#I put so much effort into this and it still ended up sketchy.... I wish it was better but this is the max of my skill level currently

[omaano]

“You’ve come for your turn early,” the stranger says, turning to look at Boba as if Gregor does not exist. Gregor flashes Boba a grin, all too-sharp teeth, as the stranger steps away, shaking off the attractive glamour as if it’s nothing. Gregor seems as delighted as Boba is troubled to realise that their would-be customer is more cunning than he seems.

Mereel & Family Booksellers by binz, shiplizard

Allow me to recommend one more awesome Bobadin fic - since @sidhebeingbrand and @toughbreaks were kind enough to let me illustrate their fic for my "Jaster lives" square for @bobadinweek's Bobadin AU bingo card... with a bit of cheating - my love for which only grows and grows with time (and trust me, it does get better with every re-read! ). Fantastic and delightful world building with Victorian era and fae magic, and beautifully written characters where every single one of them vibrate with life. (Boba gets to suffer his 99 siblings, Jango is forced through some emotional catharsis kicking and screaming, and Din is trying his best to be a dad of a fae child. It's just the best, okay?) I'll eventually want to make one more drawing for chapter 2, I just realized during my latest re-read that I imagined the whole scene wrong ^^;

[bauxitt]

HoA AU where everything is the same except the CW produced the show with a rating of 16+ (think riverdale style) here are a few plot points for fun

This is mostly Jerome points because I barely remember other plots. It's been years. Feel free to add

Jerome's abusive parent(s) would probably be a bigger plot point and actually explain why he's so withdrawn emotionally and trusting of no one, yet desperate for attention and wanting to make others miserable like him. Selfish because he's very aware that if he doesn't put himself first, no one will. Except for Poppy, who he knows needs someone putting her first like he doesn't have. I kind of like the idea that Poppy sort of takes that for granted (not mean-spirited but more naively) and uses that to her advantage, hurting Jerome by accident.

Patricia and Jerome get to be the gays they were always meant to be, but could not because it's a children's show how scandalous. Don't try and deny it.

Joy and Eddie get to be the bisexuals they clearly are, and so Patricia/Joy and Eddie/Jerome happen instead

Jerome always doing scams to get money is because his mother never sends him any, leaving him constantly poor. (A personal hc of mine).

Said scams go from silly ones that end in his humiliation like the show to downright sketchy ones with scary people that puts him trouble way over his head (build up to when he gets in contact with Rufus).

Jerome's dealings with Rufus in s1 are deeper rooted in Jerome needing money and feeling shunned by Alfie and the others, and Rufus sees a desperate teenager wanting approval and affection.

Patricia's trauma from Rufus being addressed and having consequences that was barely touched upon in the show.

Rufus gets to have a knife and a gun, much more fun :)

Also, "mummify you alive" is actually just "kill you" and Jerome is truly threatened with said knife and gun

The gang are constantly let down by how useless the police are, always ending in them having to deal with whatever it is, from Patricia and Jerome's kidnapping, to Victor and his cult, and joy's disappearance and Rufus going around threatening children with guns and sharp objects. Really, they're just paid to turn the other cheek when it comes to anubis.

The teenage drama is extra extra

Victor and his cult are still rather harmless, they don't wish harm on the children, but it's much more ominous and mystical.

When Rufus grabs Jerome, it's for leverage against Sibuna and Victor, aware that Victor don't want harm to come to the children of his house.

Both Patricia and Jerome will have to be tied while captive because that makes sense. They are unfortunately also probably slapped around/beaten by Rufus for their sharp sarcasm. As well as Rufus having an actually secure place to keep the captive.

Expanding on how terrified Jerome is of Rufus, like even in the children's show, he was clearly scared. And why he's so scared.

The Edison Sweet plot being deepened and explored further with sweet making more effort, and Eddie being more reluctant. Getting an actual payoff for the plot with Eddie finally accepting his dad and them bonding

Nina the chosen one plots are actually rather dramatic already, but what they're doing and the consequences are further impacting on the group. I can't remember much of this, so feel free to give thoughts.

I must have blacked out/repressed season 3 because i can't remember a single plot point related to that 🤷‍♀️

[fure-dcmk]

As one of my favourite and most inspiring artists on Tumblr, I wanted to ask you for advice about being an artist online

I'm a self-taught artist who mostly draws OCs for my own amusement but I also like trying to draw fan art and I had accounts before where I posted some of my art

But I'm very self-critical so I took down my art because I'm still learning and I hated finding mistakes in it. I also deleted my accounts due to personal life setbacks.

But I really want to get back to posting again one day hopefully after I practice digital art more.

So... do you have any advice for artists who are insecure about putting themselves out there and engaging with a public audience?

I really would appreciate your insight

Thank you

♥️

Aaaa anon i'm not sure if I can give any useful advice but i'll try T_T

personally I'm pretty lenient on myself, i prefer to prioritize productivity than quality. so im not sure how helpful my POV would be to a perfectionist. and i see myself as a 'fandom artist' where people follow me for a specific fandom rather than my own art. plus drawing is my way to consume and process my obsession, I have no inclination to do original stuff. in other word, i truly feel inept in providing an advice on this anon orz

but I'll try anyway, it depends on what you want from posting art online. do you want the dopamine from seeing others enjoying your work? do you want to make friends? are you frustrated a thing you like barely has any content so you decide to cook your own food? you should have a vauge idea of what you want from posting

in my opinion, new artist tend to be more insecure in posting, a lack of engagement can demotivate you from posting entirely. so, posting serious art that take days to make are the motivationally the riskiest. people usually struggle to give feedback to serious art. when these posts flop you'll end up feeling more insecure

my advice is to prioritize fun first. things like memes, funny or interesting ideas. sketchy comics are my go-to tbh. people usually have more things to say on things like that.

so you can try to balance low effort content so that it doesn't hurt as much when the stuff that you do spend a lot of time in flops. doesnt mean you should stop experimenting and improving, just do keep in mind posts like that usually don't do that well, you should set your expectations properly.

^this is the most realistic advice i could give anon.

also im not sure if this would be helpful but everytime i get into a new thing, i will first only draw for myself. I'll only start to upload when i hoard too much and it start to feel ridiculous to not publish them

I'm wishing you luck on your art journey!

[kingsuckjin]

Company Policy -JJK

- Pairing: coworker Jungkook x reader

- Genre: established relationship? Sort of

- Rating:18+

- Words: 5k

- Summary: Eight months. Eight months you have regretted breaking off being fuck buddies with your hot coworker. You were so afraid of being caught with him but now that you’ve had time to think, would it really be so bad as long as you could have him all to yourself again? Does he even like you anymore? Has he moved on? All you know is it’s been eight months since you’ve had sex, he’s been all you could think about. Now he’s looking pretty hot at this office party.

- Warnings: pining, explicit content, public sex, they fuck on a coworker’s desk, public sex, unprotected sex, vaginal fingering, heavy dirty talk, brief mention of oral sex and a ton of other past sexual acts like thigh riding and hair pulling, kind of jealous tattooed kook, not voyurism but someone else is there at some point, and finally a dash of fluff.

- A/n: This post is a commission for the ARMY for AAPI Justice and Advocacy Event. Please click >here< to find more resources and consider donating to the cause! Thank you so incredibly much to the donor @lcksndkys​ for donating and commissioning this, you are an absolute angel, I hope you know that. I might’ve gotten a bit carried away and wrote a few thousand more words than planned, but you deserve it. 

“Morning,” 

“Morning.” Was the greeting between you and Jungkook every morning when you stepped into the elevator, coffee in hand.

That was it, that was all you ever said to each other anymore. His smell always floated around the confined space making your mind flashback to what once was before you quickly pushed it away from your brain.

Neither of you ever said anything about it, it was like it had never even happened and sometimes you wonder if it even had or if your brain had made up everything that had happened eight months ago from your frequent dirty thoughts of your coworker. It felt like a lifetime ago. The familiarity of him, his smell, his smile, his voice along with the cold distance, avoidance to even look at you, and the constant wonder of him having someone else made you a little sick at your stomach.

You had decided to break things off… as if either of you were any more than fuck buddies. You knew that if anyone at work had ever found out about the two of you, you’d most likely both be fired. No banging other employees was a pretty strict policy there and you remembered the two nice ladies that were fired last year for it, you remembered it because your boss had made such an example of it.

You had been more than paranoid when you and Jungkook were boning for a whole month, you both had been so secretive even going as far as to have each other park down the street from your houses when the other came over. It didn’t help that you lived with your sister and didn’t want her to know you were sneaking someone in the house and screwing them. It also didn’t help that his roommate worked there too and didn’t get along at times. It didn’t seem like all the effort to sneak around was worth it at the time, but now you felt like you had a mistake.

As you took your seat behind the reception desk and began to put away your things for the morning, you just kept stealing glimpses of him doing the same at his cubicle. Every morning he would put his black messenger bag under his desk, turn on his computer, and roll the sleeves of his white button-up shirt up to reveal one very tattooed arm. His wavy hair was usually put back into a half ponytail for professionalism and probably so he could see, but there were always strands that managed to escape his hair elastic throughout the day. It was painful mentally at times having a view of him but trying not to look, it was painful knowing he wouldn’t look back at you anymore. You could still feel what it was like when he had glanced at you and smiled at you, your heart sped up at just the thought. 

“Ugh why are you always here so early, you leave before I even wake up.” his roommate,Jimin, had walked in, looking great as usual but a bit tired in the face. He was lingering around Jungkook’s desk with his things still in hand.

“I like to be prepared, unlike you.” Jungkook joked back with a smile but you knew it was just more than a joke, Jungkook really didn't care for Jimin, he was a bit too spiteful towards him sometimes.

He had always come in early, you both were typically the first ones here besides the janitor. You had to be, your boss liked you here nice and early to greet everyone as they walked in.

“You coming to the thing tonight? The boss is letting us have booze.” Jimin asked him.

You felt like you really shouldn’t be paying attention to the conversation so you went back to sipping your coffee and getting ready to start the day.

“Hey.”

It nearly scared you to death as you rummaged through your bag under the desk for your chapstick. Your body jolted up to see Jimin leaning one arm on the reception counter.

“What?” you asked in confusion, wondering what he was now doing hanging around you with such a sly smirk.

“Well good morning to you too. Are you going to the party tonight? Boss is having a thing to celebrate meeting our yearly product sales goal.”

“I… haven’t thought about it, why?” you were honest, it didn’t mean anything to you.

“I know we have this policy, but you should think about going with me.” he gave you a wink that made you raise your eyebrows in surprise. “We could come here and have a few drinks and a good time, then we could go back to my place and-”

“How about we don’t? We could just not do that.” you gave him a very fake smile.

Sudden loud coughing erupted through the room making you both look over at the source.

Jungkook was doubled over with his coffee still in his hand.

“You good?” Jimin asked him casually and Jungkook gave a thumbs up to show he was fine, even though his big eyes were slightly teary before holding up his coffee cup to signify he had strangled on his coffee.

“Anyway, if you’re worried about someone saying something about us, you could just come separately and we could just see what happens…”

“I’m not worried because there is no us, Jimin. I’ll come, but let’s not see what happens, and let’s not even speak.” 

“Your loss. At least I’ll have Jungkook there with me.” Jimin responded along with a shrug to your savage words before walking away.

You looked over to Jungkook to make sure he hadn’t died because he was no longer choking, you just wanted to make sure he was still breathing but your eyes were met with his. He was giving you this gaze before he raised his eyebrows at you with a slight momentary smirk, it all only lasted less than a split second before he adjusted his black tie and turned back around to face his desk. 

How could he be so casual with a look like that at you? How could he be so casual with everything that had happened between you? You had no idea what that look was about but it had your brain so frazzled. It could’ve been nothing, but it was the most interaction you’ve had with him in so long, all it had done was remind you how starved for him you were.

You looked down at your desk feeling your face get a little warm.

Images of that very shirt he was wearing right now, being unbuttoned rapidly with those tattooed fingers in some dark, sketchy hotel room ran through your mind. 

“I wish you knew how much I’d go through to be this close to you, to be inside of you.” The memory of his words and hushed voice into your skin gave you goosebumps.

The same man who had said that now sat right over there, not even having tried to flirt with you in the past eight months as you sat here and wondered why you do this to yourself. 

Did he still feel that way or had he just meant it at the moment? There were plenty at the moment things that he had said that would flood into your mind just to hurt you when you saw him.

You glanced at him throughout the day as you often did.

You avoided each other on your lunch break, stepping around each other to get to the vending machines in the break room.

You ate at your desk alone while he ate with Jimin in the break room.

Things were the same as they had been, the look he had given you earlier meant nothing, maybe nothing that had happened in the past meant nothing to him too.

Maybe it was all just fun like you both had planned for it to be, if so, why were you still so stuck on it? Why were you stuck on him? You told yourself it was just because he was attractive, the most gorgeous man in the office, but there were just these little things about him you couldn’t get over. The way he stretched and grunted in the morning, you knew the way he liked his coffee, you knew his parents’ names. You had both shared so much of your lives for an entire month almost constantly until you ripped it away from yourself so stupidly. You had both agreed to delete each other’s numbers, but the truth was, you still kept his name in your phone with little hearts by his name. You needed this to end, you needed to stop being so hung up on him because he wasn’t with you. You decided to go to this thing tonight and at least hope for some answers, if you failed to get any you would do your best to stop thinking about him.

------------------ 

You had talked yourself out of this more than five times already, but you had gotten dressed and ready and made the drive over.

You now sat in the office parking lot just picking lint off of your black dress, not looking forward to how awkward this might be. In your years of working there, you had mostly just kept to yourself… until the thing with Jungkook happened.

“Are you nervous? You look nervous” he gave you a little smile from across the table from the coffee shop. He had asked you to get coffee after work and he could see right through you

“A little.” You had admitted.

“Don’t be shy, it’s just me. It’s just Jungkook, we work together every day.”

“Don’t be nervous.” You found yourself saying out loud to yourself as you gazed out your windshield at the building. “I shouldn’t be. I work with him every day and nothings going to happen anyway.” You hurt yourself a little with the last part. You put a lot more care into how you looked tonight than you wanted to admit.

“It’s just a stupid office party,” you grumbled to yourself before unbuckling your seatbelt and getting out of the car, if it was horrible or boring then you could just go home.

-----

You didn’t know what you had expected, but it wasn’t this. You had followed the signs to the floor that had held a large meeting room, but it didn’t look like a meeting room now.

It was just a room full of people with a snack table and alcohol. The room was dimmed but there were some cheap party effects lighting things happening. People were laughing and talking over some pop music that wasn’t eardrum-bustlingly loud but you still had to strain to hear over. You spotted a lot of coworkers you saw every day, more that you didn’t know from different departments though. You kind of just went and stood by a wall with your eyes searching faces, not stopping too long on any just in case they might think you were staring at them. Before you had left you wondered if you had been too dressed up, but now you were glad for your little black dress as you saw what the others were wearing. Everyone looked so nice and not at all what you were used to them wearing. 

While your eyes were going over who was talking to who, you found him.

In the corner of the room on the opposite end, talking to some girl you had only seen a handful of times. She was touching her hair and smiling at him. He looked so dressed down in his ripped black jeans and a black t-shirt. His tattoos were freed as you had always liked seeing and his hair wasn’t being held back. You had seen him like this multiple times, but had anyone else? He had always looked so good like this, so himself. 

Just seeing his hair down reminded you of all the times you had grabbed at it while moaning his name. Seeing him in those black ripped jeans reminded you of all the times he has made you ride his chiseled, hard thighs until you came multiple times. 

You felt like you had been kicked in the heart as your brain went back to the present moment and saw her placing a hand on his shoulder.

He laughed at something she had said but took a step back out of her grasp smoothly before giving her a small wave. A few more words were exchanged before she apprehensively walked away from him, heaving him alone to stand at the wall on the other side of the room.

Your eyes darted away from him and over to the snack and drink table, you weren’t planning on getting any, but you wanted to make it look that way.

You felt nervous, he looked good and at least one other person had noticed. You told yourself that the lady who had just spoken to him didn’t know him as you did, she probably just saw a hot guy dressed in black with tattoos… just like you had when you both had started whatever happened. He was more than all of that, to you especially now after you had a lot of time to think about it all.

Although you didn’t want your eyes to, they had darted to him for a split second to see he had his phone out… until he looked up from it at you.

He had seen you, he had seen you looking at him from across the room, but he didn’t react. Instead, his eyes went back down to his phone, and yours went back to the table.

Your phone buzzed in your bag and you decided to fish it out thinking it could help you look busy.

“Hey, it’s Jungkook. I see you :)”

Your heart nearly jumped out of your mouth as you read the text. 

He hadn’t deleted your number just like you hadn’t his.

You felt his eyes watching you but you didn’t look up. He was waiting for your reply, but you just stood there dumbfounded that he had just sent you a text from across the room.

“I know.” you had nervously typed different versions of this reply over and over only to erase each time before settling on the most simple reply.

“You look good.” it had taken him no time to reply in comparison to you. You stood there in shock and lost as to what to say to him. You were taking too long because he sent a second text.

“I know that dress. I remember it.”

You had been hoping he would. You had worn this dress on the first night you both had ever done anything. You made out in his car after your coffee date. He had just kept telling you how pretty you looked even with his hand in your underwear. It was hard to resist him from even the first date, you had no idea how you had made it eight months now.

“You look nice too, you always have.” You typed and sent it quickly before you could change your mind.

You watched him run his inked fingers through his hair as he read the text. You could swear you saw a flash of a smile on his face before his thumbs went to work on his phone.

“I miss you.” Popped up on your screen.

Part of you felt like crying a little. You felt his eyes on you once again and you looked up away from your phone to see that your feeling had been correct. You were sure your mouth was open as you locked eyes from across the room. Your phone vibrated again in your hand.

“We should talk.”

“Hey, gorgeous!” Jimin stepped in front of you making you lock your phone. “I know you said let’s not talk but-“

“Then why are you talking to me?”

“How could I not? You’re the prettiest one here.” He smirked but you could smell the alcohol on his breath. You couldn’t help the roll of your eyes.

“Oh hey! I’ve been looking for you!” Jungkook now walked up with a smile at you. “You found her for me and didn’t even know I was looking, thanks, man.” Jungkook seemed to be thanking an equally confused as you Jimin.

“Sorry to bother you about work stuff at a party, but I forgot to earlier. I need the contact info to a client I’ve been working on to sell more products to. It’s wild, it’s like I went to the bathroom one day and the info to this big buyer just kinda… disappeared I guess. So weird, almost like someone has it out for me.” Jungkook gave the fakest joking laugh you had ever seen and Jimin looked a bit wide-eyed. “Anyway, You’re the receptionist so I know you have the contact info for everyone anyway so I was wondering if you could maybe help me out and get it for me? It’s kind of really important and I need it ASAP. Already asked the boss and he said it was cool.” 

Jimin had just kind of slinked off silently, but you knew what Jungkook was doing.

“Yeah, Uh of course.” You nodded.

He tilted his head in the direction of the door before you followed him out.

He led you towards the elevator in absolute silence and even as he pushed the button for the floor you both worked on he said nothing.

You were beginning to think he was wanting your help. And then you thought about it more in the silent ride and you felt so stupid. Of course he was wanting your help, he had never said he actually didn’t, not even when Jimin had walked away.

“I can’t believe that asshole sabotaged me like that. My roommate sabotaged my sale.” He mumbled before scoffing as the elevator door opened.

“I-I’ll help.” You said but he passed right by your desk.

“I’m glad you said that.” He replied as he walked over to Jimin’s cubicle.

“What are we doing?” You finally asked.

“Depends…” he raised an eyebrow as he looked back at you. “What do you want me to do?” 

You swallowed the lump of nervousness in your throat to speak as you looked into his mischievous-looking dark eyes.

“Whatever you want I guess.”

He lifted you in almost an instant and sat you on Jimin’s desk.

“You know he’s always liked you, right? He would tell on us if he ever found out. You were willing to risk it, right here right now?” He dared.

Instead of speaking you grabbed a fist full of his t-shirt and tugged him down until his lips met yours.

God did you want it. You have wanted for eight long months. You were willing to risk everything after so long without his lips on yours.

You were still nervous but his kiss brought it all back for you and how natural it felt.

“Fuck me.” You pleaded against his lips.

“You need it? Tell me you need it.” His lips moved to your neck as he ran a hand through the back of your hair.

“Ah, fuck I need it. I haven’t fucked anyone since you.” It slipped out of your mouth and got a second your body went rigid.

“Me neither.” He nipped at your neck.

The second thing he had done tonight that had stunned you.

“Wait.” You stopped him and he backed up to look at you.

“I missed you too. Not just… not just this, I missed you. I don’t know if you feel the same but-“

“What did you think I meant by I missed you? I didn’t just mean the sex or your body. I meant you as a person.” 

“I-why didn’t you just say?” You wondered out loud. 

He dropped to the floor on his knees between your legs.

“Cause you dumped me.” He let out a snort “you told me to delete your number, which surprise, I didn’t. You wouldn’t look at me. Plus this went two ways you know. You didn’t contact me either.” He stated as he looked up at you while ghosting his fingers over the skin of your thighs as he spoke.

“I dumped you?” You were surprised by this news. You know neither of you had had the relationship talk before.

“I mean, I like to think we were together.”

“Then we should be again,” you decided. You were tired of wanting him and not having him and something told you that he felt the same.

“I think so too,” he whispered, inching his lips closer and closer to yours before smashing into them.

His hands squeezed at the meat of your thighs before trailing them up the sides, up under your skirt, and hooking them in your panties. Your tongues whipped together in each other’s mouths. You managed to move so that he could get your panties down, but he only pulled them to your knees. He grabbed your hips and pulled you closer to the edge of the table, so close you thought you might fall off if he wasn’t right there between your legs. 

His fingers now slowly ran from your inner thighs to your folds. As soon as he touched you, you unlocked your lips from his and let out a shaky breathed whine.

“I can tell you missed me. You're so wet for me,” he whispered so quietly just for you to hear even though no one else was in the room.

You did your best to stay quiet as his fingers teasingly and slowly ran over your clit and back down to your cunt.

He lifted his slick fingers to his mouth and you watched with a slightly open mouth as he let them slide past his lips and then out of his mouth altogether, coming out more glossy from his spit.

“I missed the way you taste”

His even more wet fingers that now teased at your pussy were making you want to grab his hand and force it to do something more. You were practically shaking under even the slightest of his touches. You were nervous for someone to walk in at any given moment and all he was doing was drawing things out and letting his fingers kill precious time playing in your folds.

“I'd love to make you cum right now with my mouth” he pressed a kiss onto your neck where his face had been camping out while his fingers tortured you. “But I know how that makes you scream and we have to be very…” another kiss to your neck “very” his fingers finally slowly slipped into your cunt “very quiet.” his whispers tapered off to quieter and quieter, so much so that your shaking breaths felt loud between the both of you.

You were doing your best not to break out into full-blown moans so that maybe if someone walked in you could play it off as just talking or something else, as long as no one heard your moans on the way up the both of you could have time to look normal. 

His fingers curled inside of you with his palm grinding down onto your clit slowly.

“Oh God.” you breathed not knowing how you were supposed to survive this. He was all you wanted for months upon months and now that you had him here, tattooed hand knuckle deep in your pussy, his lips on your skin saying nothing but filth, you felt like you couldn't even let go as much as you wanted to, but you were trying.

His hand sped up its movements as you could feel how hard he was now in his jeans against the inside of your thigh.

Your lips squeezed together but it couldn’t stop the small whimpers he forced out of you. You could hear him breathing in your ear along with the wet sounds of your pussy. You were close but so scared. Doing this out in the open was such a thrill but it also made you paranoid. 

“Cum for me. I hear the way you’re whining, you’re so close I know it. Just cum for me. Cum around my fingers, no one will know.” 

You couldn’t stop it now.

You grabbed a hold of his shirt and forced his chest harder against yours, you wanted him closer, impossibly close as you came undone, clenching around his fingers rhythmically as each wave of pleasure pulsed through your body. 

He let out a little moan at the sound and feel of you coming. 

“I missed that too.” He whispered to himself before pulling his fingers out of you slowly.

He reached between you and you felt him quickly yet nervously fiddling with his button and zipper with his hand that wasn’t soaked in your wetness.

He made a show about taking his thick, veiny cock out of his pants and rubbing your juices from his hand over it. 

In seconds he was back in your ear.

“Can I fuck your brains out?” The whisper was soft, his voice was sweet but the words themselves were as hard as his dick he still stroked in his hand.

“You're always allowed brains out.” You whispered back “just do it.” 

You felt his head run over your folds teasingly as he continued to play with you and himself.

“Do you still think about me fucking your brains out?” He asked. You could hear how much wetness had spread from you to his cock with each pump of his hand.

“Every time I need to get off.” You admitted. “So give it to me so I don’t have to keep wishing anymore.” 

He pushed into you slowly, letting out a deep sigh and throwing his head back for a moment so you could see his perfectly sculpted throat.

You missed how full he made you feel while he was inside of you. 

He pulled out almost entirely, the head of his cock was the only thing left inside of you, pushing on your g-spot before the thrust back in hard. This was the way he fucked, pulling out almost entirely so his head hit where you needed it. You had experienced guys that just flopped around, but he knew you, he knew your body, he paid attention, he had a very special handcrafted way to get you off over and over until you were shaking.

One of his hands grabbed your hip while the other went to your clit to play with using his thumb.

“You miss this, baby?” You miss my dick between your legs?” His lips brushed with your parted and panting ones as he spoke.

You let out a whimper as you focused on your second orgasm, his hips were not letting up and neither was his lips that whispered pure filth.

“Want me to cum inside of you, make you not want to forget me and who you belong to? Right here on Jimin's desk.” 

Your eyes squeezed shut and you clutched at the fabric of his shirt as you were once again thrown into pure pleasure.

You couldn’t help it this time. The way he touched you, the way he felt inside of you, his grunts and words were all too much.

“Please, fucking cum inside of me, I want it all fuck you feel so good.” You cried out way too loudly. 

“Oh my god, fuck.” He breathed through pants as his hips pounded into yours. You felt him release inside of you. Your walls clenched around him upon hearing his long deep guttural moan. 

“I haven’t cum like that in…” he panted before letting out a little chortle of laughter “well in eight months.” 

“So,” there was a loud voice in the room making your heads turn and your stomach’s sink. “You fucked on my desk.” Jimin looked beyond angry as he sat in an office chair across the room with his phone in his hand, pointing it at the both of you. You had no idea when or how he had come in, but you knew you were both beyond physically fucked.

Jungkook had already scrambled to pull out of you and zip his pants back up as you jumped off the desk, pulled your underwear up, and smoothed out your dress.

“That's fine, I have you both on video. I really liked you y/n. Jungkook, Looks like I’m moving out.” he stood from the chair and headed towards the direction of the elevator. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to speak to our boss about this. He probably won't be too happy to see you two are breaking company policy.” 

“Fuck company policy and fuck you! You were an awful friend, roommate and you've always been jealous of me!” Jungkook yelled at him back.

“Not anymore, jobless.” Jimin turned back to give Jungkook a smirk before he stepped into the elevator.

With that, you were both just left there.

“I… I am so so sorry…” Jungkook began apologetically and just as stunned as you were.

“Don’t be, we’re too good for this job anyway, we can find new ones. It looks like you need a new roommate now though.” 

You watched his face as a small smile grew on it.

“Yeah, looking for someone prettier and nicer, maybe someone willing to be my girlfriend? I don't know though, I don’t want to make too many demands.” 

“Well I could meet all of those demands.” you played along. “We won't have to sneak around anymore.”

“Yes, please, yes. I uh- don't want to ruin the cute moment, but I think we should get out of here before Jimin brings the boss up.”

“Oh fuck, right. Uhh, we should probably just never come back too. Let’s just grab our stuff from our desks and make a run for it.”

“Let's go. You know, this is simultaneously the best, worst, most exciting, and most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me,” he said and you couldn't help but laugh and agree.

Maybe the both of you had made a big mistake, but perhaps there could be good that came from it. You had him back and honestly you didn’t feel too bad about trading your dumb job with its dumb company policy for him.

[dingbats-dust-n-darkness]

OK WAIT I JUST REALIZED WHY IT SEEMS SO MUCH LIKE SPAMTON DIES IF YOU SPARE HIM AND IT’S ACTUALLY A VERY IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE THEMES OF DELTARUNE

Ok so: Undertale is an exploration of choice and power. Anyone can die, but only if we choose to kill them, and conversely, anyone can live if we put in the time to figure out how to spare them. It’s part of this game that we can decide the fate of everyone in the Underground--that we can save anyone if we try. Their fates are completely in our hands.

And then along comes Deltarune, and it seems to be following this pattern. Our choices don’t have as drastic of consequences--up until halfway through chapter 2 you can’t even kill anyone for real--but we’re still capable of giving everyone a happy outcome. 

And then…

and then along comes Spamton, extremely sketchy occasionally murderous yet still somehow sympathetic Spamton, and we want to save him, too. We want to give him the freedom he’s so desperately seeking, and so we cut his strings, and we reach his spare conditions, and he

freaking

collapses.

We can’t save him. We can’t give him a happy ending.

At best, he resigns himself to the fate he was so desperately striving to escape while his friends hold his funeral.

At worst, in our efforts to spare him...we end up killing him.

In Deltarune, you can’t save everyone. You can’t change fates and choose your destiny through determination alone. Sometimes, you’re powerless, and there’s nothing you can do for someone even with the power to rewind time.

One might even say that your choices don’t matter.

But that’s not entirely true, is it?

We don’t get to decide whether to bring Queen to Castle Town, but it matters a lot to her whether we recruit her subjects and friends.

Berdly’s normal route character arc is the same no matter how we treat him, but it’s gonna matter a lot to him whether we get his arm paralyzed or not.

We can’t save Spamton, but we can remind a man who’s dedicated his life to the pursuit of selfish obsessions that real happiness is found in our relationships with others, and that sure as heck matters.

The Spamton NEO fight is another way Toby is telling us, “This isn’t like Undertale.” In Deltarune, as in real life, you can’t save everyone. Sometimes you do everything you can and they still die. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do but sit by your father’s hospital bed, wishing you had the magic to heal him while you play video games to distract you both from your pain.

Our choices can’t always--or even often--change the outcome of things, but that doesn’t mean they don’t matter. It matters that we’re kind, and it matters that we try.

[lovely-angst]

Hi I saw your post can I request a scenario with dabi and female reader having an argument vut with fluff ending, thank you so much 💗

a/n: this took so long bc i couldn’t sit and write for more than like 10 minutes a day. but this fic is  l e n g t h y  bc this is the kinda of angst I like hehe. also, it’s hard writing for dabi! his character is so complicated!

tw: arguing

genre: fluff and angst

pairing: dabi x reader

summary: you and dabi get into a heated argument and trying to fix the relationship is harder than it seems.

word count: 3.5k

03.09.2021

-

It was probably a bad idea that you ran out of the house at night, but you felt as if you had no other choice. You and Dabi had just gotten into a heated argument—the most heated argument the two of you had ever had actually.

It might have been over something stupid, but it had been running through your mind for the past few weeks, so it couldn’t have been that stupid. Not to you at least.

Your eyes were stained red from all of the crying you had done prior, but every time you thought back to the words the two of you threw at each other, you couldn’t help the blurriness of the tears that filled your eyes.

“If you’re so miserable with me, why don’t you just leave!” Dabi shot at you as anger filled your entire body. 

“I can’t!” you shouted back before sadness washed over you, tears quickly rising to your eyes as you stared over at your boyfriend. “I have nowhere else to go anymore because I left everything behind for you!” 

“I never asked you to! Maybe you should’ve thought about that when you decided to mess around with someone like me.”

“You didn’t have to ask! I did it because I love you! But you wouldn’t understand because you don’t care about me!” You shouted angrily at Dabi, who was fuming at you with clenched fists, 

“You’re right, I don’t care. Get out of my fucking place.” 

Staring down at your hands, you let out a sigh. You were starting to miss Dabi. Even after everything that had just happened, your heart was still full of love for him. There was no way he meant it, right?

It wasn’t that you were miserable with Dabi, you loved him with all your heart. You had just wanted him to put more effort into the relationship, into you. He was always away doing whatever work he had to do and you missed him—Dabi was all you had left.

Reaching into the pockets of your light jacket, you frowned upon only finding a few napkins and empty wrappers from whatever treat you had snacked on. In a rush to leave the apartment, you had forgotten to take your phone and wallet, leaving you with nothing.

Sniffling, you glanced around at the empty streets, trying to find a warm place to stay at. It wasn’t terribly cold, but cold enough where you would love to be someplace warm. Going home wasn’t an option, seeing how Dabi had just kicked you out, but going back to your parents was an even worse option. They had given you an earful about Dabi and you were practically disowned when you left with him.

It was just like any other day. The two of you were on his roughed-up couch that so happened to fit the two of you perfectly. Dabi sat behind you as you sat in between his slender legs in a comfortable silence. 

He had this place for himself when he didn’t feel like staying overnight at the league and it used to feel so big when it was him alone. But recently, you’ve been occupying this space with him which made everything feel so much warmer. 

And he told you. “You should move in with me,” he said, earning a small smile from you. 

But you knew it couldn’t be that simple. 

“My parents don’t want me around you anymore,” you told him softly in his arms. “They said you’re not a person I should be spending my time with.” 

“Well, you’re old enough to be making your own decisions,” he huffed and you couldn’t help but chuckle. “I am,” you told him, finding his hands and gently running your fingers along them.

“But if I decided to move in with you, they’ll disown me. Cut me off from the family,” a heavy sigh escapes your lips, slumping back on your boyfriend’s chest. 

“Yeah, but we can be our own family,” he said before a small wave of silence fell upon the two of you. Turning around to face him, you couldn’t help the sad smile on your face, “Could we really though? I mean, you’re busy and if I’m no longer with my family, I’d be alone.” 

“Trust me, doll,” he starts with a smirk, pushing hair away from your face, “we will make it work.”

You stared up into his blue eyes hesitantly. Dabi was no family guy. He wasn’t even the type of guy to settle with someone, yet here he was asking you to move in with him to be his family. 

But you loved him too much. 

Placing a gentle hand on his chest, you lean forward to press a kiss onto his lips before slightly pulling away, “Promise me you’ll take care of me?”

Dabi let out a small chuckle, grinning before pressing a kiss to your forehead, “Promise.”

You were really alone now.

-

Panting heavily, Dabi stared at the door you had just slammed shut as you fled from the apartment the two of you shared. Good riddance, he thought, storming over toward the bedroom to cool himself down—his flames were about to burst out any minute now with how angry and irritated he was.

He had already told you that he couldn’t be that perfect boyfriend who could do all these amazing things for you. You knew this and you had told him it was alright because you love him. So what was that back then?

Roughly running his hands through his hair, he sat back against the bed before letting out a heavy sigh and rubbing his eyes out of frustration. Maybe telling you to get out of the apartment was a bit much, but Dabi knew you’d eventually find your way back. You always did.

Grabbing his phone from beside him, Dabi decided to shoot you a text telling you to come back because it would be a hassle to take care of you if you got sick—his way of telling you he cared.

It was late in the night already and Dabi was tired from everything. He wished that you could’ve been there for him to hold when he drifted off into a dreamless slumber, but you weren’t because of him.

Walking over to the front door, Dabi made sure the door was unlocked if you had decided to sneak your way back in. Which he secretly hoped you would.

Upon opening the fridge, Dabi’s heart clenched once he saw all of the food you had cooked and stored away for him with little notes written on them.

‘I know you hate fish, so this doesn’t contain any fish!’

‘This dish has a lot of meat so eat up to get all your protein in because you’ve been working so hard <3′ 

‘This one is my favorite, so try it out and see if you like it just as much as me :^)’

Did you have to be so stupidly cute?

Dabi was weak against you, and he knew it too. Heating up the dish you deemed your favorite, he walked over towards the small dinner table that would fit the two of you perfectly.

Staring down at the dish, Dabi let out a chuckle—of course this dish was your favorite. And it tasted like home too, something he seemed to enjoy more of when you were here too. 

He really did miss you too.

It had been a week since you moved in with Dabi. He enjoyed coming home to you sharing the space with him and making it more homely and warm. Dabi was quite ecstatic that you agreed to live with him, but there was only one problem.

You didn’t seem so...happy. 

Dabi would often catch you staring off into space or constantly staring out the window as you let your thoughts run wild. And when he would finally build up the courage to ask, you’d respond with a smile.

“No, I am happy to be here with you,” you’d remind him softly, “I just kinda miss my family.”

And though Dabi knew that, he couldn’t help but want to be selfish and keep you here to himself. You were his family now and you chose to be his a part of this family when you agreed to live with him. 

“But we’re our own family now and we’ll take care of each other,” you told him with a smile despite your sadness.

You seemed to always find the right words to soothe Dabi’s thoughts. You were great at helping him—even when he couldn’t seem to help you at all.

Twitching awake, Dabi glanced around confused. When did he fall asleep? His discarded dish was still on the table right where he left it. He must’ve fallen asleep when his thoughts consumed him.

Glancing over at his phone, Dabi frowned when two hours had passed and there was no response from you. You didn’t even bother looking at his text. Were you seriously that upset? Letting out a sigh, Dabi decided to call you instead, hoping to get you home safe.

It wasn’t until he heard your familiar ringtone playing from the living room that Dabi had realized that you left your phone. Which meant you were out somewhere alone and defenseless in this sketchy neighborhood. It had already been two hours. Who knows what could have happened to you.

He always felt as if you were so small and so fragile that it would be so easy to break you.

“Fuck,” Dabi mumbled as he ran into the bedroom to grab his hoodie and a mask before taking off searching for you. Even with most of his skin covered, he could still feel the chill of the late night.

Where could you be at a time like this?

As he ran through the quiet neighborhood, he was glad to see that no one was out and about doing whatever shady business they had going on. But to Dabi’s surprise, there you were, just a few feet away from the apartment.

You sat crouched into a tiny ball as you hid your face in your knees, looking extra small and extra fragile.

Dabi let out a relieved sigh before gently walking towards you, his feet tapping against the concrete gently before stopping in front of you.

“(Name),” he called as gently as he could, “It’s cold out. Let’s go back,” but you didn’t budge. “Stop being stubborn and let’s go back,” Dabi’s voice was laced with irritation before you finally moved, which should have been a great sign. But seeing how you shifted away from him, bothered him more than he liked to admit.

“I don’t want to go back,” you say weakly, curling in on yourself. Dabi scoffed, “Then are you going to stay out here in the cold? I know you have nowhere else to go.”

Your head raised slowly to glance up at him, a heartbroken look on your face before you stood up to face him. “That’s exactly why I don’t want to come back. You promised me you’d take care of me, but look where we are now.”

Turning away from him, you let out a sigh, “I think this relationship is too much for you right now, Dabi. You’re not ready to have another person in your life.”

And your words seem to hurt Dabi more than he had expected. It was just an argument. Things like this always happen in relationships, right? So how come things were turning for the worse?

“You’re dramatic, (Name),” Dabi chuckled. “Just come back and it will be better in the morning.”

He didn’t know how to fix this anymore.

“We can’t act like that argument didn’t happen, Dabi. That was the worst argument we’ve had, and it really hurt me,” you continued, lips quivering as you blinked rapidly, trying to hold back your tears.

“Just come back to the apartment,” Dabi tried once more, but with a surprising calm. “It’s not safe out here and it’s warmer.”

You hated how he could crumble your resolve with a few simple words—you were head over heels for this man. Stuffing your hands in your pockets, you dig your shoes into the ground, “Only for tonight. If things don’t work out, then I’ll find a new place to stay at.”

And though your words carried a heavyweight, Dabi was just glad you agreed to come back. Maybe if he snuggled up into you when the two of you went to bed, you’d forgive him.

But when he saw you setting up your bed on the couch, he realized that this was a bigger problem than he had discovered.

“What are you doing?” Watching you fluff out your pillow, you quietly got into your makeshift bed, bringing the covers towards your cheeks, “I’m going to bed,” you replied, shutting your eyes as you turned into the couch.

“But why are you on the couch?” 

“Because I don’t want to be around you right now,” you mumble into the blankets, hiding your face from your boyfriend as he stood there irritated.

“You’re being such a baby right now,” Dabi responds angrily, but you only replied with a hum, further irking the male as he trudged towards the bedroom and thankfully, shutting off the lights for you on his way.

It hurt to see that Dabi wasn’t as upset as you were about this problem the two of you were having. You wanted to fix this because you love and care for him, but you couldn’t say the same about him. Snuggling deeper into your blanket, you hoped that this night “apart” would help the two of you sleep on the problem and be able to face each other the next day.

-

Your constant stirring had woken you up from your sleep, though you weren’t able to get much sleep anyways. Every time you closed your eyes, all you could see was the fight that you and Dabi had gotten into.

Anything you dreamt of seemed to be a replay of what had led to now. You couldn’t escape.

Sighing, you let your arm hang off the couch only to have the back of your hand bump into something. Gently, your hand brushes against the foreign object before your eyes widen when your fingers brush across something soft.

Dabi?

Gently turning, your eyes land on Dabi, who asleep on the floor beside you with a small blanket covering his taller frame. Your fingers that landed themselves in his hair gently ran across down to his face, brushing along his scars as he slept peacefully beneath your hand.

Watching Dabi sleep was something you could never get tired of. He always looked so at peace, so relaxed and so carefree and you couldn’t help but wish for him to always have a restful sleep. You just wanted him to be happy.

Lost in your thoughts, you didn’t notice the hand coming up to brush across your own before they gently held your smaller one in yours. 

Words weren’t exchanged as the two of you laid there in silence as Dabi gently caressed the back of your hand with his thumb. A small but very comforting affection for the two of you—something you didn’t know you were craving.

“Did I wake you?” your words finally cut the silence as you laid there, basking in the feel of his hand in yours. “I didn’t know you were there.”

“It didn’t feel right sleeping in the bed alone,” A strange confession coming from the man who seemed to strive alone, but it was sweet hearing it from him, feeling how his hand gently caressed yours.

Gently prying your hand from his, you noticed how he tensed slightly before you brought your fingers back to his face gently, running across his scars once more.

“I don’t want you to leave.”

His words cut the thick silence that filled the space between the two of you. Your hand stopped right above his eyes before your brows arched sadly as you listened to him. “We’re our own family now. We’re all we’ve got.”

A sigh escaped your lips as you laid flat against the cushions of the couch, staring up at the dark ceiling above you, “I love you, Dabi, but this isn’t what a family is supposed to feel like. You promised you’d take care of me, but...I just feel like I’ve been doing it all on my own.”

Your eyes stung with tears that began to surface as your emotions came crashing back down on you.

You love Dabi, you really do, but you deserved to be treated better.

“I’m not miserable with you Dabi, I love being with you. It’s just hard when you’re all that I have left and you’re not here too,” you reminded gently, trying not to upset him. But even now, he remained silent.

“If we want things to work, I need you to talk to me,” you were met with silence and you had thought Dabi had fallen asleep but when you turned to glance at him and saw his blue eyes staring off into the distance, you knew it couldn’t work.

Turning back into the couch, you pulled your blankets up towards your cheek once more, letting your tears run freely, “I’ll be gone by the morning. Thanks for everything.”

Dabi laid there listening to your quiet sobs as you cried yourself to sleep on the couch beside him. And to be short, Dabi was freaking the fuck out.

He wanted to say something, anything, but his voice was stuck in his throat. Everything he wanted to tell you was caught and shoved back instead of flowing from his lips.

Sitting up after hearing your breathing even out, Dabi hovered over your, watching how your tears glistened with the faint moonlight and the way your breath would hitch every so often.

He really did love you, even when he couldn’t express himself to you.

Letting the back of his fingers glide across your skin gently, Dabi allowed himself to relax as he watched your peaceful state. You really did deserve so much better than a villain like him.

But he wanted to be selfish.

“You deserve so much more than this,” Dabi’s fingers run across your delicate features as he watched the way your chest rises and falls, “but I can’t give you anything.

“I can’t do anything for you like you do for me. All I do is get upset at you because you just want me to show you a little bit of love when you give me unconditional love.”

“I won’t get mad at you for leaving. I wish I could’ve given you a better family, but I don’t even know what a real family is.” Quietly standing, Dabi leans down to kiss your temple gently before giving you one last glance.

“You were the best thing to have happened to me.” his footsteps fade into the distance as he walked back into the empty bedroom.

Your eyes open once Dabi left, leaving you in the living room as your heart clenched with every word and emotion he managed to squeeze out from his conflicted heart.

You just couldn’t leave him.

-

The birds were chirping freely outside beyond the walls of his small apartment, which meant you had already left. 

With an arm over his eyes, Dabi tried not to think about it—about you, but how could he not when he was so in love with you? 

“ugh, fuck,” he grumbled as he tried sitting up in his bed, only to feel something restricting him. Peeling his arm from his eyes, Dabi glanced down only to be surprised to see you clinging onto his waist as you hid your face in the side of his chest. “(Name)?”

A sleepy whine left your lips as you moved your head around before adjusting yourself beside him, breath evening out once more as you continued to doze off.

He wasn’t sure when or how you got into the bed with him, but he thought maybe this was God’s last gift to him—allowing him to have you in his arms once more before his world would continue to drag him along the ends of the Earth. 

And once Dabi intertwined his limbs with yours, he fell asleep just as fast as he woke up. 

It wasn’t until he felt something weaving in his hair that he woke up for the second time that morning. His tired eyes slowly opened before he turned his head towards the body beside him, eyes catching onto yours before a fragile why fell from his lips. 

“I know it’s hard for you to tell me how you feel and I’m sorry for pressuring you into doing it. But I heard everything you said last night. Thank you.” You place a gentle hand on his chest before lifting yourself onto his chest, your eyes focused on his vulnerable expression.

“It’s hard for the both of us, but if you’re willing to give a little bit more into this small family of ours, we’ll be just fine.”

Dabi couldn’t help the smile that formed on his lips as he brought his hands to the back of your head, bringing your forehead to his, enjoying the way your breaths mingled, “anything for you, doll.”

[seyaryminamoto]

As someone, who's favourite character is Zuko, let me just say that your analysis about the Southern Raiders is spot on. Something about that episode (especially the way Zuko acted) always felt a little... off to me. And I could never figure out what it was exactly and considering the fact that discussion about this episode centered around the Kataang vs Zutara, I thought I was the only one who felt that way. So, I guess thanks for putting my thoughts into words.

Oh, I really feel ya, anon. If you actually don't look at the episode from a shipping point of view, which seems to be the focus of most the fandom, a lot of unpleasant things really start sticking out. I'm personally neutral to the Kataang vs. Zutara debate, I see good points and drawbacks to both ships, and no one's going to convince me that this episode proved the superiority of either pairing, especially when the shipping interpretations have never been important to me when analyzing this episode. People can say Aang is right in the end, they can say Zuko understands Katara's plight better (which, considering Aang has lost even more people he loved than Zuko has, he certainly should have understood Katara's suffering quite well too), but focusing on whether Zuko or Aang are the angel or the devil on Katara's shoulders practically blinds everyone to the very glaring and mindboggling flaws in this episode's writing, imo.

In general, the concept of Zuko's life-changing field trips with the three Gaang members he'd wronged the most is fine and fun for most people, but from the first time I watched the show it felt like the production team knew they were pressed for time and needed some veeeery quick and effective solution for Zuko to gain acceptance in the Gaang ASAP despite all the bad blood there. I can imagine a lot of people love these episodes, but admittedly I wouldn't rank any of them among my favorites because, as interesting as some of their concepts could be, if executed right, my immersion certainly wasn't as strong as with the rest of the show due to the nagging feeling that this was all for the sake of redeeming Zuko in the eyes of each Gaang member... and not necessarily in the eyes of the audience.

They get away with it, of course, because by this point in time, the audience is 100% conditioned to love the Gaang and Zuko, and if you see them getting along, you should be rejoicing in their team-up... but if you put some emotional distance between yourself as a viewer and the events of these episodes, their writing leaves a lot to be desired, especially in the concept of giving Zuko a quick whitewashing in the eyes of Aang, Sokka and Katara, one after the other, so they can genuinely accept him as a teammate and friend. If we'd seen similar trips frequently or occasionally in the rest of the show, with two specific members of the team taking off on an adventure by themselves, it might not be so glaringly obvious (and even... artificial? I guess?) that they're trying to quick-redeem him for each of them here, but on top of it happening thrice, it's literally happening one after the other, too. There's no episodes in-between, it's just literally a four-parter arc of "let's help Zuko become friends with these three".

The plotlines to be dealt with in these episodes are basically catered to each Gaang member, tailor-made life-changing field trips based on whatever they'll value the most, all of it conveniently possible and doable in the span of time they have between Zuko's joining of their group and the show's finale. Aang needs to learn firebending, Sokka needs to save his dad, Katara is permanently grieving for her mother's death. And so, Zuko to the rescue! If he helps them with their personal character quests, he gets 50+ approval points! :'D Honestly, I'm absolutely not against the notion of Zuko befriending them, obviously not, but the methods through which they chose to make it happen simply might not be the finest...?

Zuko loses his ability to bend because he "lost his rage", but he's still angry pretty often, the show even spoofs its own writing by showing him losing his patience at Sokka... while at the same time trying to sell that Zuko "isn't angry" anymore? Zuko helps break out random prisoners from the Boiling Rock without taking a single moment to actually learn who they are, why they were locked up, and without pondering if they deserve to be helped or if perhaps they're genuinely dangerous? Zuko gives Katara every possible tool and information she needs to take revenge on Yon Rha, because, loosely quoting his own words, he "cares what she thinks of him"...?

How about if we'd seen Zuko trying to connect with Fire Nation people, to help his fellow Fire Nation citizens, especially the ones who were living in dreadful conditions, like the ones in the Jang Hui river village? How about if we'd seen Zuko saving lives rather than threatening to take them? How about if we'd seen Zuko actually reasoning with his anger, and either working his way out of it, or repurposing it consciously, or making legitimate, personal efforts to find a new source of strength for his firebending through self-reflection, above all else?

We didn't really need sudden one-on-one field trips to teach Aang, Katara and Sokka to trust Zuko: we needed Zuko to prove himself worthy of that trust, to show how much he has changed, to literally contrast his new behavior with the old, to actually see that the guy no longer jumps into violence-mode 24/7, that he's willing to listen to other people's opinions or wisdom, that he wants to learn better when he knows he's misguided or misunderstanding something or another. Would he have become BFFs with any of them in four episodes if this had happened? Well, it definitely would have happened with Aang, the other two would have been trickier, but they definitely would have been more willing to accept him if they actually got to SEE that the changes in Zuko weren't skin-deep. Katara can be as thick-headed and stubborn as she may want to be, but I have no doubts she wouldn't have been able to hate Zuko as much as she used to if she'd seen him helping people, much like she often wants their group to do. But instead, they don't get to see the actual changes and growth... they just get their biggest goals and wishes satisfied, and that's enough to decide Zuko's trustworthy, no matter whatever sketchy behavior he displays in later episodes.

I absolutely appreciate the worldbuilding context we gain for the raids on the Water Tribe through The Southern Raiders, but I don't think this was an organic way to tell the story of how Zuko became friends with the Gaang. If pressed, I'd even say that Zuko's overt desperation to be their friend is OOC, to a degree: if this guy actually knows how dangerous his father's plans are (and he's supposed to :'D), how isn't he focusing on that side of things, when he's always been such a go-getter? It's not like he grew out of this sort of ends-justify-the-means behavior, seeing as he's absolutely obsessed with stopping his father ASAP, by any means possible, in the finale, when there was no such urgency to be found ever since he joined the Gaang. How isn't he more worried about stopping Ozai than about becoming best friends with the Gaang? Immediately sharing everything he's learned about Ozai's intentions of destroying the whole world might not make them friends instantaneously, but it would certainly get someone like Sokka to take his information seriously and immediately begin strategizing how to counter Ozai's plans. Instead, Zuko spent all those weeks, over a month, even, teaching Aang firebending, going on field trips and hanging out with his new friends in Ember Island. Once you have all the cards on deck and you actually look at all of them at once, doesn't it feel like there were so many more ways to achieve what the show was going for, far more effective ways than through the "let's be friends with Zuko" arc?

Ultimately, there's very little display of growth, in my opinion, in this small arc, on Zuko's side, despite the most obvious and reasonable way to earn the trust of the Gaang would be by outright showing them how much he's grown. I won't deny I appreciate that the writers respected his personality and didn't just warp him into the perfect good softboi the way the fandom apparently interprets him, but even if Zuko was going to be cranky and speak one-liners like "I'm never happy", it wasn't impossible to write better situations for him to connect with the Gaang's members and gain their trust. Even if the writers were set on having these episodes happen exactly as they did, they absolutely could have been written in a much better way, to create an explicit and direct contrast between Zuko's early behavior and the new Zuko's behavior when it comes to things that matter (most the parallels I've seen the fandom drawing are things like "oh look he hated tea before but now he brews it for his friends! So much growth!"... would've been nice to see the growth when it came to a lot of other things, too, if the growth really was there? Am I rite...?).

I may just be influenced by other redemption arcs that focus mainly on characters having common goals and working together to achieve them, then becoming friends in the process... but I really don't see how Zuko's character benefited from these episodes. Yes, bridges were built... but they absolutely could have been built in a more organic way that didn't make people like myself (and a few others) question if Zuko had learned or grown at all, considering the way he behaves isn't all that distant from the Zuko we've seen and known throughout the rest of the show. And the fact that he really seems to have learned nothing in The Southern Raiders once you reach the show's finale... you're basically asked to take for granted Zuko did learn a lot of lessons because he says he did, to assume he's going to put them into practice sometime in the future despite he has chances to do it during the show itself but never does, simply because they drop the ball upon every opportunity to show how much he's changed.

I really don't blame his character at all, when it comes to these shortcomings... it's seriously, genuinely, a problem with the writing department. Take a look through the fandom and you'll see thousands of people who claim Zuko's character arc is the most touching, complex and beautiful writing they ever have seen... and why? Because we're in the face of tell-don't-show :'D most people's perception of Zuko's character are based not so much on HOW Zuko displays his growth, it's strongly based on him stating he made progress, even if there's too many instances where the growth simply seems to have fallen to the wayside or gone forgotten for the sake of a plotline or another. Zuko absolutely could have been written far better than this, he could absolutely have the redemption arc his fans are sure he does have, but for me... there's way too many gaps in logic, too many missed opportunities, to truly think his growth was as extraordinary as a lot of people are hung up on saying it was.

[sock-ness-monster]

Excuse is granted. Please. I beg of you. Infodump away

Thank you so much I love telling people about this guy

So, to preface this, I'll be telling this story exactly how it was told to me by our camp counselor at a Caveing camp I went to, so it's very much an oral history that maybe can't be fact checked but the broad strokes are genuinely 100% true

TRIGGER WARNINGS: DEATH, DARKNESS, CLAUSTROPHOBIA, GRAVE DESECRATION, CRICKETS

Now that that's out of the way (and please mention if there's any other TW's I should add) the story of

Floyd Collins, The Man Who Was Buried Six Times

This story begins in Kentucky in 19very early, a young Floyd was plowing his family's field when he suddenly dropped through the ground and discovered an unknown cave system. Super cool! Now, people back then did not have television, keep in mind, so caves were really big deals and they were a brand new and lucrative tourist escapade. Floyd's family seized the idea and quickly made a little tourist attraction out of it and started raking in the dough. But they weren't the only ones who had a cave you could tour, Kentucky's geology is super unique in that it has tons of limestone and sandstone which is perfect for underground rivers to carve cool caves out of. They are everywhere in Kentucky and the surrounding area, there was a lot of competition for who had the best, the biggest, the longest cave. And Floyd and his brothers were seized by cave fever and were exploring all around looking for new tunnels and chambers. A large part of this business, unfortunately, was not just walking people through the caves but was letting them take home souvenirs. People could carve their names in the wall, take a stalagmite or stalactite or whatever cool rock they found. Destroying the sensitive ecosystem of the caves. Floyd, the cool dude that he was, was one of the only people who was against this at the time. Good for him! Salamanders are important!

Anyway, Floyd and his brothers are always on the lookout for new opportunities, and there were tons in that area. But, not all of them would pan out. Floyd had heard rumblings about a new cave system called Sand Cave that wasn't far from his family's original cave, which by now had been dubbed Crystal Cave. It didn't seem that promising to most, but Floyd was hoping it actually connected to Crystal cave, and they could tack on so many feet to how big their cave was. So he set off to see if he could find a connection.

He had been surveying the cave for a few hours, and decided to call it quits. He was crawling through a tight tunnel upwards toward the opening of the cave when a rock slide pinned his ankle down tight. He was laying flat with his hands reaching upwards, and there was no way for him to reach back behind him to free his ankle.

He had gone on this expedition without telling anyone.

This was the first time he got buried.

Three days pass, and his brother Homer finally finds him. He tries everything he can think of to free floyd, to no effect. Realizing that this may be a bigger endeavor than he can pull off, he crawls back out to go and find help. It is January of 1925, what else is there to do but go to the newspaper? They publish the story of the man trapped in a crawl way, and it's a huge hit!? People are fascinated by Floyds predicament. They want to help, they want to see, they want to know more. It even makes it on the radio! The three biggest news stories of the time were

1) the war (oof)

2)Charles Lindbergh (will come up again later)

And 3) Floyd in the hole

Everyone in America is anxious to find out how they rescue Floyd. "They" being everyone from the local cave experts to the military corps of engineers to the freakin freemasons, they're all trying to figure out how to free Floyd. Who, ya know, is just chillin in the cave, because caves stay at a constant temperature of ~54° , not too bad for January. His brothers and a reporter take turns crawling down to deliver him the three essentials; food, whiskey, and news. The reporter, "Skeets" Miller, would later win a Pulitzer Prize for his correspondence with floyd in the shaft. Now, as mentioned before, it is a cold and snowy January, but people (nearly 10,000 according to some reports) are so fascinated by the goings on at Sand Cave that they travel from far and wide to be there at the triumphant moment when Floyd emerges. Weeks have gone by at this point. Radio stations are reporting every day, Charles Lindbergh is hired to take photographs of the terrain from above. It's like a big party up top.

They camp out around the cave mouth.

They build fires for food and warmth.

The snow melts.

The cold water trickles down into the cave.

Floyd....... starts to cough.

The cave's already sketchy structure is further compromised.

There's another rock slide.

Floyd is now cut off from contact with the up side world, and the engineers panic and go with a last ditch effort they had been debating beforehand. They can't go around they can't go behind, the only path left was straight down. They drill a hole that reaches the 150 feet from daylight to Floyd's prison. They are too late. He was estimated to have died three to four days before they reached him. His leg is still stuck, and half his face has been consumed by cave crickets. And they just.....leave him there. Whatreyagonnado they shrug, he's already gone we can stop now. They fill in the shaft again.

This is the second time Floyd is buried.

Homer, his closest brother, can't accept this as his final resting place. A few weeks later, they un block the hole and carry Floyd to their family's funeral plot and have a small service with just his closest friends and family present.

This is the third time Floyd Collins is buried.

A few years go by, and the Collins family sells their farm and cave. Unfortunately, they did not see the part of the deed that entitled the new owners to everything in and under the property. Floyd's body is now legally theirs. He is exhumed and placed on display in a glass coffin in Crystal Cave (which years and years later would eventually be proven to connect to Sand Cave).

This is the fourth time Floyd is buried.

If you haven't pieced it together yet, caves were a pretty big deal. We now enter a time in Kentucky history known as the Cave Wars, and they are brutal. How brutal, you ask? Well, to answer with one scenario that happens to be related to this story, the owners of nearby cave were jealous of the attention Crystal Cave was getting from their cool exhibit of Floyd's body, against his family's wishes. Why, the only logical thing to do is steal the man's body and throw it off a cliff. Crystal Cave's new owners would recover it, though minus the left leg. And the next logical thing of course is to put him back on display but this time with a bunch more chains.

This is the fifth time Floyd Collins is buried.

Then, the 60s roll around and Crystal Cave and Floyd are purchased by the National Parks Service on the grounds of being connected to the Mammoth Cave System (the longest cave system in the entire world now). Floyds family is still fighting for his body, and in the 80s they finally get their wish. Floyd is removed from the cave in a 15 day trip and buried at a real cemetery again.

This, is the sixth time he is buried.

A pillar is constructed in honor and perhaps in reparations to all he's gone through, but it is struck by a semi truck and demolished less than a week after its unveiling.

Floyd.......went through a lot. All he ever wanted to do was see some cool rocks and support his family. And to this day, cavers do their best to do right by him. When entering Mammoth Cave, they often ask the darkness to look after them. They aren't talking to the darkness, of course, that darkness that can never be described properly. They are talking to Floyd. Asking him to watch over them as they wish he had someone to watch over him. In the caves everyone is above you, but that's not what they mean. And when they hear a whistle through the tunnels, they like to imagine it's Floyd. Floyd, who was right. The cave was so much more than people thought, in so many different ways. To this day, there's a saying in the caveing community.

"Floyd Lives"

It's like the geology version of "Eddie Would Go". As long as we carry on his legacy of exploring bravely, daring to go where noone has gone before, and do our best to preserve the natural beauty and habitat of the caves, floyd will live on. Floyd lives in our memories and hearts and the drips of water that will one day be pillars.

I don't really know how to end this. Here's a picture of the man himself;

(the picture above is not the tunnel he was trapped in, to be clear)

[drabbles-mc]

Compromising Positions

Juice Ortiz x F!Reader

Request by @adela-topaz-caelon: So, seeing your Juice post just now, I got another idea (oops) if it's okay to send another. I was thinking a Juice x Female reader, who gets super defensive over him, gets teased over it a lot, but goes absolutely ape shit at the guys when she finds out they stapled a sign to his chest when he accidentally drugged himself to sleep. And then after she goes ape, threatening to staple some bitches, she cleans him up and maybe some sudden release of emotions and pooooossibly smut? ^_^ maybe :D

Warnings: language, mentions of blood/injuries

Word Count: 2.7k

A/N: Being ready to pop off in defense of Juice is a sentiment that I can totally get behind, so thank you for this request lmao. I didn’t end up going the smutty route because I just didn’t feel like it fit the whole mood of this story. But fear not! There will be other fics for our boy in the future that take care of that haha. Hope you enjoy!

SOA Taglist: @masterlistforimagines @mijop @garbinge @xladymacbethx @kkim120 @multiyfandomgirl40 @i-just-read-stuff @chibsytelford (Let me know if you’d like to be tagged!)

You tried to tune out the conversations of the guys as you wiped down the surface of the bar. They’d hardly been out of church for five minutes and they had already completely moved past everything that they had been talking about behind closed doors. You loved them all but you would be lying if you said that listening to the way that they spoke about things sometimes didn’t get underneath your skin a little bit. You’d learned to pick your battles wisely because there was only so much that you could be frustrated about all the time.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw one of the guys reach over and give Juice a light smack to the back of his head. You looked up, eyes instantly zeroing in on what was going on. It wasn’t shocking to you that it was Tig who was doling out the abuse—that seemed to be a large part of their relationship with each other.

Juice never seemed overly bothered by it whenever the guys would rag on him. You wished that you were as good at brushing it off as he was, but every time you saw them picking on him it made your blood boil. For that reason alone you knew that your feelings towards Juice were no secret, and the guys went in on you about it just as much as they went in on Juice for everything else. It seemed like the only person who never picked on you for how you felt about Juice was Juice himself. He never said anything about it one way or the other.

“Look out, Tig,” Jax spoke up with a laugh, “keep that up and you’re about to catch some hands from someone else.”

Your frustration must’ve been instantly apparent on your face. You made a concentrated effort to relax your features, but it wasn’t much use. Shaking your head silently, you returned your attention to the bar.

“Go on, then, Y/N,” Tig said with a cocky laugh, “If you got something to say then say it.”

You didn’t lift your eyes, knowing that getting into it right now wasn’t going to accomplish anything. Juice spoke up on your behalf, though, “Leave her alone, Tig. She’s just trying to work without having to listen to you guys talk shit all the time.”

“Funny how she only seems to get uptight when it’s about one person in parti—”

“Are you done?” you cut him off.

Tig held his hands up in mock surrender, “Sure, doll,” he turned to Juice, “Should start bringing her with you on runs. Maybe she can keep you safe out there, too.”

You gnawed at the inside of your cheek to keep yourself from saying something that would undoubtedly make the situation worse. You tossed your cleaning rag onto the surface of the bar before turning and walking towards the door of the clubhouse. Without missing a beat, you swiped a pack of cigarettes off of one of the tables as you went. You could hear the guys murmuring behind you but you blocked it out.

You were lost in your thoughts, camped out on the picnic table outside the clubhouse, when someone came and sat down next to you. Glancing over, you saw that it was Juice. You didn’t have to fully look at him to know the expression that he had on his face. It was the same one that he always had whenever the guys gave you a hard time—a mixture of pity and being flattered.

You shook your head slightly, “You don’t need to check on me, Juice. I can handle them.”

“You realize I can handle them too, right?” he gave your shoulder a playful nudge with his own.

Despite your annoyance, you smiled as you took a drag from the cigarette between your fingers. You let yourself make full eye contact with him, “I never said that you couldn’t.”

You passed him your cigarette and he took it with a smile. The two of you didn’t say anything else about what had just happened, opting to just sit and enjoy each other’s company silently. Juice was one of the few people in the world that you could enjoy silence with, and you knew that in moments like this when you were cooling off from being frustrated, it was truly a blessing to have him around.

A few days ticked by and you managed to not get yourself into any more arguments with Tig or any of the other guys. Every now and then when things were getting a little rowdy in the clubhouse you could feel the guys looking at you, waiting for you to speak up and insert yourself into the middle of it. It took some conscious effort on your part, but you stayed out of it.

You were just starting to get ready for your next shift at the bar when you heard the door to the clubhouse open. You didn’t look up at first, too immersed in everything that you were doing to try and straighten up a little bit. The only thing that caught your attention was the quiet groan that filled the room.

Looking up, your eyes went wide when you saw Juice. You had so many questions but you weren’t sure if you really wanted answers to any of them. You went to walk up to him to offer a helping hand but he waved you off as he walked back to his dorm. Every fiber of your being was telling you to follow him, but you didn’t. Part of you knew that you weren’t going to get any answers from him, so instead you stormed in the opposite direction from him to find the other guys.

You flung the clubhouse door open and were greeted by the sight of the guys huddled around the table, all laughing and joking around. You had a feeling that you knew exactly what they found to be so funny.

“What the fuck did you do this time?” you made a direct line for Tig.

“Whoa, whoa,” he laughed as he took a step back from you, “why do you assume that it was me?”

“You telling me it wasn’t?”

“Depends on what you’re talking about.”

“What the hell happened to Juice?”

“Maybe you should keep a better eye on your boy, Y/N,” Jax said, trying and failing to stifle his laughter, “and he wouldn’t land himself in such…compromising positions.”

You weren’t naïve enough to think that Juice couldn’t get himself into difficult situations on his own. He didn’t always think things through. But you also knew that when he was putting himself in sketchy situations, the guys were the first ones to try and capitalize on it.

“Alright then, VP,” you turned your attention to Jax, “what did he land himself into this time?”

“Your boy knocked himself the fuck out. Thought he was taking vitamins when he…wasn’t. That’s on him for popping whatever gets put into his hands,” Jax was shaking his head as he spoke.

“That doesn’t explain why he walked into the clubhouse practically naked and bleeding.”

“The blood was probably from the staples,” Tig chimed in with a laugh.

“The what?” you managed to keep your voice below a yell, but barely.

He continued to laugh as he motioned for Chibs to hand you the sign that had been discarded onto the table, most likely tossed there by Juice when he finally made his way back to the clubhouse. You snatched it from the man’s hands, unfolding it and reading what it said. As you continued to put the entire situation together, you saw red for a moment.

“You stapled this to his fucking chest?” you folded the sign in half and proceeded to start hitting Tig in the head and chest with it, “What the fuck is the matter with you?”

“Jesus Christ,” Tig was holding his hands up to try and block the onslaught of slaps coming his way.

“Y/N,” Jax reached to grab your arm to stop you and you ripped it from his grasp.

You turned back to him, not afraid to go toe-to-toe with the VP. He might’ve held an office in the club, but he was just another blonde biker at the bar as far as you were concerned, especially in this moment.

You shoved the sign into his chest, pushing him back in the process, “What? You got some smart shit to say?”

“You’re making a bigger deal out of this than you need to. Juicy is a grown man, he can handle his own shit.”

“You think it’s not a big deal?” you stepped in close to him, “You put two staples in his goddamn chest and you think it’s not a big deal?” you shoved him once more for good measure, “Get me a goddamn staplegun! We’ll see how big of a deal it is when I’m drilling shit into your chest!” you shook your head, “I swear to fucking god, Jax, I should put some staples into your fuckin—”

You stopped short when you felt a hand land on your shoulder. You whipped around, ready to fight, but you were met with Juice’s eyes. He was still going without a shirt, but he’d taken the time to go put pants on. You were assuming that he could hear your rage from inside the clubhouse and it prompted him to come outside. There was a glint of amusement in his eyes and you would’ve been more enamored with it if you weren’t still focused on the two wounds that were bleeding on his chest.

“C’mon,” Juice tried to redirect you back towards the clubhouse, “it’s fine, Y/N. I’m alright.”

You turned back around, staring daggers at all the guys, but mostly Jax and Tig, “This isn’t over with,” you huffed and shook your head, “Motherfuckers.”

Before you could say anything else, Juice started nudging you back towards the door. You were grumbling underneath your breath as Juice continued to usher you into the building. When you were inside and it was just the two of you, you turned to him and let the anger fade away slightly.

“What the fuck is the matter with them?”

He laughed and shook his head, “We’re all a little fucked up. Can’t just hold it against them.”

“I’ll be mad at you later, don’t worry,” you sighed, unable to pry your eyes away from his injuries, “At least let me clean you up a little? I’m no doctor but I feel like I could still help you out a little bit.”

He smiled and nodded, glad that he had a way to pacify you a little bit for the time being. The last thing he wanted to be dealing with was you going on a rampage with a staplegun. You went and dug out your first aid kit from behind the bar before following him back to his dorm. The two of you sat on the edge of his bed. You wanted to stay completely focused on the task at hand but you were only human. You chastised yourself for your wandering thoughts.

“Considering you took a bunch of mystery pills,” you said with a slight shake of your head as you laid out your supplies, “you don’t look too worse for wear.”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” he chuckled as he watched your calculated, meticulous movements.

“Trying to sweeten you up because cleaning out these cuts is gonna hurt like a bitch,” you managed a smile, “Don’t want you to end up hating me too much.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

You tried to ignore the heat rising in your face as you set about cleaning the torn skin on his chest. He cringed and cursed under his breath when you swabbed the cuts with alcohol. You fought the urge to apologize but it was difficult.

You were leaning in close enough to feel his breath on the side of your neck. It was taking all of your self-control to stay focused on placing bandages on him. Your hands begged you to let them wander but you kept it together. When you pulled away and looked at Juice, there was something in his expression that made you feel like he was reading every thought that had been crossing your brain as you worked.

“What?” you tried to sound less nervous than you really were as you started to put your medical supplies away.

“Were you really about to threaten to put staples in Jax’s dick?” he couldn’t keep his laughter in any longer.

You smiled as you set your first aid kit off to the side, “I sure fucking was.”

“Felt like you really meant it.”

You waited for his eyes to meet yours, “I did.”

He laughed, draping his arm around your shoulders and pulling you against his side, “I know I spend a lot of time telling you not to worry about the guys, but I hope you know it is nice to know that someone has my back.”

You nodded as you tried to focus on both the feeling of warmth coming from his body and the words he was saying, “Of course. I’ll go after anyone with a staplegun for you. No questions asked.”

He chuckled before leaning in and pressing a kiss against your temple. You nearly melted into a puddle in his arms at the contact. He let his lips linger against your skin for a moment, “Thank you.”

You rested your hand on his thigh, allowing yourself to lean completely into him. His arm wrapped tighter around you and you smiled as your cheek rested against the bare skin of his chest, careful to not touch the bandages you had just dressed him with.

“Y/N?”

“Mhm?”

When he didn’t say anything else, you pulled away so you could look at him. There was a small smirk tugging at the edges of his lips as he looked at you. Your eyes searched his, trying to figure out just what he was thinking.

His free hand came up and rested on the side of your face, and you instantly leaned into his touch. The palm of his hand was rough and calloused, but despite that you couldn’t deny that it felt like it was in its rightful place resting against your cheek. Your eyes fluttered shut as you soaked up the moment. Juice chuckled quietly, not expecting you to react so quickly and comfortably.

It gave him a little boost of confidence as he leaned in and pressed his forehead against yours. You opened your eyes, smiling as your heart began to speed up inside your chest.

“Wanna know what would really make me feel better?” you could hear that he was trying not to laugh as he spoke.

“What?” a giggle slipped out past your lips.

“If you let me kiss you.”

You laughed, reaching up to rest one hand on the back of his neck, “For your health.”

You could feel the smile still on his face as he pressed his lips against yours. Everything else that had been happening suddenly faded from your mind—the only thing you could think about was how right it felt to be kissing him. His thumb traced lightly along your cheekbone as he leaned into you. You couldn’t win out over the urge to smile as you continued to kiss him, and you could feel the laughter starting to vibrate in his chest.

He pulled you so that you were straddling his lap, keeping his lips locked onto yours as he did. Your hands cradled the back of his head as his arms wrapped tightly around your waist. You could feel the warmth of his body seeping through your shirt and the only thought coursing through your brain was that he felt like home.

When he finally pulled his lips off of yours, they were still curved up into a smile. You could feel the warmth flooding your face as you tried to stifle a laugh, biting down lightly on your bottom lip. He ran his hands up and down your sides and you pressed a quick, light kiss to his lips.

“Feel better?” you finally said, your laughter beginning to escape you.

“I think so,” there was a playful glint in his eyes, “but just to be sure, could you do that again?”

You rolled your eyes, shaking your head despite the fact that you knew you were never going to say no to him, “Anything for you.”

[copperbadge]

Remote, Relief, and the Pandemic Deli

For years, a lot of companies clung to pre-2012 studies about work-from-home productivity and the example Marissa Mayer set when she joined Yahoo and six months later banned working from home based on VPN data. A lot of sketchy studies about remote work productivity have been cited in the past decade, and even allowing the occasional remote day was often either policy banned or shadow banned when employees would get hassled for requesting them.   

But, well, 2020. It’s not that the pandemic proved to us that remote work would not destroy the economy, but it provided an opportunity to study remote work in a new light, with a huge dataset. Now studies are emerging that not only do companies whose workers can go remote save money, but on average remote working increases productivity. Even in a pandemic.

Now, on the one hand productivity should not be the metric by which we measure human worth or happiness. And this is also an extremely abnormal situation. We were all asked to stay at home as much as possible anyway, and with unemployment spiking, a lot of people were terrified of losing their jobs and may have put in extra (perhaps too much) effort to prove they were working hard. So this data may be a little wonky. But even before the pandemic there were studies coming out of Stanford that remote work was not the disaster Yahoo thought it was (at least in China, where the study data came from). 

On the other hand, insights are also starting to emerge that will make you say “Shocking!” very sarcastically: It’s the managers. 

Early in the pandemic, pieces began to appear about how companies were really starting to see who wasn’t pulling their weight, or who wasn’t necessary, and it was predominantly managers and supervisors. Studies emerging now are pointing out that whether company staff are productive or reductive isn’t down to where they’re located, but rather how they’re managed. Shocking!

I don’t think remote work is right for everyone, and if remote work numbers stay high after the pandemic it will be in our cultural best interest to be mindful of how we manage not only the work itself but how it impacts our relationship to society. Remote work can be intensely isolating and lead to poor work-life boundaries. And some people just plain don’t like it! And that’s okay. 

But I do think that a high percentage of workers staying remote could break a lot of bad management policy, and maybe make room for a better way of looking at management, hierarchy, and what makes a good boss -- and what makes a strong worker. It could lead to a cultural movement towards intentionality in our social interactions, and a re-evaluation of how we behave and where we go when we’re outside the home. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about how so many restaurants now either offer groceries or have little grocery sections in their physical locations. I call them Pandemic Delis and I kind of hope they last after the pandemic ends. I think there is a similar space opening up for both remote work stations (like wework only not, you know, ludicrously dysfunctional) and remote relief stations. 

Imagine going to a Pandemic Deli post-covid, getting yourself a freshly-made hot breakfast, buying a few necessities for dinner that night, and then being given a choice: screen or no screen? On one side are remote workers being out in the world, sipping coffee while they plug their laptops into pre-set monitor stations, maybe even meeting with their supervisors to go over the week’s planning or using a booth to video-call their colleagues. It could even be people who just want to read an ebook or text with their family. On the other side, you leave your phone in a locker, sit down, and have a meal with a friend, or play a board game with someone, or simply consciously unplug for a little while because you spent all of yesterday at home with your work screen. 

I wish I knew how, or had the power, to guide culture in a direction where more people have more options that make them happier. I think the fact that our society is increasingly data-driven might actually help, in that it proves to people disinterested in human happiness that human happiness is still vitally important. 

I suppose the point is I hope that if we had to live through 2020, we, as a collective, at least use it to make some positive change in 2021. 

[snowstark]

Pet and Prize.

content warnings: gun use, violence, mafia au, nff.

for @buckybarnesbingo | Y1 - pic of Bucky holding a gun.

link to ao3

See, everyone knew Bucky Barnes. He was the biggest mafia boss in all of New York City, and what Barnes wanted, Barnes got.

And he wanted Tony.

The entire day had been a shitstorm for Tony. Rumlow had been gradually sending him on more and more dangerous operations, ones that involved more risk, ones that could potentially end with him behind bars for doing Rumlow’s dirty work for him.

Tony wasn't an idiot. He knew he was bait for the traps that Rumlow set up, that he was being sacrificed to get the cops off of Rumlow's back. He'd accepted it, really. Didn’t mean he liked it, though.

“What the fuck are you still doing standing in front of me?” Rumlow spat at his feet, making him stiffen. “I told you to go.”

“And I told you I wouldn’t, because going to raid Barnes’ warehouse is a literal death wish.” Tony jerked his chin up defiantly, scowling. “Do you realize what we are compared to him? We’re ants, okay? He’s going to fucking step on me and squish me.”

Also, he may or may not have a crush on the mafia boss, and he was not about to risk being shot in the stomach after getting distracted by ogling the man. That would definitely be the saddest way to die.

“Don’t be a pussy,” Rumlow snarled, grabbing him by the collar. “I’ll turn you over to him myself if you don’t get out there.”

Tony spat in Rumlow’s face, then stormed out, grabbing his pistols and shoving them into the holsters.

Everyone knew where Barnes lived. That wasn’t the issue.

The problem was the fact that the moment Tony stepped near the warehouse, he was caught by none other than Bucky Barnes himself.

Tony was flipped onto his back without mercy, making him groan and double over, and he opened his eyes to see the gun that Barnes was pointing right at his face.

“You win,” Tony tried, raising his hands.

Barnes didn’t budge.

“I don’t do well under duress,” Tony added, nodding towards the gun.

“Shut up.”

Right.

Tony was grabbed by his shoulder, hauled to his feet, and dragged into the warehouse. Tied up to a pole, arms behind his back, gun still pointed at his face. “I didn’t know you did your work yourself,” he said meekly. “Thought you would’ve had more men with you.”

Barnes’ jaw flexed. He holstered his gun, then drew closer, circling him like a hungry hyena. He stopped in front of Tony after making a full circle, leaning close enough for Tony to swallow hard, because yes, okay, fine, he was intimidated. Scared shitless.

Fucking Rumlow. Tony was going to kill him. He was going to stab him, gouge his eyes out, and then shove his fist up his ass, tell him to eat shit, tell him that—

“You know,” Barnes purred, making Tony snap back to attention, “a little birdie told me this morning that you’d be coming my way.” He tilted his head, eyes flicking from Tony’s gaze, down to his throat, then back up to his face. “I’ve seen you a few times around here. Rumlow’s right hand, hm? Piece of shit.”

“We agree on one thing, at least,” Tony said meekly.

Barnes grinned. “You’re prettier up close.”

Tony swallowed. You’re hotter up close.

Barnes reached out, metal fingers flexing, and he tipped Tony’s chin up with it before letting it drift up to his lips.

Almost instinctively, Tony’s lips parted, and he drew them into his mouth. The sharp tang of metal flooded his mouth and he shuddered as Barnes watched him, looking fascinated.

After a few moments, he pulled them out and grinned at Tony. “Oh, yes. We’re going to have a lot of fun together, aren’t we?”

Tony’s cock twitched in agreement.

__________

Tony was Bucky’s right hand.

He was also Bucky’s pet.

Bucky never failed to remind him of the debt that Tony owed him for freeing him from Rumlow's sketchy operations. And truth be told, Tony did owe Bucky. He’d gone from being Rumlow’s pitbull to Bucky’s prized possession.

Bucky said Tony was the best, and that was why he was Bucky's. Because Bucky only ever indulged in the best of the best. Tony was the best assassin, the best lover, the best cock-sucker. Bucky's best, forever.

“You're thinking too much.”

Tony startled. He stiffly turned to glance at Bucky, who was looking at him with barely concealed amusement.

The man was seated on his throne—there was really no other word for it. It was brass-coloured, covered with a blood-red cushion in the back and seat, and the arms of the chair had intricate designs etched onto them in gold.

“What's wrong, sweetcheeks?” Bucky chuckled.

“Don't call me that,” Tony muttered distastefully.

“Pet, then.”

“Don't call me that either.”

“I'll call you whatever I damn want to. Baby.”

Tony bit back his smile.

“What're you thinkin’ about, huh?”

“You.”

“Yeah?” Bucky smirked. “Well, then, why don't you come here and show me how you were thinking about me?”

Tony shifted onto his knees, grinning back. Mouthing at Bucky's clothed knee, tasting the fabric of his suit pants, he glanced up to check Bucky's expression. Seeing that he was still gazing down at Tony with a fond look on his face, he continued his efforts until he’d traced his way up to the bulge in Bucky's pants.

Bucky pressed his hands into Tony's hair as a form of silent praise, carding them through and making Tony relax minutely.

Tony wordlessly drew Bucky’s cock out, then took the head into his mouth, making sure he was wet and sloppy for the man. Bucky always got relaxed and affectionate and soft after Tony made him come, and Tony knew it was a privilege to even get to witness that side of Bucky.

Bucky's breath hitched, and he leaned back. “Fuck, baby. The mouth on you.”

Tony let his eyes flutter shut, feeling Bucky’s hands tighten in his hair into fists, and let himself be guided all the way down.

"So pretty," Bucky added, voice low and rough. “You gonna pay your debt off like this, aren't you? Gonna be good for me?”

Tony swallowed around his cock, making Bucky swear under his breath, and he moved to start bobbing his head in earnest when—

The door was kicked open with a shout, and before Tony even knew what he was doing, he twirled a pistol into his hand from Bucky’s holster and shot it.

The man fell onto the ground. Dead.

Blood roaring in his ears, Tony approached and rolled him onto his back, hissing with disdain.

He jumped when Bucky placed a hand at the small of his back. “One of Rumlow's men?”

“Yes.”

“He's dead, sweetheart. I'll get Steve to get rid of him. Jesus, he's gonna stain the carpet.” Bucky sounded rather put off by that, scowling at the growing puddle of blood. “It's fine. We'll buy a new one.”

Tony laughed, but before he could say anything, Bucky moved first.

“Always so good at protecting me,” the man purred, and slipped his hand down to press the palm of his hand to Tony's dick, making Tony shudder. “I think you deserve a reward.”

Yes, he did.

[atopearth]

Court of Darkness Part 8 - Jasper Lane Route

Jasper seems nice and attentive, like a perfect butler🤔 But Guy will always be his first priority so hmm. Anyway, I feel so bad for the heroine. She was practically forced into dancing with Guy when she doesn't even know how to dance, and it was in front of people too. I can't imagine how crap she must feel even if Guy used magic to make it seem like she danced okay since the point was, she didn't enjoy it at all. Aquia is such a nice boy🥺 he helped tend to the heroine's swollen feet after dancing🥺 Um, I was just about to say Sirius is pretty hot, even though a bit sketchy, and a route for him would be nice, but now that I look closer at his face, isn't he Jasper??😶 The heroine really needs to be more cautious!! Following this random guy to a tavern and taking a drink from him instead of herself, she really should have just tried to look for Haru again. I'm not even sure if he put something in her drink or she's just weak to the spirits in this world. Anyway, regardless, he's really taking advantage of her😶 and he's figured out her powers, and sounds like he's going to use her. He definitely drugged her. Yikes. There goes his gentleman image I was so fond of. Heroine can't catch a break with a crazy possessive master and now the drugging valet😔

Anyway, it seems like the heroine's life back in her own world is quite saddening since she lost her parents in an accident and the only family she has left is Haru. I'm glad she at least has Haru in this world with her. Haru is so loyal to have been waiting by the academy gates for her the whole time after he got picked up by Fenn🥺 Anyway, these guards are pretty chill considering she didn't come back to the academy for a night. Honestly, I blame Toa and Guy for being childish and that's why she ended up going out anyway!! Not as much Toa though, because at least when Guy decided to pull her out of the classroom, he wasn't childish enough to continue pulling her back and hurting her. Guy is definitely annoying though. I have to agree with the heroine. He dragged her away from Toa only to force Jasper to teach her because he has no time, like seriously, Toa was the teacher for her class, of course he should be teaching her if she doesn't get it, and here you are barging in ughhh. Otherwise, I think Jasper and the heroine's tutor-student relationship to be rather cute, since she tries hard and he puts a lot of care and effort into teaching her the things she doesn't understand. Honestly, I wish I could enjoy the Jasper moments more because him kissing her on the cheek on their date was so cuteee, sigh, all I can think of is how he's definitely going to ruin these precious moments😔 I feel so bad for the heroine that she had to kiss Guy to save him from the poison. Especially in front of Jasper.

Props to the heroine for trying so hard to tell Guy that his life is in danger. Like, okay he can't do much about it and stuff considering the chaos that could ensue so he has to fend it off himself but seriously, can't he acknowledge or appreciate the heroine a bit more? He doesn't need to thank her but I'd be grateful if he was less dismissive zzz. Anyway, the heroine finally found out Sirius is Jasper and he had to say things in the most terrible way. I'm still not sure if they really slept together, but if they did, he's the most vile guy ever. I'm still pretty disgusted and uncomfortable with him anyway and I feel bad for the heroine. Jasper is probably using the Sirius appearance pretending to go along with their plans to see who is really trying to kill Guy but yeah, still zzz. Lmao at the heroine totally ruining their plans, I guess Guy underestimated how much her lessons with Jasper have helped her improve in using magic. But yeah, it was nice to see Jasper care for her. Honestly, I was pretty moved when Jasper went against Guy to ask him to yield the heroine to her. Considering how much he listens to Guy, reveres him and will do anything he asks, it's pretty sweet to know that he loves the heroine so much that he's willing to risk his bond with Guy. Anyway, as expected, Guy doesn't really care as long as she's with the Avari lol.

Wow, I didn't think that Guy and Jasper would be bound by magic, and that Guy actually gave him some of his magic. But at the same time if Guy was in life threatening danger, he could take that magic back and it could possibly kill Jasper. The other stuff are useful though, like Guy knowing wherever Jasper is, and being able to summon Jasper no matter where he is. It's a forbidden form of contract magic, but to think Jasper and Guy trust and love each other enough to form that contract when they were young is pretty wow. Awww it's so cute how all the other valets are so happy about Jasper's return, they're such nice buddies! LOL at Guy getting annoyed when Jasper said he will protect the heroine with his life, I died when Guy called him a traitor and philanderer😂😂😂😂

Anyway, overall, Jasper’s route was rather cliche with the “acting as a spy in disguise to try and catch the people aiming for Guy’s life” part of the story, which played out okay I guess, because I found it hilarious how the heroine ruined their plans lol. But I honestly still find the beginning of this route rather uncomfortable. Not only do I think that there was honestly no reason for us to be introduced to Sirius in that way, but it really didn’t make me interested in Jasper more in any way, other than feel rather disgusted with that part of him lol. Personally, I feel like if they removed that part, I would have liked Jasper a bit more because I have a thing for guys who are loyal to their masters lolll, but yeah anyway, I really felt like that encounter was pointless because I’m sure he could have figured out her powers another way. Anyway, if we ignore that part of the story, I do really like the gentleman Jasper is and how caring and attentive he can be. But I guess, that’s not the main part of him, so I’m just liking the superficial part of him lolll. I guess I can just stay disappointed that I didn’t get the gentleman I really wanted from this route lol.

[theodora3022]

Love You To Hell And Back(Yandere Claude)

Pairing: Yandere Claude Faustus x F!reader

Summary: Upon running away from home due to an unwanted arranged marriage, you took up a maid position in the Trancy household. You thought it would be simple, lay low for couple of months then the other family would cancel the engagement. Being a maid should be easy right? Just wash and clean the house and saying yes to their lords. You never thought you would end up in such a bizarre and dangerous household.

Notes: I am a Claude simp. If you do not know before, you do now. Do not get the wrong idea, Sebastien is handsome alright, but there is just something about those golden eyes makes me shiver in the best kind of way. (Also I love the French pronunciation of his name but whatever)

Word count:2k

Warning: Non-con touching, coercion, possessive behaviour, general Yandere content

SFW

As a lady on exile, you do not have many options. Your relatives were out of the question since they could inform your parents of your whereabouts, and so does all of your friends. Luckily, you figured out the perfect solution: disguises! And who is more unnoticeable then a maid? They blend naturally in the background of drawing rooms and parties, no one will bat an eye if there happen to be an extra one. Nobles do not care for servants, so a forged name and documents would get the job done. 

Answering advertisements seems to be a good way to start. Ah, there is one right here. The Trancy Estate? To your knowledge, there is only one young lord there, and you are not acquainted with the family. Seems the ideal choice: “Only for two months, as a replacement.” You know being a servant would be unpleasant, compare to your noble lady life now, but you had chosen between this instead marrying a man you despise.

Packing some essentials, you thrown on a simple cotton dress borrowed from your maids and sneaked out. You thought you had escaped from hell, not knowing you are better off staying. Because, you had quite literally, walked into a spider’s trap.

 A dark-skinned maid welcomed you, explaining how she has to leave the household for some personal business while giving you a small tour of the building. She seems nice enough, although you were curious why her right eye is covered by bandages. The manor is dead quiet and empty, giving you an illusion of how you can hear your own breathing.

“Miss Hannah, where are the other servants?” You shiver, tightening your clock just a bit. Although it is only autumn, the winds are chillier in this house, or so you felt.

“There is only five of us. Me, the triplets, and Sir Claude the butler. Our master can be...difficult, one could say.” Handing you a basket of maid attire, Hannah seem to be terrified of this master she speaks of.  

I wonder why he is so difficult. You thought as you thanked her and settled down in the little servant room you were given. Better put on these maid clothes soon, getting use to them as fast as possible. Blue and white does not look so bad together.

Kitchen duties are not so bad since all you need to do is chopping up vegetables and wash the dishes while the triplets took care of the cooking. Dusting is a nuisance, but with enough efforts it was taken care off. The triplets are an odd flock, as they never speak unless necessary. All your befriend attempts had failed miserably, you felt as if they look down on you somehow? Since you only do backstage work, you had yet to meet the master and his butler. Not that you mind, you want to kept your existence covert, after all!

You were trying to dust off the chandelier in the drawing room when you first met Claude. The stairs you use are a bit unstable, which causes you to have major anxieties about falling.

“Ahh!” You squeal as your staircase finally deciding to let you fall. Closing your eyes in horror, you were certain you are going to suffer at least bruises. But the expected pain never came. Instead, you felt a strong set of arms had caught your body mid-hair.

 Gazing up, what did you see?

Oh did that gorgeous face make this fall worth it. The tall man in black reminds you of those flawless Roman statues, of King David. You never thought humans can be this magnificent.(Well you are still right, as he is no human)

Gently placing you back on your feet, Claude started to examine you behind those clear glasses. You quickly smoothed the wrinkles on your skirt as you dip your head for greeting.

“Greetings, kind Sir. You must be Sir Claude. My pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am (y/n), the new maid.” Gods, he is handsome. You were not even sure words can describe how those golden eyes made you feel. Are you blushing? Ugh, get it together, self! He is only a butler here. It is beneath you to swoon over him. You put on a smile, then courtesies to the stoic man in the most elegant way possible.

The lack of callus on your fingers and your sophisticated manners informs him that you, are no ordinary maid. As a servant to his lord, Claude needs to make sure no sketchy individual can harm him. Some investigation would need to be done.

How interesting...Why would a high-born lady such as yourself ran away from your prestigious noble house, only to serve as a humble servant here? Just where did Hannah dig you up? Ah, that is no matter at present. Surely your cheerful spirts can light up the dull days of this mansion. The only thing Claude need to ensure is you do not expire as quickly as others. Alois can be such a spoiled brat; however no harm should befall to you as long as he can help it.

Your voice reminds the demon of little birds of forest mornings, chirping delightfully to a new day no matter how horrid the night before was. The way you thank him stuttering then trying to go back to your duties are just adorable, and amusing. It is clear as day:you are fascinated by Claude’s pretty face. Quite bold for a lady to do so. Claude had met a lot of people in his long life, but none of them intrigues him so as you do. He cannot grasp what exactly, but there must be something enchanting about you, that makes him want to pull you close and do unspeakable things to your good, pure body.  

Tender and cautious, that is what the knocks on his office door suggests. It is late, way past Alois’s bedtime. Who could have business with him this hour, apart from his demanding lord? “Come in.” Claude’s curiosity had spiked up.

It is you, still dressed and with a plate in your hands. What a pleasant surprise. And are those pastries?

“I...baked these for you, Sir. I want to thank you for your help earlier today.” Looking away, you quickly remind yourself how you should never indulge too much. However you had already spent two hours of your free time trying to bake something decent.

Did your parents taught you it is improper to visit a man’s quarters this late at night, alone? How rebellious of you, not that Claude minds anyway. You might appear to be demure and good at first sight, but under that nice façade is a bold maiden who does not care for modesty, how complex.

Chocolate chip biscuits, but with distorted shapes. “I am not very good at this, so I totally understand if you do not wish to eat them. I jus want to properly show my gratitude, that is all.” Nervously fidgeting your apron corner, you bit your lip when he raises one of them to his lips and took a small bite.

Edible, but has lots of room for improvement. Claude can practically taste your eagerness to please from the chocolate spheres. Seeing your gaze fixated on him, expecting his comments on your work, Claude let out a quiet laugh. Which made heat rush up to your cheeks. Is that a good or a bad response? It cannot be that terrible can it?

“Come.” He signals with a hand wave, and you hesitantly walked beside his chair. How cute, the butler and the little maid. It would be a shame to just give you some half-hearted praises and send you out, wouldn’t it? It is what a gentleman would do, of course. Claude on the other hand, has never been one. He could entertain that appearance for his lord’s sake, but in this little room with just you, there is no need for charades.

You were shocked when one gloved hand pulled you swiftly onto his lap, with the other locked around your waist, pressing you against his chest. Of course, you fantasized the idea of being the lover of such a fine specimen of mankind, but only the idea of it. Even though you are nothing more then a lowly maid now, you are still a lady of nobility with conducts of propriety.

Your shrinking pupils made Claude realize he might be pushing a bit too fast. But human lives are so fragile, so short compare to demon ones. If he does not seize this opportunity, who knows when is next one going to arrive? Whether it is your intention or not, Claude is now mesmerized with you. Now that he is holding you this close, breathing in your intoxicating sweet scent, the old demon had his first epiphany of a millennium: you are lovely, and he intends to keep you this way, one way or the other.

Squirming with protests, you tried to get out of his suffocating embrace. “Sir, this is not proper, please let go of me.” Yet you achieve no results, those iron grips still hold you firmly in place, those same arms that spared you an embarrassing fall this morning.

  “Little bird, finally thinking about propriety? You should know better then coming to my office this late unless you want something to happen.” Claude is close, too close, you can feel his breath fanning your ears gently. Gloved fingers trace down your jawline, making you tremble with fear. “Am I right, Lady (family name)?” You froze. What how did he-how do he know you are not a mere commoner? Had he already done a thorough investigation on you?

“Now, repeat after me, little bird.” His golden eyes shifted its color to pink, round pupils bending into a thin line. In normal circumstances, you would be terrified of how his features suddenly changed, but now you are too possessed by his intense gaze to think of anything else. Those eyes, you felt as if you could drown in those two magenta pools.

“I love Claude Faustus forever and I would do anything should he asks of me.”

“I-I love Claude Faustus f-forever...and I would do anything should....should he-e asks of me.” It is still your voice, although those words are defintely not your own. What is happening? Why do your tongue just moved on its own like man possessed?

“Perfect.” Running his bare fingers through your hair, Claude left a light kiss on your forehead, ignoring the horrid expression you are wearing. “You will behave, right little bird?”

“Of course, Sir Claude.” You did not just say that !There is no way. What has this evil man done to you? You never should have come here. Your terrible fiancée at least could not cast spells on you!

“I’ll take good care of you, my dearest little bird. After all, your fate is defined since the moment I lay my eyes on you. We are destined to be together.”

“Oh, do try to behave. It would be a shame if something should happen to your dear family. I would hate if you end up like your other human predecessors.” His lord, despite his young age, is a master at torture and inflicting suffering. There is a unfortunate reason why there is only a few servants in this manor, and the fact that they are durable demons too. Claude knows exactly where you would end up had he not intervened. Do not worry, he would never let you go. Demons mate for life, didn’t you know that? Why resist?

“I love you my dear, to the hell and back. We shall stay together until the end of time.”

[hogwartsmarvelmommy]

Fallout of the century 🌑💔

Part 5 

Read part   1   |   2   |   3  |   4   | Here.

Warnings: None this is like pure fluffy goodness. 

Word count: 2.8k

masterlist

This is the end. I hope you enjoyed this, i know i did.

I stood smoothing out the front of the dress in the full length mirror. Nikki was behind me adjusting the strings on the corset. “Is it too tight darling?” she asked me. 

“It's perfect,” I told her, a smile on my face that had not faded at all since I woke up that morning.

 “You look so pretty mummy,” Rosie exclaimed running towards me in her little gold dress. 

“Thank you baby. Can I fix this?” I asked her, gesturing to the back of her dresses that she had sloppily tried to tie up. She nodded and turned around for me to fix it. 

“Grandma, doesn't mummy look pretty?” she asked Nikki. 

“She looks gorgeous, she does,” Nikki said, kissing her on the top of her head, and giving me a smile. 

“We're ready,” my coworker and close friend Lindsey told me. I looked myself over in the mirror once more before heading to the garden. 

We had chosen to have a small ceremony, just our families and our closest friends, which somehow still ended up being sixty plus people. The Hollands had gone out of there way decorating the outside of their house, transforming the garden into a fairy tale like scene, it looked straight out of a movie. 

I watched as the bridesmaids and groomsmen made their way down the aisle. I looked up to see Tuwaine waiting for me, his arm ready to take mine as he led me down the aisle to the man I was about to marry. 

“Thank you for doing this,” I whispered. 

“Are you kidding? I am honored,” and with that we began to walk to the slightly crowded garden. 

As soon as I stepped out of the door, my eyes met his. He stood tall, his hair freshly cut, but still curly on top of his head. The sun was shining just right, making his hair shine an even more vibrant hue of red than usual. He looked stunning in the black suite that he wore with the pop of a gold tie. He smiled at me, a smile I had seen so many times before, but it felt as though I was seeing it for the first time ever. The closer I got the more his features came into focus, his warm brown eyes held a shimmer of gold and his freckles that were scattered on his face seemed to make him look even more handsome. I glanced at his birthmark on the corner of his mouth that I had fallen in love with. I stopped about four feet away from him, My heart nearly stopping as I saw him, having to catch his breath as he looked me over. 

He stepped forward grabbing my hand as I joined him on the little step the boys had built for today. 

With my hand in his we stood side by side as Sam stood in front of us ready to officiate the special day. 

“Hi,” Sam spoke, grabbing his little leather notebook from his pocket. “I'm a little nervous, so bare with me,” He mumbled. He glanced up to me and I gave him a comforting smile. 

“Are you ready for this? Mrs.Holland?” Harry whispered in my ear while his twin scrambled to start the ceremony.

“As ready as I was the first time Mr.Holland,” I whispered back Squeezing his hand tightly.

“OK, We have gathered her today, well i mean i think  we all know why we're here, am i right?” he asked lightheartedly.

There was a wave of laughs from behind where Harry and I stood and I could instantly see Sam relax. 

“So when my brother and y/n asked me to do this, I was excited, until I started looking into it. Way too much effort, but regardless I did all that I had to, to make sure at the end of the day these to actually get married,” he winked at me, knowing something all the others didn't, before continuing. “Harry and Y/N are the kind of people who just clicked upon meeting, everything between them happened nearly effortlessly, and though there was a time when we were not sure we'd see this day, i think i speak for everyone when i say, i'm glad it's finally here,” Sam looked over to Tom who reached into his pocket, grabbing a folded up paper and handed it to Harry. “I'm going to let them share their vows, and then we will get to it,” Sam stepped back as Harry turned to face me. He unfolded the paper in his hand and looked up to my face, giving me one last smile. 

“Y/N Y/L/N, I’m standing here today, in front of you not knowing what tomorrow holds, not knowing where we will end up in the years to come, but knowing whatever and wherever it is, i want to be by your side.” he took a deep breath as he crumpled the page and shoved it into his pocket, flashing me his boyish smile. “I've always known this day would come, nothing we ever went through made me think otherwise. In the end it would always be us, I'm just glad it was sooner than later, I'll love you everyday for the rest of my life, the good and bad days. And I can't wait forever with you,” He grabbed my hands, lifting one to his mouth and kissing it. I turned to look at Harrison who was standing directly behind me. He handed me the note cards and I turned back to Harry.

“Harry Robert Holland, where to begin? I feel Like I've loved you all my life. I've known we were made for each other since that day in the pub when you bought me a drink. I've always admired you, the love you give, the care you offer, the way you are with Rosie. I'm not entirely sure how I became so lucky to have you in my life, but here we are. Today, tomorrow, forever.”  I turned back to Harrison giving him back the cards and then nodding at Sam, who quickly stepped back up. 

“Alright, are you guys ready for this?” He asked us. We both nodded. “OK, Harry, are you ready to spend the rest of your days with Y/N?” 

“I am,” Harry responded.

“And are you ready to spend the rest of your days putting up with my brother?” Harry swatted at Sam who jumped back laughing.

“Every day of my life,” I said, squeezing Harry's other hand. 

“OK, then by the power vested in me, by a sketchy website I found on the internet, I now pronounce you married. You can kiss now.” And neither of us needed to be told twice. Harry pulled me into his arms, pushing our lips together in a deep passionate kiss. There were cheers from behind us that the intensity of the kiss drowned out. It was like no one was there, nothing mastered, except for us, and this moment. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We sat at the table, enjoying watching everyone have a good time when Harrison stood up and started to clink his spoon to his glass. 

“I'd like everyone's attention,” He started smiling at Harry and I “As the Man of Honor, I have prepared a rather lengthy and emotional speech. So, sit down and get the tissues ready,” there was a rumbling of laughter from everyone as he pulled out some note cards. “So, about ten years ago. A girl met a boy in a pub, and slowly they fell in love. The kind of love that changes you, and teaches you. The kind of love that is hard, and dirty, and not always beautiful. These two kids met at the young age of 18, never experiencing life before, and decided then and there, to experience it together. And it was a journey. These two, they absolutely destroyed each other,” Harrison glanced at us, to see us both shocked at his speech. “But it was a necessary destruction. There were mistakes made, secrets kept, and lives that had not been lived. They spent a total of two and half years apart before finding their way back to each other. Y/N traveled for a year, tending to the less fortunate, and living out a lifelong dream. While Harry became a dad to little Rosie Holland, and became one of the best men i have ever met. These two went through the fallout of the century, just to become even stronger in the end. I am blessed to be a part of their story. To have been there from the beginning, and seeing it through to, not the end, but the newest chapter. I love you both, and I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness, Y/N (peanut) Holland, and Harry Holland, congratulations.” The crowd erupted in cheers and applause as Harrison raised his glass before downing his glass of champagne. There was barely any time before Tom stood up, clinking his knife to his glass.

 “I did not prepare a long emotional speech, but I do have a few things to say,” He patted Harry on the shoulder before pulling out a page, with a speech obviously written on it, causing me to erupt in a fit of laughter. “Okay, okay. Settle down everyone. I met y/n about a month before Harry. Sorry buddy,” He winked at his brother, who just groaned and shook his head. “And I knew there was something about her, and looking back, I realized how much she reminded me of my younger brother here. So it was no surprise when I started seeing her more, on my brother's arm out at the pubs. Which soon became family dinners, and game nights, and soon she became a part of our group, even went as far to steal my best friend Harrison from me, Not cool nutty, not cool. But things seemed to go so easily, and then after they broke up, it felt like a piece of our group chipped away, neither of them made any of us choose sides, but with such an ugly break up it became a little ugly. So when I tell you how relieved I was when these two got back together, I'm not exaggerating. I'm so glad to call you my sister, and I'm so glad for my brother to call you his wife. You two were made for each other, and I love you both.” The crowd started to cheer again at the close of Tom's speech, and it was time for Harry and I to speak.

Harry stood up and lifted his arms for everyone to be quiet. “I want to thank you all for coming today, um it is true, that this day has been a long time coming and the journey here was a long one. But it was worth every sleepless night, every fight, every little thing it took to get here, it was all worth it. I've known since the day I met this girl, I wanted to be her husband, and despite everything, that never changed. We were kids when we met, and we quickly became young and dumb in love, not realizing what forever meant, and now sitting here today, i wouldn't change a thing, because at the end of the day, i still got to marry her, no matter what stupid things i may have done, or not done. I love you so much, Peanut, and I'll never stop loving you, as long as I live.” I stood up, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him into a kiss, in front of all our friends and families. 

I let go of him and gave him a smile before turning to everyone in front of us, “I, um, we have a confession to make,” I looked to Harry who nodded, looking at me in awe. “We did not get married today, this was all a show that we put on, for us and for you,” There was a wave of gasps and ‘whats?’ from everyone. “I know, I know. I do have a very good explanation though,” I took a deep breath before continuing, “So as many of you know, or all of you, Harry has a little girl, Little Rosie. She's the sweetest little peanut I've ever laid my eyes on, and I've known her since the day she was born, and for the past three years, I have stepped up and into the role of her mom, since the biological one walked away and sighed her away. I have been there for every little thing since then, making sure she knew that she had me forever. I have kissed every boo boo, mended every broken heart over the silly things her five year old self gets upset over, and I have become so much more than just her dad's girlfriend. She knows that I didn't give birth to her, and she knows that she does have a mom out there somewhere, we have never hid that from her, and about seven months ago she had asked if I would be her mom. Which was an emotional thing for me, I was wrecked, like a blubbering, sobbing, snotty mess. So Harry and I started to talk about me potentially adopting her, and there were a few hoops we had to jump through before being able to do it. One of which was to be married. So about five and a half months ago we went to the court house and got married, and then started the adoption process. Which is also what influenced us to buy the house. So we have been married for almost six months.” I looked around at all the shocked faces, some seemed to be more accepting of the news than others. I had known that this was probably going to be the reaction to this news, so I wasn't surprised. 

“You look nervous,” Harry said as we stood in the hallway of the courthouse. 

“What if they don’t think I'm good enough to be her mom?” I blurted out, causing Harry to smile at me.

“Lovie, i don't care what the court says, you are Rosie’s mom, More so than Olivia ever was. You stepped up after Olivia left, before we had even considered getting back together, you taught me how to do her hair, and how to make her favorite foods, you babysat her countless times while I was at work late or had to run errands, with no expectation. Just because you loved her enough to be there, for her, for us.” he leaned in and placed a soft kiss on my nose as the courtroom door opened. 

“Case of Rosie Holland,” The man said. You stood straight up adjusting your skirt looking at Harry.

“Lets go get your name on that birth certificate, yeah?” He whispered as he led me into the room.

“We're sorry for misleading any of you,” Harry said, squeezing my side. “But we still wanted the ceremony, despite us already being married, and we wanted all of you here for the announcement,” He stopped and looked at me, raising his brows waiting for me to speak. 

“As of three weeks ago, I am Officially Rosie Holland's mom,” I grabbed the amended birth certificate that had my name in the space where it said mother and handed it to Tom to hand to his mother. 

“Well i think we could cheers to that,” Harrison announced “Let's get the bride and new mom a glass of champagne,” 

“That's actually not the end of the announcement,” Harry spoke up. Causing everyone to grow quiet again. Harry reached over, placing one hand on your belly before continuing. “We thought Rosie could use a sibling.” There was an almost in sync gasp from everyone around us before the cheering began again. “Little Stanley Holland will be here in about six months,” I watched Tom as Harry said that, his eyes grew wide before glossing over.

“Really?” He choked out.

“Really, really,” I told him.

The night went on, everyone partied and enjoyed the food, ushering the two of you off at the end of the night to your honeymoon. we arrived home grabbing your pre-packed bags and heading for the airport to board your flight. The flight itself was fine, and by the time we landed in Hawaii I had been asleep most of the flight.

“Lovie, we're here,” Harry whispered, bringing me out of my sleep, it seemed with life growing inside my belly all i ever wanted to do was eat and sleep. 

“I'm hungry,” I groaned as I got up from the seat. He led me from the plane and into the airport.

“What do you want to eat?” He asked me.

I stared at him for a minute before answering “A peanut butter sandwich,” 

“Of course you do,” He laughed rubbing my barely swollen belly.

[swiftgronmasterpost]

Spring/Summer/Fall 2013 - The End(?)

Click here for an appropriately sad Swiftgron breakup playlist.

I don’t know if it’s important or not but Dianna wishes several friends a late happy birthday on twitter, apologizing for missing the actual day through this spring and summer.  It seems like maybe she’s going through something (like a bad break up?) because it’s not like her to miss friends’ birthdays.

March 26, 2013 - Maybe a relevant tweet?

April 7, 2013 - Dianna tweets a photo of James Dean in a day dream like setting:

April 16, 2013 - The article that outed them:

Someone made a fake article that said Swiftgron was dating:

Dianna tweets seven times that day which is a bit much for her.

The hashtag here stands out to me:

The fake article goes viral and all week people are tweeting about the possibility that Dianna and Taylor are dating.

April 23, 2012

It seems to culminate on this day.  Many people are buzzing about Swiftgron and this actress tweets:

That’s right at midnight.

About 12 hours later Dianna deletes her public Tumblr:

On that same day Dianna reblogs several things on her private Tumblr.  These two stand out to me:

She reblogged both of these posts and the only hashtag they had in common was “#lost love” - she was searching that hashtag.

I think it’s very clear that today is the day Swiftgron 2.0 broke up.  I believe they were forced to by their management teams due to being outed.

April 24, 2013 - Taylor seems regretful/stressed out she screenshots her text to Austin and posts:

I think Dianna’s obviously upset about this and as an act of defiance she tweets at Taylor a few days later (Taylor does not respond.)

April 29, 2013

Instead Taylor posts on Dianna’s Birthday (April 30) a silly google search (very DIanna in nature tbh) with a play on the lyrics from 22:

Taylor had the week of Dianna’s 27th birthday off of the Red tour (it was scheduled like that) but as far as we know they did not hang out.

May 4, 2013 - Ours

At her first show since their supposed break-up, Taylor performs Ours as a surprise song. She introduces it by saying: “This is a song about how, when you fall in love everybody starts to give you their opinion. I imagine it could be really hard to make a relationship last, I wouldn’t know. But, given that everyone is giving you their own opinion about it, I think that the only opinion you should really listen to is yours and if you love that person, that should be all that matters.”

Dianna dyes her hair brown and goes to Morocco a week later with Ashley (”You searched the world for something else, To make you feel like what we had”) from about May 11 - May 14 or 15.  While there she attends the A Small World relaunch. ASW could be viewed as a bit “sketchy” if you will.  I think this is where she befriends Olivia Wilde.

This is Dianna’s first (known) trip to Morocco (Derek Blasberg is there too) but she seems to be drawn there over and over again after this, even marrying Winston Marshall there (and possibly meeting another boyfriend, Gus Wenner there.)

May 19, 2013 - Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas

Taylor wins 8 awards and says this during her acceptance speech:

This and the performance of Ours makes me think Taylor is bitter about a break up right now, even though publicly she broke up with Harry back in January.

This is also the event where Taylor is famously grossed out by Justin and Selena’s hetero nonsense and does this:

It seems like as always, Taylor has a lot going on right now...some kind of drama with Justin is boiling but it’s possible she’s also referencing her breakup with Dianna in her acceptance speech.

Dianna pops back up in NYC.

May 20, 2013 - WLW icon Kristen Stewart apparently spends the night at Taylors?

May 28, 2013 - Taylor plays Haunted on the Red Tour and gives a speech:

"This is a song that I haven't played on this tour so far. It came up when one of my friends tweeted the lyrics to it today and it reminded me that I haven't played this song in about two years. It has to do with the fact that, you know people talk about ghosts all the time. You just kind of imagine it being this supernatural thing, but there's another kind of ghost and it's just a person who is out there walking in the world or just doesn't love you anymore and that's a whole different kind of being haunted." Seems like she’s really going through it.

July 2, 2013 - Anniversary of Hyannis Port trip and interesting private Tumblr post from Dianna:

Bad things happen this summer.  Cory Monteith passes away and Taylor is assaulted at a meet and greet by a DJ.

July 2013 - Dianna buys a house in LA (I Wish You Would)

August 2013 - Dianna’s whosirmesir moniker gets outed and she stops blogging under that tumblr account.

August 14, 2013 - Taylor is in a weird place according to the Lover diaries:

1.  she seems to have basically written The Lakes here

2.  she’s really harping on themes she ends up addressing in I Know Places, Out of the Woods, and Wonderland

August 29, 2013 - Dianna steps out with restaurateur Nick Mathers.  

Not sure what to make of this one.  Dianna seems to date two types of men:  1. teeny bopper actors for bearding and pr purposes (it generally seems) and 2. rich businessmen.  Nick is type 2, but their relationship is reported on as if it’s PR.  “Sources” call up gossip sites to fill them in on the relationship and both their projects get plugged along with announcements on them as a couple:

I don’t know if they were more or less legit but she goes out with Taylor five days later...

September 4, 2013 - The Fun! Concert:

Swiftgron’s last pre-Kaylor public sighting - they go to a Fun! concert in LA

It’s just a split instant of video footage but Sarah Hyland uploads this to Vine and it does not look like Dianna is enjoying herself:

Note:  It kind of looks like DIanna has her arm around Taylor’s waist and also the person to the right of Taylor is Selby Drummond who is still friends with DIanna as of writing of this masterpost (December 2020) and who still appears to be a fan of Taylor’s.

Dianna does look miserable but I do think it’s interesting they seem to be making an effort to hang out on the two year anniversary of their public (perhaps private as well) first meeting.

Dianna tweets about the concert the next day:

September 6, 2013 - Taylor plays Speak Now as the surprise song on the Red tour.  Interesting given the timing of Dianna and her new boyfriend being public just one week before this.

September 8, 2013 - Taylor plays Sad, Beautiful Tragic for the first time ever live and gives this speech:

"I kind of feel like playing a song I've never ever played live before. This is um a song that I wrote about how you know just because something's over doesn't mean it wasn't incredibly beautiful. Cause another lesson I've learned is not all stories have a happy ending and you have to learn how to deal with that. So this is a song about a story that didn't end so happily but was still supposed to happen. This is called Sad, Beautiful, Tragic."

I don’t think this song was originally written about Dianna but I do think at this time while they stumble through the last phase of their relationship Taylor was inspired to sing it.

October 2013 - Taylor writes I Wish You Would, a song inspired by an ex who had recently bought a house near her driving past her house.  It’s thought to be about Harry but Harry didn’t buy a house in LA until March 2014.  But of course we know Dianna did buy a house near Taylor’s in LA earlier this fall.

November 11, 2013 - The music video for “She’s Just Another Girl” premiers starring Dianna looking stunning in high fashion drag, dressed up as the lead singer, and lip syncing the words to the song:

Some lyrics to the song include:

All of my friends say I should move on She's just another girl, don't let her stick it to your heart so hard And all of my friends say it wasn't meant to be And it's a great big world, she's just another girl

I could be reeling them in left and right Something's got a hold on me, tonight Well maybe all of my friends should confront The fact that I don't want another girl

I think it’s at least possible that Dianna was drawn to this project because the lyrics resonated to her given what she was going through with Taylor at the time.

November 12, 2013 - Day of Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show rehearsals and Dianna posts this (now deleted) picture:

November 13, 2013 - Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show where Taylor performs and Karlie Kloss walks the runway.

Dianna posts this picture (now deleted) of her at Emma Stone’s birthday party from 11 months previous:

It’s likely she’s looking at Taylor in this photo who was seated across from her.

It’s a very random picture to post.  It wasn’t titled as a throwback and it wasn’t an exact year after the picture was taken (prompting some kind of happy birthday shout out to Emma Stone or anything) - just a random picture of Dianna smiling, likely at Taylor. 

November 17, 2013 - Dianna posts a (now deleted) photo about missing someone:

November 21, 2013 - Taylor posts lyrics from a hopeful love song about a troubled relationship:

Lyrics:

December 9, 2013 - Dianna listens to Pale Blue Eyes

Lyrics are about being emo over a lost love with Blue Eyes:

Sometimes I feel so happy Sometimes I feel so sad Sometimes I feel so happy But mostly you just make me mad Baby, you just make me madLinger on your pale blue eyes Linger on your pale blue eyes

Thought of you as my mountaintop Thought of you as my peak Thought of you as everything I've had, but couldn't keep I've had, but couldn't keep

Linger on your pale blue eyes Linger on your pale blue eyes

If I could make the world as pure And strange as what I see I'd put you in the mirror I put in front of me I put in front of meLinger on your pale blue eyes Linger on your pale blue eyes

Skip a life completely Stuff it in a cup She said, "Money is like us in time It lies, but can't stand up" Down for you is upLinger on your pale blue eyes Linger on your pale blue eyesIt was good what we did yesterday And I'd do it once again The fact that you are married Only proves you're my best friend But it's truly, truly a sinLinger on your pale blue eyes Linger on your pale blue eyes

December 11, 2013 - You know the drill...Dianna posts a now deleted photo to Instagram:

December 13, 2013 - Dianna posts an attention grabbing photo on Taylor’s Birthday

Conclusions - Swiftgron very clearly goes through a rough breakup due to being outed. 

Then they attempt some sort of reconciliation - even hanging out (date night?) on the second anniversary of their Fairfax Flea Market meetcute, but it goes wrong.  

Taylor is on tour for much of this time and Dianna is posting angst ridden and peculiar Instagram posts exactly at the time Taylor meets Karlie.

Click here to keep reading!

[unlocktxt]

♫ mellifluous | k.hk ♫

kai kamal huening

❦ genre: angst, fluff, greek gods au, hueningkai x reader, apollo kai!au, modern

❦ description: all y/n has ever known was death, but when encountering an upbeat god that starts to change.

❦ word count: 6,478

❦ warning!!: mentions of illness, death, somewhat in depth about the death and illness, curses, mentions cult like gathering, puking, blood. maybe some swearing

the calluses on your finger tips burned as you continued to run your skin against the strings on the fingerboard. your eyes were concentrated, focusing on the notes while the bow glided against the strings. the vibrations sending out a high-pitched melody into the warm air. you had practiced for hours, weeks even, and you couldn’t get enough. it eased the pit in your stomach that never seemed to fill.

you ended the melody slowly and gracefully, before letting out a deep breath. when you placed your violin in its case, you ignored your shaky hands and moved to your water on the side of the desk. it only took one big gulp before you heard a knock at your door. you hadn’t been expecting anyone, so the knock threw you off guard. nonetheless, you walked towards the door, opening it only to be met with the wind. you assumed a few kids were playing ding dong ditch, however, the piece of paper taped to your door told you other wise. you just had to hope it wasn’t a water cut-off notice.

your slender fingers tore the yellow tinted paper off of the door, skimming over it.

SESSION FOR HEALING!

it read in big bolder letters, you couldn’t help but scoff- wondering how many people they were trying to scam. the more you read the less you thought it was a scam, more like a religious group recruiting others... so a cult. you didn’t bother looking at the paper again before you crumbled it up, tossing it in the trash.

it was only six in the afternoon and you were already exhausted, leading you to the fridge for a quick snack. when you opened the white door the cold air refreshed you until you realized the lack of food. the only thing standing out to you being the small jar filled with pickles. you knew they wouldn’t be the best choice, but you needed something to tie you over... at least until you went to the grocery store.

your hand wrapped around the top, gripping hard as you tried to open the jar. no matter hard hard you tried twisting the top, it wouldn’t budge. at this point the jar only seemed to be taunting you, reminding you of just how weak you were. you don’t know what hit you, but before you knew it the jar was flying towards the ground- shattering causing the pickles to be wasted. your clenched fist was released as you let out a breath, you shouldn’t of wasted your energy like that, but it felt good. the only downside to this was that you no longer had food in your house- make that two downsides as you grabbed a trash bag preparing to clean up.

the glass from the jar was scattered on the floor, making it harder for you to pinpoint where each piece was. you carefully picked up each piece, but hissed in pain after the sharp glass slid against your already torn up finger tip. the piece of glass fell to the floor as you brought the bleeding finger to your mouth, sucking away the blood as you reached to the cabinet containing the bandaids. after you lazily wrapped your finger in the bandaid, you finished cleaning up. the wasted pickles causing your stomach to growl.

“maybe i should just go to the store right now.” you mumbled, a frown on your face when you acknowledged that you wouldn’t be able to take your nap.

despite wanting to take a nap, you knew you shouldn’t go to bed hungry... or was it just the fact that you knew your stomach wouldn’t let you? either way you already decided it was time to get some groceries, so you grabbed your plain keychain with your car keys and slipped on your slippers. you struggled to drag your feet over to the door and couldn’t miss your jacket that hung right beside it. being someone who got cold really easily, you decided to bring it, despite the warm and humid weather outside.

the sleep deprivation seemed to get ahold of you, your mind and body in autopilot for certain parts of the journey. it didn’t bother you though because there was nothing that ever really interested you. why would you want to see the world that’s even more colorful than you, despite being trashed by its very own inhabitants?

you used to try to be a positive person, but lately things just seem helpless. you were tired of the doctor visits and sometimes just debated running away from everything. a nice escape to the beach or something. your thoughts enveloped you the whole ride, so when you got to the grocery store and nearly ran a boy over... let’s just say you were shot back to earth.

the young, brown haired boy wasn’t fazed at all, continuing to walk towards this big orange tent by the grocery store. your eyes were darting around, thinking that you really traumatized this boy. although a part of you wanted to leave him be, the angel on your shoulder really pushed for the very opposite, which is why you decide to park in the closest spot.

you barely even had time to get out of your car because he was already at the entrance of the tent. your weak and tired body couldn’t catch up even though you were putting a lot of effort into your speed walk.

“i should’ve just honked at him.” you mumble as you stand in front of the tent. it was sketchy! why in the hell would this tent be right here?

you wish that you would’ve just ignored him, but at this point you’ve come to far to go back now... even if it was just a few yards. you were out of breath okay? chasing after him wasted your already depleted energy.

with shaky hands, you took a deep breath and walked inside the tent. although it seemed huge, it was pretty small. around twenty people sit in seats as they listen to some dude standing in front of a podium. your stomach felt a little queasy because of how uncomfortable you were. you just wanted to find the dude and get out of here, so you scanned around the room until you saw his plant like crown accessory. he sat at the back, all alone in the corner.

you let out a small breath as you struggled your way to him. he didn’t even acknowledge your presence and you were tired of the preacher like man staring at you. you huff as you sit beside the handsome man.

“hey... are you okay?” you whisper to him as you eye the preacher that was talking nonsense. oh god... did you just walk into a cult meeting. the boy didn’t answer you, only furthering your suspicions.

“that’s my cue to leave.” you decided that he was ok because well he walked all the way here and you were not willing to be sacrificed.

“do you believe?” his sudden melodic voice made you jump. nobody turned their attention to him despite how loud he was... yet you couldn’t even stand up without getting glares.

“believe in what?” he was cute... that you had no problem with admitting, although he may be in a cult. he sparked your curiosity... though you blamed your questions on making sure he was okay.

“what he’s saying,” he pointed to the preacher, causing your eyes to look between the two of them, “that gods... specifically apollo... is real?” his face didn’t seem to have any emotion to it, but his voice was utterly decorated with curiousity.

you were dumbfounded at the question, but then again you did end up with all of these followers. “no... i’m atheist.” the boy nodded, taking your words into account.

“and why’s that.” he was no longer paying attention to what was being said from the preacher and was now staring into your soul. if you had to describe him as he was now... you would say that he was warm... like the sun.

“if there was truly something out there that could solve people’s problems in the blink of an eye... it should’ve happened by now.” you look down at your thin and veiny hands that only reminded you of your troubles. “why do you want to know?”

“i was wondering why not many people believe anymore. now i see... i could’ve found that answer out by myself, but maybe you could’ve had a better answer.” you were kind of offended by his response, scoffing as you rolled your eyes.

“oh yeah? then why do you believe?” you raised your eyebrow at the young man, challenging his beliefs. he didn’t respond, only smirking as he looked back at the preacher... who just so happened to be staring right at you.

your heart sank and you felt sick to your stomach at the attention on you. you didn’t even know what happened, but you were starting to sweat, your hands getting clammy due to nervousness.

“you have been chosen! today you will be healed young one!” your pulse accelerates. your breathing gets heavy. your eyes dart around the room. you regret coming in here. everyone’s eyes were on you before they looked down, chanting a few sentences in ancient greek over and over again. your mind told you to leave, this was way too much for you.

in a state of panic, you didn’t notice the boy next to you remaining quiet before rubbing his hands together. the panic subsided instantly and was replaced by the empty black void that took over your vision.

when you opened your eyes it was still dark, but despite the silent and black void... you didn’t feel any panic. you were unnaturally calm even when a woman with long shimmering hair walked towards you. she was glowing in the dark.

she felt oddly familiar and you wondered if you’ve ever seen her before.

“he’s your only chance at survival.” her voice was soft and delicate, but her words left you confused.

“what do you mean?” you asked, walking towards her. she was wearing a white drape.

“he who placed the curse... it is he that must reverse the curse.” she was speaking nonsense and you started to grow panicked. it felt like your time was running out.

“who?” you asked, trying your best to make it to the woman that only got further and further away from you. she didn’t answer.

“who!” you yelled now, demanding an answer in desperation.

“apo-”

you gasp for air as you spring up from the floor. the people around you didn’t show any signs of worry, only looking at you in expectation. for a split second you forgot where you were.

you rushed to get out of that place, not wanting to suffer from their delusions. as you rushed away, you missed the boy with the laurel wreath watching you with challenging eyes.

you took in a deep breath at the fresh air. it wasn’t as stuffy and creepy as it was in that tent. you even wondered if you should just go home. it had already been an hour and your body was heavy from the exhaustion... but with your body you knew you couldn’t last without food. despite the exhaustion, you made your way to the grocery store. you’d only get the bare necessities, like a few frozen foods and instant ramen.

the trip around the grocery store was exhausting, but your mind escaped your body thinking about what just happened. that... dream just felt a little to real, but on top of that... you were curious as to what the woman meant.

“apo...” you mumbled, trying to think of anything that could remind you of. the chilling air coming from the fridge caused you to wrap your arms around your body.

“apollo 13?” you question, grabbing the frozen meat. “no... apollo 13 isn’t a pers-” like a lightning bolt, it struck you.

the memory of the worshippers in the tent came rushing back. “apollo.” was he real or were you just losing your mind?

you weren’t really going to let a simple dream convince you... right?

you shook your head as you make your way over to the self check out in a daze. there’s no way.

you were getting anxious. impatient. curious. what was it that you were feeling? you never really got too emotional because... what was the point? it wouldn’t magically heal you, but for once... you allowed yourself to take in these emotions.

hope. you had hope that maybe... just maybe somebody could help you. the feeling consumed you, making your whole body jittery. the line infront of you just seemed to get longer and longer.

why were you so excited about this? I shouldn’t get my hopes up. and your mood deflates. you’ve tried everything. who’s to say that this won’t be a bust?

with the lack of energy, you slowly waited for the line to get shorter.

you could hardly remember much of yesterday, the exhaustion took over you quickly the other day. you almost didn’t put up your groceries, which would’ve sucked for the frozen food.

even thought the rest of the night was forgotten, you remembered one thing. apollo and the dream you had. you researched some about him last night and sure enough... after getting confused on what he was supposed to be the god of... you managed to see that he could help you. what stood out to you being “god of healing, medicine, and knowledge.”

that was all you really needed... you don’t know why he had to be so complicated.

despite destroying your hopes yesterday, you still wanted to try. you may be able to ignore the hope hidden within, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there.

you wanted to try making an offering and see if that would help, but in all honesty... you didn’t know what you were doing. you read a little bit on the internet and decided to roll with it.

you made a small space for this and lit the candle. you violin was next to you, as you heard he loves music. taking a deep breath you started to pray.

“...may you accept this offering.” you grabbed a laurel leaf and lit it, placing it into the small cup in front of you. then you grabbed your violin.

you took a deep breath before correcting your posture. you planned on playing from your heart, after a long silence the bow was placed onto the strings. once more, the melody coming from your instrument soothed your aching body. although the melody would sound melancholic, it seemed to ease the gloomy room.

it didn’t take you long to finish, becoming filled with despair. you knew that it wouldn’t happen all at once, but you felt nothing. everything was the way it was before, cold and empty.

sighing, you placed your violin in its case and blew out the candle.

“y/n, I think we both know you could’ve done a way better job than that.” a soft, but bright voice came from behind you, causing your eyes to expand. you turned around quickly, staring at the beautiful boy in front of you.

“y-you!” you stutter, recognizing the bot from the other day. the creepy one that you almost ran over.

“you? excuse me? i have a name you know.” he pointed behind you, towards the mini alter. you could only stare blankly.

“a-apollo?” you were stunned looking at the boy. there was no way... yeah you heard apollo was stunning, but shouldn’t he be older?

“the one and only. you know... usually when people call upon me... there’s more respect.” he sat on the couch, his laurel wreath sat eligently on his head. the perfect features, but his clothes... a hoodie and sweatpants.

“holy shit... you’re real. oh mighty apollo forgive me!” you didn’t know how to react. you didn’t do enough research for this!

“...yeah please call me hueningkai... if not then it gets a little awkward. i normally don’t show myself like this, however i was curious as to why an atheist would ask for me. you seemed pretty set on not believing, but here you are... asking for my help.” he only looked at you, who sat on the floor trying to process what was happening.

“look... i know this is kind of uncalled for, but you seem to be my last hope. i had... a dream i guess that led me to you.” you looked at him with pleading eyes, begging him not to leave you.

“were you not helped yesterday?” he asked, his head tilting to the side with his eyebrows furrowed.

“no?” you questioned. you didn’t feel any different, in fact you felt worse. “i’ll just say it... i’m dying.”

“so... you want to escape death? sorry I’m not the one for that... i don’t even think you could get hades or thanatos to help you on that.”

“no... that’s not the point. i can accept death, but something tells me this isn’t normal. i don’t think it’d be a fair death-”

“i mean... sometimes dying just has to happen... I’ve witnessed a bunch of... unfair deaths, but that doesn’t mean they can’t happen.” he sighed, getting up and walking to your fridge. you tried to explain the uneasy feeling you have about this sickness, but he wasn’t giving you a second thought.

“i- please listen to me. it’s an illness. I’m dying from an illness that the doctors can’t treat... it’s nothing they’re familiar with. they just think it runs in the family. i’ve tried everything, so i came to you... thinking you could heal me.” you had stood up by now, speaking to his back.

“look y/n... i tried to heal you already, just to prove that I do in fact exist, but it didn’t work. i could try again, but i don’t think there’d be a difference. instead i could find out if there’s anything going on behind the scenes.” you should be upset, depressed even, but you expected death at a young age. he offered to look into it for you and... that should be enough for you.

“okay... that works. thank you hueningkai.” you were looking at the ground now. that was all you could do.

hueningkai took this moment to turn around, water in his hand, looking at your slumped figure. despite being alive, you already looked dead. though for a dying person you surely looked beautiful.

“okay, but if i’m going to help you i can’t be around an energy depleter.” you looked up to find him adorning a small smile... sympathy.

you rolled your eyes “i mean... i am dying there’s not much to have energy about.” hueningkai gasped at that.

“that is so far from right. haven’t you seen those people who try to live the last years of their life like no other? you’re still pretty young, so use that to your advantage.” it was very easy to tell that he would probably never die. it’s kind of terrifying, but you didn’t want to freak yourself out anymore.

“listen ap- hueningkai... you’re a god. you just don’t understand what it’s like.” you sigh, taking in hueningkai’s vicious glare. if you weren’t going to die soon then it would’ve scared you.

“no y/n,” he spat storming his way over to you, “you listen here. you are a human. you don’t understand half of what goes on in the world around you. you asked for my help, so remember that.” he towered over you, his stare and words holding you accountable.

“well... i don’t need it anymore.” you looked down, intimidated by his stare.

he chuckled ill humorously, and grabbed your chin forcing you to look up into his burning eyes, “i came and offered my help, which by the way, i didn’t have to do. however, since you suddenly seem like you want to die so suddenly i can have that arranged.”

you take it back... you are terrified. you’ll admit it now. you’re scared of dying.

“i’m sorry hueningkai... what i said was uncalled for. thank you for doing what you can to help me. I... I just...” you tried holding back your tears, your voice getting quieter. you looked away from hueningkai, not wanting him to see this.

you heard him sigh. “don’t give up y/n. i’ll figure some stuff out. just... don’t talk to me like that.” you slowly felt his fingers entertwine with yours before his thumb started rubbing circles on your hand.

it surprisingly comforted you, telling your body to relax as you inhaled deeply before exhaling slowly. your cheeks turned rosy, but you had to remind yourself that he was a god.

“now... before all of that... how about we go and show you what the world offers.” you looked up at him to see him gleaming with an eye smile.

cute.

you furrowed your eyes at the building in front of you. the gorgeous boy who seemed to glow in his grey hoodie had his arms out wide, presenting the karaoke building with a smile.

“karaoke... in the early afternoon.” you stated as you moved to look at the semi empty building called Keen On Karaoke.

“they couldn’t even come up with a better name for it.” you said as you pursed your lips.

hueningkai sighed as he joined beside you once more, wrapping his arm around your neck. “i mean i knew you were a... pessimist, but i didn’t think you’d be this bad.” he guided you in, more excited than ever.

“and... why karaoke?” you questioned before walking in a private room for the two of you. you sat on one of the tiny sofas, waiting for his answer.

hueningkai kept his smile that just so happened to be a little cocky. “well... i am the god of music.”

“ah right... one of the many things, but why karaoke?” you were genuinely curious, even if it was a simple answer. he grabbed the control before sitting next to you. even in the dark room his features stood out, his jawline clean and cut with perfect accuracy. he really is no joke.

“i mean... i’ve heard about it from the many many bustling cities and i wanted to try it out.” his glistening eyes met yours and like the stars in the sky... you couldn’t look away. he was captivating.

noticing your staring, you coughed. “nothing fun... whatever you and the other gods do?”

“...it’s great and everything, but sometimes a bunch of stuff can stir up between us.” he chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of his neck.

“i mean i know enough to know that compared to humans... your family tree is... interesting.” you wouldn’t lie... you wanted in on the tea.

“prying a little now are we?”

guilty as charged. you shrugged, attempting an innocent smile. his hair shook with his head and you couldn’t help but think it was like a cloud sat on top of him.

“okay now the real reason we came here... to sing!” he instantly stood up clicking a song to play.

it was an upbeat song and he was definitely vibing with it. he moved to the beat, letting himself go. you stared in admiration as a small smile crept up. although it wasn’t until he opened his mouth that you became mesmerized.

he only seemed to glow even more when he sang. he was livelier and his voice was that of an angel. he turned to look at you and you could swear he resembled the sun. his wide and bright smile as he messed around. he pointed at you before bending his pointed finger, singling you to “come here.”

you laughed as you shook your head. there’s no way. hueningkai huffed before grabbed you by the hand to pull you up. you couldn’t deny his strength because he nearly made you fall over.

you stood there awkwardly- not knowing what to do. he handed you a microphone that you stared blankly at.

“come on y/n sing with me.” he pouted, moving the microphone in your hand up to your face. he almost made the microphone smack you in the teeth. impatient much.

that didn’t matter though because as you stared at the boy in front of you who truly loved music, you couldn’t not join him. you rolled your eyes before cutting his lyric off.

at first he looked shocked, his eyes seeming to widen and only shine more as he listened to your voice. you assumed you didn’t sound like a dying toad and went with it. after getting over his shock, he smiled nodding with the beat.

the two of you kept eye contact, leaning in as you sang together. you were able to forget all about your disease that seemed to eat you from the outside in. now it was only you and hueningkai. on the outside you were just having fun, but on the inside a new feeling bloomed inside of you.

seconds passed, then minutes, then hours of goofing around passed before you fell on the couch in defeat. you were gasping for air, feeling slightly dizzy from all the action. you felt weak again, starting to cough from the lack of air that you managed to breath in.

hueningkai rushed towards you, grabbing a water bottle. “deep breaths y/n.” you listened to him, trying to slow down your breathing before he poured some water down your throat. it only took a minute or two for you to get your breathing back to normal, sipping the water every now and then.

“i’m sorry y/n. i wish it was a simple fix.” his hand rested on your thigh as he stared at the ground.

“don’t be sorry. you’re doing more for me than anyone has ever been able to do.” you gave him a soft smile when he looked up at you. your time was approaching that you knew, but it seemed like hueningkai picked up on that fairly quickly.

“let’s get you back home. that way i can start helping you.” he smiled taking your hand once more. he squeezed your jittery hands, causing the feeling of butterflies. you hope you’re not just a pity case for him.

you were staring at the ceiling as hueningkai spoke to you. it was now five in the afternoon and you were exhausted.

“you know maybe eating instant ramen everyday doesn’t help your health.” he said a matter of factually. even so he still handed you the hot ramen.

“i didn’t really care at a certain point. besides... you and that... whatever you want to call it knocked me out.” you huffed before stuffing your face.

hueningkai smiled at you, chuckling at how cute you looked.

“what?” you pouted feeling a bit insecure as you ate.

“nothing...” he smiled, “you’re just cute.” although he mumbled it, you heard it clear as day, but you ignored it. your red cheeks would be the only thing to give you away.

“anyways what do you know about your disease and family.” he asked trying to get some more information.

“well... it’s very likely that it runs in the family, however, it’s only the women. my mom died a few years after I was born, so my grandpa raised me.” you continued to eat as he nodded, urging you to continue.

“well my grandma died at an early age as well, but it seems that with each given year the time we have alive just decreases. my grandpa loved us all, but he was also convinced there was another reason behind all of it. if he was still alive he could probably tell you everything he’s figured out.” you sigh. hueningkai was focused.

“okay... anything else?” he asked as he leaned back in the chair with his arms crossed.

“uh... actually that time i passed out in that... gathering... i had a dream of this woman. i don’t know who she is, but she just seemed familia- oh! oh my god... she actually mentioned a curse. i’m almost certain that she said you were the only one that could reverse it.” you can’t believe you forgot about that.

“okay... i don’t see why it would be me, but i’ll look into it. it seems like a generational curse, however, if another god placed this curse on your family y/n... i don’t think i can or should help you as it could cause some conflict.” he sighed.

“hopefully that’s not the case though.” he got up abruptly, causing you to look at him with questionable eyes.

“where are you going?” you asked, setting your ramen aside.

“going to do some thinking and talking.” he waved goodbye before disappearing, leaving you alone in your bed.

all you could do was wait as he figured everything out for you.

you awoke to a distressed hueningkai, he surprisingly didn’t notice you walk into the living room where he sat on the couch. his had his hands knotted in his beautiful locks.

“are you stressed?” you asked making the god look at you. he didn’t look in your eyes.

“you could say that.” he sighed. this time he was wearing a loose white button down with some black dress pants. it was completely different from yesterday, but he looked nice.

“you’re dressed up today huh? are you going to take me out on a date?” you joked, plopping yourself down beside him.

“you wish.” he tried to joke around, punching your shoulder very very softly. you could tell something had gotten him down.

“i researched some about you, but this information was from like years ago I’m guessing, but you have a twin?” you asked, still trying to make eye contact with him.

at this topic he smiled. finally.

“yes! artemis... i actually spoke to her yesterday. tried getting her help...” he trailed off.

“why don’t we go out again? someone else seems to be the debby downer now.” you hopped up to go change before hueningkai grabbed your wrist. you looked back at him curious as to why he stopped you.

“never mind.” he sighed after fidgeting with his fingers.

“okay hyuka, but know that you can tell me these things.” you looked away from his shrinking figure and walked into your room to change.

seeing him like that was something... different. you couldn’t help but wonder if it was about you, but why would he be so sad about you.

this time you were the one leading him. it was one of your favorite places to go, the park in your city. it peaked during the summer time, lit up by the sun and complimented with the nature around it.

you had also decided to dress up, trying to match hueningkai.

“okay now you can look!” you said excitedly, watching as hueningkai uncovered his eyes.

“you know i really thought you would get me ran over.” he looked at you before what was in front of him, his eyes shining like they usually do.

“oh shut up! it’s not like that would matter for someone like you.” you huffed turning to look at the park, “so what do you think?” you asked while admiring the many orange, red, yellow, and pink flowers.

“absolutely beautiful.” he commented. you felt eyes on you, so you turned your head. instantly your face flushed as your heart started pounding in your chest. he was staring at you.

“n-not me! the park!” you squealed, turning your head away out of embarrassment.

“yeah it’s pretty, but i’d rather look at you.” your heart beat in your chest. how do you respond to that? why does he make me feel this way?

you hurriedly walked away, trying to escape the flirtatious man. you heard his loud laughter from behind you.

“okay okay! come back!” he jogged up to you, but you didn’t even spare a glance. noticing this, he jogging in front of you, so you went the other direction. you didn’t want to show him how you were hiding a smile, but you were more concerned with hiding your feelings.

they burn inside of you and you don’t know what to do about it. the burning passion for this man only grew more and more each second you spent with him.

“y/n look at me.” he grabbed your wrist, sending sparks through your body. you turned around abruptly, staring into his beautiful light filled eyes.

“i’m in love you.” you said. it was supposed to be something you only admitted to yourself, but it flew out of your mouth. his eyes were wide, mouth agape. there was no going back now.

“i love you hueningkai. i know it’s foolish of me, but you’ve brought me back to life. maybe it wasn’t in the way i initially planned, but maybe i prefer this. having you beside me, enjoying each others presence... it lights a fire within me... that i didn’t know existed. you bring out the best in me and i can’t look at you without thinking of every small detail. with you i don’t feel like a girl taking her last breath.” you didn’t look away from him, not once. you watched as his face relaxed and now you watched as he smiled.

“perhaps aphrodite has blessed us. y/n i...” his face dropped... seeming to remember something, “before... before you go on about how you love me... i have something to confess.” his face showed regret and misfortune. it scared you.

his hands were trembling, but they stopped abruptly when he opening his mouth. “i was the one who put the curse on your family. it was centuries ago and honestly... i’m surprised that the women in your family have lasted this long.” he looked in your eyes, not wanting to show you any sign of weakness.

you were completely bewildered, so much that your eyes started to water. “why?” it hurt to know that he was the reason you were dying.

“you had a beautiful ancestor, but... she was ungrateful and disrespectful. she challenged others and when she came to me... i didn’t have the time for someone like her. she was healthy, but her friends were not, so when she talked down to me i cursed her with an illness.” he explained carefully and you contemplated how to react.

“i just... i don’t know what to say. if it’s your curse can’t you take it back?” it seemed simple to you. your world was crumbling right in front of you.

“...it’s too late. i... i’m sorry. i can’t stop you from dying, but maybe... maybe i can make a deal with hades... i don’t know.” he seemed to lose his cool, freaking out.

you sighed, “it’s okay hyuka... what’s done is done. don’t trouble yourself with something that won’t work. it’s not like i wasn’t gonna die anyway.” you couldn’t be distracted now. you were in pain. not just physically, but emotionally. your body ached, every part of you screaming out for help that it wouldn’t get.

“well... thank you hueningkai. you can go back to olympus or wherever you’re supposed to. don’t be trouble by me anymore.” looking at him tore you apart. you still loved him, but you can’t erase what’s happened. you were just a dying human.

“y/n i can’t leave you like this.” he walked closer to you, but you backed up. you were fighting with yourself. maybe you just needed some time.

“i just need some time.” you turned around, leaving the deflated god behind.

once again your home was empty and dark, reminding you of yourself. you held yourself up, crying would do nothing. death was right around the corner. it’ll be all over soon.

you stared at your violin case. for the longest time it was your only form of comfort, so you grabbed the violin from out of its case. this may be the last time.

you gently placed your chin on the rest while slowly gliding the bow along the strings at the waist. you rested your callused fingers against the fingerboard while moving your arm. the melody was soft at first, grieving. your fingers moved against the strings before the song became fierce. you were just trying to let your emotions out, but every sound reminded you of the music god. then a string broke and like the strings... you broke as well.

you cried your heart out. the tears coming down all at once as you collapsed onto the cold wooden floor. your emotions overwhelmed you.

you wanted to blame apollo. you wanted to love hueningkai... but they were the same person. death was not a stranger to you, but what comes after it... you were in for an awakening.

you cried, choking out pathetic sobs as you grieved for yourself and the goodbyes that you probably wouldn’t get to make to hueningkai. the man who taught you how to live.

your body was giving up on you. the lungs that would help you breath were starting to fail. the organs that kept your system going were failing. you could do nothing about it, laying on the floor next to the violin.

it was happening fast. you began coughing, puking, even blood came up. you felt like you were starting to suffocate. you were dying and it was happening fast. your vision was getting hazy.

“y/n.”

now you were hearing things as the tears fell down your face.

“I’m so sorry y/n.” the man you loved appeared in front of you, dropping on his knees as he laid you against himself.

“you tried. that’s all that matters to me.”

sometimes the only thing left to give is forgiveness. with a simple sentence, the roles can be reversed.

with misfortune, there is beauty.

with power, there is weakness.

with every curse, there are emotions.

“i love you so much y/n. don’t leave me.” he was crying, the tears hitting your face, but as your pain subsided you could only smile. he loves you.

“please! please don’t take her away from me as well!” he was crying his eyes out and you could only watch. you body wouldn’t move anymore. you could hear your heart beat slow down.

“i’ll do anything! just let me figure something out.” his voice faded as a light covered your vision. everything was peaceful now.

you could only stare at your dead body as hueningkai looked behind you. when you turned you were met with a man in black. you could already tell what this was about and you would accept it willingly.

a broken violin laid beside your pale body. hueningkai’s face devoid of color as he grieved over your dead body.

“i’ll always remember you.”