpoint

Not Jess just sending Slim flying 😂 boy don’t mess around

Overall I think this first meeting went really well you guys

Andy is so flipping adorable and I would die for him, the way he just gets along so well with Jess right off the bat 😭 10x funnier that he’s Slim’s brother though 🤣

Look at the racoon! And the way Andy washed his food for him 🥺 it's so cute how this little gesture shows how much he knows about animals and how much he cares for them

When Jess dozed off and Andy came in and startled him and he just whipped around with his gun and when he realized it was Andy and he was so apologetic 😭 but just gets me thinking about Jess being a loner and a drifter and being so used to looking out for himself yet still being so compassionate to this kid he just met. He’s so good with kids and I think it’s just darling seeing him interact with Andy and later on Mike.

Ugh I’m having so many Thoughts on Jess’s childhood, of course they are of the angsty variety, all prompted by these lines of dialogue (putting them in different colors so it's easier to differentiate between them):

Andy: Jess, how old were you when you first went out on your own?

Jess: Can’t hardly remember when I wasn’t on my own, like Jeremiah here and Sam. Only I didn’t find a soft touch like you. Maybe I didn’t want one. 

Andy: Do you like it better alone?

Jess: It just worked out that way.

Andy: Don’t you get lonely sometimes?

Jess: You get used to it.

As if these lines weren't heart breaking enough, Jess's tone of voice and facial expressions just really added to it. Yes there will be fics in the future no I do not need more wips

Jess had a fractured skull you say?? *adds to list of details to keep in mind for later*

Look at them playing cards together <3 yes I totally get that Andy's complete and total willingness to trust anyone who comes along is a bit concerning but it's also so sweet and I just love how he interacts with Jess

The way Andy was just working up the courage to ask Jess to take him with him and Jess being so gentle and telling him maybe when he’s older their relationship is everything you guys 😭

I know at times Slim seems a little harsh on Andy but he really just wants the best for him and it’s sweet. 

Love how Jonesy just deescalates the situation so smoothly and just calmly drags Slim away 😂

I’ve noticed that Jess gets called saddle tramp an awful lot so I’m starting a running count, we are currently at 1

Jonesy saying Slim is just a kid is just… it’s kinda funny but at the same time - how do I want to explain this? - like Slim is out here saying Andy needs to get things figured out, needs to become a better judge of character, and then Jonesy is just like “you’re figuring things out too pally. you’re responsible for your kid brother now and you still got some things to learn” You can see that Jonesy knows Slim really well and I love their dynamic

Jess was so ready to end Slim right then and there 😂 what can I say, I like my men violent 🤣 seriously tho the fact that Jess and Slim were just constantly beating each other up throughout this entire episode before they decided to try running a ranch together is the funniest thing

Everything about Bud Carlin irritates me, the way he speaks, the way he moves, his whole demeanor, I just hate it 😂

When Carlin’s asking about how long it takes the stage to get there once it’s in sight and Jonesy’s just out here throwing in a bunch of random circumstances to avoid answering 🤣 and then Carlin gets so irritated that he decides to ask Jess instead lol but Andy just immediately telling him what he wants to know so Jess doesn’t get hurt 😭 bless his little heart AND JONESY REACHING HIS ARM OUT TO GRAB THE GUY WHEN HE WENT TO PUNCH JESS Jonesy's a real one

When Jess and Andy are out in the barn shoeing the horse and Andy tries to grab a rifle and Jess stops him cuz he didn’t want him to get hurt 😭

Oh when Carlin makes Jess punch Slim in the face… like we know they were about to go at it when he walked in but now Jess is like no way, the friendship is progressing you guys, and poor Slim was just like "do it", somebody get this poor man some ice and an ibuprofen

But as soon as Carlin makes Jess hit Slim that third time he turned on Carlin so fast

Andy’s voice was almost breaking when he saw Slim laying on the ground and he was trying to wake him up and it almost broke me 😭

The way they all go to check on Slim as soon as the guy leaves the room 🥺

Andy was just begging Jess to go with Slim so that he’d have some help and Jess wouldn’t go and then Andy has tears in his eyes and says “No wonder you travel alone, who’d wanna team up with a saddle tramp like you?” nooooooo 😭 I really act like I’ve never seen this episode before also Jess saddle tramp count is now at 2

They really just threw that guy out of the stagecoach, that wasn’t very nice

JESS CAME BACK yes I already knew this would happen, hush your timing is impeccable pally

Look at these idiots (affectionate) 😂

Alright I'm gonna write out this scene for you because Reasons (once again in color so it's easier to differentiate):

Pete: I’m hurt bad, Jess. Don’t shoot.

Jess: I was hurt bad too. And it wasn’t just the money Pete.

Pete: I didn’t take it Jess. I swear I didn’t

*Pete proceeds to grab for his gun and Jess shoots him again, sending him flying off the cliff*

So satisfying yall also that dialogue though, I sense another fic in the future

Not the fanning of the guns, ugh I hate when they do that and Jess does it all the time

I love how Jess just puts his gun away and lets Slim deal with Carlin on his own, the way he just saunters over while they’re fist fighting and the way they replay the bit Carlin pulled on them when he made Jess hit Slim, sheer perfection 🤣

Aw Andy was so excited to see Jess and Slim back safely 🥺

Friendship has been established pallies, that is what we call ✨character development✨

Also if you haven’t noticed I’m a tad bit obsessed with Jess ok maybe more than a tad so here’s some bonus gifs of him being sassy 😂❤️

[maycat-19-142]

The eternal finning out you married to Druig

Word: 567

⚠️:fem reader wrong dialogue kissing crying spoilers not in full detail

A/n: I wish this was true. You are an eternal of the wind and sky like thena you are call the name of a god Nephele of the Clouds

Hi I'm sorry this has been just sitting in my drafts since January haha...😬

Thank you to millennialfanfictionaddiction for helping me title this.

Outfits: one | two

■♤}■♤{■♤}■♤{■♤}■♤{■♤}■♤{■♤}

you heard that the eternals and reforming from the small TV in you home with druig. you had just ignored in because you had other things to do around the village.

You helped a family fix their home and this took longer that expected. you had just finished with the roof and you started to walk back to you home but you got stopped by an older woman that asked you for help with gathering barrys in the meadow. you and the woman walk in the meadow.

little did you know that the eterles were in the gathering hall in town square. they had found druig and asked to talk to him in private. "the deviants are back" Sersi told him "and ajak is dead" his eye went wide

"did not expect that did you" Ikarus asked

"yup" druig answered

"now we need Nephele" lkarus said

"yup but where is y/n at we can't find her anywhere" sersi told lkarus

"i know" druig said catching the others attention

"where is she"thena asked

"she is out helping" he replied vaguely "she will be here when she done with her tasks" then he got up and walked out the others followed and saw you walking with an older woman with a basket of berries that you are making flout.

"daring" you say as you hug druig

"how was helping fix the homes today" he asked you

"same old" you reply kissing him. the eterules jaws have dropped at the sight of you and druig

"hi can you please explain" kingo yelped

"oh hello" you said smiling you left druig's embrace and hugged Sersi and spirit. "What is up with you and druig" spirit asked

"We're married" druig said

"Married and no invitation" kingo yell again

"Yes it was 450 years ago now why are yall here" you said

"Ajak is dead" lkarus said from behind kingo

"What" you said wide eyed as you stated to cry. She was like you older sister. Druig wrapped his arms around you and held you for a little bit while you cried

You had finally calmed down enough to get though a full conversion with Sersi. Some kids ran up to you and they help your mood a lot but a deviant showed up and killed Gilgamesh and triggered thena

You had you round up the others so you left with you husband and family. you found makkair with phastos at the dome. plus you found out that phastos had a husband and son.

you spent time helping phastos with the cosmic wristbands the would channel all the eternals power to one eternal. it could work or tear them apart it was a flip of a coin or luck of the draw

you picked sersi after lauring that ikaris was on the opposite side. you and makkair looked for ikaris. you were in the air looking and feeling for wind changers his flying would trigger and makkair on the ground running and looking.

he finally showed up after sersi was out with druig on the ground looking. ikaris grabbed thena and threw her 45 feet back after she tried to attack him

sersi tried to keep his at bay but it was now uses. you couldn't do much because ikaris could fly. in the end ikaris gave in to the other eternals. he sent his power in to sersi who killed the Celestial Tiamut and stopped the Emergence.

■•■°■•■°■•■°■•■°■•■°■•■°■•■

This has been in my drafts for months help. Have a good day and night 🌙

Pixie out 🧚‍♀️

[perles-infinite-fictional-love]

A very strange child (8)

YALL THOUGHT I FORGOT ABOUT THIS SERIES?

In this episode, things get spooky.

Yes it's a HALLOWEEN SPECIAL!

(soon i’ll add links to the previous chapters, maybe. i hope so)

< 7

It turns out that the cold of fall was the last push Mono needed to finally accept to stay inside my house most of the time.

Of course, I was extremely relieved that he managed to settle before the first snowfall. A tiny kid like him doesn't belong in the cold!

Even if he still wanted to go outside whenever the sky allowed it and often sneaked out the window, I felt a lot better knowing he was gonna come back inside when it’d get too cold.

However, staying inside brought out a whole new kind of quirks from him...

Mainly, he absolutely hated the TV. The first time I turned the TV on, he stood up in a flash ready to bolt, and stared at the screen intensely for a few minutes, a few times turning his glance to stare at me instead... before quietly leaving the room.

He couldn't say a word, even when I called his name or offered to turn the TV off... The TV put him in a total alert mode.

Yet oddly enough, his clear mistrust of TV never caused him to leave the house when I turned the TV on. Nope... Instead he just hid in an other room... And often peeked into the TV room to stare at me.

And never responding to anything I said.

I knew he was a strange child, but that was the creepiest thing he had ever done so far...

Because of that, I tried to watch TV as little as possible, but... If I wasn't working, or spending time with Mono, I didn't have much else to do other than watching TV... Being single living in an isolated area and all... So I tried to explore the issue with him during dinner...

"Mono, are you scared of TV?..."

He hesitated for just a few seconds, and nodded while stabbing his food with his fork.

"Why?" I asked.

"...The things... on the other side..."

"Oh... Well... You know, things in the TV aren't really real! Think if it like words in a book!... It's all just tiny lights making up pictures... pixels and static..."

He looked up at me after the word static, then back at his food.

"Things... hide... in the static..." He said...

I blinked, a little out of words for a moment.

"...Uh... What... kind of things?" I asked.

"...Don't know... But they hate me... They hate kids..."

"Aww, Mono... Nobody in this house hates you, you know?..."

"..." He mumbled something... I couldn't make out what.

"What was that?"

"..."

"...Well, anyway... I don't think there's anything in the TV, Mono... I watched TV for a very, very long time... I'm doing okay, see?"

He seemed to be paying attention to what I was saying, occasionally looking up at me a few times at me while he was eating...That should be a good sign.

"... And you know, i know some very funny cartoons I think you'd like!..."

"..." He remained silent.

"...Would you like to take a closer look at TV later?... I'll be right there just in case..."

"...Okay..." He replied like I had given him a chore.

Still, I smiled cheerfully. "You'll see, it'll be fun!"

He ignored me as he finished his food...

Later tonight, we reunited in the living room. I had picked the chillest kids movie I could find... The Peanuts Movie.

Mono looked at the TV, then up at me... and gave me a little nod.

So with his consent, I turned the TV on and played the movie.

Things were off to a good start... He seemed a bit tense, but he was carefully observing the TV...

Until I noticed... He wasn't paying attention to the movie at all. Absolutely no reaction to the visuals, the dialogue... Nothing.

Then all of a sudden, he started stepping closer to the screen. It was like... he was studying the screen itself, not what it was playing. Glancing at the top corners, glancing at the bottom corners... He had no interest in the movie whatsoever...

Eventually he was close enough to the screen to have ME concerned... It's like he wanted to be able to see each individual pixel...

Letting a kid be this close to TV probably wasn't good parenting.

"Uhh, Mono!... That's too close, buddy! Can you back up a little bit?..."

Instead, he raised a hand to the screen. He seemed to hesitate, then lightly touched the screen.

immediately, the screen flickered and buzzed, turning to wailing static for a brief moment.

Mono pulled away in fear instantly, and the movie turned back to normal.

But the strangest thing of all, as Mono pulled away in fear, I could have sworn his hand became fuzzy, and even... translucent.

Like... static.

But before I could process anything, Mono hurried to the outlet in a panic and pulled out all the plugs he could grab, successfully turning the TV off with violence.

"Mono!..." I frowned at him. "Mono, calm down...!" I said as I tried by best to keep a calming attitude.

"it's NOT safe!!" He yelled my way with a bitter voice, taking some steps away from me. I could see his heart was racing, I could hear his fast breathing...

"Mono, it was just-..." Actually, I didn't really have an explanation for what happened... A certain one anyway. "Static does that sometimes..." I said as if trying to convince myself.

"DON'T watch TV again!!" He yelled. Never before had he talked to me that way...

"Mono..."

"NO TV! PROMISE!"

What was I supposed to do? He was in such a panic, it seemed like making the promise was the only thing that could calm him down in this moment.

"...I promise, Mono. I promise... No TV..." I said, kneeling down for him.

He slowly relaxed... His shoulders lowered as his breathing slowed down... He then called my name and approached me. Looked like he has something very important to say. "Listen..."

"...Yeah...?" I watched him attentively.

He spoke very very slowly and carefully... He really wanted me to understand whatever it is he had to say. Even though he was really rusty when it came to talking, he tried his absolute best, to put every needed word he could together... "The things... on the other side... They saw me... they want us... If you watch TV now... They-... They will take you... and make you hurt... all kinds of hurt... They will hurt everyone... All kinds of hurt... "

I felt a shiver run down my spine... This child had dark corners in his mind... Whether it was his imagination or not...

Who am I kidding? This HAD to be his imagination... right?

"...Okay..." I replied.

He then added... "...I don't want... to hide again..."

I just... didn't know what to say... If only I understood him better. But even though he was becoming better with words, he was still so secretive and cryptic about his past, the events that drove a child to live a life of scavenging and hiding, like a rat....

I hesitantly offered him my hand.

He stared at me, but didn't show any sign of worry. Even lowered his head.

So I allowed myself to put a hand on his shoulder, and gave him a comforting rub. "Mono... I'd never hurt you. You know that, right?"

He seemed to appreciate the comfort, even slightly leaning into it. But he didn't answer.

----

For the sake of trust, even if I thought Mono's TV fears were irrational, I decided to simply never use the TV again. For a long time anyway...

For days, I kept the plug pulled. It was fine, I could watch my shows on my phone during breaks at work... Plus, giving more attention to Mono when I was home didn't seem like a bad idea right now.

The TV was still in the living room, but it was now just a black mirror collecting dust.

Or at least, I thought it was...

Until that one night.

I was in the living room, collecting pieces of a jigsaw puzzle Mono and I attempted together in the late evening, when all of a sudden, the room became brightly lit in white, as static buzzed into my ears.

I turned to the TV, staring in confusion.

It was turned on, statics raging like a snowstorm.

But I could have sworn it wasn't even plugged?

I tried to turn my head to look at the outlet of the living room,

but I couldn't move my head.

Or I just... wouldn't move my head?

There was something wrong, in the static, yet so captivating.

I stepped closer, always staring... The more I stared, the more... fuzzy I was starting to feel... 

I wanted to watch as long as it would take me to figure out what was this... thing that made me so captivated...

But then, without even hearing voices, it started speaking to me. It didn't need to say anything. I just knew what it wanted.

To have me give in.

To have my utmost attention.

To have me need it and only it.

To have nothing come between me and it.

Especially not children.

I suddenly had visions crawling into my mind. Each one of those visions holding twelve to a billion eyes just staring back at me.

But I didn't feel scared at all. I felt like my brain was getting fried by the light of the TV... and it was weirdly comforting.

The screen suddenly shattered, leaving me alone in the darkness and snapping me out of my trance with a single bang.

"Whu--... Wh-what!??...." Back to my senses, I was trying to process what just happened to me. Although I hadn't been scared while it was happening, It was like I somehow JUST noticed that whatever just happened was not normal. Nor was it comforting. At all.

I looked around in a panic and glanced behind me to spot Mono, with his hand raised towards the TV... His hand translucent and glowing, with fuzzy static-like particles. The best way I could describe the way that hand looked is... a malfunctioning hologram, somehow...

Of course, that glow faded as soon as he noticed I was looking at him.

It was like my glance caused a fight-or-flight response in him; he quickly took a few steps back, staring at me warily, tense and ready to run away... He was scared... of me? Why?... 

"...Mono... w-wat happened?...." I tried to ask calmly, but I couldn’t hide how scared I was.

Hearing words come out of me seemed to calm Mono, almost like he just recognized me. He tilted his head a bit, observing me.

"..."

"...Mono, say something, please... What happened??..."

"...They were trying... to take you..." He finally said. "I... I made them stop..."

"...You... made them stop?..." I squinted in confusion.

Mono looked down at his hand as he lowered it.

"I won't let them have you..." He said.

I stared at him in disbelief for a moment, shocked by the insanity of the situation involving what felt like an eldritch entity, and my adopted child having unexplainable abilities...

“...But Mono... how-... what did you do??... With your hands??...”

He stared back. “...I don’t know...” He said, a little worriedly. “...Are you... mad?...”

“...No... I just... don’t understand...”

“...”

I probably wasn’t gonna get the explanation I want from Mono... Could I blame him? He was just a little kid... and kid that struggled to speak. I was getting light-headed, I didn’t have the strength to interrogate him for answers tonight... I awkwardly let out a "I’m... going to bed..." and slowly headed to my room. 

Mono followed me, although I barely noticed.

I stayed up all night thinking about what happened, and keeping an eye on Mono, who ended up sleeping at the end of my bed. It was the first time he was doing this... and yet I was too shaken to overthink it. Even though I couldn’t comprehend what he did earlier, I was very grateful that he stayed close.

I knew very well that Mono was a strange child, but it seems I... severely underestimated just how strange he really was. 

[andromedasstarship]

in the stars - chapter 5

pairing - aaron hotchner x reader 

warnings - canon-typical criminal minds violence, stalking, unhealthy coping mechanisms, drinking, angst

summary -  “Please,” he said, staring you straight in the eyes. “Don’t go.” 

a/n - i really love this chapter! cant wait to hear what yall think :DD also for reference i aged jack down just a year so hes 3 when haley passes away, about to turn 5 when reader & aaron get together. i dont claim any dialogue straight from Emma as mine! (emma dialogue is in italics) 

masterlist / series masterlist / read it on ao3 

chapter 4 / chapter 6 

-----

You were hyper-aware of the new way the team was looking at you as you entered the conference room. You shot a very anxious glance up towards Aaron, grateful for the very brief- but soft- glance he gave you before the business side of him took over again. You could feel the ghost of his hand hovering over that protective spot on your back again as he led you up towards the table. 

It felt like your eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, upon seeing the seemingly endless piles of photos in front of you. Your brain was struggling to process everything that was laid out in front of you and you felt your heart rate start to pick up; seeing it in person was worse than anything your mind had created in the drive here. 

“Y/N.” 

Your eyes shot up to meet the voice and you saw Spencer looking down at you with a look that was just on the edge of pity. “We tried to sort the pictures into piles of time relativity. Would you be able to go through them and help us create a firmer timeline?” 

You nodded at that, vaguely aware of Aaron pulling a chair out behind you. You gladly slid down into it. Seeing Emily start to pick up one pile and push them towards you made you nervously laugh, the stress of the moment and how uncomfortable you felt forcing it out. When the entire team gave you a weird look you said, “Sorry, it just reminded me of last time.” 

You gently picked up the stack of photos, trying to hold them as lightly as possible. The knowledge that the unsub had packaged these himself sent a shiver down your spine. You knew it was silly, but you somehow felt that by touching the photos you were somehow also touching the remnants of the unsub. 

The first stack you easily dated as around four years ago, just from your hair; you’d drastically changed it for a role. You thumbed through the photos and could feel the knots in your stomach growing even tighter. Most of the photos were blurry and relatively distant from you, as if the unsub was still getting comfortable with what he was doing. 

“This was four years ago, I had to change my hair for a role and I’ve never had it like that before or again.” You said quietly, pushing the pile back to Emily. 

She nodded, giving you a gracious smile before pushing the next pile towards you. Your face fell immediately; something the team equated to how much more personal these set of photos seemed to be. You fanned the stack out in front of you. There weren’t many, as if even the unsub could recognize the inappropriate- ha!- nature of capturing you like this. In all of them you looked worn down, as if a cloud was following you everywhere you went. 

“This was about two years ago.” You said flatly. It took a moment, but you could see everyone connect the dots in their head and suddenly the room felt very small. 

Thankfully, the next pile was rather average and you guessed that this was just an ‘extra’ pile of photos that didn’t really seem to fit into a cohesive timeframe. As you scanned over them, one caught your eye and you pulled it a bit closer to you. You pointed a finger at the sign behind you. 

“This is an exclusive club house, it’s difficult to get into. Security’s intense and everyone that enters has to sign in.” You informed the team. JJ reached out and grabbed the photo, putting it to the side for later.

You turned your attention back to the pile, making sure to give each photo a proper amount of attention, desperate to notice something useful. 

“This one,” you said, pulling a blurry photo of yourself out of the pile. You were moving too fast for the camera to properly capture you, but you recognized the outfit. “I was wearing this the day Officer Reynolds told me you all were coming, isn’t this the outside of the station?” You said quietly.

JJ moved that photo to the ‘save for later’ pile as well. You gently re-stacked the pile and passed it towards Emily, waiting for the next one. 

You watched as Emily seemed to be literally holding her tongue as she pushed the next pile towards you, a certain playful glint in her eyes. Once you were able to look at it, you couldn’t help but snort. You could feel Aaron tense up besides you, but you could find the humor in it. The ‘Aaron’ pile. 

You fanned the stack out like you had done with the others, giving special attention to the details behind you. These were much more difficult to place and a much smaller pile, considering how careful the two of you had been. 

“These must’ve been in DC?” You questioned, not really expecting an answer. You looked up towards Aaron, raising an eyebrow as if to give him the opportunity to share his thoughts. “Whenever he came to LA, I had an iron grip on our security but it was a whole different field in DC-” 

Your sentence fell flat as your eyes went wide, nearly surging out of your seat up towards Aaron. He gave you a worried look, unable to place the sudden anxiety that had taken over you. “What about Jack?” You asked worriedly, “if he knows about you he must’ve found out about Ja-”

Aaron stopped you, putting a very gentle hand on the top of your shoulder, “He’s okay, I promise.” He said, using his hand to lightly push you back into a seated position. You nodded at that, eyes still wide, but your body seemed to deflate, the tension slowly leaving you. 

The rest of the team was quiet, recognizing the personal nature of the interaction. But it was impossible for them not to notice the way your bodies reacted to each other. The way your body’s natural response to a stressor had been to move closer to him and the way he angled himself in a protective stance around you near simultaneously. 

Emily pushed the final pile in front of you and you couldn’t help the corners of your lips pull up in a soft smile. You fanned out the stack of photos, taking a good look at all of them. They all seemed to either be promo photos or film photos of your time filming Mamma Mia in Greece. 

“This is definitely from Greece. But some of these are definitely promo photos, it’s why I’m ‘posing’ in a few of them.” You said, pushing out one that visually made your point. 

“What about this one? It feels a lot more intimate than a promotional piece.” Emily asked, pulling one out from the stack. In it, you were standing on the dock, face close to the camera. You had a big smile on your face and your thumbs up. 

“On set, we had a handful of little disposable cameras that everyone could use.” 

“Do you have any memory of who owned the cameras?” 

“I…,” you paused, eyebrows scrunched tightly in thought, “I don’t know. The studio distributed all the photos after the movie came out. They’re pretty public at this point, it was five years ago.” You said weakly, feeling really disappointed in your lack of help. “I’m sorry.” You added. 

Morgan stepped up closer to the table. “Don’t be okay? Now we know that the unsub has connections in Hollywood and we know he must be wealthy enough to fly to DC on a whim if he thought you were there. That helps narrow things down.” He assured you. 

“Are there any specific photographers that you’ve noticed? Or any guy you feel like you’ve seen too many times and it’s no longer a coincidence?” Spencer asked. 

You shook your head quickly. “I’m really used to cameras flashing in my face.” You said impishly. “I can remember a lot of fans that I meet, but if it’s just someone behind a camera I don’t think I’d really notice it at all.” 

You felt Aaron move away from you and towards the computer at the end of the table. He clicked a few buttons and suddenly a woman's face popped up on the screen. You recognized her immediately from all the stories and photos you’d seen. Penelope. 

Aaron brought the computer closer to where you were and her mouth dropped open for the second time today. 

“Oh my god! Hi! Wow! I am, I am such a fan. I just-, you’re always so-” 

“Garcia.” Aaron interjected but you raised your hand at him, giving him a ‘shoo’ gesture. The rest of the team had to stifle their laughter. 

“Hi, Penelope right? I’ve heard so much about you.” You said sweetly, leaning a bit closer to the camera. 

“Wow! Okay, I can’t believe this is-” 

“Garcia, I need you to pull up visitor logs from a clubhouse that Y/N used to visit. I want you to cross reference it with other visitor logs of recent film sets she’s been on and her housing development. She’ll be able to give you a more comprehensive list.” Aaron interjected, and this time you let him. 

You turned back to the screen, giving Garcia another smile. “The clubhouse is called Royal Blue, the picture couldn’t have been more than…, I think three years ago? But I’m not sure.” 

“Alright…, okay the visitor logs seem to be locked tight, but never too tight for me. What are some of those movie sets?” 

“The earliest photo is what? Five years ago?” You asked, looking around at the agents for approval. “Yeah, five years. So Mamma Mia, to start, Little Women. I’m working on Emma right now.” You droned, listing various movie sets you’d worked on in the past five years. 

“Oh my god! I have so many questions about Mamma Mia. Like what was it-,” Garcia’s question trailed off as she caught sight of Hotch giving her a firm stare from behind you. “Right sorry, alright. I will break into the clubhouse and cross reference all of these lists to see if anyone comes up more than once. It was so nice meeting you, I hope we get to-. Alright, hanging up now!” Garcia said in a rushed voice. You watched her click a button on her end and the screen went black. 

You leaned back into your chair, staring up at the rest of the team . “So…,” you said, drawing out the word, “what now?” 

-----

“What are you doing?” Aaron’s asked, voice coming out from behind you. 

You comically froze, hand just short of picking your keys up from the table. You slowly turned to face him, straightening your tote bag over your shoulder. “Oh! There you are, I was just on my way to come find you.” You said lightly, trying to diffuse some of the tension in the room. Aaron didn’t say anything, waiting for you to go on. “Johnny and I have plans tonight.” You said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world  

On your part, you’d already forgotten about the whole ‘I’m on a date’ aspect on your earlier phone call with Aaron. In your mind, there wasn’t anything inherently suspicious about you going to spend time with him in the evening.

Aaron was viewing the entire situation in a very different light. When he had first come around the corner, he noticed how nice you looked. When the two of you had finally returned to your place you immediately went up to your room, disappearing for quite some time. He had originally thought maybe you were upset, the cognitive interview hadn’t revealed anything and even though he knew you didn’t really believe in their accuracy, he also knew how badly you wanted to be of ‘use’ for the case. 

In your time upstairs, you had changed your outfit and styled your hair just enough to give it that ‘unstyled-styled’ look. It’s not like you were glammed out or anything, the only reason you’d put on a nice outfit was on the off chance you were photographed- hopefully not by the unsub-, on your way into Johnny’s apartment. 

“And what is it that you’re supposed to be doing?” Aaron asked, trying to keep his voice as nonchalant as possible. 

“Um, nothing much,” You said with an awkward laugh, when he was still looking at you expectantly you tilted your head. “I’m supposed to go to his place and we’re gonna run lines for the scenes we’re filming this week.” You explained. 

“I can’t endorse you going out at night. Especially to someone’s home that we don’t have eyes on.” Aaron said firmly. 

You rolled your eyes at that, picking up your keys. “Johnny’s fine, he’s been in the same place as me when nearly all the bodies were discovered.” You argued, putting one hand on your hip. 

“With the recent development in the cases, I can’t let you do this.”

You started to walk towards him, intending to go around him. “Aaron-” 

His hand shot out and gently grabbed you by the arm, stopping you from getting past him. 

“Hey!-” 

“Please,” he said, staring you straight in the eyes. “Don’t go.” 

Your mouth fell open slightly in a mild form of shock. ‘We’re just running lines, I really need-” 

“I’ll do it with you.” Aaron interjected hurriedly. “We’ve done it before, I’m not too bad at it, huh?” He said teasingly. 

You pondered that for a minute. You and Aaron had run lines together plenty of times in the past, it was always something you got a kick out of, seeing Aaron try and morph into whatever character he was reading for. And while it wouldn’t be as productive as running them with your actual co-star, you reasoned it’d still be good enough. And as much as you hated to admit it, Aaron probably had a point about you not going out, especially in the evening.  

“Fine. I just need to go call Johnny and tell him something came up.” You huffed, pretending to be more annoyed than you were. 

“Here,” you said, reaching into your bag and pulling out your script, “I already have most of my lines memorized, I’ll just need you to fill in if I miss any. I have a pink sticky note denoting the scene we were going to start with. You’re reading as Knightely. I’ll meet you in the living room, alright?” You said, pushing the script into his hands as you walked around him towards the kitchen, pulling your phone out at the same time. 

----

“No, I’m just saying I think it’d be more believable or whatever if we did a few more like nonchalant meals before like, running errands together or something, ya know?” You said lazily into the phone, holding it between your ear and shoulder as you used your hands to mix up a drink for yourself. Out of the corner of your eye you caught sight of the Dalmore. You reached out with one hand and carefully pulled it down, still remembering exactly how Aaron liked to take a drink. 

“What meal really screams ‘we’re dating’? Dinner? That’s like the longest meal of the day, that’s gotta show some sort of commitment.” Johnny asked. 

“Hm…,” you droned, “well we just had a lunch. If we want to kick it into high gear, we should do breakfast. Perfect ‘just spent the night’ remedy.” You said with a snort. 

Aaron cleared his throat behind you and the sound made you jump. You pulled the phone away from your ear and saw you’d been blabbering for nearly half an hour. 

‘Oh. Sorry.’ You mouthed to Aaron, before pulling the phone back to your ear. “Hey Johnny gotta go, but we’ll figure it out later! Yeah…, for sure, bye!” You hung up and placed your phone on the counter. Then you grabbed the drink you had poured for him, holding it out. 

“It’s Dalmore.” You said plainly. 

“I’m working.” He responded. 

You rolled your eyes at that and held it out more aggressively. “Take it.” 

You watched happily as he begrudgingly took it out of your hand, though you knew it wasn’t too difficult for him. You picked up your own glass and tucked your phone into the waistband of your pants. “Ready? Sorry, got carried away.” 

While the two of you walked back into your living room, it was obvious something was bothering Aaron. You briefly wondered if something had developed in the case that he wasn’t telling you. 

‘What is it?” You asked. 

He looked down at you, confused. “What is what?” 

“Don’t play dumb, you have a tell.”  You explained, stopping to look up at him.  

“I do not have a tell.” Hotch replied annoyedly. 

“Yes you do.” 

“No, I don’t.” 

“If you want to be a baby about it, fine you don’t have a tell. Tell me what’s wrong anyway.” 

“I’m trying to understand why you lied about not having a boyfriend nor seeing anyone recently. We’ll need to fully vet Johnny and look into his files, even if you don’t see it becoming serious.” Aaron near spat.

You snorted. “What do you mean lied?” 

“You very clearly told me you weren’t seeing anyone, yet today has proven those claims to be false.” 

“I know that sometimes, I like to be a huge pain but I’m serious, what are you talking about? I’m not seeing anyone.” 

“Your co-star, Johnny? You told me you were on a date with him today. I just heard you on the phone make plans to stay with him overnight. I saw the pictures of-” 

“Stop! Oh my god, I can’t believe you actually believed that.” You said, unable to hold back the laughter that bubbled out of you. 

“Believed it? You’re the only who told me!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have assumed you read through the lines. Johnny and I have been going on publicity dates. We’re just friends.” 

“What were you supposed to be doing tonight then?” 

“We were legitimately going to run lines. Maybe get ice cream, we’re trying to determine the best ice cream in LA.” 

That’d explain the outfit, Aaron thought. 

“And the phone call I just heard?” 

“We were debating which meal screams ‘dating’. He thinks it’s dinner. I think it’s breakfast, ya know, cause it implies you spent the night.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me that, before.” 

“Don’t you remember when I had kinda the same thing with Timothee during Little Women? They made us hang out a bunch so the tabloids could just do their thing. I just assumed you’d fill in the blanks.” 

Aaron was staring at you as if you had two heads. It was almost like you could see the gears turning in that head of his. Internally, he was more than embarrassed for how upset he’d gotten over the idea of you with someone else. 

When it seemed that Aaron had nothing else to say, you started to walk again, not stopping until you were both back in your living room. You plopped down in ‘your spot’ on the couch, playfully patting the space a few cushions down that Aaron typically sat in. 

“Crack open that script, I hope you looked through it. If you’re making me stay home, you better be useful!” You said pleasantly, trying to change the atmosphere into something more playful. 

Aaron awkwardly sat himself down on the couch next to you, picking the script back up. As you watched him flip the script open and further acquaint himself with the lines you couldn’t help but feel a sharp pang in your chest. It was such an unavoidable reminder of the way the two of you used to run lines together when you were still dating. You had learned early on that Aaron best showed his affection through acts of service and he actually wasn’t that bad at delivering a line. Since the two of you were rarely together in person- it’s not like you’d let him waste a visit with you building a shelf or running an errand-, running lines with you was the easiest way for him to feel useful. 

-----

Four Years Ago

“Okay Jack, you ready?” You asked, smiling down at the young boy standing across from you. He was dressed up in his winter clothes, despite the blazing heat of the summer. You and Aaron had tried to talk him out of it, but he demanded it’d be the only way for him to fully get into character. And who were you two to deny him? The sweet boy nodded, barely being able to contain his excitement as he bounced up and down on his feet. 

“Alright, places everyone!” You yelled out, holding the diy paper clapperboard Jack had made for you. You held it out from your body and did a very exaggerated clapping motion. “Action!” You said, quickly throwing the clapperboard to the couch. 

“Carrots!” Jack said, his voice more than enthusiastic for the role. 

“Huh?” You said, heavily overselling your voice and reaction. Even with the one simple word, Jack was already in giggles, struggling to keep it together. 

He leaned in closer to you, standing up on his tiptoes. “Behind you!” 

“Oh! Right, excuse me.” You said, stepping to the side and gesturing to the ‘carrots’ behind you. 

You made your voice really low to play the next part. “Woh, a real howler in July, yea? Where ever could it be coming from?” You asked, placing your chin in between your thumb and pointer finger. 

Jack kept giggling at your ‘deep’ voice, he held his ‘script’ up to his face to read his next line. “The North Mountain.” 

You jokingly ran a hand in front of your face, signaling a character switch. “North Mountain.” You stage whispered. You ran your hand in front of your face again, going serious. “That’ll be forty.” You said, holding your hand out with a ‘gimme’ gesture. 

Jack smacked your hand gently to ‘give you’ the money. But after his face fell ever so slightly. “Can we skip to when Daddy gets to come in??” He asked, giving you those big eyes you couldn’t possibly say no to. 

You stood back, putting your weight on your back leg with one hand on your hip. “Hmm.., I think that could be arranged.” You reached over to grab the clapperboard. “Alright everyone! Back to places, but let’s start at ‘Hi everyone’, okay?” 

Jack nodded excitingly and turned back to where he knew Aaron was standing, partially hidden by the hallway. “Places daddy!” He urged, pointing to where he should come stand. 

Aaron came out from around the corner and you quickly covered your mouth with your hand, trying to hold in the laughter. Aaron had a big white hat on his head and had let Jack put a small orange dot on his nose. You and Jack had definitely double teamed poor Aaron, dragging him into your little ‘movie game’ as Jack liked to call it. The three of you had started doing this a few months ago, Jack loved ‘running lines’ with you and you were more than happy to oblige him. It had started when a sleepy Jack had stumbled into the living room one night when he couldn’t sleep and he saw you and Aaron running lines for one of your other movies. Jack had taken to it so much you ended up ‘hiring’ him to help you with your more child friendly roles. 

“Alright, alright. Quiet on set!” You said, making a big deal of you bringing your index finger up to your lips in a ‘shush’ motion. “Action!” 

“Hi everyone. I’m Olaf. And I like warm hugs.” Aaron recited robotically , very clear that he was reading directly from the paper. You smacked your hand back over your mouth, unable to control the giggles. Once you started laughing, Jack fell into his own fit of laughter; both of you fueled off the others amusement. 

Of course, when you finally pulled yourself back together, a quick look at the way Aaron was standing with fake annoyance across his face and his arms crossed tightly against his chest sent you back into fits of laughter. 

“Are you two done?” Aaron asked, no true malice in his voice. 

It was rare that the three of you all got to spend time together. He’d been wary of introducing you to Jack. It wasn’t really a ‘you’ thing, but it was more of how Jack would be able to deal with it. There were the typical worries, what if you and Jack didn’t get along? Or what if you two did get along really well but then you and Aaron broke up and it hurt him even further? While you never intended to try and replace his ‘mom’, you still worried that your chaotic schedule would somehow hurt him, skewing his perception of yet another ‘parental’ figure. Not to mention the issues with him being able to keep your identity and presence in his life a secret; he wouldn’t even be able to tell people like Uncle Rossi that his dad was seeing someone. 

But now, you’d been with Aaron for over two years. And Jack had known about you for about a year now. And everything had been going perfect. Jack was a stellar secret keeper, the unfortunate events of his childhood maturing him faster than any child deserved and he was able to fully understand the importance of the situation. The two of you had taken to each other quite quickly and every night the three of you would have a ‘bedtime’ call; even on the nights when Aaron was busy with a case you’d still call Jack on your own. You loved spoiling him with whatever hot new toy was popular among kids his age or getting him special early copies of movies before they came out. Aaron used to get on you about it, saying it wasn’t necessary, but you argued it was the most necessary thing in the world. 

And now here the three of you were. Nestled away in Aaron’s apartment in DC. You had just flown in after wrapping up a shoot abroad and were just in time for the start of summer. Even though your career was at a seemingly new high, you had managed to secure a relatively empty summer. After long consideration and planning you and Aaron decided it’d be a nice treat for Jack to go spend a month or so with you in LA. You’d consulted heavily with many of your friends who kept their children completely hidden from the spotlight and had hired an airtight security team to assist you the entire time. Aaron was supposed to come out when he could, but you were all aware of how turbulent his poor schedule could be. Schedule permitting, you all would spend the next three days at Aaron’s apartment before you and Jack took off. 

“Daddy! You sound like a robot.” Jack said, scolding Aaron. His voice brought you out of your thoughts and you looked down at him with a big smile. 

“Daddy’s just no good at this huh?” You asked, shaking your head. “He’s no match for our talent, Jack!” 

“This is really hot.” Jack said, holding up his arms. He must’ve been sweating his butt off in all those winter layers. 

“You’re kidding me! I wonder who could’ve seen that coming.” You said sarcastically, reaching over to pull off his big hat and zip down the first of multiple jackets he put on. “I’ve heard that ice cream cools you down…,” 

“Ice cream!’ Jack exclaimed, his eyes lighting up. He didn’t even look to his father for ‘permission’, knowing by now you had the most sway in the house. 

“Go put on some normal clothes okay? Wouldn’t be fun if you passed out in your ice cream bowl, huh?” You told him, ruffling his hair before he dipped under your arm, making a mad dash for his room. 

“He hasn’t even had lunch yet, you know that right?” Aaron asked, giving you a fake stern look as he walked over to where you were standing. 

You rolled your eyes at that, reaching up to snatch the white hat off his head, letting your arms fall loosely around his neck. “Does it upset you that I’m always the cool one?” You asked teasingly, reaching up on your tiptoes to press the gentlest kiss on his lips. 

He gave you one of his small smiles, reaching down to press a second kiss to your lips. “How was your flight in?” He asked, one of his hands wrapping protectively around your waist as the other one found its way by your hair, gently stroking down it the way you liked. 

You let your head relax against his touch and pretended to think for a moment. Instead of answering you reached up again, pressing your lips against his, pressing yourself closer to him. You both thought you could stay this way forever; it being the first time you saw each other, in person, in nearly two months. 

“Gross!” Jack’s voice seemingly cut through the two of you. Aaron was the one to pull away first, quietly laughing so only you could hear. 

“Later.” He promised in a whisper. 

You loosened your grip on him, turning to face Jack. “Oh Jack! Funny seeing you here, ice cream, right?” 

----- 

Present Day.

“Page 103, right?” He asked, skipping to the bright pink sticky note you had used as a place marker. 

You jolted out of your memories, feeling the heat rise up your neck as you prayed it wasn’t too obvious you had just completely zoned out. 

“Yep!” You squeaked out, “page 103, line 19, you start.” You said, waving your hands. 

“And I do envy him, Emma. In one respect he is the object of my enemy, you will not ask me why, you are, you are determined, I see, to have no curiosity but I cannot be wise-” He started, keeping his eyes near glued to the page. 

You frowned, shaking your head a bit. “Stand up.” You ordered, already getting to your feet. 

“Excuse me?” Aaron asked. 

“Stand up,” you repeated, motioning upwards with your palms. “This,” you said, motioning between the two of you, “doesn’t feel right if we’re seated, we’re supposed to move around in this scene, it’s supposed to be painful.” You explained. 

He slowly stood up, looking at you for permission to start again. 

“From where you left off, please.” 

“I must tell you, Emma, what you will not ask! Though I may wish it unsaid the next moment-” 

“So do not speak it.” You cut in. “If you wish to speak to me, as a friend or to ask my opinion as a friend I will hear whatever you like.”

“As a friend, Emma. That I fear is a word, tell me Emma. Have I no chance of ever succeeding?” He asked, looking up at you for further approval, you nodded and he continued. “My dearest Emma, my dearest, you will always be my dearest most beloved Emma, tell me at once. I cannot make speeches, if I, if I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more-” 

“Let’s do a different part, yeah?” You interrupted, voice incredibly tight. You ducked from his gaze, reaching to bring your glass to your lips. 

“Isn’t this the scene you have to practice?” Aaron asked, raising his brow at you. 

“It doesn’t matter,” you replied, taking a long sip, “any practice as the character will be helpful.” 

“If this is the one that’s troubling you, we should go over it.” He pressed. 

“Page 56, start at line 9.” You ordered, throwing back the rest of your glass. “Read it over, I’ll be back.” 

Before you could fully turn to go and refill your glass, Aaron lunged forward and grabbed your arm, pulling you towards him. The sudden movement caused you to stumble, throwing your hands out to steady yourself against his chest. 

“You’ve been drinking a lot.” He stated, repositioning his grip on your arm. 

“Am I not allowed to have a drink or two in my own home?” You challenged. 

“What are you running away from?” Aaron asked, his voice so gentle it made your knees weak. 

“You.” You whispered, after a long pause. You looked up at him with sad eyes and only found confusion in his. “I can’t, I-, don’t you see how funny it is? Your character is desperate for mine to be with and my character is the one to deny yours.” 

Your confession pulled sharply on his heart. He couldn’t bring himself to say anything, not sure there were any words to appropriately apologize for how he had treated you. 

“Why didn’t you ever call?” You asked, voice so quiet he almost didn’t hear you. 

“I, I-” He stuttered, unable to think of an answer fast enough. 

“I waited for weeks,” you said, looking up at him with a look that nearly brought him to his knees. “I waited so long and you never called.” 

He brushed the hair out of your face, letting his hand fall gently against your cheek. His thumb caught a stray tear that had started to fall, softly brushing it away. “I don’t know.” He responded, his voice as quiet as your. “I don’t know, you didn’t deserve that.” 

You pressed your face into his hand, closing your eyes as you felt more tears managing to sneak past you. He was finally admitting words you had dreamed of hearing for years, but yet you were unable to find any joy in them. 

“You didn’t deserve that.” He repeated, sliding his hand towards the back of your head, pulling you firmly against his chest, while his other arm wrapped tightly around your waist. You let your body relax into his, slowly bringing your own arms up loosely around his neck. 

You felt him gently press the faintest of kisses to the top of your head. “I’m so sorry angel.” He mumbled into your hair. 

You pulled your head out from under him, looking up at him with big eyes. The two of you were silent, basking in each other's presence. Your eyes flickered down to his lips multiple times; something he duly picked up on. Just as you began to push up on your toes, nearly pressing your lips to his, eyes half closed in anticipation, his phone rang out. 

You froze, falling back onto your heels with a small sigh. “Answer it, I’m getting a refill.” You said, pulling yourself out of his grasp. He gave you an uncertain look, as if he wanted to pull you back in and ignore the call completely. 

You wagged a finger in front of him, shaking your head. In on fluid movement, you grabbed your glass and nearly ran out of the room

-----

It took you ten minutes to calm yourself down and another five to hype yourself up to return to your living room. And that was after you had made yourself a new drink. 

When you entered the living room, Aaron’s back was to you; still locked on the phone. The tension was clear in his shoulders and your eyes drifted down to his free hand that you knew would be clenched in a fist. It was. 

“Thank you Garcia, tell the team we’ll be there soon.” He said, pulling the phone away from his ear and hanging up. 

“Aaron?” You asked. 

He rolled his shoulders back, trying to loosen some of the tension from his shoulders for your benefit. He slowly turned back towards you, his face pulled in frustration. 

“LAPD just reported another body.”

-------

taglist - @mac99martin @iwaizumiee @kylorendrip @hqtchner @lieswithoutfairytales​ @ssahoodrathotchner @midsummernightdream @weasleylovers @evans-dejong @itsmytimetoodream @yoshigguk @28cnn @cuddlyklaus @hotch-meeeeeuppppp @yallgotkik @sunflowersandotherthings @averyhotchner @kimmy-k-k @uwu-sebastianstan @ivebeenthinkingboutu​

a/n - if youve sent a message asking to be tagged and dont see yourself here, let me know!! im so bad at remembering to move names to my taglist form!! tysm for reading! <3 ​

no permission is given to copy or republish my writing on any other platform or account. if you see this story outside of my blog or my ao3 it is stolen work. i do not own nor claim to own criminal minds or any of the character involved in it.

[hopeshoodie]

Ok so I finally got caught up on CMM (anon, I have a lot going on right now, maybe don’t send me over ten asks with spoilers in them… I pinkie promise I’ll post once I read it) and thoughts-

Obviously the big one is Shannon and Hope. I would’ve paid all my gems to talk to either one of them, but I’m still a little salty that we did have to pay. For such a short scene, they recycled 30% of the dialogue towards the beginning and that was annoying. It would’ve been so easy to make them unique. Hope absolutely would have been insecure and said ‘did anyone ask about me’, but Shannon wouldn’t. Shannon doesn’t care, she could’ve said something like “lol does anyone even remember me?” or “it’s totally fine, sounds like it was an original islanders only party”. The reasons they gave for not being there were pretty good, and it makes me feel better than in-canon they weren’t un-invited. Hope’s part was much longer than Shannon’s but I liked Shannon’s more.

My big issue with the phone calls was that Hope’s call was just… flat. In the villa, Hope was smiling all the time, super expressive and warm, and her call just seemed really… flat. It lacked a warmth that being BFFs with her merits. And the conceit, that she’s at a stuffy wellness retreat trying to schmooze a client with her boss, would’ve been really ripe for her being expressive. Like “omg thank god a normal person, I’ve been doing nothing but smiling and agreeing all weekend”. I did like how she expressed insecurity and then corrected herself, it showed a lot of growth. I just wish there would’ve been more sincerity and personality.

I’m not mad about Chelsea and Rocco. I kinda don’t think they’ll last, because Rocco will eventually move on and Chelsea is desperately trying to cling to the experience of the villa through him. But I feel like it was effectively foreshadowed, and seems pretty in character for the both of them. It’s not the redemption arc I was hoping for Rocco though, I still hope Rocco sits down with Lottie or Priya and properly apologizes.

Chelsea’s password being BRA? Jesus christ, give it a rest, FB. She has more than one personality trait. The CMM writers really just latched onto 1-2 cute moments with each character in the main season and decided “this is all they think and talk about”. Same with Hope saying pacifically again and Priya’s gauche sunflower print.

The escape room bit was fun, but I wish the riddles hadn’t been multiple choice (instead the typing in thing and if you get it right Chelsea’s excited but otherwise has stock lines like ‘not quite… it’s a mirror!’). Also it would’ve been more fun if another character was trapped with MC, just to see them try to solve it. The humor in that section was good though, I especially liked the reaction to throwing the box at the wall.

LOVED the new outfits, they’re all super cute but like… Why did I spent 10 gems when literally no one’s going to acknowledge the costume change?? Like surely someone would be like “what… happened? Why did you change?” or even “you changed because you’re the murderer and were getting blood off your clothes!”. But nothing.

I’m not super invested in the mystery, and I don’t really mind that. The characters and their reminiscing is more important. But like… I don’t think the clues were handled very compellingly. The clues aren’t really tied to any one specific person, and they’re not insight into how the murders took place or what enabled the person to get away. It’s just… Here’s a note Chelsea gave you, here’s a thing that was at the scene. I’d like it more if it was things like ‘a bare footprint, a half drank wine glass, a cypher with a puzzle attached’. Something that you could be like ‘x character wouldn’t know how to do that, x character likes wine’ etc. 

Also I don’t love how it seems like the murderer changes based on your choices? Like if they’ve coded it so that everyone’s possibly the murderer and it’s just revealed based on player choice who it is that’s not… A mystery… Like I’d much prefer if only 1 person was the murderer, or there was a pre-set killer for each victim.

Lucas died in my game (I’m romancing Priya), and there was a chance to flirt with him before he died. I know other people had Lottie die if Gary was the LI, so who dies if Bobby is your LI? Can you romance Lottie and the other person?

My eggs are still all in the ‘Noah’s the murderer’ basket.

I really hate how explicit the switch between the mystery and socializing has been. Obviously that’s a facet of everyone playing characters, but like three times now there’s been “let’s get back to the mystery!” or “let’s stop the mystery to socialize” and it just feels clunky and breaks up the story. I’d prefer if all of the characters collectively disregarded the characters they’re playing, except when clearly delivering dialogue in reaction to things, so that there’s less “are you in character right now or are you you?”. I’d also change it so that everyone really casually talks about their theories and the mystery but for the most part isn’t super invested in it. That way the player can choose to be the only one who cares about the mystery and solving it, or we can do away with the back and forth about it. I don’t know, I’m just not a fan of how we keep interrupting GOOD scenes like MC/her LI bonding, reminiscing with people, or Chelsea announcing her relationship to be like ‘lol let’s talk about a mystery’.

I’m shipping Lucas and Priya more than MC and Priya because when romancing her, Priya really doesn’t have any personality outside of ‘interested in MC’, versus when she’s roleplaying with Lucas or around everyone else she’s back to being herself. It’s creating this weird dynamic where the writing makes it seem like Priya is /uncomfortable/ or not herself when romancing MC, to the point where I feel guilty?? Like she seemed more in-character and excited when talking about a guy who dumped her than she has been when kissing and doing the nasty with MC all night. Like honestly you could replace her with Rahim in all her romance scenes and it would be more in-character for Rahim.

Overall I’m... Enjoying it. Like I’m not stopping mid-episode to do something else like I was with S3. But tbh I think I enjoyed Boat Party more, and I’m really only thinking about specific scenes and headcanons after putting my phone down (as opposed to S2 and S1 which lived in my head rent free after playing an episode) 

Maybe part of that is I have a really poor working memory and prefer to binge consume media instead of playing it week by week, so I lose interest each week. Once it’s fully released I’ll have to play it in one go and let yall know if it’s actually bad or I’m just bad. 

[harry-styles-sunflower]

Meeting You In The Hallway Part 3

a/n: HII lovely people! I hope you are all doing well today! This is part 3 of Meeting you in the Hallway.

What it is: You move into the apartment across the hall from Harry and you begin a friendship which you both want more from but can’t communicate that want.

Word Count: 4k 

Warning: fluff, angst, cursing, and sexual tension again bc why not.

Lil fun fact: new character in this part named Derek, there's ~some~ (honestly a lot of truth) truth to this character. Different name obvs. If you wanna picture somebody, picture Jacob Elordi, because that’s kind of what the real dude looks like.

Pls reblog if you like it 😊 Thank you for all the support so far! Means the fuckin world! Lot of dialogue in this one, let me know if yall like that or not. I think there will be one more part which will wrap this all up. 

~~~

You both decided to just sit in silence after you ate, just laying your heads back.

"Do you have morphine?"

"Harry just because I work in a hospital doesn’t mean I have hard drugs lying around my apartment"

"Thought you could sneak some, excuse me" he waves his hands up in surrender.

You sigh, "No, there's a thing called inventory that gets checked every day. And what is it with you and morphine?"

"What do you mean?"

"It was in your song yesterday"

His head quickly looks over at you, "You remember yesterday?"

"I remember everything before the tequila shots" you pinch the bridge of your nose.

"Oh okay" he avoids your question about morphine and maybe if you didn't have a headache you'd keep pushing for an answer.

Your phone rings and it’s an odd looking number, its 10 digits long.

"Har, look at this number"

He looked over before laying his head back against your couch, "Its European"

"European?" you picked up, "Hello?"

"y/n?"

"Yeah who's this?"

Harry was listening, just didn’t show it.

"Hey um, it’s me, Derek. I don’t know if you remember me"

"Oh yeah. Sorry give me a sec." You pressed the mute button, double checked it was on, then whisper yelled, "holy fucking shit!!"

"What? Who's Derek?"

"This guy I had a hugee crush on in college. He was a year above me. We helped each other in Psych. We wo- hold on I need to answer him" you unmuted the call.

"Hey Derek"

"Hey um I was just wondering if you still lived here? In New York. I'm here for a trade meeting."

"Trade meeting?"

"Yeah with my agent, remember? Basketball?"

"Oh yeah, right. Okay. Um yeah I actually live in the city now"

"Oh, that’s great. Did you wanna grab dinner sometime? I’m here until Friday"

"Y-yeah we could settle on something"

"Okay. I'll uh text you a time and date"

"Yeah okay. Cool"

"Cool. Uh bye"

"Bye" you hung up quick. "Holy shit"

"That was the worst conversation I've ever heard in my life" he laughed.

"Shut up we were both nervous" you hit him with a pillow.

"Who is he again?"

"Long story short, we took Psych together in college and he was on the basketball team so every girl was obsessed but we would hang out all the time. A few nights before he graduated, we had like a moment. It was so romantic," you blushed thinking about it and Harry hated it, "and well, the next week he was gone to play basketball in Europe. It was like maybe right person but wrong time?" Harry swallowed before facing you, "Does that mean you see a future with him? If it was right person, wrong time?"

You looked at him and shook your head, "A girl could dream but I don’t know. I don't think I know him the way I used to you know? It's been like 4 years."

"But you're going on a date"

"No harm in that, right?" For some reason it was like you wanted his permission.

"Yeah, I guess, you said he played basketball in Europe?"

"Yeah, his name is Derek Belov, he's really tall."

"Belov? You're joking me."

"I'm not, you know him?"

"Yeah," he shrugs, "he's big over there. Only over there I guess."

You shrug, "I could honestly care less about it. He's a cool guy in general"

"I have a headache, I'm gonna lay down" he says as he adjusts himself on your couch and puts his feet in your lap. He puts your tv on and watches the office.

You check your phone and Derek had texted you about seven minutes ago. It’s alright though because you didn’t want to seem too excited. You two began texting and settled on a date that night. He swore he didn’t need to fight off the jetlag so you agreed. He'd pick you up at 6, It was almost noon now, so you had plenty of time.

"I'm leaving at 6, he'll pick me up."

"The least he could do, will it be a limo?" you could hear the bitterness in his voice but you blamed it on his hangover.

"No." you slid down your couch and harry tucked your feet under his arm while keeping his eyes on the tv.

You stayed like this for a while, you set an alarm for four o'clock so you wouldn't let time escape.

"Har, when was the last time you went on a date?" you wondered if this could answer your question from last night. If Harry was hooking up with somebody.

" I don't know why?"

"Well like years, months, weeks?"

"Month or so I guess"

"Oh okay, I was just wondering. I guess you could relate to me then. Dating life."

"Yeah sure"

He was being super dismissive and you hated it. You were tired of it actually. You sparked 0 conversation and once your alarm went off, he went back to his apartment and you got ready.

 ~~~

When harry got back to his apartment he felt angry. Angry with the way you spoke about that Derek guy. The fact that you were going on a date with him. He wanted to ruin your plans but he knew he couldn't be selfish. He felt bad for not being the supportive friend he knew you wanted in that moment. With a big sigh and heavy heart, he walked across the hall and knocked on your door 3 times.

You slowly went to open the door, already annoyed with Harry, you opened it with an eyeroll.

"What Harry?"

"I've come in peace," he said with a cheesy smile, "Look I'm sorry for being dismissive earlier I was really just not feeling well and well I'm sorry. Can I help you pick out your outfit now or whatever a girlfriend of yours would do? I even volunteer to do your makeup"

You rolled your eyes and opened the door wider, " Fine. Help me pick an outfit and I wanna borrow the earrings you have on. I like the simple loop look" you said as you walked deeper into your apartment.

"Deal."

You walked into your bedroom where you had a black lace lingerie set on your bed. Harry pretended he didn’t see it as he sat down next to it on your bed.

"I think I might wear a blouse with some high waisted jeans?”

"Yeah I mean why not just go comfy. Wear sweats and a baggy tee. I could lend you one of mine." He winked towards you.

"Harry," you gave him a warning look, "We're having dinner at a restaurant, I'm not gonna wear sweatpants." you looked through your closet and grabbed some black high waisted skinny jeans and tossed them towards Harry. They hit him right in the chest.

"Hey," he grinned at you and laid the jeans flat on your bed. "So is your theme black tonight." he said referencing to the lingerie on your bed.

"Um, I don't know. I think I got too excited. I don't think I'm gonna actually wear it."

"How come? You don't want something to happen?" He hoped not but he kept that to himself.

"I don’t need lingerie to make something happen Harry." he loved your confidence but he hid his smile and nodded.

You grabbed a light blue silky button up blouse from your closet and turned around to face him. "So, I'm thinking tuck the shirt in, roll up the sleeves, and white vans?"

"Sounds.. good"

You nodded and stepped in between his legs from where he was sitting on your bed and then got down to your knees and reached under your bed reaching for a box. The sight made him want to pull you on top of him but he knew he couldn't. Were you teasing him? You pulled a small box and placed it on his lap. Which he was a little thankful because his bulge was only growing in his pants.

"It's my jewelry box, could you pick out some bracelets or something?"

"Yeah, okay" he nodded.

As he kept his head down you went behind him to take off your shirt. You buttoned it up and then jumped into your jeans. Once you finished you faced his front again.

"Should I leave the top two unbuttoned or three?" you said as you unbuttoned a third to show. It showed more cleavage but still wasn't too much.

He rubbed his head and looked anywhere but your chest for too long. "I think two is fine. Leave three for another time. It's still just the first date"

"Aw Harold, you think I'm getting a second date? You're getting better at this girlfriend thing."

"Yeah yeah, here" he passed you his choice of bracelets and his earrings that he took off and you put them on. You enjoyed the fact that you could do this with him.

He grabbed your wrist and turned you around slowly so you were facing your full-length body mirror. You saw him lift his cross necklace above his head and then over yours. He adjusted it between your breast which made you suck in a breath. He felt satisfied when he heard your breath hitch just little bit.

"For good luck." But really he wanted you to remember him while you were out.

You looked him in the eyes through the mirror and whispered, "You don't have to, I've never even seen you take this off"

"Don’t worry about it" He leaned forward and moved your hair to the side and kissed your cheek.

His lips lingered on your cheek for a bit until you heard a knock on your door. You both jumped and walked away from each other.

"I could get it if you want. I know you need to put your shoes on and whatever else."

"Y-yeah please." You felt so confused. You were so excited to go on this date but now you just wanted to stay home with Harry. Feeling his lips on your cheeks made you want to stay and feel his lips on yours. You finished tying your shoes and put some mascara and light makeup.

Harry approached the door and took in a deep breath. When he opened the door, Harry wanted to say "what the fuck" but he actually said,

"Hello, I'm Harry"

"Oh uh, I think I've got the wrong place"

"Looking for Y/n?" he fucking hated that he had to look up to this guy. Damn basketball player, his guess was 6"7. (Derek was actually 6"9)

"Yeah?"

"Yeah she's in here, come in"

"Oh okay," he crouched down just a little to walk. "Do you live here?"

"No across the hall, I'm Y/n's best friend" he grinned. They walked into your living room and took seats waiting for you. Derek nodded at Harry's answer and rubbed his hands against his thighs. Harry noticed his nervousness and debated whether or not to use this to his advantage.

"So where are you taking her?"

"A restaurant, near the Statue of Liberty."

"Nice. Been there before?" maybe with another woman?

"No, actually" Derek looked around like he was becoming impatient with Harry.

You walked out and Derek stood up instantly.

"Wow, y/n it’s so nice to see you," he said as he bent down to give you a hug. It was almost a 2-foot height difference. Harry looked away as it happened. You hugged him back remembering his smell. Some Armani cologne if you remember correctly. Different than Harry's Tom Ford one but why were you even thinking of Harry?

"You too. Let's go? I'm hungry."

"Still the same I see"

"Old habits die hard," you winked. "Har, close the door behind you?"

He nodded at you. You felt bad for some reason and walked over to him and gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks for everything," you smiled up at him.

"Yeah, no problem." he blushed but you couldn't tell in this lighting.

As you were walking out your apartment with Derek beside you, you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. You reached into your pocket behind you and saw Harry had texted you.

H: Let me know when you get home please? Or if you stay at his place? Just wanna know you’re okay. Xx

Y/n: most likely coming home H, I’ll let you know tho :)

Harry debated whether or not to ask if she wanted him to stay at her apartment but he didn’t want to intrude on her plans if she wanted to bring Derek back home. He hoped not. He decided to just not answer.

You and Derek approach the elevator and wait.

“I like your necklace, it’s nice”

“Oh yeah, thanks” you fiddled with it.

The elevator doors opened and you made small talk all the way until the restaurant. You had finally made it to Gigino’s, an Italian restaurant by the waterfront at Wagner Park. It was beautifully lit. You’d never been on a date quite like this one. After you finished ordering your drinks, you spoke up.

“I’m surprised you remembered me. It’s been so long”

"I honestly couldn't forget you" he smiled but looked down trying to hide from you.

You bit the inside of your cheek and reached over to put your hand over his. He looked different, more manly.

"How's the big dream been?"

"More exhausting than I thought it would be. I thought college ball was similar to professional but they're nowhere near close. How's nursing?"

"Good, I have many kids I like to think are my own. I work on the pediatric cancer floor."

"Oh wow, that must be tough"

"It can be, can also be rewarding."

"I'm sure you're great for the job"

"Thank you."

Your food came interrupting your conversation but you didn't really mind. You ordered tagliatelle with mixed shellfish. You nearly moaned at the first bite, it was so good.

"So, Harry.. Best friend he says?"

You laughed a little, "Yeah, the bestest." you couldn't believe Harry said that. You weren't mad, you were humored.

"How long have you known him?"

"Few months"

"He hang around a lot?"

"Derek? Why the 20 questions?"

"Sorry, sorry, I was just wondering. Threw me off I guess." He sipped his wine.

"It's okay. Um yeah, I moved in and we became really good friends. We're just always there for each other. That's all." Lies.com.

"Okay. Could I be honest though?"

"Yes," Here we go…

"He likes you."

"Oh my god Derek," you rubbed your temples.

"He does okay, a guy can tell. I really don't care though. I mean, you're here with me right now."

You didn’t know how to take his last comment. Was it cocky? Was it trusting? Genuine? You felt awkward. You just continued eating quietly.

"I'm sorry, I've gone and made this awkward haven't I?"

"Yep."

You had lost your appetite and so you told the waiter you'd like to take the rest home. Derek had finished his plate.

"Dessert?" the waiter asked with his thick Italian accent and gave you the menus. You looked it over and saw the chocolate covered strawberries with whipped cream. Your weakness.

"Do you still like chocolate covered strawberries?"

A little surprised you looked up from the menu and nodded. Derek ordered for you and bought himself a tiramisu.

"Surprised you remembered that too."

"y/n, I don’t think you realize that I was in love with you."

Was.

"Bullshit."

"I'm serious! I was. But I had to leave, my dad would've killed me if I didn’t continue his legacy in the game."

"Yeah I know, how is Mr. Bolev?"

"We don't talk."

"Oh." Now you made it awkward. This night was becoming… disastrous?

"Well, yeah I was. I wish I'd said it sooner, who knows what would've happened."

Maybe it was the wine, but you felt a little tingly. You sipped and squinted at him.

"Yeah, who knows?"

"Care to find out?" he grinned.

"Can't go back in time sweetheart."

"No but maybe I could show you something similar."

You laughed and stayed quiet as the waiter came out with your strawberries. He watched you as you ate your strawberries. You might've been doing it a little seductively if you were honest. You wiped the corners of your mouth with your finger and sucked on them lightly.

"Fuck," he mumbled and called the waiter over. "Check please?"

You laughed and drank your water. You’ve had enough wine.

"Do you wanna walk around the park?"

"Its dark," you leaned in to whisper, "There's rats. I've seen them"

"Holy shit, no way."

You nodded his way and he looked around nervously. You giggled at how big he was yet scared of a tiny, well sometimes big, rat. He paid quickly and grabbed your hand running out of there. You made it to his car and got in.

"So, where to?"

"Um where you got me from?"

"Right." You don’t know why, but you wanted to feel something. You wanted to see if there was anything there still. He was nice, but he wasn’t… he wasn’t what you thought you wanted anymore. If things went wrong you could blame it on the wine. You leaned across the center console before he could pull out of his parking spot and grabbed his face and kissed him. He kissed you back instantly and you felt nothing. Nada. You kissed him deeper trying to find something, anything. You just had a romantic dinner and now felt nothing? What sick game was life playing? He placed his hand on your hips and encouraged you get on top. You complied and straddled him. Now you felt something. He was already hard and he felt big. You had this internal battle in your head of whether you should grind on him or not. You didn’t want to give him the wrong intention. What were your intentions?

"You're here till Friday?" you asked breathing a little heavy.

"Yeah," he licked his lips and you kissed them again.

Maybe a hookup wouldn't be horrible. But maybe not on the first date.

"You free tomorrow?"

"Mhm," he kissed you and you leaned against his wheel setting the horn off. You both jumped and laughed. He put his hand on your cheek and kissed you softly. "Let’s get out of here?"

You nodded and he drove to your building.

"Do you wanna hang out tomorrow?" he looked over at you as he put the car in park.

"Yeah. I'll text you when I'm free and stuff."

"Okay." Maybe he expected an invitation upstairs but you weren't in the mood to give him one. You really wanted to go upstairs and knock on Harry's door. You wanted to hang out with him. Derek reached his hand over and played with your, actually Harry's, necklace. Little did he know... He tugged it lightly and leaned in towards you. You gave him a quick kiss and said goodnight. You practically ran inside wanting to change. You went into your apartment and changed into some pajama shorts and a baggy t shirt. You put your slippers on and walked across the hall and knocked three times. You heard harry yell a, 'finally!' before he opened the door. When he opened the door, it seemed it wasn't you he was expecting.

"oh, y/n?" his eyes were red.

"Who were you expecting? Are you crying?"

"No um no, and pizza."

"Can I come in?"

"Um I don’t think that's the best idea."

"Harry what's going on?"

He leaned against the door so you could walk in. Lo and behold he was watching The Vampire Diaries without you. It was the scene where Damon was trapped on the Other side and told Elena how much he loved her but she couldn't hear him.

"Are you serious?"

"I got bored okay!"

"Were you crying over this scene?"

"Maybe."

"Aw, poor baby." you walked up to him and pinched his cheeks.

"How was your date?" he said as he pushed your hands down gently.

You stayed looking up at him, "It was good, food was good," he kept eye contact with you and you didn’t even realize he was still holding your hand.

"He didn't walk you up?"

"No, I kind of didn't let him. I wanted to hang out."

He gave your hand a light squeeze and tried to hide his smile. "Doesn't sound like it went all that well then"

"It was fine Har," you dropped his hands and walked towards his couch. "I should be mad at you for watching without me."

"I know, will you ever forgive me?" you both sat on his couch and he helped you put your legs on him. His fingertips left little flames on your skin.

You take off his necklace and crawl up to him and put it back around his neck.

"Back where it belongs." you twisted a curl from behind his neck around your finger.

"Did you know I used to have my hair really long? Like up to my collarbones?"

"Really?"

"Yeah," he pulled out his phone and showed you a picture. He looked so young. So handsome.

"I think you should grow it back out." you giggled.

"How come?" he settled his arm on your knees as you were still facing him on your knees on his couch.

"I don’t know," you ran your fingers through his hair, "you look handsome either way."

"You think I look handsome?" he looked up at you.

You nodded, scared to speak. You thought maybe you'd say something you might regret. Like how much you wanted to kiss him. Or how you wished Derek smelled like him. Or how you thought of him from time to time. He looked away from you and cleared his throat.

"I guess I should finish this episode."

You nodded and went back to laying down on the other end of the couch. Harry felt confused. You had just gone on a date and come back to him and called him handsome. Did you like him or not? You interrupted his thoughts when you spoke up.

"We kissed," you felt like you had to tell him, yet he felt he could live without that information. "but I didn't feel anything. Like those sparks you're supposed to feel. I don’t know."

Harry stared at the screen and just listened. He didn’t want to hear that you kissed but he did like that you didn't like it.

"But I'm supposed to see him again tomorrow, now that I'm here I kind of don't want to."

Harry sighed and turned off the tv. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Y/n, do you feel anything for me? Because I'm honestly fucking confused. You go out on a date with some guy and then come back here, touching me in some ways. Call me handsome. The other night you put your fingers through my belt loop-" he caught what he was saying when you gave him a confused look.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me"

"The other night, after my gig you were drunk and you pulled me towards you.. You didn't remember so I didn't remind you." He sighed heavily.

"Oh, I'm sorry I did that to you."

"I didn’t mind it"

"What's that supposed to mean"

You both sat up and faced each other. Sharing the middle cushion.

"Harry, do you feel anything for me?"

Part 4 is now up!

[4kominato]

A/N: Merry Belated Christmas!!! LOL, cheers to my first ever fluff oneshot with a genuine storyline and is over 900 words HAHA. this was so much fun to write so i hope yall enjoy it 🙏🏻 ~ kuri

Pairing: Kominato Haruichi x Fem!Reader [ft. KuraRyou]

Genre: Fluff

[[ WARNING ]] suggestive scenes/dialogue

Word Count: 2.8k

“Merry Christmas, Haruichi,” you whispered to the pink haired boy who was still fast asleep next to you. Pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek, you untangled yourself from the covers and put on some comfortable clothes before heading out to the kitchen where the enticing smell of freshly brewed coffee tugged needlessly at your nose.

“Morning. Merry Christmas.” You were greeted by another pink haired boy as he poured a cup of coffee for himself and the taller, green haired boy sitting next to him.

“Merry Christmas!” Kuramochi chimed in, as you sat down across from him while Ryousuke grabbed another mug from the cabinet.

“Coffee?” he offered.

You only gave a small nod in response and so he poured you a cup, letting you add in your own cream and sugar.

“Sounded like you and Haruichi had a fun time last night, hm?” Ryousuke spoke up, making your cheeks flush as you sipped your hot coffee.

“Ryou-chan, you didn’t have to bring it up so abruptly,” Kuramochi snickered, playfully nudging Ryousuke’s arm.

“Y-you heard us?”

“Well, Youichi and I finished drinking a little early last night and it just so happened that you guys were at it when we got back. I’m surprised that the two of you can get as loud as loud mouth over here.”

“Oi! I’m not that loud...”

“You’re pretty loud.”

“Er… well… we assumed you guys would be out late like usual...” you chuckled nervously, breaking eye contact with the older boy.

“Merry Christmas,” Haruichi interrupted cluelessly, thankfully making Ryousuke drop the topic.

“Merry Christmas, sleepy head,” Ryousuke greeted, “Coffee?”

“Mm,” he agreed, seating himself next to you.

“Merry Christmas,” Kuramochi added, as Ryousuke poured yet another cup of coffee.

“Now that everyone’s here, I was thinking,” Ryousuke started, handing the mug over to Haruichi, “How would you guys like to go ice skating after we open presents?”

“Hm…” Kuramochi hummed, “Never skated before, but sounds like fun.”

“I’d love to go ice skating!” you added excitedly, quickly turning to your boyfriend for confirmation, but much to your disappointment, he looked a little taken aback and not into the idea as much as you were.

“Haruichi enjoys going to the rink, but he doesn’t know how to skate,” Ryousuke grinned at you, noticing how his younger brother had suddenly fallen silent, “He always has to cling onto me when we go. Good thing he has you this time around, it seems I have another noob to deal with now.”

“You’re supposed to be nice to me on Christmas,” Kuramochi pouted.

“Hm? Says who?” he teased back before reverting back to the previous topic, “So, are you guys in? Don’t worry Haruichi, I’m sure she’ll catch you if you fall.”

“Aniki…” he whined, the pink tinge on his fair cheeks all too apparent.

“C’mon Haru-chan, it’ll be fun!” you assured as you jumped out of your seat and took one of his hands into your own, “I’ll teach you how to skate.”

“I don’t know… I’ve never been good at it,” Haruichi mumbled, not entirely fond of the idea of embarrassing himself in front of his girlfriend.

“So… is that four yeses?” Ryousuke asked, knowing his younger brother would come around in the end anyways.

“You’re going to force otooto to come?” Kuramochi raised an eyebrow at him.

“No, but if the three of us go, he’ll follow along.”

“Aniki!”

“I only speak the truth.”

“It’s okay,” you comforted, wrapping your arms around Haruichi’s small frame, “If onii-san doesn’t force you to come, then I will.”

“What?!”

“Alright, so that’s four yeses. Who wants to open presents?” Ryousuke announced dismissively, grabbing Kuramochi’s hand before making his way into the living room.

“Hyaha, I’m your present this year, Ryou-chan. I didn’t get you anything.”

“Sure you didn’t. I literally saw you bring the gifts into the apartment.”

“Those are for otooto and y/n!”

“Hm, really? I mean, I suppose I wouldn’t mind unwrapping you right here, right now if that's what you’re asking for. And I get to use my gift right away?”

“Hyaha! Not in front of them, Ryou-chan.”

“Yeah, not in front of us please,” you groaned, shaking your head and face palming.

“Like you’re one to talk,” Ryousuke smirked, before grabbing the gifts from under the tree and distributing them respectively.

Rolling your eyes, you reached for Kuramochi’s gift first, pulling the tissue out from the top to disclose the contents of the bag; he had gotten you a cute beanie along with a pair of matching socks, which was perfect for you, considering you didn’t have a whole lot of winter attire.

“Thanks, You-san!” you beamed as you slid the beanie onto your head to try it on.

“No problem, looks good on you,” he replied, pausing from unwrapping his own gifts to throw you a thumbs up.

“You-san always manages to find nice things for you,” Haruichi smiled at you lovingly.

“Yeah, he does.”

“Here, open aniki’s present next,” Haruichi urged as he set the gift in front of you, “I helped him pick it.”

“Okay,” you agreed as you picked it up and began to tear away at the wrapping paper encompassing the flat, but vast box. Despite the size, it felt fairly light making you more and more curious as to what it was. Ripping off the last bit of wrapping paper, you lifted the lid off the box which held a nicely folded, black trench coat.

“Oh my god, I’ve been meaning to buy a new coat but never got around to it… thank you, onii-san!”

“Haruichi mentioned it to me. I was already planning to go ice skating before I bought your gift so I figured you could use it when we go,” Ryousuke replied, a proud smile strung across his face, “Looks cute with the beanie too.”

“Thanks! I’ll definitely use both of them when we go. Maybe I’ll wear the socks too!”

Reaching for your last gift, the smallest of the three, you wondered what it was that Haruichi had gotten for you. Last year it was a necklace and the year before that, he got matching bracelets for the two of you. He was quite the romantic, so his gifts were never disappointing, which made you all the more excited to see his choice of gift this year.

Quickly unwrapping the small box, you opened the lid to find the rigid item wrapped in white tissue, so you unwrapped the gift once again and you couldn’t help the little gasp that slipped past your lips when it was finally revealed.

“Aw, Haruichi, I love it!” you announced as you stared in awe at the golden heart-shaped ornament which framed a picture of the two of you from the previous Christmas.

“He made one for us too, Ryou-chan!” Kuramochi added excitedly, holding up his ornament to display.

“I know,” Ryousuke chuckled, “I gave him our picture.”

“Thank you, Haru-chan! You always think of the best gifts,” you praised as you pressed a soft kiss to his lips, cuing his cheeks and ears to turn bright red.

“Oh no, it was nothing...” he replied bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck. You couldn’t help but smile at how cute he was when he was embarrassed, stroking your fingers through his soft hair before standing up to place the ornament on the tree.

“Shall we hang ours up too?” Kuramochi offered to which Ryousuke simply nodded, and so he stood up and hung his ornament shortly after you.

After all the presents were opened, the four of you worked together to tidy up the living room, before dispersing to your bedrooms to change into warm clothing for skating. Over your warm clothes, you wore the trench coat that Ryousuke gifted to you and then to top it off, Kuramochi’s beanie.

“You look good,” Haruichi hummed, gently holding you by the hips and pulling you into him.

“So do you,” you flirted back as you hooked your arms around his neck and stared into his pretty orbs.

“I meant in your new coat and beanie,” he almost whispered, his lips inching closer and closer to yours.

“You always look good,” you barely managed to say before his lips melded with yours, the hands on your hips now slithering around your waist to the small of your back to pull your body flush against his. The moment, however, was short lived, a loud knock on the door abruptly interrupting your session followed by, “C’mon slowpokes! We’re gonna leave already!”

“You guys can have sex after we get back from skating,” Ryousuke added, speaking just loud enough for you guys to hear through the door.

“Hyaha! Ryou-chan, that was mean!”

“Aniki!” Haruichi exclaimed as he quickly pulled away from you, a bewildered expression forming on his face.

“Oh yeah… So um, onii-san said that he and You-san heard us last night because they came home early…”

“They did?!” Haruichi gasped in disbelief, his cheeks flushing yet again in embarrassment, “That’s so awkward…”

“They don’t seem to think much of it, other than using it to make jokes, but that’s not too bad, right?” you assured, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him towards the door, “We should go before they get any other ideas.”

Nodding, he followed you out and the two of you met Ryousuke and Kuramochi in the living room before heading out altogether.

“Is everyone ready?” Kuramochi announced, twirling his car keys around his index finger as everyone else gathered at the front door. The three of you quickly agreed, and so you guys were off to Kuramochi’s car and on your way to the nearest skating rink. When the four of you arrived, you were relieved to see that it wasn’t terribly crowded; it would be much easier to help Haruichi if there were less people on the ice.

Haruichi hopped out of the car first, offering you a hand to help you out and you gladly accepted. Walking hand in hand, the two of you followed Ryousuke and Kuramochi to the stand to rent skates.

“You still nervous, Haru-chan?” you asked worriedly, knowing he wasn’t so excited about coming along.

“Yeah, but I’m sure I’ll be fine since I’m with you.”

You simply smiled in response, grateful that he was willing to go out of his comfort zone for you. Despite being bashful by nature, he was never afraid to push himself whether it be for baseball, school, your relationship, or anything in between; it's one of the qualities you’d always admired about him.

Once the two of you got your skates and put them on, you took your time making your way over to the rink. You knew Haruichi well enough to see that even though he’d agreed to skate for your sake, he was still apprehensive about the situation, so you did your best to make him feel more at ease and calm his nerves.

“You’ll be okay,” you encouraged, gently squeezing his hand which was interlaced with yours while your other hand stroked over his bicep assuringly.

“Thanks,” he feigned a grin, hoping to hide how anxious he was, but unfortunately for him, you already knew how he was feeling. Approaching the entrance, you pulled him aside for a brief moment to give him a hug and a little pep talk before starting.

“No matter what happens, I won’t judge you or think any less of you. It’s okay to fall, as long as you don’t hurt yourself; it’s a part of the learning process so there’s no sense in feeling ashamed of it. Okay? You got this, Haruichi!”

Relief washed over you seeing that your pep talk was to some extent successful, judging from the seemingly confident nod he gave you in response. So with that, you led him back to the entrance of the rink where the two of you would finally skate together. You stepped onto the ice first and then held out a hand for Haruichi to hold while he adjusted to the slickness of the ice, though it didn’t take him very long to get the hang of it. Haruichi sandwiched himself between you and the wall as the two of you slowly and steadily made your way around the rink’s circumference, but he was able to stop relying on the wall before you guys had even fully circled around one time.

“You’re doing really well, y’know,” you praised, glancing over at the handsome pink haired boy, “Definitely better than You-san.”

Pointing a finger toward the other couple, Haruichi’s gaze followed, easily finding his brother along with Kuramochi who was struggling tremendously and clinging on to Ryousuke for dear life.

“Well…” Haruichi chuckled, “This is his first time. I’ve skated before… it’s just that I’m bad at it.”

“I don’t think you’re bad at it though. Look, you’re hardly even holding onto me anymore, just our hands. I think you’re just not confident.”

“I suppose you might be right…” he admitted with a shy grin, “Maybe I’ll try by myself for a bit.”

“You can do it! And I’ll be right here if you need,” you reassured, raising a fist in encouragement. You felt his grip on your hand start to loosen, but just before he let go, you heard a familiar voice yelling from behind you making you whip your head to see what was going on.

“RYOU-CHAN, TOO FAST, TOO FAST!” Kuramochi cried as Ryousuke dragged him down the length of the rink.

“You’re just a chicken,” Ryousuke teased back, having no intention of slowing down anytime soon.

“Haruichi!” you gasped, yanking him towards you and slamming yourself into the wall with Haruichi following behind and slamming into you.

“Youichi, watch where you’re going. You almost killed Haruichi,” you heard Ryousuke scold Kuramochi as they sped past you, making you let out an exasperated chuckle.

“I CAN’T WHEN YOU'RE PULLING ME SO FAST!”

“I’m sorry!” Haruichi panicked, pushing himself away from you, “I hit you kind of hard…”

“I’m the one who pulled you though,” you countered, pulling him back into you again and wrapping your arms around his waist, “You didn’t like the proximity?”

“N-no that’s not it… I was just worried that I might’ve hurt you…” he stuttered as his eyes darted away from yours, a tinge of pink quickly spreading across his cheeks.

“It’s so cute when you blush,” you giggled as you brushed a finger over his tinted skin.

“You’re not helping…”

“I thought I told you love birds to wait until we got back,” Ryousuke intruded, skating up to the two of you with his hands held behind his back.

“Aniki!” Haruichi jumped, stumbling a little as he backed away from you again.

“You guys really can’t keep your hands off each other, huh?” he smirked whilst cocking his head.

“Um…” you started, clearing your throat before speaking again, “Where’s You-san?”

“On the bench over there,” Ryousuke replied, pointing to a small seating area just outside of the rink, “He said he’s done for today. Since he’s a big baby, I was going to treat him to cocoa at a nearby cafe. You guys want to come?”

Haruichi and you quickly glanced at each other for confirmation, but on the inside, both of you already knew the answer. “Yes!” you both answered in unison before following Ryousuke out of the rink.

* * *

“So did you end up enjoying it, Haruichi?” Ryousuke spoke up first, the four of you sitting around the small cafe table sipping your cocoa.

“Mhm. It turns out y/n is a great teacher,” Haruichi replied happily as he turned his head towards you to acknowledge you.

“It was all you though,” you praised, not wanting him to sell himself short again.

“That’s good, I’m glad,” Ryousuke gave his younger brother a proud smile, “Youichi is a terrible student.”

“You’re a terrible teacher!” Kuramochi argued angrily and pouted at the older boy, “You just bullied me the entire time.”

“Masochists learn best through suffering, Youichi.”

“I’m not a masochist!”

“Okay, keep telling yourself that.”

While the other couple continued to bicker, you placed your hand over Haruichi’s before speaking, “I’m glad you had fun, Haru-chan. Would you be down to do this again next Christmas?”

“I didn’t think I’d ever say this about skating, but I’d love to. I think if I get more practice in, it could definitely become an enjoyable winter hobby for me.”

“Yay! It’s a plan then! And maybe next time, we can go without them,” you whispered, pointing toward the two men sitting across the table, “And we can go to a love motel after.” Throwing him a wink, a smile crept onto his face along with his signature rosy cheeks as he gave you a little nod.

“Sounds good to me.”

[fairy-made]

I dont think I ever said anything about this, but when I replayed the skyrim romance mod after it got an update a while back, it seemed like someone read my random comments about it and like....actually tweaked the mod?? which is really cool imo. putting this under a cut since I think the mod still generally has a bad rep, even though it seems like theyre working on that in some capacity. I didnt really even know what the drama was about in the first place.

literally everything I talked about that could be fixed within a reasonable amount of time was fixed. back then (~3-4 yrs ago) I was a little more tolerant of the “bad boy, borderline abusive” type and while the character himself seems to be intentionally pushy, it seems to be a bit better. if I remember correctly, I think they cut the rapey bits and just worked around it so that bishop was still a brat about your player not wanting to have sex, but not a scary horny nutcase. theres a big difference between “youre gonna have sex with me one of these days wench!!” and “ugh, fine, be like that!” its def not A+, but it is an improvement that still suits the character. I obviously wasnt too bothered with the earlier version back then (had some stuff I was going through), but now I can see the concern, and to me its less cringey. Id have to replay it again to see how I feel exactly, but Im sure its better at least.

they re-did the whole interaction with cael so instead of him talking about how he could give you orgasms like youve never seen, hes cautious of you yet still kind of flirty. a real sweetie. I mean, I like the new bit, but he could also let me know hes dtf a little bit. lmao thats just me though. 

the one thing I did not like too much was that they added animations for the sex scenes, and that you had no choice but to sit through them (unless you said no to sex altogether). since I literally set the camera so that I could not see the sex anims, I did get to hear bishops VA during the scenes and Imma just say.......... you should hear them. even if its just the once. lmao. I read that theyre gonna cut out the sex mod dependencies so that you can just have fade to black scenes, and I am for that 1000000%. 

now I just hope it gets ported it to the special edition, because it seems waaay too hard and time consuming to do it myself. I tried to start but the list of tasks was just too long to justify working on when I have homework and other stuff to do.

outside all that, I can see why there was such a bad vibe surrounding the mod at first. it all made sense when I read about the drama on reddit, but the harshness  was a bit... much?? from what I read, the creator made some bad choices and eventually acknowledged/fixed them. her reasoning and intentions for making them could be questionable, but people are human, idk what else to say. Im just... not grabbing a pitchfork over this and I fail to see any reason to continue that now lmao. she obviously still wants to hold everything together for the mod and do things better so... Im not gonna hold a grudge even if she made bad choices. she ultimately canceled the kickstarter, and this is all ultimately over a mod. a skyrim mod. you either wanna play and support it or you dont because of very valid reasons. its up to you. but either way it just will never be that serious.

I honestly got the impression that she might be a bad person from stuff I read until I got the chance to read about everything, and then I was like wow.. she fucked up, but the worst thing she did was undone the same day it happened so...like... yall couldve just went on about your lives and left this woman alone. 

anyway, long talk. it seems like the mods at a standstill, since it hasnt been ported to the SE yet and I dont think the creator herself has made any announcements about actual updates coming soon. but I actually hope things stay positive for the mod. 

(also psa, this is for my followers/mutuals if there interested in talking about it. Ive tagged this for the sole purpose of being able to be filtered by those who dont want to hear anything about it.)

Update: so I downloaded the beta for the SE. it wasnt working for me as the dialogue would seem to break anytime after I used racemenu. I literally cant play skyrim without changing my hair, and the person in charge of the beta said to try playing it on a no-rush new game so... I kind of gave up. I had started over twice after already sinking 4-8 hours into those 2 new games, specifically for the mod, and I just didnt feel like doing it again.

Replaying the bits that I could, I will say it is... kind of cheesy. Doesnt bother me much though. I used to write bad fanfiction, so its not the worst. Its just not impervious to being... cheesy at times. Idk how to put it lol. Maybe you could say its tropey? Like something youd read in a romance novel with those dramatic traditional cover illustrations. Not bad. Just, if you hate that kinda thing, you might not be into it. Im not very critical because the alternative is like. 1 other mod? So I just dont mind.

Outside of that I kind of have no idea what my complete opinion is on it now. I intended to find out, but gave up due to modding issues. I was a little younger when I first played it, so I may have different opinions on it now. As I mentioned before my opinion of sex and certain character traits used to be different, and its changed a lot since then. Its still kind of changing even now. I still go “yeah... that was the trauma” about stuff I used to think was not so bad.

To be honest I didnt even remember having an opinion of it as cheesy a few years ago, but now after replaying for the 3rd time Im like... from what little Ive seen so far, its some pretty sharp cheddar lol. So if it is a lot worse than you felt you were led to believe from reading this, Im sorry, and you can inbox me about it. Especially since I may not ever even play the newest version.

[jhindraven]

okay now that issue 6 is out and ive read the thing like 3 times, im gonna do my full review/breakdown of the zed comic and allll my thoughts on it.

no screenshots bc i dont want this to be longer than it is already, and also im not gonna talk about the art itself either. this is simply about the characters, the story, and how that relates to the lore of league itself.

all of this is my opinion, you can agree or disagree with me whatever, yadda yadda lets begin

ISSUE ONE

Probably the best one? In my opinion. The lack of expectations really helped this one not suck. Also the most consistent when it comes to characters personalities, comparing them to the in-game voice lines from league and the card game.

There are scenes in issue 1 that almost foreshadow, or at least reference, the events of Issue 6, specifically Zed looking up to the statue of Kusho, and how Zed kills Althon vs how Zed kills Kusho later on.

The dialogue between Shen and Akali is.. a little clunky? Shen’s dialogue is just a little. formal. but to the point that he sounds like he’s lecturing a stranger, not talking to a former student.

Jhin giving Zed his scalpel from 19 years ago is a neat detail that I wish they used more in the story. Sure, we can assume now that Jhin probably only got it because Kusho gave it to him at some point after releasing him- which means that the scalpel is one of the many wasted plot opportunities I’ll bring up here. Part of the appeal of that scene, if only just for me, was the idea that Jhin stole it from Zed while he wasn’t looking. I remember people pointing out background characters and being like “but what if that’s Jhin there! what if he was there all along!!”  But that has now been thrown out the window.

A thing I wish they did was shown more of Jhin’s ‘performances’, even if only in a montage. To show more of the impact this had on Zed and Shen, the strain it put on them mentally and emotionally, and how it affected their relationship. But I understand time and probably page restraints. So whatever about that.

Again, I think this was the best one. Set up the story well, showed why everything happening is important for the character. Neat, cool. Let’s move on

ISSUE 2

Seeing the bodies was pretty fucked up, but tbh? That shit vibed. It’s one of those things I hoped they were gonna do and they did. The bodies looking like porcelain with gold blood?? And the peacock feathers???? Thats fuckin cool as hell.  Then they never did it again.

In the flashback comes one of the worst fucking things in this comic. Yevnai.

Listen I adore Yevnai as a character, one of my favourites to come from the comic. You know, in the ONE ISSUE SHE ACTUALLY SHOWS UP IN????? She shows up as simply conflict between Shen and Zed (which never actually comes up mind you), as bait for Jhin, and for? Zed to show that he can sense magic from her kids to show that she’s been cheating on her husband with Quno the vastayan servant (bc we know Zed hates vastaya i guess?). oh and Guess What? the sensing magic thing also doesn’t show up again. 

Oh and Jhin follows Zed to Yevnai’s place. But nothing happens from that.

Issue 2 was good, but just a total waste imo. A lot of plot points set up only to never happen again. Best things about it were dead bodies, Jhin’s tiny Zed and Shen puppets, and the knowledge that Shen still writes letters to Yevnai :’(

ISSUE 3

I got so fucking pissed when this issue came out, no shit. They took the events of The Man With The Steel Cane and just. Threw it out the window. I did a whole other post about my issues with it so I won’t just rewrite the same shit twice. But I had to actually stop reading and pace angrily for a bit. I HATE issue 3 bro.

The scene with Kusho :) . Good to know that was now a waste of misdirection because EVERYONE seemed to call that Kusho was still alive. What bullshit. But I’ll get to that.

The inconsistencies in character really show in this one. And that connects to it being a shitty rewrite of The Man With The Steel Cane. They probably wanted a fight between Shen and Zed by this point, being halfway through the comic, and just shoved it in there. Doesn’t mean I’m not mad about it.

Akali and Kayn’s dialogue was probably the best thing in the entire issue. I don’t vibe with Akali/Kayn as a ship personally, but it got a giggle out of me im ngl.

Akali attacking Zed. I guess yeah sure she would. Fits her whole “fuck you i wont do what you tell me shen” vibe. But SHEN? calling off the armistice between the yánléi and kinkou due to the actions of one of HIS ex-students?? Shen would never. Let’s add another point to the ‘This Is Really Out Of Character’ board!

The sworn and witnessed scene was nice, it’s what Kayn deserves. Finally knowing the Kashuri Faction was nice, too bad they never get fucking mentioned ever again I guess.

There’s so many references to The Man With The Steel Cane that they could’ve implimented so much better, especially dialogue. I can’t read the original story without feeling cheated out of what it was before Issue 3. So more wasted potential I guess.

Issue 4

This was a big step up from Issues 2-3. My personal favourite, but not the best (if that makes sense). But there isn’t too much to talk about here? Jhin sets off his bombs from the last issue, it looks cool, but there’s no real story to talk about here. There is a lot of character stuff to talk about though.

Zed choosing to save Shen over getting Jhin is fucking HUGE for Zed as a character. For a character so hellbent on vengence throughout the entire thing choosing instead to save his "hated enemy and closest friend” ?? im sobbing.

This whole comic was emotional as hell, and the most character development we ever fucking saw in this thing. From Zed’s daddy issues to the realisation that Zed’s shadows are shades of Jhin and Kusho (which is now fucking hilarious and makes no sense after Issue 6).

There was a lot of setup for plotpoints that actually did show up later for once, like Kayn being the temporary leader and all that jazz. What it had in emotion, it seemed to lack in real story progression until the end. 

Issue 5

This issue was weird for me. Like there was a lot of plot and a lot of character shit that seemed so condensed that it felt like nothing. Zed’s confession in the cell-wagon and the information that Shen was out fighting Noxians too? Alright, sure okay. 

Shen still seems wildly out of character for me, since we mostly know him as this beacon of peace and calm- he’s so violent towards Zed all the time it’s strange. Like he points a sword at Zed while saying that he isn’t allowed to kill Jhin, wtf

The callback to Awaken is fucking superb. Really solidifies that video into the lore of the game. Camille being mentioned had me like :hearteyes: This is a nitpick- but I wish we knew what happened at the end of Awaken. Is Camille okay? Did Jhin get injured? It was a week ago, if he did get injured- where and how did he recover so fast? Little details  that I wanna know, not really for any real story purposes.

Rhaast finally showing up :hearteyes:, nothing else to add bc nothing else happened with him.

Jhin making the most of Piltoven technology is really cool, and its a scene that made me go “OH YEAH he was a stagehand for a good period of time!!”  That’s what we call Tying In Pre-Existing Lore fellas.

Jhin just really shined in this issue. Really set him up to be The Big Bad of the comic, like he had a monologue and everything! Once again, though, that gets absolutely wasted by Issue 6.

Issue 6

Where do I fucking start?

Let’s start with Jhin. I don’t know about yall, but since we spent a solid 5 issues chasing after him I expected more of a dramatic fight. More like the explosions in Issue 4. But uh we got. Some fancy prop work before he got punched in the face twice and thrown on the ground. It’s What He Deserves but like you know, he deserved worse.

As much as I didn’t want it to happen, I’m disappointed they didn’t unmask him at all. His mask was still fucking pristine by the end of the fight!! Not a scratch, not a chip!! But to be fair I think we got maybe 2 pages worth of a physical fight with Jhin so,, sure. Whatever. Out goes 5 issues of setting up? Not to downplay the conflict in that scene of course, I think it was pretty cool. It was just so anticlimactic at the end like wh-

Kusho! Haha they got us good!! The dead dude is actually still alive oooo~ [heavy sarcasm]. Why. It wasn’t a good twist! It was a “oh. okay yeah sure” twist. This might be my heat of the moment response but I have no words for how cheap and absolutely horseshit that twist is. Good thing we only have to think about it for 10 pages because HE FUCKING DIES AGAIN. WHAT A WASTE!!

Whatever, whatever, thinking about it makes me so mad because they set it up barely in Issue 5? I’m just tired this actually drained me irl.

At least we have baby Kayn and good dad Zed at the end to cleanse us of that.

HEY actually did you know that they thought that Good Dad Zed was considered contoversial by Marvel’s editors?? HUH????

whatever, whatever. i’m pissed. 

BONUS SHIT

So Jhin’s lore has now had an update to connect with the comic. And it’s fucking weird. Now suddenly Kusho didn’t care about catching Jhin after he found out it was just a human person murdering people? And that it was essentially Not Their Job anymore??? excuse me??

CONCLUSION?

This comic started with a good beginning and a lot of potential. It brought up so many new theories and so many new headcanons. But all that potential and all that interesting story got washed away with unconnected plot points, ‘important’ characters that show up once, and a cheap twist ending that simultaneously came out of nowhere and was easily predicted (in the bad way). It was a fun read for a while, but the ending has soured the experience I had reading it.

Some issues may come from time + page constraints, and the limitations of the medium. But those were mostly minor issues. I wanna give the artists and the writers the benefit of the doubt, maybe blame Marvel as I like to do. But...

6 months worth of waiting for an ending like this? I’m just disappointed.

[yeollieayheehoo]

Repair

Authors note: So this is a little different than how I usually write, it’s more dialogue. So yeah. Don’t come for me. 

Summary: There’s never a right time to confess

Pairing: Jongdae x Reader (female)

Genre: fluff

Rating:  PG

Warnings: explicit language, drug mention (ya’ll it’s weed.)

Word Count: 2.5K

OneDae [11:32AM] you ridin’ or you rollin’?

Y/N [11:32AM] im always rollin’ wym

OneDae [11:33AM] are you ridin’ with me or are you drivin you fuckin nerd

Y/N [11:33AM] depends

Y/N [11:33AM] do I get to dj or are you gonna play that dubstep trash you call music?

Y/N [11:51AM] did you die?

OneDae [11:54AM] im looking up a facility to put you in

OneDae [11:54AM] cause you’ve clearly lost your mind

OneDae [11:54AM] out here callin my music trash

Y/N [11:56AM] that’s cause it IS trash

OneDae [11:57AM] yall just have no sense when it comes to music. Yall just don’t have an ear for it

Y/N [11:58AM] I literally own an instrument repair shop

Y/N [11:58AM] fight me you fuck

“I would but my mama told me not to hit girls.”

“That’s because you’d lose. What’d you bring me?” You didn’t look up from your work order as Jongdae walked in, the smell of something toasted wafting from the entrance of your shop, filling the front room.  

“Pizza, extra mushrooms and bacon. Half with pineapple because it’s clearly the superior topping.”

“Why are you always wrong?” You finished filling out the paper, scribbling your signature at the bottom of it before attaching it to the saxophone case on the back counter.

“I’m not wrong. The rest of you are just lacking in intelligence. Why the fuck do you have 15 conga drums around the corner?” Jongdae paused as he walked around the counter, setting the pizza box down in the middle of it as his attention went to the back room where the drums in question sat.

“Blue Meadows High School dropped them off about 10 minutes before you got here and asked to me to repair the heads. Apparently the percussion director tore half of the hides the last time he tried to repair them.”

“Do you need help with them?”

“I might get you to start soaking the heads while I start on this Yanagisawa.” You leaned back in your stool, stretching your arms above your head before reaching for the pizza box, gesturing with your head to the stool beside you, telling Jongdae to sit.

“When do they need them by?” You shrugged, taking a large bite of the slice of pizza in your hand, holding your hand in front of your mouth as you spoke, “they didn’t give a time frame, but I’ll probably have them done by the end of the week”.

“What else do you have?”

“The Yanagisawa is an A-WO1, it’s got a leak and I’m gonna have to replace all of the key pads and see if it’s that, the drums, I have a guy dropping off a guitar at 2, the Davis kid popped the strings on his cello AGAIN, so there’s that too. That’s it for now.”

“Will his parents ever learn that their kid has no idea what he’s doing?”

“Probably not. You know how private school parents are.” Jongdae rolled his eyes, folding a slice of pizza in half before shoving half of it in his mouth. You chuckled as you stood, walking around him to the back, grabbing the roll of paper towels from your work bench, setting them down in front of Jongdae before eating another slice. There was a comfortable silence as you ate, falling into your weekly routine of almost eight years.

2011

“Wizard?”

“I’m in the back!”

“What the actual fuck are you doing?” You looked up from the piano you were working on, grinning from ear to ear as you got up from your seat. “So get this Chan. I’m working on a ukulele right? My front bell rings, so I get up to go see who it is and it’s this like huge, buffy dude, covered in dust and he goes, ‘do you fix instruments?’ and I say yeah, and he goes ‘me and my crew are cleaning out the old church on Dolson road to renovate it and there’s an old piano in there and my guy John lifted the lid and it’s a J&C, whatever that means, but I wanted to see if you wanted it? I don’t know if it’s worth anything but you could probably make a good penny off of it if you can fix it up’. And of course, you know me, I’ll try to fix anything.”

“Trust me, I know.”

“Look that neck was warped and split, I was going to have to make a new one.”

“Finish your story.”

“Oh right. Okay, so I say sure I’ll take a look at it and they’ve already got it loaded up on the back of a truck, so they bring it in and Chanyeol. They just gave me an 1883 J&C Fischers and Sons upright piano. Just gave it to me! They were gonna trash it! So of course I got it loaded on the tilter, and I’m taking out the pins and strings now and hello, who is this?” You pause, just now noticing the unfamiliar face that seems to stick out the side of Chanyeol’s bicep. You grin brightly and offer your hand, pulling it back quickly and wiping it on the leg of your jeans before sticking it back out.

“Hi, I’m Y/N.”

“I’m Jongdae.” He took your hand, smooth against the slightly rough skin of your own, but pleasantly warm as he shook it.

“This is Jongdae, a friend of mine from high school. He just moved to town, I was showing him around, thought we’d swing by and see if you wanted lunch, but it looks like you’re busy.”

“No, I could go for food. Let me wash my hands and get the dust off me.” You disappeared into the bathroom, making quick work of the tasks ahead of you, drying your hands on a paper towel as you walked back out, safety glasses hung on their hook next to the door.

  You can still hear him ask if you were always this eccentric as you climbed out of Chanyeol’s car when they dropped you back off at your shop. There was something in his voice, the way his tenor words dripped off of his tongue, pitch elevated in wonder, the laugh at the end of his question light, airy and full all at the same time.

You saw Jongdae almost daily after that. You took to each other quickly, finding his lean frame filling your doorway so often that you found it necessary to get him his own chair. He stayed late with you a lot of nights while you repaired that piano, watching you, almost mesmerized as your hands seemed to flow like water, gently caressing each string, carefully sizing the pins for the century-old piano. He helped you refurbish the keys, listened avidly as you instructed him how to sand the body, delicate hands cautious to keep the wood carving against the body as you prepared the instrument for staining. The glossy red-brown stain was his idea. The idea to keep it in your shop was his too, and most days you were glad for it. The idea for him to be the first to play it was your own after learning he could play, a way to repay him for spending so many hours working on it.

“So you never answered my question.” Jongdaes voice pulls you from the past, his head tilted as he stands, taking the leftover slices with him to your fridge in the back office. “Honestly, I’m probably not going. I want to get started on these drums, you know how I am. Will you take the goods with you when you go?”

“I’ll stay too.” You can feel your brows furrow as you frown, shaking your head.

“You should go, how are they gonna get their gas if you don’t?”

Jongdae shrugs, “I’ll text Baek to come get it. I’m not going to leave you here to do all of it by yourself when I know I can help.”

“Yeah but you told me yesterday you’ve been stressing about your apartment search. Go, smoke, relax. We’ll go hunting next week.”

“This is how I relax.” Your hands go to your hips and you raise an eyebrow, looking at Jongdae as if he's lost his mind.

“Dae. Me bossing you around is not relaxing.” Jongdae grins, laughing softly.

“Okay maybe not that bit, but watching you work is. Hearing you play is relaxing. I dunno, just being around you is relaxing, whether we’re in the shop or not. You’re my relaxation.”

There’s something heavy in the air between you at his confession. You figured he liked spending time with you from the way he was always with you, whether it was at home or here, but you would never call yourself relaxing. If anything you were exhausting, especially lately.

You didn’t really have the patience to teach, had turned down multiple music majors who had asked to learn under you. It took Jongdae seven years of watching and observing and proving he could repair something with the mentality that what he was fixing was his. Seven years before you finally decided you would give him a shot and you were surprised he was still around. You could be rude, short-tempered and impatient, something you thought he would have learned by now.

“Dae… I think you need your head checked..” Your voice is soft, demeanor vulnerable.

“They can admit us together, yeah? So what do you want me to do?” He’s the same as he’s always been, cheerful and optimistic Jongdae, like what he said didn’t create an earthquake in him also.

“I guess we need to get the old heads soaking so we can pull the rings from them. It’ll take a few hours. Go ahead and grab the basins from the back room and start filling them with warm water, I’ll start pulling the heads off.”

“I can do that while the basins are filling.”

“Okay then. I’ll start on the Davis kids cello, if you need me let me know.”

Jongdae watches you for a moment, the way your body moves into autopilot, years of routines taking over. It’s stupefying. He could spend hours watching you work, but he’s not here to do that today. Right now he’s here to make your life easier, so he goes to work.

He’s finishing taking off the last head when he hears you play. It’s not pretty at first, though it never is but that’s because you choose to tune by ear. The melody is in dissonance at first, low notes clashing with each other for the spotlight.

He puts the last head in the bin to begin soaking and as he stands, the melody begins to form. He's careful to stay quiet as he leans through the window between work rooms. If he’s being honest with himself, he finds you breathtakingly beautiful like this. Your eyes are closed, head tilted to the left as you focus. The bow looks elegant in your hands, fingers moving gracefully across the strings and frets. It’s almost sensual like they were dancing across a lover's body.

“What are you doing? He’s so lost in his thoughts he doesn’t notice you’ve stopped playing and are standing in front of him, leaning against the window pane.

“You’re beautiful when you play.” It’s the only thing that comes to his mind and he finds himself delighted in the blush that colors your cheeks.

“Are you saying I’m ugly the rest of the time?”

“Have you seen yourself when you wake up?” He laughs, quickly stepping back when you try to thump his arm.

“Fucker. All the heads soaking?”

“Yup.”

“Cool we can start on the saxophone. You wanna go ahead and remove the pads? I’ll grab the replacements.”

“Hey Y/N.”

“What’s up, buttercup?”

“I don’t know if there’s really ever a good time to say this-“

“-I swear if you tell me you’re quitting after begging me for years-“

“-I like you. I really like you . I don’t know if you know. I’m hoping you know. I’m hoping you like me the same way. I always have to be around you, I don’t know if you’ve realized that yet. It’s like I can’t breathe if I’m not. At first, it was just because you were so different, you were so weird, it was like the strangest breath of fresh air I’ve ever had. And then I watched you as you fixed the piano in the front room and I realized I’ve never been so in love with something the way you are with your work. You put every part of you into an instrument when you repair it, and it gives you those pieces back when you play. It’s like watching a witch cast a spell if I’m being honest with you. You put your soul into repairing something and when you play, it’s like the melody is the instrument returning your soul back to you. And maybe that makes no sense. Maybe I make no sense. Maybe all of this makes no sense and it all sounds insane and it’s not cute or romantic, but we aren’t romantic people. We try to make it through our days and try to find the meaning of life in the smoke we drown ourselves in. All I know is somewhere between us fixing that piano and now, you put your soul in me to fix me and I can feel you everywhere and I want you to feel me too.”

It’s silent after Jongdae stops speaking. He can’t read your face or body, still leaning against the window frame.

“Start on the pads Dae.” He nods, hand rubbing the back of his neck as he feels the adrenaline from his confession fade. “Yeah, okay.”

“And Dae?” He must walk past you to get to the front workbench where the saxophone sits. Your quick to reach out and grab his hand as he walks by you. You pull him back to you, tracing your finger along the lines of the palm of his hand in yours, trying to remember a time when his hands were smoother

“Yeah?”

You have to lean up slightly to press your lips against his. It’s quick, a confession of your own, more than you could say in words. You grin as you realize for once in his life, Jongdae is speechless and you take charge of the opportunity.

“I feel you too Dae. Don’t wait that long to ask me out on a date. Go start on the pads.” You pat your hand against his cheek and walk to the storage room.

“Wait you can’t just do that and then walk away!”

“I just did fuck head. Saxophone. Go.”

[hadeestown]

i watched the heathers on riverdale episode and listened to the soundtrack on spotify and i have a lot of things to say

FIRST OF ALL @ riverdale fandom dont freaking attack me for saying these. just being frank with yall

also the only actors whose names i know of are kj apa, cole sprouse, lili reinhart, camila mendes, and casey cott

BEAUTIFUL

- CASEY COTT,,,,he saved this song he should’ve just sang it alone - they made it so PG they didnt even include the fREAK SLUT CRIPPLE HOMO HOMO HOMO - okay camila sounded okay - kj apa,,,honey youre cute but pls stop singing - josie can sing but like,,,not for musicals - can everyone pls get the emotions right in this song thEYRE LITERALLY SINGING ABOUT HOW HIGH SCHOOL FREAKING SUCKS AND THEYRE ALL "just not today! :D" or "just not today *seductive wink*" - the autotune in lili's verse knjkACN - cole's voice is so deep he sounds like he wants to die - "why do i act like such a creep" whoever sang that im sorry but youre terribly fla t - so many wasted harmonies - "aHhh HEAther hEAther aNd hEATher" why falsetto - "lets make her beautiful" rip harmonies "okAY? okay?" rip falsetto uGh - cheryl can sing but i dont know something's wrong,,, probably autotune - "you hope you dream you pray ANd you GEt yoUR wAY" autotune count: ive lost count - The riverdale producers giving casey cott the high veronica notes is one of the few things they got right in this episode

CANDY STORE - heathers 101 lyrics knAKJCNJA i want to die - they can say biotch but not dick huh - the orchestration's weird,,,but okay - GO PLAY DUCK DUCK GOOSE - ICE CREAM - the first verse was okay then autotuned kicked in - the verses are pretty okay - i want more emotion pls just,,, sound bitchier - "SEE YOU DONT HAVE IT WATCH THIS" HACKNASCKJA IM CACKLING - rip harmonies in 2nd chorus,,,,those were great but they probably didnt find a person who can do the crazy mcnamara notes huh - DOORKNOB - cheryl youre struggling with the bridge - "kEEP ON TESTING ME *lower octave* and end up like her" oof whERE ARE THE HIGH MCNAMARA NOTES - i didnt understand the chandler riff what was that about - rip harmonies aGAIN this song had a lOT of amazing harmonies and they,,,threw it away

FIGHT FOR ME - josie honey youre terribly autotuned - kj apa kjnSCJNKANCKJA why - everything's so autotuned i dont even know what's real and what's not - i kinda like the end harmonies,,that's it tho

BIG FUN - okay orchestration's great - again with the heathers 101 lyrics jNCKSNAJC dont do heathers if you arent bold enough to curse on tv - rip harmonies,,,,,,,,,nobody did like the high notes jesus christ - convenient that they have a character named "Veronica" in the show - i dont know if thats camila's real voice but it did sound nice,,,however, i still believe it's autotUNED - once again, they gave casey cott the high veronica notes "i FEEL LIKE BONO AT LIVE AID" - "take a picTURE I'LL NEED PROOF" who the hell said that he sounded so monotone and emotionless like he forgot at the last minute he had to say a line - awkward silence for the part "i broUGHT SPARKLING CIDER :D" - no context "danG DANG DIGGITY DANG DANG" hAJKCSJNAC me initimidating my enemies - once again, akward silence for the dialogues - dang dang diggity dang dang everything's so autotuned - thE INSTRUMENTAL'S SO LOUD probably to mask the fact that most of the cast werent *cough* vocally trained

DEAD GIRL WALKING - what THE HELL IS UP WITH THAT TINY HARP SOUND AT THE INTRO OF DGW ANKCSJACI CHOKED - a u t o t u n e d  girl walking - the instrumental got better - i see they went with like pianos and shit and not mostly electric guitar for the guitar solo riffs - "ALL HOPE IS GONE IM A DEAD GIRL WALKING IM ON YOUR LAWN" gurl,,,youre in school,,,and there is no window lock,,,,,,, - heATHERS 101 lYRICS KASNKCJANSCKA - "had to see yOU HOPE I DIDNT WAKE YOU" bitch youre all awake in school - i cant listen to this song anymore without hearing the weird hair swishes and sound effects - "that works for me" yall monotone as hELL like yall dont wanna have intense sex just,,,okay sex - "hoWD YOU FIND MY ADDRESS" none of the lyrics make sense bc uhm,,,,theyRE IN SCHOOL - "i think you tore my mattress" gurl is chill as hell where is the concern over the mattress AHAHFANKCC - at least the guy sounded a bit hornier than the other girl - goodbye intense barrett notes - AHAHAHHAA they yeeted away from the G#5 - it's just like G#4??? - the other girl doesnt sound shes enjoying the sex huh - the guy who did the jd riff at the end,,,,hMMM pretty good but is it auTOTUNED??? the question remains - i can tell the whole song's like,,,autotuned but if just a little bit, toni sounded actually great

OUR LOVE IS GOD - the cult girl is not showing any emotion,,,,she's like reciting the lyrics hDJCKAJ - casey cott sounds great but autotuned ruined his voice - harmonies sound great actually - the instrumental is inTENSELY loud as HELL again - "they die becauSE THEY SAY THEY MUST" no context bc jD did not kill anyone in this scene - the ending harmonies were great

SEVENTEEN - fuck me i liked this the first time i heard it - im biased probably bc i love seventeen knKSCAJ - intro instrumental sounded a bit off key - cole pls dont sound dead - lili sounds great - SEVANTEEN - cole redeemed himself in the harmony chorus - is this shit autotuned???? bitch - SEvANTEEN (Cole Sprouse, 2019) - okay one thing's for sure, the tonight part is dEFINITELY AuTOTUnED - the toni girl is intensely autotuned wtf

LIFEBOAT - WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS INSTRUMENTAL - IT SOUNDS LIKE A NEW SONG LIKE LIFEBOAT WHO?? - I HATE IT - camila you dont sound oppressed - where's the emotion,,,,,elle mclemore who???? - i think the high notes are autotuned???????????????? whats new - I THOUGHT I WAS CAPTAIN - okay lyric change to fit the plot but,,,weird nonetheless - again,,,fuck this instrumental

SEVENTEEN REPRISE - in the episode, it looks weird as hell bc like random cast members are singing it when VERONICA and MARTHA should be singing it - hello??? chandler kurt and ram should be dead yet theyre still on stage???? fully clothed??? singing with everyone else????? - the producers DID NOT watch the musical - "martha are you free tonight?" - the girl playing veronica sawyer sings as she stares out into the audience and not at martha bc riverdale isnt about to cast a fat girl and give a fat girl some screentime on their show - KJ APA PLS - also cheryl,,,pls - a u t o tu n e - the song doesnt make any sense anymore bc it's taken out of context to fit the plot,,, - theyre all singing to an invisible martha - at least the harmonies sound decent fiNALLY - hello head voice - "TAKE oFF OUR SHOES AND DANCe" - the ending "BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL" i could not hear the girls bc they were all. singing. in. head. voice. or was it falsetto??? - im so done with this

OVERALL - what's the point of doing a heathers episode if yall aint gonna stick to the musical - i get that it has to be aligned with the show's plot but,,,,okay you do you - the people playing JD and Veronica were totally ignored bc like some songs meant for them werent even sung by them lmaooOOOO what is this - to summarize: AUTOTUNE - heathers kidz bop version by riverdale (2019) - im honestly just thirsty for new heathers content so i forced myself to live through this - costumes look cute tho - ALSO in their heathers promo poster, josie is wearing her veronica sawyer costume,,,,i dont recall seeing her wear that except for the last scene in seventeen (reprise) - basically seventeen (reprise) was a mess,,, - im judging them so much as if i can do better,,,,,,,,but whatever

IN CONCLUSION - they shouldve learned from their carie episode that musical episodes arent meant for riverdale - at this point, i dont even know what's autotuned and what's real