#If I wasn’t broke and more irresponsible with my money I would get them but it’s TWO animatronics so that’s gonna be a high price for sure

[lemonmatronics]

y’all are never gonna see me recover from this actually

[gladiatorcunt]

- LIFE OF THE PARTY | IX.

take a breath, you’re the

cw: kinktober prompt (non con-ish, more of the aftermath), past non con threesome (between 18 year olds) w/ suguru, coercion, mentions of blood and virginity loss, past bully-ish satory, frat boy!satoru + nanami, toji (who’s the same age), sukuna, choso, & suguru, goth & tatted reader who has a vagina, non con voyeurism (?) and video sharing, implied the rest of the boys x reader (choso a little more implied), being attracted to the man who assaulted you and making poor decisions out of a need for survival, ooc!satoru, non linear moments, dead dove do not eat

please do not repost, translate or feed this work to ai

kinktober 2024

TWO YEARS AGO | ????’s Dorm Bathroom

“I’m the one that stuck around after I got my dick wet.”

He should’ve told you that he loved you, he should’ve shoved Suguru off of you when he had his turn and bashed his head into the tile. He should've cleaned you up and cuddled you in a bubble bath back at his apartment. What he did was wipe up the copious amounts cum and saliva up with your underwear and it wasn’t until he turned around so you could get dressed that he noticed the blood. On the floor, on your panties, dripping off his still hard cock. Satoru didn’t get to care about his heart falling out of his ass and straight into hell, because how absurd is it that this is the moment when he finally understands that his actions have consequences. Toy trains don’t run anymore when you play with them so roughly that their wheels fall off.

“I didn’t go in raw with her, ‘s not like you, I couldn't even stay hard until I looked at the pic of you I have by my bed. I brought it over.”

So why did he look at your limp body and still expect you to move? Didn’t you notice that you weren’t alone? Do you not care? His brain hadn’t caught up with his body when he ruined everything, and he wishes he had your first time in a bed, filled with only him. You weren’t paying attention to him anymore and he couldn’t understand why that made him so angry. He didn’t need you, Gojo Satoru doesn’t need anybody. He made no effort to stop the mean whispers about you from his friend group and he didn’t apologize for the way he “bullied” you in high school for having a stalker-y crush on him when you saw each other at orientation. But you looked so beautiful then, you still did when you were shaking on the cold floor in front of him. Staring all bug eyed up at the flickering artificial light, he wanted to scream when he hovered over you and your eyes didn’t focus on him.

In hindsight, that was a lot of words to use when he only needed three.

Satoru has to belong to everybody, but nothing ever has to belong to him. He has privileges that he earns by simply existing, but it can all be taken away from him with a single order. Is it so bad that he held you so tightly your bones broke and your guts spilled in between his fingers? That he wanted to stick your cells under a microscope so he could know you more intimately than anyone ever could? From the very moment he met you, he could tell that you truly understood him, and who would ever want to give that up?

If being irresponsible with money means splurging on a tattoo to make yourself feel better when you should really be buying groceries? Then you’ll put the shoe on and won’t whine when it fits. You’ve been in a god awful slump lately. Your assignments barely get turned in on time and you go weeks without brushing your teeth because you can’t be bothered to get off your ass for two minutes. So when Choso updated his tattoo shops instagram saying that they’re available for bookings, you jumped on the opportunity.

It’s your favorite place anyway, and you wouldn’t feel as comfortable getting a tattoo from someone that wasn’t working there. Even Sukuna, who makes a big show of acting all tough but will let you get pieces done for free if they’re from him. He’ll drive you home on his bike when a session runs a little late and you’re worried about walking home alone.

You have a lot of fondness for the place and its people, except for a certain gage wearing individual, but you’re trying to repress all that. He definitely doesn’t make it easy for you, he’s somehow always able to know when you’re coming and gets himself in the receptionist’s chair so you have to talk to him. He stares you down with his empty black orbs the entire time during an appointment, and the veins in his arms bulge when you inhale as the needle pierces your skin. He makes “jokes” that he'd be so gentle with you if you let him, and you don’t have the heart to speak up over a stern “Suguru.” He raises his hands in surrender and backs off, because he knows there’s always next time.

You fumble through your bag as you prepare to leave your dorm, making sure you’ve got everything. Sunscreen to re apply over your makeup later? Check. Your phone (with several texts from an unknown number flashing on the screen)? Check. Your wallet stuffed to the brim with old receipts and cards that you probably keep at home? Check.

You get almost five steps out the door before you crash into a solid chest. Your ‘oof’ is muffled by the stranger’s shirt, and when you take a step back you recognize it as a compression shirt that's gotten popular with a lot of the guys on campus. That’s why the muscle you collided with felt particularly…. firm.

“Hi, cutie! Fancy seeing you here.” Satoru chuckles, like he isn’t literally outside your dorm.

And just like that, all the good vibes and hopes you had for your day shrivel up and die.

It’s a shame that Satoru does look good in the shirt, the black sleeves cut off at the perfect point on his arms and he’s been good at knowing which trends will suit him better than the millions of other people buying into them. His eyes stand out in the dark fabric, as blue as you remember them and as terrifying. You gape at him for what must be a solid minute before your features twist up into a scowl and you’re darting around him to walk away.

“I live here, now fuck off or kill yourself, I don’t care.” You shout over your shoulder, praying that he doesn’t take off after you.

“Aw, that’s mean, babe! But I know you’d miss me too much, so I won’t do either of those. Have a good day!” You don’t hear him leave as he responds, but you’re past the point of obsessively cataloging Satoru Gojo’s every movement.

Your roommate let him in, in more ways than one.

“Alright, there we go. You’re all set, i’ll meet you at the counter and we’ll get you out of here.” Choso touch is light as a feather as he does the cleaning on your freshly tattooed skin.

A skeletal pattern over your hand, knuckles and all.

The sound of him snapping his black glove against his wrist makes you jump but he smiles, doing it again with a tender look in his eyes. He wipes down your finished tattoo and you grab your bag, heading to the counter to pay.

“You took it really well, I should've known you would when you told me you came in for a tattoo on one of the most painful areas of your body on purpose.” Choso teases, punching in your card details at the front.

They run a small parlor and are usually short staffed since most of the employees are also in the biggest frat at school and end up doing most of their appointments in whatever room’s available at a party. The shop’s not the most legal operation in general, but Choso and the others all did their apprenticeships right at 18 so they could have a place of their own as soon as possible. And so they could do their own ink and jewelry for free. Sukuna, Toji, Suguru, all of them got their piercing licenses too. Nanami’s their accountant. Satoru’s really the only one who isn't directly involved with the place.

It’s bad enough that one of your attackers always has a chance of being here, but it’s cheap and you feel a sense of comfort with Choso. That familiarity might be why you end up paying a lot less than you should, but it gives you butterflies to consider that as a possibility.

“Yeah, is it bad that I just thought it was cool? I don’t have any symbolic connection to it or anything.” You joke, thinking about how your mom would always say she’d prefer a tiny one, a flower on your shoulder or something like that for your first tattoo.

You’re a free pieces deep, each one nothing like she would have picked for yourself. You started getting them after the… incident, and it’s incredible how freeing it can be to explore your style and have everything on your body be 100% your decision.

Sukuna, the one with the closest workstation to the counter snorts, “Choso did some nice work on you, kitty.”

You roll your eyes, Choso’s younger brother never fails to hit on you whenever you find your way back into their shop.

Toji, done with his tongue piercing appointment, steadies a hand on his woozy client’s shoulder and looks over to you. “Sure did, must be why Suguru can’t keep his beady orbs off of ya. Not that I blame him.”

You stiffen, feeling said man’s eyes slither up and down your body, leaving a trail of tar and molasses that keeps you from immediately bolting. A fly preserved in amber, encrusted in gnarled old tree bark.

You don’t look back over your shoulder at him but you hear him chuckle and swat Toji upside the head, “Nah, just got a lot on my mind is all. I’m double booked. Your tat’s cool though, wish i could’ve done it in my style.”

The ‘It probably would’ve looked better’ is left unsaid.

Choso raises an eyebrow and reaches out to grab your wrist as he hands back your card, he strokes a line down your pulse point

“I think I did just fine, I'm the one you keep coming back to anyway, no matter how painful it gets.”

He ducks his head down when your heart skips a beat, wrestling with his smug grin.

A stormy look comes over Suguru’s expression but it’s gone in a flash of purple lightning when his client walks in through the door.

It’s when you say a reluctant goodbye to Choso and leave the parlor to head towards the nearest grocery store that your phone goes off.

It’s from an unknown number but you know exactly who it is, you’ve blocked Satoru multiple times and he keeps coming back with a different number.

The message is a single video without an accompanying taunt, and you really shouldn’t, but your morbid curiosity wins out.

You notice your roommate's ankle bracelet slung over his shoulder very quickly, you also see more of her stretched out pussy than you ever wanted to.

Satoru chuckles behind the camera, zooming in on where their bodies are joined, he’s fucking her raw and her folds look startlingly red. He doesn’t speak, doesn’t bullshit through any bad dirty talk or narration for the audience (of one). A blessing, all things considered, he loved to yap your ears off when he took you. Satoru Gojo is rarely ever silent, even when deep down he doesn’t feel much like talking.

But he’s gone quiet as a church mouse, the only sounds coming from your phone are sticky smacks of bare flesh against bare flesh and your roommate’s muffled moans. Anytime she tries to scream, Satoru tightens his grip on her mouth and slaps her tits, which becomes a vicious cycle.

The video shows his torso at an angle, fat pecs and chiseled abs glistening as they clench. He has a fucking smoking hot body, one that you wish you weren’t forced to know more intimately than the girl who in that moment is currently all up on it.

You watch when she cums around him, a car running into a tree, but you click out of the video when Satoru cums inside her, a cargo train crashing through the car AND the tree.

Your mind is as scattered as those bits of debri and human flesh, welded to the tracks but you can feel movement above and around you.

Nanami’s hand cups your shoulder when you’re distracted during your study session later that day, he’s tutoring you in french for free and you’ve taken absolute advantage of the opportunity. It’s just one of those fuzzy days for you, especially since you can’t stop thinking of the video.

“Everything okay?” He murmurs, leaning closer with worry flickering in his warm eyes.

You nod and shrug your shoulders, “Yeah, just a little tired. Been really stressed lately.”

He wishes you would let him help with that.

Sometimes Satoru plops down on his ten thousand dollar leather couch and imagines what it would be like to kill Suguru. It’s what he should’ve done, years ago back in that dingy bathroom with a singular lightbulb that you could never quite tell if it was going to stay lit. He could’ve charged into the other man’s body and smashed his skull into the mirror until clumps of his black hair fell on the floor and blended in with shoddy tile work. All he’d be able to hear is your pitiful hiccups, his blood would be rushing to and fro in his ears. He would’ve

Other times, Satoru imagines what it would be like to kill himself. In front of you of course, because even if he’s doing it as a sacrifice to your shrine, you’d never forget him. Trauma can do funny things to your brain, if he left you alone you might hide him under several layers of heavy fog. If you won’t love him, at least let him be remembered by the only person he thinks he’s ever cared about. You’d be happy if he stayed away, but you wouldn’t be safe with anyone else but him, so he’ll take all the screaming and throwing shit at him that’s to come.

As long as the tiffany blue box tucked away in his nightstand isn’t one of those things.

It’s why he calls his usual people and pays a good chunk of cash to throw your roommate off their shoulders like a sack of potatoes and kill her somewhere private. He has a chemistry class in fifteen minutes, and a fraternity meeting right after. Satoru’s annoyed at having to make that long trek between buildings, but it’d probably be a good way to work the energy off. What’s-her-face was really starting to piss him off, snoring as loud as a vacuum cleaner on the pillow next to him. She couldn’t even make him cum, but that’s to be expected, she’s just not you.

He didn’t hit it raw though, that’s a privilege reserved solely for his (future) baby.

When he graduates, goes to dental school, and becomes a dentist, he thinks it’d be so romantic to be the one you went to. Cleaning your teeth, praising you for how well you’ve been brushing and flossing, leaning down for an upside down spider man kind of kiss when the appointment’s over. If you’re sporting a cute little rounded belly and an angelic glow during one of those appointments, well, don’t tell anybody what he needs to imagine to fall asleep with anything resembling a genuine smile.

Shit, he hopes Choso remembers to re-stock the orange juice and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Nanami’s been pissed ever since Satoru finished them without asking, now they have to share the Captain Crunch Berries. Hiroguma doesn’t mind the turn of events. All Satoru can do is wonder which one you’d like more if you stayed over at the house.

“Shh, shh, shh. You’re alright, cutie. Just a little longer, this pussy’s so tight I'm gonna cream it in no time, ‘kay?” He whispers into your hair, his dick pistoning in and out of your sopping cunt, hunting you down even as he’s currently inside you.

He tells you these things, because of course Satoru Gojo knows you and your own body better than you do. The only time he’s ever touched it and it’s like this, violating you for his own pleasure and accidentally discovering what fuels yours along the way.

You’re crying, because he’s learned that despite your prickly personality you like soft touches and sweet words, but don’t hold it against him. He’s a horny teenage boy, it’s all trial and error. It could be a lot worse for you, he couldn’t not eaten you out first and just plowed your ass like he was gonna die tomorrow.

You feel like you might, watching your blood drip down onto the dirty bathroom tile, you’re a leaky faucet now. Rusted and having so little left to give but you keep on giving (and taking) because there’s nothing else you can do.

Satoru spills into your guts with no warning, fucking down into you like you’re nothing but a pocket pussy. You’re just so pretty, sobbing and clawing at his shoulders. He’ll wear the red scratch marks with pride, maybe ask Suguru to lick them and tell him what they taste like, share it with him to get the little remnants of your bitten nails down his throat.

He climbs off of you and picks up his phone, his fingers sticky with your juices make the device slip and slide in his grip but he manages to not drop it. You may as well be dead on the floor but Satoru’s too busy texting the video of what you just did to Suguru. He smirks and his cock twitches, imagining the look on his best friend’s face, the envy.

He never tells you if the goal was to make Suguru want to join, you never want to know.

When you come back, black and red rose petals poke out under your door.

You snap, slamming your door open and gawking at the audacity of Satoru Gojo, nestled on the covers of your bed like he was waiting for his baby to get home from a stressful day out in this big scary city.

You don’t remember the questions you ask even as you’re asking them, all you’re retaining is the blush on his face and how pretty his blue eyes are when he’s about to get everything under the sun because it might as well have a ‘Paid for by the Gojo Family’ plague on it.

You’re so fucking tired, and you put up a fight but that’s all out of you now. There are multiple ways to make something go away, like absorbing into your body so at least you’re partially in control.

“I’ll forgive you if you’re good and keep your filthy hands to yourself until I tell you otherwise, okay?”

He obeys and sits perched on the edge of the bed, watching as you hover above a glass dildo purposefully smaller than he is. You bite your lip, lubing it up until your hand is slippery and you keep losing your grip.

Satoru imagines this it at a frat party instead, and the music is pouring from the open windows as people fuck around outside and inside the house, drinking from cheap plastic cups and novelty shot glasses. He’d take your hand and lace his fingers through yours, taking you upstairs to his room.

Your rum and coke would loosen you up, and you’d grind in his bed to the beat bumping through the floor. Satoru would bury his face in your neck and beg you to let him touch you like he really wants to. You’d sigh and he’d grin, skirting his long fingers under the edge of your lace panties and fingering you right there before picking you up and throwing you flat on your back.

He’d promise he’d pull out, he thought he had more condoms in his nightstand, you wouldn’t care and would beg to stay inside no matter what. You’d have a little Toru Jr. a couple semesters later.

But that universe doesn’t exist. You’re riding a small toy to an unsatisfying orgasm and Satoru just has to sit there and watch you, leaving your clit neglected and your mouth unoccupied by his eager kisses. You spit at him that you should just pull the dildo out of you and ram it up his ass without warning, but he’s so desperate to chain you up and tie you down that he’d probably like it. You only want to do something he wouldn’t like right now, a swan song for your dignity and self respect. It’s been a few years since those things were once part of you too.

Your breath hitches and your eyes get teary, Satoru can’t help but to shuffle over to where you’re kneeling on the bed. You moan as his fingertips come into contact with your swollen clit, and laugh deliriously when he perks up like his dad just surprised with a new car to have someone else drive for him.

“So fucking typical.” You whine, bouncing on the dildo and wordlessly begging him to keep playing with your bud. “Can’t ever do something you don’t wanna do, always to be someone else’s job.”

The blinking light in the corner of your bookshelf will come in handy when Satoru’s fast asleep in your bed and you’re sending a video of your own to Suguru.

You’ll both wake up to someone furiously pounding on your door, the world will spin round and round only to end up at the same place.

A frown flickers across his face at the pure death in your tone. He wants to know your favorite colors and what you love to eat and what makes every stressor in life fade away, but all he knows is what you look like when you cry yourself to smithereens while you cum.

“You’re the best at everything, honey.” He softly chuckles, water laps at his hairline, he’s almost drowning.

That isn’t quite true clearly, you’re not the best at stopping yourself from being assaulted, like that’s something you be and therapy’s something you can win.

“Thank you, Toru. so are you.”

That is true, for better or for worse as the saying goes.

[duchesstopaz]

*Trigger Warnings: Descriptions of su*c*d*l ideations, hospitalizations, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, mental abuse, guilt, bipolar depression, anxiety.* Sunday, May 28th, 2023 Part 4

12:06pm

My resolve sparked the shift. The shift from watching my pieces scatter from me sporadically to gluing them back together. By the time I landed, I knew there were expectations for me, whether they were from you or my friends, or even myself. Everything was still moving too fast, I really couldn’t keep up, but all I could think about was that I had to and that you two were there to help me.

But only half of that was true.

After I landed and we went to Langone (hospital), I think both of our expectations broke and we didn’t know what to do. I was in an unfamiliar place (New York City) with a deadline of January 1st to move out. I was losing myself throughout that entire time, and instead of finding hope, I found rejection immediately. Langone was the destination in my mind that would turn the tides. I would be able to heal and receive the treatment that I needed to kickstart the right kind of growth. I was ready to let go of my control of myself and release my inhibitions in the hope of something great… for me. 

But instead, I was rejected and I walked away with a packet of every out-patient facility in the NYC area.

Everything was too much. I was broken and was fighting myself to not to want to give up, for you and everyone else, and I decided to keep saving face and see it through. Then maybe, it would be for me too.

After Langone, you were upset, it was nowhere near the plan of me staying in the hospital for 2 weeks. I think that’s when I shied away from you and confided in Gem. I was upset too that Langone didn’t work out, but I was so tired, too tired, of trying to lift off the ground and take flight. I needed time to gain more energy, to repair my mask that was so close to completely breaking. Because if I wasn’t okay enough to manage, then all of your efforts and money would have been wasted. So, I did just that. I rested for almost a week, and felt strings lifting me to dance a song I didn’t know.

You guys did your best to pour into me. By telling me to journal again, to eat, drink water, to get outside. Despite all that was on each of your plates, you made sure I knew that you were there for me. But, how you specifically did it took much longer to understand.

I felt like I was an intruder in your home. A parasite taking what you had for a gain I had not identified or knew existed. I was trying to be so careful; not to do something wrong, to upset you, to make you question if bringing me there was a mistake…

You asked me to wash the dishes, I started washing them almost every time, so you wouldn’t have to ask again. You got upset that second week that I didn’t take out the trash and recycling on time, I made sure to take them out by the end of each day. You told me to clean the bathroom on the weekends, I put time aside to clean it on Sundays. You told me y’all like to spot clean throughout the week, as soon as I saw cat litter on the hallway floor, I was sweeping and moping the whole house.

You told me that I was irresponsible with money, that it was a slap to the face, even though it wasn’t with your money. I stopped buying things that was just for me, bought groceries for the household, and occasionally bought a coffee.

You told me that you expected me to go back to school in January, then when I said that I didn’t want to, you only said okay. I started looking at colleges and scholarships and made a list.

You told me that you didn’t have the space for me to regularly let you know the progress I was making, even though I was putting in all this effort for you, for you to keep seeing me alive and well. I stopped talking because there was nothing left of me to pull from and share.

Part 1 -- Part 2 -- Part 3 -- Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

[natewriteslol]

The Wonders of Magic Pt. 1

Non magical!Twisted Boys x Witch!Reader

A/N: This has been sitting in my brain for a while since I have Little Witch Academia brainrot and I love snooty rich boys asdfljsfaj

Characters: Keep reading to find out!!

Warnings: Language and Y/N goes by she/her pronouns 

Summary: Dealing with magical adventures and society deeming magic as “flashy but worthless” doesn’t deter Y/N L/N from reaching her goal of becoming a powerful witch. However, what will she do when she has to find a way to stop the selling Calypso Academy? 

~~~

All your life you had dreamed of being a witch, however there was a slight problem. You weren't a magic user.

And as magic use had started to become more oppressed and scarce, magic schools were starting to open their doors to all walks of life. Making the most elite schools fall to their knees.

Either you lose your elite status or fall into debt.

So this was good opportunity for you, you managed to make it into one of the most renowned magic schools in the country, Calypso Academy. But it wasn't all peaches and cream, you weren't exactly accepted among your peers. Your family weren't magic users, nor were they wealthy. Yet you still pursued magic, there was a fire burning in your heart that just drew you in all your life. And you couldn't let your dream go just because of some mean girls. But this is the story of how you met some of your greatest obstacles.

 ~~~

It was the night of the great Ball, Calypso academy was having it's 350th anniversary. And you unlucky for you, you still didn’t know how to ride a broom since you were learning from the ground up. 

So there you were, by yourself, in one of the open fields of your campus. Trying to make this broom fly. 

And in your flight teacher Ms. Flint’s words, “If the broom doesn’t leave the ground, you can’t step a foot in the ball.” And so far, your feet have been stuck on the ground.

You felt horrible. I mean, what witch doesn’t know how to fly a broom? And while you were incredibly dejected

 from your failures, you knew you couldn’t just let it go. 

‘The trick it to be determined, yet feel as light as a feather. Be one with the broom’ your manifestation teacher, Mrs. Fairi had softly advised. You had to do this for for her, she already put so much faith in you, she would be so disappointed if she didn’t see you at the ball. 

“Nubes Volant ro!” You casted, pushing your leg to lift. Expecting your legs to come back down and for your shoes to hit the softness of the grass... but it never came.

You opened your eyes and there you were, suspended in air. 

Your excitement was indescribable, but you needed to be skilled enough to meet the requirements for Ms. Flint. So you tried and tried again, and while a little shaky you still managed to fly and do a stable landing! 

“I did it! Screw everyone in this academy who doubted me!” You  squealed a little loud, doing a little dance. You heard  footsteps and chuckling, but you brushed it off as some of your classmates. Too excited to care, you grabbed your things and ran off to show Ms. Flint.   But there was one problem, the entire point of this celebration was to both celebrate the anniversary but... it was begging as well. It was no secret that Calypso was losing money to pay taxes, but they were being pressured to give it all up. So to persuade the buyers, they had invited their son's to be enriched in witch culture and tradition. To prove them wrong and show that magic has value. However the students of the academy weren't aware of the true intentions behind the invites of the son's of these rich men. Many whispered in the halls about the upcoming ceremony. Talking about how handsome the young men attending were. But the day of the party was finally here! The banquet was absolutely incredible with 25 foot tables of food on both sides of the ballroom. Crystal chandeliers with floating candles illuminating and creating a heavenly golden light. And the great ancient tapestries that surrounded the room. There was no way that anything could mess up your night. 

But then, you heard a shout from a classmate in the crowd. "The nobles sons! They're here!" You stopped stuffing your face for a moment. Everyone cleared the way for the grand wooden doors as they opened, a red carpet elegantly draping the piece of floor it laid on. Designer shoes clicked as they touched the ground. Every girl eyes followed as they walked, you snuck past some trying to get a glimpse of their features. They were five of them being escorted by one older gentleman, all incredibly handsome young men. One had a bright smile that was genuine and waving at some of the girls in the crowd. While the other had a smirk not paying anyone any mind, as if he was calculating something. One held a solemn expression, yet was incredibly poised and graceful. The last two however wore scowls, one that showed he most definitely didn’t want to be here while the other just looked strict. 

They sat down in their seats in the front table that awaited them. Each seat was just as fancy as a king’s throne, with gold embellishments and velvet seats. 

It was a cookie cut scene, they were made for this life of luxury.

~~~

It was an hour into the ceremony, showcasing tricks and theatrical dances from every witch culture from around the globe. But it was almost as though nothing was satisfying them, besides the one with white hair. While he adorned a smile, there was something behind his eyes, as though he was doing some critical thinking. 

Nothing was enough for them. 

But it was toward the end and the noble’s sons were promised a tour. Every witch in the school was made to study up on knowledge of the campus. So that if you were the “lucky winner” you wouldn’t look like a complete fool. 

As you snacked on your chocolate filled croissant, Ms. Flint with her booming voice had called everyone’s attention to the center of the stage. Raising her wand, a split of golden light had displayed random names. 

Knowing your luck, you knew you wouldn’t be picked. I mean this was probably a tactic to get people to study the school’s magical history. It did work, as if there was a slight chance you were chosen you wouldn’t want to make a fool out of yourself in front of people like you usually did. But, Principal Hendrix wouldn’t be so irresponsible as to let a random student represent the school, right? 

Exactly. But even then, you sure did feel sorry for whoever was to give the tour-

“Y/N L/N!”

...

Remember what you said about shitty luck? 

Shocked was an understatement. Even though you had your two best and only friends Silva and Miete patting you on the back telling you congrats and to do your best, the hammering of your heart was too heavy for you to handle. 

Whispers broke out for a moment, a lot of girls were incredibly disappointed but cleared the way for you to go up the stairs and talk to Ms. Flint and Principal Hendrix. 

“Good job, Y/N. Now if you wouldn’t mind, please give these young men a tour of Calypso, would you?” Principle Hendrix said gently with a smile.

“Ha, ha, of course! But surely there’s been a mistake, I mean Lydia could probably recite the information without having to read a single book-” 

“No way, L/N. You were chosen, now do the tour please, the latest you can be back is at 9pm,” Ms. Flint replied, cutting you off sharply. 

“You’re an incredibly charismatic student, Y/N. Just keep them entertained,” Principle Hendrix whispered as you walked toward the table.

Be charismatic, not awkward! Got it!

“Alrighty then! Who’s ready for a tour?” you said, almost giving finger guns as a mechanism. 

“Oh, I am!” 

“Yes,  I’ve been wanting to see the range of this property in person.”

“Yes, I would like to get this over with. I have an appointment tomorrow and I would not like to miss it.”

Other than that, all you received was a nod and an eye roll. But it’s better not to pry and ask for more from them. 

Each getting out of their seats, you walked outside. Hearing cheers from the crowd and the occasional “Vil! I love you!” which made you a little embarrassed. 

Feeling the night breeze and seeing the stars poke through calmed you down slightly, it was 7:45 and all you had to do was blabber at them about the school until 9. 

Easy task, Y/N. Easy!

~~~

Once you got outside, the tour had been running smoothly for only a couple of minutes. But you couldn’t help but feel as though they started scanning you, as if they saw you from somewhere. Until unfortunately, the sunshine of the group’s lightbulb had went off. 

“Oh! You’re the girl with the broomstick towards the front of the school! You looked so happy practicing.” 

“There must be a mistake-”

“Are you sure? If so then I guess you have a doppelganger” the boy with glasses teased. 

“Didn’t you say, ‘Screw everyone at this academy’?” the short, red head questioned, persecuting your behavior. 

“Well some people here aren’t exactly the nicest. It was just an excitement of the moment thing, sorry,” You said, trying to get Mr. Non-Rule Breaker off your back. 

~~~

So... you had accidently overshared about your adventures on campus. 

It had all started when one of the boys looked shocked that the ancient Willow tree was thriving and looking beautiful as ever. When he looked at it from pictures given to him, it was completely lifeless and grey. 

“This tree, it looks completely different? It’s been sickly for years! How is this possible?” He asked, as his main piece of evidence the white haired boy gave to his father to buy this property was foiled. 

“Oh, that was me. They had willow worms in the roots that were ready to hatch and I accidently brought them out,” you said, a little prideful, yet it was quickly stomped out.

“That is highly irresponsible, you should’ve had a professional complete that task, not an inexperienced student,” the red haired boy scoffed, it seemed as though he didn’t respect this school at all. Yet the boy with grey hair and glasses paid him no mind, still incredibly astonished, but it was quickly wiped from his face and replaced with a somewhat of a sour look. As though you beat him at some game he was playing.

“...Interesting. I never knew magic could do something of that caliber,” he remarked,  pushing up his glasses. 

“Magic is incredibly useful, Mr...” 

Shit. You didn’t get their names...

“My apologies, I didn’t catch your guy’s names,” you said, placing a hand behind your head. 

You had never in your life seen a group of people get so surprised, besides the other white haired boy, who was happy to tell you his name. 

“I’m Kalim, Kalim-Al-Asim!” he said, shaking your hand with a vigor, “It’s a little funny that you don’t know who we are, but I like that about you!” 

How was it funny? You’ve never seen these people in your entire life? The blonde man was especially offended as you glanced at him for his name. 

“Vil Schoenheit. Actor, singer, dancer, beauty influenc-” 

“Hmmm, Vil I can’t help but feel that you’re angry at Ms. L/N for not knowing who you are,” the boy with glasses remarked before taking your hand, “Azul Ashengrotto, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” 

“I’m Riddle Rosehearts,” the short red-haired boy said.

“...Leona Kingscholar.” 

“Alright, I’m glad I got your names! Let’s get a move on! I have got to show you some more stuff!” you said before moving along, gaining more confidence as you talked to them. 

Maybe this tour wasn’t so bad after all!

~~~

Coming up:

“How did you not know who the noble’s sons are?!” Miette yelled, but her soft voice wasn’t exactly giving the shocking boom to emphasize her feelings.

“I’m sorry! Everything was completely fine after that, if this whole tour was such a big deal then I would’ve studied them more instead of the school,” you said, completely pooped out from last night. 

So much pressure on you made you very tired out, and all of these new details coming out made you feel even more guilty for your half-assed tour. 

[lupically]

#FEF5F1 | DILUC RAGNVINDR.

genre | fluff

word count | 1825

warning | none

note | i finally wrote something for my top husbando :’)

it came to you as a surprise that diluc, at all, sleeps.

there has always been this fantasy version of him in your head, a fantasy that lacked the great ideals and bright adventures most fantasy novels you have read consisted of. in contrast, your fantasy of him was insulting and otherworldly at best—someone restricted to the rules, a personality as plain as a dull purple doormat, a total stick in the mud that kills joy at the mere sight of it, an emotionless robot that has no use for human necessity such as the bathing and sleeping.

does diluc even need to consume food? you have literally never seen him eat or drink anything before. has he ever taken off his gloves to pick up a hamburger—oh, archons, you just realized now that you have never seen the skin of his hands before. he always has gloves on! was it to hide something?

"oh, wow," you exclaimed lowly to yourself as you leaned forward to examine the hands of the very annoyed red-haired man before you. your long-term question was finally answered. "fascinating... so you do have hands!"

diluc spared not even a glance toward the limb you were so interestedly staring at. he kept quiet for a moment and peered down at you from his bed, one leg propped up and the other stretched out—a rather awkward position he had no time to get out of after he almost burned you alive for sneaking into his bedroom in the winery.

"what drunk wind blew your incompetent self here?" he asked, ignoring your remarks about his lack of real and human hands. whatever you meant by that? you were always spilling weird things out of your mouth, you might even be worse than venti, he reckoned. 

you glared up at him after hearing his mindless insult. you were only fifty percent sure (which was already a lot in your book!) diluc never actually meant those hurtful words, that they simply fly out of his mouth due to his weird need to make sure everyone around him knew that he leaves no room for unnecessary sentiment. 

being kind blatantly was not his thing, and he has no intention of being applauded for being a decent person. why that was, you couldn't be sure. you had your assumptions, but kaeya turned out far too different than diluc that you weren’t sure if you should put your finger on the assumption. you also didn't dare dive deeper into it because (a) you just weren’t invested enough, and (b) by then, it would be a family business you would hate to indulge yourself with.

"kaeya dared me to take a picture of your sleeping face in exchange for some wine. our good friend, the honorary knight's smaller friend also wanted it as a possible blackmail souvenir," you told him honestly.

diluc immediately murmured something you couldn't quite hear, but he looked more confused than annoyed when he glared down at the mattress of his bed. he grumbled something along the lines of how the roles were definitely reversed. you didn't press further about that.

"if that is what you came here for, your best bet is to leave the way you came," he said after a moment, pointing a cold hand toward his bedroom window. "you're not taking any pictures of me."

you snorted, holding up your kamera and tapping the lenses. “uh, i think i came pretty close to taking a picture of you sleeping, diluc.”

“i had woken up the second you walked through my bedroom door. you could never,” he said.

you hummed under your breath, eyeing him suspiciously. he was probably telling the truth. he barely struggled in surprise when he grabbed your hands in the dark; was it pure luck that he perfectly found where your kamera was on the first try or does diluc secretly has night vision? your guess was as good as the unknown. 

not to mention, he looked normal, just like someone who may be in the know of your intrusion. he appeared grumpy but that was just his normal state. you could barely get him out of a frown even if you pay him, mainly because he wouldn’t need your money, but also because he was stubbornly against smiling, it appeared. 

"you know, i was surprised at first. i didn't know you sleep at all! i always thought you kind of just shut down, or maybe you have stayed awake all your life," you said with a shrug, and when he deadpanned at you, you defensively waved your kamera around. "i'm sorry! i just–you don't strike me as a person who sleeps!"

"so dead, then?" diluc asked calmly, although there was very little calmness in his facial expressions, especially those judgemental eyes of his.

"not dead! just... not really human–" you paused and pressed your lips together, thinking back to what you said to him and realizing that he might have a point. then you turned to him. "you also eat, right?"

“are you leaving or not?” he asked, a hint of flare in his voice that if you looked closely, you may see fire emerging from his body.

being stubborn as ever, and knowing that diluc would never really hurt anybody he knew to be good people, you feigned thoughtfulness for a second. tapping your finger against your chin, you scrunched your nose and shook your head. setting the kamera lumine forcefully had to borrow you between your crossed legs, you flashed him a mischievous grin. 

“no,” you said. “i am getting that picture out of you!”

“like i said,” he said, “you will never.”

“fine! then i guess i will just have to sit here and wait for you to fall asleep on me,” you said, slapping your hand down on his soft mattress. “don’t try to force me out of here! i will make it way worse for you!”

diluc furrowed his brows, wondering if you meant what you said. when his questioning gaze couldn’t get even an ounce of budge from you, he could only sigh in frustration. if you planned to sit on his bed until he doze off, then you would definitely make it worse if he tries to dump you out of his bedroom through whatever means you could.

he may be a skilled swordsman and a vision bearer, but unfortunately, he was not immune to bullshits from the likes of you.

diluc closed his eyes to savor the tiniest bit of sleep he managed to get before he heard your extra loud footsteps creeping around his room. he was supposed to get a good night's sleep, which was something he hasn't had in a while because of all the business schedules and his side vigilante job.

he was supposed to rest tonight, and there came you.

there always comes you.

dilly-dally, unpredictable, the epitomie of 'knights of favonius... always so inefficient,' letting klee out of solitary confinement and causing a ruckus amongst the responsible adults kind of irresponsible, has paid for his wine at least a zero number of time kind of broke, and was just always here to ruin his mood at the tavern every single day. 

most of the time, diluc thought about you in a negative light, much like he did with everyone around him and the entirety of the knights of favonius. but there was a version of you in his head that painted you as somebody different—somebody respectful, somebody worth keeping around...

somebody he likes, perhaps.

after all, joy was never prevalent in his life. it used to be, but that was a past he has long forgotten the details of. even if he wanted to remember them now, he could only remember snippets that wouldn’t guarantee him a good nostalgia. he may just end up feeling worse at the end. the only constant influx of distraction he has now seemed to be either you or venti, and with the godly bard as his other option, he would much rather choose you. 

but it was not because that venti was too hard to confine in. you were just as hard to talk about problems with considering your optimism and fickle attitude. 

what diluc wanted was permanence; a train that never stops, a bottle of wine that continuously refills, dandelions that do not stop flying even after it reaches celestia. and venti was too understanding and abstract to be one. as interesting of a character he may be, venti knew when to leave people alone. or, occasionally, he just cared too little. after all the city of mondstadt didn’t lack a god because he was responsible. 

you, though. diluc could never pinpoint if you were as dense as you appeared to be, or if you did know how to read the room and simply chose to ignore it, but you never leave people alone. you never left him alone; you unknowingly pick a petty one-sided argument with him all the time, you get drunk at the tavern and somehow has never let anybody take you home but him, you barge into his bedroom in the middle of the night because of some stupid dare his brother made you do and you still refuse to leave despite being sleepy.

you give him a way out, whether he likes it or not.

arms crossed in front of his chest, he deadpanned as he watched your head drop lower and lower to the mattress. soon enough, you were snoring away on his bed with the gadget discarded by your feet. he watched you in silence, your cheek smushed against the surface and the intensity you always radiated lessening from your body. you looked normal now; not energetic, not talkative. just sleeping peacefully, the way he always made sure you were after carrying you home. 

diluc’s heart was finally softening under the knowledge that nobody was watching him anymore. the pessimistic monster that often emerges from him was still here, but in the face of you, it has painted itself pink and it has forgotten vengeance and retribution. in the face of you, it has been dragged out from the death it once laid and became forgiven. 

carefully laying your head down on the pillow, diluc draped the blanket over your shoulder to tuck you into his bed. after making sure you were fine and well, he placed the kamera on the desk in the room, somewhere visible you could find once you wake up, and he left for one of the guest rooms in the mansion. 

tonight was the first time in a while when he has forgotten about all the problems he’s had. something that wasn’t about wine, the family business, or the abyss order. it wasn’t the rest he wanted, perhaps it was hardly any rest at all, but he was glad he got to think about something else.

of course, diluc would never tell you that.

[imagineyourworld]

Congrats on the 100 followers 👏 can I request number 5 with Commander wolffe please? Maybe a mechanic reader?

Hi,

Thank you <3

Sure thing! If you'd like also check out my Wolffe x Reader fanfiction The Wife, it has (amongst others) the only one bed trope ;)

Love, Charlie

-------

Wolffe x Genderneutral!Mechanic!Reader

Warnings: Shirtless Wolffe (if that counts a warning), nightmare (no detailed descriptions though)

5. Only One Bed

-------

You loved your job, you really did, but you hated being covered in grease. Granted, it didn't happen every day, in fact it happened quite rarely, since you always made an effort to be really careful, but today was just one of those days. Your alarm didn't go off in the morning, meaning when you entered the mess hall all you got was cold caf, H9J, the droid that usually assisted you with repairs, had some lose wiring that needed fixing before you could even start work for the day and once had finally finished repairing the first starship and started on the second you were startled by a loud bang, which resulted in you cutting the wrong wire and the engine unloading every milliliter of oil and fuel and grease onto you. "If one more thing goes wrong I'm gonna kill someone", you muttered under your breath while walking through the hallway to get a change of clothes before hopping under the shower. "In that case I don't think you'll like what I have to say." You came to an abrupt halt and turned around to see Wolffe walking up to you. Just seeing him brought the hint of a smile to your face. Wolffe was probably the only person who could always make you smile, which was ironic, since the stoic soldier didn't smile much himself. "Just tell me so I can get out of these clothes." Wolffe looked you up and down, a slight hint of disgust on his face, probably due to the different fluids staining your overalls, but there was also the hint of something else, something you couldn't quite decipher. “The ship needs to be taken in for some sort of internal moderation, so we’ll have to spend the night somewhere else.”  You raised an eyebrow at him. Not only because ‘internal moderation’ sounded a bit suspicious, but also because he knew as well as you did that none of you, neither clones nor crew, had someplace else to stay.  “The GAR has arranged hotel rooms for all civilians on board”, Wolffe quickly added, probably having recognized your shock and disapproval.  You just nodded. “When do we have to leave?”  His crooked smile told you everything you needed to know. Apparently this day could get way worse, now you couldn’t even shower in peace.  “Alright”, you sighed. “Just give me fives minutes to pack an overnight bag and then we can head out.”  You didn’t wait for Wolffe’s reply, sure he’d turn up at your door in five minutes to tell you to hurry up. What you didn’t expect was for him to follow you once you turned around and made your way to your room.  “I won’t be going with you, none of the clones are. The hotel rooms are for civilians, not clones”, he clarified. His tone made it very obvious how little he liked the arrangement. “Most of my brothers have already left, the majority lent some camping supplies and the rest are hoping to find someone at the local bars to spend the night with”, he continued.  You hesitated for just a moment before voicing your proposal.  “In that case I think it would only make sense for you to stay with me. Unless you’d like to go to the bar as well.”  You didn’t dare to look at Wolffe and just kept your eyes locked on your door, which had finally come in sight. The idea had been rather spontaneous, mostly because you knew how he despised camping, but in the time it took him to reply you quickly came to regret every single word.  “You don’t have to let me stay with you, I’ll be fine”, Wolffe tried to argue.  Though this might have been your way out of this awkward situation, you shook your head. You were nothing if not stubborn and since you had proposed it you couldn’t back out now.  “Please, you’ve done so much for me, helped me when I first joined the 104th and protected me ever since then, it’s the least I can do to repay you.”  When Wolffe finally nodded in agreement you weren’t sure whether to be glad or if this was the final straw on your bad day. 

-------

About twenty minutes, and a deadly silent walk, later you found yourself in front of yet another door, though this one didn’t lead to your room, but rather a hotel room.  “Here goes nothing”, you mumbled as the doors opened after you scanned the key card, knowing how little funds the army had and that they wouldn’t waste them on hotel rooms.  “This isn’t that bad”, you exclaimed as you made your way into the room. “Look, there’s even a pretty decent view of the city.”  Other than you, who now stared out the window, Wolffe focused on the bed. Bed, singular. He should have known, after all the room was only supposed to be for one person. It wasn’t even a large bed, just slightly bigger than the one Wolffe was used to in the barracks.  “Maybe this is a bad idea”, Wolffe said, hating how uncertain he suddenly sounded. But who could blame him? He’d have to sleep next to you, with only very little possible space between his body and yours. Just when he thought he was finally getting over his crush interest, this had to happen.  “Why would you say tha... Oh... Oh, Wolffe, I didn’t realize”, you said as your eyes followed his and also landed on the small bed.  “I’m gonna go”, Wolffe said.  He began to turn around when he suddenly felt your hand around his wrist. You both knew that you weren’t strong enough to keep him here if he really wanted to leave, but just this slight touch broke down all of Wolffe’s walls.  “C’mon, Wolffe, we’re friends, and more importantly, we’re both adults, I think we’ll manage to sleep in the same bed for one night.”  The part of Wolffe that was still thinking straight was telling him to get out of the room as fast as possible, but the irresponsible and honestly down right tired side of him relented. How bad could it be?

-------

Though you were having second thoughts while brushing your teeth in the small refresher, once you stepped out and saw Wolffe, in only the trousers of his blacks and with hair more unruly than you had ever seen it laying on the bed you thanked the stars for your spontaneous idea.  “Do you need to use the refresher again?”, you asked as you sat down on your side of the bed.  Wolffe only shook his head, his gaze glued to the window and the city beyond.  “Alright then... Good night, I guess”, you said as you pulled the blanket (yes, only one blanket for the two of you to share) up, though you were slightly disappointed at the fact that it now covered more of Wolffe’s toned chest.  “Night”, he echoed before reaching over to the bedside table and turning off the small lamp.  You didn’t know how it was possible, but in the dark you were somehow even more aware of Wolffe laying only a few centimeters away from you, so close that you could feel his body heat under your shared blanket and smell the shampoo in his hair, which somehow smelled better on him than the other clones, even though they all used the same one.  Even though it took you a while to fall asleep, you tried your best not to move, partly because you wanted to avoid accidentally touching Wolffe, which would only result in even more confused feelings, and partly because you knew Wolffe was a light sleeper and didn’t want to risk waking him up.  Finally, after what felt like an eternity of laying still in the darkness, you fell asleep.  Though only shortly, because next thing you knew you were awake again. Awake and sweaty and shaking.  “Shh, it’s alright, everything’s fine. Just focus on me, focus on my voice.”  The voice was familiar, as were the hands on your cheek and shoulder, though it took you a moment to place them, still too consumed by the nightmare you had just woken up from.  “W...Wollfe?”, you stuttered, hating how shaky and scared your voice sounded.  The hands on you grew firmer and you could have sworn that for a split second you felt a pair of soft lips on your sweaty forehead.  “I’m here, cyare”, the same voice, definitely Wolffe, whispered in the dark.  Though you still couldn’t see him, his familiar voice, touch and smell helped you to return to reality.  “Wolffe, I... I’m so sorry”, you choked out, trying your best not to sob. The nightmare was still in your bones, and the embarrassment of having woken Wolffe didn’t help.  Instead of the gruff reply you had been expecting Wolffe suddenly pulled you closer. Your chest, clad in only a thin top, was now pressed against Wolffe’s naked one, one of his arms around your shoulder and the other grabbing your hip.  “There’s nothing to be sorry for. You had a nightmare, we all have those. Hell, mine could probably give yours a run for their money.”  You just nodded before moving closer to him so that your nose was buried in the crook of his neck. You might have just had a nightmare, but luckily it had been replaced by this dream, a dream of laying in Wolffe’s arms that you had already had more often than you’d like to admit. Sadly you knew deep down that that dream would never become reality. 

-------

When the light of one of the planet’s suns streaming through your window woke you up the next morning you were somehow still tired.  It took you a moment to remember where you were, and even longer who you were with. Your eyes widened in realization when you noticed that you were cuddled up next to Wolffe, your legs intertwined with his and his arm around your waist. Though you had to admit that you were rather fond of this position you knew that it would be terribly awkward once Wolffe woke up.  Speak of the devil...  “Hey, you feeling better?”  You looked up at him through your eyelashes. Surely this had to be another dream, if this were real Wolffe wouldn’t be so relaxed to waking up with you in his arms.  You gave him a moment, maybe he was still too sleepy to realize who exactly he was cuddling with.  “(Y/N)? You alright?”  The way he said your name in his even rougher morning voice, and the fact that he said your name at all, clearly knowing who it was next to him, did things to you you’d rather not analyse, at least not in that moment.  Finally it dawned on you that the dream after the nightmare had not been a dream after all, it had all been real. Your nerves slowly began to fade away at the realization, and curiosity took over.  “Wolffe, what does cyare mean?”  Instead of answering your question he untangled his body from yours and sat up against the headboard. The look in his eyes was something you couldn’t decipher, though it wasn’t altogether unfamiliar.  “Buy me a cup of caf and maybe I’ll tell you.”  A laugh escaped you, unexpected, but not unwelcome since it seemed to lighten the mood.  “How about two cups of caf and you’ll call me that again?”, you tried to bargain with a raised eyebrow and a smile you hoped was something between smug and seductive. In truth, you’d buy him all the caf in the galaxy if it meant he’d say that word again in the same voice he used that night, if he held you again like that even better.  “Oh, cyare, I don’t need caf for that, all you had to do was ask.”  His tone easily beat your when it came to being smug and seductive, but you didn’t mind at all, not after hearing that word again.  Stars, that man, especially early in the morning and without a shirt, would be the death of you. 

-------

I sorta just used this prompt to deal with the terrible nightmare I had last night, so sorry for that, but hopefully you enjoyed it anyway

[shin-city]

Damage Control [Katsuki Bakugo x Reader]

pairing: prohero!bakugo x sidekick!reader

genre: angst, fluff, smut

word count: 3.7K

tags: sexual content, oral sex (female & male receiving), praise kink, semi-public sex

a/n: well that’s one way to overcome your fear of elevators

~

“Fifty-thousand dollars in damages!” you reiterated to the fiery man in front of you, who made no effort to mask his indifference towards what you were saying to him. He didn’t even bother looking at you until you’d thrown the invoice from the city on his desk, offering you a stale, blank stare. That look usually served as your warning that you were on thin ice, but you were too agitated to heed it.

“Are you even listening to me right now, Bakugo?”

The blonde rolled his eyes before setting his brows into that signature frown. “It’d be damn hard not to with all the yelling you’re doing.”

You let out a sardonic laugh, not believing that him of all people had a problem with yelling. Working with him for so long was the reason you even yelled so much in the first place. “Well, don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”

Bakugo grunted lowly, glaring as you chastised him. He hated when you reprimanded him like this. He hadn’t put in all of that hard work over the years to become a pro hero, just to have to answer to others for his actions. Especially you- his sidekick. While he didn’t treat you as his lesser just because of your title (not as much as he used to, anyways), he still expected you to treat and speak to him respectfully.

“What do you want me to say? That I’m sorry?” he scoffed. “Just send the invoice to All Might; he’ll take care of it. He always does.”

“We can’t just keep expecting him to cover the costs of you being irresponsible. And even if we could, it isn’t just about the money. It doesn’t look good. What if you get in trouble with the Hero Public Safety Commission? What if your hero ranking goes down, or worse- you get demoted entire-”

Bakugo’s jaw clenched as he slammed a fist on his desk to shut you up, your body jumping and your eyes widening consequently. He didn’t mean to startle you so much, but he did relish in the submissive way you looked at him as a result.

“Do I pay you to bitch at me about how I look to the public?” he challenged.

You blinked at him, wondering what the hell he was talking about.

“Pay me? You don’t pay me anything! I’m your sidekick, not your publicist.”

“Exactly,” he retorted. “So why don’t you quit acting like one, and leave it to the people who are supposed to handle it- like a good little sidekick.”

This particular comment had you fuming, and he could tell as you stood there with your arms crossed and a frown on your flushing face.

Cute, he thought, before dismissing the rumination.

“My quirk is explosion,” Bakugo continued. “Shit is going to get blown up. If you don’t like it, then maybe you should’ve applied to work under a different hero. There are plenty of sidekicks who would kill for the opportunity to be where you are right now.”

He was only bluffing. He’d never say it to you, or even himself, but Bakugo wouldn’t want you working with another hero; nor would he want to work with another sidekick. His hero office had plenty, and yet he chose you. He always chose you. Though, clearly you weren’t confident in his loyalty to you, because his words had tugged at your heartstrings more than he intended.

It wasn’t like you only cared about how he looked to the public. You cared about him in general, which was why you were so hard on him about things like this, but clearly he didn’t realize that.

“M-maybe I should’ve!” you snapped, desperately hoping that he hadn’t seen the glint of moisture in your eyes. “I would’ve taken Izuku up on his offer if I’d known you’d be so difficult to work with!”

Bakugo blinked at you, his head tilting to one side as he registered what you’d said. Midoriya had asked you to be his sidekick after graduating from UA, and several more times after that. You’d never mentioned this to Bakugo before, and you were smart not to. Anything that had to do with your green-haired friend triggered Bakugo to some extent; which was why saying that was the perfect ammunition to retaliate his comment- even if you didn’t realize it.

“What the hell do you mean you would’ve ‘taken Izuku up on his offer’!” he called after you, but you were already turning on your heels, storming out of his office and toward the elevator. You hated taking the elevator, and on any other day you would’ve taken the stairs; but at that moment you needed to get as far away from Katsuki Bakugo as fast as you could. You weren’t sure you’d be able to live with yourself if he saw you cry.

Over the pattering of your rushed footsteps, you hadn’t even heard him exit his office in pursuit of you. All you were focused on was getting out of there, and you were grateful that the elevator was already there on the fifth floor when you pushed the button to summon it. You wiped a stray tear from your eye as you stepped in, pressing the ‘1’ button, followed by the button used to close the doors; but they only managed to close halfway before a hand appeared between them, halting the process.

Before you knew it, an irate Bakugo was stalking into the elevator. He glowered at you as the doors shut behind him, though his expression eased when he noticed the tears that threatened to spill onto your cheeks.

“H-hey...why the hell are you crying?!” Bakugo stared at you incredulously, not believing the sight in front of him. He’d never seen you cry before.

You wiped furiously at your eyes, turning your back toward him as you did so. You made no effort to respond to him, especially once the elevator finally started moving. He frowned as you ignored him, glancing at the elevator’s digital display of what floor you were on. He watched anxiously as the numbers passed.

4...

3...

2...

 He couldn’t let you get to the first floor. He worried that if you left in this state, you might not come back. Or worse: you’d go running to Deku. He couldn’t have that.

Bakugo clenched his hand into a tight fist and before he could stop himself he was punching through the control panel of the elevator, ripping out some of the wires as he retracted his fist. The elevator immediately screeched to a halt, stopping just between the second and first floors. He turned to face you, who was now looking at him with sheer panic etched on your features. You were scared enough of elevators already, and this was like a nightmare come true.

“Have you lost your damn mind?!” you yelled as the ominous sparking of the control panel died down.

“Have you? What’s with all...this? Over an invoice?” he matched your tone, gesturing wildly at your distressed state.

You exhaled an exasperated sigh, shaking your head at him. “You don’t get it, do you? It isn’t just about the invoice.”

Bakugo took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down for your sake. He knew he could be difficult to talk to at times and he didn’t want to say anything that might scare you off. Though, it wasn’t like you could go anywhere anyways. “I don’t. Tell me so that I can fix it.”

You gave him a quizzical look, perplexed at the sudden decline in the volume of his voice. It almost made you want to give in and tell him what was on your mind but in fear of inciting another argument, you decided against it. Besides, you were now focused on the illusory feeling of the elevator walls closing in on you. You stood in the corner farthest from Bakugo, trying to increase the distance between you two. He noticed this and began to slowly creep toward you.

“Y/N.”

His firm tone coupled with his intense gaze had butterflies erupting in your stomach; of course now of all times.

“It doesn’t matter,” you uttered. “Could you please just get us out of here?”

“Is it what I said about you working with another hero?” he asked, completely ignoring your request but hitting the nail right on the head.

You didn’t answer him, instead crossing your arms and staring at the floor. Your body language was more than enough to confirm that he was correct, though, and he took one more step to close the gap between you. His close proximity had your head reeling as his scent enveloped you; it was almost comforting. You were so caught up in it that you hadn’t even noticed his hand cautiously reaching toward your face until he was already gripping your chin, tilting your head to look at him.

“Answer me.”

You let out a shaky breath as your eyes met his. Bakugo had never touched or looked at you like this before. Yes, he was frowning as usual; but it was out of concern instead of anger. The expression softened once you nodded, answering what he already knew. Still, his fingers never left your face.

“Don’t be an idiot,” he grumbled. “You know I didn’t mean that.”

“Do I?” you retorted, cursing yourself as your voice broke. “You think I don’t already know how expendable I am? How easy it’d be for you to replace me? You don’t have to throw it in my face.”

“I wasn’t trying to-”

“I’m sorry for always nagging. I’m sorry for caring. But if you don’t, someone has to, Bakugo,” you vented. “If we’re even close enough for me to call you that. Sometimes I feel like I should just address you as Ground Zero like everyone el-”

Bakugo’s grip on your chin tightened before he pressed his lips to yours, his other hand moving to the wall to support his weight as he leaned into you. You were far too stunned to kiss him back, but that was to be expected. The man in question had never even shook your hand before, let alone kissed you. He broke the kiss shortly thereafter, pressing his forehead against yours as his breath fanned over your lips.

“Don’t. Don’t ever stop calling me by my name,” he articulated, pulling away a little to gaze into your eyes and make sure you understood how serious he was. “You hear me? I’ll always be Bakugo to you. I don’t give a fuck what everyone else calls me. You’re not everyone else. I...just wanna hear you say my name.”

Your eyes began to tear up again, but this time out of relief. This was all you ever wanted from him: to act like he cared. To show you that he cared, and that you were more than just a sidekick to him.

You bit your quivering lip, nodding as you looked up at him. You meant to keep eye contact, but your gaze dropped to his lips. You desperately wanted him to kiss you again, and you weren’t doing the best job at hiding it.

Bakugo chuckled and leaned in to press a chaste kiss to the corner of your mouth. He wanted to do much more, but not before making sure that he’d made things right with you. “I’m...sorry, okay?”

As simple as it was, his apology meant the world to you; especially since he wasn’t exactly known to be someone who ever apologized. It was actually quite humorous.

“You’re sorry?” you quizzed, stifling a laugh.

“Shut up, dumbass,” he retorted playfully before pressing his lips to yours again.

If someone told you just a few minutes before now that you’d be kissing Kastuki Bakugo, you’d have thought they were severely deluded. But you couldn’t deny how right it felt.

He caressed your cheek and lowered his other hand to your waist, clutching it softly. He was so delicate with you, touching you as though you’d break if he didn’t restrain himself. It was such a strange contrast to how he usually was, but you didn’t mind one bit.

“Bakugo,” you whimpered into his lips as you clutched his shirt, prompting him to slip his tongue into your mouth as a response.

He groaned lowly into the kiss as your tongues danced. You slipped your fingers underneath the material of his tank top, raking them along his soft abs and relishing in the warmth of his skin. He decided to match your pace, dropping his hands to your ass and squeezing it with much less caution than he’d touched you before.

His lips left yours, pecking them once more before attaching them to your neck. Your small moans were music to his ears as his tongue laved at your throat.

“I want you-” he groaned into your skin. “-need you.”

He hooked his fingers into the loops of your jeans, pulling your hips into his. And after feeling what pressed up against your thigh, it became very evident just how much he needed you.

“I’m yours, Bakugo. Please.” You sighed as he rolled his hips against you: so tantalizingly slow.

He kissed his way back up your neck, across your jaw and to your lips, kissing you once before gripping the hem of your top. He dragged the material up, your arms automatically raising to aid him in removing the garment. He was grateful that you’d forgone wearing your costume that day, knowing it’d be a pain in the ass to remove; though he’d worn his, save for the mask, gloves and grenades.

His rough hands slid up your torso and cupped your breasts through the material of your bra briefly before reaching around to unclasp it. He threw it to the ground before reaching for you again, calloused fingers tweaking your hardening nipples.

You grew exponentially wetter when he enclosed his lips around one, his fingers tugging at the other, and then alternating. He did this back and forth until you were a whining mess.

“Katsuki,” you mewled, subconsciously grinding your hips into his. “Please touch me.”

“Aren’t I?” he murmured into your chest, and you could feel his smirk. Though, he didn’t torture you for long, dropping his hand to the waist of your jeans and undoing them. He lowered himself onto his knees as he dragged them down your legs before throwing them atop the pile of discarded clothes. Your panties were torn off before joining the pile.

You squirmed as Bakugo’s eyes raked your naked body; his mind memorizing every inch in case this was the last time you’d ever let him see you like this (though he was confident it wouldn’t be). He traced his fingers up the length of your leg before gripping your thigh and lifting it to hook your leg over his shoulder.

“So pretty,” he breathed as he looked up at you, eyes lowering to meet your dripping core. “Even down here.”

Your mouth fell open as he flattened his tongue against your core, groaning as he tasted you. You whimpered as he licked you slowly, stopping to kiss your folds every so often before increasing his pace, devouring you like his life depended on it. You entangled your fingers in his hair, alternating between pulling at his roots and rubbing circles into his scalp.

He’d grunt every time you tugged particularly hard, and you’d be lying if you said it didn’t feel heavenly against your clit.

“Bakugo~” you moaned out once he sucked harshly, sensing that you were already almost there. “Ngh- feels so good. So close...”

“Yeah? Gonna cum on my mouth, princess?” He pushed his tongue into your cunt, burying his face between your thighs as he pressed his thumb against your clit and rubbed circles into the swollen bud.

“Oh my god, yes,” you squeaked, fingernails scratching at his scalp as you neared you’re release. “Coming!”

Bakugo growled into your pussy as you came, the vibrations from his mouth intensifying the sensation tenfold. He watched in awe and adoration while you writhed above him, licking you clean. Once you came down, he rose to his feet, kissing you to allow you to taste yourself on his lips and tongue.

He pulled away to hastily undo his harnesses, pulling off his shirt in the process. You eyed him hungrily as he stripped. Your mouth practically watered at the sight in front of you. You waited until he reached for the button of his pants, catching his wrist in yours to stop him before sinking to your knees. He panted as you groped him over the fabric, rolling his erection into your palm.

“Off,” he groaned, his hand coming down to rest atop your head. “Take them off.”

You obliged, popping open the button and dragging his pants down to around his thighs. You looked up at him as you pressed your tongue against his shaft over his boxers, causing him tug at your roots.

“D-don’t tease me, dumbass.”

You bit your lip as you hooked your fingers into the band, pulling his underwear down slowly. Your heart rate quickened as you revealed his length, inch by inch as you pulled them down his thighs. He was big; so girthy, and the precum that leaked out of the tip only made him look that much more appetizing.

He hissed as you took him in your hand, pumping his length slowly before licking the head of his cock. You lapped up his arousal before taking him in your mouth and sucking as your tongue swirled around the tip. You quickly grew eager for more, taking him fully into your mouth until you were sputtering around him.

“Shit,” he swore, petting your head. “That’s it, baby. Just like that.”

Bakugo’s words encouraged you and you began to bob your head up and down his cock, humming around it. He gathered your hair into his fist, pulling it as you deepthroated him.

“Ngh, so good. So fucking good,” he moaned, thrusting into your mouth.

As good as it felt, if there was one place Bakugo wanted to cum more than your mouth: it was inside you. Therefore, as he felt himself nearing his release, he reluctantly pulled out of your mouth, groaning at the sight of the saliva that connected your lips to his cock.

“I need to fuck you now,” he informed you as he pulled you up by your shoulders. “Turn around. Hands on the wall.”

You did as he said, turning to press your hands and face against the wall of the elevator. You chewed your lip in anticipation as you heard him stroke his wet cock behind you before pressing the tip against your folds.

“Katsuki,” you moaned, pushing back against him in a desperate attempt to feel him inside of you. “Please.”

“Please what, princess? What do you want?”

Whimpering as he ground the head of his cock into your clit, you responded. “I want you to- ahh~, fuck me. Please Bakugo.”

You must’ve appeased him, both of his hands coming up to grip your ass and he slowly pushed into you. His name fell from your lips in a long, drawn out moan as he filled you. He stilled once he was entirely in, relishing in the feeling of your warm cunt contracting around him. He could probably cum from that alone.

“Fuck, you’re so tight,” he commented, pulling out halfway before pushing into you again. He did this over and over until you’d stretched enough to his liking, beginning a steady rhythm as he thrust into you. The elevator filled with the sound of his skin slapping against yours, drowning out your moans. His fingers dug into your hips as he increased his pace, slamming into you as he fucked you.

“Yeah, yeah, fuck yeah,” he moaned out, and you had to grab hold of the elevator railing to steady yourself as he pounded you. “Look at you taking my cock so fucking well. You’re such a good girl.”

Your heart fluttered at his praise, crying out his name as he angled his cock to brush against your g-spot with every thrust. He thrust into you like that just a few times before pulling out of you.

You were about to protest but he spun you around to face him, guiding your arms around his neck and picking you up by the backs of your thighs. He pushed your back against the wall to support you in the new position.

“Wanna see your pretty face when you cum,” he mumbled through clenched teeth, slipping back inside you.

“B-Bakugo,” you whined, finding it difficult to speak with how he was slamming into you. “So close.”

He reached a hand down between you two, rubbing furiously at your clit. “Cum for me, princess. Cum around my cock. Fuck.”

You threw your head back in sheer pleasure as your stomach tightened, digging your nails into his back as you reached your climax. You clenched around him, your pussy getting impossibly tighter as you came around his cock.

Bakugo’s thrusts grew sloppier but quicker, exerting the last of his energy as he finished inside you. Thick ropes of his warm cum painted your insides, filling you up along with his cock. He groaned out your name as he let out the last of it, burying his head in your shoulder as he caught his breath.

The two of you stayed like that for a few moments before he pulled out of you and let you down slowly. His cum leaked uncomfortably down your thigh, and suddenly he regretted ruining your panties, wishing he had them to help keep his cum inside of you.

You were caught by surprise when Bakugo wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into his chest as he embraced you.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized to you once again. “I need you, and...I don’t wanna do this hero shit if I can’t do it with you.”

 “Me neither,” you assured him, softly kissing his shoulder.

*

“Bakugo?”

“Yeah?”

“How are we getting out of here?” you inquired, remembering that you and him had been the only people in the office on that Sunday night.

“Shit.”

~

[sorry-i-ship-drarry]

37. You're my home, draco

Putting their head on other's chest | For @thebusyfangirl for being extremely supportive with all the reblogging, I cannot thank you enough| angst | hurt comfort | happy ending | fluff

" well that's not my problem harry, is it ? If you can't fucking do one thing on your own that's your damn fault " draco yelled from across the kitchen at harry who was standing in the middle of the living room looking agitated

" I do things on my own. It's that you are the one who keeps thing's in the house, not me and if you're not responsible enough for it just say it " harry yelled back.

Furiously draco stomped out of the kitchen " responsible? So this is your house when it's about the house lease and paper's and suddenly when it comes to keeping thing's, it's mine. When was the last time you were responsible enough to keep things in the right place on your own? If for once you could fold your own clothes or do your own laundry or maybe just not fucking throw things anywhere you want to, so I'd pick up then maybe, Maybe for once you wouldn't have to ask me where your shit is !! It's not just my own responsibilities " draco yelled at harry face talking off the apron off his waist

" you know what you are right, I'll do my damn shit on my own Because you're fucking irresponsible with whatever you do. After all why would you understand the load of work I have to do each day, going after the bad guys.. if even for one day you'd go things I do then you'd understand where I'm coming from But if this is the way it's going to be, you do your own shit and I'll do mine "harry sneered back

" work ? You're saying as if I don't do work? I teach at least 6 classes in a day, check almost 200 copies, sit with a bunch of teachers who are much more older than me, clean the mess of the potions students make, don't you dare compare our work! Just because your work requires more strength or power or maybe responsibility, doesn't mean I don't do shit "

" draco, you're a damn teacher. I am a goddamn auror. I put my life on line everyday so I can make money for us-"

" and you're not the only man making money in this house. I earn only 200 galleons less than you do and that's not even a huge deal so stop making it seem as if you're the man of the House or that you are doing a great deal for me because let me be honest, the only thing you do for me is creating problems and fighting, that's it " draco yelled and stormed out of the house before harry could've yelled back further.

Harry groaned loudly shutting off the house and storming away himself to get away from the horrors the place held. Both of them Only returned much later after midnight at the same time and went to bed immediately without saying even a single word. And the next morning, draco left the house much more earlier than he was supposed to, leaving a note that he'd be at Hogwarts for at least a week as per the requirements by the school board to finish off with the heavy work left pending. At first harry was Happy seeing the note, thinking to himself that the house would be Empty after so Long.

But he was wrong.

At night when he came back to a messed up home, no cooked meal, he felt slightly furious and almost called out to draco but realised quickly that he wasn't home. Not dropping much thought over it, cleaned up the place, freshened up and decided to order food instead of cooking. But 4 days in, harry found himself much more tired and in desperation to just see Draco. The thing was harry knew why draco was staying an entire week at school, he knew his husband very well, he would never leave any pending work but just the realisation that draco needed a break from harry and the house, he found it saddening on a lonely night.

" so what'd he say last before he left ?" Ron asked as they chatting up about their Harry's current problems with marriage over brunch away from work for sometime

" something about him earning not significantly less than me and how I'm irresponsible and creating problems. I'm just tired Ron, lately all we do is fight. You wouldn't believe, just last week we were fighting about changing a wallpaper and you'd expect that it got resolved but it didn't. We didn't talk and that was it. It just- I don't know- like the whole marriage thing really work out for us " harry replied sadly

Ron looked at harry understandingly.." I understand you harry but I don't think he's entirely wrong-"

" so you also think I'm irresponsible-"

" Merlin, don't get your knickers in twist. All I'm saying maybe he isn't wrong. You've fought with me quite often too lately but we're friends harry, but it's different with him, he's your husband. He needs you and you can't possibly deny that you've been nice to people lately. When was the last time you bought Hermione flowers or told her she looked not a today older than she is or the last time you called Ginny about her games or take neville, when did you even call him last to see how he's doing ? The thing is Harry you've been so work involved that you've barely acknowledged the people around you. Remember 2 months after you got married and you told me marrying draco was the best thing you did, what happened to that ?"

Harry's face drew upset, knowing that Ron was in fact right. He'd been so into himself that he had barely made time for the rest of them " I don't know Ron. I just feel like maybe it's all getting out of hands. Like my plates full maybe-"

" like you need a break?"

Harry nodded.

" look Hermione and me have known you the longest and she haven't seen you in so long but she knows somethings up. We know you harry, we understand how you get when you're stressed or angry even but this, this isn't who you are. After everything you've been through and go through each day we understand you but to me you'll always be the harry potter who broke his glasses like a million times in school yet refused to buy new one's because you liked them or the harry potter who hung me by my feet or the harry potter who'd die than leave his friends " ron gave harry the most perfect smile for the situation.

Harry sighed " what am I doing wrong Ron ?"

" you've forgotten who you are and a little maybe the people around you or you're probably letting something eat you alive.. whatever it is harry, do something about it or it'll be too late to fix things" and by that harry knew he meant draco.

Harry nodded at Ron, thinking about what he'd do next to remind his husband, that he is still his lover.

When it came to Saturday night, almost a night before draco would come back, harry firmly sat back on the couch looking at the empty spot besides him with his favourite television show running in the back, yet all he could think was about the memories with draco, the times he made him laugh and now harry didn't even remember in the last one year they've been married the last time harry made his husband laugh. Harry switched off the tv, sighing, getting up from the couch and going into the storage room. He cleared the dust, blowing some away, then turning on a little lamp around the corner. Following his instincts, harry went deeper into the pit of storage and found his things back from the school days. Falling into nostalgia, harry took his school thing's, a few things after that and album's he had gotten made and went back to living room and set everything on the ground.

Memories probably never leave you yet sometimes you need to be reminded of who you are to become who you want to be and that's exactly what harry was doing, figuring out when he became the person he is Today. He went through things after things he had from school, his defense against dark arts books, the model of something science related he made for muggle studies and the albums. Pictures after pictures with people he loved, he found himself drowning into it. It had been so long since the last time he contacted any of them and it saddened him. This isn't who he is, yet somehow this is exactly who he is. As sadness started to fill into his lungs, he finally opened the last box he had retrieve and opened it to find things related to draco. They started going out late in 8 th year and going through a lot of post-war things, Harry had maintained a diary in a muggle way to vent out but most of the end of the diary was filled with how draco looked so good under the moon or how draco was mindlessly biting the top of pencils or biting his lip during class or how his dates went.

Without glancing up harry said " don't leave me "

" how did you know I came ? " Draco asked as he stepped into the living room and sat down next to harry

" you're my soulmate draco, I can sense whenever you're around me "

" you can ?" Draco frowned, not believing harry could still do it.

" just because I've became this huge asshole doesn't mean I've stopped loving you draco "

" it doesn't hurt to remind every once in a while "

Harry looked up finally to see an upset draco sitting next to him with a sad smile " I do tell you I love you "

" when was the last time you said that to me?" Draco asked smiling lightly

Harry frowned lightly, confused but immediately realised he hadn't spoken the words out in almost 5 months " fuck- I'm sorry- shit"

" yeah " draco signed looking down at the things harry was going through " what's all this ?"

" this- school stuff. And this is a box specifically about you " harry pushed the box a little box towards draco

" I own an entire separate box ?" Draco chuckled

" you own an entire different separate place in my life too and I think me becoming an asshole forgot that " harry replied sadly. Draco looked at harry sympathetically before pulling him forward towards him and wrapping his arms around Harry's torso..

" that's all I wanted to hear " draco's voice broke. Harry leaned in further, his head pressed against draco's chest, small tears escaping his eyes and wetting draco's shirt.

" I'm sorry. I never meant to be this problematic and with the whole fighting things. I'm so sorry. I never wanted to hurt you but I just, I'm such an asshole" harry rambled

" you're not an asshole harry. Hey look at me- you are a brilliant man who sometimes needs a break. I haven't been less of an ass to you myself but everyone have a rough patch in marriage and we will get past this too. We're special harry, remember. We're Always special " draco smiled holding Harry's face in his hands

" I don't want to be this person. I just want to be yours and I don't want to fight you, I don't want to yell at you or you to yell at me and i don't want you ever leaving me alone.. I can't- I don't want to be without you draco, I don't know how to be. I've been so selfish that forgot to tell you how much I love you for 5 months, I don't ever want that again. I want to tell you everyday how much I love you. I don't want all these fights, I hate it without you. It doesn't feel like home without you draco, you're my home and with you gone, nothing makes sense, not even me " harry sobbed.

Draco eyes welled up with tears " I don't want all this too harry. I want to be entirely yours and yours forever. I Always Want you to be my home. Fuck I love you- I've missed you so much "

" I missed you too. I love you draco, I love you so so so much, I love you "

" I know you do " draco smiled. He softly kissed the top of Harry's head, then his cheeks, his eyes, his forehead and finally his lips.

" don't ever leave me, ever "

" never " Draco sobbed, their foreheads touching each other, taking in deep breaths with tears running down their faces like a small river.

It was sometime later when they started going through Harry's thing's together with harry cuddled into draco.

" what's this ?" Draco asked as he picked out a small dry petal

" oh, this was from the restaurant I proposed in "

" and this ?"

" this is- I think the handkerchief you left the night we first kissed "

" oh, nice, what this ?"

" I think that's the note I wrote to you to ask you out for first date but never sent it "

" real smooth harry " draco chuckled. Harry rolled his eyes, playfully hitting draco over his chest before picking up and showing him thing's again.

" you still have that paper boat from our first date ?" Draco asked softly gazing at harry

" well- I still think it's the most perfect boat ever made " harry smiled at draco before pressing a small kiss over his lip.

It was harry who Always imagined that, that perfect little boat was the reasons for everything they have right now, but draco never needed to know that, after all he was his special man and he made him the happiest man in the whole world even if sometimes the boat drowned a bit..

Requests open

Day 36- angel | Day 38- set it up, break it up

[mariaiscrafting]

You know, what think I like when you are critical of a content creator is that you know how to separate a fact from especulation, unlike a blog out there that took especulation as facts.

Example, that night when we were critical of Karl, or any instance you have discussed about him, a lot of anons were saying that he gave them clout chaser vibes to them, and despite your opinion, you expressed that those were only especulation and not the truth, and to keep that in mind. That's good critical thinking.

But this blog had some similar anons, saying that he only is friends with the Feral Boys gro clout- In fact, they said the Feral Boys were only in it to benefit from clout and money. And they took it as a truth. I know you instance on them is neutral, but come one, they are friends. All of them. Karl isn't friends with them for clout. Like today Karl was playing golf with salad gang plus Sapnap and George at first and then Quackity and Dream joined bc they had spared time and it all devolved into typical chaos (Poor Corpse and Tina and Brook, had to endure those children lol/lh /j). Like, the stream wasn't planned with the 5/5 yet they joined, missing Karl and just having fun.

Idk, I guess that blog's superiority (They were a SBI focused blog) just irritated me. It's as if they were putting both groups at each other as if those streamers aren't friends or close. They were singing prayers of one while shunning the other based from especulation. Criticissism is fine, in fact recommended to be critical of your interests, but taking rumors as facts to base your crit is yikes. It's as if I wanted to crit SBI and base it only of "Philza hanging only with people younger than him is kinda weird ngl.." or "Sbi doesn't care about Tommy cuz he joined late" like that dumb Tumblr post did or some fuckers in Twitter imply.

The main reason I take so much care to separate speculation from evidence-backed theories and confirmed truths is because I feel like that separation is what distinguishes us from mcyttwt the most. One of the main reasons for mcyttwt's toxicity, imo - for its relentless cancelling of everyone, for its bandwagon campaigns - is that people oftentimes criticize and defend based on their personal feelings rather than rationale or evidence.

For example, I complain a lot about Dream stans on here, but you know the reason I didn't stop watching Dream directly after the cheating scandal broke loose, even though I thought he cheated? Because of mcytblr Dream stans. Mcytblr Dream stans engaged with me in discussion, both publicly and in DMs, about the cheating scandal, and even those who eventually came to the conclusion that Dream didn't cheat accepted the facts and statistics they were given and kept a healthy skepticism throughout the process. On Twitter, Dream stans were defending him before he even made a video following up to the mods' initial accusations because they felt that Dream wasn't the kind of guy to lie or cheat. They were replying to screenshots of statistical analyses from subreddits and to articles from mathematicians and staticians with extremely reactionary responses because of that feeling, which they believed in so adamantly, they had accepted it as fact. The thing is, to believe that Dream didn't cheat in the face of all the statistical and rhetorical evidence to the contrary is, in itself, speculative. Usually we think of speculation as a baseless theory that something is a positive truth- that is to say, that something did happen. But speculation also applies to those theories of someone not having done something, when the opposite has been nearly proven to be true.

For this same reason, I chose not to ignore the anti-technotwt threads with screenshots of Techno's old tweets in them. For me to have simply ignored these screenshots and continued supposing that Techno never expressed bigoted beliefs and/or currently doesn't would have been speculative on my part, and to boot, blatantly wrong, given the evidence to the contrary.

People in this fandom, and in all RPF/RPF-adjacent fandoms need to understand that almost everything they believe about the CCs they watch is speculative, at least to some extent, because of the nature of the content they make. Even if someone, in your opinion, displays evidence of some aspect of their personality - whether that be some form of bigoted, sweet, rude, clout-chasing, or anything else - because of the extremely one-sided nature of sharing one's life through a screen, that theory of ours will almost alwyas only ever be speculation, not a solid conclusion that can be drawn. We will never know these people's true intentions behind something shared to us via the Internet.

That vagueness leads to virtually every viewer creating a different theory in our heads about the CCs we watch, and we can't treat those theories as facts, especially not when sharing them with the rest of a fandom. I'm not a very big blog, but I consider even over 50 followers to be way too many people to spread a theory too, without at least clarifying that what I'm posting is speculation. If I have evidence, I like to list it or, if I can, provide sources; but otherwise, I take care to qualify most things with phrases or disclaimers that will clue followers into the speculative nature of whatever it is I'm saying. This is because theories and "feelings" can blaze through a fandom like wildfire, especially somewhere like Twitter, where so many things are word-of-mouth or based on summary due to character limitation.

You know why mcyttwt was cancelling Andi? Only a handful of original Tweeters under the cancel Andi hashtags actually knew what clips or tweets to criticize her for, or tried to elaborate on that criticism. But because every other mcyttwt user was getting bombarded by their mutuals hate-posting about Andi on their TLs, the "negative feeling" towards Andi grew and grew, even if most people didn't even know what they were supposed to feel negative about, exactly. Our judgement works on a quick trigger on the Internet because of the amount of information we're receiving, and so, even a single bad word against someone you don't have too strong of an opinion on can fundamentally alter your perception of them, usually subconsciously. If the first thing you see about Andi, who you've only seen on a couple LOH's or a couple Punz streams before then, is a tweet along the lines of, "disappointed in Andi for her homophobia and joking about suicide," despite you having no context, you will most likely be pushed to the negative side of her. Thus begins the cycle of hatred, building up and up, leading to you searching for more and more criticism about Andi, whether speculative or not, until you solidly and genuinely believe she is a Horrible Person. It all starts with the vaguest fucking feeling, because that's all speculation has to go off of, and it snowballs into a fucking wildfire across an entire fandom. I'm not about to be another person to let feelings snowball and spread like that.

Now, I don't know what exact blog you're referring to, but as an adamant SBI enthusiast, let me flip the argument many SBI stans have for their speculation upon the genuity of Karl's friendship with the Feral Bois, onto SBI. What do we have to go off of for the genuity of SBI's friendship, anyways? Our perceived brother dynamic between Tommy and Wilbur could very well just be Tommy capitalizing on Wilbur's brand and continuing the charade until now because it's been profitable. Maybe Techno only continues to associate with SBI because he knows how much his fanbase likes headcanon'ing about SBI, so he puts up with streams with them so he can continue to feed his fanbase with dynamics he knows they're obsessed with. Maybe Phil would rather play MC with people his age, and actually dislikes that he's friends with a teenager, but sticks around because he profitted so much off of Dream SMP and SBI-related content. And what could any SBI stan have to argue with me on any of these theories? Just because SBI laughs around each other and seems fond of each other doesn't mean they're actually like that behind the cameras. They so seldomly stream or make videos together anymore, anyways, so maybe they've grown tired of keeping up the dynamic.

Everything I said could be interpreted as utter bullshit, and that's because it fucking is. I don't actually know what Techno wants to do with his life, or how Wilbur and Tommy actually feel about each other, or who Phil wants to fucking befriend. The same goes for Feral Boys. There's nothing wrong with stating your theories or speculation, but to treat them as fact or not at least qualify such posts with the fact that this is all based on your bias and opinion, and no substantive evidence, is irresponsible. Just because you feel like one or more of the Feral Boys is "clout-chasing" doesn't mean you have the right to tout that feeling as truth. I feel a lot of things about a lot of CCs, both negative and positive, but no matter how strong my feelings, unless they have substantive evidence backing them up, I have no right to treat them as facts with my followers.

[jilytho]

Blind Dating and Miscalculating

Blind dating au where Lily is on a blind date and wrongly assumes James is her date

Read below or on AO3 :)

“Whew does Mary know how to pick ‘em!” James looked up in shock to see a woman, apparently under the impression some Mary somehow ‘picked’ James leering at him, teetering from side to side as she pulled back the chair opposite him and clambered into it, nearly knocking off the unused wine glass closest to her. 

Drunk. Drunk but also gorgeous. Red tendrils that likely at one point in the night were neatly arranged were now flung about her shoulders in partial disarray. 

“Scuse me, I’m not quite sure you’ve got the right-”

“I told her I didn’t want to go! I said,” she reached over and grabbed his hand, pulling it towards her, wide eyes locked on his. One look at her bright green eyes (beautifully green eyes, his favorite shade of green, actually) was enough to tell that while the lights were on, nobody was home. “I said, Mary!” She exclaimed, continuing to cradle his hand close to her while gesturing wildly with the other, “Mary I have no interest in dating, period. Nevermind getting set up with some random strange man. Especially with the name Mark. I mean, look, no offense Mark and other Marks of the world but it really is a rather plain name.” She paused to catch his gaping mouth opening and closing not unlike a fish before continuing. “That’s not to say that plain is always a bad thing or that extravagant names are a good thing,” she stumbled over the word extravagant and pushed right past it, “I mean I dated this bloke, Severus, once and I thought wow such an interesting name, fascinating. Nope. Dead boring and borderline stalkerish fellow as it turns out. So you’d think I’d like plain after an experience like that, wouldn’t you?”

She stopped abruptly, eyes staring at him expectantly, apparently waiting for some form of agreement. 

“Erm I suppose so?”

“Exactly! You’d think! But I mean, Mark. So mundane. I just assumed the person would be mundane as well. Probably an accountant or a lawyer, blech. Not to mention I was a bit nervous, been a little since my last date if I’m being honest. Not that there weren't offers.” She gripped his hand tighter, “There were offers, Mark. Don’t start thinking I’m desperate. I had offers.” She dropped his hand and folded her arms as if he had suggested otherwise. 

“I didn’t say- I’m not, I'm sorry can we back up for a-” his words and thoughts were a jumbled mess.

“Anyway,” she huffed, rolling her eyes and relaxing her arms, “anyway. Anyway, what was I saying? Mark! Yes, Mark. So as I was saying, I didn’t want to go on this date at all but Mary was all ‘it’ll be good for you! He’s so cute! We’ll get drinks first!’ and so I agreed to come meet you, but may have drank more than three margaritas but in my defense it was 2 for 1 and Mary was paying and I can never pass up a good deal. So that's why I’m late. But I am here. I am here with you, Mark, and you are far less boring looking than I expected. Yes, much cuter than any Mark I’ve ever met. Mary did well.” She nodded approvingly, sitting back in her seat and smiling constantly. 

From the corner of his eye he saw Sirius walk into the restaurant and see the woman in the chair Sirius had been meant to occupy. James immediately tried to signal with his eyes, “HELP, HELP, HELP” without alerting the redhead in front of him when Sirius, the bastard, winked at him lightly, turned on his heel, and left.

She hadn’t noticed his desperate face as she was busy scanning the menu over and when she wasn’t calling him Mark or yelling in his face she was quite pretty. Extremely pretty, actually. Like exactly the kind of person he’d want to have one a blind date. Or a non-blind date. Any date really. And the girl clearly needed food in her stomach to soak up some of her margarita, really it would be irresponsible to leave her like this. The least he could do would be to keep her company, pretend he was Mark to try and minimize her embarrassment, and then make sure she got home safe. 

“You know,” she met his eye over her menu as he spoke, “for someone who seems to have a lot of opinions on my name, I don’t believe Mary ever told me yours.” 

She laughed lightly, a beautiful wind chimey, tinkly noise that sent delight shooting down his spine. 

“Lily, Lily Evans.” She reached her hand across the table again, this time for him to shake. “Pleasure to meet you.” 

“Pleasure is all mine, Lily, Lily Evans.” He shook her hand lightly and looked back at his menu. 

XX

Dinner seemed to fly by. Once Lily got some food into her system she sobered up rapidly, yet sobriety in no way impacted her ability to keep him completely enthralled and entertained. Each passing minute made him more inclined to legally change his name to Mark and live the lie for the rest of his days. 

Sure their life would be a lie, he thought as she threw her head back laughing over some asinine story he was telling of Sirius, red hair swirling around like flames, but it would be fun. 

Not only was she bold, she openly mocked his ordering bourbon, ruthlessly holding nothing back despite only knowing him for a matter of minutes, but she was also unbelievably sweet. Listening intently to every story he shared, telling multiple of her own where despite being an ass kicking journalist she somehow also found time to volunteer at the animal shelter and had fostered three different dogs in the last two months. Ruthless, for sure, as she batted her eyes at him over her water glass causing all sorts of feelings to start to stir. She would give James, correction- Mark, a run for his money and then some. Barely an hour of sitting across from her and he was pretty sure he’d take his dinner knife to Mark's throat if the bloke ever actually did show up. Whether it be from jealousy or fury that any human being could ever stand up this goddess in front of him. 

The conversation flowed easily. Leaping seamlessly from her parents professions to his childhood mischief to the time she dyed her sister's dog key lime green. Her dad had a thing for flowers, apparently, marrying a Rose and insisting on making their daughters Petunia and Lily. 

“You could keep up the tradition, you know. Get your kids some flower names. Maybe something unique,”

“What?” She scoffed, “and subject them to years of cheesy, thoughtless bouquets of a flower you hardly like just because it’s your namesake? I don’t think so.”

“Then make it a flower they’d want to get! Or an herb, like Basil. Everyone wants a Basil plant around.” He pointed his drink at her as she spluttered incoherently, “are you telling me you don’t love a basil plant?”

“You’re right, how dare I overlook such a top quality name as Basil.” She drawled out in a monotone, voice dripping with sarcasm. “I suppose we’d go with something more colorful though, like Anemone!” She looked like the idea was pure genius and now he was the one spluttering in her face. 

He tried not to let his heart burst at her use of we. 

“I’m sorry, isn’t that the ocean thing? The Nemo thing? The sea anananamename thing where they live? That’s what you want to name your child?”

Her eyes were screwed shut as she clutched her chest, gasping for air through her laughs. 

“What?” He grinned at her, not caring if he had somehow said the wrong thing or appeared dumb when her laughter was so intoxicating. He felt a tingling run straight down his spine. 

“A sea,” she gasped out through choked laughs, “anemone!” 

“That’s what you just said!” He continued to argue. 

“Whew,” she wiped a stray tear from one eye, “truthfully you’re not that far off base at all. Same exact spelling. But they do have anemone for flowers that are on land as well as the sea. I’ve just never heard someone butcher a word so spectacularly.”

“Yes well, you know I’m quite good at that.” He leaned back in his seat as her eyebrow quirked up. “In fact, so good that I have been named the anti-Spelling B Champ,” he nodded matter of factly and continued on as if she wasn’t gaping at him, echo of a laugh still present on her face. 

“It’s true! Annually, all the people that hate spelling b’s gather and compete to see who can truly butcher a word the most. I’ve won every time. You’re sitting with a nationally ranked word ruiner.”

“Oh wow, however could I have not known. Do you have any secrets of the trade you could share?”

“I usually would never divulge such confidential information but just because you asked so nicely and because you are in fact stunningly gorgeous, I’ll give you one.” He leaned in conspiratorially, hitching a finger for her to do the same, and dropped his voice low. “To really put yourself over the top and seal that victory,” he looked side to side dramatically, checking for eavesdroppers before looking back on her, “is all about the silent Q.” He sat back again and watched her shoulders shake lightly with poorly concealed giggles. 

“Personally,” he grinned strongly, all pretense of secrecy gone, “I like to throw a minimum of three in there just to really set myself apart. Once I did a silent q followed by a silent x. I nearly sent the judge to an early grave.”

“You know I bet what would have really done him in is if you followed the x with a p but you pronounce the p like a-“

“Lily?” James reared back to find some bloke standing next to their table staring anxiously in between the two of them. “Are you Lily?” Lily nodded lightly, eyebrows scrunched in confusion, eyes flitting between the newcomer and James. 

“Um yes I am, I’m sorry do I know you?” 

A wave of cold dread overcame him, realization sinking into his chest. The newcomer, just about their age, polo and khakis, easily could have been a lawyer or an accountant. He had to explain before she realized as well and he looked like a total lying creep. 

“Lily, I can explain-“

“I’m Mark, I’m so sorry I’m so late. My car broke down and I didn’t have your number.” 

They spoke at the same time, the real Mark reaching a hand out to shake Lily’s. 

She didn’t take it. Instead she swiveled dumbly between the two staring accusingly at the real Mark. “You can’t be Mark. I’m having dinner with Mark. You must be here for someone else.”

“Lily, I really can explain if you’d just-“ James started again as Lily whipped around to face him. “You! You liar! Who are you?” She pushed back in her chair looking at him as suspiciously as if he had just announced he liked to moonlight as a serial killer in his spare time. 

“I’m sorry, your name is Mark as well?” The real Mark stared down at James politely inquiring, as if this was all perhaps a genuine mix up and not a case of an imposter stealing his date. 

“Not quite, its erm James. But truly if you think absolutely it the names are quite similar, the whole second letter being an A and the part about being in the Bible and what not.” Mark's eyebrows rose and Lily did not appear amused by his comparison. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to lie or anything, I just… you sat down and assumed I was Mark and I was actually meant to be meeting a friend but you were just so pretty and funny and I didn’t want you to feel like you’d been stood up so I thought I could come clean later but I just wanted to get to know you. I’m sorry, truly.” She looked at him, hurt and confused, and he just wanted to hang his head low and apologize another half dozen times. 

“I can leave so you two can get on with your date,” his heart sank as he stood, gesturing the open chair to Mark without quite meeting his eye. 

He forced himself to look up at Lily, “I really am sorry. It was really nice to meet you, have a nice evening.” 

He turned lightly and began to head out of the restaurant, feeling Lily’s eyes burning into the back of his head even while he heard Mark sit down across from her and apologize again for his lateness. 

He was barely out the door when he heard her yelling his name, his real name, from behind and spun back around to watch her jogging to catch up to him. 

He braced himself for her to yell at him or hit him or completely tear him a new one and gave her a forced smile. 

“Lily, I-“

“Is your name really James?” she huffed, somewhat out of breath. 

“Erm yes. Just James. No Jim or Jay or weird nicknames really…” his right hand came up to ruffle the back of his hair, still anxiously waiting for her to scream at him. 

She reached up on her tiptoes, hand snaking around the back of his neck (oh god she was gonna try and hold his head still so she could really hit him strongly) and used it to pull herself up closer and his head down and touch her lips lightly to his. 

The light kiss sent shockwaves down his body as he froze, processing what was happening. 

“I like the name James so much more.” She whispered against his lips, barely a breath away. That was all he needed to throw an arm around her waist and tuck her snugly against him, the other hand going to caress her cheek and bring his lips back to her, stronger than before. They kissed deeply and sweetly and he felt it down through his toes and in every single nerve in his body. 

When they pulled apart, still wrapped up in each other, and she lightly hummed his name against him, he felt suddenly very sure that there was no sound better than her saying his name. 

“So, I’d really like to do that again. And the date again. With you knowing my name the whole time preferably. Preferably right now. What's to say I go take care of the bill and you take care of the real Mark and we go get some ice cream, maybe?”

“What’s say we do.” She intertwined their fingers and pulled him lightly back towards the restaurant for a fresh start.

[beebubb]

How much I think the pastas make and what do they spend money on (also this is based on my AU I made)

Jeff the killer: makes the most money out of all of them (except for the proxies) sense he was slenderman's first killer apprentice. Jeff has good stealth and very agile with the knife and really strong. Though him earning more and being good at his job has made him kinda cocky and a bit narcissistic. The only thing thing he still struggles with at his job is controlling himself and sticking to being stealthy sense he's used to savagely attacking his victims and making a huge mess (slenderman doesn't really mind the mess but he doesn't like when he loses control of himself sense it usually draws attention to Jeff or others that are on the mission with him and police come). As to how much money he makes a year he makes around 110K. He's makes good money but he doesn't "look" wealthy sense he doesn't like fancy stuff like designer clothes or go out to eat at 5 star restaurants. He prefers to save his money sense he doesn't use much sense he literally just wears jeans and hoodies.

Jane: makes around 75K sense she doesn't really kill like the others. She just kills only when it's necessary and when they need backup. She isn't dedicated much sense her goal used to be to get revenge on Jeff but it pretty much failed sense no one can kill or hurt anyone that lives in the mansion. She saves up her money that she earns and she's pretty fancy so she sometimes buys designer clothes and buys cosmetics usually (especially spends on makeup like jeffree star)

Ben drowned: makes 80K a year. He dedicates to hacking and online stalk future victims or any zalgo enemies. He would probably make way more if he decided to become a full time proxy like masky and hoodie but he's kinda lazy to work all the time. His money doesn't last him much sense he's always spending his money on merch, anime figures, and video games.

Nina the killer: she makes around 80K sense she does enjoy killing and will kill anyone just for fun (just like Jeff). She would make way more if she actually stuck to plans and was more professional at her job sense, just like Jeff, she loses control and attacks randomly (let's say masky and hoodie has to bail her out of jail many times). She loooves to spend money on clothes, makeup, accessories, etc though she ends up being broke for all the excessive shopping (though sometimes she wants to save money to buy a Luis Vuitton bag)

Ticci toby: earn 130k a year. Even if he is considered "immature" or "irresponsible" at his job, he is actually really good at his job. Ever sense slenderman helped him with his ticking and his mental disorders, he has had more control over what he does and how he does it. Also let's say his numbness to pain helps him last longer when it comes to fights with zalgo minions and fesity victims. He saves his money sense he doesn't really have anything to spend on except for the occasional prop or material he'll need to prank or mess with masky

Hoodie: makes 150k a year. He's had a lot of experience and is great at stealth, clean with his kills, quick, and great and getting rid of evidence. He saves up money sense he doesn't spend on much besides on beer

Masky: he makes the most out of any proxy due to working with slender for many years and being good at his job sense he has good knowledge on stealth, manipulation, getting rid of evidence, and actually knows a lot about hacking like Ben (he makes 250k) but he doesn't keep much of it sense he asked slenderman for a money loan years ago and still isn't done paying him. (he refuses to tell anyone how much he asked for and on what the money was used),so he's usually broke and can't spend on much and if he does spend money on something, he looks for the best deals

Sherry: 90k a year. Usually new proxies make a bit less due to not having many years of experience but what helped her earn more was her forensic science knowledge and psychology (it came useful when interrogating zalgo minions or victims) , which was very useful for cleaning evidence after a kill. She usually saves up her money but she sometimes buys games and consoles like Ben sense she always wanted a PS4 and Nintendo switch when she was little. So basically anything that she wasn't able to have as a kid, she buys it now.

Eyeless jack: he earns around 300k a year but not for working for slenderman, but by selling organs on the black market. He only stays at the mansion sense he also has knowledge about biology and forensic sciences like sherry, so he helps them from time to time. He saves up money sense he doesn't have anything to spend on sense he doesn't even need to buy food sense he's a cannibal.

Laughing jack: doesn't have much of a stable income. He's unemployed and sometimes earns money if he catches a temporary job. He stays at a shitty apartment with will Grossman sense he literally can't afford anything better. When he does have money he pays his half of the rent and the rest usually goes to food or beer.

Clockwork: 80K a year. She's good at her job sense she has good stealth and is actually very patient when it comes to victims, she leaves a huge mess though, and buts it's not much of a problem sense the proxies usually take care of that. Probably the only thing she spends on is weapons sense she likes to experiment sometimes.

Amelie: she makes 95K a year. She makes a bit more than usual for a Starting proxy sense she has knowledge on killing (she learned from her family sense they were a mafia family) and knew how kill, get rid of evidence, and stalk people. She is a big spender sense her clothing is pretty much all designer made and likes to go on frequent shopping sprees like Nina. Also her brother and father are millionaires , so even if she earned less, her dad and brother would literally buy her anything she wanted.

Will grossman: doesn't have a stable income either. He's unemployed and just like LJ, he sometimes gets money for temporary jobs. When he does have money he pays his part of rent and the rest goes towards food, video games, and beer.

Amari: 65k a year. She knows a lot about stalking, getting rid of evidence, and has a good physical form and endurance but she doesn't earn much still sense she hasn't gone to any proper missions with the proxies sense she is a student at the institution (goes to the same school as will). They still pay her though because even though she hasn't been in many missions, she still helps them in things like cleaning the area and stalking victims. She is studying to become an official slender proxy though. She spends her money on rent (decided to live with will and LJ so rent wouldn't be too expensive and also to hide that she was a slender proxy apprentice and not draw attention to zalgo or his minions) and buys groceries to actually make proper food for will and LJ and herself (basically being the mom of the group). She doesn't mind how much money she earns at the moment sense she came from a wealthy family and inherited a good amount of money)

Damien: is literally a millionaire. After he died and got to the underworld, he started his own weapon and drug business which actually became really successful. He can spend all the money he wants.

[slyttherins]

Unexpected flame (part 5) | Fred Weasley x Sirius Black’s daughter

Hermione - along with Crookshanks - arrived at the start of August. She had brought her whole trunk and school stuff, having no plan to return home before the start of the new school year.

As expected, Ginny didn't waste time filling her in on the latest gossip inside the house. Juliet wished she had kept it to herself, as there was really nothing to tell, but according to Ginny, it was big news.

The three girls were sitting in Ginny and Hermione's room, eating freshly baked pumpkin cookies and catching up when Ginny brought it up.

''So...are we gonna ignore the elephant in the room?''

''Yes.''

''No.''

Juliet glared at Hermione. She usually didn't pay interest in gossip, which left Juliet surprised.

''What? I want to be let in on the juicy gossip too. All I know is what Ginny told me, which isn't much.''

''Because there isn't much to tell.''

Ginny rolled her eyes. ''Rubbish.''

''Come on, Juliet. You kissed Fred, there must be something to tell,'' Hermione encouraged.

Perhaps they did a little more than kissing, but she figured Ginny didn't need - or want - to know that. No one wants to hear that their brother fingered their best friend while they were asleep next door.

Juliet shifted uncomfortably and glanced at Ginny. ''Don't you think it's a bit weird that I tell you this? He's your brother.''

''But you're my best friend and I want to know about your love life...even if it involves my brother. There's things I do not want to know, but I trust you to not add too much details I don't want to hear.''

Juliet had no intentions of telling them all the details - she wanted to keep some parts of her night with Fred private -, but told them just enough to satisfy their curiosity.

''How was it? The kiss,'' Hermione asked.

Ginny scoffed. ''I bet they did more than kissing.''

''We did not.''

''You're lying!''

''Am not.''

''Quit it. Fred told George already and George told me-''

''He told George?! I can't believe him-''

A mischievous grin broke on Ginny's face. ''Got you. I knew you were lying!''

Juliet gaped.

Just then, George walked down the hallway and stopped at her door. ''What is she lying about?'' he asked, stopping in the doorway.

''She and Fred had sex.''

.

Once everyone had gone to bed, Fred slipped in Juliet's bedroom. It had become their night routine.

They'd sit on her bed and talk until late, until one of them started to feel sleepy. Sometimes, like tonight, clothes were removed and kisses were exchanged, but that didn't change their status. Juliet and Fred were friends. Or, perhaps a little more.

Hermione didn't approve of their arrangement, not a fan of these ‘friends with benefits’ thing, but Juliet had simply shrugged. They weren't doing anyone harm, they were just two friends having fun behind closed doors.

They rolled on their sides, facing each other as Fred caressed the pale skin of Juliet' shoulder in the half moon's glow. ''Funny how we didn't tell anyone, but somehow they all know.''

''All but our parents,'' Juliet corrected.

''Thank Godric! Mom would murder me.''

Molly wasn't against her children having sex. She knew they'd get to that at some point in their life, but she'd rather they waited till they were old enough to be responsible and safe. As in, responsible enough to not get a girl pregnant or catch an STD. She'd also rather it doesn't happen under her roof.

Although Fred was of age and that Grimmauld Place wasn't her house, Mrs. Weasley was sleeping on the floor above and she'd be livid if she knew what Juliet and him were up to while they were asleep.

''Same for my dad, but he'd murder you.''

''Murdered twice? What a heavenly way to die.''

Juliet laughed.

.

''Where do you think you're going, young ladies?'' Molly asked, catching Juliet and Ginny laughing as they came down the stairs, small purse on their shoulders and shoes on, looking like they were heading outside.

''Shopping,'' Juliet replied, passing her purse over her head to wear as a crossbody. ''We're meeting up with Luna in Diagon Alley.''

Juliet was hoping to get her hands on that quick-dry ink Remus told her about. Being a left handed, ink always smudged on her parchemin and got on her hands and it annoyed her.

''By yourself? While V- the Dark Lord has returned?'' Molly shook her head. ''That's not happening. Please take your shoes off and send a letter to Miss. Lovegood to inform her that you aren't going.''

''Mom! Are you being serious?'' Ginny asked,

''We didn't move here

''Juliet and Luna will be there. I'm not gonna be by myself.''

''What's the matter, Molly? I'm hearing you scream from the end of the hallway,'' said Sirius, coming out from the office.

For once, Molly was relieved to see him, assuming he'd be on her side. ''Your daughter and mine want to go to Diagon Alley,'' she informed Sirius.

Unfortunately for Mrs. Weasley, Sirius didn't react the way she had hoped him to.

''Oh, have a lovely day. Bring me back some ice cream from Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlour, will you Juliet?''

Molly looked at Sirius with a scowling look on her face. ''Is that all you have to say?''

Sirius looked confused. ''Do you need any money?''

Wrong answer.

''You're allowing her to go out? Have you forgotten why the Order has been reconstituted?'' Molly was fuming at, according to her, his his irresponsibility and lack of common sense.

''Of course not,'' Sirius said with a dry, almost angry tone. Voldemort was a soft subject for him. How could Molly think he could forget about that tragic night? ''But, I'm not gonna shelter her inside this bloody house. I'm the only one who is in hiding, not her. Juliet can go out if she pleases.''

''You know she can't use magic outside school, right? What if they get attacked by him or his followers? They know who she is.''

''I trust that Remus taught her how to defend herself. And, I'll go to Cornelius Fudge myself if they punish her for using magic as self defense while underage.''

.

Diagon Alley was bonded with people. Being one of those hot summer days, the queue at the ice cream parlour was really long so the girls decided to go to Obscurus Books instead, by Luna's request.

''It's unfortunate that Ginny couldn't come.'' Luna adjusted her funky looking, pink sunglasses.

''Her mom wasn't keen on letting her go to Diagon Alley knowing that You-Know-Who has returned. I get that she's protective of her children, but it's unlikely that the dark wizard will show up in the middle of the day,'' Juliet explained.

Luna stopped in front of a less busy shop. ''It's here.'' She pointed at the sign over the shop's door. Obscurus Books.

They walked inside and an old man greeted the girls at the front of the shop, informing them on their latest book releases.

Juliet had never been to this place before. It was nothing like Flourish and Blotts. Much smaller and not filled to the brim with books. According to Luna, this place had a much better selection of books about magical creatures.

Luna immediately strolled to her favorite section and began skimming through books. ''Oh! I almost forgot to tell you, I received a letter from Neville this morning.''

''Neville?'' Juliet repeated, cocking an eyebrow.

''Daddy and I were having trouble with one of our plants so I wrote to Neville about it last week. Turned out he simply forgot to water them...'' Luna explained, not surprised by her father's defective memory. ''Neville also told me about the new, very rare plant he got for his birthday. A Mimbulus mimbletonia, I believe? I've seen on in a book, it looks fascinating.''

A Mimbulus mimbletonia? Juliet had no clue what that was. Perhaps she should pay more attention in Herbology this year?

[numbaoneflaya]

Can I get a list of all ur ocs?

Well anon youve done it, you made me make a list of all my major OCS in one place. I hope your happy with yourself. Under the cut for obvious reasons, may link in my blog desc later.

Modern/BTD verse!!

Jilly- Ferret beastkin little creature, was recently turned into a werewolf by vincent as well so she's running around on full moons in a wereferret wolf hybrid creature form. Chaotic and friendly and wants to be everyone's bestie. She has the most energy in the world and is very kind hearted. Banned from most Claires for stealing and from one Home Depot for climbing the shelves. Prone to living life with rose colored glasses on and seeing the best in everything/everything even when there's nothing there. Socialization is a must for her and is why being basemented/kidnapped broke her psych so quickly and developed severe stockholm. Sometimes overly talkative/enthusiastic and can scare people off. Even if she sees someone shes decided shes friends with be noticeably 'evil', will convince herself it must be for some reason/her fault and ignore it.

Ciggy- Undead punk still learning to harness his powers to interact with the world as a ghost. Was sacrificed by a cult he joined for free concert tickets and to get laid. Likes to cause problems on purpose both pre and prior death and he's not above possessing someone once he learns how to. Was called Rooster in high school before he dropped out because he's loud, obnoxious and always screaming. And also has bright red dyed hair. Looking 4 ways to become less ghosty bcs he wants to be able to help raise his infant daughter, whom he died before he could meet. Bit annoying and in your face, likes poking at bruises, his or others. Kind of a sad heart seeking attention through volume and persistence.

Mike: Vampire loser! Sells drugs and lives at raves. Was turned when she was attacked by a coked out vampire (whom she supplied the product to) and has major scarring on her face and chest. Needs a somewhat constant influx of blood so shell sometimes take victims back to her place and chain them up, slowly draining them over time. Feels bad (ish) about it tho so it is possible to survive her if you are nice and or interesting enough. Kind of desperate for a friend and for love. Is a stalker. If she likes you enough/finds you interesting, she might just appear in your house one night and start rummaging through your fridge like nothing is wrong and youve been besties for years. Its best to indulge her and be friendly, otherwise she could turn violent quickly if her feelings are hurt.

Kilaine- Regular human woman, but fucked up. Born and raised by an elite waspy society she had an interest in the human body and pain tolerance since she was young. Quickly learned that these traits were socially unacceptable in most professions, so she became a doctor. The only family she cared about was her younger sister who she lost in a car accident, where they were flipped over and trapped inside while it was afire. While her sister burned up in front of her Kilaine only lost her left arm and had major burns on her body. This tipped her descent into sadism and she is now madly obsessed with bringing her sister back no matter the cost. Rude and offstandish, clinical.

Dragon age verse!

Thurwen- My main Hero of Ferelden with a bad temper and a heart of gold. City elf from the Denerim Alienage, 18 at the start of origins. She's a reaver warrior with a lot of pent up rage which sometimes scares others when she lets it out in battle. Over the years she's grown less moody as she's had to take the role of Commander. Crude sense of humor and violent impulses, very sensitive to the plights of others and tries often to help. Never seen crying in public but only cries to herself at night- major martyr and hanged man complex.

Caz- My circle mage elf inquisitor who was an apostate before the conclave. Blood magic, but make it sneaky. Wary of strangers and new faces, always dealing with the impulse to flee/find a high vantage point. Endless curiosity about the unknown/ the forbidden/ naughty, was supposed to be made tranquil for it but she escaped. Kind of a little creature as well, lived on her own for a while as an apostate in the woods, filed her teeth down to sharp ends to make herself look more intimidating (shes 5 ft tall) and less cute (her elf ears are huge and expressive, which shes embarrassed about)

Dag and Thagna- Carta twins! Professional lyrium smugglers since birth pretty much. Raised casteless in dust town and had to work their way up the chain of command by themselves. Dag is the brother, Thagna the sister. Their father traded them to the carta for drinking money and their mom died in childbirth so they have somewhat of a codependent relationship. Both charismatic and calculating, friendly and agreeable but won't hesitate to put a dagger in your back. Hard to pin down morally or physically, squirrelly bastards.

Reila: Dalish elf who works for the inquisition/ is the inquisitor in some aus. She has an extreme fixation on elvhen history and rebuilding what they have lost. Not a people person, prefers solitude. Takes some time to warm up to shemhlen as she has a hard history with them. Good friends with Caz, who recruited her in the first place. Doesn't understand very many social cues and finds societal expectations limiting and frustrating. Fondness for halla and hooved animals, which she finds graceful.

Elder scrolls verse!

Valkya: Near seven foot nord woman whos over a thousand years old by the events of skyrim. Tall and buff, two handed warrior and compulsive hero there to bask in the spotlight save the day. She was killed at the start of the events of Elder scrolls online and had her soul ripped out and sent to coldharbor and she's just been a pain in the ass about it since then. Her body can physically die and will not regrow pieces. Her soul however will escape and teleport to the nearest source of power where her body will regrow from an aetherial plasm until its whole again. Loud and brash, friendly and jovial. Actually pretty keen especially after centuries of life but prefers to play dumb as it makes people underestimate her. Plus, she really does enjoy mud wrestling and drinking contests and acting generally like a rambunctious frat boy. Ha developed a bit of a substance problem and a problem with acting out, as after being alive so long she would turn to anything to dull the ache inside of her that never goes away.

Espira- My Dragonborn! Redguard from Hammerfell who was briefly in the Ash’abah due to killing undead while protecting her parents water farm as a child. Ran away from them after years and went to Cyrodille, then to Skyrim and was caught crossing the border. Reserved, kind and soft spoken, she's a sword and shield warrior who's committed herself to doing good in the world by helping others. Dislikes killing and anything messy but believes it is often necessary in order to protect the weak. She blacksmiths often to save money on the upkeep of her own equipment, and takes up metal jewelry working as a hobby with the excess material. Prone to trusting others too much and giving too many second chances, as shes always looking for ways to make even the most hardened criminal a second look at life.

Riley- Espiras little brother who she locked in the wardrobe during the event of the water farm attack. In preventing him from doing violence against the undead she kept him from being conscripted into the Ash’abah. He's way more chaotic than his sister, and suffers from a case of little sibling syndrome in which he will often pester/poke at people just to get a rise out of them. Still kind hearted as his sister, he tries to hide it because he believes that the world is a cruel place and the cruel survive. Despite that belief he is often still unable to force himself to be cruel/careless, only making a show of it so that others leave him alone and don't see that he's very sensitive and emotional. Deaf in one ear due to a magic mishap in his youth, he trained and enchanted his most beloved rats to live for years and sit on his shoulder, alerting him to noises he would not otherwise notice.

Felria: Evil vamp :/ chaotic evil dunmer necromancer. Small and devilish and likes dead bodies too much. Manipulative and cunning, she loves acting. She's a trained assassin for the dark brotherhood and is the speaker. Likes dressing up for missions and wearing disguises like its all a play. Loves toying with people more than she loves killing them, will act in ways that cause as much trauma as possible for other people just for fun and she finds the reactions interesting. Considers herself too far removed from most people's perception of morality and of her so it's hard for her to trust someone or see them as worthy of knowing her. Finds the psychology of grief and fear to be interesting and wants to study them first hand. The hero of kvatch.

Herren: Fifty something year old rat woman looking for something to keep her going. Ran away from her wealthy family in her youth when they wanted her to take charge of the household, instead became an infamous jewel thief and swashbuckler. Spent most of her life traveling and stealing and double dealing. She's smarmy and sarcastic, a serial romancer of the highest caliber. Bit of a show off and a hedonist, always looking for the next good party or new product to snort. Her family died off due to the hard times she wasn't there for and she keeps looking for bigger and bigger heists to fill her appetite as she's chronically bored and lonely, though wont accept intimacy and will scoff at it out of the belief she doesn't deserve it. Irresponsible and selfish, lonely and terrified of any sort of commitment. Fun to party with though!

[strawbrrysun287]

Need a Blanket?

Jin just KNEW that the three little brats on the floor above his dorm had everything to do with this.

Jin KNEW that Jungkook, Jimin, and Taehyung the ungrateful brats they were started the fire. No one else was stupid enough to be doing something to cause a fire at TWO IN THE DAMN MORNING.

He was having a perfectly good dream about owning his own cafe, being the talk of the town, and rolling around in a pile of money. Only to be rudely woken up by the screeching of the fire alarm and his resident advisor using the master key to bust his door down then rushing him out into the freezing cold night.

Jin hated his resident advisor because the college-level senior always seemed to have the biggest stick up his ass. Then again having something up the ass nine out of ten times was pleasurable so maybe he had the stick shoved down his throat… Well, if done correctly even that could be delightful… okay maybe the stick was embedded into his shriveled-up brain who the fuck knows.

Back to the issue at hand, his stupid resident advisor refused to let him grab a jacket or anything and it was freezing out in the middle of November. Of course, he was turning into a damn popsicle and getting crankier by the minute.

Every time he tried to ask someone what was going on they would just wave him away like he was some first grader who kept bugging them about when their next snack time would be and if they kept it up he would be turning them into the next snack and feed them to ravenous starved freshmen.

As he looked around at all the students rushed out of the dorm he noticed most had the decency to bring jackets or blankets. Except for one poor soul who was rushed out in a simple pair of briefs but at least he had friends who were wrapping him up in their collective blankets.

Jin knew he should have said fuck it to the advisor and grabbed a jacket anyway. It wasn’t like the fire was on their floor and it seemed like the sprinkles that were activated stopped the fire from spreading anywhere except the room where it was started.

Speaking of the fire that started and ruined a perfectly pleasant night, Jin continued to look around seeing if he could find the culprits just so he could give them a piece of his mind.

Even if he already knew deep down who started the fire that caused all of this.

Finally, his eyes landed on his three annoying dongsaengs with their heads down looking properly chastened by the firefighter who seemed to be more than a tad red in the face.

Okay, now he kinda felt bad for the three shitheads. Jimin looked close to crying while Taehyung and Jungkook looked like they were two seconds from dropping to their knees and begging for forgiveness.

Maybe he wouldn’t be so hard on them later but as the chill seeped into his bones he debated on whether or not he should go over and take over for the poor fire captain just so he could lecture the idiots himself.

After he lectured them of course he would make them a good breakfast to remind them he still loved the idiots.

Idiots that they have always been.

Still loved nonetheless.

His entire body started to sag between the tiredness that was finally catching up to him and the cold that had his body going numb.

Before he could think of a plan to steal one of the blankets someone from his dorm had he suddenly had a wall of warmth envelope him causing him to stiffen before relaxing without even thinking about how weird it was.

Once that thought finally occurred, his eyes snapped open in surprise, and looked around frantically for the cause of the warmth.

Immediately he noticed a thick plush royal blue blanket draped around his shoulders and someone a little taller than him standing directly in front of him with a questioning look on his face.

Oh fuck, the mystery man was talking. What did he say? He really should pay more attention to these things. Uh… maybe he can pretend he was confused. Well, he was confused so he doesn’t have to pretend.

“I’m... I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.” Was he really that cold? Was that his teeth chattering together?

“No no no. You’re fine! You’re fine! I was looking for my hyung and seen you shaking. Your lips are kinda a... They are kinda turning a weird blue shade? Noticed you didn’t have a blanket or jacket and figured I could share mine. I sleep curled up with my sweater on and cocooned into my blanket so when they woke me up it just all kinda came with me instead of taking time to untangle.”

“Thank you. For the blanket. My resident advisor just kind of pulled me out of bed then shoved me out the door. He’s kinda a dick and I’ve been spending the last hour and a half thinking about how I was going to kill him and use him as an ingredient in my next meal then serve it to all the freshmen.”

“That’s... That’s a little violent, isn’t it? I mean, on second thought, it is freezing out here so yeah. Just make sure I don’t eat any of it okay? The thought of eating human flesh doesn’t exactly get me warm and fuzzy…” Mystery man let out a soft chuckle and wow that sound made Seokjin feel warm and fuzzy. What the hell?

“I promise I won’t feed you any of it. I honestly wouldn’t even feed it to the poor freshmen. I would just throw his body into the lake. No use ruining my perfect cooking dishes over him.”

With a grin, Seokjin held out his finally warm hand.

“Kim Seokjin, nice to meet you uh…?”

“Kim Namjoon!”

Okay so maybe Jin was a little weak for the other’s large hand wrapped around his. And maybe they held hands for a little longer than necessary but it was warmth and Jin was not about to say no.

Plus he kinda liked it.

“You know, I feel kinda bad keeping all of this warmth to myself. I bet I would warm up even faster and you could stay warm too if you join me under the blanket?”

Seokjin’s lips pursed like he was trying to be completely serious but a flirty smile broke out over his lips instead as he opened up his arms to let Namjoon get closer to him.

Jin was gonna take his chance. He was cold, tired, okay maybe a little delirious but Namjoon was hot and what did Jin really have to lose?

Seeing Namjoon’s lips quirk up into a smirk, Jin knew he made the right decision and shook his arms a little telling the other to hurry up.

Quickly Namjoon shuffled forward and Jin’s arms wrapped tight around the other’s waist before burying his face against Joon’s chest. His nose was cold okay?

“You know… we’ve shared a blanket and this counts as snuggling. I feel like I should ask you out on a date. Get to know each other more? Maybe share more than a blanket?” And fuck. Seokjin thought he was bold but this guy was BOLD.

“I think I would like that Namjoon… I think I would REALLY like that. How about after we get some sleep we can go out for coffee together? I’m gonna need some type of caffeine in order to survive throughout the day.”

“You know you could always come back to my ro-”

“SEOKJIN HYUNG!!!”

“Seokjin Hyung!”

“Seokjin Hyungie!!!!”

“Ungrateful disrespectful brats who will not live to see morning…”

“Technically Seokjin it is morning?”

“Shut it Namjoon or I am stealing your blanket and will leave you here freezing.”

“Yes, Seokjin~”

Taking a deep breath Seokjin waddled a little in a circle so that he and Namjoon were still pressed up tight against each other but in a way that he could stare at his three dongsaengs approaching them.

“Hyung that fire captain kept yelling at us! He yelled at us for an entire hour about fire safety and blah blah blah. It’s not like the fire KILLED anyone. Honestly, the dramatics were not needed.”

Seokjin loved Taehyung but right now he wanted to wrap his now warm hands around the younger’s neck and choke him out.

“Well in his defense, we did kinda start a dorm fire and now our entire room is charred after being up in flames and the school has to deal with insurance and getting out stuff back. Which they graciously said they would but in the meantime, we have to find a place to stay.”

And okay, maybe Jimin was Seokjin’s favorite because of the way his cheeks puffed out when he was pouty and how he was responsible yet irresponsible at the time. But always managed to keep his two best friends under his thumb so things never got too out of hand.

Well, no one has ended up in jail yet, so Seokjin hasn’t had to give them bail money which is a plus in his book. Nor has anyone ever had to go to the hospital. So on that note, it’s a definite win-win.

“You know Seokjin hyung… we could always stay with you… Jimin and Tae can crash on the couch in your dorm and I can take the floor? Please? It will be like we aren’t even there!!”

Seokjin called bullshit immediately but at the same time, he knew he couldn’t leave the three on their own. All of them were like his younger brothers, even if one, unfortunately, was his younger brother that he loved dearly but would never admit to.

“I… yeah. Yes. You guys can go ahead and stay in my dorm. You three are lucky I have a single or else it wouldn’t have been so easy. PLEASE do not touch anything that could even possibly start a fire though do you hear me? If I catch any of you three in the kitchen area I will have your heads on a platter by the end of the hour.”

“Yes, Hyung!”

“Yes, Hyungie!”

“Yes Seokjin”

“MANNERS JUNGKOOK”

“Yes SEOKJIN HYUNG”

“Better… Now you three go I need to finish warming up.”

Seokjin was hoping and praying to the fates that the three would just completely ignore Namjoon’s presence and leave the two be to continue to flirt but no. It was never going to be that easy.

Before he knew it he had all three of the little gremlins surrounding him all staring at Namjoon with curious and amused eyes.

“So… Who are you?”

“Why are you holding hyung like that?”

“Aren’t you Yoongi hyung’s friend?”

There goes the tiny hope of peace Seokjin was so desperately craving.

“You don’t have to answer their questions, Namjoon-ah. They are little brats who are going to be sleeping in the grass for the rest of the night.”

“It’s okay Seokjin, really. I don’t mind answering their questions. Ah, I’m Kim Namjoon, your hyung was cold and turning into a popsicle so I intervened. And I am Yoongi hyung’s friend but I can’t seem to find him? I know he is fine because we got ushered out together but then he disappeared somewhere. Probably to keep sleeping.”

Okay, so he was attractive, warm, amazing voice. How much more could he take of this?

“Namjoon, this is Jimin AKA my favorite dongsaeng. The one beside him is his soulmate Taehyung. Then the third rascal is actually my younger brother, Jungkook. He is the one you have to watch out for when it comes to puppy dog eyes. He is the reason I got dared to get a tattoo on my ass then when I tried to back out of it he conned me into it.”

“You have a tattoo on your…?”

“Yeah that’s more second date material don’t you think?”

Seokjin stared at Namjoon with an impish grin and watched as the other nodded his head in agreement.

“Second date. Right. How do you feel about making this our first date, yeah?”

With a playful smack to Namjoon’s stomach, Seokjin just shook his head with a smile.

“How about we go back to your room while these idiots go back to mine and we can get to know each other a little more personally?”

“You know what, that’s the best offer I’ve heard in my life. Let’s get out of here yeah?”

As Namjoon and Seokjin headed back into the door rooms that were now accessible the three stood staring at them with a mixture of shock and amusement spread across their faces.

“GET YO MAN JINNIE HYUNG!”

“GET IT HYUNG BUT PROTECTION!!”

“WE NEED THE KEYS TO YOUR DORM JIN!!”

(I couldn't get this idea out of my head so with tired eyes and tired minds, here ya go <3 Happy reading <3)

[eleanorbloom]

When You’re Ready Ch. 22

Pairing: Bryce Lahela x f! MC (Eleanor Bloom) x Ethan Ramsey.

Word Count: 7.1k (Sorry, my babies had a lot to say in this chapter 😅)

Warnings: Angst, anxiety, cussing, guilt,  dissociation, and mentions of child neglect (medical).   Rated M

Taglist @utterlyinevitable @binny1985 @shanzay44 @choicesficwriterscreations  @starrystarrytrouble @lahellacute @lucy-268  @cinnamonspongecake @romewritingshop @freckles-spangledvampire​@mercury84choices​  @curiousconch​ @thegreentwin​

________

Chapter 22: Like To Be You.

I don't know what it's like to be you

I don't know what it's like but I'm dying to

If I could put myself in your shoes

Then I know what it's like to be you

 Keiki was already awake when Bryce got out of his room. Eleanor's heart tore at the sight of him, as his eyes were reddened and his hair a bit disheveled, but she remained silent, observing how he sauntered towards the couch and took a seat beside Keiki.  The girl had her eyes fixated on the TV but was barely paying attention to the documentary in front of her. "Hey, Keiks," he greeted, waiting for her to face him.

After a few seconds of hesitation, she looked up at him, “Hey.”

“How are you?”

“Better,” she replied simply.

She was indeed better, she looked calmer, but everyone in the room knew her mind was very far from calm and good, especially considering that problem wouldn't be over in who knows how many more days.

He cleared his throat, shifting on the couch, uncomfortable, knowing that what he was about to ask would be very difficult for both of them, but it was for the better,  "I know you mustn't want to relive those things, but… I would really appreciate it if you could tell me what happened, from the start. Elle already told me, but I really, really need to listen to this from you, if you're okay with it."

After a few seconds of silence, Keiki nodded, “Yeah, I think you deserve to know this from me,” she agreed and turned off the TV, leaving the room in complete silence.

Keiki took a deep breath and after wrapping her arms around her legs, she started to talk, not keeping anything, but doing a huge effort to not break like the last time.

She started by telling him she had been thinking about running away from home for months, because she felt lost and alone, and the situation at school was more and more unbearable, and she thought he would support her and understand her because he lived the same. But the breaking point had been what happened at the end of June, when she got sick and almost died of peritonitis, all because of their parents’ neglect. What’s worse is that they didn’t even care about her after that. They went to visit her and then to pick her up when she was discharged, but her mother never stayed more than five minutes to make her company, and while she was resting at home, it was just the same routine. She just dropped by her room to say hi and check if she was alive, but no more than that.

At that moment, Keiki realized that they only cared about reputation, about appearance, to portray the perfect family, and that they would never care about her, no matter what. That’s why she ran away, because even if she barely spoke with Bryce, he had shown more interest than her parents ever did.

That broke him of course, more than he already was. A simple call. A simple birthday call was more than her parents had given her.

Nevertheless, that was just another reason to fight for her. To give her the best and do something he should’ve done ages ago. To stand up to his parents and let them face the consequences of their actions, of their selfishness, and not let them get away with anything again.

After Keiki told him how things had happened, the only thing Bryce was able to do was apologizing, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not being there for you Keiki. If I had been there, you wouldn't have lived this, your life wouldn't have been at risk the way it was."

Even if Eleanor, or Keiki, or just a million people tried to convince him otherwise, no one could change his mind. Part of the reason that that had happened to Keiki was his fault, and surprisingly, saying that out loud made him feel less guilty. Like facing his responsibility with her was taking a lot of weight off his shoulders somehow. A decade of weight.

Keiki got up from the couch and started wandering around the living room, thinking, looking for the right words. As if it was really difficult for her to deny that downright. That although she didn't want to hold any grudges on him, it was simply the truth or part of the truth. If he had cared more for her, probably that wouldn't have happened.

Finally, she sat in her bed in the corner of the room, across from the couch, and confessed “I can’t deny that I thought about it many times… but they are my parents, they were supposed to look after me, and they didn’t. This was not your responsibility, much less if you weren’t living there.”

“I should’ve known better that they would be just like how they were with me, but I always felt they… they were different with you.”

“Maybe they were at some point, my mom above all” She shrugged, frowning her lips, “but after dad went out of jail, things changed. Mom kept pressuring me to be better and have a low profile, but that was it, she was more invested in dad and the meetings with that scumbag Jennings than in me.”

Bryce’s eyebrows furrowed in disconcert, “Wait, did you say… Jennings? As in Stuart Jennings?”

“Yes. Do you know him?”

Bryce shook his head, a glint of disappointment flashing his features.

“What?” Keiki insisted.

“When they were judging dad, the attorney accused Jennings of being his accomplice, but they could never prove anything, they said they weren’t friends, that they had no contact, so they dismissed the accusation. But I knew he was involved, I saw dad multiple times with him, at home and sneaking out in the Club. Now you’re telling me this dude has been frequenting the house?”

“Yes, mostly at night.”

“Did he go while dad was in jail?”

Keiki’s frowned, considering, “Maybe a couple of times, usually after mom went to see dad.”

Bryce shoved his hair in frustration, "I can't believe being in jail taught him anything, and keeps doing this bullshit!"

“But, if they were accomplices, why dad didn’t denounce him?” Keiki asked, after a few seconds, confused, “he wouldn't want to be the only one falling, would he?”

"Maybe, this is just a supposition, it was better if his source was free. Probably he knew he would be released soon, so after a few years he would still have him in the field to keep doing this crap."

“That makes sense, but… You really think they are into it?”

“Yes, that’s the only reason he would be in touch with him and so secretly,” Keiki nodded, “This is good information, Keiks. Maybe we can get something out of this.”

“You think so?”

“Yes,” he reassured, giving her a weak smile, “I don’t like to threaten people, but at this point, they’re giving me no option.”

After a long call to his lawyer, Bryce was convinced that his hunch about Jennings could be really helpful if he wanted to get that Agreement, so he called Rebecca to set a meeting that afternoon.

It was minutes before 7 PM when Bryce, Keiki, and Eleanor stood in front of a hotel suite in Boston Harbor, waiting for Rebecca to open the door.

At first, Eleanor wasn't sure she should be there, but both Keiki and Bryce asked her to go with them for moral support and because she'd witnessed both exchanges with Rebecca, and they didn't want to risk any chance to get involved in misunderstandings with the older woman's manipulations.

After a few seconds, Rebecca opened the door.

Bryce froze in place. More than ten years had passed since the last time he saw her. Ten years of holding grudges, anger, guilt, all because of her and his father. There was no easy way to face this.

Once he was able to regain composure, he looked up and down at his mother, from head to toes, taking in the visible passing of time. She was the same stunning woman he remembered, she even was using the same elegant perfume she used back then, and probably was slimmer than before, but she had aged. No matter the serums and surgeries, no matter the money, the passing of time was there, hidden behind that conceal and foundation.  Behind that expensive and loyal red lipstick. Behind the fake image of a perfect wife and perfect mother.

Rebecca did the same. She looked at him silently, giving an admired look at the features on his face, and the particular hairstyle that probably was completely the opposite of what he used to wear in high school, long and rebellious. "Hello, Bryce. You're just as handsome as when I met your father thirty years ago, son," she said, stroking his cheek with a melancholic glint in her eyes.

A cold glare settled in Bryce’s face, clearly annoyed with the comparison, “Hello mother, it’s been a while.”

“Not by my decision, of course,” she remarked, dryly. “Oh, I didn’t expect to see you here, Eleanor, are you coming as attestor again?” she added, as she noticed her presence behind Keiki.

“Good evening, Ms. Lahela” Eleanor replied, ignoring the provocation, while the three entered the elegant light blue living room and sat on a cream couch at the center of the room.  

Rebecca took a seat on a black leather sofa beside Bryce and gave him a smug smirk, "So? Are you going to leave that nonsense of yours in the past and send Keiki with me?"

Bryce didn’t hesitate a second before staring at her, serious and determined, “I’m gonna be clever and demand you to agree to what I’m asking you.”

“Why would I do that?”

"Because you're hurting your daughter. You're irresponsible and the only thing you care about is money, and status and keep helping dad with his bullshit."

Rebecca gave him a tense smile, and then arched a brow “What are you talking about, Bryce? Why would your dad keep doing what led him to jail? That’s absurd.”

“You tell me.”

“I’m not here to play games, Bryce, so let’s finish this straight away: I’m gonna take Keiki with me, like it or not.”

“To what? To keep pretending you’re the perfect mother? Can I ask why now? Why now that I called you, two months after she ran away, you suddenly care about her? I truly can’t understand it.”

“We were just waiting for her to get bored, so she doesn’t become more rebellious.”

Bryce and Keiki snorted at the same time, but this time Keiki spoke, “Oh, always taking the easy path instead of educating, yeah, very understandable.”

"Keiki, Bryce is working all day, you'd be alone all day, and above all that" Rebecca directed her eyes to Eleanor, "he has a girlfriend, and as doctors, I'm sure both of you want to make the best of the short time you have, there's no room for Keiki here."

Rebecca had done her homework during the afternoon.

Eleanor looked attentively as Bryce took a deep, deep breath before speaking. She was getting under his skin quicker than she thought.

“Don’t talk about my life as if you knew, you have no idea, mother. And you have no idea about giving quality time to your loved ones, you never did it with me and clearly you’re not doing it with Keiki.”

Rebecca opened her eyes, shocked, “What are you talking about, I always tried to give you the best.”

“The best schools, the best clothes, all the damn material things, but you never took the time to educate us, to raise is, to love us.”

“Oh, Lord, here we go again with your drama. You really haven’t changed a thing, have you?”

“Oh? So you’ve been a good mother who has always been there for your kids, right? So, tell me, How many times did you go to Keiki’s room to see how she was feeling with her stomach pain? Or if you stayed the night with her in the hospital when she had surgery?”

Rebecca snorted, not a bit affected by his implications, “You’re unbelievable, the most hypocrite person I’ve ever met,” she snapped. “You haven’t set a foot in Maui for ten years, you only reach out for holidays and birthdays, and you’re talking to me about being present, about caring about Keiki? You were the one who didn’t give a damn about her, and now because she’s been two months with you, suddenly you’re morally superior to me?”

Her words took Bryce and Keiki aback, making them freeze in place for a moment. “Are you really sure this is what you want? Put your career on hold, stop taking more surgeries, more shifts to succeed, because there’s a kid you have to care about, to give less time to your girlfriend?  Or are you just going to split the time and gave that responsibility to her too? Because that’s why she’s here too, right? Because you’re incapable of taking the responsibility on your own.”

Bryce stuttered. It really hurt him. Even if she was just pushing his buttons, it was hard to hear the ugly truth, even if there were parts that weren't accurate. He thought he was ready to face her, but after ten years she still had the ability to break him, to make his mind a mess, to distort everything for her own benefit.

"Two months is nothing, nothing if she's not going to school," she continued, taking advantage of his silence, "you'll have to make time to help her study, go to her performances, meetings with the principal if she's a troublema—"

“Shut up,” Bryce barked suddenly, his teeth gritting. His patience was dropping with every word he had to hear from her mouth.

Rebecca looked at him surprised, “Excuse me?”

“Shut up, mother,” he insisted, “You’re talking about raising Keiki like it was a burden, like she was a burden.  It may be a burden to you, but it’s not a burden to me. She will never be.”

“I’m not-”

"And don't talk to me like you know what it takes," he continued, ignoring her words, "as if you've done all those things with me when I was at school. You only cared about the public side of all, concerts, expositions, games… You were there just because there were photos, but you never sat beside me to ask for my homework, or grades, or to ask what I liked, how good I was at surfing. You only cared when you wanted me to become a lawyer, but nothing more than that. So don't talk to me like you know how to be a caring mother because you don't know!"

“That’s what you want to believe,” She said, giving her the most cynical smile he had seen in his life, “that’s what you want to remember, what better suits you.”

“If that attitude is what lets you sleep at night, go for it, mother, but you won’t make me feel guilty again.”

“And you’re not going to convince me about this stupid idea.”

“You really don’t care about what your daughter needs, uh? What only matters to you is winning, no matter the cost, no matter how hurt your daughter gets.”

“I know what she needs, she needs someone who takes care of her.”

Bryce couldn’t hold it anymore. There was just too much hypocrisy, too much manipulation, too much malice and he was reaching his limit. “And when the hell did you take care of her if she almost died because you ignored a stomach pain for a fucking week?!” he shouted, standing up from the couch, all remnants of patience gone by now.  “A fucking week, not two days when you can think is stomach flu, a fucking week, so don’t talk about giving a damn about your daughter!”

“That was a mistake and I said I was sorry.”

“Stop lying! Stop pretending! You’re not sorry, you never really cared about what happened, the only thing that mattered to you was the stupid meetings with Jennings!”

Rebecca paled at the mention of him.

Got you.

“Wh-What are you talking about?”

“Deny it, deny that Stuart Jennings has been in your house doing bullshit with my father.”

The silence was deafening for a couple of seconds. Rebecca's mind was working miles per minute trying to explain that situation, trying to get out of the dead-end Bryce had put her in. But that's what it was, a dead end. Bryce had her cornered. There was no escape from this.

“That’s what I thought,” Bryce said, smugly.

“It does not mean anything...”

"Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure the attorney back in Hawaii will find it totally normal that Stuart Jennings is spending evenings in the Lahela house after dad went out of jail when it was supposed that they don't meet each other, right?"

“Where did you get that? Keiki told you that?”

“What if she did?”

“She’s lying.”

“I’m not lying!” Keiki yelled, scowling at her.

“If she’s lying, why would Keiki be able to describe him if he’d never set a foot there? If when they were investigating dad she was five years old? Very curious, uh?”

“Where are you going with this?”

"Where I'm going with this, mother, is that if you don't sign the legal guardianship agreement I'm proposing, not only I'll sue you for child neglect, I'll inform the attorney that Stuart is dad's accomplice and that he keeps doing his bullshit, so he'll have to go to jail again."

Rebecca’s reaction was a divine gift. Bryce never thought he would be lucky enough to leave her mother like she was at that moment. Panicking, cornered, defeated.

"You wouldn't. He's... He's your father, Bryce."

And stuttering.

Bryce chuckled, amused with her desperate appeal to mercy based on blood ties, “You and he gave me and Keiki life, but you’re nothing more than that. And if I use the words, it’s just me trying to be polite, but I don’t actually feel it. Mom, dad? They’re just empty words.”

“Bryce, how can you say that? How can you be so cruel to send your own father to jail?”

"How can you be so cruel to ignore your daughter's well-being your whole life, ignore her to the point of almost letting her die because of your neglect, to the point of not giving a fuck about her when she ran away? That's what I can't fucking understand, woman! So don't come at me begging to behave like a son, when he has been anything but a father to me and Keiki, the same as you."

Bryce was out of line, letting all his anger go, but as the words went out of him, he was feeling lighter and lighter, and more and more hopeful. Eleanor and Keiki had never seen him like that, but both knew he was doing what he should’ve done years ago, that he was doing this for his and Keiki’s sake. That the hell he was giving Rebecca was minimum compared to what she and his father deserved.

Rebecca, instead, was shocked and kind of frightened of his reaction. She never expected he would react that way and that he would handle the situation so smoothly. She never considered that maybe, she would return home with empty hands.

"I mean it, mother. If you don't sign the agreement, I'll tell the attorney, and I'm willing to tell everything and do anything to destroy you at court and take Keiki with me. Dad is going to go to jail again and your stupid reputation is going to hell. Probably you're going to jail too."

“Bryce…Don’t threaten us, you have no chance…” It was her last trying before admitting defeat, but she had already lost.

“Don’t I? With what you did to Keiki? With the fact that you didn’t come after her? She’s fifteen, the court will take her opinion into consideration. Come on, this is just your pride, you cannot accept that Keiki prefers me, who was out of her life for ten years, over you.”

Rebecca stared at him and Keiki for a long time. Keiki was sitting on the couch, facing her, determination in her eyes. Nothing she had said had changed her mind.

“I’m going to talk to you father,” she said, and went to the next room.

In the meantime, Bryce sat back in his seat and looked at Eleanor with subtle hope. He didn't want to admit it out loud, but he was sure their parents would agree. Keiki, on the other hand, didn't want to have her hopes high, so she just waited in silence, with her shoulders slumped and her hands fidgeting, the anxiety slowly consuming her.

After about thirty minutes later, Rebecca came back to the room with an unreadable expression on her face and stared silently at Bryce and Keiki for a moment before speaking. “Alright. Your father and I have agreed to let you stay here, Keiki.”

The girl released a long and deep breath, a breath that probably had been holding since she had entered the suite.

"And I spoke with our lawyer and he'll start with the legal guardianship process Bryce, including child support. No judge would approve something like that without providing for education, food, and housing, much less considering our situation. I'll let you know when all is settled so you can travel to Maui to sign the papers."

“My intention wasn’t getting any money from yo-” Bryce started, but soon was interrupted.

“That’s okay, Bryce,” Keiki said, making Bryce look at her, surprised, “it isn’t fair that you have to cover everything when our parents are loaded, it’s the least they can do for not being able to raise their child properly.”

“Watch out your tongue, Keiki. I’m still your mother.”

“How about no?” Keiki defied, getting up from the couch. “Anyway, I’m done with this, can we go?”

Bryce stared at Rebecca, wondering if she wanted to add something else. She simply shook her head, so both Keiki and Eleanor abandoned the room after giving Rebecca a nod as a goodbye.

“You better keep your word and this isn’t a scheme of yours,” Bryce warned, standing up at the same time as her, “And I mean it mother, one wrong move and I swear I’ll go to the police. Am I clear?”

Rebecca nodded, "Yes. In three weeks maximum, we should be able to ask for the judge's approval."

"Well, until then, mother," he said before going out of the suite and joining Eleanor and Keiki in the hallway.

When he reached Keiki, he gave him the most luminous smile he had given her, charged with pride and victory, “We made it, Keiks.”

Even if he feared the worst when he received that call and Eleanor told him what had happened, even when he thought what Rebecca had said would convince Keiki to go with her; against all odds, he made it, both made it. Keiki would stay with him.

He knew things wouldn’t be easy, that both would have to struggle a lot to make it work, but Bryce was determined to make up for his mistakes and give her everything their parents failed to give  Keiki.

“We really did it,” she said, lifting her hand to high-five him, “Thank you, bro.”

“Wanna eat something special to celebrate?” He asked, embracing her tightly.

"Mmm, maybe sushi."

“Let’s get that sushi, then, come on.”

As Keiki started walking towards the elevator, Bryce looked down at Eleanor, eyes sparkling with the smile she was giving him, “How are you feeling?”

“Great. Amazing. I can’t believe what just happened. And that I finally… Could tell her all that I had inside.”

“I’m so, so proud of you, my love,” She whispered, caressing his cheek with her knuckles, “and I admire you so much.”

“Well, this wouldn’t have been that easy if it wasn’t for your support.”

“I appreciate the acknowledgment, but this is all you.”

“I disagree, but I’m done with discussions for the day.”

Eleanor giggled, “Fair enough.”

As the elevator reached their floor, the three of them got in, ready to celebrate the first family victory of the Lahela siblings.

 *

The following days were unexpectedly weird and disconcerting. Keiki started avoiding Eleanor without motive.

She wasn't interested in talking or watching movies together, and when they had lunch, there was this uncomfortable and painful silence between them, a silence that had never been between them, not even the first day.

Eleanor didn’t know why. She tried to think about anything she could’ve said, if she overstepped with something, but there was nothing. She thought maybe it was just the natural aftermaths of such a traumatic experience as what had happened with Rebecca a few days ago. A recharging after a very emotional day.

Bryce had noticed too, but as he hated conflict more than anyone in the world, he just preferred to ask Eleanor instead of Keiki, and as she didn’t know, days kept passing by without knowing what was happening with her.

But then, after three excruciating days in which she convinced herself that things wouldn’t get better, Eleanor finally found the strength to ask Keiki, just as she finished putting the dishes in the cabinet after lunch. “Keiki, is there something wrong?”

“Why you ask?” She replied without looking up at her, eyes fixated on her cellphone.

“You’ve been very quiet these few days, you don’t want to talk or do anything together, and I’m wondering if something’s bothering you? Or maybe I did something wrong?”

Keiki looked up at her, serious, but didn’t say anything. Then she shook her head and murmured, “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Why not?”

“Let’s leave it there.”

“Keiki, I want to help you, but I can’t do it if you don't tell me what’s wrong.”

Keiki scoffed, really annoyed with her insistence, “That’s exactly the problem, Eleanor. Why of all people is you who’s offering help.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t understand why, having already a family, a father, a mother, a brother, is you, someone who was a total stranger to me two months ago, the one who cares about me the most.”

“Keiki, what are you saying? Bryce cares about you more than anyone.”

“Oh, but I haven’t seen him asking what’s wrong with me, even if he knows perfectly well there’s something wrong.”

“You have to understand this is difficult for him...”

"Oh, as if this has been really easy for me! All I have been is being understanding, comprehensive, patient. Ten years waiting for him to visit me, ten years waiting for more than a fucking birthday call! And now I've been waiting two fucking months for him to show me some interest, but there's always something first, if it's not work, it's you, or your accident. Anything, but me!"

Eleanor couldn't say anything. Part of what she was saying was true, and part of the reason that this has turned this bad, was her fault, so she couldn't contradict her. Besides, she had the feeling that all this anger was motivated by what her mother had told her the other day. Rebecca's poison was working on her.

“I’m sorry Eleanor,” she added, after a few seconds, her voice shaking, “I know this is not your fault… that I shouldn't take it on you but it’s just... sometimes I can’t help but feel anger towards you because…” she sighed, ashamed, “because I see you and you have everything I’ve always wanted.”

Eleanor’s heart skipped a beat with guilt.

“You have a family that loves you, a brother that missed school just to be with you, parents that flew thousands of miles to see you. You have a mother who does your hair and never abandoned you while you were at the hospital, and… and  I want to hate you but I can’t! Because you’ve been nothing but nice to me, and sometimes I feel like you’re the person that cares about me the most.”

“Keiki… I’m so sorry, I didn’t know…”

Keiki shook her head, stopping her mid-sentence, "This is not your fault, but I needed to let you know why I've been so… cold with you. I just can't stop thinking about it sometimes. Like, I feel envy, and I know it's wrong, but I just prefer to deal with it on my own."

Eleanor nodded, “I understand. It’s okay, Keiki, thank you for telling me.”

“I still like your parents, it’s just that this is too much for me sometimes.”

“Keiki…” She muttered a few minutes later, after pondering carefully her words. She told herself she wouldn't intervene, but she felt like she needed to do something anyway, to give Bryce a little push even if she was realizing it was time for him to fight his own battles. “I… I know that this is something that you have to talk about with Bryce but… But you have to know that Bryce cares about you, that you are his priority. Bryce has changed a lot of things in his life in order to spend time with you, to give you the time you deserve. You knew since the first moment that it would be complicated. The life of a doctor is hard, and even like that, he’s been giving you all his time. Please, don’t believe for a second what your mother told you. She has no idea.”

Keiki shook her head, a tear streaming down her face, “But she’s right, Elle. Sometimes I can’t help but feel like you care more about me than he does, because you always take the time to listen to me, and all Bryce does is trying to avoid conflict, just like my parents. Why can't Bryce be like you?”

Eleanor bit her lip. Keiki was overreacting, she was sure Bryce had taken the time to listen to her, but at that moment, the only thing that the teenager could think, is that her brother wasn’t giving her the attention she needed, the fifteen years of attention she needed, and Eleanor couldn’t argue with that.

“Keiks, not everyone has this… easiness with people’s emotions, as you’re suggesting I have. Bryce is not one of those people, he struggles a lot with his own, so it’s not that he doesn’t care about you, it’s just that this is really difficult for him to talk about it. Some topics still trigger a lot of things in him and he’s not ready to face them with you in front.”

“Really?”

“Yes. But I also understand where you’re going with this, that maybe he’s not trying hard enough in opening up to you, and I have to say that’s partly my fault.

“Your fault? Why?”

“Because I’ve meddled in your relationship with him trying to help you two, but that has only let him evade the responsibility he has with you. Don’t get me wrong, I like that you can count on me, but now you’ve made me see that Bryce should be able to talk to you about everything, especially now that you’re going to live officially with him.”

At that moment, Eleanor realized that situation would keep occurring as long as she was in the middle, always ready to save Bryce from a disastrous talk, or always providing advice about how to deal with him, almost depriving him of making mistakes, and that couldn't happen anymore.

She had to get out of the way.

"The good thing is there's one quick way to fix this. Well, not exactly fix it, but to push him to do better," She said after a few minutes considering her decision.

“Which is?”

“I’m going back home.”

"What, Eleanor, no! There's no need!" Her answer didn't have that usual determination that characterized her voice, it was weak and almost hesitant.

Eleanor shook her head, chuckling, “That’s okay, no need to pretend with me. I’m sure you’ll be alright by yourself, right? Considering that you’ll start school in a couple of weeks.”

“Yeah, I think so, but what about you?”

"I'll be alright," She said, nonchalant, "I'm doing this for me too. I've stayed more than I planned here, besides, it's about damn time I start taking care of my own life, don't you think?"

After a couple of hours collecting her things and messaging her friends and Bryce that she would go back home, she said goodbye to Keiki, more determined than ever that this was the best decision. Not only for Keiki but for her too.

“Eleanor I… You don’t have to…”

“Keiki, you have every right to be upset, or mad, or just uncomfortable with me being here, so please don’t feel bad. We’re okay. And I really hope that this is the push your brother needs to react. I understand what you’re struggling with, okay?”

“Thank you, Ella.”

“Of course. I care about you Keiki. A lot. But not as much as you brother,” She winked at her, and Keiki couldn’t help but smile.

“Please let me know when you’re at home.”

“Sure.”

*

When Eleanor got home, the adrenaline of what had happened that day slowly started to drop,  until all that was left was her reality. Her naked and rough reality, without other people's problems, without a teenager who was pushing her to be better, without a boyfriend who could comfort her when everything was wrong.

No.

Now she was all by herself.

Just herself and her demons, the million demons that she'd been avoiding for days, weeks, months, even years, and that she'd swept under the carpet.

And it was huge.

The guilt after what happened at the hospital hadn’t receded, she’d just pushed it to the back, but was still there.

Bobby was dead. The family was still mourning his loss.

Raf and Danny were still at the hospital, and despite the fact that they were getting better, it would take them months to be back in their normal states.

And she? She was fine. She was alive, in good health, she was able to walk to anywhere she wanted, she could do whatever she wanted with her life, but instead of doing something good, she was just screwing the lives she had around.

She had been trying so hard to focus on Keiki but in the end, she only ended up ruining her. Her presence at Bryce's apartment had cracked her relationship with Keiki, and also Keiki's with Bryce.

Was there anything good she could do at this point or she'll just spend her entire life failing by default?

The following hours happened in an almost familiar blur trying to ignore the fact that she was alone and that the reason she was back at her room was because she was a complete failure that couldn't even help a fifteen-year-old girl.

She wasn’t really paying attention when her friends arrived and greeted her. She didn’t even know how she managed to talk about the past days and ask them how they were doing, how Kyra, Rafael, and Danny were, but she did. Somehow, the words came out of her mouth, somehow she understood the information her ears received.

And then, suddenly, Bryce was in front of her, talking, both sitting on her bed.

When he had arrived? Did she kiss him? What was he saying?

“Elle, babe?”

“Uh?”

“Are you okay?”

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

“I just wanna know why you didn’t tell me you were planning to come back.”

"Oh, that. Actually, it's not that I had it planned, I made the decision today after I spoke with Keiki."

“What Keiki has to do with this?”

“She…” No, she had to stop doing that. “I… I think it’s better if you ask her yourself.”

“But you know what was happening with her?”

“Yes, and after she told me, I thought the best I could do was get out of there and just try to do something with my life.”

“You had a fight with my sister, my teenage sister, and you just left?”

His voice was teasing but also kind of... recriminatory. What the fuck? Anger started to itch in her guts.

“Oh my god, you cannot be serious.”

“What?”

“I did what you should’ve done to help you, and you’re judging me?”

“No, I’m not saying that!”

"Well, it looks like. I did what you've been avoiding all this time and now I decided that I'm done with this situation, that's all."

“What are you talking about?”  

Eleanor rolled her eyes, slowly losing it, “Bryce, you’ve spent the last three days asking me what was happening with Keiki because you're incapable of facing conflict, and I'm simply done with that, I can't do it anymore. I realized that me meddling between you two was doing more harm than good."

“Do me harm? How can you say that? You’ve helped us a lot!”

“Well, ask your sister and she’ll tell you the contrary. She wasn’t comfortable with my presence there because you’re not giving her the attention she deserves,  and I honestly believe she’s right.”

“Elle, come on, she’s just overreacting, I don’t give her attention, ha! I give her all my attention.”

“You know that’s not true. And it’s not the only problem. You’re always relying on me when things are wrong with Keiki and that’s not fair.”

“Oh, I see. My mother’s words did their work on you too.”

“What? No! It’s just….”

“Just what?"

Eleanor released a sigh, her hands started trembling, her core blazing with anger. She couldn’t hold it anymore. This was not only about what had happened with Keiki. It was so, so much more than that. "I can’t take it anymore, Bryce I… just can't. I CAN’T!”

Bryce stared at her with eyes widened, surprised by her sudden outburst.

“Shit, I’m sorry… It’s just… I’m tired, Bryce. Of this situation with Keiki, the stupid accident, the mess I have in my head… I…”

“Babe…” He whispered, enveloping her in his arms before she broke in sobs.

"I'm doing everything wrong, Bryce. I...I wanted to help Keiki but I screwed it up instead. I wanted to save Senator Farrugia and instead, I killed an innocent man and two innocent lives were affected… I … Shit, I can't…"

“Oh, god, babe. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

She shook her head, “I’m the one who’s sorry, I promised you I’d be with you but I just can’t.”

“No, babe. This is my fault, I shouldn't have let this happen, not when you’re going through something so difficult, I’m sorry.”

They stayed in silence for a while, Eleanor letting the warm embrace soothe her like so many times before, but there was still so much anger bottled up. With herself, of course, but she was trying not to take it on Bryce.

“Don’t worry, baby, we’ll face this together,”

“No,” she said, pulling away from him.

“What do you mean no?”

"Bryce, don't you understand? You have to focus on Keiki, not on me, for god's sake!"

“But…”

“I need to do this on my own,” snapped, categorically.

Suddenly, Eleanor realized that coming back to her apartment wouldn’t be enough to set boundaries between her and Bryce, and to have the needed space to work on her issues, on the mess she had as life.

She had to get completely out of the way. Out of the city. Out of the state.

“I think I… I’m going to Cincinnati,” she announced a moment later.

“What?

“I need  some time and space to think, Bryce, I need to set some boundaries and I can’t have them if you’re close.”

“Boundaries? Why would you need to set boundaries with me?”

“I just need time to think, okay? Everything has happened so fast these past weeks, that we haven’t even had the chance to talk about us, about what happened with Ethan, about what’s next for us. Things have been just happening, things have been changing, and now I feel like I’m not ready for that.”

Eleanor could swear that Bryce paled at those words. God, there she was again, screwing it all up, but she needed to be honest with him.

“What do you mean you’re not ready?”

“I’m not ready to give that kind of compromise right now, Bryce. Our relationship at first was… casual or… I don’t know, without projecting too much, because nothing was settled between us, and now that we’re committed, there’s a lot of decisions to make, a lot of things to give to the relationship, and I really, really want to do it, I wanna make plans with you,  but I can’t do it, Bryce. I’m not okay, so I’m not in a position to give anything in our relationship, and that’s not fair to you.”

And now his eyes were glimmering with tears and widened in a mix of desperation and pain, “Are you breaking up with me?” he said in a breaking voice.

She hated herself for giving him that impression with her own words.

“What? No! Of course not!” She reassured instantly, “I’m just being completely honest about how I feel. Just take it as I told you, I’m not in a position to give anything at this moment so I’m just taking a time away to regain some stability and solve my issues, so I can come back to you… not healed, but at least ready and stable to give everything our relationship deserves.”

Bryce didn’t look so convinced.

“Love, you deserve the best, only the best, and at this moment I can’t give you anything. The only thing I have is problems and I don’t wanna give you that burden when you already have so much on your plate with Keiki. I’m doing this for me, but also for you, for us. I don’t wanna ruin what we have.”

After her words settled in him, he breathed deeply, “Okay.”

“Do you understand now why I’m doing this?”

“Yes. Yes, I do. I’m sorry for reacting that way.”

Eleanor shook her head, furrowing her lips, “I’m sorry for putting you in this position,” she said, cupping his cheeks with both hands. “And please, never, ever doubt about my feelings for you, okay? I would never give up so easily on us. You never did and neither I will.”

Bryce simply nodded, unable to say another word.

It was hard for him to accept it, but only with time he would realize she wasn't lying.

____

A/N: Hello! I know I promised no more +6k chapters, buuuuut... it just happend, there were a lot of things to discuss in this chapter, besides were getting closer to the end 🥺 Thank you so much for reading and giving me your support in all this journey! I big hug to each and every one of you, I hope you're doing well!!

[romewritingshop]

We could call it love

Fandom: Choices, Open Heart

Relationship: Doctor Ethan Ramsey X F!MC (Name: Doctor Kayla Jackson)

Warnings: Smut, fingering, alcohol drinking, semi-public sex, slightly drunk MC but she sobers up, biting

Word Count Total: 3561

A/N: It took me a while but I’ve managed to complete this fic. I guess you could call this a song fic as it includes lyrics. The song is Sacrifice by Black Atlass. An absolute sensual song that somehow works for Ethan and MC. Would love constructive feedback but that’s totally up to you. Thanks and I hope you enjoy. 😘 I’d definitely recommend listening to the song while reading the fic because it sets the mood. I tagged the ones who I thought would be interested but if not let me know, I just want to make some friends. 😊

SACRIFICE - BLACK ATLASS

CHOICES MASTERLIST

Tagged: @ohramsey​ ​ @juliafranquet​​  @me-and-my-choices​ @eleanorbloom​ @choicesficwriterscreations​ @kaavyaethanramsey​ @miss-smrxtiee​ @nooruleman​ @rookie-ramsey​ @imonlybibecauseofethanramsey​ @drethanramslay​ @chaotichuman0090​ @drakewalker04​

The apartment was quiet, save for the low hum of the TV. Some Japanese game show was on but Kayla was paying no mind to it as her eyes zeroed in on the grainy wooden coffee table. Her spirit was in a world of its own as her hands blindingly scratched Pixie’s neck. Mack was happily munching on his lettuce beside her while Sunny was playing with a little ball between her paws. The pets were great company but they weren’t the best at communicating as Kayla exhaled shamefully, her head dropping to the back of the sofa. Her eyes closed as she recounted what happened in Ethan’s office.

“You’re an immature irresponsible resident that has turned the diagnostics team into a free flowing ATM. I hope you’re happy Dr. Jackson, you’ve gone against the principles of this team. I expected better from one of the best doctors.”

She flinched at the crystal clear sharp tone in his voice as she sunk further into her spiral of despair. She only reached out to Gwyneth to help with her condition and it was an extra bonus that she was willing to spend more money for her healthcare. A small fraction of her felt guilty at the fact that she went behind Ethan’s back but if she was presented with the choice she’d happily do it again.

The familiar rattle of the door handle rang as Kayla lifted her head to see Elijah and Sienna enter, having just finished their shifts at the hospital. She buried her pain and smiled widely at her friends.

“Hey guys! How was today?”

“It was pretty good but you seem to have had a harder day. What happened?”

Sienna’s soft eyes and nurturing smile made it harder for Kayla to hide the terrible things that happened today. Kayla’s face dropped as Sienna and Elijah made their way over to be beside Kayla as she opened up.

“Dr. Ramsey found out that I messaged Gwyneth to come to our hospital for treatment.”

Sienna and Elijah shared an anxious glance at Kayla’s despair. Both of them knew that Dr. Ramsey and Kayla had some semblance of a relationship so her depressed state was something much deeper as Sienna wrapped an arm around Kayla’s shoulder. Edenbrook was struggling from the budget cuts but Elijah knew that Kayla had a very good reason to go behind Dr. Ramsey’s back.

“Well, you did the right thing Kayla. You probably saved the diagnostics team.”

“I know it will but Dr. Ramsey doesn’t see it that way. He thinks that getting Gwyneth will pave the way for billionaires to get better care and soon the people that need help will be denied because they can’t afford it.”

“He’s wrong and we all know that this the only way to save the diagnostics team.”

“I know.”

The front door opens as Jackie strides through, sending a quick greeting to her friends before rushing into her room. Changing into her jeans and blue button shirt, coming back to the living room.

“Why aren’t you guys getting ready? Today Donnahue’s are doing a thirty percent discount for Edenbrook residents and doctors. The others are waiting for us there.”

Kayla wasn’t in the mood for a drink but deep down she had a feeling Ethan would be there. It was his usual haunt and she couldn’t face him after what he said to her. Sienna beamed as she stood up and nudged Kayla.

“Come on. A drink would you some good.”

“Sienna.”

“Nope! You’re coming with us or Jackie’ll drag you out.”

“And I will, Kayla.”

Kayla exhaled as she mumbled, groggily getting up and dragging her feet to her room. She stared into her closet, looking for something to wear. A knock rang on her door as she hummed, hearing steps come up beside her and she sees Sienna in a nice blue striped dress.

“What are you gonna wear Kayla?”

Kayla spotted something and pulled the hanger out to show Sienna. It was a plain blue sweater dress but Sienna shook her head vehemently. Kayla was not going to continue to wallow in her sadness as she yanked the dress and tossed it away to Kayla’s bed.

“Hey!”

“No! I’m not letting you dress up like that. Don’t let Dr. Ramsey get to you like that! Deep down, you know you’re right.” A small smile made a way to Kayla’s face as she couldn’t help but agree. It was the best decision she made and she doesn’t regret it one bit.

“I know.”

“Good! Now let’s wear something pretty and wreck the house tonight.” A bigger smile broke out on Kayla’s face as Sienna spotted the perfect outfit for Kayla. Stepping forward and pulling the hanger to show Kayla: a forest green satin wrap dress. It was perfect and sexy as Sienna brought out a black leather jacket and suede black ankle boots.

~~~~~~

There was a pep to her step as she entered the bar. Shaking off the cold outside air and she could see the bar bustling with residents and interns from Edenbrook. It was almost a full house as Kayla, Sienna, Elijah and Jackie brushed past people to get to their booth where Kyra, Rafael, Aurora and Bryce were sat, already having started with beer bottles in their hands. All eyes drew to Kayla as Bryce wolf whistled.

“Damn Kayla! You look like you’re ready to get laid.”

She rolled her eyes and sat next to Bryce, nudging his shoulder playfully.

“Next time, Bryce.”

Bryce smirked as he offered Kayla his drink, she took it and downed the rest as Jackie and Kyra bought a variety of drinks: shots of tequila and bottles of beer. Tonight, Kayla was going to forget and just lose control. After three shots of tequila, she could feel the light buzz coursing through her chest and all the knots of anxiety were slowly melting. Just as she was about to take her fourth shot, her eyes caught sight of a familiar green jacket and smooth back curly hair. The cloudy blue grey eyes and soft beard.

Ethan had entered the bar and it seemed his eyes were taken aback at seeing her. She looked exceptionally radiant and part of Ethan wanted to go over but he knew that he needed to keep away. She was a colleague and he still hasn’t forgiven her for what she did. He tore his eyes away and went to the bar to order his usual scotch. Kayla’s heart sagged as Ethan went away to the bar without even greeting her.

A chill vibrates through her as Kayla clutched her jacket closer as Bryce noticed the chill.

“Feeling cold?”

“A little.”

“I’m sure a little tequila will warm you up.”

She smiled and took another shot of tequila. The liquid courage lit a small fire as her eyes danced to the centre stage where two doctors drunkenly sang some cheesy eighties song. The tequila was meddling with her brain as she stood up and walked over to the karaoke stand.

The two doctors just finished up with their song as Kayla took centre stage, placing the mic in it’s holder stand and she scrolled through the songs list for karaoke. Her friends were too busy in their drinks when they heard a sultry tone rumble through the air. They frowned and turned towards the stage. Some of their eyes widened while others grew a big grin at the sight of Kayla standing tall and proud. Mic in her hand and a stool beside her.

Ethan felt a change in the music as his eyes were also drawn to the stage, his breath hitched in his throat as he spotted Kayla. No longer his intelligent colleague but a mystifying angel of lust. Her eyes connected with Ethan’s as her voice sang the first line.

I will never sacrifice my love, not even for you.

The tequila brought a husky tone that made her sound like a low hum of a jazz radio. Mellow and pleasing to the ears. Ethan furrowed his eyebrows with intrigue as Kayla set her gaze firmly on him. The bar patrons becoming a blur as she grasped the mic stand close to her.

You know I don’t play it safe

Sometimes you have to break the rules

Kayla was talking about what she did as Ethan straightened his posture. He never knew she could sing so well as Kayla raised an eyebrow at him. She knew he was watching her and the tequila in her soul was burning bright. Control was in her grasp as she let her fingers drag over her body, getting to the edge of her jacket and letting it slip off her shoulders.

Letting her satin emerald dress take the focus off her. All her friends were stunned from Kayla’s seductive display: Sienna and Aurora’s jaws dropped; Elijah had started recording this insane moment, and to show sober Kayla what happened; Kyra and Jackie cheering her on while Rafael and Bryce were entranced from her subtle movements.

Ethan felt the slight burn of anger murmur in him as he noticed every male gaze stick to Kayla but her eyes were on him. Part of him was jealous as he wanted to stride to the stage and take Kayla home, but another part of him was a little proud at her little display and that she was focused on him. He knew she had something to drink otherwise she wouldn’t have gone on stage and pulled that stunt off. She was baring everything to him and with that he sat rooted on his seat. Eyes taking in her hands over the sides of her hips.

He was still sat watching her, the glass of scotch in his deft hands and Kayla frowned slightly. Her act was getting nothing out of him.

We could call it love, or we could call it nothing

But you got what I want, you know I do, too

She was getting into the second chorus and her hips began swaying slowly like a metronome keeping in time with the steady beat of the song. He tensed slightly as Kayla let a smile reach her face as she finished the song off with a soft hum. The buzz of the tequila got absorbed into her mind as she straightened herself and bowed at the raucous applause.

The men jeered loudly and some women whooped. Kayla glanced at Ethan, his fingers were wrapped tightly around his glass and his gaze was a whispering chill over her body and soul. She sent a daring flirtatious wink at him before gliding towards her group of friends. Their voices clamoured over one another. Singing their praises and surprise at Kayla’s performance. She draped her jacket over the chair she sat in as she excused herself to head towards the restroom.

She was about to enter the ladies’ when a firm hand clasped her upper arm and yanked her in to a small dark room. Just as she was about to scream, the light came on and the grey eyed doctor was in front of her. Her heart pumped viciously as she leaned against the door of what seemed to be a supply closet. His presence surrounded her and she was surprised by the welcome chill that radiated from him. Ethan raised an eyebrow and suppressed a growl.

The dress looked even more silky and glowing as it sparkled against her dark skin. Her red ombre hair was done up in a braided bun which made her neck shine. Kayla looked like the radiant queen of an empire as she realised the gravity of where they were. Ethan had pulled her into a supply closet, just the two of him and the warmth of their bodies swirled in the air. He had risked someone seeing them as she stood tall against him.

“Ethan.”

“Jackson.”

“Still not calling me Rookie?”

“I’m still upset about what you did.”

“I’ve apologised many times and I don’t know what else you want me to say.”

“Your performance said plenty.”

She shrugged a little at the slight gritted tone in his voice.

“Well I’ll say it one last time: I’m sorry I went behind your back and got Gwyneth to come to the hospital. If I were given the option, I’d do it again. It really was the only way to save Edenbrook.”

Unlike the previous apologies, this one had more vulnerability as Ethan peered deep into her brown eyes. He saw her fire and passion to help Edenbrook. This and her performance all accumulated to the fact that she was right. Despite the fact that it went against the principles of Naveen and the diagnostics team, it would be something Ethan would do. Something he already did as he signed a deal with Declan Nash to save Naveen.

Kayla did the exact same thing for a multitude of patients. He liked her determination to save people and his face softened. She was taken aback by the calmness in his eyes as his lips curled up to a neutral smile.

“I’m sorry, Kayla. You did the right thing. When all the other outcomes fail, sometimes the worst solutions can be the best. I’m glad you made the decision.”

Her cheeks warmed at his apology as she dropped her eyes down to his collar. Unable to look him in the eye as she mumbled.

“Thanks.” Ethan glanced down and scratched the back of his neck, the tense air now loose which left a slight serene calm in the air. Kayla furrowed her eyebrow and glanced back at the door. “Was that it or is there anything else?”

The performance. He wanted to tell her what he thought about her performance but it wasn’t right. She was a grown woman, who could do what she wanted. A woman that literally serenaded her desires to him in front of a bunch of resident doctors and her friends. He took a deep breath and opened up.

“Nothing else.”

“Wait! So you pulled me into a closet just to say you’re sorry.” He kept his mouth shut yet his silence was enough of an answer for her. “You know we could have had this conversation outside.”

“People might look a little deeper into our conversation.”

“Since when do you care about what people think?”

“I don’t but I know they’ll be surprised once I do this.”

He stepped closer to Kayla and leaned down to press his lips against hers. Letting his walls crumble down temporarily as his lips rubbed over hers, he could taste the tequila she had drank, it melted deliciously against the scotch he had. A low smell of cinnamon and grapefruit filled his nose as he breathed it in deeply. A perfume she often wore to work as it lifted from her, as the heat of the supply closet and their bodies caused her to slightly perspire.

It made her scent stand out more and he sunk deeper, pushing his tongue into hers to dance sensually. His eyes closed to let his senses elevate the tastes and scents of their bodies. Kayla felt her consciousness drift away as her hands came to rest on the sides of his waist. Her fingers pressed between the hem of the shirt feeling the soft cotton and his skin.

His fingers gently grasped her bare shoulders, his index looping under the thin strap of her wrap dress. Ethan pulled away as Kayla opened her eyes to finally look up at him. Desire and passion glowing in his eyes as her husky voice spoke.

“What does this mean?”

“You know, Rookie.”

His eyes spoke it all. The performance she put on and the decision she took, he was proud of her choices and a bigger grin took a hold of her face as she surged forward. One nimble hand curling the hair at the nape of his neck, the other sinking under his shirt to feel at his tender skin. Pulling him closer to trap her against the closet door and Ethan welcomed her initiative.

His left hand following the fold of her wrap dress, his fingers danced dangerously along the satin green and smooth skin. She let go as he hummed slowly.

“Can I carry on, Kayla?”

“Please, Ethan.”

Their lips reconnected as Ethan’s fingers dipped inside her dress, a deep groan tumbled out of his mouth as he felt her bare breasts pliable against his fingers. She arched further into his hand as her hand sunk under her shirt to feel the firm muscles and the thin trail of hair disappearing into his jeans.

“Kayla!”

“Ethan! I need you now!”

They didn’t have much time as the fear of someone discovering them loomed over the atmosphere. Ethan pressed his fingers down and dragged over her sternum, his fingers grazing against the soft fabric of her dress before disappearing under the hem of the dress. She let go and gasped at his strong fingers rubbing against her clit. A moan threatening to break out as she hissed.

“Stop teasing Ethan!”

A mischievous smirk curled on his lips as he yanked her underwear down, his fingers feeling the sticky wetness between the lips of her vagina.

“And what you were doing wasn’t teasing?”

He took his fingers away and pushed it in between his teeth, his tongue lapping at the sweet tanginess of her arousal. Kayla felt like she could die happy, Ethan moved her to press her cheek against the door. The metal of his belt opened and the flyer zipped down. Her breath hitched as she felt penis stroke over her thighs.

A slightly louder moan escaped her lips as Ethan brought the fingers he sucked on into her mouth. In the times they had slept together, he noticed she was a loud lover and despite him wanting to melt against her moans and grunts, he had to keep it quiet in order to avoid suspicion. Ethan sunk into her as he growled into her neck, she hummed into his fingers.

A delightful stretch through her core as his long cock pushed into her walls, her feet curled and her hands pressed on the door to ground herself. It had been a while since they were together as Ethan regretted pushing her away, trying to make up for it with his actions. He set a slow pace to state his stance with her. His right hand trailed up her body to lace with her fingers.

A familiar dance as Ethan rolled his hips to a gradual speed, rising and rising, harder and slightly faster. Their symphony of pleasure muffled into their bodies. Her saliva soaked his fingers as he brushed them down the dress and to her clitoris. Pulling, pinching and circling her erogenous zone. He unlaced his fingers to grasp her chin and bring it over her right shoulder.

Reconnecting his mouth to hers to absorb the sounds she was making, Ethan slowed his movements, opting to thrust deeper and faster which had her whine pathetically. A new sound that she’s made as Ethan couldn’t help but smirk at his prowess. One powerful thrust made Kayla fist the door and it tossed her over the edge as she stilled. Two slow thrusts later Ethan came as well as he pulled his lips away and sunk his teeth into her shoulder. The both of them twitched with pleasure as the tepid atmosphere came down to a cool breeze.

He unlatched his teeth from her shoulder to see a perfect circle of the indents his teeth made as he pressed and open mouthed kiss on it before pressing a short sweet kiss on Kayla’s lips as a soothing gesture. Slowly pulling his cock out of her, a bit of his semen ran down her legs as he carefully tucked himself back into his underwear, zipping up and putting the belt back on. There was a roll of tissue on a shelf as he quickly grabbed a few sheets and carefully cleaned Kayla up.

A dazed look glimmered in her face as she slowly turned around to rest her back on the wall, adoringly gazing at Ethan who had bent down to help her into her underwear, he glanced up with a soft smile. She balanced herself on his shoulders and stepped into the underwear, Ethan’s fingers grazing her legs as he stood up to secure her underwear in place. Pulling the hem of her dress down and fixing the collar of the dress. The both of them were semi presentable as Kayla wrapped her arms around his torso, pulling him close to breathe in his scent.

“I guess that means you liked my solo.”

“What gave it away, Rookie?” She said nothing but pressed a small kiss to his lips, whispering a small thanks to him. “Again, I’m sorry I was hard on you about Gwyneth.”

“And I’m sorry I went behind your back. From now on, we discuss my ill ideas.”

“Agreed.”

As much as the both of them wanted to stay in one another’s’ arms, they knew that the real world was waiting for them. Where they couldn’t be together like they were now. Ethan reluctantly stepped away and cleared his throat.

“You better go first. I’ll come out in a bit.”

“See you tomorrow, Ethan.”

“Rookie.”