#Like maybe we didn’t see him because he wasn’t relevant <3

[boypussydilf]

these youtube comments are NOT the only place ive seen sentiments like this WHAT are you guys talking about. “simon feels like he’s worthless without magic. so give him magic again :)” This is like putting a hello kitty bandaid on a neck wound that is nearly severing your head. that’s not going to help anything at all. that is not the solution and that is not where this is going. like, things that Happened To Him are part of the cause for why he is so fucked up, but ultimately The Problems Are Coming From Inside The Simon. as badly as he does not want to he is just going to have to learn how to exist As Simon, out-of-place human mundanity and all

[gurugirl]

Just For Tonight | Ch. 3

This is the last part of this mini series! We might have some more coming for you - stay tuned!

Series Summary: Harry spots an angel in the crowd and he can't keep his eyes off of her. And, as if by some cosmic pull, he can't help but ask her backstage. But it's only going to be just for tonight. Or is it?

Chapter Summary: Is it true what they say? Does distance really make the heart grow fonder? Y/n isn't so sure so she tries to move on. But Harry has other plans.

A/N: In this chapter I mention a particular ex (without naming her) as part of the plot. This does not mean I feel one way or another about her, nor do I think this is an accurate representation of how she's acted after their split. This was requested for the story. This is a work of fiction.

Warning: 18+ only, smut, mentions of an ex, angst

Word Count: 11.8k

Commissioned by anon (thank you!! xoxo)

Just For Tonight Masterlist

It had been difficult for Y/n to stop thinking about Harry. They connected so well and she loved the way he was with her and how he carried himself. Loved the way they could talk about nothing and have it feel like the most interesting thing.

They had a few calls after he left LA for his tour. But that quickly became hard to navigate with the different time zones. He said he liked her and wanted to see her again. And she was sure that when he said that he meant it. The distance won, however.

But with his absence, with him being in another country on tour, and hundreds of people begging for a chance of what she got lucky enough to experience, she figured that what she’d gotten was probably all she’d ever get.

And that was okay. It wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted more of him. Would have loved to have seen him but she knew he was too famous and too amazing to settle for someone like her. She knew better than to ever get her hopes up. He’d done nothing wrong.

Instagram showed pictures of him with his friends and a mystery woman. A woman who was with him at one of his concerts. And then another one. Photos of them walking along the streets together. A fuzzy snap of them at a small café huddled closely. That was also okay. There had been no promises or commitments made.

Y/n hated to do it, hated to open up Instagram but her curiosity about Harry and if he’d been spotted by fans was eating at her. A DuexMoi post with a screenshot from his recent long-term ex’s Instagram account had her feeling nauseated. It was a subtle thing. Nothing specific but everyone picked up on the meaning. The text was a quote from a book she’d been reading over a picture of a close-up of her wearing a cross necklace.

The comments on what it meant were all over the place. And Y/n knew better than to read into anything too deeply or to fixate on something like this. Harry had brought up his ex once when their conversation was relevant to it. Said that she continued reaching out to him and that even when it was clear they were over the woman still called him and sent him messages on the regular.

And as much as she knew that it was probably nothing she couldn’t shake the way it felt to think of Harry and his ex getting back together somehow. She didn’t know anything about what he was doing at that moment because their calls had all but stopped by then. But the post from his ex was a signal. Did it mean anything? Maybe. But maybe it only meant something to his ex. Perhaps Harry hadn’t even seen it.

However, the comments on the post suggested they were talking again and reports of them trying to “work it out” were numerous.

And with that idea, she decided to log back into her stupid dating app. Try and get over the pop star once and for all. Move on if she could.

She’d had one good date from the app ages ago. The rest of the men who contacted her were absolute wastes but perhaps she’d find someone once again who she could tolerate for longer than a chat session. She’d give it a shot.

.           .           .

“But you did take her call?” Jeff spoke over the phone as Harry walked back to the hotel after a training session with Brad.

“Well, yeah. We have history. I didn’t want to be rude. Haven’t talked to her in a while. Thought maybe it could be important.”

“And was it?” Jeff sounded exasperated.

“No. She just said she missed me. Wants to see me when I get back to the States.”

Harry knew when he saw the incoming call from his ex that he probably shouldn’t pick up. But that was the thing about him. He was a people pleaser. He didn’t like when anyone was upset with him and he liked being on everyone’s good side. Even if it meant answering a call he didn’t want to take.

And part of him missed her. Missed what they had at the very beginning but he’d truly moved on. Especially with the idea that he’d be getting back to LA soon and seeing Y/n again. He hoped he hadn’t ruined it with her. It was hard to keep in contact with her. Too many missed calls and back-and-forth voicemails. Even the texts with Y/n had dwindled slowly. He understood that the distance was hard to overcome but that didn’t mean he wasn’t looking forward to hopefully seeing her again.

He knew if he had the chance to see her again and she still wanted to give it a shot with him he wouldn’t be letting go next time. He’d make it official. He’d want to really do it right with her. And he’d have a little time off from the tour to dote on her and give her lots of attention. Maybe even convince her that she should just travel with him wherever he went off to. Convince her that she should be his and that he would do everything he could to make her happy like she deserved.

He hoped it wasn’t too late.

And now with the new Instagram post from his ex the gossip had begun. Full articles written about how he and his ex were getting back together again, how it was true love, and a bunch of other nonsense that her story caused. And Jeff was pissed.

“I really wish you wouldn’t have taken her call. That’s sending her mixed signals and now with that godforsaken post she put up you’re already getting hate messages about taking her back. Calling you complicit. It’s a nightmare.”

Sometimes Harry really hated being famous. He didn’t even have to do much to get scrutiny. Sometimes one small little blunder, like answering a call could set off a chain of events that led him to where he was now, getting his ear chewed off by Jeff and having his fans upset with him.

But his main concern was if Y/n had seen it or not. He wondered what she thought about it. If she cared. He wondered how she was. If she’d seen anyone while he was gone. He missed her.

.           .           .

The job at The Dulcería had turned out to be one of the best things ever, income-wise anyway. She was exhausted and had little free time but she was pulling in pretty healthy tips and when it came time to pay her rent she had plenty left over to pay on time and stick the rest in savings.

Vyra steered clear for the most part but she did hover a bit any time Y/n had a table with a high roller or celebrity. Which, Y/n came to learn that not all celebrities tipped like Harry Styles. In fact, some tipped worse than normies to her shock.

One particularly demanding uber-famous model with her model friends was nice at first. Needed things brought out in a certain order, the wine had to be perfectly chilled or she wouldn’t drink from her glass, and then there was the lighting issue. She and her friends were snapping photos of themselves “eating” and the lights weren’t right.

Their table was full of The Dulcería’s most exclusive and expensive desserts (which the restaurant was famous for) and yet only a few bites were taken after uploading all their photos to Instagram. It was a shame that all of it had to be tossed when their table was cleared. It felt like it should be illegal. Belgian fine chocolate ganache, freshly made lemon curd, berries from the local market selected that very morning, handpicked herbs, candied pistachios, and fresh lavender cream. All that waste for nothing.

The tip that was left after that three-hour debacle was less than 5% of the bill. She assumed the woman who supposedly had many millions of dollars to her name would have given a better tip on a nearly $3,000 tab. Just imagine watching a rich woman clad in designer carrying a purse most people had to get on a waitlist for leaving a $145 tip on a $3,000 tab.

Still, even then, she was bringing in good tips and couldn’t complain often.

Her feet hurt and she smelled like the restaurant through and through at the end of her shifts. If she could have just collapsed into her bed and gone to sleep she would have. But the thought of not showering off first made her skin crawl. She needed the scent of food and spilled wine scrubbed from her pores.

And like she did nearly every night before falling asleep, she checked social media and then checked her dating app to see if there were any hits. Any worthy of a response from her.

One evening she did hear from a man who seemed intriguing. He appeared to be normal and handsome. So she sent him a response and opened up the chat option if he wanted to pursue something.

And the following day at the office she and Jimmy had chatted intermittently. She felt that sweet little familiar bubble of excitement in her tummy when her phone gave her a notification that he’d messaged her.

They made plans to meet up in person on a Wednesday after work at a bar near to her house.

It had been almost two months since she’d seen Harry. He did message her a few weeks prior but there was no call and when she responded he didn’t respond back. She figured it was time to look for something a little more serious. She knew better than to assume she and Harry were endgame. No matter how good the sex and connection were.

She stopped stalking Instagram and googling to find out where he was in the world. It was better for her own mental health to try and move on from him. He had been a fun fling. A great guy. Maybe one of the best “hookups” she’d ever had. Not maybe. He definitely was. He had been kind and thoughtful and fun. And he was great in bed.

But it was time to put that behind her now. A date with a nice, normal guy was in order. She just hoped she could erase the way Harry made her feel and that she wouldn’t compare every guy she tried dating to the pop star.

Jimmy was attractive in person to her delight. He worked downtown not far from where she did and they talked about mundane things like their commute (anyone living in or around LA will understand this is a hot topic), the buildings they worked in, and their jobs. When Y/n revealed she worked as a waitress on the side Jimmy seemed impressed by her even more.

After a few glasses of wine and for Jimmy, beer, they decided to part ways. It had been a good first meetup. Y/n was feeling buzzy and excited. Hopeful.

The chats with Jimmy continued but moved from the app to texts. They had plans to meet up again Monday evening.

Her weekend shift at The Dulcería was like any other. Tips were good. Some of the patrons were just so-so. Vyra was annoying but gave her space. But she was exhausted. She only worked an extra 18 hours a week as a waitress but after a few months, it began to wear on her.

So when Monday came around and she walked to the same bar to meet up with Jimmy she didn’t expect that the text she’d be getting wouldn’t be from her date.

Just as she was pushing through the doors to the bar she looked at her notification screen and nearly dropped her phone.

It was Harry.

She paused by the door for a moment, contemplating whether or not to read the text to see what he wanted or to wait until after her date. She decided on the latter out of respect for Jimmy.

The problem was, though, that Y/n couldn’t get it out of her mind what it was that Harry had texted her. It had been long enough that she figured he’d completely moved on. And was it fair of him to reach out again after all that time?

So, instead of feeling flattered, she started to feel the tiny crawling of annoyance and frustration dragging up her spine.

“I’d like to see you again soon. Maybe we can get dinner next time. Take a walk afterward along the boardwalk or something?” Jimmy said as he hugged Y/n goodbye before they went their separate ways.

“That sounds great. I’m free Sunday night if you want to do it then. Kind of hard most Fridays and Saturdays,” she shrugged as she felt Jimmy squeeze her hand.

“Sunday night sounds perfect. Can I pick you up?”

.           .           .

Hey, how are you? Miss you.

She read the text over and over again. That was all it said but why? Why send it? It wasn’t as if he couldn’t be allowed to text her. He had her number. They’d slept together a couple of times and had gotten to know one another beyond just surfacey stuff. But still.

Instead of texting him back, she decided to leave him on read. She needed time to figure out how to respond. What to say, or if she should say anything. Maybe she should just leave it so he got the hint about what was going on. That she didn’t want to open up that chapter again and get herself hurt. Because she would get her heart broken by Harry if she let herself get lost in it.

And it wasn’t like he’d done anything wrong at all. It was clear that what had happened between them had just been casual. Good, fun sex. So responding to him wouldn’t have been weird but there was a part of her that felt like maybe he’d dug his way into her heart a little more than she was ready to admit. If she was taking his innocent text so seriously and pondering it so deeply, perhaps there was more to it. Which meant she needed to let it go for her own good.

So she did leave him on read. But more for her sake than his she figured.

.           .           .

Harry couldn’t understand why she hadn’t responded. He could see that she’d read the text. But why not respond? He wondered if this meant she’d moved on. Maybe she’d seen that post from his ex and figured he was on his way to getting back with her somehow amidst all the rumors.

He was aware of how things were between himself and Y/n. He’d given in and fucked his own rule to not sleep with someone who was supposed to be a one-time thing more than once. To go back for more. But when he saw her that night at the restaurant he felt like somehow it was fate. Not like a deep sort of forever kind of fate, but more like a this is okay to indulge in more than once kind of fate. He usually didn’t like doing that but with Y/n it felt different. And she was hot. And funny. And the way she handled him in bed had definitely left a mark on him. She wasn’t just a fan or a casual sex partner. She wasn’t just some girl.

So that’s why he texted her. He was coming back to LA in a couple of weeks. Figured they could see one another again and have some fun. But maybe that was the problem. She was more than just fun for a night. He liked her a lot. And perhaps she was feeling something similar and needed to put that distance there so she didn’t get hurt. Harry could understand that.

While he was away he had one of his good friends along with him. He liked to have someone he trusted, which was rare in his world. He had a hard time trusting most people. She was easygoing and didn’t want anything from him sexually so she was a perfect confidant and companion to have traveling with him. It was nice to have friends like her. Something that didn’t need to be anything but friendly. Someone that he could joke around with and not worry much about being on his best behavior with.

She even gave him great advice about Y/n and then his ex after the disaster of her Instagram post. He knew he’d been snapped with her as he was out and about. On walks, in restaurants, in group settings. There were of course the usual rumors that they were dating but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

He imagined that Y/n had seen the photos of him walking with the girl next to him. Plus the post from his ex wasn’t helping matters. Maybe it had all been too much for Y/n? Or maybe he was overthinking it all. He wasn’t quite ready to give up but he’d let her be until he returned.

.           .           .

Jimmy took Y/n to a cute little Mexican spot Sunday night and they ordered margaritas and Baja tacos with guacamole and cactus salad.

And Jimmy looked extra attractive that evening. She hadn’t noticed before then that his forearms were so thick. He had a sweater on that he’d pushed up to his elbows baring his arms. A bit of scruff on his face. And he smelled nice.

She felt like maybe they’d had enough dates and had gotten to know one another well enough that going back to his place might be fun. She wouldn’t mind a fun romp in the sack with him.

So when they walked back to Jimmy’s car she decided to go out on a limb, “Would you… what do you think about maybe going back to your place together? Or mine? I was thinking we could kind of relax and continue our conversation a bit?”

Jimmy opened the passenger door for her to let her into his car, “Oh. Yeah! Absolutely. Whichever place is better for you. It’s up to you. Mine or yours.”

And because Y/n wanted to do more than just “continue their conversation” she figured his place was best since Brad was probably home. The last time she had a man in her bed was Harry and Brad hinted at having heard them the next day. Not something she wanted to repeat nor subject poor Brad to again.

Jimmy lived in a one-bedroom apartment. He had no roommates which was ideal.

“So, I just want to tell you that right now I’m not looking for a serious relationship. I still have my profile up and kind of chatting with another girl but it hasn’t gone anywhere. I think once we get to know one another a little more maybe we can talk about being exclusive. Does that sound okay?”

She appreciated Jimmy’s honesty. And she was glad that he told her before they’d gotten any further. Because they were both sitting on his couch and making out heavily. In fact, her hand was already slowly making its way up his thigh when he stopped her to come clean.

She paused and thought for a moment. Was that okay? She began to nod and turned her gaze back to her date, “Thank you for telling me. And yeah… I think I can agree to that. Let’s just keep being honest with one another like this and I think it’ll be really good,” she leaned in when Jimmy grinned at her answer and she climbed over his lap, not ready to stop the direction they were already headed.

And just as she’d intended when she left the restaurant with Jimmy they had sex after clearing the air about their status.

It was good. She liked having sex. She didn’t do it a lot. Maybe she’d have one or two a year at most. Hopefully, Jimmy would be someone she could keep around. She hated dating and finding someone she could trust.

Jimmy didn’t get her off, though. He tried. He ate her out, which she was already very pleased with. Not all men would go down on a woman without having to be prompted. Jimmy was eager.

But when that didn’t get her off she told him to get a condom so they could have sex.

Again, he was eager. Quite good really. But as was typical for having sex with anyone for the first time, she didn’t come. She was nice and wet and super turned on but it just didn’t happen.

She didn’t mind much. He did hit some really good spots that made her moan and got her close a few times. He tried rubbing her clit to get her off before he could come but it didn’t do it for her. She guided his fingers over her the way she liked but he needed time to figure out her body a little. Nothing wrong with that at all.

And he knew she didn’t come. He was disappointed in himself when he pumped into his condom and groaned in his orgasm. He apologized profusely and tried to eat her out again but she was tired. They’d been going at it for a while because his goal was to make her come.

“It’s okay. Really. Jimmy, you’re so good. It’s always like this the first time for me. I had so much fun with you.” She cupped his jaw.

While what she was saying was mostly true, she couldn’t stop imagining how Harry had gotten her off his first time. And the second time and the following morning before he left. She tried to swallow down those thoughts and not let that interrupt her moment with Jimmy but she couldn’t help it. Harry’s moves were just better and his dirty talk and his body. And his cock. And him.

She closed her eyes to squeeze out that image from her mind. There was nothing wrong with Jimmy’s body or his dick. He was fine. She was sure that after some work he’d be getting her off soon enough. They’d eventually get very comfortable with one another and sex would be better and she’d orgasm easier.

Really at the end of the day she wanted to feel close with someone. And she got exactly that with Jimmy. He pulled her into his chest and they fell asleep in his bed. She might have not gotten her orgasm but she got the connection and closeness she’d been craving and missing.

.           .           .

The following week they skipped going out for a date altogether and Jimmy cooked for her at his place. He was a pretty romantic person. A genuinely nice guy. Handsome, funny, smart. But their second time having sex was not different from the first. Y/n was sure she’d come and had gotten close a few times but it still just didn’t happen.

And for the first time in her life ever, she faked it. She felt she had to. The poor guy was suffering. He was hammering into her and grunting and shaking, continually pulling out before he could release. For nearly half an hour that was the scene.

He tried holding her legs to the side and thrusting into her as he hovered over her but she needed something more, she was sure. Her own fingers at her clit and his cock slipping in and out just didn’t do the job. So she got on all fours and Jimmy’s bed creaked and bounced and it felt really good. Just not good enough.

Finally, when she rode him she felt that yummy gooey thing she always got just before coming but the moment she began to quiver and just before she could come Jimmy’s words halted any further gooeyness, “Finally, fuck!”

That had done it. She wasn’t going to come. He didn’t mean it to be rude, she was sure. Jimmy was the sweetest guy, truly. But that little bit was all she needed and her orgasm was ruined. So when she felt him throbbing in his condom she moaned and clenched and did all the stupid acting a porn star would to fake her orgasm.

For him to say finally in response to thinking she was coming. Really? That had irked her. She wished he hadn’t said that.

But it didn’t deter her. She really did like the guy. And surely the third time would be the charm. Except it wasn’t. The following morning he ate her out and then they had sex and he got off while she faked it again. She had to get going anyway because it was Monday morning and she had to be at the office.

It felt good to be dating someone. Even if it was casual. Jimmy had mentioned he hadn’t seen anyone else, but she didn’t miss it when he said “yet”. And part of her preferred it casual with Jimmy. Liked that her options were still open for the time being. But it did feel good to be in a relationship of sorts. Felt nice to know that someone liked her enough to keep texting her and seeing her and wanted to sleep with her. It felt grownup. That’s what she wanted. Connection. Relationship. And that’s what Jimmy gave her. In due time they would be more sexually compatible. She was sure.

On Friday night at the restaurant, she was given a couple of large groups. They were relatively nice. Perfectly well-behaved groups. Jimmy had been texting her all night. He was hoping to see her and have her stay over until the following morning before she had to be at work.

She hadn’t decided if she would or not. She sort of wanted to sleep her morning away before needing to be on her feet all night again. And she figured she could use her dildo and make herself come because she was sure Jimmy couldn’t. She knew that he wanted to have sex with her and at that point it just sounded exhausting. Now every time they got together the night ended with sex and a failed orgasm on her part. She didn’t know if something was wrong with her or if maybe she wasn’t as compatible with Jimmy as she thought. But she knew one thing. He wasn’t getting her off like she needed. And her feelings about that were giving her pause. She wondered if she was just settling for casual dates with Jimmy. Wondering if Harry had ruined her for anyone else.

So when she was suddenly interrupted coming out of the kitchen to check on one of her tables she jumped at his voice. It had been unexpected.

“Harry? What are you doing here?” She looked around and the bustling restaurant and then back up at the handsome man. Her body tingled at his presence and she got that lightheaded excitedness that she felt every time she saw him. And she realized that that was something she never experienced with Jimmy.

“I just wanted to say hi. You hadn’t texted me back the last time I reached out and I’m here for dinner right now and saw you walking back and forth. Just wanted to see how you are.”

She didn’t realize Harry had been there. Usually, the servers would mention any time anyone famous came in.

“Oh. Yeah, I’m well. Just… gosh I’ve been really busy. How have you been? I didn’t know you were back.” She decided not to address the fact that she hadn’t responded to his text nearly a month ago.

“I’m great. Been back in LA for almost a week. Missed you.”

Missed you. Yeah, she missed him too if she were honest. But she’d been pushing it all down. Covering up her feelings with Jimmy.

“That’s… I uh… missed you too.” She didn’t know what else to say. Out loud anyway. Internally she was telling him all about how the guy she’d been dating was super sweet but terrible in bed. Well, not terrible. But not Harry. And he didn’t make her feel all floaty and full of syrup and butterflies and anticipation the way Harry did. How she was having trouble connecting with Jimmy the way she could with Harry. God, how she’d love to have another round with him again. Feel that yummy stretch he gave her, that sharp deep poke, listen to his deep voice in her ear as he coaxed her through an orgasm that had her shaking and slobbering into the sheets.

“Yeah? Maybe I can see you after? I’ll stick around til you get off.”

Her mind was playing tricks on her. Til you get off. Yeah, she knew that would happen if she allowed him to stick around. She’d get off all right. He’d see to it. She should say no. Should tell him she’s seeing someone. It’s not serious but she shouldn’t do that to Jimmy. But then again…

“Okay. Yeah. I’d like that. Should be done here in an hour and a half. Is that okay?”

“F’course. I’ll be here.”

She felt immediate guilt. Jimmy didn’t deserve to be put on the back burner. He was too sweet. And there was nothing wrong with him. Sex wasn’t amazing but it wasn’t bad and eventually, she’d get used to him and she’d orgasm with him. Surely. Right? But the biggest thing that nagged at her was the way she felt around Harry. Just having him standing before her and speaking to her had her feeling things she realized she never felt with Jimmy. Maybe Jimmy wasn’t a good match for her.

And she and Jimmy weren’t exclusive. That had been made clear at the beginning. Jimmy did say that he wasn’t ready to be serious with anyone and that he wanted to get to know her for a while before any commitments were made. So it wasn’t like she was actually doing anything wrong. And it wasn’t as if Harry was asking her to have sex with him. Not by any means. Perhaps it was just to chat. To just catch up.

.           .           .

It was most definitely not just to chat. But of course, she knew that. Harry had her in his bed nearly the minute they walked into his huge mansion. It was the first time she’d been to his place and she barely had a moment to look around before he was dragging her to his master suite. They’d made out the entire way from the restaurant to his place in the back of the car. She couldn’t help it. It was like magic between them. Like fate. Like they were meant to be. She felt powerless to it.

“God I missed you,” he whispered into her neck as he gripped the back of her head, “Have never kissed anyone with softer lips.”

She was wet nearly instantly. Jimmy had to work hard to get her in the state she was with Harry after only five minutes of a hot, backseat makeout session.

In his room, she pulled his pants down and dropped to her knees. She needed to see him. Needed to dig her nails into his thick, masculine thighs. She panted as she leaned in and pressed her lips over his tiger tattoo and ran her hands upward to cup his bulge.

Harry watched her from her position on her knees before him and finally felt like he was home. There was something about this girl that he couldn’t shake. He had missed her. And the whole reason he had gone to The Dulcería that night was to see her.

So he was surprised when she so easily said yes to seeing him after work. Surprised when she flirted with him and responded to his touch with touches of her own. Surprised when she kissed him in the back seat of the cab and now more than anything, was pleased by the direction the night was going.

He decided before he even saw her that night that he wanted to make her his. Wanted it to be official. He could see himself getting serious with her. Saw himself bringing her with him everywhere. Falling in love. The whole nine.

Her lips sucked and pulled at his cock and it was better than he remembered. There was certainly nothing like the real thing when it came to getting head and Harry had been doing a lot of imagining over the months. He’d missed her warmth and her eyes. Her wet lips slipping over his shaft.

She coughed and gurgled around him as she sat back for a breath and stroked him in her hand. He brushed his fingers along her temple to move her hair from her face and she was already looking up at him. Her top had been unbuttoned and he had a view of her big tits held in by her bra and her soft eyes looking up at him with his cock in her hand.

“Fuck, angel. Missed you so much.”

She smiled and leaned in with her pink tongue sticking out before licking over his balls, gently kissing and sucking at the skin. He moaned as she moved upward over his shaft and to his crown before popping him back into her mouth.

Another good gag had Harry pulling her up, “Darling, take your clothes off,” he said through soft breaths as he pulled his shirt off and kicked his pants down the rest of the way off his legs.

She removed her work outfit and could smell the restaurant on herself, “I should like, shower or something. I smell like kitchen and food…”

Harry dragged her into his arms and stepped her back toward the bed, “Just like you are. I need you now.” He spoke against her lips.

She was pushed into his bed, her naked body under his with his soft mouth drinking her in. His lips moved from her jaw to her neck and suckled at her tits for a while before he got down to business slurping away at her cunt.

Yes. Okay. That was good. Harry was good. And she knew it wasn’t just because he was so skilled. No. She realized that it was because of the way she felt for Harry. Her heart thundered in her chest wildly as she yanked his hair and ground her pussy into his face. Harry sucked and kissed and fingered wetly as he moaned into flesh. It was everything. Harry was everything.

When she splashed a bit on his face from her orgasm Harry sat back with a laugh as he massaged the inside of her thighs. She forced herself to open her eyes to look at him. He was breathing heavily, his chest flushed pink, his cock thickened and erect. Ready to be pressed right into her sloppy pussy.

He had a hand at his base as he smoothed his weepy tip through her hot and sticky crease. He small whine fell from his lips before he got up to grab a condom. He would have loved to have just fucked her raw but they’d need to talk about all that first. And they’d barely done any talking that evening.

She pushed herself up to her elbows to watch Harry as he stood next to the bed and looked down at his girthy cock, sliding the condom over himself. She couldn’t wait to feel him inside of her again. At long last.

His strong body was insane. She’d never get over it. Wanted to drag her tongue over every inch and drink up his sweat and taste the salt in her mouth. God, he made her insatiable.

Harry kneed up to her on the bed, his heavy condom-covered dick swaying until he pulled her toward him and planted his lips onto hers. Soft and sensuous. The way he kissed her was enough to call it all off Jimmy. It had her head spinning and her tummy doing somersaults. Never something Jimmy had accomplished in their couple of months of dating.

He was breathing hard as he backed from the kiss and looked over her bare body, “I needed this so bad. God… You have no idea how much I missed you, Y/n.”

She really didn’t know. Because she imagined he was getting plenty of ass while he’d been away.  

Harry laid her down on the bed, her back flat on the mattress as he leaned over her frame and attached his lips to her breasts one at a time. She could feel his cock dragging over her as he moved from one nipple to the other.

He felt her buck upward under him and he smiled as he popped off her nipple and looked down at her, “Need something, angel?”

She nodded with a grin, “Your cock. Please.”

Harry groaned and thumbed over moistened nipples before grasping his shaft with one hand and planting his palm down onto the mattress to hold himself up over her.

“Yeah? Please? You missed me, angel?”

“Oh my god…” she moaned as she felt his tip press against her entrance, “Yes. Oh my god, I missed you.”

Harry sat back onto his haunches so he could watch as he entered her. It was his favorite view. The way she spread open, the tight little snap of him entering her clenching muscle, how nicely she took all of him. He pushed in and pulled back, wetting himself as he inched in further and further. She was sopping and had coated his condom in her drippy juices. He moaned as he dipped in deeper and watched her mouth drop open in relief at the feel of him stuffing her pussy.

When he’d gotten in balls deep he sighed, “Oh fuck, angel. I’m gonna treat you so good.” And he didn’t just mean while he was fucking her. He meant it in every way one could. He was going to treat her exactly as she deserved.

 When he began to thrust in and out with long and languid strokes, the poke into her belly was toe-curling. She’d missed the way his cock felt and missed him. Missed him more than anything.

The patting of their skin slapping together wetly sounded as good as it felt. Harry moaned and Y/n gasped. He was deep. It was as if he’d somehow grown in size since he’d been away but she was sure it was just because Harry was Harry. She liked his dick but she just really liked him.

Harry had a nice grip on her thighs to keep them spread so he could have an unobstructed image of what he was doing to her, “God your little hole is just taking me, baby…” he groaned.

She peered up at him, his abs and his thighs flexing as he worked himself into her steadily. Every time he plunged in he nudged himself into her with a quick buck at the end to push himself as far in as he could get, causing her to jolt upward and whimper at the ache.

“Your cock… oh god Harry…” she didn’t know what she was trying to say. Except maybe just that she was really enjoying him. A compliment to how good he felt. How good he was.

Harry rhythmically rocked into her and released one of her thighs to use his thumb on her clit. He softly smoothed his pad over her sticky and aroused nub and she gasped. Harry grinned at her as she reached down to feel the mess they were making, her fingers slipping next to his and then lower, to feel where his cock was sliding in and out, spreading her pussy apart, the wet hair at his base, his balls as they nudged into her when he buried himself in.

“My cock? Yeah? That feel good inside you?”

“Yes, fuck… your gonna make me come so hard,” she moaned her words as she kept her fingers held against the spot where he was pushing into her, slick and creamy.

“Feel that? Feel how wet you get for me? How hard you make me?” He sucked in a sharp breath when her fingers glided along his balls and he stilled his hips, grinding himself into her. She was forced to move her fingers back up to her clit as Harry grasped her hips and pulled her over him so she could feel just how deep he was.

“God I wish I could fuck you without a condom. Come inside of your sweet cunt and fill you up like you deserve.”

She moaned at his words and the way he was buried inside of her guts. Her eyes fluttered closed as she continued to finger over her clit. That sounded exactly like what she wanted too. Wanted to feel him pouring into her and then watch it leak out slowly as he stuffed it back in with his tip.

“Oh my god, Harry. That sounds good…” She looked down at where his pelvis was pasted to hers as he circled his hips into her.

“Yeah? Gonna make you mine, baby and then I’m gonna fuck you raw and come inside of you over and over again. You want that?”

Nodding her head, she had a pained, fucked-out expression on her face, “Yess…” she panted.

Harry leaned over her body, not able to resist kissing her any longer. He needed his mouth on hers immediately.

The quick change of position had Y/n gasping as Harry shifted over her and pressed his lips to hers. The smooth strokes of his cock started up again as he planted his mouth over hers and licked against her tongue.

Intimate. That’s what it was. Harry was intimate but it felt especially real. Especially meaningful. She tried not to think about how soft and loving he was being with her because it felt so much like what someone would do if he was in love.

But then suddenly he took her hand and wound his fingers into hers, pressing their joined hands into the bed next to the pillow her head was on, as he continued thrusting and kissing. That gesture totally tipped her mind into that place she didn’t want to go. That place that told her he was just as into her as she was into him. That he wanted her and only her.

She bent her knees and planted her feet flat, lifting her hips upward each time he pushed in. It was wet and hot between them. Harry’s body over hers was solid and strong as he fucked into her with everything he had. She felt it too. Felt him put his whole body into each thrust.

Their hands stayed wound together tightly as Harry licked into her mouth. They parted only for gasps of air and to let out whimpers and moans.

“Please, Y/n…” Harry whispers against her lips before opening his mouth over hers and smoothing them together, closing his mouth around her tongue and then pressing his tongue passed her lips. She wanted to ask him why he said please but her brain was scrambled and focused on the way their bodies moved together. How good he felt. How good she felt.

Her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it. She was certain Harry could hear it too. His pelvis stayed pressed into her clit and each time he stuffed himself into the hilt he undulated his hips as she tilted her own pelvis into him.

“Oh fuck!” She cried when Harry hit something inside of her that made her body tingle. She’d felt nothing like it before but she was sure it wasn’t just something physical he was nudging into. It was something emotional. She was doomed to his charm. Doomed to fall for him whether she wanted to or not. But how could she not?

Harry pushed himself up, his hands still wrapped around hers, “Okay, angel?” His soft, beautiful eyes would haunt her. Dark lashes and a dark limbal ring that lined his already perfect shade of green…

“It just… it feels so good, Harry. You’re making me feel so good,” she panted her words.

Harry dragged his gaze from her eyes down to her tits, “Want you to ride me, okay? Want to see how you fuck yourself on me.”

Nodding her head Harry slid himself out with a soft hiss as he grasped his cock and watched the tiniest bit of liquid gush from her pussy. She’d only gotten wetter as he fucked her.

Harry took her hand and brought it to his lips, “What are you doing to me, Y/n?”

She sat up as they kept their eyes locked and Harry grasped the back of her neck and kissed her again. They sat in the middle of his massive bed, both on their knees, naked and kissing urgently until Harry sat back and pulled Y/n with him, dragging her body over his, never letting their lips part.

She straddled his lap as he grasped her hips and pressed her wet cunt to his impossibly hard erection. When he’d finally laid his back into the mattress she placed her palms over his pecs and felt his hands at her ass, guiding her up so she could put him back in as quickly as possible.

Letting her fingertips travel over his chest, feeling the hair on her palm, the sturdy muscle under his soft skin, she scraped lightly and leaned down to lick his nipple. She smiled when he moaned and as badly as she wanted to have his cock back inside of her she needed to show her affection to his gorgeous body. At least a little.

Moving her lips to his other side she licked over his pebbled nippled and looked up at his face. His eyes were closed and his mouth was dropped open. His chest was rising and falling rapidly as she nipped with her teeth gently.

Harry groaned and opened his eyes, lifting his head to watch her work over him with her teeth and her tongue, “Fuck, baby.”

Y/n grinned and lifted her mouth from his skin, “Harry, your body is fucking incredible. I could lick and kiss it all day long.”

With her eyes on his she leaned down and stuck out her pink tongue to drag up from the underside of his peck up to his other nipple. She pulled it into her mouth and scraped her teeth over it before kissing it. She dotted warm pecks upward to his clavicle and licked as she went.

Harry’s whimpers grew desperate as he watched her lick and kiss his skin. But he needed to have her on him. His cock was aching and with the sweet and adoring attention she was giving him with her tongue and her lips he was going mad.

Harry grasped her hips and the pathetic whine that fell from his throat had her peeking up at him again, “Please, angel. I need you to fuck me.”

And well, that was all it took. He had said please after all. She lined up herself over his tip and began to sink over him, her pelvis tilted into him, “Okay, baby. I’ll fuck you now. God I need you too…” they moaned loudly as she slid over him until her pussy lips were kissing the very base of his cock.

She kept her hands pressed to his chest as she gently rocked herself over him. Harry moved her up and down slowly, keeping his hands on her bottom, and watched her pretty face contort at the feel of him splitting her pussy apart on his big cock.

“God you’re already creaming all over baby. So fucking wet I can hear it.” Harry spoke through gritted teeth. He loved the way she looked on top, her tits gently jiggling at each roll of her hips, her wet mouth dropped open, her eyes fluttering open and closed in ecstasy.

“You make me so wet, Harry. No one gets me wet like you. I need you…” she groaned as she bucked her hips down over him.

“Yeah? Need me, baby? I can tell…” he gasped when she clenched over him, “Can tell by the way you’re fucking yourself on me. Gonna get yourself off on my cock, angel?”

Y/n keened when Harry lifted his hips up the tiniest bit, forcing his cock deeper yet. A delicious sting.

“Harry… fuck!”

Harry breathed in a shaky breath and pulled at her elbow to bring her body down toward his. He wanted more contact. Wanted her closer. Wanted to kiss her as they both released together because he could tell she was nearly there.

The moment her lips were pressed to his he bent his knees slightly and tilted his pelvis upward so he could thrust into her as she fucked herself down onto him. Wet squelches and soft gasps surrounded them as they kept their bodies connected, on edge, trembling.

One of Harry’s hands smoothed down to her bottom while he took his other to bring her fingers into his. He wanted it sensual, erotic, soft, lusty. There was something about fucking Y/n and having his lips on hers and her hand in his that was making his heart swell with affection. He’d never have enough of her.

She shivered over him and he knew it wasn’t because she was cold. There was no way her body was cold with the way they had been going at it. No. He knew her shiver was because she felt it. Felt what he was. Knew this was it for them.

Her breasts were smushed into Harry’s chest and her thighs were squeezing around him as she continued pushing herself down over him. Her small hand in his with her fingers threaded between his was warm.

“Shit… you coming baby?” Harry felt her limbs tense and the tight muscle at her entrance grip around his cock in pulses.

“Fuck… yess! Fuck!” She couldn’t stop her orgasm from finding its way to the surface. She hadn’t expected it to burst out of her so quickly but having her hand surrounded by his while his cock was buried inside of her was not a casual sex move and that notion alone had her spinning out of control.

He was holding her hand and kissing the edge of her mouth through it all and now that she was coming around him, he squeezed her hand tighter and whispered to her through her orgasm, “There you go, angel. Made for me, aren’t you? My good girl…” she writhed and whimpered in her climax and he could tell it felt good. Could tell she was getting what she deserved.

Harry let her spasm around him for a moment longer until he couldn’t hold on for another second. He lifted his hips and gasped as he spurt into his condom. Gushes of hot come filling the rubber tip as he throbbed inside of her.

She felt his prick pump against her slick walls as he came. His breath was caught in his throat as he released into his condom. The grasp he had on her hand was locked down hard. She would have complained that it hurt but the last thing she wanted to do was have him release her in any way. She always wanted this with him. The closeness, the intimacy. The insane connection they had.

When Harry finally filled his lungs with air and his face relaxed her felt her slumped into his chest. He loosened his grip on her hand but didn’t let go. He wouldn’t let go. Never.

She’d passed out. Simply exhausted after Harry had handled her body like he owned it. Exhausted after giving every inch of his body her attention and love because damn did he deserve it. He was breathtaking. The man deserved to be worshipped. He was stunning and the way he gave himself to her was mind-blowing.

.           .           .

Blinking her eyes open the morning light was barely peeking through the window. It must have been super early. He was still asleep next to her. Hair a mess, cheeks smushed, small breaths puffed out from his mouth (he slept with his mouth opened she learned after the few times they’d slept together).

She was feeling something deeper for Harry than she wanted. The guilt about ignoring Jimmy and going home with another man was eating at her. Jimmy didn’t deserve that. He was a nice guy. A normal guy. But Harry was different. And it wasn’t just because he was hot and famous. It was because they understood one another in a way that she didn’t know if she’d ever get to with Jimmy. And that didn’t feel great.

Especially because Harry was… well he was Harry Styles. Falling for him would be dangerous and she’d have her heart broken. She could fall for him too. Another round of sex like they’d had the night before and it would be over for her. She’d tip over the edge of no return and need him in a way he’d never need her. She might just have to settle for Jimmy in that case. Perhaps that would really be as good as it could get for her.

Slowly slipping out of his bed she went to the bathroom with her phone.

She powered it back on and cringed when she had a couple of missed notifications from Jimmy. Not only had she kind of betrayed his trust and slept with someone else after he asked her to come over, but she wasn’t totally honest with Harry either. Hadn’t told him about the guy she’d been dating. A guy she was working on getting to know and could see herself dating long-term. Well, she could have seen Jimmy as someone long-term had it not been for Harry being so goddamn perfect.

Could she see herself with Harry long-term? She could actually but the reality was he probably didn’t see her in the same way. She chalked up his words and the intimacy with him just being a very sensual and sexual and vulnerable man. He was probably that way with everyone he slept with. She didn’t want to assume it was because he liked her just as much as she liked him.

Splashing her face with water she sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. She knew what she needed to do. To protect herself. To make things right.

She needed to go home and tell Jimmy everything. And then she needed to decide if she could see herself being exclusive with Jimmy or not. Could she settle? She’d let Harry get under her skin. She didn’t know how he’d done it so fast but maybe it was just his natural charm. Whatever it was, she knew Harry would be okay. Knew it was unlikely that he felt anything close to how she was feeling.

Her Uber driver arrived faster than she thought. She rushed out of Harry’s bedroom, down the stairs, and out the door, before she even had time to write a little note. She fully intended on doing that but it was too late. It was time to put it all behind her. Maybe this was going to get Harry out of her system once and for all.

But she could be dumb at times.

.           .           .          

Instead of coming clean to Jimmy right away, she broke down the moment she got into her bedroom. She regretted everything. The way she handled Jimmy. The way she gave in to Harry. The way she left Harry without saying goodbye.

What was she thinking? She was too young to be going through a midlife crisis but she was at an age where she needed to grow up and start making big girl decisions. Settle down with a good man. Jimmy was surely that man. A normal guy. Someone in her league. But maybe she so easily gave in to Harry because Jimmy still had his dating profile active and that stayed with her in the back of her mind. Their casual dating relationship meant they were allowed to see who they wanted.

But Harry was… There was something there. Something else that she didn’t have with Jimmy. That she wasn’t sure she’d ever have. But that was why she needed to cut it out with the famous man. He was famous. He was exceptional in so many ways and there was simply no way he’d feel for her what she felt for him. He was too good to be true.

The messages from both men continued through the day. She shut her phone off when she got to work. She just couldn't face it. Couldn’t deal with it. Tomorrow. She’d figure it out tomorrow. Explain everything to Jimmy and to Harry. Harry would be okay. She knew he would be. He’d probably felt relief that she didn’t stay in fact. Made it easier for him so he didn’t have to break it to her that that should be their last time together. Though, she hadn’t read any of the messages he sent (she simply couldn’t bring herself to) she was sure he would be the easy one to deal with. Jimmy, though… She hoped he’d forgive her. But she knew she needed to call it off with Jimmy as well. Nice enough, a great guy for just about anyone. But maybe not for her. Especially not when she couldn’t stop comparing him to Harry. So she’d made up her mind. She’d call Jimmy the following day and sort things out with him. Tell him they had a good run and then that would be that.

But sometimes things in life don’t always go as one imagines. Do they?

With her phone shut off, she had missed the calls and the subsequent texts from both men. She had not realized that they’d both texted her that they were going to be waiting for her at her house when she got home because they needed to talk. She had not imagined pulling up to her little rented bungalow to see three men standing in her front yard.

There was Brad, mediating the whole scene, standing between the two men she’d been ignoring for the entirety of the day.

Then there was Jimmy with a red face and posture that told her he was feeling quite insecure about something. Of which she was sure she had a good idea.

And there was Harry. Pacing. With his hands in his hair and his mouth moving as he said something that had him excited.

The three men suddenly stopped as she pulled in front of the house. All three sets of eyes on her. She had been avoiding simply responding to them. Assuming she’d have time to get her thoughts together. But now she had no choice. She was being forced to confront them.

Harry began to walk toward her car first. But then Jimmy followed too. Both men spoke to one another animatedly as she opened the door.

“Nahh… back off man,” Harry spoke to Jimmy but kept his eyes toward Y/n.

“No. I’m not going to back off…” Jimmy quickened his pace when he noticed she’d gotten out of her car.

“Y/n…” Brad spoke over the two bickering adults, “You probably have some explaining to do to these two. Do you mind taking over here?”

“I… yeah. Of course. I’m so sorry, Brad.” She looked between the three men as Brad waved and walked back into the house.

Jimmy’s face was bright red, “Y/n, tell him we’ve been dating. He seems to think you are his girlfriend.”

Looking at Harry she opened her mouth to respond but stopped at the insinuation that Harry implied she was his girlfriend.

Girlfriend?

Stepping into her yard Harry stood in front of her and then Jimmy next to him both men looking at her in question.

“Uh… I’m… I don’t know what to say. I’ve been dating Jimmy,” she gestured at the man and looked at Harry, “but we’re not exclusive, and then… Well, I saw Harry last night,” she stuttered her words. Her heart was pounding. She was not looking like a good person in this situation. But it was too late now.

“I don’t care that you were dating someone. What happened between us last night… that meant something to you. Didn’t it?” Harry spoke as he gently brushed his fingers against hers, a little spark of life, a signal that he was there and she was safe with him.

She was a bit stunned by all this. Hadn’t expected Harry to say that. Hadn’t expected to see both men in her yard, apparently arguing over her.

“But we’ve been dating for almost 2 months. I think she and I have something special. And I know we haven’t specifically said we were exclusive but–“

“Well, I’ve known her for nearly… what 5, 6 months now?” Harry looked at her as he spoke.

Y/n stood still looking from Harry to Jimmy who continued, “So what is it? Are you with me or are you with him? I didn’t know you were dating someone else.” He was flustered. In comparison to Harry, he was not calm nor gentle.

“I… I’m sorry,” She shook her head and felt her face grow hot and her head dizzy. She was embarrassed.

There wasn’t anything else to say. Except that she was sorry. She really had liked Jimmy. But with the way she folded so fast with Harry, she knew she didn’t like Jimmy as much as she assumed. Because all Harry had to do was say a few nice things to her to get her back to his place and in his bed. She was a weak bitch. What could she say except sorry?

“Look. I’m sorry. Both of you. I have some explaining to do and I was going to… but why are you both here?”

“I came here to talk about this morning with you, Y/n. You left without goodbye and didn’t respond to my texts,” Harry spoke first.

“And you didn’t text me back last night when I thought we were making plans. I was worried about you.”

Blinking her eyes she realized without a doubt, that she was the heavy here. The rotten one. This was all her fuckup. Both men came to find her because she’d blown them both off. Ran away from her problems.

But she fully intended on being truthful. She just needed a minute.

“Fuck.” She cursed and ran a hand through her hair. “I was going to talk to you both. I just… I don’t know. I felt bad that I flaked out on you, Jimmy. I was never going to meet up with you last night after work and I should have told you that off the bat. And I was going to tell you but then I saw Harry and… I just felt guilty so I figured I’d apologize later.”

“That’s… kind of fucked up, Y/n,” Jimmy said as he put his hands on his hips.  

She nodded and looked at him. He was upset, “I know. I’m sorry.”

“And so you didn’t want to come see me last night because of him?” He gestured toward the man standing to his left.

Shaking her head she looked from Jimmy to Harry, “No. Before I even realized Harry was at the restaurant for dinner I planned on just going back home after my shift. I just never got around to telling you that. I didn’t want to see you last night.”

“But you went back to Harry’s house?” Jimmy asked.

She sighed, nodding, “Yes. I didn’t plan on it. It just happened.”

The silence was all-consuming. Y/n didn’t want to look at Jimmy’s disappointed face any longer so she glanced at Harry whose energy was opposite of Jimmy's. He was all soft eyes with a gentle expression. Comforting. She smiled at him. He felt safe.

“Okay. Fair enough,” Jimmy spoke suddenly, “So that’s it? Should I expect to hear from you again or…” he shrugged and looked at her hoping to hear something that gave him anything to hang on to.

Should he expect to hear from her? She liked him. She really did. But she could see it now that she didn’t like him enough. Even if perhaps she and Harry didn’t wind up together, the way she fell into Harry’s bed so easily and the way she lit up at Harry’s smile in that moment. The way he made her feel… it was over with Jimmy. She’d never feel that way with him.

“I think that’s it. Yeah. I’m sorry, Jimmy. I’m not sure what I was thinking but… I think this has run its course. I’m sorry,” she shook her head at the whole situation. She felt awful. Jimmy had been nothing but kind. But she just wasn’t feeling it she guessed. Not when she was feeling so much more with Harry.

She watched Jimmy walk away to his car and felt Harry’s hands pull at hers, “It meant something. Didn’t it?”

Looking up at the tall man in confusion she responded, “What?”

“Last night. I know you left without saying anything but now I get it. You were feeling guilty about that bloke. Right?”

Swallowing thickly she nodded, “Yeah… I just… I don’t know why I went back with you but it felt natural and this morning I was overwhelmed with guilt and didn’t really know what you wanted. You know?” She raised her brows and continued, “You’re… you. You’re Harry Styles. I’m just… me. Felt like I was playing some silly game with myself that was just gonna get me hurt.”

Harry’s hands cupped her face softly, “No games. I like you a lot. Couldn’t stay away from you. Last night felt like the beginning of something really special and I hoped you felt it too.”

She stayed silent as she looked into his eyes. His warm hands on her skin felt soft and tender. His thumbs grazed her cheekbones and she felt it. She did. She knew exactly what he meant. To hear him say it, though…

“I need to know what that means for you. Because, yeah. I felt it. I just don’t want to get hurt, Harry. You’re gonna go back on tour and you’ll see your ex and some other woman and I’m gonna get left behind again–“

“My ex? I didn’t see my ex. Nor do I have plans for that,” he laughed softly as he spoke.

“Well, I mean… I did see her post about crossing paths with someone and that cross necklace,” she shook her head and felt silly for even bringing it up as she looked at the expression on Harry’s face.

“She called me and I answered. She thought that meant something but really it was just me being nice. I don’t miss her at all. Have no intention of seeing her again on any level.”

She nodded at his words, “And the pretty woman that was with you on tour. Lots of rumors there too. Which is fine! You’re totally allowed to see other–“

Harry pulled her in close, stopping her mid-sentence, “She’s a friend. Someone I trust who I can vent to and confide in. She gave me lots of advice about you, angel. Told me to go after you. Told me she hadn’t seen me so excited about anyone ever before. I couldn’t stop talking about you.”

“So, you never slept with her?”

Harry shook his head and fit his fingers between hers, blinking softly, “Never. I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

Now she felt really bad. He’d been missing her and thinking of her all the while she was off with Jimmy trying to erase Harry from her mind, “I had no idea. I’m sorry that I didn’t… I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. I admit, I didn’t try hard enough to stay in touch. That’s on me. But I don’t want that to ever happen again.”

“But now you must really think I’m trash. After all that?”

Harry shook his head, squeezing her hand, “Not at all, angel. I want to be with you. Don’t want you with anyone else, though,” he laughed, “And I’m not gonna think about whatever you had going on with that guy because you were just trying to get to know someone else. You thought it was over with us. But I don’t want it to be over. I want it to be me and you.”

She stood stunned. She just hadn’t expected any of this but it was more than she could have hoped for. She genuinely thought she’d misread all the signs. Yes, last night it felt like intimacy and deep connection but figured that was all coming from her end. She had tricked herself into believing he didn’t feel the same.

“Well? What do you think? Would you want to be my girlfriend? Make it official?”

She swallowed the grit down her throat and blinked her eyes at Harry. It all felt like a dream. Surely it was a dream.

“I do want that. So much, but…” she shook her head just as Harry grinned wide.

“So you’re my girlfriend now?”

Y/n puffed out a laugh and nodded, “I guess so. Yeah.” She couldn’t tamper her smile.

Harry released one of her hands and gently held the back of her neck as he leaned down to kiss her. And just like every other time her lips connected with his, she felt flushed and buzzy. Her skin prickled with excitement. Her sinuses burned as she held back stupid tears.

But she needed to say something else. And if this fiasco had taught her anything it was that she needed to be better at communicating.

Parting from the kiss, Harry kept her in his arms as she tilted her head to look up at him, “But what happens when you leave again, Harry? To another city? Another country? What does that mean for us?”

He brought his lips to her forehead before looking down at her again, his crystalline green eyes taking her in. He inhaled a deep breath, a serious expression on his face suddenly that had Y/n worried about the next words he was going to speak, “Come with me.”

He squeezed her closer if that were possible and she opened and closed her mouth a few times, shocked at his words and at what was happening. It was crazy, wasn’t it? To just leave everything behind and travel with Harry wherever he went? Surely this was just a beautiful dream she’d be waking from at any minute.

Harry shook his head and the edge of his pink lips quirked up on one side, “I won’t take no for an answer.”

A/N: This is the last part of this series! What did you guys think? Would you like to see some more of these two? Thank you so much for reading!

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[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Did they ever tackle how the other dorm leaders reacted to the whole anemone issue during the Octavinelle arc? Like i know Riddle wasn't happy when he found out that ADeuce got into a contract with Azul and have to serve him since they failed to complete their deal but I dont think we got Leona's reaction to what happened to his dormmates since Im pretty sure I saw Savanaclaw npcs among the anemones. Like were they unaware or did they decide "let them face the consequences"?

Nope, we pretty much only have Riddle and Leona’s perspectives on the anemone incident of book 3. I’m pretty sure the other dorm leaders were not ignorant about what had happened; Azul had 225 students out of a school of 800ish under his thumb, which would significantly impact the school’s ecosystem and would be hard to ignore. Besides, what dorm leader would ignore anemones suddenly sprouting on their students’ heads and NOT get to the bottom of things?

It’s not too hard to imagine that the other dorm leaders were none too pleased to find out the news but also didn’t intervene for whatever reason (be it “they deserve to face these consequences”, knowing that they can’t do anything about it, etc.). In all likelihood, it was probably done out of convenience for the writers and/or to keep the story centered on the initial characters. At this point in the main story, we haven’t met characters relevant to other dorms (like Epel in Pomefiore), so we’d really feel little attachment seeing generic mob students suffering as Vil chides them or whatever. We can still get emotionally invested because our personal friends, Adeuce and Grim, are in dire straits.

Of course, Riddle was NOT happy with the circumstances (how dumb do you have to be to make a contract with Azul?). According to Deuce in 3-7, he was scolded and made to write a paper to reflect.

Leona’s opinion, meanwhile, is moreso implied. In 3-16, he says that anyone that would willingly and repeatedly make contracts with Azul are stupid. Leona has also made deals with Azul, but it always came at a steep cost to himself so he tries to do so sparingly. However, Leona also continuously characterizes those who get suckered as “dumb” and “dim-witted”, implying he does not think highly of those who fall for Azul’s schemes. This leads me to think that Leona’s feelings err on “you made your bed, now go lie in it”.

But!! I think it’s possible that Leona’s motivation to dust Azul’s contracts threefold: eliminate his own contract with Azul, help Yuu and co. out (because they’re annoying him, lol), AND to free his (idiot) dorm members from Azul’s clutches. We’ve seen Leona act very similarly “selfless” (while operating to achieve his own goals) in book 2, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he continued this plotting in other books.

One thing I noticed while reviewing book 3; there are only anemone’d students from FOUR of the dorms: Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, Scarabia, and Pomefiore. Octavinelle, Ignihyde, and Diasomnia students were not reaped.

Now, it’s possible that this occurred due to limited game assets, as a similar issue occurred with the game showing beastmen mobs only in Savanclaw and in no other dorm. However, the manga debunked this quickly by showing beastmen in Heartslabyul and humans in Savanavlaw. I therefore decided to consult the manga to see if I could find Octavinelle, Ignihyde, or Diasomnia mobs among Azul’s anemones.

The Episode of Octavinelle manga depicts many mob students also indebted to Azul. It wasn’t that helpful since the pages are in black and white, making it difficult to know which dorms they belong to. However, we do see that Ignihyde students were anemone'd:

Do you think Azul didn’t bother with his own dorm members to maintain the image of being a trustworthy and kind dorm leader/senpai? Maybe the Diasomnia kids were too strong-willed to fall for his schemes? Or perhaps they really are among the count of anemones, but just not shown clearly in the game/manga. (I can’t see Azul passing up the opportunity to get more clients indebted to him, regardless of dorm affiliation, since getting enough students of one dorm under him could grant him leverage with the dorm leader to get them back www)

[badbatchposts]

Quiet Corners of the Galaxy, Ch. 20

Fic Teaser: While on a routine mission for Cid, the Bad Batch encounter a woman fleeing from the Empire. Crosshair suspects her seemingly free-spirited, nomadic existence is actually a cover for something else, but struggles to keep his attraction toward her in check as their personalities and ideals clash.

Relevant tags/content warnings: Crosshair/Original Female Character, Slow Burn, Enemies to Lovers, Periodic Smut, Canon-Typical Violence, Alcohol Use

Read the full fic so far on AO3

Read previous chapters on Tumblr: Ch. 1 l Ch. 2 l Ch. 3 l Ch. 4 l Ch. 5 l Ch. 6 l Ch. 7 l Ch. 8 l Ch. 9 l Ch. 10 l Ch. 11 l Ch. 12 l Ch. 13 l Ch. 14 l Ch. 15 l Ch. 16 l Ch. 17 l Ch. 18 l Ch. 19

Chapter 20 summary: Dara comes to on the Marauder, but her interrogation doesn't go as planned.

When Dara came to with a groan several hours later, the first thing she noticed was the rhythmic whirring of the Marauder’s hyperdrive. The second thing was how unamused Hunter looked.

“Start talking,” the Sergeant growled. She was sure he was used to that expression and tone being intimidating.

Dara said nothing. Instead, she tested the tightness of the binders that held her wrists behind her back and examined her surroundings. The cargo hold, which had served as her bedroom for weeks, was now their interrogation room. They would want to keep her as far away from the nav computer as possible—if they were still planning on going to Rex’s base, they didn’t want her knowing their destination. She wasn’t entirely sure why they would even risk bringing her with them, but the Batch often did things she didn’t wholly understand. In fact, she wasn’t sure why they had let her stick around for so long in the first place. Or why Crosshair had gone out of his way to intervene when the Imperials almost had her.

Speaking of which. Hunter and Tech were the only two in the hold with her, which gave her some relief—if it had been the sniper, she didn’t think an ex-Imperial would have as many qualms about what methods he used to get the information they were looking for.

Especially now that she’d learned the truth about him, that slimy—

“We are aware that you are working with Saw Gerrera,” Tech put forward. Dara remained impassive. She wasn’t sure what had given her away. Maybe Rex had finally remembered her, from when he’d trained them to fight back against the droids all those years ago on Onderon. She had risked a lot on the idea that he would have forgotten her by now, but even back then she had always kept a low profile, merging into the background, never standing out, and their contact had been minimal.

Hunter was now taking his turn. Dara wondered idly if they had practiced who would be good cop and who would be bad cop, or if they had just naturally fallen into their roles.

“We haven’t always seen eye to eye with Saw, but it’s a low blow for him to spy on us. Which means we aren’t feeling very kindly toward his spy. Especially after you shot Wrecker,” the Sergeant threatened darkly.

She rolled her eyes, finally deigning to respond. “It was on stun. He didn’t even go down. I doubt he has so much as a headache. I didn’t have to use stun blasts, you know.”

“I believe you did,” Tech replied. He was far less hostile than his brother, his eyes gleaming with something like intrigue behind his goggles. “Because you wish to be our ally. In fact, we could consider this to be an information exchange. As you are already aware, Rex has been organizing to help free and protect our fellow clones from the Empire. And as we are aware, your own organization likely has intelligence that could aid us in that endeavor.”

Dara clammed up again. Hunter leaned toward her, his eyes deadly. “Or, if you don’t want to talk, we could send Crosshair in here and see how things go then. Your choice. I’ll let you think about it.” The Sergeant exited the cargo hold, closing the door behind him, while Tech remained—to keep watch over her, she supposed.

She doubted Hunter would really let Crosshair do anything to her. Despite what happened with the Jedi, the clones had a code of honor.

Well. Most of them.

They sat in silence for a few moments, Tech working diligently on something on his datapad, before Dara spoke up.

“You shouldn’t be contacting Rex via holo. It’s bad infosec. Too easy to trace.” When she had first seen Rex’s face appear in the Marauder, she hadn’t just been surprised to find he was still alive; for most of their subsequent meeting she had been convinced the Empire was minutes from barging down their door. With the clones inside the warehouse, she had even taken up a position on the roof so that she would be able to warn them the moment any Imperial ships arrived.

Tech glanced at her, scoffing. “Perhaps for your organization. I encrypted and secured all communications for Rex myself.”

“Hmm.” Dara couldn’t help herself from looking a little impressed, and Tech took the opportunity to see if he could press her further.

“You have more stringent security protocols in your group?” he inquired. She didn’t reply, setting her mouth into a stubborn line, so he continued. “We are familiar with your use of the smugglers’ sub-space communications array on Ord Mantell. It is risky to put yourself in a situation where you rely on the discretion of criminals, but I suppose you do not have the capacity to replicate these set-ups on as many planets as would be necessary to make the network viable.”

He was right. It was a dilemma she had agonized and debated over, but ultimately they had decided it was the safest among a litany of risky options for their field agents to check in regularly. And, of course, there were the ways she had devised to make it safer.

The ways she had just ignored in her urgency to discuss the clones with Saw. But they shouldn’t have been able to listen in, not unless they were monitoring everything that passed through the smugglers’ comm network.

Then again, this was Tech. Maybe she shouldn’t put it past him.

When Dara remained silent, Tech shrugged and returned to his datapad, no doubt researching as much about Saw’s group as he could access to help him start filling the gaps. They knew too much already, in her opinion, but they would not be finding out more from her.

A few moments later, Tech peered up at her again. “You should know that, when we arrive, you will be left with Crosshair, as Hunter has stated. I will instruct him not to harm you, but as you are no doubt aware, his attitude toward you is extraordinarily hostile, and has only worsened upon confirming his suspicions. It may be best to speak with me before this occurs.”

Dara narrowed her eyes. Her voice betrayed every ounce of the violence and rage she had been repressing since she learned from Saw that Crosshair had been responsible for the death of her fellow rebel—her friend. Shot point blank, and the civilians she had been evacuating massacred.

“If you leave me alone in a room with that Imperial scum, only one of us is walking out,” she warned.

Behind his goggles, Tech’s eyes softened with sympathy.

“Dara… Crosshair’s actions against your comrades were terrible. But they were not his own. The inhibitor chip in the brain of all clones activated for him. We lost him for a long time. He was controlled, compelled to follow orders. It is very difficult for Crosshair to acknowledge his emotions—but I know he regrets it. I know he is sorry.”

Dara liked Tech, truly. She liked the whole Batch, with one obvious exception. But at that moment, she wanted to knock his lights out. She didn’t want his pity.

She looked away from him, resting her head back against the wall.

“Sorry won’t bring them back.”

***

Dara rotated her neck, trying to relieve the ache in her shoulders from sitting for so long with her wrists bound behind her. With the ship having just powered down upon landing, she was straining her ears to hear any activity out in the hallway that would give her a hint as to the Batch’s plans, but of course they knew better than to discuss them within earshot.

She had known this was a bad idea.

Her last mission had been a bad idea from the very beginning, in fact. Sneaking into an Imperial facility was always a bit of a risk, and going undercover for weeks with no backup ready to extract her if things went south was even worse. But she was used to working alone, and there had been no one else to spare for this operation.

She couldn’t arrive in her own ship either, had to leave it hidden near a spaceport and take a commercial transport to avoid suspicion when she began a position as a clerical worker under the vice-governor of some Force-forsaken desert planet. But she bided her time, familiarized herself with the facility, got the data they were after.

It had all gone fine, up until the moment she’d been caught in the act.

She’d barely made it to the hangar and onto a shuttle, and not without effort or injury. Only to crash-land right into another fever-wasp’s nest, barely getting out of it—surviving only thanks to that kriffing asshole.

She knew she should’ve just hopped on a transport back to her ship when they arrived at Ord Mantell, whether the Empire might have tracked it down or not. It was always pushing it, sticking with them for as long as she did, especially since Crosshair had been suspicious from the very beginning. But she had to lay low for a while anyway, and she thought that if she could recruit them somehow, find the clone network she had been hearing about, they’d mean everything for the cause. They were all good at what they did, she couldn’t deny that.

Even that asshole. If only she’d known he had been Imperial, if she’d known from the beginning what he’d done, she could’ve taken him out and disappeared before this whole thing got out of hand.

Speak of the sand demon—the cargo hold door opened to reveal the sniper, looking, even more than usual, like someone had pissed in his breakfast.

Maybe she’d still get her chance.

Dara schooled her expression into passivity as Crosshair approached. It was not an easy task; in normal circumstances she was a durasteel wall, blank, impossible to read. But her time with the Batch had challenged her. More specifically, he had challenged her, getting better and better at provoking a reaction. And now, she felt her righteous anger seething under every inch of skin as she was faced with him again.

Jolla’s killer. Her friend, gone, at the flash of a blaster. His blaster.

Crosshair’s eyes glittered dangerously, and Dara could imagine him doing it so easily. He was cold.

He was also still so painfully attractive, a small, traitorous part of her reminded. Her heart was beating fast, and she had to suppress a shiver, both reactions that, she insisted to herself, had everything to do with the danger she was in, and nothing to do with the memory of him crowding into her as she perched atop that crate only a rotation earlier. It didn’t matter that she no longer had that sort of reaction when under threat—not since early in the war.

Keep it together, she reminded herself. She could get out of this.

Finally, the sniper spoke. “I knew all along you were trouble, burk’yc.” His voice was a coiled whisper, a rock viper preparing to strike.

Should she rise to the bait or continue with the silent treatment? Dara knew that silence was often the prudent choice in an interrogation, but she had also learned that Crosshair’s presence kept her from acting rationally. In lieu of answer, she strained at her binders, focusing on the way they dug into her wrists, letting the pain ground her.

She was seated against the wall, and Crosshair’s tall, thin frame loomed over her. His gaze raked along her body, lingering for a moment on the binders. He leaned over and tucked one slender finger under her chin, tilting her face up until she met his eyes defiantly.

He smirked. “Although I can’t deny how much I like seeing you bound and at my mercy.”

The roles were reversed so quickly that he didn’t even see how it happened.

While Crosshair was distracted with his gloating—no doubt planning something heinous, Dara thought—she had found her contingency plan tucked behind a loosened panel in the wall behind her: a hidden vibroblade. In a single motion, never breaking eye contact, she had sliced her binders apart, leaping to her feet and pressing the edge to Crosshair’s neck. She backed him against the wall, watching his pupils widen as she allowed the knife to break the skin ever-so-slightly.

“Some of the others in our group think I’m paranoid, you know,” Dara began conversationally. “But it’s not paranoid to always have a back-up plan. Or two. Or three.”

Crosshair got over his momentary shock, glaring at his change in fortune. She could see in his eyes how he immediately set his mind to working at a way out of it, and she knew she had to be careful—he had enough height and weight on her that if she gave an inch, he could easily overpower her.

“Does Saw think that?” he growled. “He must have so little faith in you. Hasn’t he seen how good his little spy is at playing the whore?”

Dara laughed, full-bellied laughed at him. “You can do better than that pathetic attempt at riling me up. But I guess I shouldn’t expect much from Imperial filth.”

The sniper bared his teeth. “I’m not with the Empire.”

Dara leaned even closer. He could feel her hot breath on his face, and the knife stung a bit deeper into his skin. “You did plenty of damage while you were,” she hissed. “Do you even remember any of their faces, or have there been too many to keep track?”

Crosshair broke eye contact, his anger and bravado gone in a pained instant. He had known his actions would catch up with him one day, and now they were finally coming back to haunt him—at knifepoint, no less.

“I remember,” he croaked.

“Do you?” Dara spat out. “Do you remember the elderly? The children? My friend—” She broke off for a moment, took in a shaky breath. “You don’t even know what I’ve lost.”

They were both silent for a moment, breathing heavily, before Dara gained control over her grief and resumed her venomous tirade. “You’re not going to defend yourself, then? Blame it all on the chip, maybe? Say how sorry you are? Beg for your life?”

The sniper’s amber eyes snapped back to hers, and she immediately wished they hadn’t. She recognized the ache in them too easily.

“Go ahead and kill me,” Crosshair stated plainly. His gravelly voice began as a whisper, but gained in strength as he continued. “On Onderon it was the chip. But I still…deserve it. I did the same thing to plenty more…even after I had the chip out.”

This sudden admission had thrown Dara off, but Crosshair was no longer aiming to catch her by surprise or wriggle out of the situation. He had avoided thinking about it for so long, but now the floodgates were open, and he couldn’t stop as he heard the words spill out, tinged with desperation.

“You don’t know what it’s like, not to be in control. I remember all of their faces. I watched myself do it like my body wasn’t my own anymore. I tried to kill my own squad, my brothers. And when the chip was finally gone, I kept going. As if—as if doing the same things of my own free will would help convince me it was my choice all along.” He was begging now, but not for his life, or even for forgiveness. “So it was my fault. I deserve it. Kill me.”

Crosshair still didn’t look away as he waited. All he could think of was the irony, that the vengeance he was owed would finally be brought down upon him by her, of all people. The one he’d saved.

Dara eased up a little on the knife, but not enough for him to move. It was hard to read her turbulent expression, myriad emotions all flaring up and gone in seconds, like a series of flashbangs.

“I’m no executioner,” she finally choked out. “Not like the Empire. Not like you.”

With her free hand, she reached behind him to another panel in the wall and found her second contingency. He almost welcomed the darkness when it hit him.

Tag list: @stardusthuntress @skellymom @megmegalodondon @somewhere-on-kamino @morerandombullshit @zahmaddog

Thanks again to @cloneflo99 for the amazing banner!!!

Next chapter

[catiuskaa]

new task: valentine’s day (ACTS)

A/N: reposting by acts! [see full version here]. wanted to see if this format works better (and yes i will squeeze everything in this one right here cause its amazing and i 100% worked my ass off on it)

PAIRING! seungmin x reader ; enemies/rivals2lovers!

SUMMARY: boring classes, boring classmates, boring assignments…to seungmin, everyone is boring even if he’s used to pretend otherwise, but you seem to get on his nerves. you, your stupid poem, and his stupid letter.

WC: 3.150k

CW: fluffy comfort, use of spanglish (not relevant to the plot, dw), use of text format, the reader is stupidly short (which i know all about), academic rivals, bad student reader x good student seungmin, mentions of the unability to deal with complicated feelings, mentions of masking feelings, slight hint of bullying, mentions of being followed, (pet)names: little one, shortie, shortcake, smallable, pretty, hyunjin as a walking therapist, and the ending is kind of a reference to a show i'm obsessed with (not gonna say it so i don't spoil it for you guys hehehe)

|PROLOGUE| |ACT 1| |ACT 2| |ACT 3|

[☆★🌷★☆]

{ACT 1: NOT A LOVEFOOL… YET}

To be in the same class group than him was slightly tolerable.

Is what you’d like to say if you were in a good mood. But it wasn’t the case.

You were mad. As fuck.

“I just need you to give it a chance,” Miss Fernández stated once more, and you had to hold back to not roll your eyes at her.

“But Miss. I know that this subject is difficult and that he could, uh, help me out with the project,” you muttered reluctantly, because on normal circumstances, you wouldn’t go as far as to let Kim Seungmin help you with chemistry. Not ever.

You weren’t in need of help that desperatly.

And that was a fact, not a matter of ifs, buts, or maybes. That was an absolute. Something that lovely-yet-not-so-much teacher Lucía Fernández, spanish accent and all, was not getting.

“Listen. We both know that your grade is the best I can offer considering your behaviour in my class, despite of your average knowledge of the subject. And in this case, I am offering to set that aside if you work on these following assignments with your classmate Seungmin.”

Her harsh tone was also an absolute, and that made you clench your jaw. You blamed Lucas for her attitude towards you —after all, that one accident with a Bunsen Burner had been mostly his fault—, but you breathed in, trying to offer your most pity-inducing grin.

Judging by her glare, it wasn’t working.

“Miss, I—”

“I’m sorry.” She didn’t look like she was. “It’s my last word. And I think that after coming three days to my office on each of your free periods, this is getting a bit tiring.” She sighed, adjusting her glasses by a soft push of her finger.

Nope. She definetely wasn’t sorry.

Witholding a groan you left her office, and huffed as the door closed behind you, swiftly heading to meet your group of friends when they got out of their Biology lesson in other building within the school grounds.

It was a chilly evening, maybe not too much from what one could expect for the first week of February, still one that made you hide your face in your scarf and you hands in your jacket pockets.

You settled your headphones where they belonged, humming to the music to hold back the need to rant and rave against your chemistry teacher, when your phone dinged.

< henry li🫧: everything ok? saw you in lucifer’s office rn

< henry li🫧: did you do smth again? you cheekyyy 🙊

You gingerly laughed, and started typing out your answer, when, out of nowhere, you bumped against someone, making all of the books that they were carrying fall down of their grasp.

You pursed your lips, then pressed them in a thin line. Staring at their— his back, you saw that his backpack was almost empty. Why the fuck would he carry all of his books on his hands then?

The guy had quickly bent down to get his books back, and you followed too, taking your headphones off and quickly trying to prevent the papers from getting wet because of the floor, that was damp from the rain before, when your hands softly brushed against each other, still, you forced yourself to ignore it.

“I’m so…” the word dissapeared in your mouth.

“It’s ok, don’t… oh.” He blinked, his face showing nothing. For fuck’s sake.

Why did it always have to be him?

He swiftly took all of the things from you, as if your touch could be worse than the wet floor. You frowned, feeling a cold shiver trail up your spine, and you crossed your arms in front of you, struggling to seek some warmth.

“Watch it, little one.” He mocked with a light smirk. “I might accidentally step on you one day.”

You looked at him through your eyelashes. What. An. Idiot. You passed a hand through your hair, chuckling dryly.

“I-,” you sighed, shaking your head sideways. “Nah, you know what? I don’t have time for this crap.” You smiled at him widely, full of sarcasm.

But just when you were about to leave, you felt a tug at your sleeve, the fabric of your shirt not thick enough to hide the warmth of Seungmin’s grasp on your forearm. You frowned, confused at the lack of any uncomfortable feelings because of it. There was none, but rather a need to cover yourself with it and wear it like a jacket.

“Did you fix it?”

You blinked, trying to get your brain to focus on his words.

“Huh?”

He rolled his eyes, but his hand didn’t move an inch. “You said you were going to talk to Miss Fernández so we wouldn’t be partners, which is, well, so mature, congratulations,” he tsked, but then continued. “But did it work?”

You licked your lips and swallowed, your throat feeling dry. What was going on? You needed to focus.

In a harsh motion, you moved your arm away from his grasp. You forced yourself to ignore how your skin missed it.

“I… no. She settled. You- I mean… we…” the word felt awkward when it rolled off your tongue.

We? There was no such thing in between Seungmin and you. No we, no us, no nothing. And it was like that for a reason. One that you had almost forgotten with how softly his slender and warm hand had been holding your forearm. Ugh.

As you struggled to say those infamous words, your phone dinged again, and you mumbled a short “oh, wait,” and unlocked it.

< henry li🫧: leaving me on read, shortcake?

Seungmin stared at your phone, shoving his hands on his pockets when he saw you smile at the bright screen. He bit his lower lip. He hadn't taken all of his stuff out of his backpack just for this.

“So,” he licked his lips, and it almost shocked you the sudden roughness on his tone and demeanour. “Chemistry is easy. We can meet up on Friday in the public library. An hour or two should be enough, even for someone with a fun-sized brain like yours.” He chuckled meanly, the motherfucker.

Ever since that stupid text from him, you had made it your mission to surpass him, or at least reach his level, and to be honest, you were even succeding in some cases, like philosophy, art history, spanish, technical drawing and business studies. But Chemistry?

Chemistry would always kick you in the ass.

Before you were able to come up with a comeback for his stupid snicker, the bell rang, and you felt an arm laying its weight on your shoulders.

“Smallable!” Lucas laughed, then realized that you were talking to a certain someone and ful Ty ly gasped. “Oh my god. Are you two finally dating and I interrupted— AH!” He was interrupted by your elbow hitting his side. Noa and Atenea chuckled behind him.

“No. Seungmin was just leaving.” You huffed with a frown, but then you smiled, almost excessively, like a small maniac. “Right?”

But before he was able to reply or mock you, Atenea spoke, ruining your chances of kicking him away.

“But we all have English now,” she said, and if it had been someone else, like Lucas, you would’ve stepped on his shoe or something. “We’re going to the same place, we can go together.”

Seungmin felt you stare intensively at him. He smiled at Atenea, finding that he enjoyed having you look at him, reason why he loved annoying the shit out of you.

“Sure!” He smiled politely, almost sheepishly, and you bit your lip to hold back the need to scoff at his 'obviously fake' kindness.

Because except for you, the rest of your class —heck, probably the rest of the school— were smitten with Kim Seungmin.

Top of the class, funny, kind, and cutely introverted Kim Seungmin was just a dorky student who tried to get along with everyone.

But that was wrong. And you may not have any proof aside from his mean attitude towards you and only you, but you knew it.

Seungmin had to be more than just a pretty boy with high grades, and it was only with you that he proved you right.

You stayed next to Lucas, hoping that Seungmin would at least stay with your friends and ignore you.

But to your horror, he smiled at you, a pink dust on his cheeks. “If you don’t mind?”

Oh, son of a bitch.

“No… it’s whatever.” You huffed.

Because against his dorky self, to the rest of your class —heck, to the rest of the school— you were the quote on quote “bad student.”

Troublesome, mean, class clown? Check. You laughed at teachers in class with Lucas far more than what could be ignored, the dresscode had always been more of a guide in what to wear, unlike what most students usually followed, and you may have been expelled a bunch of times.

Even if you were somewhat kind to the people in school, and even if they all knew your rivalry with Seungmin, God forbid you were mean to him.

You wouldn’t see the end of it.

And he knew it.

Bitch.

So there you were, walking to English class with your friends plus innocent Seungmin —who no one had called, not even the ghostbusters—, who was snickering and giggling with Atenea about who-gives-a-shit. Something class-related. You couldn’t be bothered to listen.

Lucas chuckled next to you.

“Careful, Spongebob.” He laughed. “Some could say you seem jealous.”

…WHAT?!

“Of… of Kim Seungmin?” You snorted. “Are you on drugs?”

He ruffled your hair. “Sure, sure, keep lying to yourself, shortie.”

Finally, you arrived to class, but before you stepped inside, Seungmin stopped you, whispering in your ear.

“Yeah, shortie.” He teased, his lips almost grazing the shell of your ear. “Don’t be too jealous. We wouldn’t want everyone to know you love me.”

His whisper would’ve been almost enticing if it weren’t for the fact that it was Kim Seungmin the man in question, and he snickered, pushing his glasses back.

But then someone cleared his throat behind you two.

“Care to sit down? I don’t have all day.” Mister Holmes grunted, carrying a monster drink and a coffe at the same time.

That mas was slightly terryifing.

You squinted at Seungmin and then walked to your place at the back of the class, hoping that your cheeks felt warm because of how the teacher had startled you and definetely not your classmate’s honey-like voice.

“Pssst. Heeey,” Noa smiled teasingly, whispering with a smirk. “Pssst. You’re blushing…!”

“Shut up!” You frowned at her, but you were unable to hold back a smile. But it was because of your friend Noa. Not Kim Seungmin.

Mr Holmes cleared his throat, and finished off his monster, throwing it to the bin.

“So. I’ve been hearing from some students in the hallways that you’re all excited for saint valentines’ day.” He stated in a strong voice, one that filled the class with little to no effort. “And sadly so, I was thinking of putting an exam that Wednesday…” he faked a sigh, and you had to hold back a laugh, contrary to the frowns and groans that appeared in your classmates faces. Pfft, what a character. “Unless… you guys want to do something in true valentines fashion.”

Mr Holmes crossed his arms, laying back on his chair, his stare cold and face lacking any kind of emotions.

“Say… any ideas, Mr… Kim?”

Seungmin sat up straight at his name being mentioned, and you rolled your eyes, holding back a mocking smirk.

“I ugh… I wouldn’t want to bother my classmates with a lot of work, sir… but maybe… maybe a writing assingment related to the topic would be… enough?” Seungmin stated, his tone soft and shy, and there was even a blush that trailed up from his neck, but he stayed staight and firm as he spoke.

“A valentine-themed task.” Mr Holmes enunciated as he pondered. “It’s a… decent idea. Any complaints?”

You felt some of your classmates’ eyes on you, and you sighed, crossing your arms in front of you, remaining silent. As long as it wasn’t an exam, you’d accept whatever.

“With that settled, I’ll upload the task online this afternoon, but it’ll have to be written by hand. Be sure to hand in a picture of your assignment on time, or your final grade will be affected.” The teacher turned on his laptop, and started taking assistance.

[☆★🌷★☆]

Time had passed dreadfully slowly, until the bell rang and Mr Holmes dissmissed all of you so everyone could leave for the day.

“A valentine-themed task.” You huffed in annoyance as you stuffed your locker with books you weren’t going to take home.

“I thought it was original.” A voice snickered lowly behind you, and you slapped your locker close, smiling at him.

“Well, Henry. It’s no surprise your taste sucks.”

You chuckled when he rolled his eyes.

“I was waiting for your reply,” he mentioned with a soft tone.

You closed your locker, and you two started walking together. “Oh, sorry, I totally forgot,” you apologized with a smile, but he brushed it off. “Yeah, I was with Lucifer earlier. She’s making me work with Seungmin for this term’s assignments.”

Henry frowned. “And we hate that guy… right…” you chuckled.

“Exactly. We don’t like him.”

“So then, don’t do it. You were going to meet him to study, right?” You nodded, smirking slightly at him.

“We agreeded to meet on Friday to start, in the library.” You added, watching his smirk widen. “What are you thinking?”

He stopped walking, smiling at you. “There’s this club that opened recently. Been wanting to go have a look. Apparently, it’s like exclusive and shit. And it’s Friday.” His light-coloured eyes shined as he looked at you. “Meet me there?”

You grinned cheekily.

“Sure. Can’t wait.”

[☆★🌷★☆]

You hadn’t noticed Seungmin on the school bus until this year.

Because he had made himself noticeable, sitting at the back of the bus, a couple seats away from you, but oh, dorky Seungmin was always friend of everyone, sheepishly starting conversation with any kinds of people in the bus, no matter the year they were in.

Before his text, you had even thought he was cute as he gingerly chatted with a group of kids who were probably starting high school.

“Is it too difficult?” A little girl asked.

And it surprised you how he turned to her and smiled, almost tugging at your heart strings, eyes like crescent moons.

“It’s only difficult if you stop trying. And we don’t give up, right?” He stated cheerfuly, and all the kids shined at his sheepish and bashful brightness, high-fiving the girl that talked to him.

You forced yourself to shove those memories to the back of your mind. That Seungmin wasn’t real. And you didn’t like him. The real him. Right?

“Oi, Kim Seungmin.” You called, as it was only you two left on the bus.

He was surprised at your call, but only side-eyed at you, lazily raising his brows, signalling that he was listening. You frowned.

See? You thought to yourself. He’s mean. He isn’t sweet, nor cute. Focus.

“What kind of lame ass idea was that?” You huffed with a mean smile. “A valentine-themed assignment.” You snorted.

His bus stop was close, so he ignored you as he picked up his coat and backpack, but you kept on talking. “You know? Hallmark office called, they want their boring clichés back,” you mocked, laughing.

Backpack on and coat hanging on his arm, he stared at you, and waited for a red light to walk to your seat.

He settled next to you, still staring at you as you chimed mean remarks about his originality and such and such.

“Anything else to mumble? I couldn’t hear you from down there.” He snorted meanly, and you were too focused on annoying him that you didn’t notice his stare at your lips as he licked his own.

You rolled your eyes. “You’re such a lame guy. He gave you the chance to choose, and you chose that piece of—?!”

His lips tasted as sweet as his voice that day with those little kids.

You felt his hand slowly creep up and cradle your face, his eyes closed as he kissed you, and slowly, your eyes closed too.

It was sweet. So sweet. But what was it? It was a flavour that you knew. Its sweetness was so familiar, but you couldn’t seem to figure out what was it.

You kissed him back, and he let out a surprised whine as you sighed, your hands, which had been frozen on his shoulders, waiting for your order to push him away, slowly followed up and remained on his face, your thumbs almost stroking his cheeks.

You wanted needed to know what he tasted like.

But it was when your hands went into his hair that he sighed too, melting under your touch, that your brain clicked.

…

what were you doing?

…

WHAT WERE YOU DOING?!

You pushed him away, and your breath hitched.

He didn’t look like fake Seungmin.

In front of you was not the innocent boy who had straight A’s and was shy enough to not be able to say no to a lot of things, who sheepishly spoke up in class, or who treated everyone with a bashful kindness that was so endearing.

This Seungmin was different. His glasses had a bit of a fog in them, his hair was all messed up, and his lips were plush, pink from your tinted gloss and slightly swollen from your kiss.

This Seungmin was a wreck, all flustered and kissable, and he looked like a mess.

But it felt real.

And for a second, you wanted to kiss him again, yearning to figure what that kiss tasted like, the word for it almost in the tip of your tongue.

He panted, struggling to catch his breath.

“Finally,” he huffed with a smile, but his dark eyes didn’t match the mocking in his tone. A small part of your mind thought that they looked prettier than any light eyes you had ever seen. “So you were able to shut up, after all.” He gulped, still panting.

He moved away from you slowly, as you remained there, frozen, like a piece of art in front of him, cheeks blushed, lips flushed and parted as your eyes stared at him, an emotion much different from this evening.

He found himself enjoying this one even more.

“Eh… T-this is my bus stop.” He muttered when the bus stopped. Maybe it wasn’t, but he didn’t care. He felt like he would have the energy to run home if needed. “I-I’ll… see you tomorrow.”

You blinked as he stood up and walked away.

What…

What had just happened?

[☆★🌷★☆]

[damagedintellect]

Nakahara Chuuya x Reader

💌 Would this be considered a social suicide? : Chapter 4 💌  

Summary: You knew it was dangerous to take walks at night but hearing the water rushing under the bridge was calming to your nerves. You didn’t imagine you’d ever fall into the river and somehow wake up in your favorite anime. The isekai that I’m sure will come back to haunt me. It’s kept me up all night but I might as well get the brainrot out.

Notes: Reader is Isekai’d into BSD, Slow to start, Chuuya is endgame but there’s a fair bit of reader & Dazai moments too, this is where the brainrot started for me this chapter is my guilty pleasure, I’m fucked 

💌 Word count: 2,753 💌  Available Chapters [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Being a non combatant was kind of nice. You mostly spent your time doing office work and or following Ranpo around like a lost puppy. Atsushi was the only one concerned over Dazai’s disappearance but it wasn’t for long, not when Kyouka joined the picture. Again you stayed out of it only dropping your two cents when absolutely necessary although that meant you missed out on the crepes. You’d have to go out on your own time to get some or if anything you could always get Ranpo or Dazai to go with you. Ranpo because he’d love to have the sweets and Dazai because then you both could skip work. Work wasn’t all that bad once you got the hang of it. Knowing things from a third person view definitely made the transition much smoother.

You were already cleaning up around the office when everyone got back to get treatment and to bring Kouyou in for interrogation. It wouldn’t be until Kunikida received the call from the president that you'd be relevant again. As you had that thought the phone rang and despite not being able to hear the other side of the conversation you remembered the gist of what was said.

“All operatives are to leave company offices and gather at the former facility”

Kunikida stopped what he was working on and looked over to who was currently around.“Do you mean your previous headquarters before you founded the agency”

“Only a select few know of that location so we should be safe. We risk being overwhelmed by superior numbers otherwise. Hold on I have visitors”

“Sir, what’s going on? Sir?” His voice wasn’t that concerned at all but you could visibly see the panic as Atsushi entered the room. “What’s wrong?” Atsushi questioned putting the boxes down.

“Something happened with the president. Ambushed maybe.” Kunikida was still very nonchalant in his demeanor. “We should go and help then-”

“I’m sure he’s fine. More importantly-”

“How can you be so calm at a time like this!”

Kunikida sighed “Try and grab hold of my hand, you’ll see why” Atsushi looked at his hand, reaching out but he was already on the floor “That was the first technique he passed down to me. I’ve never won a single match against him. He’s not going to lose against a handful of mediocre hitmen”

Kunikida then made arrangements for everyone to meet at the former facility. You were all waiting around before the president made his entrance “Listen up, the port mafia seeks to eradicate the agency. The guild seeks to usurp the agency. We must do all we can to protect ourselves from both of these foes. Dazai please continue” You were getting excited counting down the minutes for a certain slug to make an appearance. 

“You got it~” Dazai winked at you before addressing the rest of the room. He probably noticed your giddiness. “The guild has substantial financial assets and the port mafia has the benefit of numbers, so we’ll split into defensive and offensive teams and engage them in gorilla warfare. The primary goal for the defensive team is to make sure doctor Yosano is protected. As long as we don’t die outright, her healing ability can cure our injuries.”  Dazai took a pause pointing out the defensive team that consisted of you, Fukuzawa, Ranpo, Yosano, and Kenji. “The offensive team will split into two sections and will surprise the enemy using Junichiro’s mirage ability and my nullification ability. The crux of our strategy is to keep our base of operations hidden. If our enemies hit us here with everything they’ve got our defenses will never hold” he punctuated his speech with a smile. Fukuzawa made the last declaration before everyone dispersed. “Of the three organizations only one of us can survive. Our only option left is to fight. A three way war, a war of the gifted!”

Then you were left to your own devices. You spent the first part of your day taking a small nap but you were beaming with excitement. As Ranpo finished more and more of his snacks you tried to curve your enthusiasm before anyone called you out on it. You wouldn't have a good explanation of why you were chipper. 

“Man, I’m so bored! I wanna go outside.” Ranpo whined in the president’s direction. Fukuzawa was reading while he put black and white pieces on a board. You think he’s playing “Go” but you thought it was a two player game. “Any suspicious activity?”

Yosano sighed “A bunch of nothing followed by more nothing” It’s been like this for hours now.

“Luckily the only way to enter this hall is through that underground railroad tunnel. Even if an enemy does try to invade our location our security cameras will warn us well in advance.”

“We set up a fair amount of traps on the way as well.” Yosano added just before Ranpo shouted “War is so boring! I’m already out of snacks after just half a day. I know hey Akiko let’s play hanafuda online!”

She had stars in her eyes at the offer. “Okay how much do you wanna bet?

Ranpo went quiet, opening his eyes causing you to perk up from your relaxed position. Chuuya must have finally shown up on some of the cameras. You leaned over his shoulder "Let me guess they sent the short redhead with the tacky hat?" 

The events in your memory were a little fuzzy. You remember watching Chuuya so closely you forgot to pay attention to what he was saying half the time. You stood up abruptly when it finally clicked why Chuuya was actually here. You move to push Ranpo over slightly to press on the comms so that Chuuya would be able to hear your declaration. "Wait, if they sent Chuuya we need to send Junichiro, Naomi’s way now! The port mafia already threw us under the bus!" You could hear Chuuya's chuckling ring out of the speaker. "That must be the rookie Akutagawa and Higuchi were blabbering about. I was hoping I'd run into you." Chuuya held up a picture of Lovecraft and Steinbeck then flipped it over with a time and location. "Think of it this way, the guild thinks they have the upper hand, they don't know it's a trap. Technically this works out in your favor." Ranpo put on his glasses exchanging looks with Fukuzawa as you studied Chuuya on the cameras. Cocky bastard. Ranpo pushed up his glasses and nodded at the president confirming the information. That it was the truth and your comrades were in danger.

 Chuuya looked up directly at the camera to beckon you. "I was hoping to make a bigger scene but my business here is done, if you wanna come out to play I’m all yours." Gritting your teeth you try to calm down your heart rate. You planned for this but you didn’t think it would actually happen. Sure you had a feeling that in the event Higuchi and Akutagawa mentioned your ability it would interest Chuuya but there was no guarantee that it would happen. Also in this high risk high reward situation you didn’t know what to expect. Chuuya was your favorite character and this would be your only chance to make an impression. You may have already since he knew of you. You might as well take advantage of the opportunity in front of you but the voice in the back of your head is screaming that he is very capable of doing serious harm to you physically. You'd doubt he would right now because it seemed too out of character when unprovoked but he was still the enemy. You shouldn't let your guard down. The only thing going for you is that he currently wants something from you and he thinks you actually know the answer. You don’t. You’ve spent long hours on the internet rereading the light novels, manga and sifting through author’s notes and to no avail it’s never been confirmed. Although everyone and their mothers know for a fact that Chuuya is human, no one can say for certain but, and this is a big but, Chuuya doesn’t know that either. As long as you say anything with confidence people will believe you, even if you are wrong.

As everyone contacted the other teams, Chuuya tapped his foot impatiently. "I'm waiting. I could always use force if you want to do this the hard way ya know." He held up his hand, cutting the transmission to another camera. Trying to threaten you to come out.

You sigh trying not to come off as too eager. "I already know what he wants. It's personal, not mafia related. Do you guy's mind?" You look back to the president and Ranpo for approval. Fukuzawa nodded "Kenji and Yosano are on standby if anything happens."

You swallowed trying to regain some level of confidence. "Play nice and I'll give you ten minutes."

"How generous. Doubt I'll need that long~"

As you made your way down you couldn't help the way your heart was racing. When you approached he took his hands out of his pocket to tip his hat at you. "You're not exactly what I was expecting."

"Couldn’t agree more, the camera doesn't do you justice." You don't know why you said that but you act like it was intentional. With the dim lighting it should help aid masking your embarrassment. Chuuya laughed "Not so bad yourself. You know why I want to talk with you?"

"That depends on if you care if people listen to us or not." You tilted your head back the way you came slightly. 

"Balls in your court if you want to willingly follow me into the dark." He gestured behind him into the abyss. You turned to face one of the cameras "Chuuya won't try anything since I'm the only one who can answer his question so I should be fine. I'm going ahead." It wasn’t really up for negotiation. They would have to take your word. You hoped you were right. Walking up to Chuuya you could see his smirk plastered on his face. He was about an inch taller than you. You bit your lip to prevent calling him cute.

"What, not scared of me?" He questioned as he walked behind you, almost breathing down your neck. You giggled "No, in fact, I trust you more than you'll ever know." Once you were far enough you turned around meeting him eye to eye. He was shocked at your words. "That's some ability you got then.  Can't say most people do." He took another step closer. 

"Well it's a two way street since you're putting your faith in me." You challenge him, causing him to smirk.

He narrowed his eyes on you. "Tell me what you know."

"You're not gonna like it but when I look in your eyes there's a whole lot of Dazai in there."

He frowned, grumbling something under his breath but he lets you continue "I'm only half joking but the knowledge I can grasp from just looking at you ranges from your time with the sheep through when Dazai defected. And I know, real cop out not naming specifics so I'll tell you something even Dazai wouldn't have known." Chuuya rolled his eyes, crossing his arms.

"You lied to Albatross about saving Doc and I imagine the question you want me to answer is if you're really human or not."

Chuuya sighed, taking in a deep breath "If you can only sift through memories you don't know the answer then." You could hear the squeak of his gloves as he clenched his fist in disappointment.

"I said that's what I can grasp by looking at you, my ability is a real finicky thing. If you recall, I was able to pick up something about Akutagawa from being around Higuchi. If we had a more intimate relationship physically or emotionally eventually I could know the answer. Higuchi’s obsessed with Akutagawa so in turn the information I managed to pick up on was of more importance and, not, a memory at all." Hopefully your bluff sounded okay. You thought it was clever but only to an extent. It definitely wouldn't fool Dazai but Chuuya likes to give people the benefit of the doubt.

"I guess that makes sense. So what are you saying, if I want to know I should kiss you or something?" He raised an eyebrow but didn’t seem opposed to it. Would he actually do it? Of course that was the end goal of your charade but you didn't think it would actually harbor results.

"That's one way but the thing I need to stress is that I don't choose what knowledge gets pinged. If we had a connection similar to the one you share with Dazai I probably could, but we only just met and I doubt you're that desperate." You don't know why you're trying to backpedal now. Maybe you were a little scared but for drastically different reasons. What if you fucked up the kiss and made a fool of yourself? 

Chuuya took another step into your personal space "And what if I am?" He cupped your face and hovered above your lips. You froze staring back at him, eyes transitioning from being wide in shock to half lidded biting your lip. He chuckled "I'm not hearing a no." He sounded smug and you hate how much the sentence made your cheeks heat up. You were so close. One kiss would make all this isekai bullshit worth it even if you died a painful death immediately afterwards.

Instead, however, you called his bluff. For some reason you were still stalling the inevitable. "I don't think you are because otherwise you would have told Dazai to think of something else to defeat Verlaine. Yet you left without a second thought."

Chuuya tensed "That was different. I wasn't about to let that bastard have free reign of my insides. Kissing you has less consequences." He was staring at you so sure of this action. He pressed forward and you instinctively stepped backwards but your back hit the side of the tunnel. "Still, you're not trying to stop me~"

You leaned forward hesitantly letting your eyes slip shut. His lips were soft and you could feel him smirking as he moved his other hand to your waist. Oh, that seemed to change something in you as you sighed softly into his mouth. It was like fireworks were going off, a sensation that traveled across your body pooling in your stomach. Chuuya gripped your hair changing the angle to deepen the kiss as you pulled him closer. You melted against the wall when he sucked your bottom lip giving it a playful bite.

You both stopped when you heard Ranpo announce “If (Y/N)'s not back in thirty seconds we’re sending Kenji.”

He pulled away abruptly putting a few feet of distance between you coughing into his fist while hiding his face “So?” He cursed under his breath for the way his voice cracked on the word.

You pushed yourself off the wall touching your lips “I saw Rimbaud and Verlaine’s argument when they broke you out. Close but no cigar”

Chuuya sighed, turning around to walk out “Closer than I’ve been in years. I’ll be in touch.” he didn’t look back while he waved you off. You started walking but halted. You had one more thing to say. “Will you even be happy when you get the answer?”

“Who knows.” He sounded sort of melancholic but he kept walking. You should have given him a hug. Heaven knows he deserves one. You made your way back to the camera “He’s gone, I’m fine but can everyone promise me they won't tell Dazai I talked to him personally?”

As you made it back up Ranpo peered at you he still had his glasses on. That wasn't good for you. He smirked "Ah so that's why you were drawing Mr. Fancy Hat on the train."

"Yeah yeah, I'll get you any snack you want for your silence."

"Works for me!" Ranpo finally discarded the glasses and Fukuzawa shrugged. If Ranpo didn't say it was serious then it wasn’t his concern. No one else cared if you wanted it to be a secret. Kenji was confused but didn’t ask you to explain it. You were in a dreamy daze for the rest of your time underground.

<= Previous Chapter | Next Chapter =>

[pommunist]

first off i want to say you others who translated are amazing for what you did thank you so much <3

second off i’m going to add a disclaimer : i do not think quackity is absolved of fault obviously after reading that but like what im going to say is not going to focus on him really but like for clarification sake i don’t think he did no wrong but im not talking about him or that really lol, but just so i don’t get misinterpreted

a lot of this seems to be this “Boss” persons fault? and i think it’s kinda crazy that no one knows who they are and they didn’t like talk like my god who does this person think they are that they can just not tell their employees who they are? and then pull this shit? and i don’t know if there’s like a higher level of person who knows who they are (other than quackity but) so like really wild sentence im about to say - there’s no way for the employees who stayed to know who they are, so this person could still be on the team under a different name??? and not saying that everything would be solved if this person is gone or was never there, but i can’t see it getting better if they’re still there!

and more conjecture on the Boss and using stuff quackity has said about him not knowing about the payment issues, but Boss seems to be the one who caused the payment issues (unless i’m reading wrong it’s really early for me lol) so it’s not lining up??? and just for everything’s sake, if we take what quackity said was true and he wasn’t aware of the money issues i just don’t understand how at this point? i won’t outright call him a liar because i’m sure there’s a way but like still

also i HATE that the people involved with the situation keep calling things “leaks” because imo they’re not???? and this isn’t hate at the admins for saying it (because that’s the wording quackity is using, so of course they’d use it too lol) it’s mainly just like annoyance because imo they’re not leaks! leaks would be like if they were giving out exact details of the situation that are irrelevant - the “leaks” people are talking about are actual relevant and important information! MAYBE talking about some of the roleplay stuff at the start is leaks, but i think it’s outrageous to be scared of “leaks” when i think significantly less would be leaked if they just said like “hey we don’t have an answer for you yet we’re working on it” more than complete silence??? they wouldn’t have to leak information (aka say they aren’t being told shit) if they were told stuff!! like i wish i could tell the admins that they aren’t leaking things! they are speaking up about problems! downplay yourself!!!

Yeah it seems like, at least from what some of the admins said, that a big part of the problem seems to come from that one high ranked admin, the « Boss » lets call them that.

Maybe it’s not just one person, and more of a general higher ups problem, the top of the Qstudios administration is quite opaque tbh so we can’t know for sure. Obviously we don’t need to know everything about their identity but it’s weird that someone who had such a big role in the management of QSMP also was pretty much like a ghost in the company.

For the payment issues I don’t want to speculate on whether Q was aware or not cause there’s no way to know for sure. I’ll just say that it can be very easy to hide how you really use funds when the company is so poorly organised and discourage communication between the employees (be it with each others or with their managers). Easier to hide something in a messy room than in a very tidy one basically.

And finally, the « leaks » 😭. Of course you don’t want your ex employees to release things publicly, but when it’s the only way for them to communicate stuff, maybe it’s because you yourself are doing a terrible job at sharing information. Also calling it « leaks » when it’s actually people coming out with the mistreatment they endured and pointing severe issues in your company…yikes.

[i-hate-loving-nicholas]

Taylor said “people are expecting a great adaptation and it’s Alex’s film and his journey and they were expecting me to make it happen.” I see the film differently - as a love story-but that is a very clear statement from him. Maybe a lot of that came from Lopez who also tends to downplay Nick’s contributions. If Taylor put more work and effort into the movie he should say it! Based on what he had to say about working with Nick he’s probably right.

Taylor obviously loves the book and movie but I think he was probably not very enthused with Nick as a co-star. Maybe because he didn’t read the book? Maybe because he wasn’t a generous scene partner emotionally or needed a lot of takes. Taylor seems great to work with. Nick, not so much.

Okay. There’s a lot of layers in this question so I need to answer it bit by bit.

Everyone has different perspective over things they watch or read. From MY perspective both the book and movie are Alex’s story. It’s Alex’s journey we follow in realizing he’s not only physically attracted to men, but also can catch feelings. It’s Alex’s journey to prove to his parents, mainly mother, that he’s able to fly solo and doesn’t need to be over their shadow. It’s Alex’s journey to discover where he’s true passion resides and where he wants to be. 2/3 of the movie is about Alex and that’s okay because it doesn’t take away anything from Nicholas’ character Henry or his acting. I think it has been established that Nicholas portrayed Henry perfectly and very emotionally charged. I myself haven’t finished reading the book but from what I’ve read he conveyed every emotional described in the book and presented us with a great dramatization of Henry. But we need to acknowledge this is Alex’s journey because his representation also matters a great deal. He’s a queer poc character who gets to be the center of a story in a romcom and that’s really relevant.

As for Mathew downplaying Nick’s contribution to the movies, I haven’t heard anything about it. All the interviews he gave promoting the film he had nothing but praises for both actors and he even highlighted how he and Nicholas worked together to find the right rhythm for Henry. He even said that he and Nicholas come to the conclusion together how Henry was making love for the first time with a man he loved. So, I don’t see any downplaying of Nicholas’ contribution to the film.

As for Taylor been enthusiastic about Nicholas as a co star I think he was thrilled to work with him. As for all the interviews and interactions they had they seems to be very considerate and respectful to each other and were able to create a nice relationship in order to bring these two astonishing characters to life. I don’t think there’s any indication whatsoever of Taylor not liking working with Nicholas.

I’m so sorry this answer was so long but it took me a while to answer it.

#please, don’t pitch these two actors against each other #there’s room for both of them to coexist #both are really amazing at their work!

[sistermclarens]

Hungarian GP 24 Part 4: Hungary-ing for a fight

When we last left off in lap 53, Oscar was slowly gaining ground on Lando after pitting second. We skip a few laps because nothing relevant happened and pick back up in lap 56, where the atomic bomb that McLaren have been building at their pit wall finally explodes.

Laps 1-32 | Laps 33-41 | Laps 42-55 | Laps 56-70

Lap 56 aka shit hits the fan: WJ: “We need to save more tyres please, and we do want to let Oscar through.” LN: “Well you should have boxed him first then, surely no?” WJ: “Doesn’t matter.” LN: “I mean, it does. To me maybe.” Again I don’t have full radio so I don’t know what might have been said that I’m missing, but as far as I can tell, this is the first reminder that Lando has gotten about swapping since lap 48 “at your convenience.” At some points between 53-56 the broadcast wasn’t showing timing gaps, but it looks like from lap 54 on Oscar was pretty consistently around 3.4 to 3.8 secs behind Lando. He’s stuck behind lapped p17 and Lando behind p16, so they’re both in traffic. Lando hasn’t set a fastest lap since 48. Honestly what part of these last 8 laps would have been “at Lando’s convenience” for him to swap? Given the circumstances, I definitely understand his point that a McLaren 1-2 with Lando in p1 might actually be more of a benefit for the team in terms of championship points since Lando is closer to catching Max. Even if you cut it to lap 51 when Oscar got told to play catch up, he hasn’t been anywhere near close enough to Lando to make a swap without Lando slowing A LOT which Oscar specifically was told the team didn’t want to do. At this point the team should have changed strategy somehow because it’s pretty clear Oscar was not going to catch Lando unless Lando got enough tire degradation by the very end of the race. Assuming that everything has been unchanged up to this hypothetical, I think I’d argue for forcing the swap immediately since Oscar has an 8+ second lead over Lewis in p3, and Lewis is caught up in a 3 way battle with Max and Charles.

Former colony solidarity against the British and all but Oscar my dude where is your drive to survive

Lap 57 Lando’s radio: “And Lando, we still think you’re using the tyres too much at Turns 4 and 11 and the rears at exit Turn 6 and Turn 9. Oscar is 3.5 [behind] – I know you’ll do the right thing.” There is a very strong emotional message here—do the right thing for the team by letting Oscar past. Again I can understand why Lando disagrees since all of the above ^^ remains true afaik. Oscar has been hovering between 3.1 and 3.5 since the last radio to Lando. The gap from Oscar to Lewis is ~9.5. What IS the right thing for the team in this moment, teamwork or championship points? They come at the expense of the other. In my view, this is not a decision that the driver should have to make during the race—the team should be making that and just bringing the hammer down. In this case what we see is the team repeatedly signaling for teamwork, so they should just make it an order.

Lap 58, I had to look up Multi 21 to understand the reference the commentators made, but it sounds like Oscar’s mentor was famously overtaken by a teammate who disobeyed team orders to stay behind. Is the bad luck contagious or what. Lando is just ahead lapped 14 and Oscar just behind 14 so they’re slowly making their way through traffic. Lando gets another tire warning over the radio. Oscar is… running between 3.8 and 4.3 my dude you’re making it so hard to root for you 😭 commentators say Oscar needs the position or there will be a “breach of trust” in the team. Both have been willing to swap positions in the past

Lap 59 Lando radio: “Turn 4, Turn 11 – it’s going to get boring.” McLarens on either side of lapped p13 now. Commentators pretty firmly on Oscar’s side now. Oscar is losing ground to Lando pretty steadily across laps 59 and 60 but with hindsight I think this is pretty clearly Lando speeding up rather than Oscar slowing down. Based on the time gaps, I think Lando went 🖕 to the strategy and decided to make his point about being faster after the radio in lap 57. He did NOT like being told to “do the right thing”. The gap to Lewis is still ~9.4 so at least the dick measuring contest isn’t getting in the way of the race

Lap 60 commentators say McLaren team principal is cracking jokes apparently. His leadership philosophy is to monitor and observe rather than give orders. Through to lap 61 Oscar is continuously losing ground to Lando, ending up in the 4.7 range by Lando’s lap 61 radio: WJ: “OK Lando, 10 laps to go – we think both cars are using their tyres too much. Just remember every single Sunday morning meeting we’ve had.” At first I would have thought the Sunday morning comment was about future Sundays—as in, we all have to work together in the future and it’s going to suck if we hate each other. But actually based on one of those Lando interview clips you sent, I think this is a reference to PAST Sundays. Lando in interview said something about how every team meeting they reaffirm their trust in each other and in the team, so I think THAT is the reminder he’s getting here, that they have all repeatedly committed themselves to each other. McLaren team polygamy wedding vows every Sunday morning 💍 Not to say that it isn’t also a warning about future Sundays being awful, just that it is equally an appeal to Lando’s prior knowledge of and commitment to team loyalty, both carrot and stick. Of course Lando says fuck off anyways: LN: “Yeah, well tell him to catch up please.” This again in the context of both his prior radios and his later interviews makes sort of sense as “Isn’t Oscar supposed to catch me rather than me let him go?” but also as I said previously he clearly decided around lap 57 to make a show out of the whole situation. Both cars are blowing out their tires which does, unfortunately, make the message more effective: Oscar IS racing Lando AND losing to Lando. 1st confirmation since lap 56 that Oscar is in fact Driving but is still not Surviving. I fucking hate the title of that show it’s so stupid if they wanted to survive they would have a better chance if they didn’t drive

Lap 61 cis male commentators finally picked up on the fact that there are emotions involved in this discussion… ffs. Debate is whether or not this is a moment for Lando to be a team player vs Be A Man by refusing orders. All the comparisons are to previous world champs, tho, not regular teammates, so I don’t know how effective it really was as a comparison. Lando’s 1 win doesn’t really put him that far ahead of Oscar in terms of successful teammate superiority. By lap 62 Lewis is more than 11 seconds behind Oscar; Oscar more than 5 behind Lando and 5.2 by the end of the lap

Lap 63 what we've all been waiting for, Max Crashstappen does it again 😂 Anyways at the end of this Oscar is still 5.2 behind Lando and we get another Lando radio: WJ: “Lando, he can’t catch you up. You’ve proved your point and it really doesn’t matter.” LN: “He’s on much quicker tires. I mean, I would have tried to undercut anyway. If I did, I would have got more.” WJ: “Mate, we did the stop sequence in this order for the good of the team.” LN: “And I am fighting for a world championship, am I not?” WJ: “I’m trying to protect you mate, I promise, I’m trying to protect you.” Here we see what I discussed back in laps 56/57 come full circle. What IS the right thing for the team? Radio clearly thinks it’s teamwork; Lando clearly thinks it’s the championship points. They both have a fair point. What is the WRONG thing for the team is leaving Lando to make that decision by himself at 200 mph. Not making it explicit earlier that swapping is an order not a choice is biting them in the butt here. By framing it as a “lando you choose” he’s been put in an artificially bad place because from his perspective he’s being forced to choose something that’s not in his own best interest on incomplete and constantly shifting information in some kind of fucked up trust fall exercise.

Lap 64 of course the iconic “It’s childish on the radio Max”. Commentators referring to Max and Lando as pot and kettle for their attitudes. By lap 65 Oscar is down 5.7… Lando really said “I’m NOT done making my point actually” Commentators make the 1st mention of Lando possibly making a point out of turning over p1 very late in the race. By lap 66 Oscar is down 6 seconds. Genuinely a miracle that Lando’s tires survived to the end of the race given the way he’s been driving on them.

Lap 66 Lando radio: “And Lando, there are five laps to go. The way to win a championship is not by yourself, it’s with the team. You’re going to need Oscar, and you’re going to need the team.” For the first time Lando gets an explicit call from the team on WHY they’re prioritizing teamwork over the championship, because the team sees teamwork as a foundation for a championship. Of course in interviews he makes it clear that he already knew that but this I think is the first moment that he begins to recontextualize the prior instructions he’s been given during the race. Oscar radio: OP: “The longer we leave this, the riskier it gets.” TS: “Understood, Oscar, we’re managing it.” Managing it 👀 The gap to Lewis is now 14+ seconds so I’m not sure what Oscar thinks is risky about this. Risky because they’re both killing their tires? Crash potential? Lol the shot of mechanics laughing in Oscar’s garage like calm down boy your go carts are not that serious. This is the first lap in a while that we’ve gotten race shots of them; it looks like they’re back to back with not a lot of other cars around so this would be Oscar’s best chance to make up some time now that he has escaped traffic.

If I’m right about Lando starting to speed around lap 57, then based on the times there’s very much no way Oscar can pass him at this point nor in fact has there been for a while now. Lando has added about 2.5-3 seconds to his lead over Oscar since lap 57 and even before that Oscar never got closer than about 3 seconds. Yes he had a good race at the start, yes if they had pit him first he would have Lando’s original 3 second lead and could just coast on that to the finish. Yes he is allegedly killing his tires. On the other hand, both of them have been navigating through the same traffic throughout these laps but Lando has managed to double his lead. Lando you made your point 😭 the horse is already dead you can stop beating it 😭

Lap 67 track shots Lando is behind p11 and Oscar is (far) behind him. Lando radio: "A potential Safety Car now would make this very awkward. Please do it. Now.” To Oscar’s credit he has shaved off a full second of Lando’s lead in this lap alone. His tires might be in slightly better condition at this point but I don’t think it would have been enough to catch Lando if he hadn’t conceded the position. I wish they showed the lap pace of p1, that would make it easier to tell if Oscar is catching up or if Lando is just already slowing down before he reaches the straight

Lap 68 dramatic slow down in front of the grandstands 😭 making Oscar swerve out of the racing line and onto the dirty part of the track 😭 “Yeah, you don’t need to say anything.” 😭 stop stop he’s already dead 😭

In all seriousness it’s pretty clear on a that Lando obeyed the team order when it came AS AN ORDER. “at your convenience” and “we still want him to pass you” are not even close to “please do it now.” From the outside looking in it seems very much like Lando thought he was being given the leeway to make a choice, which he backs up in his interview comments. Once it was clearly Not A Choice he did follow instructions. All of the drama for both drivers could have been avoided if the team had just been clear at the pit stop that the undercut was temporary.

Lap 68 the mechanics literally biting their nails 😂 Commentators note prior team orders to race the papayas but are not sure if they still stand; understandable given that we have just had 20 laps of racing papayas. Lando between .5 and 1 sec behind through 68 and 69

Last lap Oscar finally decided to show up and got up to 2 seconds ahead of Lando. Commentators note that Lando was now in the bad air off the back of Oscar’s car. Lewis 12 seconds behind 😂 I don’t think cars have to stay in order after they pass the finish line but I definitely didn’t miss Lando moving to get RIGHT in front of Oscar as he passed after the flag

Lol comparing Charles screaming his head off at Monaco with “Well done Oscar” “Ahyup”

“Sorry I made the swap a little bit more painful than it needed to be.” Do you think this reflects his actual thoughts or is this just a line to try to ease tensions? He does have a lot of reasons to feel like his win was threatened by team miscommunication and then cheapened by Lando’s antics. At the same time, he was basically 3-4 seconds away from Lando from leaving the pit in lap 48 to lap 57 where Lando really hit the accelerator. In those laps he didn’t show significantly better driving than Lando and between laps 57-67 he didn’t even keep up with Lando. This is despite both of them being in similarly bad track conditions (slower traffic, bad air streams). I don’t really think I have an answer to this other than he’s undercooked, put him back in the oven and let him finish baking or something and then he’ll be better next year

Anyways, sincerely and in conclusion,

[phantomoftheorpheum]

i have mixed feelings about summer school. the season finale was much more interesting than the original sin finale in terms of action. but i didn’t like the actual storytelling. i had similar questions as you:

1. what exactly happened between shawn and jen? they spent sooo much screen time on the love triangle but then didn’t even let us see the final confrontation. an extremely poor choice.

2. how did all of the girls’ phone numbers end up on spooky spaghetti? i guess wes had tabby’s - she texted him when he didn’t show up for work - but the others?

3. where were ash & greg?

4. who pushed sullivan down the stairs? why did they make her actually be horrible?

5. what did mrs beasley do to kelly off-screen all of those episodes ago? all of a sudden they are able to have a civil conversation for hours about bloody rose (after kelly locked her up for hours lol)

6. how was johnny going into the freezer so often but didn’t see the bodies as quickly as imogen did?

i’m afraid they are going to rush through some of these answers in a montage like they did in 2x01…

more general issues: i don’t understand why mouse’s grandmother took up so much screen time despite not really having any interesting payoff. noa has not faced any kind of “reckoning” and i really don’t look forward to them dragging jen into next season. nothing about bloody rose really connected to archie and/or the real bloody rose. imogen’s daughter ended up not being that relevant at all…

this season felt all over the place to me. the mrs langsbury and wes team up was satisfying enough because they were two common suspects but for that reason i wasn’t gagged. it just made sense. again, a better finale than original sin but the season overall didn’t do it for me. i’m sorry if this all over the place! 😭

I'm with you! We have a lot of the same questions/feelings.

I did like this finale significantly better than season 1. I will always rather have predicted the antagonists and have their actions make sense (and also have at least one of them present with screen time enough to feel like a real character), than have the reveal be some random side character with no set up and backstory you couldn't possibly have guessed. So that's an improvement, for sure. But it definitely was MESSY af. I knew it was going to be a little difficult to tie all the threads together, and it was. There's a lot of stuff left dangling that I don't think was really on purpose (like I am okay with loose threads if they are there to inform the next season, but I don't think most of these were).

I'm gonna give you my best guesses at all the questions you had, even though they a very much questions I am still asking.

I cannot even begin to explain this one. This just feels like production was wildly off base with how they thought this storyline was going to go over. Maybe the writers didn't agree on how this should be utilized, so they wrote it one way, then changed some stuff, but not enough stuff?

It genuinely makes no sense. These numbers got out right away, so before Henry became brainwashed by the cult (which, btw, very weird they did not explain IF Wes was hiring all these people out of the cult, like how did Henry miss this? Also how did Kelly miss this? and Mrs. Beasley? And Pastor Malachi?), Greg wouldn't have had those numbers, Ash wasn't even in the episode, Christian, Johnny, Jen, and Coach Rhodes all only got 1 persons number and it would have meant all of them betraying the girls. I assume Dr. Sullivan had the numbers and she could have done it, but she doesn't seem to be that type of evil.

lol. Just conveniently not around. I can buy the Greg one- he and Kelly aren't a couple, he and Faran haven't been "together" (flinging?) very long, so no one wanted to tell him. But Ash??? how do you not tell Ash about what's happening??

I have these questions, too. How much of her story about her was true? Why was she separated and tied up by Wes, what was her role in the finale supposed to be? I'm pretty confused on this point.

Again, yes.

The only explanation I've got for this one is that they weren't there all season? Like they were kept elsewhere and intentionally put there later. But this makes waaay more sense if Wes doesn't want to get caught and Jen is working with him. Because then Wes is trying to frame someone else, and gets Jen to plant the "What about Johnny and Christian?" seed with Noa (who, it did not escape me, literally used Jen's phrasing word for word when bringing this up) to send Imogen and Tabby off to investigate their respective boyfriends and find the stuff they've been set up with. Because they have been set up, even if Wes isn't planning on them ultimately taking the fall, but if Jen isn't in on it, then it's just pure coincidence that either of those set ups worked AT ALL.

So yeah, definitely with you on this! I had a really fun time watching this season, and I feel like that might get lost in my "but wtf is happening?" posts sometimes, so- I did actually have a lot of fun. But this was far from perfect and I think there were a few really big misses with the storytelling & I want answers!!

[ooops-i-arted]

Let’s go ahead and do Grogu + Child development for season 3 episode 3 because I honestly don’t have a lot of commentary since Grogu’s screentime is minimal.

(I will say I am still VERY curious still what Pershing was doing with Grogu specifically.  We know he was harvesting blood but what about DNA?  He talks about cloning - is the 101 Yoditos AU still a possibility???  Will we have an army of Grogru clones?????  Let me dream!!)

Right off the bat we see Grogu once again making sure Dad is okay.  You know, Din, it’s not healthy for your child to see you in danger so often, it’s gotta give him anxiety.  (Great tv for us, though.)  He’s patting Dad a bit, perhaps he remembers Cara looking after Din when they were trapped in the cantina in Redemption?  He definitely knows Dad would never want the helmet off.  (I loved the “wtf???” look he gave Bo & Friends in The Heiress when they took theirs off.)  Even after he’s in the pod, he’s still watching Dad, seeming concerned.

I wonder if we’re going to see more of his ability to connect with the living Force?  We know now he “connected” with Luke somehow during the Scotty Beam Me Up rock meditation sequence, and we saw him connect with and calm the rancor.  Does Grogu sense the mythosaur at all?  Will he be the one to ride the mighty beast?  We know there’s a Jedi out there who specializes in animal connection - I know I complain about excessive cameos a lot but I wouldn’t be as mad if it was Ezra Bridger, who I actually really like, come to teach Grogu some more Force stuff.  But this is all speculative and I digress.

Of course the big question is once again whether Grogu spoke.  Did he say “This is the Way”?  I think he intended to.  These new sounds are different than the stock baby sounds and even the classic patu.  I think Grogu is more purposefully trying to speak and imitate Basic!  This shows a huge leap in observational and cognitive skills.  We’ve already seen him put together that sounds can be communication and he can use them to get his needs met.  Now he’s at the next step, trying to speak so that he can communicate with people on their level!  It’s honestly a really huge step because a late learner has to want it on some level.  If they don’t care, they don’t get it.  (Had a student years ago, not a native English speaker and didn’t care about learning English or understanding us, until we put snowflake window clings up and she finally learned to speak just to ask us if she could have them, because she loved Elsa.  Before that she didn’t give a shit no matter what we tried to do to engage her.)

Side note but I am SO glad Grogu can close his new pod too.  It’s good he recognizes an unsafe situation and does it himself without being asked.  He really is paying attention to details so much and reacting quickly!  (Or maybe he’s just like, “there’s no way this lady will let me sit in her lap and have fun” and/or “there’s no way she’s as good a driver as dad” and just did it for that reason lol.)  I bet he wasn’t happy about having to do a whole trip away from Dad, ugh.  Think Bo spent that whole time putting Din on speaker because Grogu wouldn’t stop whining unless she did?  She’s still mostly an unknown to him, though she was pretty nice to him last episode, so he might’ve tried to test her.

For the end scene he’s pretty much just a quiet observer.  Writing-wise, he’s not really relevant to the scene, but I also think he’s picked up from Din that the Armorer is someone to be respectful of and listen to, and once again is imitating his primary caretaker.  Maybe next time we’ll get to see the other Mandos and Mando kids interacting with and playing with him?  Or Din and Paz get in a fight and Paz is very surprised when he’s thrown across the room lol?  If Grogu is officially a Mando now, I think it’d be fun to get to know his tribe members!

[justanechoflower-ddlc]

(I’d say it’s fair to do some posts where it’s just writing. Really, we’d actually expect things to display in DDLC’s style, so things already look a bit different than how they actually are anyway. So sure, some things can be text. Besides, my Monika posts are just text, so there’s no reason why the Flowey responses can’t also be text. I would suggest Doki Doki Dialogue Generator as a middle ground, but I haven’t found a simple way to make custom characters there yet… If anyone more in the know about that program can give a simple way of making a custom character (Like human Flowey?), they can share. That’d trim things down to a few sprites that can just be re-used so Nat doesn’t have to re-draw Flowey every single panel, while still being able to do a few visuals. And the excuse for re-used sprites is that it’s literally how it’d actually work in the game!)

(But text-based responses work too. They’re what I do, after all.)

(Oh, and Faysal, the order of the plan was left, right, middle. Yeah, I know it might be a bit confusing for them to be in that order, that’s why I’m clarifying. Of course the concept of the game has to come before the revelation of what Monika, and later Sayori, did TO the game! Those flashback sequences he’s talking about are just the events of the game, by the way. If you’ve played or seen someone play DDLC, it happened just like that (presuming they got the normal ending and not the special one). He means Act 3 and Act 4. They just don’t call it that because those are meta terms that we use, and aren’t said in-game.)

(As for the recap, I suppose what Flowey said is good enough for what’s currently going on. Sure, there’s also this subplot going on with Flowey setting up a baking show-off against Natsuki that he’ll probably cheat at and also say he’ll get rich from the things he’ll bake and sell (when he’s actually taking gold from the Underground), and we did learn a bit more about the things leading up to this, but most of that isn’t that relevant for the time being. Maybe we’ll come back to it eventually, though.)

(My own take was basically going to be that Monika came to Flowey’s world some time after she was deleted, mostly because she saw much of herself in him, both knowing their worlds were a game, abusing that, and are trying to be better now, but also that unlike Monika, Flowey didn’t go insane from that knowledge, so there was faint hope he might have some idea to help lessen the existential problems such knowledge would bring.)

(Monika thought it was a good idea to stay in Flowey’s world, mostly because she still didn’t want to come back to the club after everything she did (like we see in Act 4 of the game), then Flowey pointed out a bunch of reasons why that‘s a bad idea. He also wanted to see her world, so Monika took him there. That’s how this blog started and why Monika was dropped from the main blog…

(After that, I’d probably have just said what Flowey said. Though there was a step before the three he mentioned, but that wasn’t Monika’s plan. It was Flowey (and also Sayori) convincing Monika to stick around in the club in the first place. They‘ve managed to at least get her to give it another chance. They’re hoping she’ll find herself choosing to stick around for real. And Sayori’s planning to make Monika the club’s vice president soon, as a part of a transition that’d end with Monika becoming club president once again. 

(Oh, also, nice rendition of the events of Act 3 there, Nat!)

(I think that’s everything. The rest either aren’t that relevant anymore, or are things that can be derived from the game itself (for example, of course the club writes and shares poems still!))

(As for the other post… what you said there makes sense. About what parts of their own code they’ve edited in the past editing probably how it worked then. And with Sayori, maybe how it’s like now too. She’s less prone to the same kind of thing Monika is. Maybe it’s because she did a lot less than Monika did, since Monika stopped her mid-way, or because Sayori didn’t make the other characters worse, but just skipped straight to going Just Sayori, or maybe it’s just due to her more aloof personality. I don’t see her shying away from the code as much as Monika does. She definitely doesn’t tamper with anyone else’s code though, that would be too far for her at this point (at least after we account for the fact she wouldn’t want to make Monika uncomfortable.) She’s way more likely than Monika to use the console for stuff though. There’s a reasonable possible world where there’s a dynamic of Monika having to stop Sayori from doing anything too big with it so things aren’t given away too soon, though I already explained before why I didn’t actually do that here, despite how in-character for Sayori that’d be.)

(As for the non-existent NPCs, I’ve been thinking of them of them as sheer environmental factors that the game sort of tricks the characters into thinking exist. Natsuki and Yuri would have had the illusion of having gone to class with a teacher, when really the game doesn’t render any of it. Kind of like what you see in the actual game, you never see any teachers or the classes, but MC describes the school day as your average, usual day. Monika and Sayori right now see it for how it really is, and how there’s no such thing.)

(It’s also like when MC narrated “As we draw near, the streets become increasingly speckled with other students making their daily commute.” The only other characters at the time were Monika, Sayori (who was with MC), Yuri, and Natsuki. But the game had a general narrative that there were other students, and MC described these non-existent students. They’re sort of formless “characters” that are implied to exist, yet don’t. Same for the teachers. They’re implied to exist, but they’re really just the game doing things and attributing it to a non-existent character, and so don’t really exist. But people unaware of this like Natsuki and Yuri would recall seeing them. Monika and Sayori, with the full epiphany, don’t see them at all, since they see the game how it really is. Which also means illusory interactions with them don’t work that well, since they couldn’t directly see or hear them, due to them, you know, not existing..)

(This is what I was going for with this interaction:

“>#Well yes, we could… except that I told everyone if we DID find a way for that to happen, I’d have one of the school’s admin faculty people tell all of this himself, so that way we know it’s for real… and, well, they don’t actually EXIST, because it’s just us, so… I wouldn’t be able to actually talk to them… ehehe…

>#Sayori, seriously?! You should have known that anything involving direct interactions with background entities doesn’t work well, and not even SAID that to the others!)

(Also, if you asked Natsuki and Yuri to try describe what the “teachers” are like, they’d probably give totally generic answers, because said “teachers” are not real entities with actual properties. And of course, they probably wouldn’t notice anything off with that unless someone in the know points this out.)

(Oh, and should I make a submission on the main blog (or maybe this one?) that more goes into how the blog runs? Like how it technically takes place between the end of the human Flowey arc on the main blog and Flowey turning back into a flower, or explaining the fact the blog is currently in a cycle of two “phases”, the meeting phase, and the void phase, and how they work?)

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

(Good idea! I looked into ddlc text boxes and I found a generator where I can put in my own sprite. The only thing I need to do is draw the main form in ddlc style- may be difficult but I'll try- make some expressions, and I'll be good for awhile!

(For the confusing panel sequence I didn't mean for it to be that hard to read! I figured it would be fine to understand since the middle panel had its text low in the image so therefore it would be read last. I'm not an expert on comic style. I just thought it'd look cool!

(If Monika and Sayori flatout told the other girls the world was a game (without a full explanation and proof) they would probably think it's a joke and say they're hallucinating or something like that. And I find that so ironic because Yuri and Natsuki are the ones who see people that do not exist!!!

(I'd really appreciate the help if you could write that clarification of what happened and how things work! Thank you for the offer. I suggest to submit it on the main blog so more people will see it. Also make sure to keep it concise as possible!

(Thanks for adding to my rundown of events! @faysal1232 I highlighted the summary of what's happened so far in red so you can find it easily.

[behindthesefangirleyes]

Spoiler-Free Review - The Tutor

So I went to see the film with a friend tonight. To set the scene, we were the only ones in the theater. Which was good because we sure were reacting to certain moments obnoxiously LOL. Without giving too much away, I’ll try to review specific qualities of the film.

This is all my opinion. I am not an authority on what makes a good film, and I realize that.

Plot (3/10) - This was honestly the worst part for me. There were many times when things were unclear (i.e.: how did [character] get to this point, why did [character] have such an over-the-top reaction so soon over something so insignificant, why are these extra characters necessary, what is [character]’s current motivation). Which is unfortunate since they had the makings for a solid story. But it was - again, in my opinion - not well-executed. Some of it was due to pacing. Some of it felt like they bit off too much and threw in everything but the kitchen sink (if you’ll forgive the mixed metaphors). It seemed as though there were “twists & turns” for the sake of having them or some type of shock value, but they didn’t land as super shocking. Then when the climactic “twist” happened, it felt super abrupt and contrived. So I understand why Garrett was reluctant to sign on until he read it a few times (personally, I think he should’ve trusted his gut). I also understand what they mean when they said you’re there wondering who’s the actual villain (not at all once you know the conclusion, but as far as the plot goes because it’s just all over the place). There were also lots of moments where they sprinkled in “character history” and it was like, alright you’ve laid the “groundwork”, but maybe you a) should have incorporated the offscreen character rather than this other person or b) just not mentioned it at all. Also, by the end it seemed unclear how any of this was possible. It’s hard to explain without giving away spoilers, but basically nothing is as it seems and as a result, it’s unclear how a 17-year-old would pull it off, even with the help that he did have. All that said, there’s a moment that offered decent foreshadowing that wasn’t too on-the-nose. I still picked up on it as likely being relevant for later. I just couldn’t have guessed how it would be relevant until it happened.

Pacing (4/10) - This sort of improved as the film continued. In the beginning, things were slow. It was like, “Alright, there is a build-up here, but for how long?” This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the plot issues since there were times when I was like, this feels super rushed but of course it does because we’re all over the place with the story. The ending was also not it for me. It simply sort of ... flatlined, I guess is the best way to describe it. It was almost like when you conclude a presentation in school and go, “So ... yeah.”

Acting (7/10) - This was the best part of the film for me. By no means was it a show-stopping performance by any of the leading/supporting actors, but they definitely sold certain emotions. Unsurprisingly, Noah’s best work was with the scenes that required more subtle acting (i.e.: scared looks, teary eyes). I have always found those types of moments more compelling with him than the big reactionary moments (i.e. the preview they showed where he is banging his legs). That’s not to say he didn’t do those moments well to a degree, but the problem for me with them was that the context/pacing was so abrupt that it distracted from his performance. Like I said to my friend, it’s not good if you watch a thriller and see a high-impact moment & all you can do is laugh. One thing that I did enjoy was seeing him tap into certain other qualities that we haven’t seen him utilize before. Like when in the preview Jackson asks Ethan about how he feels knowing his son will be a bastard. Or in the tutor’s quarters preview when he goes from emotional to calm and detached smiling. He was pretty good when it came to turning it on and off like that. It was the same with Garrett. His great acting moment came at the end right at the descent of the climax. Again, it was more of a tight shot that focused on his emotions. As for Victoria, she was fine but it was a pretty forgettable performance. That’s not her fault, as I see it. The role was supporting and didn’t really lend itself to any big moment.

Directing (5/10) - The directing didn’t speak much to me. What went well was perhaps in part due to directing, but I would not doubt was mostly the actors’ own abilities shining through. Where I felt the director could’ve improved was making certain emotional scenes less outrageous. It almost felt like the train temporarily went off the tracks and I get it, it’s a thriller. You’re tapping into a certain amount of twisted emotions and exaggerating them, but it sort of came off as ham-fisted. They could have reigned it in a little more to make the scenes less comical or cringeworthy.

Overall, I would give the film 2 out of 5 stars. The two stars were hard earned by the actors for giving what they could with not a lot to work with for material.

[drunk-on-starlight]

Do you have any evidence that Vanessa is just being manipulated? I’ll admit no one knows exactly what’s going on, but I feel it’s pretty clear there’s at least something similar to mind control present. If the encyclopedia is still valid, it says she was corrupted and then freed from his influence.

As much evidence as anything in this franchise has.

I'm assuming by "Mind Control," you're referring to literal control over mind and/or body? Apologies if you meant something else.

Gonna start with Jeremy (Help Wanted edition), since he's the first "glitchtrapped" character we learn about.

Here's a few choice quotes

"I think it's made worse by the fact that Jeremy tried to tell us something was wrong."-Tape 3, HW

“Jeremy complained of nightmares when he came in this morning. He wasn't talking about it like someone telling a friend about his dreams though. He was pale...looked like he hadn't eaten in days." -Tape 7, HW

"He just stands there like he's talking to someone. Sometimes he [just] rocks from side to side"-Tape 7, HW

"I think Jeremy was too far gone to consider that option though.-They just knew he'd seen something. They needed to discredit him.”-Tape 8, HW

These collectively establish that Glitchtrap (Known here as the anomaly) had clearly gotten his hooks into Jeremy, right? And yet, he was able to injure himself enough to make Glitchtrap back off. Furthermore, Glitchtrap is talking to him in Tape 7. Not only was Jeremy able to legitimately do something Glitchtrap didn't want, he wasn't able to stop him.

Now, to Vanessa. The first relevant quote here; "So, the word compliance by itself isn't going to set off any red flags, but the sentence how to induce compliance in human subjects, and how to induce self-compliance(?)"-"Did you search for 'help' by itself?"-December 2, 2019.

"I was a little worried maybe something is going on with you? One day you're researching flowers and the migration patterns of bees (fascinating, right?) and the next day you type in 'How far can a human being be cut in half before losing consciousness'."-Dec 4, 2019

At the risk of assuming too much, I don't think someone who is mind controlled would need to find a way to induce "compliance."

Then you have "I came by your desk to say hi today and I don't think you even heard me. You had your face so close to the screen"-"I waited for a second to see if you would turn around, but it was like you were in another world. It must be useful to be able to shout out the world and focus like that, I wish I could do it. I thought you were on a conference call at first because I heard voices."-Dec 9, 2019.

Much like Jeremy, Glitchtrap needs to talk to her. If he could just control her, I don't see why he'd need to audibly speak to her(1)(2), or why he'd let her type out help. Or frankly, why he'd let her Google all the other cutsey stuff. Furthermore, she wouldn't need to search how to induce "self-compliance" if he was already controlling her.

Finally, Security Breach's Retro CDs. First up, CD 1-7139

"Yes, of course, you do. Your performance reviews are good, but a routine check of your online history has revealed that you spend quite a bit of time with someone in an encrypted conversation. We have transcripts, and I’ve read them, but it’s not clear what you’re talking about in these conversations. I can’t make sense of it. You must be getting something from these that I’m not getting. Right? Who are you talking to in these?"

Again, a conversation, one in which the therapist here says "You must be getting something out of these."

Next, CD 3-7140. This is where her dad, a guy named "Bill"(3) is first mentioned, along with this "Your dad made you follow instructions, didn’t he? I’m talking about the custody battle between your mom and your dad. Your dad didn’t play it fair, did he? He used to make your mom look bad in court. I’m so sorry that happened to you. Do you want to talk about how that felt? and "He manipulated you. It wasn’t your fault." Keep that last bit in mind, it's not the first time manipulation gets brought up.

CD 5-7141 "Apparently, the IT department has put together a pretty lengthy report chronicling non-job-related communications that have been coming to your computer"-"but what bothers me about what I read is that the messages you're getting seem very manipulative in nature. Do you know who I'm talking about?"

Again, they reiterate Glitchtrap needs to communicate. Further, the messages are described as manipulative. Why would a mind control entity need to do that? And to tie into the previous tape, the therapist says "What you might not know is that this person who's been sending you messages has been hacking into your personal files too. These are the same files I have here. These files are full of details about your life."

The same files the therapist said showed her father being manipulative. In response to being told this person knows a lot of her personal info, Vanessa says "Lots of people know more than I do. Sometimes I need to listen."

Now, CD 11-7145 is where Vanessa says "I can't talk about this. He said he would always be watching. He could be here or there or anywhere in between." to which her therapist responds "Are you talking about your dad?," directly comparing Glitchtrap to her manipulative father. Vanessa also says that Glitchtrap told her that he could be anywhere, which means he's not always with her, and he'd kind of have to be for mind control.

Security Breach itself seems to support this, to some degree. Vanessa makes her entire hunt a game; She presumably knocks Gregory out and locks him in Lost and Found, only to return after dressing up, she skips around the Pizzaplex. She swaps back and forth, none of which is necessary and of which she probably wouldn't do if controlled.

If we look back at Help Wanted, she specifically says (in another example of the one sided conversation) that she can hear him, there's no miscommunication, she understands and that she made the mask herself. She also says "I think you would like it,""I'll be ready" (That she needs to make herself ready is another tally against the mind control) and that "It'll be fun." Honestly, she reads as far more of a daughter figure in HW than anywhere else.

Maybe I'm misreading all this, but it doesn't seem like mind control. It seems like a young woman had serious childhood trauma that left her open to being taken advantage by an experienced manipulator.

[lenievi]

snw2 #5

My personal episode ranking based on my enjoyment: 3 - 4 - 2 - 1 - 5

I really didn’t like this episode. It was my least favourite of all 15 episodes tbh. It just didn’t hit right for me...

- I wonder if Chapel is going to leave the show at the end of the season.

- and ughhhh they really did what I expected and that was have Spock hate Sam Kirk *sighs* I mean it was clear in the very first episode, but... a little bit more creativity, maybe? I hate Sam, therefore Jim is also terrible, oh, he’s actually not, BFFs *rolls eyes*

The episode did everything I expected, but I kinda hoped they would write it better, but instead Spock just went and slept with Chapel immediately after T’Pring told him she wanted to take a break for a while. (I guess good for Spock to have another sex that wasn’t under an influence?) And he lost all my respect. (I hoped that Spock would be honest with T’Pring and would tell her that he has feelings for another and wished to experiment, and so they would part for a while... but no....) [also Spock literally going to Chapel after Amanda told him how painful it is to be in love with a Vulcan when you’re a human is certainly a choice.]

T’Pring should never take Spock back. She deserves better.

Spock can just forever live in his self-made purgatory. 

“She is yours. After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting.” They made it Spock/Chapel relevant now.

so I guess when Spock decides that being with Chapel wasn’t the best idea he’s ever had, they part, Chapel leaves the Enterprise

after a while Spock meets Leila and falls in love again. But this time, he will hold himself back and will never act on his feelings, until his shields are broken because of the spores

Chapel, in the meantime, will use Korby to get over Spock only to get assigned to the Enterprise again after Korby disappears, and will have to work alongside Spock for several years. And they will both be awkward around each other, but still occasionally “forced” to get close. Spock’s “katra” being put into Chapel, forced to kiss... (Requiem for Methuselah might now get another layer, too, but I still don’t want to rewatch it lol)

There were still Spock/Chapel scenes in the trailers, so I guess they’ll be fine for a couple of episodes and then maybe in the finale they “break up” and Chapel leaves? Until Kirk gets the Enterprise? The thing is, I feel, that Chapel is relatively popular and I also feel like many people are invested in Spock/Chapel and would like to see it continue, but considering Hemmer left the show at the end of s1, they might get rid of another character this season as well. No one would expect the legacy character to leave, since she is supposed to be in TOS, but also we know that she was on Kirk’s Enterprise to look for her fiancé, so... (maybe this is the reason why they’re still in 2259 even in the second season...)

[kellanved-ammanas]

PyroMedic Week 2023: Day 3: AU of Your Choice

I chose my Space Mercs AU because I chose this prompt solely so I could do that. Initially I was thinking of writing the moment when their relationship becomes more than just friendship (they confess or one of them makes a move or something like that) but then when I sat down to write I realized I should put that in the main Space Mercs AU fic because it deserves to be there. So instead, this is just them realizing that their feelings are more than solely friendly towards each other. I will do the proper them getting together soon... maybe, hopefully.

Anyway, if you're unfamiliar with the AU, all you need to know for this is that Pyro's an amphibious alien, think like the Shape of Water guy but slimy amphibian fellow instead of a scaly fish man. The way the crew finds out is Pyro almost dies in a space ship crash (relevant only because it's mentioned here.)

~

“I would love an opportunity to dissect you properly one day,” Medic said as he pushed the x-ray machine aside. It wasn’t state of the art but it was still perfectly good for making sure all the internal damage Pyro had taken in the crash was indeed healing well. What it couldn’t do though was be a good substitute for seeing all the organs and bones in person. No technology, no matter how advanced, could.

Pyro didn’t bother responding. He’d already made it clear that while he didn’t mind Medic studying him – and even seemed to enjoy the attention – he didn’t want to be dissected. Part of Medic was tempted to just do it anyway but despite himself he’d grown fond of Pyro and didn’t want to break his trust or cause him significant distress. That was always the problem with growing fond of people. It was a huge inconvenience at times and yet… the relief he felt over Pyro having survived and being almost fully mended was too much to ignore.

“Do you think you could get me another of your species to experiment on more thoroughly?” Strangers though, Medic had next to no qualms about doing anything he pleased with.

Pyro pushed himself off the exam table, his feet hitting the floor with a wet slap. “No. I don’t even know what planet I came from. We don’t have space travel.”

That certainly explained why Medic had never come across an alien of his kind before despite his goal to study as many different alien species as he could. It was part of why he’d taken this job in this out of the way nowhere part of the galaxy where the possibility of running into new aliens was higher. “How did you get up into space then?”

“A space ship crash landed in the ocean. It burned as it entered the atmosphere. It was the most beautiful thing I’d even seen. It survived though and the crew fixed it. I snuck aboard before they left. They weren’t happy when they found me but it was too late to stop me.” As usual, Pyro’s face didn’t emote much as he signed, the emotion going into the way his hands and body moved instead. Something that was a staple of his species or perhaps was unique to him naturally or as a result of wearing the suit and only being able to communicate through sign language for so long?

“How long ago was that?” Perhaps Medic could trace Pyro’s past back to his home planet.

“I don’t know.” Of course he didn’t. Time had always seemed to be something he didn’t grasp super well. Something Medic would have to investigate at some point to try to find out if that was just Pyro or another species difference.

“Do you know what ship it was?”

“No. Sorry. I know you only want to know more and I would help if I could but I didn’t keep track of any of it because I don’t want to go back. It’s wet and boring.” Which, as he’d said in the past, made it difficult to set things on fire. And if Pyro couldn’t set things on fire then he wasn’t happy.

“Well, I suppose I well just have to make due with only having you to study.” And he’d just have to deal with with the fact that his fondness for Pyro outweighed his desire for a more intense and thorough examination. Which was perhaps something he should look into more as well at some point. It wasn’t often he felt that way.

***

“You know you don’t have to put up with him poking and prodding you all the time, right?” Scout said as Pyro rejoined him and Sniper in the rec room. “Just ‘cause he’s scary and our doctor don’t give him the right to boss you round like that. Say the word and me and Snipes here will teach him a lesson, ‘kay? Right, Snipes?”

“Uh… sure, I suppose. If it really is a problem anyway.”

Pyro sat at the head of the table between them to wait for the next round of cards to start. “It’s not a problem.”

Scout gave him a skeptical look. “You’re seriously all right with it?”

“Yes.” Pyro hadn’t even considered that it might be a problem. Medic had even set up the lab with some permanent heavy duty humidifiers so he could comfortably hang out in there without the suit on. The only place on the ship other than his room where that was a thing. “I don’t mind. And when I don’t want him to do something, he doesn’t.” The same couldn’t be said for other doctors that had found out Pyro’s ‘secret’ in the past. Medic only pushed as far as Pyro let him.

Scout’s skeptical look deepened into a scowl. “That doesn’t sound like him. I guess maybe unless he really likes you a lot or something. You guys have certainly always spent a lot of time together. Wasn’t sure he was capable of it but I guess everyone’s full of surprises.”

“I like him a lot too!” More than anyone else on the team. Not that Pyro didn’t love all of them but Medic was special. Pyro loved him almost as much as he loved fire. One day he should tell Medic that.

“You have horrible taste in men. But whatever I guess that’s not your fault. Let’s play some cards. You can deal this round since you just got here.” Scout handed Pyro the deck.

Pyro accepted it and shuffled it a couple times before dealing. ‘Horrible taste in men’, as inaccurate as that judgment was, implied Scout thought it was a romantic thing, right? Which well, Pyro hadn’t thought about it like that before, but… now that he was thinking about it how did he feel about it?

Well, he certainly didn’t dislike the idea of holding Medic’s hand and perhaps even kissing him. Cuddling might be fun too. Though, given how non-slimy human skin was it might be a bit weird and maybe uncomfortable for one or both of them. It would be interesting to see what it was like but… would Medic be into that idea too? … Impossible to know. Maybe Pyro needed to talk to him about that too, if he could ever find the courage to bring it up anyway.