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olsenmyolsen · 24 days

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Let's Go For A Little Ride

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dark master list

Driver Natasha AU (Female Reader X Natasha Romanoff)

Summary: For about two months, a redhead has stopped by your place of work, the diner, and ordered the same thing over and over. You two started as strangers, but what happens when she's about to leave?

Word Count: 3.3K

Content: Mutual Pining, Longing, Hot Natasha, Fluff, Kissing, Dangerous Driving

You hated quite literally everything at this exact moment.

You hated the feeling of your hair on your neck, along with the sweat on your forehead. You hated how every ungrateful customer seemed to be visiting the small diner you work at today. You hated how loud they were. You hated how you, even through all of that, in the back of your mind, you could hear your mother asking when you would get a better job or go back to school.

You hated it all.

And yet. As you calmed yourself down and walked out of the kitchen to the countertop of the small restaurant, it all seemed to fade into the background when a redhead in a leather jacket pushed through the front door, knocking it into the little bell above it.

With one look, she changed you and had you hooked.

Her name was Natasha Romanoff.

However, you didn't learn that until she came by again the following week around the same time. She was always sporting the same leather jacket. Her hair would change from braided to a ponytail or curls one weekend. But her green eyes danced with your eyes. They became softer every time the redhead came in.

By the third week, you found out Natasha had a cat. Liho. According to Natasha, she was a rescue and had a knack for "always getting me into trouble." You laughed a little too hard at that, but Natasha loved hearing it regardless.

Slowly but surely, your hatred of the job declined as your feelings and crush for Natasha expanded. Sure, you knew it was silly and that she was a paying customer who was kind to the person serving her food. But her lingering touches and sweet remarks couldn't have been for nothing, right? Plus, there are tons of other places a person with Natasha's physique could be eating at. So why continuously stop at your shitty little diner?

After around two months, you got an answer.

You lifted your eyes up and out the diner window as a roar came from a speeding black sports car that peeled off the road onto the gravel lot before pulling into a parking spot as if it were nothing. You guessed who it could be, but seeing the door open and Natasha rise out of the driver's side with her sunglasses, white tank, leather jacket, and a smile was just as perfect as you would think.

The few other patrons and wait staff also watched as the redhead walked into the diner like it was nothing.

Not that you or Natasha noticed. Too busy eyeing the other one up as, Natasha entered the business and came closer to the bar top with a shy smile. "Hi Y/n." Your name from her pink lips sounded more and more beautiful each time you heard it.

God what you wouldn't give to hear it another way.

"Hi, Natasha." You smiled back and placed a water and a menu in front of her, even if she hadn't ordered anything other than the same meal for the last couple of weeks. Natasha looked up from the closed menu in front of her to look at you in the eyes. She smiled as you nervously looked away before keeping your eyes locked with Natasha.

"What?" You said quietly before lifting your hand to wipe your face. "Is there something on me?" Natasha shook her head. "No. There's nothing." She giggled as she rested her arms on the counter, and suddenly, it felt like it was just the two of you as you looked into her dangerous green eyes.

"What time do you get off?" Natasha asked a series of words you had not heard before. You froze and stumbled with your own words before shutting your mouth and starting over.

"Four." You answered. Natasha hummed and looked at the clock on the wall. It was only a little past one.

Damn, you and your mid-shift.

Natasha looked back at you. "Okay." She spoke softly and smiled before opening the menu. You looked at Natasha and smiled back before furrowing your eyebrows a tad. You leaned a bit closer, the edges of your fingers running over the countertop. "Natasha?" Natasha put the menu down and looked back up to you. Awaiting your question. "Why do you want to know what time I get off?"

Natasha smirked and lifted her hands to place them gently on yours. "Because I want to hang out with you." Her touch was blazing hot, and it made you melt. "Outside of these four walls." She added, and you nodded. "That sounds nice." You replied, but the words flowed quickly and freely from your lips. You weren't sure you had actually said it.

But you knew you had when Natasha placed more pressure on your hands. It was comforting. "Good," Natasha replied, making you smile like an idiot before you blushed hard when Natasha said. "There it is." About your smile.

You wished to keep this moment alive and going, but of course, you had to pull your hands away and let the cool air hit you when a patron down at the end was asking for a refill of their coffee. "Sorry." You said to Natasha, who shook her head and waved you off. "Go. We'll have time later."

Time for what?!

You weren't sure, but Natasha stayed in the little diner at her spot at the counter for the remainder of your shift. You don't think you smiled that much and for that long in a while, but Natasha seemed to have that effect on you. That and made sure you did your best to embarrass yourself by dropping people's food and coffee.

Okay, yeah, it only happened twice, but still, when you looked up from the mess, Natasha's lips curved into a smile, which were the only thing you saw.

"Okay, so give me like a few minutes to grab my tips, and then I'll clock out." You said to Natasha as you were putting up your hair into a ponytail after your band broke. Natasha watched your fingers fly through your hair like a wave before she found your eyes and smiled at you. "That sounds great. I'll be out front." Natasha replied to you and went to pull out her wallet from her jacket, but you stopped her. "Don't worry about it. I covered it already."

Natasha looked up to you with a less than amused face. "You paid for my lunch?" Her voice wasn't as soft as before. Not that you noticed. You just loved it when she talked to you.

You finally took your hands away from your hair and smiled with a shrug. "Yeah, it was no big deal." Natasha continued to pull out her wallet and open it up. You could see stacks of bills inside. "You make money from what people order and how great your service is." Natasha pulled out a $50 bill to give to you. "Take it. You deserve it."

"Natasha, I'm not taking your money." You laughed. "We're more than just employee and customer." Natasha liked hearing that but hated that you were right because she still wanted to give you more than what you got from this place. But with a sigh, Natasha pulled the $50 back into her hand. "Fine. But you owe me."

"Owe you?" You questioned with a slight tease in your voice. Natasha nodded and smirked. She was having fun. "I'm taking you out sometime in the future." You smiled wide and stared into Natasha's green eyes for a moment. "I- uh- sure. That sounds great!" Natasha smiled back. "Great... I'll be out front."

Natasha pointed with her thumb to the sleek black car outside, and you nodded before watching her walk away.

Those jeans did wonders.

A few moments later, after Natasha told a guy to fuck off from touching the car, did you make it outside. Natasha watched your shoes hit the gravel as you made your way over. Natasha could also tell how you must've used the bathroom to try and freshen yourself up as you appeared to be lighter, not to mention how you were now wearing a grey sweatshirt and gym shorts instead of your yellow diner outfit.

"Hi." You awkwardly said as you stopped a few feet in front of Natasha with a bag over your shoulder. "Hi." Natasha smiled through her sunglasses and lifted herself away from the car. She stood next to you and looked back at it. "Do you like it?"

"The car?" You asked Natasha to ensure the two of you were on the same page. Natasha laughed at that. "Yes, the car." You looked from Natasha to the car again. Fully taking it in without a hot redhead in or on it. "It looks great!" You then looked back at Natasha. "What is it?"

Natasha laughed loudly and motioned for you to follow her to the drivers side. It being on the other side than what you were used to. Natasha opened the door for you and took your bag from your shoulder in one motion. The action makes your stomach flip and your brain break simultaneously. "Hop in," Natasha said as she took your bag and put it into the trunk.

This would be a surefire way to get kidnapped, but with Natasha doing it, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Still, you stood outside the vehicle. "Natasha, I'm all sweaty from work, and I smell like vanilla mixed with cheeseburgers. I don't think you want me in your car."

Natasha closed the trunk and walked back to you.

"Well, lucky for you, I like vanilla and cheeseburgers." She then shined her pearly whites at you as you blushed before she placed her hands on your arms and moved you to sit in the car. "Besides, it's not mine. I'm just testing it." Your butt touched the leather seats. "What do you mean it's not yours? You're testing it?" You questioned as Natasha walked around the car and sat in the passenger seat next to you.

God, she looked fucking sexy.

Natasha lifted her sunglasses and moved closer. Over the middle console. Her green eyes looking in your eyes. "I'm a test driver for multiple car companies. They send their cars out, or I fly to them." Suddenly, Natasha made a lot more sense. That's why you never had seen her until recently. That's also probably why she always drives something different every time she arrives for lunch.

Looking at her made you think of that Billie Eilish song.

You pulled your lip into your mouth before looking back at the car. "So what's this one?" You ran your fingertips carefully over the steering wheel. "This is a Lotus Emira." You nodded as if it meant anything, which made Natasha smile. You pretending to care.

"You can drive it if you want," Natasha said after a beat of silence. You whipped your head over to her. "How much does it cost?" Natasha tilted her head, not expecting that answer. "To drive it?" You shook your head. "The car."

"Over 100K."

You immediately hopped out of the driver's seat and started coming around the front of the car, which made Natasha chuckle before she exited the vehicle. "I'm going to leave the driving to you." Natasha smiled and followed you to the passenger door. She held it open for you and closed it once you got buckled in.

"The offer still stands," Natasha said as she started up the vehicle. Under Natasha's foot, it roared to life. You could feel the horsepower slightly shake the car, which Natasha assured you was normal.

But what definitely wasn't normal was how she kept glancing at you, almost like she was trying to look at every detail of your face. So much so that you called her out on it once the two of you were flying down the two-lane road to wherever.

"Okay, do I have something on my face now!?" You asked, making Natasha shake her head and playfully roll her eyes as she zoomed onto another road. "No, I'm sorry. I just..." Natasha trailed off as she thought of the right words to say. "You just?" You asked as Natasha slowed the sports car down once the two of you reached a fence. A security guard took one look into the car and waved you in.

Your question hung in the air as you were now on an abandoned airstrip. You looked around at the view before looking at Natasha. She stopped the car as the tires rolled onto the tarmac.

Natasha looked over to you. She lifted her sunglasses up and moved towards you. "I like you. I like seeing you."

Her answer took your breath away. Sure, you flirted or at least attempted to, and it worked?? She liked you??

"I- I like you too." You came right out and said it. No point in hid- "I leave in the morning."

Those words left Natasha's lips like she never wanted them said. They hurt.

"What?" You questioned, making Natasha lift her downcasted eyes to you. "They want me in Germany." She answered quietly before looking down as she picked at her fingers. "I wanted to tell you, but I wasn't sure what we were..."

Your heart formed cracks but grew warm all in one swoop.

And then the two of you sat quiet for a moment. Natasha lifted her eyes to you as you looked out the window of the car, off into the distance.

"I still like you." You turned to Natasha as she finally switched from her puppy dog face. "I like you too," Natasha stated again, making you blush. "I find it hard to believe." You replied with a laugh, making Natasha shake her head. "Not funny." She cleared her throat. "And it's easy to believe. I think you're stunning."

You threw your head against the car seat. "Natasha, there is no way that's true. You've only ever seen me all sweaty and greasy and-" "and smelling like vanilla and cheeseburgers." Natasha smirked as she finished your sentence. "I told you I like it."

Your face became red as you shook your head and turned your eyes out the window at the tarmac in front of you guys. "So now what?" You asked with a smile.

Natasha followed your eyes sight. "I guess we make the most of this moment." You turned to her. She looked at you. "There's some cars in the hangar over there." She gestured with her head to one on the left. "We can see which one suits you." Natasha winked before starting up the car.

Natasha and you spent the next couple of hours laughing and talking while you sat in the passenger seat as Natasha showed off the reasons she's the best.

It felt like you were in a movie whenever she spun the car around. Your hair flew out of your ponytail and into your face, making you laugh while Natasha shifted the car before laughing at you.

Scenes like that play out more and more.

You even took your shot at the slowest car in the hangar. You had never gone that fast in your life.

But it left you wanting more, wanting Natasha more. Wanting the night sky not to fall into you both. But yet it did. The stars shined bright in the sky above as you and Natasha laid on the hood of a car the was worth more than the two of you combined.

"How did you get started?" You asked as Natasha handed you a beer from a cooler she brought out from the hangar. "My friend Carol hooked me up. She's a professional driver in the GT women's series. Her team was looking for test drivers. She called me up, and one thing led to another, and now it's my career."

(A/n: Carol will be a future story too.)

You took a sip of your drink as Natasha talked. You could see it in her eyes how much she actually did enjoy it and love doing it. "That's great." You spoke up as Natasha looked at you with a sad smile. "Yeah, but I'm never in one place for too long. I can't really plant roots." Her green eyes looked at you and your lips before turning away.

You saw it.

"How long will you be in Germany?" Natasha wasn't sure, but she gave you a guess. "Three weeks. Maybe longer." You nodded as Natasha licked her lips before sipping the imported beer. "And after that?" You asked.

Natasha shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe here." She said, even though you both knew that probably wasn't true.

"It's okay." You said as you found yourself closer to Natasha. She looked into the sky and let the moment rest. "Hey, Natasha." You spoke up, making Natasha turn towards her left, and the next thing Natasha tasted was your lips on hers.

The two of you sharing a messy top lip kiss as you fall onto her. Natashas back hitting the hood of the car as you two find a rhythm. Natasha drops the beer bottle from her hand and lets it roll off the car before it smashes onto the ground as her hands find your hair. Her fingertips brushed against your scalp as she moaned into your lips. Your body presses against her before air becomes a problem.

The two of you pull away, catching your breath. Natasha looks at you with desire in her darkened eyes. You look at Natasha, shocked by your own actions. "I'm sorry." Natasha stops your stupid apology by kissing you softly this time. "Don't. It's okay." She whispers before she kisses you again with a smile.

"What time in the morning do you leave?" You ask as you separate before kissing again. "My flight is at 8." Natasha kisses you, and you melt like butter before lifting yourself away from Natasha. "We don't have to talk about it," Natasha says to try and help you in any way she can, but you shake your head as you think of a plan.

You look to the redhead. "Do you think we'd work together?" Natasha doesn't know what you're asking. "What do you mean?" She scoots close to you again. Her hand on your thigh. "Like..." You look away. "Like as a couple." You mumble before Natasha pulls your chin to look at her. "One more time?"

You smile. "Like as a couple..." Natasha hums and moves her hand up and down your thigh with some light pressure. "I don't know, honestly. I'd like to say yes, but we never know what the future holds." Natasha answers you with a soft tone of voice as she keeps her eyes on you. "But I'd like to give it a shot if that's what you're asking."

You grab Natasha's hand from your thigh and hold it. "I really hate my job." You say, making Natasha smile and laugh. "You're probably the only reason I haven't quit yet." Natasha couldn't believe her ears. "Little ole me?" She fans herself and puts on an adorable Southern accent, forcing you to laugh and roll your eyes. "Oh gosh, is this what I have to look forward to." You fall against the hood and windshield of the car. Natasha slaps your arm. "You like it."

You smirk. "I do."

Now it's Natasha's turn to roll her eyes as she lays beside you. "So you'll come with me?" She wants to ensure she won't leave tomorrow with a broken heart.

You nod. "Good thing I have my passport." Natasha chuckles and smiles warmly at you. "Have you ever been to Germany?" Natasha asks, but you shake your head. "Well, I guess I'll have to spoil you."

"I could get used to that." You then look at the car under the both of you. "Well, that and watching you drive."

Natasha leans forward, and just before she kisses you, she whispers: "Oh, you have no idea."

dividers by @/benkeibear

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cattonicdragon · 1 year

Note

So like what I'm see, could you do glamrock chica Roxy Monty bonny marinette and baby with a animatronic reader built for security and has access to the cameras,

this idea has been inside my head for awhile now and i know my x reader viewers are starving so yes.

also may i say your taste in fnaf animatronics is just 🤌

also i didnt know which bonnie you wanted so i just did glamrock bonnie

hows everyone feeling abt ruin???👁️👁️

there will be spelling errors

{not proof read}

glamerock chica

the pizzaplex had many security messures in place,including security bots

not that they made the most difference

its not until after a break-in incedint that they decide they need to up their security a tad bit more,however they were already paying enough fees and did'nt want to pay another security officer so instead they went for the next best option!

a new security animatronic that was sentient like the main four+sun and moon

chica was quite surprised once she saw you lurking around,that was until she remembered that the staff had said there was a new bot for extra security

she decided to approach you abit before opening since you both had'nt needed to survey the pizzaplex

you both got along very well actually

she found it very interesting and was slightly jealous that you had the ability to access the cctv cameras around the plex

she was quite happy that there was another animatronic though,you made for good company

if she every saw a security camera she would wave at it,regardless of if you were watching or not

she has offerd you trash before,though wether or not you accept it though is up to you

its the thought that counts atleast

monty/montgomary gator

similar situation to chicas

he was surprised to see another bot wondering round the plex

though hes not one to dweel on something that isnt his buisness,so he was mainly just curious and let you be

your first real interaction is when a customer gets particulary aggitated with the gator when you stepped in

you had told the woman the whatever had happpened she could bring it to customer service,you also warned her that if she did not comply she would be escorted out of the pizzzaplex

he hadnt seen anyone stand up for him before like that

you also presented yourself very professionaly,being an animatronic you stood fairly tall but the way your presented yourself almost made yyou seem taller,you were assertive in our words and spoke without stuttering

it was a very nice manner

although hes thankful that you stepped in he dosnt show it

he just huffs and leaves to his green room to blow off steam

after making some more meetings though an unlikely friendship manages to form

he trys to perform even better now that he knows your potentially watching

speaking of that

he finds it cool how they trust you enough to allow you access to the cameras,though hes not jeoalous because he has gator golf

he loves compliments whether your giving them to him or vice versa

hes very possessive and will cuddle you in his greenroom

he will either give you his glasses to wear temporarily or will get a copy made and then give you the copy

roxanne wolf

she would be one of the first ones to learn of your existance due to her excellent eye sight

she gets a little aggressive until she learns that your not an intruder and also not one of the "main" bots

it turns out mangament just thought it'd be a good idea to through you into the pizza plex with no for warning

she does get nervous that youll take her spot light a tad bit since animatronics do tend to draw more attraction then old ones

she needs quite a bit of confirmation that your not threatening her stance and thats shes still the best

after adjusting to you though shes very friendly

the chances are very high that she'll introduce cassie to you

she lets you into her green room preety much whenever

having a shitty day? go straight to her! she'll cheer you right up!

ashes constantley giving you makeovers,with your consent of course and other things

she loves racing you and she gives you many praises if you win

shes very soft with yopu,surprisingly even in public,although its not to the same extent as when your both alone she'll still be very sweet to you.

if people have a problem with it they can leave

your very quick to come to her aid if someone is being rude to her,also having the security cameras to back you up is a bonus

she gives you many of her merchandise on a whim,your talking and she has to leave,oh wait.before she goes she gives you a limited addition rare roxanne wolf plushie.how sweet ;)

glamrock bonnie

he wouldnt be to surprised to find out tghat managment added another animatronic that was strictly for security,wouldnt be to surprised that managment had'nt told anyone either

he'd probally be one of the first ones to come up to you,having a smug smirk on his face will dramatically spinning a bowling ball with one of his fingers

very flirty,however alot of the time it usually ends up with something funny happening,so flirting but failing at the same time.

he'll lean on a wall,about to recite a very cheezy monologue of randome romantic words when he suddenly just,falls.he slips off the wall and onto the floor,whatever words he was about to say,yea unless hes feeling particularly confident he will just get up,apologize and walk off

he tries to impress you tones,and i mean TONS

if your ever nearby he tries to get the most amount of attention possible,hoping that in the crowd he would have hooked your interest

he has honed his skills of bowling and hes going to show it

if you ask him to teach you a trick in bowling he will drop EVERYTHING just to show you how to do it

he absolutely loves when you give him attention and if you ever tease or flirt back,hes like putty in your hands,oh so sweet and tripping over his words like a highschool crush

he will unironically do the finger thing where he just 👉👈

will give you all sorts of gifts

if your not a pro bowling player by the time you actually get together(if you do) than you might just need alittle more help from him,but hes not complaining

fyi,you probally figured out he had feelings way before he told you,you most likely saw him rehearsing(and failing) through the cameras

speaking of wich,if he thinks/knows your looking at the security cameras and there one near him,hell wink and do a finger gun or some other flirty action towards it,and then most likely trip afterwards

puppet/marionette

shes quite surprised when you get added as additional securty measurements

dont the toy's already have saftey measurements like face recognitional scanning features and stuff

shes abit confused as to why they would do that instead of just upgrading the already made animatronics,like you already have tons of animatronics and instead of saving money you decide to waste it?

the only reason she can think that your here is maybe for increased popularity aswell?

shes confused but also curious,the toys can get a tad bit annoying and its nice to see a fresh face around,well animatronic technically speaking.

shes intreguded by the fact that you have access to the camera systems,theyve always been so adiment about only letting the night guard have it so why do you?

more questions than ones being answered,though maybe you could answer them

she can be a tad bit harsh and brash,with a pinch of shyness when she approacesh you,well actually the likely hood is,that she'll probally lure you to her box where she can stay safe instead of being in the outside world

once she gets to know you shes much more calm

she allows you to be in her box with her if you wish,with others she dismmises them with a harsh swipe of her black and white striped arm

she likes listening to her music box with you,just sitting in almost complete silence as the soft lullaby fills the air with calm music

she loves giving you gifts or leaving them around for you

she makes the pressents that belog to you blatently obvious as to who its for,one of the toys took one of your pressents once and it wasnt a very happy ending

she likes to just wrap her long lanky arms around you,seeking comfort in your presense and just you being there

circus baby

shes rather annoyed apon your arrival

circus baby is a mastermind and also likes things to be in place,specifically in places where she wants them

you put a very large and prominent thorn in her side

im not very sure on the lore but there's a high likely hood that you were made by henry and given as a gift after some concerning reports were leaked

shes an extreme mix between being friendly and being harsh

she annoyed because now shes going to have to re-arrange her plans and make accomadations for you,who can see into the security feed

but she needs to play nice if she wants her plan to go smoothly

shes a toxic mix between the two emotions,however as time goes on her feelings start to subside and change

she distances herself as much as your circumstances allow as she tries to configure her conflicting feelings

shes a robot made to kill,and your.well ,not

she eventually decides to see how her feelings lpay out and then plan around that

safe to say,she was very wrong,she thought that letting things happen,her feeling would subdue.nope,they just became stronger and she feel for you harder

she eventual;ly comes to a grueling conclusion that she likes you and after a short confrontation about feeling and such.her plans will have to change,again

shes very sweet with you,aswell as openly affecttionate

she uses alot of her mechanisms to wow you

like making heart shaped ballons randomly and giving them to you

she uses her high status in the funtimes frequently

she refuses to let the biddy babs anywhere near you

she likes keeping you by her side,you keep her calm and collected

she vents to you about the troubles she faces and asks your opinions and what she should do.

shes very caring towards you and sweet

to you:(//ó//w//ò//)

to the funtimes:(ò~ó)

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yinswritingblog · 1 month

Text

twst (undisclosed) au

jade leech x gn!reader

a/n: i have specific inspo for this au but i don't wanna give away the plot if i continue with it. i literally haven't even scratched the surface of my idea and i lowkey hate this but i'm tired and had to put something out there 🫠 there's barely any jade in this beginning part so i'm sorry in advance

tags: gn!reader (pronouns unspecified), sfw, little bit of pining, mushrooms written by someone who doesn't know mushrooms, kinda boring, sorry

regardless of shitty quality, DO NOT FEED THIS TO AI or i will hunt you down and be very angry at you

1,456 words

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Climbing a mountain is not one of your regular chores as a farmer.

Life’s just been so boring lately—not that you’re complaining; “bored” is leagues better than famished and starving—but you’ve been thirsting for a little more enrichment than feeding livestock and mucking stables can offer. So naturally, when you went into town a few days ago to sell some of your produce, you scanned Sam’s shop for anything that could spice up your life.

Funny-looking dolls, uniquely flavoured snacks, eye-catching accessories… Sam always had such interesting items in stock, but you couldn’t imagine being amused with any of them for more than a couple days, a week at most. You hummed to yourself before clearing your throat.

“Hey, Sam?” you peeked around the stacked shelves and racks to look for him at the front of the shop. He popped out from beneath the front counter like some sort of life-sized jack-in-the-box.

“Find anything that piques your interest, Imp?” he asked back while glancing at you, simultaneously working on pricing some new trinkets that came in. (The grind never stops, even when he’s serving a customer.)

“Well…” You hated to admit your dissatisfaction so bluntly, but Sam’s a thick-skinned friend of yours; he can take it. “No, actually. Do you have anything new?”

And of course Sam had something new in stock—something perfect. You should’ve never doubted his service. So that day, you left town having sold all your produce, with a pocketful of bronze coins, a skip in your step, and a small pocketbook in hand that you traded for two dozen eggs.

A Guide to Identifying and Foraging Wild Edible Mushrooms: Pocket Edition.

So here you are, hiking up the mountain by your farm that you never once explored in all your years living here. To be fair, you never really had much of a reason to, until now. Now, you have a wealth of information on edible and medicinal wonders of nature in the palm of your hand. Now, you’re aware of the wondrous, not-meat-yet-meaty chunks of yumminess within your reach.

You gasp. Literally. Within. Your. Reach. After verifying with your prized pocketguide, you pluck the stubby white growth from the side of a fallen log. Pleurotus ostreatus. An oyster mushroom. You have yourself an oyster mushroom, and now the world is your oyster.

In your mushroom-finding excitement, you fail to notice the heterochromatic eyes witnessing your discovery from behind a tree.

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Over the next week, you balance out the mundaneness of farm life with the joy of mushroom foraging. So far, you’ve harvested resinous polypore—Ischnoderma resinosum—and lion’s mane—Hericium erinaceus—on top of the oyster mushrooms you initially found. You’re thrilled!

But still, despite your newfound source of joy, you can’t help but wish you didn’t have to work so much on the farm. As you savour a bite of your breakfast omelette made with leftover lion’s mane mushrooms, you dare think to yourself: Sevens, you wished you could have a helping hand. Then you would only have to work half as much, and you’d have twice as much time to go look for mushrooms.

You turn your gaze beyond your open dutch door to the rich mountain nearby.

And then a demon pops out of fucking nowhere to block the view.

“AHHHH!!!” you shriek, before clapping a hand over your mouth. Oh, you realise. It’s not a demon. Just some freakishly tall guy trespassing on your farm. Dressed in a tattered linen tunic and breeches, his ratty clothing doesn’t seem to suit him. With hair the vivid colour of the clear sea, striking heterochromatic eyes, and a razor-sharp jawline, you can’t fathom what he’s doing here. Nor can you imagine why he’s dressed like he’d been washed up ashore. The only accessory that does suit his beauty is the teal earring dangling from his left ear.

“Hello,” the beautiful demon/trespasser man greets politely.

“Hi,” you reply awkwardly. “Can I help you?”

“Well, yes,” he replies, smiling without teeth as he brings his hand to his chest. “I would like to help you on your farm.”

You hum to hide your surprise. Not because his request is startling, though it is very bold, especially for only just having met each other. You’re instead shocked by how quickly your wish seemed to be granted. Maybe he is a demon. But you’ll nevertheless entertain his haphazard job application.

“Hmm. What’s your name?” you ask.

“Ah, right. My name is Jade,” the demon answers with his smooth-ass voice. “My apologies for neglecting to introduce myself sooner.”

You give him your name in return. Jade smiles again. It’s almost unsettling.

“I’ll warn you that it’s a lot of work, Jade. And I can’t give you much more than food and lodging in return. You still interested?”

“Yes.”

You rack your brain for any more upfront reasons that would dissuade Jade from working for you.

“And in terms of food…” you start, “You’re alright eating mushrooms?”

Jade stares at you, eyes wide. Is he blushing?

“You’d feed me your mushrooms?” he whispers.

Ah, so he’s not a fan. Disappointing. Still, you answer.

“Breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” you reply. “Not by themselves, of cour—“

“When may I start?” Jade cuts you off.

“Wha?”

“Working here, for you. When may I start?”

•🍄•🍄‍🟫•🍄•🍄‍🟫•🍄•🍄‍🟫•🍄•🍄‍🟫•🍄•🍄‍🟫•🍄•🍄‍🟫•

Succinctly put, Jade isn’t a demon. In fact, you’d go as far to say that Jade is an angel. A gentlemanly, mushroom-loving angel. Two months in, he does more than his fair share of work on the farm and eats whatever you cook. Often, despite already having laboured in the burning hot sun, doing the heavy lifting that he insisted you shouldn’t do, Jade helps you in the kitchen.

Like he is now. Actually, this time, he’s doing most of the cooking as you wash the dishes and cooking utensils.

A few weeks ago, Jade practically begged you to bring him on one of your hikes. If it was anybody else who asked, you wouldn’t have agreed. But you had to admit: you’re fond of Jade.

From your countless conversations, you learned that Jade lost both his parents to vicious pirates when they were at sea, leaving behind Jade and his brother, Floyd. Jade also told you that he has a funny friend named Azul. The way Jade reminisces about Floyd and Azul is endearing (and also makes the latter seem really pathetic, to be honest), and you can tell he really loves them since he’d left his home to make a better life for the three.

Despite his rough past, he’s perfect. Hardworking, strong, smart, observant, dependable, beautiful, sweet… You could list hundreds if not thousands of things you love about him. The hard part is keeping your praises to yourself, keeping them from spewing out your mouth every time you’re in his presence.

Jade always does as you wish when you ask. But your one deepest wish is selfish, something you can’t ask of him.

You wish he’d never leave your side.

“Dinner’s ready,” Jade gently announces to you, disrupting your internal pining monologue. You can see his closed-eye smile directed at you from the corner of your eye, and you feel your heartbeat quicken.

You grab two bowls from the cupboard and pass them to Jade’s waiting hand. His fingers brush yours in the process, and you have to stop yourself from flinching away. Don’t be suspicious! Act normal! Stop being a pathetic sap!

“Oya, you’re quite red.” Ugh, dammit, blush! “Are you feeling unwell?”

Jade reaches his right hand toward your forehead, which you quickly bat away.

“Am I? I feel fine,” you assure, hoping you sound natural enough. You feel your face warm even more.

“Are you sure?” Jade scrutinizes your flushed face, mere inches between you. “You really are quite red.”

Now, as sweet as he is, Jade loves teasing. Even though he doesn’t like you back—not that he knows of your crush on him—he still plays with you. And your poor heart by association.

You turn away from Jade like a petty child refusing to eat their vegetables. The bastard follows your face with his own as you turn.

“Fufufu,” he chuckles, “you really are quite adorable, aren’t you?”

Your eyes bulge in surprise before you instinctively shield your probably-tomato-red face with your hand.

“Oh,” Jade sighs with a smile, retreating to his personal bubble of space. “How I wish to never leave your side.”

Those words promptly open the floodgates to your endless praises for Jade. Ultimately, in tears, you end up confessing your undying love. In response, Jade smiles at you, wider than you’ve ever seen, eyes half-lidded. He’s so beautiful.

So much for keeping your feelings under wraps.

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #jade leech x reader #twst #twst x reader #jade leech #jade x reader

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cuckaracha · 1 day

Note

Ohhh please give Ace opinions. I love seeing people yap about Ace

With pleasure ^_^!

V spoilers talk! V

Most of my opinions were revealed to be sort of true on the last episode so it wouldn't surprise me if this is one-to-one what everyone believes now: Ace to me seems like an extremely love starved person, like, its so painfully obvious that he's faced some sort of neglect in his life. So much so to the point that he keeps himself guarded all the time to avoid falling for the trap of liking someone and then they immediately turn on him. Hence what he said to Levi during the trial. Ace is feels too much. He's well aware of his surroundings and how shitty he acts, but if he doesn't feel anger or fear, the loneliness kicks in. It's a toxic cycle of self-hatred, low self-esteem and cynicism. Though I do believe that it's mostly the situation making his bad habits shine more brightly, because during the prologue/chapter1, Ace is kind of just a bratty jock. He cracks jokes, he hangs out with everyone and he seems to not be plagued as much by his fear unless you breach the topic.

Hence why I personally think that there's no other person like Levi to be used as foil for him. Regardless of how you think on their relationship, be it romantic or platonic or whatever, it's nothing new that their attitudes clash so much, it comes back around to them covering each other's weakness very well. A little guy that feels to much and is scared of giving out of fear of being hurt, and a big guy that feels too little that gives to others out of necessity. So when taken to their natural extreme, they would very obviously have problems, specially under the circumstances that they're both in. Ace, tragically believing the one thing he knew he shouldn't have, and Levi hopelessly attempting to fix what he inadvertently broke. It's peak toxic yaoi imo.

(which also, at least in my opinion, makes Levi the one true Ace lover. None of the other boys have as much of their nuance intrinsically mangle with Ace's as him. But again, that's just me. Ship this little freak with however boy you want. Fuck it. Make him a slut even.)

The other thing that has popped in my mind a lot is his family situation. I know with my take of his family, he's like a middle child or whatever, but that was just me wanting to be contrarian to the obvious, more solid interpretation of Ace being the eldest of the 9 brothers. Because when you think about, him being forced into jockeying by his family to maintain them economically makes sense. He hates it, but if he doesn't do it, he'll be the loser everyone knows him to be. He'd be disposed of by his family, believing that they only care about him for his talent and the money that comes from it. And if he doesn't do it, the job might fall to one of his younger siblings. Something he can't morally do. Because as much of a stupid little shithead as he is, he's not an idiot. Ace knows what's right and what's wrong. He understands the cruelty of the world to an extent. And as such. He's forced into being the breadmaker for his big ass family until the day he either retires or dies.

All this to say. I love Ace Markey. He's such a silly little goofball full of depression and anxiety that is one fart away from going insane. Like I haven't even touched on my thoughts on Taylor (which I also got right on my earlier theory) and how that affects the Ace economy. I relate so much to this guy it's fucking unreal. I don't think I've ever hyperfixated on a character this much. Like. So much so that I even got a fucking custom plushie made out of him and am constantly drawing him.

Anyways thanks for listening to my old man ramble, have an Ace my friend Fennex made.

#ace markey #drdt #danganronpa despair time #despair time #gay #fanganronpa #reo answers

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garbinge · 1 year

Text

Rescued

Jax Teller x F!Reader From these August Prompts: "Have a drink, relax." & For @the-slumberparty's Bingo Challenge! Bingo square: Rescued Word Count: 1.9k

A/N: This was honestly so fun to write, young and fun Jax is my favorite lol. Warnings: All my fics are 18+, regardless of content. Angst, flirting, cursing, Unsers nickname lol, drinking. SOA Taglist: @drabbles-mc @justreblogginfics

The popping of your tire was the cherry on top of a shitty trip but when it caused you to lose control of the wheel and smash into the speed limit sign, that was the boiling point for you. Luckily, you weren’t too injured, the airbag managed to leave a cut on your face somehow and now on top of a fucked up car, you had a bruised face and ego. You had been traveling for hours, just trying to make it back home and everything was going left. Calling the operator was infuriating, all of the numbers you had to press just to get to speak to someone only for them to transfer you to someone else in the Charming operating department.

“I’m looking for someone to tow my fuckin’ car.” The tone you took was one of little patience.

“Well it’s a good thing you called the fuckin’ auto shop.” A voice with humor spoke on the other line.

“This a mechanic?” You said taken back. “Sorry, I’ve been playing tag with like 3 different operators.”

“Don’t worry about it, doesn’t make the top 5 of mean ass customers I’ve talked with.” The man on the line spoke. “So, you need a tow? You got a location?”

“Uh,” You looked around for a street sign, any landmarks to give an idea where you were when your eyes landed on the green reflective light. “Just off the West Side Freeway, Rt 5.”

“Alright, I’ll send the tow, gonna be $80.”

“Ofcourse it is.” You sighed and closed your eyes as the day continued to shit on you.

“We can workout a payment pl–” The voice was slightly concerned on the other line.

“No.” You cut him off. “I’m good for it, it’s just the idea that I’m about to drain it all from my wallet.”

The man on the other line let out a laugh. “We’ll be there in 20 minutes.”

You thought you were lucky enough that the cops didn’t show up but they were right in front of the tow truck. The older officer was stepping out of the car before the tow truck even parked.

“Everyone alright?” The man spoke up, as he got closer you saw the name engraved on below his badge. Unser.

“It was just me, I’m alright. Popped my tired on the highway and the wheel decided to shake out on me.” You pointed to the ending of the story where your car sat plowed over the metal pole and sign.

“Your uh– you got a little banged up.” He pointed to his face where the cut on yours was. “You sure you don’t want me to call an ambulance or an EMT to check it out?”

“I’m okay, officer. I really just want to get my car out of here and fixed.” As you spoke you pointed to the tow truck and the long blond haired man who was approaching from the truck.

Unser turned around and nodded to the man. “Jax.”

“Uncle Touchy.” Jax’s smile was from ear to ear as he walked past him and directly to you and your car.

“Hey I’m Jax.” The man nodded at you, keeping his smile the same until it fell a little as he took in your face.

At first, you thought maybe he was concerned with the cut on your face but his next sentence disproved that theory.

“I know you? You look familiar.” He said the frown deepening now.

“I’m not really from around here, so I don’t think so.” You weren’t really trying to go back and forth right now, your main objective was to just get the fuck out of here. That was until it hit you who he was. “Oh shit, you’re–”

“From the truck stop.” His smile grew back on his face.

“You’re all out of coffee.” Your annoyed voice was yelling out over the front counter of the convenient store down to the cashier who had already checked out.

“Then we’re all out!” The worker didn’t even bother to look at you while he dismissed you.

“This place is literally called Coffee and Go. That’s what I want to do. Get my coffee and go.” You spoke like it was obvious, which to your point, it kind of was.

Just as the cashier was about to yell back at you, now looking at you fully the person at the register stepped towards you. “Here, take mine, I should cut back on the caffeine anyways.”

Your eyes moved down from his young, handsome face to his hand that was extending out the coffee. That’s when your eyes saw the vest resting over his flannel, Sons of Anarchy, Vice President.

“I didn’t drink from it yet, it’s just got a little sugar in it but besides that it’s just regular black coffee.”

“You don’t need to do that.” You shook your head trying to dismiss the man’s generosity.

“I know but if I don’t, I think you’re going to kill that guy.” He leaned in to whisper to you. “And I don’t really want to be pulled in as a witness.”

“What can I say, I’m a bit of an unruly character without my caffeine.” You reached out to take the coffee. “I’ve been on the road for a while, thank you.” You genuinely said.

“Don’t mention it, darling.”

“I didn’t recognize you without the–” You shrugged your shoulders and brought your hands up to mimic holding the vest.

Jax let out a laugh. “Traded it in for the work shirt for the next 5 hours. Didn’t recognize you with the–” He pointed to his face similarly to the officer before but in more of a mimicking way since you had mocked his kutte.

“Guess we both went through a few changes since the morning.” You rolled your eyes.

Small town charm. That’s what this was, everyone knew everyone, people were chatty. As you pulled into the automotive shop you turned to see the line of bikes along the wall and the large reaper over the building diagonal from the garages. Maybe this was a different small town charm than you had thought.

You had lost track of your conversation with Jax as you stared at the bikers walking around.

“Never seen an M.C. before?” His voice cut through your thoughts.

“More like I know them too well.” You mumbled not expecting any reply from him but the confused look on his face was begging for more information as he placed the tow in park.

“My mom, years ago, was a member of Hell Babes before they patched over into Rebel Supply. It was a Women’s Motorcycle Collective so, probably a little different than this.” You pointed out the truck window and looked back at Jax who was a little surprised to hear the story from you.

“Or a lot of the same.” Jax’s eyebrows raised.

“We’ll never know that will we?” You raised your eyebrows back at him. The confused look filled Jax’s face again as he frowned at your statement before taking the keys out of the ignition. “You’re never gonna tell me the reapers' ways of working and I’m not going to tell you anything about the Rebels.”

“Yea, it’s a lot of the same.” Jax smiled at you. “Let me give the guys the keys so they can start working on an estimate for you.”

You stood in the middle of the lot, waiting for Jax to come back, taking in the details on each of the bikes, it was bringing back a lot of memories for you, good and bad. Luckily you didn’t get too far down memory lane before Jax was back next to you, now with his kutte over his work shirt.

“Come on, it’s gonna be a minute.” He guided you towards the tall black building that had the MC logo plastered everywhere on it.

As you stepped into what you assumed to be the clubhouse the smell of cigars and alcohol filled your nose. It was definitely extremely different from what the Women’s Collective had as their stomping grounds, but what did you expect when it was a bunch of middle aged men in the middle of bumfuck California.

“Have a drink, relax.” Jax was calling out from the bar as he poured you a beer.

“The cop gonna come back and DUI test me?” You made yourself comfortable at the bar.

“Nah, Unser’s cool.” Jax smirked like he expected you to know what that meant in terms of the club.

“Uncle Touchy, you mean?” You asked in hopes for some explanation to the nickname that wouldn’t make you sick to your stomach.

“It’s just a joke, pisses him off, there’s no rhyme or reason behind it, don’t worry.” Jax laughed, taking a sip of his own beer.

“This is the second drink you’ve bought me today.” The glass raised to cheers him before you took a sip yourself. The cold beer was like medicine to your aching body, the cold chill relaxed you from not only the accident but the week you were having.

“Call it fate.” He chuckled.

“Call it Teller-Morrow Towing.” You rebutted.

“Speaking of, I thought the coffee was supposed to dial down the unruliness.”

“Only managed to have half the cup before my tire popped, not enough to keep the unruliness at bay.”

The two of you continued talking, chatting about your parents and clubs, but still managing to keep pretty much every detail a secret as you talked. Topics changed and there was never an awkward lull or search for another thing to bring up, things just came up naturally, where you grew up, your favorite places to travel, the fact that you stopped riding years ago and how Jax could never give it up, what you were doing coming through Charming.

It was crazy that an hour had already passed when one of the mechanics had stepped into the clubhouse.

“Jax! That tow you brought in, estimate is $670 for everything, we can have it done by tomorrow morning, just let us know when to get started!”

You closed your eyes as you heard the time and price. “That how you let all your customers know the breakdown?”

“Don’t let most of my customers come in here to wait out their estimate, truthfully.” He grabbed your glass and tossed it in the sink.

“Let ‘em know to get started.” You stood up ready to retreat out of the clubhouse and figure out your overnight arrangements.

“Will do, if you want, maybe uh, I can give you that full cup of coffee in the mornin’.”

He was so smug about asking you that it was obvious what he was saying between the lines.

“You askin’ me to stay the night, biker boy?” The two of you were now walking down the hallway to the door when Jax grabbed the door above your head and held it open for you.

“All about the hospitality, baby, and figured it’d be good to caffeinate you in the mornin’ so you’re not unruly to my guys.” He had a toothpick in his mouth now that was moving around as his tongue played with it.

“What the gentlemen, Jax.” You crossed your arms before agreeing, what the hell, you were just passing through, right? “Sure, I’ll bite. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it, darling.”

#Jax Teller #jax teller x reader #Jax Teller x you #Jackson Teller #Soa #Sons of Anarchy #SOA fanfic #soa fanfiction #jax teller fanfic #jax teller fanfiction

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horseshoegirl · 1 year

Text

Damn Those Dog Tags: Part 17 - Come a Little Bit Closer

📖 One of my friends who beta-read this for me pointed out there is a scene in here that is very similar to one in Ted Lasso (I've never seen it, though there are a lot of people in my life telling me I should now); so I'm just mentioning there might be a similarity.

There is also something in here that people have been waiting for. Albeit, it's probably not the one scene everyone wants, given recent events. But someone(s) gets karma'd 👀

❗️+18, strong language, godmother reader/original female character, mentions of an original child character, angst, mentions of shitty family dynamics, physical fights, Ruthless Dagger Squad, violence, verbal fights, and mentions of blood.

#7k words

Part 16 | Masterlist | Part 18

“Are you a fucking idiot, Bradley?!”

You slapped Rooster hard on the back of his head, the thwack anything but satisfying.

“He is, indeed, a fucking idiot,” Nat quipped next to you. Bradley frowned at you, rubbing the back of his head. “I thought you would be happy I got to him!”

“You do not invert over another pilot on your team, catch them in a fucking corkscrew, and make them hit the fucking hard deck! Regardless if they are my ex or an asshole!”

It was hopeless to think you could ever stop swearing in Penny’s bar, not when Bradley was still pulling stupid shit like that. Therapy was a big step, but you knew deep down it would take a little more than a few sessions to make him less impulsive.

Maybe even more so from behind the joystick of his jet.

Rooster threw his hands up defensively. "I was just trying to teach him a lesson. You know what he did to you!"

You shot him a look.

Bob rolled his eyes and leaned against the bar, crossing his arms. "And what exactly did you accomplish, Rooster? Besides nearly killing yourself and him?"

Bradley gave him a death glare.

“I don’t care why you did it!” You snapped, tapping the end of the bottle opener hard on the top of the bar as you made your point. “You put yourself and a teammate in danger! You’re lucky Maverick stepped in before you got kicked out!”

You spun the tool in your hand while rolling your eyes, quickly popping the caps off the row of beer bottles lined up in front of you in frustration. Placing one in front of Nat, you handed Bob’s to him with a stern look.

“One, Robert,” You said, holding up your finger. “One, and then I am cutting you off.”

He grabbed the neck of the bottle, nodding and throwing his hand back in what seemed to be a 'yeah, I get it' kind of way. You held back on Roosters, holding it out of his reach, engaging him in a staring contest.

"Promise me."

"Liz."

You shook your head.

"This is not something I'm being funny about, Bradley. Promise me you will not pull that shit again."

"You're being unfair; it was just a dogfight."

You raised your eyebrow, purposely glancing over at the barbell for a split second. "I'll ring the bell on you."

Bradley cocked his eyebrow at you. The bell was something he prided on, never happening to him before. "I'll tell your manager you've been providing bad customer service."

You shrugged. "Go ahead."

Penny would legitimately not care. She'd do more damage to Bradley by chewing him out than you ever could.

"You should see the Yelp reviews when they mention me when I ring the bell on assholes. I don't care. Promise me you won't put yourself in danger anymore just to prove a fucking point."

Rooster made no effort to tear his eyes away from you.

"Bradley Bradshaw, do you promise me?!" you tried again. When he didn't reply for the second time, you raised your voice, "Lieutenant Bradshaw! Do you promise not to risk your fucking life over proving a point?!"

Bradley blinked.

"Yes, Ma'am."

You thumped the glass bottle to the top of the bar, sliding it towards him with a huff.

“Liz!” Jimmy called out. You turned in his direction with a smile, though you were anything but happy right now.

“The Jukebox is doing that thing again. Can you see what’s wrong?”

“Did you try hitting it?” you called back.

“Several times!”

You sighed. Walking to the other side of the bar, you stopped in front of Bradley, pointing your finger into his chest.

“You pull that shit again, therapy or not, I swear to god, Bradley..." You couldn't even formulate the rest of your sentence, throwing your hands up in frustration and letting out a garbled yell as you walked away.

You approached the Juxebox with a huff, grabbing the sides as you peered into the glass. The machine was turned on, but the needle hadn't touched the spinning disc.

Someone slung their arm over the top of the machine, startling you with an almost empty beer bottle in their hand.

"First, it was the keg, now it's the jukebox. What else is on your hit list, darlin'?"

You stiffened.

You hadn't seen Jake since that night. The minute you managed to get the courage to leave Rooster's Bronco, you cleared out your house of anything to do with him, his overnight bag sitting on your porch when you went to pick up Sadie.

It was gone when you came back home.

And It was suddenly like he hadn’t existed. You hadn’t found yourself going through what you assumed was the traditional aftermath of breaking up with someone. You hadn’t eaten a tub of ice cream, binged rom-coms or cried your eyes out except on the drive home.

And that had been it.

No calls. No texts. No apologies.

Without turning to face him, you remarked sarcastically, "Your over-inflated ego, but something tells me I'm going to need something bigger than a broken jukebox to take down."

Jake glanced at the machine, knocking it hard with the side of his boot.

You don't know what was worse, that the machine came to life or that it started up in the middle of the song, 'Come a Little Bit Closer' by Jay and the Americans, started up in the most ironic part.

Come a little bit closer. You're my kind of man, so big and so strong.

The quip fell easy from your lips. “Oh, what do you know, a knight in shining armour, solving all my problems.”

You don't know what you were trying to achieve by being like this. You just wanted him gone. But Jake didn't leave. Instead, he smiled at you. "You always have a way with words, don't you?"

You rolled your eyes. Snatching the bottle from his grip, you turned on your heel.

"What are you doing here, Jake?" you called out, knowing he would follow you.

"I just want to talk."

"I have nothing to say to you."

He quicked his pace, jogging up and interrupting your path. You stopped, gritting your teeth and twisting your hand away from him in frustration.

"Liz, please."

You huffed. You finally met his eyes, your gaze hard. “What is there to say, Jake? What could you say to me other than I was another bartender on your list? I just wish you had the common decency not to involve my niece in this, you asshole.”

He opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by a shout across the bar.

"Jake!"

George had called out to his brother, surrounded by a group of women. When Jake turned at the mention of his name, George was already waving him over.

You couldn't blame the women shooting him flirty glances, eyeing him up and down like a piece of meat. You just wished the pang in your chest didn't hurt as much as it did.

"Go ahead," you offered with a tense smile. "You made your intentions known. You are free to do whatever the hell you want now."

Jake faced you, his expression faltering as the edges of his mouth twitched, failing miserably to hold on to some semblance of confidence.

"You don't think I know that?" he remarked. "I think about it all the time."

“You should've thought of a lot of things before, Jake," you sighed, stepping backwards and away from him. "Don’t start on my account now.”

---

Why George had decided to stick around, Jake had no idea why. Maybe it was insurance that the damage he had done was permanent.

Jake just wanted him to get the hell out of dodge.

He wasn’t even paying attention to the conversation he’d been roped into when you walked away from him. He had no other choice but to walk over and let George introduce him to the two ladies he had been flirty with.

Jake knew what George was doing. He was trying to entice him back into his old ways. It was clear as day to anyone George would be going home with this woman tonight.

The other one, he thought her name was Bree or something along those lines, was trying to engage him in a conversation, batter her eyes or flirt. But he hadn’t so much as blinked, too caught up in how you shot him down and walked away from him.

It wasn’t until George opened his mouth to answer a question that Jake snapped out of his trance and caught the last end of his sentence.

“I guess having played football in high school makes it easier. My throwing hand is awesome when playing darts, though.”

That pipped his interest.

"Since when have you played darts?" he finally spoke up.

"Since we hired a few new ranch hands,” George shrugged. “All they want to do is drink, sleep, and play darts. It's great for introducing yourself to other ranch owners. I practically win them over each time," he remarked, trying to throw in a bit of modesty.

The gears started to grind in Jake's head. And slowly but surely, the cocky-ass Mona Lisa smile came back.

He nodded towards the dartboard. "Wanna play a game?"

George raised his eyebrow, taking a swing of his beer, "Want something else to lose your dignity to?"

Jake's grin didn't lessen. In fact, there was a certain glint in his eyes when he replied, "Something like that."

---

A crowd had gathered around the dart board while they had been playing. Practically, the whole bar was suddenly invested in this little game.

And you, leaning up against a pillar next to Bob, who had ushered you away from your post for a few seconds to watch the end of the game. Your arms were crossed, and you had a slight frown, watching him with sad eyes.

It was clear you wanted to be back behind the bar, not standing here, watching the person responsible for your broken heart play a fucking game of darts.

It wasn't even really a game. Jake could land a bullseye with his eyes literally closed. The regulars knew it, too. So, why was he purposely throwing darts with his non-dominant hand? You had no idea.

From what you could tell from when you were behind the bar, he still played well enough. They went for the long haul, starting at 501 points and slowly working their way down. Coyote and Rooster had decided to keep track, using the chalkboard on the side. George had led throughout the game and was still leading, but Jake was always close by enough to make it interesting.

Then George landed enough points that if Jake didn't get exactly what he needed to on his turn, George would win the game with his next. You didn't know why Bob pulled you over here; maybe it was to see Jake lose. Or to see George fail.

You have yet to determine which would be the better option at this point. And yet, you still couldn't bring yourself to step away.

You leaned over to Bob to ask, "What does he need to win?"

Bob sighed. "Two triples in the 20 slot and a bullseye. The bullseye needs to be last."

"What are the stakes?" you frowned.

Bob only shook his head next to you. "Nothing, from what I know."

George spun from his position, smiling at everyone cheering for him. He came to stand next to Jake, patting him hard on the back a few times.

"I don't know if you were trying to prove something, brother," he laughed, "But good game. We should do this again sometime."

Jake did the one thing he wanted to do his whole life.

He laughed at his brother.

"George, I never understood why you've had this grudge against me for my entire life," he said, stepping out of George’s grip on his shoulder.

Jake twirled the dart between two of his fingers, shaking his head. With a little sleight of hand, you watched as he switched his grip, the dart now in his dominant hand. You stood from leaning against the pillar and uncrossed your arms.

"You had it all. Dad's approval, the football career. All the girls flocking to your side in high school. You’ve spent your entire life under his thumb, chasing approval.”

He cut his eyes to you, seeing the frown on your face, and knew he had to continue. Stepping up to the mark, he squared his shoulders, eyeing the board.

“Trust me when I say this - you might've been the chosen one in Dad's eyes, but out here, in the real world? That doesn't mean shit."

Jake threw his first dart, the spike landing within the safety of the triple twenty. Everyone watching caught their breath in surprise.

Jake's smirk grew bolder, the fiery confidence he was known for blazing in his eyes as he looked back at his brother. "Do you want to know what I would have said to you the day you were talking shit about Liz and Sadie?"

A quiet gasp escaped your lips.

George's mouth twitched.

“I agreed with you for one thing and one thing only. I know I won’t be welcomed back,” he stated. “I couldn’t give a damn if I am.”

Something burned deep inside Jake’s chest as he pushed on, needing George to hear what he was saying desperately.

" Sadie? She sees right through your bullshit. But she will not hesitate to stand up for someone if she thinks they are being mistreated. She’s so mature for her age, and I am damn proud to be her uncle.”

He knew he shouldn’t have called himself that but was too caught up to care.

“And Liz? The world throws so much bullshit at her, and she still chooses to be kind, even when she still buries her grief, because she doesn’t want her niece to see her cry.”

Jake shook his head, a sad smile on his face. “I found people who, despite knowing my flaws, chose to stand by me. Not hold them against me.”

Jake threw the second dart, hitting the board next to his previous dart within the rim.

"I remember all the nights you came home, mirroring Dad's words, telling me how worthless I was.” He chuckled to himself, shaking his head. “Now I just realize you were literally copying everything he had to say to you from that day. Making yourself feel better.”

He'd never admit Rooster forcing the both of them in a Corkscrew is what made him realize it. He had been regurgitating every diminishing word and sentence his father had screamed at him growing up back at Rooster's face, hoping it would make him feel better.

He picked at the tail end of his dart, the weight of it familiar and comforting, before glancing at George's face.

"You ever heard of Roosevelt?" he asked nonchalantly. George eyed him carefully, "What does a dead president have to do with a game of darts?'

Jake had a conceited grin on his lips. "Well, he had this quote, and I'm probably butchering this, but he said critics don't count. Or the person who points out how we stumble or how someone could have done something better."

Jake twisted from his mark on the ground, standing square in front of George as he continued to explain his point.

"Because the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly... and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly."

Jake's voice was steady, but his eyes bore into George's with a fire. "All my life, George, I've been in that arena. I've stumbled and failed, but I didn't listen to someone from the sidelines telling me how to live my life."

Jake lifted his hand, never taking his eyes once off George.

"It's time I remembered that," he said, thinking about Sadie. "You shouldn't have to either."

He flicked his wrist forward, letting his dart fly.

Bullseye.

He heard the thump of the dart hitting the board, and cheers erupted throughout the Hard Deck. Jake had thrown a dart enough times to know whether or not it had hit its mark; he didn't need to look. Even Rooster was laughing at the utter shock and disbelief across George's face.

"I'm living my life, George," he said, patting him on his shoulder, leaving his hand there. "It's about time you did the same."

For once in his life, Jake had managed to stand up to his brother. But the moment wasn't as satisfactory as he might have imagined - He found himself thinking it didn't matter.

Because as he stepped away from George to look back to where you had been, he realized you hadn't been there to see it.

---

Your shift came and went in a blur after Jake and George’s dart game. The squad still hung back well past closing hours, watching and even helping as you closed up the bar, except Rooster, who was messing around on the piano.

Jake was still here. And George.

They had been out on the patio for over an hour now, simply talking. You tried not to pay them much mind as you tried to get through your remaining tasks quickly, but you couldn’t help but look out the back windows occasionally, unable to take your eyes off the Seresin brothers for long.

George approached Jake soon after he escaped the crowds. There had been no fights, no punches thrown or someone storming out. In fact, every time you looked up, the two seemed to be inching closer to each other.

Damn him and that cocky grin. Why'd he have to be so... Jake?

You didn’t want to be a spectator to Jake’s theatrics during that display during their dart game. Leaving before he threw that last dart, you were now questioning yourself… if you walked away to shield yourself or to punish him.

While he stood up for himself against George, in the back of your mind, there was an insistent voice whispering that maybe, just maybe, that display was also for you too.

Some of you ached at the idea of him seeking validation and needing to prove himself. And that's what hurt the most: that deep down, under layers of stubbornness and hurt, you still cared for him.

If it was, you weren’t ready. Not for this. Not for answers or explanations. You deserved more than whatever that was.

But you still heard him. Heard everything he said to George.

You really didn’t know what to make of it.

The sound of the front door slamming up against the wall, rattling some of the portrait frames, startled you from your thoughts. There was a momentary thought of remembering you really needed to lock the front door when you were closing, but it was washed away just as quickly as it came.

You couldn’t take your eyes off Tyler’s body as he charged forward, finger pointed towards you with a seething glare. “You fucking bitch!”

You stepped backwards, the sharp edge of the sink hitting your spine hard. A few glasses jolted from the force of it, sliding off the ledge and shattering to the ground. Rooster’s playing stopped immediately, and the piano bench toppled to the ground.

Was it anger? Shock? Disbelief the past few weeks of not seeing him coursing through your veins responsible for your reaction? You knew Tyler was dangerous, but deep down, you hated how easily you cowered at his appearance.

Tyler didn't get very far in his effort to get to you. Bradley came out of nowhere, something out of a comic, with his fist flying, punching Tyler square in the jaw.

“That was for Sadie, you bastard!”

Unfortunately for Bradley, Tyler only keeled over briefly before taking a swing. Rooster had not been prepared for him to retaliate, thinking his punch would have been enough to put the asshole on the ground.

Tyler had taken more punches and hits to the face as a football player than the average person would in their life. While Jake had managed to get him on the ground when he tried to kidnap Sadie, and Rooster was fitter than the average person, it would take much more than Jake and Bradley combined to keep Tyler there.

The uppercut to Bradley’s jaw could be heard from miles away, and you could only stand there, watching helplessly, as Bradley crashed backwards into a wooden table, his name a cry on your lips as the pieces scattered.

Whether or not they heard your cry or the commotion, the rest of the Daggers swarmed the island bar as Tyler watched Bradley roll on the ground amongst the splinters in some twisted sense of pride.

Whether you could realize it at the time or not, that would be his biggest mistake.

Nat was the first one there, the first one to put herself between you and Tyler, readying herself in case he tried to leap over the bar to get to you. Javy, Fanboy and Payback had run from opposite sides of the room to surround Rooster and Tyler, Bradley finally rolling himself off the broken table on the ground and pulling himself up.

And Jake, almost breaking the sliding door as he bolted inside to get to you, George on his heels. Rooster was too happy to stand beside him as Jake placed himself before everyone else, this hand twitching in anticipation of a fight.

"This is the one who did all that?"

Jake side-eyed George as he came up from the back to flank him on his other side.

"What?" he remarked, puffing out his chest and not once taking his eyes off Tyler. "I'm not that much of an asshole to know that's not how we treat women. Or children. We should drag his ass back to Texas and show him some southern hospitality."

Nat cocked her head at Tyler, speaking up from her spot next to the bar. "You must be a complete idiot to walk back in here after what you did to them."

Tyler shrugged, a sickening smile on his face. "I've got nothing left to lose. Literally."

"What, Daddy cut you off and kicked you out?" Rooster asked, spitting out the blood pooling in his mouth.

With the presence of your friends, you managed to calm down a little bit. You were still scared, which would never change as long as you could see his face, but you could take in Tyler's state more clearly.

Dark circles under his eyes. Blonde hair, greasy. He was still wearing that same freaking white sweater, only it looked like it hadn't been washed in days.

Rooster was right. Tyler had been cut off, indeed.

Fanboy and Payback, having realized what was going on, went to either exit to stand guard. You weren't sure whether to keep people out or keep someone in. But Tyler hadn’t noticed. He was too preoccupied to remove his eyes from Jake.

You watched as Tyler glanced at everyone around the bar, obviously bothered by Rooster's remark but not addressing it. "Seeing a lot of protectors here. Must be that 'Navy bravado,' huh? All show, no substance. We've all seen how they fail when it matters most.”

Ironically, it was George who intervened first. “This isn’t your place, man. Walk away before you get hurt.”

Tyler flicked his eyes between Jake and George, a smirk playing on his lips, “This is interesting. Another misguided soul ready to join this little squad over here?”

George smiled at him, nodding at Tyler, cracking his knuckles, “Just somebody who doesn’t like your face.”

Your voice was hoarse, vocal cords feeling like they were being dragged over jagged rocks, when you asked, “What the hell are you doing here, Tyler?”

He didn’t even give you the courtesy of looking at you when he replied, “Respect! What else?

Jake scoffed with amusement, "By wearing that dirty sweater and showing up here drunk and messed up? You're doing a great job, really. I applaud you."

Tyler doubled back with that all-too-familiar smug smirk, " Alright, saw through that one, did you,” He chuckled before he teased. “I came to see how Sadie's holding up. It must be hard, having her favourite play-hero away. Unless you've moved up from being her 'uncle' to something more."

Jake's face immediately paled, his entire demeanour changing from cocky to pure rage in a fraction of a second. The atmosphere in the room grew dense with tension. "You say her name again, and I'll make sure it's the last word you ever speak."

Still grinning but with an undercurrent of faux uncertainty, Tyler raised his hands in mock surrender, "Just stating facts, Jake."

George, sensing the danger in his brother, whispered a warning, "Easy, Jake."

But Jake's voice came out as a dangerous whisper, all restraint seemingly gone, "You wanna dance? Let's fucking dance."

Jake charged, tackling Tyler to the ground as you stood there wide-eyed and in shock. Rooster and Coyote flanked the grappling pair while George kneeled, calling out to Jake all the spots Tyler was leaving himself open. The sound of flesh hitting flesh accompanied Jake’s punches, and you couldn't bring yourself to look away.

A startled cry escaped your lips as you felt someone put their hands on your cheeks, turning you away from the fight and wiping away your tears. Bob had somehow found his way into the bar with you and was currently forcing you to stare at his face.

“Nope, you don’t need to witness any of this.”

"How much trouble are they going to get into because of this?" you asked, scared out of your mind. Bar fights were a thing that could get you kicked out of the Navy.

Bob glanced over to the fight. Nat was walking towards the back door, her phone pressed to her ear, no doubt calling the police. As his eyes tracked back to Tyler, George and Javy had now joined the fight, the elder Seresin brother grabbing Tyler by the back of his neck and his belt, tossing him like a bale of hay onto the top of a nearby table as Rooster surprisingly helped Jake up from the floor.

The legs splintered under the force with a sickening crack. It wasn’t until you shuttered at the sound and let out a soft whimper between his hands he remembered you asked him a question.

"None," his voice was firm. "As far as anyone knows, he walked in here like that."

"Bob..." you whimpered. He stroked a piece of hair away from your face soothingly. "I'm not going to be the one that says he doesn't deserve what's coming to him. Tyler’s not walking out of here now. He literally signed his own death sentence."

Deep down, you knew that. Tyler against not one, but three navy pilots and Jake’s brother? There was no way he was walking away from that.

The sound of glass shattering caused you to jolt again.

"Penny's so going to fire me after this," you managed to say through tears. Bob gave you an affectionate smile. "No way, you're the best bartender she's had in years. You put up with so much shit, and Sadie would no doubt give her two cents. She seems to be doing that a lot lately."

"Bobby..." you huffed through a sob. "You've never heard you swear before."

He shrugged, wiping away one of your tears. "I guess there's a first time for everything."

Bob hadn't covered your ears. He was only keeping your eyes off the ongoing violence. So you could hear everything going on. There were no more crashes, glass breaking, or wood splitting in two. You could only hear the rhythmic sound of flesh hitting hard flesh.

The next cry out of Tyler's mouth made you stiffen.

"I'm sorry, Elizabeth!" he gave an almost whine as Bradley laid a punch to his stomach. "I'm sorry for all of it!"

Oh.

Fuck.

No.

Where you were once scared, pure anger builds in your stomach. You pull Bob’s hands away from your face, swatting away his feeble attempts to reach for you. You marched towards the exit doors of the bar, rounding the corner to get to the group.

Jake saw you approaching first with a sharp lift of his head, tapping George on the shoulder, who looked up at his brother before his eyes landed on you, catching on instantly. He grabbed Tyler by the back of his sweater, hoisting him up onto his knees before changing his grip to the middle of his back. Jake gritted his teeth as he tugged Tyler's head back with a vice grip on his hair.

You kneeled down in front of him, taking in his face.

Even bruised and bloody, Tyler looked nothing like the egotistical sociopath you knew him to be. Nothing like the villain that stalked you months before this or when he walked into the bar all those weeks ago.

This version of Tyler looked desperate, unhinged, but on the verge of a last straw. You couldn't say seeing that white hoodie stained red was unpleasurable. To say he had nothing left to lose was one thing, but seeing it across his battered face was another.

“You’re sorry?” you snarked. “You’re sorry you abused my sister? Are you sorry you killed her? Sorry, you tried to kidnap my niece?!”

You wanted to nail him across the face. You wanted to know the absolute pain and heartache and suffering he had put you through. He took Ridley from you. He hurt Sadie. He hurt you.

But then you took in the room, Jake and George kneeling behind him. Bradley and Javy standing by, ready to pounce the second he might try to escape. And the state of the bar, the damage sobering your thoughts.

No questions asked.

You noticed the ties of his sweater were out of place. Lifting your hand, you fixed one back into place, smoothing the string down before looking him dead in the eye.

"I could fucking care less."

Approaching sirens could be heard outside the bar, making everyone hold their punches. You stood, turning your back on the display to rejoin Bob, who had followed you out from the relative safety of the bar.

You wouldn't give Tyler the satisfaction. Ultimately, he was still a narcissist, wanting a reaction.

"Tie him up," you heard Jake command. Despite Bob urging you not to look once again, you couldn't help yourself. You needed to see this. To see Tyler caught and unable to do anything but accept his fate.

You needed to know you and Sadie were safe.

Coyote was handing George a sailor's rope he had torn off the wall, having pulled the twisted pieces apart. Jake pressed his knee down onto Tyler's back, pinning him to the floor as George quickly hog-tied his hands together, not that he'd be going anywhere. The group of men had done enough damage. Tyler wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.

Everything happened so quickly in the moments after. The police burst through the front door. George was holding up some sort of badge, and you were suddenly rushed out into the parking lot by Bob and Nat.

Penny was already there, greeting you outside with extreme worry in her eyes, sweeping you up into a hug the second she saw you. She was trying to console you, tell you Sadie was safe with Mav and that you would be alright. You didn’t realize you started shaking until she pulled back in concern to ask what had happened.

Your breath hitched as you shakily joked, “I promise I’m not purposely wrecking your bar. I don't know where these assholes come from."

Penny huffed out a laugh and a sad smile. Biting her lip, she reached out and stroked your hair at the side of your face as only a mother could. She tugged you into her hold, refusing to let you go.

You don't know how long you stood there until Nat tapped you on the shoulder. She pulled you into her side and looped her arm around Penny's, holding you upright as the front door of the Hard Deck opened. A pair of Police officers were dragging Tyler out, still hog-tied and a mess. George was behind them, following them while speaking to another officer.

When you watched the police car containing Tyler in the back seat roll off into the distance, and a tow truck rolled that stupid white piece of machinery away, you finally felt like you could breathe.

Tyler's frightening hold over both you and Sadie was over.

And yet, it wasn’t as much of a relief as it should have been.

---

You wanted to stay away from the Choas unfolding in and around the Hard Deck.

Taking the first chance you could, you escaped when nobody was looking, eventually finding yourself sitting in Penny's chair on the beach.

Less than a year ago, you were sitting in the chair, unaware of what was about to happen to you. You who were desperately trying to get through a book by reading the same page twice. Gawking at a pilot playing Dog fight football who you knew was off limits, trying to get by till the following Saturday night.

Then Ridley's ex came for you and Sadie. You had fallen in love with said pilot. Learned your sister was murdered. Your best friend hurt your feelings. You had gotten your heart broken by said pilot.

You didn't know what was worse, the fact you had seen and experienced all this trauma, or that Ridley's death and abscene were still triumphing over all that.

You jolted when someone placed a blanket around your shoulders.

George Seresin retracted his hands just as quickly as he placed the blanket around you, holding them up in surrender.

You didn't have anything to say to him, choosing to remain stoic as he lowered himself into the sand, sitting with his back in front of the armrest of your chair.

It was a full minute before he finally spoke.

"I need to apologize, Liz."

You scoffed, pulling the blanket tighter around your shoulders. "Apologize for the derogatory display of how you treat women? Or what you said to Jake to make him act the way he did?"

At least this time, George had the decency to look shameful.

"If his words at the dart game weren't any indication, I know you egged him on. He was trying to get you to back off, in his own twisted away.”

"I still need to apologize. For all of it," he sighed, rubbing his temples. "It wasn't my place to do that to the two of you."

"Yours is not the one I need right now," you spat, lifting your feet off the ground and curling into the depths of the chair.

Either one of you spoke for a few minutes after that. George seemed to ponder his thoughts, scanning the horizon but not finding anything. The waves were both loud and quiet, making the world smaller than it actually was.

You couldn't handle it.

"Do you realize the gravity of what you did, George?" you said heatedly, uncurling yourself from the chair and submerging your feet into the sand. "You weren't just egging him on. You were meddling in someone's relationship because your father asked you to."

"Yes, I know."

"Do you know how fucked up that is?"

"Jake doing that grand display with the darts painted a pretty clear picture in my head."

You rolled your eyes. "When was the last time you asked yourself if you were truly happy, George?"

George thought about it for a second before he replied, "When I became the livestock official back home."

"And let me guess, you made that decision all on your own, without any influence from your father?"

He looked down at the sand, grabbing a handful before watching it fall back to the ground. "Kind of. When I got the ranch, it wasn't by choice. But this felt like the first one I could make by myself."

"You just proved everything that Jake said, right."

You huffed, frustration evident. "How do you plan on making up to him?"

George took a deep breath, steadying himself. "By supporting Jake genuinely in whatever he chooses. And by ensuring our father doesn't come between you two again."

Your eyes searched his for any sign of deceit, but all you saw was raw honesty.

"Jake loves you. It's clear as day. Don't let this get between the two of you."

You spat out a laugh, a high-pitchy sound you hoped would tell him you saw right through his bullshit. "Right."

"Liz, he didn't agree with the BS I was spilling to agree with me. Don't hold it against him."

"But he went through with it," you countered. "Even if it was some twisted idea of dealing with all the bullshit you and the rest of your family throw at him save Janet, he still said those things. He still hurt me."

You threw yourself back into your chair instead. "I don't know anymore, George. I don't know what to think anymore."

George dropped his head to his chest, furrowing his brow. "You know, you didn't allow him to explain that day. Or today even."

That made you sit up. "Are you saying I should have?"

"I'm saying," he replied, "Whatever happened to giving someone a chance to know that people care? Even when other people think they don't deserve it?"

"That's different."

Maybe," he nodded. "But something is missing. I think that's only rooted in what other people think, not when they've done something to you."

George's words made your voice catch in your throat.

"Give him a chance to explain, Liz. Just listen to what he has to say. Then make your decision."

Suddenly you were wishing for the asshole from a week ago. Because, deep down, you knew he was right.

"George, I mean this in the nicest way possible. You have potential. Listen to what your brother told you. You can't have your father tell you what to do for the rest of your life."

He glanced down to the sand but tilted his head towards you so you knew he was still listening to what you had to say.

"Ridley and I... My sister... We went through the same thing with our father. And I was so young, I didn't know any better. But she got us out before any more damage could be done. You still can get out. You don't need him in your life."

"Is it wrong for me to want his approval?"

You bit your lip, surprised at his question. "No. He's your father. It's natural you'd want that. But you shouldn't have to change who you are. You shouldn't have to seek his approval when he hasn't been someone worthy of giving it."

George nodded, more to himself than to you, finally managing to mumble, "Jake is lucky to have you in his life. Sadie, too."

Even after everything that happened today, you still gave him a soft smile. "You're not that bad, George,” you said before adding, “When you want to be.”

He shook his head, the corners of his mouth turning upward slightly. "Don't let it get to my head. I might end up like Jake."

You reached over and patted his shoulder. "That wouldn't be a bad thing."

---

George left you a little while ago when an officer sought him out to take a statement. The night air was nipping at your skin, even with the blanket around your shoulders, and yet, you didn’t know how you would sleep after this, the adrenaline spike still showing no signs of slowing down.

You didn’t know what to feel, the myriad of emotions thrown at you over the past week, month, and even year - any one of them would have sufficed. But you couldn’t bring yourself to figure it out. To live through any of them.

You just wanted to get through the rest of the day.

Dragging your feet through the sand, you made your way up the back steps of the Hard Deck’s back patio, shutting the door behind you. Shrugging the blanket off your shoulders, you gently placed it on the pool table, readying yourself to take in the true extent of the damage Tyler had wrought on the place.

The bar was dimly lit, save for the neon flashes of red and blue pulsing through the windows. There were splintered pieces of wood from the broken tables still littering the room, chairs overturned and scattered menus. With shards of glass and the thick smell of alcohol, you hated seeing the bar in such a state.

And in the middle of it all, Jake, sitting on a barstool with his head bowed and his hands resting on his knees. It was a stark image, seeing Jake’s knuckles bloody and bruised, his hair dishevelled. Looking less than himself. Utterly defeated.

It was a moment you weren’t supposed to see. A moment nobody was supposed to see.

And yet…

He didn’t hear your footsteps as you went behind the bar to grab a clean cloth, nor did he hear you take a metal bowl from under the sink and fill it with water. Or the ruckus as you fought with the first aid box.

It was only when you reached for one of his hands, having come to stand in front of him to run that cloth over his skin, that he jolted out of whatever stupor he had found himself in.

“Liz, I…”

You shook your head, shushing him. “Not now, Jake. Not tonight.”

He let you clean the blood from his hands. Let you dab at the split skin surrounding his knuckles. He was stiff as you worked, eyes tracking your every movement, from how you delicately held the bottom of his hand to watching you ring the cloth over the bowl. The water had already turned red by the second time you’d cleaned the fabric.

You reached for some antiseptic from the first aid kit, tilting the bottle forward as your finger held the cotton swab in place. Jake hissed when you placed the soaked cotton swab on his raw skin, his other hand shooting out quickly to grip your wrist tight.

His touch did feel like Sandpaper. But it wasn't as coarse, not as rough as you made yourself believe. You halted your fingers, the cotton swab falling to the floor at the shock of his touch.

“Sorry,” a quiet murmur on your lips. Jake eye’s darkened, a flicker of something passing through. He loosened his grip on your wrist but didn’t let go, letting his fingers slide loosely down to your wrist. You followed his touch, watching as careful fingers caressed the palm of your hand.

"You don't have to do this, Liz," he stated, his voice rough.

"Yes, I do," you replied softly, keeping your eyes fixated on his hand. "Someone has to. You certainly won’t."

"You're always caring for me."

You reached with your free hand for another cotton swab, but Jake stopped you, meeting your hand with his. He brought it down, and you let him pull you gently into the space between his legs.

"Do I deserve it?" He whispered, playing with your fingers. "Especially from you."

You swallowed hard. "That's up to you. But I can’t stand by and watch you be hurt."

You finally gathered the courage to look up at his face. It was a miracle Tyler didn’t do much damage other than a slight bruise along his forehead.

“Otherwise, you’ll go crazy,” he remarked, recalling when Sadie was in the hospital. "Even when I've hurt you."

"Jake..." his name a quiet plead on your lips.

He let his hands glide up your wrists to your forearms, the air between the two of you heated as he leaned forward, hooded gaze intent on your lips.

"If not tonight, when?" he whispered.

Your foreheads met, you more than him, allowing yourself to press your weight against his skin. The two of you came together like this, a series of almost kisses and burning moments that left the two of you wanting more.

Except that was when you thought you couldn't have him when everyone was screaming at you not to get involved with him.

You're not sure what it is now. Because the person who swore so long ago never to let Jake be in a position where he could break your heart was crawling out from the depths, insisting you push him away and run for the hills.

But Jake's breath, mixing with yours, lulled you into his gentle pull, hands tugging you into him as you felt him lightly graze your lips with his.

What would it be like to memorize the touch of his lips one last time?

Penny’s voice startled the two of you, making the both of you jolt back and away from each other.

"Come on, all this wait till tomorrow."

Whether she was referring to the mess in the bar or your relationship, you couldn't tell.

You cleaned up the first aid supplies as Jake switched holding an ice bag you gave him between his hands and face. Penny locked up the bar behind the pair of you once you finished, always standing between you and Jake.

He followed the both of you hesitantly into the parking lot, unsure what he could say or do.

At the last second, you turned. You looked up at him, really looked at him for the first time since you yelled at him that day in the Hard Deck, a quiet mummer and a sad smile on your lips as you said, "Thank you, Jake."

Then, with Penny guiding you with a hand around your shoulders, you left towards your car, keys in her hand.

He could only watch every step you took, watching as the distance between the pair of you grew, left wondering if there was still hope for him to make things up to you after all.

Tag list: (I think I'm missing a few people, so if you want to be tagged, please let me know!)

@blue-aconite @tinytotontheoversizedpony @djs8891 @caitsymichelle13 @startrekfangirl2233

@mayhemmanaged @ereardon @dempy @shanimallina87 @teacupsandtopgun @daggerspare-standingby

@phantomxoxo @formulapierre @eli2447 @fulla02 @blckgrl-sunflower @mizzzpink @ohgodnotagainn

@bubblegumbeautyqueen @sarahsmi13s @desert-fern @lynnestra44 @memoriesat30 @penwieldingdreamer @mxlanciia

@bradleybeachbabe @bobby-r2d2-floyd @lavenderbradshaw @roosters-girl @lovinglyeternal @kmc1989 @gigisimsonmars @dakotakazansky @

@keyrani @craftytrashprincess @hisredheadedgoddess28 @abzidabzy @memeorydotcom @vicsnook @taestrwbrry

-Wickett ;)

Part 18 - Sapling is in-process

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frankiensteinsmonster · 9 months

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Hot take apparently but homeless people should always be allowed to use the bathroom in any public place I literally couldn't give less of a shit how "Afraid" your customers are of the "scary/dirty" Unhoused Person, or even what they are doing alone in the fucking bathroom

(if you bother me with hypotheticals I'm going to block you. As someone who's been homeless I mean it when I say if they aren't harassing or hurting anybody, I Do Not Care. That sentiment applies to Everyone Equally. + I'm going to make fun of you with my friends + we're going to laugh at your bad opinions. Human People deserve free access to the bathroom. Full stop). If they're trying to live in there, sure, unfortunately you can't just ~Let Them~ without risking your job and taking away a limited resource from both the general public, but more notably, physically disabled people. That's a problem and I get that. But this isn't about that, and also, maybe practice having a little sympathy. Having that empathy a lot of you worship so much. And at least realize someone trying to live in the bathroom in a fucking coffee shop probably is indicative of How Bad it is living Literally Outside. Instead of trying to restrict access to The Bathroom to "Paying Customers Only". Deal with the issues as they come. Instead of being a shitty fucking person to poor people in general, regardless of their housing situation. Like, do you realize how you look? Because you look fucking shitty.

TL;DR: Curb-Cut Effect. If unhoused people get Free, Unrestricted, Hassle Free access to the Public Bathroom, so do You.

#disability justice #hopepunk #cripplepunk #cripple punk #cpunk #chronic illness #<- tagging for demographic I know care / are impacted #mothie speaks up

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obsessivevoidkitten · 5 months

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Ok so another one. Not a fanfic but I am just genuinely curious about Synthis. Because HOLY FUCK YOU CAN'T JUST DROP A BANGER CONCEPT AND EXPECT US(me) TO JUST BE SATISFIED WITH BEING RAILED, WORSHIPPED, AND RAVAGED BY A HOT 7ft TALL BEEFY BULL MAN (I am beyond satisfied but still...)

A company that sells their actual employees, regardless if they're hired for actual work or just to be sold, is kinda a really [insert word that would describe what I am feeling rn because there are too many] concept. Like... you probably just did it to give Arrin a way to be able to get his darling mate when they live in another planet and no other reason but you kinda dropped a really cool concept.

A company sells their employees (even if they have family or friends or people that care for them deeply) to random people and still manage to keep their facade as this Disney-like or Amazon-like company that just happens to have many branches (I'm trying and failing to make an analogy-thingy here). That could get very dark very quickly. Get-A-Darling®. Come get your submissive and breedable darlings here. We offer a wide variety of cute darlings. We got sleek and slender, muscular and tall, and chubby and squish-- oh the chief already got the squishy one... Anyway, we at Synthis believe in inclusivity and giving our customers full satisfaction, of course. We might even give you their (worn) underwear to see/sniff/smell if they'd be a great fit before you get them~

Ok, I'm getting off topic. What I am saying is that a company manages to keep their image as this respectable as respectable as a corporation that owns everything I guess... corporation even while they sell their employees to various individuals with various intents. Like, darling might be one of the very lucky ones. Sold to a soft Yandere who just wants someone soft, squishy, chubby, sexy, and cuddly to love, worship, breed, and adore. What if someone got sold to a Yandere Asshole or a regular slimy asshole? Or just sold to plain old slavery? Or shitty warehouse job with abusive management? Or for their organs?

What if they're doing double duty as the Syndicate from the Strom (Yandere Assassin/Bounty Hunter) one shot?

You dropped this really cool concept about a company that dabbles in human trafficking in order to cater to people who we may call “human fuckers” (they're freaky and horni and squishy and cuddly) and I just wanna say that I think that's fucking great and awesome

Also...

Do you think Synthis gave out their (to be sold) employees' worn underwear to the people that were going to buy them?

No they don't sell people with loving friends and family! That would make it harder to operate.

Mostly sell only to very specific clients.

I do like the used undies sampler pack idea to help them pick a person.

Organs can be grown and sold cheaply (synthis synthetics organs department) so no worry of reader sold for organs.

Possible for slavery, but the robots of the future are stronger, more willing, and overall cheaper since there's no med cost or food or sleep or even a habitat required. So it just isn't practical.

Most customers are looking for something to love them or slide their dick in.

#follower asks #yandere x reader

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orange-orchard-system · 6 months

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Thinking about how people think retail work is "easy", the idea that "unskilled labor is a myth", and some discussion/discourse I've seen about workers preferring to do sex work over retail. And I think many people just don't realize that retail work has a physical danger to it – and no, not just from other people.

Exactly what people do in their jobs will vary depending on the business, but as for me? I work with sharp metal and plastic at high speeds. Heavy objects could be dropped directly onto my head if I'm not extremely careful, and even then, all it takes is a slip of the hand. Due to our refrigerators and freezers, I am jumping between temperatures several hundred times a day, which leaves my body suffering from the whiplash. I am thankful to have a manager that enforces breaks, but my job takes a toll on me even on the mildest of work days. I could get seriously hurt, and a lot is already being asked of me.

"Retail/fast food/etc. is unskilled labor –" okay but I am not selling expert labor to you, I am selling my well-being. I am being paid to do not just the things you don't or can't do, but to damage and risk my body and overall health in these specific ways so that your day might be a little better.

And honestly, I'd be fine with that, if I got some recognition for it (in both pay and general attitude). I am fine with a little risk and damage so long as it's for proper compensation – I don't view this work as demeaning by nature, and I take pride in my skill at doing it. It's just that I wished others around me cared more about this side of my job.

On a similar note, restaurant/fast food/etc. workers are not just being paid to make and bring out your food. They are being paid to risk oil burns, regular burns, scaldings, being stabbed or sliced, their hands being mangled by equipment, their fingers being crushed by machinery, any number of diseases that food can carry before it's prepared, and death if something goes wrong with the gas. All for your convenience.

It doesn't matter if it's unskilled, or if "anyone can do it". A good salary is one that takes into account what one is sacrificing and risking to complete this job. It takes into account the damage to one's body and the everyday dangers they are in. Salary is, as people know, payment for energy and time, but it is also a reimbursement for the expense of putting oneself in harm's way, and a person's salary should reflect that.

This isn't meant to shame customers. I think it'd be a little silly to shame people for taking on my services when I am well aware of the risks in them (although I acknowledge that gets complicated when people have to take these kinds of jobs regardless of the risks, due to desperately needing money). It's more of a perspective I don't see others talk about often. Even before factoring in shitty bosses, crappy work environments, and the like, these sorts of jobs have dangers and cause damages that should be acknowledged. And people should be properly compensated for taking them on.

#politics #retail #front soup.txt #bvie.txt #silver.txt #looking at the scrapes I got today without realizing whoops #and the injuries I've gotten from things going wrong #something something osha regulations are written in blood and this is a workspace too #blood can absolutely spill here

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omegapheromone · 5 months

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I was thinking about this post and the ensuing conversation about retail and customer service workers. In the notes there is a lot of talk about the more scent-oriented stuff, but in this post, I wanna talk about something else that occurred to me.

Karens/Kevins in Omegaverse.

I should immediately state that I'm not from the US, so my personal experiences with Karens may differ somewhat, and my overall understanding of the "trope" or "personality type" is based on both my own non-US experiences and personal anecdotes and stories/footage/other posts I've encountered online. To me it seems Karens are quite universal and have very similar traits regardless of where in the world you are (entitlement, selfishness, bigoted opinions, thinking themselves better than others and just the sheer audacity), but I figured I should state I'm not personally familiar with the US Karen specifically, only through online accounts of encounters.

Anyhow! In the post I linked above I talked about the concept of "alpha males" and "incels" except translated into actual omegaverse- but I don't think I've ever seen anyone talk about what KARENS (or just, shitty not-alpha-male or incel/niceguy/nicegirl types) would be like in Omegaverse. Here are some things I personally feel like would be very common to Karens and Kevins, and the different kinds of them one might encounter.

Types Of Karens in Omegaverse/A/B/O/+

(Or in other words, a look at different types of shitty people in general, using the term Karen/Kevin rather generously.)

*note: while I'm classifying the different types of Karens into omega/beta/alpha, it doesn't mean that all Karens of said type MUST be of the dynamic mentioned- any dynamic or subdynamic can express the behaviors of a specific Karen-type, it's just more common for certain dynamics to embody a specific stereotypical karen-ness.

Omega (Ω) Karen, type: "Bitter"/"Bitter&Entitled"

Often, when speaking about "Karens", this is the type that comes into mind first. Karens of this type are the most likely to be similar to the perfect stereotype of a soccer mom parent, who believes they're entitled to anything and everything simply because they exist. They will not hesitate to use their kids/pups as an excuse to demand special treatment, and are exactly the type to berate a teacher for their own brat misbehaving in class, because "my McKaylwynn could NEVER, she's an ANGEL!". Almost always, they are trying very hard to live through their own kids, and often show favouritism towards any alpha children they may have. These are the type who will wonder why their kids move out at 18 and almost never talk to them. These Karens almost always stay in unhappy marriages at any cost, as they believe their alpha is what gives them their status and worth to a large extent, and often factors such as religious views on divorce being bad or a belief of bonding being "for life" is a part of this. They can, and in many cases DO cheat on their partners, however (and the partner likely does the same anyway). Military wives (the stereotypical kind) are a subtype of this Karen.

Usually, on the inside, these Karens are bitter omegas who grew up in conservative enviroments and internalized the idea that their purpose is to have kids. Now that they've had those kids, they feel entitled to special treatment, because they've supposedly been a "model omega" and believe that they deserve to be praised. These Karens are the type to ask other (often young) omega family members invasive questions during family gatherings, and tell them "they'll get it when they have pups of their own!". These Karens also cannot fathom the idea that an omega may choose to remain child-free, and does not approve of any same-dynamic relationships, especially omega/omega ones, as they believe it's "just a phase" and "they just need to meet the right Alpha to change their minds".

Deep down, as I mentioned, these Karens are likely just extremely bitter individuals, who have convinced themselves their lives are "good" and that they are "happy" because it follows the conservative ideal for an omega's role. Almost certainly, these Karens actually had dreams and ambitions of their own that were squashed by the enviroment they grew up and lived in, so now they are hellbent on taking out that bitterness on anyone who dares to step outside the mold for the "ideal omega", even more so if those individuals are clearly happy doing what THEY want. Usually, these Karens aren't aware of any of this however, so introspection and therapy are rarely going to help as their protective barrier of entitlement and self-impotance is simply too strong at this point.

Common phrases of the Bitter & Entitled Karen:

"I want to talk to your manager!"

"The HOA rules clearly state that..."

"Don't you KNOW who my husband is????"

"You'll get it when you have children of your own."

"Excuse me, don't you see that my child wants to play with your (valuable personal item, i.e. phone). Give it to them NOW! They're a CHILD! They deserve it MORE!"

"What do you mean you don't sell organic, dairy-free, gluten-free, gmo-free butter here? I want to speak to the owner of this place."

"Speak (language), this is (country), or go back to where you came from!!!"

"My husband knows the mayor. I will have you fired for talking like that to my precious child! They are NOT a bully, they would NEVER do something like that!!! Are you saying I raised MY CHILD badly? Do you even have kids of your OWN?"

"I shouldn't have to WAIT for service, don't you see I have KIDS?"

"Those two alphas shouldn't be holding hands in public, it'll confuse my child"

"My child started saying they're 'transdynamic' or something, I don't accept that kind of stuff in my house so I sent them to a camp to set them right. It was that or moving out at 15."

"No, my husband is never home, he's a BUSY man!"

"I wonder why my children don't talk to me"

Bonus: (Excessive use of a public f*cebook profile where they share increasingly personal details and very misinformed articles and talk about how it's the fault of 5G/gay people/vaccines/etc that their kids refuse to call them on mother's day)

☆

Omega (Ω) Karen, type: "self-centered" (outdated term: "Narcissistic")

This is another type of omega-dynamic Karen, however, this type is less focused on their offspring and the entitlement they feel over being a "good omega wife/partner/husband". They're also less of a traditional Karen in the sense that they'll rarely cause public disturbances that inconvenience others, but they definitely aren't incapable of doing that.

The "self-centered" type (Omega) Karens are usually the children of wealthy, or at least upper middle-class families, but this is not mandatory as they can be found in any and every "class" of society. It's mostly about how they were raised in said families, than the financial background: either very spoiled, or not really paid much attention to and given no rules as a kid. These Karens also tend to be women, though exceptions exist- this is mostly because they've grown up believing themselves to be superior to especially Beta, but also Alpha females. Male omegas of this subtype exist as well, however their sense of superiority often comes from a deep sense of insecurity, and they've adopted the self-centered personality as a defense mechanism against said insecurity.

These Karens are demanding, self-centered, and have a sense of superiority over everyone except maybe people in high positions in society. Almost certainly, they were a "mean girl" or bully at some point in their life, and you can often find these types of Omega Karens going into nursing, child-care, and other traditionally "omega" professions: not because they enjoy it, but rather, because they enjoy the power they have on the people under their care. This is the main difference between this type of Karen and the previous type; These ones tend to use their status as an omega to their advantage, rather than their children/husbands/role as a "model omega wife"/etc like the Bitter one might.

Unlike the more conservatively-minded "Bitter Karen", these "self-centered" Karens are not afraid of break-ups or divorce, and often actually use it as a threat to manipulate their partners. These Karens are less likely to use the "don't you KNOW who my husband is?!?!" Sentence, but will do so if they happen to be dating someone even moderately important (which could mean anything from "the general manager at the local grocery store" to "talked to the mayor's secretary once" to someone ACTUALLY important, such as a CEO or the mayor, etc.) Often, if these Karens end up having children, it's to try to baby trap someone, whether it works or not. They usually don't actually care about their kids at all, but WILL use them as ammo/shield for any criticism the same way a bitter Karen might. These Karens are also more likely to date Betas, unlike the previous type who often believes that an omega should only date an Alpha. The self-centered type Karen often is a more manipulative type, where they'll use others to get their way, while the bitter type tends to demand things more directly. Their goals also tend to be more about themselves than their status or kids, i.e. they may buy themselves luxury items while ignoring their own children's needs.

This Karen is somewhat less likely to fall for Antivaxx/Conspiracy theory stuff than the "bitter" type (however, not immune), but the ones that do usually end up being the especially dangerous "crystal mom" types. These Karens, unlike the Bitter type, still retain their own interests and hobbies, though these hobbies and interests almost always are centered around whatever will increase their status and make them seem more desirable and good. Their sense of "perfection" does not come from being the "perfect omega" as in mother and wife, but rather, being as desirable as possible, usually to alphas, but honestly, even a sufficiently well-off Beta will do. While many Karens of this type could be called gold-diggers who are attempting to climb the ranks of society, this isn't necessarily the case: rather, it's the APPEARANCE of being "better than", that drives them, in whichever social circle they happen to be in. This could mean becoming a recruiter for a MLM scheme, becoming the "leader" of their local crystal mom group on f*cebook that everyone looks up to for advice, posting to social media about going on (fake) luxury trips and about spending (nonexistent) money to induce envy in family members and so on. Basically, these Karens seek power and acceptance/admiration, or at least, the appearance of it- whether that is in the form of wealth, knowledge, or by being the head nurse at the local old folks home. They crave being envied and admired more than they crave actual status, hence why they're prone to exaggerating on social media. Often, this chronic desire for power is a result of growing up as an Omega and feeling powerless because of their status and enviroment- only to eventually realize they can actually use it to gain power. This type of Karen loves to use their scent/pheromones excessively to affect others around them, and doesn't like to be told to control their pheromones. They will claim a disease or state that their pheromones are just naturally strong and act like the victim, if told to reel it in for the sake of others.

**Various people may refer to this type of Karen as "Narcissistic" or "Narcissist", however, having NPD is not a requirement to behave this way, nor does having NPD automatically make anyone behave this way- it's considered offensive to Cluster B Personality Disorder sufferers to refer to these Karens this way, which is why "self-centered" is the appropriate term to use.

Common phrases of the Self-Centered Karen:

"Are you saying I'm a bad person? I did my best! It's not my fault you feel that way!"

"I'm going to break up with you if you don't ...."

"Heyyy girl!! Long time no chat bestie!!! So, I have this business proposal I was wanting to tell you about, ..."

"Umm, what do you mean I need to wear a scent blocker patch here, I'm allergic to the adhesive!!!"

"It can't hurt that much, shut up already. I already gave you paracetamol, just wait for the X-rays, will you? It's probably not even broken, jeez..."

"Umm what do you MEAN my coffee isn't ready, I'm gonna be late for work!!! I'll report you to the branch manager if you don't hurry up!"

(Posts a picture of a [possibly counterfeit] Louis Vuitton/etc expensive brand bag on instagram and facebook with a caption such as "love treating myself a little♡" or "a little gift from my darling😍", clearly trying to one-up someone or cause envy in gheir social circle)

"My pheromones are naturally really strong sorry :'( I caaaaan't do anything about it!"

"You don't know what it's like to raise three kids alone! I'm basically a super-mom! Just ask my kids!" (Forces the Kids to say their mom is their role model)

(Aggressively flirts with any alpha/beta in a nicely pressed suit in the hopes of luring in a lawyer/CEO/rich man)

"SHUT up Jessie, don't you see mommy/daddy's busy talking on the phone to someone? Go to your room already!"

"My Ex was so abusive" (the Ex was actually the victim)

☆

Beta (Β) Karen/Kevin, type: "hateful bigot"

This type of "Karen" is more likely to be of any gender, rather than usually being a woman, hence why Karen/Kevin in the title.

These Karens/Kevins are practically always Betas, however their gender (male/female/other) can be anything. The reason they're called the "Hateful" type is because this type embodies the "Beta that absolutely hates all alphas and omegas" stereotype seen in some works of fiction. Interestingly, this type can be divided further into two subgroups based on their political views- the conservative types have likely grown up in families that have instilled the belief that alphas and omegas are bad for generations, and their ideology tends to be more "alphas in power are always bad and entitled and are only there to make betas suffer and don't deserve their positions" and "omegas are disgusting sex creatures meant for making babies". Meanwhile, the more liberal type tends to mask their hatred of alphas and omegas under the guise of advocating for "equality", while in reality they still share a very similar view- that Alphas should be treated as "lesser than" because their positions of power seem "undeserved" and "gained through nepotism" (regardless of the actual circumstances. They simply believe that Alphas should NEVER be in power, no matter what) to these people. The more liberal subgroup often has less to say about omegas, given they're already often at a social disadvantage, but will occasionally pretend to campaign for "omega rights" as an attempt to have sex with omegas by appearing supportive. (A real-world equivalent would be men that pretend to support feminism in order to try to make themselves seem more progressive and thus desirable for women, even though deep down they don't actually care about feminism at all.)

This type of Karen/Kevin-ness usually forms from a deep-rooted sense of insecurity and inferiority, a belief that as a Beta, they're seen as secondary or unimportant (which, in modern society, is very rarely the actual case), and thus they find themselves hating all Alphas for the power they perceive Alphas to possess, and being disgusted by omegas because of the perceived lecherousness and sexualized idea of the omegas they have. It should be emphasized that this is all born from their personal perception of the world, either through their upbringing or negative personal encounters and/or some unadressed insecurities, and not the actual reality. This type of Kevin/Karen isn't actually all that common, but they do exist.

This type of Karen/Kevin is the type to scoff at or be rude towards workers of Alpha/Omega dynamics, no matter what their position is. An Alpha cashier might get a nasty look and be told they "probably didn't even apply for the job, just got accepted because they're an Alpha" and an Omega construction worker might get a nasty look because "what is that omega doing working a manual labor job, shouldn't they just be at home carrying pups for some shitty alpha, what if they go into heat in the job, also they're probably weaker than any Beta coworker anyway..." -the discrimination can come in any form, and occasionally, these Karens/Kevins can actually end up causing public disturbances just because they happened to have a bad day and took it out on the nearest alpha or omega just trying to do their job or mind their business.

Common Phrases of the Hateful Karen/Kevin:

"Aren't you ashamed? You stink of filthy omega/alpha pheromones, that's disgusting."

"I'll bet that Alpha CEO is a nepo baby who got her position because daddy was another rich Alpha as well"

"That omega celebrity is disgusting, who talks about slick and heats on national tv. They should lose their career."

"I bet you don't even know how to do your job, you just make others do it for you since you're an alpha."

"Why are omegas even allowed to be high school teachers, don't blame anyone but yourself if some young alpha goes into rut and takes it out on you. Your fault for being there as an omega. The alphas are just as bad. Why don't they just separate schools by dynamic, they used to do that back in my day..."

"Of course I support omega rights! It's so awful how much discrimination you guys face, honestly, it makes me feel so sad. Oh, by the way, I really like your scent, do you wanna hang out some time ;)?"

"Jeez, you work retail and can't even do your job right? I always knew Alphas were useless, and still get so much favouritism. I don't care if its your first day, you should know how to (do a difficult job task) already"

"Honestly I think we should just send all Alphas and Omegas to live on some isolated islands together. The society would be so much better with only Betas around."

☆

Alpha (Α) Karen/Kevin, type: "superiority complex"

This (almost always Alpha) Karen/Kevin is, unfortunately, like fuel to the fire of the "hateful bigot" beta Karens/Kevins. They share some similarities to the "alpha alpha-males" mentioned in the post linked at the beginning of this one, however, they're not exactly the same.

These Karens/Kevins come in a variety of different flavours and convictions, in the sense that some of them are flat out alpha supremacists, while some of them simply have this internalized belief of superiority that they aren't necessarily aware of, resulting in micro-aggressions and shitty behavior, but not necessarily flat out discrimination towards the other dynamics. This type is common for some specific families, who have a belief that they should try to keep their "Alpha Blood" pure by only having children with other Alphas- in some cultures this is a remnant of historical social structures and often specifically something family elders believe in. In other cultures, it's more of an individual family belief, where at some point it has simply become a custom because Alpha children were seen as more desirable and valuable (be it for labour at farms, for more education possibilities, etc) and thus marriage between female and male alphas was the encouraged pairing. Any beta or omega offspring would often get treated unfairly in families like this, and often, especially the male alphas of the family, would almost always go into the same profession (for example, lawyer, law enforcement, doctor, business, etc).

On the more severe end of the superiority complex karen/kevin spectrum, there are Alphas who genuinely believe Omegas should not work at all and that Betas are below Alphas in terms of rank and thus should obey whatever the Alphas demand. On the less severe end of the same spectrum, there are Alphas who don't necessarily consciously discriminate, but will make insensitive jokes, behave inappropriately towards omegas in work enviroments believing that the Omegas must like it or expect it since they're working there, and not really understanding why anyone thinks its a problem if an Alpha CEO favours hiring alphas, especially their own family member alphas, as the higher-up staff.

While this type is rarely a public menace, they share some similarities with "alpha male" alphas in the sense that they may harass omegas in public, though they'll often be a bit less trashy than your standard "alpha male guy"- these karens/kevins aren't too likely to catcall or yell obscenities at omegas who refuse to pay attention. Rather, these Karens/Kevins might interpret a customer service smile from an omega barista at the coffee shop as an invitation to keep coming back and being uncomfortably flirty with that specific barista even after they have expressed that they're simply doing their job. They may also be the type to stand uncomfortably close to omega coworkers and make belittling comments, for example questioning an omega's ability to perform a task as well as a beta or alpha, or recommending only menial tasks far below their skill levels to omegas working with them.

This specific type is actually more often a Kevin than a Karen, however both exist in fairly equal numbers.

Common Phrases of the "Superiority Complex" Karen/Kevin:

"You sure you can handle that, cutie? Isn't that something better suited for a Beta or an Alpha?"

"You're really smart/strong/etc for an Omega"

"I don't know if we can hire you, you're at that age where you'll probably start having pups soon and you'd have to miss work a lot because of them... maybe you can apply for something part-time instead? Or maybe your partner can just take care of you, you focus on delivering those healthy pups and being a good parent!"

"Well aren't you a cute omega, working in customer service like that! The regulars here must be coming back just to see you! I see why they hired you, must be great for the business to have a cute face like yours here!"

"Honestly, I don't really get why omegas wanna work so bad. They'll just end up having pups and being stay-at-home-parents eventually anyway?"

"Sorry, we don't hire omegas for positions like these, they're too demanding"

"You know, I could consider giving you a raise, in exchange for something you could do for me... of course, no pressure, but do consider it"

Note: these are just the more dynamic-specific ones I headcanon to exist- there are WAY more different kinds of Karens and Kevins than just these, I just wanted to come up with a few examples of my own of types that could be more prevalent in specific dynamics. You can see a lot of traditional/real-world sexism reflected in these specific tropes since it's something Omegaverse can often explore in different interesting ways, and I didn't go into a lot of detail since the post is already long. Feel free to add your own karen/kevin type headcanons, commentary, or observations in the reblogs/replies!!

#omegaverse #a/b/o #a/b/o dynamics #omegaverse headcanons #a/b/o verse #miscecanis #misceanimalis #gamie originals

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