#I could have gone on longer with this but i think 2000 words of me is enough for anoyone

[unforth]

I keep seeing posts comparing this to 2004 or other past election losses and how this feels the same or similar to those past times.

As another Old who voted in 2004 (and I missed voting in 2000 by a month and was furious about it) I really can't even put into words how vehemently I disagree.

In 2008, I remember very earnestly sitting down with some friends and saying that if somehow McCain beat Obama, I'd have to join the fucking revolution, because I couldn't believe that this country would elect a Republican AGAIN after the previous 8 years of bullshit. I look back now and think how incredibly naive I was, but I also look back now and think, damn, why aren't I 25 NOW? I can't join the revolution now, I'm 41 and I own a house and have two young children and one old parent depending on me.

Because honestly, truly, as someone who has been studying American history since I was 7, as a Civil War buff with expertise on the years before the Civil War, as someone who has at least some memories of every election since 1988... guys, this isn't the same as 2004. I was furious then. Swift Boat bullshit I swear to fucking dog. And I was and still am fairly convinced that the 2000 election was deliberately stolen. But also I still had every reason then to believe in the rule of law.

In 2004, I still believed term limits would be respected.

In 2004, I still believed a person who wasn't elected would demure gracefully to the winner.

In 2004, I still trusted the courts.

In 2004, I still believed that we'd made progress on bigotry.

I could go on, and to be clear, my point isn't "I thought these institutions were ~good~" in literally any objective sense. Y'all are cynical but my generation was raised by, surrounded by, Vietnam vets and trust me, there was no way to be a kid, seeing what the 70s did to this country, and not come out as cynical and furious as the best of um. (My grandfather was a World War 2 vet, as were his close friends. My father and both his brothers are Vietnam vets, tho my dad didn't go overseas.) But I did believe that even corrupt institutions, even broken racist systems, even fucking Republicans, would follow basic norms of democracy. They said they believed in the constitution and I believed them. I believed that, like Nixon, truly getting caught doing something insane would at least force a mea culpa and turn public opinion. I believed...

Well, I guess it doesn't matter.

Because I no longer believe any of that.

I have watched the guard rails disappear over my lifetime. I have watched the party who once spent 2 years pursuing a guy over a BJ in the oval office elect a convicted rapist. I have watched and at times I've participated and I've voted and I've organized and I've protested and I've read the news more days than not and I've lived and I've grown and I've learned.

I have been an adult, legally, for almost 24 years now.

Guys... there are no norms remaining on the far right. The guard rails are gone. The Fascists control the White House, the senate, the Supreme Court, and things aren't looking promising for the House.

The bus has no brakes anymore. They think they have a mandate - and I can't blame them, as horrifying as this mandate is, because if things had gone the other way and Harris had gotten these results I'd also think it was a mandate.

Please sit with what this means: Trump and the Republican party said, "hand us the reins and we'll make everyone you hate hurt," and more than half the people who bothered to vote said "sure buddy, here goes." We don't have a usurper this time. This is the country that the majority of Americans said they wanted. Whether they come to regret that or not, they saw open Fascism and went "oh yes, count me in." And it wasn't because of the electoral college this time. It was because this country is so bigoted and misogynistic that they'd rather have this than a woman of color in the office.

I'm sick of "well she didn't run a good campaign." (Lie.) I'm sick of, "well we didn't get a primary." (Who cares?) I'm *extremely* sick of "well, Palestine." (Yes! Democrats actions have made the suffering there so much worse! It fucking sucks! You know what's about to suck so much worse?)

15 million people who showed up for Joe Biden couldn't be fussed to place a vote for Kamala Harris. Whatever their reason for not voting, we all knew the outcome if she lost. And seeing open fascism didn't fire them up enough to make the effort, and that's fucking pathetic. The consequences of the worst happening mattered so little to them that they couldn't be fucking bothered to make the minimum effort to stop it, and now millions of people will suffer as a result.

Because here we are: the huge swathe of the country who wanted a strongman now have one.

Look, I don't know what happens next. But I do know, and remember keenly: after 2016, Trump did, or at least tried to do, most of the things he said he'd do. When he was stopped, it was often because of career government employees: judges, bureaucrats, etc. And this time, he's said he's going to purge those people. I don't know if he'll succeed, but I certainly believe he'll try.

This is not 2004 again.

This is 2024. The Republicans have ripped the mask to shreds, shredded apart the book of political norms, and empowered hate, and they've been handed a governmental mandate for stamped "have at with our blessing!" in exchange.

And now they'll use that mandate to make everyone they hate suffer: people of color, queer people, trans people, immigrants, non-Christians.

Don't assume the worst can't happen. I am a Jew, and I have a photo album full of black and white photos of dead people that constantly reminds me: the worst has happened and it can happen again.

Do not despair. Despair is enervating. Be furious. As we should be. These douche bags are repulsive. Be prepared to fight. Be prepared to flee. Be prepared to defend. Don't assume you simply can't do something. There's always something to do, and even the smallest act of defiance can help. There's never any knowing until after which acts of resistance will end up galvanizing the good and just out of their apathy. But that apathy is the enemy.

Because none of this is normal. None of this is "just like when..." Please stop saying it is.

And before anyone screams "privilege" at me, yes, I am in many ways. I'm white. I have access to some generational money even tho my own family lives paycheck to paycheck - we won't be rich but have enough of a support network to be comfortable. I live in a blue area of a blue state. But I'm also a woman (legally speaking, at least) married to another woman - since before Oberkfell, and yes I remember exactly what steps we had planned any time we wanted to leave our state. My wife has physical disabilities. We have two children. Both are biracial (half black). One is trans. We are caring for an elderly parent. I am Jewish and as my kids' birth parent, so are they. I own a publishing company that publishes the exact kinds of queer and kinky lit these people intend to ban. We tick so many boxes of what these people hate.

I know ya'll are scared. Trust me, I'm terrified. But fear is paralyzing. And that won't help. Whatever happens, don't lie down and take this shit.

When Gore lost I was one month shy of my 18th birthday and already in college. I have been fighting my entire adult life, and I'm exhausted. I'm much less able to fight now, much more tied down with responsibilities. But the fight isn't over. I'm checking our passports. I'm packing a go bag. I've convinced one vulnerable friend to move here and I have another who wants to and we're figuring out how to make that happen. I'm protecting who I can, starting with putting on my mask first. I don't know what will happen but if in the end all I can do is uproot my entire life to protect my children then I am preparing to do so. I can at least save them if no one else.

None of this is normal.

And I'm not sure, after Trump's in office, that anything will ever be normal again in the US. At least not the old normal. And there are ways that's a good thing, so many ways that the old normal sucked for so many people, and I'm optimistic that there's a bright future ahead, but man it looks far away right now. I don't want to go back to the old normal, and I want to be part of establishing a kinder, more just, more equal new normal, but we're a long way from there.

Whatever happens, we must endure. We must survive. We must support each other. We must find our allies and be prepared to compromise with them. Don't try to save everyone. You'll fail. Help even one person and you can change the world. Everyone things they can't do everything and so do nothing. That's insane. Do a single thing and it will be better than nothing. One phone call. One letter. One act of defiance. Very few people get the opportunity to grand gestures that matter, and the rest of us will die waiting for that moment. But the secret is that what makes those moments - the time when one person is in the right place at the right time for their action to matter - is built on millions of small moments by millions of people doing what little they can to make things slightly better. Think of every iconic photograph of a Sole Resistor you know of and think about every single tiny thing that had to happen for that moment to occur. Most of us will never me that one person, but that one person is a myth anyway. Countless tiny unseen moments create those myths. Doing literally anything is better than doing nothing.

And tooth and nail, quietly and loudly, in our homes and our towns and cities, during protests or when they come for our neighbors, we must fight.

[slaybestieslay946]

Stay

pairing: paul atreides x reader

word count: 2000

warnings: light angst with a happy ending

summary: you are the empress of the known universe alongside paul atreides, however, you dont agree with what hes doing, so you give him an ultimatum.

You had always loved the rain. Especially on Caladan. Yes, on your home planet it had rained fairly frequently, but it wasn’t the same. The rain on Caladan came down by the bucket full, not measly little drops. Each minute sheets of water fell from the sky like rolls of silver fabric. 

The only thing that lulled you to sleep more effectively than rain on a window, was the slow, contented breathing of your husband beside you, and the slow movement of his fingers brushing against your waist. Every now and again he’d re-adjust his position to get even closer to you. 

Usually he fell asleep before he was practically clinging to you, but tonight was not one of those occasions. 

“Paul,” You laughed breathily, pushing away from him a bit in order to spin in his arms and face him. 

He groaned in complaint as you moved away from him and opened his eyes blearily. 

“Why’re you moving away…” He complained, trying to pull you back to him. 

“Because you’re practically on top of me, I’m not a hot water bottle.” You chided, although the teasing smile on your face gave away your true feelings. 

“No, you’re better.” He said, a sly smile on his face, “Now c’mere, I’m cold.” 

You sighed, but did as he said, tugging his arm around you and lacing your fingers together. 

You could feel Paul’s smile on the back of your neck as he found a way to hold you even closer. 

“I love you.” He whispered, and you replied in kind, the smile that formed on your face certain to match the one he was currently wearing. 

“Promise you’ll stay with me?” 

“Mhm. I promise.” 

Now, as you paced nervously around the hangar, you couldn’t help but think back to that promise you had made. At the time, you thought that nothing could tear you away from Paul Atreides, not the sun nor the stars. 

Of course, you could never have planned for him becoming Emperor of the known universe. And you could have never known that it would be him tearing the both of you apart. 

At first, when you had been planning your escape, you had hoped that the aircraft would arrive before your husband. That was before you remembered who your husband was now. He would notice you were gone almost immediately, so you had to plan for confrontation, not avoid it. 

“What is this?” A voice came from the entrance to the hangar, echoing through the cavernous room and into your ears. He didn’t sound angry, merely confused.

You turned to face him and his expression was just what you thought it would be, torn between angry and distressed. In his hand, he held the note which you had written, telling him to meet you down here.

“I am leaving, Paul. For Caladan.” You said firmly, turning to face him. 

He smiled weakly, shaking his head, “Why all the smoke and mirrors? If you wanted to return home you should have said so. I would have prepared a ship for us both-”

“Because I am not going with you.” You interrupted, your voice harsh.

“What do you mean? It is not exactly typical for the Empress to leave her husband days after the coronation.” He laughed, but it was not the melodic sound you had once loved, instead it was forced, choked even. 

“Well, you are not the typical Emperor. I am leaving, and you will not follow me.” You stated, remaining firm, even as your heart threatened to betray your mind and run back to him. 

Paul just stared at you, his face painted white in shock. 

“Why?” He asked, his voice cracking.

“Because I can no longer stay by your side and watch you become this. You are becoming someone I do not recognise.” 

“My love, what are you talking about-?”

“I'm talking about this, Paul! Your holy war! You do remember that, don’t you? The war you swore to me you’d do anything to stop? And now, here you are, at its forefront.”

“I had no choice.” He said, his eyes hardening slightly.

“You always have a choice. You are their so-called ‘messiah’. Their emperor. They would fly into the sun if you asked them to. So ask them, stop this war before it consumes everything.”

“You know it is not that simple!” He shouted, and you couldn’t help but flinch slightly before rallying yourself.

“The man I married on Caladan would not have cared about simplicity. He would have cared about what was right, what was moral! He would never have entered this conflict, he would have laid down his life to prevent it! And I would have been right beside him.” 

“This conflict was inevitable! I am doing my very best to minimise the damage, can’t you understand that?”

“I understand that you are still not doing enough.”

Paul looked at you, incredulously, anger filling his gaze, “Really? How can I do more when my own wife does not believe in me! You claim to support me, and yet now you are leaving me. My position is still weak, and you leave the only man you have ever claimed to love.”

“Your position! You are faced with the massacre of your people and all you can speak of is your position!?. Have you no soul left Paul? Did it melt away on Arrakis, scorched by the sun?” 

Suddenly all the anger and venom drained from Paul’s face, and he found himself dropping to his knees, and begging you to stay. 

“You are my soul. You have been all these years. You keep me balanced, you are my morality, my goodness. Everything I do is for you, my love, for your safety. I only care about my position for it is your position also, all the power I have acquired is only in the name of keeping you from harm.”

You looked at him, staring deeply into his eyes, that piercing blue that you had thought so beautiful when they finally changed. Now they were just a reminder of how much he had changed since coming to this awful place. 

“I want to believe you. But you have always had such a way with words. I watched the way you deceived those people into following you, is that what you’re doing now?” 

He rose to his feet again, taking your hands in his. His face was frantic with fear. 

“I would never deceive you. I mean every word, I’ve felt this way my whole life. You are the most important thing to me. You know I would never lie to you.”

For the first time since the conversation began, you hesitated slightly. Could you believe him? Eventually, you landed on an answer. 

“...I do. You would never lie to me on purpose. You are lying to yourself too Paul. You know that I have never wanted position, nor power, heavens, I have never even wanted safety! All I have ever wanted is you, wholly, truly, with no barriers-”

“And you have me!” 

You reached up to splay your hand across his cheek, wiping away the tears that threatened to spill from his blue-blue eyes. 

“No, I don’t have you. I have splinters of you, and I fear the rest is lost. You may bear the resemblance of the man I love, but you are not him.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but no sound came out. 

Suddenly there was the immense whirring of gears, and you knew your ship was here to take you to Caladan.

“I’m afraid we do not have much time, so listen to what I say,” He didn’t react, his face remaining desperate and heartbroken, but you continued anyway.

“If you finally realise what you have done, and you fix it, come to me on Caladan. But I don’t want to see the Muad’dib, or the ‘Messiah’, or the Kwisatz Haderach. The only man I wish to see is my husband, Paul Atreides. Remember that Paul.” 

You gave him one last longing look before turning away from him, and making towards the ship that was emerging from the floor of the hangar.

“I’ll see you again?” He called, his voice cracking slightly as he stared after your retreating form in defeat. 

“Hopefully so, my love, hopefully so.” 

And with that, you stepped onto the outstretched platform of the ship, and shut the door behind you. Paul stayed in the hangar until the craft was gone, biting his tongue so as not to call out to you again and beg you to stay.  

*

The message that the Emperor would be coming to visit you had come far sooner than you expected.  

And you were disappointed in him. He was breaking your agreement, and so soon. It had only been a year, and to your knowledge there had been no change in the situation.

 Perhaps he was coming to ask for a divorce, maybe he’d found someone else since you left. That would certainly be ironic, considering the way he had begged for you to stay on Arrakis. 

However, you were incorrect, because only a few days later a messenger came to tell you that the jihad had ended.         

Immediately you leapt out of your seat, clasping your hand over your mouth in shock. He had done it. 

For the next few days, Castle Caladan was abuzz with preparations for the Emperor returning home. You oversaw said preparations with a watchful eye, and though you wouldn’t admit it, you were happier than you had been in years. As much as you didn’t want to admit it, you had missed Paul terribly. 

Yet, when his ship landed, you were nowhere to be found. 

“Where is my wife?” Paul asked one of your ladies in waiting as he strode through the halls of his childhood home. 

“My lord, she left on a walk to the cliffs this morning, and has not returned since. Would you like me to send someone to fetch her?”

The Emperor’s harsh expression softened slightly. “No, I’ll go.” 

It didn’t take Paul long to work out where you had gone, and as he climbed one of the paths up to the cliffs, he was glad to see you sitting on one of the benches, clad in the green silks of house Atreides. 

He called your name, and his voice cut through the gusting winds into your ear, and you turned to face him with a searching look on your face. 

You stood, and couldn’t help but jog towards your husband, gathering your skirts so you didn’t trip and make a fool of yourself. However, you stopped short of running into his arms, opting to stand just in front of him so you could inspect his face properly. 

“Is it you, Paul? Have you finally come back to me?” You asked, your voice cracking slightly. 

“It’s me,” He whispered, reaching a hand out to touch you, “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you, what I was doing was wrong, and I know that now, and-!”

You cut off his rambling apology by surging forwards into his arms and kissing him fiercely. He immediately responded in kind, wrapping an arm around your waist and cradling your head in his hand, whilst you held onto the lapels of his coat as tightly as you could. 

Despite the fact you wanted to stay like that forever, eventually the need for oxygen prevailed, and you broke away to take a deep breath in, laughing lightly at the sight of his flushed face. 

He grinned at you, moving the hand that was on the back of our head back to your cheek, brushing his thumb along your face. 

“You missed me?” He asked, teasing, but his voice had a slight edge of concern to it. 

“Yes. I missed you so much.” You said immediately, emphatically. Because you had missed Paul, it felt as if you hadn’t seen the real him for years, and the feeling of being reunited was almost too much for you to contain. 

He let out a short sigh of relief, “I missed you too. But it’s ok, because I’ve fixed it all. They still think I’m their messiah, but I’m going to stop acting like it. And you were right, I was power hungry, and selfish, and I exploited so many people, and I betrayed you, and-”

“Enough, Paul.” You said, looking at him with so much care that he couldn’t help but smile softly, “Yes, you have made mistakes, but it wasn’t all your fault. And you’ve made a change now, you’re doing the right thing. And I’ll always be there for you. I had to leave to help you, but I knew we’d see each other again. And here we are, back home, just like old times.” 

“You’re right.” 

“I often am, my love.” 

He wrapped his arms around you once again, “Will you stay with me, here?” 

You nodded, “Mhm. I’ll stay for good this time.”

[limethefirst]

Void Runners Pt. 3

pairings: Deadpool x Wolverine x teen!reader

warnings: heavy Deadpool and Wolverine spoilers, crude humor, violence, swearing

summary: Since being saved by Wade after your encounter with Cassandra, Logan makes you lead the way in the wasteland in hopes you know where they are.

Part 1 / Part 2

a/n: Per-chance I may have disappeared but that doesn't mean I won't finish this story, sorry for being gone so long, please forgive me with this 2000 word update! Enjoy the long awaited part 3

Currently the three of you were all walking through a grassy field, Wade was annoying Logan like usual as you walked in front of them—to be completely honest you were exactly sure where you were going but you knew you’d get there.

It was like the blind leading the blind but they didn't know that.

As they continued to discuss whatever...dumb things Wade could produce, a loud bark rang in the distance, seemingly catching everyone's attention.

You looked forward, as a strange little dog began to run into view. It was ugly, in an oddly cute way, it's tongue jumping up and down with each step it took.

Logan had a disgusted look on his face, while Wade seemed star struck. Wade began to take his mask off, his mouth agape; as the dog got closer the man fell to his knees, and opened his arms, letting the creature jump up on him and lick his face.

"Look at you!" Wade exclaimed, clearly excited, "She's coming with us,"

"No she's not," The man in yellow protested, obviously not wanting the extra company.

While they bickered you took the opportunity to get a closer look at the dog, it made a strange noise as you did. Although you could tell it enjoyed the affection it was being given.

"Sorry, sorry about that girl!" A voice rang, the group turning to look, saw a, what seemed to be more attractive Deadpool with long hair.

You looked between both men, confused at seeing two Deadpool's at once, more so one that said 'sorry' upon first interaction, "Who are you?" Wade asked, noticeably confused.

The other man stopped for a second to catch his breath, "Oh, I'm Deadpool, and I guess you're Deadpool too," He gestured to the Wade you've been traveling with, "But in here, everybody calls me 'Nicepool'."

You snickered at the name, the thought of a nice Deadpool now in your mind.

"Oh my goodness, wait till you see Ladypool. She is gorgeous," Nicepool began to ramble on, "She just had a baby too and.. woosh. Can't even tell." He told you guys, making a gesture with his hands to show you guys what he meant.

Logan gave him a confused face, while Wade added on, "I don't think you're supposed to say that."

"That's okay," Nicepool told you three, as his right hand went over his heart, "I identify as a feminist."

No longer being able to hold in your laughter from this entire interaction you let out an audible snort/chuckle.

All three men looked at you, Wade had a subtle hint of amusement within his eyes, Logan was just confused and Nicepool looked disappointed you'd laugh at the fact he's a feminist.

"Right," Wade said, deadpanning. Before he suddenly perked up, his attention caught by something, "Are those gold-plated 50 caliber Desert Eagle pistoleros?"

" 'Course, to match my ear huggie," Nicepool responded, a smile on his face while he showed off his gold.

"Can I have 'em?" Wade asked, sounding like a child wanting to open their birthday gifts early.

Nicepool laughed at him, "Over my dead body!" He responded still smiling.

You grimaced at the man, "You're gonna regret saying that to him.." you said, knowing Wade would take it seriously.

"You're fun!" He said looking between you and Wade, "And I guess you've already met Mary Puppins, AKA Dogpool. Careful where you touch her, she's 90% g-spot and she'll let you know it."

You looked back at the dog as Wade adjusted her in his arms.

"You let this little flirt out of your sight for one second and she starts shopping for a new papa!" Nicepool exclaimed, still smiling throughout the whole interaction.

You looked back towards Wade only to see Mary Puppins licking his lips and mouth, slightly disturbed by the strange sight.

"If you can't be a responsible pet owner then maybe you don't deserve this little unicorn!" Wade spoke as if a dog wasn't literally eating at his face.

Nicepool only smiled at him and put his hands together, "Guilty on all charges your honor. Shan't happen again" Nicepool bowed to Wade.

"Why are you so nice?" Wade asked, confused why this alternative version of him was so strange.

Nicepool once again smiled at him, "It cost nothing to be kind."

"Shutting the fuck up is also free," Logan added on, seemingly annoyed at the fact he was surrounded by technically three Deadpool's.

"Caliente!"

"This is Logan, he's usually shirtless but he let himself go since the divorce." Wade introduced as he tilted his head towards Logan, "And this little thing right here is Y/N, they're our little time jumper!" You wave a small wave, not wanting to be rude. Nicepool gave you a smile.

"Where's your mask?" Wade asked, a look of suspicion and maybe even a hint of envy on his face.

Nicepool, although still smiling, gave a confused look before regaining his happy demeanor, "Come on guys," He pointed at his face, a knowing look on his face.

Logan just looked disgusted and Wade was annoyed, "Ugh this guy, we're looking for a group of survivors."

"Oh they're out there, but merc to merc, you better hope you don't run into the Deadpool corp, yeah they're crazy!" Nicepool began to explain who they were and what they do, you've been in the void long enough to know who they were, fortunate enough to have never come face to face with them.

You didn't listen much after that conversation, only being asked by Nicepool if these hooligans were bothering you and if you'd like to go with him instead but you declined, more interested in leaving this place then having to be stuck with another Deadpool for the rest of eternity.

As you three were led through what seemed to be a corn maze you stumbled upon a car, that Wade did not seem to like one bit.

"No, no, no. Absolutely not, nu-uh what the- No, no" Wade continued to protest.

"Just get in the car" Logan told him, his tone already showing how he was getting annoyed.

"What's wrong with the car?" You asked Wade confused on why he didn't want to get in.

Wade looked offended when you asked him that, "This isn't a car, this is a Honda fuckin' Odyssey, throttle response sucks a cock, dated infotainment system. When Honda saw that the untreated chlamydia was makin' a comeback, they invented the Honda Odyssey to compete."

You looked at Wade, shocked at how much hate he held for the Honda Odyssey and at the relation he was able to make between chlamydia and a car.

"Get in the fucking car."

Nicepool smiled, his creepy little happy smile, "She'll get you there safe and sound, old Besty always does." Both you and Logan walked up to the car, getting ready to leave as soon as possible, "You're gonna have to give me my dog back though."

"I know. Listen, yes child.." Wade spoke to Mary Puppin's, as he pet her, showing his strange attachment to the furball, "If you ever wanna give her up, or if she needs a new home or if something should.. happen to you, I'd love to be her papa."

Nicepool laughed at Wade's subtle threat, "What would ever happen to me?"

Casually Wade replied, "Lots of stuff," This time the threat didn't seem to go over Nicepool's head.

He gave both you and Logan a nervous look, you could only reply with a sigh before you nudged Logan with your elbow, nodding towards Wade and the dog.

He sighed before standing up and walking towards the two, "Jesus" He muttered under his breathe.

Wade catching on quickly turned away, trying to run into the corn maze, being met with clear failure. "No! We're running away!"

You shook your head in disapproval still leaning on the car, "Give me that." Logan said grabbing the small dog from Wade's arms.

"We were so close girl" He tells Mary Puppins before she is given back to her rightful owner.

Logan handed Mary Puppins back to Nicepool, which then let him get into the car, while Wade slowly entered as well, clearly upset he wasn't able to take her with him. You got in as well, in the backseat of the car, giving a small wave to the little dog and her weird happy owner.

Logan started the car and began the long drive, giving you a little time to rest. Shockingly Wade didn't really speak much, until Logan got to the forest.

"Okay, I'm just gonna ask," Wade started off with, you slowly opened your eyes, still leaning against the window, your arms crossed as you listened in, "What's with the suit? First thing I did when I flamed out I took mine off."

"Drop it," Logan warned him.

"It's not that ugly,"

"Stop talking about my suit."

"Did you make it yourself? Been there."

"Quit. Now."

"The X-Men make you wear it? Those sons of fuckin' bitches. They are not your friends I'll tell you that!" Wade was not getting the hint at all, Logan looked as if he was about to burst, "Friends don't let friends leave the house looking like they fight crime for the Los Angeles Rams."

Logan replied snappily, not even looking away from the road for a second, "Shut the fuck up about this"

"Woah woah woah, watch your frown lines, angel baby, I'm just trying to bond a little bit."

"Yeah, well then talk about somethin' else," Logan let out an annoyed scoff.

"Fine!" Wade hesitantly said, you let out a quick sigh, thankful that Wade realized he should keep his mouth shut. Slowly you began to close your eyes again, hoping to get a little nap in during this ride.

Slowly but surely you drifted off to sleep, the exhaustion of today finally catching up with you. Although the peace wouldn't last long.

You had at least 15 seconds of nap time before the cars sudden stop made you hit your head against the back of Wade's seat.

"Ow!" You exclaimed, grabbing your forehead in your hands, Logan glanced at you, a glint of what you could only assume was worry evident on his face, before he turned back towards Wade.

"What do you mean if?" Logan's voice was raised, mad at whatever Wade had told him during your 15 second nap.

"I mean-"

"You lied to me, you don't have a fucking clue of they can help me fix things do you?"

"No I mean-" Before Wade could even finish his sentence Logan had let out his metal claws, digging them into Wade's leg.

You jumped back, a look of fear on your face, not worried that'd they attack you but that you'd get caught in the cross fire.

"Kid, get out of the car, now" Logan said, not even looking at you, his eyes stilled fixed on Wade. You knew you didn't have to listen twice, you quickly unlocked the door and jogged over to the thickest tree, hopping to use it as protection as the two men fought.

You thought the worst of it was over, you'd heard them yell a bit and assumed it was over once it went quiet but before you could walk back up to the car you saw Logan get thrown out of the car, that right there was your sign this would be an even longer day then it already was.

You watched for a bit before ultimately sitting down against a nearby tree and deciding you might as well take that nap now. You covered your ears and slowly drifted off to sleep.

You began to stir awake when you felt some arms around you and you heard the car turning on, but you assumed it was just one of them men thinking it was best to keep going on with the journey, so you put aside that thought and went back to sleep.

Until you suddenly were jolted awake by the sudden voice and quick movement of Wade, yelling what you assume was Thor.

[bunnliix]

Can't Stay Away from You - Chapter Two

The outline for this chapter, was over 2000 words, so as you can see, I had ideas lol. We get a bit more attention on the boys this chapter, but we do see what's up with y/n as well! Honestly, this series seems to be longer chapters, so the updates will be slower for this story. But either way, I hope this is an enjoyable chapter two!

masterlist

word count: 5.7k

warnings: Angst, fluff eventually, protective members, scenting, scent highs, cute moments because yes we need it, multiple distressed and panicked people, crying, tears, I think that's it?

“Why did you ever think it was a good idea to give her, a random Stay, your number? What in the world compelled you to think it was a good idea?! She could have been a sasaeng for all we know, and you just gave her your number all willy nilly?!” Minho just about exploded on the pack alpha, criticizing his frankly stupid decision.

“You know very well that we’re all pulled to her for some reason. Hell, my alpha wanted to grab her, pull her into my arms, and scent her, right in front of every fan in that room. And I’m pretty fucking sure that everyone else felt something similar to that. So don’t you criticize me on this Minho. I thought about it before I gave her my number. I took a chance, wanting to get to know that girl who captivated even you. Don’t think I didn’t see you watching her after your turn, I saw it all.” Chan went after Minho, feeling enraged after hearing the man’s words.

By the end of his words, Chan was chest to chest with Minho, almost ready to fight with him. Minho is ready to fight his pack alpha, wanting to get it into his thick head how much he could have risked their pack’s safety over this. 

“Do you realize how badly this could have gone?! We’re lucky that she hasn’t yet done something. She could post your number out into the world for all we know. And yet you’re standing here, telling me it’s worth it because she interests you? I thought my pack leader, and the leader of my group, was more responsible than that.” Minho said, his words cutting like knives.

A noise at the door stopped their conversation, Minho moving to open the door, their two omegas falling onto the floor. The two of them looked sheepishly up at their alphas, knowing they were caught in the worst way. The two alphas weren’t impressed, as the omegas knew better than to eavesdrop, and they raised an eyebrow at the two until the apologies came rolling in. 

“And you two were listening in, why?” Chan questioned them, as they looked down at the floor.

“Jagiya dragged you in here, and we were curious why he needed to talk to you so urgently.” Han answered Chan, before looking up at him. “Do you really have y/n’s number??” He hurried to ask, even though it meant Minho gave him a look for asking at all.

“Yah! That’s what you gained from listening in? That Christopher has the girl’s number?” Minho scolded the younger man.

“Well, yeah. It means we can talk with her!” Jisung says, completely ignoring Minho’s growing glare.

“I am surrounded by fucking idiots I swear.” Minho comments, voice and face giving away just how done he was with the alpha and omega pair. 

Felix wisely stayed quiet, hoping that he’d be forgotten about. Unfortunately, that was not going to happen, as both alphas turned to him. 

“How much did you hear?” Chan asked.

“I heard everything.” Felix answered, hoping that the less he gave away, the better off he’d be. Once again, he was wrong.

“Where do you stand on this, then?” Minho queried.

“I can’t say that I’m not excited that Chan has y/n’s number, but also I can understand your concerns, Minho-hyung.” Felix explains, feeling torn between both sides. 

Chan smirked triumphantly, as Minho sighed. Why are his packmates like this? His own alpha told him that he’s the same way, that he’s being a hypocrite. He shut out his wolf, focusing back on the present situation. 

Since he didn’t get scolded for his words, Felix decided to be a bit cheeky. He teased Minho about his reaction to the girl, before getting stuck in a headlock by the alpha. 

“I’m not wrong!” He shouted out. Minho only growls in response.

This triggers Han to laugh, before running out of the room, calling out that the great alpha Minho was interested in y/n too, no matter what he said to oppose that thought. Said alpha let Felix go and ran after the other omega, intent on murdering him. 

“You little shit, get back here!” He screamed out at the rapper, chasing after him.

“I don’t think so!” Han called back, a cheeky smile plastered on his face. The other observed this chase and laughed at the two of them. This was prime entertainment, after all. Felix and Chan made their way out to the living room, where the majority of the pack had settled, watching the alpha omega pair race around the house in a very scooby doo sort of fashion. 

Eventually Jisung was cornered by the older alpha, and was swiftly pushed up against a wall. Minho attacked the omega’s scent gland, Jisung quickly went into a scent high, going limp in the alpha’s arms. Minho smirked victoriously, bringing the now quiet omega over to sit down on the couch, keeping him in his lap. Seungmin emerged from his room, the last member to join them all in the living room.

“Well, I guess we might as well have the pack meeting now.” Chan piped up, all attention turning to him. 

“What about?” Seungmin asked.

“About y/n.” Chan quickly replied, and that got everyone’s attention. The boys’ attention was solely focused on their pack alpha, well besides Jisung whose head was resting on Minho’s shoulder, the omega still a melted puddle.

The boys started to get louder, each discussing about y/n, before Chan shushed them all. 

“During the fanmeet, I gave y/n my number when signing her album. She messaged me while we were on the way back here. I confirmed it’s actually her, and I know that all of us were interested in her, I could tell by how none of you could shut up about her on the drive home.” He told them, and they all started clamoring for her number.

“Yah! Shut up!” Minho interjected, and they all quickly settled as none of them wanted to earn the man’s ire. 

Chan continued once the noise level had dropped, “My alpha also is attracted to her, at the fansign, it wanted me to pull her into my arms and scent her, everyone else be damned. I know Minho’s alpha was behaving similarly.”

Minho sighed as all attention was directed to him. “My alpha didn’t want to let her go. And wanted to take her and keep her in our nest. And he wouldn’t shut up about how pretty Felix and her would look together in our nest.” He spoke.

This admission from the dancer caused a round of teasing by the rest of the pack. They teased him and his alpha for wanting to essentially kidnap a fan because she was so pretty. Felix sat there blushing, the thought of y/n and him in a nest together painted a pretty picture in his mind, leaving him desiring for that to happen.

Fairly quickly afterwards, the remainder of the boys also speak up about their feelings, except for Han, but Felix shares the other omega’s feelings in his stead. They all found that if their wolves hadn’t outright talked about her, that they at least felt drawn or pulled to her. 

Changbin quickly brought the conversation back around to Chan having her number, which then brought back the clamoring by the others, bar Minho and Han, for their leader to pass on her number to them. Chan sternly told them that he would have to get her permission first before he would even think of handing out her number, which then spurs on calls for him to text her right then and there to ask, as well as a couple of pouts at Chan not immediately giving her number.

The leader sighed, before pulling his phone out and pulling up their texts. 

‘Hey there. So the others found out that I have your number, and they want it as well. I won’t pass it on to them unless I have your express permission to do so.’ He texted y/n.

It took a minute before she responded, and by the time she did, the boys had crowded around him and his phone. 

‘That’s fine! You can give it to them, I don’t mind.’ She replied to him.

“Oh! Ask her if we can have a group chat too!!” Hyunjin shouted out, making Changbin and Felix cover their ears.

‘And I have been asked to ask you if you’re okay with a group chat with the whole group.’ He passed on the question to her.

‘That’s okay with me as well. I assume it was Felix who wanted it? Or Han?’ She asked him.

‘Hyunjin, actually.’ He texted.

‘Ahhh, that would have been my third guess.’ She replied, and he laughed.

Hyunjin pouted, as did Felix, at being so predictable.

Chan quickly created a group chat, adding y/n to it last. As he predicted, the chat quickly fell into chaos. The boys all wanted her attention, and he had to step in to tell them to cool it, both by text and verbally. There were more pouts this time, the boys unhappy about being scolded. 

Since the industry has a habit of not disclosing the idol’s designations to fans since that incident at the fansign, and the pack of boys not knowing what y/n’s designation is, that’s the first thing after introductions to be discussed. Y/n is the first to spill, telling them that she is an omega, to which Felix chimed in as well. Though he already knew that, and was trying to cover up for the growing pool of guilt in his stomach at hiding it. Chan tells her that Han is the other omega of their group. Changbin, Hyunjin and Sungmin all tell her that they’re the betas, Seungmin noting afterwards that he’s the pack beta. This left Jeongin, Minho and Chan as the alphas, with Chan specifying that he’s the pack alpha. 

Y/n was thankful to know what each of the boys was, and now knows why she probably felt the most at ease with Chan, Han and Felix, with two of them being fellow omegas and one being a pack alpha. They start to discuss other topics, though the maknaes try to persuade her to reveal who her bias was, but she kept her mouth shut on that matter. They move on to getting to know her, 20 questions style but really, it was just them asking her questions instead of her asking them any questions.

During all of this, Chan notes that Felix is unusually quiet, which is odd because of how excited he was only five minutes prior. He’s usually the big texting person in the group, and yet he’s barely texting at all, just staring down at his phone. 

Felix is feeling the guilt settle in his chest, weighing him down almost. He can’t push himself to be part of the conversation, only staring down at his phone, slowly drifting away from reality. He can’t help but feel guilty, he ran away from her, and his omega had been berating him for his actions since then. He only jolted back into reality when Chan reached out to shake him, asking if he was okay. The freckled Aussie fakes a smile and tells his alpha that he’s fine. He knew he had to come clean, there was no other way around it. It wasn’t fair to keep her in the dark about this, but it also wouldn’t be fair to drop this over text.

Before he can regret it, he texted her in the group chat, ‘Are you free to call? There’s something you need to know.’ 

This set the pack into pandemonium, thinking that Felix was going to tell her about their feelings. Chan and Minho reach out for his phone, but the omega moves faster, moving out of everyone’s reach. 

A ding was heard as she replied, ‘I’m free right now, Felix. What’s up?’ 

Deciding to just call her instantly, to avoid himself backing out, and to keep the others away from him.

“Hey Felix, what’s up? What did you wanna talk about?” She asked him as soon as she picked up.

“I knew you were an omega.” He blurted out.

“How? You shouldn’t have been able to tell at the fansign, not with my scent covered.” She replied, confused at how he knew.

“I met you before the fansign, actually.” He admitted to her, and the others.

“I think I would have known if we met.” She started, before going silent.

“Y/n?” Felix tentatively called out to the omega over the phone.

“No, we couldn’t have. That was you?” He hears her say, both to him and to herself. 

“It was me. I’m sorry for what I did.” He told her.

“Felix-” She started, but he interrupted her.

“I’m sorry for bumping into you, and I’m so sorry that I ran away. My omega’s been berating me for it since I ran. I figured I’d never run into you again, but then you turned up at the fansign and when you didn’t recognize me, I thought that I just had to get through it and it would all be okay.” He apologized, and explained to the best of his ability.

His heart dropped as he heard a tiny gasp before a sob was heard from her side of the call. He hadn’t meant to make her cry, it was the last thing he had meant to happen. The others hear the sob and it’s enough to shock Han out of his scent high, his instincts on alert almost immediately.

“I didn’t say anything at the fansign because I didn’t think it was a good place to do so, nevermind the backlash that either of us may have faced. I had such a good time talking to you I swear. My omega’s honestly been yearning for you since yesterday, and I’m sorry I was cowardly and ran away. I was just so overwhelmed by everything I was feeling and my omega’s thoughts and urges and I couldn’t think of anything else to do but to run. I’m sorry y/n, for the hurt I caused you. I only hope you can forgive me.” He further explained, hoping that she would accept his apology, but know full well that she didn’t have to. Tears running out of his eyes by the end of his little speech. 

The rest of the pack could only watch on, concerned about both omega’s but unsure of whether to intervene at all. 

“Thank you for telling me, Felix. And thank you for apologizing. In the vein of being honest, after you ran, I went back to the hotel yesterday, because I had been overcome with a feeling of loneliness, and sadness. I made up a nest and after getting in it, I cried myself to sleep almost. My omega cried out for you, she was the most hurt by your actions.” Y/n admitted to not only Felix, but the rest of the boys unknowingly. 

Felix started sobbing, as did y/n. Both omega’s feeling great amounts of sadness, and each feeding off of the other’s emotions. Chan decided it was time to step in, pulling Felix in close and hugging the younger man, taking the phone from his hand and handing it off to Minho as the alpha stepped closer, Han by his side. The other omega wrapped his arms around Felix, providing further comfort.

“Y/n? This is Minho. Can I ask for more details?” The elder alpha asked the girl.

She explained from the beginning, going over the two omega’s first encounter, and ending it with what she had said before, about falling asleep in her nest due to her emotions overtaking her. She told him that she had no idea it was Felix, that for all she knew, it was just a random stranger who smelled amazing, but had just run out of the blue. 

As she continued to talk to Minho, her sentences eventually devolved into sobs and cries instead, fearing that she hurt Felix. Her sobs continued, worrying Minho that she’d start to hyperventilate and pass out because of it. He started to try and calm her over the phone, looking over to see that most of the group had crowded around Felix, trying to calm the omega down, though it wasn’t working. 

Y/n could barely hear Minho’s voice, her sobs having grown louder as she tugged at her shirt, whining and crying that she had made Felix upset. She hadn’t wanted to do that, and she wished she could take back what she said. She curled in on herself, her omega feeling as sad as she was, neither of them wanted this to happen. Her scent soured, smelling bitter now, instead of sweet like it normally did.

Minho called out to the omega, “Y/n? Can you hear me?” 

He only received a whine in reply, but it was better than nothing. 

“Omega, I need you to verbally answer me.” He told her, not wishing to call her that, but knowing it will help bring her back at least slightly.

“Can hear ya.” He heard her mumble.

“Good omega.” He praised her. “Thank you for answering me.”

He doesn’t think she’s going to fully calm down soon, and he’s worried about her dropping, so decided that he needed to go see her. He asked her where her hotel was, receiving the name of a hotel, which he was able to discover wasn’t far from their dorm. He told her to stay calm for him and to keep breathing. 

He caught Chan’s attention, the pack alpha motioning for him to come closer. 

“I’m going to see y/n, she’s in as much distress as he is right now. I’m worried she’ll pass out.” He says quietly, trying not to let the others hear, though his effort is for naught.

Felix and Hyunjin whined at what they overheard, the omega of the two freaking out further that the other omega was in distress because of him, enough so that she might pass out. Felix himself started to hyperventilate, worrying about y/n getting hurt while she’s all alone.

“Alpha, protect omega?” He managed to get out, directing it at Minho.

“We’re gonna protect you baby, don’t worry.” Chan reassured him.

“Not ‘mega, pretty ‘mega.” Tears welled up in Felix’s eyes as they weren’t understanding him. 

“I’m going to go help pretty ‘mega, okay kitten?” Minho said, running his hands through Felix’s hair, pushing his bangs back as he did so.

Felix nodded, before devolving into further worry, his omega taking over at that point. Tears were falling at a fast pace down the blue haired omega’s cheeks and his distressed scent almost made the others choke. Finally, to calm him down and having no other option, Chan scruffed the younger Aussie, causing him to go limp in the leader’s arms. Han grabs Seungmin, and the two start scenting their omega, trying to bring back that happy citrusy scent that they know and love.

Chan motions for Minho to go see y/n, or they’ll be dealing with a distressed omega all night.

“Go on, go see her. Take Hyunjin with you.” Chan ordered the two of them.

They quickly threw their shoes back on, taking the minimum they needed to get out the door. Hyunjin pulled his phone out, getting directions to her hotel. They hurried down the streets to her hotel, somewhat relieved that they made it there in under 20 minutes. 

They rushed into the hotel lobby, y/n having given her room number prior to them leaving the dorm thankfully. They pushed the button for her room, but of course they weren’t alone in the elevator, and it seemed that people had to stop and get out on every single floor. Finally they arrived on her floor, running down the hall to find her room, Hyunjin finding it first.

Minho knocked on the door gently, but loud enough that y/n could hear it. They heard noise from inside the room, before the door slowly opened. Y/n looked a mess, tear-stained cheeks and swollen red eyes from crying. She was still having trouble regulating her breathing, her breath hitching and shaking as she looked up at them. 

“Hi.” She said, barely louder than a whisper. 

Minho, on pure instinct, picked her up and carried her in his arms, one hand pushing her head into his neck and scent gland, letting her scent him if she wanted to. He brought her to her nest in the bed, laying her in it as he stayed outside of it. He looked at her for permission to enter her nest, and she quickly granted it. He crawled into bed almost instantaneously, pulling the omega into his lap and wrapping his arms around her. He rocked her back and forth, letting her scent him as much as she needed. Minho was just there to comfort her without judgment, as she cried into his shoulder. He softly cooed and whispered comforting words to her, telling her that Felix was fine, that the others were with him and that he would be fine, just as she would be fine.

Hyunjin was waiting outside the nest, knowing better than to climb inside without the omega’s permission. At that point, y/n had calmed down quite a bit, and had taken to scenting Minho, which Hyunjin knew the alpha would never let strangers do. Yet here he was, allowing her to do what she needed for comfort. It really did prove that connection they all felt, that the older alpha willingly left Felix in distress to come and see y/n, and even was acting on instinct to calm an omega he had only met briefly hours earlier. 

Minho caught y/n’s attention, pointing to the beta who was waiting. She immediately made grabby hands for the tall dancer, who smiled as he climbed into the nest.

“Hello little omega.” He cooed in greeting, getting a smile and a blush in response.

“Hiii beta.” She said, before hiding her face in Minho’s shoulder, to which the two men chuckled. 

Hyunjin moved close to her, rubbing her back softly. Her scent was still soured, which worried the two of them. It meant that she still hadn’t fully come back from her distress, or was hiding how bad it was. Except for the fact that scents never lied, so the two of them changed positions, laying down in the nest on their sides facing each other, with y/n in the middle of them. They took turns scenting her and trying to get her scent to brighten up. 

“It’s okay, omega. Everyone’s okay, no one’s upset or mad, you’ve done nothing wrong. Your feelings are valid, and we can talk everything out with Felix later, okay? But we need you to feel better first. We can’t have a sad omega, hmm?” Minho continued to reassure her, telling her that Felix would be distressed to see her like this.

Sometime after they arrived, y/n’s scent finally started to smell better, sweeter. Hyunjin’s beta and Minho’s alpha can’t get enough of her scent, the sweet honey and vanilla was so delicious. The boys felt the same way, the two of them chuffing in happiness. This was all strangely intimate for three people who had only met hours earlier, but there was a sense of rightness as they all laid together. It felt like this is what they should be doing, like they were just laying with another one of their packmates, not an omega they had met that day. 

Y/n’s omega was purring in happiness at being in between the alpha and beta. Her omega was loving this, even if it only happened because of a bad situation. The happier she gets, the more delectable her scent gets, and soon enough, the boys can’t help themselves. The two of them descend on her scent glands, attacking them in order to get more of that pretty scent to come out and their wolves want to smell like her, want her pretty omega scent all over them, as a claim of sorts. This attack almost causes y/n to go into a scent high, thankfully for her, they get interrupted before that happens.

Minho picked up her phone to see Chan calling her. He answered, “Hello Channie alpha.” 

“Hello Minho. How is y/n doing? Is she feeling better? I tried to get a hold of both of you, but neither you nor Hyunjin answered.” Chan questioned him, concerned. 

“We’ve taken good care of her, she’s feeling better now.” Minho replied.

“Y/n’s okay? She’s really okay?” Felix’s voice comes through the phone.

Y/n took this as her time to speak up. “I’m okay, Felix. I promise. Are you okay too, sunshine?” She turned the questions back on him.

“I’m okay, I promise!” He told her, wanting her to not be concerned about him.

The two omegas started chatting on other topics, but before long, Chan interrupted them and told them to save the conversation for another time. They both pouted, the respective boys on either side chuckling at their expressions. 

“Minho, Hyunjin, what are your plans now? Are you returning to the dorm now?” He broached the topic of what they would do, now that y/n’s been calmed down.

Hyunjin speaks up first, “Can we bring her back with us? Don’t want to leave her here alone.” Minho hummed in agreement.

Their wolves were insistent on not leaving her here by herself. What if she got distressed again, and they weren’t here to soothe her? That couldn’t be allowed. 

“We want her to come back with us. Omega shouldn’t be left alone.” Minho affirmed Hyunjin’s words. 

The use of omega tipped off Chan that Minho was not fully in control at the moment. That made him concerned, and their insistence really shocked the others, not expecting them to want to bring her back. 

Well, everyone except for Han, he wasn’t shocked that they were behaving like this. Han knew that there was something about her that pulled them in, and he was fully on board with her coming to their dorm. If Minho’s alpha was that protective over her, he knew that she was safe to be around. The man’s alpha is protective over his pack, and he’d never let anyone in that he deemed a threat. Plus, his alpha was right, when he said she’d look cute in their nest. He wanted that too, wanted her and Felix in the nest. She’d be their little omega, that they’d keep safe, and by Felix’s concern, he thought the same. 

“I want her here. Minho-jagi, bring her please.” The quokka-cheeked man spoke up, to everyone’s surprise. Thankfully, no one protested it, and Chan gave in, saying she could come and stay the night, to a round of cheers.

Chan sighed, before calling out to y/n, asking her, “Y/n, do you want to come here and stay with us for the night? You can say no, and I will come and get the boys. But you are welcome here if you want that.”

Y/n nodded, forgetting that Chan couldn’t see her nod. 

Minho caught her attention, “Omega, we need a verbal answer.”

She blushes in embarrassment, “I’d like that.” 

Honestly, she’s still in shock about it all, from getting Chan’s number to now laying here in between two-thirds of Danceracha, and she’s about to go back with them to their dorm. What is this life she’s living right now?

Her omega was thinking about getting to smell Felix’s sweet citrusy smell again. Plus the floral scents coming from Hyunjin, and what she could only think of as a clean laundry scent from Minho. Her omega is increasingly pleased with her situation, knowing that she wanted these boys as her pack, even if y/n hadn’t gotten to that point yet.

After confirming that they’d be heading back to the dorm soon with y/n in tow, Chan hung up. Hyunjin jumped into action, finding a bag of hers, and then heading into her bathroom to collect anything from there that she might need for the night. He found a bag for her hygiene and makeup items in the bathroom, and filled that up, before placing it in the large bag he found. He then moved out back into the main room, looking up at her and asking what he needed to pack for her.

Minho sat the two of them up as she directed him on what to pack, and Hyunjin dutifully followed her orders. Once he had everything, he brought the bag over for her to double check, looking happy once she approved, glad to be of service to the omega. Minho looked at him, pride in his eyes as he looked at the beta, a silent ‘good job’ mouthed to the younger dancer.

Leaving the bag on the bed, he went to find her shoes, as Minho moved them closer to the edge of the nest and bed. Hyunjin came back with her sneakers, and knelt down in front of her. He carefully put her shoes on her feet, the omega looking down at him with slight wonder in her eyes at how sweet the two of them were being. Once he had finished lacing up her shoes, he stood up and stepped back, grabbing her overnight bag in the process.

Minho moved her off his lap, before he slid off of the bed, immediately turning around to reach his hands out for her. She took them, and he helped her slide off the bed as well, landing softly on the ground, as if she was farther off the ground than the couple inches between her feet and the bed. Hyunjin hurried back over to the door, grabbing her coat off the hanger, and helping her into it. The two idols donned masks, and handed her one as well that they nicked on their way out as an extra for themselves. She put it on to conceal her face. They left the hotel room, but not before making sure y/n had the keys to her room.

They quickly rode back down the elevator and left the hotel, starting their journey back home. They two men knew where they were going, and each of them holding her hand, they led her down the streets until they approached the building their dorm was in. Heading up the lift to their floor, the doors opened and they hurried to their apartment. They arrived at the boys’ dorm, but before they could open the door, it opened for them, an excited Han on the other side. 

“You’re here! Come in come in!” He nearly shouted, causing the others to come rushing to the entryway as well, Chan and Felix pushing their way to the front. The two Aussie’s kept everyone back so that the three of them could enter the apartment. The boys took off their shoes, as y/n followed them in doing so. 

Once everyone’s shoes were off, Minho grabbed y/n’s hand and pulled her with him to the living room. He sat down on one of the couches, pulling her down next to him. Felix claimed the spot on her other side, as Han pouted, before he sat down in front of her. That didn’t stop him from complaining about how unfair it was, to the others’ amusement. 

They all started chatting, in an effort to make y’n feel more comfortable in their presence. It worked, to their delight, and she quickly loosened up and joined the conversations. They talked about anything and everything, though the older boys had a lot of fun telling her embarrassing stories about the younger four boys, who retaliated by telling her the same kinds of stories about their elders. This caused her to laugh until her sides hurt, before chiming in with a couple stories of her own. 

Eventually, more yawns than words were coming out of y/n’s mouth, and the eldest two took this as a sign that the small omega needed sleep. 

“I think it’s time for some sleep, yeah?” Chan said as he came up to her, Han had moved out of the way so he could get closer. 

Y/n nodded sleepily, having a harder time keeping herself upright. Chan, after getting verbal confirmation that it was okay to pick her up, did so, before taking her to their pack nest, and laying her in the middle of it. The two omegas hopped in after her, softly talking with her and removing anything on her person that might make sleeping hard. Once they were finished, and moved anything out of the nest, they settled in on either side of her, keeping her between them. 

The three betas climbed into the nest next, Hyunjin on the other side of Felix, while Changbin and Seungmin stayed on Han’s side of the nest. Jeongin slipped in behind Seungmin with Chan capping off that side of the nest, as Minho slid in behind Hyunjin, reaching over him to feel Felix and y/n as much as he could. 

With how many happy and content scents there were surrounding the omegas, it didn’t take long before the three were out cold. The three betas quickly followed, Changbin being the last of the three to fall asleep, watching the younger ones succumb to sleep first before he could. Minho was next, looking at Chan before nuzzling into Hyunjin’s neck and peacefully falling into the hands of sleep, and Chan took one more look around, his alpha being the happiest at seeing all of them safe here in the nest, before he too slipped into dreamland. The dorms were finally quiet, and the nine of them were safe in the nest, where they couldn’t be harmed.

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[pastafossa]

Happy Birthday and a merry 6 years to TRT! 🎂 🎁 🎈 🎉 🍰

🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯 🕯

Some FUN TRIVIA FACTS:

TRT's sun sign is VIRGO and its moon sign is LEO!

After 6 years, its current wordcount is 932k words. If you put that in size 12 arial font, single-spaced, this would come to about 2000 pages, and even more if the pages were the usual mass market paperback size!

TRT is now 40 in cat years!

The Man in the White Coat is my tribute to the Mad Scientist trope common in scifi, which is one of my favorite genres!

It is old enough developmentally to tie its shoes! Keep going, TRT!

Ciro is partially inspired by John Marcone from The Dresden Files!

TRT shares a birthday with literary great Agatha Christie! Maybe I'll introduce poison-based murder into the fic in her honor...

The idea of seeing threads came to me after seeing a meme about red threads tying soul mates together. Everything that came after - the other threads, the thread world, how it works, is unique to TRT!

TRT is now longer than War and Peace, and Crime and Punishment combined! So if you've read all of TRT so far, then you have the perfect middle finger to anyone who tries to say you can't focus on longer stories!

The inciting penguin documentary that Foggy drunkenly watched (which led to him declaring Matt and Jane 'penguins') was about Adelie penguins specifically!

Jane has a leather jacket because I love leather jackets and think all badass characters should have a leather jacket! And so you should you! EVERYONE DESERVES A COOL LEATHER JACKET.

The long hiatus between Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 was because I had life things pop up. During that hiatus, I realized the plotline/ending needed some work, so I spent those two years outlining, and I also wound up doing a bunch of additional novel writing classes just because I wanted to learn. A lot of this wound up influencing TRT!

The grey threads are one of the only threads that no one has solved yet!

There are absolutely some bad people working for Cyrus James. There is also a guy named Kyle. He is there not for Evil Purposes (tm) but instead because this was the only place he could work that would allow him to pay off his student loans.

When I started TRT, I thought maybe 5 people total would read it. I was told five people total would read it by some shitty people. So I wrote it expecting five total people would read it, and told myself at least I'd enjoy it, and I could use it to learn. In other words: I had ZERO idea TRT would take off like this. None. Nada. Zip. AND LOOK AT US NOW, BABY. FUCK THE HATERS, 6 YEARS AND GOIN' STRONG.

Based on my outline, we're a bit over halfway to the end!

I hope you enjoyed these TRT funfacts. And I hope you know: this fic isn't just me. It's you, too. This fic has become so much larger than just me. It's the TRT playlist you've sent songs in for that keeps me inspired when writing. It's the fanart I look at to give me a boost. It's your sweet comments and likes and kudos and messages that encourage me when I'm sick or depressed. It's the people who've made friends over this fic, or who've been inspired to write fic themselves, adding beautiful works to the community that we all use to keep going. It's all of this love for both TRT and Matt, and I'm so happy that I've been able to contribute in at least a small way in keeping Charlie!Daredevil love alive even after the show's been gone for years now. I love you all so, so goddamn much. I love this fandom. I love TRT with all my heart. Thank you so much for being a part of these past six years through cancelations, through your high school and college years and beyond, through my ups and downs of moving and sickness and fiberglass and pandemic craziness, through late night chapter drops and wild twists and turns.

And I hope the next few years as we enter the second half of this story are just as amazing!

[mishydraws]

Very... very unfortunate life update

Hi, everyone.

Ok, I don’t want to waste your time but I wanted to be upfront about what’s going on in my life just so you all know.

Last night I got what is probably one of the worst emails that could have ever appeared in my inbox? Our landlord has given us a 60-day notice to get out. For context, my mom and I have been living here since the year 2000. We have never been late on rent or missed a payment despite every difficulty life has thrown at us in that time and this has completely blindsided us.

We haven’t spoken to any of the neighbors yet but some of the wording on the notice makes me think that they may be kicking out the entire building. Or maybe they’re just targeting those of us in the non-renovated units because we’ve been here so long and they could charge a new tenant much more with a quick kitchen and bathroom upgrade. Renoviction is a new word I just learned. I don’t know. That’s what happened to my brother at his last apartment. They kicked out everyone in his building, renovated, raised the rent, then let new people move in.

They suddenly started increasing our rent every year like clockwork a few years ago so I’ve had a feeling they’ve been trying to price us out for a while but I didn’t know they could just… tell us to leave just because they can. Rent consistently paid up and everything for 24 years.

The notice we received really doesn’t say much so it’s all speculation I guess. It doesn’t state a reason why it just says we need to be gone by March 31st.

But basically, I’m really not doing well right now in all honesty. I slept for maybe an hour last night and it’s like a switch flipped in me as soon as I read the email. My stomach has had this weird knotted feeling ever since and I can’t stand up for more than a few minutes before needing to lie down again in case I either faint or vomit… I’m not sure which but it’s been this way since last night. I had to stand up at the sink to wash one singular dish from dinner and I could barely do it. At least I didn’t see the email until after I ate last night because I still have no appetite now.

However bad I’m feeling I know my mom is probably feeling worse. She has been for a while. She’s getting older and my dad is no longer alive. Aside from my brother and one irl friend I still see in person regularly, we have no family or other support system in this country and are well and truly on our own, staring down the barrel of homelessness if we can’t quickly secure a place and move decades worth of our life there before the end of March.

All of this to say, I don’t know what our usual art shenanigans here are going to look like during this time. I am incredibly stressed to the point where I am physically ill but I also can’t pause and step away because I do need the income that I receive from your support of me/my art here. It’s just the reality. I’ve never been particularly Big And Successful with what I do so your support means all the much more and makes a real impact on my life.

I am so sorry if this dampens your mood at all today or if you notice a decrease in the quality of art I’m able to deliver over the next few months but I will try my best to keep things rolling and let you know if there’s any particular delays to expect.

To top it off, I requested a tour of a nearby apartment last night (more expensive than our current) and the name of the person who just texted me back has the same name as our current landlord. Who wants to start taking bets? I know for a fact they own a lot of property in the area so this isn’t looking promising.

Anyways. Sorry for this downer of a post. If we’re not homeless in 2 months then… I dunno. I’ll have somewhere indoors to do art? Yay? You can imagine the housing market we’re dealing with being in California. The prospect of moving at this point has always been one of my biggest fears but we’ll see if we get lucky real fast 😢

If you've ever thought about supporting my Patreon or anything else, now and over the next few months might be a good time if you can swing it. Maybe it'll help us secure a place to move if I can point to it and be like 'Look! A whole income!' 🥲 Idk man.

There's an art update in the (public) post I made if you want to see what we're at least trying to work on for sticker club through all of this.

Mishy

[prettyboysun]

a love that always feels like summer

choi yeonjun x f!reader | the rest of txt are in here too lol | set in the mid 2000′s | fluff, angst, non-detailed smut | wrote this to satisfy my yearning of a teenage summer romance in the 20th century lol synopsis: saved by yeonjun at a party once, the universe somehow manages to keep you two gravitating towards one another. eventually sneaked glances and secret rendezvous turn into something much more. will the two of you be able to break each other’s difficult pretenses of love? or will everything just turn out to be a summer fling?  warnings/tw: underage drinking & smoking, mentions of alcohol, implied sex, character death, cursing word count: 12k

the four of you sat in jisoo’s brand new car gifted to her by her dad after graduation. it was a convertible and of course the roof was down on a pretty summer afternoon. you gazed out at the city passing by, the warm wind beating against your skin. “Y/n babe- this ones for you.” You turned to jisoo in the drivers seat, giving her a questioning look. You heard the beginning of since you’ve been gone by Kelly Clarkson playing and the four of you laughed in unison, shaking your head teasingly and looking back out the window. you had just broken up with your ‘boyfriend’ of almost two years. Kris asked you out halfway through junior year at your schools annual winter dance. It was pretty smooth sailing for a while, well at least you thought it was. A few weeks after your started dating you found out he only asked you out at the winter formal as a dare. When you confronted him about it, he defended himself saying he truly fell for you. it was ironic to say he fell for you after a few weeks of barely knowing each other, especially because you were truly convinced he never romantically liked you at all.  he would only kiss you when he coincidentally saw you on campus to show off to his guy friends. when he was around girls, he wouldn’t even spare you a greeting. you planned dates with him at least once a month in hopes of saving your relationship, to which he would sometimes ‘forget.’ When he would show up to your dates, he was like the perfect boyfriend. Maybe having those days where it was just the two of you made you feel loved and cancelled out all the other shitty things he did. Needless to say, it was an empty, fake, high school relationship. He used you for a title and you were too foolish to notice, too foolish to listen to your friends when they advised you to break up with him. “We’re just very independent” you would tell them in defense, but eventually even you had to start convincing yourself the relationship was real. Three weeks before graduation, you had finally broken up with him. You were shocked to find him surprised about the breakup.

“Did I do something wrong? We were perfectly fine together. Are you cheating on me-“ he feigned innocence of all his wrongdoings and if someone were to witness your breakup they would think he actually loved you. He held onto your wrist looking for an explanation. you scoffed and rolled your eyes in annoyance, throwing his hand off of your wrist. ”don’t act like you ever cared about me. I’m breaking up with you, so don’t contact me and don’t act like you want me back.” You kept your explanation short, not wanting to call out all the ways in which he mistreated you—although it was tempting. He already wasted so much of your time that you didn’t even want to spend another second looking at him. “but-“ you quickly left the scene, knowing he would just make excuses if you stayed any longer to listen to him. “y/n, wait!” he didn’t even try to contact you once after the breakup, which made you despise him even more. you smiled at the memory, proud of yourself to have broken things off with that douchebag who you wasted your teenage years foolishly pining on. you wish you could take back all the firsts he stole from you.

“ugh! I can’t believe I used to like that dude.” Your head fell back against the seat and you rubbed your temples, frustrated at your past self. “girl, we tried telling you countless times.” jisoo reminded. “I know and I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you guys.” You pouted, sending them apologetic looks. “boooo, you whore.” Ellie quoted mean girls, which she has been doing nonstop since it was released last year. you and your friends are convinced she watches it every night before she goes to sleep. “its okay y/n, I never listen to ya’ll either.” Karina said, which you all agreed in unison to. She was the human depiction of ‘asking friends for advice but never following it.’ “okay damn, you weren’t supposed to agree to that.” Karina folded her arms and sent each of you glares. 𓆩♡𓆪 the four of you arrived at a random house where one of many graduation parties occurred during the summer. It was a fairly large estate and a local band was supposed to be playing for the night. You stuck by karina’s side, not wanting to be left alone especially as you didn’t really know a lot of people. “Oh Sophia, hey! How are you doing?” Karina came across Sophia, your class’s valedictorian. you turned around at the name, happy to see someone you talked to during school. “Y/n, Karina, what’s up? I’m doing great, how bout you guys?” “im doing good.” “Same here.” You added on. “so ms. valedictorian, any plans this summer?” Karina asked. Unlike your stereotypical nerdy valedictorian, Sophia had a lot of friends and was very easy going. “haha please, we already graduated.” She gave Karina  a playful push on the shoulder. “just trying to enjoy my last summer here before I move to reed university for the semester.” “Awwww, so you’ll be going out of state?” You were truly sad to see one of your friends leave, but also proud of her. “yep, my mom and dad want me to, so-“ she just shrugged her shoulders and gave a tight lipped smile. “oh damn, as long as you’re happy though.” Your friend Karina shrugged too. Not wanting to say much on the matter to dictate sophia’s life. You gave a sad smile to her. “thanks guys. I’ll see you around?” She gave a thankful smile in return. “yeah, we’ll see you around.” You replied to her.  The both of you waving goodbye as she trailed off to god knows where in the crowded house. you and Karina make your way to the drinks section, your eyes landing on a familiar face handling the drinks. “what the hell, Beomgyu?!” You excitedly call his attention to you. Also greeting Taehyun who was by his side. Karina wandered off to catch up with another group of people. “y/n!” Beomgyu offers a big smile to you and gives a side hug. “we’re the mixers for tonight.” Beomgyu motions to the drinks and supplies in front of them. “I can see that.” You hesitantly nod, suspicious about their abilities to mix drinks that don’t taste like poison. “we’ve been asking people to vote on the better mixer and as you’d expect, of course I’m winning.” Taehyun said cockily, earning a glare from Beomgyu. “Yeah right, flirting with the girls doesn’t count in getting you votes.” You laughed at their usual banter. “Mmm I believe it. If Beomgyu can’t mix substances in chemistry he sure can’t mix drinks.” Beomgyu’s jaw dropped at your words, sporting a shocked expression. You recall the time the three of you had chemistry class together, in which you grew close to Beomgyu who was assigned to sit next to you. Taehyun had always joined the two of you for group projects and labs. “Hah! Nice one!” Taehyun laughed and held his hand up for you to hi-five. “Don’t bother finding anything to say back, you wouldn’t have passed chemistry if it wasn’t for y/n.” Taehyun just added fuel to the fire. “I’m not doing this anymore.” Beomgyu pushed the red cups back and stepped away from the counter with the most deadpan expression on his face. “Beomgyu no!! We need your amazingggg mixing skills.” You said sarcastically, reaching out your hand to him so he wouldn’t leave. As if on cue, a group of friends pulled up to the counter, tasking Taehyun and Beomgyu with making them drinks. Of course, they had to ask the innocent group of friends about who made the better drinks. “Y/n, the band playing tonight is gonna start performing in likeeeee-“ he looked over at the digital clock behind him. “-10 minutes! They’ll be in the back.” “You guys aren’t coming?” You asked him. Not wanting to be alone outside. “In a few, after we’re finished here.” “Alright then.” You gave a small smile and waved to them as you left to the backyard. 𓆩♡𓆪 you savored the cool night breeze the backyard had to offer, although it was still victim to the loud music blasting from inside the house. the backyard was significantly less crowded and consisted of different friend groups hanging out in their own worlds, couples flirting or making out and the band setting up their equipment for the night. You joined Karina and jisoo who were talking with a group of familiar faces. Laughing and catching up with them was although short-lived as you witnessed hoards of people making their way into the backyard. The music in the house stopped moments prior, someone probably announcing that the bands performance was about to start. you had now stood up to join the crowd forming around the band. screeeeeeeeech the feedback from the mic had made everyone cringe and stop their conversations. Some people complaining and letting out curses from the horrible sound. “oh shit- sorry about that yall.” a guitarist from the band had spoken into the microphone. “but anyways!…..” the band had introduced themselves and the songs they were going to perform. Soon enough everyone in the crowd were jumping and dancing to the upbeat pop-rock song they were playing. You had eventually even came across beomgyu and Taehyun in the crowd with their friends. In which you opted to dancing and jumping around with them too. You bended over clenching your stomach in laughter having front row seats to witness beomgyu and some random dude having an impromptu dance battle. now a slow ballad song was playing and some people in the crowd danced with their friends, some grabbed the closest person nearby and others took the opportunity to be close to their crushes of the night. you were currently slow dancing with Karina who was conveniently nearby. You had giggled at a drunk Ellie who was dramatically swaying to the music with her boyfriend. He looked panicked as he tried to stop her from losing balance and toppling over. You looked in another direction to see beomgyu and his friend sensually dancing together. “Rina, look at them.” you pointed in the direction of beomgyu and his friend, the two of you laughed together after seeing beomgyu grope his friends bottom, witnessing the horrid expression on his friends face as it turned into a sneaky smile before he did the same to beomgyu--earning a quick slap on the hand from him. you enjoyed the relaxing melody of the song and the joyous atmosphere of it all, even the fairy lights strung from the roof looked especially pretty tonight. you peered over karinas’s shoulder and saw one of  beomgyus close friends embracing a popular cheerleader from your school as they slowly swayed to the music. He slowly leaned down towards her face. Before you could see what happened another couple moved in front of your line of sight, blocking the view. You looked away but nonetheless were curious. “hey, is luna hooking up with anybody?” You asked Karina as she was also on the cheer team. “hm?” Karina gave you a confused expression, surprised at the sudden question. “not that I know of. I don’t think she’s dating anyone either. Why?” “nothing, just wondering.” You returned to dancing.                    𓆩♡𓆪    the band wrapped up their last song and everyone went their separate ways. some people made their way home hauling their drunk friends with them or went inside the house for more drinks. “hey y/n!” You turned around at the sound of Taehyun calling your name. You dismissed yourself from your group of friends and made your way over to Taehyun and beomgyu with their friends. “Y/n, this is kai and soobin who go to bear creek.” Bear creek was the high school on the other side of town.

“I’m y/n, nice to meet you.” You offered a small wave and smile to the two tall boys in which they did the same. You recognized kai as the friend beomgyu groped earlier.

“So I saw you two getting it on on the dance floor earlier.” You motioned to beomgyu and kai with a playful tone. The group of boys all made different sounds of acknowledgment. You saw soobin hiding his face behind his hands and shaking his head groaning in embarrassment over the two’s shenanigans. “yeah sorry we got a little carried away.” Beomgyu fluttered his long eyelashes and tucked his imaginary hair behind his ear. Kai’s loud laugh in return caught your attention and made you laugh too. “y/n, try this.” Taehyun handed you a cup with unknown substances in it mixed into a light pink color. “you still need to decide who the better mixer is.” “haha!” Beomgyu let out a loud laugh. “Oh cmon Taehyun don’t embarrass yourself like this.” you took a small sip of the drink Taehyun handed to you. You slowly nodded your head at the taste. “Not bad…” slightly grimacing at the bitter aftertaste. “ok now try mines.” You gave the cup back to Taehyun and took the blue drink beomgyu had in his hands. “wait, palette cleanser first.” You took a quick gulp of the bottle of coke you had in your hands. the 4 boys watched in amusement as you took a sip of beomgyus drink. Taking the cup away from your lips with wide eyes that made the boys laugh, you took another sip. You were surprised with how good beomgyu’s drink was. It tasted nothing like alcohol and instead resembled the blue raspberry airheads if they were in liquid form. “Taehyun, it’s not good to flirt with people for votes.” You said with the utmost feigned concern in your voice and expression, making the boys jest at Taehyun. You laughed at taehyuns helpless expression. “I’ll be back guys, need to use the restroom.” You pointed to the house behind you over your shoulder. “m’kay see you later.” Beomgyu and the boys bidded goodbye. Before you could open the sliding door into the house you felt a hand grab at your wrist. “Y/n. Let’s talk.” You turned around to be met with kris. Immediately smelling the alcohol ooze off of his body and especially in his breath as he spoke. ‘Oh great, what a way for my night to be ruined.’ You rolled your eyes and sighed. “kris. We broke up. there’s nothing to talk about.” “y/n please it’ll be real quick. You can’t just break up with me like that.” You gave him a look of disbelief at his whiny tone. “oh my god, grow up will you?” You shook off his hands from your wrist. “y/n stop being stubborn just talk to me.” he gave you a pleading look on that annoying face of his. he had stopped you at the back entrance into the house so people who passed by surely were able to hear what the two of you were talking about. Not wanting to cause a scene you agreed to talk to him. ❁ཻུ۪۪♡ he brought you to the side of the house, which happened to be empty at the moment. “Okay, what do you want.” You stood in front of him, impatiently crossing your arms and anxiously chewing at your lips. “did I do something wrong? we dated for so long y/n and now you want to break up with no explanation?” “no explanation?! Your actions alone were enough of an explanation. You can’t just date me and act like I don’t exist!” Maybe it was whatever Taehyun and beomgyu put in those drinks that made you raise your voice but you truly wanted to be calm talking to xxxxx. It just seemed impossible now that he was actually in front of you, asking you what went wrong in the relationship. well the very problem in your relationship was standing right in front of you. “You know I hate clingy people y/n, we went through this so many times already.” You let out an exasperated scoff in disbelief at his words. “acknowledging my existence isn’t called being clingy. did you ever once ask me out on a date? Remember our anniversaries? Shit-“ you arms flew up in disbelief remembering certain moments. “-you never even said hi to me when you were busy sucking up to other girls. Couldn’t you at least spare your own girlfriend a glance?” “babe, be serious here. yeah I sometimes forget those things but you’re still my girlfriend, I still like you.” Before you could say anything back he stepped closer to you, one hand on your waist and the other caressing your cheek. Oh how you used to love when he touched you—or even showed you any affection at all. “don’t babe me, what the fuck kris we broke up already, it’s over.” You stepped away in disgust at his touch, removing his hands from your body. “y/n, baby, I know you’re not serious. you already know I’m sorry” He stepped closer to you once again with a grin on his face. How dare he find this situation amusing? this time he restrained both of your hands by holding them, stopping you from pushing him away. his face went closer to yours, trying to kiss you. “Ugh-get the fuck off me! You’re drunk! Let go!” You struggled against his strong hold, moving your face around and squirming to avoid his disgusting lips on your body. you weren’t going to let this be like the countless times you’d call him out for being a lousy boyfriend, which always ended up with him manipulating you and getting you into bed ‘as an apology.’ “Hey dude-” The two of you look in the direction of the unfamiliar voice. You see beomgyu’s friend from earlier taking a puff of a cigarette. Exhaling the smoke then tossing it onto the ground, killing it’s flames with the bottom of his shoe. Has he been standing there the whole time? “-she said it’s over already. What’s so hard to understand about that.” He calmly states in his low voice. You took the chance to free yourself from kris’s hold and distance yourself from him, rubbing your wrists in pain from his tight hold.  Kris scoffs and looks to the side. Closing his eyes for 2 seconds in frustration, his tongue poking his cheek from the inside. He returns his gaze to beomgyus friend, pissed at his audacity to interfere in his business. “it’s none of your fucking business. Fuck off already Choi Yeonjun.” you remember tagging along with kris to a party when you first began dating. You had witnessed kris try to joke around about something out of line, which yeonjun didn’t stand for. So when yeonjun called him out in front of everyone at the party, he got heated and tried to start shit with him. After that encounter kris became pissed at you whenever he saw you hanging around Beomgyu and Taehyun at school. “how can I when I came here with her?” He steps close to your body, putting an arm over your shoulder and leaning into your side. your heart speeds up from the close proximity. Taking note of how warm he feels and how he smells like cigarettes, yet also sweet, probably from his cologne. “you and y/n?” Kris lets out a mocking snicker and shit eating grin. Crossing his arms in amusement and disbelief at the sight. “I don’t believe it.” you clenched your fists at your sides and narrow your eyes out of anger. You were tired of always being belittled by him. Before you can speak up to defend yourself yeonjun softly brushes the hair away from your left shoulder, planting a warm lingering kiss onto the exposed juncture between your neck and shoulder. he leave his lips there for a second before opening his eyes to look directly into kris’s. you bite your lip in order to hold back the butterflies you feel in your stomach and the blood rushing to your cheeks. “well hopefully you’ll believe it now.” You can see the right corner of his lip curl up into a smirk. kris stands there frozen. His gaze travels back and forth between you and yeonjun before looking at you. “first Taehyun and beomgyu, and now yeonjun?” He laughed a little too hard. “Always knew you were a slut.” He says directly while looking into your eyes. You feel yeonjun’s body tense up against yours. Your heart beats faster out of anger and your eye brows furrow, flinching at the slur he called you. He leaves, shoulder bumping into yeonjuns on the way out. you and yeonjun stand there side by side, with his arm still hanging around your shoulder. you take a slow breath to cool down and calm your nerves. Looking up at yeonjun, he has an unreadable expression while staring straight ahead. He stays like that for a few moments before taking his arm off your shoulder and placing it into the back pockets of his jeans. his body now facing yours. You couldn’t help but notice how stupidly good his arms looked in his wife beater flexed in that position. the light from the sconces mounted on the wall making them seem like they were perfectly sculpted by some ancient artists. Why the hell were you focusing on yeonjuns arms right- “should I have beat his ass up?” He asks in a too casual tone and serious expression, breaking you out of your thoughts. you burst into a smile and giggle at the absurdity of it all. “he’s not even worth the trouble, trust me.” You convincingly tilt your head at him, you were pretty sure he knew where you were coming from after being there to witness the whole ordeal. “i’ll have to agree with you on that one.” you smiled at his comment before realizing the situation you were in. You slowly crossed your arms while avoiding looking in yeonjun’s direction. “but was all of that really necessary?” you asked. it was your first time meeting him but he just witnessed you arguing with your shitty ex. you were now suspicious of him, especially after witnessing him (maybe) kiss someone earlier. Or maybe he was just too attractive for you to let your guard down around. Yeonjun let out an amused smile at your now defensive stance and disposition. he found your little pout and flustered expression cute. “I don’t think he would’ve gone away if I hadn’t done that.” yeonjun looked at you, watching you nod slowly and kick at random pebbles on the ground. “I only witnessed everything up to the part where he forced himself on you.” He assured. You looked up at yeonjun with obvious relief shown on your face. ‘cute’ yeonjun thought to himself. Smiling at your adorable antics. “oh, okay then, that’s good. thanks for saving me.” you looked up to offer him a small smile of gratitude. he didn’t say anything but instead just softly looked at you — staring at you, almost. You stood there awkwardly under his gaze, silence suddenly taking over the atmosphere. Yeonjun in all honesty was enamored with you. He liked the way you avoided eye contact with him but at the same time weren’t shy to look directly into his eyes. He liked the way you seemed small and fragile but also knew how to stand your ground. He liked the way your features were shadowed and highlighted by the light nearby. he wanted to know more about you. “next time you go to these parties, call me? i’ll be your personal bodyguard.” You were caught off guard by his strange request. “hm?” You let out a confused noise that shocked even you. You didn’t mean for your confusion to slip out like that. yeonjun laughed heartily at your reaction. The sound making you ease up. “so? you don’t like the idea of a completely free personal bodyguard?” He tilted his head at you and smirked. You’d be lying if you said his annoyingly pretty face alone didn’t convince you to entertain his strange request. you were interrupted before you could speak up to accept his offer. “y/n! Is that you?” You looked away from yeonjun to see jisoo calling out your name, aggressively squinting to see if it was truly you she was seeing. you saw Karina and ellie’s boyfriend Jacob occupied with dragging a drunk Ellie to the direction of the car. you’ve never felt more grateful about jisoo basically being blind than in this moment. Part of you didn’t want to have to explain to your crazy friends about why you were seen alone with yeonjun at a secluded part of the house—the famous yeonjun whom everyone knew and pined over. You thanked jisoo in your head for saving you from the awkward situation with yeonjun. “yeah, its me! I’ll be there soon!” You shouted in her direction, hoping her horrible vision wouldn’t allow her to notice yeonjun with you. you turned your attention back to the boy in front of you, leaving him hanging about his request to be your ‘personal bodyguard.’ “Tell the guys I said bye?” you felt bad about telling them you’d be back, only to disappear for the night. “yeah, I’ll let them know.” you started to jog to catch up with your friends. ‘did I just get rejected?’ yeonjun thinks to himself after failing to get your number and also having you walk away from him like nothing happened. He starts to follow your now distant figure. “bye y/n!” you looked back to see yeonjun who moved from his previous spot and was now waving at you beneath the moonlit summer night. a pretty smile shown on his face. In all honestly it felt weird hearing your name come from his mouth. “bye yeonjun!” You waved back to him and returned his smile. ❁ཻུ۪۪♡ yeonjun caught up with the four boys in the backyard. “Where have you been?” Soobin eyes yeonjun up suspiciously. “Probably making out with some random girl.” Kai squealed the last part out in a childish tone, earning a punch to the shoulder from yeonjun. “y/n wanted to say bye to you guys but she left with her friends already.” Yeonjun took a sip from the red cup he snatched from Taehyun. “ew the hell is this? this is horrible.” He grimaced at the bitter taste and swirled around the liquid in the cup. He was confused from the silence amongst the usually noisy boys. he looked up to be met with judging expressions from not only beomgyu and Taehyun but also soobin and kai who had only just met you that night. “what?” Yeonjun asked, not knowing why they were looking at him like that. “y/n?? As in my friend y/n??” Beomgyu questioned, pointing to himself with that judging look still on his face. “cmon man, not y/n.” soobin added on. He had only met you that same night but already liked your presence. “oh my goddddd.” Yeonjun sighed and rolled his eyes. “I didn’t make out with her and I didn’t sleep with her.” He swept his onyx hair back. “yeah, we know, y/n would never stoop that low.” Taehyun said earning him an astonished expression from yeonjun and laughs from soobin and kai. eventually the topic of conversation switched after yeonjun put taehyun in a head lock. beomgyu who was the closest to you was still shocked at hearing yeonjun mention your name so casually. ✧ ˚ 　· 　　 . you woke up to the bright sun piercing though your window. ‘I thought I closed them last night.’ You groggily think to yourself. Maybe the sound of your door opening and your moms voice wasn’t apart of your dream after all. You tried, really tried to ignore the bright sun and go back to sleep but with the snores of Ellie passed out dead next to you and her legs strewed over yours, it was impossible to succumb to your precious sleep. You sighed and admitted defeat for the day, sitting up to see the digital clock on your nightstand read 9:32 in the morning. You had honestly forgotten you lost the game of Rock Paper Scissors to your friends, which explained Ellie sleeping with you in your bed. Despite her intoxicated mind last night, she was able to let you guys know that her parents would kill her if she came home drunk at night. you were all very shocked to hear Ellie sound perfectly sober while explaining to her parents she would spend the night at your house. As expected from a drama kid. you managed to move your leg that was asleep—under the weight of Ellies leg—off the bed and carried the rest of your body towards the bathroom to freshen up. You mindlessly brushed your teeth, going over random thoughts in your head. your encounter with yeonjun last night managed to make itself known in your head. You took the toothbrush out of your mouth, sighing loudly and placing both of your palms on the counter, using it to support your weight while you closed your eyes.  ‘Choi Yeonjun…?’ You shook your head in disbelief at the moment the two of you shared last night. ‘Personal bodyguard??’ You chewed at your lip and shook your head some more. “yeah I liked that movie too.” You yelped and jumped back in surprise, seeing Ellie standing beside you, currently yawning and having her hands in your shorts (that you struggled to put on her last night) scratching at her butt. You couldn’t believe you were thinking out loud and couldn’t believe you didn’t hear Ellie enter the bathroom. Hopefully she only heard the second part of your inner thoughts. “god, make some noise will you, scared the crap outta me.” you eye her up offendedly, your words being a bit muffled from the toothpaste in your mouth. “sorry ‘bout that biatch.” She takes her toothbrush that’s been at your house from the countless sleepovers with your friends. The two of you eventually stare at the mirror busy brushing away. you lean down towards the faucet to rinse your mouth with water before Ellie lets out 3 astonishing syllables. “CHWE FMKIN UNJOON?!” (Actually 5 syllables) you manage to decipher her muffled words as ‘choi fucking yeonjun.’ Before you can retaliate you’re busy trying to catch your breath from choking on the minty sink water. You look up to see Ellie staring at you with saucer eyes, looking comical as the blue foam escapes past her lips and her arm remains holding in the toothbrush in her mouth. When you return eye contact she hurriedly spits out the toothpaste in her mouth. After at least 5 minutes of back and forths in the bathroom you finally give in and tell her all about what happened the night before. “the peng yeonjun? Yeonjun who only actually speaks to girls if he’s gonna screw them that night? And fuck kris! m proud of you for standing up to him.” Ellie says all at once as you sit facing each other on your bed. “yes! that yeonjun, starts with a y and ends with an n. The only person in this town named yeonjun. And yeah screw kris, that jackass—wait, what do you mean yeonjun who sleeps with girls?” You asked dumbfounded. “y/n literally everyone knows this already, even emo Gregory.” (Emo Gregory being the dark emo kid at your school who talks to literally no one.) okay you knew she was lying about emo Gregory because there’s no way he would know anything about yeonjun who went to a different high school. “Every single girl says they wish they were Luna just so they could get yeonjun’s attention.” Suddenly the information Ellie told you and the scene you witnessed on the dance floor last night started to make sense. “are they… fuck buddies…?” you hesitantly ask, almost asking if they were dating but with the context clues of the information you just received, you redacted it to friends with benefits. Ellie slings both her arms backwards and falls on her back onto your pillows. “ugh idk, they don’t seem like that though, more likeeeeee…besties…?” She tilts her head at the thought and grimaces. “they’re just…weird, that’s all I know.” you sit there in silence trying to process it all. “-and I also know I have a banging ass headache.” ✧ ˚ 　· 　　 . later that evening you walked to a nearby Chinese restaurant to pick up dinner for your family. You had your mini disc player in hand and headphones playing your favorite band from the 70’s, bee gees. Having your parents be friends with the owners meant simply placing an order over the landline. you walk into the cozy restaurant, hearing the chime of the door go off. ‘Oh Y/n! Your food will be out in a few.’ Your family friend told you as you waited by the counter. through the music in your headphones you could hear a familiar sound. You looked up to see a familiar group of boys gathered at a table, kai’s laugh in particular catching your attention. You stayed at your spot for a bit, not wanting to intrude. Until you met eyes with beomgyu who was facing your direction, in which you gave him a disgusted look while raking his body up and down with your eyes. something the two of you usually did whenever you met eye contact across the room. He did the same to you, making kai and soobin turn their heads in your direction. They waved at you and called your name to which you reciprocated with a smile: which is how you found yourself seated at a table in a Chinese restaurant waiting for your food with three particular boys engaging in casual conversation. “y/n, help yourself.” Soobin motioned to the food laid out in front of them, half eaten and all. “no it’s okay.” You waved your hands in front of you to deny his offer. “My foods coming out in a bit anyways.” “soobin, we already ate the food.” Hueningkai breaks out into an awkward fit of laughter, apologizing to you on the behalf of soobins offer. Beomgyu pushes soobins head (which he was in fact looking at his lap in shame) with his knuckles, clicking his tongue at him. “Boy are you embarrassing.” soobin threatens to do the same with beomgyu, which makes him flinch in his seat. You laugh at the scene. “Leave the poor boy alone.” You say to kai and beomgyu. “At least y/n has my back.” He sneers at the two boys and crosses his arms in defense. “taehyun isn’t here with you guys?” You ask, used to seeing he and beomgyu together. before you could receive a reply from kai, beomgyu cuts him off. Propping his elbow on the table and putting his fist against his cheek to hold his head up. Hearing about one of his close friends reminded him of another. “soooooo you meant yeonjun huh?” You’re caught off guard by the question but try not to show it. “yeahhhhh, last night at the party actually.” You stretch out the first part just as beomgyu did with his question. not receiving any words back you slowly sit back into your seat and cross your arms in suspicion. “Why?” “mm nothing, just didn’t know you two had met.” Beomgyu says dismissively, pursing his lips at the thought. Soobin and kai sat there awkwardly, switching their sights between the two of you and observing the strange atmosphere. you were saved from beomgyu’s weird behavior by the owner calling your name out for your finished order. “bye kai, bye soobin. i’ll see you guys around.” you waved goodbye to them as you quickly got up from your seat next to beomgyu. You were a bit pissed at beomgyu for suddenly making the atmosphere awkward with his friends around, perplexed at his actions. the boy in question was as bit as perplexed as you were. He didn’t want to admit he was being possessive of you as his friend. If it were with soobin and kai he wouldn’t mind, but with yeonjun? Yeonjun who mentioned your name so casually that night, as if he’d known you for as long beomgyu knew you? Yeonjun, his dear friend that he loved and cared for... maybe he was possessive over both of his friends, actually. ------------ GODDAMn I wrote this like a few months ago and wanted to post it as a full story but I got writers block lol... depending on how well this does I might find the inspiration to write more chapters for it idk :/ also might change the title of this :0

[feralboimurphy]

Benson Boone’s new album has a few Jeric songs on it. I will explain.

Beautiful Things: Jack has OCD (at least a lot of signs point to it) and of course that means getting in his own head about having everything good (eric, shawn, his friends). He might self destruct, but he would die if he would lose it all over again.

Forever and A Day: This song is the both of them to each other. The first part of the song is Eric.

“No words convey the way it felt for me to finally hold you.” Eric spent 15 years without the man he thought of as his soulmate after almost getting him back in 2000. The moment he got it, he clearly wasn’t going to let it go. I wish we got so much more of them in Girl.

The next part is Jack.

“Know every word you’re gonna say before you even think it. But somehow every joke you make is funnier each time around. Your laugh is such a perfect sound.” Now, it’s no surprise that Eric is a goofy man and this may have been Matt Lawrence + Will Friedle, but Jack laughed at Eric’s jokes more than people give him credit for. Even when serious, Jack never discouraged Eric’s funny quips (we ignore a LOT of season 7. all of them got weird.)

“I swear I’ve known you longer than forever and a day.” These two clicked right away and were besties. Upon meeting, they’re the same person and never stay away from each other for too long when there isn’t an obstacle in front of them.

“How could I forget those eyes? They took me by surprise, but suddenly I missed your face. I knew that smile from miles away.” Now…them meeting again as adults. As soon as they saw each other, they clicked again.

“I don’t believe in destiny…your melodies they’re changing me. I’m yours forever and a day.” Eric makes Jack a better person. Jack even admitted that multiple times. Eric is his person and always will be.

There (He) Goes: This one is another Jack to Eric song. Personally, I believe it’s Older Jack coming back to Eric. And Eric taking him back in like they never separated.

“…You’re my only ghost, come on, haunt me, cause I’m lonely. I’ve been gone too many days and it starts to feel the same; every morning. I don’t recognize this place. Is it me or have I changed?” Jack was a new person when he came back to Eric. Gave into his greed over the years and let it take over him.

“There (he) goes. Like I’ve never been alone. Like I’ve had it all along. Every time I go away I hate that it’s a day that I never see your face.” Once Jack has Eric back, you KNOW it’s hard for him to leave again. Leaving to even get his stuff to move would be hard because it means being away from Eric once again.

“So, i pack my bags. I’m takin off. I’m comin home.” Jack goes back for Eric. You know, he knew he wasn’t leaving once he came to Eric. He could trick himself, but the moment he packed up for the trip, Eric was his destination.

“Out of the blue, (He) comes around. (He) turned my world upside down.” Jack made a name for himself in that company and Eric flipped it all around.

BONUS:

To Love Someone: This one is Eric realizing he loves Jack two different times.

“Brand new apartment, we sat on the floor. A blow up mattress and some plastic forks. Our clothes on the counter, keys in the door. You’re all I ever wanted never been so sure.” I mean…come on. New apartment together. Them bonding and Eric falling in love.

“Suddenly nothing is the way it was. Is this what it’s like to love someone?” When Jack saw Eric was more than his roommate, it changed everything between them. They got closer. Went on dates. Everything.

“Empty apartment I’m sat on the floor. A blow up mattress and a plastic fork. Fighting the flashbacks that creep through the door. I stare at the ceiling and try to ignore.” You can take this one as either Eric moving out when Rachel moves in or when Jack leaves with Rachel for the Peace Corps.

“Chances are we’re gonna tell ourselves this is how it’s supposed to be. And chances are this isn’t the last time I’ll dance with your memory.” Eric thinks about Jack every day and vice versa. Can’t tell me different.

Now the ‘suddenly nothing is the way it was’ changes. Eric and Jack are no longer in each other’s lives. It’s not the way it was. There’s no late night TV watching. Nothing about their lives together because Jack is gone.

[brehaaorgana]

The thing is, websites being slowly destroyed because of capitalist greed is bad in general for many reasons, but I would like to point out that one of those reasons is that not every social website is built to handle the same kinds of engagement in the same ways, and this destroys spaces that can't simply be ported elsewhere because they are symbiotic to their origins.

You destroy specific kinds of communities and communication styles that rely on the uniqueness of individual platforms. You can't move that to somewhere else with a different structure without fundamentally changing something.

This has always been true, but I feel like not everyone is fully...aware or familiar with how this happens. It's not even entirely a Gen Z thing either - there are plenty of Millennials/Xers and older generations who did not have a ton of internet access in the early-mid 2000's and so don't necessarily have familiarity with what vanished. Internet access has only recently been "expected," for more people across the class spectrum.

As a Millennial(TM) who has been connected to the internet basically since infancy (my dad did IT/software engineer management stuff and would literally sit me on his lap while he was on the computer as a baby), I am keenly aware of a) the fact that there are entire internet social communities which I didn't engage with but are now gone and b) that there are ones I did engage in and are lost or no longer really the same because of capitalism.

Like...forums are just not as popular anymore as they used to be. They still exist, but it's harder to find them and they usually see way less activity than other platforms. And we lose so much knowledge/advice/engagement without them. Things like: I turned around one day and found a digital art forum I used to lurk on was totally gone, along with all the inspiration, tutorials, and tips. I remember one thread was this one guy wanting to learn to draw, and it was basically just his progress journal of learning to draw. It went over the course of YEARS of progress from like, stick figures to beautifully rendered art. Shit inspired me so much, and I think it just...vanished?

But then there's things like, entire social norms, jokes, and kinds of engagement that also vanishes or becomes a graveyard. Forums usually have karma systems (which reddit apes, sort of) and that could tell you a lot about an account lol.

Look at the slow death of livejournal! Dreamwidth sort of...tried to fill the gap but there's so many platform specific expectations and experiences that Livejournal had:

Icons that you change based on: interests, content or intent of your post/comment, that you can create and have others use and which change often.

Related: icons and graphics communities.

CAPSLOCK COMMUNITIES WHERE YOU DON'T LAPSLOCK EVER!! EVERYONE TALKS LIKE THIS

Locked communities (especially age based!) Or dedicated communities with moderation and agreed upon rules unique to that comm. Tumblr literally can't recreate that. It doesn't port to how Tumblr specifically works.

Comms like ONTD, stupid_free, or comedy shit like weepingcock, - or even like, scanlations comms. Shit that just doesn't translate to tumblr's style, especially without optional anonymous engagement and nested conversations. There's no such thing as FFAF on Tumblr. It doesn't work. You don't break the internet here the same way ONTD did when Michael Jackson died.

Dedicated fandom/ship comms. As someone who was quite literally harassed on Tumblr for years because I didn't like a specific non-canon ship between a literal teenaged child and an adult and talked about it without tagging it (and even censored it when just words suddenly showed in tags!) I miss dedicated fandom comms so much. Because I had way more control over who engaged with me on my personal LJ and NEVER would've bothered people on a comm about a ship I hated because it's shitty behavior and because people who do that got banned! Shared communities with moderation and better blocking settings were benefits I didn't have on Tumblr.

Just...it doesn't translate to Tumblr and now it's just a tiny space on DW and the zombie of LJ.

Similarly I don't think AITA translates very well to Tumblr because Tumblr doesn't:

Have nested comments/comment threads that can be collected all on one central page

Have easy to make throwaway accounts

Allow for anon responses to posts directly (it's only asks! They can't reblog anonymously!)

Have an upvote system

Have a "sort by most popular" or "sort by oldest."

Have autoretention/bot capture of the original submission.

A way to click through to someone's comments in other communities, or see what their responses to the thread as the op easily.

A collection of moderators and standardized community rules and community ability to report trolling/spam/fiction/shit posts.

Call me a killjoy but AITA won't fully translate to Tumblr for the same reason why ONTD isn't translated to Tumblr, and even a similar concept to ONTD looks totally different on reddit (see: deuxmoi). It will look different, it won't have the same community or feel simply because the platform itself is different enough that it inherently changes how we engage, what that engagement looks like, and what can even feasibly be done.

When a website dies, the unique communities and communication styles of that platform also start to die.

[cksmart-world]

SMART BOMB

The Completely Unnecessary News Analysis

By Christopher Smart

March 11, 2025

TOP TEN TRUMP TRUTHS IN STATE OF THE UNION

10 – Our presidency, is the most successful in the history of our nation.

9 – I renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. And likewise, I renamed (Denali) for a great president, William McKinley, Mount McKinley, again.

8 - I have created the brand new Department of Government Efficiency. DOGE! Which is headed by Elon Musk. Thank you, Elon. Everybody here, even this side (Democrats), appreciates it I believe.

7 - [S]ocial Security hurts our country, 1.3 million people from ages 150 to 159 and over 130,000 people are age over 160 years old (receive benefits).

6 - We've been ripped off for decades by nearly every country on Earth, and we will not let that happen any longer. Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it's our turn to start using them against those other countries.

5 – We're getting wokeness out of our schools and out of our military, and it's already out, and it's out of our society. Wokeness is bad. It's gone. And we feel so much better for it. Don't we?

4 - And I also have a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland. We strongly support your right to determine your own future, and if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America... And I think we're going to get it. One way or the other, we're going to get it.

3 – At a rally in Butler, Penn., gunfire rang out and a sick and deranged assassin unloaded eight bullets from his sniper's perch... I was saved by God to make America great again.

2 – Many jurisdictions virtually ceased enforcing the law against dangerous repeat offenders while weaponizing law enforcement against political opponents like me. We have acted swiftly and decisively to restore fair, equal and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law, starting at the FBI and the DOJ.

1 – My fellow Americans, get ready for an incredible future, because the “Golden Age of America” has only just begun.

UTAH LEGISLATURE: PAYBACK IS A BITCH

It's better not to mess with Utah Republican lawmakers Wilson, 'cause they love payback — and payback is a bitch. They don't like citizen initiatives because they're just a bit too democratic. You want to legalize marijuana and have an independent boundaries commission — well forget about it. Initiative bullshitative. But the Utah Supreme Court ruled that lawmakers can't throw out a voter-supported initiative just because they don't like it. So the Republican supermajority trained it sights on those uppity justices. If Trump can do it, why not. Separation of powers? That's so yesterday. And since the LDS/GOP was setting things straight — no unions damnit. The teachers union filed suit over the Republican's voucher program that siphons $82 million for public schools. So, the GOP supermajority banned public employee unions from collective bargaining. See what happens when you mess with the white boys on the Hill. As Trump showed in 2020, something is horribly wrong with voting. Our GOP legislators couldn't agree more. Which is pretty rich Wilson, seeing as they all keep getting reelected. But it's a Trump thing, so they set out to do away with mail-in balloting. Hope springs eternal and we could breath easier 'till the legislature reconvenes, but for one thing — Trump. Hey Wilson, how's that bomb shelter coming along, anyway.

TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE

This is no James Bond movie Wilson, so break out the Stoli, we're with Putin and the Ruskies now. Sorry, no word on the Russian Bond girls yet. Hard to believe, isn't it. Since 1945, we've been at loggerheads with the Soviet Union and then Russia. Late in 1991 the Soviet Union dissolved and there was hope among some that democracy might take hold. But by 2000 Putin had seized control and over the last quarter century he has tightened his grip. That sounds dire, but in fact he's a very nice fellow. Sure, he's bombed Chechnya and Georgia and invaded Ukraine. And yes Wilson, he assassinates political foes and journalists. But other than that Wilson, he's not all bad. At least that seems to be the take from Donald Trump, who doesn't like people saying Putin interfered in the 2016 election. After all, Trump won fair and square and didn't really need that thing with Hillary's emails purloined by the Russians and slipped to Wikileaks, blotting out headlines of Trump's nasty Access Hollywood tape braggadocio. These days, President Trump is sick and tired of Russia's war in Ukraine and boasted that he could end it in 24 hours. But give the guy a break — he's trying. Trump stopped military aid and intelligence to Ukraine until President Zelensky gets his wits together. Sure, Putin continues the bombing, but that's not Trump's fault — then again, what is.

Post script — That's going to do it for another exhilarating week in the Age of Trump here at Smart Bomb where we keep track of racism so you don't have to. As many believe, racial discrimination no longer exists in this country. That's why the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, why we must scrap DEI (diversity, equity or inclusion) programs and keep CRT (Critical Race Theory) from being taught in kindergarten. And that's why last week a Georgia congressman demanded the city of Washington D.C. remove the “Black Lives Matter” mural painted in 35-foot-tall letters on the pavement of two blocks of 16th Street NW. That stretch was cordoned off and became the Black Lives Matter Plaza. It was initiated after peaceful protestors were gassed by federal forces between nearby Lafayette Park and St. John's Church on June 1, 2020. Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde issued this ultimatum: get rid of the “Black Lives Matter” mural or lose millions in federal funding. And so D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said it will have to go. “The mural inspired millions of people and helped our city through a very painful period, but now we can’t afford to be distracted by meaningless congressional interference.” Racism, there is no racism.

Well Wilson, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Them that has gets. We could go on all day regarding the status quo and inertia and the unwillingness of the bourgeoisie to change. The guys in the band know this all too well. So, wake 'em up Wilson, and take us on out of here with something from the philosopher king:

How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man? How many seas must a white dove sail Before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly Before they're forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Yes, and how many years can a mountain exist Before it's washed to the sea? Yes, and how many years can some people exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head And pretend that he just doesn't see? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Yes, and how many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? Yes, and how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows That too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind

(Blowin In the Wind — Bob Dylan)

[tokkiyuna-rabbit]

Rabbits are nice. Also, I find the word for rabbit in Korean and Japanese to be super cute.

Did you ever play those Carmen Sandiego games where you had to guess cities and countries?

Belgium sounds like it could be fun! I know it was made up for a British tv series, but I wonder if they have any Hercule Poirot history about. Maybe you can get to the Netherlands around the time the tulips are blooming!

I don't even have a strong dislike for that kind of stuff, I'm just not that interested, and after everything else they had done, the very first demand set off instant warning sirens for the first time. Which was an interesting thing to find out about myself, and also the beginning of me wanting to get away from them. Especially when it came after me basically saying I don't know what to do with OCs.

I hold onto the idea that maybe we will find a preserved Parasaurolophus in a peat bog somewhere, someday. It could be wishful thinking, but we do have some preserved skin with scales from one, after all. At the very least, Jurassic Park made a lot of children interested in paleontology that has helped fix many inaccuracies and brought about breakthroughs in the field.

I do find it interesting how Spinosaurus has gone from bipedal to quadruped over the years. Also apparently longer than a t-rex? Apparently the destruction of that museum did lead to a lot of changes over the years as paleontologists found partial skeletons and bones and had to re-piece the species from different individuals (without mixing them). Which could not have been easy given how adult, adolescent, and juvenile bones can be so different. Scientists keep trying to make models of the dinosaur to see if it was aquatic, and these experiments suggest that the shape with the sail would lend itself to being semi aquatic, but not fully aquatic. Then again, we don't fully know the composition of the dinosaur that could have allowed it to be aquatic or semi aquatic.

I wonder if the sails helped to attract birds like creatures to eat parasites?

Ankylosaurus has that ugly yet super cute look to it, like one of those well trained bit pulls with the muscly heads and spread out legs that like to plodder up to people for pets. Then again, that may be influenced by how they tend to be portrayed as the slow, low intelligent or dog like characters, like Url from the year 2000 Dinosaur movie, or Kosh from The Land Before Time.

I forgot they had padded feet! Did you ever see that Animal Planet series where they had the animal celebrity people like Jeff Corwin interact with prehistoric animals and dinosaurs? I think it was called Giant Monsters or something like that. I couldn't really watch it because Jeff Corwin is trying to escape some crocodile creature via a golf cart and shoves his passenger out of the cart to lighten to load, and I was so affronted that I could not watch it after that.

Supposedly it gives a lot of shoutouts to another series, Walking with Beasts, which is a spinoff of Walking with Dinosaurs.

I think my family just assumed that all kids had dinosaur phases. Mary Anning sounds like an interesting person! Funny enough, looking her up gives me pictures of orange books with her in them. I just assume that your book is out there somewhere, but later publications included a cover.

Yeah, the loss of species is sad, but there have been many advancements in preserving the species, so there is that.

Yes, the words for rabbit in Korean and Japanese is cute. It's why my username has the word "Tokki" in it. I tried to use the Spanish word, but conejo doesn't ring the same (or at least I was not creative enough).

I had a Carmen Sandiego game, but it wouldn't work with my computer. It wouldn't read it properly. And I don't think it was that. I learned the names of countries and the map for Europe and Asia through JetPunk.

For some reason, for a minute, I thought you meant that Belgium was a fictional country that was created lmao. But, I am not sure if they would. You never know, sometimes you find random stuff in foreign countries. And yes, I hope the tulips are blooming. The trip is supposed to be 10 days, which is short and I wished it was longer. Would have liked to see if I could have done a quick trip to Luxembourg.

Understandable. Of course, once they started to show their true colors and then ask for more of you it is going to set things off in your head. At least that is what I understand about people. I don't blame you for this being a reason to want to get away.

Jurassic Park was really a great film. 8-year-old me was so happy with the movie that I even watched it in Spanish. Even though at the time I spoke little to no Spanish. And it really did fix a lot of inaccurate information. Though, I think some people say that the velociraptors were inaccurate and may have been different dinosaurs due to their sizes. I think people say that the velociraptors in the film were actually Utahraptors. And that there were feathers missing.

From my understanding, a big part of the change was due to people's knowledge of what type of diet the Spinosaurus had. It was a more aquatic fish eating dinosaurs, so people depict it more like a crocodile as you stated. I do think it would be hard to piece the fossil skeletons together and I highly doubt we would ever get a full skeleton of a Spinosaurs again (from that museum) because I believe most of the bones may have been destroyed. Who knows, maybe I'm wrong. But I would love to see what their skeleton looked like. And the sail could have been to attract. Fish prefer shaded area, so the sail acted as a shade and could have attracted the fish to it.

Oh! I remember Land Before Time! And I guess you'd be right. I don't remember any ankylosaurus being depicted any other way. Frankly, I don't remember much at all until you mentioned it. I had not looked into dinosaurs since I was 9. So like a decade and more since I even bothered to look into them. And fictional depictions of them.

No, I don't think I ever saw that series. Turns out the series came out in 2003? So, I was only 1 years old at that time and I don't think I ever came across it on YouTube. I tried searching it up, but I only got a trailer and the quality wasn't the best.

Most likely later publications have covers. I ended up asking my mom about it and she said she probably gave it away or something. She knew what I was talking about, but she didn't know what happened to it. I would need to do some digging because the book was about multiple things. Fossils, evolutions (of human and animals), and sea. It was written in chronological (I think).

[tera-91]

Mid-April thoughts

I didn’t mean to take a pause in posting. My thoughts have been a jumble lately.

My pup will need to have surgery so ive been working extra hours so that I can work less during the healing process. It sucks but I would rather go through with it now than the little cuddle bug be in discomfort. Poor thing has had some rough luck in the knee genetics department.

I have also been contemplating a job change but I would have to go to school for it. So Ive been dealing with checking out everything that I need to do for that. I think if I can be patient, which for me is kind of difficult, it would be a really good thing cuz I could potentially basically make in a day what I currently do in a week. It would definitely make things easier for me. But I wont be able to complete it for a few years. So I don’t know exactly what to do with my time between now and when I would be able to start taking courses.

Another jumbled thought I have is should I take advantage of the down time to try to pursue some side quests to make a little extra here and there to build it up so that I can quit my job while I go through school. I will have to be a three quarter to full time student while doing it so working and school might be a little bit of a juggling act. Also as bad as it might sound, I would rather do side quests than my actual job. I know that for most jobs dealing with people can be completely unavoided and there are jobs where it can be which would be a plus but I just get drained both mentally and physically dealing with people.

Other things have been good though.

I think I have figured out a way around some issues I was having with my videos. I just need to be able to spend some time to edit those so that I can post them. I have a pretty decent bank of them so I can spend time with my fluff ball to make sure healing goes well.

Writing I think is going good but also having a bit of a block. While I know I said I was probably going to take a break on sanders side stories, I somehow have 3 I’ve been working on. Maybe because I feel like I resonate with Virgil so its easier to write something with him verses starting something else. I can get anywhere from 300-500 words before my brain just halts and I cant figure out where to take it. I have an idea of the beginning but the further into it the murkier it gets and I don’t know where I want to take it. Part of me wants to go a fluff route but also writing is a bit of an emotional outlet for me. So part of me wants to just follow whatever emotion I have going at the time. Whether it be anger, frustration, etc but when I take a step back to review and edit I have hesitations. I know angst is a category and an option to post but at the same time I want what I create to be an escape for someone. Would that be helpful to others to read that or could it not be.

I guess anything could be helpful to anyone. Just a little bit of internal struggle. Maybe that is what is causing the block. Also I think I have a slight hesitation to post anything short after posting 2000-3000+ stories in the past. Even my word salads have been decently long. Also I get easily distracted or something just takes longer than I think it should and I get discouraged.

I hope everyone is having a good April. The weather is finally warming up but I think it has gone a bit too far. Gone from cold straight to HOT. I was hoping to have a little more slightly warm days so that way I could spend some time hanging outside and get back into painting. Or even just to enjoy nature for more than 15, maybe 20 minutes if Im lucky before it gets too hot out there. After I post this I might go try to enjoy as much time I can tolerate in the heat. I got some good nature photos the last time I went outside with my camera. Sometimes I contemplate if I should post them on here or maybe make an Instagram account and post them on there.

[carlatsukinamistolemyhamsandwich]

These Fanfics of Shin and Carla of nice and all...but we want the story on how Carla Tsukinami stoke your ham sandwich! The greedy bast*rd he is...

Anon, this is one of my favourite asks ever and I love you. Thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to shamelessly insert myself into the world of DL I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it :)

I wrote myself as a nameless herione (because I don’t think most of you know my name) which also means you can treat it as a reader insert if you want to, but bare in mind this is based on how I would react in this situation and there are some details that are a bit specific to me.

“Hm, I wonder if I’m allowed up here?” The girl glanced back at the door to the rooftop of Ryoutei Academy, trying to spot any sort of kanji that could translate to “Keep Out” but found none. Shrugging to herself she concluded that if anyone caught her up here when she wasn’t supposed to be, then she would have to play the confused foreign student card and hope for the best.

A mild scolding seemed better than going back to the cafeteria anyway.

She looked down at the slightly sorry looking lunchbox in her hands and loosed a sigh. It was only her second day at her new school and already she felt herself desperately missing her friends and the familiarity of her old school. 

The other students had all been pleasant enough- aside from the boy with glasses in her class, who she’d caught eyeing the hemline of her skirt with obvious disapproval, as though it was somehow her fault that whoever made the school uniform had not done so with five foot nine female transfer students in mind- but the thought of trying to navigate getting food when almost all of the signs were in kanji she didn’t recognize made her gut roll with anxiety.

Besides at least the rooftop was pretty, with troughs of well kept roses lining the space and a perfect view of Kaminashi town, just beyond the iron railing, the lights from the small shopping district a warm glow against the midnight blue sky.

The girl walked over to the edge of the rooftop, intent on giving herself a moment to admire the townscape when a nearby rose caught her eye. It’s petals were such a dark red, they looked almost black in the modest illumination provided by the few lights lining the roof. She crouched down on the balls of her feet and set her lunchbox carefully to the side. Something about the scene, the dark flower with the night sky behind it, made her fingers itch with the urge to sketch it. 

“I don’t think I could do the dark colors justice with my watercolors and I can’t do realism with markers so maybe colored pencils would be best?” She muttered to herself she tried to find the perfect angle for some reference photos she could use later, while reaching into her pocket for her phone. “Acrylics could work I guess but I don’t have any canvas here and I-”

“What are you doing?” A low voice came from right beside her ear. The girl let out a high-pitched shriek and jolted in surprise, barely catching her balance in time.

She loosed a breath before turning her head in the direction of whoever had spoken, but before she could, they spoke again.

“Hahh, that’s no good… Hmph!” A rough shove sent her sprawling into the roses. Thorns scratched at her skin and she cursed as her hands plunged in the damp mulch, just barely stopping her from face-planting into the dirt. The rest of her however, was not so lucky, and she knew from the way her torso had landed in the soil that her skirt’s hemline had just become the least of her worries as far as her uniform was concerned.

A cruel laugh came from behind her and she turned to look up, filled with some mixture of anger and embarrassment. 

But whatever had been brewing petered out the moment she laid eyes on the culprit. He was quite possibly the most beautiful boy she’d ever seen; short choppy, strawberry blonde hair framed pale face with an eye the most incredible shade of gold. 

He was utterly stunning.

The effect was promptly ruined however, when he opened his mouth, face twisting into a sneer.

“Haha, how pathetic, crawling around in the dirt.” He continued to chuckle as she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, wincing slightly at the way they stung where they’d scraped against the ground. 

“Heehhh, aren’t you going to say something?” The boy asked, the humor in his expression dying down as he regarded her as one might a spot of mould on a piece of bread. “Or is it that you’re so stupid, you can’t understand what I’m saying?”

The girl froze slightly, unsure how to navigate whatever was going on. Was this guy a bully? Her strategy for dealing with bullies until now had generally been to avoid them or ignore them, neither of which seemed like a good idea here.

“Oiii Miss idiot, are you going to keep ignoring me until I do something like this?” Before she could react the boy placed a heavy black boot on her hand and started to put his weight onto it.

Shit.

“What do you want from me?” She blurted out, praying silently that she hadn’t messed up the Japanese grammar, which really shouldn’t have been a concern given this encounter could feasibly end with a broken hand.

The pressure stopped briefly and she took the chance to tug her hand out from her under his shoe and get to her feet. The girl was a little surprised to find that the boy was no taller than she was, although his general aura of menace certainly made him intimidating enough without needing any extra height. 

“Ah, so you can talk. As for what I want… why don’t we start with an apology for shrieking in my ear earlier? It hurt you know?” He made a show of obnoxiously cleaning out his ear with his finger and the girl found herself completely lost for words. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, there were a lot of words swirling in her brain, all of them English and not to be used amongst polite company.

Biting back the urge to tell him to fuck off, she reminded herself that she was currently alone with this guy on a rooftop and angering him further probably would not end well. “I apologize for shouting in your ear, you surprised me. I’ll be going now.” Lunch forgotten, she went to make a hasty retreat to the rooftop door but was stopped short when the male put himself directly into her path. 

“Not so fast, you haven’t answered my question yet. What were you doing up here, sticking your head into the roses like some kind of animal?” The girl tried to keep her breathing even, as she felt panic rise in her veins.

“I wanted to take pictures as drawing references, I didn’t realize that-” an arsehole like you would show up “-someone else was already here, forgive me, I’ll be on my way.” She went to take a step around him, when the boy took a step towards her, forcing her to take one back. Soon her back was pressed up against the railing and she internally cursed.

“You just wanted to draw some pictures of the flowers? Isn’t that a bit childish? Well, I guess you still wear kid’s underwear so I shouldn’t be surprised.” The girl spluttered and instinctively went to yank down her skirt, a slightly ridiculous action, considering he must have seen everything when he pushed her earlier. 

“That-that doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she said, eyes on the ground as her face burned with shame. “Please, just let me leave.”

“You know, you still sound pretty demanding for someone who’s shaking and is covered in mud. Also,” he paused, sniffing the air briefly before glancing down at her knees, “ah I wondered where that awful scent was coming from, geez human blood really isn’t appealing at all.” The girl looked at her legs and caught sight of red liquid staining her knees, but that wasn’t what made her pause.

“Human blood? What are you-” A cold dread spread through her as she looked back up at the boy and the inhuman color of his iris. This had to be some sort of awful prank right?

“Oh, maybe I spoke too much, but that reaction isn’t bad, haha. Hey, what do you think I am?” He asked her, opening his mouth just wide enough to reveal a pair of gleaming white fangs.

“That’s… There’s no way… You can’t…” The girl struggled to process the image in front of her, trying to find some sensible sounding explanation. He had to be a nutjob with fake fangs right? A nutjob who liked to terrorize girls on rooftops and happened to go to a night school.

“Ah how boring. Shouldn’t most girls be crying with fear by now? I don’t want to but, would you react a bit more if I pierced you with these fangs?” He lowered his face and panic surged through her. Lunatic or something else, she had no intention of being bitten by him. The girl went to shove him away from her, but before she could blink he had her arms pinned above her head.

“It seems you still haven’t learned that I’m not the sort of person you should fight back against. Hey, how much would it take to make you cry?” His grip on her wrists tightened and she winced at the strength in his grip. “Your wrists are pretty thin, I’d barely have to use any of my strength to snap your bones.”

“Please stop!” She begged, as she silently prayed for someone, anyone to intervene.

“Oi Shin, what are you doing?” An incredibly deep voice came from the entrance to the rooftop and the girl said a silent word of thanks.

“Huh,” Shin looked over his shoulder, allowing the girl a glance at her savior. He was tall, with long white hair, that appeared dyed pink at the tips. A dark scarf covered the lower half of his face, while above it were a pair of piercing golden eyes. 

A shudder ran down her spine as her gaze locked with his for a moment, suddenly feeling a lot less safe than she had just a moment ago.

“Ah brother, I was just having a bit of fun.” The girl wasn’t sure which part of this statement horrified her more. That her so called savoir was actually related to the demonic pile of steaming garbage in front of her or that this was Shin’s version of fun. 

“That’s enough, we have matters to discuss.” The man walked over from the door to the roof, his footsteps stopping just behind Shin.

“Tch,” Shin let go of her arms, only to grip hold of her chin, moving his face uncomfortably close to hers. “Hey, if you tell anyone about what happened here, I’ll rip your tongue out, got it?” His fangs caught the light as he spoke, and the girl felt very close to tears as she muttered a soft yes. 

Shin flashed her that nasty smile of his before letting go. “Well then, get out of here!” 

Needing no further prompting, she hastily got away from him, pausing only to grab her school bag. As she did so, she caught sight of her lunchbox in the older boys hands and faltered. 

“Go!” Shin yelled and the girl concluded that the ham sandwich and peanut butter flavored chocolate bar contained in the hundred yen tupperware were not worth her life as she borderline ran to the rooftop door, slamming it shut behind her. 

***

Carla watched the girl flee from the rooftop with a dispassionate expression. 

“What exactly did you do?” He asked, more concerned with trying to keep their low profile as they furthered their objective than anything else.

“Nothing much, I just toyed with her a bit. She’s only a human so it doesn’t really matter does it? More importantly, why did you keep hold of that?” Shin nodded towards the plastic container in Carla’s hands. 

Carla said nothing as he opened up the box and pulled out a modest sandwich wrapped neatly in clingfilm. Removing some of the wrap, he sniffed it briefly before muttering.

“I thought so.”

Shin took a deep breath through his nose. “Ah, I see, a dry cured ham sandwich huh?”

“Normally I would never eat something prepared by human hands but to take away the taste of that polluted blood, it can’t be helped.” Carla lowered his scarf and took a bite of the sandwich, chewing a few times as he deemed it to be palatable before swallowing. “Oi Shin, take this.” He threw a plastic wrapped bar at his brother and Shin caught it without effort.

He turned it over in his hands before spotting the reason why his brother had given it to him. “Peanut butter huh? Well at least it seems that girl’s good for something.”

[carmybears]

Permanent Feelings

I'm back on Tumblr and writing fanfic for the first time in years because of carmy mf berzatto. Could be garbage, y'all tell me.

pairing: carmy berzatto X female!reader

summary: soft smut with carmy and he starts to realize the gravity of his feelings for you.

word count: 2k

By the time Carmy staggered into the apartment after work, he thought for sure that you’d already be asleep. Imagine his surprise when the door opened to your cozy 1 bedroom and he found you, sprawled out on your couch, glass of wine in hand as you tipped your head back and laughed heartily alongside your best friend. On the TV screen, he recognized some early-2000’s romcom, and on the couch he spotted a giant bowl of popcorn nestled between your two pairs of legs in a nest of fuzzy fleece blankets.

“Carmy, baby,” Your eyes lit up as you spotted him, your face beaming at him. “C’mere!”

You flung an arm out to him as he dropped his backpack and shrugged his coat off, hanging both at the hook by the door.

“Don’t let me interrupt your night,” he mumbled as he approached you, dropping a kiss onto the crown of your head as you wrapped an arm around his lower back.

“No, no,” you insisted. “I was just starting to wonder where you were. Long night at the restaurant?”

He hummed lowly as he nodded his head.

You squeezed his hand, “M’sorry baby. Did you eat? There’s leftover Thai in the fridge.”

He nodded a quick greeting to your friend, then wandered over to the fridge, opening it to see that there were not only leftovers, but that you’d purchased him his own full portion of his usual favorite Thai curry from your usual spot around the corner. Something about it made his chest feel tight and warmth bloomed around his heart at the thought of you thinking about him and his needs, even while having an evening of fun for yourself.

He set to work heating up his food as you paused your movie and wandered into the room. The microwave beeped as your best friend topped off your glasses of wine and began making small talk with him.

How’s life at the restaurant? That new menu coming along ok?

Hey, did you get that promotion you were up for a couple of weeks ago? It sounded like you had it in the bag?

 As they chatted, he thought of the first time he had met her; your relationship was still fairly new but you insisted that she was the most important person in the city to you, so god help him, he needed to take one night off at the restaurant to come out and meet the two of you for dinner. When he’d arrived for dinner, a part of him had wished that he could just skip straight to meeting your parents instead because he was in no way prepared to be so immediately sized up and interrogated before appetizers had arrived. Apparently, he had passed whatever test she had for him though, because all of his subsequent meetings with her had gone well as they slowly but surely warmed up to each other. She was protective of you, and at the end of the day, he had to respect it – after all, he felt a similar amount of protectiveness over you himself.

“Ok ladies, much as I’d love to keep talking, I’ve gotta be in early tomorrow to help Marcus with these new pastries he’s been working on,” he announced, standing with his plate in hand and rinsing it off in the sink.

You placed a hand on his bicep and kissed his cheek softly. “Ok baby, we won’t be much longer. This movie will be over before you’re even asleep.”

He dismissed himself down the hall to the bathroom beside your bedroom, turning the shower on at full blast just moments after hearing you switch the TV back on. He showered and readied himself for bed quickly before slipping into your room, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt, soft and faded from years of wear.

As he sat on the bed, he took a deep breath and looked around the room. It never failed to astound him how different your lives were sometimes, especially when comparing apartments. Whereas his own apartment was scarcely furnished –merely a place to land between shifts at the restaurant – your apartment was bursting with signs of life. A vining philodendron hung in a planter in the window, books were stacked in an ever-revolving pile of cracked spines and dog-eared pages on your bedside table, and recently, a framed photo of the two of you had appeared on the dresser beside your jewelry box; you both had your arms flung around each other and your mouth was open in laughter while he looked not at the camera but at you. Everywhere he looked, there were signs that you were settled into your life, that your existence here was permanent. And, the more he thought about it, the more it made him feel permanent about you too.

~

You had been right that your movie would be over before Carmy was even asleep. Although, in all fairness, he had never been the type to fall asleep easily.

The faint hum of the TV out the living room turned off, and he heard the low murmur of voices in the kitchen as you did the washing up. Eventually, there was the faint click of the front door opening and closing, followed by the soft thud of the lock in the deadbolt. He must have dozed off at some point when he heard the water running in the shower of your bathroom, because he didn’t wake up until he felt the weight of you settling into bed beside him.

Groggily, he tried to say your name, but what came out was more of an unintelligible mumble.

You giggled softly, reaching out to stroke his arm softly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

He blinked heavily as he turned over to face you and mumbled lowly. “Wasn’t asleep.”

“Hmm, sure,” you mused as you tilted your face up toward his, your lips brushing against his softly, sweetly. More sweetly than he sometimes felt like he deserved.

Feeling much more awake now, he brought a hand up to your face, his thumb tracing the swell of your cheekbone as he deepened the kiss. Your lips parted for him and he tasted you, the spearmint of your toothpaste invading his palette. In turn, you shifted your hips and tugged at his shoulder, effectively pulling him over you.

Your hands tangled in his hair, paying special attention to the still-damp curls at the nape of his neck. When he felt your nails scrape gently against his scalp, he groaned involuntarily and his lips fell away from your mouth, seeking the column of your neck while his hands slipped under your shirt, tracing patterns into your soft skin.

It wasn’t long before you were panting beneath him. With practiced ease, he rolled the bud of your nipple between this thumb and forefinger, all the while sucking a mark onto the base of your collarbone.

“Carm…please,” your voice pleaded with him as you bunched his shirt into your fist. “I need more of you.”

In an instant, he had his shirt off, pulling it over his head in one swift motion. Underneath him, you finished the job of removing your own shirt and started to wriggle out of your sleep shorts before his hand covered your own.

He took his time with you, as he loved to do during nights like these, unhurriedly hooking his fingers under the waistband as you lifted your hips.  As was often the case, you were bare underneath the soft cotton and he heard a whine escape the back of your throat as he left a line of searing kisses over your stomach, your hipbone, your inner thigh.

He could have had you begging underneath him; could have buried two fingers into you knuckle deep while his tongue spelled out his reverence against your clit. But he didn’t want to play games tonight. Tonight, he wanted you gathered in his arms, your legs wrapped around his hips and your voice in his ear.

“This all for me, babygirl?” He mumbled as he reached out to touch you, slick and warm and pliant under his touch. He slipped two fingers inside you and you gasped at the stretch, your hips tilting upward as you chased his touch, needy for more.

“Please, baby,” you whined. And something about the tone of your voice and the tremble of your hands as they tugged at his hair told him that you didn’t want to play around tonight either.

He sat up on his knees as you both made quick work of discarding his sweatpants and boxers. Your hands were on him in an instant, stroking his length and spreading the bead of precum over his aching tip with the pad of your thumb.

He teased the fat head of his cock along your folds, spreading your arousal along your core as you writhed every time he brushed along your clit, and then lined up to enter you. You gasped softly into his mouth as he slid inside and he swore he saw stars dancing in his vision as he tried to remain focused on you underneath him. But he knew that if he thought too hard about your pink swollen lips and how delicious it was to hear his name falling from them, he knew he’d fall off the cliff far too quickly.

He pawed at your thigh, fingertips finding purchase on the supple skin there, and hitched your leg around his hip. And with a steadying breath, he began to rock his hips against yours in long, languid strokes. God, he could live in this moment with you forever.

He knew he hit your sweet spot when you gasped his name, arching off of the bed and clawing at his shoulders. With all of the single-minded precision of a perfectionist, he focused in on that spot, driving in on that one place deep within you that made you babble incoherently in his ear. Eventually, he was buried so deep within you that his thrusts were more like grinding against you, his pelvis giving you much needed friction to your clit as you fucked up into him, maintaining a deep pressure where you needed him so badly.

Your walls began to flutter around him, and he didn’t even need you to tell him how close you were; he could see it in the glazed over expression on your face, feel it in the tension of your whole body wrapped around him tight as a rubber band threatening to snap.

“Come for me, babygirl,” he groaned into the hollow of your shoulder. “Need you so bad.”

And then you were gone. Your head was thrown back against the pillow and your walls clenched down around him so fast and hard that his own orgasm hit him like a freight train, knocking the breath right out of him as his hips stuttered against yours for the last time.

When he finally regained his breath, he rolled off of you, groaning at the loss of contact. You reached an arm out to him limply as he stood and he brushed his lips against the pads of your fingers.

“Be right back,” he promised, slipping out of your room and around the corner to the bathroom.

He returned a moment later with a warm, damp washcloth in hand to help clean you up. Overly sensitive, you squirmed away from his touch as he gently ran the cloth over you. He made a mental note to use that hyper-sensitivity another night.

Satisfied that you were clean, he tossed the rag into the hamper and crawled back into bed with you, dropping sweet kisses along your chest and shoulders as he wrapped himself around you and pulled the sheets over your spent bodies.

Your noses bumped together as you peppered small kisses over his face.

“Do you know how much I love you, Carmen?” You asked.

He pushed a stray strand of hair away from your face, tucking it gently behind your ear. As he peered at you in the dim room, he thought of all the ways his life had improved since you came into it. The (slightly) shorter days at work, the decrease of anxiety and increase of laughter. He had never thought of himself as much of a romantic before, but if he was imagining a forever, he could imagine it with you.

He kissed you once, twice and smiled warmly. “I think I can imagine.”

[twistedmusings]

Wake Up From Your Dream

A/N: I don't even know what I can SAY to this one except...I think I was so angry at not writing that I wrote smut outta SPITE? Can I be so angry with myself that I write Malleus smut to just get something out there? I guess I can. Anyways this ask certainly let my imagination fly q wq

Warnings: Non-con making its way into dub-con, manipulation, impregnating sex and Malleus realizing that family is really important.

You needed to find your way back to Night Raven College.

It has been so long since you’ve been back there, laughing and walking around as if there was no trouble in the world. Nevermind that you weren’t anywhere close to home and nevermind that your family was seeking you out.

As long as there was a possibility of you finding your way home, you had pretended that everything was going to be alright.

You were still a stranger to this world, you had no ties to this world and there would be no reason for you to stay once Crowley found your way back home. It was wonderful making friends with such a variety of people and watching them all grow in their own way. The way you knew you would grow from this experience as well.

Watching Ace and Deuce really come into themselves and their Unique Magic, watching the dorm leaders step into their positions of power and truly start to make a name for themselves that would help them out in their own version of the ‘real’ world. Riddle had gotten a wonderful position befitting of his family name, Leona was actually graduating, Azul was said to open a Monstro Lounge in the Coral Sea while Kalim had started investing time in his father’s trade without having Jamil help him. Even Idia was starting to take strides in his own field!

And you were proudest of Malleus. One simple conversation outside of Ramshackle had turned into a friendship you thought you would never forget. It was so wonderful to see him interact more with students, shyly following after you as you pushed him to talk more to others despite his position. That was what college was for, right? To experience new things and find your future--

You just didn’t think that Malleus would take it that far.

Was it because he was spoiled? No, even though he was born in a monarchy he still did his best to remain kind to others, especially his subjects. You were sure he was going to make a kind king in the future, even if you never got to see with your own two eyes.

You pull the hood over your head as you enter a bath house, the fae receiving you with a curious look and a smile as you hand her 2000 madols.

“Will you be booking a room tonight as well?”

“Just a simple shower and bath, that is all.”

If you were to make a guess, you were in the borders of the Valley of Thorns, a more rural area compared to the now rather modernized capital. You had stolen enough money to get you by for a few trips and you knew that places like these were the best at getting you directions. It had been a bit of a grueling trip, testing your knowledge of the fae language as well as avoiding questions about who you were and why you so desperately needed to make your way back to such a prestigious college. In a sense, you kept it minimal.

You needed to get back home.

“It’s fine. You’re fine. It’s fine. You’re fine.”

The mantra you kept repeating to yourself was whispered under your breath as you removed your articles of clothing slowly, still looking around to see if anybody had followed you in. But this is what was raising all of the hairs on your body, wasn’t it? This constant vigilance that didn’t let you sleep at night. You needed to relax, no one else would come this far.

You feel the fatigue melt as several days of walking are washed right off your body, a smile slowly creeping up on your face as you wash the dirt and oil from your hair.

It would be fine.

You would make it to Night Raven College and sneak into the Hall of Mirrors before wishing yourself back home. Crowley had said that they had pinned down the world you lived in and only after you make your wish would the connection be broken. This most likely meant that the connection was still intact since you didn’t even get a chance to to look at the mirror before you were whisked away.

Everything was going to work itself out, that’s the most you could promise yourself.

The bath is heavenly, the temperate water cooling you down from the hot shower as you look around.

There were no other patrons.

“Good.”

You lean back and press your head against a soft pillow of towels, enjoying the silence as you feel your worries soften while thinking back to what you would do when you were back home. It had been so long since you’ve seen some of your friends, your family was probably worried sick and you still had your own plans you wanted to get through.

If you had time, you could maybe drop by to see how your first year friends were doing?

Or were they in their third year now?

Wouldn’t that be a sight to see?

Your eyes close as you let yourself relax entirely, almost succumbing to sleep.

Only for a hand to grab your throat, the other covering your eyes as you hear a familiar chuckle that tenses your body up and breaks your heart.

“I am afraid we will have to postpone this shower.”

Tears well up in the corner of your eyes as you hear the sound of footsteps into the area, most likely the royal guard.

“Lilia--”

“You’d do well to stay put lest they chase after you.”

The hands covering your eyes pull back as you see a teasing smile looking down pitifully at your fresh set of tears.

“It has taken far too long to find you, Your Majesty.”

-----

“HUMAN!”

“[Y/N]-san!”

Lilia smiles as he leads you by the hand, the royal guard following close behind as Sebek and Silver join him.

“He might have already woken up, Father.”

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? DO YOU KNOW WHAT MY YOUNG MASTER HAS GONE THROUGH?”

“Sebek.” Lilia looks at his charge, “Quiet. Malleus might still be sleeping.”

Silver takes one peek at you, trying to meet your gaze but pulling away when he sees that the veil Lilia had put on you is blocking anybody’s stares from seeing your face. In fact, the second in command had put you in one of the traditional outfits for fae royalty, complete with a light veil that flowed down from the silver circlet placed on your head.

“Excellent.”

Lilia turns his attention to you and laughs.

“He has been absolutely miserable since you left. It was quite a surprise to all of us when you managed to leave the palace walls. None of us thought that you had really done it, especially him, and it really was a hassle to search the palace up and down to see just where our little human had run off to.”

His voice drops to a whisper as he brings your hand up to his lips.

“I’ll make sure to punish you for that later.”

The older fae leads you along as you finally reach your destination, smiling as he knocks on large wooden doors while pushing you slightly to stand in front of everybody.

An answer he was going to get by the end of the night.

“Malleus.”

No answer. He tests the doors and nods when he sees they are unlocked, opening them as he leads you to step inside so that you both could see the figure drenched in moonlight, looking out the window as if awaiting for an answer.

Lilia waits for his other charge to say anything but shrugs as he looks at you with a smile and a bow.

“We are glad to have you back, Your Majesty.”

The door closes with a loud click as you turn your eyes to look up at the imposing figure, your nails digging into your fingertips enough to draw blood as you try to hold back from screaming and shouting at him to stop acting like such a child. Yet you do not wish to anger him, at least to save yourself from any sort of harsher punishment.

So instead you make your way over to the bed--

Only for the fae to turn around, grab your wrist and slam your back into the rough stone wall. Bright green eyes glare down at you as you wince in pain, still looking away from him but letting out a yelp when Malleus’s fingers grab your chin and force you to look at him in the eye.

“Why did you run?”

He really had no idea, did he?

“Because I don’t belong here--”

Malleus tightens his hold on your wrist.

“We’ve discussed this before, child of man, you belong here just like anybody else, you are my Queen--”

“Malleus wake UP!”

You push against his hold but the fae’s hold gets tighter, most likely leaving a mark. But that wouldn’t deter you, not anymore, you were going to tell him.

“I’m not from this world! Coming to Twisted Wonderland was just an accident! A stupid, stupid accident that no one bothered to fix! And just when we were close to making it right you---you--!”

Shit, you’re crying again.

“I have people waiting for me. Just like you had a family waiting for you. I came to the Valley of Thorns thinking that I was supporting you during your coronation but you just--made a decision entirely by yourself and announced me as yours! Why did you lie to me? To them?!”

Malleus’s hold softens as you finally let your tears flow freely, wishing to wipe them away only due to how weak they were making you look.

“...did you not say you loved me?”

“I did! I did but--Malleus after what you did I can’t--”

He lets go of your wrist only to cup your face as he leans down to press his lips on your cheek, his tongue licking up the warm tears as you grab hold of his wrists to try and push him away.

“Do you miss your family?”

You nod as he moves to kiss the corner of your eyes.

“More than anything…”

The dragon fae hums, letting his lips stay where they were a few seconds longer before chuckling as he pulls you close.

“I see--I really have been cruel to you, haven’t I?”

Your heart nearly leaps out of your throat at his words, hands clutching at his robes as you quickly nod. Maybe this was it, maybe it had taken you breaking down to let him see reason?

Please. Please!

“...A family.”

Malleus’s words are like dripped honey as a thought formed in his head, the thought taking shape and form as his hands clutched you tighter.

“Then we’ll just need to make a family of our own…”

-----

Hands clutch at his sheets as Malleus takes in the shape under him.

How beautiful could you be? How complex? To him it was as if not a day had passed since you first met. What had been mere curiosity had delved into deep affection and blossomed into a love that Malleus would only read about in fairytales. The sort of books that led him to believe in soulmates, in happily ever after’s and the possibility of spending the rest of your life with the one you loved.

And yes, you weren’t a fae, but the power of his magic was grand enough to keep you tied to him for the rest of eternity.

His lips can’t help but seek out yours as he thinks about how he is the one who will decide when you die.

This love hadn’t started out like this. What he felt for you had been a bit more relaxed, a lot softer and dreamier. You had confessed to him after his Overblot incident and he had gladly accepted your feelings. He was still keen on finding you a way home and promised himself to not let any moment be wasted in thinking how you soon would be far away from him.

Every day was spent happily with you, the rest of the school year flying by as you both enjoyed the time you still had together.

But Malleus was still a dragon at heart, a fae that yearned and longed to take and take.

So when thoughts about you leaving started to make their way to the forefront of his mind, not even your constant love and affection could keep him from his instincts.

You would leave him to go back to your world. Go back to the normal and the familiar. As you walked your path, you would eventually find someone that enchanted you the way he had, all ending with you walking down a beautiful aisle to your now beloved.

A person that wasn’t...him.

As the days of his third year started to run to a close, his hold on you had become a lot tighter, his kisses a lot more possessive and in the end he had invited you to watch his coronation as he entered his fourth and final year.

With his announcement of making you his Queen.

“Malleus! Please I can’t--I’m not ready--!”

He let Lilia make up some story about you not returning to Night Raven, fooling Crowley into believing that you had found your future in the Valley of Thorns with him. The announcement of you taking up the role of Queen had been surprising but Malleus had woven the story in such a way that there had been talks of having it printed for others to read.

It was a wonderful ending to your love story, you ending up in his arms. But something was missing…

Malleus was glad that you had given him the answer.

Both of your knees were on either side of his waist, your hands clutching at whatever they could as his cock buried itself deep into your cunt. The veil was long forgotten as his robes and your own are thrown carelessly around the room while you wail and scream at being broken into by such a thick length. The small sight of blood on his cock made Malleus smile as he pushed in further, the tightness that was pushing him back slowly opening up for him as he watched you do your best to fit him inside.

It would be fine, you would be fine.

With a growl he finally bottoms out, two hands holding your hips and forcing you down to take all of him as the tip of his cock pressed right under your womb--

He shivers as you tighten up again, leaning down to lick up the trail of tears on your cheek before eating up your tiny whimpers with a hungry kiss.

“Here...right here is where our family will start.”

A large hand takes yours as Malleus puts it right over the small bulge on your stomach, your eyes growing wide as you realize just how deep inside he is. He kisses you again, not daring to break away as he lets a trail of saliva dangle from his lips to yours, the clear liquid disappearing into your mouth as your body relaxed and your eyes grew hazy.

“Do you love me, child of man?”

It was a simple question, but your brain seemed muddled from his kiss. Dragons tended to excrete a certain liquid as they got ready to mate, the experience painful even within his own species but being eased with the help of saliva, sweat or cum.

And with the way he was pressed against you, his sweat matted on your skin as he let more of his spit drip down his tongue and onto yours...surely the answer would come the more you two worked to start your family.

Malleus hardly gave you any time to recover as he started to move, his eyes entranced with the way he disappeared into you with each thrust. Your mind was still muddled but your body was already eagerly accepting him, your legs wrapping around him slowly before locking him in place as he repeated the question.

“Do you love me, child of man?”

You open your mouth but the only word that comes out is a plea for him to go faster.

Which Malleus gladly listens to.

It didn’t take long for him to start pounding into you at a brutal pace, every thrust having the tip of his cock slamming against your womb as your toes curled from the pleasure of taking him so deep. His cock disappeared inside your tiny cunt, shaft now coated not just with blood but with your arousal as well. The bed creaked in protest while the sounds of the bed frame hitting the wall helped him keep time, Malleus leaning back down to kiss you again as your lips this time part eagerly and sucked on his tongue while your hands clutched his shoulders and horns.

Cries turned into happy moans, your sad and abandoned look now one of pure ecstasy as your pussy flutters and tightens around him, pushing him to go harder and harder so he could---!

“[Y/N]--!”

Your legs close tighter around him as you bury your face on the crook of his neck, your orgasm being ripped from you unexpectedly as Malleus halted his movements with a stiff body. He drops his head on your shoulder as your legs keep him in place.

“Malleus...ah--!”

He groans as he paints the inside of your walls white, the warmth of his cum filling your womb to the point that what you hadn’t taken merely dripped out onto the now stained sheets. Malleus lifts his head to look down at you, smiling as he sees your eyes staring up at him eagerly despite how much you had protested before.

“A family…”

You smile as Malleus nods, your hands going all the way to your stomach as you feel the warmth start to twist your brain even more.

“A family with you…how wonderful…”

Arms wrap around him as Malleus kisses a trail from your shoulder to your lips. He just needed to ask you one last time.

“Do you love me, child of man?”

With a hum, your answer is whispered into his ear as Malleus closes his eyes as he realizes that this is where his happily ever after would finally start.

“I love you Malleus, more than anything else.”

[birdsthatsingaftermidnight]

The Current UK Prime Minister is a Shitweasel and the Next One Could Well Be Worse OR I've Noticed A Trend About The Five Most Recent People Allegedly Running The Country

Every PM we've had since the turn of the millennium is in competition to be the Worst Prime Minister of the 21st Century.

Let's take a look.

Tony Blair (1997–2007) - Illegal war in Iraq.

Gordon Brown (2007–10) - There are genuinely only two things I can remember him doing. As Chancellor under Tony Blair, he announced that there was an end to the "boom and bust" economy and that things would remain gloriously boom in that department forever more. Then, as Prime Minister, the country went into the deepest recession it's experienced since the Second World War. The second thing was he lost the election in 2010.

David Cameron (2010–16 ) - But don't worry! Here's David! He gave the country a referendum on whether or not to leave the EU and didn't have any plan whatsoever as to what to do should the Leave vote win, and so quit instead of dealing with it.

Theresa May (2016–19) - decided to trigger the two year deadline to get everything sorted for leaving the EU without having anything whatsoever planned for how to do this and no agreement inside her own party on how to do it, never mind in the rest of the House. In order to get some sort of upper-hand over Boris, she held a snap election to prove she had the support of the country and destroyed her party's healthy majority instead! Basically, she's like me when I had to write an essay. I knew the deadline was approaching but I didn't actually do any work until the week it was due. Only instead of giving herself seven days to write a 2000 word essay based on book study, seminars and lecture notes, it was leaving the EU without any sort of agreement in place because the opposition wouldn't vote for anything she put forward and she no longer commanded a healthy majority so it really mattered if any Tories voted no.

Boris Johnson (2019– ) - I don't have enough to time to list everything. I have to sleep at some point. Basically, Boris thinks Boris is a charismatic, popular head of state who just needs everyone to stop harping on about how he literally broke the law and got caught and fined for it and literally lies to parliament whenever he gets into a sticky situation and assumes everyone will believe him. When they don't believe him because of all the evidence proving what he did is abundant, resoundingly clear, and pretty much watertight, he seems to think that because he's said sorry to the House we should just forgive him and let him get on with being the charismatic, popular head of state he could truly be if only people would stop saying things like "How could you give a government job to a person you'd been warned was a sexual predator" and "sorry, could you explain one more time how you thought it was a work meeting when there was cake, wine, and people singing happy birthday?" and even "So the guy was caught breaking the rules about How To Be An MP Without Taking Bribes and you literally tried to change those rules so you wouldn't have to fire him?"

The rats are deserting the sinking ship Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Health both resigned today, but it's okay. He's gone and appointed a person who once claimed over £5,000 in expenses - paid for, as the say, by the British tax payers - in order to pay the electricity bill for his stables. Sure, it was in 2013, but if you can't tell that your stable block's electricity bill is on the same bill as your house's bill because you never thought "Ooh, that looks like quite a large number for the electricity needs of a second home that I need to use so I can attend parliament and thus can claim expenses on" which has its own damn stable block my god you can't buy a house in London without several wealthy relatives dying and leaving you all their wealth and his second home has a stable block and we're paying to subsidise this sort of thing then honestly, is he the sort of chap we want in charge of the treasury just as we're barrelling head long into a recession? I would argue not.

Boris Johnson has never, since being in the public eye, broken up with a partner. Even the wife undergoing cancer treatment that he was cheating on with his current wife had to deal with both that and actually being the one to point out that the relationship wasn't working. Apparently he also feels the same way about his job. He will never break up with being Prime Minister. Let's hope the Tory party actually gets rid of him as their leader, because it's either that or waiting for the next election and hoping like hell that the country has come to its senses and will vote them out. I'm not hopeful, because everyone on this list but Gordon Brown has actually won an election. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

I despair.