#I blame Bob and the writers

[esenvano]

ManSuang coming to Netflix feb 29, love that. ManSuang sequel-ish series, adore that. Mileapo achieving milestones and reaching new levels of influence, obsessed with it!!

Now,

can someone please tell me how to finally move on from Kinnporsche. I miss her everyday, my heart aches for her…I’m….so lost without her….

[fans4wga]

"The studios thought they could handle a strike. They might end up sparking a revolution"

by Mary McNamara

"If you want to start a revolution, tell your workers you’d rather see them lose their homes than offer them fair wages. Then lecture them about how their “unrealistic” demands are “disruptive” to the industry, not to mention disturbing your revels at Versailles, er, Sun Valley.

Honestly, watching the studios turn one strike into two makes you wonder whether any of their executives have ever seen a movie or watched a television show. Scenes of rich overlords sipping Champagne and acting irritated while the crowd howls for bread rarely end well for the Champagne sippers.

This spring, it sometimes seemed like the Hollywood studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers were actively itching for a writers’ strike. Speculations about why, exactly, ran the gamut: Perhaps it would save a little money in the short run and show the Writers Guild of America (perceived as cocky after its recent ability to force agents out of the packaging business) who’s boss.

More obviously, it might secure the least costly compromise on issues like residuals payments and transparency about viewership.

But the 20,000 members of the WGA are not the only people who, having had their lives and livelihoods upended by the streaming model, want fair pay and assurances about the use of artificial intelligence, among other sticking points. The 160,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists share many of the writers’ concerns. And recent unforced errors by studio executives, named and anonymous, have suddenly transformed a fight the studios were spoiling for into a public relations war they cannot win.

Even as SAG-AFTRA representatives were seeing a majority of their demands rejected despite a nearly unanimous strike vote, a Deadline story quoted unnamed executives detailing a strategy to bleed striking writers until they come crawling back.

Days later, when an actors’ strike seemed imminent, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger took time away from the Sun Valley Conference in Idaho not to offer compromise but to lecture. He told CNBC’s David Faber that the unions’ refusal to help out the studios by taking a lesser deal is “very disturbing to me.”

“There’s a level of expectation that they have that is just not realistic,” Iger said. “And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.”

If Iger thought his attempt to exec-splain the situation would make actors think twice about walking out, he was very much mistaken. Instead, he handed SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher the perfect opportunity for the kind of speech usually shouted atop the barricades.

“We are the victims here,” she said Thursday, marking the start of the actors’ strike. “We are being victimized by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us. I cannot believe it, quite frankly: How far apart we are on so many things. How they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right, when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment.”

Cue the cascading strings of “Les Mis,” bolstered by images of the most famous people on the planet walking out in solidarity: the cast of “Oppenheimer” leaving the film’s London premiere; the writers and cast of “The X-Files” reuniting on the picket line.

A few days later, Barry Diller, chairman and senior executive of IAC and Expedia Group and a former Hollywood studio chief, suggested that studio executives and top-earning actors take a 25% pay cut to bring a quick end to the strikes and help prevent “the collapse of the entire industry.”

When Diller is telling executives to take a pay cut to avoid destroying their industry, it is no longer a strike, or even two strikes. It is a last-ditch attempt to prevent le déluge.

Yes, during the 2007-08 writers’ strike, picketers yelled noncomplimentary things at executives as they entered their respective lots. (“What you earnin’, Chernin?” was popular at Fox, where Peter Chernin was chairman and chief executive.) But that was before social media made everything more immediate, incendiary and personal. (Even if they have never seen a movie or TV show, one would think that people heading up media companies would understand how media actually work.)

Even at the most heated moments of the last writers’ strike, executives like Chernin and Iger were seen as people who could be reasoned with — in part because most of the executives were running studios, not conglomerations, but mostly because the pay gap between executives and workers, in Hollywood and across the country, had not yet widened to the reprehensible chasm it has since.

Now, the massive eight- and nine-figure salaries of studio heads alongside photos of pitiably small residual checks are paraded across legacy and social media like historical illustrations of monarchs growing fat as their people starve. Proof that, no matter how loudly the studios claim otherwise, there is plenty of money to go around.

Topping that list is Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive Davd Zaslav. Having re-named HBO Max just Max and made cuts to the beloved Turner Classic Movies, among other unpopular moves, Zaslav has become a symbol of the cold-hearted, highly compensated executive that the writers and actors are railing against.

The ferocious criticism of individual executives’ salaries has placed Hollywood’s labor conflict at the center of the conversation about growing wealth disparities in the U.S., which stokes, if not causes, much of this country’s political divisions. It also strengthens the solidarity among the WGA and SAG-AFTRA and with other groups, from hotel workers to UPS employees, in the midst of disputes during what’s been called a “hot labor summer.”

Unfortunately, the heightened antagonism between studio executives and union members also appears to leave little room for the kind of one-on-one negotiation that helped end the 2007-08 writers’ strike. Iger’s provocative statement, and the backlash it provoked, would seem to eliminate him as a potential elder statesman who could work with both sides to help broker a deal.

Absent Diller and his “cut your damn salaries” plan, there are few Hollywood figures with the kind of experience, reputation and relationships to fill the vacuum.

At this point, the only real solution has been offered by actor Mark Ruffalo, who recently suggested that workers seize the means of production by getting back into the indie business, which is difficult to imagine and not much help for those working in television.

It’s the AMPTP that needs to heed Iger’s admonishment. At a time when the entertainment industry is going through so much disruption, two strikes is the last thing anyone needs, especially when the solution is so simple. If the studios don’t want a full-blown revolution on their hands, they’d be smart to give members of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA contracts they can live with."

[synthetickitsune]

Hello can you do #25 with Sehun from prompt list

“Can we talk? What are we? What are we doing?”

*narrator voice: the writer was too stunned too speak* - listen i rewrote this thing like three times, it's been in my drafts for months and i'm still not satisfied but in 2024, i'll accept that some things can't be helped lmao

Sehun (EXO) | “Can we talk? What are we? What are we doing?” fluff | 0.9k words | gn!reader

The engine purrs, you hum and bob your head to the beat while he taps his fingers on the steering wheel. He keeps his eyes on the road, but he nods towards the cup of boba tea in the holder. You reach for the cup and lift it to his lips so he can take a long sip from the straw. You use the opportunity to drink from your own cup too. The second you put the cups back, there’s a hand squeezing your thigh appreciatively. You push back the feeling of something squeezing your heart too. You’re always doing that.

“You know, this just proves you didn’t need my help,” you scoff. His hand is warm, a comfortable added weight.

“I’m already driving you around. This is the least you can do,” Sehun dismisses you, ready to bicker with you every second of the day. He doesn’t mention he also paid for the drinks and neither do you.

His fingers are snug around the curves of your thigh. You dread the moment he’ll let go.

But being occupied by that, you don’t notice you’re spacing out and staring at him.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” he smirks, and you think - what the hell, why not. Whatever you say he’ll find a way to push your buttons anyway. So you take out your phone and turn on the camera, clicking a blurry picture while he stops at the red light.

He tries to snatch the phone from your hands but you’re quicker, and the light turns green. You put the device safely back into your pocket. He frowns.

“What? Are you going to sue me?” you huff but it’s not with a laugh as he expected. As you expected too. Instead you’re looking at your phone with a frown matching his and your chest feels tight.

Where’s this coming from? The feelings, unwanted, rush through you. You’d like to blame exhaustion, stress, whatever, but you can’t. Not right now. Not when you know, deep down, that the feelings spill out because you’ve been holding them back for too long. And then his stupid hand still on your thigh. He didn’t let go even if it meant he’d get your phone.

“y/n?” he calls your name. His voice sounds unsure and you don’t blame him. You’re quite surprised you snapped so suddenly too. You want to play it off as a joke or something, but you’re not sure you could pretend as well as you’d need to. You’re tired of pretending.

“Can we talk, Sehun?” you rub your eyes just so you don’t have to look at him, look at anything. Maybe not seeing will make you impossible to see as well. “What are we? What are we doing?”

Just then the car stops and there’s complete silence. Awkward silence. Your thigh feels cold. You open your eyes and let them adjust to light again. Not ready to face your best friend yet, you look out the window. You’re at the mall, you’re where you’re supposed to be. You swallow and risk a brief glance at Sehun. He doesn’t look at you but he licks his lips, he breathes out all the air in his lungs before inhaling deeply again. And then he brings the car back to life and starts driving.

“What are you doing? Sehun?” you panic, barely stopping yourself from grabbing onto his arm or leg. It’s not like he’ll run anywhere but that’s maybe worse. You watch him turn the steering wheel and get the car moving again, slowly navigating through the parking lot. 

“Sehun?” your voice drops into a quiet whisper that finally alerts him to look at you. His eyes widen when he sees how upset you look. He has a car to drive, though, other vehicles and people to avoid. He pays attention to what he’s doing while he clumsily cups your face with one hand and strokes your cheek. He smiles when he hears you sigh in relief.

“Give me some face, will you?” he laughs softly, “I’m not asking you out at a mall.”

You’re so happy he doesn’t sound mad that it takes a second for your body to tense and freeze in a spot. Ask you out? “W-What do you mean? Where are we going then?”

You feel like the world is passing by too fast but you know he’d never drive recklessly, not with you in the car too. 

“We are going to my place, so we can both change into something more appropriate before I take you to dinner,” he explains, coolly, like he had the whole thing planned out from the beginning - which you very much doubt by the nervous clenching of his hands around the steering wheel.

“Asking me out in the car isn’t much better than asking me out in the mall,” you laugh, shifting in your seat, trying to ease some nerves in the pit of your stomach.

“I’m not asking you out, I’m telling you you’re going,” he says and his voice waivers at the end, but you’re too busy trying to get your cheeks to cool down to notice, “And once we had the dinner and a nice evening, then I’ll ask you to go out with me.”

He looks shyer than he sounded when he looks at you, but then again it’s not like you’re not a mess too. His eyes flicker between the road and you and you see his adam’s apple bob as he swallows thickly.

“That sounds nice,” your voice comes out smaller than you meant to, so you clear your throat, “I like it.”

He exhales in relief.

It’s no surprise to either of you when a similar scene plays out again much later in the evening.

[writing-until-i-drop]

Wildflowers For A Hangman Ch. 11

Summary:

Daisy, a career novelist, moves in with her college best friend Phoenix who has been permanently assigned to Top Gun with Dagger Squad. She finds herself instantly connected with a cocky pilot who's soft only for her and Jake can't help but want to know everything about her. When the past comes knocking at both of their doors, will they stand together or fall apart?

Or: The Dagger Squad can't cook and Jake falls in love with a woman who makes a mean lasagna while they work their personal trauma.

Jake "Hangman" Seresin x writer!femOC | 18+ (eventually) minors dni. Fluff, smut (eventual), idiots in love, past trauma.

A/N: Daisy's been having nightmares and shutting Jake out but she should know by now that Jake's always going to be there | hehehehehe smut. oral (f receiving), unprotected p in v (don't do that), dirty talk, lmk if I need to add anything else in this note.

AO3 Link

Previous Chapter

I woke up with a start, fumbling for the table lamp, gasping for air. This was the seventh night in a row I had woken up from a nightmare in the middle of the night. I reached for the other side of the bed only to find it cold, my heart dropping to my stomach. It was also the sixth night in a row I’d kept Jake out of the apartment. 

Talking to Rudolph Lance, and hearing him confess to the murder of my parents, was supposed to make things better but instead, all it had done was make my life a living hell. My agent had found out about the prison visit and had signed me up to do a dozen interviews for different news outlets and because of all of the press, my publisher was moving up the release date of my next book. Harvey was understandably pissed after I had explained the whole thing to him the morning after speaking with Lance and he was no longer taking my calls. His wife had texted me saying that he was fine, he just needed to cool down. 

Under the pressure of it all, I found myself pushing everyone away. I had snapped at Natasha more than once, ignored Jake’s calls, and wouldn’t text any of the Daggers back, not even Bob. I knew I was lashing out like a cornered animal and I hated myself for hurting everyone around me, but I couldn’t stop myself from spiraling. 

After a few minutes of staring at the ceiling, I disarmed the alarm and went on the porch for a cigarette to clear my mind before calling Jake. It was two in the morning, so it wasn’t a surprise when the call went to voicemail. I almost hung up but instead I listened to the automated message, lighting up another cigarette.

“Hey, Jake.” I sounded like crap, even to my own ears. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I know you’re probably mad at me and I don’t blame you, I’m mad at me too because I’ve been the biggest bitch.” I sighed, flicking ash. “But I miss you and waking up alone hurts like hell. I’m so, so, so sorry, and if you’re willing to hear me out for a full apology, come over today, okay? I’ll be here.” I hung up and smoked another cigarette, the nicotine rushing to my head, making it spin.

It was like Groundhog Day. I woke up with a start, gasping and fumbling for the light, except this time when I reached out my hand didn’t hit cold sheets. My hand connected with the warm skin of Jake’s firm chest. He was shirtless in bed beside me, eyes blinking open against the sunrise.

“Jake?” I sobbed, throwing myself on top of him as he groggily tried to get his bearings. 

“I’ve got you, Wildflower.” His voice was rough from sleep just like it always was when he woke up and I kicked myself for voluntarily missing out on hearing it for the past week. “I’m right here.” 

“I’m with you,” I cried into his shoulder, three words standing in for another three words. “I’m here with you.” 

“I know you are, baby. Catch your breath, breathe with me, baby.” Jake exaggerated his breathing, praising me as I copied him. “That’s my girl, you’re doing such a good job.” 

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” I kept repeating those words as my breathing slowed, whispering them into his shoulder, pressing kisses to his warm skin. “I’m really sorry.” 

“Stop apologizing and look at me,” Jake’s rough hands slid to my waist as I sat up, straddling him. His face was stern, green eyes staring into my soul. I flushed in shame, my head dipping. Jake slid two fingers under my chin, forcing my head up. “Don’t ever pull that shit again, do you hear me?” I nodded and then yelped, more surprised than hurt by the swat to my butt. “Say you understand, Daisy, I need to hear it.” 

“I understand,” He rubbed my ass with his palm, soothing away the slight sting. “I missed you.” I rested my hands on his shoulders, hesitant. Jake leaned his cheek against my right hand, smiling softly at me.

“I miss you too, Wildflower.” I leaned in slowly, kissing his forehead. “You owe a lot of people apologies,” Jake’s voice was tired, quiet, and had a serious edge to it. 

“I know,” I whispered, resting my forehead against his. “I’ll cook dinner, invite them all over, and give out lots of hugs,” He hummed in approval, his thumb tracing patterns on my hip. “I shouldn’t have pushed you away like that, any of you.” 

“No, you shouldn’t have,” My heart sank but I understood. Apologies couldn’t take away the pain I’d caused but they could help us move past it. “But you had some pretty valid reasons.” Jake kissed me softly, easing the guilty feeling in my chest.

“Still feel like shit though,” I mumbled into the kiss, toying with the hairs on the nape of his neck. Jake buried his fingers in my hair, massaging my scalp. A tension I hadn’t even known was stored there began to relieve itself under his touch, and my eyes fluttered shut. “I don’t deserve you.” His ministrations paused,

“Baby, look at me,” He was giving me those soft eyes again, cradling my head. “You deserve a man who treats you with care, compassion, and unconditional love. Even when you feel like you don’t deserve it, I promise that you do.” For the first time in a long time, the weight that settled in my chest wasn’t cold and harsh, but warm and full of comfort. 

“Someone like you?” 

“No, Wildflower. Not someone like me, me.” Jake pulled me close, brushing his lips against mine. “Are you with me?” 

“For as long as you’ll have me, pretty boy.” I’m not sure who kissed who first but it didn’t matter when Jake flipped me onto my back, deepening the kiss like a man starved. I keened against him, digging my nails into his back, spurred on by the noise it drew from him.

“We should do this right, baby,” Jake said between kisses, kissing his way across my cheek and down my neck. “I should take you on a real date with candles and white tablecloths.” He sunk his teeth into the crook of my neck and I cried out, scratching at his back. Jake lapped at the spot, soothing it, and sucking to deepen the mark.

“We can’t do this wrong,” I promised. There was a soft pressure on my thigh from his hand, working its way towards my center. I gasped, hips rolling. His hand stopped just short of where I needed it most. “Jake.” 

“Impatient much, Wildflower?” I pinched his side, feeling a little violent at being denied. “Okay, okay,” He laughed, kissing me quick, my lips chasing his as he pulled away. “What about a breakfast date instead?” I pushed his chest, schooling my face into a blank expression that was hard to maintain.

“Get off of me,” His face fell and I couldn’t take it, breaking into a grin. “I need pants for breakfast.” 

“You drive me crazy, woman,” Jake kissed me again. “Just a few more minutes in bed first,” He begged wistfully and who was I to argue? 

Jake glared at me when I snatched the check, quickly passing my card to the waitress.

“Now why did you have to do a thing like that? I was going to pay,” He chided and I rolled my eyes.

“Because I have been horrible for a week and this is one of the many ways I plan on making it up to you both.”

“Cheers to that,” Natasha, who had happily crashed our breakfast date, chimed in from the booth behind us. Jake’s foot brushed against my calf beneath the table, making me giggle. “Whatever you’re doing, stop it, it's gross.” We were all laughing when the waitress came back. I tucked the receipt in my pocket before Jake could grab it and figure out how to pay me back. “Okay, lovebirds. You should leave before I puke,” Natasha announced.

“You’re not coming back with us?” I asked, we had driven together in Jake’s truck and Natasha hated taking Ubers.

“Nah, Rooster is going to pick me up for putt putt.” I turned in my seat, hugging her tightly around the neck. “Condoms are in my nightstand,” She whispered, “I know you don’t have any.” 

“You’re the best best friend any girl could ask for,” I kissed her cheek and then let Jake walk me out of the diner with our fingers intertwined. 

X

The missed call notification when I woke up had scared the shit out of me. Phoenix had assured me that Daisy was asleep in bed, perfectly fine, but had let me in the house anyway when I showed up two hours after the call.

“What are we going to do with her?” She asked, not for the first time that week, while we hugged in the living room. I gave the same answer as always, be patient.

Then I stripped down to my boxers and slipped into my side of her queen-sized bed. I fell asleep in seconds with Daisy so close for the first time in a week. When Daisy woke up in a panic, reaching out for me without knowing I was there, that was the moment I knew she loved me back. 

“Don’t even think about opening that door,” Daisy blushed, releasing the handle. It had taken every ounce of my concentration and willpower not to crash the truck when she had reacted to my laying a hand on her thigh while driving by spreading her legs for me. My girl was running hot for me and it was going to take more self-restraint than I had to do this right.

I turned off the truck and jogged to the passenger side, opening the door and holding a hand out for her. She leaned back in her seat, giving me a long once over, teeth sunk into her bottom lip. “What, one second you’re trying to jump out of the truck and the next you don’t want to get down?” 

“Started thinking about having sex in your truck,” Jesus Christ. Was she trying to kill me? “Kinda liked the idea.” She was definitely trying to kill me.

“Wildflower, we’re not having sex for the first time in my truck.” Maybe tomorrow, I thought with a grin. “Now come here, baby.” Daisy hopped out of the truck with her hand in mine, blushing and shy like she hadn’t just proposed having sex in my truck in broad daylight. I led her inside, intending to take it slow, maybe sitting down for a movie first but the second the door closed Daisy was leaning against it and pulling me against her. 

Kissing Daisy would never get old, the way she switched between brazen and nervous, responding to even the most innocent of my touches. I tapped her thigh and she understood, jumping enough for me to wrap her legs around my waist. Daisy kissed her way down my neck as I carried her up the stairs, focusing on my collarbone. I moaned, trying not to run us into the walls as I stumbled down the hallway. 

“You’re killing me, baby,” I moaned, shoving her against the wall outside of her room. Daisy sunk her teeth into me and God, I thought I was going to pass out from the lack of blood going to my brain.

“Fuck me, Jake,” She whispered into my neck. “Please?” I kissed her softly, sweetly, trying to convey the feelings I couldn’t say aloud. I would give her anything she wanted, anything, all she ever had to do was ask. 

“Yes, ma’am,” I kissed her gently again and then carried her into the bedroom. When I put Daisy down she pulled off her oversized shirt and her bralette quickly followed, I stood back watching the show. Daisy was gorgeous, showstopping, taking my breath away, even in her cartoon pajama pants. 

“Jake,” She looked up at me with wide eyes. I snapped out of my haze, pulling off my shirt and joining her on the bed. I trailed kisses from her hip, up her stomach, between her breasts, all the way to her lips, savoring the needy way she buried her fingers in my hair.

“Are you sure about this, baby?” Daisy tensed, pushing at my shoulders. The lust I had been seeing on her face all morning was gone, replaced by insecurity.

“Do you not want to do this?” Propping myself up on my elbow, I rubbed away her scrunched brow with my thumb, then I traced her lips. How could she not know how crazy I was about her? I loved everything about Daisy, from the way she got lost in the worlds she created while writing, her collection of sleep pants that she’d wear to their wedding if Phoenix let her, hell, he even loved the way she drooled a little in her sleep. 

“Daisy, baby, I want to do this.” She studied me for a moment before relaxing back into the pillows with a smile, looking as perfect as ever. “Can I kiss you now?”

“Yeah, pretty boy,” She giggled, cheeks burning. “You can keep kissing me.” 

“Thank God.” I kissed her until my lungs burned for air, loving the hint of maple syrup from breakfast lingering on her tongue. Daisy moaned and cried as I lavished her neck with kisses, marking her delicate skin with bruises and bites that I hoped would never fade away. She shook with anticipation as my fingers slipped between her legs, teasing her slick folds. 

“Oh my God,” Daisy moaned. I nipped at her collarbone, knowing exactly what I wanted to do next.

“Has anyone ever had their mouth on your pretty pussy before, Wildflower?” She shook her head, whining my name as I slid a finger inside of her. Daisy was soaking wet and tight for me, rolling her hips for more. “Words, baby. Use them.” She shook her head again, pinching my side. I chuckled, kissing my way to her beasts, taking one of the pebbled peaks into my mouth. 

Her moans were music to my ears, getting louder with every move I made. I switched to her other breast, slowing the movements of my fingers to rile her up and she pinched me again, harder this time. I chuckled, kissing my way down her stomach. I hoped I was the only one who knew how violent and impatient Daisy got when she was wound tight like this. I worked a second finger into her, watching how her face scrunched in pleasure. 

“You going to answer my question, Wildflower?” I slowed my fingers again, teasing her. She looked at me, dazed and I repeated my question, slowing my movements to the point of almost stopping. 

“No one,” Daisy whined, rocking her hips against my hand, making up for the slowed movement. She groaned when I removed them, weakly kicking at me as I slid off the bed. “Stop being mean to me.”

“Patience, baby. I’ll give you what you need,” I dragged her down the bed, throwing her knees over my shoulders. “You’re perfect, Wildflower.” 

“Jake!” Daisy was delicious and it didn’t take long for her to lock my head between her thighs. With every lick her legs trembled more, my name leaving her lips like a chant the closer she got. I was running out of air but God it would be a good way to go. “I’m close,” She announced and I doubled down my efforts, focusing attention on her clit. Daisy came with a scream and I lapped up every drop she gave me, not wanting to miss a single drop of her. I was so hard it hurt, my dick straining against my jeans, begging to be released.

“Fuck, darlin, you taste amazing.” 

“Jesus, Jake,” She sat up on her elbows, panting. I sat back on my heels and just took in the view. “Get up here, pretty boy. I think it’s my turn to take care of you.” I shook my head, stripping off my jeans and boxers in one go.

“Not today, baby. All I want is to feel you come on my cock like a good girl,” Her eyes went wide at my words, She bit her lip, rolling it between her teeth. So she wanted to be my good girl, I stored that information away where I kept all the details I knew about Daisy. Like the way she took her coffee, her favorite pizza toppings, the brand of perfume she wore, how she preferred cotton hip hugger underwear even though she had half a drawer of satin thongs. “Now move up the bed.” Just like the night in my truck, I didn’t have to tell her twice. 

“Fuck, Jake. I need you,” 

“I need you too, baby.” I notched myself at her entrance, “Are you going to pinch me again if I do this slowly?” 

“Yes,” She gasped as I buried myself in her with one, quick motion. God, she felt like heaven. Stars clouded my vision and I had to bite my tongue to keep from coming right away, which would have been mortifying. “Please, please, please, don’t go slow.” I gave her a moment to adjust, kissing her sweetly. “Move, please.”

“Whatever you want, baby,” I pulled all the way out until just the tip remained inside and snapped my hips forward, setting a steady pace that had us both moaning. Our kisses became sloppy, her nails digging into my back, leaving scratch marks there that I’m sure the guys would tease me about later. “Harder,” She begged, crying out my name as I obliged, shifting her leg to get a better angle. I found her clit, rubbing fast circles to hurry her over the edge again, dying to feel her come around me.

“Come for me, baby. Come on my cock,” Daisy’s eyes screwed shut, “Eyes on me while I fuck you, baby.” Her eyes blinked open, locking with mine, and she came. She squeezed me like a vice, pushing me towards my own climax. I wasn’t going to last long. I adjust, pumping into her harder, fucking her through her orgasm and into what felt like another one.

“Fuck, Jake, fuck,” She pulled me in for a kiss, biting my bottom lip. “Oh shit, we forgot a condom.” Oh shit was right, I slowed my pace, I had never forgotten a condom. It was a rule of mine, hell, there was one in my wallet right now, sitting in the pocket of my abandoned jeans.

“Do you want me to stop? I’ll stop,” She shook her head. “I’m clean.”

“Me too, IUD,” Her words were a jumbled mess as she rocked her hips up to meet mine, “Keep going.” 

“Are you sure?” Daisy pinched me hard, sending the message loud and clear. “Think you can give me one more, baby?”

“No,” She had that blissed out look on her face. “Jake,”

“One more, baby,” I started on her clit again, “You can give me one more.” It didn’t take long to push her over the edge again and this time I came with her.

“Holy shit,” Daisy kissed me softly, running her fingers through my hair. I loved this woman, if it hadn’t been official before, it was now. “I don’t think I can move,” She giggled, breaking the kiss.

“Good, means you can’t run away from me again.” She scoffed, rolling her eyes,

“I didn’t run.” I gently flicked her nose and she stuck her tongue out at me, all of the weight that we had both been carrying this morning gone as she smiled up at me.

“Whatever, baby. Point is, I’m never letting you kick me out of this bed again.” Daisy smiled, cupping my face with both her hands.

“I don’t plan on it, like I said, I’m right here.” 

“And I’m here with you.” I love you. 

Next Chapter

Taglist: @dizzybee03 @littlezee80 @nervousenemyduck @carolina-on-my-mind03 @mizzzpink @beltzboys2015-blog @writingrose

[hestiviea]

swap au but i can't draw

I hate when they de-age Matthew just so he can be in knives role, I hate when swapaus just change the characters and their names instead of making an actual AU of what happens when the other character's events

to me, I don't want Scott to be the one skating around Ramona's headspace

I don't want Envy to be in gideons role or add two other characters to fill in the katayanagi twin's roles

I want AUS to be its own, not some kind of copy-and-paste from the source material

My swap AU is closer to the actual source

In my swap AU,

Ramona is still skating around Scott's head space but she is the one who gets obsessed instead of Scott, Scott works as a pizza delivery man

Scott in this AU is still an autistic nerd but is clueless about everything around him, he's just keeping a cool head in comparison to the source materials, he's still the bassist of Sex Bob-Omb but doesn't reveal that to Ramona yet cause he temporarily quit after Gideon became their producer

the seven evil exes are not Ramona's version of Scott's friends cause fuck that, instead the 'seven evil exes' are more just exes that are not evil and overly obsessed with Ramona cause Gideon ain't there to join forces with them

(In my head, Gideon is the reason why most of the league even took revenge on Ramona, since he was the one that said it, katayanagi twins just followed with it cause damn do they have it rough, despite not being evil, Lucas also went with it, todd is just angry that ramona has the audacity to leave after he punched the moon for her, Matthew and Roxy are the only ones that genuinely are sad and angry)

The League of Evil Exes are just the same 5 with Lynette for support, they are not in any of the OG league's roles, they're on their own

their name will be, Vv cause V is the Roman number 5, and v as in victims

knives are the first V but she's still 17, she keeps coming back to fight Ramona until finally realising it isn't worth it

Kim is the second, they met after a Sex Bob-Omb concert, they're not Clash of the Demon Heads in a sense by the way, they're much more different, Kim explains the whole thing to Ramona, and they fight for a bit while also talking as they fight, then they stop and just decided to go out for a drink

wallace is the third and doesn't actually fight with Ramona physically, rather using psychic powers thanks to his current boyfriend, but after the fight, they're still hesitant cause it turns out that Wallace was the one that made the Vv and Ramona is genuinely jealous of Wallace but they later just become buddies

next is Lisa, at first Ramona doesn't even know what to do with Lisa, originally Ramona thinks Lisa is just a friend who is getting too close for comfort with Scott, then boom, big reveal that Lisa is actually one of the exes, they start to fight, but it ended up alright

last is envy and Lynette, the reason for this is that I like to believe that Envy was the one that wanted to take revenge on Scott, but nobody truly wanted to fight other than knives, Lynette is there to help cause they have a much healthier relationship compared to the comics, also envy's reason is cause she's jealous over Scott and ramona after hearing the fact that todd is now living with ramona and Scott is dating her

but what happened to the seven evil exes you may ask

well

Matthew and the twins would probably be the only people that Ramona talks to daily, i like to think Matthew lives nearby and that the twins are not as rich as Gideon but still have enough to have a house up in Toronto

Lucas after another flop movie (blame it on the writers, Lucas did nothing wrong) gets broke and starts to live with Ramona at first, Lucas is kinda like Kim in terms of his relationship with Scott, hot take that maybe Scott and Lucas have a better bromance than Gideon and Lucas

todd would be Ramona's roommate, but unlike Wallace, he's this self-destructive asshole that made himself sympathetic after Envy dumped him and he had nowhere else to go other than to Ramona, which just causes Ramona to feel like she's once again with a prick like Gideon

Roxy comes by every week or so to talk with Ramona and clearly is still hang-up over ramona. also has the best wlw/mlm solidarity friendship with wallace

Gideon would still be a billionaire and he's Sex Bob-Omb producer, and at one point forces them to fight against Ramona by using the glow but they manage to break free and turn against Gideon

basically yes the same thing with the comics and the anime, but Ramona is the one being paranoid and self-conscious about things but trying to act like she's not affected by this, and Ramona is the one who has to fight with Scott exes plus confront herself

and everything is not in the same chronological order as the comics

this swap au focuses on ramona and her ex, while Ramona and Scott realise why Vv was even made in the first place

young Neil, Julie, and Stacey would be Ramona's friends before Ramona gets to know the others

part two of this!

[yostresswritinggirl]

Pagtingin

"I'll just wait for the wind to sweep away my words."

Scaramouche/Wanderer x Fem!Reader.

Fluff; keeping your feelings secret; glimpses of Wanderer before he got his memories back; classic Scaramouche behavior; feel good story.

Heeey, @monicahar, guess I'm your secret santa uwu you know how much I love angst so know how I tried my very best to make this as fluff and kinda crack as you wished! I have FOUR retakes of this because I'm writing for the Scaramouche master writer (first one got rejected cuz it's quite angsty but I hope you liked it!)

"Mr. Sandman, sand me a saaand," you take a sighing pause, breathing in, and starting again. "Dendro archon, send me a siiiign -"

"What the hell are you singing about?"

"Wanderer!" And there he was in all his glory, arms crossed and stare full of judgment yet stuck to you as you stumbled across the room to reach the windowsill, opening the window to see that - yep, he's floating in mid-air.

The high rising moon behind him framed his ethereal form so beautifully, as if he was a messenger of Celestia ready to take you to the skies above.

You cough to your hand.

His squint lightens, descending to sit on the windowsill so you wouldn't have to crane your neck awkwardly to maintain eye contact.

"There's that Wanderer I know."

The sweet lost foreigner that first stepped foot into Sumeru City with eyes filled with innocent wonder. As a proud citizen and a strange sense of responsibility, you approached the then stranger for an impromptu tour around the humble place, something that he seemed to have needed desperately.

You still remember when he asked about where the sunsettias and harra fruits could be found, in case his employer needed to restock his stall. Of all the beauty that no other nation could compare, he wanted to know where the fruits are.

Safe to say your sudden guffaw had him spooked for a bit, but are you really to blame for how adorable he is for being so new to the world like he is?

It was a nice surprise too when you stumbled upon his fabled stall in the Grand Bazaar one day while he was tending to customers, flustered from the rush hour and his lack of training. Despite not needing it, you willed yourself to buy a watermelon just to talk to him again and give him a better customer service experience.

"Thank you for your purchase - ah, and come again sometime!"

You had to eat watermelon slices for a week because of that impulse buy, but his shy smile was worth the diet change.

But then his overall demeanor changed when you found an anemo vision hanging near his chest, at the same day that he left his merchant work with a blonde traveler. The Wanderer you knew didn't glare like that, talk like that, act like that. It was so quiet between you two, and it felt like he was sizing you up, unsure what to do with you.

"Hey!" His indigo eyes watched you place your hands on your hips with an annoyed huff. "You can't act like this just cuz you got a vision now, getting one doesn't mean you have to change up on me. We're friends still!"

And while his huff and eye roll are baffling to see on your sweet Wanderer, you can't deny his smirk suits him perfectly.

"Look who's the lonely one now." He clicks his tongue, mockingly, yet there were no apparent venom in his words. Back when he asked why you were hanging around him, you told him that he looked lonely too.

("Why are you doing all this? For me? Someone who's -" his Adam's apple bobbed so harshly as he gulped. "A stranger." The way he said those words sounded strangely strained.

"I just thought you looked quite lonely," you settled with no double meanings or deep words those scholars in the Akademiya tend to use. There's no need to beat around the bush with him. Leaning over your stall, you dipped your head under his hat to level his gaze more clearly. "Lonely and a lil confused, like you needed a friend.")

"Yeah, I missed you." He's always seemed like the type of person who wants the blatant truth.

"I -" And his actions had always been honest with you. What with the way he paused and avoided your stare, how he turns his head away and tilt his hat down to hide the expressions he's making. Perhaps your honesty doesn't just come from his preferences. "I suppose that's expected what with you being locked up here for - what? Eight days?"

"Almost nine." Heaving another sigh, your arms hang over the platform as you slump on the spot next to him.

Stuck in your dormitory room because of a flu you caught while out collecting data. While it's not life-threatening for anyone whatsoever, it's still contagious enough for the Akademiya to force you to self isolation until you got better. You haven't had contact with others in days, at least, that's what the Akademiya knows.

Wanderer stares at you with a look that screams out 'why the hell are you looking at me like that?' as you feel a smile force its way to your face, unable to hide it even from him. How could you when the man in front of you, no matter how many times you warned not to get close because of your flu, would only scoff about how ironic it was that you're the one saying those words.

You're thankful that he's confident of his immune system to keep visiting you like this.

He didn't have to visit every day the hour before your assigned bed time, but he's always here on the dot.

Despite the sudden change, Wanderer is still just as easy to read no matter how hard he tries not to be.

"Right, I almost forgot." You watch as he pulled out something wrapped in a beautiful blue furoshiki, the sweet smell already betraying the surprise before he unwraps the baklava for you. "You asked for some yesterday and I didn't want you to whine again."

"Pastries! Oh I love you so much!"

He can remember it so clearly that he could recreate every frame of the scene: The overwhelming feeling in his chest with the tightness in his throat, him opening his mouth before pressing his lips together before the first word could even come out.

Wanderer felt physical pain from the battle in his mind while you happily indulge in the pastry, blissfully unaware of the things you do to him.

Why was he here again after he got his memories back? Why does he keep coming back to this student that showed him around the city when he first arrived?

Lesser Lord Kusanali proposed to keep this connection instead of wallowing in self pity now that the world has forgotten him (that was his own doing), yet it was something that locked him in ball and chain despite having the conscious mind to get away.

Yet the way you immediately turn to him with an amused smile, "Something on your mind?" Easily defeated the clashing virtues debating in his mind. "You want a baklava?"

There was a pained expression on his face as he clutched his hand over his chest, he knows you've seen it no matter how he tried not to look like it. The Wanderer had always been so honest with you that's true, because it was so easy to just be him with you.

But that's not really him, is it?

Puppets like him don't need to breathe.

Yet at that time, perhaps Nahida was right that there really wasn't any difference between a human and a puppet.

"Do you think I deserve a second chance?" He let slip in front of the archon one day when his thoughts raged like the fires of a faraway furnace, too slow to bite his tongue and too frustrated to cover up with a 'forget it.'

Nahida, in contrast, takes time to think things through and watch his body language. From the way he avoids her stare and how his crossed arms looked more defensive of a different insecurity. The god of wisdom doesn't need to read minds to know this is an entirely different case.

"Let's put it this way, what's stopping you from thinking you don't deserve it?" Deserve her, more like.

And his old self would have said nothing, that he deserves everything he desires for all the efforts he had done to get to where he is now. But he's better than that now, no, he's better than that because of you.

Why must he be awkward around you?

Why must he be so hang up on every detail about him and you?

Why must he be so insecure of who he is and who you are?

"Because I'm not human," yet he uttered those words as if he was baffled by his own answer, eyes wide with confusion as he clutched his head. "Yet these days I feel like I'm one."

He practically all but shoved the poor pastry into his mouth, biting down with just a little too much force than intended. Fuck, he hates sweet things!

And so the puppet known as a human does his best to ignore your snickers with how his face contorts into irritation and disgust as the layers melt stickily in his mouth. Oh, he hates you, hates how much he loves you.

He hopes you don't blame him, it's hard to take a gamble with the only chance he's ever getting.

"How's your research going?"

"My proposal is ready, when I'm out of here, I wanna try and get funding to go conduct research in the desert."

"Mhm."

"Then I'll take you with me and tour you there too, I promise the views are worth it!"

"Alright, I'll hold you to it."

So for now, he will keep his peace until he's ready. He only hopes that when he confess his secrets, your opinion of him won't change.

He only hopes... when he reveals his feelings, your opinion of him won't change.

Maybe tomorrow, you'll be his. He can only hope.

This is loosely based on a song called Pagtingin, with English translations here! That's the vibe I'm going for where the singer is hesitating to confess his feelings because he's afraid that the person he loves would treat/see him differently if they don't share the same feelings.

Tagging: @maehemthemisfit @ireallylikehamsters @chuusposts

[tohsri]

no title.

warnings: dick sucking ofc, deepthroating, nerdy virgin!reader x rebellious!gojo, may be ooc, kinda short ig word count: 980 words 💀 a/n: thanks @getosbigballsack for pulling me out of my writer's block, also i think i slowly went out of topic but i got carried away dont blame me

you walked into your shared room to see satoru playing video games on his computer, shamelessly cursing at the other person on the screen. god knows what kind of argument satoru was having with this stranger online, because it was sure getting a little heated between them. you didn't pay that much attention to it. after all, he was always having this verbal arguments as jokes. so you left him to his games and focused on your assignments, but it wasn't until his voice got louder; and he wasn't screaming out of victory. his face was scrunched up and his teeth were gritted, he was clenching so hard onto the controller his knuckles were white. even you were a little concerned by now, and a little scared at his behaviour. you decided you couldn't leave it alone once he slammed the controller onto the table, his hair a little damp from his sweat. despite his angry expression, you couldn't help but stare at him. even when he was mad, he was still so handsome. was this what he meant whenever he said you were cute when you were mad? his head was thrown back and he shut his eyes, but spoke up when he noticed you were under the table. "what are you planning to do?" he spoke in a gruff voice, pushing his hair back, even panting a little from seemingly how intense his game was. you placed your hand on his inner thigh, staring up at him with pleading eyes. it was so embarrassing for you to ask, but you had to. "can i.. uh, give you.. ah, a- uhm.." you stumbled over your words. "what is it?" his hand stroked your hair, making you feel less nervous. "canigiveyouablowjob?" you blabbered out, face flushed red with embarrassment.

he was a little surprised at your words, given how you're inexperienced, but seeing how cute you looked, he couldn't say no.

-------- you were licking his cock and sucking on his pink tip, tasting the salty precum as you continued to tease him a little more. but you decided to stop and went further on his dick, causing him to let out more sweet noises slip out from his lips.

he was moaning while you were sucking him so obediently, his hand grabbing a fistful of your hair. his hand was guiding you slowly, going just a little deeper each time. one of your hands were stroking his cock as well, the other clinging onto his thigh for support. you choked and gagged a few times on his cock, even if you didn't take it in all the way. but you couldn't help it because his cock was just so big that sometimes you went too deep. you wanted to do it for him, though, so he was surprised when you removed your hand, and you found yourself taking almost every inch of his dick into your mouth. it caused your throat to be uncomfortable, forcing you to breathe through your nose even more. when his tip was sliding in and out of your throat, tears escaped your eyes. before you could push yourself further, you found satoru pulling your head back, as much as he didn't want it to stop. however, he didn't want to see you suffer like this either. he stared at your glossy eyes with his blue ones, stroking your hair to calm you down. "slow down, you're taking too much." his said in a soothing tone, which made you feel a lot better. "start off slow, alright? i don't want my princess to suffer like this." you nodded and continued to suck on his cock, hollowing your cheeks out as satoru praised you. "mmh! fuck- ah, you're doing so w-well!" his breath hitched as you bobbed your head slowly, pulling out to twirl your tongue around the crown of his dick. his hand was pushing your head down, but not too far so it doesn't overwhelm you. what almost made him cum was when your hand moved to play with his balls, massaging them to make him feel even better with ecstasy. his hand on your head pulled you off once more, and he stood up from his chair. "is it okay if i fuck your face?" he asked with concern. he smirked when you nodded and he brought you out from under the table, grasping onto your head for support. he started out with small thrusts, being careful not to go too deep at first. his thrusts suddenly started to intensify as he released all his pent-up energy onto you, and you had to endure how his cock was going deep into your throat, stretching out the walls of your throat. you didn't want him to stop though, not in the middle of this. "fuck fuc- cumming! gonna cum in your- ah! throat!" his thrusts were getting sloppy and you could tell, and soon he released his load into your throat. you could feel his cum in your throat, and some in your mouth as he thrusted a little bit more. when he pulled out, you weren't expecting him to cum a second time on your face, which caught you off guard. luckily you were fast enough to close your eyes just before his sticky semen hit your face, which he wiped off after realising what he done. "sorry princess, i didn't know i was gonna cum, you were just too sexy and i couldn't resist..." he chuckled, kneeling down and grabbing some tissues from the table to wipe some cum off your cheek. "it's okay, satoru." you smiled softly. "i enjoyed it." he planted a kiss on your cheek before suddenly lifting you up, carrying you to the bed. he took off his shirt, smirking when he sees your flustered expression. "what? i want a round two, and i'll be gentle with my princess. so sit back and let me do all the work for you."

[sappy-seresin]

Karaoke Night (J. Seresin)

Pairing: Jake Seresin x female!reader

Warning: Mentions of alcohol consumption, mildly suggestive content, cursing. Minors DNI.

Summary: You get invited to go drinking with the Dagger Squad, kudos to your boyfriend Jake. The one detail he left out about the excursion is that it’s Karaoke Night at the Hard Deck, and your participation is mandatory.

Word Count: 3.2k

MY WORK IS NOT TO BE COPIED OR POSTED ELSEWHERE, especially without consent. DO NOT steal the work of other writers, thank you.

Gif Creds: @unicornships

“Y/n, I’m so glad you could make it,” Natasha greets, bringing you in for a friendly hug while Jake takes liberty to order your first round of drinks.

“Of course I made it,” you smile after the hug broke. “A night out with my favorite pilots? I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” Jake returns with your drinks as the rest of the squad find you and Natasha, each of them bidding you friendly ‘hello’s’ and offering you hugs. You smile up at Jake when he gives you your drink, accepting the kiss he offers to go along with it.

As everyone falls into their normal banter, filing around the pool table to watch the rematch Mickey challenged Jake to upon seeing him, you can’t help but notice that the bar is more full than it typically would be on a Thursday night.

“It’s busier than I thought it would be,” you mindlessly tell Bob, your eyes still scanning the growing audience of people occupying the bar. He nods in agreement, taking a second to study the rest of the room with a light grin.

“Me too, but everyone always gets excited for events, so the larger crowd makes sense,” you furrow your eyebrows at his words. Events? Jake hadn’t mentioned anything special going on at the bar tonight, he was just insistent on you came along. You assumed it was because he’s been extra busy with training the last few weeks and hasn’t been able to spend as much time with you.

“Events?” Your voice trails off as an invitation for someone to explain. Now Bob’s eyebrows are pulling together in confusion, his eyes wordlessly flitting over to Jake who has his signature smirk plastered on his face after sinking two more pool balls into the table. Mickey groans in frustration, knowing he’s lost any chance of gaining the upper hand while Jake lines up another shot.

“You didn’t tell her?” Bradley asks, making his first appearance. There’s a humored smile on his face at the feign surprise he’s pointing in your boyfriends direction. Everyone’s eyes are on Jake as he takes the perfect shot, shrugging in victory when it ricochets off the table wall before rolling into the hole he was aiming for.

“She wouldn’t have come,” he states, his demeanor light and playful when he glances at you. “I thought we all agreed we’d tell her after she finished her first drink.”

Bob’s raises his hands in surrender when Jake’s focus shifts onto him, not wanting to take the blame for your questions when he’s been under the impression that you knew what Thursday nights at the Hard Deck entail. “It’s not my fault, she pointed out how many people are here, and I thought she knew.”

“I’m sorry, I’m standing right here,” you interject, still lost as to what any of them are talking about due to their lack of answers. “What am I missing?”

There’s a chorus of excited glances, each of them seeming to enjoy your cluelessness in what you’ve gotten yourself into. Or, sorry, what Jake knowingly dragged you into without your fully informed consent.

“Well Darlin’, it seems that Hangman here forgot to mention that Thursday nights are a big deal at the Hard Deck,” Bradley begins, smacking Jake’s shoulder to mess up his final shot. Jake releases a frustrated groan when Bradley’s attempt to sabotage him is successful. The cue ball smacks into one of Mickey’s balls, sending it into the nearest hole, ending Jake’s streak. There’s a quiet ‘prick’ whispered under Jake’s breath, but you don’t pay it any mind as you gesture for Bradley to continue. “Karaoke night.”

While he seemed pleased with his explanation, your confusion only grows. What’s so special about a bar hosting Karaoke night? Karaoke isn’t exactly new in the bar scene, you’ve been to several bars that have nights dedicated to it, hell, you’ve done your fair share of participating when there’s been enough alcohol to encourage you to do so.

Upon realizing that there’s no further explanation, you ask, “Why do I feel like there’s more to the story? What’s the big deal?”

“It’s tradition that everyone in the friend group participates,” Reuben cuts in, taking a sip of his beer with a knowing look. “Starting with the newest member. I hate to break it to you Y/n, but tonight, our newest member is you.” Your eyes practically bulge out of your head as it whips over to Jake, who's wearing a shit-eating grin. He doesn't even attempt to look apologetic for not telling you the full truth as he approaches you.

"You seriously couldn't have told me what I was getting myself into? Jesus Jake, you know what it takes for me to be performance ready," you scold him, unapologetically smacking his chest before he can pull you into him.

"Woah, sweetheart, there's no need to get hostile," he chuckles, pulling you flush against his chest anyway. The glare you send him turns his humored smirk into a lighthearted smile, his eyes softening as he looks at you. "Come on, it's not that bad. They already know you can sing and have been dying to hear you anyway. The way I see it, you're doing them an injustice by gatekeeping that sweet voice of yours that I love so much. It'll be just like when you used to perform in college, except in front of friends and a bunch of drunks that won't remember whether or not you suck tomorrow."

"I can't believe you brought my 'open mic nights' into this," you huff, knowing fully well that he's won. Jake knows how much you love it when he praises the way you sing, even though you don't believe your voice is anything notable. "You're still an ass for not telling me."

"Maybe, but I'm your ass, and you love me for it," he flirts, playfully kissing you while everyone impersonate over embellished gagging noises at his words.

You giggle at their antics, molding against Jake's chest while they return to their usual banter. "When does it start?"

**********

"Alright, settle down everyone," Pete speaks into a mic, walking onto the makeshift platform that's specifically utilized for Karaoke. His presence makes the overall chatter in the bar die down as the attention shifts to him. "I know I'm not your usual MC but I was informed of a special guest tonight and requested that Penny let me give her a warm welcome." You catch the squad all glance at you in your peripheral vision, but choose to ignore them as Jake's arm falls across your shoulders. "Without further ado, I'd like to welcome Y/n Y/l/n to the stage!" Your eyes widen at the immediate introduction, they told you that you have to be the first in the friend group to perform. They never said anything about you starting off the entire damn circus with an introduction from their captain.

"You're up, Y/n," everyone cheers, watching Jake usher you forward. He smacks your butt before you're out of arms reach, earning an eye roll in response.

"You better be prepared to make up for this later," you quip, a serious look on your face with the subtle suggestion. Jake raises his eyebrows at your words, his classic smirk crossing his face as he shoots you a wink.

"I'll make it up to you all night, baby," he calls, not caring that half the bar hears what he said. Whistles sound through the room at his words, making your cheeks heat up in embarrassment. Pete offers you a hand when you reach the platform, immediately welcoming you into the spot next to him.

"Alright, now that she's here, let Karaoke night begin," he exclaims, sliding the mic into your hand before moving to stand next to Penny.

"Hey everybody," you timidly wave, taking a second to compose yourself while you cue for the song to start. The intro of "Love on the Brain," by Rihanna fills the room, earning various cheers across the room from those who recognize the song. "I swear, I'm not drunk enough for this." Laughter echoes around the room, everyone already enjoying your stage presence before you've even had a chance to start the song.

You take a deep breath, steadying the mic in front of your mouth, playing over the lyrics in your mind.

"And you got me like oh, what you want from me? And you tried to buy your pretty heart but the price's too high. Baby you got me like, oh," you sing, smiling at the chorus of claps ringing across the room. Everyone's attention is trained on you, no one having expected any actual talent to waft into the bar.

"Damn," Jake hears Natasha gush to no one in particular. Her eyes pan over to him, jaw slack in shock as your voice fills her ears. "I know you told us she can sing, but I didn't expect her to be this good." Pride swells in Jake's chest at the continuous praises showering over you from his colleagues mouths. He loves showering you with praise, but hearing his friends hype you up? That's next level for him. He watches you in awe from his spot several rows back, unable to tear his focus away from you as several more emotions flood his system.

The further you get into the song, the more comfortable you become. Strutting around the stage in confidence, you let your body do the talking, easily finding Jake's eyes in the sea of others. That's when you get an idea. He'd dragged you into this, and you want to be a little petty and make him pay for it.

The cordless mic makes it easy to see your plan through. The lyrics continue flowing from you as you take a step off the platform, eyes still locked on Jake as you make your way closer to him.

"Oh, and babe, I'm fist fighting with fire just to get close to you," you sing, your gaze burning so deeply into him that it makes him shiver. He's captivated by the way your hips sway as you walk, the melodic movements making it nearly impossible for him to keep his desire for you at bay. "And I'll run for miles, just to get a taste. Must be love on the brain..."

You're right in front of him now, deliberately trailing your hand down his chest to fully captivate him. To give him just enough that he's practically squirming in his chair in an attempt to collect his thoughts. Your forehead presses against his as you sing, and he's sure you're going to kiss him, but instead you pull away, breaking contact completely.

There's a stunned intake of breath from someone in your friend group when they notice your newfound attention on Bradley. Natasha's fighting back laughter, immediately catching on to what you're doing before watching it come to fruition.

Your gaze fixates on Bradley now, who eats up every second of the attention while Jake watches. He feels your fingers slowly drag across the skin on his neck, a laugh bubbling from his throat at the playful wink you shoot at him before turning your back to him and gently pushing yourself into his lap. Being the good guy that he is, Bradley plays along, while respectfully keeping his hands to himself. He respects you and Jake enough to not take it too far, but he's willing to be used as payback to get back at Jake.

"..It beats me black and blue but it fucks me so good and I can't get enough," your eyes lock with Jake's, lips twisted into a devilish smirk as you sing to him whilst leaning further into Bradley. Jake grips his glass so hard that it's a miracle it doesn't break. He knows exactly what you're doing, and it's working. "Must be love on the brain, yeah. And it keeps cursing my name." The simple task of you participating in karaoke has turned into a ploy to make Jake go absolutely feral, and everyone's eating it up.

"Jake's met his match," Bob snorts to Javy, who nods his head in agreement. The pair of them noticing the effect your scheme is having on Jake. It's a change of pace to see the overly confident man completely defenseless before you.

After a few more minutes of innocently ogling over Bradley, you decide you've tortured your boyfriend enough. A friendly kiss is pressed against Bradley cheek after you stand up, your attention remaining on him long enough to see him tilt his drink toward you humorously before you make your way back up to the platform, nearing the end of the song. You make a point to meet Jake's firey gaze, letting your eyes assure him that you know exactly who you belong to. There's no hiding the jealousy he's harboring over the attention you gave to Bradley. Even in knowing that you purposely did it to get him worked up, Jake's skin feels like it's on fire as he watches you with the image of you on Bradley's lap burns in the back of his mind.

"..don't you stop loving me, don't quit loving me, just start loving me..." The rest of the song fades out of Jake's senses. Though his eyes never leave your figure, his thoughts are solely centered around all of the ways he's going to make you pay for toying with him later. All of the ways he's going to have you squirming and moaning his name.

You can see how lost in thought he is from your spot on the stage, knowing you're in for it later as you finish the song. "..must be love on the brain." You wink in his direction, though you're not convinced he catches it.

He snaps out of his trance when the bar erupts with a heavy round of applause, cheers and whistles accompanying the noise as you humbly bow to the crowd. Penny climbs on the makeshift stage while the room starts chanting, "Encore," repeatedly, the praise growing louder when you bow again.

"Alright, alright everyone, settle down," Penny commands, gesturing for everyone to oblige as she chuckles at their enthusiasm. "That was amazing, thank you." She gives you a quick hug, keeping her hand on the small of your back. "I know you all love her, but we can't pay her to give us a full concert, so we're going to continue on with Karaoke as planned." A chorus of playful "boo's" sound across the room as you exit the area, ready to get back to your friends.

There's a wide grin on your face as you make your way back to your table, pleasantly thanking those around you who stop you to shoot you words of praise. After making it through the last conversation, your eyes find Jake's again, which have remained locked on you from the moment you started your crowd-winning performance. You smile in his direction, hurrying to close the space between the two of you to ease the performance induced adrenaline that's left your body buzzing.

"Well if it isn't the woman of the hour," Coyote applauds the moment you reach the group, earning a sheepish grin and rosey cheeks from you. You giggle in response, finding your place next to Jake while the squad begins gushing about your incredible, hidden, talent. Jake's arms loop around your waist, pulling you into a half-seated position on his lap while everyone continues carrying on about how shocked they are that music isn't the line of work you chose to pursue.

His breath fans against the exposed skin on your next, sending goosebumps across the area which are accompanied by chills that rush down your spine. He kisses your temple slowly, dragging his lips across your ear when he pauses, taking a deep breath.

"I know I dragged you into this without knowing what you were getting yourself into, but what you did wasn't fair," the words are husky and low, only meant for your ears to hear. You can tell by the tone in his voice that he's frustrated and that your little game to get him worked up was successful. You twist your head in the slightest so that you can meet his dark gaze, your eyes innocent and twinkling as you shoot him a knowing smirk.

"I don't know what you're talking about Lieutenant," you whisper slowly, making a point to keep your tone sickly sweet in that way that always drives him crazy. "You asked for a show, and I'd like to think that I gave you one. I'm sure Rooster would agree." His eyes narrow in your direction, Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he swallows to clear his throat. You're being a brat, and it's driving him up the wall that he can't put you in your place in the way that he wants to.

"I'm sure he would, darlin'," he smiles, leaning back in the slightest to compose himself. There's a glimmer that flashes in his eyes as you watch him carefully, enjoying the way that he's subtly flustered by the casual name drop of his colleague who's only sitting a few feet away. Jake's pulling himself back in, lips grazing your ears once more as his signature smirk curves onto his lips. "But, it want be Rooster's name you'll be moaning once I get you home, it'll be mine."

Now it's your jaw that's practically on the floor, heat rushing to your cheeks as you lose the upper hand in the little competition the two of you have going. Jake's a pro when it comes to taking these little games and twisting them so that you're the one who's hot and bothered, antsy to get home, while he pulls back and makes you wait. You mentally curse yourself for not finding the right words to put yourself back on top, but a part of you knows that you were asking for this behavior when you made the decision to egg Jake on in front of the entire squad, using Bradley as your scapegoat because seeing you drape yourself over him is the exact thing you knew would drive Jake crazy.

"What's the matter, darlin'? Don't have anything to say now," Jake teases, dipping away from you so that he can take a sip of his beer while you watch him, apparently defenseless, as the cockiness in his tone grows slightly. He's got you right where he wants you, and he's weaseled his way into his favorite spot to be. Right on top.

The rest of the night at the Hard Deck continues on as planned, you and Jake making points to challenge each other further as the night progresses. Many laughs are shared as the rest of the squad participates in their own karaoke performances, your favorite being Jake and Coyote's rendition of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling," as it was the song Jake serenaded you with ages prior when he saw you at a bar, hosting a karaoke night just like this one.

By the end of the night, Jake's practically dragging you out of the bar, over the pleasantries and well past ready to get you home. You force him to contain himself long enough that you can bid the other aviators proper goodbyes. He stands in his spot impatiently, talking to Coyote and Javy while you make your rounds with everyone.

"I hope he doesn't go too hard on you," Bradley whispers, his stature light after you pull away from your friendly hug.

You laugh at his words, squeezing his arm in playful assurance that you can handle what Jake has planned. "Truthfully, him going hard on me might have been part of my plan. Don't worry about me Rooster." Loud laughs echo from Bradley's chest as he shakes his head with an award-winning smile.

"Fair enough," he chuckles, giving you one last hug before Jake drags you away with a casual goodbye to everyone.

He speeds down the nearly vacant streets with one hand on the wheel and one hand squeezing your thigh. Neither of you have to say anything to know where your minds were at, especially when the truck is thrown into park in your driveway and he's rushing you into the house, bridal style.

Let's just say that Jake was right about one thing, Rooster's name was the last thing on your mind the second you were tangled in the sheets with your favorite Lieutenant.

*********************************

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Tags: @clancycucumber230 @sehnsuchts-trunken @atarmychick007 @b-radbradshaw @teacupsandtopgun @fanboygarcia @bradleybeachbabe @rosiahills22 @athenabarnes @fogle97 @vici111 @noz4a2 @bcon24 @startterfly @fandomunite2107

[angelofanimation]

My Favorite Cartoon Villains Go to Therapy

Therapist: I must say, usually it takes a while for clients to open up about their issues. Thank you for being so upfront. Dr. Doofenshmirtz, surrounded by projectors, blueprints, and chorus girls: Hey, no problem! :D Dr. Doofenshmirtz, internally: This is great. I’m going to get a good grade in therapy, something that is normal to want and possible to achieve. Therapist: …and do you feel regret for your actions? Plankton: No. Absolutely not. The old crab has to get what’s coming to him. Therapist: You don’t think you’re blowing this out of proportion? Plankton: Look, one way or another things have to get better for the little guy. He’s the one building his monopoly while the rest of us are trying to recover from a nuclear disaster. Therapist: It’s a burger recipe. Plankton: It’s a tool of *dolphin noise* oppression, is what it is. Sideshow Bob, sitting on the floor and babbling: he followed me to italy. who does that. i was free. i was free! *devolves into hysterical sobs/laughs* Therapist: You know, I try not to think of my clients as beyond all help. Sideshow Bob: *face fucking falls off* Therapist: Fuck this. I’m referring you to Dr. Crane. Therapist: *finally got Bob out of his office* Rob/Dr. Wrecker: It’s not his fault, you know. Therapist: ? Rob: His arc could have ended peacefully three or four times over by now. Blame the writers who can’t let a good thing die, they’re the ones who drove him to madness. Therapist: How did you get in here? Rob: Plot hole

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Illusion

You know, It's really sad how this is a Lila episode, and she somehow isn't the most annoying character to come out of it.

Let's get into the fifth episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fifth season: Illusion

We start off with a news broadcast where several people are interviewed about the recent developments this season. There's an attempt made to show differing perspectives, but while half are recurring characters who are confident Ladybug and Cat Noir will beat Monarch (Xavier, Mr. Damocles, and Alec), the other half are antagonistic characters who either blame Ladybug for everything going wrong or are too stupid to care about the bigger picture (XY, Chloe, and Bob Roth).

This is one of the overarching problems with the show, its refusal to show any nuance in its arguments. We already know how easy it is for the writers to blame Marinette for things whenever there's a conflict, but whenever there's an argument where both sides make interesting points, the opposing side is almost always represented by an antagonist or jerk who frames their view in either a condescending or idiotic way so it's easy for the viewer to brush them off, and the same can be applied to their side of the argument as well. Hell, it's already happened twice this season with Lila and Chloe (Multiplication, Determination). It just comes across like the show is pretending to act like its conflict is deeper without actually showing any real nuance with it. I get that some arguments aren't morally gray, but if you're trying to discuss Ladybug's past failures, put more effort into showing how the people of Paris would see something like this without knowing the full context.

Also, this is a minor thing, but I actually like how when we see Alec on the talk show, he's wearing a wig like the one he had in “Wishmaker”, and has the same positive outlook on life he had at the end of that episode. For a show that usually plays loosey-goosey with its continuity, it's surprising to see the writers actually acknowledge the character growth of someone as insignificant as Alec.

Congratulations, Miraculous Ladybug. You managed to give a very minor side character a consistent arc. Now if only you could put the same amount of effort into writing your main cast.

We cut to Adrien's room where, shock of all shocks, he isn't exactly a fan of his image being used for a high-tech ring without his consent. He storms off to see his father, but it turns out that Gabriel is experimenting with the idea of not being such a terrible father for once. He's making breakfast, saying that Adrien can call him “Dad” now, and even admits that he's been very neglectful towards his son ever since Emilie “disappeared”. Yeah, he's cooking breakfast in his white suit and haircut that makes him look like a grandpa for some reason, but hey, at least the kitchen isn't on fire.

Of course, Gabriel still isn't really good at comforting his son, as seen with his response to Adrien's concerns about Alliance.

Adrien: Speaking of which, Dad, I'm not really comfortable with having my face on all these rings. That's actually why I didn't want to be a model anymore, to avoid that. Do you understand?

Gabriel: Of course, I understand, my son. But that's the point; it's just an image, it's not you! And since this image frees you from your obligations, we, the Agrestes, are able to spend more time together. But if you'd rather everything went back to the way it was before, just say the word.

Adrien: You're probably right.

Gabriel: You'll see, my son. Alliance will bring us closer.

“I know you're concerned about me using your image for something that I could have hired literally anyone else for, but if you would rather go back to being a model on a strict schedule, just say the word.”

Father of the year, ladies and gentlemen.

We get a decent interaction between Marinette and Alya where they discuss ways that Monarch could be giving Miraculous to his Akumas, unaware of what the Alliance rings do. Alya comes up with an interesting hypothesis that Monarch is using the Dog Miraculous to swipe them back, and honestly, that sounds like a much better plan than “develop a cutting-edge AI ring and hope whoever I akumatize had enough money to buy one”. I like this bit, as it shows the two thinking of ways to stop Monarch beyond beating whatever Akuma he sends out next. It honestly could have been a really interesting story arc to see Marinette, Cat Noir, and Alya learn more about how Monarch is using the new Miraculous he got instead of having us know what he's doing already.

After class ends, Nino talks to Adrien about an underground resistance he's forming with his friends, deciding to give each member a condiment-themed title.

Alya: What's up with the sauces?

Nino: What's up is Ladybug and Cat Noir don't have us to help them anymore.

Alya: (nervously) Um... uh... what do you mean, “us”?

Nino: Well, us, you Rena Rouge, me Carapace! (Alya kicks Nino's leg underneath the table) Ouch! What's the big deal? We can tell Marinette and Adrien we used to be superheroes. It's not like we have any Miraculous that Monarch could steal from us. The only ones who need to protect their secret identities are Ladybug and Cat Noir, not us. And anyway, I already told Adrien about Carapace.

Adrien: (chuckles nervously)

Marinette: Adrien knew?! Alya, did you know that he knew?!

Alya: What, no, I swear I didn't know at all! (kicks Nino's leg again)

Nino: Ow! Come on! He's my best bud, I can tell him stuff! You and Marinette tell each other stuff, don't you?

Alya and Marinette: No we don't!

Yeah, remember how shocking it was for Nino to reveal that he and Alya were Rena Rouge and Carapace to Adrien in “Rocketear”, and how we thought this reveal would play into something big like the Season 4 finale, possibly splintering the trust several characters had with each other? This is what it culminates in. Wasn't waiting over a year since that plotpoint was established totally worth it for that gag that once again ignores the secret identity rule?

Also, just because you don't have a Miraculous, it doesn't mean Monarch can't target you like he did last season (Optigami, Sentibubbler), you dumbass.

For the first time in God knows how long, Lila actually becomes relevant when she asks to sit with the four, only to be rebuffed by Marinette and Nino. Using some more condiments and food as props, Nino explains his plan.

Nino: We're gonna film an akumatization.

Alya: And how are you, Comrade Ketchup, gonna be in the know when and where this akumatization takes place?

Nino: Easy, Comrade Beurre Maître d'Hôtel. I'm gonna make it happen.

Yep, this is the plot of the episode, people. Nino's going to try and get someone akumatized. Now I know what you're all obviously thinking: Isn't this cruel?

Adrien: Isn't that cruel?

Alya: Totally! To make someone suffer just to discover Monarch's technique? Super cruel!

Nino: No, it's not! You forget Ladybug always fixes everything in the end with her magic ladybugs! The akumatized victims forget what happened to them.

Oh yeah, this is totally ethical, you guys. Who cares about the emotional trauma an Akuma victim would go through, much less any civilians endangered by their rampage?

To make things even better, guess who Nino wants to get akumatized?

Okay, putting aside what we, the audience, already know about Gabriel that Nino doesn't, why would he think pissing off one of the most influential fashion designers in the city of Paris is a good idea? He says he's targeting him because it's easy to do so during parent-teacher conferences, but why not target someone else who has been akumatized more often than him, like Xavier/Mr. Pigeon? I don't think the idea of a more morally gray plan to stop Monarch is a bad one, it's just that this plan is so stupid, and the writers only go over the ethical implications, and that said plan is so ludicrous, Nino is basically asking for a restraining order.

While Adrien and Marinette agree to Nino's plan, Alya only hesitantly goes along with it, but unbeknownst to any of them, Lila was overhearing their conversation, so she goes to tell Gabriel what they're doing. During the conferences, Marinette barges in and pretends to trip and drop some pizza onto Gabriel's clothes, and I'm going to assume that either the pizza was cold of Gabriel is really good at keeping a cool head because there's no way taking a hot pizza to the chest wouldn't hurt like hell. Adrien and Alya come in with more food, and we get the one funny joke of the episode with Alya half-assing her performance as the half-heartedly throws some cake onto Gabriel's suit. Pretty funny how Nino is conveniently the only one who isn't taking the risk by attacking Gabriel in front of his teacher by filming the whole thing, isn't it?

Gabriel has had enough and does a 180, planning to take Adrien out of school and somehow, Marinette blames herself for going along with the plan... even though she was the only one to not approve of it, while Adrien and Alya did, and even then, the latter two were very hesitant. It turns out this was all part of Gabriel's plan, as we see him transform into Monarch as soon as he gets to his lair and uses Trixx's power to create a Mirage of his civilian form, having a breakdown so dramatic, I'm surprised he didn't end it by saying, “YOU ARE TEARING ME APART, MARINETTE!”.

The illusion of Gabriel turns into the Collector again, and now he supposedly has the Horse Miraculous' Voyage as a power. Adrien and Marinette transform into Cat Noir and Ladybug respectively, and try to fend off the “Akuma”. Back in Monarch's lair, we learn that he somehow has the ability to unify with five different Miraculous at once, choosing to do so with the Bee, Mouse, Horse, and Rooster Miraculous. Why is he able to do this now?

Monarch uses Voyage and heads to the sewers, activating Venom before using Multiplication to create eight smaller clones of himself, finally using Sublimination to give the copies the power of invisibility. Strange, wouldn't wanting to be invisible count as a wish? While looking for “the Collector”, Ladybug uses her Lucky Charm, getting a bag of shredded cheese. The two chase after the illusion, only to fall through a Voyage portal into the sewers, where Cat Noir is almost immediately stunned by one of the clones. Hey, it took five whole episodes this season for him to be incapacitated by an Akuma to pointlessly raise the stakes this time! It's a new record! Ladybug throws the cheese to reveal the clones, who are then chased off by some nearby rats.

Monarch goes back to his normal form, and after a small pep talk, the illusion pretends to reject the Akuma entirely before falling into the water. The real Gabriel detransforms and then pretends to have gotten out. So Gabriel tricked the heroes with his foolproof plan... except for the fact that Ladybug and Cat Noir should have recognized the use of Venom, the hidden clones of the Collector when the video Nino got only said he had the Horse Miraculous' power, the akuma somehow purifying itself when Ladybug still needed to de-evilize it in “Rocketear” and “Penalteam”, the fact that Gabriel should be soaking wet from falling into the water, and the—okay, you all know where this is going.

Meanwhile, Nino sees the footage of the illusion and sees what he believes to be the way Monarch gave the Collector the Horse Miraculous' powers. Nino then apologizes to Gabriel for attacking him, Gabriel forgives him, and Nino invites him into the Resistance, with a bunch of new members. The final scene reveals that in addition to Nino, Alya, Marinette, Adrien, and Gabriel, the Resistance now has Max, Kim, Rose, Juleka, Ivan, Mylene, and to Marinette's horror, Lila. Also, there's a post-credits scene where Gabriel explains what he did to Tomoe when literally everyone watching was able to figure it out.

Okay, so let's summarize. The first mission for Nino's resistance involved assaulting a private civilian, was easily discovered before it could even be implemented, was just as easily foiled by an illusion, now Monarch and one of his allies have infiltrated the alliance as moles, and Nino isn't even aware that his plan was a colossal failure. This resistance isn't exactly going to be like the Rebel Alliance, is it?

Yeah, this episode sucked. It's easily the worst one so far in my opinion. There were a handful of decent moments and ideas here, but my God, the story was just terrible. Morally gray subject or not, it's hard to get behind the heroes when they try to intentionally piss someone off for a plan that the audience knows is going to fail, especially a plan as stupid as Nino's. This episode features Nino at his most obnoxious and unlike Alya, Marinette, and especially Adrien, he doesn't even feel bad for what he did to Gabriel when it ended up being (as far as we know) completely pointless. It feels like the writers wanted to gloss over the ethics of Nino's plan by making Gabriel the victim, because if it was anyone else, it would have made him look like a colossal prick. The fact that he learns nothing and thinks his moronic scheme was a success really doesn't help.

The other characters thankfully weren't as bad. It seemed like the writers were trying to show some self-awareness by having Alya, Marinette, and Adrien object to the plan in one way or another, but it never really went much other than them begrudgingly going along with it, much less calling him out for his actions. At the same time, they all got some decent moments, like Alya and Marinette's discussion about Monarch and Adrien struggling to convey his feelings about the Alliance rings to Gabriel.

It's also kind of weird that it took us about five episode into the season for Lila to finally be relevant again after she did absolutely nothing for the last three episodes of Season 4 and the first four episodes of this season. It was only three and a half years since “Ladybug”, the last major Lila episode premiered, right? But hey, at least the writers didn't overindulge in the dumb Lila lies like her other episodes, and was used more as an informant to kick off Gabriel's counter to Nino's plan.

Putting aside how terrible Nino's plan was, Gabriel's plan still had a lot of problems to it. Like I already mentioned, it's a little strange that Ladybug and Cat Noir never talk about the tiny clones they fought, or the fact that Cat Noir was stung by Venom. I can kind of suspend my disbelief by saying Ladybug was too focused on the battle to think, but why the hell didn't Cat Noir say anything? You would think after working alongside Queen Bee and Vesperia, he would recognize what being stung by Venom must look like. Yeah, Ladybug and Cat Noir didn't know Monarch can now use more powers for some reason, but it still really bothers me, because they should know the Collector can't multiply himself. It's also strange that he made his trick so hard to find when you would think it would be more obvious to see

But overall, this one was just a chore to get through. It feels like the writers saw how much some people didn't like Nino in “Rocketear”, and were like, “You call THAT character assassination?” And speaking of...

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE EPISODE IS... NINO

Was there ever any doubt? The dude talked about his identity in a public place, nonchalantly blew him and his girlfriend's cover when he had no reason to for his Resistance, tried to get his best friend's dad akumatized while not caring about any potential damage, showed no remorse for what he did when his plan blew up in his face, tried to tell Ladybug and Cat Noir about what he learned while they were fighting the Collector, and all that was for a plan that didn't even work because the intel was discovered with ease, to say nothing about how he unintentionally let two enemies into his own Resistance. I've seen a lot of stupid decisions in this show, but never have I seen a single episode where a character makes screw-up after screw-up and doesn't even realize how much of a colossal moron he's being. With the past five episodes I covered and awarded Biggest Idiot Awards to (Ladybug, Alya, Xuppu, Mr. Damocles, and Luka), it was more them not seeing the bigger picture. Here, Nino is honestly trying to help Ladybug and Cat Noir, yet he failed at his job in every way.

[renhaswritersblock]

hello!! could you do w, i, and o for abner on the nsfw alphabet? i am so desperate for content abt him lmao 😭😭 thank u for still writing him

Abner Krill (Polka-dot-man) - NSFW Request (I, O, W)

Me: Oh boy, Abner! I’ve always been wanting to write something about this colorful dancing king queen since I watched TSS. This is going to be fun!

[Two/half months later.]

Me: *Staring intently at a bulletin board covered in pictures and notes with red string connecting to them, not knowing what time or day it is.*

Life [Walks in.]: Hey, uhh– friendly reminder that you still have that Government paper due tomorrow.

Me: MUTHERFU–

[Weeks later.]

Me [On the floor, defeated by the heavy mass of writer's block, reaching towards laptop to press enter.]: Finished– *Get’s crushed by an anvil of more writing tasks.*

—

A/N: I had made a Venn Diagram of Abs, Bob, and Lonny to differ the boys since they all fall under the meow meow category. So, thank you for the wait.

Ima say this takes place after the TSS movie – don’t care if he died, as James A. Janisse would maybe say, “No body, no count.” (Same with Flag. *kicks book of Necromancy For Dummies under bed*)

Warning: Usual NSFW stuff, nothing too extreme. Made some parts long (cause I do what I want). Some head cannons that totally didn’t come up to me randomly while I was halfway through finishing. No proofreading, I go down in style. Is there anything smutty in the first half? No, not really. Did I get carried away again and build a oneshot sort of story? Perhaps. Will I ever make a long smutty moment in any of the alphabet requests? Idk. Hotel? Trivago.

Leans toward female reader pov, but mostly towards gender neutral.

Anyhoo, happy readings!

===

I: Intimacy (*looks over at the letter C* Perhaps, I misjudged you.)

Abner lacks physical and emotional intimacy – and you can’t really blame him for it. Being locked up in Belle Reve and made fun of by the other inmates for so long – and to top it all off, his condition and past – he doesn’t have good social skills nor the confidence to approach someone for friendly/flirtatious banter. Even when he and his Task Force X friends go out to celebrate their new freedom at a local club, he still remains reserved and hidden. So he thought.

Throughout the night, Abner watched everyone have fun while sitting in a booth next to a large – totally not a man-eating shark – distinguish gentleman with a mustache, staring intently at a fish tank behind them. Cleo was out dancing wildly on the dance floor with a group of people, Harley sat across the room drinking with three intimidating women, and both Flag and Dubois went somewhere private to chat and drink alone. He consistently looks around the large room, scanning the neon interior and dancing occupant exotically swaying side to side, sipping his drink until his eyes land on a certain someone sitting by the bar. You.

You idly sat on one of the empty stools, swirling your drink in apathy and wearing the most eccentric, colorful outfit that made you stick out of the crowd. Abner nearly choked, spitting his drink through his nose, and erupted into a coughing fit. He didn’t notice Cleo returning to the booth, rushing to sit beside him, gently hitting his back. You were alone – in fact – you looked like you were waiting for someone, glancing at your surroundings and at your phone every minute. 

Supposedly, your date should’ve been here an hour ago. They texted you the address to this place to meet you at a time that was way past your curfew. Without a second thought, you agreed. You spend your whole evening prepping yourself to look nice. The only attire suitable for your first night out was the one that made it look like a clown puked on you. Looking around once more, you scan the room in hopes of seeing your date, not spotting Abner a few feet away staring gawkily at you, swiftly ducking his head to avoid glances.

Abner could feel his face burn red hot, he couldn’t hear Cleo’s muffled words over the sound of his heart pounding in his ear. He finally drew his attention towards Cleo when he heard her say, your glowing. Instantly, he slaps his face out of instinct to check if his glowing rash started popping up – knowing already he expelled the dots before they left. This is a first… Cleo gaped as his face began to flare up into dim hues of blue and red to green and yellow. His eyes move back to you, staring at your phone with a bleak expression. 

Honestly, you weren’t surprised when the screen showed they left you on read. You figured they would bail at the last minute, wasting half of your night to embarrass yourself. Thoughts began running through your head as you felt your chest grow heavy. I think that’s enough for one night. Holding back your tears, you took a shot of your drink and tapped the glass on the counter, going to spin your chair towards the exit when a tall man wearing what seems to be also a colorful button-up blouse blocks your way, startling you. Abner stood stiff as a board, nervously smiling at you. There was a moment of silence between you two. You watched as he glanced over and back at you, sending you mixed signals. Curious at what he was looking at, you turned and spotted two girls looking directly at you, one waving shyly, the other giving a thumbs up, and a– Wait is that a shark in disguise and a rat also waving at us?

You snap your attention back to the man in front of you, hearing him clear his throat out of discomfort before introducing himself as Abner, reaching his hand out towards you. To your dismay, you mindlessly took his hand, shaking it while telling him your name. Abner’s heart flutters at the sight of you smiling softly at him. You catch a glimpse of his cheeks glowing strangely, thinking it could be the lighting in the room. He takes a seat next to you, mumbling if he can buy you a drink, his smile widening when you accept the offer.

Shortly after your second drink, you hit it off pretty quickly, talking about certain things the two of you like, such as movies, and him introducing you to the group – keeping a very close eye on Nana– Bob doesn’t do anything to you. 

Soon you two were on the dance floor, swaying and bobbing your heads to the music, and before you knew it, you were face-to-face. Abner remembered sharing a long gaze with you, feeling as if time suddenly froze. He felt his cheeks boil achingly, noticing your expression contort into a bewildered look. Random patches of colorful glowing dots appeared and disappeared on his face. His eyes seemed to change color, following the primitive colors. 

Although you admired the way he looked, Abner on the other hand took it as a sign of being repulsed, causing something to trigger in his mind. But before he could let the imagery into his head, he hears you call out his name, slowly approaching him. You ask if you could hold his hand, reaching out for it when he accepts. You both stood in the middle for a while, only listening to the music playing on the speakers. Once he felt himself subside, he pulls towards him, wrapping his arms around your waist. You did the same, putting your arms around his neck, whispering reassuring words. He burrows his face into your shoulder, embracing the unknown feeling in his chest as his face emits a dim glow once again.

O: Oral 

*Abner: Clitoris?! Labia Majora?! Damn girl, how many pussies you got?!*

Abs is ok with giving oral to his partner. He’s a lil’ confuse at first, but he got spirit. He isn’t on the top 3, but somewhere around maybe 4-5. Krill prefers to use his hands to stimulate you than his mouth – since he can be flamboyant. It’s also a way for him to be slightly dominant and in control, edging you as soon as you near climaxing. 

When receiving oral from you, he melts into a whimpering puddle – he’s squirmish and restless at times, but only because you keep teasing his tip and shaft for revenge. To him, the sensation never gets old.

W: Wild Card (*cracks knuckles*)

*inhales*

Liiiiisten.

There’s a hc I have for this guy, but I prefer not to say what it is since it’s quite…vulgar. That and it also goes with a letter that rhymes with see. So here’s two headcannons that are pretty tame. Also, I hc Abner to be a vers.

Anyways.

Whenever Abner is having sexual intercourse with his partner, showing his emotions can be rather complex than his platonic relationship with you. Thus when he’s trying to gaze into your eyes, all you receive is a wide-eyed stare as he thrusts into you. Another aspect of his is uncontrollable giggling. At any moment, when you're riding him, something in his head switches and causes him to be a laughing mess. You remembered briefly stopping to ask him why he keeps laughing every single time you ask that question his response is the same, it feels good.

===

A/N: Hope ya'll enjoyed reading, and thank you for liking/reblogging. I find it hard to express my emotions sometimes and overthink it. When I see that I'm getting positive remarks on a couple of stuff I wrote, I acknowledge and appreciate the kindness, but never respond to it. So again, thank you so much for the support. Next one's gonna be a Johnson request, and then whatevers on the to-do list.

[redux-iterum]

I'll start over lol, legacy naming can be fine if done well but i don't think it has. Hollytuft + Sibs appeared to us as adults so we don't get to know about them. Cinderheart was cute until we had the whole "shes actually cinderpelt lmao" moment. The two Mouses and Leafs just had no excuse to be there. And if I was Ivypool and my kid died I would NOT want some random cat immediately naming their daughter after her. Isn't that kind of traumatizing? I got rid of all legacy namings that occur -

in cats younger than Holly in my AVOS/TBC allegiances and in my rewriting exercise I'm making Sparkpaw just be really obsessed with being Firestar's kin so her eventual naming of Flamekit makes a bit more sense. At least I can excuse 4 Robinwings to the Erin's forgetting they all existing(not a valid excuse tho imo), having two Frecklewishes is just insane. Was literally nothing else an option? Frecklesong, Freckletuft, Frecklemint? I've also noticed stuff from the beginning like having a semi - prominent Ashfur in Into The Wild's ShadowClan then immediately having Ashkit/(fur) in Fire and Ice's ThunderClan. At the very least, literary-wise, it feels like too much repeating too quickly. I'm not against two Bobs existing at the same time but still…I've actually put down a good fic because they named literally everyone in TC after a dead cat and I got annoyed lol. Names were like, Ferndust Bluestorm Frostheart etc

TV Tropes has a trope relevant to this: One-Steve Limit. While it's very common for people to share names in the real world, in fiction it's avoided to make things easier on your readers/viewers and prevent repetitiveness. The point of not sharing names is for each character to stand out on their own; often when there are multiples of one name (for example, Heather in "Heathers"), there's a reason to it, usually to mock the hivemind-nature of the characters or establish a theme of putting people in boxes they can't escape from (such as in Steven Universe where every gem of one type shares the same name and remains stuck in one role for their entire existence).

In the case of Warriors, I feel that "rule" rings truest. To be entirely fair to the writers, they have hundreds of characters to name, most of them never even showing up in the books beyond being mentioned in the allegiances. A prefix or suffix is going to appear multiple times - that's just unavoidable, especially if you have rules in place for what names are allowed that limits your options. I can't blame them for that issue coming up a few times accidentally.

What I can blame them for is deliberately using names that have important characters attached to them barely a generation later. In a setting where you have to keep track of every name, even as a reader, it's going to cause nothing but trouble if Greystripe dies and in the next book there's a Greykit in the very same Clan. It creates a constant stream of Grey-, which can accidentally confuse readers, or at the very least trip them up for a few seconds - something you DO NOT want in a story, especially one aimed at kids, where things need to be clear and concise.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

The Pixar shift saga continued:

All over twitter and even BlueSky, I see it, and it's quite something. Hell, people I know who barely ever talk about animation, or film or pop culture for that matter, are talking about it... Animators, artists, filmmakers, critics... All calling it out.

Namely, Pixar CCO Pete Docter's words on having Pixar - at the behest of Disney executives - move away from telling "autobiographical" stories, making films that are personal to their respective filmmakers... Hollow, corporate words that I bet he was "supposed" to say.

The backlash is almost feverish. To the point where some are reading it as Pixar catering to white people only, given that two of those "autobiographical" films are... Let's see... TURNING RED, directed by Chinese-Canadian Domee Shi, and ELEMENTAL, directed by Korean-American Peter Sohn. SOUL as well, Docter's latest directorial endeavor, which was co-directed/written by Kemp Powers. Whether the intent is "no more autobiographical/personal stories" or "no more stories told from different cultural backgrounds", the pull quote is still NOT a good look. Hell, I'd say this looks worse than the time John Lasseter fired Brenda Chapman off of BRAVE.

And I wonder if this quote, otherwise tucked away on some cynical Bloomberg article whose writer feels that sequels will "restore Pixar's magic", getting all this scrutiny online possibly leads to... Pipe dream... A clarification at the very least? Some kind of backtracking?

Look I'm no dummy, corporations are gonna corporation. I'm pretty sure if Disney overlords are mandating it, it's gonna happen either way. Bob Iger's whole deal, after taking back the reigns from Bob Chapek (who he appointed in the first place), is this need to make the films "better". And that means interfering with the filmmakers instead of considering every other variable: High budgets, competition, a much different marketplace, how COVID wrecked everything and accelerating long-gestating problems in the industry, etc.

But the statements didn't go unnoticed, and there's some hot water brewing. Maybe an animation news site, particularly one that practically THRIVES off of this kind of drama, amplifies it. And maybe, just maybe... A little controversy erupts over it? Part of me feels that this won't go unnoticed, it already hasn't in some circles. Twitter and BlueSky and such are not real life, but I think the eruption over this quote speaks volumes. Pixar is often associated with original storytelling that's often from the filmmakers' passions and hearts, and to hear Docter essentially say "We're not going to do that anymore" has been a shock to many, myself included.

And again, if you've read my previous rants on this, I don't blame Docter. I think he's merely just saying what Iger's cronies want him to say. He said something similar a year ago after ELEMENTAL was released:

"I always felt that ELEMENTAL would speak to a lot of people, and I'm so happy it has... But we have also taken another look at the projects we're working on now. What are the kinds of films we want to be making? I really think I want to double down on what allowed us to speak to audiences to begin with."

This quote, from October of last year, went relatively unnoticed. This seems to put it into perspective better, even if it's a little more vague. This sounds more "let's play up certain commercial elements" and not "squash out the personal stuff".

I don't mind a compromise where an artistic vision shares the 90 minutes with what the bean counters call "general appeal" or whatever. Often times, that's just how the sausage is even made in animation-land, even if it makes for results we might not always like. That's literally the entirety of Disney Animation's output from the mid-'90s up until the mid-'00s. Films like HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME had things like the silly gargoyles and fart jokes, yet they were still allowed to have some really great stuff in them and really cool filmmaking that young animation fans marvel at today. It's even a thing in the praised '10s movies, too. And a lot of the non-Disneys, too. NIMONA, for example. Take away the punk edge and LGBTQIA+ perspective, and it's quite similar to a lot of Western animated movies, particularly the "mild-mannered character gets saddled with the funny and unpredictable sidekick" thing with Ballister and Nimona, and that end-of-2nd-act breakup.

Outside of the SPIDER-VERSE movies and maybe PUSS IN BOOTS 2, it's typically imperfect in the American feature animation circuit. There's almost always behind the scenes battles and compromising, and ultimately, I'm happy if we still get a film that looks like something the filmmakers had a great time making and were able to work around certain notes/mandates/etc.

This is merely speculation on my part, but what matters is that the quote that's under fire is recent. Like, days ago recent. And I wonder what'll happen from here... Things go as Iger wants them to go? Or some kind of attempt at correction?

[elfdragon12]

So, another "Furman writes women, especially Arcee, with a suspiciously resentful tone" post...

So, according to tfwiki, the editorial segment for issue 229 said that upcoming issue 236 "Prime's Rib" was "for all you feminists out there"...

And this is how said feminists were written. There's often an undercurrent of "feminist angry!" in the way he writes women, robot or human.

It seems that Simon Furman seems to feel that it's the feminists fault that he has to write female--I mean gendered robots. Because robots using male pronouns totally doesn't mean they're gendered!

However, male writers have often been the ones adding female robots. Bob Budiansky originally intended for Ratchet to be female. Ron Friedman actively pushed Hasbro to include Arcee for his daughter and she was always a part of the Transformers the Movie script (boy, did time prove him right for it). The female Paradron medic was in an episode written by Tom Cinciripini and Larry Leahy. Alpha Trion's female counterpart was written by the (then) married couple, Gerry and Carla Conway. The only episode introducing female Cybertronians with just a female writer credited is "The Search For Alpha Trion", though Beth Bornstein did introduce the most. Then, in Beast Wars, it was story co-editors Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio who wanted a female character on each side.

So yeah, Furman seems to blame the feminists for having to acknowledge female robots, but his fellow male creatives were also invested in having female robots.

[i-am-autistic]

Alright this is a pre-cursor to the Jonathan-Joyce post but I will write that I think Joyce's writing post S2 is a big barrier to exploring and acknowledging the complexity within Jonathan as a character. In the sense that Joyce is a largely popular character and the writers clearly want to lean into that in s3 and s4. But at the same time they do this by ignoring that in s1 she was set up to not be just this ditsy mom. She clearly had some sort of mental health issues directly referenced by Jonathan, she was clearly partially neglectful(She still is) to him. But S3 and S4 really don't lean into that or show it, when they have to acknowledge it, it's a minor joke in the 2nd episode(Jonathan, what is wrong with you). Jonathan himself as a character is never going to blame Joyce for everything is something that needs to be emphasized so if he's in scenes alone that tension will just not exist or be acknowledged by him. It's only acknowledged if you have them interact with eachother. He's just not going to do it himself because it's not within him to hold resentment like that especially because between Joyce "shutting down",Lonnie and being an outsider at school he has been trained to be happy with the scraps of attention and love he gets and not rely on others. For him it doesn't even register that whats happening is toxic. When he talks to Nancy in s3 after being fire it's pretty clear that for him, worrying about bills is just normal for him.......at 16. The only fic I've ever very much been interested in writing is a Byers home fic between S2 and S3 where Jonathan observes Joyce grieving Bob but he has no idea how to approach it in any way and I think in my mind eventually he just doesn't and keeps his distance from Joyce during that period because he genuinely just doesn't know what to say in which I would interweave that with a bunch of scenes of them from Jonathan's childhood showing Joyce's "shut downs". Because I think that situation repeats itself for them a bunch of times during Jonathan's childhood and I think that those are the points where Jonathan eventually has to learn how to be his independent self. How to get himself and will to and from school, how to make breakfast and other meals for everyone,etc. But also I think the emotional independence is important there.....I also think about a young Jonathan with a good grade coming home from school and having no one to show it to except Will who doesn't quite grasp it. Or winning a photography award at school and not having anyone to share it with. Or wanting to go to a movie and not having anyone to take him(2 tickets to Poltergeist). Or just wanting to go trick or treating as a kid and not having anyone. Or being bullied and not having anyone to cry to. Because I think those are the moments as a kid where you get conditioned to not rely on others for validation or support. Those are the moments as a kid that you learn when you're sad you should just go to your room and cry into your pillow on your own and somehow enough tears on the pillow makes the pain go away and when you're happy you should get yourself a little something to celebrate because no one else is going to.

Also finally this is contradictory because I started this post roasting s3 but like the scene where Jonathan and Nancy have a fight. And the contrast presented between the two of them when they go home is like pure cinema. Nancy goes home and gets a whole ass pep rally from Karen and Jonathan goes home, falls asleep on his bed alone and wakes up the next morning and just has to deal with it.

[shadamyheadcanons]

Headcanon #284: Heart of Gold

((Inspired by a recent post that shared this cool fact about Amy:

Apparently, one of Amy’s special abilities is “searching for gold.” Who knew?

This headcanon is rooted in the Shadow the Hedgehog route known as “The Black Hero’s Rebirth.” It’s very similar to the “Miracle of Love” route in that Shadow is kind of a dick until he meets Amy and immediately becomes purely heroic for the rest of the run, but this one has the “bonus” of Shadow ditching Knuckles in Glyphic Canyon right before he meets up with her.))

Cross-posted on AO3

--

Amy’s breathless laughter died down as the latest episode of their favorite show drew to a close. She turned her smile Shadow’s way.

“Thanks again for hanging out with me, Shadow. I never have anything to do on Saturdays.” After a moment, her eyes bugged out. “Wait, no! I don’t mean you’re a last resort or anything! I really--”

Shadow held up a hand to stop her. “I knew what you meant. I’m glad to be here.” She sighed in relief.

He almost said ‘I feel lucky just to be a part of your life at all,’ but that felt like a bit much. Instead, he asked, “Why? Are all your other friends busy on Saturdays?”

“Yeah, but I can’t exactly blame them. I never used to be free to hang out on Saturdays. I used to go treasure hunting with Knuckles every week!”

Shadow’s ears perked up. “You did?”

Amy bobbed her head, suddenly looking excited. “You bet I did! One sec...”

She opened a drawer on the underside of the coffee table in front of them. She shoved a few papers aside to reveal an object underneath. “Aha!”

With a flourish, she held aloft a faded red scrapbook. She set it down carefully on the table. Messy handwriting spelled out “Amy and Knuckles’ Treasure Hunting Adventures!” The letters got more cramped as they spread across the cover, as if the writer had run out of space and was struggling to fit the whole phrase. Underneath the title, a barely-legible signature read ‘Amy Rose,’ while Knuckles had signed his own name more neatly beside it. Heart and gemstone stickers peppered the cover. The spine of the old book made a quiet crinkling noise as Amy carefully opened it.

“Aaaand...here it is! This is from our first day!” Amy declared, smiling down at the picture glued to the first page. It showed both Amy and Knuckles looking at least a decade younger than they currently did. Knuckles wore the same cowboy hat and brown jacket he always did for such adventures, and apart from having less height and muscle mass, he looked mostly the same.

Amy was a different story. Her bright smile showed she was missing several teeth, and her quills were wild and sticking out, barely contained by the ribbon she’d tied around them. She wore an oversized hat and jacket that matched Knuckles’ own. The garments dwarfed her tiny frame, but they did nothing to hide her excitement, obvious as it was in her stance and her smile.

“And this was at the end of the day! Knuckles was afraid I wouldn’t be able to handle it or that I’d be afraid of getting dirty, but I sure showed him!” Amy’s grin was proud, but it was nowhere near as wide as the one on her face in the second picture. Patches of dirt covered her fur and clothes. Knuckles was resting an affectionate hand on her hat, as if he were patting her on the head to congratulate her on a job well done. He was matching her radiant smile with a proud grin of his own.

Shadow had long suspected that Amy saw Knuckles as an older brother or even a father figure at times, and the look on her face in the picture said it all. Judging by Knuckles’ own fond gaze, it seemed it wasn’t entirely one-sided, either.

“I was exhausted the next day, but it was totally worth it...Shadow?”

Amy’s inquisitive tone snapped him out of it. He opened his mouth to reply.

This is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

He paused, then instead said, “Knuckles looks like he’s your dad.”

Amy burst out laughing. “Don’t tell him that! You’ll make him feel old!” She turned the page. “It was originally supposed to be just a day trip, but it was so much fun that we made it a weekly tradition! Sonic and Tails never wanted to wake up early enough for it, so it was just the two of us.”

She turned page after page, showing pictures of the two of them as the years went by. Amy slowly but surely grew into the hat and jacket, and they both cycled through pairs of boots as they grew out of them. Their grins never faded. They started trying out different silly poses for the pictures as time went on: they’d stand back-to-back, flex their muscles “sarcastically,” or Knuckles would give Amy a piggyback ride. Shadow hid a chuckle at that one.

“And this was taken deep underground in Mystic Cave Zone! It was the first time Knuckles brought me spelunking,” she continued. In the picture, she was happily curled into a snug little nook in a cave wall. Knuckles was crouched just outside of it, and they both wore harnesses and helmets. He was carefully holding the camera to get both of them in the shot. The nervous look on Knuckles’ face as he kept an eye on her made Shadow wonder if she’d wanted to go in the past and this was just the first time he’d said yes. It was clear the day had been special to her; the page was covered in extra pickaxe and flashlight stickers.

Amy turned another page, then gasped. “Oo, this is the day where Cream joined us! We went hiking in the Gigan Mountains that day. Check out all these action shots she and Cheese got!”

The images on the next few pages were a step up. With Cream and Cheese’s aerial mobility, they’d captured some great angles. Apparently, though, the excitement had proven to be too much for them. The last image featured Cream sleeping in Amy’s arms while Knuckles held a drowsy Cheese and took the picture. Nevertheless, the action shots were indeed impressive. One showed Knuckles scaling a wall while Amy leapt up behind him, and another featured Amy using her propeller hammer to cross a gap he was gliding over.

Shadow hummed quietly, impressed. “You really kept up, huh?”

She nodded proudly, beaming. “Not just any hedgehog can keep up with an echidna on a treasure hunt, so I made my own way! I can’t climb as fast as Knuckles can, so I learned my super-high double jump. And I can’t glide like he can, so I taught myself how to propeller-hammer!”

Shadow admired her proud smile and ingenuity. That’s just like you. It doesn’t matter which abilities you don’t have, you always find your own way. I wish I were half as adaptable as you.

“Uh, Shadow? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Realizing he’d been gazing dreamily at Amy, Shadow wiped the look off his face. “It seems like this was really good for you,” he pointed out, hoping to shift the focus.

It worked. Excitement immediately bloomed across Amy’s face once more. “You bet! And it wasn’t just the trips themselves. We found some super cool treasure, too!” She flipped to the end of the book and worked backwards, showing picture after picture of valuable gems, gold, and other minerals. Some especially eye-catching rocks--Amy’s favorites, no doubt--were taped to some of the pages. One of the photographs made Shadow stop her. His eyes shot wide open.

“Is that a Chaos Emerald?!”

“Yup!” she confirmed, beaming. Her grin turned fond as she gazed at the picture of her holding the Emerald aloft while Knuckles grinned up at her, posing proudly with his arms crossed. “Knuckles could sense it, of course, but--!” she paused, holding up a finger for dramatic effect. “He didn’t tell me ahead of time! He put together a bunch of hints to send me on a scavenger hunt, and I found it on my own. It was so much fun!”

Shadow couldn’t help but admire her enthusiasm once more, though he hid his reaction this time. “That’s...actually really sweet.”

Amy bobbed her head. “And that’s not all! Every year for my birthday, Knuckles would make me jewelry with the treasure we found! I still have all of it.” Sure enough, various necklaces, bracelets, and other bits of jewelry were affixed to the pages.

Shadow’s eyes widened. “I knew Knuckles made Rouge’s engagement ring, but I didn’t know he could do all this.”

“The Knuckles Clan wore a lot of it. He’s spent a lot of time working backwards to figure out the methods they used to use. That way it won’t all be lost.”

Shadow nodded as he examined the jewelry in front of him. “Looks like it’s paying off.”

“Mhm! And some of it’s functional, too! I always wear this one.” Shadow looked back up to find Amy was reaching underneath her collar. She pulled out a pendant with a carefully-cut, multifaceted gemstone set into it. “Knuckles made it for my thirteenth birthday with some treasure we found on a week-long trip to Angel Island.” The gem glowed with a dull green luster. Shadow could feel a faint power emanating from it. The energy was weak, but it was there.

He narrowed his eyes. “Is that...”

She shook her head. “Not quite. It’s Mock Emerald. It’s weak, but it can almost match the real thing...and that’s not all!” she declared, clearly excited to share her knowledge. “Ever wonder how I can always find Chaos Emeralds in a pinch?” He nodded, and she looked back down at the pendant. “With a dash of Chaos energy, Mock Emerald can be used to track down the real thing.”

“Really?”

She nodded and smirked. “I can always tell when you have a Chaos Emerald on you. Like right now.” Shadow’s eyes widened at having been caught, making Amy giggle. She looked back down at the pendant. “It’s one of my most prized possessions.”

Shadow’s heart practically melted at her fond expression. I’ve never seen her so happy. “It seems like it meant a lot to you.”

Amy nodded. She looked back to the scrapbook and smiled down at it. Her smile turned more distant than before. “These are some of my most cherished memories. I wouldn’t have half the skills I have now if it weren’t for these adventures.”

Shadow frowned. “So why’d you stop? What happened?”

Amy’s smile turned sad. “Rouge happened.”

Shadow’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

Amy glanced back up at him. Upon seeing his expression, she flinched and waved her hands in panic. “Wait, no! I don’t mean it like that! It’s not like she--she didn’t do anything wrong!” Amy went back to the scrapbook and hastily flipped to the next page. The next picture featured Knuckles, Amy, and Rouge. Rouge was decked out in her own, more stylish treasure hunting gear, and she was leaning on Knuckles, making him blush a little and avert his eyes. Amy was standing on Knuckles’ other side and smiling up at the camera, but it wasn’t as brightly as before. “I was fourteen when Knuckles finally made a move and asked her to join us. It was about time!”

Shadow nodded cautiously. He remembered the two years they’d spent dancing around each other.

Amy turned another page. “She started joining us every week after that. It was fun.”

To anyone else, she would have sounded sincere, but Shadow paid Amy far too much attention to be fooled. He looked over at her in concern, but she kept flipping pages, focusing on the task at hand. As the pictures progressed, Rouge got closer to Knuckles, and after a while, she even shifted to stand between him and Amy. Amy’s smile looked more and more fake with each adventure, but Knuckles seemed oblivious to the change. Rouge’s smirk only grew with time. Shadow’s stomach turned.

Amy winced just slightly at the next picture. She quickly hid the expression, but Shadow saw it. “Right! Uh...this was taken at Labyrinth Zone,” she muttered hastily.

Shadow scanned the picture, expecting Amy to be hiding behind a rock or a ruin somewhere for a joke. “I don’t see you. Where are you?”

“See, half of Labyrinth Zone is underwater. Knuckles can hold his breath for a long time, but we can’t. I sat out so he could lend Rouge his air necklace.” She pointed to a small, vaguely bottle-shaped necklace around Rouge’s neck. It was a little hard to see given that she was practically glued to Knuckles by that point.

Shadow did a double-take and squinted at Amy. “Wait, you didn’t get to go? They left you behind?”

Amy froze for a moment, as if surprised that he’d pointed it out. “Well, I...I mean...” She recovered. “I’m a better swimmer than Sonic is, but hedgehogs aren’t great in water! You know that as well as I do! I only would have held them back.” There was just a hint of pain in her smile. She probably thought she was hiding it well. “Knuckles only has one air necklace, and he’d always wanted to go hunting in Labyrinth Zone. And between you and me...” She held up a hand next to her mouth and mock-whispered, “He swiped some lapis lazuli and cassiterite from their stash and gave it to me. Don’t tell Rouge!” She giggled.

“Mhm...” Shadow crossed his arms, not feeling much better at the admission.

“I got to join them next time, though!” Amy blurted out, trying to change the subject. “I discovered an underground cave when I was hanging out at Big’s house in the Mystic Ruins! We brought Rouge and Knuckles with us the next time. It was a blast!” There were enough images from that trip to fill two pages. Most of them featured the four of them racing around in mine carts: Knuckles and Rouge were cowering in one and holding onto each other for dear life, while Big and Amy shared the other. Amy giggled. “Those two were trying so hard to pretend they weren’t scared. I teased them about it the whole way back! I almost lost my camera, though. Big hooked it on his fishing line to take these.”

Her wide smile had returned, but it faded once more as time went on. “I’d already visited Mirage Road once with Blaze, so I skipped out on that one...and I stayed home when they went to Wild Canyon, too. There was a lot of digging for that.” She let out a weak chuckle. “I’m a force to be reckoned with when I pick up a shovel, but burrowing entire tunnels is a bit much for me...” She rubbed her arm and looked away. “And I skipped out on Sanctuary Falls. It was too high up. They were pretty close by then. I didn’t want them to have to keep an eye on me the whole time.”

After a few more pages, Amy was practically absent. There were a few more trips with Knuckles and Rouge alone, but she eventually reached a blank page and stopped. “That’s about it.”

Shadow’s heart clenched. “That’s it? Why’d you stop?” he demanded, wishing he didn’t know the answer.

She lifted her knees to curl up into a ball. “I dunno, just...I felt like a third wheel. They were finally getting closer, so...” She tugged at a thread on the couch, and her nose wrinkled just slightly. “Plus Rouge and I didn’t get along very well back then anyway. It just got less fun, and I knew how important it was to Knuckles. So I backed off.” She perked up and beamed. “And I was right! They got married just a few years later!”

“But what about you?”

She deflated and tilted her head at his blunt interjection. “What about me?”

He choked, indignant. “It meant a lot to you! It was your tradition. You and Knuckles started it. You’re the one with the scrapbook,” he snapped, gesturing to the old, carefully-maintained book in front of them.

“Well...it was our tradition, but...it’s theirs now,” she muttered, ears drooping. “I just wanted him to be happy. It’s important.”

A growl built up in the back of Shadow’s throat, startling her a little. He grit his teeth. “His happiness is not more important than yours, and hers isn’t, either!”

Amy winced. “Shadow...it’s not a big deal. I...”

“Hmph.” Shadow stood up with a purpose and took her hand to pull her to her feet.

“WHOA! What are you--”

“You need to get changed,” he stated simply, taking out his phone. “Go. I have a phone call to make.”

She choked. “Wait--huh? Why?”

He kept scrolling through his contacts. “Because I’m not letting you go treasure hunting in flip-flops.”

She just stared at him in confusion for a moment, but then her eyes bugged out in realization. “Wait, Shadow, no! You don’t have to--”

“Amy.” He placed a firm hand on her shoulder to stop her, then looked up from his phone. “This is happening. I’m making it happen.”

She just held his gaze for a while. Soon enough, though, her eyes started to water, and she couldn’t stop a grin from spreading across her face. She made a happy little squeal and pulled him into a tight hug, almost making him drop his phone. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

She dashed off to get ready. Shadow managed to hold back his smile until she was out of sight. His customary scowl returned when he looked back down at his contacts list and dialed his best friend’s number. She answered a few seconds later, and he wasted no time. “Don’t leave for your trip with Knuckles yet. You’ll have two more people joining you.” She responded with a confused, slightly whiny protest, and he snarled in response.

“I. Wasn’t. Asking.”

--

Shadow, Amy, Knuckles, and Rouge materialized at the entrance to a wide valley surrounded by towering rock walls. Shadow put away his Chaos Emerald and examined the area, noting the conspicuous absence of the moss-covered stone ruins he’d personally helped Black Doom lift into the sky long ago. He cringed. It just HAD to be Glyphic Canyon, didn’t it?

“Just like old times, eh, Shadow?” Knuckles joked, nudging him with his elbow. Shadow just grunted in response.

“Wait, you two have been here before?” Amy asked.

Knuckles crossed his arms and looked around, probably noting the canyon’s differences just as Shadow had. “We ran into each other here years ago during the Black Arms’ attack, but we got separated pretty quickly.”

Shadow cringed. More like I abandoned you immediately so I could help Black Doom launch a devastating attack on the people of this planet. A planet I’ve grown to love...thanks to her. He peeked up at Amy out of the corner of his eye. Thank Chaos I ran into Amy right after that. If it weren’t for her compassion...

Amy cocked her head, probably wondering why Shadow was staring at her again. She grinned and hopped over to link arms with him. “Don’t worry! You’ve got an expert navigator with you this time. You’ll never get lost with me by your side!”

He nodded his head with a grunt, choosing not to correct her assumption. He subtly admired her smile and let her cling onto him as they approached the first rock wall. He purposely avoided Rouge’s knowing smile.

--

The canyon’s path started out mostly linear, so Shadow had no trouble keeping up at first. As time went on, though, the path got steeper, and sheer cliffs stretched up ahead of them. Without any climbing prowess or absurdly high double-jumping, he was struggling. He improvised using his knowledge from ten years ago, jumping off a few leftover crumbling pillars to make his way upward. Remembering the locations of a few strong updrafts, he used the wind to ascend as he had before. He was still panting before long, though. Luckily, Amy picked up on this, and she hung around to make sure he never got turned around or fell behind. She helped him up some of the steeper cliffs and found shortcuts so they could catch up with the other two when they got too far ahead. He counted himself lucky; without her, he definitely would have had to stealthily use Chaos Control to make up the distance, and he knew he’d never hear the end of it if anyone else found out.

Shadow finally hefted himself up one last ledge to join the other three, trying to hide his heavy breathing. Knuckles smirked at him, not looking winded at all. “Having trouble there, Shadow?” he teased, smirking. Shadow crossed his arms and looked away.

“Hmph. I’m perfectly capable of keeping up on a hike. I handled this place before, and I can do it again.”

“Really makes you respect Amy that much more, huh?” Knuckles replied, clearly seeing through him.

“I have always respected Amy.”

Knuckles looked confused at his blunt reply, while Rouge quietly snickered.

“Well, I think he’s doing a great job,” Amy chimed in shyly, giving him a supportive smile. He nodded in gratitude, trying not to show how flattered he was.

“Especially considering this isn’t really his thing,” Rouge added, then smirked at him. “Something about this really must’ve piqued your interest.”

Shadow rolled his eyes and looked away from her again, afraid he’d snap at her if he didn’t. “So what exactly are we looking for here? You said it was some kind of door, right?”

Knuckles nodded. “It’s right up there.”

He turned around and pointed up at a rock ledge ahead of them. A set of well-worn steps led up to a vaguely rectangular ancient black stone with an all-too-familiar spiky red symbol set into it. Two stone pillars rose up on either side of the base of the stairs, both topped with spherical, glowing green jewels that Shadow couldn’t help but recognize. Knuckles stepped over to one of the pillars and pressed his palm against the pedestal at its base. “I couldn’t open it last time I was here. Those gemstones up there glow if you touch them, and it makes the symbol on that door light up, but it just fades after a minute or so. I couldn’t get anything else to happen. The rock is too tough to punch or dig through. I can’t even read these runes to try and get a hint. I’ve never seen them before, like they’re in a completely alien language. I was hoping Rouge might be able to find a way in.”

Rouge looked around and checked out the other pillar. She squinted at the runes as well. “I’ve never seen these, either. I’m not sure how much help I’ll be.”

“Umm...” Everyone looked up toward the door. Amy was standing beside it, examining its surface. “Isn’t this the same symbol that’s on your bike, Shadow?”

“It’s not just on my bike.” Shadow approached the door. “You two. Touch the gemstones up there to activate them,” he commanded. Knuckles and Rouge climbed up to do so. By the time Shadow reached the top of the stairs, the symbol on the door was glowing, just as Knuckles had said. Shadow looked down at his own hand. He took a deep breath and then removed his glove. The red stripe on his arm ran down to the back of his hand, where it curled into that same spiky red pattern. Amy gasped. He hesitated briefly, then pressed his hand against the symbol on the door.

A soft chime emitted from behind the wall. For a moment, nothing further happened. Then, the ground around them started to rumble. Rouge stayed airborne to avoid it, and Knuckles clung onto the pillar. Amy stumbled and latched onto Shadow’s arm with a yelp to stay standing. Shadow removed his hand from the door and stepped back to keep his balance.

In front of them, the door shook and rumbled. It slowly began to sink into the ground. The motion kicked up enough sand that Shadow had to shut his eyes. He felt Amy bury her face in his shoulder to avoid it, and he held onto her reassuringly.

After a few seconds, the rumbling died down, and the ground stopped shaking. Shadow hesitantly blinked his eyes open to find the dust had settled. He peeked down at Amy. “Are you alright?”

She lifted her head and met his gaze. She nodded and turned back to the other two. “Knuckles? Rouge? You okay?”

Rouge landed safely next to them with a nod, and Knuckles jogged up the steps to join them. He took a look down the dark passage in front of them, then grinned at Shadow. “Looks like you came in handy after all, Shadow!” He playfully punched him on the shoulder. Shadow grunted and tried not to flinch at the hit.

On his other side, Amy reached down to hold his ungloved hand. “What is this, anyway?” she asked, lightly tracing the pattern on his hand.

“It’s the symbol of the Black Arms,” he explained, enjoying the pleasant feeling. “Black Doom told me this area was a holy ground for them. Touching those jewels activates the ruins’ power.”

Rouge and Amy made noises of intrigue, but Knuckles held up a hand. “Just a second. If it’s some kind of holy ground, I don’t know if I feel comfortable with this. I don’t want to loot the place.”

Shadow scoffed. “Hold on, let me check with every remaining member of my race just to make sure.” After an awkward pause, he nodded. “It’s unanimous. Let’s go.”

Amy and Rouge laughed nervously at the morbid joke. Knuckles, on the other hand, smiled reassuringly and gave him a heavy pat on the back in understanding. He retrieved two flashlights from his backpack and handed one to Shadow, keeping one for himself. They switched them on and ducked through the door.

Shadow felt Amy link her arm with his. When he peeked down at her, she glanced around at their surroundings, then looked up at him with a concerned expression. She silently mouthed, ‘Are you alright?’

It took him a moment to realize she was referring to the aversion to cramped spaces that he’d developed during his time in stasis. His heart softened. He nodded, touched that she’d remembered. “I doubt it’ll stay this way for long. Black Doom wouldn’t want to have to duck the whole way.”

He was soon proven correct. The passage widened, and the ceiling rose as well. At his own mention of Black Doom, however, Shadow grew nervous. What kind of obscene deities would the Black Arms have worshiped? Maybe this isn’t such a good idea...

“Stay close,” Shadow muttered, nervously pulling her closer by the arm. He didn’t look at her, afraid she’d be spooked, but she happily walked closer beside him.

Rouge and Knuckles were leading the way. Rouge peeked back at them every so often, not even trying to hide her smirks. He rolled his eyes each time, knowing he was just one snarky comment away from snapping.

It wasn’t much longer before the four of them turned a corner that led to a much wider space. Knuckles and Shadow aimed their flashlights all around the room. It was far larger than an average cathedral, though there were no seats; Shadow wondered if Black Doom simply felt his subjects weren’t worth the effort. A mass of gold and treasure was piled high at the base of an altar. Shadow dragged his eyes higher with trepidation, dreading whatever disgusting deity he might find...only to be met with a giant statue of Black Doom instead, arms outstretched over the pulpit.

Shadow stared at it blankly. Of course he was that arrogant. Why am I even surprised?

Rouge seemed unconcerned. She squealed in excitement and dashed over to the treasure. Amy wasn’t far behind.

Knuckles stayed back with Shadow for a moment and scratched his chin while the other two fawned over the treasure. “It’s been a while since Amy came with us. I was starting to wonder if she thought she was too old for it or something. I’m glad she changed her mind,” he said, beaming. “It’s always been good for her.” Shadow nodded. Knuckles examined him closer, perplexed. “I’m surprised to see you here, though. I’ve never thought of you as the type to do this kind of thing.”

Shadow stared back at Knuckles, noting the sincere confusion in his expression. He really has no idea, does he? He shrugged and muttered some excuse about how he’d wanted to try something new, hoping Knuckles would be oblivious about that, too. No need to drag him into this.

--

The four of them eventually stepped back out into the sunlight, each toting plenty of gems and precious metals. Shadow frowned at his own share, unsure of what to do with it. Normally I give stuff like this to Rouge, but today...maybe I’ll just hang onto it instead.

Knuckles dove off the cliff, clearly excited at the prospect of such an easy glide back down. Amy bounded ahead to join him, easily leaping from rock to rock. Rouge sank into a low stance the way she always did before taking to the skies. Before she could take off, though, Shadow grabbed the collar of her jacket, dragging her back to his side. She side-eyed him, indignant and somewhat irritated. He wasn’t fazed.

“I knew you went treasure hunting with Knuckles, but you never told me Amy used to go with you.”

Rouge’s eyes narrowed in suspicion for half a second before she smirked to hide it. “Heard it was a great time, huh? Is that why you set up this little double date?”

Shadow crossed his arms and tapped his foot rapid-fire. He ignored her teasing and glared at her. “Do you know why she stopped going with you?”

Her brief pause would have been unnoticeable to someone who didn’t know her as well as Shadow did. She shrugged. “Could have been a lot of things. Maybe she just got tired of it. Why don’t you ask her?”

“I did.”

Rouge flinched, but her tone instantly turned curious. “What did she say?”

“She said she felt like a third wheel. She felt unwelcome,” Shadow hissed.

“Aww, that’s too bad!” Rouge pouted, clearly feigning sympathy. “But it makes sense for a sweetheart like her. She’d never get in the way of love!”

Shadow stopped. He could see the hint of smugness behind Rouge’s eyes, and it made his blood boil. “You did it on purpose.” His eyes narrowed to slits. His jaw tightened, and he had to keep his fists clenched to hold himself back.

Rouge held a hand to her heart and scoffed lightly, as if she were offended. “I never asked her to leave. She decided that on her own!”

Shadow rounded on her, now seething. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?! These trips meant the world to her!”

Rouge recoiled, then regained her composure by teasing him again. “Aww, defending your girlfriend? How sweet!”

“IS THIS A JOKE TO YOU?!” he snapped. “This was their tradition. She went on these trips every week for years! She learned half her abilities from these adventures. These were her memories. She made a goddamn scrapbook for these trips. She still has it!” Rouge leaned back and held up her hands defensively, but he didn’t stop. “Knuckles is practically an older brother to her, maybe more. He and Cream are the closest things to family she has left, and you purposely got in the way of that.”

For once, Rouge actually hesitated. “It’s not like she...she doesn’t...”

Shadow gestured to a rock outcropping where Amy and Knuckles had landed for a break. Knuckles was petting her on the top of her head with a proud smile. She beamed, tail wagging happily at having earned his approval.

“She does,” Shadow snarled. “You intruded on what was basically a family tradition and edged her out, and for what? So you could go off and make out with Knuckles?!”

“He is my husband!” Rouge shot back at last. “These trips are important to me, too! I love him!”

“More than Amy does?! You are NOT more important than she is! She was there first!”

Rouge balked, then spat back, “I never forced her to leave. That was her choice, not mine!”

“You, Omega, and I hang out all the time, and none of us feel like a third wheel,” Shadow argued. “But Amy didn’t even feel comfortable joining you today until I stepped in. Don’t act like that wasn’t what you wanted.”

Rouge bit her lip, seemingly lost for words.

“Umm...is everything alright?”

Amy’s sweet voice piped up quietly, instantly draining the anger out of Shadow’s muscles. His shoulders dropped. “...Yeah. We’re fine.”

“Good,” she replied, smiling sheepishly. “I told you I wasn’t leaving you behind, and I meant it!” She hopped forward to take his hand this time. He jogged to catch up with her, but not before shooting a heated scowl over his shoulder at Rouge. From the way she recoiled, he could tell she got the message.

This. Isn’t. Over.

--

Once Shadow reappeared in a flash with Amy in front of her house, he expected her to let go of his hand like usual, but she didn't. She was looking away from him.

“Amy?”

When she peeked back up at him, she looked conflicted, torn between happiness, sadness, and gratitude. She suddenly yanked him closer and snuggled into his chest.

“Thank you,” she muttered. Her voice was muffled against his fur. She clung to him, and he hesitantly returned the welcome embrace.

“For what?”

“For everything today.” She tilted her head up to meet his eyes. “For making this trip happen. For helping to make it as fun as it was. And...”

She pressed her lips into a thin line. When he just gazed down at her, she sighed. “I heard you and Rouge talking. Not all of it, but...enough.” He remained silent, so she continued, “I’m not used to people doing that for me.”

“Doing what for you?” Shadow asked.

“Well...standing up for me like that.” She shrugged nonchalantly, but she couldn’t hide the tears welling up in her eyes. “I feel like there’s nothing I can do sometimes. Some people might comfort me when I’m sad, but I’ve never seen someone get so angry over how I’m treated.” She shrank down into herself. “No one really fights for me, and I don’t want to get in anyone’s way.”

Shadow’s stomach lurched at the injustice, and he choked back his indignation. He pulled her closer and hid her face under his chin, not wanting to see her cry. “Amy Rose, you are the kindest, fiercest friend I’ve ever met. Whether it’s a friend, a stranger, or someone who doesn’t deserve one ounce of compassion--” Like me. TWICE. “--you fight harder than anyone else to protect others.” She met his gaze once more, eyes shining. He kept going, afraid he’d lose his nerve if he stopped. “I can’t tell you how much it upsets me that you feel like you don’t deserve happiness as much as anyone else. You should be standing up for yourself just as much as you do for others. Because you deserve it.” He took a deep breath, then brushed a quill out of her face. “If you don’t, I’m going to keep doing it for you. And I’m not nice like you are.”

Amy tried to stay serious, but a huge smile eventually broke through. His favorite laugh escaped her lips, making him relax.

To his surprise, she stood up on her tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, then pulled away with a grateful smile. “I’m glad you’re not.”

--

From then on, Shadow made a habit of joining Knuckles, Rouge, and Amy every Saturday. He got better each week, though he never quite reached Amy’s level. That didn’t matter to him so long as he got to stay by her side.

With Shadow’s insistence--and a healthy amount of guilt over having split up the “family trips”--Rouge agreed to sit out every so often alongside Shadow so Amy and Knuckles could have one-on-one trips just as they had in their youth.

It wasn’t until a few years later that she and Rouge fully made amends. With Knuckles’ jewelry-making expertise, Rouge’s aesthetic sensibilities, and Shadow’s in-depth knowledge of Amy’s preferences, the three of them worked together to create the engagement ring Shadow gave to her, just as Knuckles had for Rouge. They included some of the materials Shadow had kept from their first trip together.

--

((You have no idea how much time I spent looking up treasure hunting destinations that fit this story.))