#I’ll go somewhere else instead and take camera?

[yakultii]

I have a uni assignment to do but I’m just gonna eat pie, buy honeydew milk tea and go on a long walk

[coco-loco-nut]

She’s So Gone

pairing: lando x ex!reader, charles x platonic!reader, carlos x reader

summary: all it takes is a kiss to change everything

masterlist requests open

———————

“Lando, stop,” you laugh as your boyfriend tickles your side. He is staying with you for the evening since the F3 opening race is at Silverstone.

“Come on, say you are coming to my race,” he pouts as his hands still from their assault on your side.

“I’ll try. I have a paper that I need to finish first,” you can’t help but feel the mood drop as Lando lays down beside you.

“You can work on it at the track,” he feebly argues.

“Lan, I have to put my studies first. Plus, the band might want to practice for our gig next week,” you frown.

“Aren’t I more important?” he asks, and you feel your stomach twist.

“You are, Lan. I’ll be there. Just try and come to my gig next week, yeah?” you ask, absentmindedly rubbing the back of his hand with your thumb.

“Of course, wouldn’t miss it,” Lando promises. And while you skipped sleep and shuffled things around to attend Lando’s race, he forgot your gig and gave a weak apology. He always did.

You attend the first race after your school year ended and fiddle with the team shirt that Lando gave you to wear.

“Stay just like that, you look so pretty,” Lando says, camera in hand as he takes a picture.

“Come on, Lando. I probably look awful,” you say, arms folding in front of you. Lando steps closer, pulling your arms down and bringing you into a hug.

“Of course now. How could you when you wear my shirt,” Lando wraps his arm around your shoulder and leads you through the paddock. You can’t help but feel like everyone is judging you, especially because it’s a support race weekend.

Lando ends up dragging you out to a bar after his podium. As soon as you arrive, you are left alone. You watch Lando talk to people, forgetting about you.

“Are you okay?” a voice asks. You recognize him as the driver who won the F2 feature race. How sad must you look, standing alone at the bar, so that someone you don’t know is concerned.

“Yeah, just waiting for my boyfriend to get back,” your eyes travel to where you last saw Lando, only to see him kissing some blonde girl. “I, um,” you swallow and blink back tears.

Charles’ eyes are wide as he looks between you and Lando, feeling a little awkward. He just wanted to make sure you weren’t about to pass out from alcohol, and he’s watching you get cheated on.

“Sorry, I’m just gonna go,” you bitterly smile.

“Fuck,” Charles mutters, turning to follow you. “Hold on, you shouldn’t walk alone at night,” Charles doesn’t know why he’s offering, but his gut usually isn’t wrong.

“I’m fine, but thank you. You should enjoy your party,” you a fighting to stay fine.

“I insist, it was getting boring anyway,” Charles lies. “Where are you staying?” Your silence is an answer enough. “I have a pull out bed in my hotel room, if you need somewhere to crash for the night,” he offers, still unsure why he’s offering.

“Thanks,” you whisper. Luckily for you, Charles was only a few floors from Lando and your bag was mostly packed. Your phone rings with a call from Lando, but you ignore it. Instead, you scribble a note on the pad provided by the hotel, telling him you were done.

Charles watches as your hand shakes a little, but you seem relieved. He sends a quick text to his teammate to not be surprised that there is a random girl crashing in their hotel room.

“I don’t ever think I caught your name,” Charles breaks the silence as you walk to his room.

“Y/n,” you feel a weight lifted off your shoulders, finally breaking away from Lando. As much as you don’t want to admit it, he’s been weighing you down, making you choose him over everything else.

“I’m Charles. Sorry about what happened back there,”

“It’s fine, probably for the best. Thanks for, uh, letting a stranger crash the night,” you set your bags down as you help Charles pull out the couch.

“It’s the right thing to do,” Charles replies as he hands you a couple pillows and a blanket.

After he bids you goodnight, you rebook your train home to the first one of the day. In the morning you silently put the couch back, leaving everything neatly with a thank you note. You slip out of the hotel room quietly and return home.

Once you board the train, you open the strings of texts you received last night.

Lando:

Y/n, where did you go?

If you went back to the hotel, please let me know you are there and safe?

Y/n?

I miss you :(

Y/n? Why aren’t you in the room?

This note is a joke right? I didn’t cheat! We aren’t over.

Y/n, please.

Babe, tell me you are joking.

I watched you kiss her, don’t lie. I don’t want to know how much of this has been happening behind my back.

You rarely showed up for my gigs, but I’ve made every effort to be at your races. I don’t even think you know what degree I’m studying for. This was the just last straw.

Lose my number.

It’s chemistry, you’ve always loved chemistry. You would send me the silly meme. You’re my nerd and I love you for it. I’m sorry I lied, I need you.

You feel on odd sense of peace. Out of curiosity, you look up Charles on social media, following him so you could see where his career takes him. It seems like you have a new favorite driver. In the process, you unfollow Lando and delete most of the photos of him on your profile. You don’t bother blocking him, he hasn’t given you a reason for that yet.

Charles quickly follows you back, sending you a message that he’s glad you got home safely. You send a message back thanking him for letting you crash and wish him luck in his career.

The school year held a lot of transformation for you. As you advanced your studies, you grew more confident in yourself and your little band began taking off. While inside you were still bookish and loved a rainy day with a blanket on your couch, you weren’t afraid to be bold and dress a little more daring when out.

You messaged Charles every once in a while, keeping up with his racing, wishing him a happy birthday, stuff like that. You weren’t expecting him to invite you to visit Monaco on your spring break. Sure you sent funny videos to each other and texted every so often, but you didn’t think you were that close.

“You seem different,” Charles says as he picks you up.

“I’ve been exploring myself this year, different styles, new music, stuff like that,”

“Well, I like it, you seem more confident than the girl I met at the bar,” Charles shrugs, you feel a sense of pride in it. You’ve worked hard to separate yourself from the girl that followed Lando around.

“Well you’ve changed too, mister hot shot Formula One driver,” you smile, watching him fight his own grin from the drivers seat.

That night you go out to the club with friends of Charles, the ones who don’t race in the higher formulas. It was already a little awkward meeting his entire family since he insisted that you not book a hotel, so you are hoping that alcohol calms your nerves.

“This is my friend, Y/n, she goes to school in England,” Charles says, letting the guys introduce themselves.

“How’d you meet?” one of them asks as you stand in line for the club.

“My ex cheated on me and Charles happened to be there. He let me crash the night on the couch in his hotel room,” you admit, not knowing a better way to explain it.

“That’s Charles, he’s nice like that. We all thought he was bringing a girlfriend,” the friend, Joris, says causing you to flush.

“No, we are just friends. I was a little surprised to get the invite to come here myself,” you chuckle, not able to picture yourself dating Charles. He was handsome, sure, but you just weren’t attracted to him like that.

“Well, you are doing something right. Have you been to one of his races?”

“No. I check to see if he’s won, but I don’t attend in person, not my thing,” you aren’t sure the answer he is looking for. You are sure Charles appreciates that you aren’t his friend so you can attend races, but you do cheer for him.

“You are missing out, you should come some time,” Joris says as you near the club entrance.

“Maybe,” your shrug ends that topic.

After a wild night, for the guys at least, you wanted to stay sober enough to make sure everyone left alive, you find yourself supporting a very drunk Charles back to bed.

“You know, you are a good friend. We should hang out more,” Charles slurs.

“Well, I am in university and you are traveling around the world, we don’t really have time for that,” you chuckle.

“Drop out, I’ll give you a job. What are you studying?”

“Chemistry,” you wonder how Charles will think of a job for that.

“Huh, I thought you’d be like history or something. What if I just hire you to be my personal entertainer?” Charles asks, you just shake your head with a smile.

“If you can even remember this conversation in the morning we will talk about it,” you smile as you reach his bedroom.

“Thanks. You know, this reminds me of the night we met,” Charles reaches for the handle to his bedroom as you turn to walk away, pausing when you hear him.

“How so? We were just at the club, nothing special,”

“I brought you home with me, only this time you aren’t crashing on my couch,” Charles grins as you roll your eyes good-naturedly.

“Goodnight, Leclerc,” you head to the guest room before you wake up the whole family.

The rest of the week goes by quickly, Charles shows you around and you get to know his family a little better. He didn’t remember your hallway conversation, but you did tease him for it.

Your relationship with Charles improved after that. He came to watch a couple sets of yours during breaks and you visited occasionally when you were both free, but you mostly kept up with each other through texts and social media. You weren’t best friends, but you were more than casual friends.

He even attended your graduation, something he proudly posted on his story. Charles tried to find a job for you in Formula One, something you protested, but he came up short. Turns out there isn’t too much need for a biochemist in Ferrari. You took the first good offer that came your way, but you kept your music career alive.

Everything worked out in the end, and you find yourself immediately calling Charles one afternoon after getting off the phone with your band.

“Charlie, I have a surprise,” you say as soon as he picks up the phone, your excitement radiates through.

“Well? What is it?” Charles sounds equally excited, secretly hoping you will finally attend a race.

“I am opening for Taylor Swift in Europe next year,” you squeal. Your alt style pop music was growing in popularity, quickly becoming a favorite of teen girls, and when you got the offer you just couldn’t refuse. It’s the perfect way to launch yourself.

“That’s incredible! I can’t wait to watch you on stage again. I was going to get tickets for Alex and I,” Charles says, he’s been one of your biggest supporters and has helped you get through writers block once or twice.

“I could always bring you onstage to accompany me,” you smile, imagining the crowd’s reaction.

“No way. I need to let you shine. Besides, I haven’t officially collaborated with your band yet,” Charles laughs. “Oh, when you come to Monaco, I have someone I want you to meet,” Charles says.

“Is this your way of getting me into the paddock, because you know how I feel about that,” your voice has a warning tone.

“No, although my offer still stands. Carlos just wants to meet you, apparently I talk too much about you,”

“Shocker, you talk about your insanely awesome friend. Isn’t he my ex’s best friend though?” You ask bluntly.

“They were teammates, yes, but I wouldn’t say best friends, more like just friends. He’s nothing like Lando though, trust me,” Charles says and you sigh, fiddling with the hem of your shirt.

“Well, if he passes your tests, then he must be okay,” you give in. “And, maybe, if we keep it low key, I’ll watch the race with Alex,” you say, having thought about it.

“Really?” Charles sounds like a kid on Christmas and you start to think that maybe it isn’t such a bad idea. You aren’t the same person as the one who that last stepped into the paddock.

“Yeah, I was going to do a pop up show anyway, so why not. Why keep hiding myself, like you said. I gotta shine,” you grab your journal, starting to write lines.

“I’ll get you passes. Talk to you later?” Charles says, waiting for your confirmation before hanging up.

The water in the harbor sparkes as the sun reflects off of it. You sit on the yacht with Charles and Alex, tattooed fingers strumming the guitar. The rest of your band decided to explore the city despite having an invitation to join.

You stare at the tattoo that adorns your hand, the simple lines that lead from your pinky to the small butterfly just above your wrist. A reminder of breaking away, learning to fly.

“Wanna hear something new I started,” you ask, “I only have the first verse started, but it has potential,” you strum a random chord before singing.

“I’d be more than happy to workshop it on the piano with you,” Charles offers after your mini-performance.

“Not that it needs any fine tuning, it’s going to be a hit,” Alex reassures you. You smile and go back to playing random chords as you enjoy the waves.

“Am I interrupting?” a new voice asks, a Spanish accent cutting through the humid Monaco air.

“Not at all, we were just about to head out,” Charles stands up as you set the guitar down. He heads to untie the lines as Alex greets the visitor.

“Carlos, this is our friend Y/n. Y/n, this is Charles’ teammate Carlos,” Alex introduces you. You take in the handsome driver before shaking his hand.

“Nice to meet you,” You smile as Carlos sits beside you, limited seats and all.

“How did you meet Charles and Alex?” Carlos asks, a seemingly simple question.

“It’s a long story. Let’s just say that Charles took in a stranger when she needed it most,” you tightly smile and Carlos drops the subject.

“You are a musician, no? One of my friends listens to your music,” Carlos says and you perk up a little.

“Yes. I’m sorry if Charles blasts my music too loud,” you offer a genuine smile.

“No, no, not Charles. Well, yes Charles but not as much. His name is Lando, we used to be teammates. He loves your music,” Carlos says and you quickly excuse yourself, claiming you need to put your guitar away.

“Sorry about that. Lando is a sensitive subject,” Alex says, not sure how much to say. Carlos nods, subtly pulling out his phone to look up your social media. It’s not hard to scroll through old posts and find one or two pictures of you and Lando together. You look so different, like a delicate doll. Carlos remembers Lando talking about an ex who just cut him out without warning, but he’s starting to think there is more to the story.

“Sorry, didn’t want my guitar to be in the sun too long,” you say, sitting back down beside Alex. “So, Carlos, how is racing with Charlie?” you ask. Carlos is quick to answer and with some more questions you find out that you will both be attending the Leclerc family dinner that night.

“What a beautiful day out,” Charles says as he rejoins you, having dropped anchor. You take to opportunity to lay out on the bow of the yacht, wanting some sun before jumping into the water.

“You okay?” Alex asks as she sits beside you. You arch your brow as you look up at her.

“Why wouldn’t I be. All that is in the past, plus I’m going to the race this weekend. Jokes on Lando, I’m so much better without him,” you say, meaning every word. Alex nods, glancing back to where Charles and Carlos are chatting.

“Carlos is nice,”

“What are you getting at?”

“Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get to know him?” Alex says and you glance back, ignoring the fluttering in your chest. “Charles wouldn’t bring him around you if he wasn’t sure how you would handle it,” her words ring true.

“He’s basically been my protector since he watched me get cheated on. Charles is a good friend. Maybe I’ll invite him to the pop up show,” you weigh your options. Maybe it’s time to move on, and so what if it’s your former boyfriend’s friend and former teammate. You’re all adults, and plenty of time has passed.

You barely notice when Alex is replaced by said Spaniard.

“It’s quite warm in the sun,” Carlos comments, breaking the silence.

“It is, I may have to go into the water soon,” you reply, eyes trained on how his muscles ripple when he takes off his shirt.

“Not a bad idea,” Carlos agrees, his tan skin brushing your arm.

“My band, Midnight Hours is playing a pop up show at this pretty popular club tonight, you should come out. Charles has a few extra passes,” you say, pushing your hair back.

“I’d love to, thanks,” Carlos hopes that you think the blush on his face is from the sun. He knows he shouldn’t find you attractive, you are Lando’s ex after all, but he can’t help it.

“Well, I’m going to swim. Talk to you later Carlos,” he doesn’t respond as his brain is slightly fried at how you say his name, he watches you walk away and jump into the water.

That night you go to the club soon after dinner with the Leclercs to set up and run a sound check. Passes to the concert sold out soon after it was announced.

“Nervous?” Lia, your bassist, asks as you pluck a string to tune it after the sound check.

“A little. More excited if anything,” you say, setting down the guitar on its stand.

“Well, let’s grab a round before the club opens and celebrate this,” she pulls you offstage to join the rest of the band.

The hour passes by quick, and you find yourself smoothing your tight black dress and fiddling with the rings on your fingers. Maybe heels were a bad option? But they make you look fabulous.

Charles nudges Carlos as they spot you waiting for your introduction. The two of them plus Arthur and Alex are close to the stage, ready to be your loudest supports.

The lights are blinding as you walk on, and the sound of cheering is deafening. Lando feels a punch of regret for coming. You look amazing, but so different from the girl he used to date. Your mini black dress a contrast from the cozy cardigans you used to live in. He can’t help but wonder if he really knew you.

Your set is phenomenal, at one point you catch Carlos’ eye and send him a wink. As soon as the set ends, your band clears the stage to party with everyone. You start at the bar though, knowing Charles will lead the charge to find you.

“Y/n,” a british accent calls your name from beside you, and your mood sours.

“What do you want, Lando?” you hold your cup a little tighter.

“Your set was incredible. I’m sorry for everything, what I did wasn’t cool,”

“You’re right, it wasn’t. Cheating on me the getting with her two weeks after I broke it off? I felt like shit, you made me feel like shit. You never wanted to come to one of these before, why show up now?” you scoff, barely able to look at Lando.

“I miss you, you look hot and I want to try again. I can be better,”

“But I’m better without you. I’m stronger, prettier, well off, and I really don’t need you,” you start seeing red.

“Mate, you should leave,” Charles stands beside you.

“How do you know Charles?” Lando’s eyes widen.

“He helped me when you were too focused on kissing the first blonde girl who batted her eyes at you,” you seethe. You feel a hand, larger than Charles’ rest on your shoulder. “Stay, go, do whatever you want. Just leave me alone,” you stare Lando down.

“It’s for the best, Cabrón,” Carlos says from behind you. Lando just nods and walks away.

“Chemistry,” he yells back at you before disappearing into the crowd, you feel a bit sick to the stomach. The last texts you sent him flash through your mind.

“You okay? What did he mean by that?” Alex asks as Arthur orders a round of shots.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It doesn’t matter what he meant, fuck him,” you take a drink, steeling yourself.

“Okay,” she sounds convinced enough as she turns to Charles.

“Hermosa, you can do so much better than him,” Carlos says, lips near your ear.

“Aren’t you his friend?”

“I know that whatever he did is fucked up, and he doesn’t deserve you. He’s too childish for you,” you feel your body flush with heat as he brushes against you.

“Bottoms up,” Arthurs yells, as you all grab shots.

“To a wonderful performance, and an even better night,” you cheer before throwing it back.

You wander around the club, dancing with your band and meeting fans before you find yourself dancing with Carlos. His hands hold you close to him. You tilt your head up, looking at Carlos under the club lights. He finds his hand wandering up to the back of your neck, pulling you close and kissing you. Your arms wrap around his neck, content with your situation.

“Alright lovebirds, time to go,” Arthur interrupts you, giggling at your flushed appearances. Carlos stays close to you as you follow Arthur to where Charles and Alex are waiting with your guitar.

For the first time in a very long time, you are excited to be at the track. You weren’t scared anymore, and it’s a powerful feeling. You don’t even mind Ferrari taking pictures and posting you as a guest, fans of Charles know who you are anyway. They’ve been in your comments begging you to attend for a long time.

“I gotta go do an interview, mind keeping Y/n company?” Charles asks Carlos, who’s been acting like a teenager with a crush all day.

You are standing not too far away, talking with an engineer about something. Carlos thinks you look beautiful, and he loves how excited you seem despite it only being FP1. The engineer excuses himself as Carlos approaches and for the first time of the day, you feel nervous.

“Have you seen an F1 car before?” Carlos asks, you simply shake your head no. “Well then, let me show you.” For a split second you wonder if this is what you were like when you showed Charles the lab you work in. You let him discuss aerodynamics and downforce, but you can’t help but let yourself geek out too.

“You know that I did study thermodynamics right? I actually helped Charles understand some of the tire compounds,” you smile, holding back a laugh.

“Really? I didn’t realize you studied, um,”

“Chemistry. My masters is in biochemistry, but during my undergraduate studies I worked in a materials lab,” your cheeks blush as you speak. You don’t know why, you aren’t really embarrassed. Maybe you are scared he will think differently of you.

“Really? That’s so cool, I just assumed you are a musician full time,” Carlos says before adding an afterthought. “Being that smart is pretty hot,”

“Thanks,” you laugh, not expecting his addition. “Maybe one day soon I will perform full time, but I really enjoy working in a lab,” you shrug, happy with where things are at. You can’t reveal where you will be a year from now, but it does make you a little sad to know that your life will change forever and your nerdy side will be left behind.

You and Carlos quietly flirt throughout the rest of the race weekend. Charles secretly hopes that your crush on his teammate would make you come to more races, but instead you throw yourself back into the band. You had to prepare for your growing popularity, finding an agent and professional support for things that your band wasn’t able to manage.

You end up quitting your job soon after, able to be stable enough with the new revenue streams from the band. It didn’t help that your band kept getting booked and you needed to be more serious about performing.

Carlos did find himself texting you frequently and even visiting you in England over the next few weeks.

One of those nights he finds himself relaxing in your apartment as you grab takeout from the delivery driver. It hits him how domestic and right it feels.

“What’s on your mind?” you ask as you sit beside him, eyes full of curiosity.

“You,” he says as he wraps his arms around you. “How much I want you to be my girlfriend,” you don’t think you’ve seen Carlos so nervous.

“Really?” you hum as you lean into him. You can’t deny that you are nervous. You haven’t even thought about dating someone since your breakup, and you weren’t expecting that question so soon.

“You don’t have to answer right away, I know it’s not an easy one,” Carlos senses your hesitation and running mind.

“Yes, my answer is yes,” you answer before your mind can think about it more, knowing you are making the right choice.

And so, you quietly date for the next year, waiting for the right moment to go public. You do attend races a little more frequently, but usually under the guise of being Charles’ guest.

You did get invited to a race as a guest of Ferrari, well, the whole band did. You were asked to take part in the races C squared video too.

“This weeks challenge is a highly requested one. How many songs by Midnight Hours can you name?”

“Mate, no. Charles is friends with the lead singer, he knows everything. This is so unfair,” Carlos groans, keeping his cover.

“That is true, I’ve known Y/n for a few years. Sorry, Carlos, you might as well take the loss now,” Charles smiles, ready to win.

“The rules are simple, we will play thirty seconds of a song and the first to guess it correctly wins,” you watch them carefully, trying to hide your laughter each time. They still don’t know you are in the room.

Carlos wins 3-2, Charles being too slow or guessing the wrong song.

“I’m a little disappointed, Charles. You forgot about the song you cowrote,” you shake your head as you appear in the frame. “Friend status revoked, Carlos is my bestie now,” you grin wider as your eyes meet Carlos’.

“But I’ve known you longer, you wouldn’t even know Carlos if it weren’t for me,” Charles protests. Carlos drapes an arm over your shoulders.

“Sorry, Charles, she likes me more now. I know her music better,” Carlos looks down at you with a soft smile while you laugh at Charles. To the general eye, it looks like you are two friends, but Charles can tell how enamored you are with each other. He just hopes that you will be able to share it with the world soon.

That moment comes in Australia. Your boyfriend won while recovering from surgery, you couldn’t help but kiss him, even if cameras were focused on you. The frenzy around your new relationship died down not to long after, some people brought up your past with Lando, but most dismissed it.

Fans posted many edits displaying the subtle clues you and Carlos gave. The way you gravitated towards each other, how you looked at him differently than Charles, the way you leaned into each other’s touch and always hugged for a little longer than others.

Unfortunately, You didn’t see Carlos as much once April hit. Carlos being busy with racing, you preparing to go on your first tour with the band, it didn’t leave much time for in-person dates. Video calls were great, but you missed the physical presence of Carlos. You anxiously awaited the day that Carlos, Charles, and Alex would attend the show, you even got Pierre and Kika passes to your tent.

For the first time, you feel nervous to take the stage. You’ve been practicing a new song with the band, your friends and Carlos were in the crowd, and you got a text from a friend warning you that Lando was spotted in attendance. The long awaited day finally arrived, and it’s proving to be quite the event.

“We can delay debuting the song,” Lia says as you tune your guitar, giving you an out if everything is too much.

“No way, We’ve been waiting for a year now to release it. No point in waiting any longer,” you start to hype yourself up. After a quick meeting with the band, you receive your cue from the stage manager. A few songs in you nod to the band, letting them know it’s time.

“If it’s alright with you, we’d like to play something that we’ve been working on for a while. I wrote this a few years ago and I think it’s time to share it with you. This is called She’s So Gone, it will be available at midnight tonight wherever you listen to music,” you turn away from the mic, silently counting the band in. The crowd loves it, and you feel a renewed confidence as you finish the set and make your way to where your guests are to watch the concert.

“That was incredible, you are actually amazing,” Carlos pulls you into his arms and kisses you softly.

“Thanks, Carlitos. I’m glad you enjoyed it,” you smile, relaxing in his embrace.

“Not to scare you or anything, but Midnight Hours is trending right now,” Alex says, showing you her phone. Some are videos of the song, which is blowing up. Others are comparisons of Lando’s sour reaction to Carlos’ clear support and excitement.

“Seems like it’s a good thing we got a PR manager recently,” you laugh, leaning into Carlos who presses a kiss to your head.

You weren’t always a fan of Taylor Swift, but you have grown an appreciation for her after spending time on tour with her. What surprised you was how much of her music the guys knew. Videos of them, and you, dancing during the concert went viral within the F1 community. All you really cared about was having a good time and being with your support system.

The song goes viral and people notice that Charles has a production credit on it. He helped you compose the song, and to you, the song represents how much he’s helped you since that night. You find yourself thinking about it as you sit in his apartment one night while petting Leo.

“You know, without you I wouldn’t be here,” you say, a little out of the blue.

“That’s not true,”

“It is. Your small act of kindness helped me start this journey. I threw myself into my music, we became friends, you made me comfortable around racing again, and you introduced me to Carlos. Without you I probably would’ve left, licked my wounds, then take Lando back because that was the easy thing to do,” you explain, words hanging heavy in the air. Charles sits beside you on the floor, shoulder to shoulder. The past year saw the two of you grow closer.

“For what it’s worth, you have helped me too. You’ve been like a sister to me, and I don’t regret helping you that night at all,” he nudges your shoulder. He’s watched you grow into yourself, and he is proud. Introducing you to Carlos was a risk, but he hasn’t seen you or his teammate happier.

Carlos was patient with you, letting you take as much time as you needed to tell him about your previous relationship with Lando and how you met Charles. He promised to be better than Lando, and he is. He is still on friendly terms with his former teammate, but he is glad that he has you and Lando fumbled you all those years ago.

A few years later you find yourself cuddled on the couch with your favorite Spaniard, wearing a chunky cardigan and snuggled under a knit blanket. Carlos plays with the ring on your finger, happy in the moment of domestic bliss. He’s at a high point in his career and you and the band were internationally known thanks to a large tour.

“Have I told you how much I love you, Hermosa?” Carlos asks, voice soft.

“All the time, but I don’t mind hearing it again,” you grin, content to stay like this forever. Carlos pulls your hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to your palm. You admire your fresh ink, his racing number beside your old butterfly.

You got the tattoo to carry him with you during shows and other events that he couldn’t be there, and now when you can’t wear your ring. You find yourself reminiscing over the proposal.

Carlos had brought you to monaco with him earlier in the year for an afternoon on the yacht with Charles and Alex. You didn’t even notice when Carlos stepped away for a moment and Charles and Alex left a few moments later to grab drinks.

You were relaxed, watching the sunset create a beautiful sky. You heard Carlos approach, but your eyes don’t leave the sea.

“Carlitos, come over here. The sky is perfect,” you sigh happily, leaning forwards on the railing.

“Not as perfect as you, cariño,” Carlos’ voice causes you to turn towards him, still blushing every time he makes a comment like that. Carlos was on one knee holding the prettiest ring you had ever seen, it’s like he took what you imagined in your mind and brought it to life.

“You make me never want to race again if it means staying like this forever, and when I do race, it’s like I’m trying to get back to you as soon as possible,” Carlos declares and you feel your heart swell. “You are my everything, mi reina, be mine forever.”

“Of course, Carlos, yes,” you try to fight the tears as he slides the ring onto your finger, standing to pull you close to him. Carlos leans down and kisses you softly. If only you could tell your younger self that this was how everything would turn out.

[aurorawhisperz]

that’s the thing (e.l)

I ACCIDENTALLY POSTED THE DRAFT AND LOST THE ASK 😭😭😭 (but here u go anon if u find this 🙏)

contains: swearing, fluff, smut 18+ (oral, fingering, slight overstimulation)

spiderman!ethan landry x fem!reader

based off you’re here that’s the thing by beabadoobee 🙏

•

Ethan definitely screwed up.

He swings across the city in tight spandex. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Ethan exclaimed, speedily typing on his phone, but you wouldn’t respond.

Being the friendly neighborhood Spiderman, he always had priorities—but that didn’t stop him from spending time with you. Knowing this, you forgave him every time he’d miss something.

Well, that jinxed it. On the lookout, he had completely forgotten about your date, Ethan—being the dork with the heart of gold, thought this would be the last straw for you.

Ethan often thought about this every time he’d be swinging around New York just to make it up to you. One reason why he’d always make it up to you is because he felt like he should, or must.

The second reason why is because it always ends in something wonderful—whether it’s him sleeping over, or the other way around, or something else that would have the boy completely whipped.

Then he spotted you, wearing his jacket you ‘forgot’ to return. His whole world seemed to stop—that was until he remembered the fact that he left you waiting.

A bunch of people backed away when Ethan took you with him. “It’s the spider dude!” Someone near you exclaimed.

“What? Oh my god!” You exclaim, swiftly sliding your hands around his neck. “I am so SO sorry that I left you waiting, okay? I was on the lookout, I completely forgot about our date, I’m really sorry, I REALLY AM!” He exclaimed, talking fast, then you pointed at a pole that was about to hit his head.

Once Ethan was about to dodge it, it hits the top of his head instead. His grip tightened till he swinged back to your dorm—though weakly.

He yanks his mask off and leans back on your bed.

“Less talking, more swinging.” You sigh, grabbing the sides of his face—then you kissed him, your lips moving in sync. He could taste the fruity lipgloss you had put on. Ethan's eyes widened in surprise as you pulled away. He blinked a few times, trying to process the unexpected turn of events.

Then a smile was on his face, pulling you back. Deepening the kiss.

“Being a superhero’s girlfriend isn’t that hard,” You frown, then he kisses more again before you continue, “But seriously, you have to change out of this shit.” Ethan kept a hand on your waist, “Actions speak louder than words, right?”

You jump as Ethan quickly jumps under your bed, your roommate bursting in. “Hey, I’ll be leaving you alone here for a while since I’ve got somewhere to go.” You nod, then they wave, “See ya.” And leave.

Quickly falling on your bed as Ethan uses his webs to lock the door, “This is really cute,” He holds up your diary, the drawing of Spider-Man you made on a sticky note during a lecture. “Can I keep it?”

“Change first.” He rolled his eyes at your command.

He quickly changed into his normal clothes after slipping off the spandex. “Dammit,” He exclaimed as he checked his backpack for flowers he was gonna give you—there were flowers, but only a few, the petals flying away instantly.

Walking into the living room, Ethan uses his webs to snatch the remote from your hands, “We’re watching a movie, because I have to make it up to you,” Then handing you the somewhat ruined bouquet of flowers. “Eth, you shouldn’t have.” You teased then grabbed his camera from the table.

“Try and take a picture of me holding these, that’s how you can make it up to me.” Ethan takes the camera from you then more words come from your mouth, “Although you’re already here, that’s how you can make it up to me.”

The camera flashes in your face as you cover the lower half of your face with the flowers—then laying down on the couch with Ethan as the movie starts playing.

“You know,” says Ethan, “I’m really glad I forgot about our date today,” You frown, then he chuckles, “It led to this and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

You both chuckle at his words then you shower his face with kisses. Ethan quickly pulled you down to kiss his lips. The movie was long forgotten soon after that.

His lips crashed into yours once again, then his nails dig in your thighs as you straddle him.

“Maybe because you knew it would lead to this,” You mumble against his lips, his other hand running down your spine like an instrument. Ethan broke the kiss to move down to your jawline—then your neck.

His hands tapping on your lower back as you pulled away. “You’re a sneaky one.” You pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose, then Ethan let out a breathy laugh, “I’m Spiderman, of course I’m sneaky.”

“But I love Ethan Landry more.” Right after Ethan takes quite a few minutes to process your words, he pulls you in by your waist to kiss you once again.

You wrap your arms around his neck as his fingers dig into your hips.

He mumbles against your lips, “I want you,” He starts to smoothly put a little tongue in the kiss, then when your lips part even more for permission, it slips in. You hum against his lips as Ethan slowly grinds into you.

You pull away and smile, he drags his thumb over your bottom lip, you try to kiss him again, but he keeps a hand on your chest to stop you. “Can I go down on you?” The question makes your eyes widen as you turn beet red. Ethan’s stupid puppy eyes made you nod, and the smirk felt good to kiss off.

His arms placed you back on the couch, the needy boy got on his knees. Ethan gives you a deep kiss, then he moves down your jaw, he leaves a mark on your collarbone.

It goes from your chest, to your belly, and he reaches your clothed core. Ethan looks up at you and you lick your lips.

The boy pulls down your panties and starts with kissing your inner thighs. The sneaky little thing was always a tease, it pained you slightly but you know you love him.

Ethan presses a wet kiss to your left thigh, sucking on it. His breath fans over your core and you shudder.

He presses a kiss to your clit, then makes his way down to your entrance—licking up then burying his face in between your thighs. Your back arched at the pleasure.

In the early stages of your relationship, you had always told him what felt good, and he made it feel even better.

Your legs threaten to lock around his head, but his big hands hold your hips down. You were basically squirming, and he was only trying to drive himself away from the spot you wanted him to stay on.

Ethan harshly sucks on your clit, circling it with his tongue. You feel like you’re close, VERY close. Without warning, his middle finger enters you and that makes you lift your head up and whine in pleasure, you could feel him smile against your core.

“God, don’t stop.” You say breathlessly, and while muffled, you could still hear him, “I won’t,” He pulls away with a pop, “Trust me.” He dives right back in as soon as he finishes.

When his ring finger enters, your body felt limp and like everything slowed down for a minute.

The hot feeling down your stomach was heating up.

When his nose bumped into your clit, along with his ring finger entering the chaos, that feeling hit it’s peak.

Though Ethan didn’t stop, he kept lapping up your juices—it felt so overwhelming. Your hips were basically jolting up out of instinct.

You shuddered under his touch, he reaches up for your hand and laces his fingers with yours.

When Ethan finally pulled away, he crawled back on top of you and pushed away a stray strand of hair. He didn’t say anything, he just smiled. You know you’d forgive him for missing a date either way, the only way he could make it up to you is just being there.

He presses a soft kiss to your lips, then he mumbles in between kisses, “I’m not done yet,” Your eyes blink open as he pulls away, the taste of yourself lingering on your tongue. “I wonder how people would feel if they find out their friendly neighborhood Spiderman was a pro at not only superhero-ing, but this.” says Ethan.

You chuckle and pull him back in for another, when he breaks the contact he takes the square foil out of his pocket and smirks at you, then places it on the table next to you both. He tries to kiss you again

You grab it from the table, “I’m not on the pill, babe,” You assure him, he shrugs then takes it from your hand. He sticks the tip of his tongue out when he struggles to open it. You laugh at Ethan, and open it yourself. “I’ll be your walking stick tomorrow,” he whispers to your ear.

You were in for a long night.

[damiansgoodgirll]

I just read your soft for you and I love it. If it’s okay can I request something? :)

So it’s a Damian Priest and it’s for like a plane ride and the night at the hotel and the reader is super tired from jet lag? (If you can’t that’s fine if you can thank you!)

damian priest x reader

a little angst, sorry not sorry.

i changed it a little cause i’ve never experienced jet lag, i hope you like it anyway!

stay the night

“why don’t you stay the night?” you heard damian asking you softly.

“uh?”

“i asked, why don’t you stay with me tonight? in my room?” he asked again “you’re hotel is way too far from the arena and from the airport and it’s too late, we are in new orleans and i don’t like you going around late at night in a city you barely know” he suggested.

you got booked last time for the show in new orleans. in all honesty, you didn’t even want to be there. yes you were the champion but hunter promised you full two weeks of complete relax, away from the ring and from the cameras.

not even three days later, you received a call from hunter himself saying that they needed you in a match against bailey in new orleans.

you could tell that he was sorry and he kept apologising from disturbing you from your vacation so you said yes.

your manager booked you a last minute flight and lucky for you, you got the same one as the other wrestlers were in, but the hotel was way too far away and you were there all by yourself. it wasn’t the ideal, especially not knowing the city very well.

plus you hate being on planes late at night. even if it was a short flight, you felt uncomfortable with everyone around you sleeping and you not being able to close your eyes, no matter how tired you were.

damian had been a great travel buddy. he was the one next to you and you thanked whoever bought your ticket because you never got this lucky. you shared some music together and some jokes, trying to not make any noise.

“are you sure? i don’t wanna bother…” you said.

“it’s not a bother at all…i can take you to your hotel in the morning when it’s all sunny and warm…but i’ll feel better if you stayed here…at least you’re not alone…”

“are you sure?” you asked him again.

truth was you had the biggest crush on him and even if you had plenty of sleepovers together, you never shared the same hotel room and that was making you a little nervous.

“yes…you’re my best friend, it’s like your sleeping at my house, but instead we are in a fancy hotel room where we can order all the room service we want” he said and you agreed.

best friend.

it made your heart clench.

you knew someone like him wouldn’t like someone like you but in the deep of your heart you still hoped something could change.

but instead of being all moody about it, you were too tired to even keep your eyes open from the landing to the arrival at the hotel. you remembered barely of it. you knew your legs were walking for you but your mind was somewhere else.

“you awake princesa?” damian smirked when he saw you falling into the comfort of the hotel bed.

“uh?” you replied.

“clearly not…” he smiled.

“i’m so tired dam…you know how much i hate flying at night…was it really necessary? like we could have taken a bus or i could have driven…” you complained and damian smiled at your cute childish behaviour.

“okay you should definitely got to bed…i’m gonna take a quick shower and then i’m gonna joining you…those blankets look very comfortable…” he smiled before entering the bathroom and locking himself in it.

suddenly you were awake.

damian was used to sleep almost naked. you knew it because you’ve been at his house so many times but you’ve never actually slept together. it was always you in the guest room or you falling asleep on his couch.

but you were just friends right?

what could possibly go wrong?

your heart missed a a few beats when you saw him coming out of the bathroom wearing just a grey pair of sweatpants. no t-shirts. nothing at all. just his chest full of tattoos and nothing more.

you saw him like that multiple times when he was training or when he was in the ring but having him so close and so naked was making your head spinning.

“you still awake?” he asked while he got comfortable under the covers.

“uhm…yes”

“i thought you were tired” he teased.

“i was…” you whispered.

“what are you thinking about princesa?” he asked, slowly turning his head towards you.

“nothing important…”

“it has to be important if it kept you awake all the time i was showering” he laughed. how you loved his laugh.

“really…nothing important…just the match i think…”

“you nervous?”

“no…i…” how you were supposed to say that you liked him. how you were supposed to stay calm when he was only a few inches from you, half naked. how were you supposed to stay quiet when his hot breath was all over your face “i think i’m just going to sleep now…”

“in your clothes?” he asked.

and then you remembered. your suitcase was sent to the hotel you were supposed to be that night so you were left with only your small harry potter backpack, that contained anything but clothes.

“shit…”

“you can wear something of mine…” he got up and borrowed you a clean t-shirt “here…i don’t have a second pair of pants but it should be long enough to cover your - well you know it” he almost smirked.

“oh thank you…” your cheeks were red and you were feeling all hot inside. you moved quickly, entering the bathroom and changing into his clothes. the t-shirt smelled like him and all you wanted to do was cry because you wanted something like that every day, not just today. you wanted to sleep next to him every night and waking up with him between your arms - or legs - you wanted a life with him.

but you couldn’t have it.

“here you are…” he smiled when he saw you wearing his shirt. in fact it wasn’t that long and damian was amused in seeing you trying not to move so fast, otherwise your ass would be on display.

“thank you, again, for everything…” you slowly got into bed and closed your eyes.

“y/n…?” he called you.

“mh?”

“good night…” he gently kissed your head and turned off the light.

a tear slowly fell from your eyes.

his arm moving to your hip and resting over there.

what looked normal for him, looked everything for you, everything you wished for but you couldn’t have.

[noonswrites]

Muse

synopsis: Xavier just wants a picture of you so he can draw it. things don’t go according to plan…

warnings: blowjob, penetration, fingering

it was an accident really. a genuine, complete, accident. you just wanted to support your talented friend who had been begging you for a subject for his next painting.

“please! it doesn’t have to be a good photo of you, I just need one for reference” he says exaggeratedly as you make your way to class. his giant frame is never an inch away from yours if he can help it, and today is no different. he’s tugging on your arm like a lost puppy as he begs you to be his muse for the millionth time.

“oh, so you’re saying I take bad photos?” you reply snidely.

he grins widely, knowing your games too well by now “you know that’s not what i meant” and gives you a playful push.

“i’ll think about it xavier, but you should really find another victim”

“i believe the correct term is “muse” dork”

“keep calling me dork and see where that gets you” he puts his hands up, mimicking what he would look like “surrendering” to you.

Xavier wishes he could hide how excited he is to draw you again. He can’t wait to combine his two favorite things: you, and his obsession with art. what you don’t know is Xavier wants to take this opportunity to ask something he’s been too shy to say for years….

when the seemingly never ending school day is finally over, he walks you to your room. your hallmate left for the week, so it was just you and Xavier sprawled out on your bed. he sat at the foot of it, legs crossed while yours were draped over his lap.

he eagerly awaits you to send him a picture while you briskly scroll through your camera roll. you finally deem one appropriate for his next masterpiece, a selfie of the two of you. his arms wrapped around your neck while you’re giving him a jokingly disapproving look. at least, that’s what you think you’re sending him. Xavier however, receives a completely different image that you accidentally sent instead.

he quickly taps on the notification with his pencil ready, opening up a photo of your breasts on display. “o-oh my god”

“what?!” you exclaim, confused at his reaction.

“are you sure that’s what you want me to draw?” he says timidly.

“yeah, unless you have a problem with it i guess” it’s too late now, you’re absentmindedly scrolling through your phone.

Xavier tries to start drawing, he really does. truthfully, he started getting hard the minute he opened the photo and now he’s trying to get a grip on his pencil, which won’t stop shaking in his hand. you can feel his dick rising since your leg is still on his lap, causing you to look up.

this is when you notice he’s shaking. “Xavi, what’s wrong?”

Xavier can barely bear the nickname right now, combined with everything else he’s experiencing.

“i’m- i’m sorry. i don’t know if i can draw this” Xavier shows the phone to you and you turn a shade of red he doesn’t think he’s ever seen before.

“oh shit! oh fuck i’m so sorry oh my god fuck!” you cover your face with your hands.

Xavier, although nervous, tries his best to reassure you and puts a gentle hand on your leg. “it’s ok, i just didn’t think we were at that level, you know?”

you spread your fingers, peeking your eyes through “it’s fine, really” he gives a weak, bashful smile. a part of him kind of wishes you did send it on purpose, and it’s not like he hadn’t thought of his best friend naked before…

in a desperate attempt to change the subject you ask “does that hurt?” while staring at his now erect penis that creates a tent in his sweatpants.

“um- i- “

“i can help you with it if it does- i read somewhere that it hurts when you- you know-“ words are coming out of your mouth faster than your brain can process what’s happening now… “if not we can forget this ever happened and i won’t tell anyone- i promise” you’d probably regret saying that later, but right now, you can’t help it. you’ve had the biggest crush on xavier forever and if you’re being honest, you’re in a pretty similar aroused state right now.

“i don’t know… i don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable po-“

“i want to” you cut him off “i’ve wanted to for years Xavi” you’re crawling towards him now.

“do you want to?” you ask him, although the evidence is all over his face, he looks almost pained. his mouth is slightly agape and his eyes are focused on your lips. lips that he has thought of kissing for months now, but this time, he doesn’t resist the urge.

Xavier can’t hold it anymore, he takes your face in his hands and kisses you. it’s hesitant at first, both of you in shock that it’s finally happening. it takes seconds for it to get sloppy. you break apart only to climb on xavier’s lap, and you don’t miss the distressed look he wears as a result of moments apart from you. you’re quick to relieve him, sitting down with your thighs on either side of his hips, and both of you stifle a moan when your clothed cunt makes contact with his dick. now it’s your turn to grab his face and he loves every second of it, wanting nothing more than to fawn over you as you use him for your pleasure. you, however, won’t have that, stopping at nothing until he’s completely ruined.

you take his bottom lip between yours and suck on it, and Xavier swears he’s seeing stars. he starts getting messy as both of your lips are covered in each other’s spit and that alone is making him dizzy. he doesn’t even realize he’s begun to grind his hips upward trying to relieve himself in the friction you’re creating. you tell him to pull off his t-shirt and he does so immediately, and you do the same. he smoothes his hands up and down your waist as if you’re made of glass, looking you up and down with a mixture of reverence and desire. you almost want to laugh at him because you’d never imagine seeing your best friend like this, looking at you like he’d been starving for days and desperate to kiss you again, but you settle for giving him an amused smile.

“what is it?” he asks with the most precious look of confusion on his face.

“you’re so cute baby” his eyelashes flutter and he looks away, he shifts slightly while trying to pretend the new pet name doesn’t turn him on more. you can tell that he’s smiling too now, internally giddy.

you start to leave a trail of kisses down his neck, and he lets out a pleasure filled sigh. when you start to teasingly lick his abdomen he tenses up again, and you hear a soft “ah” escape his lips. you unbutton his pants and pull down his boxers and Xavier starts to tremble. he looks down at you with watery eyes and you take his dick in your hand. he lets out a hiss at your warmth.

you start to kiss his shaft and his brows furrow but his eye contact never wavers. if xavier could have this moment tattooed on his brain, he would. when you take his head in your mouth and suck he jolts, unable to control his movements at this point. you slowly take more of him into your mouth and hollow your cheeks. you start to stroke xavier’s leg with your free hand and xavier’s gaze softens at the tender gesture.

you slowly take him deeper into your mouth, astonished that you’ve made it this far without choking. “fuck” he cries as you fit all of him in your mouth. you start a slow rhythm of sliding your lips up and down his shaft and xavier lies back, helpless to your actions. you can feel how tense the muscles in his stomach and legs are, doing his best to hold back his impending orgasm. as you speed up, xavier begins to babble uncontrollably, a mixture of “you feel so good”, “you’re so pretty, fuck!”, and so on. you fondle his balls and he’s almost sent over the edge, but you pull yourself off of him just in time.

he stares at you, dazed “did i do something wrong?” god, you’d do anything for those puppy dog eyes.

“no baby, just wanted you to come inside me, is that alright?” xavier wants to pinch himself.

“y-yeah” he leans in for another clumsy kiss, drunk on the feeling of being so close to you. it’s full of tongue and lips crashing together, but quickly ends with a gasp as you guide his cock to your pussy.

xavier watches himself enter you in a trance, completely mesmerized at your facial expression and the stretch of your cunt. when your fully seated, a tear falls down his cheek. you admit, you may have overstimulated him a bit. you wipe it away with your thumb and apologize. “i’m sorry for making you wait my love” he doesn’t seem to care at this point.

Xavier reaches his arms around your waist and pulls you in closer, causing you to moan at the adjustment “you’re s-so warm” he lets out.

“can i take this off?” he says as a hand slides over the clasp of your bra.

“yeah” you reply, and he begins to fiddle with the hook. he slides it off of your shoulders.

“so, do you think i’m a catfish?” you inquire. he lets out a wholesome laugh and you follow suit. Xavier gently pushes a loose strand of hair behind your ear and places his palm on your cheek.

“i think you’re the opposite of a catfish” you blush and attempt to turn your head away, but he pulls you in for another kiss. he moves to kiss the corner of your lips, then your chin, your jaw, and finally stops at your neck. he nibbles your jugular and then sucks, and your hips buck forward as he finds your sensitive spot. Xavier moans and you take this as a sign to keep moving.

you grind down on him and Xavier does his best to mentally prepare himself for the onslaught of pleasure. he’s already about to cum, holding on just so he can get you to try to finish first. he slides his hands down to your ass pushing you down on his cock while he pushes his hips up, effectively guiding himself deeper than you thought possible. you yelp and Xavier watches your features contort, repeating the action so he can listen to you moan again and again. he shifts one of his hands close to your cunt and guides a thumb to your clit, rubbing it in circles, prompting you to jolt and start bouncing on his cock more eagerly than before.

“shit- shit- fuck!” Xavier doesn’t know what he’s saying anymore, he only knows that he’s been close to cumming for more than an hour now, and he’s about to burst. you wrap your arms around his neck for stability and pick up your pace.

“oh my god” he whines and his grip on your hips tightens. you realize how close he is, so you stop your movement.

“no- no! i need it please” his head falls into your neck and you stroke his back.

“i know my love, i just need you to ask for it nicely okay?” he lifts his head and you coo at his tear stained cheeks. “do you think you can do that for me?”

“y-yeah” you start to move again immediately, not wanting to prolong his suffering any further. Xavier cant stop himself from thrusting into you, and you let him, enjoying the look in his eyes as he starts to fall apart.

“are you gonna cum soon baby?” you ask after a particularly hard thrust.

“y- yes please- please can i c-cum?” Xavier is shaking uncontrollably now, his movements are sloppy and uncoordinated.

“yes my love” you smile “but you can’t take your pretty eyes off of me okay? i want to see you” Xavier is blushing harder than ever, he’d never admit that’s what sent him over the edge. he does his best to keep his eyes on yours, his mouth open and letting out angelic moans while his nails dig into your hips. he thinks your the most beautiful person alive as you keep up your pace grinding on his cock. his brows furrow and fresh tears arise as you continue to speed up, a look of tortured confusion mixed with euphoria on his face.

“i- i can’t please!” he wails. you finally cease your movement, panting. xavier pulls you into a tight hug, kissing your sweaty body in any place he can reach.

“thank you, thank you, thank you” he repeats between kisses. you flop down onto your mattress, and xavier hovers over you, smothering your face with kisses.

“baby, i want to make you cum now. can i? please? need to watch you cum” he babbles.

“you don’t have to Xavi, but yes” you’re still catching your breath.

“i want to” and without hesitation he slides his fingers to to your sopping cunt. “so wet… such a pretty pussy” you bury your face in the pillow.

“no need to be shy my love…” his thumb rubs over your clit and your thighs clench. he pushes them open gently, eyes fixated on your pulsing cunt. he slides two fingers in, feeling his own cum inside of you and trying his best not to get hard at the sensation. he curls his fingers upward and your hips shift at the sensitivity. he holds them down with his free arm and continues his ministrations. he probes for your most delicate spot and knows he’s found it when you squeeze his arm and whimper. you lift your head again and he meets your eyes, staring at you as he quickens his pace. you’re already worked up so it doesn’t take much after that, but what sets you over the edge is his decision to take your clit into his mouth and kiss it sloppily. your legs shake and kick and he happily continues to thrust his fingers as you ride out your orgasm, grinding down on them.

now you’re truly exhausted, and Xavier curls up next to you as you continue to catch your breath. “y’know, i was going to use the painting as a way to ask you out…” you perk up at this.

“really?!” xavier beams at you.

“yeah” you pull him into a kiss and he doesn’t stop smiling.

[torscrawls]

The Suspicious Wayne Family

Summary:

“Well, several of them have come back from the dead so I just had to check it out for myself!”

Tim felt himself go cold. “…How do you know that?”

“Ghosts take note if someone manages to come back from the dead, you know?” Phantom leaned in and lowered his voice as if sharing an embarrassing secret, “It’s a terrible faux pas.”

Phantom comes to Tim with some concerns about the Wayne family. Tim really isn’t ready to deal with this.

Words: 2 023

Can be read on AO3!

-

“Augh!” Phantom groaned as he slumped across Tim’s desk in the Watchtower, utterly ignoring the fact that Tim was very much in the middle of work.

Tim, used to several dramatic siblings without any concept of personal space, simply sighed and tried to shove him off the desk. “Can you go be dramatic somewhere else? Some people are actually trying to get some work done.”

Phantom ignored him as he fused himself halfway into the desk, preventing Tim from depositing him onto the floor, much to Tim’s annoyance. Instead, Phantom groaned and splayed his arms wider, completely blocking Tim’s view of the screen. “You wouldn’t believe what just happened!”

Tim heaved a deep sigh as he gave up on work for now, leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and asked, “Alright, I’ll bite. What happened?”

Phantom immediately perked up. “Thanks for asking! You see, I was minding my own business—”

“Getting up to your usual shit,” Tim muttered under his breath as he sipped his coffee.

Phantom ignored him as he continued, “—when I ran across this huge house and there was this guy inside, which I know isn’t that strange by itself. But! He was reaaal big, and he had this white strip in his hair, which, I know, is a bit hypocritical for me to comment on, but this guy looked like such a try-hard—but anyway, he just attacked me on sight! With guns! Sure, they were regular guns, not ecto ones, so you know, I was fine, but still! So rude!”

Tim choked on his coffee. A huge and angry guy in a big house with white in his hair? That sounded awfully familiar… Hadn’t Jason mentioned that he would drop by the mansion today? Tim coughed to clear his throat and then managed a weak, “That’s… weird.”

Ah. So that’s what Damian had meant when he called in a disturbance in the air earlier. They hadn’t believed him since the cameras hadn’t picked anything up, but if it had been a ghost… Maybe he owed his little brother an excuse. Not that he would ever admit that to said little brother, but still. And that also meant that Phantom had definitely been in the Wayne mansion.

Tim sucked in a deep breath. “That’s definitely worrying.” Phantom didn’t need to know that he wasn't talking about him getting attacked by a sword. Why the fuck had Phantom been at their house?!

Phantom nodded with a laugh. “Right? We didn't even know each other yet! Usually people don’t attack me with a sword until I’ve at least introduced myself first. Or, well, not always, but I can usually at least figure out why they attack me, you know?”

Tim didn’t know and decided not to comment on that worrying statement, instead focusing on gathering information instead. Familiar territory and all that. “What were you even doing in a random big house in the first place?”

“Not just any house!” Phantom wagged his finger. “They’re the Waynes! Which, okay, I didn’t really know a lot about them but my friend said that they are famous or something. And I believe her! The house was like a mansion!”

“Alright,” Tim allowed, congratulating himself on how unbothered he sounded as he parsed through Phantom’s excited rambling. “Why were you in the Wayne mansion, then?”

“Well, several of them have come back from the dead so I just had to check it out for myself!”

Tim felt himself go cold. “…How do you know that?”

“Ghosts take note if someone manages to come back from the dead, you know?” Phantom leaned in and lowered his voice as if sharing an embarrassing secret, “It’s a terrible faux pas.”

“Right. Of course.”

“Yeah!” Phantom nodded before pausing with a frown. “Wait. How do you know that they have died?”

“Of course I do. I’m a detective in Gotham and they are well-known in the city.”

“Hmmm…” Phantom trailed off, and Tim was tensing up in preparation for an argument, but then the ghost perked up as if remembering something. “And Bruce! Bruce Wayne! I’m pretty sure he trains his kids to be like child soldiers or something. Maybe he even uses them as his minions in secret evil schemes!”

Tim felt himself start to sweat. “Let’s—let’s talk to Batman about this.”

“The Gigabat? Why?”

“He might know the best approach.” Might know any approach, cause Tim certainly didn't.

“Alright. Sure,” Phantom agreed easily and followed as Tim hurried out into the corridor, seemingly blissfully unaware of the panic he had caused.

How on earth had they been noted by ghosts without knowing about it? How had Phantom managed to stumble upon this information? If had managed to find the mansion, what else had he managed to put together…? Had he seen the cave?

Tim pushed upon the door to Bruce’s office and walked in as confidently as he could manage at the moment. “B? Phantom has some… concerns he wants to bring up.”

Bruce had turned away from his screens as they entered the room, no doubt ready to admonish them for disturbing him, but something in Tim’s voice must have tipped him off that something was going on because he turned fully towards them and simply demanded, “What is it?”

Phantom didn’t waste any time before bluntly stating, “I think we should investigate the Wayne family. I think they might be a crime syndicate, possibly even supervillains.”

It wasn’t often that Tim saw Bruce at a loss for words. Tim couldn’t blame him as he himself had to restrain himself not to visibly wince at Phantom’s words.

Phantom on the other hand seemed not to notice as he continued, “I thought you would like to know, what with them being in Gotham and all? Really, I’m surprised you didn’t know about them already.”

“Why would you assume they are supervillains?” Bruce asked and Tim was impressed by how calm he sounded.

“Oh, well, you know… The kids all have obvious combat training, the house is riddled with weapons, and the family seems awfully involved with all the major catastrophes in Gotham as well as all the major villains,” Phantom said casually before pausing as he tapped a finger to his lips in thought and adding as an afterthought, “and, of course, because of the secret lair beneath the mansion.”

Well, that answered Tim’s earlier question whether he had seen the Batcave or not. He was very grateful for Bruce and his frankly terrifying poker face as the older man just said, “That’s quite the list…”

Phantom beamed. “Thank you!”

“And why did you start investigating them?”

“Well, on top of all the gossiping grannies mobbing me in the Zone to talk about the young men using the afterlife like some sort of revolving door, I know a thing or two about evil billionaires with hidden identities and Bruce Wayne just screams secrets, you know?”

Bruce didn’t answer, Tim just stared. Phantom clapped his hands, “So. When are we starting the investigation?”

Bruce shook his head, took a deep breath and said, “We’re not investigating them.”

Phantom looked surprised for a split second before raising a single eyebrow, “Is it because he’s so rich? Oh! Is that why you have so many expensive gadgets?”

“What.”

“I mean, that’s why you want to look the other way, right? Because he pays you?” Phantom turned wide eyes on Tim. “All of you?”

Bruce simply stared as Tim managed a weak, “No?” Even if, technically, he was getting paid by Bruce Wayne.

Phantom leaned in closer to Tim and whispered. “Do you guys need help? I’ve beaten up billionaires before, I can do it again.”

“Thanks? But no thanks. Please don’t beat up Bruce Wayne.”

Phantom gasped, turning back to Bruce with way too much delight in his eyes. “It’s consensual? Wait. Does that mean he's your sugar daddy?!”

“This conversation is over.”

“What?! Why?”

“You can’t come in here with baseless assumptions about civilians and expect me to play along.”

“Alright. Not your sugar daddy, I get it,” Phantom said with a wink towards Tim, “But I thought you guys would want to at least look into it a bit more?”

“They Waynes are not a problem,” Bruce all but growled out.

Phantom raised an eyebrow. “What makes you say that?” The words said as a challenge but Tim could see no anger or annoyance in Phantom’s expression, hear nothing but glee in his voice. It was as if he didn’t want Bruce to really look into them, as if he was just looking to rile him up.

Something about the whole situation made Tim pause.

It was a bit strange that Phantom came to them with this, wasn't it? He had no reason to think that they were connected to the Waynes by more than the city they lived in. He usually did his own thing, and he had done that by going to the mansion at first, hadn't he? So what had changed? Why had he decided to involve Tim?

The glee, the probing questions, the way he slowly revealed more information… It was almost as if he—

“Wait a second. You know!”

Phantom burst out laughing. “Finally! Ancients, I thought you would see through me in like one second flat!”

Tim punched him in the arm. “You’re such an ass! I can’t believe you!” Phantom just kept on cackling.

Unsurprisingly, Bruce seemed to catch on pretty quickly as he stood up from his chair, looming over Phantom threateningly. Or trying to, as Phantom was still floating a good few feet in the air. “And you figured this out from other ghosts?”

Phantom snorted and wiped at his eyes. “Mostly. Contrary to popular belief, the dead do talk. But I wouldn’t worry too much about it, not many of them ever visit the Human Realm and I can guarantee that they have no idea who you are. They are not up to date when it comes to human affairs.”

Bruce frowned and Tim immediately recognized his patented brooding face. “That’s a security risk I hadn’t considered.”

It must have hurt him to admit it, but Tim couldn’t really take any joy in it; he was right there with him. Tim groaned as he dragged a hand through his hair. “Aren’t they supposed to not tell any secrets?!”

Phantom laughed, shaking his head. “Oh, they very much do.”

“Well, considering a certain someone, I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise,” Tim said with a pointed look at Phantom.

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Phantom exclaimed in mock anger. “Have you guys considered not dying? I mean, man, I thought I had a problem with staying alive.”

Bruce cut them off with a no-nonsense, “You will not tell anyone about this.”

Phantom mimed zipping his lips shut. “Silent as the grave.” Then he pursed them in thought before adding, “On one condition.”

Tim saw the way Bruce tensed and couldn’t help the way he himself also tensed with anticipation. Phantom could ask for anything.

“What?” Bruce asked bitingly.

“I want some of those cookies that were in the oven. They smelled amaaaazing!”

Bruce silently turned back to his monitor, not gracing that with an answer. Tim grabbed a hold of Phantom’s—thankfully currently corporeal—arm and dragged him from the room as he said, “I’m sure Alfred would love to give you some cookies. You can come over for dinner and we can talk.” Tim paused and then continued, “And you can explain what’s going on to Jason and Damian. I’m sure they’re both freaking out.”

“Non-living dinner?” Phantom asked hopefully and the bizarre question almost made Tim stop walking.

“Yeah? Alfred usually cooks it first.”

“Sure, but, you know, does it stay dead?”

“Yes?” Tim asked with equal parts incredulity and dread.

“Alright!” Phantom beamed. “Count me in!”

Tim had a feeling that he had just made a grave mistake.

[forevababy]

“And what if I want you to kiss me somewhere else?”

Jungkook x Reader

Fluff, suggestive, angst if you squint your eyes really hard

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Qatar was boring, for you at least.

You’re not sure wether or not your boyfriend is to blame for your mundane trip so far. You understand that he’s here under immense pressure, having to perform in front of billions of people on a stage that only makes itself available every four years isn’t something to take lightly. However, when he invited you to come along, you thought that he would have liked to spend at least some of his free time with you alone. That being said, you also thought that there wouldn’t be so many staff accompanying you both on every outing. It seems you were wrong to make both of those assumptions.

You know that having an idol boyfriend comes with very little privacy sometimes, but today the amount of cameras following your every move at the amusement park was the least of your worries when your boyfriends attention was being taken up by the female staff that seemed to be enjoying this trip a whole lot more than you.

Perhaps it was how all three of the girls would somehow always find a way to sit next to him on every ride, leaving you to sit next to Chanyeol, one of Jungkooks bodyguards and the only person who seemed to be paying you any attention. Or maybe it was how you couldn’t even walk next to him without slightly getting elbowed so someone else could squeeze next to him. Actually, none of that mattered, it was most definitely how Jungkook seemed to be oblivious to all of this, only paying you attention when he’d hold your hand whenever the amount of people surrounding your group got slightly alarming. Regardless of the reason, your patience was wearing thin.

Your group had gone through all the rides the place had to offer. Tired and hungry from a long day, you all decided to go back to the hotel and eat at one of the resteraunts on the first floor. This way, you could all go straight to bed whenever you wanted. It was at the restaurant that Jungkook started giving you the attention that you’d been craving all day.

You were turned to Chanyeol, carefully dissecting the menu together to see what you both wanted instead of joining the tables group conversation, when you felt your chair being scraped in the other direction, right into Jungkooks own chair. When it stopped moving, you looked down to see him remove his hand from one of your chairs legs.

“Hey” he said softly as his forehead came down to rest against the side of your head, the arm that he had used to relocate you now laying on the back of your chair.

“Hi” you replied as his sweet, musky, and familiar scent enveloped your senses like it hadn’t been able to do all day.

“Watcha gonna order?” He looked down at the menu you and Chan-Yeol had been looking at that was still in your hands.

“Well I wanted to get something with chicken, but it looks like every plate that has chicken is spicy. ChanYeol said that-”

“What’s wrong with your food being spicy?”

“I don’t want my stomach to hurt later” you replied to his slight interruption as you frowned at the menu.

His lips got incredibly close to your ear, so close that he nibbled on it a little before coming up with a solution to your very serious issue.

“Order some spicy chicken, and if your stomach hurts later, I’ll kiss it better.”

Jungkook truly is a master with words, always saying the cheekiest of things that gave you butterflies without failure. However, what he just said affected you more than normal, probably because you hadn’t seen this side of him all day.

“And what if I want you to kiss me somewhere else?”

You knew it probably wasn’t very smart to say something so provoking in front of so many people, even if you had made sure to whisper it enough that nobody other than him would hear, but you’d been starved from him all day and desperate to keep him engaged. When you lifted your eyes to meet his and found that he was looking at you with a hunger so intense that it caught you off guard, you knew you had made the right choice.

“Where else did you have in mind, baby?” He whispered back with a very slight growl, his eyes glued to your own and a grin slowly developing on his face.

You were about to get even bolder and tell him exactly where when the waiter showed up to take your orders. While his arm stayed across the back of your chair, your boyfriend reluctantly peeled his face away from yours to order a plate of spicy marinated chicken for you both. You had thought that your luck would run out after this, and you’d have to go back to making conversation with Chanyeol as Jungkook entertained the rest of the table. However, you were pleasantly surprised when Jungkook turned right back to you after placing your order, his eyes looking at you in adoration as only he could.

You spent the rest of the dinner glued right to Jungkooks side. While you waited for the food to arrive, he played with a strand of your hair as you told him about all your favorite rides of the day, how the roller coaster made you bump your head a little, and how the drop ride made you feel uneasy. When the food arrived, Jungkooks attention did not waiver in the slightest. The hand that had been on the back of your chair was now on your thigh, the other shoveling spoonfuls of his dish into his mouth. You even had to giggle and push his spoon away from your mouth when he attempted to feed you, complaining that you guys were eating the exact same food. He merely responded by picking food up from your plate and trying to feed you that instead, to which you couldn’t reject. As for the rest of the table, they continued on with conversation that you and Jungkook rarely, if at all, contributed to.

You were barely halfway done with your food when Jungkook waved the waiter over and pushed everyone to order themselves some dessert. He waited for everyone to finish before he asked for a slice of cake for the both of you.

“Kook, It’s gonna take me at least another twenty minutes to finish all of this, let alone dessert.” You whined as he giggled at your distressed state, his own plate completely empty on the table.

“The faster we get through dessert, the faster we can get to our room and you can show me where you wanted me to kiss you so badly” His hushed tone sent shivers through your entire body, despite his warm hand working its way up and down your thigh.

You immediately drop your utensils on your plate and announce that you’re done eating, to which he chuckles at before turning to the rest of the table and jumping into the conversation effortlessly. This no longer worries you in any way, because his hand doesn’t leave your thigh, assuring you that he’s right there next to you.

When the waiter finally places your dessert in front of the both of you, Jungkook wastes no time in bringing a cake filled spoon to your mouth, urging you to take the first taste. Your eyes don’t leave his as you open your mouth slightly to take his offering, a low hum of approval coming out of you as the chocolate icing melts in your mouth.

“How does it taste?”Jungkook asks, that sound that you made not allowing his eyes to leave your face.

“It’s amazing! Here, try some-” The spoonful that you were gonna offer him stops midair as he drops his own spoon, both of his hands softly cradling your face as he leans in to connect his lips with your own. You feel his tongue poking for permission to explore your mouth further, and you shamelessly allow him even though you’re sure that letting him have his way probably wouldn’t be so appropriate for this setting.

When he’s satisfied with what his tongue has accomplished, he pulls away slowly, maintaining eye contact as he licks his bottom lip.

“Hmm, it does taste amazing.”

Damn your boyfriend and his dirty mouth. As soon as he utters that response to you, you’re abruptly standing up from your chair, causing everyone to look at you.

“I’m kinda tired everyone, im gonna head to my room.”

You feel Jungkook chuckling next to you, ready to stand up and include himself on your declaration to go back to your room. However, before he makes it out of the chair, Chanyeol speaks up.

“Do you want me to walk you? You shouldn’t be going anywhere alone.”

You smile down at him, ready to politely decline his sweet offer, but Jungkook beats you to it.

“She’s good, I got her.”

His tone is a little cold for your liking, seeing as how Chanyeol was the only one today who didn’t forget at any point that you existed. Jungkooks actions irk you a little further as he holds your hand tightly and begins walking you away from the table, not allowing you to say your goodbyes to anyone or thank Chanyeol for his chivalry.

“You didn’t have to be so mean Kook” you mutter as soon as you’re both out of the restaurant and well out of earshot from the table.

“And he didn’t have to offer to walk you anywhere. Why would he have to do that when I’m here?” He scoffs as you reach the elevator and he presses the button that will summon it.

“And why would he have to keep me company all day if you’re here? Why has he talked to me more all day today than you have in the last three?”

As soon as the subtle accusation leaves your lips, you regret it. Instead of looking at you with the same fire he directed at Chanyeol just a few minutes ago, his eyes soften at the slightly hurt tone that you use.

As he leads you into the elevator, you see his face continue to fall as he processes your words.

“Kook, I didn’t want to bring that up at all” you sigh, “it’s just that you’ve kinda been ignoring me all trip and like I totally get it because I know you’re here to do something very serious and important but I thought today would have been different cause you finally had some free time but you didn’t even try to do anything with me and I had to go on every ride with Chanyeol and I just wish you’d-”

If there was anything Jungkook could do perfectly, it was shut you up with a kiss. His lips crashed onto yours mid sentence, not with the mischief that they did in the restaurant, but instead with a sort of softness he usually used when he wanted to apologize for something.

When his lips finally pulled away, his forehead stayed on yours, his hands rubbing your sides affectionately.

“I’m such an idiot” he muttered, mostly to himself than to you. When you didn’t say anything, he continued.

“It’s just that rehearsals for the performance have been going like shit. They keep changing the choreo on me and I’m struggling to remember everything. It’s my first time performing without the boys and I think it’s affecting me more than I ever thought it could. I spent all day trying to to go over things in my head that I sort of forgot about everything else, even you. I’m a terrible boyfriend”

Jungkooks confession hurt your heart terribly. You knew that whatever reason he would have had for ignoring you today, it most definitely would have had nothing to do with you, but hearing your boyfriend open up about something that usually causes him no trouble was not something you expected at all. 

You quickly decide that the best place to console the love of your life is not an elevator where someone could walk in on you both at any moment, so as soon as the doors open on your floor you grab his hand firmly and lead him to your shared room. He follows you quietly, your silence scaring him in a way you clearly don’t want. You fumble a little with using the key to open the door, considering you refuse to drop his hand at any point. When the door is finally open, you get straight to work. 

Jungkook looks at you with a confused expression as you lead him to the king sized bed in the middle of the room. You push him gently onto it, and when his back touches the sheets, you begin by removing his left shoe, then the right. His confused stare doesn’t leave your face, but he doesn’t speak up until he sees you beginning to remove your own shoes. 

“Y/N, I-” 

“Shhhh” you silence him softly as you crawl onto the bed next to him. His confused glare turns into one of relief as you motion for him to come closer. As he turns, tucks his head into the crook of your neck, and tightly wraps his arms around your middle, your own hands go straight to his hair, massaging his scalp in the way you know he likes. 

“You’ve got two whole days before the performance. You’re gonna learn whatever you haven’t yet and everything is gonna be okay. You’re gonna be okay.”

You feel him sniffle into your neck at your words, and his arms tighten around you. 

“Every performance that you’ve done with the boys has been amazing, but you are amazing in your own way and you’re more than capable of doing it alone. You just gotta get out of this pretty little head of yours.”

You massage his scalp a little deeper, and you hear a small noise of satisfaction coming from him.

After about ten minutes of you comforting him in silence, he lifts himself out of your embrace. You start to complain, but when you realize that he doesn’t plan on going far, and simply readjusts himself so his body covers your own and his eyes can meet yours, you surrender. 

“I love you, please tell me you know that” He says sweetly, pleading with his eyes and words for you to understand how sorry he is.

“I know”

“It wasn’t at all my intention to ignore you today, please tell me you know that.”

“I know.”

“If I could go back in time and redo this entire trip and make you happy, I would. Please tell me you know that”

After that you give in and pull him towards you in fervor. You accept his apology with your lips. When you feel him smiling into the kiss, you know that he knows hes forgiven. 

“So..” He says slowly as he pulls away, lust in his eyes and hands that travel down to where you’ve been needing him this entire trip.

“Where was it that you wanted me to kiss you?”

[satansapostle6]

The Man Who Sold The World | Luke Castellan

Spotify Playlist Link

Katherine. She was the one who started it all for Luke Castellan, the reason he did what he did.

Warnings: Mature themes/language. Violence. Sexual content.

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve: The Prophecy

Katherine wholeheartedly kissed Luke Castellan as he drove, not caring if he crashed the car. She’d never felt more invigorated and alive in her life. She needed to feel it. She needed to feel him.

“Slow down, baby,” Luke mumbled into her kiss, chuckling as he tried to glance at the open road every now and then.

After the debauchery on the way from New York to Baltimore, Luke and Katherine had decided together that it was best they get as far away from the east coast as possible instead, just for a little while as their bullet sounds healed, which certainly didn’t take as long considering their healing powers.

Of course, their identities were safe after they destroyed the security cameras in the restaurant on the way out, also thanks to the Mist, but still, Luke knew that somewhere, there were police sketches of them hanging up on a bulletin board. So, they were headed to Arizona to lay low.

“Slow down, baby,” Luke murmured, becoming increasingly aware of the few cars around them.

“Why?” Katherine said innocently as she watched him struggle.

“Because, I’m gonna crash,” he stated.

“So?” she asked, genuinely indifferent to the outcome of that risk-taking.

“So, we don’t wanna almost die again, do we?” he questioned.

“What if we did?” she asked softly, an eerie provocative quality to her voice. “We’d die happy, wouldn’t we?”

Luke just chuckled at her, driving down the highway in Kansas. It had been several days since they’d headed off toward Arizona, and they were getting closer to their final destination.

“Luke?” Katherine spoke quietly.

“Yes?” he prompted her.

“I thought about what you said,” she finally said.

“What did I say?” he asked for a reminder.

“About going back with you. To camp,” she said, capturing his attention as he stared at her, trying to discern whether or not she was serious.

“You… You have?” he asked, not sure how to respond.

“Yeah… Do you still want me to come with you?” Katherine asked him, a soft expression on her face.

“…Yeah,” a soft breath escaped his lips. “I do.”

She smiled, seeming pleased with his response. “Okay. I’ll come with you,” she decided with finality.

“R-Really?” he stammered. “You want to?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, seeming certain. “I do.”

“Alright,” he nodded, considering the idea as he smiled. “If that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do.”

It was another day or so before they reached Arizona. They laid low in a motel from Sells for little over a week, not leaving the room unless it was for food. The entire week was dedicated to questionable motel TV and sleazy lovemaking. The couple didn’t really speak to anyone else throughout the entire stay, focusing solely on each other the entire time.

That left them plenty of time to spend entire days in bed, enjoying each other’s company over anything else. Katherine and Luke both chuckled as he laid shirtless under the covers in the air conditioned room with his arm around her, their noses touching as they held one another.

“You know I love you so much,” Luke said suddenly for the first time, moved by the moment.

“I love you just as much,” she whispered back, looking him in the eye without fear or trepidation.

Something in Katherine had changed when Kronos brought her back to life. Like didn’t know what had happened, but he knew that whatever Kronos had done had actually affected her in some way. He didn’t know if it was wrong, but he actually appreciated it on some level, feeling as if she’d had some sort of epiphany.

“I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you,” Luke admitted to her.

“Nothing’s gonna happen to me,” she promised him, her hand gently resting on his cheek.

“You can’t promise that,” he murmured, a look of fear in his eyes.

“Well. I can promise you I’ll always be with you. No matter what,” she promised him. “I’ll always be right here.”

“I hope so,” he sighed, closing his eyes in a silent prayer as he pressed his forehead to hers.

It was a couple days before they left for New York again, heading back to the camp. They took about five days, getting a decent amount of rest along the way. Once they finally stepped through the magical barrier at Camp Half-Blood that only permitted demigods to enter, Luke found himself reinforcing his arm around Katherine as they walked through.

“We just have to talk to Chiron,” he murmured as a few people noticed her presence already. “Then you’re good to stay.”

Katherine nodded silently as he walked her to the Big House. ”Wait right here,” he told her as he walked into one of the rooms alone as she waited out in the hall.

There was a short discussion going on between Luke and whoever was inside that she couldn’t hear. After a few moments, Luke came back out, looking pretty happy.

“Okay. You ready?” he asked her.

“Mmhmm,” she nodded, his smile overtaking her as she unconsciously returned it.

He walked back into the room with his arm around her protectively, as Chiron, the first centaur, looked at her in surprise. Luke turned to look at his girlfriend, realizing that she had a glowing symbol flashing above her head as she walked: a silver set of scales.

“It seems that your mother, Nemesis, has chosen to claim you without our asking,” Chiron observed, pleasantly surprised. “You’re lucky.”

Luke smiled down at Katherine, resisting the urge to completely dote on her.

“You will be staying in Cabin 11, with Luke, and the other children of Hermes, and the minor gods.”

“Okay,” she agreed with a nod.

“Of course,” Chiron said more stiffly, “I will firmly ask that no funny business take place; one of the rules here is that two campers may not be alone together in the cabins at any given time.”

“Of course,” Katherine nodded, both she and Luke trying to hide their massive smirks.

“We will provide you with a place to sleep and a camp shirt, and you are also free to use anything in the armory or anywhere else in the camp for training,” the half-man explained.

“Got it,” Katherine nodded.

“Good. So,” Chiron continued. “You’ve lived on your own all this time?”

She nodded again. “I left home when I was thirteen.”

“You’re very resourceful to have survived this long, Katherine,” he told her. “Not many demigods would have been able to survive this long on their own.”

She just smiled, looking up at Luke.

“Anyways. I won’t keep you; there’s still lots for you to see. I trust Luke will show you around,” Chiron smiled as Luke nodded in response.

The two of them walked back out to where the car was parked, retrieving the few belongings that they both had. All of Katherine’s possessions fit into a big garbage bag. Luke showed Katherine the bunk he was meant to give her in the Hermes Cabin, then pointedly walking her over to private rooms he said some of the other counselors had claimed.

Despite being the largest cabin at the camp due to the amount of unclaimed and minor god children, Cabin 11 was still constantly packed. It felt like there was hardly any space to walk. Glad to have somewhere private for her and Luke, Katherine left her things in his room, as he walked her out to give her a brief tour of the camp.

As they walked through the camp grounds, Luke smiled pleasantly as a young blonde girl crossed their path, who couldn’t have been older than twelve. She initially smiled when she saw Luke, but then seemed more hesitant when she noticed Katherine.

“Hey, Annabeth,” Luke smiled, “Long time no see.”

The girl, Annabeth Chase, who Katherine had remembered his stories about from before he arrived at camp, just smiled meekly.

“Hey,” she murmured, looking at the stranger next to him.

“This is my girlfriend. Katherine,” Luke introduced her politely. “Katherine, this is Annabeth. One of the strongest, smartest people I know.”

There was a certain pride to the way he said it.

“Hi, Annabeth. Nice to meet you,” Katherine said softly.

“You’re a daughter of Nemesis,” Annabeth said with a lack of filter. “I can tell.”

“I am,” Katherine nodded pridefully, a curious look on her face as she tried to decide how she felt about the short interaction.

“Welp. We gotta get going. See you later,” Luke told the girl, continuing on as Katherine put the discomfort of the lack of conversation behind her.

As Luke ushered her around, his hand resting firmly on her back, everyone at the camp began to notice the newcomers that wasn’t actually a child. He showed her just about everything at the camp: the cabins, the arena, the strawberry fields, and the beach…

Luke felt oddly proud, just walking around with Katherine. He liked the idea of showing her off, of walking around being the only one allowed to touch her at all. He liked having Katherine on his arm, because he knew no one else could. They didn’t stand a chance. Any of them. Many people looked at her, and the two of them together, for many different reasons. One of them in particular was a remarkably slim girl with dark hair and blue eyes.

“…Who is that?” Katherine asked, noticing the girl practically tracking her movements.

She seemed to be all but glaring, not even blinking as her head turned as far as Katherine walked.

“Who?” Luke asked, tracing her gaze. “The one with the blatantly obvious stink eye?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s Silena Beauregard. Head of Cabin 10, Aphrodite… I think she’s always had a huge crush on me,” he admitted.

“Well, if she keeps looking at me like that, I’ll crush her.”

“Love, I appreciate the thought,” Luke said humorously as he tightened his grip on her, “But I think she’s one of the ones that could be useful to us.”

“Right. We have a shit ton of recruiting to do eventually,” she sighed. “You should get in her pants.”

Luke stopped dead in his tracks, looking at her in disgust.

“What?”

“She’d obviously do anything if she thought you wanted her to do it. You gotta give these people something to hope for if you want them to follow you,” Katherine reasoned.

“I guess that’s true,” he mumbled, not liking the idea. “I guess I’ll lead her on, or something.”

“Good,” she nodded her approval.

The two walked around the camp together, until they were stopped by a rather disheveled looking middle-aged man with a Diet Coke in his hand walking out of the Big House.

“Hey! You two,” he barked them down.

“Mr. D,” Luke called promptly as Katherine realized who they were speaking to.

Dionysus, the god of wine and general debauchery, one of the camp’s directors.

“Go see the Oracle.”

“The Oracle?” Luke questioned. “Why?”

“You think I know?” the malcontent demanded. “Just go up to the attic. Chiron said the damn thing’s acting up.”

“Okay,” Luke sighed, as they walked back up to the Big House.

“The Oracle of Delphi?” Katherine questioned, recalling the multiple times he’d mentioned it. “Why would it have something to say to us?”

“I don’t know,” Luke admitted, trying to think. “But… I think it has something to do with what she said when I went on that quest, right before we met,” he remembered.

“What did she say?” she asked him, not recalling him ever telling her about it.

Luke just sighed. “The last lines never made any sense to me until we went off together… I think it went like this.

‘You shall run for your life,

Never free from strife.

You shall find a new reason,

As affinities deepen.’

That’s what the oracle said to me.”

Katherine stared at him for a moment, trying to fully process.

“That’s you and me,” Luke told her. “For some reason, you and me are part of a prophecy.”

She nodded silently as they walked into the Big House, now fully understanding the gravity of the situation.

“There you two are. Go up to the attic,” Chiron said immediately upon their arrival. “It’s asking for you.”

They both agreed, without any further questions. Luke led Katherine up to the large, dusty attic of the house, taking her to the Oracle, the dead body of the last woman to inherit its power, which had just been stored up in the attic over the years.

Luke watched as it slowly came to life, reanimating like some sort of Halloween animatronic.

“I don’t think there’s a quest,” Luke said thoughtfully. “The one I just came back from… It was the only one the camp has seen since the last quest I went on.”

Katherine nodded, knowing that both quests of Luke’s were sore subjects that he didn’t like to discuss very often. They both watched as the corpse came to life, showing them both the same vision before it spoke. It was a vision from the past, of the two of them eating at a diner on the way back to New York.

The Oracle began to speak, its voice seeming to be wheezing in pain.

“Hate burns in the name of love,

And this love was not sent from above.

You will both turn your backs to home,

It will always be you, together and alone.

Betrayal will be rewarded,

And love is perverted.

One soul has already been claimed.

One will be sacrificed to pain,

The other to an eternal reign.

Time will betray you,

And blood will ensue.”

Katherine and Luke exchanged worried looks as the dead corpse snapped back into place, no longer moving at all. They both took a moment to recall her words, the ominous prophecy burned into both of their brains.

“‘Time will betray you’….” Luke echoed.

“‘And blood will ensue’,” Katherine nodded.

Both knew that meant nothing good.

“‘Betrayal will be rewarded, and love is perverted’,” she repeated.

Luke thought for a moment, considering the endless possibilities.

“What we’re doing…” he realized, looking her in the eyes as his hands held her gently by the forearms. “It’s not gonna end well,” he looked at her, an almost pleading look in his eyes.

“Did we ever think it would?”

“I don’t know,” he confessed, thinking about his own betrayal of the camp. “But I always thought, on some level, it’d be worth it.”

“It will be worth it,” Katherine said poisonously, the look in her dark eyes consuming him. It will be worth it, when we burn this shit to the ground,” she promised him.

Luke held her for a moment, wondering if this was someone he recognized. He had certainly seen Katherine like this before. She probably would’ve said the exact same thing even before Kronos healed her, but something in that moment still felt eerily different to Luke.

-

Chapter Thirteen

[xanadontit]

Hey @tap-shoes I got you!

Dear Care and Feeding,

My husband and I have two kids, ages 14 months and 2 years old. Ever since the second was born, I’ve been kind of uncomfortable with the fact that my husband is NEVER alone with both of them, outside of me going to the bathroom or taking a shower.

Anytime I have somewhere to be, he has at least one of his parents come over or he goes to their house or his sister’s house (they all live locally) with the kids. I’ve been hesitant to bring it up because I don’t want to try to control the time he spends with the kids, and when I mentioned it to my close friend she said I should take it as a gift because I find his family a bit overbearing, so he gets the time with his family, his family gets the time with the kids, and I don’t need to spend extra time with them. But it has made me wonder if he is comfortable with our kids on his own, which any parent should be.

Very early this morning I received a call that my mother was being taken to the hospital in serious condition. I am her medical proxy and live about an hour and a half away. I immediately got up to get dressed and told my husband I needed to go and would make sure I was back in time to pick up the kids from daycare at the end of the day as I always do (he drops them off). He got panicky and asked me to give him a minute to call his mother because he needed her to come over in case the kids woke up and to help with the morning routine. I told him that was ridiculous; I can understand wanting a hand with the morning routine, but she didn’t need to come over at 2:30 a.m. to sit on alert while the kids slept, especially since they both sleep through the night on their own 95 percent of the time. He said he wasn’t comfortable being there alone with them and he needed me to wait to leave until one of his parents got there. I said no, I had an emergency to deal with and I would be going, he could handle two sleeping kids and should just go back to bed himself until his alarm, and I left. Twenty minutes later I saw a notification on our security cameras that his mother had arrived at the house.

It’s a few hours later and I’m sitting in the waiting room waiting for an update on my mother’s surgery and for my siblings to arrive and I just don’t even know what to think. I’ve tried texting and calling and he didn’t answer. I just don’t understand how you can be uncomfortable taking care of your own children and think just constantly having someone else around is an acceptable solution. He only ever seems to have regular new-ish parent worries, not over-the-top anxiety. What’s the best way to address this when I get home? I know he will be mad I left, but I’m mad he put me in a situation where I had to choose to leave. Shouldn’t you be able to take care of your own children? Did I miss something I should have seen?

—Can’t Leave Him Alone

Dear Alone,

First off, I really hope your mom is OK. That isn’t a call anyone wants to receive, especially in the middle of the night.

Presumably, you’ve come home since writing this letter; I wish we had a Reddit-style update I could pull up, but I’ll have to consign myself to the land of make-believe instead. If you and I were dealing with this in real-time, I would tell you to find a time later this afternoon or evening when you are both calmer and ask him why he feels he can’t be alone with the kids. But you can still have this conversation even though that moment has passed. Try to truly listen to his reasons and see if you can uncover whether this is real anxiety/fear or whether it’s a version of weaponized incompetence (which doesn’t have to be intentional to exist). Explain that while you don’t mind extended family helping out in general, it concerns you that you can’t count on him in an emergency.

If he’s reticent to see the problem, ask him what his plan is when his mom is gone, but you need to be out of town. What if you are the one who gets hurt, or worse? He needs to be able to step up and assume the full duties of parenthood, and not only in an emergency! You should be able to run an errand, get a manicure, or see a friend without making childcare arrangements. If he truly cannot step up because of deep-rooted anxiety, then he needs to be looking at therapy of some kind. I do not mean to be unkind, but this is the behavior of a mother’s helper, not a parent.

—Allison

[microsuedemouse]

I’ve reached season six in my Midsomer rewatch, and I just. I don’t remember who I saw suggest this (@daguchna maybe?) but I really do wonder if the writers weren’t thinking at this point about taking Gavin and Cully somewhere, before Casey decided to leave the show. obviously Death and Dreams is a big one for them, but there are things in the other episodes that seem to suggest it, too, inasmuch as this show ever really does much outright character work. I’m watching A Talent for Life right now, and Cully’s so pleased when she spots Gavin approaching the library van - she says his name so fondly, and walks away from her father to go outside and talk to the sergeant instead. later she brings him up unprompted when talking to her mother. later still, the camera deliberately shows us Cully hiding a bit of a chuckle after Gavin looks her way while making a dumb joke. these details are all really noticeable, and I don’t think there’s any real reason for the show to put them there unless there was some intention for them to mean something.

it doesn’t make me insane the way unrealised ships in some other shows do, probably because of the way that Midsomer really isn’t driven by character arcs or relationships, but I do deeply wish we could’ve seen how their dynamic might have played out if Gavin had stayed. and I wish there were more people writing explorations of the same idea, haha - I love puttering at my own fics (who knows if I’ll ever get around to finishing any of them), but I would also love having more content to read. one of the best things about fanfiction is getting to experience so many different interpretations of your favourite characters/ships/themes/narratives/etc… when you happen to be into the same things as lots of other people, hah. it’s a bummer to fall so in love with a ship that no one else really has!

[player1064]

loving these drabbles and in need of some nice fluffiness so any chance for carraville being cute and very openly in love and slightly affectionate during the bts bits before stick to football :)

bts bits of stick to football are my LIFE FORCE honestly like. they're so insane about each other. they're SO insane about each other. also we r on the same wavelength bc literally all weekend I've been imagining what the bts bits would be like if they were all gross and couple-y and I have come to the conclusion that they would be INSUFFERABLE. obviously. and ignore everyone else to talk all sweetly to each other about random nonsense I HATE THEM!!!

---

“You’re sittin’ very far away, are you sittin’ far away?”

“I think –” Jamie starts, then has to pause so that the makeup artist can tilt his head slightly “—I think it’s the same as always, in’t it? Not like there’s much space back ‘ere, anyway.”

“Oh.”

Gary looks forlornly at his stool and gets up onto it, looking back and forth between himself and Jamie a few times as he does. He reaches across the table for a croissant, tears a piece off the end to nibble at tragically.

“Jamie, what is wrong with you, man?” asks Wrighty as he walks up to the bar with Roy. “Look at him, he’s all out of sorts! Can’t you shift your chair right an inch or two?”

Someone in the background mumbles something about camera positioning and tape markers on the floor, and Roy waves a hand towards them in agreement. “The chairs are exactly the same as they are every week! Jesus, Wrighty, you’re too soft on the lad.”

Jamie knows a losing battle when he sees one, mainly because every battle with Gary is a losing one, so he shifts his stool an inch closer to Gary’s.

“There, was’at so hard?” Gary says triumphantly, turning to Jamie all glowy, like.

They’re now sitting close enough that Jamie can knock his knee into Gary’s, which he does before he turns to the others and rolls his eyes.

Jill wanders over and starts chatting to Roy and Wrighty about something, weekend plans or football games maybe, Jamie’s not really paying attention. He takes the momentary pause in conversation on their side of the table to turn and look at Gary, leaning an arm on the counter so that he can rest his head in his hand.

Gary mirrors the gesture, kicks one foot out to gently knock the side of Jamie’s ankle. “Hiya,” he murmurs.

It’s annoying, how easily this filthy Manc can make him go all soft. “Hi yourself,” he replies with a smile. “Yer gonna out us to all your subscribers, you carry on like this.”

“Eh, we’ll edit around it,” Gary says, with all the confidence of someone who has no idea how editing works. “I missed ya, y’know.”

“I’ve only been in London two days, lad, y’don’t need to be so clingy. ‘s not becoming of a lady.”

“Shush, you. I were thinkin’, yeah, maybe when season’s over we could go somewhere for a bit.”

“Oh, you were thinkin’ were ya?”

“Mmm, somewhere warm. With private beach, maybe.”

“Won’t you have the Euros?”

“Dunno, maybe I’ll skip ‘em this year. Take it easy, like.”

Jamie never thought he’d see the day that Gary Neville willingly turned down work, and yet – he grins at him, reaches forwards to flick at Gary’s chest fondly.

He hears someone clear their throat, which instantly pulls him back to his surroundings and to the fact that the other conversations in the room seem to have ended. He huffs a laugh and leans back, raises an eyebrow at Roy.

Roy looks between Jamie and Gary with a smirk. Gary, seemingly unaware, closes the newly formed space between them by reaching over to tap Jamie on the elbow.

“Jamie,” he says, “Jamie, can you pass me the toffee popcorns?”

“No, they’re no good for ya,” Jamie replies. “’ave a satsuma instead.”

He makes the mistake of glancing over to Gary as he says this, who shoots him the most miserable little pout he’s ever seen in his life.

He wordlessly slides the bowl of popcorn over to him.

“Jamie,” Roy says, biting into the mini roll that Wrighty’s just handed him, “You have a problem. Seriously, I think you need help. An intervention, or summat.”

“Aw, no, I think it’s sweet,” says Jill. “Weren’t you ever young an’ in love?”

“They’re nearly fifty!”

[neitherlightnordark]

mettaton and children. now

BUT OF COURSE I LOVE CHILDREN!! WHY WOULDN’T I? THEY'RE SOME OF THE TELEVISION’S MOST DEVOTED FANS! WITH SO MUCH FREE TIME AND WHIMSY ON THEIR HANDS, IT'S NO WONDER THAT EVERY DAY, RIGHT ON THE DOT, THEY TUNE IN TO MY SHOW... FOR FAMILY-FRIENDLY, AMUSING, AND BLOODTHIRSTY TIMES! DON’T BELIEVE ME? JUST ASK... ANY ONE OF THEM!

...That’s a camera! Yo, am I on... TV?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Yo, that's so cool!! Everyone can see me! Hi, mom! ... Oh, man, I forgot I’m not supposed to be out... Maybe I can get a ski mask somewhere? Uh, hey, do you have any ski masks?

SKI MASKS? IN SNOWDIN? WHY?

My mom told me I had to be back quick after my errand... She’s gonna be mad if she sees the paparazzi swarmed me first! You better be careful or she’ll have your hide, ha ha!

MY, MY. A FAN SUCH AS YOURSELF... OR AT LEAST, SOMEONE IN MY SHOW’S TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC... FAILS TO RECOGNIZE MY METALLIC FORM OUT IN THE LIGHT? ALTHOUGH I SUPPOSE THE SNOW'S SHEEN... MAKES IT HARDER TO LOOK AT ME. SURELY YOU CAN AT LEAST RECOGNIZE MY SILHOUETTE! I'M THE SQUARE THAT APPEARS IN YOUR TV SOMETIMES. WITH FLASHING LIGHTS AS A FACE AND A WHEELY THING UNDERNEATH. SOUND FAMILIAR?

Uh... Either way, you look super cool, mister!

THAT'S RIGHT! DON’T WORRY ABOUT NOT HAVING WATCHED MY SHOW, DARLING. NOT ONLY DOES IT PLAY EVERY DAY, AT THE SAME TIME, FOREVER... BUT, THERE'S NO OTHER SHOWS ON MY CHANNEL. SO I GOT THE EMPTY SPACES TO BE FILLED WITH MY SHOW’S RERUNS. NOW YOU CAN WATCH MTT TV ON THE GO, NO MATTER WHAT TELEVISION SET YOUR JOURNEYS TAKE YOU TO!

That's cool! Can I go now, mister MTT TV?

WHAT?? HEY, NO--- *COUGHS* *ROBOTICALLY* ERR, WHERE’RE YOU HEADING TODAY?

Miss QC’s Shop! That’s, uh, on the west-most part of Snowdin Town. If I help dust Miss QC’s shelves today, I get a free bicicle!

HOW FINE AND DANDY! A LOCAL BUSINESS!I MIND IF I TAG ALONG? 

Sure! Why not?

THAT'S RIGHT, YOUR LOCAL DAZZLING STAR LOVES EATING OUT AT PLACES THAT ARE PRIVATELY OWNED! AND TODAY I’LL BRING TO YOU AN EVEN SPECIAL-ER OFFER! PURCHASE A BICICLE AT MISS QC’S SHOP... AND GET A FREE STARFAIT AT MTT-BRAND BURGER EMPORIUM IN RETURN! MAKE SURE TO TAKE THE ELEVATORS SO YOU’RE NOT TOO STARVING... BUT EVEN THEN, I’M SURE YOU’LL STILL BE TEMPTED BY OUR GLAMOUROUS, SEQUIN-SPECKLED FOODS... WHEN YOU STAGGER UP TO OUR SLIGHTLY DAMP DOUBLE DOORS! YOU CAN'T GET THESE DEALS ANYWHERE ELSE! (STAMPS VERIFYING PURCHASE AVAILABLE AT QC’S SHOP UPON REQUEST)

I don't know Miss QC very well, but... I dunno if she’ll appreciate the free advertising...

DON’T BE RIDICULOUS. EVERYBODY LOVES BEING SHOUTED OUT BY FAMOUS PEOPLE.

You’re famous?

OH COME ON.

Ha ha! Yo, I was just joking!

HA HA HA. IS THIS WHAT THEY CALL BEING A LITTLE SCAMP? AH, YOUTH. (IF ONLY I COULD RECALL BEING SO PRECOCIOUS...)

...?

HERE’S ANOTHER DEAL. I BUY THE BICICLE FOR YOU. YOU WATCH MY SHOW! HOW’S THAT SOUND.

I don’t need you to buy me an excuse to watch more television, sir!

(MTT TV DOES NOT CONDONE MINDLESS CONSUMPTION OF ENTERTAINMENT, LEST IT BECOME ADDICTIVE, ESPECIALLY YOUTH. THIS IS WHY ALL METTATON COMMERCIAL BREAKS INVOLVE THIRTY MINUTES OF METTATON SCAMPERING THROUGH FIELDS OF GRASS, SPONSORED BY METTATON.)

Hey, are you listening to me! (whispering) I said, as long as you edit out my face! And make my voice really deep.

(WHISPERING) SURE! WHAT DO YOU WANT TO LOOK LIKE INSTEAD?

... Have you heard of this cool person named Captain Undyne?

WHY, YES I HAVE, DARLING! IN FACT... AFTER I BUY YOU THIS BICICLE, I THINK I’VE GOT A KEY RIGHT TO HER HOUSE! METAPHORICALLY.

REALLY?!

YEP, SHE LOVES ME. I’M SURE SHE’D ALSO LOVE CO-STARRING WITH YOU!

Well--- I--- *coughs* *lizardly* ...Maybe someday soon, yo! For now... I’ve got to bring groceries back home. The reason Captain Undyne’s so great... is because she never breaks promises! She’d do the same if she were me.

THAT’S FINE BY ME! I DON’T NEED ANY EXCUSES TO CONVINCE HER TO PLAY MORE TOTALLY TRIVIA! THANKS FOR THE GREAT IDEA, UH...

Haha, you’re welcome, mister...

METTATON. JUST METTATON, NO TV. THAT’S MY COMPANY.

Okay! See you!

AND SEE YOU IN FIVE MINUTES AFTER I’M DONE BEING VIRTUOUS IN THIS SHOP, VIEWERS~

[sparky-is-spiders]

Hey the TMA Somewhere Else is Dredge au still lives in my brain actually. I think Jon spends a lot of time trying to study how the eldritch stuff interacts with the environment. Minorish spoilers for Dredge below. If you haven’t played it yet, please do. Pretty sure it’s still on sale on Steam right now. It’s such a good, lonely, somber little horror fishing game.

Okay I’ll try to avoid too many spoilers because I think this game is best experienced blind and I’m pretty sure I only have a couple followers who’ve played it. But anyway, some Jon nature studies (btw this is an au with any/all Jon):

- Jon actually stays in Stellar Basin w/ the researcher for a while. Helps her take samples and stuff. His interest was perked when he heard that the mutations supposedly came from the creature, so he starts looking for evidence and taking water and soil samples (how did the eldritch influence spread? Through creatures? Through water? Or was the whole area influenced when whatever lived in the basin came through?)

- She starts testing out a theory that the monsters in the area might actually be aberrations who’ve reached some evolutionary peak. This means trying to get samples from the monsters. Which means Jon getting very, VERY close to them. Only complicated by the fact that they make scientific equipment go absolutely haywire (not to mention she’s going off knowledge from the Eye and a crash course from the researcher), so the results prove… inconclusive.

- Once the photographer gives them a camera, they take lots of pictures. Mostly abberations and monsters, but occasionally the local wildlife too. Their favorites are the pictures they snapped of a sperm whale dragging a giant tentacle down to the depths.

- They save up until they can purchase a small apartment out in Greater Marrow. Much like their old flat, it’s barely used and barely organized, and it doesn’t feel even a little bit like home. Their notes are spread all over the place, pinned to walls and filling up shelves and piled all over their rickety desk. The photo of the sprem whale attacking the giant tentacle is pinned in the center of the corkboard (it was a very good, VERY lucky shot, and they think they were honestly more surprised than whatever the hell the tentacle was part of).

- He tried capturing one of the piranhas out in Devil’s Spine, but even dead, they call to their mother, and he has to toss them overboard or have his boat crushed between massive jaws.

- She consulted the researcher (and the Eye) about ways to keep a fish farm, but for the aberrations instead. It took a lot of trial and error, but she managed to keep one of what she classed as “incubator” aberrations (perhaps a cyclopean flounder?) until the “eye” hatched (for non-Dredge players: cyclopean flounders appear to have one giant eye, but it’s actually an egg (the pupil is a yolk)). Unfortunately, what exactly emerged from the egg is unknown. They Eye alerted Jon that it had hatched, but when she checked the area it was being kept in, she only found gorey remains, a hole in the mesh keeping the fish contained, and slime clinging nearby. It was a shame, she had gotten somewhat attached to the unfortunate flounder.

- He’d spend days, sometimes even weeks at a time using his spyglass to watch schools of fish with abberations, observing their behavior and how they interact with the regular fish. He tried going on a dive to observe them once, and I can’t decide if I want that to end with him getting attacked instantly, or with him awakening hours later on the deck, drenched in water, covered in seaweed, with no memory of what he saw and a notebook full of scribbles and gibberish. Either way, he 100% tries again multiple times later.

- Attempts to Know about the ocean or See below the surface of the water are met with… resistance. Part of it is the Eye’s limited presence, it’s only just gotten here and it’s still slowly gathering strength and they can’t draw much power from it (Useful in that it means they don’t need to take as many statements anymore, need to sustain themselves with human food too, but it also makes them weaker). Part of it is the sea itself. It doesn’t want to be seen or known or understood, and attempts to do so have been met with failure and sometimes attacks. (Jon still remembers their first attempt, where they tried to know if all that unnatural fog was somehow connected to the Lonely, reaching out with all their strength, only for a shark with shining white eye to rise to the surface of the water and tear a massive chunk out of the hull).

Ok that’s all I have for now. Go play Dredge. Goodbye.

[penname-artist]

Life Updates (Jan. 2023)

(Dated as such because I presume I’ll do more month-to-month updates, assuming I’ve anything update-worthy. Highlighted the section’s themes cuz I bounce a lot and there was a lot to cover for this month)

My commissions have been doing well as of late. I wouldn’t say they’re “booming” per se, but I have two done and two right behind them. Getting onto a real schedule has its ups and downs, though. For one thing, remembering to block my time for work (espeeeeecially for logging commission times) has been challenging. Nevertheless, I’ve done the thing, and I’m being good and making myself not work on the weekends and only putting in my work toward the week days.

That said, this Monday (the 16th) will probably be busy. Next to those two commissions, I have a pair of videos (which aren’t even mine, they’re my father’s) to edit for posting to help him advertise somethin-or-other. I really need to work on my own videos for my channel and get my setup back (the camera holder thingy I use when doing speed art has been moved since I replaced my floor last year and I still haven’t put it back) BUT, because Monday already has three to four projects in it, I’m not gonna push it. I know what I’m like, I want to do everything at once and then I don’t do any of it.

Which ALSO reminds me of the Dusty Collaboration project that I intended to do in August last year and never finished. My plan on that, going forward (and I’ll go back and poke the members of this project and re-ensure everyone is still on board with this) is to do it this August instead for the Planes 10-year anniversary. Because, you know, it’s TEN YEARS. That’s fucking INSANE.

Now mental health wise...well it’s kind of a mixed bag. I definitely feel a lot better and more alive right now than I had working 36 hours a week and wasting away in a chair. I have all of my side hobbies in the same place and I can add to them and work on them in my own time (and literally, I have a lot of fucking hobbies. In this room alone I have two dozen someodd video games, board games, card games, stacks of books I’m addictively reading, piles of crochet projects and yarn, a desk full of art materials, another desk full of writing materials, and now I’m putting in a TV and DVD/CD player for television and music). It’s also given me enough motivation/inspiration to do the things I’ve been actually wanting and needing to do - like make money - more effectively. So on that front, all is well and good.

But, the rat situation from a few months ago is still going on. And I literally have no fucking idea what it is or why it is and what we can do to stop it. I literally don’t even know if it’s a rat anymore. I never hear any active chewing or scratching, all that I hear is the movement of an animal from one end of the bedroom all the way around to the other, and the occasional bump of something in the wall as it hits it. A pair of times I’ve heard some weird squeaking like it’s a baby animal of some sort, but only a teeny tiny amount of times. And the other day I discovered a cat outside my window, so NOW I’m thinking he’s sneaking into the house walls to hunt and just fucking with me. Or it’s something else, I literally have no idea. Either way, I have slept with the wax melter light on EVERY night for the last month or so.

Lastly, on the side of financial state, we’re still going by the skin of our teeth at the moment, but I suppose it’s working. Dad’s jumping between fixing cars (which he knows) and trying to do real estate (which he does not know as much - also making money from that takes significantly more time and less consistency) and I’m only just now starting to scratch into my savings for things.

My biggest focus aside from my commissions and things will probably be getting my license and then finding a second job somewhere, hopefully art-related (please), between now and May. That is, assuming that I’m still not quite making enough to be comfortable. I’m teetering on the edge of qualifying for making money through Youtube, and commissions are making a fair bit of pocket change right now, but even that plus my work income right now is about half of the rent money for the month. I did say I’d give myself until April to do this, because I can make it that far on savings alone, comfortably and without much fear. BUT, nothing and no one can break until then because I ain’t got no insurance for shit anymore. *punches body* Stop being stupid!

(oh yeah physical health wise I still get occasional noodle days where my body is just, non-functional and I’m just kinda made of limp noodles. Not often, but, it does happen. I dunno man, maybe it’s just a normal thing, who knows.)

That’s all I can think of for the time being, y’all. I’m gonna work on this immediate stuff first and then hopefully I’ll have room to put out some videos for you guys. And, there’s fanfics to look forward to! If anyone remembers Night on the Bow, a project collaborated by Ivory, Shu, and yours truly, we’re making another one! It’s a beefy fic too, so hang onto your hats... ;)

There’s tons more in the wings but I can’t even remember what lol, but it’ll get there when it gets there!

Take care y’all and have a nice Sunday, til the morrow!

-Pen

[starlightswitch]

Where It's Planted

(for Writer's Month day 1 prompts blossom and on an island)

Kerri half-covered her face with her hands, taking a long breath through them, her eyes uncovered and looking toward the sky. “I don’t know if I like it or don’t like it that we’ll pretty much know today if it worked or it didn’t work.”

“Why wouldn’t you want to know if it didn’t work?” Simon was steering the boat, following the curve of the island’s shore to the dock.

“I don’t want to know that it didn’t work, so why would I want to know today? That’s the kind of thing that’ll ruin your day.” The ‘your’ was indirect, a general ‘you’ that applied just as much to herself.

Simon tossed his shoulders. “If it doesn’t work I want to know so we can move on to the next thing.”

Kerri wasn’t sure what the next thing would be. That was one reason knowing it didn’t work would ruin her day. There was also not getting the result they wanted after years of work. And not getting to see a pretty flower.

They reached the shore and docked. Kerri was first out and offered a hand to Simon, knowing by now he had trouble with the first step back onto solid ground. Simon knew by now she had trouble remembering to put sunscreen on; he’d reminded her as soon as they got out on the water.

There was no sign of the flower before they started walking. If they came back years from now– if it had worked– there probably would be. The thing was known to spread readily, aggressively even, which was why it had been eradicated in the first place. Why it had taken so much work to get approval for planting it when they’d started research to recreate it and grow it again. Here on this island in the middle of a lake it should be contained, and the general public seemed to like the idea of being able to go see it somewhere it wouldn’t disrupt their lawns and gardens.

They could have planted it closer to the dock, but they had agreed that seemed too easy and planted it a little further away, so they had a bit of a walk. Not much of one– it wasn’t a big island.

Simon spotted it first. Kerri heard him catch his breath.

The flowers were blossoming.

They weren’t big showy blossoms. The plant’s focus wasn’t on showing but on spreading. Instead they grew tons of tiny blossoms to a plant, lined up neatly on thin little branching stems, the plants all growing close together in a patch of sunny yellow. Buttercup yellow, daffodil yellow, but instead of individual blossoms on their own plants, a blanket of blossoms.

Kerri and Simon stared at each other.

“We did it,” he said softly, almost with disbelief.

“We did it,” she repeated, a whisper but with the energy of a shout.

They had never hugged before this moment, hadn’t even thought about hugging, but in this moment it seemed like the most natural thing to share a tight hug of triumph.

“Get some pictures,” said Simon, already reaching for his phone.

“I just want to look at them,” said Kerri. “Which is silly, because I know what they look like. We know what they look like better than anyone else in the world, and we know what they look like growing because we did how many trials, but…”

“They’re in the wild. It’s different.” He nudged her forward. “I’ll take some pictures of you looking at them. Fair enough to have us in the pictures. We’re the reason they’re here.”

“If it’s ‘us’ that should be in the pictures you should be in them too.”

He shook that off. “You can get some of me. You go first.”

“No. Here.” Kerri was already pulling out her phone, flipping to the front-facing camera. She turned, nudged Simon to turn, and held it up, angling to get the flowers in the picture behind them.

Simon struck a pose, a thumbs-up and a goofy grin.

Kerri snorted, her eyes closing a little, an answering grin coming to her face. She liked the glimpse she got of that on the phone screen, so she tried to make the same expression on purpose. She took the picture.

They gave each other a grin, genuine this time, then moved on to taking more scientific pictures of what they had brought back to life.

-

2020 Day 1: Roses and Diamonds (Tattoo shop + Flower Shop AU)

2021 Day 1: Someplace to Be (protective + high school AU)

2022 Day 1: Almost a Dream Come True (promise + beach)

[pcbug2003]

creative final project: create an alter ego

Alter ego

Name: Cruz 

Cruz personality traits:

Quiet confidence 

Plans ahead of time, morning person

Direct honest speaker, first to speak up

Confrontational instead of holding grudges

Does not say “like” as a filler word

Always sits up straight

Acts on boundaries

Wears silver 

Wears black and red

Make a cruz playlist:

It’s my life- talk talk 

Background

Cruz is a very respectable and channels their energy and drive into their field 

Cruz is the side of me that I usually suppress because I’m scared people will be intimidated by me. Sometimes I make myself small or try to be a people pleaser, but I am not fulfilled when I make myself smaller. Cruz will encourage me to be more ambitious. Right now, my goal is to find a job or another source of income. Being Cruz will stop me from being ashamed to put myself out there and instead I’ll be able to trust that I know what I’m doing and nothing else can get in my way. I already feel more confident in myself talking about this. 

10/25/22

In class it is very rigid. The atmosphere feels cold because one half of the class has a clique and the other half has another clique. I’m not sure why this is. I believe that everyone has a strong personality and unique perspective, but it is almost as if only the guys have grouped together and only branch out to each other, leaving the other half. This is very common though because there is a film hierarchy already present. Up until very recently, the only people who have been directors or reflected the demographic were men. Film is still very hard to advance in. I know we are somewhere halfway through the semester. I want to work with people I haven’t worked with yet, so as cruz I will talk to everyone sitting around me or find a reason to talk to them.

11/2/22

We are doing a presentation project where we have to break down a 4 minute scene shot by shot, lighting, camera floor plans, color palette, exposure graph, etc. of each shot. It is a highly extensive project that I think I should have started earlier but it's not due for another 4 days. I'm working with my partner Lucy and I think we have a good chemistry working with each other because our workload is very neatly divided. I feel like I have a headache because I have been working on just color palettes for hours. We have 60 scenes. Thinking like Cruz, I decided that we should pick “Knives Out” as the movie. I remember our professor showed us a video about shot types and it was briefly mentioned for a few seconds, so I know it is critically acclaimed. It has been easier to find information about it because the director, Rian Johnson, is very detail oriented. Cruz is not scared, Cruz only faces their problems, so I’ve decided to fully embrace the amount of work with full force. I want the presentation to be so good that people or at least the professor will be impressed. 

11/7/22

I was caught off guard because the presentations started for the slides today even though on Canvas the due date is also today. I went from calm and collected straight into a state of panic. Thankfully I didn’t have to present, but I never fully stopped working on the slides the whole class. I don’t know how I’m going to explain or expand on anything even though I have 95% of it done. I sat in the back of class and a guy even yelled at me for not paying attention to his presentation. As Cruz I reacted by not reacting. Many people looked awkwardly towards my way or nervously laughed, but I stayed typing. I am in no place to worry about the temper tantrums of others. I have greatness in mind. This is not a person I am a big fan of because they are rude to my professor and talk down to him. In the past they also talked down to me and said I was “lucky I met them” because they could “actually make me into something”. I was a bit smug to myself because they got a taste of their own medicine just by me being preoccupied with my own business. I will take it as a win that even though I am sitting in the back, I have started to rock the boat. Many people did a double take because I always sit in the front. I like that somehow my presence is still seen. I have also started to realize that many people in the class fake laugh and encourage him. Today I have not budged in order to show an apathetic stance. 

11/9/22

Today we did not present again, but I have failed as Cruz. Although I did make small talk with the people around me by asking if they were presenting and what movie they chose. I found that the guy next to me was shocked by my asking but soon turned out to be very kind as I was nervous. Both because I was out of my comfort zone, but I could mask that with also being nervous for my presentation. Lucy and I spent hours practicing how we’re going to present. We said over and over that we loved the presentation and that it was now special to us. I started to learn more about the film as we broke it down and we were both excited. My roommate gave us tips on our presentation and I knew I wasn’t fully there so I wrote my notes on index cards and now I won’t have to worry about leaving things unsaid and getting frustrated. I want to have no regrets and prove that we are knowledgeable. But because we went deep into detail it goes over the time limit. Lucy said we could present last after we hesitated and lost our chance to go second.The idea of rushing made me incredibly anxious. All of a sudden I became really sad and I couldn’t help it and I also felt myself bringing down Lucy's mood. At one point I picked up my bookbag on my lap, hugging it for comfort and looked down. Lucy and the guy next to me looked like they felt bad. The next people that went were people I believe are the smartest people in the class. Theirs was so long it took up the whole class period. Not surprisingly, they were also excited to break their presentation down and talk about their favorite parts. This made me forget my sadness because I remembered it is about having passion!! We didn’t present so I was grateful, but right after class I emailed my professor to make sure that we could present first. I am not going to fail to plan again.

11/14/22

Lucy and I presented and we couldn't contain our excitement. For the first time our very strict teacher praised us. My job was to include a waveform and RGB color value. I noticed in the presentations that everyone had the most trouble with that so I had looked up a tutorial on how to pull it up on Davinci Resolve. I found that I could also include a Vectorscope and more advanced color space all at once. He said he was very happy to see that we mentioned it and stopped to show the class what we had done. I felt a rush of happiness and Lucy and I looked at each other excitedly. Update: we got an 100!! It feels nice to not just have that grade for myself but also for my partner. As Cruz I think we set out to impress people and we reset the standard. 

11/16/22

In film class we received a review sheet for the final. I feel very intimidated because I feel like there is a lot of terminology and things that I have not fully grasped. Most of the time in class I will just sit there and pretend I understand the professor’s answer to my question even if I don’t. Today in class I brought flashcards with me. I had tried beforehand to re-read a few chapters of our textbook and find out which things might be on the test that I didn’t know. I only made a few cards. I was surprised to see that there are eighty terms on the review sheet. I was the only one with flashcards. It was hard to keep up back and forth because he was going really fast. I tried to ask a smart person in the class for help, but he seemed unsure of himself. As I sat next to him, I was surprised by his knowledge because he had the answer to almost everything, while I had the question for almost everything. I tried to ask my friends to form a study group, but to no avail.

11/24/22 

It is Thanksgiving break and I have gone from making a quizlet to using real flashcards again. I remember when I was younger I memorized the whole periodic table and recited it in the shower, any chance I had. Practice definitely does make perfect. I am slacking though, I have been watching a new show and putting off studying. It is a bit hectic back home as well. I think Cruz came out naturally on Thanksgiving. My mom had been making side comments about how much food I put on my plate, saying that my dress would rip open. I stood up to her and said “Don’t talk to me like that!” she said it was just a joke and I said “You’re being mean, that’s not a joke when you keep bullying me”. I think behind every joke is a little truth. She had been complaining about her size and also comparing herself to how skinny I was. The hardest thing for me to do is to set boundaries, but it has to be done or I have only myself to blame for the way people treat me. Another woman who wasn’t my mother seemed to be bothered that I stood up for myself, but it is not my job to be uncomfortable to let others happily joke about me regardless of who it is. I do not think I am funny and anyone who has a problem with me respecting myself benefits from me being quiet and submissive so they don't have to focus on themselves. Again in the car, my mom and sister were talking down to my brother about something that wasn't correct. Usually I would hold my tongue, but I pointed out where they were wrong even if I was on their side. They tried to tell me I was wrong, but instead of second-guessing myself, I stated that I was very clear in what I meant to say and meant every word. My mom then surprisingly admitted that she felt bad for misunderstanding him. 

11/26/22

Lately I have felt paranoid. People look at me in a way I don’t understand or maybe I am not used to. I have been wearing a very cool red and black hoodie which I think represents the part of me that is Cruz. I usually wear brighter and more gentle colors, but my curiosity has led me to become more bold. I have started to quickly see that those I have sought to be more like in my class are talented, but maybe lacking discipline. Being Cruz has shown me that people are not actually more sure of their path anymore than I am. I always followed other people because I thought that’s what I should do, so much so that I never realized I did it. As Cruz, I have become more separated from my classmates. I actually have become frustrated that some are not studying for the final exam. I have spent hours on my flashcards, rewritten everything on a blank paper from memory, then watched videos, and corrected information I had wrong. Everyone looks at me a bit dismissively. I am the only one who continues to take my flashcards out and It is weird to see that it bothers them. I would not expect that in college, especially if I mind my business. A girl was staring at me and I felt her from the corner of my eye. I looked straight at her and she never once looked over again. I feel as though I am too ambitious or becoming a try-hard, and then I remember I am in college because I want to learn. If I want something for myself it doesn’t make sense to follow or wait for the co-sign from my peers. I am staying humble to not make “enemies”. If I think I know it all, I know nothing. 

11/28/22

Today I found myself very focused on what the professor was saying. We had a day to ask questions before the test and I asked a lot. Soon I feel people staring at me again. Each time it took me out of my state of concentration. I have done everything to fix my posture. The other day I ordered a seat cushion that supports my back and now I can spend a longer time studying. I feel a lot like the character Elle Woods from Legally blonde. Although I haven't smiled as much. I am very serious about my grade though. I know there are people out there who don’t want me to be able to learn. It’s a privilege to be in college. Maybe to others lately I look like a serious dark character, but I have entered into a place where I actually like to study. I want to get the highest grade out of everyone, even a 100 maybe on the final exam. I do not want to shy away. People keep questioning why I have so many flashcards. I listen to the playlist I made for Cruz and it helps me. I know what I’m capable of and that people won’t trust the process until they see for themselves. Having a chip on my shoulder has kept me consistent. My mom believes I should drop out of college, but I want to make use of my resources while I'm here. 

11/30/22

I feel very upset because I got a few questions wrong on the final now that I realized. I don’t really want to even talk about it because I put so much work just to make careless mistakes despite how much I practiced. The bonus question I also got wrong. It was worth 10 points too. 

12/5/22

My professor stated that someone did in fact receive a perfect 100 on the final. Everyone was asking him if the person was in the room, but it was confidential. I GOT THE 100 ON THE FINAL EXAM. I was expecting a 90, but I got all the points on the bonus question. I was conflicted because everything I worked for was suddenly feeling like I put a target on my back. Everyone immediately looked towards me with eyes of jealousy, so I tried not to smile to hide that I was happy. My professor said he was very proud of this person and then I became happy again. I could see that he noticed all my efforts and he was very excited and waiting to see my reaction. It  feels very nice to have the last laugh after people dragged me for having 80 flashcards. I felt so happy that I started to weep (when all eyes were off me). It was nice to have people in the class admit that they did see how I worked hard even when they were upset by their grade. Some even asked me to compare my answers as an example. I am not intelligent but I try. I would say I am one step closer to building a reputation as a knowledgeable person in my field. I said I couldn’t believe my life and then it was like Cruz took over to correct me mid sentence and I said, actually I CAN believe it. Hard work will never betray you!! 

12/11/22

After the test I had to remember to keep my grades up in my other classes rather than let this go to my head. I have always wanted to work at the FMA equipment office, so I put in a submission. I will hear an answer back tomorrow. 

I created Cruz as an alter ego to become more assertive in my field. Film is very competitive with a lot of diverse personalities. I have always struggled because I am shy and my biggest problem is I do not ask for help. It has done more harm to me than good. My parents have always told me to speak up. It is a very aggressive field. I think I always have had “Cruz” in me, it was just covered. Although it has significantly helped, at some point I realized it was taking over unconsciously, not because I was pretending but because the minute I decided to believe in this version of me, I eventually could prove it to myself.