#I said it last time and so I'll say it again

[fireladyofink]

Oh God.. uuhhhh.. been a minute since I tried one of these..

Skipping 1, hate first person, just can't do it, not even read it.

2 is 100% Andlàtkyn. There's some issues here and there but it will always be my pride and joy.

Due to not posting on AO3 (even though I really should be), 3 is mostly ineffective. Except Wattpad has tags. I'd say UTAU, dragons and crossover.

4, lol. Literally. Lately I keep using that (only when texting others) and it's bothering me. I feel like a simpleton because of how much I'm saying that, eugh.

5 I've honestly learned a lot while researching fics. For one, I found out lantana berries are toxic to humans yet taste like blueberries, and I have them growing in my backyard. They're actually my favorite plant! I love their flowers; so pretty, and they have such a uniquely funky smell as well. Part of why I adore them, it stands out so much without being a bad smell. And the leaves have a sort of citrus smell? I love lantanas.

6 I don't know. I've thought about requests due to the money, but I feel like I'd either struggle to start writing it or get carried away with it- or straight up not finish in a reasonable timeframe. Commissions? Like art commissions? Maybe in a few years when I'm more confident in my skills and also somehow have a drawing tablet to properly draw digitally. Something like that.

7 Either or. I love making sickeningly sweet coffee or various different teas.

8 Is honestly hard to decide! Off the top of my head I can think of Dust initially meeting Killer with the hilariously absurd question of "What do you mean you don't have a mouth? How are you speaking right now? Your ass?"

9 Believe it or not it was basically when I first got a phone and commented a short story in the comments of a YouTube video. Someone replied with a suggestion of Wattpad. The rest is history, lol.

10 Off the top of my head I can't think of anything beyond something very specific for the fic I've been thinking about again lately, Ninjagaësia. Only time I've written outside of the UT fandom too, I specifically want to get around to writing that version of Zane more. What I had planned for him is fun as hell. An absolute badass.

11 Lots of comments, votes and people enjoying it. Which, continuing the above mention, Ninjagaësia doesn't qualify for. Pretty unsuccessful, but for once I don't really care.

12 Undertale AU's. I doubt I'll ever leave, either.

13 No. Hell, my ultimate fic of Andlàtkyn was written throughout the later half of highschool. I am technically working on an original story on the sidelines, I call it my worldbuilding project because I'm building up so much lore in this world before I actually touch on the story itself outside of a vague idea. About 60-ish different species of people, including the were-diseases. Last I counted, anyway. I'll be working on it for years, I know it, and I don't mind that either.

14 Comments talking about my fics on said fics. Actual interactions! It brings me joy. 🧡

15 My family is well aware. I don't bring up a lot of details but the last time I went into vague detail with my mother it was over a scene in Andlàtkyn (no direct spoilers) and she interpreted it weirdly and now she teases me by asking if I'm killing babies again! A bit awkward..

16 Actually finishing a damn story. I don't mind the periods of no writing until I get inspired again, but what annoys me is when I can't seem to finish anything. Only ever finished Andlàtkyn. I still have yet to write anything for the sequel to it, either! Zeradelsída is still just a bunch of loose plot points..

17 I am semi successfully writing benevolent eldritch horror. It doesn't intend harm, but it is truly.. horrifying nonetheless. The uncertainty of someone knowing he died, feeling his own heart stop beating, and feeling something OTHER seep inside and force it to start again, pulsing in his veins, fusing with his anatomy, permanently altering both him and itself into something completely unknowable.. I'm rambling. Anyone who hasn't seen my Wattpad, read Awakened. If you don't mind ridiculously long fics, read Andlàtkyn too!

18 I have at least 7 I mostly expect to finish, with at least 4 others just kind of.. there. I don't think I've posted any of those, either. I also have ideas inspired by dreams that I'd love to write down someday, though don't really expect to actually codify.

19 I kind of just don't. I work on different projects as the inspiration hits, take a backseat for a month or so, then come back to either the same project or a different one.

20 Hmmm.. Hard to think of something specific. I'm leaning towards stuff in Andlàtkyn. I don't really have a favorite kiss scene because I don't do romance. I write adventure! Andlàtkyn has some side romance though- not that any of it is my favorite. Platonic stuff, though.. I'd say my favorite is honestly Lust and Alter incidentally befriending each other and becoming venting buddies. It's the cutest thing, their friendship is adorable and wholesome despite the background angst. I didn't write nearly as much of them as deserved.

21 Honestly it's mostly lack of inspiration that I'm pretty sure stems from depression. If I could get an ADHD prescription or depression meds I'd probably be a lot better but like. I am completely broke. So much so that those issues aren't even in the top 10 of pressing problems solved with money.

22 Given I've literally only done it once.. not really. I guess I post it around everywhere I can think of in excitement?

23 That one continuous dream I had that went on over a month centered on a Nightmare that was freshly corrupted. He was honestly so nerdy and adorable despite putting on the brave and mildly "evil" front. The boy. Him. Goddamnit I want to write that at some point.

24 Honestly I can't think of anything for this one.

25 Oh yeah, I can't think of anything off the top of my head but there's a lot I'd like to fix in all of my stories, lol.

26 Kind of? It's a more recent development, did it for Zeradelsída which still has yet to be written, did it for that Ninjagaësia too. A little bit of a broad, even vaguer outline for things I want to happen in Awakened, too? More like events, no particular order or connection.

27 A few of those WIP's that haven't been posted... Okay technically just one. There's also the very first fic I wrote that is subsequently the only one I've ever deleted.

28 Angstiest often coincides with cursed for some reason, so I'll just go with the ending of Andlàtkyn for the Apple Twins.

29 I kind of just.. don't. If I do, I start hating everything, and because I'm not THAT bad at spelling and grammar I think it's mostly fine the way it is.

30 Oh absolutely. It's particularly obvious when one looks at Andlàtkyn, which I wrote over the course of 4 years. Really neat transition, if I ever manage to do it, I'd rewrite the beginning a little to match the rest when crossposting to AO3. If I ever get around to that.

31 Again, Andlàtkyn. That fic is my baby, man. It's so precious to me.

32 Honestly I don't know for this one, which is weird.

33 100% Ink of Awakened. My little boy. I have some friends that would rib the hell out of me if they ever found out, lol. Thankfully the main one doesn't even remember that he has a Tumblr.

34 I was not expecting how hard of a question this is! I thought it was Andlàtkyn, but thinking about it.. I don't think so? It might simply just change depending on which one I'm currently fixated on, but at the moment I think my favorites to get that on is Awakened and Ninjagaësia, second of which already has basically nothing to begin with.

35 I don't have anything, oof.

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[l-starsz]

Billie convincing reader to let her eat her pussy on her period

I'm inlove with your fics, you're such a damn good writer 🫶🏽🫶🏽

a/n: this probably isn’t great because i’m SOOO tired and my head is pounding rn but i hope it’s good at least🥲 and thank you so much ml!! i’m so sorry this took ages for me to write🫶

billie and i were laying in bed together, watching a movie. her back was resting against the comfy pillows on our bed, whilst my back was resting against her front. i was sat between her legs, and her hands were lightly resting against my thighs. we were both intrigued in the movie, or so i thought. whilst i was watching, and keeping up with the storyline, billies hands began to wander. they roamed up my stomach, cupping my boobs gently, before moving down again to this time, rest against my inner thighs.

i really tried to focus on the movie, but i just couldn't with her hands all over me. i knew nothing could happen, i was on my period, which meant that i had to wait a few more days until she could touch me. i'd been so horny. i was desperate for her, but we both knew that nothing could be done about it. well, she could fix my horniness, but i felt bad for asking her to do that when i was on my period. so i waited, and somehow put up with the feeling of being unbearably horny almost all day, every day.

soon enough, i felt her pressing light kisses behind my ear, down my neck, before lightly whispering in my ear.

"can i try something, baby?"

i slightly turned in her arms so that i could see her face, before answering her in a hushed tone.

"and what would that be, hm bil?"

"please can i taste you?"

my eyebrows furrowed and i looked away as i wondered why she was even asking. she knew i was on my period. she'd practically been taking care of me for the last few days. grabbing me a hot water bottle, or holding me in her arms whenever my cramps worsened. getting me whatever food i wanted when i was craving something. making sure i was drinking plenty of water. she really was the best. i just didn't understand why she was asking this now.

"i.. baby, you know i'm still on my period."

"i know.. i just can't wait!! i want to taste you please, love. i'll do anything."

i hesitated slightly. what if i made a mess, and then she got mad? what if i didn't taste good? she must have noticed the look on my face because she began speaking again.

"if you're not comfortable with this, then we don't have to do it. but i promise you that you don't need to overthink it, there should be no what if's filling your mind. you know i love you no matter what. i think you're the most perfect girl in the world."

how did she know?

it was like she could read my mind.

"pleaseeee? pinky promise i'll take great care of you, angel. just like always. pretty please?"

if i hadn't been so horny for the last few days, i probably would've said no, but that side of my brain just took over. i needed her so so bad. i reminded myself that she would always love me. this wasn't going to change that. she wanted this just as much as i did.

"if i say yes, can you put a towel down? you know.. just in case?" i mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

"of course, angel. whatever makes you feel the most comfortable." she answered me, placing soft kisses on my forehead.

once i'd spent a short amount of time thinking about it, i looked back into her eyes and nodded.

"i need you billie."

she just smirked at my words, before sitting me up slightly so that she could move from behind me, and settle in between my legs instead.

it didn't take her long to leave the room and grab a towel, folding it slightly and placing it underneath me. she sat on her knees at first, slowly pulling my pyjamas and underwear down so that she had the perfect view of me. once our clothes had been discarded in a messy pile on the floor, she leaned down to lay on her stomach, getting even closer to my core. i let out a needy whine when all she did was lightly blow against my pussy.

she could already see how wet i was. i hadn't told her about how needy id been for the past few days, but i think that as soon as she caught a glance of how wet i was, she immediately realised. she didn't bother to waste any more time, diving straight in. her tongue ran a long stripe up my pussy, before focusing on my clit. she was trying to get me wetter, it wasn't like she needed me to be wetter, she just wanted to tease. i reached my hands down to grab her hair, pulling her impossibly closer to my core in an attempt to get her to move faster.

we both knew that i was already pretty sensitive because of how long i'd needed this, so it wouldn't take her long to get me close, which was why she was trying to drag it out as much as possible. she wanted me to last as long as i could.

her tongue flicked my clit, before licking and slurping, just doing as much as she could to bring me pleasure. after what felt like an eternity, she finally moved to push her tongue inside of me. she worked her tongue against my tight walls as they squeezed against her. my orgasm was approaching fast, and my arousal must have been dripping all over the lower half of her face. at that point, i'd completely forgot that i was on my period, and i think billie had forgotten too. we were both too focused on me finishing.

i was so close, and to add to the pleasure, she pressed her fingers on my clit, quickly rubbing circles against it, making my moans as loud as they could get. i couldn't hold it any longer. no matter how hard i tried, i was too desperate.

"billie! baby, can i cum for you? please?" i moaned out.

"that's ittt." she praised, "cum for me, my love."

as soon as i heard those words, my orgasm hit me. my moans and cries were broken whilst i let the feeling consume me. my back was arching off the bed, and my hands were still tangled in billies hair, gripping onto it tight to ground myself slightly.

as i started to come down from my high, my grip loosened on her hair, and i felt one of her hands gently rubbing my stomach to help me calm down. when i finally flopped against the bed, trying to catch my breath, billie pulled her face away from me, looking into my eyes with a proud smile. all i could see was a mixture of my arousal, and blood dripping down her chin and coating her lips.

my cheeks turned red and i covered my face, embarrassed even though i knew billie was just happy that she'd made me feel good.

i didn't even notice her come closer to my face until i felt her carefully grabbing my wrists to pry my hands away from my face, and i heard her pretty voice.

"don't be embarrassed, angel. can i go clean you up now?"

"please." i nodded and thanked her, allowing myself to be lifted up in her arms, my head resting on my shoulder out of exhaustion.

once we took a long shower, and pampered each other, it was time for us to get back in bed and watch movies for the rest of the day, enjoying each others company just like usual.

[nnight-dances]

PICTURE YOU

PAIRING: karina x fem!reader (reader has periods)

GENRE: fluff, smut (explicit, but not too much?)

TROPES: karina comes back home with a bob and you go crazy essentially. also yeah this is the same universe as CASUAL

LISTEN TO: picture you by chappell roan

NOTE: lol not me breaking the hiatus with this karina fic on a random friday... but come on you can't blame: just look at her!!! actually lost my mind when i saw the new hair reveal like???? have u considered my feelings??? also yea i guess i just associate my karina fics with chappell roan songs now sorry. also also i have been in a crisis once again trying to figure out if i'm bi or just a lesbian so perhaps that is where this fic came from maybe perhaps! anway, pls enjoy <3

in your defence, you were on your period. and you'd been burn out after the past few weeks straight from hell at college. you'd lost sleep almost every single night and you didn't remember the last time you'd felt the rush of anxiety not be there in your veins. all that to say, you were in a specially fragile mental state when karina came home with a bob. 

at first you didn't even recognize her. you'd looked up from your phone where you'd been mindlessly scrolling to take your mind off the stress and then back down, thinking it was weird that a random chick had entered your room. you'd pinned it to be one of karina's friends but as soon as you said karina's name in your head, your neck snapped back up to look at her: "karina?" 

the girl burst into laughter at your shocked exclamation, the ends of her hair hitting her neck. "yes, it's me, jagiya. did you not recognize me?" she's still laughing but you feel something like a fainting spell coming on, with the way your vision blurs and your heartbeat threatens to explode. 

"jagiya?" karina's voice is speckled with doubt now, crossing your shared room to stand closer to your bedside where you lay. her cold fingertips greeted your bare shoulder, "do you not like it?" 

you can't speak for the longest time, just staring back at your girlfriend in utter shock. karina is starting to interpret your silent shock as horror when you finally break the stillness, hand on her jaw bringing her lips to your hungry ones. you devour her, lips overpowering hers as you slip your tongue into her mouth with the kind of force that has karina gasping. 

it is her hand at your chest that stops the kiss, her eyes wide with flustered amusement. "i'm guessing that means you like it?" 

"rina," your voice is a whisper, so drenched in longing that it surprises your own ears, "you're divine. i don't can handle this." you feel weak all of a sudden, falling to your pillow with a huff, but eyes never leaving karina.

"i'm sorry i didn't think a haircut would get you this worked up," karina laughs, climbing up your bed, shuffling into the space between your legs. "but i'm not complaining. you've never kissed me like a starving woman before."

you groan, "don't tease me. i'm just– look, you're already like the hottest person on this campus and if that wasn't enough of a nightmare, you've gone and gotten yourself a bob. now i'm gonna have to fight off the bitches who didn't know you were gay!" 

"did you just say nightmare–"

"yes. i have to live knowing that i've outdone myself with my very first college girlfriend. i'll never reach these heights again."

karina runs a hand through your hair with a smile, "who says you won't always have me?"

you give her an incredulous look, "really? with this bob, it'll only be hours before there's a line of lesbians outside our door begging for your number."

"well, that's too bad," her hand's found its way up your shirt somehow, "i'm taken."

you hum an acknowledgement. then, you sit up to face her, cupping her face in your hands. slowly, you kiss her. longingly. fiercely. 

you pull away to rest your forehead against her, your hand busy exploring the new form of her hair. it's thrilling, the way you can access her neck so much easier. your fingertips rest at her strong shoulder and your lips trail their path, lingering at the valley between her jaw and her throat. you place a soft kiss there and then feeling the tremble of her nervous breath, you go in with more bite, leaving a mark. 

you feel karina's hand clutching at the material of your shirt, the squeezing a pleasant reminder of the way you were making her feel. "i might just be the luckiest girl to exist," you mumble, making your way down to her collarbones. karina's response is a guttural moan, her hand against your waist pushing you closer to her chest now. 

"mhm, there's one way to shoo your fangirls away," you chuckle, admiring the patchwork of blooming bruises on karina's neck. she's flushed, and even better, speechless. 

"you're killing me, y/n," karina whines, clawing at your shirt to take it off. you shake your head, stopping her movements. 

"no, you're the one that's killing me," you complain, lifting karina's tank top before she can protest. "let me at least show you how you make me feel." 

you really do devour karina that afternoon: her toned body spread over your sheets like a dream that you couldn't afford. but it was real. you know because you took your time with her, touching and feeling every inch of her warm body flush against yours: the little hairs on her skin dancing against your hot touch, and the veins running hot to greet your touch. 

you've just traversed the landscape of her abdomen when she sits up, eyes blown out with pleasure. "y/n, i think i'm gonna pass out if you keep at it." 

you look up from between her legs with a grin, "really? then you've just started to understand how i feel–" 

before you can continue your adminstrations, she tugs you up, lips beckoning yours. "let me eat you out," she asks softly as she pulls away from the kiss. and you relish in the sound of her begging you to let her please you, the actual goddess in between your arms. 

"as much as i'd love that," you peck her nose, "'m on my period, babe."

"you know i don't care," she starts and then shivers when your hands find the hem of her panties. 

"don't worry 'bout me, rina," you assure her, "let me make you feel good today, 'kay?" she nods, coming apart so easily while you talk her through it, showering her with praises like there was no end to it. and you'd do it for the rest of your life. watching karina's skin pulse under your touch and the way her eyes were hooded by her short hair, in the end it was always worth it. 

[wannaeatramyeon]

Goo Kim x Reader: Wild Flirtations

G/N. You meet a captivating blonde. Masterlists

An out of place blonde has started frequenting your favourite food stall.

The first time you notice him, he pulls a face as he enters, pushing aside the cheap plastic that forms the entrance flap. A blast of delicious smells and spices hit him in the face, at the same time as a cold chill hits you, and even with the dingy surroundings, it's too difficult for him to resist.

From the mismatched collection of chairs and rickety stools, perma-stained from too many drunken nights and sloppy eating habits, he picks the one next to you.

He gives you a wink as he sits down, warming his hands on the twin bowls of eomuk and tteokbokki.

At the first bite, he lets out the most obscene groan you have ever heard in daylight. You can't help but let out a laugh.

"If I knew the food was so good and the view this pretty, I would have come here a long time ago."

He says it so casually that it's not until your meal is long gone and you're half way home that you realise he was hitting on you.

.

.

A week later, during your second meeting, he introduces himself as Goo Kim. His glasses are steaming up from the hot broth and humidity and a single blonde lock falls out of place as he takes his first mouthful.

Again, an obscene groan that conjures imagery of wild nights and dirty secrets, escapes his lips.

It's hard not to stare at him.

Goo swallows the last of his food and you watch his Adam's apple bob.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" he asks, smacking his lips together and running his hand through his hair.

You tell him and he repeats it after you with a lopsided, wolfish grin.

.

.

You learn Goo Kim oozes equal amounts of charm and danger.

Every word out of his mouth is slippery and honeyed. You don't believe a single word he says though you have the distinct feeling that everything he tells you is both calculated and absolute nonsense.

He gives you smiles that never reach his eyes, and he looks at you with a hunger than you know this paltry food stall could never satiate.

He tells tall tales of onis and inhumane feats of strength that you think only middle aged past-their-prime men would spin after a drink too many.

You could listen to him all day despite the lies and the farfetched stories.

Goo Kim is too fun for you to turn away.

You find yourself hoping to bump into him more and more, and whenever you're there, seated alone on a wooden chair with one leg too short and slurping your rice cakes, you desperately hope that you'll be joined by this eccentric man soon after.

.

.

Lately, he offers to show you a good time. Said jokingly at first, but he spots the blood rushing to your cheeks and the way you peek at him from beneath your lashes spurs him on.

Teases your imagination of what you could do together on his precious days off, his empty evenings, his emptier weekends.

He loves money, he explains and the designer clothing and impeccable grooming habits have not gone unnoticed. He works all the time because he hasn't found anything better to do.

Goo grins at his own innuendo, lips stretched and eyes excitable as he whispers into your ear, one arm hanging loosely around your waist and thumb stroking at your side.

You think this may be a game to him. Like a predator playing with his prey.

"What do you think, cupcake?" he purrs, gaze challenging.

When you decline, not yet ready to jump in headfirst, "Maybe another time", he chuckles like he knew you would have said that all along.

"I'll miss you," he says with a pout when he gets ready to leave. He sounds so sincere that you almost believe him.

"I'll miss you too," you reply, because against your better judgement, you will.

He doesn't offer his number and neither does he ask for yours.

.

.

It's not often you're feeling brave.

Goo sits facing you, elbow resting on the table and face perched on his palm. Long legs manspreading, stretched around you, trapping you into position. He watches you, glasses occasionally glinting in the light, talking about this and that like you're the most entertaining person in this world.

A lazy half-smile hangs off his lips and you feel the urge to kiss him.

"Did you say you're busy after this?"

Goo blinks in surprise at your sudden change in subject and nothing surprises him much these days.

"I didn't, but I'm not."

"Did you-" You fiddle with your sleeve. How are you supposed to word this? How are you going to ask him to fulfill everything he's been teasing for the past month without sounding desperate?

"Do you-" you try again.

"You want to come back to mine?" he asks, cutting you off and reading your desire with one eyebrow raised.

"Sure." You aim for nonchalant but your voice betrays you and cracks.

He leans forward, completely into your space. Face mere inches from yours. "Are you sure sweetheart? I'm bad news."

Your mouth is completely dry, all you can do is nod. This is the closest you've ever been to him and to your dismay, you realise you can't read his expression or his thoughts at all.

Goo makes a noise, a combination of his chuckle and groan. He flops his forehead onto your shoulder and pauses, completely still.

Your stomach drops out and you fear you might have ruined everything.

Both of you stay frozen. You, like schrodinger's cat. Pretending that if you don't react, then this can't end badly.

The seconds feel like hours until-

"Come on," you hear him speak into your shoulder, lips grazing your collarbone then cheek on accident, on complete purpose, as he rises.

Goo looks pleased. He looks like he'll eat you alive.

He stands, offering out his hand and you take it.

[madamspellmans-met-tet]

🔮 Time After Time 🔮

Lilia Calderu x fem!reader

summary: One night on the Witch's Road, the group shares stories about their "battle scars". You're not keen on your turn.

wc: ~ 2.7 k

tags: hurt/comfort, angst, fluff, mentions self harm & suicide, sfw

A/N: okay so this was actually one of the first fics I wanted to write ever for Lilia x Reader but just never got around to it until a sleepless night yesterday. Even had two requests about Lilia getting a vision of reader attempting and another for sh so this is kinda both. It doesn't go into great detail, but it is explicitly mentioned once or twice, so beware.

TRIGGER WARNING: If you're not in the headspace to consume this kind of content or feel unsafe, please leave this fic and reach out to someone. Reader discretion advised.

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

At first glance, night on the Witch's Road seemed no different from an earthly one, but now that you sat with the group around a small, crackling fire, the eerie silence crept into everyone's bones. There was no wind, no insects crawling in the dirt, nothing live dwelling in this place. It was a rotting piece of void that digested every breathing thing within it bite by bite. Nobody said it, but you all felt it; the Road would chew you up if no one stayed up to hold wake.

The group had diverted their fear in idle banter, laughing the night away and sharing stories about the scars marking their bodies. Lilia, seated next to you on the rock you were sharing, pulled her clothes aside to reveal the marks of a vampire bite. "Right before I knocked out his other tooth," she added in that cheeky manner of hers and made you smile.

You could imagine her kicking vampire asses. She may be old, but she was a force to be reckoned with; that much you'd learnt during the short time you'd spent together on the Road. She was the one you stuck with, whose eyes you sought out when danger arose, well, and who you shared a rock with.

There, again!

Lilia did this thing. Checked out mid-sentence or babbled gibberish all of a sudden. Dementia, you'd heard Jen whisper, but she didn't strike you as senile at all. It was more like something ripped the soul out of her body, a displacement. And then she came back, disoriented and rattled.

"Lilia, where do you go?" Jen asked, and Lilia tensed. You gave her hand a subtle squeeze.

Luckily, Agatha's return drew the attention away from Lilia's slip-up and allowed her a moment to collect herself. You didn't notice at first how you hadn't let go of her hand yet and did so with an awkward, apologetic smile. Upon Jen's prompt, Agatha recounted the time a knitting needle had pierced her elbow.

"I've got a scar," Rio took over then, but Agatha was even quicker to say, "No, you don't."

You'd gathered during the last trial that the two somehow knew each other, but the interaction was still odd. Rio told her story anyway, which seemed to upset Agatha, and she left. When Rio followed her, Lilia gripped her wrist and gave her a warning. "Don't think for a second I've forgotten what you said in the sound booth."

Rio hissed at Lilia. You didn't like that she did. It wasn't the first time this happened, and sometimes you wanted to hiss back, but something told you not to mess with her. Before silence could overtake the round, Jen presented a scar around her ankle from a shackle to you and went on to lecture about what potions she used to minimise it and with what tincture she hoped to make it disappear entirely.

"It might work as a wrinkle cream too," she said to Lilia. "I'll let you know when I've perfected the recipe."

"How thoughtful," Lilia muttered under her breath and tossed a twig into the fire. You could've sworn you heard her add the word 'bitch'.

"What about you?" Alice asked, and it took a second before you realised she was talking to you.

"Yeah, show us your trophies," Jen agreed, gesturing in your direction.

You pulled your sleeves almost to your fingertips and turned away, shuddering under all their eyes on you. Jen crossed her arms and made a noise of disapproval. "Hey, this is a group activity. We have to rely on each other to survive out here. Do your part."

Lilia snapped around. "Watch your tongue."

"She's not wrong, though," Alice said, offering a warm smile instead. She'd only just shared one of her most vulnerable experiences with you; it would be unfair to withhold, but it was too risky. You shook your head and curled your fingers around your sleeves.

"Honey, you don't have to. Don't listen to them."

-> continue

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

please leave a comment here or on Ao3, thank you <3

[bloggerspam]

So @deathlysilent13 and @lokiitama have cursed me again. I did some lore rambling previously, which will sort of be incorporated but--anyway.

The point is the lore i've spilled/discussed before will not be entirely gospel. It's a semi-developed story in my head now because of the HHD server. Curse you, deathly and loki. CURSE YOU ALL WHO ENCOURAGED THIS.

===

Danny was dreaming again.

It was an odd dream. An impossible dream.

A dream that didn't make sense, even as a dream.

Danny dreamed about being born alone in the world.

He blinked his eyes open in the midst of bright blue, took his first breath in liquid air, and the first cognizant thought he had wasn't even a thought.

It was the feeling of being choked by a tube, with wires wrapping around him as he sluggishly moved about.

Around him, there was the feel of metal, curved around him like a cradle, oddly vertical, with a large glass window to close off the cylinder.

And then the window opened and the floor was hard and cold, his lungs were burning as he hacked up the tube and liquid and breathing in air—

And when he blinked open his eyes again, his breaths were mirrored across from him, and there was another boy.

And then Danny wasn't alone anymore.

"Danny!" Danny startles awake amidst the action of reaching out towards the mysterious boy no older than 4 years old and looking strangely familiar. "Danny! You're going to be late!"

Danny brings his hand back, staring at it blearily for a moment before forming a fist and draping his arm over his eyes. His lungs expand harshly as his heartbeat starts to slow, cold sweet permeating his skin in a way that feels agonizing and minute—like he can feel each sweat drop forming.

Then the sound of pounding footsteps startles him to flip his blanket over as he brings his legs over the side of the bed, sitting up to rub at his face to dry and get the crusty traces of sleep off him. "I'm up! I'm up, alright Jazz? I'll be ready in a minute!"

Danny goes through his morning routine, getting ready for the big day. He and Jazz are heading out on a road trip towards New Jersey, traversing Pennsylvania from Amity Park all the way towards Jazz's chosen University: Gotham U.

It'll be the first time Danny will be away from Amity Park in all his 15 years.

His parents have always been protective of him, considering how accident prone he is, and they finally managed to convince them to let Danny join Jazz on a Summer roadtrip before he starts Junior year.

Val said she would cover the ghost menagerie, which shouldn't be hard now that he's gotten on better terms with his so-called rogues, and whilst he'll miss his friends, they've promised to text incessantly and send each other as many snaps as they can manage. Sam and Tuck will be on their own adventures anyway.

Danny's trying not to think about how this will also be the first time he'll be away from his friends.

When he heads downstairs for their last breakfast as a family, Mom and Dad are sitting on the sofa instead of the dining table.

"Mom? Dad?" Danny slows his descent downstairs, dropping his duffle bag off near the front door before cautiously making his way over. "What's going on?"

In the kitchen, Jazz is frantically making sandwiches to go, looking angry and nervous. When she catches his eyes she smiles at him gently, reassuring him that it isn't halfa-related. She's biting her lip though, which means their parents have dropped something serious on her shoulders and she's trying to keep it together until Danny is informed too.

"Danny, honey, there's something we've been meaning to tell you." Mom says, clutching one of Dad's giant hand in comfort. Danny has never seen her so nervous about something since…well, since she thought Danny was drifting away from her when he first got his powers.

"Okay…?" Danny looks towards Jazz again, who shakes her head and continues to pack food into a cooler bag. He sits himself gingerly down on the armchair beside his parents, feeling adrift and alone against their united front. Even Jazz, working silently behind them in the kitchen seems to blend into the tableau.

Mom takes a deep breath, sharing a look with Dad and trying several times to say something and failing. Dad rubs her back gently, looking increasingly like he might explode.

Danny fidgets, worrying at a hangnail on his left hand—the scarred one, with the silvery lichtenberg pattern all over it.

Finally, Dad can't take it anymore. Instead of his usual booming voice though, Dad…well, Dad's voice is practically a whisper. Danny strains to hear what he's trying to say, so jarred that it takes a moment to really register what he's saying.

"Danno, you're adopted."

Tim has noticed something odd, about the Demon Brat.

Sometimes, the Demon Brat would look to his left, as if to start a conversation, or as if anticipating someone saying something, only to freeze. Just for a moment, a half second, because nobody was there, before looking away with painful expression. 

Months later, Tim decided to stand there, just to see what would happen. The brat didn’t look at him once, and Tim found that curious, and odd.

Another odd thing about his new, murderous brother, is that he refuses to look into the mirror. That’s not true, exactly: he would look in the mirror for basics, for necessities. 

Tim realized, months of observations later, that the brat didn’t look himself in the eyes. 

Strange. 

Tim had asked him, once, why he didn’t. As expected, all he got was a “It’s none of your business Drake.”

But that didn’t stop Tim from wondering. Tim is, if nothing else, curious to a fault and persistent to an illegal degree. 

And so the strangeness would continue, and Tim would wonder.  

The brat would look to his left, pause, and then look away. He would deftly avoid mirrors, and when asked why he would sneer and avoid those questions, too. 

Until he didn’t. 

Until he came back to the Cave battered and beaten, some dreary autumn day, the Demon Brat unusually sullen and quiet and off his game. He had sat through the lecture Bruce had given him, and sat through the quiet reaching out from Dick, and sat through the cajoling teasing meant to rile him up, to get him to say or do anything per the norm, with an unusual aplomb.

The brat apologized, said he was fine, and ignored the rest. He told Bruce he wouldn’t patrol tomorrow, and would stay home from school, because clearly he wasn’t feeling well. 

 It was like Damian wasn’t there, fully. 

So when Tim saw that the brat’s door was open, the next day, he peeked in. 

Of course he did. 

And there the brat was, sitting in front of the full length mirror he usually had covered with a cloth when it wasn’t in use, reaching up and staring directly into his own reflection’s eyes. 

“Demon Brat?” Tim asked, stepping in and concerned about the look in the other’s face. There was no answer. 

“Damian. What’s wrong.” Tim stood behind the boy, watching as Damian touched the corner of his own reflection’s eye. 

“The color’s wrong, Drake.” Damian finally said, matter of fact and almost broken, absent-minded. 

“What?” Tim asked, trying to see what he was talking about. Nothing was wrong, nothing was changed. Damian met his eyes through the mirror for a long moment, but Tim didn’t understand. 

“The color.” Damian reiterated, looking at his own reflection again. 

“The color? Of what?” Tim and Damian were never close, not really, but he was starting to feel like something was slipping away, in this moment. Damian dropped his hand, and finally looked away. 

Without answering, the boy got up and carefully draped a cloth over the mirror, ushering Tim out of his room silent as the dead. 

“Leave me be for today, Drake.” Tim reached, opened his mouth to try and say something, because something was wrong, but what? 

But Damian simply shut the door softly. 

The sound of the lock engaging felt strangely, and utterly, final in a Manor full of lockpicking detectives.

Tim laid a hand on the door, and mourned. 

[enlyume]

Not so secret

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word count: 1.8k

Summary: Steve accidentally finds out why Bucky insisted on him taking a day off.

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: None

Notes: This is Bucky x female reader, but with Steve's POV. AU with no superpowers. Also, English is not my first language :)

Being the owner of your own gym comes with a few pros and a lot of cons. The pros? You knew a lot of people - and women - you could make your own schedule and choose your own staff and as a personal trainer you could stay fit. Cons: You had to put up with clients complaining about the self-defence classes being too difficult, your colleagues flirting with their wives, and you being on call 24/7 with no holidays. But, so far, Steve was enjoying his gym life.

Two and a half years of surviving in Brooklyn seemed like a success, so he could choose how to spend his first free day in a long time. Clean his apartment, go to his mother's house to help her with some water-related problems, go for a run and do some shopping. He could already hear Bucky, Natasha and Sam saying that this was far from a free day, but he didn't care.

He knew Bucky would scoff and swear he would never give him another day off, but looking at his now full fridge, he felt happy. So happy that he thought he could at least give his friends the satisfaction of a night off drinking. Maybe not until he got really drunk, because the next day was Friday and he had to open the gym, but still.

So he called Bucky, and when he didn't pick up the phone, he tried Natasha.

"I can't believe you wasted your first day off in months running errands. We are not friends anymore," she said, and Steve could picture her sitting on her couch, the TV on a murder mystery, her eyes narrowed. "That's not what Buck and I work our asses off for, Rogers!" she complained.

"Hey, I can do whatever I want with my free time. And, how do you know that?!" he asked, looking around for a hidden camera. His friends wouldn't spy on him, would they?

"I know everything," she whispered and Steve felt the urge to hang up and go and read. "OK, what's up? Are you taking off again tomorrow to help your neighbour redecorate?"

"I was thinking about going out for a drink with my friends, seeing as it's not that late, but I'm rethinking my life choices right now and I'm not so sure anymore."

"Don't be a drama queen, Stevie. Give me five, the bar next to my place".

"It'll take me more than five minutes to get there, Nat".

"Yeah, OK, you've got eight. Call the boys, I call the girls?" She asked and didn't need to elaborate. Natasha, Buck, Sam and himself were a team in and out of the gym. And since she finished college, and came back to Brooklyn, Becca usually joined them with her roommate Y/n.

"I already called Buck, but he didn't pick up. I'll try again," he replied, grabbing the keys and leaving his apartment. It wasn't that big, but living alone was more than enough and it was only a block away from the gym. That saved him the daily traffic jam.

He shrugged under his jacket, wishing it was summer, and walked down the street.

"Let me know if he doesn't pick up. I'll try," Natasha said, and Steve could hear her moving around her flat, getting ready.

"What makes you think he'll answer your call but not mine?" he sneered, smirking. Bucky had been pretty insistent about hiring Natasha, and although they flirted sometimes, it had never become anything serious. Or so he thought.

"He will," was her brief reply. Steve rolled his eyes and turned the corner. His eyes automatically drifted to the gym and he paused, frowning. The lights were on, but it was past closing time. "Hey, gotta go. See you in ten".

"Eight!" was the last thing he heard Natasha say before he hung up.

Steve crossed the street and tried the front door, breathing a sigh of relief when he found it locked. So Bucky wasn't there and hadn't left the gym open, he'd just forgotten to turn off the lights. He used the keys to get inside and went to his office to turn off all the lights from there, but stopped in the doorway when he saw Bucky's jacket and helmet on the table. His friend was still there? Past closing time? The blond left the office and went to the stairs, climbing them two at a time and heading for the only room where the lights were still on. Maybe Bucky had fallen and hurt himself, or maybe he had fainted, or maybe…

"That's not the way to use it, doll."

Doll. Doll. Steve narrowed his eyes, already angry with Bucky. When he'd offered to do the afternoon shift that Thursday too, on the pretext that he'd worked a lot and deserved a day off to rest, Steve hadn't been suspicious. It wasn't the first time Bucky had suggested it, and he'd had to get his house in order and run a few errands, so he'd accepted without question. And Bucky had smirked. He hadn't thought about it at the time, but now the smile had taken on a new meaning.

Emma, the student who had started Natasha's self-defence classes a month ago, immediately came to mind. Or it could be April, the recently divorced woman. She always laughed at his jokes, even when they weren't that funny, and stroked his arm openly. Steve opened his eyes wide. It could also be Peggy, making good on his threat.

"If you don't ask her out soon, I will, punk," he had told him a few times when Steve's eyes lingered on the door of the classroom Peggy had just entered. He took a deep breath, gripped the door handle and looked at the ceiling. Please don't let it be Peggy, he prayed. "Then tell me how it works."

Steve let go of the handle as if it were on fire. He knew that voice. It wasn't Peggy, but maybe it would have been better if it had been.

"Yeah, I'll pass. It's funnier to watch you try." Steve did not need to see his friend's face to know that he was smirking.

"Is that why you wanted me to come, to laugh at me?" She didn't mean it maliciously, because if there was one thing she knew about Y/N, it was that she wouldn't say anything to offend.

Steve tried to remember if he had seen her at the gym before. She was at the opening, sure, and she visited from time to time, but had she tried a class? He remembered Bucky telling her to leave because she was against the dress code. Y/N always gave the same answer: her gym clothes were just for posting photos on her social media.

"I wanted you to come so I could be alone with you. I missed you."

"We saw each other at Nat's last Sunday," she chuckled.

"Yes, but I couldn't…"

Steve knew he shouldn't, but curiosity took the best of him and he pushed the door just a little, so he could see them. Y/N was standing next to the treadmill and Bucky was holding her cheeks while he kissed her. He couldn't help but be surprised, because even though he knew what he was about to see, he didn't expect to see exactly that. His friend getting into trouble, kissing his younger sister's best friend? Yes. Bucky pulling away from her just enough to reach down and wrap his arms around her waist, filling her face with kisses, both of them laughing and whispering words in each other's ears? No. Because this didn't look like an affair. The smile on his friend's face as he listened intently to what she was telling him gave away that this was anything but a simple affair.

The sound of a mobile phone interrupted them and for a few seconds Steve thought it was his and he was going to get caught, but Bucky let go of Y/N and picked up his phone from the floor. "Hey Nat, what's up?"

Bucky turned, his back to the door, and Steve looked at Y/N. She had sat down on the workbench again and was trying to lift the weights without success. Bucky immediately gestured for her to let go and she obeyed, still smiling.

"I'd love to, but I've worked my ass off today and I'm dead. I'm going to bed," Bucky said to Natasha, declining her offer to join them for a drink.

Y/N held out her hand and Bucky took it, intertwining his fingers with hers and letting her pull on it, trying not to laugh. "Hmm, tempting, but I'll pass," Bucky said again. "Night, Nat."

He hung up and dropped the phone on the floor before standing over T/N. Steve took that as his cue and stepped back, not wanting to see any more. A low moan made him rush downstairs and out of the gym, closing the door carefully behind him. Bucky and Y/N. Y/N and Bucky. They were… what were they? Should he ask? He wanted to know and at the same time he didn't.

He walked on until he reached the bar and forced a smile when Sam held up his hand and waved at him. Natasha was next to him and Becca in front of them, a beer in her hand and laughing at something the redhead was telling her. And a new fear hit him: did Becca know?

"Took you longer than ten minutes, Rogers! You're paying next!" Natasha joked with her trademark smile. Steve nodded slowly as he sat down next to the younger Barnes.

"You all right? You look like you've seen a ghost," Sam chuckled, taking a sip of his beer. Steve ignored him and turned to Becca.

"Where's Y/N? Is she coming?"

He wondered if he was being too direct. He could have made some small talk before asking about her, or maybe he should have asked about his brother first. But he needed to know if Becca knew about her best friend and Bucky. The brunette rolled her eyes and shrugged.

"She already had plans with her colleagues."

"Why? They're not as fun as us," Sam complained.

"And your brother?" Steve asked again and Becca tilted her head. "I called him, but he didn't pick up."

"He said he was tired," Natasha said, a smirk on her lips. "But from his tone, I bet he's with a girl."

"What?! He ditched us for a girl?" Sam complained again. "He deserves to work all weekend, Steve."

"I don't know, Sam," Steve murmured, looking down at his hands. He remembered Bucky's smile, Y/N's laugh and them holding hands. His best friend saying how much he missed them. And then he remembered that Y/N didn't work weekends. "He's been working a lot lately. I think he deserves a weekend off."

"Whaaaat?"

Their friends started talking at the same time. Sam was whining again, while Natasha and Becca were plotting how to ruin Bucky's weekend. Steve stood up, smiling.

"OK, next round's on me!"

[bellysoupset]

The Superbowl - II

Considering it was 20ºF outside and the wind was howling, now that they had put the halftime show on mute, the living room was feeling quite stuffy.

Vince was so warm, he felt like he couldn't breathe and he stripped his sweater, so he was just in his undershirt, balling it up in his fist and looking around the room in astonishment.

Leo was still sitting down, seeming frozen in place and Wendy had gotten up and was by the staircase which Lucas had just ran up, following Bell.

"Vince?" Jonah's voice was uncharacteristically soft and his unexpected touch caused Vince to jerk. He searched Jon's face — had he known? Was he furious? — but found only commiserating confusion and compassion, which made Vin feel all the more suffocated.

Never in all the six years he had known Bell he had made her cry and it was killing him. Never, in all seven years he knew Lucas, had his best friend kept something from him, let alone something of this magnitude.

He felt nauseous. Vince gulped down, wiping the sweat suddenly dotting his face, clammy hands on his jeans, "she said- She said three weeks, right?" he asked, for lack of a more coherent thought. Jonah nodded and Leo let out a groan in affirmation.

"I'm going to go talk with them," Vince decided, turning around, and Wendy shook her head.

"I'll do it..." She hugged herself, eyes downcast and avoiding all of them, "I knew already, I think- I think Luke will be less pissed if it's just me."

The sheer betrayal of it all still stung like an open wound. Three fucking weeks and Wendy had been with him, apparently, on the exact day it had happened and yet-

"We should go," Vince said, strongly, gridding his teeth and Wendy nodded, still looking like she wished the ground would swallow her up as she turned around and bolted up the stairs.

"Vince," Jonah's voice now wasn't as soft or compassionate, his general attitude returning, "it's not her fault."

Vince opened his mouth to retort, annoyance and guilt clouding his judgment, but Leo interrupted them both letting out a heavy sigh and rubbing his face as if he could physically disperse his thoughts, "about four months ago, when we went to get my new car-" the blonde looked pointedly at Jon, who nodded to show he remembered, "Bell got carsick, remember?"

"Uh... Sure, I remember that," Jonah turned to look at his boyfriend and Vince paced the room, fingers curling on the roots of his hair and tugging. He wanted to go upstairs, but the glare Lucas had sent him had been clear.

"Afterwards, on the drive back, I asked how she was and she kinda hinted she thought it was morning sickness, not- Not carsickness," Leo's voice got all squeezy and weird and he cleared his throat, swallowing against the knot in his throat, "and she seemed so happy... But she said she hadn't done a test yet and when Luke never said anything and neither did she, I just assumed it had been a negative..."

"Bell said three weeks," Jonah reminded him, while Vince was too busy spiraling over all that had somehow passed him by. Just how long had him and Luke been drifting apart, if he hadn't ever been told about this either?

His stomach churned, uneasily, and Vince gulped down, watching as Jonah sat back down next to Leo and the blonde promptly collapsed against him, burying his face against Jon's neck.

Jonah's face was a grey tone and he looked sick too, which Vince sympathized with. He wasn't feeling well at all.

"I told them we're leaving," Wendy's voice came from behind him. She was standing on the last step of the staircase, coat already on, arms crossed defensively at her chest, "let's go?"

Vince nodded, putting his sweater back on and looking around the room one last time, "if- If Luke comes back down, can one of you just tell him I wanna talk? Please?" He requested, once again inching closer to the staircase, considering if he should all but disregard Lucas' fury and just barge upstairs anyway... But he had been the one to say that awful comment, he had made Bella cry, he couldn't just bulldoze there over his own feelings.

"I'll tell him," Leo promised, the took a deep breath and said in a firm voice, "but you should go."

It wasn't anything Vin didn't know, but still his eyes prickled and he had to look away, shame washing over him.

"Yeah... I'm sorry," Vince repeated, uselessly, and Wendy shoved his back gently, pushing him towards the door.

Outside, the wind nearly knocked them out immediately, so they jogged to the car. Not looking at each other until the doors were slammed closed and the heater turned back on.

Vince stared at his lap, stomach burning and head swimming. Next to him, from the corner of his eye, he could see Wen opening and closing her mouth twice, as if she wanted to say something, but instead she put her seatbelt on and drove off the Atwood's property.

"I couldn't tell you," Wendy said, five minutes later, as the tension in the car grew so heavy it was suffocating, "I know you're pissed, Vin, but I couldn't-"

"Did Bella tell you?" Vince interrupted her. His stomach was burning and his voice was deep and raspy from the stomach acid licking at his throat. He tried to clear it, only for the weird taste in his mouth to grow nastier, "how did you know?"

Wendy shook her head, quickly looking away from the road, then back at him, "No! No, she didn't, I-"

"Luke?" He felt positively nauseous now, not just nerves. Vince squirmed on his seat, wishing he could just roll down the window, but it was snowing out.

"NO!" Wendy repeated, sharply, "I was on shift when they came to the hospital. It was really early, like six or seven AM, and- And I ran straight into Luke and they had just taken Bell away for exams, so he was distraught- I wanted to tell you, Vin, I swear, but it was not my secret, not my place at all... I don't think they wanted anyone to know, not even me-"

Typically, Vince would write that off as Bell. She hated any sort of medical attention or victimization, it made sense... And yet there was a nagging voice in the back of his mind that reminded him that Luke hadn't said a thing either.

His stomach churned, letting out an angry whine, and Vince leaned forward, wiping his sweaty hands off once more. He breathed out slowly through his mouth, while his belly grumbled and struggled to digest the dip, making him feel overly stuffed, despite the fact he was far from it.

"Vin?" Wendy's voice was weak, half worried, half hurt, "Vince?"

He opened the glovebox in search of a bag, but found none. His stomach rolled once more and this time a little burp came up, which he muffled against his fist, looking at the backseat. Wendy always had shopping bags there...

"You cannot be angry at me," Wendy decided, voice much firmer now, "I wasn't told anything, I found out by sheer luck, and it was a private matter and I'm a doctor. It would be beyond unethical for me to run around and tell you-"

"I don't give a crap, Wendy!" Vince exclaimed, before he could think it through. He was burning up and he tugged at the neckline of his sweater once more, muffling another, much deeper, belch against his hand, "I don't care if it'd be unethical, I don't care if they didn't tell you-" he gulped down the sticky saliva in his mouth, giving up the search for a bag.

"I'm not going to apologize," Wendy leveled him with a glare, then wrinkled her nose, "you're green."

Vince scoffed, squeezing his eyes shut as a cramp gnawed at his stomach, the car came to a slow stop, making him slightly carsick, "you don't say," he bounced his leg up and down, "how far are we?"

"Uh-" Wendy sounded unsure and Vince frowned, opening his eyes.

"What is it...?" there was a car ahead of them in the road, which by itself was already weird, given the suburbs route was pretty empty. To top it off, it wasn't moving.

Vince's stomach let out another nasty growl and he felt a cramp so painful that it stole his air. Now, he allowed his body to overtake his mind, conflict forgotten for a second as the nausea rolled through him in waves.

Vince wrapped both arms around his middle, folding as much as the little space in the car allowed him to, and letting out a sickly burp towards his feet. There was a soft weight on his back and he realized with a second of delay that it was Wendy's hand. Another stab of guilt joined the swirling mess in his stomach.

"Wen-" Vince started to say, but his weak attempt at an apology was interrupted by a knock on her window.

She rolled it down just a smidge and Vin turned his head, ignoring the vertigo that assaulted him, to see the face of a deputy.

"Yes?!" Wendy exclaimed over the wind, the snowstorm picking up strength and nearly swooping away the officer.

"The road is blocked, ma'am!" The man all but screamed to drown out the wind, "a tree collapsed!"

Oh shit.

Vince let out a groan, gulping down the sickening saliva that flooded his mouth. He could taste the dip in the back of his throat and, much to his despair, he felt a cramp squeeze his intestines, bubbles rushing down as well.

Wendy was still talking, although he couldn't make much sense from it. Something something at least three more hours something something snowstorm something something something she was a doctor, they didn't need help. Damn he must look awful if the officer had noticed even through such low visibility...

The car's engine revved up and Vince forced himself to turn his head, slurring, "what...?"

"We can't go this way, it'll take hours to remove the tree. I'm driving us back to Bell's."

Vince wanted to cry. Not just because of how awful he felt on top of the guilt, but because he was nervous to go back to his best friend's house, when he should've felt relief. For a split second he thought it'd be better to be horribly ill stuck in the car, instead of facing Luke and Bell, and that sheer realization hit him like a brick wall.

"Do you need me to pull over?" Wendy's voice was more gentle now, a hand haphazardly pushing his curls away from his clammy face, "honey?"

Vince nodded, unable to form words with how heavy his jaw was feeling. Wendy removed her hand from his back and he felt the car speed up, then slow down as she found a better spot to park it.

"Alright-" Wendy started to say and Vin interrupted her with a harsh gag. Nothing came up, except the motion squeezed the air in his stomach and a frothy burp rolled up. Wen reached over him, pushing his door open.

The cold was biting, but Vince pushed himself fully out of the car, standing up and leaning his back against its bodywork, as he stared at the frozen side of the road grass, quickly getting powdered with snow.

There was a horrid taste in the back of his throat and he cleared it, spitting the ropey saliva and breathing in and out, slowly... His stomach gurgled angrily and Vin pressed a hand against it, groaning as his belly felt sloshy and tender, the slight pressure sending up another burp that fizzled out in his mouth-The gag took him by surprise. So sudden that Vince didn't have any time to fold forward, projectile vomiting on the gutter.

He gasped for air, chest heaving, and wet deaf as another heave squeezed him by the middle, now crumpling with his hands on his knees as he coughed up more chunky mouthfuls of the tortillas and dip, as well as the frothy beer.

His nose was running and his eyes watering, stomach still rolling and the unrelentless nausea making it hard for him to string together a sentence as Wendy circled the car and planted a hand on his arm, passing him her water bottle.

Vince swished it in his mouth, but didn't dare drink it, wiping his nose on his sleeve, manners be damned, "what the fuck..." he whimpered, closing his eyes as another cramp squeezed his intestines, "fuck."

"Do you think you can get back in the car?" Wen's voice was more gentle than he deserved and Vince couldn't be thankful enough. He nodded, but didn't move a muscle, shivering violently as the snow started to collect on his shoulders.

"C'mon," Wendy ushered him, throwing his door open once more, "we'll back at the house in no time and you can lie down-"

"Luke and Bell-"

"-Will understand," Wendy scoffed, sounding frustrated, "they're your friends, they love you, they wouldn't want you sick on the side of the road, Vin."

She made perfect sense and yet Vince couldn't bring himself to believe her. He leaned his head forward and it met Wendy's tummy, so she wrapped her arms around him, dusting the snowflakes off his jacket and running her gloved fingers through his sweaty hair in a soothing manner, "it'll be alright, honey," Wendy promised.

Vince nodded against her stomach, groaning as another burp rolled up and all he could do was press it against the fabric of her coat, "m'sorry..." he slurred, struggling to think clearly, "we gotta go."

"Yep," Wendy pressed a kiss on the top of his head, undoing their hug and waiting as Vince curled up on his seat so she could slam his door closed.

The front door was unlocked and Thank God it was because Vince was shivering violently and struggling to stay upright as they walked back inside the place.

The living room was deserted and Wendy ushered him to the half bath downstairs, only for Vince to open the door and immediately jump back as Jonah retched loudly.

"Shit," Wendy whispered, while Vince's stomach clenched with vengeance at the gruesome sight of Jon bringing up his lunch in the toilet.

"What- What are you two doing here?" Leo asked, rubbing Jonah's back, crouched down next to his fiancé.

Wendy gestured around, "uh- there was a tree in the road-"

"Wen..." Vince all but whimpered, curling up more as his intestines cramped. His sweater was glued to him thanks to the cold sweat and he was feeling nauseous all over again.

"Oh no, not you too..." Leo groaned, paling and Vince let out a little burp, a splash of sick rushing up and falling on the hand he tried cupping his mouth with. He lurched for the sink to wash it off, trembling like a puppy as the cramps continued to steal his air away.

"There's a second bathroom upstairs," Wendy planted a hand on his arm, rubbing it, "you think you can hold it?"

Oh it was embarrassing. And humiliating.

Vince lowered his head, but couldn't help but nod as his stomach felt even more bubbly. Jonah, draped over the toilet, let out a groan, palming his bloated belly as if he wanted to sink his fingers in and get rid of the food poisoning manually.

"Vin?"

He really didn't have any agency in deciding, as the urgency of a bathroom grew greater than any shame or fear of going upstairs where he was certainly not invited.

They passed by a room with boxes and the suite's door was open and Vin could catch a glimpse of red, which he assumed was Bella's hair, but all that mattered was getting himself sat in a toilet before disaster.

Embarrasment be damned, Vince had no time whatsoever to kick Wen out and he was thankful he didn't, because as he sat down with the runs and sobbed as his intestines seemed to want to fold into themselves, Wendy planted the plastic trash bin on his lap just in time for more frothy vomit to rush up.

"God..." he spat inside the bin, resting his forehead on its edge and staring at his lap. His belly was so bloated it was pushing against his sweater and Vince tried, fruitlessly, to tug at it, before giving up.

There was a knock on the door and Wendy sighed, squeezing his shoulder as she walked to it and opened. Vince saw a glimpse of Luke's face, worried and confused, before Wen closed the door behind her, stepping outside.

Hushed whispers outside his door and Vince's head swam as he empty heaved inside the bin once more.

It seemed like it took him forever to stop getting sick, but finally he was just wrung out. Nothing was coming out, from either end, and there were black spots dancing in the corners of his vision and a weird buzzing in his ear.

The minute he stood in front of the sink to wash his hands, the whole world tilted left and Vince nearly collapsed, bracing against the granite and taking deep, slow breaths.

He stumbled outside, grabbing on the walls to keep himself upright. Wendy was nowhere in sight and he wanted her, but she was probably downstairs getting him medicine or checking on Jon...

The staircase was an impossible obstacle and Vince gave up on the first step as everything blurred together, instead he changed routes straight to the suite, instinctually seeking out Luke's comfort, to hell if his best friend was pissed or not.

Luke wasn't in the room, but Bell was. She was curled up in bed, a weird shade of washed out beige, and with a heating pad pressed to her tummy. The black graphic wool dress, with red flames licking up from the hem, was gone and instead Bella was stuffed inside one of Luke's hoodies, with the hood pulled up and shielding away her mane of auburn hair.

She raised her eyes as Vince braced against the threshold, taking deep breaths to keep from collapsing as his knees were wobbling, "you look great," Bell said dryly and it was really all invitation he needed.

Vin stumbled further in, half sitting, half falling against the king sized bed. There were boxes scattered around the room that Vin knew were probably driving Lucas' crazy. Bella's shoes everywhere.

"Bell," he turned to look at her and she immediately waved him off.

"It's okay, you couldn't have known," Bella dismissed his apology before it was out of his mouth and Vince scoffed, curling up on the bed and falling on his side, head resting on his hand, elbow on a pillow.

"I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have made that joke. It was stupid," he said, regardless of her dismissal, and Bell shrugged, looking down and tugging at the embroidery of their duvet cover.

"Yeah, it was," she mumbled, sounding like it pained her to say it. As if on cue, her stomach let out a nasty growl and Bella curled up even more, pressing her face to the duvet cover and blowing out a burp under her breath, "sorry..."

Vince rolled his eyes and reached, haphazardly, so he could pat her head much like he would his sisters, "did you poison all of us?"

"Believe it or not, I went out of my way not to poison you," Bella scoffed, scooting on the bed so she could press her head to his bicep as Vince rolled to face up, a new wave of nausea washing over him.

"Uhm..." he swallowed the saliva pooling in his mouth once more, trying to figure if he should be getting up or if he even could get up, given how dizzy he was.

Bell squirmed against him, rolling on the opposite direction and fishing out a bowl from the ground, planting it on her lap- She jerked with a violent, empty heave and Vince's stomach churned harder at the noise. His limbs felt like they were weighting a thousand pounds, but still he scooted closer, fishing out the curls that escaped from her hood and puling them back.

Bell's horrid heaves tapered out in a cough attack and finally she stopped, panting as if she had just run a marathon and spitting in the bowl, "Aw..." she whined, clutching her throat, "hurtssss..." her voice was raspy from the effort.

She went to put the bowl down, but Vince stopped her, squeezing her wrist and causing Bella to turn and look at him.

"Oh man, here-" she passed him the bowl, seeing Vince's green complexion and him struggling to gulp down. He drooled over the bowl, letting out a groan as he felt Bella drape on his back, not quite rubbing it seeing she was boneless, but trying to.

He shook with a burp and then another, a splash of frothy vomit coming up at its tail-end. Vince hung over the bowl, erratic breath and hands so sweaty the plastic was slipping in his tight grip.

"Hey, Wendy said you can try some pepto no-" Lucas' voice faded as the words came out and suddenly there was a much stronger set of hands on his back. Luke moving to cup his forehead, thumping his back with his other hand and sighing.

"Let it up, Vin..."

He whimpered, not due to the nausea now, and tried to get a good look at Luke's face, but he was too dizzy and lifting his head that quickly was no good. Vince swayed and Bella let out a curse, her long nails sinking in his arm like claws as she kept him put and said in a strong tone, "Luke!"

Lucas' arm wrapped around his back and Vince collapsed fully against him, pressing a burp against his collarbone, "I don't feel well..."

"Yeah, I know," Luke said calmly, rubbing his arm, "get it out of your system, Vin."

TBC

[pixiecactus]

himbo!gendry/dumb!gendry? i don't know him...

Look with your eyes, Arya wanted to shout at the men below. "Can't they see we're no lords or knights?" she whispered. "I don't think they care, Arry," Gendry whispered back. And she looked at Ser Amory's face, the way Syrio had taught her to look, and she saw that he was right.

.

The air was full of birds, crows mostly. From afar, they were no larger than flies as they wheeled and flapped above the thatched roofs. To the east, Gods Eye was a sheet of sun-hammered blue that filled half the world. Some days, as they made their slow way up the muddy shore (Gendry wanted no part of any roads, and even Hot Pie and Lommy saw the sense in that), Arya felt as though the lake were calling her. She wanted to leap into those placid blue waters, to feel clean again, to swim and splash and bask in the sun. But she dare not take off her clothes where the others could see, not even to wash them.

.

"If there's people, there's food," Hot Pie said, too loudly. Gendry was always telling him to be more quiet, but it never did any good. "Might be they'd give us some." "Might be they'd kill us too," Gendry said. "Not if we yielded," Hot Pie said hopefully.

.

Hot Pie agreed. "They told Yoren to open the gates, they told him in the king's name. You have to do what they tell you in the king's name. It was that stinky old man's fault. If he'd of yielded, they would have left us be." Gendry frowned. "Knights and lordlings, they take each other captive and pay ransoms, but they don't care if the likes of you yield or not." He turned to Arya. "What else did you see?"

.

Gendry squinted up at the sun. "Evenfall will be the best time to sneak in. I'll go scout come dark.""No, I'll go," Arya said. "You're too noisy."Gendry got that look on his face. "We'll both go." "Arry should go," said Lommy. "He's sneakier than you are."

.

"He's going to die, and the sooner he does it, the better for the rest of us. We should just leave him, like he says. If it was you or me hurt, you know he'd leave us." They scrambled down a steep cut and up the other side, using roots for handholds. "I'm sick of carrying him, and I'm sick of all his talk about yielding too. If he could stand up, I'd knock his teeth in. Lommy's no use to anyone. That crying girl's no use either." "You leave Weasel alone, she's just scared and hungry is all." Arya glanced back, but the girl was not following for once. Hot Pie must have grabbed her, like Gendry had told him. "She's no use," Gendry repeated stubbornly. "Her and Hot Pie and Lommy, they're slowing us down, and they're going to get us killed. You're the only one of the bunch who's good for anything. Even if you are a girl."

.

But Jaqen H'ghar still smiled. His garb was still ragged and filthy, but he had found time to wash and brush his hair. It streamed down across his shoulders, red and white and shiny, and Arya heard the girls giggling to each other in admiration. I should have let the fire have them. Gendry said to, I should have listened. If she hadn't thrown them that axe they'd all be dead. For a moment she was afraid, but they rode past her without a flicker of interest. Only Jaqen H'ghar so much as glanced in her direction, and his eyes passed right over her. He does not know me, she thought. Arry was a fierce little boy with a sword, and I'm just a grey mouse girl with a pail.

.

"Never mind about Ser Lyonel." He drew her aside by the arm. "Last night Hot Pie asked me if I heard you yell Winterfell back at the holdfast, when we were all fighting on the wall." "Everyone was yelling stuff," Arya said defensively. "Hot Pie yelled hot pie. He must have yelled it a hundred times." "It's what you yelled that matters. I told Hot Pie he should clean the wax out of his ears, that all you yelled was Go to hell! If he asks you, you better say the same."

.

"Maybe there won't be a lot of them.""If there's two, that's too many for you and me. You never learned nothing in that village, did you? You try this and Vargo Hoat will cut off your hands and feet, the way he does." Gendry took up the tongs again. "You're afraid."

.

She heard them coming long before she saw them. Hot Pie was breathing heavily, and once he stumbled in the dark, barked his shin, and cursed loud enough to wake half of Harrenhal. Gendry was quieter, but the swords he was carrying rang together as he moved. "Here I am." She stood. "Be quiet or they'll hear you." The boys picked their way toward her over tumbled stones. Gendry was wearing oiled chainmail under his cloak, she saw, and he had his blacksmith's hammer slung across his back. Hot Pie's red round face peered out from under a hood. He had a sack of bread dangling from his right hand and a big wheel of cheese under his left arm. "There's a guard on that postern," said Gendry quietly. "I told you there would be."

.

By midday Hot Pie had begun to complain. His arse was sore, he told them, and the saddle was rubbing him raw inside his legs, and besides he had to get some sleep. "I'm so tired I'm going to fall off the horse." Arya looked at Gendry. "If he falls off, who do you think will find him first, the wolves or the Mummers?" "The wolves," said Gendry. "Better noses."

.

Dusk was settling as they stopped to rest the horses once more and share another meal of bread and cheese. "I'm cold and wet," Hot Pie complained. "We're a long way from Harrenhal now, for sure. We could have us a fire—" "NO!" Arya and Gendry both said, at the exact same instant. Hot Pie quailed a little. Arya gave Gendry a sideways look. He said it with me, like Jon used to do, back in Winterfell. She missed Jon Snow the most of all her brothers.

.

"What about Hot Pie?" Gendry pointed. Hot Pie was already on the ground, curled up beneath his cloak on a bed of damp leaves and snoring softly. He had a big wedge of cheese in one fist, but it looked as though he had fallen asleep between bites. It was no good arguing, Arya realized; Gendry had the right of it. The Mummers will need to sleep too, she told herself, hoping it was true. She was so weary it was a struggle even to get down from the saddle, but she remembered to hobble her horse before finding a place beneath a beech tree. The ground was hard and damp. She wondered how long it would be before she slept in a bed again, with hot food and a fire to warm her.

.

"Aye, and good for you." The man smiled. "It's not every day I meet a lad with such a tasty name. And what would your friends be called, Mutton Chop and Squab?" Gendry scowled down from his saddle. "Why should I tell you my name? I haven't heard yours."

.

"Gendry," she called, her voice low and urgent. "They have a boat. We could sail the rest of the way up to Riverrun. It would be faster than riding, I think." He looked dubious. "Did you ever sail a boat?" "You put up the sail," she said, "and the wind pushes it." "What if the wind is blowing the wrong way?" "Then there's oars to row." "Against the current?" Gendry frowned. "Wouldn't that be slow? And what if the boat tips over and we fall into the water? It's not our boat anyway, it's the inn's."

.

honestly the fact that gendry is street smart and also happens to be very intelligent on his own, is hardworking and very loyal, has a quick wit, and has a good set of survival skills is why he really works well as arya's partner and most trusted friend. also he's not a pushover and i think that's very important as well.

(i'll be willing to argue that since he was an apprentice under tobho mott, he must know how to read and write some words, or at least know his numbers... not saying that he received the same level of education that arya did; that would be ridiculous, but i believe that he must have at least a little grasp of it)

[mistressofthemanor]

masterofthemanor

Once again, the moment she'd casted her gaze upon him from beneath her thick row of lashes, he'd felt his heart skip a beat. She really did hold great power over him and he'd become more aware of it at once at moments like that. She was effortlessly seductive and he'd found her even more alluring like that, being on top of him and in control... there was so much he could have said to provoke her and encourage her to take the reins... so much he would have given to have her take advantage of the power, climb up on him and take her position to straddle him properly - only he didn't have the luxury to give into her without any care in the world and risk uncovering his arm. So for now, he'd merely swallowed to moisturize his throat that'd gone dry and focused on his answer rather than making the mistake of letting his fantasies take over his mind. "Definitely. I'll figure something out for us to do that should entertain us and exhaust you by the end of the day" He stated mysteriously, and to his luck, his words could've been interpreted in other ways that she'd have preferred, so she wouldn't feel rejected, although, it was the riding trips he'd referred to. It'd be beneficial for the both of them to spend some time outside, exercise that way and get into adventures all while being together, talking away and catching up on those years they've spent apart. "Spoil her?!" He exclaimed, doing his best to sound as appalled as he could. "Hey, that's not fair coming from you! I haven't spoiled her more than you have spoiled Draco, and you know that, so don't you try and make it sound as if I was taking shortcuts to bribe her rather than to have her behave a certain way through setting up rules and being consequent, because I could say the same... Also... I know how you are with Ariadné, so don't even try deny it" He opposed with a smirk, for even though it was the truth they'd had that conversation many times in the past and they've settled everything properly when the children were small, which meant it was something they could joke about now.

Lucius was vague, but enough that she hoped he would spoil her in the way they were both hoping for. She could only grin in response as she definitely was feeling better about their evening last night being merely one of miscommunication or fatigue. Completely putting that aside, she was able to focus on these cats that he was so determined to take care of and feed efficiently. It took all within her not to laugh as he repeated her words in feigned offense. So she decided to give it back to him. "Me? Spoil Draco? Oh you know not...I didn't spoil him. You spoiled Celeste certainly more, at least. You have to agree to that!" She adverted her gaze and did her absolutely best to look at innocently as possible, letting out a soft sigh, "As for Ariadne...I can never confirm or deny your story. Perhaps I do spoil her....maybe...just a bit." When she caught Lucius' gaze, she huffed dramatically and sat up fully, "You know, it's hard not to spoil someone as cute as she is. I mean, you've seen her face. You've seen her pout her little lip and give me those sweet, adorable eyes. I physically cannot say no to her, Lucius. I believe it's practically impossible."

Bones of Contention

[lakesparkles]

I finally finished the first chapter - I'm calling it prologue - of my college AU Thanos Team fanfiction.

For now, I'll post it here under the cut:

Prologue

.

.

.

Gyeong-su is sure he can change Nam-gyu's life

—

(NOTE: the first thing I want to do is apologize about Nam-gyu because he’s an asshole in this chapter)

 The room was still dark and Nam-gyu wasn't sure why he’d woken up. He mumbled softly, trying to go back to sleep and failing... For some reason. His mind was too groggy to think of anything in that situation.

 Only after a few seconds did he realize his cell phone was ringing, the music irritating his hearing and immediately stressing him out.

 "What is it!?" He complained in a slurred voice, as if the device could answer him. At the same time, he slammed his hand against the cabinet next to his bed, where he remembered leaving his cell phone charging. He needed to wait for his eyes to get used to the light so he could read the name on the screen:

 "Mom," was all it said.

 So he ignored it, suddenly more alert. Why would she even...?

 No. He wouldn't even think about it. It was way too early for that.

 When the phone went silent again, Nam-gyu closed his eyes and rolled over in bed, covering his head so he could fall asleep faster. Fuck it, he still had a few hours of sleep left, he wasn't going to lose them because of something like that.

 Or, apparently, he was wrong.

 Not even three minutes had passed when his ears picked up another noise. This time, coming from the bedroom door. Three quick knocks and then:

 "Nam-gyu. Nam-gyu? Can I come in? I'm going in, okay?"

 No sooner said than done, his door was opened completely. Nam-gyu growled, removing the blanket and sitting on the bed:

"What the hell... What time is it?" He asked, still reluctant and barely able to open his eyes due to the sudden light.

 "Uh... 5:15 am?" Gyeong-su asked more than answered, walking towards his bed.

Without saying a word, Nam-gyu laid down for the second time. But of course his friend didn't accept that, pulling his arm and continuing: 

 "No, no way! You agreed to this yesterday!"

 "I didn't-"

 "Of course you did! It was last night, man! There's no way you don't remember, get up!"

 "Today's Sunday!"

 "That's exactly why!"

 "Fuck you!"

That didn't work and, when he realized, Gyeong-su had already pulled him out of bed and placed him standing next to himself. The little shit was now smiling proudly, his hands resting on his waist:

 "I programmed an entire map for our route today. You'll like it, believe me! Did you know there's a forest behind that pharmacy? The one right behind the-"

 Nam-gyu got tired of hearing it, going straight out of the room. At least this time, Gyeong-su got the message and shut up, just following him down the narrow hallway. It was the least he could do, considering he was dragging Nam-gyu for a "morning walk" (he had called it that, not Nam-gyu).

 He walked straight to the bathroom, pausing at the door for just a second. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a movement in front of him: it was almost imperceptible, but he was sure it was Se-mi entering her own room, slamming the door shut. This irritated him, to say the least. Nam-gyu took a step back, getting closer to his friend:

 "Why did this bitch come to live here if she doesn't even have an ounce of manners?"

 "Hey, it's not nice to call-"

 "Shut up. Have you even talked to her? Does she ever leave her room?"

 "I thought you'd think that was a good thing," Gyeong-su shrugged, "so you don't have to look at her face."

 "Clever," Nam-gyu gave a rare compliment, closing the door behind him. As he went to the bathroom and returned to his room to change, he kept thinking about Se-mi.

 He and Gyeong-su had rented the apartment two months ago, which meant that neither of them really got used to it yet. Nam-gyu had known the other for years, but he wouldn't describe him as a close friend. It just so happened that they both needed to share a rent, and even then, they realized that their money wouldn't be enough anyway.

 In order to avoid having to move into a tiny, one-room place, they sacrificed one of the bedrooms in their current apartment and tried their luck. He would never imagine that a woman would offer to split the cost of the bills, but Se-mi was apparently desperate.

 Maybe. Nam-gyu knew very little about her.

 They went to the same university, were close in age, and that was where his knowledge about the woman ended. Se-mi didn't talk much, staying locked in her room during the rare moments she was home. It didn't take a genius to guess that this would never work out. He was surprised she hadn't given up since the beginning of the two weeks she'd been there.

 Yeah.

 Nam-gyu shook his head to clear his thoughts. He didn't even care that much about the bitch in the first place. She was a total jerk, that's what.

 So he focused on the closet in front of him, choosing a random black T-shirt and pulling it over his head. Once he was dressed, he fixed his hair with his hands and tucked a few strands behind his ears.

 Then he crossed the hallway for good, heading for the kitchen. As if on autopilot, he opened the door of the fridge and picked up a bottle of whiskey. His throat was dry, but before he could unscrew the cap, the bottle was taken from his hands.

 "Hey!" He exclaimed.

 "No, no, no!' Gyeong-su held it up high so he couldn't reach it, even though the other was struggling beside him. He hadn't even noticed him approaching. "You made me promise not to let you drink it for breakfast!"

 "I never said that!"

 "Yes, you did. Nam-gyu, it was last night!"

 "If I don't remember, it's clearly not what I really wanted."

 "You were in a really bad state, man. Cold sweat and everything. You looked me in the eyes and said, 'I can't live like this anymore, Gyeong-su, you need to change my life,' and that's what we're going to start doing from today!" He told everything with dramatic gestures, which indicated that that wasn't really what had truly happened.

 For some reason unknown even to him, Nam-gyu gave up.

"I promise" Gyeong-su ran after him after putting away the whiskey and grabbing a bottle of water in its place. "I will change your life!"

For both their sakes, Nam-gyu kept his opinion to himself.

---

 "Oh wait, man, I forgot my watch!"

 "Can't you just go without it?" As soon as Nam-gyu finished his sentence, Gyeong-su had already run into the apartment once again.

 They hadn't even been out for 30 seconds.

 With a sigh, he leaned against the wall, taking advantage of the free time to light a cigarette and place it between his lips. His vision was a little blurry as he looked through the small window on the other side of the hallway. It was a simple view, just a tree branch moving with the wind. Maybe it was slightly colder outside.

 Whatever. His head hurt, it felt like it was about to explode.

 Had he really talked about all that with Gyeong-su last night?

 He tried his best to clear his memories, but all he remembered was the two of them sitting on the couch. It didn't seem like a serious conversation, his mouth even hurt from laughing so much at that time. Was Se-mi there? Somehow, she was there. Maybe to tell them to shut up. Or... Did she stay longer? Did she talk to both of them? No, it couldn't be. Se-mi had never acted like that before.

 He was probably making a funny face as he tried to remember. When he came back to reality, he realized that someone was staring at him.

 "What is it?" Nam-gyu asked, raising his chin, trying to look intimidating even though he wasn't very successful.

 The boy in front of him straightened his posture as if he’d been startled.

He never saw him there before. He was short and wore a navy blue sweater. If that wasn't enough, he had a kind of pathetic look, as if he was about to faint.

 Nam-gyu just took a drag on his cigarette, pretending to ignore him.

 "Eh..." The other man spoke in a low voice, however, after a few seconds. "Do you know where apartment 75 is?"

 "No," Nam-gyu replied with a small smile.

 "Do you live here? In the building, I mean. It's just that I'm new and I forgot..."

 "Did you forget where your own apartment is? Seriously?"

 "I've never been here in person, this is the first day I've..."

 With each passing second, Nam-gyu found it more amusing, without even trying to hide it. As soon as he pushed himself off the wall, he pointed to the number on the door right next to him: 75.

 "Have you thought about taking a vision test? " He asked the boy, still in a good mood.

 The other didn't share the same feeling, mumbling an apology under his breath and unlocking the apartment to go in. Why had he even apologized to him?

 Weird guy.

 He'd been distracted by that for so long that only then did he notice how Gyeong-su hadn't come back yet. Nam-gyu peeked inside his own dark apartment, part of him barely able to resist the urge to just run away and come back there only at night, when his friend already forgot all that nonsense.

 He regretted not having followed through with the plan as soon as Gyeong-su appeared in his sight, straightening the watch on his wrist and letting out an exclamation:

 "Hey, no, no!" He wasted no time in trying to take the cigarette from Nam-gyu's hand. "That counts too, you made me promise not to let you smoke in the morning as well!"

 Nam-gyu elbowed him lightly, making it clear how he didn't care. So much so that he soon changed the subject:

 "What took you so long? Were you chatting with the bitch?"

 Gyeong-su gave him a reprimanding look as soon as the two began walking down the hallway. With that alone, Nam-gyu knew he’d hit the nail on the head.

 "She’d just woken up," Gyeong-su admitted. "She wanted to know how the TV remote worked, can you believe it?"

 "So she talks to you," Nam-gyu raised his eyebrows, genuinely surprised and a little betrayed. Gyeong-su didn't say a word, just sighed. The two reached the top of the stairs at the end of the hallway, Nam-gyu taking the lead to go down two steps at a time. Now that he wasn't facing the other, it was easier to ignore the discomfort and finally ask:

 "I talked to her yesterday too, didn't I?"

 "You really don't remember anything?" Gyeong-su followed closely behind him, dragging his entire arm along the railing.

 "I remember some things," Nam-guy raised his chin, half telling the truth, half lying. "We laughed for a long time."

 "Yeah! Because of you, man!"

 "Oh yeah..?"

 The two finished the two flights of stairs, arriving at the first floor. Gyeong-su was distracted for a few seconds, checking if there was any new mail for their apartment and realizing that the mailbox was empty. Shrugging, he walked back to Nam-gyu's side so they could leave the building. "You told me a lot of things! Like that time a guy at the club almost got you fired because he mistook you for someone else."

 "I told Se-mi that!?" This time, he didn't even think to hide his shock. Gyeong-su found it all very funny. He put his hand in front of his mouth to laugh lightly.

 Wait.

 "You're making it all up! That's it, isn't it?" Nam-gyu started to get suspicious, hating how he felt slightly embarrassed now.

 "Of course not! All of this happened for real, you can ask Se-mi."

 Then Nam-gyu realized it was better to concentrate on his cigarette, walking quickly and straightening his hair once more. The actual best thing would be to stop thinking about it. Either way, he knew he wouldn't be able to remember everything. So who cared?

 He looked around, trying to distract himself. There were only trees, buildings and houses, nothing too impressive. The wind blew hard against the branches. It wasn't necessarily cold, but he was starting to regret not having put on a coat. Maybe he should go back and get one, it wasn't like he was that far from the apartment. And he always felt more comfortable when he wore long coats, in the first place. Not that he has any insecurities about his arms, of course. And he would never feel comfortable having a conversation like that with someone he barely knew, especially with... Her.

 God, he was really bad at that.

 Why couldn't he stop thinking about that bitch?

 He let out a loud groan, making Gyeong-su jump in fright:

 "What the fuck are we doing out here!?" He spoke louder than he should've, letting out all the frustrations he was feeling since he woke up.

 Gyeong-su stared at him at first, with his eyebrows raised and his eyes slightly wide. He received that same look countless times before, and Nam-gyu didn't appreciate it. He knew it was his friend's silent way of saying he was worried about him. As if Nam-gyu were just a lost puppy.

 "I already told you," Gyeong-su began, in that slow and serious tone, speaking as if Nam-gyu was too dumb to understand simple sentences. "You told us some stories and then out of nowhere you complained about how shitty your life is."

 "I didn't do that."

 "Nam-gyu! Same thing again? You did! You spent like two minutes straight just talking about how the lowest point was having to share an apartment with people like us. We were pissed! You belittled my work-"

 "Rightly so. What work?" Nam-gyu rolled his eyes.

 "Hey! And Se-mi too, especially her. You said that she only didn't have a decent life because she was a disgusting prostitute who wasn't even good enough to get clients to rent a small studio apartment."

 "Okay, I believe that part."

 Gyeong-su rolled his eyes, but smiled slightly:

 "Why are you like that with her? Only with her? Did she do something to you?"

 "Yes," no.

 "What?"

Nam-gyu didn't feel like answering, so he didn't.

---

Nam-gyu had no idea what he was expecting. He felt like an idiot once he realized that part of him almost wished Gyeong-su was right. That they would leave the apartment, walk around and something would suddenly change. He woke up with that weird weight on his chest, and that made it hard to concentrate on anything else. His head was also throbbing and he would occasionally sip from the bottle of water that Gyeong-su carried in the side pocket of his backpack. Both of those things, however, could easily be explained by the hangover. He was more used to waking up like that than not, that almost becoming his usual.

 But the weird feeling on his chest? That was rarer. Or at least it used to be. Until he moved to this apartment. However, once again, he was starting to get used to it.

 Shit. He shook his head and looked up. Then at Gyeong-su.

 "Look, look!" His friend skipped ahead of him and pointed down the ravine they were walking on at that moment. "You can see our building from here!'

  "Wow." Nam-gyu said sarcastically.

 Gyeong-su lowered his head, still smiling a little:

 "Can you at least pretend to be having a little fun? I'm feeling a little bad now."

 Nam-gyu opened his mouth, ready to give any answer that would make him shut up again. Why he didn't, was a mystery even to him. For a second, he sighed softly. Maybe it was because of the isolated environment, far from anyone else who could hear him. Maybe it was because, besides Gyeong-su, he had no one else to comment on that matter.

All he knew was that the words that came out of his mouth were:

 "My mother called me this morning."

 Gyeong-su's entire posture changed. He lowered his shoulders, becoming more serious despite grunting an "uhhhh", waving one of his hands in the air.

 As Nam-gyu already said, he and Gyeong-su had never been very close. They barely knew about each other's personal tastes or how they lived before that shared house. All Nam-gyu knew about his new friend was about the stupid games he played live for a bunch of idiots who donated money to him. And all Gyeong-su knew about him, apparently, was about his mother.

 "What the hell, man," He tried to comfort Nam-gyu, placing his free hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it...?"

 "With you? Obviously not!" Then Nam-gyu returned to his normal behavior, rolling his eyes. He was almost offended that the other even considered that possibility.

 To keep the uncomfortable conversation from going on, he started walking again. The entire path in front of him consisted of the same thing: trees. He only knew where to go because of the thin, straight path beneath his feet, probably formed by the amount of people who preferred to take shortcuts there rather than walk through the buildings and convenience stores.

 The sun escaped through the yellow leaves, and now it was less cold, fortunately. He felt slightly more at ease, until Gyeong-su took the lead with quick steps and went back to narrating everything he saw, pointing out every useless detail like a tour guide.

 Nam-gyu raised his eyebrows, pleased that the other ignored the previous subject so easily.

 "I'm just waiting for the moment when you 'change my life'" Nam-gyu let himself laugh a little at the situation.

 "Calm down," The other said with a confidence disproportionate to reality. "You need to be a little more patient."

(NOTE: This chapter was basically nothing, this is why I'm calling it "prologue". It'll only make more sense once there are more chapters, the sole reason for all these scenes was to introduce Nam-gyu's life. And because I think it's funny to note how grumpy and different he is when he's with anybody else other than Thanos)

[anticidic]

thanks for tagging me @frankenjoly @marichild and @saoirseyun <3 (I meant to do this eventually but three time's the charm)

20 questions for fic writers!

How many works do you have on AO3?

24 (but really 25, but one of them is written by a friend and I am merely a spectator and not really a cowriter)

what's your total ao3 word count?

406,373 words

what fandoms do you write for?

Only Bungo Stray Dogs, though I keep toying with the idea of writing for others (and then never do).

what are your top five fics by kudos?

from a to o, i love you so — omegaverse A/A -> A/O Soukoku piece

foiled fables — Kitsune!Dazai and human!Chuuya AU

with me, disaster finds a playfield — omegaverse Beast AU

letters to my chosen one — Angel!Dazai and Demon!Chuuya AU

bad days, good nights — Dazai birthday fic

do you respond to comments? why or why not?

Yes 💖 I do my best to respond to all of them because I appreciate others taking the time out to read and comment their thoughts, even if it's a simple emoji

what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

still the snowflakes fall — A what-if had Dazai been a part of the Decay of Angels instead. It doesn't end well for anyone involved.

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think probably from a to o, i love you so. Because it's about Dazai waking up one morning and losing a critical part of his identity and suddenly everything he knows is a lie. But despite fumbling, he comes to accept a new reality because, as Chuuya puts it, he's still Dazai. That core part of him hasn't changed.

do you get hate on fics?

Not really. I've gotten dumb trollish comments and people demanding for requests but I've shut them down

do you write smut?

wildly gestures to almost my entire catalog of fics And I'll do it again

do you write crossovers?

No, but I've wanted to write fusions. Like dropping bsd characters into Genshin or Honkai Star Rail or Psycho-Pass or something. Some of my fics have been loosely inspired by games or things I've watched but I definitely wouldn't call them crossovers.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge, but I hope not jkdkjskj

have you ever had a fic translated?

I've had a few requests for one of my recent fics to be translated 👀 I'm over the moon every time someone asks

have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I SUPPOSE Darling, Some Things Are Meant to Be counts in a very roundabout way. @ohhcinnybuns gets full credits for the actual fic on there, but we go back and forth on here writing Snow White!Dazai and Prince!Chuuya ficlets (hey, go check out our fairytale playlist for them, I'm obsessed)

what's your all time favourite ship?

Probably IwaOi and ShuAke

what's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I started a zombie apocalypse-flavored omegaverse in anticipation of finishing it for omegaverse week and that never happened. I'm feeling ambitious but I also have a lot of events I'm participating in at the moment and ongoing fics that need prioritizing.

what are your writing strengths?

Painting scenes and going into depth about character motives and inner thoughts! Also, tying subplots into the overarching plot. I love worldbuilding and creating seemingly insignificant backstories for characters that end up playing major roles down the road.

what are your writing weaknesses?

The last time I did this tag game, I said dialogue, and that was a couple of months ago now but I feel like I've made major improvements in that area with my recent stuff. I'm becoming a lot more comfortable with fleshing out the plot through characters interacting with one another than in exposition and narrative. Now, I'd say editing. I tend to second guess myself and will scrap several thousands-worth of words if something's not working and then rewrite it all over again because I can't pick out what exactly is wrong with something.

thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I write Japanese honorifics simply because I feel like it reads a little better, but that's about it since most of what I write takes place in Japan.

first fandom you wrote for?

K-Pop help it was so long ago...we don't talk about those days...

favourite fic you've ever written?

hunter's season my beloved. It's a Dark Era omegaverse fic revolving around Dazai/Chuuya, with Dazai who thought he was an alpha but turns out he was really living a lie his whole life and finds out the hard way after taking some tampered medications.

no pressure tags: @altruistic-meme @monkey-banana41 @chuuyaspinkmotorcycle @calmlb @bloodsherry

[ratsplendor]

so this post was on my dash last night and i woke up still thinking about it. bc i really do feel like we get a lot of internalized homophobia!Wilson, due to the very comphet of it all, but i think there's some really interesting angles you can play with from this perspective, too. & of course end up with some major angst lol.

so. i kind of ended up going on a long ass ramble here. i've stuck it under a readmore for those who're just scrolling. thanks for putting up with me lol

the main thing i'm thinking about is like...the huge, Stacy-left-me-shaped chip on his shoulder. because how many straight guys do you know who have made their breakup this massive personality trait/let it take the blame for their behavior for years afterwards? i know so many! "wife left me, i joined the NRA" type shit.

in this situation you're describing, i think the breakup is a huge part of how this plays out. because: 1. any feelings he has for men after that are just because she fucked him up so bad. and 2. yes, he's upset she left, why wouldn't he be? he certainly wasn't relieved, secretly, that she pulled the trigger, that she gave him an excuse to push her away. he certainly wasn't tired of pretending, especially given his new condition, which makes it harder to mask. that would be crazy.

so he latches on to this post-breakup, miss-her-but-resent-her pattern of behavior because it's an easy cover for whatever else he's feeling, on two separate fronts. and then she comes back. he finds out Wilson is trying to keep them apart and for a split second, he hopes it's because Wilson's jealous, and he hates that he feels that so much that he throws himself back into manic Stacy-mode again, to the point of being party to her marriage nearly breaking up. a guy who breaks up his ex's marriage is definitely straight! right??

i think a lot of the time we get House being portrayed as the one who's settled with himself because he has this air of hedonism about him, and he enjoys being the contrarian/making people uncomfortable, and doesn't appear to care what other people think. but of course, we see that's especially untrue where his father is concerned. in a world where nothing was off limits to House, we'd expect to see him weaponizing the abuse as part of the way he makes people uncomfortable, right? instead, he's so quiet about it that even Wilson doesn't know well enough to not make him go to the funeral. it's a product of a time when certain things belonged behind closed doors. so there are some things that are off limits to House. joking about being gay is one thing, it gets a rise out of people, but he doesn't allow himself the real thing because 1. he's not gay and 2. it's so bound up in the complexity of the first few decades of his life. which he doesn't talk about, not even to make people squirm. most young people start to contend with their sexuality while still living at home...on base housing, where it felt like there were eyes everywhere, and with a father like John House. then, like you said, came the AIDS crisis, and how many tirades do you think John probably went off on? with his son, the doctor, on the phone with him? the voice that told him how to be a man is asking if he's really gonna treat those fags or not. what do you do?

i'll end this by saying, as a kid who grew up with base brats of several types, i've always found it really interesting + sorely underexplored that House is referred to so often just by surname. i know it's a thing among medical folk, too, but undoubtedly, when his father's buddies came around, they were calling him House. hell, i knew kids whose mothers called their fathers by surname. i've always found this interesting because if House didn't choose it, if it's something that just happened organically during med school, did it hurt at first? and if he did choose it, in this case, would it be because it felt like being a man? his father, the model he had for "real" masculinity growing up--would taking up his name in his early adulthood feel like a shortcut to a male ideal that he was so desperately struggling to align with?

thinking about internalised homophobia House. I normally headcanon him as openly bi (but maybe repressed or in denial about being in love with Wilson), but I like the idea of his suggestive gay comments being a cover because he's so far in denial and gay jokes are a way of being like "haha isn't it so ridiculous and subversive to suggest I'm gay? I'm doing this for the shock value because I'm obviously straight", in the same way straight guys think gay jokes are the funniest thing in the world

his homophobic military dad and becoming independent and coming of age in the 1980s and only hearing about gay people during the AIDS crisis left him with some fucked up ideas and attitudes about gay people (and himself. and what it means to be a man)

if Wilson ever tries to confess feelings for House (or if they fall into each other on a drunken night), House would absolutely withdraw, run away, push Wilson away because House isn't gay

House then dating a woman to prove to Wilson (and everyone. and himself) that he's normal and straight

eventually, if he and Wilson start seeing each other, House would rationalise it as "technically homosexual, but not like those other gays". maybe he'd also withdraw in public where anyone could see them, and try to suppress the emotional side of things ("this is just physical, don't be a fag about it")

meanwhile, Wilson is desperately trying to be okay with the scraps of affection he gets from House, but it's killing him. he's not doing well. after pining over House for so long (knowingly? unknowingly? you decide), he didn't think it would feel like this. but maybe this is the best he deserves

[lastofthewardens]

oof. probable BIG spoilers for the new show under the cut for people who care about that. nothing is confirmed, but i wholeheartedly believe this to be the truth, so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK because i'm basically just screaming into the void in long form with nowhere else to let this out. my heart hurts so much right now.

for context, i'll be censoring characters/properties i mention that are unrelated so this doesn't show up in those search results.

so i guess the writing is basically on the wall about what will happen with foggy. i tried to stay positive, be delusional, rationalize a way out of what admittedly always looked bad to me. i didn't want to believe it because getting rid of FOGGY NELSON in a DAREDEVIL show seemed absolutely insane to me, especially when there are comic plots they could use to achieve 'matt losing foggy' and then go back on it afterwards. i did my best to not think about it for months at a time, reasoning that it can't be what it looks like, but at this point, the show comes out next week, and here we are.

now obviously nothing can be 100% confirmed until the episode comes out, i'll take all this back if i'm completely wrong, etc. etc. maybe this is the just the CRAZIEST long game of all time, the most coordinated possible lie. but based on the leaks i've seen, the interviews they've been giving, and what we can piece together from officially released material.. yeah, it looks like it's pretty much over.

they all talk like people who are preemptively trying to do damage control. i get the impression they KNOW this will upset maybe not MOST people but some amount of people, and they keep trying to pass blame around, hoping they won't have to take accountability. no one seems to want to own this plot point or acknowledge they've gone along with it. if i'm being completely honest, and i won't go into details because there's no point, but over the past year since this roller coaster started with the first leaks, i've lost a lot of respect for some of the people involved due to the way that they've chosen to engage or conduct themselves with regards to foggy's death.

but my gripe with them is not what this post is about. this post is about foggy.

let me back up first. when i watched daredevil, i didn't care about marvel at all. i was a fan of spiderm*n, but i didn't really read the comics, i only watched the original trilogy movies with t*bey mag*ire and the cartoons when i was a kid. i was primarily a DC fan actually, those were the comics i read, and god, I HATED the MC*U in particular. if you asked me at the time, i would've said something incredibly stupid like "spiderm*n is the only marvel character worth anything", and i would've been sat here years later cringing off the face of the planet remembering i said that.

and then i watched netfl*x's daredevil. i remember instantly falling in love with the show, the characters, the cinematography. man, i was obsessed. i loved everything about it, i loved nelson murdock and page, and i was so glad they let karen stick around because while i didn't read comics then, i was aware of her fate. but my favorite dynamic in the show was matt and foggy, right from the very start. and after years of watching them struggle, sometimes with painfully long waits between seasons, i'll never forget the absolute JOY i felt when they were stood in front of ray in season 3, saying they're going to represent him, and foggy says 'as nelson and murdock, attorneys at law'. united again at last. then nelson and murdock 'officially' became nelson murdock and page, and i was given the happiest possible ending for a show that was cancelled far too early. i carried that happy ending in my heart for a very long time.

when the show ended, i was obviously sad. i wanted to spend more time with all of these characters, and it was being cancelled for reasons that didn't feel fair after an amazingly well received season. i held out hope that maybe one day my favorite show would return, maybe a little different but with the same heart surely. surely. (if only i knew then what i know now). i didn't expect it though, and i made peace with my happy ending because that's something not all shows even get! i was grateful. grateful is the best way to put it.

and so i took that energy with me, and eventually, i decided to read some comic books. matt and foggy's relationship in the comics made me mourn for the season 4 that could've been because in my heart, i know they would've finally mended things properly. they would've worked together as a team again. and while the daredevil comics obviously have tons of other stuff going for them, matt and foggy were still at the heart of that for me. seeing the source material really enhanced my appreciation for the show and the characters, while also giving me something else to love about daredevil because many of those comic runs are amazing.

and when the new show was announced, i was so nervous but so excited. at first. but then what followed from there was a series of rumors over time about foggy and karen not being included at all, about foggy just being a cameo, foggy being KILLED off screen??? i remember just thinking what the actual fuck are they doing. and then everyone was fired! they hired a bunch of new people, said they were fixing things. there was hope. set pictures came out of nelson murdock and page, and for a day, i couldn't have been happier than i was seeing the three of them together again. then the other set pictures came out. videos. stories about those days on set being told by the people who leaked them. leakers who were supposedly reliable (as reliable as any of them ever are) said independently that foggy was still going to die. i was livid and upset and confused about how they could ever think this was a good idea.

for a solid year, i tried to ignore it was happening. 'they couldn't possibly be right, this can't be what it looks like, it's too obvious right? ...right?'. but i think it is what's happening. they are killing foggy nelson, in a daredevil show. and i'm absolutely devastated.

this is such an incredibly huge mistake for them to be making, even objectively. they talk about wanting this show to go on for 'season infinity', saying they have so many stories left to tell, and i just don't get it at all. 60 YEARS of comic history that i've come to love just flushed down the drain. so many story lines discarded, now impossible to adapt. so many story lines gutted, not impossible to adapt but missing the beating heart of it.

and it feels like no one cares. i go on social media, on twitter, on reddit. so many people just seem to think 'well, that's sad, but as long as it's a good story', as if foggy nelson isn't absolutely vital to matt's character, as if their friendship isn't part of the fabric. some people are arguing that 'it's never been done, and bold choices are good!' or else saying that they 'needed to raise stakes', especially to make bullseye look cool, all of which are absurd arguments to me. i remember when adaptations used to be love letters, not shitting on something just for the sake of 'doing something new'. i only wanted to see my favorite characters on screen again.

so the hardest part of this is feeling like there won't be any justice for this colossal fuck up. most people will obviously still watch this show. it will likely be extremely successful. just look at the early reviews, eating it up despite his death in the FIRST TEN MINUTES. they won't get the backlash that they deserve for shitting on the original show and the source material. at worst, a handful of people won't watch, like me, and they'll get some small amount of hate on social media, but largely, i suspect people will move on. (i won't).

there will be no justice. just insane disrespect for foggy's character, insane disrespect for his relationship with matt. i'm less sure about this part, but i've heard there's not even a funeral, that after he dies it goes to the title screen and then a year time skip. skipping all of the immediate aftermath in favor of what.. daredevil doing sick flips? another fight sequence? whatever. they couldn't even respect his character in death, but don't worry guys, i'm sure they totally 'care a lot'.

how they'll choose to handle it throughout the season will remain to be seen (or read and seethed about in my case because fuck that), so i can't speak on this part as much, but it seems like a disrespect to matt's character too. that man would never be happy again if foggy nelson died, but this new team clearly has other ideas.

and they could've fixed this. if you're someone who is upset, DO NOT let them fool you or talk you into thinking their hands were tied. the first and last two episodes are all new content the new team filmed. the story relied on everyone thinking foggy was dead, sure, but he didn't have to actually be dead. there's comic precedent for a fake out, and the death scene is newly filmed content. they even reshot scenes they'd filmed, like vanessa's when they got the actress back. however it plays out, the NEW team decided to make it play out that way. if i'm right and foggy is dead and there's no coming back from it, it's THEM who decided this. instead of making him look dead by constructing a death that he could come back from and then bringing him back after the plot they needed to tell (to keep the footage they already shot) was resolved, they just killed him. hold them responsible, always. don't let them pass the blame around the way they've so obviously been doing. this IS in fact on them, no matter what they say.

but at the end of the day, all that aside, my anger and sadness over this won't change anything. foggy's still dying. he's a character of his own with so many stories left they could've told, but they're discarding him in episode 1. any character development i'd been looking forward to seeing for him is all just gone. so many beautiful moments between matt and foggy just.. tossed away.

i'm a matt fan first. he's my favorite character. but i won't watch this show without foggy. there is no matt without foggy, to me. a permanent death, a matt permanently without foggy, is not a story that i'm interested in seeing or one i think is even worth telling. daredevil stories can be dark, yes, matt loses people close to him, yes, but there can also be a lot of hope, and foggy is his constant. there is no hope here. in retrospect, i know the original show didn't get everything right, but they would never have killed off foggy nelson. they knew how important he was. i believe that in my heart.

and i'm devastated. i've cried, honestly. because i don't know how i'm supposed to engage with anything daredevil now without it being tainted by this. i don't know how to watch the original show and not be thinking about what they've done, that the future of that version of those characters is what it is. i don't know how to read the comics and not be reminded of what could've been for matt and foggy, if people who actually cared about the right things had made this new show.

this isn't just.. a bad new show, that i can ignore, you know? if they'd kept it a reboot, excluded characters, i would've been annoyed but i could've just brushed it off as nothing to me. now that it's a continuation, and they've brought foggy back literally just to fridge him, it feels like something is being taken away from me. the joy that i felt watching season 3, reuniting 'as nelson and murdock, attorneys at law'. the joy that i felt watching foggy write nelson murdock and page on the napkin, and ending that show knowing they were going to be okay, even if i never saw them again on my screen. the happy ending i'd held in my heart all these years. it feels like that's been stolen from me by people who don't really get it at all.

i hope on tuesday i look like a complete fool for writing all of this, that i come back here and delete this post in embarrassment because i'm so completely wrong. i want to be wrong sooo bad, but i don't think that i am, and this all just really sucks. foggy nelson deserves so much better, and so do all of us fans.

[discluded]

Congratulations to Mile for being one of Lefty's top EMV influencers at Menswear SS24 fashion week! This is super cool because it means he's made the top 10 across both Milan and Paris men's fashion weeks and not just Paris men's.

access the full report here.

Lefty previously named Apo one of Dior Gateway to India show's top influencers. Click through for more information on EMV in that post.

[rachiqueen]

It took Rachi a while to catch his breath after the way Aisoon had fucked him into the bathroom stall door. His eyes were still glazed over, sparkling, but hyper-aware to Aisoon's movements, watching him carefully. Rachi hadn't just fucked him for fun - he had a purpose, a reason, and he needed to see it through. His contract would benefit both of them, if Aisoon accepted it, and he had yet to receive an answer despite being on his best behaviour for the escort. He had done his part so so well, surely Aisoon wouldn't leave him hanging, right? He wouldn't be that cruel to Rachi, would he?

Pressing a kiss against Aisoon's lips was the last thing Rachi could do to convince him to accept his proposal. It was gentle compared to the way they fucked. Borderline intimate, which would usually send Rachi running. But for Aisoon, for that possibility of having him whenever he wanted, no strings attached, Rachi could do it. He could be whatever the man wanted him to be.

Except his...

Aisoon had done up his jeans, having cleaned himself up before doing so, already looking to leave. Rachi remained naked from the waist down, could feel remnants of the man's cum dripping slowly from his hole and down his thighs, hoping that a final look at his body would help in his endeavour. And when Aisoon reached to hold him by the chin, Rachi felt a flutter of hope in his chest. He was waiting to hear it. Yes, he wanted Aisoon to say. I accept.

Except, this close, when Rachi got a good look at Aisoon's face, he felt that hope faltering. And instead of agreeing, Aisoon said...

"I'll think about it."

Rachi blinked up him, knowing what that meant. Stubbornly, he didn't want to let Aisoon go after that. Wanted to sit him down and demand he reconsider, offer his body for another round, even if he was already filled and aching. He could ride him, he could suck him again, he could hump his fucking leg like a dog in heat, anything so long as Aisoon took those words back and changed his mind...

Letting out a shaky sigh, knowing there was nothing more he could do for the time being, Rachi leaned back, pulling away from Aisoon as the man unlocked the bathroom stall. Their voyeur had left earlier, Rachi having heard the squeak of the swinging door earlier, so the bathroom was empty, but it felt even emptier when the escort left without another word.

Shakily, Rachi wiped himself clean as best as he could before sliding his underwear back up his legs, followed by his pants. His shirt rubbed harshly against his chest, where his nipples had been played with, and there was no denying that he was walking with a very noticeable limp now compared to when he first came in.

Deflated, Rachi quickly washed his hands, drying them on his pants before exiting. He made a beeline to the front of the cafe, ignoring the looks of the patrons seated at the tables close to the bathroom - he had been loud, and wouldn't be surprised if they had heard the way he had moaned like a whore for Aisoon. The staff members too, seemed to hover, most likely to tell Rachi to leave - however, an embarrassed Rachi was already headed to the door to avoid that conversation.

Rachi exited, looking around one final time to see if Aisoon had somehow was lingering. He had said no, but it was never too late to change his mind. The offer was on the table, and Rachi didn't plan on removing it. But... Aisoon was nowhere in sight.

Sighing, Rachi took out his phone to call for a ride. He had walked here but there was no way he could walk back, not when his ass throbbed with every step, reminding him of what he was missing out on. He had to have hope that Aisoon would come back to him - but until then, Rachi would have to be patient...

[ end ]

"A-ack-! U-urk-! A-aisoonnnnn~" Rachi's throat was tight but he couldn't stop shouting the other's name, Aisoon's fingers gripping him like a vice, causing the man's vision to swim as he road out one of the strongest, bone shattering orgasms of his entire life. He didn't know how Aisoon did it, but every time they had sex it only got better and better, blowing his mind away with how fucking incredible it felt. He was fucked senseless, choking on the hand that wrapped around his throat, his cock spilling he seed for what felt like forever, leaving a sticky mess all over his skin, Aisoon's hand, and the fucking stall door he was pressed up against. Outside, he heard a grunt, a sharp intake of breath, the watcher clearly enjoying the show that was being put on even if all he saw of it was through the small gap between the door and wall of the stall.

Aisoon released him and Rachi sucked in a breath of air. He turned to face Aisoon, leaning against the door, trying to catch his breath when the other demanded him to get on his knees and suck that huge cock that he had been dreaming about for weeks now. And Rachi didn't even care that he was still half-breathless and delirious, that his cock was overstimulated and aching despite having just painted the walls with his cum - he sunk onto the floor so quickly it's like he was pulled down by an invisible hand. His pink mouth parted to accept Aisoon's fingers, licking up his own cum with a loud moan while the man gripped his hair tight.

"Remember, you have an audience… Show them how lewd your mouth is… How you much you love my cock."

"F-fuckkkk, g-give it to m-mfffff," Rachi was cut off when Aisoon shoved his length inside his wet mouth, saliva immediately coating the hardened cock that seemed even bigger than before. It had just been inside his ass, drilling against his prostate, sending him to heaven, and Rachi sucked on it like his life depended on it. His nails dug crescent shapes into Aisoon's thick thighs as he gagged loudly around the man's cock that stuffed him full, his cheeks puffed out while wet noises echoed through the bathroom. He couldn't made one coherent sound like this, even though he tried. Love your cock teerak, Rachi wanted to say despite the mouthful of cock that had him instead moaning and gagging and choking. Want it deeper. Choke me with it. Make me taste you for days, weeks. Want to swallow your cum until I'm bursting, fuck my whore mouth til I can't talk anymore, fuuuuckk-

Muffled, wet, gagged noises came deep from Rachi's throat as he swallowed more of Aisoon in, fresh tears dripping from his blurry vision as his oxygen was cut off every time the man thrust inside of him. He couldn't get enough, he could do this all day, on his knees with nothing but Aisoon's cock to keep him full and stretched and satisfied.

Rachi could feel the way Aisoon's hot length twitched in he mouth, and he was ready to swallow every last salty drop if Aisoon decided to finish in there but the man instead pulled out, yanking Rachi to his feet and letting their mouths clash in a violent kiss. "Fuckkk," Rachi moaned loudly between the kisses. He could taste the saltiness of Aisoon on his tongue as it twisted against the other's, saliva trailing from the sides of his mouth and mixing in with the wet tears that dripped down his chin.

"Gimme that ass, spread it for me."

Rachi's back collided with the door of the stall when Aisoon pushed him against it, the loud sound invading the otherwise quiet bathroom. By now, Rachi's underwear had totally slipped down to the ground, joining his neglected pants and exposing his long and creamy legs. He steadied himself on one leg as Aisoon lifted up the other, exposing the hole that had just been pounded by him not long ago, stretched out and ready for more. "You gonna fill me up good, teerak?" Rachi panted as he reached for Aisoon's cock, squeezing it as he guided it towards his waiting hole. He dragged the wetness against his fluttering entrance, relaxing his body and releasing a shaky breath as he slipped it inside. He moaned loudly when as soon as it entered him, Aisoon thrust in powerfully, with Rachi now splaying his arms back on the unstable door behind him for purchase. His body was shoved back against the wood as Aisoon stuffed his cock deep inside of him, pounding at his ass with powerful thrusts.

"G-god~!" Rachi screamed, throwing his head back on the door, hearing the way it slam slam slammed from the strength of Aisoon's fucking, his ass smacking back against it. He was on his tip-toes, while his right leg was up behind Aisoon's shoulders, his hole sucking that huge cock in as if it didn't want to let go. His own dick quivered, fully spent and aching from having been empty, but it stirred with warmth, swaying with the movement of his body. "F-fuck me til I can't walk," Rachi mewled, reaching around to hold onto Aisoon's shoulders. "W-wanna feel your cock for days, f-fill me with your cum- ahhhhh A-aisoon sogoodsogoodsogoodddd~"

Aisoon drew him in for a kiss, which Rachi moaned into, a small cry escaping him when the other bit down on his lower lip. The sting, the pain, it reddened his full and pink lips, nearly breaking the skin, and Rachi loved it. Aisoon's hand lifted up to grab his throat again, and Rachi sucked in a sharp breath as his fingers choked his neck, a constant pressure that had him straining to breath. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and his mouth was parted in a pant as Aisoon hammered at his ass. The hips that thrust against Rachi's heated body stuttered as a warmth filled him on the inside, the dancer almost unable to take another breath as Aisoon's cum painted his soft walls. His hole clenched around the man's cock, gripping it in place, not wanting a single drop to escape, even though there was so much of it that it was an impossible task. Droplets leaked out from the rim of Rachi's hole, dribbling down the back of his ass and his thighs.

And it wasn't just Aisoon that came. From outside of the stall, a grunt from their audience member and a hard smack against the door had Rachi knowing exactly what happened out there - clearly, the show they had put on was effective. Through the gap he could hear the laboured breathing, it matched his own, as their watcher also tugged at his cock with wet noises before letting out a cry as they came too, most likely all over themselves.

"F-fuck," Rachi breathed, placing a hand against his lower stomach, swearing that he felt Aisoon's cum reach all the way there. It was hot. How could he even go about his day like this? Even if he decided to go home he'd still be walking while his stomach was full of Aisoon, ass stinging from the man's length. He anticipated that he'd feel that way for day. God. He could get hard again just thinking about it.

Slowly, Rachi pulled his leg down from where it rested on Aisoon's shoulder, trying to steady himself, resting his hands on the other's chest to do so. He was wobbly, and now the pain in his ass could be felt in full force - he doubted he could walk in a straight line. "A-aisoon," Rachi sighed happily, gazing at the man in front of him. "D-do you see what you do to me?" He asked, his voice scratchy from how much he had screamed. "Do you see what you could do to me whenever you wanted?" Rachi continued, leaning forward to kiss the man's lips softly. He was pulling out every trick in the book, desperate not to lose this man to anyone else.