#On the other i can genuinely go off on why this movie hit so close to home for the queers even tho nth queer *technically happened*

[little-candy-store-of-horrors]

Groundbreaking: Michael watches a film that isn't The Death of Stalin

[ghsface]

I CAN SEE YOU - spencer reid

summary: You watched him from a distance, dreaming of a moment when you could muster the courage to talk to him beyond the professional.

warnings: spencer reid x bau!fem reader ,kissing and I think that's all, if I'm missing something let me know.

author's note: The only thing I can do when I listen to this song is imagine Spencer, idk why this reminds me so much of him. I hope you like it and I'm sorry if there are mistakes/misspelled words, my native language is not English.🎀

All the friction in the hallways when you found him going to get some files or when you were going to see Penelope, all the stolen glances that you noticed almost every day when you were at your desk, even when they were on the Jet, he never took your eyes off.

The FBI office in Quantico was bustling with constant activity, but you were always lost in thought while pretending to review a file. You couldn't help but let your eyes wander to Spencer Reid, the genius of the team, who was sitting at his desk, engrossed in his books or his work.

You saw it every day, noticing the small details that others overlooked. The way he bit his lip when he was focused, how his fingers played with his hair when he was nervous.

There was something hypnotic about him, something that made you feel an inexplicable connection. But you always lacked the courage. You didn't want to risk your professional friendship, or your place on the team, for feelings that might not be reciprocated.

That afternoon, after a particularly tiring day, you found yourself reviewing some reports at your desk, trying to keep yourself busy. Most of the office had already left, leaving you alone with your group mates, leaving the place a little silent. You realized Spencer was there too, working on a file.

"Hi, Spence," you said, trying to sound casual as you approached his desk. The way he looked at you made your heart skip a beat.

“Hey, y/n,” he responded, his tone relaxed but attentive. "I thought you had already gone"

"No, I don't have to do three reports yet, it's like it's never going to end," you said, smiling warmly but with noticeable tiredness on your face.

Conversation flowed effortlessly as you shared stories and laughter as the two of you completed your reports. You felt more and more comfortable around him, and the connection you felt was palpable. As the afternoon wore on, you noticed a growing tension in the air, an implicit desire that you both seemed to share.

But all this was interrupted when you had to go get a file. "I have to go get a file," you said, getting up from your chair. "Wait, I'll come with you anyway, I am missing a file to finish this," he said, getting up and following you to the room where all the files were.

The filing room was dark and lined with shelves, and the atmosphere was filled with a tension that had nothing to do with work.

As we reviewed the files we were looking for, the conversation flowed naturally. We talked about books, movies, and of course the case we were reporting on.

Suddenly, I found a file that looked promising, but it was on a high shelf. I asked Spencer to help me reach it. As he reached out to grab it, I lost my balance and fell backwards. Just before I hit the ground, I felt Spencer's arms wrap around me, cushioning my fall.

"Are you OK?" he asked, his voice soft and concerned.

I nodded, feeling my heart beat faster than usual, not only from the shock, but also from the sudden closeness to Spencer. His eyes were shining with a mix of concern and something else she couldn't identify.

We stayed in that position for a moment, and the air between us was charged with a tension I had never felt before. Slowly, Spencer helped me to my feet, but his hands remained on my arms, as if he didn't want to let me go.

"Thank you," I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

He smiled, a shy but genuine smile that made my heart beat even faster. Before I realized what I was doing, I leaned towards him. Spencer didn't pull away, instead he closed the distance between us.

Our lips met in a soft, sweet kiss, filled with a suppressed emotion that had been building for a long time.

The kiss intensified quickly. We moved to a corner of the file room, out of sight of anyone who might enter. Our bodies joined in a dance of desire, the outside world fading as we gave ourselves to each other. Passion drove us to undo buttons and explore with trembling hands, desire growing with every second.

Just when the moment seemed like it was going to end in something more, a noise outside the room made us stop abruptly. We looked at each other, both out of breath and with flushed cheeks.

"We should stop," Spencer said, her voice hoarse and thick with emotion.

I nodded, trying to regain my composure. We made up the best we could and parted ways, knowing that what had just happened would change our relationship forever.

Leaving the archive room, we meet the team. Derek looked at us with an amused smile.

"Where have you been?" He asked, raising an eyebrow and a mischievous smile on his face.

I felt my cheeks blush, but before I could respond, Spencer took the initiative.

"Checking some important files," he said, with an enigmatic smile.

The team accepted the explanation, although not without some suspicious looks. As the night wore on, I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened in the file room. It was an intense and beautiful, albeit interrupted, moment that marked the beginning of something new and exciting between Spencer and I, something I was eager to explore further.

�� ִ ་ ، ˖ ࣪ ་ ˖ ʿ𖥔 ִ ་ ، ˖ ࣪ ་ ˖ ʿ𖥔 ִ ་ ، ˖ ࣪ ་ ˖ ʿ

Months later...

From that day on, Spencer and I began a secret relationship. We kissed in hidden places in the office, taking advantage of every opportunity to be together without being seen. Meetings became an excuse to brush hands under the table, and coffee breaks were furtive moments of quick kisses in deserted hallways.

One night while working late, we met again in the file room. The tension between us was palpable, and we couldn't resist. Spencer cornered me against a bookshelf, his lips meeting mine in a hungry kiss. His hands explored my body urgently, and I found myself responding with the same intensity.

"We have to be careful," Spencer whispered against my lips, his breathing ragged.

"I know," I replied, my fingers tangling in his hair, "but I can't help it."

Our secret romance continued, each encounter filled with the thrill of the forbidden. Despite the risks, neither of them wanted to stop. The passion we shared was too strong, and every kiss and caress only fueled our desire more.

𖥔 ִ ་ ، ˖ ࣪ ་ ˖ ʿ𖥔 ִ ་ ، ˖ ࣪ ་ ˖ ʿ𖥔 ִ ་ ، ˖ ࣪ ་ ˖ ʿ𖥔 ִ ་ ، ˖ ࣪ ་ ˖ ʿ𖥔 ִ ་ ، ˖

your reblogs and replies are always appreciated dearly☆

[anxi-aashi]

ok i dont have the energy to put this into a fic rn but i CANT stop thinking about college au! childe almost walking in on you while you're getting yourself off.

like he'd still knock of course, but it would scare the absolute shit out of you. instead of hanging out with your roommates that he's friends with (who are most certainly NOT gathered in your room) he'd be all "hey pookie can i come bother you I'm bored," while you're fully sat on a dildo.

and bc you wouldnt want to seem suspicious, you'd say sure, just a sec! and immediately run to throw the sopping wet toy into your bathroom sink before letting him in.

and he's just too observant for his own good. "hey you ok? you seem out of breath" yeah because you were.... working out! "really? you're not sweating though?" CHILDE DROP IT OMFG but he wouldn't. he just asks so many goddamn questions and you honestly can't tell if he's just fuckign with you or if he's just genuinely concerned for you. what were you doing? pilates? so thats why you're walking a bit weird? how tf were you not sweating after pilates? oh you just started? well sorry to interrupt!

yeah.... you're sorry too -_-

but hes here now so you offer to watch a movie and hang out, nevermind the cum threatening to run down your leg. "sure! you pick smth out and ill go to the bathroom real quick!" he says and curse your post-orgasm clouded mind for not being quick enough to warn him bc now he's standing in front of you, dildo in his hand, looking at you knowingly.

youre mortified obviously. the two of you are cordial but not THAT close and god you can almost picture the slick and cum that's smearing all over his hand now. why is he holding it for fucks sake???

childe wouldnt be merciful either -- this is a fucking gold mine for him. "well, i guess this is a workout" and you would like the earth to swallow you up so that you don't have to look at him with that shit-eating grin that's creeping up his face.

hed switch the dildo to his other hand and start opening and closing his fingers together, making webs of cum string in between. "you said you just started?" no, you'd have to refute, that part was a lie.

"and you were getting off with this?" and now WHAT was that supposed to mean bc there was truly nothing wrong with the dildo size!!! it was perfectly fine, it did its job. sure it could be a tad bit longer, but you had bills to pay. he lets it go (with a judgemental eyebrow raise), but when he opens his mouth again to ask "what were you doing?" you almost wish he had kept making fun of your tiny ass toy. "were you using your hands or the suction cup?"

god he'd have a dangerous look on his face by now, lidded eyes looking at you like you were gonna be his next meal; pitching his voice just a tad bit lower just to see you squirm.

"you don't have to answer, but i would really, really like to know." aaaaaand there it goes. there's goes the last bit of your sanity bc huhh?? huuuuhh??? dear lord i would fully melt into a puddle we love a man that can make consent sexy.

fuck it, right? yeah, you were using the suction cup. "yeah? you like riding dick?" SHFBAN;DNSJF;F GODDDD

"you got any other toys?" yes sirrr yes I do, got a vibrator right over there in the nightstand. and duh now he's gotta follow up with "ever use both?"

which you have. who hasn't? but you usually only use it for quickies, you say. don't want it to be over too fast, ya know?

but then. thennnnnn he'd hit you with this: "you still horny?"

lorddddd you have NO idea, but you don't say that lest it get to his head (but lets be honest, he knows what he's doing; he knows how desperate he's making you). so he walks up to you, finally, and hands you your dildo, all sticky and starting to dry by now.

"well don't stop on my account."

and he plops down on your bed, manspreading just the tiiiiiniest bit to where you can see the tent in his pants.

which is how you find yourself back in your desk chair, thighs burning from fucking yourself on a dildo you now know is much smaller than whatever childe is packing while he just watches, palming his cock over his pants.

anyways gonna go work on my wips now lolololololololoolo

[leehoney0]

Cutie

Female reader . Fluff . Suggestive.

“My boyfriend is so cuteeeee” you shout as you stay seated on Ethan’s lap,he rubs his hand up and down your thighs as he smiles up at you

You and Ethan have been dating since the time you both Graduated from high school and we’re starting your collage life,although you wished you had met him early since you truly believe he is the love of you’re life

Even though both you and him seem to come from different sides or group of people you really hit it off mainly since he was one of the first boyfriends you’ve had who were not after your body and truly cared for what you had to say!

Many do your friends had told you,you deserved bettter but you truly didn’t know any better! I mean they were hot so what was the problem! Many had always called you a bimbo but were you truly one that was a hard question already as it was?!

Ever since knowing Ethan you truly understood what if meant to be in love with someone,late nights spend with him were the best you had in years even if those nights were spend tangled in his sheets clothes all over the floor

would consider yourself a bimbo? after being called whatever that word meant a lot you decided that one night to go and search up what it meant

after looking at images and a couple of websites you clapped your hands and jumped in glee,whatever you looked up truly brought you glee

You were a bimbo! The cute style and your closet being full of pink clothes! even your room was full of girly stuff not a spot being uncovered in pink you fully agreed that you were a bimbo but the dummy part did get to you maybe that part didn’t matter!

You were a fully capable independent women even if you need help in a lot of stuff you were alone a lot so why does that matter!

Anyways back to your lovely boyfriend!

As you stare down at Ethan’s,his eyes look into yours with full adoration of you,you starts to peck his face as he grab onto your waist for support

Running your hands through his hair to brush out any tangles from his hair,you hear a noise coming from outside his bedroom,turning to look at his door to try to get a better listen to what you were listing too

“Hey didn’t you say no one would be here?”

Ethan seems to be to caught up in your neck,nibbling on your jaw,Ethan’s hold on you tightens as if you were gonna slip out anytime soon

“Hey I think someone is here”

You tap his should to bring his attention up on you and potentially answer your question,he puts his head up and sighs laying his head on your shoulder

The door swings open and reveals Chad standing with a drink in his hand,he drops his mouth open in complete shock at the sight in front of him,you hold onto Ethan’s shirt as a comfort to being shocked at the door being slammed open

“NO WAY your hooking up with y/n”

(Haven’t watched the movie so don’t know how Chad acts sorry!)

Chad stares at you,confused you tilt your head to the side,did you know Chad,you decided to smile and wave at him,even if you didn’t recognize him smiling was the best option!

Ethan’s sighs and looks down to pull your skirt that had ridden up with his grabby hands always going to cough cough private places,ever since he started to go out with you,he always made sure nothing was hanging out or you didn’t accidentally flash someone

Lifting you up slightly so he can slide out Ethan’s get ups to close the door and pushes him out,blush slightly appearing on his cheeks

“Get out and how do you even know my girlfriend”

Chad turns to Ethan and smirks at him

“She was like this big ditzy girl,went to my high school who supposedly.. not you know judging .. uh a big slut”

Chad says in a tone to try and not offend Ethan,you never know how someone would react to Someone their seeing being called a slut,Ethan’s look at him through his hair

“We are dating and not just hooking up”

He pushes his hair back slightly

“We have been seeing each other for a while and I genuinely feel like she’s the one”

Chad smiles and pats Ethan on his shoulder

“Hey.. if you think she’s the one then she the one”

Ethan smiles at Chad

“Thanks”

Chad Stands up straight and pats his thighs and sighs

“Well I will leave you two love birds alone”

Ethan’s smile and waves back to Chad as he leaves into his own room,Ethan’s smiles too himself and walks back to his room,he turn and steps into his room

You’re sat in the center of his bed looking through your purse for your lipgloss since most has come off when you had your little kiss session,you turn to look up at him since hearing him take step closer too you

Smiling you put your hand out for him to take,he steps closer with a smile on his face,you pull him onto the bed,he plops on top of you,you kiss the top of his forehead and run your fingers down his back

He did always enjoy this as he always made to sure to help you pick your next set of nails,multiple times you got his E on one of your fingers,showing it off to your friends multiple times!

He sighs and snuggles deeper into your neck inhaling your sent,you always chose the best perfumes, you lightly rub your cheek on top of his wavy hair wishing you could stay together like this forever

Although you two might be complete opposite and might not even have glanced at each other in both of your younger years,your glad to have crossed paths!

Cringe!!!!!!!!!

Credits to those writers who can give a character so much more with such little content!!! Also I haven’t watched or don’t even know how the movie goes I had to look up Chad cuz I knew he might be friends with Ethan don’t know if they are really roommates?! But enjoy I guess

Also I always try to make my stories inclusive for woc or poc in general since u know I am one so if something is not inclusive please don’t be afraid to say anything!!!?<3

[warletscarlet]

Wild Kratts Headcanons

genuinely have no clue if this fandom is dead or not but I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole and it isn’t stopping. So anyway here we go! All of my hc’s are strictly platonic, Krattcest shippers back away rn 🤺. This is the 2D characters and not referring to the actual people! I know the characters are basically them but this is specifically for the cartoon. they’re all headcanons I either liked or had myself.

-Being as close as they are, Martin and Chris are very physically affectionate with one another (and with the Tortuga crew at times, but mostly the bros). They’re always giving each other hugs or leaning on the others shoulder, or Chris just straight up climbs onto Martin’s back/shoulders.

-With their friends, the boys are always giving them hugs, small shoulder touches, things like that. It’s their natural way of interacting with the people they care about.

-The Kratts have been found sleeping in trees various times (mainly Chris). At this point nobody questions it though they do get worried about him falling out and getting hurt.

-The Kratt Bros are also sometimes found sleeping in the same hammock, whether it’s in the Tortuga or hung up on a tree branch. They usually do this when the other has a nightmare or after partially tough missions (I.E:Flight of The Pollinators, Platypus Cafe, plus other episodes but these are the ones I heard about most and I haven’t gotten to watching too much of the show again yet). Touch is their love language and sometimes they need this to remind themselves the other is okay.

-Chris climbs basically everything. He loves climbing and if you took him to a rock wall climbing gym he’d have a field day. You can find him in the oddest places on the Tortuga.

-Aviva isn’t the most touchy person but will give hugs out of gratitude/happiness.

-The brothers share a single braincell. That is all.

-Jimmy has a very close relationship to his grandmother and was raised by her; which is why he knows all of her recipes.

-Aviva is like a mom friend. Not in the sense she’s motherly but in the sense she has to babysit two hyperactive brothers who are constantly running around/getting in trouble and breaking things.

-Martin can carry Chris no problem (on his back, shoulders or bridal style), but Chris cannot carry Martin on his back/shoulders for long. Though he can hold him bridal style (as we have seen.)

-The bros are huge nerds. If you ask them about animals they will talk for HOURS about them.

-Koki is downright fabulous and can rock anything. Don’t @ me.

-Martin has ADHD and Chris has autism. Martin fidgets, gets distracted easily, and can act impulsively (though reels Chris in when Chris is the one being impulsive). He tends to run off during creature adventures. He has combined presentation ADHD and Martin also has a tendency to forget to charge his creature pod.

-As for Chris, he has autism. He doesn’t recognize social cues and corrects people when he thinks they’re wrong about something, and doesn’t realize when they’re annoyed with him for it. He also can be pretty blunt. And he has to keep things organized, such as how he organized all of his creature disks and hates them being moved out of place.

-Chris, out of everyone, cusses the most. He doesn’t around the Wild Kratt Kids but he will when with the crew/his brother. He has definitely called Zach a motherf*cker and Aviva and Martin found it hilarious.

-The Tortuga Gang have frequent movie nights, but they will never watch a movie where an animal dies with the brothers. They WILL cry.

-After the Tazzy Incident, Chris still has some Tazzy traits. Mostly just sharper canines but also more sensitive senses. He can’t hear, smell and see are well as he could when in tazzy form but it’s definitely increased from normal. His eyes also do that thing cat eyes do when they’re in the dark and the light hits them. Has 100% given Martin heart attacks and absolutely has used it to mess with Zach.

[ch3rryc4ndy]

Pretty When You Cry

Relationship - Haechan X Fem Reader

Genre - Smut and Angst

Summary - A bad breakup ends you up at your best friend's house crying but to your surprise, she wasn’t home. Her brother you’ve denied your feelings for since childhood makes you realize you never needed your ex in the first place.

Warnings - choking, unprotected sex, cheating (ex), and that’s pretty much it. Let me know if there’s anymore!

Masterlist

I rush to winters house as tears run down my cheeks. I hit my steering in anger, my first relationship and I got cheated on…

The worst thing is I would’ve never expected this from Kun, he was always an affectionate loving boyfriend, always made me the center of his world. I loved him at some point of the relationship. I feel rage rush through me as I think of how stupid I was. I should’ve listened to winter and even hyuck warned me about him, but even with two people telling me no I didn’t listen

I pull into winter's driveway as tears continue to stream down my face “winter” I yell as I walk in knowing their parents were on a trip “she isn’t her- what happened?” I hear hyuck say from the kitchen as he pokes his head out the corner, now walking towards me

“He cheated” I smile weakly trying to make it less awkward now that I know winter isn’t here but her annoyingly handsome brother is, aka the cause of my annoyances since I was 10. “What did I say, he is no good” he sighs as he pulls me into a hug

I close my eyes as I take in his intoxicating scent and warmth “please don’t rub it in my face right now” I groan as I know I’d be hearing him brag about being right “I know I can do that later” he chuckles as I push him back slightly embarrassing as I see my tears left a wet spot on his shirt “sorry” I sniffle as I point at his shirt

“I don’t care” he replies with an eye roll, pulling me onto him again. “Why don’t we grab some snacks and watch a movie in my room like we did in the old days?” He coos as he pulls me into the kitchen “old days? You act like we’re 80” I laugh as he rolls his eyes “well I do hope you like me even when I’m 80” he pouts as he holds his hand to his chest “I’ll always like you” I coo as I hit his shoulder

“Good” he hums as we grab a few snacks from the pantry and make our way up to his room. I throw myself on his bed and let out a loud sigh as I feel the warmth of his blankets on my skin “I’m going to check if winter has any extra clothes I can borrow, I’ll be back” I groan as I get up from the comfy bed

“here just wear this” he says as he throws one of his baggy tees “thanks” I smile as I walk into his bathroom and lock the door. I take off my shirt and pants, leaving me in my panties since the shirt I was wearing didn’t corporate with the bras I had. I put on hyucks shirt and look in the mirror and sigh as I realize how good of a guy hyuck was

Although he was a pain in my ass he’s never made me genuinely mad to the point every other guy has which was pretty impressive. Winter knows about how I felt about him in the past and always encouraged me to date him but I would be embarrassed if I told him how I felt and got rejected by one of my longest friends and HER brother…

I would’ve much rather have had him as my first boyfriend than Kun. Although I loved Kun at a point he never really made me feel safe. There is a difference between thinking your emotionally secure and feeling safe which hyuck both gave rather than one

“You ok in there?” I hear him yell as I snap out of my thoughts “yeah I’m ok” I reply as I grab my clothes and walk out of the bathroom, now being faced with a shirtless hyuck in boxers on the bed. I drop my shirt as I feel my cheeks burn red “sorry it’s cold in here” I chuckle as I turn around and place my clothes onto his desk “mmh” he slyly hums as I look at him slightly embarrassed

“So what do you want to watch?” He hums as he flips through Netflix “something scary” I reply as I lay on the bed, tucking myself under the soft blankets. Hyuck nods and flips through the horror section, clicking on the conjuring

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you know Kun was cheating on you?” He asks out of the blue but not taking me by surprise “I walked into him fucking some girl I’ve never seen before” I sigh “wow that’s pretty low even for him”

“I don’t get why some guys never see how lucky they are. I mean if I was him, another girl is the last thing I’d think about” he chuckles, freezing as he realizes what he just said “wh- I- I mean I’m kinda glad I caught him in a way…at least another girl would have to deal with his horrible sex” I shrug as I try and change the topic as I see hyucks cheeks a bright shade of pink from his comment

“Now that is not surprising” hyuck chuckles as he takes a bite of a cookie “at least now I don’t have to deal with the unsatisfying sex” I sigh as I grab a cookie and take a bite “like I said if I was him that wouldn’t have happened” he says now more confidently than the first time “why do you keep saying if I was him” I chuckle as I turn to face hyuck

“Because if I were to date you I’d make sure you’d never be unsatisfied in any way” he purrs “isn’t that nice to know” I chuckle as I nudge his arm with a smile “you know I’ve always kinda had a crush on you but knew you wouldn’t be interested” I sigh “what?”

“I’ve had a crush on you but I k-“ I repeat but get cut off by his lips crashing onto mine, a quiet moan slipping past my lips as I feel his teeth bite my bottom lip and then go back to ravaging my lips “hyuck” I moan out as I his hands roam all over my body

He pulls back, taking in my flushed complexion and my legs wrapped around his waist as he hovers over me “why didn’t you tell me that earlier” he groans as he moved a strand of my hair out of my face “I thought you wouldn’t feel the same so I spared myself the embarrassment” I smile as he sits back onto the bed

“You thought I’d reject you? Did you genuinely not get the signs I gave you?” He sighs as he runs his hands through his hair “what signs?!” I ask confused “well I- I…I guess it was as me just being mean”

“Wow, that was super obvious to me hyuck” I joke. I look at him confused as he sits and looks me up and down “what the hell was that for” I say with my arms crossed “I really like you in my shirts, especially with no bra” he winks as he pulls me onto him “also is it wrong to say I like seeing you cry, well I don’t enjoy seeing you sad but you look pretty when you cry” he coos

“That’s why you asked me to watch a movie with you mmh?” I purr as his hands snake their way onto my hips “maybe” he shrugs as I wrap my arms around his shoulders, putting us chest to chest. I slowly rub myself onto his lap, trying to make it seem like I was getting comfortable as I feel his hard cock through his boxers

He lets out a groan as I slightly bounce on his lap to get more “comfortable”

“I know what you're doing” he purrs as he grips my jaw “what do you mean?” I ask innocently causing hyuck to Scoff “it’s warm in here” I purr as I pull my shirt over my head. I hear his breath hitch as I purposely arch my back to make my nipple almost touch his lip. He looks up at me and smiles, taking my nipple into his mouth, sucking and biting all over my boobs “fuck” he whines as my hands tangle into his hair

I let out a whimper as I feel my body touch his “can I?” He asks with a raised eyebrow as he taps my inner thigh hinting at my panties “yes” I whine out as he wastes no time lifting me and dragging my panties down my legs. I feel two of his fingers run through my folds causing me to shake from the sudden touch

I look at him, his eyes closed as he takes in how wet I am. He holds his breath to listen to my wetness as he slowly rubs my clit “fuck” he hisses as he shoves two fingers into me, a loud moan spilling from my lips as his cold rings make me shiver

I bounce on his fingers slowly making him chuckle as he looks up at me and sees the lip between my teeth and my hands gripping onto his shoulders “god your gorgeous” he purrs as he kisses my shoulder with a smile

“Please hyuck” I whine out as I feel myself need more than just his fingers “mmh?” He hums “I want you in me, your cock in me” I whimper out “beg” he purrs as he moves his boxers down his thighs “please hyuck I need you in me, I want to feel you cum in me, I want y-“ I whine as I get cut off with a hard thrust

My eyes roll back as I feel his cock filling me, my walls squeezing him tightly as we moan out in pleasure, the sound of his moans making me wetter and hornier each time he whines and moans. “Fuckkk y/n” he hisses as his pace quickens, his grip on my hips tightening and slamming me harder onto his lap

“Oh my- g-“ I whimper out as I feel my juices drip down my leg, the sound of his cock slipping in and out making me smile. Hyucks lost in the pleasure as he pounds into me harder, gripping my neck tightly. The feeling of his cold rings on my neck making me whimper

My thoughts go fuzzy as I feel my orgasm building, the feeling of him tightly gripping my neck making it build up faster. My eyes lock with his as my mouth falls open, a silent cry coming out as my walls clench around him, shaking uncontrollably as his grip on my neck starts to make my ears ring, and my breaths get harder to catch as I grip onto his wrist

His grip loosens enough for me to let out a cry of pleasure, the feeling of him continuing to ram into me making me whine “I know baby it feels so good doesn’t it?” He whimpers into my mouth as he pulls me down and kisses me “your going to be the death of me” he purrs as he smiles at the sight of my saliva dripping down my chin and tears streaming down my face

“Fuckkk” he moans out as he feels me squeeze around him once again, no noise coming out of my mouth as my eyes roll back. I feel his seed spill into me making the squelching sound from my cunt louder “one more” he purrs as his thrust continue, my eyes widen from the fact that he could go another round after just cumming

“I- ca-“ I try and mutter out as the overstimulation starts to get too much “you can take it, just one more baby just one” he pouts as he moves my hair out of my face

One more turned into I’ve lost count as he pumped me full of his cum, just for him to fuck it out of me and fill me up again, my brain was fuzzy and dizzy with pleasure. His thighs were covered in our juices, the thought of us being too loud never coming to mind as he continued to fuck me senseless

“Hy- hyuck” I whine out as I shake yet again, crying out as he breaths heavily onto my neck, his thrusts getting sloppier as he fills me up again, his pace slowing as I fall onto him. I stay wrapped around his cock for a few minutes as we both take in everything that happened “you okay?” He asks as I lay on his chest as he pulls out of me causing me to shiver. We lay on the bed as I kiss his chest “mmh” I nod weakly as he moves my hair out of my face

“As much as I’d love to stay like this let me get you cleaned up” he coos as he lays me on the bed and gets up. He lifts me off the bed, carrying me to the shower as he kisses my cheek “you did perfect for me” he smiles as he turns on the water. “What about your sheets?” I ask as I stand up and let the water run down my face “I have an extra in my closet don’t worry”

“shit I’m sorry” I hear haechan sigh as he moves my hair off of my neck and sees bruises from his grip “It’s ok” I smile as I already know I’d be marked, not only on my neck but probably all the places his hands and teeth were “it’s not okay, I should’ve never lost that much control” he replies with regret “trust me you could never hurt me, and I liked how rough you were” I purr

He smiles worryingly and nods “just trust me you’ll let me know if I get too rough okay? Our code word can be red” he says reassuringly as he kisses my shoulders and forehead “I will” I smile as I hug him, letting the water run down both of us as he holds me up for balance just in case.

“This is all I could ask for”

[gibson-g1rl]

I Heart You

Franken Kyle Spencer x Fem Reader 

Warnings: nothing but fluff :)

You knew Kyle before the accident, you had met him at one of the college parties Madison had dragged you to, he was genuinely one of the sweetest boys you had ever met. 

You remembered the first time you saw him after the accident, you shot him a small smile and all he did was stare at you, it was like he recognized you but couldn’t quite place his finger on where he knew you from. 

****

You still remembered the day clearly; you were in the kitchen fixing yourself a snack when Zoe frantically entered and paced over to where you were standing. 

“Hey Y/n, you busy?” She said as you looked up towards her.

“Uh no not really, what's up?” You said as you finally faced Zoe properly.

“Could you uh, maybe watch Kyle for me for the day, it’s just, I need a bit of a break and I need to do a few things you know without having to worry about him and you’re the only person I trust to like actually watch him sooo.” 

“I’ll watch him yeah.” You said as you smiled at her, Zoe quickly wrapped her arms around your figure, squeezing you as she said, ‘thank you’. 

The two of you quickly made it up to your room and upon entering, you found the blonde headed boy already seated on your bed, headphones over his ears and an iPad on his lap. 

Zoe made her way over to the boy and tapped his shoulder, causing Kyle to look up at her and take the headphones off. 

“Okay Kyle, so Y/n’s going to be watching you today, so you need to listen to her, you remember her, right?” He looked towards you and shot you a sweet smile (which you returned) before looking back at Zoe. 

“Okay well have fun you two, bye.” Zoe said as she made her way out of your room, closing the door behind her. 

Now that it was just you and Kyle, the silence became deafening, but you were determined to make Kyle feel comfortable in your care.

“Okay so, Zoe gave me these card things and told me I should try and go through them with you and then I was thinking I could make us something to eat or order something and then we could maybe watch a movie, how does that sound?” You said as you made your way towards the skittish boy and sat down next to him.

All Kyle did was look at you in confusion but soon he nodded his head at your words, showing off his beautiful dimples as he smiled. Kyle felt so comfortable around you already and he had no idea why, there was just something about you that made him feel safe. 

The two of you quickly got comfortable in the spots on your bed as you pulled a random flash card from the deck and place it in front of Kyle. He had practiced the word on it multiple times with Zoe but now when he was trying to say it alone, the word only came out in little fragments. 

“Hey, it's okay take your time.” You said as you noticed him frown. He tried over and over but the word just refused to leave his mouth, he could see and say the word perfectly in his head but when it came to saying it out loud, it just wouldn’t happen.

“Stu-stupid so stupid!” He said as a few tears began to form in his eyes, his hands hitting himself over and over against his head. 

You immediately reached for his hands and put them to his chest, shushing him as he shoved his face inside the crook of your neck. You were taken back by this but still let him sob his heart out into your shoulder. You couldn’t imagine how hard this must’ve been for him. 

You let go of his hands and reached for his chin, making him look up at you. 

“You’re not stupid Kyle, stop saying that. I know you can do this, just take your time and it will all come flowing back to you I just know it.” Your other hand went up and wiped the tears that had fallen down his cheeks, eliciting a smile from him.  

He slowly started calming down again, sitting back and looking at the card.

“F-fo-food.” Your eyes widened as he got the word right, immediately wrapping your arms around him in celebration.

“See I knew you could do it Kyle!” You said as you unwrapped your arms from the boy. His smile only widened at your genuine excitement on his part.

The rest of the day went by swiftly and Kyle had gotten incredibly comfortable around you, even laughing at the horrible jokes you’d make.

The day ended with the two of you laying in your bed, watching a movie together. You were about to say something to Kyle regarding the movie but you were interrupted by light snores coming from the boy as he nuzzled his face into your side. His nose twitching as your hair touched his face. You all but smiled at his peaceful state and not long after that, you fell asleep yourself, you and Kyle unknowingly cuddling into each other.

Once Zoe arrived home she made her way to your room and was taken back by the sight of the two of you cuddled up together, she smiled at how comfortable both of you looked before closing the door and heading back to her room for the night.

Ever since that day, the two of you were inseparable, Kyle clinging onto you, the two of you as thick as thieves. He felt so safe with you and you were the only person who never got tired of his little moods here and there or just never got tired of him in general.

You were making your way up to your room, you just finished your last couple of classes, the wind was howling outside, the sky thick with grey clouds, heavy rain pouring from them. Just as you entered your room, a lightning bolt struck across the sky, accompanied by a loud roar of thunder. God you loved days like these.

Upon entering, your eyes glazed over the entire room, searching for the familiar head of blonde curls you’ve grown fond to. He was nowhere to be seen.

Your steps slowly reached your bathroom and your eyes fell upon a trembling Kyle, his hands clutched to his ears to drown out the sound of the thunder. You rushed towards him, startling him in the process but as soon as he saw it was you, he wrapped his arms around your middle and buried his face into your chest.

“Hey baby, it’s all good, it’s just thunder don’t worry about it.” You said as your hands reached towards his face and slowly caressed the skin there. He shook his head against your body, his body shaking as all the sounds from outside just grew louder. You placed a kiss to his unruly hair, letting him know that you weren’t going anywhere.

“It’s okay Kyle, I promise. How about I run a bath for us then make some popcorn and hot chocolate and we get under the covers and watch a movie?” You said, whispering into the boys ear as you caressed his back lightly.

He nodded against you and that was your sign to slowly pry your body from his grasp to run the bath.

While the bath was filling up, you added some bubble bath along with lighting some candles around your bathroom. Once the bath was filled up, Kyle instantly began tearing off his clothes and made his way into the bath, the water splashing around as he settled in. You soon reached for your clothes too and got into the tub with Kyle, your back pressed against his chest.

He took this as a sign to wrap his arms around your waist, resting his chin on your shoulder, the sounds from outside being nothing but a whisper to him now.

As you moved your hands through the warm, bubbly water, telling Kyle about your day, you began to feel him drawing shapes into your back. You thought nothing of it as he often drew shapes into your skin to calm himself down. Your interest was peaked though when you felt him write the following into your skin.

I ♡ You

You turned your head to the side as Kyle began speaking.

“I lo-love you.” He said as he nuzzled his face into your neck. Your heart swooned at his words, causing you to sit up and turn to face him. You pressed a kiss to his cheeks, then his forehead, his nose and finally his lips.

He smiled into the kiss before placing a loving kiss on your nose and showing off his dimples as he smiled.

“I love you too Ky.”

****

Taglist: @laynna-mcknight @yes-divine-ruler @v-love @evanpetersfav @kitwalkersgfff @demxnicprxncess @hxney-lemcn

Let me know if you’d like to be added or removed to/from the taglist :)

Requests are always open :)

[girlreblogger]

also to add to my previous post, when i say blk yn go through crazy situations im exaggerating but i mean (“cause me personally!!!!!!!!!!!”) allowing the character to be treated in certain manner and be put in “awkward” positions. i also want to say that the “situations” seem unfulfilling like i wanted to say in the first place.

because of the unsavory situations she is put in she legit has to have characteristics that are straight up unnecessary if the wellbeing of her character was prevalent. and i have to say that because of blk yn stories that it applies to. (and no ian talking abt how ppl be complaining abt yn being “ghetto” 😒)

drama, comfort, or for fun, is cool and dandy but it’s the same type of thing and i’m not tryna come for the plug stories like don’t nbgaf like omg i’m so tired of hearing bout them freaking stories.

to the ppl who still decide to ignore how damaging fr CERTAIN! blk yn fics y’all remind me of the ppl who support tyler perry movies simply because it’s for entertainment and “he’s telling a story” (that not everyone has)

yep. those things are true but an impact worse than good is being produced. like bffr.

and i feel conflicted by even saying that because some ppl obviously genuinely relate or find comfort in those stories but at what cost. like is comfort worth change and progression?

me rn:

some ppl just really don’t gaf and don’t care to want better. please don’t let the ppl who don’t gaf sway you. for the ppl who do, reblog nice fics or write. blow them up so other blk girls can find them. we deserve it.

there are so many blk fics where yn is not going through those things and if there is “drama” is solved or there’s a healthy resolve. (there’s so many blk writers who need to be publishing books fuck tumblr or ao3 and tryna get reblogs. with all that talent girl MAKE SOME MONEYYYY! YALL STUFF BE GOOD.)

i’m dead serious. why haven’t you thought abt it.

but yeah. it is what it is we have to put more work in to change as people in general. but i really just want my ppl to grow. ppl find comfort in fics for a reason. i really think a good balance of what everyone is looking for and needs should be found. i know ppl gonna feel like ppl telling them what to do but they prolly the ones who don’t want the change for wtv.. reason… ahem..

ppl feeling hit by what i said:

there’s obviously a problem and as a ppl! why can’t we just fix it. like at least try.

side note:

there’s so many ways to get drama. also the smut after arguing piss me off this is off topic cause it applies to a lot of ppl who make fics but like damn. y’all ain’t gon talk it out. and it be the most weird arguments and stuff and you wanna squeeze lemons after that???

idk that annoys me like everyyyy time? and i think smut after arguments can be well written but ….

anyways the blk ff community to damn big for us to be sitting here starving acting like we don’t have food in the refrigerator to make something.

get it together yall. youn want what’s in the refrigerator go get your keys and buy something.

i’m tired of this shit that’s why so many blk writers stop writing or ppl stop reading because it’s too much going on all for some damn fake characters we wanna imagine ourselves with.

and i know for some ppl it’s abt the followers and all that which i mean to each is own i mean

sigh i was tryna be proper and cordial but i really want better for us but it’s so many ppl who go too far or do too little. and some are so sheep that they go with someone else’s opinion too. you know you tired of all the toxic fics say sumn. you know you tired of ppl constantly bringing up yn being ghetto for no reason (that shit piss me off so bad i can’t. they be so close but so farr) say sumn.

me after thinking someone finna bring up how unnecessary struggle love/toxic/extra smutty blk fics are but they end up just complaining abt yn using aave:

anyways i’m ranting. i wanted to say what i felt.

muah

[b4mpyre-k1zz3s]

Lady and The Tramp-ing Pasta w the Jackass Guys HCs!

Johnny Knoxville X Gn!Reader, Bam Margera X Gn!Reader, Steve-O X Gn!Reader, Chris Pontius X Gn!Reader

Warnings: None!

An: One of my friends suggested that it would be funny to see the guys’ reactions to of Y/N asked them to do the spaghetti kiss from Lady and The Tramp, so of course I had to explore this idea! I’ve never written head cannons b4 so plz request more! I would love more practice :)

It all started when your boyfriend decided to take you to a nice restaurant for Valentine’s Day- this cute little Italian place you had your eye on for a while.

So when your food arrived first, you got an idea,

“You know what’d be, like- really cute?”

Bam

He just stares at you incredulously as you tell him your idea

Before snatching your plate and sticking his fork in it! Oh that little shit.

Still, you can’t help but smile as you drag it back in front of you, “Oh, fuck you. That’s my spaghetti!”

Bam swallows a mouthful of noodles before parroting back your words, “Fuck you, that’s my spaghetti.”

The two of you go back and forth for a while- you’d take the plate back, he would take the plate after you

Even though it was pretty childish, both of you slowly fall into giggles

This all culminates when you grab a piece of garlic bread from the wire basket in the middle of the table and throw it at him, which Bam quickly nabs off of the table and bites a chunk off, ignoring the stares you got from the other patrons

Maybe you would have better luck going out to somewhere a little less refined, but you didn’t care

Wether it was a fancy restaurant or an all night diner, you and Bam couldn’t ever behave around eachother

Chris

Chris is the kind of guy who’d usually bring up this sort of goofy, romantic stuff first, but there’s no way in hell he’s saying no when you ask!

So before you can open your mouth, he’s already got half a strand of spaghetti hanging from his lips

Of course, he still is himself, so expect things to turn at least a little weird halfway through

Especially when he starts exaggeratedly moaning, “Mmm…spaghetti.”

You start laughing so hard you have to bite off the noodle and pull away so you won’t accidentally spit your dinner out

There’s nothing Chris loves more than making you smile so of course this just fuels him as that half grin spreads across his face

“You sure you don’t want some meatballs with your pasta? Maybe some sausage?”

And he hits you with that eyebrow raise

The whole dinner just devolves into the two of you laughing your asses off

Steve-O

Despite what one would assume, Steve could be quite the romantic!

That is, when he wanted to be

So of course he’s down for it when you suggest it, but there’s something going on behind those eyes you can’t really read

All seems to be going well at first

That is, until you feel the noodle slip right out of your lips

Confused, your eyes shoot open, and there is your boyfriend, slurping down the same noodle that was just in your mouth!

With a fucking smile

“Ugh! You are nasty!” You chuckle, playfully shoving him

Steve leans over, giving you a kiss on the cheek, “S’just the way you like me, baby.”

Wiping off the marinara sauce from your face, you smiled because he was totally right

Johnny

Oh, Johnny is the type of boyfriend to just eat this shit up!

He’s old movie levels of romantic, probably because that’s where he steals all of his flirty moves from

But he is all cool, twirling a bit of the pasta on his fork, “Sure, why not?”

Of all of the guys, he’d probably be the man to ask for this if you genuinely want a sweet moment

It starts really cute as you slowly get closer and closer to eachother

Until you get to that very last bit of pasta separating you and you’re so close you could feel his eyelashes on your cheeks

That’s when Johnny reaches out, grabbing the back of your head and pulling you into a kiss!

He’d linger a little after you pull away, smiling a little against your lips

Until the now embarased waiter that was waiting at the end of your table clears his throat, food in hand

[ink-n-shadow]

that könig kia fic was heartbreaking 😭😭 if you want can you do a part 2 where they’re reunited ?

Moving Along (pt. II) | König

[ MOVING ALONG pt. 2 ] 𝜗𝜚 the one where you confront König after thinking he was KIA on deployment

𝜗𝜚 pairing: König x fem!reader 𝜗𝜚 cw: strong language, mean-ish!reader, shitty ending, unedited 𝜗𝜚 note: find part one here ⤳ link

The first thing you did whenever your boyfriend left the apartment the next morning was go to your closet. You pushed up onto your tiptoes to reach the top shelf, pulling down a cardboard box that you hadn't peered through in 8 months.

Bringing it over to your bed and sinking down beside it, your hands immediately begin digging through the box—filled painful memories and reminders of everything that could've been. There were letters, a stuffed bear with a bowtie, countless old movie tickets, a necklace he had gotten me for our one year anniversary 8 months before he disappeared.

Buried beneath everything was your old cellphone, battery drained and fingertips still smudging the screen from the lack of use. your fingers trembled as you pulled it out, glancing it over before plugging it into the charger on your bedside table. a breath of relief left your mouth as you saw it beginning to charge.

after a few painstaking minutes of sitting there, the phone finally illuminated back to life, and you quickly entered your old password—the date of your anniversary with könig—and went to your notifications. what you saw made your heart sink deep into the pit of your stomach.

sure, there were old texts and missed calls, but now there were new ones. some were from as early yesterday. the realization hit you like a brick wall.

könig wasn’t dead.

the sudden vibration of your old phone almost made you drop it onto the floor beneath you, könig's contact flashing up on the screen an inviting you to answer. something inside of you made you hesitate for a moment, throat growing thick with tears and remembrance as i pushed the green answer button.

"scheiße, finally you pick up." könig's words sounded breathy and full of concern, a nervous laugh pinned to the end of his sentence.

your mouth was bobbing between opened and closed like a fish out of water, eyes staring off into the chipped paint of your bedroom walls. hot tears were burning puddles in your lashes. your chest felt tight, like someone was holding your lungs in the palm of their fist. "k-könig?"

there was a soft pause between the two of you, where könig let out another scoffed nervous laugh. "ja, glad you remember my name still, liebling. you know—i went by your old apartment." he was speaking so casually, as if nothing was wrong—as if you hadn't been spending the past 8 months mourning the loss of him.

"you're not dead." you stated matter-of-factly, words sounded watered down by the tears now streaming down your face in thick rivulets. "how the fuck are you not dead?"

"dead?" könig sounded genuinely confused, his sentence frozen in time as he sputtered to regain his ability to speak. "w-why would i be dead, schatz?"

your chest convulsed with a rough sob, fingers squeezing tighter around the phone in your palm and eyes narrowing at the wall in front of you. "i got the letter in the mail, könig. i read it so many fucking times to make sure it was real that i have it fuckin' memorized. this shouldn't be fuckin' possible." it took every ounce of strength you had left to not drop the phone, to keep it pressed to your ear so you could hear every word könig was saying.

there was a long stretch of silence, filled only by the broken sobs slipping from your lips and könig's heavy breathing on the other end of the phone. your body was growing more tense, like a rubber band on the verge of snapping in half. "fucking say something, könig! you mean to tell me i've been spending the past 8 months grieving and trying to move on for nothing?!"

again, könig remained in relative silence. his breathing had grown a bit more ragged, and the sound of sniffling on the other line making it clear to you that he was on the verge of tears. "m-meine seele...i-i don't know what you are talking about. my superiors—"

"your superiors are the one who sent the goddamn letter, könig." your voice was wavering and broken, tongue falling between your syllables like potholes and making it hard to speak without slurring over sobs. "they're the ones who told me you were dead. they're the ones who told me to move on, könig. so you know what? i did. i moved on, thought i was finally okay again—until you fuckin' come walking back into my life as if nothing has changed."

the other end of the phone was filled with broken sniffles and ragged breaths of air. your heart ached hearing the sounds coming from the usually content and stoic soldier, but a sick part of you felt somewhat relieved—it felt good knowing that someone else was feeling a fraction of the pain you had felt for months now.

"i have a new job, a new boyfriend, a new life, könig. but you know what the worst part is?" you sniveled out the words, the heels of your palms coming up to swipe at the sticky tears lingering on your cheekbones. "i'm willing to drop all of it—even my boyfriend—just for you, könig."

[qoldenskies]

i genuinely adore the way that anatawa hitorijanai/the third part of the finale brings back the little motif with leo falling and raph jumping to save him in bug busters because it was such an important moment that really propelled raph along in his own abilities (although i personally interpret mystic powers as being more related to the individual and their emotions, while ninpo is more about. yknow. the family and their trust with each other since its hereditary, i see it as separate. post for later) but i always find it SO WEIRD that it's treated as like. a trust fall. because leo falling was not a trust fall. it was the opposite, actually.

is it representative of raph putting himself aside for the sake of his family? oh yeah. i do believe its a point that marks a turning point in the way he perceives the role of the oldest and leader, which is why i like the parallel because he puts the same into his younger brothers' hands. but was it really an act of trust? hell no! raph spent the entire episode NOT TRUSTING LEO. they were put in that exact position because raph cared a lot about being right just as much as leo did, and draxum dropped leo because raph didn't listen to him!!

leo pushed and bitched and begged pretty much that entire episode to be listened to, and raph never truly gave him the floor because he was expecting him from the get-go to be cynical and selfish. and even though leo can be those things at times, it didnt mean he wasnt a voice worth not listening to. and that did nearly get him killed! joke aside, leo shouting about his last words meant he really, really did not actually expect raph to do something like that, and raph jumped in a blind, panicked act of desperation for leo's sake. i think learning he SHOULD trust him from that point was something that should've been clarified, or they should've left the parallel more implicit tbh.

but you know what IS an excellent parallel to bug busters? the movie! their roles are reversed! raph has well learned the importance of taking things seriously and is loudly pushing for caution, and leo is pushing him away and shrugging it off like he's just being too pessimistic, its pretty much a HERE COMES THE FUN POLICE WEEWOO. which i think is like, the equivalent to raph's "she's a nice spider lady, why are you being so negative, do you just want to prove me wrong? you're up to something"

and i think a big reason raph is so loud about the lesson he's trying to pound into leo's skull is because of the exact lesson he learned in bug busters, because he definitely does actually see a lot of himself in leo (i do love when people play around with raph going "oh god did i teach him that" about some of leo's more self-destructive behavior btw, that's good A team angst) and i dont think he wants leadership back at all. he's perfectly fine with splitting the load, because they already have been The Big Brothers from the start and leo's been his second in command and cheerleader a lot before. but leo in his eyes is being vindictive and refusing to take this seriously, and i'm sure for raph it hits a little close to home! projection moment

this was honestly just me trying to say that i think the perfect leo/raph roof moment parallel should be their fight when raph is krang-ified, leo telling raph to go save donnie and mikey, and then him leaping into the prison dimension, just like raph leapt for him, because there was no other choice in order to save lives. it's the exact same type of move, bonus points with how leo points it out, "hero moves are your style".

(also potential parallel if you choose to interpret raph's tears as he jumps off the roof as overwhelming guilt because he suddenly realizes that his own choices brought them to this point, because like.... leo crying in the prison dimension..... same thing)

point is, love the raph trust fall in the third part of the finale. but i think the point of him catching leo was that he didn't trust him, and i think it wouldve been better to the finale trust fall more about how he's grown from the behavior that put them there back in bug busters.

OH AND AND AND this is compounded in by the B team moment RIGHT AFTER THAT with donnie and mikey, because that is an ACTUAL example of two brothers that genuinely, earnestly trust each other. donnie tells mikey to let go intentionally and mikey doesn't hesitate, because he knows donnie will always be there to catch him and he trusts him wholeheartedly. the difference is jarring and most likely intentional.

[theredkennedys]

my au my rules. this au is literally called Chucker Spiderverse AU in the archived discord thread so be warned oooOoOOoooOo . gay men OoooooOo

writing out the backstory that me and my friend Donut have been working on for the better part of a year, most of it was inspired by the new itsv movie that was released then. and because I don't plan on writing anything huge for this I'd like my brainstorming to have a wider audience.

All art posted is most likely @franklindonuts , aka Donut the cocreator of this shit,,,hey buddy😆 go show him some love pleeeease

you can see my art of this au here

this will 100% be somewhat incomprehensive but hey I'm just a fag having fun and I was born yesterday🧚‍♀️

**

Tucker is the spiderman in his universe with Church as his "guy in the chair". (Putting it out there that this Church is Alpha, which is significant later on.)

They both share an apartment, I don't think I ever specified why but probably for school reasons. They're both young adults, I want to say around 19-21, similar to their Blood Gulch years.

Tucker loves being spiderman. He loves helping people, being almost an idol for people- a lot of jokes were thrown around about that:

Imagine Tucker after he got his sword. He has a genuine purpose now and he's going to be good at it.

but goddd Tucker is Tucker and is stupid and reckless. being spiderman doesn't make him invincible but he loves to think otherwise. he pushes himself too far too often because he knows if he doesn't he wouldn't be able to sleep at night if someone got hurt when he was taking it "easy". Church knows this but he's still pissed off when Tucker comes back bloodied and bruised from a Villain of the Week that he shouldn't have taken on :/

(Donut art)

mental illness

It's literally just the Spiderman Effect. No one will Ever be able to understand what it's like to be spiderman but other spiders, regardless of how much you tell them or show them, they won't get it. and Church doesn't Get it. He's not stupid, he understands WiTh GrEaT PoWeR y'know but there's a mental toll that can't be communicated in a way that makes sense :/

regardless, Church hates it but he also hates how much he cares about Tucker. Cocreator said that he figured they were both close and willing to become A Thing but the time was never right, and Tucker was scared of liking a dude, etc. Normal stuff between these two. But they're insanely close, I'd like to think even moreso after Tucker's whole spiderman thing and the fact that Church also has to realize that Tucker is not invincible.

(despite them not being A Thing, Donut art of The Spiderman kiss and other gay shit)

Now this is the kicker of why I said to take note of the fact this is Alpha Church specifically.

Now I'm aware of the clowning on the whole "canon event" thing and some people's opinion on it (mostly that it's dumb and cliche), but I find it a very unique and convenient way to give a character a significant plot boost.

That being said, Tucker's "canon event" is Church's death.

I don't ever think I solidified how/why he dies, moreso that it's just a wrong-place wrong-time type of thing. Some brainstorming from Donut about it:

but i never asked him for elaboration so I don't know what the fuck he's talking about. anyway

Tucker finds Church similar to how Miles found Peter in the first Spiderverse movie. He doesn't know what to do. He's frantic and scared and horrified that his best friend is coughing up blood with raspy breaths.

(Alpha s10 parallel with tex lalalala)

Obviously. Obbbviousllyy Tucker is distraught and inconsolable. Something something he has the Worst depression of his life. He doesn't know what to do with himself, the one person who knew about everything is gone, and I'm sorry (not) lol but it's not like in rvb where Church revives 8 times before dying like a normal person.

Church was always there for Tucker and he's at a loss of what to do now because, despite the threat of it, he should've never died. It wasn't even a concern in his head ever because it seemed so unlikely.

Tucker doesn't know what to do with himself, he wouldn't have gotten this far without Church. But really, it was All Tucker. All Church did was give him little tech bits to help him function better but it was All Tucker. But he isn't able to realize that through everything and it ruins him.

I will have to make a continuation post because I love adding images and Just hit the mobile limit🧚‍♀️

thanks for reading if you got this far

[alexsoenomel]

A Perfect Puzzle Piece (Sam Winchester x Reader fluff)

Request:  

 More Sam Winchester Fluff pwease? I need more soft boy Sam lol. I’ll leave the story up to you

Pairing: Sam x Reader

Warnings: I mean period pains I guess? Other then that just fluff :)

Word count: 837

Note: Wrote this few years ago. Like/ reblog or both if you like it :)

Your head hit the soft pillow as your tired body went under the freshly washed covers of the bed you shared with your other puzzle piece. Sadly he wasn’t there to spread his arms so you could fit into his body perfectly. Out and about, he was working with his big brother, trying to find a way to stop The Darkness from completely destroying the world you once saw as beautiful. The truth was the world was now nothing but ugly and dark, you were just lucky to have found a little bit of light in Sam and Dean. You would always go with them but being a woman came with one little thing-periods and period craps. Every month you’d have those sharp waves of pain that were at times unbearable. Today was one of those days…you woke up and immediately wanted to die. It was a perfect morning….

The pain, the ugly feeling knowing a pad is between your legs and the feeling like you were heavier  twice your actually weight plus the unexpected acne…It was like that time you almost got killed by a demon. The motherfucker got you good until Sam jammed a knife in his heart. Ah good times…

You were in so much pain you couldn’t get up, and you tried. At one point you were crying wishing desperately you were a man but it was useless. You took the pain meds and even took a shower hoping hot water would calm the situation but it didn’t. Sam and Dean got worried as always, even though you told them a million times first days were always the most painful for you. Finally you convinced them to go and do their research wherever that might be and just to leave you to sleep off this whole situation. And that’s what you did…Spending a whole day in bed with Sam’s scent all over the sheets wasn’t so bad after all. You hugged his pillow inhaled the sweet smell of his shampoo not thinking of the blood war between your legs, and for just few minutes the pain stopped and you got to close your eyes, drifting to dream land faster than Dean running towards pie. After you woke up, you were pain free but still alone. Even though he was out for only a couple of hours you missed him and the loneliness kicked in.

“When will you come home? I miss you.” You texted him.

Few seconds later your phone buzzed. “Tonight. We can’t find Crowley, this whole trip was useless. I miss you too. How’re you feeling?”

“The pain is gone for now but I’m sad and I don’t know why.” You press send.

Few seconds later… “It’s okay to be sad. We will be home soon, I promise.”

“I love you Sammy.”

“I love you too. See you soon.”

That was at 6pm that day.

The rest of the day you, of course, spent in bed watching old movies on Sam’s laptop until you got a headache and decided to go and sleep at 2am. It felt like you had spent that whole day working; you were drained, still sad and just done with life and motherfucking nature.  You just needed Sam and his hugs.

At the end he kept his promise. He came back with Dean at around 3am while you were already fast asleep. He took a quick shower got into his pajamas and without a sound joined you. He wrapped his arm around your waist as you slowly drifted back to reality. He placed small kissed on your neck sending shivers all over your body. When you realized your perfect puzzle piece was back you slowly opened your eyes and turned around to face him, snuggling against his warm body.

“You’re back.” You mumbled, feeling a genuine wave of happiness consuming you.

“Hey.” He smiled. “Sorry I woke you up. How’re you feeling?”

“I’m glad you did. Still feel like crap, but better. How was the trip?”

“Useless and tiring. “ He said as his long fingers were playing with your messy and now tangled bed hair. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” Feeling safest as you can possibly be, right there in his arms, with your heart beating fast and your cheeks blushing uncontrollably, your legs went between his as your body climbed on top of him while your lips kissed him hungrily. “Cuddle me.”

Sam gasped by surprise and laughed, feeling your body against his. That’s how pure bliss and comfort looks. That’s how love looks like. It was dark as it can possibly be, but you could still see the beautiful lines on his face and his breath taking hazel eyes glowed in the same darkness. The same could be said about him, your features and silhouette were still visible. His hand brushed away your hair so he could study you more.

“I love you.” He said. “I can’t believe I found you.”

“To the moon and back Sammy.” You said and kissed him again.

[noturlondonboy]

No More Excuses//Katelena

Chapter 9: When It Rears Its Ugly Head

Pairing: Kate Bishop x Yelena Belova

Chapter Summary: The girls go see a movie and then head to a bar to just relax and enjoy each other’s company, but trouble arises when a toxic face from Kate’s past shows up.

A/N: I hope you hate this man as much as I do.

Chapter Warnings: alcohol, men being assholes, harassment, PTSD, trauma

Kate lets Yelena pick the movie when they shuffle into the first theater they can find, which happens to be small and vintage and ultimately adorable. She goes over the options for a small moment before excitedly beckoning to the reruns of Howl's Moving Castle, and Kate lights up with a grin at her decision. They get ridiculously cheap candy from the snack counter and scurry down the hallway.

Apparently Howl's Moving Castle had been on a list of Yelena's of things to watch because of her intermittent internet browsing, and Kate made a mental note to properly introduce her to Studio Ghibli later on.

The movie is an instant hit with Yelena, of course, who is so enthralled with the gorgeous art style and music that she doesn't even remember to touch the Reese's Pieces Kate convinced her to try. Here and there she mutters her thoughts, commenting on how sad it was that Sophie thought so little of herself, how much she adored Calcipher, how she thought that the rings were the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Kate probably didn't pay as much attention to the movie as she should have, but to be fair, she had seen it a million times and knew most of the lines anyway. She really only had eyes for Yelena; the way her nose scrunched when she smiled, the honey curls loose around her neck, the way the deep, sticky red of her lipstick moved with her mouth when she laughed and when she cried.

By the end of the movie, Yelena looks as if she's gone through the five stages of grief. Her cheeks are flushed and the tears, both genuine and from laughing, have smudged the corner of her eye makeup, which in Kate's opinion, only enhances it. The assassin is chatting Kate's ear off, who has to admit that her energy is the most addictive drug she's ever come in contact with.

"Kate Bishop!" Yelena yells for the millionth time as soon as they're outside the theater, hands grabbing her friend's arms and almost shaking her. "That was beautiful!" She bursts into a stream of excited rapid-fire Russian, her accent so thick that Kate thinks she could wrap herself in it and snuggle down for a night of listening to Yelena talk.

Yelena suddenly squeals and throws her arms around Kate's waist, lifting the archer off of her feet and spinning her around. "Kate Bishop, thank you thank you thank you!" She presses her lips to both of Kate's cheeks in swift kisses, her laughter and smile so contagious that Kate can't help but laugh along, even though her face is burning and her stomach is doing unsanctioned flips.

"Why are you thanking me?" Kate asks, her grin so wide her cheeks start to ache. She is still in Yelena's arms, the assassins grip strong and sure and oh-so warm. "You're the one who paid for the movie, Yelena."

"Yes, but I would not have ever gone to see it without you!" Yelena lets go of Kate to place her hands over her heart with a wistful sigh, her eyes closing. "Oh, Kate Bishop, I loved it so much."

Kate's heart is thudding against her chest, but she pushes it down and takes the blonde's hand. "I'm glad," she says softly.

Yelena's lips curl up at the corners, and the snow is still falling lightly out on the cold New York streets, a few flakes sticking to her dark lashes. "Me too."

There's another moment, then. Right there, just the two of them. Yelena knows, and is less afraid than she was even three hours ago, but it is heavy in her chest and she doesn't know if she can take the weight yet.

"Time for drinks, Kate Bishop?" she says coyly, raising an eyebrow. The air is crisp and wonderful in her lungs when she takes a deep breath, and it eases the squeeze on her heart.

Kate's grin is blinding, and she nods. "Absolutely."

--------

They end up walking until they find a cozy looking bar, and Kate holds the door open for Yelena before following in behind her. They are immediately enveloped in music that is somehow both quiet and loud but I still rather pleasant, the aroma of coffee and alcohol mixing together, and the glow from several assorted colors of fairy lights strung up in just about every inch of the place.

Kate whistles lowly, taking it in on a slow circle. "How have I never been to this place before now?" she mutters, finding herself falling in love with the establishment immediately. It's all one big, open space, with the bar against the back wall, each side wall full of different booths, tables, and variously decorated seating areas, and the rest of the floor appears to be where the dancing happens.

There seems to be only about two dozen people dancing, and only a couple of them are hammered enough to be throwing limbs around and grinding on each other. The rest are either slow dancing with their respective partner or friend, or letting themselves loosen up.

Yelena's grin is feral as she takes it all in, and when her eyes light upon Kate after a moment, the glow in them intensifies. The archer swallows, knowing her face is hot but not being able to do much about it.

"Hi there, ladies!" A deep voice calls out from somewhere to their right, and a tall, friendly looking man wearing entirely black with a safety vest appears from the crowd, walking towards them. "So sorry I didn't catch you at the door, but I'm the bouncer. Can I see some ID?"

Kate smiles apologetically and nods, digging through her wallet before handing her ID over. The guy looks it over for a moment and gives it back, then turns to Yelena. "And you, ma'am?"

Yelena doesn't move, and her voice is dry. "I called ahead. Fanny Longbottom."

Kate doesn't know how she keeps herself from choking on her own spit and laughing so hard she shits herself, but the bouncer looks over a list on his phone and confirms a few numbers with Yelena before letting them know they're good to go.

Yelena looks at Kate and notices the way she's barely holding herself together, and the assassin rolls her eyes. "Don't," she says in warning, her face grave but tone light. Kate wisely keeps her mouth shut.

They make their way to a booth where they have a clear view of the bar, dance floor, and both exits; Yelena tells Kate to sit while she grabs them drinks.

The archer settles into the booth and admires the leather upholstery, which is in much better shape than you would expect from a New York bar.  The hanging light above the table is a warm orange, and Kate leans further into the cushion, looking forward to the rest of night.

That is, of course, until a figure appeared in front of the table, much too tall and masculine to be her Yelena.

"Hey there, Baby Girl."

Kate feels her stomach blanch, and she does her best to keep the anger from showing through her face as she slowly turns to face the man who spoke. He was tall and lean and had short cropped hair, and Kate could barely stop herself from kicking him between the legs.

"Connor." She grit her teeth tightly and sat up tall, not bothering to make her face look pleasant. "I hope you remember I still have a restraining order against you."

Connor laughs and dares to sit in the booth seat across from her, leaning back and folding his arms across his chest. In hindsight, Connor looks completely harmless. He's wearing a simple blue henley shirt and converse, his hair is well kept, and his smile is dorky. But his eyes hold a gleam that Kate had managed to forget, and seeing it light upon her again has her blood boiling.

"I figured since your MILF of a mommy is in prison, I might try to say hi again." He leans forward, his elbows bracing on the table as he gives a wink. "Without any money to pay the police, how are you supposed to keep a restraining order in the first place?"

Her tone is cold and sharp, and she knows he can see the fire in her eyes. The jab at Eleanor simmers in the back of her mind, and Kate pictures getting to throw him into a wall. "I'm still rich as hell, Connor, and I have more money than you'll ever make in a lifetime. Leave before I call my security in and get you arrested." Kate didn't have official security, but she knew Yelena could chop this man into pieces without breaking a sweat.

For a moment, he looks enraged at the comment on his financial situation, but Connor only laughs, and his lips twist into a cruel smirk. "Girly, we both know you don't have security." He's staring into her, gaze challenging and rotted, like he's trying to tear down her defenses and scare her into submission.

"Leave," she hisses, body shaking with the anger she wants to hit him with. It had been so long since she felt this way. So upset that she could burn the world down with it. So afraid she might kill someone in her frenzy.

"No." His answer is simple, and Kate feels her heart fall with a thud. She recalls the feel of his hands on her wrists, his words mocking and laughing when she tries to get away. He was detained before he could seriously hurt her, but she remembers.

Yelena appears, a full shot glass in both hands, her face stone cold and murderous. "Who the fuck are you?"

Translations: none

Kate Bishop counter: 4

This chapter's meme:

Comments/reblogs/notes make my day :)

[1moreff-creator]

A Summary of the Levi!Accomplice Theory + How We Got Here (DRDT CH2)

Hey there! So a while ago I made a post about the CH 2 murder method, but I missed some pretty crucial information. You might know me and @thebadjoe had a pretty long thread back and forth talking about the murder, which lead to me reworking a lot of the original theory. However, that thread is extremely long and frankly quite confusing to read, so I thought it would be good to summarize what the final theory actually looks like in a separate post. This was sorta inspired by thebadjoe making a similar post about his own theory (which is Eden working alone, but disguising herself as Arei at one point), which I absolutely recommend you read as it’s probably one of the best DRDT-related posts I’ve seen on Tumblr.

If you’re here simply for a summary of the Levi!Accomplice Eden!Culprit theory, then simply skip to the Closing Argument of this post. You should be able to understand it on its own. However, I think it would also be nice to explain how I reached the conclusions I did, which is what the start of the post will be. Othersie I'm gonna look completely unhinged, and that's not good, I'm only kinda unhinged! If you’re interested, then I hope you enjoy!

CW: Murder, betrayal (Eden!Culprit), hanging (including geometric depictions), suicidal thoughts, one mention of self harm.

(Also, the Ace almost-murder won’t really be touched on much here, but there is a thread where me, venus-is-thinking, accirax and thebadjoe all went crazy trying to explain the blood on the wires. It’s about as difficult to follow as the other one, but eh)

The First Step Into Madness

(This part goes over a bit of the same from my OG post, which is why it sorta ignores other theories. There may be some assumptions made which are not necessarily true under other theories. Feel free to skip this if you read the first post and don’t need a refresher)

It all started when I made the original post where I discussed the murder method. I was left very intrigued after watching DRDT for the first time, so I wanted to see if there was some way to figure out how the murder was carried out, and to see if that pointed to any culprit.

-The first thing to note is that EP 11 cuts off when Charles is about to confront David on something related to the time of death, based on when he cuts in. This would imply the murder did not happen the night of the third day as the characters had assumed. Seeing as Arei was last seen at noon of that third day and I wasn’t aware of disguise theory, I figured the murder actually happened at 7:30 AM the morning of the day of the investigation, which I still believe. The fish could have been simply taken before nighttime and kept in the water jugs.

-What this means is that the culprit had time to set up an elaborate murder mechanism overnight, which is what the rest of the evidence around the crime scene would appear to imply.

-One of the reasons to believe a mechanism was involved is the flickering light of the playground. For a while, I genuinely had no idea how the hell that would happen. Even if there was a secret passage from the Movie Screening Room, proving that in trial would be nigh impossible.

-However, sometimes to solve a mystery, all you gotta do is mash random things together until something sorta looks like it fits. And what was a thing I didn’t know how to place? The ball of clothes.

-The idea here is to attach the rope to the ball of clothes and throw it over the railing, that way you can get the rope to go over there without having to get up there yourself. On the way up, the clothes would hit the light and displace the lightbulb, causing it to flicker.

-But why would you need rope over the railing? Well, if you were interested in creating a pulley system to make something go high into the air, you would need the rope there. And a pulley system is the first thing I thought of when I saw the spinny thing had tape on it, and thus was likely involved. This is what I envisioned.

Note how the rope is first looped between the handlebars to make sure it actually does the thing it’s supposed to. There may be other ways to set up the pulley, but the important thing is, a pulley was likely involved.

-So we got a pulley, but what are we pulleying? Presumably Arei, getting her higher up so her neck could snap instantly when she dropped down. As Veronika stated, her neck wouldn’t have snapped unless she weighed more or she dropped from higher up.

-Unless she weighed more, huh? That’s an interesting thing to specify. How would she weigh more? Unless, there was something which weighed her down.

-One thing which always struck me as odd about the water jugs is how oddly the handles are snapped.

-After thinking about how that could have happened, I realized maybe they had been snapped due to the action of rope. If you tie rope around the handles and pull hard, they would snap just like that.

-And what’s the deal with that? As I said, perhaps Arei was weighed down by something. And here is the answer. Since we know there were two pieces of rope (one found around Arei’s neck and a longer piece under the spinny thing), I believed the jugs were attached to her via rope to weigh her down.

-That way, the culprit could further ensure Arei’s neck would snap once she fell and the pulley system was stopped.

-Because yes, the culprit would need to stop the pulley system from spinning back all the way, otherwise Arei would just fall to the floor. And since her broken neck is the only injury apart from red marks on her wrist, that clearly didn’t happen.

-And my answer for that… was frankly just brute forcing it and stopping it by hand. See, I was sorta coming in after watching a cool video by Ocean Unknown, and I was already kinda thinking Levi was probably the culprit, which is why this feat of strength didn’t seem too insane for me. In retrospect, I may have been underestimating the strength required to do that.

-Anyways, the rest isn’t too hard to figure out. Make the note, ambush Arei when she arrived at the playground, with the ensuing struggle resulting in the scuffed floor, put tape on her wrists, put the noose around her neck, pulley, let her fall a bit and stop her so her neck snaps, prop her up so the murder looks vaguely like a suicide, throw some stuff in the trash, profit. You may have noticed I didn’t talk about the fact Arei doesn’t have her glove in the BDA, because… well, frankly I just hadn’t noticed that at the time. The fish are to confuse the time of death, and the tape was likely taken from the gym and used to have a better grip on the spinny thing as the culprit spun it.

…

The tape was taken from the gym?

The Curious Case of the Tape Thief

(Or: BY GOD IT’S THEBADJOE WITH A STEEL CHAIR! /lh)

So, what you may have noticed is that the method I came up with doesn’t really point to anyone in particular, but there’s a detail I hadn’t noticed when I first made that post. The time the tape was taken.

Thebadjoe had already pointed it out on his blog, and was kind enough to reblog my own post with this information. Turns out, he realized that in Ep 6, at around the time Ace wakes up, the roll of the tape previously on the floor disappears from the background. Which means it was taken by someone who was at the gym at that point.

Now, you might be wondering if maybe that’s just an animation error. After all, it’s not like this is evidence that can be brought up in the trial.

Except, it can be deduced. With lockdown logic. Let’s look at the facts:

-The tape was on the floor after Nico leaves the gym.

-The last people in the gym before the lockdown begun were Teruko, Ace and Eden.

-No one but MonoTV could enter the gym during the lockdown.

-Rose and Teruko are the first people to enter the gym after the lockdown, stated explicitly by MonoTV.

-But by the time Rose and Teruko are there, the tape has disappeared. And there is special attention brought to the fact the tape’s disappeared.

So the tape couldn’t have disappeared during the lockdown (unless MonoTV took it out, but why would it do that), and it can’t have been taken after since Rose and Teruko were the first people there after it ended. Since that roll of tape was still on the floor when Nico left, that means the tape disappeared when only Teruko, Ace and Eden were in the gym.

Teruko couldn’t have taken it, protag privilege.

I’ve seen Ace thrown out as a possibility, but it just doesn’t really work. Teruko was inspecting his body right before he wakes up, and she never has a reason to look away after he wakes up. She never saw him pick up the tape, though, so it seems unlikely he did. Not to mention the lack of blood on the tape when Ace had blood on his hands the whole time, or the general weirdness of him taking the tape and, like, pocketing it in the first place. Why would he do that? If he wanted a weapon, he’d have taken the wire which was nearby, right?

So, the most logical answer is that Eden took the tape. In fact, she gets knocked down to the floor right around the time the tape disappears from the background.

So, now we ask, why did Eden take the tape? The issue is that there really is no reason for her to do that, unless she went down to the second floor specifically with the intention of picking up the tape (and maybe some other stuff). However, she never tells Teruko she wanted to pick up the tape, which combined with the fact she takes it sneakily and without anyone noticing, would suggest she wanted it for nefarious purposes. This is where the Eden!Culprit theory comes from.

There simply is no good answer as to why she took the tape otherwise. Even other theories I’ve seen, which suggest perhaps the killer intentionally used the tape to frame Eden, can’t really explain why Eden would take it without warning in the first place.

Thus, the only issue left is… would Eden really do this? How can the nicest person in the killing game betray a friend like that? Well, it’s not as impossible as you may think.

Of Motivations And Narrative Consequence

(Or: venus and accirax come in clutch)

You may have seen this post by DRDT Tumblr’s dynamic duo of @venus-is-thinking and @accirax circulating around, and I recommend you read it if you want a full exploration of why Eden!Culprit works from a character and narrative standpoint. They explained everything way better than I ever could, so I’m not gonna dwell on it too much and just ask you do your assigned reading if you’re interested.

However, as a short summary of the main points:

-Motive: Eden is a very caring person, who has several people she’d want to return to outside of the killing game. Her family, which she speaks about with Levi in the first scene of the chapter, and possibly even the girl mentioned in her secret. The incident with Arturo could have scared her into taking more drastic action so she could go back to the real world. Note the secret quote on her page is “You can’t go back, no matter how hard you try.” She’s likely not secretly evil or anything. And the fact she kept trying to go against the killing game, but ultimately never achieved anything, could have led to her feeling completely hopeless.

-Why Arei?: Because it was the easiest option, most likely. It was implied in the ep 10 flashback that Eden may not have believed Arei when she claimed she wanted to be friends, and that she may have only realized she genuinely did during the trial. Also worth noting, they’re paired together in the CH 1 recap, which implies they’re at least important to each other’s stories.

-Wouldn’t this just prove Teruko right? And wouldn’t that be narratively redundant?: Oh, yes. It would very explicitly prove Teruko right.

Teruko: Sooner or later that kindness of yours will have you breaking down, until you’re too overwhelmed with grief to be able to act. That’s not how I plan to live.

But the thing is, Teruko has already been proven right this chapter. Even beyond all the scuffles around the secrets, you have Nico, seemingly one of the most harmless people in the killing game, admitting to trying to kill Ace; and you also have David, who almost everyone trusted and viewed as a sort of leader, being revealed as a liar and a manipulative asshole.

(Yes I know both of them are a bit more complex than that but that’s not the point.)

In fact, Teruko was explicitly right about David too. Not to mention, someone killed Arei or J if you’re inclined to believe that, which won’t exactly do wonders for trust in the group.

The point, as venus and accirax pointed out, is to show the audience how Teruko’s life usually is. Full of betrayal and misfortune. This is to set up the theme of fate and change that runs deeply through Teruko’s character, and that I’m not gonna explain here.

And while you could say Teruko doubling down on not trusting anyone would be redundant, you have to consider the rest of the group as well. While they mostly held it together after the first trial with a few exceptions, Eden being the killer, combined with everything else that happened in the chapter, would cause way more damage to the whole group’s sense of trust, leading to a very different atmosphere for chapter 3. So I don’t really think it would be redundant at all.

-What about the handwriting sample?: What about the handwriting sample? The note is in cursive, Eden writes her sample in print.

Obviously it's gonna look different. If anything, the fact she specifically writes in print could be seen as her hiding her cursive handwriting, which looks suspicious to me.

-Why help piece together the note in the first place? And why would she fight back against the idea of Arei committing suicide?: Because she would presumably want to build a narrative that she and Arei were friends, to make people trust her more. I mean, it worked, since people immediately jumped on Arturo when they first heard the full story.

-And more! Again, read the full post for more details.

So… now we circle back. Eden’s probably the killer, but what does that mean for the method?

A Method In Shambles

One of the main issues this brings to the method is Eden’s strength. She’s very weak, as has been established in both the most recent QnA and in the series itself (see: arm-wrestling scene, where Arei specifically excludes Eden for being weak). She wouldn’t be able to pull Arei + water jugs up with the pulley system herself.

…Or maybe she could? But it would be very tight, and I think we’re not supposed to pull out the physics and calculators to figure out it would only be the equivalent of lifting like thirty pounds as accirax implied in one line of this really good post. Point is, it doesn’t look like she could, which is more important imo.

Even then, it would also be really difficult for Eden to prop up the body like we see in the BDA.

Speaking of BDA, that’s another issue. The BDA rule states it takes “three people who did not witness the murder” to see the body before the announcement plays. So how did it play after only Whit, Teruko and Eden had found it? Surely Eden as the killer would count as a witness with the method I established earlier.

But the biggest issue for Eden!Culprit are actually the fish. Because while Eden doesn’t have an alibi for the time of death, she does have an alibi for the time of the fish’s disappearance. Think about it: Nico fed them presumably at around 7:00 PM, since they later see David going down at around 7:30, and 7:00 is likely the time when communal dinner ended as it’s also the time Eden and Hu begun washing the dishes together. We know from Nico the fish were still all there by the time Eden’s alibi with Hu begins.

And that alibi lasts all the way until nighttime, when the relax room locks down for the night. And it doesn’t open again until after the murder was supposedly committed at 7:30 AM. So Eden couldn’t have taken it the morning after.

The fish in particular are an issue for Eden!Culprit, because while everything else is odd, this particular thing makes it impossible for Eden herself to have set up the crime scene as we see it. And unless Ace is lying for no good reason, Arei was still alive the night of the third day, so it likely wasn’t set up by anyone uninvolved in the murder.

In the end, although Eden feels like she should be the culprit, she couldn’t have done everything alone.

…

She couldn’t have done everything… alone.

…

:)

The Rise of the Accomplice

Eden is a very trusting, very sociable person. So if there are things in the crime scene she couldn’t have done alone, is it unbelievable to assume she may have had an accomplice?

Let’s ignore the “who” for now and see if this idea holds up. The accomplice would be in charge of taking the fish out of the relax room during nighttime, a tactic to confuse the time of death and give Eden a fake alibi. They would also be in charge of overpowering Arei when she first arrived at the playground.

After pinning her down, wrapping her wrists with tape and possibly her legs too if needed (there were two pieces of tape in the trash, when strictly speaking you would only need one for the wrists. Arei has long socks, so marks wouldn’t be visible on her legs), the accomplice would also be in charge of lifting up Arei into the sky. The exact logistics of how the accomplice would go about this are a bit awkward (they would probably have to run quite fast to the spinny thing so Arei doesn’t get a chance to stand up and try something), but I don’t think it’s outright impossible.

Now, here’s where the trick comes in. Since Eden was the one who likely planned the murder (she had been preparing since Night 2, after all), the goal would be to make her the blackened. Here’s how I think that would be done.

The accomplice would hand off the spinny thing to Eden once Arei was high up enough, and Eden would be the one to let go off the carousel so Arei’s neck breaks. But how does it stop?

Well, you remember the second, shorter piece of rope, which I had originally said would be for the water jugs? Instead of that, they would use it as a stopper rope. The idea is to attach one end to the swing set near the spinny thing, but leave the other end by itself. Then, once Arei was high in the air, one of the two culprits (let’s say Eden) would tie the unused end to the spinny thing. That way, when they let Arei fall, the shorter rope would tense before she went all the way to the floor (you can make sure this happens by using a lot of the rope on the knot on the swing set), and stop the carousel abruptly mid fall. This is what would cause Arei’s neck to snap.

(Ignore the text)

This means the water jugs would need to be attached to Arei in some other way. Possibly by making the noose in such a way that you have rope to spare and you can put the jugs there?

Looks a bit wonky, but I think it can work! Or, at least, Eden could conceivably think it would help, which is all that’s technically necessary.

If you’re not convinced, there could also be a third, extremely short piece of rope being kept in Eden’s fanny pack which was used to put the jugs at Arei’s feet. I don’t quite like this answer too much, since it relies on evidence we don’t have (Russel’s Teapot and all that), but it’s there.

——————————————————————————————————

Surprise! Alternative Method Bonanza!

So you remember how thebadjoe has a really good theory on the murder which is Eden!Solo? That means he has a different method for the murder mechanism itself, as Eden sort of can’t do my method herself.

And I am gonna steal it! Like a thief!

Essentially, if you’re not convinced by the hanging method, you can instead copy and paste joe’s method to my accomplice theory, with a few modifications.

Joe’s method takes my idea of a stopper rope, but instead of attaching one end to the swing set, it’s attached to Arei’s neck. The pulley system is instead used to pull up only the water jugs, the rope attached to their handles, which Eden should be able to do herself. The idea is that, after pulling the water jugs up and attaching the shorter rope to Arei’s neck, when you let them fall, if Arei’s neck is secured in place, when the stopper tenses, it will snap her neck.

Now, in his method that involves knocking out Arei with turpentine (long story) and securing her with tape, but with the accomplice idea, and since I don’t think Eden has turpentine, it may be better for the accomplice to just hold down Arei’s body themself. Though that runs into the issue of “why put tape on her wrists then”, which isn’t a method with joe’s original method and rather an issue of translation to the accomplice idea.

Because of that, and because there’s a particular thing I’ll talk about in a moment, I think my method is still slightly more plausible for the accomplice idea, which is why I won’t bring this up again, but I did want to point out that it’s technically a possibility.

——————————————————————————————————

Any other changes? Yes, actually.

-You remember the starch on the ball of clothes? Well, joe suggested it may come from the enriched formula used in the relax room, as starch is often used to stimulate plant growth or something along those lines. Meaning the clothes spent a night inside the relax room. I agree with this, as I have no idea why starch would be there otherwise.

The question now is when the clothes spent the night. It can’t be Night 3, as Arei died before the relax room opened again at 8:00 AmM. So it would have to be in the second night. And where was Eden that night?

Eden: I noticed you didn’t take any of your new clothes, so I was going to deliver them to you!

Ah, right. On the second floor. In the dress-up room. Totally not suspicious behavior.

Basically, I think Eden went to the second floor to put the clothes in the relax room and pick up the tape, but once nighttime begun, she realized Ace was still in the gym, and decided to wait it out so as to not be spotted in a suspicious place. Unfortunately for her, Ace was busy getting murdered by Nico, so she ended up getting caught by Teruko, and had to course correct.

But why would she need the ball of clothes? Couldn’t she have just grabbed, like, anything else to throw over the railing?

Well… yeah, but. It may have been hard for her to find anything more convenient than the ball of clothes. I’ve seen the roll of tape suggested, but the rope may not have been able to fit through the hole in the middle. Maybe yes, maybe no, depending on what’s most convenient for your theory. That’s not sarcasm, it’s just that there’s no good way of checking how big the hole is.

Throwing a ball of clothes would be a lot easier than throwing a lot of other things. Maybe it’s a bit weird, but I don’t find it completely unbelievable that Eden considered it the best option.

-To make the whole ordeal easier, it would be best to make sure the “noose” end of the longer rope dangles from the railing over the seesaw, closer to the entrance, so they don’t have to move Arei around too much. They could easily do this by just throwing the ball of clothes around a couple of times.

-The BDA is an issue, since the accomplice would also be a “witness” and thus not count. But this can be solved quite simply. For one, there could be a loophole where if Eden just looks away when Arei’s neck breaks, then she’s not a “witness” and she counts. If that sounds too stupid, there’s another answer. To make absolutely sure Eden would be counted as the blackened, the accomplice would leave the room entirely while Eden holds Arei up in the air. That way, the moment they enter again, they would see the corpse without being a “witness” to the murder, and so they count. Add to the accomplice/Eden the view of Whit and Teruko, and you have the three you need for the BDA.

-That’s also my answer to why Eden shouts “Teruko, wait!” right before Teruko opens the door to the playground. Logically, she knew the BDA would play, which is why she didn’t act nervous when Teruko first offered to search in a group of three, but she second-guessed herself right before they got there. I’m sure we’ve all had an experience like that before, where logically we know one thing will happen, but we still get nervous right before the thing happens because we’re worried it might go wrong.

-The Achilles Heel of this theory is the missing bowling glove from Arei’s left hand. I have exactly one explanation for it, and it’s kinda stupid. Essentially, I believe the accomplice took the glove for themselves, to reveal it during the trial if people start accusing Eden. The idea would be that showing people that glove should hopefully get them to vote for the accomplice without thinking about it too much, but since Eden is the real blackened, they would lose and Eden would escape.

Imagine a big reveal, with a little animation like David’s “guilty as charged”, where the accomplice takes out the glove from their pocket and they say “I killed Arei” or something. That’s kinda what I’m envisioning.

So… that’s basically the method. And now, we have to answer the age old question:

but, like, why though

And this, this is the question that makes me believe the accomplice idea more than any other. Because it gives a proper reason for why the method had to be so complicated.

See, there is one fundamental contradiction in the evidence we see, one which has to be solved in some way. Arei’s wrists were bound, but given the rest of the evidence, there was a mechanism involved in her murder.

Why is that an issue? Because if you bind her wrists, then there is no reason not to just kill her in a much easier, simpler way. And there’s no reason to bind her wrists after killing her, either. So why would the killer go through all this trouble?

demodraws0606 (not sure they’d want to be tagged) suggested in this post, under Levi!Culprit, that maybe Levi was trying to frame Eden, and to do that, he had to make sure the BDA wouldn’t rule her out. And while that’s a really good post and a pretty interesting idea, the main issue with the plan of framing Eden in general are the fish. Levi maybe wouldn’t know for sure whether or not Eden would have an alibi, but just in case, it would be much safer to just fill the water jugs with water from a sink or something. The fish could only ever exclude Eden, never incriminate her.

Joe’s method assumes Eden simply used a complex method to distance herself from the murder in a way. Working on mechanisms would calm her as a clockmaker, so she feels more comfortable with murder if she can do it with a mechanism. This is cool, and while I personally think it’s a bit underwhelming, it could work. But it only works if Eden!Solo works, and then you have to explain the fish again. Joe says David brought them there, but, I don’t agree. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong, obviously, just that I personally don’t see it given what we have. I think David genuinely thinks Arei committed suicide because of him.

David: Of course. Of course this would happen.

So, yeah.

And because the why is so hard to explain, I think it’s important to explain it. And wouldn’t you guess it, my method does explain it.

It goes back to the origin of the accomplice idea. Eden couldn’t have done this on her own.

Let’s be clear; an accomplice is a huge leap in logic. One that I feel comfortable making given everything, but one which would take the characters a while to figure out. One which they may reject in principle. There’s no benefit for an accomplice after all, right?

I’ll address that in a moment, but let’s get back to the main point. Eden couldn’t have done this on her own, and because of that, the method in itself is an alibi for her.

Think about it. Because she is clearly not strong enough to lift Arei up into the air (or at least, that’s what it looks like), what happens if someone starts pointing fingers at Eden? Well, all she has to do to absolve herself is insist they speak about the method, and guide them in the general direction of the right answer. Once they start thinking the murderer would need to be strong enough to pull Arei + water jugs up into the air, they would instantly dismiss Eden as a possibility, until the idea of an accomplice is revisited.

This is, by the way, why I think the Hanging Method works better than the Neck Stopper Method under Accomplice Theory-

(ok the nomenclature is starting to get out of hand)

-, because it requires more strength to use the pulley.

But the point is the same. This method actually provides an explanation to why a mechanism was necessary when Arei’s wrists were bound. It was to give Eden a defense.

And that’s also where the fish come in. Because the most straightforward explanation for why the fish would be there would be that the killer would want to confuse the time of death. But why? The time the fish were taken is the same time frame the characters currently believe the murder happened at, so the alibis don’t change. If the killer wanted to give themselves an alibi for the supposed time of death, they would need to have an alibi for the time the fish were taken. But if they have an alibi for the time the fish were taken, they couldn’t have taken the fish!

Provided Nico is telling the truth about the fish, but I really don’t see why they’d be lying. I really doubt they’re the killer.

Thus, unless the fish somehow got there through a third party entirely (which I find unlikely, as Veronika had an alibi and no one else would really want to hide that they found a dead body for a night), it’s very possible the accomplice brought the fish to give the real killer an alibi.

So, that’s the big reason I have for believing there was an accomplice. It’s the best explanation for the fish and the motivation behind the creation of a mechanism I can find, but of course, that’s my opinion. There’s a bit more to it actually, but before we get there, we have to ask:

OMG, Who Did This?!

What we know about the accomplice for now is that they must not have an alibi for the time the fish were taken. This leaves us with Ace, Nico, Rose, Arei, Levi, and David. We can also add Hu to the list, as her only alibi is Eden, and, well.

Out of hand, I'm gonna eliminate Nico, Ace and David, as I really don't think their characters fit the accomplice idea at all, I hope you can forgive me.

I gave Arei a fair bit of thought, since narratively I could see it working, but I just don’t think it’s physically possible. One of the things which got me to believe there was an accomplice was that it would be really difficult for Eden to string up Arei’s corpse herself, and Arei wouldn’t be able to help with that on account of being dead.

So, then there three.

Was it Rose?

An interesting possibility. She was the first one to suggest looking in the trash, which helps Eden build the narrative she and Arei were friends, and she was one of the people who suggested voting for David on Ep 11, claiming she didn’t want the trial to go on any longer. However, that’s pretty circumstantial, and I don’t think there’s much else connecting her to the crime. I also don’t know how much stronger she is than Eden, but that’s neither here nor there. Overall, a possible candidate, but not extremely plausible.

Was it Hu?

Hey, have you ever thought about how weird it was that Hu and Eden never spoke during the conversation Teruko, Charles, Whit and David had right before David went to the relax room on night three? They were supposed to be cleaning up after dinner at that point, according to their alibi, so what gives?

Well, frankly, I just think they weren’t in the kitchen, but probably just cleaning in the cafeteria itself. But maybe Hu and Eden are lying!

Hu could work as an accomplice, given her caring nature and the fact she probably has the “hopeless child” secret, meaning she’s attempted suicide. Thus, she may be willing to throw away her life for Eden’s, which is the biggest obstacle for the accomplice idea.

Her secret quote could allude to it. “I want to pay for what I’ve done. But even then, I still want to live.” The issue there is… well, that could be referring to quite literally anything else, so.

I consider Hu the second likeliest candidate for accomplice because of all that, but… frankly, I still don’t see it. The way she acts during the trial doesn’t suggest she’s doing anything of the sort, and there are reasons she wouldn’t want anyone to get away with murder. Mainly everyone else’s lives. Also, she has even less arm strength than Rose, seeing as she lost at arm wrestling with her.

There’s probably more discussion to be had regarding Hu as an accomplice, but frankly, I don’t think it’s necessary for now. Because there is one person who fits the bill much better than Hu, and has much deeper connections to both Eden and the murder.

You read the title of the post. You know who I think the accomplice is. Let’s go.

Yeah, it’s Levi

(How’s that for a callback?)

Levi is probably the most widely believed culprit theory, and for good reason. He acts very suspiciously all throughout the investigation and the trial. He is the first to call up MonoTV to start voting after David’s reveal, he throws accusations quite liberally, his profile states he dislikes unpredictable people like Arei, the ball of clothes and even the missing glove being involved connects him to the method through his talent…

The main thing is the secret motive. Not only did Levi receive Arei’s, without the context Arei gave David and Teruko in the playground, it is widely speculated that Arei received Levi’s secret through sheer process of elimination. Won’t get into it here, many people have already talked about it, so just trust me bro.

Not to mention the whole “good person” fiasco. Essentially, Ch 2 has the title “All That Glitters”, with the secret title “A Good Person”. Clearly, put together you get “Not All That Glitters Is Gold” -> “Not All That Glitters Is A Good Person.”

And as far as I can tell, there are only a few people who have been referred to using the specific words “good person” in this chapter:

-Teruko: She dissuades Whit from calling her a good person because she’ll feel bad when she’s not.

-David: Hu calls him a good person right before his Ep 11 heel turn.

EDIT: I misremebered, the line is actually "good friend." Ah, oops.

-Eden: Levi calls her a good person in the beginning of the chapter.

-Arei: Says she will prove to Eden she can be a good person.

-Levi: Eden calls him a good person at the beginning of the chapter.

Hopefully I didn’t miss any.

You’ll notice the common thread is plot relevance in CH 2. Teruko’s the protag, David pushed the plot forward by getting people to reveal their secrets and also had his heel turn (EDIT: But he wasn't called a good person so), Eden has been a huge part of the chapter and she might be the killer, and Arei is the victim.

The outlier is Levi, which would suggest he’ll come to be plot relevant soon enough. I don’t think just getting his secret revealed would be enough to put him up there in importance with the most influential people in the entire chapter, so he’s probably heavily involved in the murder. And since I don’t think he’s the killer, accomplice it is, baby.

There is even a particular moment we can point to as the moment Levi may have given up on the group as a whole.

Levi: Why do I even bother?

Right after Ace refuses his help after almost getting murdered. And Eden’s right there.

Finally, his secret quote is “I always believed that a person is defined by their actions alone. But maybe that’s just a poor excuse for my heartlessness.” That’s interesting, because in this context, it could be he never believed Arei wanted to change, as her previous actions contradicted the words she said to Eden. But maybe that’s a poor excuse for his heartlessness, as Arei did want to change.

There’s more I could bring up, like the fun fact Levi’s profile states he likes suckers (candy) and Eden’s states she likes sweet things (that’s insanely circumstantial and confirmation bias-y, but sure I’ll bring it up), but I think venus and accirax may be wanting to make a narrative defense of the Levi!Accomplice theory, so I’ll leave it to them, since they’ll probably do better than I could. Lord knows they did better on Eden than me.

Not gonna lie I’m kinda making this so they can just link back here instead of the insanity train the original thread was-

Final Issues

No theory is perfect, and this one isn’t an exception. While I think the theory mostly covers all the evidence in the scene quite satisfactorily, the explanations for the BDA, the glove and the shape of the scuffed floor (but how do you explain that shape) are a bit shaky. There’s also a few awkward moments of timing and character’s actions, like the whole Ace almost-murder situation being sorta awkward with Eden’s presence in the second floor, and in particular that Arei apparently spent almost an entire day inside her room. That’s sorta gonna be an issue for everyone unless you believe Ace is lying about the day her conversation with David happened, which… okay, isn’t as insane as it sounds, read joe’s theory, but I still consider a bigger leap than simply assuming Arei took a real long nap.

And of course, as much as I’ve ignored it, it’s still insanely risky for Eden to work with an accomplice, and we have to assume Levi was willing to die and get everyone else killed just to get Eden out of there. I’ll try my best to explain how I think that could happen in the Closing Argument.

However, it’s all in all, in my opinion, not too bad. Everything is pretty physically plausible, there are narrative justifications for practically everything, and the few inconsistencies aren’t too large or obnoxious for me to consider damning. I’m still open to other theories, of course, but for now, this is the thing I believe.

-

So, now that we’ve established how I arrived at my conclusions, it’s time for what everyone’s been waiting for!

Closing Argument

Keep in mind character motivations and especially unseen dialogue could vary quite a lot. The main thing to take away is the actual method, everything else is sorta flavor text. This… really is a lot longer than it has any right to be. I kinda got carried away trying to show how I think the characters would act. Sorry.

I’ll mark with “>” the parts which are mostly just for spice, “~” the actually important parts, and just for fun I’ll add predictions to how the end of the trial will go with “+”.

I am extremely sorry if I mischaracterize anyone. I’m not good at writing dialogue, but I think it’s worth trying to give a better impression of what’s going on in my head.

(Days start counting after the start of CH 2)

Second Day, Afternoon

~Eden wanted to return home.

>Of course she did! Everyone did, in the killing game. She kept trying to look for ways to end it completely, and while she hadn’t found a good solution yet, she’d surely find it soon enough!

>But for now, they had to keep strong! And fight against the motive! David had suggested talking to the people whose secrets they’d all received so they could share it and ease tensions, and Eden thought it was a great idea! She went up to Arturo, and told him what she’d received about him.

>…

>She almost died.

>That was the only thing running through her mind as Arei got Arturo away. Eden had almost died, and if it weren’t for Arei, she most likely would have. A small desperation began to grow in her heart, longing to get out, get out, get out-

>Arei tried to talk to her, apologize for the things she’d said in the playground… but Eden couldn’t believe her.

>Arei had shouted in her face that Min’s death was her fault. Even if it was, to say it like that… Eden wanted to cry just thinking about the things Arei had said. Eden may have been nice, but she wasn’t naive. Someone like that could never be a good person.

>Still, a part of Eden wanted to give Arei the benefit of the doubt. So, she hugged her, told her how much it meant, and went on her merry way.

>But those doubts had firmly planted themselves in Eden’s mind. What if Arei was just manipulating her? What if Arturo attacked her again? Would someone as weak as her even be able to stand up to the killing game, when she couldn’t stand up against some bullies?

>Slowly, the gears in her mind started to turn. An idea was brewing, an idea which scared Eden to even think about, but one she was desperate enough to entertain.

>There was a way for her to end the killing game. By winning it.

>I mean what? No! Eden would never kill anyone! …

>But if she were to, hypothetically speaking, how would she go about it?

>By the second night, she didn’t know all the details, but she was going on autopilot, her body moving practically without her thinking. Just like she used to get lost in her work while making clocks, she was now beginning to get lost in the preparations for a murder.

>An accomplice, she would need an accomplice, if she wanted to do it. Probably something with the rope in the storage room, she was good with mechanisms. Maybe the railings on the playground, a pulley system… she needed a way to get the rope up there, and a way to secure the grip of her accomplice on the carousel.

>Hypothetically, of course.

Second Day, Almost Nighttime - Nighttime

~She went to the second floor, grabbed some of Hu’s and Teruko’s old clothes, and put them in the relaxation room to cover them in starch. She wanted to make a ball of clothes, it was the best way to get the rope over the railings.

~She also needed tape from the gym, the roll people used to replace the grippy tape on the pull-up bar when it got too sweaty.

~Slight issue: nighttime had begun, and there were still a few noises in the gym. Eden didn’t want to be caught doing anything too suspicious, so she decided to wait out until the noises stopped.

~Slightly bigger issue: Teruko arrived at the second floor, spotted her, and now Eden needed a cover story. She just told her she was looking for Hu’s and Teruko’s new clothes, sure, that works.

>Eden told Teruko her and Arei had made up, and asked if she wanted to pry. In retrospect, she wasn’t sure why she’d done that. If Teruko had heard the story of what Arei had said, she would just tell Eden what the uglier parts of her psyche were already telling her. That Arei was lying, trying to manipulate her. But maybe she wanted the confirmation, to justify to herself why she was thinking the thoughts which were running through her head.

(It’s almost tragic, really. If only Teruko had pried, maybe Eden would have learnt of Arei’s breakdown, and everything would have ended there)

~The two decided to head back to the first floor, and Eden figured she would just take the tape tomorrow-

~Oh shit, Ace got murdered.

>Seeing that convinced Eden. The killing game was too dangerous, when even the seemingly harmless Nico was able to do something so brutal to one of the strongest participants physically speaking. She had to get out, and now. She couldn’t disappoint her family, her friends, and her.

>So, she resolved to do something about it right after-

>Oh, hey, Ace wasn’t dead! That was… good. Even if he knocked Eden down to the floor when he woke.

~… And while she’s on the floor, she may as well pick up the tape she had come to retrieve.

~[Cue Ace running to kill Nico scene]

>Wow. Tensions were… really high. Ace had collapsed, and even then Teruko had just walked away as if nothing had happened.

>But Eden was more curious about something Levi had said. “Why do I even bother?” What had he meant by that? She decided to speak with him.

>…

>Levi had lost all hope.

>There was just no way to reason with the people of the killing game. All of them were erratic, nonsensical, unpredictable people. And he loathed unpredictability in people.

>None of them wanted to accept help when it was offered. None of them knew what the hell to do about anything, but refused to just be nice and patient with each other. Practically speaking, pretty much the only normal person around was-

>Oh, Eden wanted to talk to him. Sure, he could do that.

>Eden was checking in after the whole Ace fiasco. How nice of her.

>But after chatting for a while, Eden directed the conversation towards an encounter she’d had with Arei. She explained what the bowler had told her, looking for advice. She asked if Levi would believe Arei, seeking confirmation on whether or not she really could be trying to get better. And Levi...

>Levi was pissed.

>Because it was such an obvious lie. Such a horrendous attempt of manipulation. To try and take advantage of someone as nice as Eden, truly despicable.

>Eden seemed taken aback at his intensity, asking why he was so certain. Levi debated internally for a moment, before deciding Eden deserved the whole truth.

>"Blackmail, rumors, lying, stealing, slander. You did everything you could to ruin your sisters' lives." That was Arei's secret, the one Levi received.

>Eden looked horrified when Levi told her, and it seemed she agreed with what Levi was already thinking. After all, they both loved their family a lot, even if Levi had been disowned. Someone like Arei, who would do something so horrible to their own family, couldn't possibly be a good person. If Arei did all that to her own sisters, who's to say she wouldn't do the same to Eden?

(In retrospect, Levi would always regret jumping to conclusions. After it was all over, he would try to explain. “I always believed that a person is defined by their actions alone. But maybe that’s just a poor excuse for my heartlessness.”)

>And in all that anger, and hopelesness, and desperation... Eden revealed an idea. A very strange, almost outlandish idea. To help her out of the killing game.

>Levi wasn't a fool. He had seen how the group had handled the first trial. Eventually, someone was going to get away with murder, and that would be how the killing game would end. It was predestined.

>And if someone was going to win, it may as well be the kindest person in the group.

~He agreed.

Third Day, Noon

>Everyone was yelling, and Arei's stomach was twisting.

>Nico had tried to murder Ace. They hadn't outright admitted it, but Levi's and Ace's accounts were enough to get her to believe it.

>But she wasn't thinking so much about the incident itself, as much as she was thinking about what had caused it. The secrets. David's plan was backfiring massively...

>Except, maybe it wasn't. As she saw everyone arguing, the secret she had seen Whit receive flashed in her mind. David's secret. "You exist to manipulate others. Everyone else exists to be taken advantage of."

>Was he really that evil? Was he really trying to instigate a murder? Was anything he had ever said even true?

>Had he lied to her, too?

>...

>She didn't feel like speaking much that day. She'd rather go to her room, and contemplate. Maybe sleep for a while. Maybe lie in her bed, and maybe cry a bit.

>She didn't leave her room until it was time for dinner.

Third Day, Afternoon

>Ace was fucking pissed.

>Of course he was, he'd almost been murdered! By Nico of all fucking people! And now he couldn't even look the fucking gym without getting nervous, like the motherfucker would show up any time and finish the job!

>But it's not like that was gonna stop him from exercising. He wasn't a fucking coward, he wasn't afraid of Nico. (Or at least, he told himself that). So he'd train anyways! He'd raced on horses he was terrified of his whole life, a little exercise was nothing!

>Still, to his chagrin, he couldn't help but feel nervous whenever he heard any noises in the rest of the floor. Even the very light noise of the elevator felt like thunder in his ears. So when someone came down and started speaking, Ace couldn't help but overhear.

>Yet, the conversation was interesting. Arei was saying David had lied about his secret? This was worth hearing.

>Ace snuck in closer and listened in. Apparently David's secret was that he was a manipulative bastard, the dick. He had gone quiet when he heard that, too, so it must have been true.

>"David! Say something!"

>David went quiet for a bit, and then... Ace got bored.

>So what? David was an asshole, big deal. Breaking news, everyone! Every single participant in the killing game sucks dick and balls! Who could have seen that coming?! It wasn't anything Ace didn't already know. So he left. He didn't really feel like listening to David try to lie his way out of that. He just went back to the gym and stopped paying attention.

>Meanwhile, the conversation went on.

[THE FOLLOWING WAS WRITTEN MOSTLY FOR FUN. I HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING HOW THIS CONVERSATION ACTUALLY WENT]

CW FOR AGGRESSIVE CONFRONTATION

>David was fucked.

>"I... I don't know what to say to that" David managed, covering his eyes with his hand. "It's... well... How do I put this?"

>"Just tell me, please. Did you lie to me?"

>"..." David sighed. A small, sad chuckle rose from his chest. "Yes. I'm sorry"

>"..."

>"I apologize for the false hope, Arei, but... people can't change" David continued. His head was firing off alarm bells, years of deception warning him not to continue, but he ignored them. "I have seen so many try. I have seen so many fail. In the end, there's no avoiding it. If you could improve yourself to be a better person, all that means is that you were a better person to begin with..."

>Arei fought back tears. "You're wrong"

>David had to stop himself from laughing in her face, but he couldn't help a sharp exhale. He would probably stop there, but... he had lied for so long, he almost wanted to speak what he actually believed for once. "No, I'm not. I'm the Ultimate Inspirational Speaker, Arei. If people could change, I would be the first to see it"

>"That's not- You can't be serious. Just because you haven't seen it, doesn't mean it can't happen!" Arei snapped.

>"Is that so?" David raised his voice, and glared at Arei. He smiled nervously. "Then tell me, Arei. Do you think I can change? That I can become better? Look at what I've done. I've lied for years, and now Ace has a permanent scar on his neck from the murder I almost caused!" He put a hand to his chest. He shouldn't be doing this, he shouldn't, but, but- "Do you really think people like me, like us, can ever be good?! If you do, then you're a bigger idiot than I thought"

>He didn't mean that. He didn't mean that. He didn't mean that. Why was he saying it?

>Arei snarled at him, her face growing red in anger. "You...." She took a breath, and her gaze grew defiant. "I'll prove you wrong. You're the idiot here. I will become good. I promised Eden I-"

>"Well, Xander promised he'd be my friend, and look where he is now!" he almost shouted. Why was he even thinking of him now? "Don't you see it? You're lying to yourself. That's the only thing to come from my speeches. Lies. And now you're repeating a degraded version, like it's gonna be any more true just because it's coming from your mouth!" He needed to stop. He- "Are you that arrogant, or did your sisters cause you permanent brain damage?!" What the fuck was he doing?!

>"..." Arei looked horrified, and angry.

>"You don't even believe it yourself, you hypochrite!" Stop! He smirked even wider. "Otherwise, why don't you go talk to your sisters, and get them to change?" She looked so sad, why was David doing this? He had to- He couldn't- It felt good to let it out- He felt horrible- Stop- He laughed. "Oh, right! You can't! Because you're a monster and destroyed their lives! And you, won't, change"

>"You-!" Arei shouted, and rushed forward to push him. Her heart clearly wasn't in it, but David retaliated and pushed her back.

>"Out of my way!" he snarled, and began walking out of the room. He couldn't- he wasn't thinking straight, he needed- he needed air, he needed out. Arei almost slipped into the pond, or maybe she did? David couln't tell anymore. His mind was a fucking mess and his only coherent thoughts were screaming at him to leave.

>Meanwhile, Arei was left alone, and hurt. She shouldn’t listen to an asshole like David, she knew that, but, but still…

>She didn’t have much of an appetite anymore. Maybe she’d just go back to bed.

CW OVER

~Later, Levi would arrive at the relaxation room to fill up two water jugs, making sure to get the fish. At the same time, Eden was discussing ways to end the killing game with Hu, securing an alibi for the time of the fish’s disappearance.

Third Day, Nighttime

~Levi and Eden met back up at the playground, and the preparations began. The materials they were working with included two pieces of rope (one longer, one shorter), the ball of sticky clothes Eden had prepared the night before, the tape Eden had taken from the gym, and the water jugs with the water and fish Levi had gathered.

~First step, with the tape from the gym, they covered the bars of the carousel, to have a better grip when they used the mechanism.

~Then, they grabbed the longer rope and put part of it through a few of the handlebars of the carousel, before tying one end to one of the handlebars.

~After that, they tied the other end to the ball of clothes, and Levi used his strength to throw it up above the railings. In doing so, he accidentally hit one of the lights with the clothes, displacing the lightbulb and causing it to flicker. Once it fell, he also threw it up to the railing in the middle, so the unused end of the longer rope would end up around where the seesaw was.

~Meanwhile, Eden tied one end of the shorter rope to the swing set near the carousel, leaving the other end unused for now.

~After removing the ball of clothes, they fashioned the untied end of the longer rope into an odd-looking “double noose”, with one of the nooses, the one closer to the end of the rope, tied around the handles of the water jugs.

~With all the preparations in place, they took the ball of clothes to the dress-up room, and Levi went to sleep. Eden wrote the note Arei would receive, telling her to meet in the playground at 7:30. Then she went to sleep as well.

Fourth Day, Morning

>Arturo was a fucking asshole, Arei decided from the moment she saw the note.

~Obviously Arei followed it, because she was trying to be friends with Eden.

>And as suspicious as the note was, there was no way Eden would betray her, right? If she did…

>…

>Well, Arei didn’t really want to think about it.

>She arrived at the playground, and… why was there so much rope around? Eden was standing near it, contemplating… a noose?

>Oh god.

>Arei didn’t even think. She rushed in and tried to stop Eden from doing-

~Levi, who had been hidden besides the door, attacked. He ambushed Arei from behind, and used his weight to pin her to the floor. Arei screamed and struggled, scuffing the floor around her, but she obviously wasn’t able to do anything to fight off Levi.

[Oh great more dialogue]

CW for emotional confrontation, feelings of betrayal and suicidal ideation.

>”What the fuck are you doing?! Eden, get him off me!”

>Eden looked downcast, her expression somber. She was evidently lost in thought. “I’m sorry it has to be this way”

>Arei didn’t get it.

~Levi grabbed Arei’s hands, and roughly pulled out her glove to better get the tape around her wrists. This was to make sure she didn’t struggle too much after the process began.

>”Hey! Eden! What’s going on?! I thought we were friends!”

>”As if. We’re not that naive” Levi spat from behind her, and she could practically feel that murderous edge he always used when threatening Ace.

>”Huh?! What are you talking about, you-?!”

>”I’m sorry, Arei. I just can’t believe you” Eden spoke softly, fidgeting with her hands. She grabbed the noose, which weirdly had- wait. “I know you’re lying to me. You don’t have to keep pretending you like me”

>…

>Arei’s entire world crumbled in that moment.

>”H-Huh?! Wait, I- I never lied to you! I want- I wanted to be friends-!”

>”Don’t lie” Levi snarled. “We know what your secret is. What you’ve done to your sisters. I can’t believe you. You know, actions define people, and you have been nothing but terrible your whole life”

>Eden bent down to put the noose around Arei’s neck. Because of course, of course it was a fucking noose. Eden hesitated, however.

>”Don’t fall for her crocodile tears, Eden” Levi warned. Oh, Arei was crying? News to her.

>”R-Right” Eden said, putting the noose around Arei’s neck. Eden then positioned herself to pin Arei down herself as Levi stepped off and went towards the carousel.

>”Eden, please… please don’t listen to him! Don’t be scared of him! I’ll beat him up for you, just-!”

>”I’m not- I’m not scared of Levi” Eden frowned.

>”But- But, he’s a murderer without remorse!” Levi stopped in his tracks. “That’s his secret, Eden! I received it! Do you really want to help someone like that?!”

>Eden seemed to hesitate for a moment, but shook her head, and looked at Arei with glassy eyes, smiling nervously. “I mean… I- I can’t really judge him for that. I… I was the one who came up with this idea, you know”

>…

>Huh.

>So there really was no point, then.

>David didn’t believe in her. Eden didn’t believe in her. Fucking Eden. And now, even the nicest person in the entire killing game had decided Arei deserved to die.

>…

>Arei stopped struggling after that.

CW OVER, mostly. There’s still references to suicide after this point.

(God I really hope I’m not horrendously mischaracterizing these people)

~Levi begun to spin the carousel, which worked as a pulley that started dragging Arei up. As he spun it, he likely had to adjust it slightly so it wouldn’t slide off the wrong way, hence why he needed to be able to better grip all the handlebars instead of putting tape on just one. [I don’t know if that made sense]

~As the rope started pulling up, Eden stepped aside and ran over to the carousel.

~Levi stopped spinning it once Arei was high enough, and Eden attached the unused end of the shorter rope to the carousel.

~Eden grabbed hold of the carousel, and Levi ran out of the room.

~Now, neither of them had thought of asking MonoTV how to determine the blackened in the case of an accomplice being in play, so they took all the steps necessary to make sure Eden would be the blackened.

~She was the one to put the rope around Arei’s neck, she had been the one to come up with the murder plan, and she was the last person holding her up. Levi running out of the room was extra insurance: how could he be the blackened if he wasn’t even a witness to the crime? However, the final trick would ensure Eden would get the title of blackened.

~Eden let go of the carousel, and gravity made it spin as Arei fell. It spun for only a little bit, however, as the shorter rope soon fully tensed, and stopped the carousel in its tracks. Because of the height Arei fell, as well as the extra weight from the water jugs, her neck snapped in the moment the shorter rope tensed. At the same time, the handles from the water jugs snapped, and they fell to the floor.

~With this, it could be argued the act which caused Arei’s death was the letting go of the carousel, for which Levi wasn’t even present, meaning Eden was indubitably the blackened.

~And when it was all said and done, there was one fact which stood. Because of the strength the mechanism had required, Eden could not have possibly done it all alone. Unless the class somehow figured out she had an accomplice, just the strength necessary for the act would rule her out, give her an alibi. That is the reason behind the complexity of the murder.

~After that, Levi came into the room, fulfilling another nice benefit. Because he hadn’t technically witnessed the murder, he counted as a “body discoverer” for BDA purposes.

~The last step was setting up the scene as we saw it. The fish they spread around would confuse the time of death and give Eden an alibi, and hanging Arei from the swing set would make people initially believe she had committed suicide. Levi had to be the one to do that, as Eden was too weak and short, adding an extra layer of misdirection.

~”What if I just take her glove?” Levi asked.

>”Eh?”

>”I could take her glove, and then if someone spots me with it, they’ll vote me out and you’ll win” Levi explained.

>”That’s… kinda silly, isn’t it?”

>”…”

>”…”

>”…”

>”… Okay, sure”

>”Very well” Levi nodded sagely. Eden remained very confused.

~They took the longer tape and hid it under the carousel, then threw the tape which had been on Arei’s wrists and the jugs in the trash, as well as the note after ripping it up a bit.

~With that, they left to go see the supposed announcement of the motives.

Investigation

>Pretending to be surprised at Arei’s absence wasn’t as hard as Eden thought it would be. Just make a horrified face and say nothing, easy!

>Eden knew the BDA would still play if just Whit and Teruko discovered the body, which is why she wasn’t nervous when Teruko first asked her and Whit to go search for Arei together. Still, she second guessed herself just as Teruko swung the door open, because she would be in big trouble if the BDA didn’t play. Thankfully for her, it did, as Levi had already “discovered” it before. Honestly, it was pretty good luck (and bad luck on Teruko’s part) that Eden got to be part of the “discovery group.”

>On the side, David looks at how the body was positioned, and instantly knew what had happened. “Of course. Of course this would happen” he muttered. Arei killed herself because of him. What a monster he was.

~After pretending to be sad about Arei’s death for a moment, Eden offered to investigate with “braincell haver” Teruko, but got shut down. So instead, she joined Rose and Whit as they put together the note in the trash, to make sure they got it right. It was an important part of the plan, after all.

>Levi just went to look at the secrets because he didn’t really have to do anything specific.

Trial

>When people begun discussing the possibility of Arei helping her killer, Levi thought it would be a good way to misdirect the cast, so he started pushing the idea. Though with the slight freudian slip of saying Arei may have been her own “accomplice.”

>On the side, David held his tongue. Once MonoTV revealed the condition to be the blackened was that you were “someone alive who we can blame for her death”, any doubt dissipated in his mind. He had caused her to commit suicide, he could be blamed for her death. And he was the blackened, then.

>However, Eden needed to go against the idea of suicide, because she was supposed to sell the idea they had been friends once the note was revealed.

>When that happened, they had agreed Levi would push on the idea that Eden was the killer a bit, to “force” her to explain the note she wanted to explain anyways.

>Levi also added he’d protect Eden no matter what, but Eden responds “Don’t say stuff like that.” To the others, that was because Eden was worried Levi would end up like Arei. To Eden and Levi, it was a subtle way of saying ‘shut up and don’t link us together!’

~Eden explained the note, making sure to act like she was very distraught by the situation and genuinely believed Arei had wanted to change.

~She also provided a “handwriting sample” to look more innocent, but she intentionally wrote it in print instead of cursive to separate it from the note. Somehow, no one noticed.

>Meanwhile, David was starting to break down. She really had been trying to change, but the naive idiot had believed in David. And nothing good happens to those who believe in him.

>What a reprehensible killer indeed.

>But David’s breakdown was having an impact on Eden, who begun to think that maybe, just maybe, she had been wrong about Arei.

>She was in too deep, though. She needed to continue. She couldn’t turn back the clock now.

>When David is accused of everything, he decides he might as well enjoy the last of his life, of his killing game. He breaks down the same way he did when Arei confronted him, becoming insulting and dismissive to prevent any vulnerability from showing through. The words he said, he believed for the most part, but the smile on his face as he said them was perhaps his biggest lie yet.

>In other news, that’s pretty convenient for the murder duo! If they can just get David voted out, then…

~But that wouldn’t happen. Not if Teruko and Charles had something to say about it.

Chapter 2, Part 2

[This is just for fun]

+Charles realized the trick of the time of death, and the cast decided to start speaking of the murder method.

+After a bit of discussion (where Eden was surprisingly helpful!), they realized the murder would require inordinate strength, and they start pointing the finger at Levi.

+The secrets are revealed then, as some have realized what most of the remaining ones were. David deduced Hu must have the “hopeless child” secret, Teruko deduced Veronika must have the “self-harm” secret, Veronika in turn figured Teruko must have the “dead family” secret (that wasn’t hers, but it still applied to her life, so they didn’t question it too much. David bit his tongue), and… well, they somehow realize the “poison” secret must be Min’s.

+As Levi’s secret is narrowed down, he finally admits.

+He takes the glove from his pocket, and dramatically confesses: “I… I killed Arei”

+All going according to plan!

+The voting time is almost about to happen, but Veronika pipes in. She wants to talk about the Ace case for some reason, and while Teruko tries to deny her, the horror fanatic throws the luckster’s own words against her. “The more cases we solve, the better we’ll be at solving them in the future!”

+Reluctantly, Nico starts speaking about what they did. It was… an odd sequence, but it wasn’t too wild.

+Except, Rose pointed out something odd. What happened to the tape?

+Nico says it was still on the floor when they left. Rose says it’s impossible. Eden’s getting nervous.

+And Teruko goes dead quiet, as she runs the math again in her head.

+The lockdown… the lockdown meant no one should have been able to take the tape during nighttime… MonoTV claimed it wasn’t the one to take it… and she knew neither Ace or herself had taken it… so… It must have been taken by…

+”Teruko?” someone asked, but she wasn’t listening. It was clear now…

+She couldn’t resist the maniacal laughter that escaped her, as the adrenaline of realizing how close they’d gotten to dying (scratch that, she wouldn’t have died, but the others might have), and she realized she was right. She couldn’t trust anyone.

+The others looked at her in concern, but she just explained the simple truth.

+It was chaos. No one wanted to believe it. But the more they thought about it, more questions arose. Why would Levi make such a complex mechanism, when he could have just killed Arei in a much simpler way?

+Whit had an idea. He asked Levi which direction Arturo had ran after leaving the infirmary. And Levi answered wrong. He hadn’t listened on the conversation, then. It would be impossible for him to write the note. Charles further verified by asking Levi and Eden to spell “responsible”. Levi spelt it right, Eden spelt it wrong. “Responsibel”, the same misspelling as the note.

+There was a scrum debate, people went crazy, but in the end. They arrived at the answer, and voted for Eden.

+It was right.

+They asked for further clarification and Eden admitted everything which had led to her decision.

+”I feel terrible. Arei really was… I should have believed her. But- But, at that point, when I finally realized the truth, it was too late” Eden explained. “I wish I hadn’t done it, I want to go back… but time only moves forward. You can’t go back, no matter how hard you try”

+She hugged Teruko one last time, pleading she wouldn’t close herself off even further. But Teruko wasn’t having it. She asked MonoTV she was using a MonoCredit to get Eden away from her.

+And MonoTV obliged, starting the execution right that moment. [Credit for the idea to venus and accirax]

~This was the truth. A tragic misunderstanding, a horrible mistake. Call it whatever you want, one thing remains the same. The blackened of the case, who committed the crime with the help of Levi Fontana, the Ultimate Personal Stylist, was none other than Eden Tobisa, the Ultimate Clockmaker!

…

And right before dying, Eden reveals the name of the girl she had kissed was Mai Akasaki-

Conclusion

Yeah, this was longer than it really had to be, but I had fun writing it. This will probably be the last post I make about this case, at least until CH 2 Part 2 comes out. Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading, hope time only brings you good things! Take care!

[en-whims]

𝄞 LOOSE ENDS | SIM JAEYUN

the sixth instalment from the "Narratives from the Walkman: a 90's love collective" series

genres: in the words of andi "fluff turned spicy turned angst" | pairing: jake x fem!reader | warnings: non-explicit sexual themes | wc: 1.7k | tagging: @yenqa @yjjungwon @sophialosthercardigan @saucyjaeyun

a/n: this chapter is told under jake's account

[ 👤 ] SIDE A ; BOY 6 ㅡ SIM JAEYUN

°❝ hit me up at 2 AM and wanted me to swing by

threw on a pair of sweats tonight

hopped up in my whip

started up the engine, three miles

later in your room with vanilla candles and moonlight

glowing through your curtains ❞ °

[ 🎧 ] SIDE B ; TRACK 6 ㅡ moonlight chemistry by jeff bernat

I was an intern when they assigned me to her. They said she’d be my muse for a few months 'til they can figure out where to put me after this probation. I reluctantly agreed. Never in my entire career had it occurred to me that I, an amateur photographer, an average intern, would be assigned to the most celebrated model of my time.

I wasn't prepared, yet there I was in front of the girl everyone wanted to sleep with.

I admire her artistry greatly. The first time I saw her up close was when my company introduced us to each other. It's no wonder why everyone wanted to work with her.

Her features were so riveting that even I couldn't take my eyes off her that day. She had this captivating stare and charming smile that anyone who’d dare look at her would be spellbound.

The first week with her wasn’t so bad. She knew her angles too well, and I admire her for that. I never really had a hard time working with her. Not to mention she gives free doughnuts to staff every day. Her voice was so mellifluous, and she spoke so carefully despite her powerful aura.

I genuinely doubt those articles about her saying she’s a fraud who’s obsessed with fame. She's just a soft human being hiding behind the persona her company demands from her.

Our first interaction was when she asked my opinion on what doughnut flavor she should buy next for the whole crew. It became our usual interaction besides the work-related exchanges we had. Even so, she always ends up buying a different flavor. I don't even know why she bothered asking me.

“I never got the chance to ask your name, doughnut boy.” She approached me at one of our lunch breaks. “I'm Jake,” I said while rubbing my nape. I was caught off guard, but I shrugged it off the instant she noticed my sudden jerk. She just flashed a smile towards me in return then left.

Little did I know, she tucked a tiny piece of paper under my camera; it was her number. I never found it interesting at first, I mean, does she always do this to the photographers assigned to her? I was extremely hesitant since I was an intern and tried my best to stay professional, but I picked it up and hid it in my wallet anyway.

A month went by too quickly and we were still working together. She would sometimes text me in the morning, asking if I was free after work. We would go out late at night to watch movies at the cinema or just go driving around the city ‘til she had had enough and asked me to send her home.

There were other times where she would call me to pick her up in the morning just ‘cause she wanted to be the first to see me before I went to work. It went on until there came a time where she crashed at my place because she was dying to watch this Netflix show with someone, and her secretary was too busy to give her any attention.

She had no one to consider as her friend besides her secretary, and I guess that counted me too.

I had no idea what we were, but we had fun and enjoyed each other’s presence. I thought that’s what mattered,  so I never bothered asking her anything about our status.

We were sitting on my couch one afternoon as The Umbrella Academy was playing on the television. Sitting too close to each other did not surprise me. Things became so easy and comfortable with her that these little gestures made us accustomed to each other.

But somehow, it made me feel cautious. She leaned on my shoulder, carefully munching the popcorn with the almost empty bowl resting on her lap. I turned to her and gently rubbed my nose against the crown of her head.

“Hey,” I muttered, “why bother asking me about doughnut flavors when you buy something different the next day?” She chuckled and reached for the table, placing the bowl down, “well, it’s no fun if you give people what they want.” I gave her a confused look.

“You see, Jake, I don’t like living up to people’s expectations. They expect you to be this and that then the next, they expect you to be someone different. Everything’s temporary just like people’s expectations.” I grabbed the remote control and lowered the volume of the television as I was trying to comprehend her words.

She would usually say confusing stuff so randomly that I deemed it as a habit of hers. But most of the time, it’s hard to understand. “But aren’t you a model? People tell you to do stuff almost every day.” She placed a quick peck on my cheek and shifted in her seat, “work's different from my personal life. I don’t know. I just like doing things my own way when I feel like it.”

I blushed at her sudden gesture, but thankfully, she didn’t look at my face. She would kiss my arm, or give it a playful bite whenever she felt like it, but when she started giving me frequent kisses, I became more confused.

Next thing I knew, I was lying down on my bed, half-naked, with her cuddling against my bare chest as she drew invisible doodles on my skin. My hand was resting on my stomach while the other was playing with her hair. I gently pulled up the blanket to fully cover her exposed shoulders. I never expected our relationship to go this far.

I mean, sleeping with your muse? Doesn't sound bad when you put it that way, but the fact that she was my coworker made it worse.

I never asked for things to go down this path, but it happened so quickly. We were just exchanging chaste kisses on the couch until things started to get passionate; that was before my hands were gripping her thighs as she was gently ruffling my hair, ‘til we ended up in the bedroom, having pillowtalks.

“Why did you give me your number?” she heaved a deep sigh before answering my question.

“I saw you differently, I guess. Like you’re not like the others.”

“The others?”

“Yeah. Like those guys who wanted to be close with me just because they wanted to sleep with me. That's how the world looks at me right? Just some model everybody wants to have their hands on like I'm some damn trophy. You don’t look at me that way, do you?”

“I'm just pretty lucky, I guess.” she chuckled over my words.

“I'm kidding. I never looked at you that way. But is that it? You gave me your number just because you think I'm different?”

“Well, I don't think you’re different. I know you are.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“I like you, Jake. I've never been this open and comfortable since my last relationship in college, which was a very long time ago.”

The room went dead silent. I couldn't say it back. I just couldn’t. She was waiting for me to say something, anything. It took me three minutes, but I only let out a deep sigh. She pulled away from hugging me and laid on her back.

“I... I should go. This was a mistake. I shouldn’t be here anyway.” she stood up and started putting her clothes back on.

“No, wait! Let me explainㅡ”

“It’s okay, Jake. You don’t have to. I get it. I guess I really am just some showpiece everyone’s trying to collect. Temporary, am I right?”

She quickly tied her shoes and went towards the door but stopped halfway through.

“See you at work.” she breathlessly whispered and let out a sniff before slamming the door behind her. Way to go, Jake. There goes your chance at love.

I chickened out before I could even put my feelings across. I couldn't even give her the assurance she was asking from me. I was hopeless that I couldn't even figure out my own feelings.

How am I supposed to tell her that, when her eyes were begging for answers I don't even have the guts to give?

I screwed up, I made a fool out of her, and I couldn’t ever forgive myself for hurting someone whose only intention was to give me the love she thought I deserved, and I just watched her leave the place.

The next day, she became too dull. She gave free doughnuts as usual, but she wasn’t her cheery self anymore. I tried my best to stay focused, thinking the more professional this went, the faster we finished. 

Three months into this project, I assumed my probation neared its end. She approached my table at lunchtime, tucking another note under my camera. I had just come back from the restroom, and that was the only time I saw her approaching my table.

Usually, she would sit there and chat about doughnut flavors and other pastries, but things were different now. There was no one to blame but me. I was a coward, and still am.

It's not that I don’t like her, but I can’t say that I do either. She's fun to be with, and I find her company comforting. But I just wasn’t ready for the responsibility of reciprocating her feelings. I didn’t even know what I wanted until now.

I want her close to me. I crave her presence. I like being around her, but I'm still confused. She’s just too much for me. I haven’t figured out my feelings yet, lucky for her she had it all puzzled out already. I never meant to hurt her, but I already did. I was so naive and scared.

But I swear I wasn't trying to get in her pants. She matters to me. I just couldn’t tell her that.

The crew went out for a party and she went with them. I went home earlier. Lazily plopping myself on the bed as soon as I got home, I let out a deep, exasperated sigh, feeling emotionally drained. The memories still lingered fresh on the sheets, and I remembered the note she left on my table.

 “After this is over, feel free to lose my number.” ㅡ

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