#I ain't making no full course meal yet

[minusecko]

Really Short and Sweet Hironika Fic

I made a really really short and kinda dumb fanfic for these two because I think they're cute anyways here

it's like barely over 700 words so it's not a lot, just a cute scenario my brain blurted out

[fangirlingfromdownunder]

A Sweet Mishap - Chapter 9

Pairing - Jensen Ackles x Reader 

A/N: I just want to start by thanking everyone for all the love on this story so far. Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy. Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist.

A Sweet Mishap Masterlist | Main Masterlist

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Leaning against the hardwood, I take a deep breath and swipe across to answer. “Hey, Superstar!” I say as the call connects.

“Merry Christmas, Darlin’. I’ve only got a few minutes before my mom starts wondering where I snuck off to, so this has to be quick-”

“I ain't giving you no quickie, Ackles!” I exclaim in a hushed voice, in mock offense.

“Come on, Darlin’. Don’t keep me hanging. Since you haven’t opened it yet I wanna hear your reaction. Please.”

“Alright. But in future, I deserve more than a quickie,” I tease.

“Of course. When I’m not hiding from family, I will give you my full, undivided attention for as long as you want,” he assures with a low chuckle.

“Good. I’ll hold you to that,” I say as I balance my phone between my ear and shoulder to free up my hands to peel off the tape. “Alright, I’m tearing off the tape now. When did you send this? Texas and New York are miles apart.”

“A few days ago, express. And to pre-empt you, no, I don’t expect anything in return. I just wanted to give you something.” I finish tearing off the tape and pull the flaps open an A4 sized envelope labeled with his management address sitting on top, I pull it out and set it to the side as I look beneath it. Obviously, hearing the rustling Jensen continues, “I’ll fight for you if you don’t want to sign that, but it will make my life so much easier if you do.”

“The NDA?” I ask.

“Yeah, I probably shouldn’t, but I trust you. I’m not gonna cut anything off or get upset if you decide not to sign. It’s mainly just in case I let anything slip about Supernatural or any other projects, I have to sign them all the time, but we’re human. Things slip with those we’re close to. So it’s more for the networks than me. I’m not that secretive about my life anyway. I’ll tell you anything about me, regardless.”

“What does this all mean, Jensen?”

“I like you, Y/N. I want to get to know you better. And eventually, maybe…if you’ll have me…”

“Jensen…I…This is a lot. But of course, I’ll sign it. I don’t wanna put you in a difficult position.”

Sensing the tension building, he attempts to lighten it, “I don’t mind difficult positions…” Before I can chastise him he continues, “Hurry up, look in the rest of the box. You can read the fine-print later.”

I oblige and reach back into the box. My fingertips run along soft fabric, I pull it up and out to reveal a stunning baby-blue summer dress with thin straps and little white baby breath flowers adorning the fabric.

“Jensen, this dress, it’s beautiful. It’s much too cold to wear it now, but I look forward to summer,” I tell him in awe. What I don’t tell him is that I had a very similar style dress when I was a little girl, and it was my favourite; I wore it until it was stained and torn and my mom secretly threw it away. 

“I hope it fits, I had to take a guess. I saw it in a store in Austin and it reminded me of the shirt you were wearing under your apron that day. It’s probably not the height of fashion in New York, but I hope that one day you’ll come here and show it off in Texas. But if it’s not, you don’t have to-”

“I’ll try it on some time and let you know, but it looks like it should fit, as long as I don’t overindulge over the holidays on non-frozen meals. I can’t promise anything about Texas though…”

“One day, Darlin’. There’s no date to commit to. I know we haven’t known each other long…and infatuation or not…I just wanted you to know that I’m serious about how I feel, and about giving this…us…a shot. If you want to, too.”

“I…Jen-” I cut yourself off when you hear a female voice calling out his name and telling him to come help with grilling.

He clears his throat and says, “There’s no rush. Just take your time and if you feel the same, just sign that paperwork and send it to my management team. Merry Christmas.”

“Okay, Merry Christmas, Jensen.” I sit on the bed feeling confused by his instant change of tone. If he meant what he said, why turn so professional and impassionate? After a few minutes, my thoughts are interrupted by a gentle knock on the door. “Come in!”

“Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt, but dinner’s,” Stella cuts herself off when she sees the dress, paperwork and my phone in my lap, and the sad expression on my face. She comes in closing the door behind her and sits on the queen-sized bed beside me. “What happened?”

I shake my head and stuff everything back in the box. “We can talk about it later. You were saying dinner is ready? Let’s not keep poor Nick waiting, it smells like he’s cooked us something delicious.”

“Fine, but you promised details. You’d better not hold out on me!” She warns, trying to lift the tension.

I stand up and lead her back down to the dining room where Nick has set the table with an array of enticing and beautifully aromatic foods. Once I sit down, I fill my plate with sourdough, roast chicken, yam, beans, mashed potato and top it all off with gravy. It’s truly a Christmas worthy feast, even though it’s only Christmas Eve. Knowing Nick though, he’ll manage to outdo himself tomorrow, somehow. We all devour the delicious feast quietly. The tension from the call slowly dissipates and I eventually fall back into harmony with my best friend and her fiance; sharing stories about our week and plans for the upcoming wedding, all to steer clear of the topic of Jensen and your potential relationship.

Once we’re all well and truly stuffed, we all help package up the leftovers and clean the dishes. Then, with a wine glass in hand – closely monitored by Nick – Stella and I laze on the couch while he plays Legend of Zelda on the TV. We’re both content to watch him while our food digests. But after a while my well-meaning-yet-nosy best friend nudges for those promised details. I sigh, but finally concede knowing I will feel better if I talk about it.

“He’s serious about us…About giving us a shot…as a couple. He wants me to visit him in Texas…” I divulge.

Stella instantly sits up straighter and claps her hands enthusiastically. “You said you feel the same right? You’re gonna go to Texas, after the wedding of course.”

“That’s the thing…He got strange before I got the chance…”

“Strange how?”

“He’s probably just nervous about how you’ll react,” Nick adds, multitasking with perfection. “This the same guy that drunk texted you?”

“He drunk texted you!” Stella exclaims with mock offense that she didn’t know the story.

“Last time I was here, after that concert. He was as drunk as we were…He sent me messages meant for his friend. And yeah, that’s the guy. Anyway, I’m probably reading too much into it. It’s just that he told me he was serious about us and then all of a sudden he turned all professional and hung up. It was like he’s hiding something from someone…maybe me or maybe his family, I don’t know. It was just weird.”

“Maybe he is. Maybe he’s not close with his family and doesn’t want any awkward questions. He’s waiting until he knows it’s real before letting anything on to his family,” Nick offers.

“Maybe…”

“Is that what you did with us?” Stella accuses as she stares at him pointedly, despite his eyes never straying from the screen.

“No, but we also moved very fast. Not that I regret a second.”

“Good, I don’t regret a second either,” Stella says happily before leaning back on the couch. “So, what are you gonna do? You’re gonna give him a chance, right?”

“...I guess I’ll do what he said…Fill out the NDA and send it back to his management team. Let him know I’m serious too. What’s the harm in giving us a shot right? I mean, apart from ending up in the media, getting hate mail online from his fans, and ruining both our reputations…”

“Y/N, he’s not Trent or Tyler, his name doesn’t even start with a T. You gotta get out there again sometime.”

“A J is just a T with a bend at the bottom…Plus, I’m perfectly content alone.”

“You’re third-wheeling our Christmas so you don’t wallow in your apartment in self-pity. You’re lonely, I can tell. Also, it depends on how you write it, leave the cross off the top and J is a completely different letter.”

“I just don’t want to rearrange my life for a guy who doesn’t feel the same again. I’ve already set myself back so far because I fell in love with guys who didn’t give a shit about me.”

“You don’t know that Jensen is the same. To me it seems like he’s chasing you. So, I think he gives a shit. look, I’m not saying to fall blindly in love with him, I’m just saving to give it a chance. Be as cautious as you want this time, just don’t shut yourself off. Also, I think you’re getting ahead of yourself…that dress did not look fit for the winter. That means he’s not expecting a visit until summer…”

“Yeah, maybe…”

“Okay, new tactic. Tell me about him, not his celebrity life, the him you know. Start with what made you text him back that first night?”

I take a sip of wine to quiet my racing thoughts as I think as reasonably as possible back to that night. It doesn’t take long for the reasons to come rushing in. I explain how I find him attractive, but not just in a physical sense, at an emotional level too. How he’s surprisingly easy to talk to, he didn’t get mad about the hot chocolate or paparazzi, how he seemed to notice me when nobody else has in a long time, how he seems down-to-Earth, how he’s willing to open up and listen. I tell her about our call when he pulled over to comfort me when I told him about the ‘T-wads’ as you unaffectionately call them.

Once I finish rambling, she brings you back to the present. “See? That doesn’t seem like a guy that doesn’t give a shit. There’s a lot of good there to work with. He could be your one, or he may not…but you’ll never know if you break it off before it gets a chance to bloom.”

I smile and nod as I think it over, considering my options. Eventually I say, “I’ll fill out the paperwork and send it after Christmas.” Then after a few minutes of comfortable quiet with just the beautiful Legend of Zelda soundtrack filling the space, I add, “And I want to invite him as my plus one for the wedding. I don’t know how it could work logistically, but I don’t want to dance alone…”

“There’s still Travis…you’ll have to dance with him once anyway since he’s my bestman…” Nick states matter-of-factly.

“What part of the ‘T-wads’ did you not understand? She’s not dating anymore guys whose name starts with that letter!” Stella retorts.

“She still has to dance with him though, even if it is just one dance…” He retorts with a shrug.

“Don’t worry, I’ll play my part as the maid-of-honor. I’ll do the formal dance, but after that…” I’m cut off by my phone buzzing. Hope bubbles up at the prospect of Jensen calling back to explain his off-behaviour but when I check the screen slight disappointment sets in; it’s my mother. I quickly brush off the disappointment and answer cheerfully.

“Hi Mom, Merry Christmas Eve!”

“Hi Honey, Merry Christmas Eve to you as well, although it would have been more merry if you had’ve come home.”

“I know, I’m sorry, but I told you, I have to help Stell with her wedding. A trip to Houston just isn’t in the cards right now.”

“You can’t avoid us forever you know? I really thought you would come back home after everything with Tyler.”

“Can we really just not talk about him right now, please? Anyway, I’ve made a life here. My best friend is here, my work is here and I told you I’m working on auditions and taking classes.”

“Not over Christmas you’re not.”

“No, not over Christmas. But I’m wedding planning at the moment.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll stop pestering. I am proud of you, you know? Making it on your own out there in the big smoke…Just hold on, your dad wants to say hello too,.” the line goes silent for a second and then my dad’s booming voice forces me to pull your phone away from my ear.

“Merry Christmas, Sweetie. We miss you. I made your favourite Christmas mince pie in your honor.”

“Awe, dad. I love you. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there.”

After painstaking explaining how to put the call on speaker, I chat to both of my parents for a few minutes. I tell them little snippets of my life in New York recently and that part of me does miss the warmth of Texas. As we talk, i’m careful to leave out any details that include Jensen, not wanting them to get over excited before I know if anything will come of it. I remember how overjoyed my mother was when I first brought Tyler home – “a good Texan boy” she said – so I know that she would be excited about Jensen too if she knew. I then understand Jensen’s off behavior and change of tone.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Taglist: @stoneyggirl2 @hobby27, @n-o-p-e-never

[bloodlinesceo]

Stress Alt. Ending (Tama's version I)

A/N: Had to include my Tongan Queen Dinah Jane & Samoan King JKING as the perfect theme for this part! The Polynesian talent in this song is so beautiful! 🇹🇴🇼🇸

Apologies for the delay, thank God for long flights though, I got to write most of this out during the trip. So, I got a bit carried away with Tama's part 😅 It's much longer so I had to separate the ending into two parts. Second part is almost done! It's heated which is why it's gonna take time to write.

It was quite tough to write Hikuleo like this, cause in reality he's chill & sweet 😭 But there needed to be a concerned family member in this.

Masterlist if you haven't read the previous parts.

Pairings: Tama Tonga x Fem! Reader

Warnings ⚠️: 18+ Swearing, angst, emotional scenes, arguing, yelling, crying, mentions of rehab, mental health, cheating, violence, drinking, sex, break-up from engagement, past relationship. Lots of self-guilt & blaming. NOT PROOFREAD!

WC: 3.9k

Of course this is written for fictional purposes only & is based on their characters, it does not depict who they are in real life. Respect to them & their families.

Enjoy! ☝🏽

The bright rays of the sun shined through the windows of the centre, not only symbolizing a beautiful day, but the day Tama is going back to normalcy after months. The past months were very tough yet also a learning curve for him. He hopes he never has to go through this process ever again & promises to change for the betterment of himself & others. 

He changed out of his uniform, and took the most relaxing shower which calmed him down after so long. The warm streaks of water were nothing, but a balm to his soul & mind, knowing that he's going to retrieve his old life back. After the refreshing shower, he put on his own clothes that the centre had machine washed & prepared for him. Of course they used basic detergent & not Tide or Gain which had a strong aroma, but this one had a fresh enough scent which satisfied him, he felt like himself again. He had a de-briefing & exit session with the guard going over everything which went pretty well, he was set to go back into the real-world, to live his life & see his family, friends, and co-workers again. 

He was accompanied out, as soon as the sliding doors opened, the sun hit his face, shining bright up and warmly welcoming him back. Tama's eyes were blinded by the sun for a few seconds before he shaded himself with his arm to clear the view ahead of him. In front of him stood a figure who was none other than his brother Tonga Loa, smiling at him. Tama smiled back, and ran over to reunite with him. Both brothers embraced each other for a few minutes full of emotions, support, and affirming whispers; tears flowing down on both of their faces. Both brothers pulled away from each other & bid farewell to the guard at the front, walking down the parking lot. 

As soon as they both sat down at the front side of the vehicle, Loa spoke up, "everyone can't wait to see you, they're so excited to see you back & missed you" making Tama crack a smile after so long after hearing about his family. "I can't wait to see him too, I missed them just as much as they missed me" he said, looking at his brother. "Anyway, I know you must be starving & those unseasoned & undercooked meals at the centre ain't enough for you, I bought your favorite breakfast" said Loa handing over coffee, a well toasted bagel & a hash brown to Tama. He smiled in his response receiving the hot meal & couldn't wait to devour it. "Have I told you how much I love you?" asked Tama. "It's the least I can do" said Loa. "Don't say that, what do you mean least? You've always had my back & looked out for me" said Tama. Loa looked down in shame "until what happened months ago" he  whispered. Tama placed a hand on his shoulder, "nah, forget about that" he assured. The younger one nodded. 

Loa started up the vehicle, pulling it out of the parking lot & onto the road. At the stop light, he observed his older brother. "Damn, look at that beard & hair, looks like you time traveled back to 2017" he laughed. " Hey! I was in my prime looking, sexy! I swear right now, I look & feel like a bloody yeti. Everyone's definitely gonna know where I've been & then run away from me" he cringed while sipping his coffee. "Don't worry, you have me. I already booked an appointment with our barber so you can meet everyone looking fresh" assured Loa. "You're the best" smiled Tama. 

Tama & Loa arrived home & went inside. Loa led Tama to the living room where everyone was waiting for him. As soon as Tama stepped into the living room everyone cheered, surprising him. Tama saw the welcome back banner printed in red, hung up above the fireplace. In front were all his family members including his parents, siblings, nieces & nephews, cousins including Fale, Former Bullet Club buddies including El Phantasmo, Finn Balor with his wife, The O.C. including AJ Styles, and Chris Bey. Close peers from New Japan Pro-Wrestling including Jado, Shota Umino & Tanahashi, and close ones from WWE such as Tamina, Nia, Bronson Reed, Michin & of course you. But, Tama didn't notice you yet. 

He was overwhelmed by everyone showing up to welcome him back & support him with open arms. "Wow, I don't know what to say. I didn't think so many people would show up. I'm touched, thank you all for sticking by me, I appreciate you more than you know" he smiled. "We love you bro, you mean the world to me & the strongest I know. I'm so happy to see you back" spoke up Hikuleo. Tama smiled at his younger brother. Loa patted Tama's back "he missed you the most" he said. "I know, even though I look like a child beside him, he's still my baby brother" joked Tama at their height difference, his eyes watered up. Hikuleo walked over to him & embraced him, both blood brothers breaking down. His parents & sister came over to emotionally reunite with him as well. 

Again, your heart sunk. For some reason you felt like it was all your fault for putting Tama in this situation, breaking him apart from his family. Maybe you shouldn't have been here? But you wanted to work things out & reconnect with him. You still loved him. Even when he was at the centre you cared about him. After he cheated, it immensely broke your heart & you lost your feelings for him & then meeting Roman afterwards, falling for him. Although you did have mixed feelings for Tama despite being with Roman. You just didn't want to show it, because you were in a relationship at the time. Somehow Tama was trying to force it out of you, and ended up hurting Roman & his family which hurt you. Truth is, you'd felt like you found your happily ever after & settled down. But, things didn't work with him either as you both weren't compatible for each other as a couple. You both mutually broke it off, and stayed as friends. Roman was previously married prior to your relationship & had a family. He believed it's best to rekindle with his wife & family after you both went your separate ways, he loves his kids no matter what, and you agreed that he should go back to his family. 

During the welcome back party, Tama greeted & thanked everyone in the living room for coming. You were in the kitchen to get some water. You went back into the living room only to see him come face to face with you. His smile dropped & his expression changed. You both stared at each other for a moment. The tension definitely rose in the room as some of the guests caught you both looking at each other. Both of you were speechless until you decided to speak up to break the tension. 

"Hey Tama" you spoke softly. That's all it took, he immediately walked past you & raced up the stairs. You watched him get to the top, you whipped your head around & saw everyone giving you looks. You avoided the awkwardness & quickly followed after Tama going up the steps, and searching for him in the hallways. You then came to the end & see an open door which led to a balcony. You peeked in & saw him standing there, his back facing you, looking at the scenery in front of him. "Tama" you called. He ignored you. You walked up to him. "Listen, I understand that you must be upset with me & your feelings are valid" you said. Again, silence you see him gripping the bar tightly, only hearing his heavy breathing. Again, he turned around aiming to get past you & go back downstairs. He didn't want to see you. 

"Tama, please. I want to talk to you" you said stepping in front of him. He then finally spoke up, and it wasn't pleasant "oh, now you want to talk? When I wanted to talk to you at Waffle House, you tried to bite. Get out of my way Y/N" he spat, those words hit you hard like a slap to the face. He walked around you. "Listen, I was in a rush & had to leave. We could've talked about this another time" you said.  He turned back around to face you, "you said, you didn't want to even go anywhere with me, and I'm not gonna forget. I was locked up for months in that center, because of you & your boyfriend & his Bloodline. I went through shit, because of y'all. Why don't you go back to your Bloodline family, and leave mine's alone? Besides, why isn't lover boy here backing you up?" questioned Tama. Your face flushed red in embarrassment as you looked down, "we're not together anymore, we called off the wedding" you confessed. Tama cocked his brow at you, he felt something was it sympathy? No he can't, he's not gonna put the pain he felt for months aside & start caring for you again.

"Tama, I still cared about you when you were locked up, do you think I liked seeing you behind that window? No, I wanted you to live your life freely" you said. He looked away from you. "I didn't want you to hurt yourself over me. You deserved to be happy & to move on, the thing was yeah I was with Roman at the time, I was happy & I wanted the same for you instead of chasing after me. But now, here we both are." He whipped his head to look at you & narrowed his eyes at you, "what do you mean by that?" he asked. "I mean, we've both been through a lot, but here we are finding each other again" you answered. 

He sarcastically laughed in response clapping his hands, "that's funny, cause we didn't find each other. You came straight to my home to find me" he said firmly. "Okay, but I do feel like there's a reason why we're here standing in front of each other today after all that happened" you breathed before confessing to him. "I still love you" you admitted. His eyes widened as he looked at you, he felt his heart rate speeding up. You still loved him? Truth is, he tried so hard to get over you after coming to learn about yours, and Roman's engagement. He asked his therapist for guidance, even the guards too, they tried to work together so he could get over you, cause that was the root cause of all this, but he still couldn't. Despite still having some feelings left for you, he had to train his mind to be stronger than his heart. He didn't want to fall for you, and go into that ditch again. 

He shook his head. "Nah, ain't no way it took you that long & calling your engagement off to figure out that you still had feelings for me" he said. You can't believe he's doing this, he doesn't realize that he has his flaws too. "What about the times you came home wasted from those bar nights after your matches? You were frustrated with those losses & you wanted to sleep with me, yet I still put up with you no matter what, because I loved you" you said. "I always supported you Tama no matter what, even when you lost your matches, I believed in you that this was just a setback & that you always came back to fight stronger like the badass you are, because that's the Tama Tonga I knew" you said. "Even those times you let it out on me, I still took it, cause I loved you. I still stayed with you. Even when we had that huge fight, and I left, I still planned on coming back to you, because I still loved you" you admitted. "Then, it took me seeing you with another woman for me to let all hell break lose & leave you" you said tearing up. 

"I couldn't live with this pain, and had to go. I didn't even know if you ever loved me. You still came chasing after me even when I started dating Roman till the day we got engaged. I could've forgotten about you a long time ago, but I still came back to you, because I care about you. When you were in pain, so was I" you said. Tama looked at you still unable to form words. He has to admit, he was at fault, and if he really respected your relationship with him, he would've never cheated & went to extreme measures after you tried to get over him. He did work that out in rehab & accepted his mistakes. Guilt hit him.

"Listen" he breathed. "I get what you're trying to say, I'm sorry for everything I put you through" he said. You smiled "I'm sorry too Tama, you got into this, because of me" you said. "No, what are you apologizing for? Listen, I need time to think over & process all of this. Now if you'll excuse me" he said his voice cracking as he made his way inside. You reached out for him, but he left. You turned around & looked out into the view of the night life from the balcony taking deep breaths, processing what just happened. 

A few minutes later you heard footsteps approaching you from behind, clearly you knew it wasn't Tama's cause it sounded much heavier than his. You turned around only to be towered by his tall frame. Yes, you saw Tama's youngest brother Hikuleo standing in front of you with a stern look on his face. You broke the ice "oh, hi Hikuleo" you smiled nervously. "What are you doing here?" he asked. You know that old saying 'cat got your tongue?' Yeah, you felt it right now. "Oh, I was just chatting with Tama welcoming him back, he left a few minutes ago" you said. "Really? Why did I just see him crying? What did you do to him?!" he questioned. Your heart sunk, the last thing you wanted to do was to make Tama cry, he's been through so much, you didn't want to hurt him more. 

"Listen, it's great that you're here to welcome my brother back. He's been mad crazy about you ever since you both broke up. But, what I'm about to say isn't coming from Hikuleo, it's coming from a little brother who's hurt seeing his older brother suffering in pain, because of you" he said bluntly. You looked up at him, you tried to be careful with your words. You knew how much Tama meant to Hikuleo, that's his big brother who took care of him, loved him and mentored him as he grew up. When you worked in New Japan & dated Tama, Hikuleo was at the beginning of his wrestling career. During your breaks, you'd watch Tama train him in the ring & teach him the ropes. You'd laugh seeing him get serious & mentoring him, which led to him getting you into the ring & playfully wrestling you to teach his blood. In this cruel world, they always stuck by each other no matter what. 

You were about to say your first sentence when you heard a voice. "Toko? What's going on here?" relieved, you saw Loa with El Phantasmo & Tamina at the balcony entrance. "What is she doing here?! Is she back to make Tama's life a living hell again? Hasn't she done enough damage?" Hikuleo asked his voice growing louder word by word. You understand that Hikuleo was emotionally drained & wounded, because of what his brother went through. He didn't see him for months so of course he would get upset. "Listen, I invited her" said Loa. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND?! TAMA SUFFERED A LOT BECAUSE OF HER" he yelled, you jumped frightened by his tone. You'd see Hikuleo get mad & call his opponents out during his promos, but this was reality, you felt guilty. El Phantasmo quickly came over to console him. 

"I'll explain everything to you" said Loa. He told Tamina to bring you inside so he can talk to Hikuleo. She immediately came over to you & took you by your arm taking you inside. Walking with Tamina, you saw that Tama was nowhere to be seen. "Girl, what were you thinking wandering around in this house by yourself? You know if you needed something I'm here. You know how they all feel about you" whispered Tamina. You looked at her "I appreciate that, I was talking to Tama, and he left. I just needed some fresh air" you whispered. You both talked while you both approached the group of girls. Nia, Michin & The Tonga Twins saw you two. "Where were you?" asked Nia. "Upstairs" you said. "Yeah, I saw you chasing after Tama. Not really a good idea" she said sipping her drink. Tamina slapped her shoulder. "What? I'm just being honest, she caused it all" she shrugged. 

You didn't feel wanted here at all. "You know what? I think I'm gonna call it a night" you said leaving. "Are you sure?" asked Michin. "Yeah, I have work tomorrow. I'll see y'all later" you said waving at them. As soon as you went out the door, the girls glared at Nia. "What?" she asked, knowing she stirred the pot.

You walked down the driveway, and got into your vehicle, starting it up. You sat there & took deep breaths trying to fight tears. Maybe you shouldn't have shown up, you were already the bad guy anyway. At least you got to speak to Tama & let your feelings out, vice versa with him. You're just hoping that the both of you end up on good terms. You remembered Hikuleo mentioning about Tama being crazy over you. You wonder if he still felt that way.

You put your vehicle on reverse, looking back & pulling out of the driveway. What you didn't notice was Tama looking out from his bedroom window and watching you drive away.  

The next day, you were at work getting your station ready for today's show, setting up all your makeup & hair styling supplies for the shift. You stepped out into the hallway in search of the nearest vending machine for a refreshing beverage to start off your day when you saw Tama coming down the hallway. You felt your heart pounding against your chest, God he looked good. He was wearing a black shirt, revealing his sunkissed skin, biceps & tattoo visible, black tight fit pants & dress shoes. You nearly drooled at the sight right there. 

You quickly looked the other away so you weren't caught starting at him. You started walking down the hallway looking for a vending machine when you heard him calling your name, you felt butterflies in your stomach. You turned around and saw him approaching you with a grin. "Hey Tama" you smiled shyly. "Hey" he breathed, "where are you headed off to?" "trying to find a vending machine, I need a refreshing drink to power through this hell-I mean day" you said, making him chuckle. "I know a place, follow me" he said. You followed him. 

You both walked together, and had a conversation. "By the way, do you mind if I ask you for a favor?" asked Tama. "Sure! Go ahead" you said. "I've been trying to style my hair this morning & get in place, but it's been kinda moving out of place & looking messy. I swear, curly hair can be a bitch sometimes, could you please help me with that?" he requested. Who are you to turn this offer down? Of course you said yes, which made him grin in response. You both found a vending machine, and got your drink. Tama insisted on paying, you said it was okay, but he said it's only a dollar or two to which he did & you thanked him for his kindness. 

Tama took a seat in your studio, and you stepped in front of him observing his hair & running your fingers through it. His curls were voluminous & silky. Your mind wandered & all you can think about was when you tugged on those curls at various times. Your thoughts were quickly cut off when he spoke up "find anything?" he joked. You giggled, "nothing, just checking the texture of your hair & deciding on what method of styling I should use" you said. "Hmm, thought you'd be familiar since you've played & pulled with this hair a lot of times" he joked, making you playfully slap his shoulder. 

You finally found the right products to style Tama's hair. His eyes were closed the entire time you worked on his hair after you were done, he opened his eyes & you gave him a mirror which he looked into. "Damn, I am one sexy beast! Thank you Y/N" he beamed. "Of course" you said taking the mirror back & placing it on the counter behind you. You turned to give his hair one last look, only to see him looking up at you with his brown eyes. You looked down at him & smiled, taking a comb & running it up his curls a bit to let it stand. He continued to observe you. You put the comb away, and aimed to use your fingers next. But, Tama had other plans. 

As soon as your fingers touched his hair, he grabbed you by your hips making you squeal, pulling you onto his lap. Your breathing got heavy & so did his as you both looked at each other silently, getting lost in each other's eyes. It's like everything that was built up & unsaid between the both of you the last few years during your breakup spoke through both of your eyes. Tama gripped your hips & you wrapped your arms around his neck. You didn't know if it was  him or you who leaned in first, but a moment later you felt his soft lips pressing against your own. You felt your cheeks heating up & fireworks going off in you. Your lips moved in sync. Seconds later you deepened the kiss & his tongue entered your mouth, locked in with yours. He hummed into the kiss. 

TBC...

[cryptidsurveys]

Thursday, October 24th, 2024.

Do you have any siblings you absolutely despise? Why do you despise them? The simplest answer is "yes." But do I spend every waking moment dwelling on it? No. And is the emotion intense? Aside from a recent uptick due to family drama, not typically. In fact, it's dwindled down to something more akin to apathy with an underlying understanding of why I want nothing to do with them. I've tried to practice empathy and understand what makes them tick (and I can get there to a degree, even if it's only speculation), but it doesn't make things right. I'm not their damn therapist. Ain't nobody paying me to figure their shit out.

How many times a week do you shower? Is this a healthy thing for you? I shower twice on animal shelter days and once, maybe twice, on my "weekends."

Do you like taking random surveys like this? Of course.

How many times a day do you eat a full meal? Is this a healthy thing to you? I eat three meals and two snacks, plus some random bits before bed. The spacing and frequency seem fine, but I probably need to up my calories.

What’s your favorite movie? Why do you like this movie so much? Watership Down, Princess Mononoke, Velvet Goldmine, The Doors film…

What’s your favorite genre of movies? Why is this? I don't really have a favorite genre, but I enjoy horror, fantasy, psychological thrillers, and animated films.

Have you ever looked up at the sky, and thought, Why am I down here? I've marveled at the immensity of everything, and I've wondered why and how anything exists at all, but not always/only while looking at the night sky. It is pretty mind blowing just how many stars I can see when I bother to put on my glasses, though. ("Omg, are those the PLEIADES?!?!" ;D)

What is your hair color? Are you satisfied with the color of your hair? It's brown. I'm satisfied with it for the most part.

Do you talk on the phone very often? Who do you talk to the most? No. I rarely talk on the phone.

Do your parents intimidate the people you date? Are they scary people? Past partners have mentioned being intimidated by my dad, but at least from my perspective, he's not an intentionally intimidating person.

Have you ever watched a horror movie and thought, “What would it be like”? Yeah. Like, would I have the fortitude to face such a situation and get out alive, etc.

Do you think Gale Harold is the cutest man alive? I don't even know who that is. Let me look him up…ah, okay. He's not my type.

Do you hate people who ask questions like “Did you like this survey”? I don't hate it, but it does seem kind of pointless now that most surveys are super old and widely dispersed. The person who created the survey is extremely unlikely to ever see the feedback.

How many times a day do you say I love you? Who to usually? A lot. To my dad and my cats. To my mom when I see/speak to her. To the kitties at the animal shelter.

What’s your favorite color? Why is this your favorite color? Autumn hues. They're warm, cozy, nostalgic, inviting, etc.

Have you ever been told you were thought-provoked? By who? Do you mean "thought-provoking"? I don't think anyone has ever said that specifically, but I have been told that I'm insightful, intelligent, etc.

Do you like Drew Barrymore? Do you like her movies and work? Eh.

Does the sight of blood gross you out? Why is this? Blood alone doesn't bother me. Seeing someone in pain, though…that's what tends to get to me.

What is the most common color of clothes in your closet? Black, dark blue, and shades of gray.

Do you text or no? Who do you usually text anyways? Yeah. I mostly text my mom and dad. I'm part of the cattery group chat now too, but I haven't posted anything yet. I just "react" to texts from others.

Do you think sweaters are only for dorks? Give an example of a dork. No…?

Do you prefer hoodies or jackets? Why do you prefer this choice? Jackets are a nice addition when it's cold out, but when it comes to everyday wear, I prefer hoodies.

Is black your second favorite color & does it really go with anything? It's one of my favorite colors, and yeah, it pretty much does go with anything I would be inclined to wear.

Do you cry really easily? Are you depressed? Not super easily, but…idk. It's kind of random. Sometimes little things get to me when bigger things don't. It also depends on how stressed/exhausted I am. I don't think I'm depressed.

Have you ever babysat before? Did you enjoy this job? Not really. Never as a job. Not unless junior volunteers at the shelter count. They come in for about an hour and a half nearly every Friday. It's nice because they'll do our dishes, wipe down and put away kennels, sweep, etc.

Do you like children, or do you hate them? Why do you like or hate them? They're alright. Sometimes they can be sweet or endearing.

Are your parents still divorced or together? They're legally separated, so not quite divorced but definitely not together.

Have you ever busted a window before? Why did you bust it? Yeah. It was an accident. I was playing baseball with some friends in one of their yards, and we were using rocks for bases. I was throwing them back after we were finished, and one of them crashed through a small basement window.

Do you still get scared watching old horror movies? You watch them alone? I might get a little creeped out depending on the film. I basically never watch any movie alone, though.

Is the sound of Halloween exciting to you? Do you enjoy the holiday? I don't care as much about Halloween DAY as I did when I was younger. It's more about the surrounding atmosphere. The changing leaves, the chilly weather, the fun foods, the spooky vibes…

Does anyone ever call you unique? Do you think you’re unique? Not that I'm aware of, but I do feel somewhat different and strange.

Do random people ever call you and make conversations with you? No.

Do you talk a lot when you’re on the phone? Are you annoying? Not really.

Have you ever contemplated suicide before? Ever attempted it before? Yes to both.

When you think of summer, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Intolerable heat, the smell of dust and pine sap, merciful afternoon thunderstorms, chirping crickets, stifling liquid purple nights… Oh, and praying that the swamp cooler doesn't break at an inopportune time.

Do munchkins/midgets scare you? Why do you think they scare you? No.

Do knives scare you? Is it from watching scary movies? No.

Have you ever tried to sing opera? Did it work out for you or no? Uh, not seriously, lmao.

Do you know anyone named Tawny? I don't.

Can you count to 100,000,000? Have you ever tried before? No. According to Google, "It would take approximately 3.17 years to count to 100 million at a rate of one number per second." And some numbers take longer than a second to say, so…anyway…

[rockybloo]

wait so to the characters in-universe it looks like bitterbat is just trying to humiliate/seduce sweetheart, does sweetheart reject him constantly or does she actually seem like she’s into it? because if she rejects him publicly all the time, then the fact that there’s in-universe people who still ship them together despite that kinda gives me weird vibes

of course we as the viewers know that sweetheart is actually dating him and enjoys his advances, but the fictional bittersweet shippers don’t know the full situation. did you intend for the bittersweet shippers to be seen as weird fans, or is there some lore that i’m missing?

Because this is gonna be a very long response, I will answer this two part question right now with a "She seems into it" and "Yes" in case you (or anyone who is reading this) ain't into a 10 min read

Now comes the part where I slam down my essay about my OCs and the world they live in on your desk for the true expanded response under the cut

"Bitterbat is the King of Monsters who is smitten with Decking City's Loveliest Hero, Sweetheart, who constantly rejects his advances due to her sworn oath to stand as a pillar of peace and love to protect the city from danger."

Of course, this is what they have written down in their shared notebook where they brainstorm their confrontations to make them seem more believable instead of staged. I should state now that what really goes down when Bitterbat and Sweetheart confront each other is Bitterbat going ahead of Sweetheart and tracking down a seed of corruption that is about to be awakened or hasn't awakened yet. He then wakes it up prematurely so it's in a slightly more weakened state and lures it to Sweetheart where she destroys it as Beloved weaponry is the only effective way to put down a Vent without harming the person inside of it.

SO THE MONSTER FIGHTING IS REAL-Bitterbat and Sweetheart's entire act in the public eye is fake.

And when it comes to rejection during the act, Sweetheart doesn't straight up verbally reject or voice discomfort. When Bitterbat flirts with her, she shoots him a corny one liner back and when he attempts to sweet talk her, she pulls out a good ole magical girl monologue. Sometimes they verbally bounce off one another and occasionally Sweetheart's acting face slips as she flirts a smidge back at him, dropping hints that he's "Cute but a troublemaker" or "A shame you waste your good looks on evil".

And when Bitterbat gets more physical like pinning or down or straddling her, she very obviously gets flustered as she manages to gracefully slip her away out of Bitterbat's purposely loose grip on her. There is never a struggle when he pins her down but he makes sure it's loose so Sweetheart to manifest a gun and blast him away pure and clean. Thought there have been times she has let the pin down linger a bit too long because a girl's thinking gets fuzzy when her boyfriend is looking at her like she's a 5 course meal and she has to focus on not swooning.

The two didn't plan it but they've accidentally loaded their entire act with sexual tension and the Bittersweet (the in canon ship name for Sweetheart and Bitterbat) shippers can TASTE it.

Even nonshippers crack jokes about the relationship like openly referring to Bitterbat as Sweetheart's boyfriend. Whenever Sweetheart has talk show interviews, her relationship with Bitterbat is a constant discussion topic to bring up that's filled to the brim with "Ok but what is Bitterbat to you?" type questions.

That being said, Bittersweet shippers are definitely meant to be viewed as weird by other shippers. That's mainly because all hero x villain shippers in story are deemed weirdos. It's a taboo relationship to many and there are countless forum posts, video essays, threads, call outs, cancellations, and straight up arguments about the morality of a hero and villain dating. Even a hero and villain putting aside their differences for a brief bit to work together to take on a greater good causes some civilians to voice their hot takes.

And while other hero x villain ships tend to have a relatively small fandom, Bittersweet is an outlier because of how much fuel the magical girl and her monster boyfriend add to the fire.

Freeheart, Freebird x Sweetheart, was one of the biggest hero ships before Bitterbat made his grand return and triggered the creation of Bittersweet. And it's the true "weird" ship as, while Sweetheart and Bitterbat's banter is playful and organic, Sweetheart genuinely voices her objections and rejections to Freebird's advances.

She does it professionally but she very much is blunt about her displeasure and only becomes more straight forward after Bitterbat returns.

This is a BIG contrast to Sweetheart's lighthearted and "school girl with a crush she doesn't want to admit out loud" energy when it comes to Bitterbat. And people notice this difference. The Bittersweet shippers are the biggest haters of Freeheart because it's so obvious Freebird is barking up the wrong tree but because of their title as weirdos, the masses just mark it up to them not wanting Freebird stealing Sweetheart from Bitterbat.

That's not to say everyone is blind to the lack of mutually shared feelings between the two heroes. But because Freebird isn't straight up out here being super forward and forcing himself upon Sweetheart, restraining himself to simply verbally flirting or admiring her, people just shrug it off and figure it's a matter of Freebird being oblivious the girl ain't into him, Sweetheart playing hard to get, or they just have a weird af friendship.

The twist to shippers in canon is that hero shippers IN GENERAL are viewed as weird by the average person who doesn't partake in that side of hero culture.

It's basically the equivalent of us in our reality shipping celebrities together but with an extra layer of separation to it because many heroes have secret identities no one knows. So people justify it with "Well being a hero is basically like being a different person and putting on an act so it's not that bad to say I think [hero a] should make out with [hero b]".

There's that element of striping away the humanity and filling that space with fantasy. Amara is grounded in reality and a girl anyone could run into on the street. She has her own life and private matters. Meanwhile, Sweetheart is a public and widely known face. She has abilities the mind cannot comprehend and is like a fictional character come to life.

And because many heroes don't view their hero identities as their true selves, it's easy to just brush off the shipping and laugh at it because it's just civilians having fun with what little information they truly know about their favorites.

Overall it's meant to be harmless fun (outside of the ship wars) though there's the rare case, like Freeheart, where the shipping can lead to consequences...like Freebird taking all the fans support of his crush as motivation and fuel for his determination to be with Sweetheart.

[imprettytired]

Hi! This is my mammon centered Obey Me! Fanfic

This is also a cross post on my Wattpad (PrettyTired8) and my AO3 (which I don't have yet but it will be crossposted when I get one! Update: I have one it's ImPrettyTired)

If you enjoy please like it helps me know if I should post the next chapter.

Tw mentions of disorder eating, drinking, self harm, and arguing.

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 1-

When Mammon heard someone banging on his door he knew it wasn't good. It was never good. He felt a throbbing headache as each bang only seemed to amplify the pain. Whatever was being said to him was muffled and unintelligible and yet he knew exactly what was going on.

He tried to tell whoever was outside the door to stop, though for a split second it had seemed as if he had lost his voice. The smell of alcohol hitting his nose as attempted to say something became a clear indicator that he was just hungover.

Finally after a few seconds he croaked out:

"I'll be down there in a minute."

His throat burning as he said it. He hears the footsteps fading as he forces himself off the bed. His lights nearly blinding him when he turned them on.

Mammon decided to take his sweet time. He knew some sort of punishment awaited him so why not? It would only mean less times with his siblings and is that really a bad thing? It might be better if he skips breakfast entirely.

He stood in the shower trying desperately to distract himself, he felt all the terrible thoughts he tried to erase come back to him

"Worthless"

"Greedy"

"Scummy"

Any attempt to silence the voices only made them grow louder.

"Die"

Hits his head with a closed fist a few time. It hurts but it helps him get out of his head, even if it's for a short while.

He finally gets out of the shower and begins brushing his teeth hoping to get the alcohol smell from his mouth.

He puts on his RAD uniform, and heads down stairs

He feels his brothers eyes on him as soon as he walks in. He didn't look up as he didn't want to look at his family.

"Look who's finally awake." He didn't bother with a response

"Could you have taken any longer?"

It was Satan who sounded quite annoyed at Mammon's arrival

"Yes, yes I really could" he thought.

"I was just tired"

"Tired? Or hungover?" Said Asmo.

"Can I not be both?" He thought while glaring at his shoes.

"Just tired." He mumbled

"Are you hungry? You weren't at dinner last night." He looked up, it was Beelzebub, his younger brother.

"Oh fuck" he thought. He forgot he didn't have dinner last night

"Nah I ain't hungry, and I ate while I was out. You can have my food if ya' want"

That was a lie of course unless alcohol counts as a food in that case he had a full course meal.

"Thanks!" Beel beamed.

The room was filled with silence once again

"I'll see ya' later"

He walks out not wanting to make things worse for himself. As he was leaving he hears the room fill with laughter and conversation once again almost as if he was the issue.

His mind racing with only negative thoughts as he heads to school.

----

Mammon doesn't really enjoy school. He doesn't see the use and even if he did, he can't get himself to do the work.

Being hungover and hungry doesn't help much. He placed his head down as a useless attempt to relax himself.

"Mammon" his teacher calls out

"What?" He snapped, though he didn't mean for it to come out like that.

"Can you try to be like your siblings and answer this? Correctly?

He heard stifled laughter from the class

He looked up at the board. He actually know the answer but hates the snarky remark that come with the question.

So he chose to put his head back down and pretend that the teacher wasn't talking to him.

"You know that's better than most answers I get from you" he heard the teacher mumble.

Even when sitting in the back he could still hear.

He chucks the pencil and it barely misses the teacher hitting beside him he gets up and walks towards the teacher

"Say that again you piece of-"

----

Sometimes Mammon feels as though he doesn't think about the consequences of his actions

If he steals something he could get punished, if he takes out a loan that he knows he won't be able to pay back, he'll probably have to deal with someone who wants their money.

And he tries to fight his teacher for "no apparent reason" he would have to answer for it.

Mammon now stood in the student council room, looking everywhere but the two people in front of him.

"Mammon do you have anything to say for yourself" Diavolo said calmly but clearly annoyed.

"I never liked that class."

"Mammon just because you dislike the class does not give you the right to try and fight your teacher" said Lucifer, trying his hardest to not slap his brother right then.

"Maybe he shouldn't had said nothing "

"Look Mammon you seem stressed, if you truly hate the class that much we can get you placed in a different one, but I expect you to apologize" Diavolo said.

"I'm not apologizing." He watched Diavolo and Lucifer grow more inpatient at his childish act.

Mammon wanted to be anywhere but in this room

Mammon started walking away. He heard his brother telling him to come back but he kept walking out.

"If it bothers ya' that much you can say sorry for me" then he left.

----

Mammon now sat by himself on a rooftop. It was the best place to be alone with no one to bother you. He goes up here to be alone. After leaving RAD he sat up here and thought about everything. He skipped his last classes and it was now after school. There's some people leaving while others staying for club activities.

Which reminded him that he has a student council meeting today. Which only added to his growing frustration.

He should apologize to Diavolo. Not because he feels bad but he would rather avoid dealing with his older brothers anger for what he did. Lucifer will still be absolutely livid but it may help a small bit if he says sorry before he gets home.

He remembers why he was drinking yesterday. He had broken some stupid vase and while normally he he was just as annoyed with himself as everyone else

He laid down, recalling the previous day.

"Why couldn't you have just watched where you we're going you idiot" mammon thought as picked up the pieces of the vase from the floor

"Why do they keep you around if you keep doing stuff like this?" He was now clutching at the pieces in his hands. It must have been to hard though as they began to bleed, but instead of being he was quite calm. Then he decided to go out for drinks.

He then remembers how he has behaved today. Not like his usual self. He doesn't want anyone to worry.

----

He stood in the doorway and watched everyone get ready for the meeting.

"Lord Diavolo?"

"Oh Mammon I just sent Lucifer out to do something" with his signature grin almost as if he had forgotten their previous exchange

Or as if he was trying his hardest to hide his irritation.

"I'm sorry"

"He should be back soon though" Diavolo said slightly confused.

"No I'm sorry for leaving while you were talkin' and for getting so upset, I just didn't want to admit you two were right"

"Oh"

Everyone in the room seemed genuinely caught off guard by his apology. Then Leviathan began laughing.

"Are you saying this to avoid Lucifer's punishment. You know that's not gonna work right? You idiot."

Mammon caught himself before he could yell back.

"Can I not be sorry? I admit I was wrong am I not allowed to?"

The room was silent once again.

"I'll apologize to that teacher later but I don't think he wants to see me right now."

"I'll accept your apology." Diavolo said while patting his back.

Then Mammon sat down and looked around his eyes landing on Lucifer walking into the room towards Diavolo. He has no clue how long he had been there. Secretly hoping he didn't hear the apology, but judging by Lucifers eyes landing on Mammon during whatever Diavolo was saying to him he seriously doubted that.

He stared at his hands for the rest of the meeting.

---

His punishment wasn't nearly as bad as he expected. Sure the lecture was long and being hung upside down was uncomfortable but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Guess apology might have helped more than he was expecting.

He sat in his room with a knife in his hands he wanted the feeling he got when the glass was had cut his hands. he wants to feel happy.

Or at least he wants to feel something

"This is so stupid" he thought as he stared down at the knife. "I'm really stupid" he made three cuts: one on his palm, one on his wrist, and one on his upper arm. He had only ment to make one yet the feeling he got drove him to make more.

It hit him what he had just done as he quickly started to wash his wrist and the knife and place bandages on the cuts.

He turns off the lights and crawls into bed. He wasn't going to sleep though. He began to cry and only stopped once he fell asleep.

He forgot dinner again.

[enjomo-arch]

@chatcambrioleur , nami asked : She doesn't know how he does it. She's staring in horror as he shoves meat, bone and all, down his gullet. She'd seen him do it before, but it made her gawk at him, each and every time. "I know you were getting desperate since Sanji's been gone so long," she practically chides, setting another plate in front of him. "--- But you don't have to pretend you like my cooking that much." Overall, the crew tended to steer clear of Nami's cooking --- it wasn't that she couldn't cook, but her food always came with a price. Ace was always an exception, though. Aside from that, he'd eat anything --- even if she didn't cook it very well. Let's face it, as competent as she was in the kitchen, Nami was no match for Sanji's food. She draped her arms over Ace's shoulders and pushed his hair away from his face as he ate. "Chew. It's not goin' anywhere."

ace  was  known  for  his  rather  insatiable  appetite  and  his  rather  unique  eating  habits  and  nami,  as  well  as  the  rest  of  the  crew  could  learn  from  this  many  times  when  the  commander  only  had  time  to  visit  his  brother's  ship.  despite  the  fact  that  sanji  did  not  honor  everyone  with  his  presence  to  cook  a  nutritious  meal,  what  the  navigator  prepared  was  not  bad  at  all.  of  course,  she  was  not  a  renowned  cook  like  sanji  but  also  there  were  not  many  things  that  ace  would  realistically  not  eat.  ❝  sometimes  i  gotta  taste  my  girl's  cookin'  ain't  that  right  ?  ❞  he  simply  answered  with  mouth  full,  the  food  slipping  out  of  his  lips  between  the  words  only  to  be  swallowed  back.

the  sounds  of  sharp teeth ripping  flesh  and  cracking  bones  filled  the  air  as  ace  devoured  his  meal,  unapologetically  messy  and  swift  in  his  eating.  his  movements  were  just  as  messy,  his  hands  a  whirlwind  of  motion  as  he  tore  through  the  meat,  bones,  and  all,  in  a  display  that  would  make  most  people  wide-eyed,  just  as  nami  was  at  this  moment.  no  matter  how  many  times  she'd  see  him  eating.  ace  swallowed  chunks  of  meat  along  with  the  bones,  seemingly  without  a  care  in  the  world.  he devoured  piece  after  piece,  barely  pausing  to  breathe.  with  each  bite,  the  bones  vanished  with  almost  alarming  ease,  disappearing  down  his  gullet  as  if  they  were  no  more  than  soft,  spongy  kind  of  food  so  easy  to  swallow. 

to  no  one's  surprise,  the  food-induced  weariness  crept  over  him  as  he  found  his  fullness.  eyelids  fluttered  signaling  the  strike  of  his  narcolepsy  knocking  to  the  doors.  ace  wasn't  finished  yet,  he  couldn't  sleep  right  now.  ❝  baby,  swallowin'  is  qui  -  ❞  the  sentence  cut  in  the  mid  thought  so  did  the  world  before  the  fire  fist's  hazel  irises  that  fell  shut  and  his  face  landed  into  the  plate.  nami  could  only  be  left  with  snoring  coming  out  of  the  unfinished  food  that  served  ace  as  a  pillow  now.

[jalgajalga]

JULY

July, my birthday month, though it ain't making any different. The month i travel a lot, month that I nervously waiting as I knew would experience many new things.

July 2nd

This day, i wanna do a lot of things in my bucket lists. Watching elemental, I heard it being a good romance cartoon many people could relate. I asked my friends previously if anyone were interested, but i was being impatience, i wanted to do it immediately, so i ended up waching it alone. Not a big deal for me tho. After watching the cute movie, I eat my legendary high school dish chicken katsu noodle, also alone. At this point i must be looked very sad and lonely. But I really value my time and other's too, I don't have to wait for other when i could comfortably do it mysef. Others don't have to enforce themselves do the things they actually doesn't really interested in and spent money on it.

The-me-time day hadn't end yet. After having dinner, I went to watch artjog, anual art exhibition, the biggest and most famous one. I bought bundling ticket for exhibtion and theater stage. It would be my first time watching profesional theater performance, I was really excited. There were a lot of paintings and installation, but i was in a rush as the theater was about to start.

The artists were really cool. I could see their talents, their passions, and when all the staff were being called at the end of the performance, i was really moved. It's how art were made.

july 3rd

My birthday. Nothing different. There's no birthday present, just a little dimsum-as-a-cake surprised from my workmates. Thankyou, I really appreciated it.

July 6th, 7th I'm lucky my hometown is such a cultural city. It has a lot of culture related events. Like today, i was casualy scrolling my instagram and found an event, an opening of Kotabaru Heritage Festival, there would be a dance and orchestra performance and later, walking tour and photography exhibition. All was free, of course I won't miss it. That part of the city is realy familiar to me, my junior and senior high school located there. It's fun to know more abot its history.

July 8th First out of town trip. The closest one, 2 hours distance. It's only me and my long time close friend. First, we wanted to go by train, but then she offered to drive. That's a better idea, better moblity and these day the trains were so packed.

We don't really had a plan. We had the list but we went anywhereour moods lead. First stop, to fill our stomach we visit cute small coffeshop. The coffee was good, my friend said. I am not a coffee person, i ordered matchalatte and it was decent. The croissant was tasty also, I'm not a fan of croissant but I really like that coffeshop has.

Then we walked for little bit to Pura Mangkunegaran Palace. That palace is still functioning as residential house. My imagination flew away imagining how it was living as a nobleman, having the freaking huge house. The tour must be conducted wit a guide, and the guide war realy helpfull and informative. But they missed informing the history how this palace or kingdom (?) was form, and what's the difference between it and the other palace that Surakarta has. We looked up for that information while having dessert at the oldest ice cream shop in town. It's very famous, full of people. I wonder were they all tourist or there were some locals. Its nostalgic taste but not really special.

After the coffee, light meal, and dessert, we then heading to another famed food stall. We oredered take away so we won't coming back home empty handed. We had our late lunch almost dinner at small cute ocal steak. everything here is cute and small. The place were decorated with a lot of vintage items, a little bit random, here and there, but still cute. The food were great too. Not a fancy kind a steak, i think it was fried. But really tasty.

July 10th Asian Badminton Junior Championship. If there's a Badminton event held in town, of corse i should watch it. Young athletes working hard for dream, how can my heart not moved

July 16th After a long time, i join the weekend jogja walking tour again. I registered myself a lot, but then in the morning, i was overslept. Since my sister was home, I finally came to the tour. It's a tour of chinatown area of the city. Not much left but the story and history stayed to be told. We wanted to try the old bakery there but it hadn't open yet even after the tour ended, we had lunch and came back.

July 19th

Because of Greta Gerwig, i'm being #teambarbie haha. Second cinema this month. This time I have friend acompany me. As expected of Greta, it doesn't have to be explained. I really like it, the jokes hit me right. A lot of underlying meaning, a ittle bit too much i would say.

July 25th-28th

The very exhausting and worrying, make me nervous trip finally came. It's 4 days business trip to Bali, with car. I get dizzy easily so i'm afraid i would get motion sicknesss. Thanks god it didn't happen. actually I don't really remember how it went wkwkwkk. All I remember was I really tired and that I promise myself I woud comeback to bali and had enjoyable trip, my kinda style trip.

July 30th

This the highlight of the month. RADWIMPS CONCERT!!. I had been manifesting for about four years. Still tired from the Bali trip, i wasn't really excited at first. And also I came alone, so i'm a bit worry. I traveled solo quite often,but never to attend a concert. I literally just arrived, entering concert, jumping and singing and walking back to the inn quickly. Watching concert alone not bad, but being with friends is more fun. Inside the hall it was like magic. Wow i was reallyyyy happy.

July end. What a month. Somehow it felt restless. and I'm writting this post in a university library where i should doing my thesis. My biggest homework in life for now. Soon my post will full of library picture, me working hard on this reasearch. And by the end of the year, post about thesis defense presentation. Aameen :"))

[wanderingwolfwitcher]

"Now that I think of it, should have brought some of that Crayfish Chowder with me... one of Toussaint's few redeeming qualities, besides the wine. Alas. Can't go wrong with a Witcher made stew, at least. Usually an ale sort, but the Sangreal is welcome. Have some bottles of White Wolf, myself. Wolf's Majordomo insisted on offloading some of the vineyard's latest batch on me. Lady de Trastamara was sure to make plenty of spare meals for me to go as well. Ain't ever been one to look gift horses in the mouth, or pass up free meals."

The Wolf School Witcher's deep, calm, amused tone returned to the Black Sun noblewoman with a chuckle and nod as she rose up from the fire to come join him on the hunt. Silently pleased she had decided to come along. Able to rough it in the wild, unlike most of her social class and land. It would be different to be on a hunt with someone else, especially a non Witcher, yet would likely be gratifying, able to show another what he was capable of, and teach them a thing or two. Teach her, as he had been unable to do so with Deidre. No... as he had been too cowardly to even bother trying. Turning from her and the fire, he led the way, making his way out of the cavern, past their grazing horses and into the nearby woods. Carrying his stewing pot down in one hand, he hooked its metal handle on to his belt to hang from his hip like a lantern might, then reached for his back and drew his trusty Bear School crossbow from where it rested near his swords and quiver of bolts, taking a moment to examine it with a stirring of amusement... noting it was an especially appropriate weapon, in the Amell Mountains.

Then, looking ahead, Eskel began moving onward through the trees, slowly but surely, taking his time, getting his bearings. When they were some ways away from the cavern and inside the depths of the forest, he stopped them on the spot in a clearing... closing his eyes and reaching outward with his enhanced senses. An onslaught of sounds and scents reached him... mapping out locations and distances of those they belonged to, several miles in each direction. Echolocation, as it was for bats and various monsters. The mountain was vast and teeming with wild life... and everything else they would require for the time they would be in the mountains. Even better, the two of them were far away from civilization... in a more familiar world to him. Away from most people, their troubles, and their contempt. Despite his focus on their surroundings, part of his attention remained fixed on Syanna's position... her heartbeat nearby, and her welcome scent. Then he opened his viper eyes again, turning them over towards her blue pair, a pleased smirk touching his marred visage as he studied her alluring one, and spoke up her way again quietly.

"Feels almost like home out here. Kaer Morhen Valley. Not surprised the Bear School set up shop on this mountain. I wish you had my senses, could experience nature and a hunt as I do. Not that I would wish the Trials upon you, of course. Follow closely, and remain quiet when we set off... can sense a stag grazing, some ways to the north. Then we'll get some fishing in... there are a number of good streams around here. Place is full of game to hunt. We'll have plenty of leftovers."

@starwrittenfates

@wanderingwolfwitcher continued from X

His words seemed to calm her. So far, it seemed, he had no issue with knowing she was one of the girls cursed under a Black Sun. Syanna noted how he didn't even flinch, nor look at her with fear or distrust. And was that sympathy? She knew she shouldn't be surprised since he was a Witcher and had faced worse monsters, but yet, there was something about it that made her feel warm. It made her feel...human. And it was a difference she welcomed. "Be careful, Eskel, I may just end up falling for you." She said playfully, chuckling.

Syanna beckoned her horse to continue following once he informed her of a mountain cavern up ahead. Glancing upon it, she nodded. Sure, it wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing. "I don't mind it. I've been in far worse too, but I'd rather be here than around false knights who don't honor their code. That's another story...let me help you set up camp."

[mayullla]

Title: Teapot meal invite [Arataki Itto ver.]

Character(s): Arataki Itto

Summary: Sagau; When you invite them for a meal at the teapot!

Note: This is inspired by one of the 2.6 events called "Spices from the west" but you don't need to play it to understand this! Diaolog is what Itto said in the event.

Warnings/tags: Gn!reader, short fluff

Arataki Itto is basically jumping off his chair when you invited him to the teapot, he heard that you were planning to feed your characters at your teapot and man is he soo excited!! A-hem! Which of course you should. When you know full when how amazing, awesome, astounding, awe-inspiring, sensational, mind-blowing amazing guy he was!! Aaaand, he is the leader of the amazing Arataki gang too! You should definitely invite him!

When you placed him on the teapot, Kuki along with Ushi had to come along hiding in the back so that nobody could see them where they had to constantly remind Itto that he should not mess it up. They cant let you know that they were self-aware, not yet anyway but what is the guy supposed to do when his good friend was making him food!

When the traveler finally showed up he almost jumped in surprise and excitement his eyes sparkled that the food that you choose for him and made for him and collected the ingredients for him is finally here! (Kuki Shinobu and Ushi mentally pray that he didn't get caught doing that.)

Like: “Hahahahahahahaha! Mm, mm, mm! I haven't eaten somethin' this good in three whole years!” Neutral: “Fine! I'll let you treat me to a meal today, but know that the Arataki Gang always pays its debts.” Dislike: “Hey, are you sure you ain't trying to poison me!? Ah!”

[thesilentgirlfromyourclass]

"I know, love..."

Member: Seo Changbin x gn!reader

Genre: fluff, comfort

TW: eating disorder, read at your own risk

A/N - Every fic that I find about eating issues is always reader not eating enough and/or starving themselves, but we don't talk enough about binge eating, that could be as dangerous as anorexia or bulimia. I know very well the struggle with overeating and I hope others, facing the same problem can find comfort in this imagine <3

"C'mon, I know you want it. One more ain't gonna hurt you. Come closer, darling. Just one more step."

No, Y/N, remember what you promised yourself. Do not look over here! Grab your water and go to your room. That's what you came for, isn't it? You were thirsty, not hungry. But... I really love this chocolate. I can take one little piece of it, then put it in the cupboard and my brain will forget later about the chocolate. Yes, that's right!

You were stupid to think like that earlier. Half chocolate bar and three cookies later you found yourself sitting in your bed, feeling so full, sick and disgusted. With one hand you rubbed over your tummy that hurted a lot and with the other you were drying the hot and salty tears that wet your cheeks and your lips. You saw your reflection on the black TV screen, let's say the view wasn't the best

"I look so pathetic right now."

It's something you got used to doing, yet you hated all these sugar cravings, your mind telling you are still hungry before you had the chance to finish your meal, binge eating every single day and so on. You hated yourself for being weak, lacking courage to change, fear guiding your daily life.

Binge eating was something you developed from very young age. It's been with you for all of your life to the point you feel weird when you manage to eat clean and healthy all day which lasted for no more than one day. After day comes night, and with night came the urge to finish the unfinished sweets. Most of the days you stopped trying to overcome it, because it was pointless.

Not until you met Changbin. He was a nice guy, making sure you were comfortable with him and he never made a mocking comment about your disorder. Of course, he was worried, tears clouded his vision each time you had mental breakdown, so he asked to help you. Changbin wanted to know everything about your condition, when did it start, what situations or emotions made you do this to yourself and he suggested to visit a professional. Later he started cooking different tasty and nutritious dishes for both of you, but he didn't forget for the emotional part of the issue. Binnie always made sure to pay attention to you, you both trying new things so that your attention was focused somewhere else, but food. But there were tough days, when things didn't go well, bringing stress to you. On these occasions you always ate whatever you saw, in quantity. That's the case today.

Whatever the reason for your uneasiness was took you three steps back from the progress you had made. Your boyfriend found you in your shared bed fast asleep when he got home after being with Stray kids all day. The digital clock on the bedside showed 5:44 pm and it was unusual for you to be asleep at that time. Then Changbin noticed traces of your dried tears and everything made sense. You had overeaten.

The boy bowed his head so that he could kiss first one cheek, then the other, and finally your lips. You moved a little and opened your eyes. Your eyes met Changbin's "i know what happened" gaze. You opened your arms, and the second your bodies touched, you squeezed Changbin as if your life depended on him. And to some extent it was.

"Binnie... " you whispered. He placed a kiss on your temple. "I know, love. Everything is okay now. Wanna talk?" You nodded your head "yes" and Changbin broke the hug to find better position. Fifteen minutes later both of you were cuddled on your shared bed with Bin telling you about a mess the boys made today at the company's building which erased the stress and your laughter echoed through the room.

[writerkatsblog]

Lyrics: There you go on sulkin', blamin' all but you. Won't admit you set your heart for failure. Should be glad I'm here awaking you.

I'll make a real good soul out of you. Time ain't ticking slow, yes, you're overdue. Aren't you glad to meet me?

- Meet Me by Mickey Valen ft. Noé

Character(s): Mr. Bean?

send me a song lyric and character(s)/ship, and i’ll write a minific based on it

"Rise and shine, my scaly little friend." The rusty metal door creaked as it swung open. Hannibal Roy Bean grinned, enjoying the smooth ride on Ying-Ying's back. The smell of freshly cooked dragon wafted up to him from the bowl clutched in her dangerously sharp talons. Even with the chill from the caves as they descended, the eternal heat untouched by the laws of nature given off by the soup kept the air around them warm.

Ying-Ying landed with barely a sound of metal clinking against the cold stone floor of the cave. Then immediately alighted again when the clinking of chains sounded. Bean grinned with his rotted graveyard mouth full of jagged tombstone teeth. Seeing the verdant silhouette of the once Dragon of Water slithering around the cave.

"Come on now, Chasey Boy. I left you alone for a week now, you're hungry enough by now that you'll be wanting to eat more on your own. No need to be so sulky. You don't want me to have to pry your jaw open and pour it down your throat for you again, do ya?" A great, sharp toothed muzzle approached the bowl. Gingerly sniffing at the wafting smell of magic and reptile drifting off of it. "I was even kind enough to add a little... somethin' extra to make it nice and filling. I worked hard to get that nice n fresh, ya' know." He said this with an almost palpable glee, eyeing the distinct shape of a whole human hand bobbing at the top of the liquid. So fresh it was almost still twitching.

A low, hesitant rumble sounded from a rough throat. But saliva began to drip between the sharp rows of teeth. It was as they said, hunger was the best sauce. And after so long of deprivation, any food presented would be well slathered in it.

Finally, to Bean's twisted delight, the long snout plunged into the soup. Scarfing down the long withheld meal with ravenous fury. Now confident in seeing the fury at which the meal was devoured, Bean hopped down from his perch on Ying-Ying's back, landing on the shoulder of the beast. He pressed a tendril intentionally against one of the many half-healed chafe marks criss-crossing Chase's neck near the metal collar that restrained him. It was probably near time to set him loose again. Maybe two weeks of no food would produce an extra level of viciousness. The boy could well take down a medium sized city with how far he'd come.

Chase lifted his maw from the bowl. Scales dripped with thick, green broth and slivers of flesh speared into the gaps between his fangs. Pupils slitted as they focused best they could on the small organism perched on his shoulder. Bean just continued to grin, and patted him like a dog owner praising a dog that had just performed a suitable trick.

"See now? It's just like I told ya'. Now all ya' need is a little guidance, and you'll become the evilest thing this world ever did see. Second only to me, of course," he chuckled. "Just you wait, I'll make you a proper evil creature yet, once you get over those silly lil' hangups with 'humanity' and all. Now ain't you glad you met such an excellent teacher as me?"

[tsumuniri]

━━━ Atsumu Miya is a free-loader. Living inside his twin brother's home as if it was his, he would bring home girls and annoy Osamu most of the time. Y/N L/N is quite the opposite apparently because she's a virgin loser. Being the popular anonymous BL mangaka known as Yamazaki, she stays in the homey abode of her parents and watches boys from afar for references (not for admiration sadly).

Now what will happen if fate decided to tie these two idiots together and made them live across each other in one apartment?

。m.list ❯❯ prev┃next

ONE ━━ THE TWIN BROTHER’S DECISION

"SO THAT'S THE TEA?"

You nodded dejectedly and raised the Tuna Mayo Onigiri in the direction of your mouth. You bit into the delicious rice snack, humming in delight as the saucy and sweet flavors of tuna cheered you up just for a slight bit. "They said that a girl my age shouldn't be living with her parents and should finally get a guy instead of drawing an imaginary one. You know that they're old school, Mai." You said, mouth full of rice bits and tuna.

The female ran her fingers through her short bright red hair. "Well, you are 25 now, and you haven't got a boyfriend since middle school," She propped her elbow on top of the round wooden table, resting her chin on her palm. "But they should've told you beforehand, right? How are you supposed to look for a residence in a short span of time?" She asked and watched you devour the onigiri meal with such ease. Her black-colored eyes held an uncertain expression as Mai was concerned for her colleague and friend.

After hearing the unfortunate news directly from your loving parents, your mind had to process the sudden information for two solid minutes. The first person you thought of to call is your closest friend, Mai, your roommate back at art school and a mangaka in the shounen industry. Although the two genres have completely different backgrounds, you two are stuck together like peas in a pod through the grace and glory of fawning over 2d men.

Ain't that great?

"They said I could stay back for two weeks until I could find a place to move in. I still have nine days to move out. And as for the residence part..."

You rummaged through the leather bag slung over your shoulder and took out a creased brochure of a newly built apartment based in the heart of east Osaka with its breathtaking cherry blossom conifers and pious shrines. The leaflet's minimalistic design delineated the idiosyncratic architectural structure of the tall building on the front page. Anybody could tell that this jointly owned establishment may settle for tenants with stable incomes.

For someone who changed the BL archives with her plot-driven works, Y/N could provide the fees to rent a homey room on the clabber-plastered apartment complex.

Mai shifted on her seat and studied the brochure on the table with interest— crossing her legs and leaning her torso forward to get a full view of the given pamphlet. "The building does seem promising. You could even check out your works in the Manga Shops at the city." She remarked as her eyes skimmed through the brochure, taking note of the facilities and rooms for the future tenants.

"Right? I already checked the place out yesterday, and coincidentally, the studio office is close by," The H/C-haired female pushed back the tiny strands of baby hair tickling her forehead as it was annoying her smooth skin. "They even allow pets. The apartment buildings I visited mostly don't allow pets, and the others who do, they have weird-ass tenants whom I don't really wanna be neighbors with." She ended, scratching the back of her neck.

"Soooooo, that's the apartment you're planning to move in."

You nodded your head, "I prepared the papers and told my parents about it. Maybe you can help me move my things out?" You suggested to your friend as your leg overlapped with the other, biting into another piece of onigiri from the porcelain plate.

Tilting her head to the side, Mai let out a light scoff from the BL mangaka's proposition as she gestured her hand downwards. "I'm offended, Y/N! Of course, I'll help you." She expressed her whimsical disbelief through her words. "I thought we were best of friends." The young lady teased.

"After all those collab fan arts of the Akatsuki, why wouldn't we be at this point?" You joked; however, the shinobi anime reference wasn't technically a gag as you both had a history of fangirling over the smexy criminal organization— even if you both had a peculiar taste in men. "By the way, why did you choose this place? Isn't this sort of far away from your workplace?" You questioned the red-haired female, a bit curious on why she decided to meet up with you in this Onigiri Restaurant.

Mai's lips turned up into a smirk as she motioned her finger for you to move closer. "My assistants and I decided to eat here after a hard day's work. By the time we were all seated, our eyes got blessed when the restaurant's owner catered to our table!" She whispered with excitement dipped on her tongue.

"Oh boy, if you had seen him, you would've gotten the inspiration to make a character from his well-sculpted face."

You raised a brow and let out a snortle, "We went here because a hot owner caught your attention? I should've gone with you then." You played along and couldn't help but laugh at your friend's reason for dining out a distance away from her studio office.

Like middle schoolers, you both giggled as Mai continued her story of the dashing Onigiri restaurant owner with her witty play of words. You never had any interest in dating; however, you still bid no mind to your friend's fawning over pretty men who would unlikely pay attention to either of them.

"That owner you're talking about might not visit his restaurant, Mai."

"I know, silly! But I do wonder what that work of art does outside his work."

Osamu is a very patient man. May it be through his responsibility of running an Onigiri business, or may it be just a simple waiting in line at the subway station of Tokyo, the male wouldn't lose his temper nor be frustrated over such trivial things.

But when his exhausted figure slugged inside the comforts of his home and found the living room all trashed with empty bottles of energy drinks and bags of chips, Osamu was finally at his breaking point.

"Atsumu, you mother-fucker... COME DOWNSTAIRS THIS INSTANT!" He burst out, calling out his twin brother's name as he began picking up the trashes scattered throughout his coffee table and his lawson couch. His ears caught the sound of loud footsteps thumping on the wooden-tiled floor as he could immediately tell that it was a certain someone who came down the stairs.

A bed of ruffled blonde hair popped out of the stairway as a certain setter casually jumps into the scene of the untidy crime, walking towards the other twin with open arms.

"Welcome home, Samu! Did your staff make a mistake in the newly-opened shop back at Shinjuku? You look a bit frustrated right now-"

Atsumu stopped himself once he noticed his twin brother standing over the mess he forgot to clean up. His arms dropped to the side while his chocolate eyes shifted over to Osamu's annoyed expression, "Okay. This time, I absolutely forgot to clean up." The male tried to explain himself.

The quiet one of the two shook his head in disapproval, sighing out and pinching the bridge of his nose to calm his fiery nerves. "I found this apartment, Tsumu. I think it's best for the both of us if you could finally get your own place." He stated, hearing the slight choke coming from his brother's throat.

"WHAT?! What made you think that this would be the best for the both of us, Samu?" Atsumu protested, his eyebrows furrowing together in confusion as to why his brother would suggest that sort of idea.

Osamu raised his hand and lifted three of his fingers to his twin's eye level. "First, you sometimes disrupt my sleep whenever you'd bring your flings at home," He stated and didn't bother to let the other speak their mind about the issue at hand as he continued his statement of reasons. "Second, you'd sometimes forget to do your lists of chores and often lie that you didn't do them because you were tired from training." He paused for a moment, thinking of a third reason until it clicked in the back of his mind.

"Lastly, you're a 23 professional athlete, who makes a lot of money than what I usually make, and yet, you're living with your twin brother."

Atsumu stared at Osamu as he crossed his arms, "So? You'll kick me out if I don't move out of your place?" He derided, his voice mostly holding a hint of teasing as he knew his brother wouldn't act so rashly over those reasons.

Oh, was the male so wrong.

"Yes, Tsumu. I'm kicking you out."

[toukatan]

yall so excited for the long awaited em interaction, you're making me all giddy! i'm like 854% sure yams gonna drop it again like a boss just like 123 last year. remember how we're all worked up and hyped just looking at the leaks and those fake translations who rejected who then we get what am i to you 😳 aaaah, good times. good times! yams giving us a year to prepare our hearts that's why he ain't giving us any crumbs yet because we ain't gonna be ready asgdhdjsksjs

ugh we gotta hype that ish up even if it’s angsty or tension filled, you know their confrontation is 854% sure gonna slap us—

omg hell i remember the chaos november was: november 1st wit studio dropped these two offical arts and said aiyo have this and we ate that ish up

then the spoilers dropped so fast the following days. on the 6th and we were yelling about these blurry as heck ant scans like we didn’t even know what to expect but we were excited n question why they alone n mika blushin

that was such a good month like there was no stopping november. forever iconic yes. i remember the eremika tag breaking, it didn’t load for me and i was like dayum we really went that hard lads? i have a video recording of the tag being broke sjansbns ems we did that.

like you said yams is just sittin’ there waiting for the right time to throw us in the loop again and i can’t wait for the full course meal no matter what it is! we better buckle up 😤🤲🏻

[galadrieljones]

As You Were (Chapter 3)

Fandom: The Last of Us | Pairing: Joel x OC | Content: Fix-it | Rating: Mature

Masterpost

When Joel and Ellie take a wrong turn on their journey from Pittsburgh to Wyoming, they find themselves lost in a beautiful place with a dark and dangerous secret. While there, they meet a mother and son who, after a recent, tragic event on their family farm, are fighting tirelessly for survival. In an effort to find hope for the future, the two groups set out west together, growing closer over time, making choices and altering paths that will change the course of their lives forever.

This is an AU, starting after the events of the Summer chapter in the first game, and extending into the timeline of the second. Joel lives.

Chapter 3: The Driftless

“When you’re lost in the darkness, look to the light.”

After dinner, Joel insisted on cleaning up. Cici said she'd show him around the kitchen, the downstairs. The food had been really good, like way too good. Ellie had never had lamb before, ended up eating almost as much as Noah. At some point, though, while everybody was making small talk, she became dreamy. She was looking out the window, pressing her thumb lightly to the blade of her knife, finding shapes in the stars. Noah came over after everybody was finished with the meal and asked her if she wanted to come with him, out to the Crow's Nest, to help him with something.

"What are we doing?" said Ellie. It was probably about ten o'clock and full dark outside.

"It's a mess out there," he said, throwing the shotgun strap over his shoulder. "I just have to go haul some stuff out. You can come, if you want."

"Yeah, sure," she said. She smiled and closed up her blade. "Let's go."

But then, Joel said, "Ellie."

His voice was big, and deep, like space. Whenever he said her name like that, she immediately found his eyes. Something about choosing to stick together like they had. You can't really unstick.

"What's wrong?" she said.

He was standing with his hands in a basin, which was full of soapy water. The faucets didn't work anymore, said Noah. Nowhere in the whole house, or on the whole property. The running water was completely unusable. Ellie thought it was a little funny, seeing Joel do dishes. She'd never thought of him like that before. He wiped his soapy hands on his jeans, and then he looked down at them and seemed to reassess what it was he was about to say. She was listening. "Just be careful," he said, looking at her in a way that meant compromise.

"Sure," she said. "I will."

"Thanks, Ellie."

"She really listens to you," said Cici, once the kids were gone. She was taking the vacuum out of a broom closet by the front door. "Or is that just when other people are around?"

Joel stopped what he was doing, his hands back in the soapy water. Admittedly, he felt like a stranger in a kitchen like this. It had been too many years. "You mean Ellie?"

"Yeah," she said. "It can't be easy, with just her dad."

"Ellie ain't—she ain't my daughter," said Joel, remembering, suddenly, that Cici did not know. Noah knew, but the particulars of their relationship at large had not come up yet. It just wasn't important. "I'm just looking after her. For the time being."

"Oh," said Cici. She was surprised. "I'm sorry. I just figured."

"It's okay," said Joel. He started washing the plates with a sponge. "Back in Boston, there was a lot of...violence. A small group of us were trying to get out of the QZ," he said, scrubbing. "My brother lives out west, got some sort of set-up there, so that's been our plan, to find him. Some of us got as far as Pittsburgh. But me and Ellie, we're the only two made it this far." He looked down at the plate. It was like a coral color, porcelain.

Cici was quiet. When he turned around, she was just holding the cord to the vacuum cleaner, staring at it like she had forgotten what it did. "Well, we're glad you found us," she said. “Despite the circumstances.”

"Us, too," said Joel. "Y'all said you were in need of some real help. I've been wondering what kind."

She went to plug in the vacuum, but she didn't turn it on yet. Instead, she just stood, like she was piecing something together in her mind. "Infected,” she said. Then she was examining her fingernails. She had her hair braided about halfway down her back. She didn’t seem to want to look him in the eye. “They been tearing up our land,” she went on. “More keep coming, from up the river. And every time they do, they blow the mines on the perimeter. Yesterday, they brought down a tree. Noah had to rewire the entire valley and dig a whole new trench. I help as much as I can, which is usually enough, but given the volume of work, there’s only so much I can contribute these days, reasonably. I just—you coming along, it’s like happenstance.”

Joel took a deep breath, looked down at his watch. He had his sleeves rolled up above his forearms. “How many mines you got down there.”

“Over a hundred,” she said. “There’s IEDs, too. Some can be detonated remotely.”

”Who’s building IEDs?” said Joel.

“I am,” she said. She offered zero explanation. “All the maintenance, everything, it’s getting to be fucking impossible.”

“Well,” he said. “Like I said earlier, I’ll help in any way I can.”

”Thank you,” said Cici.

"Do you have any idea what's bringing them down, the hordes?"

"We got some idea," she said. She bit off a hangnail. She told him he needed to talk to Noah.

"Okay," said Joel. It was a little like she had given up. He didn’t like that. He knew she was keeping something from him, but he didn't press. "You know I thought we might be able to get to all this over dinner,” he went on, “but then the food turned out to be a little too good. I forgot to ask."

She started loosening the plaits of her braid, smiled to herself. "Thanks," she said. She was a subdued woman, at least for the time being. "I mean, I don't think I've ever seen a girl eat as much as Ellie."

"It's mostly canned rations in the QZs," said Joel. "I ain't surprised. Other than squirrels and rabbits, we ain't had real meat in some time. Ellie's certainly never had lamb."

"Was she born in the Boston QZ?"

"I guess so," said Joel, realizing he didn't really know. "The woman who raised her, more or less, she was a Firefly. You know that group?"

"Yeah," said Cici, leaning on the vacuum. "I do, actually. A couple Fireflies came through here, maybe five years ago. They were looking to recruit."

"Anybody go with them?"

"No," she said. "They were spouting off all sorts of plans. Said there was gonna be a cure. But they were focused up in Minneapolis. We had a whole community here, going strong for a while. It was safe. Nobody wanted to risk leaving, not on a lark like that."

“Well, that makes sense," said Joel. He finished the coral plate, set it on the drying rack, then set forth on a plate that was more of a custard yellow. He didn't ask what had happened, with their community, and why it was she and Noah were out here all alone. He washed the dishes.

Cici turned on the vacuum, cleaned up under the table, and around Joel's feet. When she finished, she put it away and started wiping down the surfaces with a damp towel. When the dishes were all clean and drying, and Joel was drying his hands on a linen towel, she brought out the rest of the wine from dinner and poured it into two small mason jars, one for each of them. They sat down at the kitchen table, trying to undo a little bit of their strife as they stared down at their wine, their hands, their knees. As two adults, they were somewhat unaccustomed to small talk. It was easier to hide things, for both of them. They were trying very hard though. Joel could tell that Cici was, not uncomfortable, but a little awkward. She just didn't know what to say to him.

"So," he said, after a little while. "Noah. He's what, eighteen, nineteen years old?"

"He's seventeen," she said, drinking. "He'll be eighteen in a couple weeks though."

"He's big for a seventeen-year-old," said Joel, drinking. "Pretty tall."

"His dad played football at Madison," she said. "He was a tight end. It runs in the family."

"You don't say."

She got a little red in the cheeks, and sipped her wine. "Noah is a good son. He does right by me, and by this farm."

"I can tell." Joel drank some of his wine, too. It was a little thin, made from cabernet grapes they had grown in a vineyard out back. That’s what Noah had said. Grapes don't grow in Wisconsin like they do in California, he'd said. But they do grow. "I will admit that I was a little surprised,” said Joel. “You look kind of young to have such a grown-up son. That's a compliment, by the way."

It was like she was trying to smile, but she hid it. "I'm thirty-six," she said. "I had Noah very young."

"I get it," said Joel. "You don't have to explain anything to me."

They sat for a little while, drinking their fruity wine and listening to the nature sounds coming in the open windows. The river rushing, snaking through the property like a silvery ribbon, the crickets big and deep. The clock on the wall.

"You know, I noticed, on the drive in, this place don't look like what I thought Wisconsin was supposed to look like."

"How so?"

"It's so hilly," he said. "With the stone ridges and the outcroppings, the rivers and the terrace farms. I thought Wisconsin was supposed to be pretty flat."

Cici got up then. She went to the record player, on a shelf by the TV, and she was rifling through a stack of vinyls. "Most of it is," she said. "But where we are, it's different. You ever heard of the Driftless Area?"

"No," said Joel. "What the hell's that?"

She chose one vinyl from the stack, slid the record from the envelope. "It's this small area around the upper-Mississippi, in the floodplain of southwestern Wisconsin mostly, some parts of Minnesota and Iowa. During the Ice Age, you know, the glaciers came down, flattened out everything. That's why Wisconsin is the way it is, but down here, in this tiny little corner, it escaped glaciation, somehow. It just missed us. There are no leftovers from the glaciers, or glacial deposits I guess, and so that's why the terrain looks the way it does, like the waterfalls and the cold streams, all the tributaries and big ridges and everything, the high forests. There's no drift. It's driftless." She was centering the record on the spindle.

Joel was looking down into his wine, feeling dumbfounded. "You're telling me the geography around here ain't changed in a hundred thousand years?"

"More or less," she said, setting down the needle. "It's some of the best trout fishing in the world, where we live."

"Y'all must fish a lot then. Does Noah get out there much with his line?"

"Not anymore," she said. Something about the sound of her voice, he knew that was the end of their talk on the Driftless.

The record player crackled and clicked. A song came on. The music filled the house. It was almost joyful. Joel had been daydreaming at first, but then he realized that he recognized the voice. "Is this Ryan Adams?" he said.

”Yeah," said Cici. “You know his stuff?”

“I do,” said Joel. “I saw him live in Dallas, all the way back in, what was it now, 2004?"

”Really?" she said.

”Really.”

”That's amazing. But you’re so old.”

He laughed. This surprised him, the sudden levity between them. “Well, I was a teenager.”

”What are you now, like forty-five?”

He gave her a look. "You gonna guess my age, Miss Cici?"

"I don't know," she said. "I'm sorry. Is that weird?"

”Not really," said Joel. "I'm just messing with you. If you must know. I'll be forty-eight at the end of the month.”

"How old is Ellie?" said Cici.

"She's fourteen," said Joel.

"What does she like?" said Cici. “I mean, what are her interests?”

Joel wrapped his hands all the way around the mason jar, as if to heat the wine within. "She likes comic books," he said. "I try to pick them up for her, whenever I find some. I've heard her sing, too, whenever we're on the road. She ain't half bad, and she tries to whistle every now and then so I think she likes music. But the place she grew up, it was basically a military prep school. Real stifling. She ain’t really used to having the liberty of interests."

"I thought you said she was raised by Fireflies?"

"It's complicated," said Joel. He swallowed some of the wine.

"I see," said Cici. "How long have you two been traveling together?"

"A couple months," said Joel, right away. "Seems like forever."

"I'm sorry about your people, from Boston," said Cici. "The people you said you lost. I don't know what to say."

Joel saw the shape of Tess, darkening the doorway. It seemed to drop a shadow, over the room, his insides, just for a second. He blinked. “You don't have to worry about me,” he said. Then he looked at Cici. Her face was pretty. Anybody would have noticed as much. "I'm fine."

Her eyes were dark, her braid undone over her shoulder. She drank her wine and said softly, "Okay."

Once they got outside, Ellie looked up. The sky swam darkly. The stars here were like nothing else, she thought. Maybe a million ribbons, maybe fishes in a black pool. It seemed to breathe up there, to teem. Teem. That was the word. She wanted to tell Joel. She thought it was a neat word, he might appreciate. She was used to feeling desperate, warm floods—of emotions, which she would then bury deep inside of herself.

She followed Noah, trailing slightly behind. They spoke little. He did ask her how she felt about it, out there. The farm.

"I love it," she said. "You're so lucky."

They walked back down to the gate where they’d first met. When they finally got to the crow’s nest, Ellie needed a boost up to the ladder, and then he followed up behind her. When she got to the top, she dusted her hands off on her jeans and looked around.

It really was like a little nest, she thought. It was totally his. There was an oil lamp glowing on a low table, and stacked up beside it were dozens of paperback novels. Names like Ernest Hemingway, Cormac McCarthy, Jim Harrison. Noah started cleaning up, right away. Tidying things, sweeping the floor with an old straw broom. There were a couple bean bag chairs with neat, psychedelic patterns, and a battery-powered hot plate, and some dirty plates, bottles and mugs. She could tell he spent a lot of time in the crow’s nest, alone. She could tell that maybe he liked it to be neat and clean up there at the start of each new day.

As he stacked up the plates and things and swept the floor, she flipped through some of the novels on the table. There was one book that was open, conspicuously, on top of the rest. That one, she did not touch, for fear of losing his place. “You like to read?” she said, stupidly.

“Yeah,” he said. “Do you?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Do you ever read comics?”

“Sometimes,” he said. “I have a bunch inside.”

“Sweet,” said Ellie, looking around. There were some posters on the wall, nothing she recognized. One was for a band called Pearl Jam. “I was reading this one series. It’s called Savage Starlight. I mean, it’s stupid. You heard of it?”

“No,” said Noah. “What’s it about?”

“It’s about this chick,” she said. There was a quilt, draped over one of the bean bags. The craftsmanship was very lovely. Ellie ran her hand over the soft knitting. “Her name is Dr. Daniella Star. She’s like a scientist. She invented some kind of crazy time travel, and it’s just like, her adventures in space, I guess.”

“Sounds pretty intense,” said Noah. He dumped the dirty plates into a canvas rucksack. He set the broom against the door jamb. “There’s a comic store in Viroqua. We could go pillage it, maybe tomorrow night? I bet you’d find some of them there. They have a lot of super obscure stuff. And the town isn’t too badly looted. There’s a lot left.”

“Really?” said Ellie. “Are there any people there?”

“No,” said Noah. “Not anymore.”

“Right,” she said.

They climbed back down the ladder. Noah said, "You wanna see the river?"

Ellie said yes. Hell yes. She did want to see the river. She'd never really seen a river, not a real one, not up close. Or at least she didn't feel like she had. They went along a little grass path. Ellie looked up some more, up at the stars, the Milky Way, listening to the nighttime birds and the crickets. Then they came to a river. Noah stopped, and she stopped. It was just this small thing, smaller than she had expected, maybe ten feet across, cutting through the grassy field, snaking around like a ribbon. It was enchanted, almost haunted, how it rippled. Little rapids, here and there. It was so beautiful.

“What's this river called?” she said.

"Technically it’s a creek,” he said, surveying, real pensive. “It flows out of the Kickapoo River, which is a tributary of the Mississippi.”

“Man,” she said."This whole place. It's like, perfect. Like a dream. In the QZ, we couldn't leave. We couldn't go outside the gates. If we did, and we got caught, they wouldn't let us come back. But here it’s like, you're free. Do you love it?"

“I guess,” said Noah. He’d set down the rucksack, his shotgun. “I mean, I don’t know anything else. You didn’t like living in Boston?”

“Not really,” said Ellie. “But I guess—I guess I didn’t really know that until I left with Joel.”

"Why'd you guys leave."

"Too dangerous, I guess. Some...bad stuff happened. In Boston it was pretty bad, but then in Pittsburgh...It’s a long story."

Noah waited, like maybe to see if she was going to keep talking. When she didn’t, he just said, “So he’s really not your dad, huh?”

“No,” said Ellie. “No. He’s just—Joel.”

“He seemed to get kind of worried when you left the house.”

“That’s how he is,” she said. “We’ve been through a lot together.”

“Like back in Pittsburgh?” he said.

She was watching the dark river in the moonlight, all unfolding, the tall grasses on the other side, blinking with fireflies. “Pretty much,” she said.

He took a deep breath then, which made her nervous. He got down to one knee, opened up the rucksack, and from inside, he took out a clear empty bottle from up in the Crow's Nest.

"What are you doing?" she said.

He didn't answer. He just blew the inside of the bottle dry, and then he dipped it into the river, filled it up with water. "It's not perfect here, Ellie," he said. “I know it seems perfect to you, and free, but it’s not.” He fashioned a lighter from his pocket, let it illuminate the bottle.

Ellie crouched down beside him, curious, but confused. She looked at the water in the bottle. She sensed a darkness, all around them. In Noah’s voice, hidden in the moonlight and the greenery of the terrain. But she didn't understand. "What do you mean?" she said. "Is this about what you said upstairs, how we shouldn't drink the water? What's wrong with it?"

"All the water, flowing out of the Mississippi, down from the north, is poisoned," he said.

"Poisoned,” she said, gazing into the light. “With what?”

He pocketed the lighter, tossed the bottle into the river. They watched it sink. “Spores.”

[goddessofthundathighs]

IV. ATTITUDE

Mad was an understatement. Pissed off? Infuriated? Embittered? Those were close seconds. On one hand, she had the incredibly handsome, incredibly irritating Dr. Stevens who was quickly becoming the bane of her existence with his smart ass mouth and uneffective therapy, and on the other hand, she had the equally attractive and equally infuriating Dr. Skylar Greene who seemed to be taunting her for her own enjoyment. Whatever the case was, O’Shea wasn’t feeling it and she was headed down to her favorite restaurant, Barton G, to give them both a piece of her mind. She arrived, clad in a black Fashion Nova jumpsuit, her natural hair slicked back in a long purple Thotiana ponytail, and some black and white Air Max. Today was supposed to be her chill day, but both doctors had her 50 shades of fucked up and they were about to know about it.

“About time you joined us,” Sky complained as O’Shea slid into the booth beside her. It was her lunch time and everyone knew how cranky she could get when she was hungry.

“Last time I checked, y’all were on my goddamn time and I’ll take as long as I damn well please,” Shea countered, throwing her ponytail over her shoulder.

“Yo, who the fuck you talking to?” the best friends asked in unison, a gesture that had Shea’s thighs clenching. She was used to seeing “Evil Erik” as she had started calling him, but Sky? There wasn’t a mean streak in her body, or so she thought.

“Okay Bopsey Twins, y'all ought to take this act on the road.. Answering in unison and shit,” O'Shea quipped still caught off guard by Sky's outburst. She had to say something to quell the sudden rise of whiney, bratty lust.

“You better chill with that attitude, Shea,” Sky threatened.

“Or what? We all grown. What, Mrs. Doctor Nigga?” Sky chuckled, beckoning the waitress over. She ordered double Hennessy and apple juices for her and Erik and ice water for O’Shea, in a child’s cup to be an ass.

“Why y’all get liquor and I don’t?”

“Cuz you acting like a child so enjoy a child’s drink,” Sky quipped, causing Erik to chuckle. “Learn how to watch your mouth.”

“I just think it’s funny how you referred me to this nigga, who just so happens to be your best friend, to fix my issue yet all he’s done is patronize me. It’s like y’all get a kick out of seeing me like this.”

“Girl shut yo emotional ass up. You’re a spoiled little sugar baby that’s used getting what you want when you want it and when someone deviates from that script, you wanna play victim and harp on and on about how you’re being misused and no one cares about your needs and blah blah blah.” Well damn, Dr. Nigga. Tell a bitch how you really feel.

“Nah, don't feed the troll, Erik. Let her do what she does. She'll learn. Sooner than later,” Sky spoke with a swirl of her glass.

“With all due disrespect, I'm a say this,” Erik continued stealing the floor in another rant.

“You hard-headed as fuck, disrespectful, and frankly, if it were left up to me you wouldn’t bust another nut for the rest of your bratty ass life. You had one job and you couldn’t even do that.”

“Sky told me to do it!”

“Bitch don’t lie on me. I said he wouldn’t know you used it if you didn’t turn it on. I didn’t put a gun to your head and forced you to masturbate.”

“I'm honestly feeling attacked right now and that's a problem for me because it's strictly emotional yet no hands are on my body. I take issue with this,” O'Shea said coolly eyeing the duo.

“And I take issue with women that ask me and my friend for advice, yet do the total opposite of what I tell them, so it looks like we both have some issues Ms. Powell,” Erik states, returning her stare.

“I can’t win with you two.”

“You can if you shut the fuck up and listen for once,” Sky said taking a bite of her salmon caesar salad made with kale instead of romaine.

O'Shea gasped, clutching her chest. Looking to the side, she scooted closer to Erik, placing her hand in his lap.

“Whatchu tryna do, lil girl?” he challenged, looking around at the crowded restaurant. O’Shea remained silent, letting her hand continued its quest until she reached the zipper of his slacks.

“Ah, ah, ah. This dick is for well-behaved little girls, and you don’t fit that criteria at the moment Ms. Powell. However, I think Ms. Greene has something for you.” As if on cue, Sky “dropped her napkin” and crawled under the table using her long green stiletto nails to rip the seat of O’Shea’s jumpsuit.

“Make one sound and she’s stopping, understood?”

“Yes Daddy.”

“Good girl. Eat your food and shut up.” He continued his meal as if she wasn’t being fingered like a kindergarten painting and she reached to the bread bowl to grab a roll, jamming it into her mouth like a gag. Ripping it with her teeth, her hand floated beneath the table to grab her coworker's hair, intent on taking as much of the good doctor's tongue as she wished to dish.

“Mmm, this kale shit is good Sky, but not as good as this lobster mac and cheese tho. These truffles hitting,” Erik praised with a mouth full of half-chewed food. Sky hummed her agreeance into O’Shea’s core, using her tongue like a makeshift dick, thrusting it in and out of her entrance. O'Shea wrapped her thighs around Sky's head pulling her in further as her eyes watched her surroundings. She wanted so badly to talk her shit, but she didn't want it to stop. She had received head before, but nothing compared to this experience. This wasn't your typical head, this was researched and tested head. Head that had been proven superior by 10 out of 10 test subjects. Skylar was a professional lesbian and if head was a sport, she’d be an Olympic gold medalist, having been eating pudding cups without a spoon since the 90’s. The sheer thought that the waitress could come back or other patrons could notice made her wetter than by the second and the hard stare Erik was giving wasn’t helping. He was enjoying the show, nasty ass.

“That shit feel good, don’t it?” Erik teased, those gold canines peeking from behind that thick ass bottom lip. Shea wanted to suck it.

“Who's better,” Shea challenged. If she couldn't get Erik to fuck her point blank period, maybe he could be lured through his ego. It worked, because as soon as the waitress walked away to fetch her an extra side of sour cream for her mashed potatoes, his body disappeared under the table and soon both of their tongues were fighting to wrap around her clit. She was in heaven, so much so that the faintest of moans slipped past her lips. It was meek, but he heard it and just as quickly as her double pleasure started, it stopped. One by one, both doctors reappeared from under the table as though they both weren't just devouring her pussy like starved slaves.

“She came twice for me, so I win,” Sky boasted.

“You had a head start, Princess,” Erik said, wiggling the face caterpillars he called eyebrows.

“You sound like a sore loser, Stevens. Don't forget who taught you the correct way to eat pussy.. Doctor.” Sky smirked smugly. O'Shea was still in a state of bliss having finally received her ever elusive release.

“Now that you’ve learned your lesson about trying me, we can continue this meeting. Erik has a conference coming up and he has a plus one. He wanted to ask you to be his date.”

“Of course,” O’Shea answered with no hesitation.

“Well shit, if that’s all it took to get you to chill, I would’ve let ya mind be present in my office the other day,” Erik said finishing off the lobster mac and cheese and ordering another helping togo.

O’Shea didn’t comment, her mind still stuck in the Ancestral Plane.

“How about we go shopping after lunch. Would you like that, Princess?” Sky teased, whipping out her card to pay for lunch. Erik quickly picked it back up and deposited it back into her Birkin before handing the waitress his black card.

“I ain't sell my soul for nothing. Let me get this,” he joked.

“Yes Mama,” Shea replied to Sky, catching them both off guard.

“Damn best friend. Maybe you should eat her pussy more often. She’d be much more tolerable.”

——————————————

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