#Rowdy Boys 2022

[cryptidvoidwritings]

Well then 👀

Kade Wright’s Instagram story, November 16, 2022, and TikTok

@namethat-i-oughttohavetoldyou it’s more

[huggyhughesy]

media tour | quinn hughes

youruser

tagged _quinnhughes, jackhughes, subbanator

liked by lhughes_06, _quinnhughes, umichhockey and others

youruser media tour 2022!! thanks for letting me tag along boys <3

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jackhughes had fun making fun of quinn with you

| _quinnhughes :( wasn't fun for me

| youruser you know you love it!

lhughes_06 keeping them humble for me

| youruser always.

_quinnhughes would've murdered jack if you weren't there

| youruser rowdy has me to thank for coming out of this uninjured

edwards.73 making a pit stop in mich anytime soon??

| youruser be there next weekend!!

| dylanduke25 we've talked about this yn .... you have to give us a week in advance to clean for your arrival

| youruser moose was supposed to inform you. plus, you just moved in, it can't be that bad

| lhughes_06 obviously I did not...

| markestapa it's bad.

[starsandhughes]

Penalty Box— Vegas With Jack Edition

SERIES MASTERLIST

ps every vegas pinterest photo was girls popping off in dresses and heals etc so i used my own from dec 2022 lmao

p.s.s. i high key hate this my humor was not vibing today but i’m prop overthinking it. lmk what you think! (and sorry it’s so short)

yourusername

liked by jackhughes, trevorzegras, and 9,609 others

yourusername what happens in vegas stays in vegas! except not for jacky boy and i, because we’re blabbers!

core memory alert! this was the best mid-week spontaneous vegas trip i’ve been on, and playing at the big girl black jack tables with jack is definitely a memory i’ll cherish forever. i love you lots jacky boy<3

p.s. dear quinner, this was not me and jack betting with each other, and this was not us having side bets. this was gambling! huge difference! and it was a blast!

tagged jackhughes

view all 213 comments

jackhughes i love you too, y/n/n ❤️ ps why is everyone else baby and i’m jacky boy???

yourusername because you’re special

jackhughes you’re not joking go back to joking

yourusername because you’re like the raisin bran of all my friends

trevorzegras HA

user1 OH MY GOD IT WAS MY COMMENT SAYING JACK AND Y/N ARE THE TYPE OF DUO TO RUN OFF TO VEGAS AND THEY DID

_quinnhughes @/trevorzegras tell me this isn’t real

trevorzegras i cannot i helped book their hotel

yourusername it was pink!!

jackhughes i took good care of her don’t worry

yourusername that’s true, he did! it was kinda sweet actually

_quinnhughes and how much money did you two spend?

yourusername it was definitely some money

jackhughes 100% positive it was a numerical amount

user2 y/n not in fancy clothes gambling in vegas is so real

jamie.drysdale DEFINE taking good care of my wife/z’s gf/quinn’s best friend?

jackhughes i walked on the outside of the street, held her hand or had my arm around her while we were outside, bought her that pink hat to help me spot her easier if we got separated, held her hair back when she had one too many daiquiris, and gave her cuddles when she asked

trevorzegras @/jackhughes you did good jacky

jamie.drysdale @/jackhughes you’re a saint (pun intended)

_quinnhughes @/jackhughes i’ll forgive you two for running off because of how good you were to her. thank you rowdy

jackhughes DID YOU GUYS ASSUME I’D BE TERRIBLE???? SHE’S IMPORTANT TO ME

yourusername @/jackhughes sap

user3 i think we’re in an alternate universe i never see y/n and jack being sweet to each other

trevorzegras please tell me you two didn’t get married in vegas as a joke

yourusername how dare you accuse me of cheating on jamie?! hubbies before jackies!

trevorzegras @/yourusername you’re right so sorry for questioning your loyalty

jamie.drysdale son you be respectful to your mother!

trevorzegras i still hate that joke

user4 how am i expected to be calm about this

user5 i don’t want what y/n and trevor/jamie/quinn have. i want a y/n and jack type of friendship

lhughes_06 how did you two pull this off in a week

yourusername my boyfriend’s not the only one who’s magic lukey baby

lhughes_06 MOM that’s not my y/n nickname

yourusername *lukey moosey

_quinnhughes terrible mother alert

yourusername @_quinnhughes TAKE IT BACK QUINTIN

lhughes_06 @_quinnhughes don’t talk about my mom like that

edwards.73 @_quinnhughes yeah don’t talk about our mom like that!!!

jamie.drysdale @/yourusername HOW MANY CHILDREN DO WE HAVE

yourusername @/jamie.drysdale these two are mine and mine only

jackhughes even i knew about these two smh

[sunshinebuckybarnes]

andy barber + halloween = ? 👀

it's fun being bad

Pairing: College!Andy Barber x female!reader

Summary: matching halloween costumes leads to Andy showing you a fun time

Warnings: pet names (baby, honey, sweetheart), slight sir kink, use of handcuffs, smut; unprotected sex. Cop and robber costume.

Authors note: Okay, we’re having some college!Andy because Halloween with him would be the spookiestsexiest time. (word count: 1.5k)

Kinktober masterlist 2022 / college!Andy masterlist

“Could you have found a shorter dress?” your friend laughs as you walk into the crowded kitchen.

Halloween on campus was no joke and everyone took it seriously. And by seriously, it meant the girls wore something revealing and the boys wore something tight.

You laugh back as you take the drink she offers you, “who’d have thought the ideal outfit to wear whilst robbing someone was a dress that shows your ass and tits?”

She laughs with you, stopping when her eyes glance over your shoulder, a sly smile spreading her lips “oh I get it now. Heads up, think you’re about to be arrested.”

With that, she leaves you standing alone. You try to contain your smile, knowing exactly what she was referring to.

“Excuse me, Ma’am?”

You giggle quietly before composing yourself and turning around. Your eyes drag slowly up his body from the tight black pants that hug his thighs and the handcuffs hanging from his belt loop to his overly tight blue shirt whose buttons are practically tearing at the seams.

Your eyes travel further, biting your lip at how much his beard has filled out and wishing his beautiful blue eyes weren’t shielded by a pair of aviators.

Giving him your best innocent look, you clasp your hands behind your back, your breasts almost spilling out of the low cut of your dress. “what can I do for you, officer Barber?”

He clicks his tongue, removing his sunglasses so he can take you in. His eyes linger a touch on your chest before travelling down your body. You watch as lust takes over his eyes when he takes in your black fishnet thigh-highs and knee-high boots.

Andy sighs before his eyes are meeting yours again, “I’m afraid you’re under arrest.”

“Is that so, can I ask what the charge is?”

He steps closer to you, one large hand settling on your waist as he pulls you against him. “You’re under arrest for being too fucking sexy,” he growls in your ear.

You throw your head back with a giggle as Andy begins to chain kiss across your jaw. He makes his way to your lips, capturing them in a searing kiss. His other arm wraps around you, lifting you off the ground. You don’t even care that your dress has ridden up and you’re pretty sure your ass is out.

The sound of whistling and hollering behind you has Andy reluctantly pulling away from your lips and placing you back on the ground.

A roll of his eyes and a curt "shut the fuck up" has the rowdy group of frat boys behind you going back to minding their own business.

You reach for your drink on the side, holding his gaze as you drain the contents, "you gonna put me in cuffs, officer?"

A shiver runs down your spine at the way Andy's eyes darken. You damn near collapse when he bites his lip.

"My naughty girl," he purrs, "I'm gonna have you in nothing but the cuffs."

Before you have a chance to take in his words he lifts you over his shoulder and heads straight for the stairs. You give your friends a little wave as he carries you past them like you're nothing more than a ragdoll.

"You might want to turn the music up."

"Andy!" You laugh as he swats your ass and continues up the stairs, grinning at the cheers coming from your friends.

"It's 'officer' to you, honey."

You can’t contain your giggles as he carries you towards an empty bedroom, excitement bubbling in your stomach at the thought of what's to come. Andy keeps you on his shoulder as he locks the door to the room he’s found before dropping you onto the bed.

Another round of giggles escapes you as you bounce on the soft mattress. Leaning up on your elbows you bite your lip as you take in the sight of him.

“What are you going to do with me, officer?” you tease, brushing your heeled foot slowly up his leg.

“That depends, honey,” he begins, his hand coming up to slowly unzip your boot. Pulling one off before doing the same with the other as he continues, “are you going to be good for me?”

He begins to take off your fishnets, his lips brushing each bit of revealed skin tenderly. You have to bite back a moan at the feel of his beard scratching your skin. You wait until both your legs are bare to give him your answer.

“Why would I be good when being bad is so much more fun.”

The smile he shoots you is wicked and his next movements happen in a flash. He kneels on the bed, pulling you up into his lap and claiming your lips with his own. Andy breaks apart from your lips only to pull your dress off, a deep growl rumbling in his chest as he takes in your dainty lace underwear.

His lips connect with yours again, it’s less rushed but no less passionate. Andy gently lowers your body back down to the bed before he begins slowly kissing and nipping his way down your body.

Your back arches as he bites and pinches your nipples through the thin material of your bra. He continues down your body and by the time he’s pulled your panties off and thrown them somewhere in the room, you’re a withering mess.

Before you’ve even had time to catch your breath, Andy flips you over onto your stomach. He pulls your hips back until you’re resting on your knees with your shoulders resting against the bed. You yelp when he lands two hard smacks on your ass, feeling your arousal against your thighs.

“Hands behind your back.”

You do as you're told, biting your lip when you feel the cool metal clasp around your wrists. You welcome the weight of Andy’s body as he leans over you, brushing your hair to the side and whispering in your ear, “just say the word and I’ll undo them, okay?”

You smile, turning as much as you can to look at him, “okay.”

He smiles back, leaning in to give you a soft kiss before pulling away again.

You feel the bed shift and hear the sound of Andy’s belt coming undone. The anticipation is killing you and you can’t help the whine that slips past your lips.

“Still going to be bad?” he asks, kneeling behind you again. You can feel the material of his trousers against the back of your thighs and the image of him fucking you completely naked whilst he’s still fully clothed has another wave of arousal flowing through you.

“Well, I don’t know, officer. You’ve not really given me a reason to be good,” you pout, wiggling your ass for emphasis.

You expect him to shoot back some witty retort but instead, he knocks the air from your lungs when he thrusts into you in one hard stroke. He doesn’t give you time to adjust and to be honest you’re so turned on he doesn’t really need to. His pace is slow and hard, letting you feel every inch and every vein.

“Fuck, Andy,” you moan, fingers grasping at the sheets.

He slaps your ass hard, “think you’re forgetting your manners, sweetheart.”

“Sorry, sir,” you whine, clenching down hard at the resulting growl.

“Fuck, keep calling me that, baby.”

His request is surprising but not unwelcome and you make sure to add it to your pleas and gasps.

Andy’s hands have a bruising grip on your hips as he pulls you back to meet each of his thrusts. Your muscles ache from the position and the tension of your upcoming orgasm and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Please, sir,” you beg, desperate for him to push you over the edge.

“My naughty, filthy girl,” he grunts, planting another smack on your tender ass, “you gonna be good, baby?”

“Yes, sir. Promise, sir,” you sob when one of his hand's curls under you, his deft fingers connecting with your clit and sending shockwaves through your body.

“That’s it, baby,” he encourages, mesmerised by the way your thighs begin to shake, “be a good girl and come for me.”

“Fuck,” you almost scream as your orgasm tears through you, “thank you, sir.”

“Fuck,” Andy growls, his hips stilling against your ass as he comes deep inside of you.

Once he’s caught his breath he slowly pulls out of you, smoothing his hands over your tender skin. He quickly unclasps the handcuffs, rubbing your sore muscles as he guides you to lay on your back.

“How was that?” he grins, laying beside you, his hands never leaving your body.

You smile up at him with a lazy grin, “it was perfect… Sir.”

He chuckles, leaning down to kiss you, “keep that up and we’re going again.”

You join in with his laughter, your fingers toying with the plastic badge pinned to his shirt.

“Why did you want to dress as a cop? I thought defence lawyers were supposed to hate cops”

He laughs, kissing your wrists tenderly, “I just wanted a reason to handcuff you.”

I love college!Andy so damn much! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this. As always comments and reblogs are super appreciated ✨🖤

[pb-dot]

Writeblr Introduction

Suppose I should introduce myself per the writeblr Very Friendly Suggestions. I'm PB, or peebs if you prefer. I publish my books under the pen name Victor S. Dale. I'm in my 30's, bisexual, dyspraxic, and as behooves a man of my standing I'm also grappling with considerable depression.

I like to write, like it a lot and I always have. My main WIPs are: a clockpunk love story titled The Clockwork Boy, a Lovecraftian Horror Romance titled His Impossible Brushstrokes and a 30s-punk portal fantasy serial titled Thereafter. I also dabble with smaller projects I won't get into here. Mostly coherent and concise synopses of The Clockwork Boy, His Impossible Brushstrokes, and Thereafter follow below.

The Clockwork Boy

My NaNoWriMo 2022 novel was initially conceived because I couldn't find much fun MLM genre fiction to read, so I decided to get myself good and wedged into that niche. The story follows Jake, who's stuck in a dead-end job of machining gears and sundry parts as well as lifting heavy things until a small, yet deceptively strong young man crashes into his life, and also his arms. The young man is called 13, his entire body from the neck down is made out of impossibly complex clockwork parts, and he's on the run from multiple powerful people and factions.

13 is stronger and faster than anyone has the right to be, but several broken parts hold him back. Jake is immediately smitten by the complex mechanics of 13's clockwork body, not to mention his sad, blue eyes, and so vows to help repair 13. The complexity of the task at hand is only increased by the two being pursued by local goon squads as well as other clockwork-bodied people with numbers for names.

The world of The Clockwork Boy and the Hearts In Clockwork series, provided I get around to writing more of these things, is languishing in a peculiar type of anarchy. The Age of Steam has come and gone and after a series of destructive colonial wars known as The Coal Wars, the power of government and nation has all but eroded. In their place, an alliance of powerful merchants and holders of capital keeps an iron grip on what passes for law from their seat in the massive tower known only as The Spire. Their power is exerted through monopoly and other economic maneuvers, but also by their rowdy Enforcers, who rule through intimidation and sheer brutishness.

13, as it turns out, is part of The Clockmen, a hitherto hidden faction within The Spire, whose acerbic leader is working to create an elite force of clockwork-powered individuals to overthrow The Spire and their enforcers, but even within the clockmen, agendas differ. 13 was originally made to fight and kill rogue clockmen, but so objected to this that he fled, searching for his memories and what freedom could be found.

Jake and 13 eventually find themselves under the auspices of The Northwest, an underground worker-owned coop parts workshop that takes them in and offers them succor in their time of need. In the relative safety of The Northwest's hidden workshop, Jake and 13 get the time they need to perform the sizable number of repairs needed, and perhaps ask the question of what they are becoming to each other and what comes next.

The current status of the project at the moment is going through the old rewrite and editing wringers. I'm currently having the thing beta read and I'll make whatever changes I need after that before attempting to hook an agent to help me get the thing published. In the meantime, I post about it a lot. If you want to be up-to-date on the most recent rambles in the setting, check out the tag list post here

My final goal with this project is to somehow get it published and, provided I am not met with immediate scorn and ridicule, get started on writing one or more sequels. I don't have the entire series planned out or anything, but I have several stories in this universe planned, and I know where and how I want it to end.

His Impossible Brushstrokes

My 2023 NaNoWriMo entry and occasional Lagrange point of my life. Continuing the trend from last year of writing novels that I wish someone else had written already so I could read it, Brushstrokes is a male-led queer horror with a mspec protagonist, exploring the shared points between love and fear, admiration and obsession, and art and madness.

The story follows Oscar Skerry, an obsessive San Fran art critic who goes to progressively more extreme measures to understand the works of his favorite artist, a pan-European enfant terrible by the name Tomasz Gildebrant. Gildebrant is an obscure artist, whose paintings nevertheless go for exorbitant prices on account of his cult appeal.

Following the thread of an art patron going berserk and attempting to destroy a Gildebrant painting by eating it, Tomasz unravels the urban legend of Gildebrant Psychosis. This sickness allegedly drives some who see a Gildebrant painting into acts of brutality, depravity, or the profoundly absurd, and Oscar starts to suspect there is something deeper and darker going on than repeated failures of the mental health system.

Seemingly out of the blue, Oscar gets an invitation to join Gildebrant in his home in the southern Carpathian Mountains. Eager to get to the bottom of things, and share his theories with Gildebrant, Oscar accepts.

Once there, two things become readily apparent. One, Gildebrant is incredibly charming, so much so that Oscar finds himself doubting that Gildebrant could be the man behind the dark, disturbing paintings he obsesses over. Two, there are way too many things not adding up, like how the doors to his guestroom in the Gildebrant household lock automatically at midnight, and how many pairs of shoes fill Gildebrant's hallway.

Per April 2024, the first draft for His Impossible Brushstrokes is complete. The plan remains to seek tradpub or indie publishing once I've edited the thing.

Thereafter

My first self-released project. The first chapters of Thereafter is slated to be released via buttondown starting May 1st 2024. This story follows Michael, a man in his 30s who traveled to, and saved, a magical cave-world populated by kindly molefolk at the tender age of twelve (and a half.) Now, 20 years later, Michael struggles in life and finds himself wishing for those simpler days of adventure again. Life is not without a sense of cruel irony, as the phenomenon that spirited him away all those years ago reoccur. Michael doesn't find himself in the serene caves of the molefolk, however, but in a desperately ramshackle city built from the flotsam and jetsam of thousands upon thousands of worlds.

This strange town goes by the name of Thereafter, and it was the surviving population of the cave world, as well as many other worlds, built with what they could salvage after The Calamity. Few who saw the world-destroying catastrophe lived to tell the tale, and the few who have, tell conflicting and surely nonsensical tales of it. Either way, the few that survived being flung into the void between worlds found their way to this nexus of the dispossessed, where the despair of dispossession percolated under the pressure of resource insecurity and a general sense of the world quite literally coming to an end.

To assuage some of these fears, The Council of Thereafter, a hastily assembled collection of wizards, wise men and the occasional cryptic hermit, decided to summon heroes of the old to their side. Due to the way time flows differently in the realms of magic, centuries and even millennia have passed since Michael saved the Molefolk, and the tales of his exploits have only grown in his absence.

Fortunately, Michael will not be alone in his task of portraying a heroic figure far beyond what he is able to actually be. Unfortunately, his colleagues in this endeavor are all messed up to an equal degree to him. Lex, the Polish enby scientist, is cynical on a level that borders on the parodic and worryingly horny. Felipe, the Mexican pro athlete archer, is arrogant, flighty and seems physically unable to take anything seriously. Finally, Alicia, the New York-based fitness influencer, seems restless in a way that either speaks to undiagnosed ADHD or truly world-shaking rage contained under the athletic facade.

Together, this rag-tag band of 30-somethings must unite in their quest to portray the heroes that history have made them, all the while grappling with what it means to be a hero in a desperately imperfect world. The city of Thereafter is full of crime born of desperation, hatred born of fear, and runaway magic, but that is not all. After all, the only thing anyone can agree on about the Calamity is that it is still out there and may one day turn its destruction upon Thereafter.

With Thereafter, I plan to work more with character and group dynamics than I have in my earlier works. The dysfunctional found family of the Heroes is supposed to be a big draw of the story, alongside the mystery of The Calamity and more pressing concerns about survival. As usual for a Peebs story, there will also be rumination, politics and philosophy involved, tigers don't usually change their stripes after all, but we're also getting a fantasy post-apocalyptic tale of love, bravery, and the many obscure pains of growing up.

Thereafter will, as mentioned above, be released on a chapter by chapter basis via Buttondown, with an archive also being kept on Cohost. To subscribe to the release of Thereafter chapters, please see the introductory post or just go straight to my Buttondown site to subscribe.

[urrockstar-xe]

potions test - s.b x fem!reader

posted december 11th, 2022, 9:26 pm

anon asked: hi hi hi!!! i was wondering if you could do prompt 45 w sirius black!!! hehe thank u sm <3 have a nice day

45 "they hate each other" "no they don't, not really"

I am so sorry for the wait on this one (i've said that so much), so much has happened these past few months. I really hope you like this, sweets.

masterlist

word count: 0.6k

“Now what makes you so sure your tricks are better than mine?” Sirius’ question had the three boys all turning to look at You for your answer. “Well, for one, I don’t get caught.” Sirius scoffed at this. “That’s because they’re not brilliant enough to incite rage in our dear old professors, and for your information, I find gossiping over brunch with Minerva quite fun.” 

James, Remus, and Peter had been watching the two of you go back and forth for 15 minutes, somehow finding yourselves stuck in an argument about whose tricks are better.

“It’s not brunch, you imbecile, it’s detention.” You responded, crossing your arms over your chest.

 “Why are you both still on about this?” Peter asked, crumpling up a wrapper. “Because Black is too stubborn to admit when he’s wrong,” “Oh please if anyone’s stubborn it's you, always insisting on being right about everything. “You wouldn’t be pointing that out if you didn’t agree-”

“Alright! Y/n, I believe we have a study session for potions right about now, shall we?” Remus interrupted making a gap between his arm and torso. 

“Right, we shall” you looped your arm with his. “This test completely makes or breaks our livelihoods, I’ll be damned if I lose because of an argument with Sirius Black of all people.”

Once again Sirius scoffed at your words. “And what could you possibly mean by that? You know what, you’d go mental if I got a higher score than you.” You almost laughed in his face at his response. “I’d like to see you try.” 

Sirius smirked, causing a sigh from the small crowd of your friends. “See you on Friday night to reveal our grades to each other.” You rolled your eyes, knowing Sirius was now just trying to get under your skin. “There's a quidditch match on Friday!” James mentioned, shooting a glare at Sirius. 

“Yes, prongs, I’m aware.” He glared back. 

“Okay, she’ll see you then! Let’s go,” just as Remus began pulling you down the hall you heard James tell Sirius “If you flunk quidditch because you want to get in her pants, I swear to bloody merlin, Black.” giving both you and Remus a good laugh while you picked up the pace.

Sure enough, Friday night rolled around, and as you made your way across the hall to the rowdy group of Gryffindors Sirius turned to you with his usual Bright smile and charming eyes. “We won! Though I couldn’t hear you cheering me on in the crowd, I felt it in my heart.” He said pretending to pout while he gently patted his chest. 

“Sorry, I was too busy imagining the look on your face when you find out my potions grade beat yours to cheer at all, though I’m sure James was excellent.” You responded smiling back at the boy whilst holding up your graded paper, proving it was in fact higher than Sirius’. 

“Well, it’s not my fault you throw away your life for studying now, is it? We both know who the real winner of this competition was, I’m sure.” He winked. 

You both almost Immediately spiraled into a big bickering mess, walking down the hall together as you argued.

“They hate each other,” James said, once again watching you both with Peter and Remus.

And just as Sirius swung his arm around your shoulders, turning down another hall, Remus responded “No, they don’t, not really,”

“Were you really listening for me in the crowd?” You asked Sirius. Now out of earshot of your mates. “Always, darl’” He smiled.

“Well, guess I wasn’t loud enough then, oh well, there’s always next time.” You shrugged. Sirius laughed as he stopped walking for a moment to bring you into a quick kiss, leaning away ever so slightly to ask, “We’re going to celebrate me winning the quidditch game, yes?” You laughed, “as long we can celebrate me being smarter than you, Black”

[banditthewriter]

In Time - Billy Russo

And here we have the 2022 Halloween Fic! I want to thank everyone for supporting me and helping me get to the point where I was able to write this this year. I honestly wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it. And a very special thank you to @dragon-of-winterfell​ for sending in the idea that sparked this thing! 

Summary: It’s time for the annual Purge. The reader usually hides in a bunker with Billy, Frank, Karen, and the Lieberman family. This year, things are going to get bloody.

Warnings: Torture. Writer has never seen Purge movies so don’t expect me to be too true to those stores. But seriously, the reader is tortured. Some things happen explicitly, but most are just described afterwards. Also writer barely edited this so...my bad.

Enjoy!

*gif is mine*

------

The chime above the door to Slice of Heaven made you look up from where you were balancing the books. An older couple came in and waved at you as they went to their usual booth. One of your waitresses was at their side a few moments later, chatting happily. 

The diner had been left to you by your parents and you took a lot of pride in the environment that had been created. No such thing as a stranger, you treated everyone who came in as regulars. Of course this meant a lot of them did become regulars. Your staff was the same way.

A group of rowdy college boys were in the far corner goofing off. It was mid afternoon, not exactly your busiest time, but the laughter and excitement that poured off of them made the diner feel small. 

Or maybe it was because you could hear what they were discussing. 

"C'mon, what about going to like Ithaca or something? Smaller areas are less protected."

"Nah, that's why we need to stay near the city. We don't want to be away from all of it."

"Yea! It's gonna be wild. We could pick a small borough to stay near though."

Your skin prickled as you listened to them plan. A group of six guys all discussing the pros and cons of where they should settle down made you uneasy but you couldn't exactly kick them out. Even if a few of them seemed a little uneasy at the thought of being in the city.

A clatter from the kitchen had you turning away from the guys. One of the waitresses had dropped a tray of dishes. Thankfully nothing looked broken, but she was ashen as she bent down to pick them up.

"Let me help you," you offered softly as you knelt down beside her. 

Emily was your newest waitress. Putting herself through college, she was a sweet and devoted worker. Her dream of coming to New York City for college hadn't been dampened by the laws, but you knew she wasn't looking forward to her first year here.

"It's going to be okay Em," you promised as you scooped the dishes back onto the tray. "You have your plan, right? It's been verified."

Her hands shook as she picked up the last few pieces of cutlery. 

"I know. I went over it with the people you got me in touch with. I just…" Her eyes cut to the left. Even though you were both crouched on the floor in the kitchen and couldn't even see the dining room, you knew she was looking towards the college boys. 

You took the spoons and forks from her hands. Then you helped her stand and pulled her into a hug.

"It's going to be okay Emily. I know you're worried right now, but it's going to be okay."

You desperately hoped you weren't wrong about that. 

—

The soft chime of your cell phone made you look over from where you were wiping the counter. It was turned to a weird angle so you couldn't clearly read the name but the familiar picture of your best friend made you smile. Rag in one hand, you reached out and snagged the device with your other. 

"To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Billy Russo snorted in amusement.

"You're ridiculous. I always call you when you're closing by yourself."

You rolled your eyes at that, but it was out of fondness. You tucked the phone against your ear as you went back to cleaning. 

"Nothing is going to happen to me, you know that."

"Some of us still very clearly remember what it was like before…"

Before. You remembered what it was like before as well. 

Your eyes went to the picture of your parents in front of the door to Slice of Heaven the first day they opened it. They were from before as well. 

A shudder ran through you at that. You shook away the memories and focused back on the conversation. 

"Thanks again for helping Emily with her plan. I really appreciate it."

"Frank and I are happy to help. This time of year is our busiest for consulting, but Anvil is equipped for it."

"I know it is. I also know you don't charge my referrals like you're supposed to."

Billy snorted again. You heard a faint creak, most likely from his office chair as he readjusted his position.

"Your referrals are usually your employees. I know you pay them better than most but I also know most of them are either working multiple jobs already or putting themselves through school. They qualify for the friends of a friend discount."

"You also didn't let me pay when I had you guys consult for me."

"Because we didn't help you plan for what you were going to do. We just told you what you were going to do."

You laughed at that, but it was tinged with a little sadness. 

"Can't believe this is the fourth time this is happening."

When the law had passed, you'd thought it was impossible. Who in the hell thought that making all crime legal for twelve hours would actually help the crime rate? And while the numbers seemed to support it, that didn't change the fact that it meant devastation for the people who couldn't afford to turn their homes into Fort Knox knock offs. 

"There's talk about reversing the law. Maybe this will be the last one."

Your fingers clenched in the rag before you tossed it onto the counter. 

"They've talked about that since it was put into effect. It's just a way for them to shut us up from complaining."

This was a constant worry for people even though it only took place once a year. People spent all year preparing for this. Most of them prepare to survive but some like the college kids from earlier were preparing to participate. 

"Just remember to get to the bunker by 6:30, okay? You'll be safe with us." 

That was putting it mildly. The bunker that they used was impenetrable and protected by so many counter measures that it would take an army to get through. It had been Frank's hideout at one point and then reinforced and updated with Billy's tech and money. 

It would be their friend David "Micro" Leiberman and his family, Frank's girlfriend Karen Page, her friend and coworker Foggy Nelson, and you. Your first year had been spent alone and terrified, but since then you've been sequestered with them. 

Frank and Billy sometimes started the night there, but usually they stayed out in the city. So did Matt Murdock, the blind lawyer with heightened senses who fought what little crime there was during the rest of the year. Frank and Billy stayed out to protect people as best they could. 

Billy changed the subject to talk about something he had seen on television but your mind still strayed to what was coming in just a few days.

The fourth annual Purge was almost there.

—

Five Hours Until Purge

—

The atmosphere in the diner was different than it was every other day of the year. Most of your staff didn't work on the day of the purge, but you stayed open for a few hours. You provided a good meal to anyone and didn't charge. It had been your routine since the purge started.

Tensions always ran higher near the purge, but it was nothing like the day of. Everyone seemed to be walking on eggshells, careful not to tip the balances in case the stranger you interacted with was someone who would want to hunt you that night. Many people probably thought that's why you didn't charge for serving day of.

Except you had a very different reason. You saw these people come in for a meal and recognized that for some of them, it was either going to be their last meal or the last meal before their lives changed irreparably. You wanted to take some of that stress away for them.

Billy thought you were insane for working the day of the purge but as long as you closed early, he wouldn't push the issue. The purge started at 7pm so you always closed by 5 at the latest. 

Your phone rang as you handed one of your three customers their food. With an apologetic smile you stepped away and pulled it out of your pocket. 

Speak of the devil. 

"It's only 2pm. You're early."

There was a stretch of silence on the other side that made you groan. 

"You need to wrap up early today."

There was a seriousness in Billy's voice that made a chill run up your spine. You waved at your lone waiter Enrique to let him know you were going to step in the back for a second. Once you were in your office, you sat down on the edge of your desk. 

"What's the matter? What's going on?"

One of the things you had learned about Billy was that there was always a reason for what he was doing. He was a very particular person that way. And even when he was serious about things, when he talked to you, it was always with a lightness in his voice. That lightness was gone. 

"I mean it. Close up now and come to the bunker."

A sense of foreboding went over you as you listened to Billy's deep breaths. 

"Billy, you're scaring me. Tell me what's going on?"

It wasn't your plea that made him sigh; it was you saying he was scaring you. 

"The person that…the guy that Frank and I dealt with overseas…he's made some threats about this purge. Just, please, come to the bunker."

You rubbed your hand over your bare arm. You didn't know much about the guy himself, but you knew what he was referring to. Agent Orange as he was known while they were overseas, someone high up in the government who made Frank and Billy do things they regretted. If he was making threats, something had to have happened recently. 

And it wasn't like they could handle it themselves. Sure, some crime happened during the rest of the year, but nothing that large. And higher up government officials were some of the only people off limits during the purge. 

"The purge doesn't start until 7. I have plenty of time to get there Billy. I promise I'll close at five on the dot and I'll head straight there."

He swore, your name mixed in the middle. Then you could almost imagine him gathering himself before he spoke again. 

"Get here as soon as you can. Promise me."

The ice that had gathered around your heart at the seriousness in his voice melted.

"I promise Billy."

—

Two Hours Before Purge

—

The sign on the door was flipped around to read that the diner was closed. Normally you opened up at 7 in the morning but you would be closed tomorrow as well. The diner had been covered in graffiti before, windows broken and some stuff stolen, so you always pushed back reopening for a few days so you could clean it up. Thankfully your insurance covered purge related damages. 

You finished your locking up and made sure everything you cared about was in the safe under the floor. Then you checked your purse for the bank deposit which you'd drop off in the morning. 

The mental checklist you had for the purge was mostly complete. Just needed to grab your bag which you'd already brought to the front and you could leave. You'd pull down the metal gate and lock up before you would head to the bunker.

The bell chiming over the door made you spin around. Then you cautiously poked your head out of your office.

Three men stood in the middle of the dinner. They looked normal enough, jeans and long sleeve shirts. One was wearing dress shoes as he looked up at the menu over the counter. 

"HI, sorry guys, I'm closed for the day."

The one closest to you spun around to face you with a confused look.

"The door was unlocked and the sign said open?"

You glanced at the door and sure enough, your sign was turned around. Unease settled in your stomach as you stared at the lock on the door which was obviously unlocked. But you remembered locking it and flipping the sign. 

"Must have slipped my mind, sorry about that. We are closed though."

The guy in the dress shoes smiled and pressed his hands onto the counter. 

"C'mon, we just want some coffee. Gonna be a long night."

That unease grew as the three men stayed standing on the other side of the counter. Your eyes darted to the clock on the wall.

"I already emptied the pot," you said as you clutched your bag a little tighter. 

"Fresh pot sounds good to me," the guy you assumed was the leader said before he pulled down a stool to sit. The others followed suit.

Shit. Okay, well you'd make some coffee and put it in to go cups. You almost wanted to lock the door again but with them in there, you weren't about to do that. Instead you walked out into the dining room and flipped the sign around. Then you grabbed your bag and carried it back to your office. You tucked your duffle and purse in a corner behind a cabinet before you headed back to the counter.

You kept one eye on the three of them as you started a new pot of coffee. They talked quietly amongst themselves, loud enough for you to hear they were discussing some sporting event they had gone to recently. A little of the unease let up but you didn't drop your guard.

The melody of your ring tone made you jump. As you pulled it out, you saw at least one of the guys sit up a little straighter. 

You didn't even look at the phone to know who it was.

"I haven't left yet," you said immediately, phone to your ear. 

God how slow was this coffee pot?

"It's after five, you should have closed. Leave the cleaning until later."

You made your way into the kitchen. When the swinging door shut behind you, you sighed.

"Had some stragglers want some coffee."

Billy's voice was cold when he spoke. 

"Fuck 'em. Tell them to get out. You're pushing it right now and you need to get out of there."

You moved to the side so you could see through the small window on the door. The men were all still talking but you had a feeling they were all on alert. 

Red flags shot up and made your hands shake. 

"Billy, I think…I think they may be…I might be in trouble."

You heard a swear. Then in the background you heard another voice. It was obviously Frank even if you couldn't make out what he was saying. 

"Yea, I got it," Billy said to Frank. Then to you, "Go back out there and talk to me. Make it loud but not obvious. Talk like you're talking to your boyfriend or husband, okay?"

You didn't want to go back out there but you had to. As much as you wanted to leave out the back door, you didn't want to leave them in your diner.

With Billy's steady voice in your ear, you stepped through the swinging door and went over to the coffee pot. Then, a little louder than you normally would have, you began to talk to Billy.

"Don't worry babe, I'll be finished here in a few minutes. I'm grabbing the to go cups now."

You grabbed the thickened Styrofoam cups and started to pour the coffee.

"Good, good. Alright, now I'm coming to you okay?"

"You're coming here? I thought I was meeting you there," you said loudly, half so they would hear and half because you were surprised. 

"Not anymore, not with you in danger. I'm leaving the bunker now and I'm speeding all the way."

The bunker was about 30 minutes away. You glanced up at the clock. Almost five thirty. 

"Okay, I'll see you in ten minutes," you said nonchalantly as you finished off the last cup. 

"Good girl, lie through your teeth. I'll be there in fifteen. Act like you're hanging up and put the phone down but don't disconnect. You're not going to be alone, okay?"

"Okay Billy, I'll see you in ten. Bye."

You pretended to hit a button on the screen and then locked it so that the light went away. You placed the phone face up. Then you grabbed the three cups and lids and carried them over to the guys.

"There's cream and sugar on the counter or by the door. I really do need to close up though."

The one who had done all the talking grinned and raised his hands after he dropped some bills on the counter. 

"We know when we're not welcome. Thanks for the coffee."

They grabbed a few packets of sugar and creamer and all made their way to the door. You watched it close behind them and sighed out gratefully. They really did just stop by for coffee. 

You grabbed your phone and put it back to your ear.

"They left."

"Lock the door and get your stuff. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Your heart skipped a beat. Even with the immediate danger being gone, you didn't want to be alone. 

"Please don't hang up."

"I'm not going anywhere sweetheart, I'm still on the phone. Go lock the door."

You sighed gratefully. Then you scurried to do as you were told. You locked the door and peered through the blinds.

The street was abandoned. The other stores you could see already had their gates pulled down. No cars were on the street, no people walking this way or that. Completely empty. 

You hurried back to your office and grabbed your bags again. You leaned against the wall and sighed. 

"Next year I'm not opening day of," you said as you closed your eyes and tried to slow your racing heart.

"No shit," Billy said sarcastically with a little relief in his voice. "I'm locking you in the bunker at 7am the day before. You have no idea how terrified I was when you said you thought you were in trouble."

You thought about the threats he had mentioned. Yea, you imagined he would have been scared. 

"I know that you're scared they might go through me to get to you, but–"

"I'm not worried about myself. Just like Frank isn't worried about himself. He worries about Karen and I'm worried about you."

Your heart skipped a beat for a very different reason.

"You don't have to worry about me Billy. I'm okay."

You heard him sigh over the low hum of the engine of his car.

"I can't help it. That's what you do when you lov–"

Billy's words were drowned out by glass shattering in the other room. You let out a scream and jumped away from the door. 

"What? What is it?!" 

"I don't know. It sounds like the window was shattered or something."

That low hum of his engine increased. 

"I'm almost there, okay? Just stay in your office. I'm almost there."

You opened your mouth to say you would, that you knew he'd be there soon. Instead all you could do was start to cough.

Some sort of smoke was filling your office. You coughed and tried to wave it away from your face.

"There's smoke…" you said as you coughed, trying to let Billy know what was going on.

"Smoke? Is the diner on fire?"

You opened your mouth to say no, it didn't smell like that kind of smoke. But your eyes drooped shut and you felt your body folding in on itself.

Your last thoughts as you distantly heard Billy yell your name was that this wasn't supposed to be happening yet. It was too early. 

—

There seemed to be a marching band performing in your head. Deep thudding and loud crashing, over and over. You squeezed your eyes shut as if that would help block the noise. Then with a groan you reached up to block your ears.

Well you would have if your hands would move. You frowned and opened your eyes, a process that took forever. Except…no, your eyes were open. So why was it so dark?

You took a deep breath out of fear. A cough erupted from your lungs from the force, but it didn't make it past whatever was in your mouth. 

Everything came screaming to a halt as it all came back to you. The men in the diner. Them leaving. The glass shattering in the front of the diner. Smoke filling your office. Billy telling you he was on his way. 

Billy. You'd been on the phone with you. He would have heard, wouldn't he? He had been close to the diner, he said he was almost there. 

Slowly you become aware of your body aching. Your right arm was stretched above you, tied to something with no slack. Your left arm was tied to something else that was lower but still tight enough you couldn't even wiggle them. Your legs were under you, bound at the ankles it felt like. Then you focused on your face. A blindfold and some sort of gag were on your face, keeping you disoriented and silent. 

And there was something heavy around your neck, resting on your sternum. You lowered your head to poke it with your chin. Metal, bulky. 

"Wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice said from your left. When you jerked, they chuckled. "Welcome back to the land of the living. Don't start messing with your necklace, okay? Unless you aren't interested in keeping your head attached to your neck."

You froze. It was some sort of device, whether a bomb or something even more nefarious, and it was primed to hurt you. 

"Is our guest awake?"

A second voice. You forced yourself to clear your mind of the fears that were growing. A sense of calm fell over you. Then you turned your remaining sense to the task at hand. You listened as the two men spoke. 

"She's up. Grab that for me, will ya?"

You heard something clang which made you jump. Then there was pressure on your arms. Whatever you were tied to started to adjust until you were standing, both arms outstretched. Your shoulders ached from the angle and the way your body was being lifted. 

With your ankles tied together, you probably would have wobbled or been unbalanced, but the mechanism holding you up bore most of your weight. 

"Did you grab the…ah, there. Let me see. Shit, locked. Hold on."

You felt something touch your right hand and you tried to flinch away. When that didn't work you forced your fingers inward. 

That didn't stop the man from prying your fingers open. When you tried to do it again, he yanked your pointer finger backwards to the point where you felt it pop. The scream you let out was muffled through the gag as pain washed over you from what was probably a broken finger. 

"Stop moving, jeez."

The nonchalance in his voice made your blood run cold. Then something was pressed against your newly broken finger making you cry out again but you forced yourself not to move. 

"There we go. Aaaaand…there!"

Your phone. That was the thing they had, the thing that was pressed against your pointer finger. They needed it unlocked. 

Not that you had any idea what he'd done with it. 

"I almost feel bad for her," the first voice said without a shred of sympathy in his voice. "Innocent bystander in this."

"No one is innocent. Remember that. And especially not–"

Whatever he was going to say was drowned out by a noise in the distance. It took you a minute minute recognize the sound. 

It was the siren that marked the beginning of the purge. Your blood ran cold even as you felt the heat of fear rush over your skin. 

"Ah, perfect timing."

Hands came to your head but you didn't move, frozen in fear. It didn't matter because all that happened was that your blindfold was removed. You blinked a few times to get your eyes adjusted to the dim light above you and take in your surroundings. Some sort of warehouse. Two men in front of you. 

One was one of the guys from the diner. The other was a shorter bald man who you didn't recognize. You'd definitely remember someone with a glass eye. 

"Let the games begin," the man with the glass eye said as he smiled at you. 

—

7pm

—

You'd never seen a shark up close but you imagined it looked a lot like the man with the glass eye that paced back and forth in front of you. There was something so unsettling about the man as he stood in a button up shirt and slacks. His attire wasn't threatening, his features weren't either. It was something else, something under the surface. Some animal instinct that made you sense that this was a predator and you were the prey.

The second man came over and undid the knot that held the gag in your mouth. He pulled it away and you immediately took a deep breath. Your chest hurt, a byproduct of whatever gas they used to knock you out, but you didn't cough this time. 

"Rawlins, here."

Something was passed to the man with a glass eye. You caught a glimpse of your phone case before he slid it into his pocket.

"You're in for a long night. Don't bother screaming for help. No one will hear you."

They kept you blindfolded and gagged before the start because if you somehow got away, you wouldn't be able to describe them. But now it was fair game. Except…

"You kidnapped me before the start," you said, your voice shaking a bit. 

The glass eyed man walked up until he was in front of you, his breath fanning against your face.

"That will be our little secret."

Because you weren't getting out of here alive. No one would know you'd gotten kidnapped before the start because there was no one around and you'd be unable to tell anyone after it was over because they were going to kill you. 

Billy. You'd been on the phone with Billy when it happened. You almost said as much, wanted to tell them they wouldn't get away with it, but you bit your tongue. You didn't want him to be a target. 

What did think when he got to the diner and saw that you were gone? He'd be worried, frantic. He'd probably try to find you, to bring you back. 

Maybe he'd avenge you. Like Frank did with the loss of his wife and kids. The first purge, he went after the people who killed them. Part of you thought that that's why he and Billy kept going out during the purge. To keep anyone else from going through the pain that Frank still carried with him. 

Then you thought about Billy. The phone conversation before the attack. 

You'd told him he didn't have to worry about you and he'd said he couldn't help it. The next part had been interrupted by the attack, but it'd sounded like he was going to say that's what you do when you love someone. 

You straightened your spine and stared straight at the man that had taken you. Pain radiated from your finger, your head was pounding. 

You weren't going to give in without a fight. That's what Billy would do, what Frank or Karen would do. It's what your parents would want you to do. 

This man could break your bones and your body but he wasn't going to break your spirit. If there was a way for you to survive, you'd find it. If there wasn't a way, you'd make him regret ever targeting you. 

Let the games begin indeed.

—

8pm

—

You had been mostly left alone. Every now and then someone would come in and take a picture of you with their phone, but you hadn't seen Glass Eye since the first confrontation.

The delay was probably part of the torture. Being constantly on edge was making you paranoid of every noise in the distance. The lack of distraction also meant your finger was hurting twice as much. You could just barely see it from your position but you didn't want to look at it.

Now that you didn't have people in the room with you, you looked around to get your bearings. It was definitely some sort of a warehouse. Your arms were strung from pieces of equipment that hung from the rafters but you didn't recognize any of it. There was a stale smell, like it hadn't been used in a while. 

You couldn't move around much because you didn't know anything about the contraption around your neck, but you could turn just enough to see a clock on the far wall. The hands were moving and it seemed to be correct. You watched the minute hand tick and tick from 8:05 to 8:10 to 8:15.

The door opened and someone came in. It was the leader of the group that you remembered from the diner. He grinned at you as he raised his phone to snap a picture of you. 

"Why are you doing this?"

He was as surprised as you were that you spoke. Then the question sunk in and he shrugged. 

"It's the purge. We can do whatever we want."

You shifted a bit, internally wishing your legs weren't tied together because you wanted to stand your ground. 

"And this is what you want? To kidnap and torture a stranger who has never done anything to you?"

He walked a little closer to you, looking you over. There was nothing sexual in his eyes, just a clinical once over. When he met your gaze again, you had a brief moment to think you might have misjudged him before he spoke. 

"I don't care what happens to you. I don't care about what happens to anyone. In the morning I'm getting paid a hefty sum, no matter if you're alive or not. That's all I care about."

The cold detachment in his voice made you shudder. Then he gave you that same grin from before as he turned to leave you alone once more. 

Your eyes went to the clock and you watched the minutes tick by. At 8:30 the door opened and someone else came in to take a picture of you. You didn't engage this time, just waited until they shut the door before you looked at the clock again. 

Once more at 8:45, another picture. Every fifteen minutes. You wondered why they'd be doing that if they weren't doing anything to you. It wasn't like you were changing much just hanging here.

Unless it was going to become some sort of sick flipbook of your twelve hours of captivation, you could only think of one reason that they were taking pictures of you like this. 

Proof of life.

—

9pm

—

After the picture at 9, you decided you needed to do something. Hanging here and waiting wasn't working for you. You were just about to start wiggling your left arm to see if you could work the ropes loose when the door opened again. 

Glass Eye walked in. He didn't immediately head over to you. First he went over to a table that had some black cloth on it. When he pulled back the cloth, you wanted to recoil. Laid out were different kinds of instruments. They all probably had legitimate uses, but in this room, you could think of only one.

He pushed the table over so that it was closer to you. Then he stepped back and raised a phone. It took you a second to realize he was holding your phone still. He snapped a picture and tapped away for a second before he stepped back and took another photo. 

The table. He was making sure the table was in view. What had been pictures for proof of life were taking a turn. This was more a threat of what was to come.

"Won't be long now," he said as he slid your phone back into his pocket. 

Then he turned and started away from you. Anger and fear rose in you until you blurted something out.

"Just do something you asshole!"

The outburst made him pause. He turned to look at you over his shoulder. Then he turned to face you fully. Your body began to shake as he walked towards you. A sigh of relief almost passed your lips as he bypassed the table, but it was turned into a groan as his fist came flying and slammed into your stomach. Another caught the side of your face and made your head jerk sideways. Another in your stomach again. 

As you doubled over as much as your arms would let you, you tried to catch your breath. You saw a movement and then flinched backwards as his hand grabbed your chin to raise your face.

Your phone was in front of you for a second before he pulled away. Then he turned to leave without a word.

The pain in your stomach was mild compared to the pain in your face. You felt something slowly dripping from your cheek and realized he must have split the skin over your cheekbone. Hell with that much pain he might have shattered your cheekbone. 

Taunting him obviously wasn't the way to go about things. 

You glanced at the clock and sighed. 9:12. Someone would be in soon for the next picture. Until then you'd close your eyes and wait.

—

9:56pm

—

The door opening made you look up in a rush. After Glass Eye had used you as a punching bag, no one had come in for the routine pictures. While you hadn't let your guard down entirely, you'd relaxed a bit to try to conserve energy. 

From the angry look on Glass Eye's face, you had to think you'd definitely need that energy. 

He moved over to the table and let his fingers run over the handles of various instruments before they landed on what looked like a scalpel. Your eyes narrowed as he picked it up and tested the sharpness on the pad of his thumb. 

Then he turned towards you with it. 

"You can scream if you need to. I won't let it disturb me."

You swallowed thickly as you stared at the item in his hand. You had a feeling you would definitely need to scream.

—

10:42pm

—

A flash made you squint your eyes. The sight of your phone disappearing in Glass Eye's blood stained pocket would have made you frown if you had the energy. Instead you just hung limply as you watched him leave. 

A glance at the clock told you it had been almost an hour. There were dozens of cuts and stabs all over your body. Nowhere that would kill you or make you bleed out. He was careful about that.

Tears ran over your face and mixed with the blood there. You weren't sure how many cuts he'd made in your face as you'd passed out at some point, but blood had dripped into your eyes. He'd taken a washcloth and cleaned your eyes because he wanted to make sure you could see him. 

Your eyes shut and you let yourself cry even though it hurt. The pain was too much. The scent of blood mixed with the vomit where you'd gotten sick at some point. 

In and out of the daze you found yourself in, you thought about the bunker. If you were there, you would all be settling in in the bedroom. There were cots and couches in there now so people could rest. Micro's kids would sleep but the adults would never fully give in to the need. Not until the siren went off again to say the purge was over. 

You wouldn't even close your eyes until Billy and Frank walked back through the door. Until you could personally check Billy to make sure he wasn't injured. 

You thought about all the times you tried to convince yourself--and sometimes Karen--that you weren't in love with Billy. The number of times you told yourself you were just friends. The number of times you tried to ignore the fact that Billy always looked for you first in a crowd, that when he got to the bunker he immediately went to your side so you could look him over, that he put your safety before everything. 

The fact that you would die before you got to say those words to him hurt you worse than anything Glass Eye could do to you.

—

11:27pm

—

"You've lasted longer than I expected," Glass Eye said as he dropped another of your fingernails onto the table. "Only passed out once that time."

You swallowed thickly to hold in more bile. Your lips were split from his punches and your teeth as you bit them to keep from begging him to just kill you. 

"I can see what Russo sees in you." 

It took a moment for that to sink in. You blinked the tears out of your eyes and turned your head a bit to look at him. 

He met your gaze with his one functioning eye, your blood splattered on his face and shirt. 

"Did you think this was random? That I just felt the urge to torture some random diner owner? My job means I can torture anyone I want to. No, I picked you on purpose. You're close to him and I…I want to hurt him."

Your eyes moved over his face as you thought about all of this. 

Hated Billy. His job was torture. Someone had called him Rawlins. Glass eye. 

Glass eye. It came to you slowly, a story from long ago. Back when Billy and Frank first told you and Karen what had happened overseas. Frank punched Agent Orange and shattered his cheekbone, ruining his eye. 

Glass Eye was Agent Orange. 

"I can see the wheels turning now. I guess I should be flattered that Russo would tell you about me." 

He shook his head as he put the pliers down on the table. You waited to see what he would pick up next. Instead of anything on the table he reached into his pocket and grabbed your phone. You looked up at him as he was getting the camera ready.

He looked surprised as he stared at you. You weren't sure why until he spoke. 

"Why are you smiling?"

Were you? You probably were. Only because a very important thought had come to you. 

"Billy is going to kill you."

The words felt like sandpaper in your throat from the screams, but the sentiment soothed your soul. Billy would avenge you and get his revenge all at the same time. 

Rawlins shook his head. He snapped the picture, tapped a few things in the phone before he put it back in his pocket. 

"I'm high up in the government. I'm untouchable."

You remembered that now. You'd heard Billy and Frank lamenting that fact sometimes. 

But now? You look at the pile of your nails on the table, the amount of blood you'd already lost. Felt every wound he had inflicted. Then you raised your gaze back to his.

"You won't be untouchable once Billy gets his hands on you."

A flash of something like fear went through Rawlins. For the first time since this all started, you had gotten under his skin.

It was small compared to everything he had done to you, but you still felt like you won this round. 

—

12:04am

—

In and out of consciousness, your mind drifted away from your body. You tried to imagine arriving at the bunker like this, but your mind refused. You couldn't see yourself with your friends again. 

You were going to die here. It had been your fear when you first realized you were kidnapped before the purge officially started, but as your entire body ached from the torture, you knew it was inevitable. Rawlins wanted to make Billy suffer but you had a feeling right now he was just playing with you both. The endgame was death; yours and Billy's probably. But yours would happen first. 

The door creaked open but you didn't look up. Not until you heard Rawlins speak.

"Someone wants to talk to you."

It took you a moment to register the words. Then it took another few moments to register he was holding a phone out towards you. Your phone. 

Since you highly doubted that he expected you to grab the phone, you just swallowed and tried to speak. 

"H-hello?"

Seconds later you heard a voice that made you want to cry. Billy. He said your name once, then again softer. 

"Are you okay?"

You thought about everything you'd been through since you'd been taken. The pain you were in, the blood you'd lost, everything. Then you let out a small laugh. 

"I've been better," you hedged instead of being honest. 

"Now you know she's alive, what about my terms?" Rawlins met your gaze as he said the next part. "You for her life. Turn yourself over to me and I'll release her."

You could see it in his eyes that this was a trap. He had no intention of letting you go. He never did. You felt the heavy weight of the device around your neck, felt every ache as it resounded through your body. 

You weren't getting out alive but that didn't mean that Billy had to suffer. He could stay safe, plan. Avenge you. 

"Wait, wait, please," you begged, your face a mask of fear that wasn't exactly faked. You needed Rawlins to believe you were about to plead for your life so he would let you speak. 

And it seemed like it worked because he gestured for you to speak. 

"Billy? Can you hear me?"

His voice cracked as he answered, "I can hear you."

You swallowed and closed your eyes, begged whoever was listening for the strength to do what you needed to. Then you opened your eyes and looked Rawlins in the eye. 

"Don't turn yourself in. He's going to kill me either way."

Rawlins looked like he wanted to hit you but he didn't give in to the urge. Instead he shifted a bit on his feet as he waited for Billy's response. 

"Rawlins. You've spent these years protected because of your position. That's the only reason that Frank and I haven't gone after you. You were untouchable, safe. But you made a mistake. You took someone else that we care about. You hurt her, you tortured her. You spent years safe in your anonymity but you came down to our level just to get to me. It means you're not untouchable anymore."

Rawlins swallowed thickly. He looked like he was trying to compose himself but there was an underlying anxiety that was coming out of him. 

You heard Billy release a breath and you realized you'd heard it before. That noise was one he made when he was centering himself. 

"Hey Rawlins? You look a little pale."

You understood the comment seconds before Rawlins did. He immediately started towards you, pulling a gun out from where it was tucked in the back of his pants. He didn't even get it raised before there was a loud pop. You'd been to the shooting range with Karen before so you recognized the sound of a gunshot. In the second after the sound you expected pain but none came. Instead you watched Rawlins spin around and clutch at his shoulder where you saw a darker blood spot blooming. 

"HE'S HERE! GET IN HERE!"

The other guys flooded in, somewhere between six and eight in total. You forced yourself not to close your eyes as gunshots exploded. The shot came through a window to the side and they all fired in that direction. Except you doubted they'd reach him.

Billy was a sniper. He didn't have to be nearby. 

The lights shattered as they were shot out. You bit back a scream as the sounds of the gunshots got more chaotic. You could imagine from various grunts and hollers that the other guys were getting struck, but you forced your attention to Rawlins as he approached you.

He reached up and undid the rope that held your left hand up. He held his gun to your forehead as he worked on the second rope on your right hand. 

You couldn't walk because your legs were still tied together, but there was a relief in not having your body being held up by your arms. And it seemed you didn't need to walk because Rawlins threw his arm around you and started to drag you sideways. 

You didn't get a chance to fight back because before Rawlins had pulled you three feet from where you'd been held captive for the last few hours, you felt your body being yanked to the side. Then you watched as a dark figure struck out at Rawlins. The gun went off but the bullet missed its mark as his arm was struck. 

The blanks were filled in by your hectic mind as you fell to your knees and dove for the dropped gun. The dark figure that was fighting Rawlins was Matt–Daredevil currently. 

Gun in hand, you crawled backwards until your back hit a piece of equipment. Gunshots lit up areas of the room, enough to see that there were people in the room fighting, not just shooting at each other. You recognized Jessica Jones, the alcoholic PI who also had super strength, and Luke Cage, the invulnerable man. Seeing all of them made you realize the scale of this rescue mission.

Someone came to your corner and you raised your gun. Hands flew up, one holding a small pen light. It gave off enough illumination to realize it was David. 

"Micro," you exclaimed in confusion. 

"I heard there was a need for IT support," he said with a gesture towards your neck. "Just keep that gun handy and shoot any unfriendlies that might come our way."

He knelt down beside you and started fiddling with the device on your neck. You kept your gaze on the rest of the room while he worked, barely letting yourself think that this might still end with you dying after all. 

You caught a familiar sight coming through the door. Frank and Billy marched in wearing dark tactical gear. They both went over to where Matt was fighting Rawlins but you thought you saw them both look your way first. 

"Only one missing is Karen," you muttered as you cooked your head to the side to give Micro more room. 

"She's driving the getaway car and has a rocket launcher for protection," he offered through teeth clenched around the pen light. 

A rocket launcher? Jesus. 

A yell made you look forward once more. It looked like someone was down and was surrounded. Your stomach flipped until you realized who was still standing. Matt, Jessica, and Luke were on one side, Frank and Billy on the other. There were lumps all over the ground, the other men that had been keeping you captive. That meant the person on the ground was…

Frank knelt down beside the man and started to slam his fists into his face. Over and over and over. 

Then you couldn't see it anymore. Instead you were looking at legs. The person that was standing in front of you knelt down until you could see their face.

"Billy."

Your eyes had adjusted to the dark enough to see that he was looking you over. Since you could feel every bruise, abrasion, and cut on your face, you imagined what he was seeing wasn't very good. You gave him a smile that was probably more of a wince. 

"Shit. Are you…" 

You didn't think he was going to finish that sentence. It was obvious you weren't okay. Instead you took a deep breath and tried to ignore the pain that that brought. 

"You came for me."

He did a double take at that. Then he reached out and placed his hand gently on your knees which were bent at an odd angle. 

"Of course I…we did. Of course we did."

He pulled a knife from seemingly nowhere but you knew he usually kept one stashed on him. When you flinched, he clenched his jaw. Then he slowly moved the hand with the knife until he could cut the bonds around your ankles and knees.

"Aaaaand done!"

There was a click that accompanied Micro's words and then the device around your neck released some of the tension. He gently removed it from your neck and shoulders and stood up with it in his hands.

"This is a diabolical piece of hardware. If it had gone off, it would have been…I'm going to go…get rid of it."

You furrowed your eyebrows at his weirder than usual antics. When you turned to look at Billy to see if he noticed, he was glaring at Micro. 

Ah. That made sense. 

Frank came up to the two of you a moment later. Even though his suit was black, you could see the slickness of blood on him. You knew without a doubt Rawlins was dead. At this point they'd probably need to do DNA testing to get a positive ID. 

"Shit, how did you survive that? We need to get you out of here."

You tried to give him a smile but the reality of being safe meant that the adrenaline that had carried you through the events of the night was disappearing. All that was left in its wake was exhaustion and pain.

"I don't think I can walk," you admitted as you tried to force yourself to stand.

"I've got you. Just…I'm sorry, it's going to hurt."

Billy lifted you up, his arm around your waist. You winced but held on as tight as you could. Once you were upright, he ducked down and lifted your legs up in his other arm. Fully in his hold, you turned your face into his neck and closed your eyes. 

"You're safe now," Billy whispered into your ear.

You tried to stay awake and aware, but exhaustion swept over you. The feeling of being safe overwhelmed you and you slowly drifted off. 

—

1:12am

—

You woke up in the back of a car, your head pillowed on someone's lap. You squinted into the front and saw Karen in the passenger seat beside Frank. And Frank was…raising his gun out of the window?

And so was Karen. And so was whoever you were curled up on. You followed the arm above you to see Billy's face. He looked tense as he pointed the gun at something outside.

"You don't wanna do that kid," Frank said from the front seat. "This is not the car for you, you understand me?"

Oh. Someone must have been threatening to carjack you guys. Even if it wasn't the purge, you had a feeling that the reaction would have been the same. A few moments later you felt the car start moving again. 

Billy didn't drop the gun but his free hand lightly rested against your wrist. You reached up with your hand and covered his. 

"I'm right here sweetheart," he whispered down to you as he soothed his thumb over your wrist. "It's okay."

You closed your eyes again and nodded.

"I know it's okay. I'm safe with you."

The thumb paused and then continued to rub back and forth until you fell asleep again. 

—

2:30am

—

"All done," Curtis said quietly as he pulled off his gloves.

You peered up at him from where you were on a table in a secluded corner of the bunker. He'd met you all at the bunker and immediately started to work at patching you up. It had taken most of the first aid materials that were stored in the bunker before he was satisfied. 

"It'll take a few months for the nails to grow back," he said as he gestured to your wrapped fingertips. "The broken finger should heal in a few weeks. Everything else will take a few weeks but…you'll probably always have the scars."

You reached up and touched your face where you could feel various butterfly bandages. Curtis covered your hand and gently lowered it back down. 

"Not just those. The mental and emotional scars of your ordeal? Those are going to stick with you for a long time."

You nodded and closed your eyes. The moment you did, you saw Rawlins’ face. It made your eyes immediately pop back open. 

"I'll send Billy in."

With that Curtis went around the wall that separated this area from the rest of the bunker. You were alone for only a few moments before the anxiety fully gripped you. You slowly sat up on the table. As you started to swing your legs over the edge of the table, Billy came around from the direction Curtis had disappeared. 

"You shouldn't be getting up alone. Here. Let me help you to one of the cots."

He went to your side but hesitated. You sighed and tucked your hands against your stomach. 

"I'm sorry," you whispered. 

Billy nearly jumped away from you at that. 

"What in the hell are you apologizing for? You didn't do anything wrong."

"If I'd just closed earlier, none of this would have happened."

He swore at that. 

"You think this is your fault? You're an innocent bystander in all of this. You didn't deserve this. Rawlins only took you because he knew it would hurt me." He pressed his freehand on the table near you. "If either of us are to blame, it's me. Me and Frank are the reason…"

You reached out and covered Billy's hand with yours. He hesitated before he covered yours as well. 

"How about we just agree that he was a monster and the fault lies with him?"

Billy laughed at that. He bowed his head down and shook his head. 

"Have I thanked you for saving me?" 

His head shot up and he met your gaze. You watched as he seemed to fight with himself for a second before he leaned in and pressed a very gentle and chaste kiss against your lips. 

"You never have to thank me for that. You are one of the few people I actually care about. It's my job to protect you."

You thought about the words that he had almost said before you were kidnapped, the words you longed to say back to him. Then you leaned in and pressed a slightly longer kiss to his lips. 

For now you would keep the words to yourself, but not for long. You knew for a fact how short life could be.

—

7am

—

The siren sounded in the distance, a voice saying the annual purge was over. You heard the soft sighs of David and his family. Karen rubbed her red eyes and leaned a little heavier against a freshly showered Frank. He kissed her forehead before he looked over at you and Billy.

"It's over."

This year. You didn't want to think about that so instead you nodded. Billy's arm around you tightened. 

"Same routine as usual. Stay here for another hour to make sure everything is done out there. Then we go home and try to rest."

You thought about your diner, wondered if it was even still standing. As if he was reading your mind, Billy pressed a kiss to your temple.

"We'll check it but then I'm taking you home. I want to keep an eye on you for a few days."

"No complaints here," you said quietly as you leaned against his shoulder.

You met Karen's eye across the room. You knew that this has been a big deal for everyone. Not just your kidnapping although you knew they all cared about you. Also because this was the final revenge for both men. Frank got to kill the man that caused the death of his family and Billy apparently got to put a few bullets into him to start with. 

The purge was over. Maybe things would change and it would be the last one. Hopefully. If not, you knew next year you'd do things differently. 

Billy would see to that. He would keep you safe.

You felt him press a kiss to your temple again and you smiled in spite of your pain. It wasn't exactly a happy ending, but it was a good one either way. 

X

Thank you for reading this year’s Halloween fic! I hope you enjoyed.

[andromeddog]

pls talk more about your scottish highlander regiment ocs…… they are so enchanting.. i love the officers

anon i hope you are prepared for a lot of rambling under the cut

hello and welcome to my twisted mind.... i'll try to condense the 10k google doc of lore into something passable here. BASICALLY all of these ww1 guys are part of a web of interconnecting stories that intersect and span before/during/after the war. the main group are the four rugby boys who live in Stirling, Scotland and are drawn into the war in 1916 following the military service act...

from left to right we've got connor, james, peter, and johnny! excuse my bad handwriting but here's the jist of their dynamics. they play rugby together before everything goes to shit (peter is captain, james is the star player, johnny is stupidly reckless, and connor keeps getting into fights) a group of good guys, if a bit rowdy. they join up with the 14th Service Battalion of the Argyll & Sutherlands and spend most of the war fighting on the western front!

two old sketches of johnny and peter..... i think these r from like spring 2022? anyway i could go into more detail about their interpersonal issues but it's a lot and i feel like that could b its own post... ultimately connor gets killed taking out a stormtrooper (another oc) and peter loses a leg about a week later. james contracts influenza and gets sent home but eventually recovers, leaving johnny to finish out the war by himself. their group is definitely not the same after the war, and peter & james in particular really struggle with ptsd in the following years.

AND THE OFFICERS. WOO. aka toxic old man yaoi aka Lt Kincaide and Lt Irvine. these two spend like three full decades being catty and hating each other before they end up getting together LOL it goes something like this: kincaide is from a wealthy family, irvine is not, they meet at school and end up going to the same military academy prewar. they rly hate each other from the beginning and would probably just be petty rivals HOWEVER. irvine is sneaking around somewhere he 1000% should not be and catches kincaide in a very compromising position w another man. irvine intends to tattle but kincaide blackmails irvine into keeping quiet- irvine is there solely on scholarship and kincaide has enough social clout to ruin his military career. basically if kincaide goes down he's taking irvine with him.

that sets the stage for a decades long contentious relationship- partially bc they just keep bumping into each other. irvine obessively tries to find ways to end kincaide's career and kincaide loooooves fucking with him. individually they're very competent people- kincaide is an especially beloved officer even if he is a bit of a romantic snob, and irvine is insanely effective if a bit rigid and cold. these guys got issues on top of issues but proximity eventually leads to a healthy rivalry that becomes something like friendship that becomes basically being married. by the end of the war they are staples in each others lives but they dont get together until a decade or so after it's all over... they each take some damage during the war and spend their later years taking care of each other :')

my beloved old men. they are so fucked up. mutsache4mustache <3

there is so much i could say about them individually and the deep lore but im such a horrendous writer. also this is like a quarter of all of their stuff minus about four characters. the ideal format for this story would be a 300 chapter webcomic/graphic novel but i have neither time nor skill nor attention span for such a sprawling story so it'll just be random illustrations and blurbs in the tags. and my google docs. if any of this has interested ppl i've made a rugby boy playlist and an officers playlist bc im insane. you can get the vibes of their stories a lot better.

and uh i think thats a super rough version of these guys. anon i hope you know that i love you and this ask was so delightful to get <3

[teacakes1799]

a rowdy tavern commission with the bois!

© 2022

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Published: Apr 5, 2023

Prisha Mosley was 17 when she was first given testosterone in a clinic in North Carolina, after she had declared to her parents that she was a boy. She had struggled through her teen years with anorexia and depression after a sexual assault. Luka Hein had both breasts removed as a 16-year-old in Nebraska. Chloe Cole, in California, was a year younger when she had her double mastectomy. She had been on testosterone and puberty-blocking drugs since 13, also after a sexual assault.

All three girls were experiencing “gender dysphoria”, a feeling of intense discomfort with their own sexed bodies. Once a rare diagnosis, it has exploded over the past decade. In England and Wales the number of teenagers seeking treatment at the Gender Identity Development Service (gids), the main clinic treating dysphoria, has risen 17-fold since 2011-12 (see chart 1). An analysis by Reuters, a news agency, based on data from Komodo, a health-technology firm, estimated that more than 42,000 American children and teenagers were diagnosed in 2021—three times the count in 2017. Other rich countries, from Australia to Sweden, have also experienced rapid increases.

As the caseload has grown, so has a method of treatment, pioneered in the Netherlands, now known as “gender-affirming care”. It involves acknowledging patients’ feelings about a mismatch between their body and their sense of self and, after a psychological assessment, offering some of them a combination of puberty-blocking drugs, opposite-sex hormones and sometimes surgery to try to ease their discomfort. Komodo’s data suggest around 5,000 teenagers were prescribed puberty-blockers or cross-sex hormones in America in 2021, double the number in 2017.

Dysphoria furoria

The treatment is controversial. In many countries, but in America most of all, it has become yet another front in the culture wars. Many on the left caricature critics of gender-affirming care as callously disregarding extreme distress and even suicides among adolescents with gender dysphoria in their determination to “erase” trans people. Zealots on the right, meanwhile, accuse doctors of being so hell-bent on promoting gender transitions that they “groom” vulnerable teenagers—a term usually applied to paedophiles. In October supporters and critics of gender-affirming care held rival, rowdy protests outside a meeting of the American Academy of Paediatrics. Several American states, such as Florida and Utah, have passed laws banning gender-affirming care in children. Joe Biden, America’s president, has described such laws as “close to sinful”.

Almost all America’s medical authorities support gender-affirming care. But those in Britain, Finland, France, Norway and Sweden, while supporting talking therapy as a first step, have misgivings about the pharmacological and surgical elements of the treatment. A Finnish review, published in 2020, concluded that gender reassignment in children is “experimental” and that treatment should seldom proceed beyond talking therapy. Swedish authorities found that the risks of physical interventions “currently outweigh the possible benefits” and should only be offered in “exceptional cases”. In Britain a review led by Hilary Cass, a paediatrician, found that gender-affirming care had developed without “some of the normal quality controls that are typically applied when new or innovative treatments are introduced”. In 2022 France’s National Academy of Medicine advised doctors to proceed with drugs and surgery only with “great medical caution” and “the greatest reserve”.

There is no question that many children and parents are desperate to get help with gender dysphoria. Some consider the physical elements of gender-affirming care to have been life-saving treatments. But the fact that some patients are harmed is not in doubt either. Ms Mosley, Ms Hein and Ms Cole are all “detransitioners”: they have changed their minds and no longer wish to be seen as male. All three bitterly regret the irreversible effects of their treatment and are angry at doctors who, they say, rushed them into it. Ms Cole considers herself to have been “butchered by institutions we all thought we could trust”.

The transitioning of teenagers has its roots in a treatment protocol developed in the Netherlands in the 1980s and 1990s. It is built on three pillars: puberty-blockers (formally known as gnrh antagonists), cross-sex hormones and surgery. The goal was to alter the patient’s body to more closely match their sense of cross-sex identity, and thereby relieve their mental anguish. A pair of papers published in 2011 and 2014 by Annelou de Vries, one of the Dutch protocol’s pioneers, reported on the experiences of some of the first patients. They concluded that symptoms of depression decreased among patients taking puberty-blockers, and that gender dysphoria “resolved” and psychological functioning “steadily improved” after cross-sex hormones and surgery.

Transition ignition

Puberty-blockers do what their name suggests. The idea is that suspending unwanted sexual development can give patients time to think about their dysphoria, and whether or not they wish to pursue more drastic interventions. The same family of drugs is used to treat “central precocious puberty”, in which puberty begins very early. Some countries also use them to chemically castrate sex offenders. As with many other medicines used in children, the use of puberty-blockers in gender medicine is “off-label”, meaning that they do not have regulatory approval for that purpose.

Patients who decide to proceed with their transition are then prescribed cross-sex hormones. Males will see the development of breasts and alterations to how fat is stored on the body. Giving testosterone to females boosts muscle growth and causes irreversible changes such as deepening the voice, altering the bone structure of the face and the growth of facial hair.

Under the original Dutch protocol, surgery was permitted only after a patient turned 18, although as the cases of Ms Cole and Ms Hein show, in some places mastectomies occur at a younger age. Male patients can have artificial breasts implanted. More elaborate procedures, in which females have a simulated penis built from a tube of skin harvested from the forearm or the thigh, or males have an artificial vagina made in a “penile inversion”, are performed extremely rarely on minors.

In 2020 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (nice), a British body which reviews the scientific underpinnings of medical treatments, looked at the case for puberty-blockers and cross-sex hormones. The academic evidence it found was weak, discouraging and in some cases contradictory. The studies suggest puberty-blockers had little impact on patients. Cross-sex hormones may improve mental health, but the certainty of that finding was low, and nice warned of the unknown risks of lasting side-effects.

For both classes of drug, nice assessed the quality of the papers it analysed as “very low”, its poorest rating. Some studies reported results but made no effort to analyse them for statistical significance. Cross-sex hormones are a lifelong treatment, yet follow-up was short, ranging from one to six years. Most studies followed only a single set of patients, who were given the drugs, instead of comparing them with another set who were not. Without such a “control group”, researchers cannot tell whether anything that happened to the patients in the studies was down to the drugs, to other treatments the patients might be receiving (such as counselling or antidepressants), or to some other, unrelated third factor.

The upshot is that it is hard to know whether any of the supposed effects reported in the studies, whether positive or negative, are actually real. Reviews in Finland and Sweden came to similar conclusions. As the Swedish one put it, “The scientific base is not sufficient to assess…puberty-inhibiting or gender-opposite hormone treatment” in children.

Two American professional bodies, the Endocrine Society (es) and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (wpath) have also reviewed the science underpinning adolescent transitions. But es’s review did not set out to look at whether gender-affirming care helped resolve gender dysphoria or improve mental health by any measure. It focused instead on side-effects, for which it found only weak evidence. This omission, says Gordon Guyatt of McMaster University, makes the review “fundamentally flawed”. wpath, for its part, did look at the psychological effects of blockers and hormones. It found scant, low-quality evidence. Despite these findings, both groups continue to recommend physical treatments for gender dysphoria, and insist that their reviews and the resulting guidelines are sound.

One justification for puberty-blockers is that they “buy time” for children to decide whether to proceed with cross-sex hormones or not. But the data available so far from clinics suggest that almost all decide to go ahead. A Dutch paper published in October concluded that 98% of adolescents prescribed blockers decide to proceed to cross-sex hormones. Similarly high numbers have been reported elsewhere.

The reassuring interpretation is that blockers are being prescribed very precisely, given only to those whose dysphoria is deep-rooted and unlikely to ease. The troubling one is that puberty-blockers lock at least some children in to further treatment. “Time to Think”, a new book about gids by a British journalist, Hannah Barnes, cites British medical workers concerned by the latter possibility. They say patients received blockers after cursory and shallow examinations.

The Dutch researchers weigh both explanations. “It is likely that most people starting [puberty-blockers] experience sustained gender dysphoria,” they write. But, “One cannot exclude the possibility that starting [puberty-blockers] in itself makes adolescents more likely to continue medical transition.”

Perhaps the biggest question is how many of those given drugs and surgery eventually change their minds and “detransition”, having reconciled themselves with their biological sex. Those who do often face fresh anguish as they come to terms with permanent and visible alterations to their bodies.

Once again, good data are scarce. One problem is that those who abandon a transition are likely to stop talking to their doctors, and so disappear from the figures. The estimates that do exist vary by an order of magnitude or more. Some studies have reported detransition rates as low as 1%. But three papers published in 2021 and 2022, which looked at patients in Britain and in America’s armed forces, found that between 7% and 30% of them stopped treatment within a few years.

The original Dutch studies published in 2011 and 2014 were longitudinal—that is, they followed the same group of patients throughout their treatment. Yet three recent critiques published in the Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy nonetheless find fault with the studies’ data.

One of the new studies’ concerns is the small size of the original samples. The 2011 paper looked at 70 patients. But the outcome of treatment was only known for between 32 and 55 of them (the exact number depends on the specific measure). And even then, the final assessment of outcomes occurred around 18 months after surgery—a very short timeframe for a treatment whose effects will last a lifetime. (The first patient, “FG”, was followed for longer. In 2011, when in his mid-30s, researchers reported his feelings of “shame about his genital appearance” and of “inadequacy in sexual matters”. A decade later though, things had improved, and FG had a steady girlfriend.)

The critiques also suggest that the finding that gender dysphoria improved with treatment may have been an artefact of how the participants were assessed. Before treatment, female patients were asked to agree or disagree with such statements as, “Every time someone treats me like a girl I feel hurt.” This established their desire to be seen as male. After blockers, hormones and surgery the same individuals were asked questions on a scale originally developed for those born male. It offered statements such as, “Every time someone treats me like a boy I feel hurt.” Naturally, patients who preferred to be seen as male disagreed. In effect, the yardstick was changed in a way that might be seen as making positive outcomes more likely.

Finally, the original studies seem to have inadvertently cherry-picked patients for whom the treatment was most effective. The researchers started with 111 adolescents, but excluded those whose treatment with puberty-blockers did not progress well. Of the remaining 70, others were omitted from the final findings because they did not return questionnaires, or explicitly refused to do so, or dropped out of care or, in one case, died of complications from genital surgery. The data may therefore exclude precisely those patients who were harmed by or dissatisfied with their treatment.

In a rebuttal published in the same journal, Dr de Vries insists that the original papers found a significant improvement in gender dysphoria, the condition the protocol was designed to treat. She concedes that the switching of assessment scales is “not ideal” but says this does not imply the studies’ results were “’falsely’ measured”. In response to worries about the relatively short follow-up, she noted that a study reporting longer-term outcomes is due “in the upcoming years”.

What is more, whatever the merits of the Dutch team’s original research, the patients passing through modern clinics are strikingly different from those assessed in their papers. Twenty years ago the majority of patients were pre-pubescent boys; in recent years teenage girls have come to dominate (see chart 2). The findings of older research may not apply to today’s patients.

The Dutch team’s approach was deliberately conservative. Patients had to have suffered from gender dysphoria since before puberty. Many of today’s patients say they began to suffer from dysphoria as teenagers. The Dutch protocol excludes those with mental-health problems from receiving treatment. But 70% or more of the young people seeking treatment suffer from mental-health problems, according to three recent papers looking at patients in America, Australia and Finland.

Despite the protocol’s caution, says Will Malone of the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine, an international group of concerned clinicians, the reality is often the reverse, especially in America, with mental-health issues becoming a reason to proceed with transitions, rather than to stop them. “We are now told that if we don’t address young people’s mental-health problems caused by dysphoria with transition, they will kill themselves.”

Gender agenda

The original Dutch protocol emphasises the need for careful screening and assessments, as do official guidelines in most countries. But whatever the guidance, there are persistent allegations that it is not being followed in practice. “I had one 15-minute appointment before I was given testosterone,” says Ms Mosley. Many American patients contacted by The Economist reported similarly brief examinations.

The possibility that many teenagers presenting as trans could instead be gay has long been discussed. The Dutch study of 2011 found that 97% of the participants were attracted either to their own sex or to both sexes. In 2019 a group of doctors who resigned from gids told the Times, a British newspaper, of their worries about homophobia in some patients and parents. They worried that, by turning children into simulacra of the opposite sex, the clinic was, in effect, providing a new type of “conversion therapy” for gay children.

Both within America and without, whatever the loudmouths may claim, the vast majority of practitioners are simply trying to ease the genuine suffering of adolescents afflicted by gender dysphoria. But in America in particular the charged atmosphere has made it very difficult to separate the science from the politics.

European medical systems have not concluded that it is always wrong for an adolescent to transition. They are not trying to erase distressed patients. They have simply determined that more research and data are needed before physical treatments for gender dysphoria can become routine. Further research could, conceivably, lead to guidelines similar to those already in use by American medical bodies. But that is another way of saying that it is impossible to justify the current recommendations about gender-affirming care based on the existing data. 

[ Via: https://archive.is/oeQ6F ]

[mamamittens]

Onsen Delights (+18)

Day#5 of December Event 2022!

Fandom: One Piece

Ship: AceXOC(Saki)

Warnings: Nudity, possessiveness, dirty talk, unsafe sex, filthy sex, creampie, mating press, and biting/marking. Not necessarily in that order.

Word Count: 4,134

@spitfire-of-the-sea

If I need to make any changes, let me know!

It happens from time to time that a storm system moves by the Moby Dick and makes efficient travel impossible. Usually, it’s more along the lines of a hurricane or thunderstorm—rarely staying longer than a few days. But surprisingly for once, it was an entire artic winter system. And they were visiting an island at the time.

In short, the whole ship was beset in ice before they could reasonably leave, which was very impressive considering the sheer size of their ship. So, until the ice was sufficiently melted (or one of the commanders or Whitebeard got bored and broke the ice without damaging the hull), they were locked in place. The fact that this didn’t happen immediately could be contributed to only one simple fact.

The island was famed for hot springs and onsens. As well as their booze.

And they certainly weren’t going to turn down good business.

To keep down in fighting it was decided that parts of the crew would enjoy the amenities of the island at a time. Commanders with their crews and a small portion of those that didn’t get to go with their division to keep the ship running properly. It wouldn’t be a good idea if the entire kitchen staff was let off at the same time, or the medical division after all. Ace was just glad that he happened to be off with a good portion of his old crew. It had been a while since they’d hung out as a group—their responsibilities keeping them elsewhere most of the time.

Thatch tossed his arm over Ace’s shoulder with a rough chuckle, handing him a pass with his name engraved on it. A keepsake the island gave out for their inn with private onsens.

“Don’t forget, your room will have your name on the left side of the door. It’s near the more secluded onsens too.” Thatch winked, “Commander privilege.” He explained. Ace scoffed.

“I heard you the first time, Thatch! Geez, I’m not that forgetful!” Ace shoved the older man away with a laugh. For some reason, several of his brothers had been very insistent on reminding him where his room was. It reeked of a prank of some kind, but Ace was never one to turn down a challenge.

And they couldn’t do anything too destructive since they’d have to explain to Whitebeard why damages needed to be paid. He’d laugh it off, probably, but everyone tended to be embarrassed when it came time to explain the more disastrous incidences to their captain and father.

Regardless, Thatch sighed, ruffling his hair, before shrugging.

“Alright, I got it. You’re a big boy and can handle yourself. We just want to spoil our little brother—is that a crime?” Thatch bemoaned with the most fake ass tears in the corner of his eyes. Ace briefly contemplated shoving his boot into Thatch’s face but decided the best response was to ignore the dramatics completely and get cleaned up for the onsen. “Ah! My concern is being brushed off like snowflakes! Marco! Our baby brother doesn’t love me anymore! What do I do?!”

“Die I guess, yoi.”

“Marco you ass!”

Ace cackled as he retreated into the building, finding the bathing section for the onsen marked on his pass. A kindly old woman presented him with a package for the bath and Ace made sure to keep his manners in mind, bowing deeply as he accepted the bundle.

“Thank you, ma’am. I apologize in advance for my rowdy crew.” Ace offered. She laughed softly, wrinkled skin bending around her lips in humor.

“Oh, don’t you worry about me, young man. You’re hardly the worst pirate crew I’ve served in our inn. Enjoy yourself, you hear me? That’ll be thanks enough for this old woman.” She declared before shuffling off to tend to something else. Ace smiled and did just that.

Making sure to wash himself thoroughly before grabbing a towel and heading into one of the private onsen. There were several small areas separated by walls for private parties or small groups in a larger party. Likely in case families want to enjoy the hot springs but didn’t want to mingle with in laws or children at the same time. It was hard to say, really. Snow fell in light flurries, melting inches before the ground from the heat. Paper lanterns were hung from the walls as lighting, giving off a hazy amber glow.

He didn’t notice the small figure in the mist above the water at first, focused on setting aside his hat and towel where it wouldn’t get wet. His devil fruit made such luxuries as this a… bit of a gamble. But thankfully with practice shallow pools were no issue for him. Aside from lack of access to his powers, he suffered no side effects from the waters. Glancing across the area Ace felt his heart stutter.

“Saki!” Ace instinctively cried out in joy, completely ruining the sight before him.

His old crewmate-turned-reluctant-Whitebeard-nurse jerked out of her relaxed state. Leaning against the far rock outcropping with a towel over her eyes, completely naked under the glow of the lamplight. Blond hair silver and gold against her bare, white skin. She hissed in surprise, gray eyes narrowed at him before pausing in shock.

“Ace? Ack! What are you doing?!” Saki yelped, arms splashing in the water to cover her breasts. Ace pouted, ignoring the throb of his dick.

“What a weird question, what’s it look like I’m doing?” Ace scoffed, brushing off the obvious issue with his presence. He treaded closer to his friend, eyes helplessly drawn across her damp skin.

So, he… may have a problem. A Saki-specific problem. Usually, it wasn’t that much of an issue. He hid it well… well enough. But found himself inevitably drawn to her anytime she was around. And it was really coming back to bite him in the ass.

Not that he was a perv or anything but… Saki looked really fucking good right now. Skin flush with heat and dewy, hair pulled back off her neck except for rogue strands that clung to her body, and the mist from the hot spring a hazy film that drew his eyes to her arms. Arms that mostly served to push up her breasts and begged to be touched, to see if they were as soft as they looked.

“Oi! Eyes up here, Ace!” Ace flushed, grinning apologetically in a way that usually earned him forgiveness faster from Saki, as he looked at her eyes. Dark mole under the corner of her right eye prominent even in the soft light.

“…Sorry, Saki.” Ace mumbled, reaching out to stroke her shoulder without thinking. A gesture he’d done countless times—a side effect of his ‘Saki-problem’. His fingers slipped over her damp skin and he briefly marveled at the sensation. He felt his core tighten as heat throbbed, familiar arousal teasing him for being a coward.

“Hey, you still haven’t explained why you’re here right now, Ace! You’re supposed to go to the section next to your room!” Saki explained. “This is the women’s area.” Ace whined, once again thinking only with his dick as he buried his face in her shoulder. Her soft, natural scent strong as she yelped, hands pushing against his chest to dislodge his weight.

“This place is so confusing! I thought I was in the right section! How was I supposed to knooooowwwwww, Sah-kiiiii?” Ace whined, lips brushing over her neck as he briefly forgot the situation. Mainly, his erection.

But damn if he didn’t remember suddenly as the tip brushed across her plush thighs. Ace groaned, shuddering softly as he wrapped his arms around her frame.

“Ace!” Saki hissed, poking his abdomen hard to no avail. “You! Are! Naked! Get off me!” It took all of his willpower to stay still. Uncertain if he’d be able to refrain from exposing himself if he moved.

“…soft.” Ace huffed, brushing his hands down her shoulders as he clearly felt her heartbeat through her back. She stiffened, breasts brushing across his chest.

It felt like a dream. Like the best dream—the kind he only seemed to get moments before he was rudely awakened for one reason or another.

“A-Ace! I can feel you, you know!?” Saki hissed, grabbing his hair and tugging, earning a sharp groan as he reflexively pressed against her body. “G-Get out and take care of it, damnit! Stop digging it in!”

Ace huffed.

“What’s the point? It’ll just come right back when I see you…” Ace groaned.

His eyes popped open in horror.

He just admitted to being turned on by his best friend.

Chronically hard at the sight of her.

Saki was also frozen, shocked and likely disgusted.

“…What did you just say?” Saki whispered, fingertips delicately pressed into his spine. Her heart fluttered under his palms.

Ace cleared his throat and nervously pulled back, flustered and horrified.

“Ah-haha! Nothing! Nothing! I-I just—you know what, you’re right! I’m in the wrong place! I should go—” Ace started to the exit quickly, “I’m an idiot, I can’t believe I got lost! I’ll n-never live it down! You definitely don’t want me here—why would you—”

“Why wouldn’t I?!” Saki barked. Ace froze, one foot on the stone pathway and ass totally exposed as he looked over his shoulder. She also paused, face flushed as she looked around desperately, hands waving around in embarrassment. “I-I mean, y-you’re here to relax! Not to b-b-bother with me—uhm, why… why would you want to be in here when you could be enjoying some alone time! Big ship! Big crew! N-Not a lot of space to be alone, is there! N-Not that I’ve thought about that—of course not!”

Ace slowly stepped back into the water; eyes locked on Saki as she floundered to cover her ass. Completely exposing herself to him in the meantime as he slowly began to grin.

So… maybe there was a mutual problem between them after all?

She only fell silent when she realized he was right in front of her. His hands planted on the stones beside her, caging her in as he grinned. Eyes burning into her.

“It sure is a big crew.” Ace began, much to her obvious confusion. “And a big ship… weird how I keep finding my way to you. Every time you walk into a room, I’m right there. When we eat. Party. Plan. Fight. If you’re there… I’m right beside you. I don’t even notice when it happens—it feels so natural. It feels natural being with you… don’t you think so?” Ace asked softly, still grinning a little wildly as his heart was pounding.

Maybe it was the heat and winter air mixing around them making him dizzy. Maybe it was how close he was to Saki’s everything right now. Her most intimate and soft places totally within arm’s reach. Or maybe his head was spinning because for the first time, he seriously suspected that she liked him too.

“Yeah… yeah it does.” Saki admits quietly, her words brushing across his lips as he leaned in closer. Her eyes glanced away anxiously. “…C-Cause we’re such great friends, right?”

“And we want to be more, right?” Ace echoed, enjoying the shock as her eyes widened, pupils constricting as she looked back at him. Then the gray shrank, turning into a slim ring of silver and gold, reflected candlelight.

His whole body tensed. Teeth clenched as the confirmation struck him down to his heels before she even said a word.

“Fuck yes…” Saki whispered, eyes wide still with shock. The sound of her voice going straight to his cock as he pressed his lips against hers, slipping his arms around her body.

He pressed his body against hers completely, hands rubbing over her skin and squeezing the soft curves. Her moan buzzed against his lips as her head tipped back. Leaning into his embrace eagerly. His cock nestled perfectly between her thighs, accidentally sliding across her hot cunt. Ace groaned, pulling back as they panted for air.

Testing, Ace gripped her ass and gently thrust into her thighs. Something hotter and more slick than water covering his cock as Saki gripped his biceps with a moan.

“Ngh.” Ace grunted, relishing the feeling a moment longer before huffing. “Too fast?” He asked hoarsely. Saki shook her head.

“N-No… but maybe we shouldn’t dirty the water.” Saki laughed, moaning as he thrust his hips forward harshly again, just to see her reaction.

“But you look good like this.” Ace groaned, gently grabbing a fistful of hair to pull her back, presenting her breasts to him. He eagerly took advantage of her willingness, still grinding against her as he tested the soft skin with his teeth and tongue.

Softer and more malleable than he ever dreamed of, the pale skin was easily marked under his teeth and lips.

“A-Ace~!” Saki whined, reaching back to pull his hair as she shook, her thighs trembling around his cock. “S-Stop! W-We might get s-seen!” Ace dug under her trapped breast with his tongue, popping the nipple into his mouth hungrily. Still fucking her thighs.

The blood was rushing between his head and cock, muddying his thoughts outside of how fucking good she felt. A delight to his senses—all of them.

But then he remembered that this wasn’t entirely a private area. Anyone from his division could come in at any time.

They could see what he was doing to Saki at any moment.

Huffing, heat building in his chest, Ace released her tit from his mouth and looked at her face. She was flushed and panting, eyes almost closed as she cried out softly with every thrust of his cock against her cunt.

Absolutely not.

No one was going to get to see this.

His cock screamed, on the edge of release as he pulled away completely. His hands gently guiding her out of the water.

“You’re right.” Ace huffed. “We should take this to my room.” Saki stumbled, legs trembling as they got out of the water. Partially because he wanted to make sure she wasn’t soaking wet when they walked to his room, Ace briskly patted her off with his towel. Unable to resist kissing her skin as he pressed the fabric against it.

He managed to mark her breasts without a word but Saki shoved him when he tried to do the same to her thighs. Ace scoffed but allowed it… for the moment.

He wasn’t holding back when they got to his room though.

Carefully tucking her dry towel over her body, Ace knotted the damp fabric of his at his waist, scooping up his hat and placing it on her head.

Ace didn’t bother with anything else, dragging her behind him as he looked for his room. Once he spotted it—having thankfully never run into anyone else along the way—he reached for the door.

“I-I thought we were going to your room?” Saki whispered. Ace glanced at her with a raised brow.

“We are?” Ace lifted up his hand with hers, the wooden plate reading his name as he gestured to the left side of the door. “See? It’s got my name.”

Saki reached out and opened the door.

“I put my stuff away before I went to bath…” Saki explained.

Ace looked into the room and, to his surprise, she was right. Her things were packed away neatly next to the large futon. Toiletry bag placed near the bathroom door with her hairbrush.

“…They told me to make sure I went to the right room. Thatch even told me twice to look for my name on the left side.” Ace muttered, slowly leading the two of them into the room. Suddenly, he laughed. “Hah! Hey, think they were trying to set us up?” Ace asked.

Saki chuckled, cheeks burning as she nodded.

“Yeah… I think so. I was told the same, but on the right side.”

“Huh… Anyway! Where were we?” Ace asked, scooping Saki up into his arms and tossing her down onto the futon. He kneeled over her, gently removing her towel with a grin. “That’s right… we were right here, weren’t we?” Ace kissed her breasts, reaching up to cradle them in his hands. Their plush weight spilling over between his fingers.

“A-Ace!” Saki moaned in surprise as he licked up at her nipple, worrying the bud between his teeth before sucking it into his mouth hungrily. Her nails dug into his shoulders and scalp as she cried out. He fed off of her reactions and the delightfully soft skin of her breasts in equal measure. Heartbeat pulsing on his tongue as he groaned. Not one to hold back, he gave the other the same treatment, leaving marks along her supple skin.

His erection ached fiercely, reminding him of how soft her thighs were.

And with that reminder, Ace moved down. Nipping at the soft skin of her stomach as he groped her waist. Restlessly, her legs kicked under him, catching on the towel and ripping it off. But Ace was focused only on one thing.

Her thighs spilled over his hands as he slowly pulled them apart. Sinfully soft under his lips and teeth as he nipped the plush skin. And as eager as he was to mark her thighs—that haunted him for months after he saw her wear a bikini once—his mouth watered for something… sweeter.

Ace’s tongue parted her cunt in a firm lick, Saki’s whole body jolting in surprise as he toyed with her clit. Lapping at it as he reluctantly released one of her thighs to play with her body. Slipping his fingers into the growing mess before dipping inwards. Stretching her out slowly. Her hands anchored in his hair as she cried out noisily for him. And he kissed her pussy like it would silence her mewling lips. Tongue forcing his fingers apart as he tasted her. Only driving her to cry out louder.

He knew he was likely bruising her thigh as he gripped it, but he only sought to keep her still under him. To fight off her instinct to buck against him. Ace grinned and panted against her cunt.

“Thanks for the meal.” Ace laughed before diving in, ignoring Saki’s embarrassed screech. Curling his fingers against her walls as she clenched down against him. His tongue dripping with spit and arousal. His cock ached and smeared precum on the bed, but he was far from done.

Finally releasing her thigh, Ace moved both his hands to her waist, lifting her body up for him. Eagerly eating out her dripping cunt as she squeezed against his face. It fell from his chin as he ate her out messily, the lewd sounds turning him on further as he thrust his tongue in deep. Curling up against a spot that made her tremble relentlessly.

“A-Ace! Ace! O-Oh Ace—y-yes! Ah~!” Saki moaned, arching up into his lips and hands, creaming on his tongue. Ace swallowed harshly, lapping up the excess and chasing it as it ran down her thighs eagerly. Cleaning up her soaked cunt, lungs aching as he caught his breath.

“You’re lucky I’m hard as a rock, Saki. Otherwise you wouldn’t get me off your sweet lips with sea stone.” Ace panted, wiping off his chin with a grin. Saki was flushed and panting, eyes wet with unshed tears.

“S-Shut the fuck up, Ace!” Saki whined. Ace pressed a cheeky kiss to her clit.

“The only way you’ll do that is if you let me kiss you.” Ace winked, licking her trembling cunt again. Saki reached down and pulled him up. Slamming her lips into his with a moan.

Ace chuckled against her lips, lifting up one of her legs to place it on his shoulder. Bracing himself on one hand, Ace let his cock slip against her cunt. Coating it in the mixture of spit and arousal before placing the tip against her. With his tongue dominating the kiss, he was treated to the intimate feeling of her moan as he split her open. Hotter than the water they left, Ace groaned as he slowly bottomed up in the tight squeeze.

Despite his aching cock, Ace kept a slow pace. Thrusting against Saki as he tasted her soft cries. Crowding her against the futon as she was pinned open for him. He made sure to reach deeply, panting into her lips as he started going faster. Harder.

“Ace!” Saki yelped, her ankle digging into his spine. Ace let go of her leg, now confident she would hold onto him. Roughly toying with her breasts as he slammed against her thighs, causing her whole body to jerk under him.

“I’m not too much for you, am I Saki?” Ace taunted, eyeing her bouncing tits and the many marks he made. “Not regretting letting me fuck you in half, are you?”

“No! N-No! A-Ace—ooooh! Ace! Ace!” Saki cried out, trembling around him as he kissed her exposed neck. Tasting her heartbeat with his tongue. Her other leg curled around his hips, pulling him closer as he bit down hard. Groaning as she clenched down on his thick cock.

“Fuck yes. Keep it up, pretty baby. Take it for me.” Ace groaned, bracing himself as he picked up her other leg and threw it over his shoulder. Now railing into her plush thighs hard. “Fuck! Look at you, fucked out on my cock. You like that? Like being split open on my cock, baby?” Ace growled.

Saki nodded, the motion stuttered under his rough thrusts.

“Yes! Yes! I-I love it!” Saki mewled, trembling and crying out for him.

“Then why aren’t you cumming for me? Do I need to fuck you harder, Sa-ki?” Ace panted, shoving his knees under her body to lift up her hips. “This is all for you. It’s only fair that you take everything that’s yours… and I take everything that’s mine. What do you need Sa-ki ba-by? Tell me what will make you cum.”

“O-Oh, yes! A-Ace please f-fuck me harder~!” Saki moaned. Ace eager to do so, slammed down against her, letting the bounce against her ass grow harsh as he fucked her. “C-Cum! I-I w-want it! Please!” Saki screamed.

Ace, startled, slamming down to the hilt and without thought, came. Pouring into her quivering cunt as she moaned, squeezing his pulsing cock. The both of them riding out their high.

Ace was stunned. She… actually came just from that... Slowly, carefully, Ace pulled out. Watching the thick mixture drip from her cunt. His cock throbbed as he grew hard again.

Ace grinned, effortlessly holding up her trembling body as he bit her thigh. Watching as she clenched down, more of his cum dripping from her. His. All of it his, as it should be. He smeared his finger into the thick stream and pushed it back in.

“Teasing me for months and now you waste my cum? Tsk.” Ace chided Saki softly. Lifting up her knees and bracing them against her breasts. Fat of her thighs and tits struggling in the narrow space. Ace’s cock throbbed. “I’m sure you’ll get it right this time.”

Ace speared into her cunt again, the slide effortless despite the tight squeeze.

Saki moaned loudly, struggling to arch her back against the pressure on her knees keeping her down and open.

Ace couldn’t help but give a lewd laugh, kissing her panting lips as he sank deep.

“We have so much to catch up on.” Ace promised. “So, you’re going to take it this time, right? Cause you’re mine. Right?” Ace whispered as Saki trembled.

“Y-Yours!” Saki cried out.

“Good.” Ace growled, fucking her into the futon with lewd, wet slaps. Saki’s voice slurring in a litany of cries and agreement to everything he said.

And Ace encouraged her debauched desperation with his own eagerness. Driving her wild and over the edge again and again until they were exhausted.

Saki looked good in the onsen, naked and wet. But she looked divine in his arms, thighs dripping with his cum and littered with hickeys. At this point, Ace didn’t care if he had to thank his brothers or his own poor sense of direction. He was just glad he finally got touch every inch of Saki’s soft body.

“… Love you, ‘ce.” Saki breathed against his neck, closing her eyes as exhaustion finally took her out. His cock throbbed but went ignored, slowly slipping out of her cunt as it softened. Ace grunted as it fell, resting heavily between her thighs in a lewd smear of cum.

“Love you too, Saki.” Ace whispered back, pulling the blanket over them both before following her into sleep.

[qyuoza]

NO CELESTIAL! — Profiles 2: LOSERS (Official)

Hwang Y/n - Top student of her year and is very popular but keeps to herself a lot. Avoids drama so she’s very neutral most of the time. Is very rowdy around her group of friends exclusively.

Huh Yunjin - Y/n’s best friend besides Jeongin and Beomgyu. Always the best at giving advice when anyone needs it. A party girl who manages to keep her life in check.

Yang Jeongin - The third member of the chaotic bermuda triangle, alongside Y/n and Yunjin. Is pretty popular amongst students for fashion advice and just fashion in general. Doesn’t need to try because he’s just naturally smart.

Shin Yuna - A new friend of Y/n’s that she made in her after school academy who also goes to HYB Elite Academy. A softball varsity at the school. Well known as a boy magnet but puts her passions and studies first.

Lee Chaeryeong - Leader of HYB Elite’s dance crew alongside her sister, Lee Chaeyeon. Student body secretary that does her job well. Very chaotic on the sidelines when school isn’t involved.

Hwang Hyunjin - Everyone thinks he’s related to Y/n but really they aren’t related in any way whatsoever. Art department head and leader, he’s the best of the best. Dances in his free time and is part of the dance troop.

Han Jisung - Underground rapper that goes by J.One along with his group 3RACHA that consists of two other members. Almost always there but he doesn’t know why either. Popular and is seen at every party there is.

Kim Seungmin - Shy but sweet friend that everyone loves. Has a thing with Y/n but they aren’t even official so it’s more so just more than friends but less than lovers. Lets go of Y/n in the long run because they were never serious to begin with. A vocalist in the music department.

masterlist.

prev. // next.

taglist (open! js send me an ask or dm to be added): @blurredplatform @ox1-lovesick

© qyuoza 2022 -. no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any manner without the permission from the publisher.

[colemckenzies]

I posted 3,319 times in 2022

1,213 posts created (37%)

2,106 posts reblogged (63%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@colemckenzies

@thebreakfastgenie

@doctorhawkeye

@kies-carreras

@flightlesslovers

I tagged 2,446 of my posts in 2022

Only 26% of my posts had no tags

#q - 806 posts

#mash - 49 posts

#anne with an e - 41 posts

#community - 35 posts

#boy meets world - 32 posts

#hawk plays things - 30 posts

#hawk plays danganronpa - 28 posts

#ted lasso - 28 posts

#star trek - 27 posts

#:) - 25 posts

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

See the full post

299 notes - Posted April 6, 2022

#4

my good friend ishmael emailing me his whale scrapbook . his whale tumblr webweave.

395 notes - Posted December 5, 2022

#3

everyone in the whale weekly tag talking about ishmael being suicidally depressed no one talking about how his intrusive thought about it is to knock people's hats off.

525 notes - Posted November 21, 2022

#2

See the full post

665 notes - Posted April 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

when the porridge starts getting a little rowdy in the microwave so you have to open the door until it settles down

37,033 notes - Posted May 5, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[jankwritten]

I posted 9,419 times in 2022

That's 9,419 more posts than 2021!

246 posts created (3%)

9,173 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@kindofapieceofshit

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I tagged 4,098 of my posts in 2022

#pjo - 460 posts

#jason grace - 431 posts

#hoo - 369 posts

#nico di angelo - 277 posts

#percy jackson - 178 posts

#leo valdez - 134 posts

#jasico - 105 posts

#annabeth chase - 90 posts

#omgcp - 75 posts

#piper mclean - 72 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#in the meantime. love y’all. anyone who reads this and anyone who doesn’t. y’all are important no matter who you are. you deserve to hear it

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Jason and Nico being able to unmask around one another for pretty much the first time ever is one of my favorite things about them. Like no matter if their relationship is romantic or platonic or if they're even just acquaintances, I feel like there's always this prevailing sense that the two of them get each other better than most people get them. They also both suffer the same "curse" of identity - they want people to see them for who they are, but people tend to only see them for who their parent is. They hear Jason Grace and think son of Jupiter before they think anything else. They hear Nico di Angelo and they think child of Hades before any other thought comes to mind. These two are the only people for each other (that they know of so far, anyways) who hear their names and think friend, or dork, or nerd about temples first.

Sure, I understand that they didn't always start out that way. Jason in canon had a LOT of issues to work through when he was on the Argo - he had his memories wiped, he was in a relationship with a girl he wasn't sure he really remembered, he was being told to be a leader even though Percy also wanted to be a leader, and so he treated Nico the way he did because it was what everyone else expected of him. But then he saw Nico open up, or more he saw Nico be forced to open up, and he realized that he didn't have to obey what everyone else thought anymore. He saw this guy who was struggling, who was hurt and hated and he saw himself in that guy, and he wanted to help.

I just think Jason and Nico's relationship is so fucking awesome. The one that they tend to have in fanon, anyways, I haven't reread HoO recently enough to form an opinion about their canon relationship. I think it's fucking awesome that we have these two characters that, to us, bond so well.

238 notes - Posted April 29, 2022

#4

currently writing an AU where Chiron convinces Sally to take Nico home after the summer camp session is done because despite all they've tried, Nico isn't getting better mentally and it's clear that the atmosphere around camp is inhibiting him (kids still treating him like shit, his own feelings of inadequacy regarding his parentage, the way it reminds him of waiting for Bianca and Percy to come back only to learn Bianca would never come back, etc.)

So Sally Jackson takes Nico home with her and Percy, and Percy is PISSED. Like beyond angry, will not talk to Nico and is a total dick to him most of the time because he's a 17 year old boy who's finally going to see his mama again and NOW HE'S GOT THIS SHITTY LITTLE FUCKING SIDEKICK who he's still not TOTALLY convinced isn't in love with his girlfriend despite Nico literally coming out to him. In this AU Percy is definitely still dealing with a lot of his own trauma and none of it in a super healthy manner - hence, he hates Nico.

At least, that's how it was supposed to go. Now Percy and Nico have bonded into essentially being brothers. They wrestle in the backyard so often Sally has taken to spraying them with the garden hose when they're being too rowdy. They bicker and fight over whose turn it is to walk Mrs. O'Leary. They end up having to go to the same school (Nico kept getting kicked out of the other ones) and Percy defends Nico from people being dicks while simultaneously being a dick to him (but lovingly).

I love it when AUs get totally out of hand from what I originally wanted them to be and I elect to make this Jason Grace's fault for becoming Nico's boyfriend when I wasn't paying attention. Jason put Percy and Nico into a get-along shirt.

also Nico and Annabeth become good friends because she's around a lot and she finds him an invaluable resource on the topics that she can never wrap her head around, things that are too old to even really be in any online databases - things that Nico can access by speaking to the dead. They start off being very iffy about one another but by the end they are also Practically Siblings.

309 notes - Posted May 10, 2022

#3

I think that Jason has a stuffed animal that one of his guardians in New Rome have to him when he was a baby. A wolf or a fox or some other dog/cat-like creature - maybe even a stuffed hellhound or something, something that he rediscovers on accident while in the 5th Cohort’s barracks, something that makes him sit down on the floor holding it in his hands and cry, for some reason, something he can’t even remember but he knows was important to him once upon a time.

460 notes - Posted October 9, 2022

#2

Okay so the last time I read HoO was in middle school, like JUST before blood of olympus came out, so ofc i have a very bad memory for the details of certain scenes but like this 100% happened, I thought that maybe i didn't remember it right or something but. I mean it's right there so.

1,190 notes - Posted September 1, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

See now I think it would be really funny if IN CANON Hermes was Lin Manuel Miranda. Like in the show he is still the exact same as he is IRL. Hermes wrote Hamilton. He got bored of listening to Apollo prattling on about Broadway so he went out in disguise as a mortal and Did That.

That’s the only way I will accept him as Hermes, is if THAT is the reason.

4,711 notes - Posted November 7, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

(Tumblr telling me how to use tags makes me want to throttle somebody KAMDKCKMSNF BUT THIS WAS FUN TO SEE)

[wolfswitcheryanimations]

I posted 158 times in 2022

That's 51 more posts than 2021!

115 posts created (73%)

43 posts reblogged (27%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@abkspam

@nightvalezine

@aprofessionalwithoutstandards

@clockworkcheetah

@wolfswitcheryanimations

I tagged 140 of my posts in 2022

Only 11% of my posts had no tags

#art - 115 posts

#artists on tumblr - 113 posts

#tf2 - 30 posts

#team fortress 2 - 22 posts

#original art - 20 posts

#tf2 fanart - 14 posts

#sonic - 13 posts

#tf2 heavy - 10 posts

#oc - 9 posts

#sonic fanart - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 47 characters

#medic can wear senketsu bc he's built different

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

You know what? I like you. *sonicfies your queer horror podcast protags*

(Picrew by @crowesn , link under pictures)

See the full post

40 notes - Posted April 29, 2022

#4

Hey gamers! Anatomically-Correct Heart Eyes Chapter 6 is taking quite a bit of time to write, so to pass the time, here's a little spotify playlist!

I tried to make the order of songs line up with the story, but if you don't give two shits about my fanfic, you can enjoy the mildly disturbing love songs and two versions of "Lay All Your Love On Me" regardless.

So what are you waiting for, go and listen to some bangers! (And check out Anatomically-Correct-Heart-Eyes on Ao3 and Fanfiction.net!

ID: The first image has Medic has his eyes closed and his hands upholding his head, little love hearts to the right of his head. Heavy is behind him, looking confused. In the top left is text saying "ROMANCE AND VIOLENCE, HELL YEAH - A Red Oktoberfest Playlist", with the two's emblems on top.

The second image, below the playlists' title, is a list of the songs in the playlist, them being The Mighty Fall - Fall Out Boy, Hold It In - Jukebox the Ghost, Obsessed With You - The Orion Experience, Mamma Mia - ABBA, Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town - Talking Heads, Everybody Talks - Neon Trees, UWU (Band Version) - Chevy, Park Bird, The Too Much Song - Lemon Demon, Love, Me Normally - Will Wood, Take Me to Church - Hosier, Your Body, My Temple- Will Wood, Lay All Your Love On Me - ABBA, Lay All Your Love On Me - Brian David Gilbert, A Little Bit Mine - Will Wood, I Love You for Psychological Reasons - TMBG, and Happy Together (feat. Ray Toro) - Gerald Way. Below that is text saying "I WILL TAKE SONG REQUESTS!" End ID)

41 notes - Posted February 11, 2022

#3

[ID: Knuckles and Sonic being held up by Tails, who is trying to hold both of them up. End ID]

Wasn't expecting Sonic to be my new hyperfixation, but then again I was expecting to not expect something, so it doesn't count.

+ Bonus meme redraw, original by @makohjey

See the full post

54 notes - Posted April 20, 2022

#2

6 ships thing I did on Instagram! 5 out of 6 ships on this chart would kill you without hesitation!

See the full post

56 notes - Posted May 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

[ID: The Rowdy Three van from DGHDA, shown from it's left side, all beat up and covered in graffiti. End ID]

Ok, so this was going to have the R3 all littered around it, but that would've taken forever to draw, so here's a van.

Commissions

141 notes - Posted April 19, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[mai-han]

Several announcements will play in sequence:

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶ :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧ ALL TIMES ARE IN PACIFIC TIME  ✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶ :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

This week's schedule has been swapped around!

Monday: Fortnite with the Rowdy Ruckus Boys at 8:30 PM Tuesday: GENSHIN IMPACT  (8:30 PM or earlier)  Wednesday: Harvestella (9:00 PM or later) Thursday: FFXIV 6.25 - Another Sil'dihn Subterane progging (V&C Dungeon Spoilers) (Around 8:30 PM) Friday: Harvestella at 6:30 PM Saturday: GENSHIN IMPACT (Starts at 10:30 AM and streaming all day for my birthday !)

 ✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶ :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧  GENSHIN IMPACT SPONSOR STREAM INFORMATION ✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶ :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧ 

I've been wanting to get back into Genshin, and with perfect timing, received an opportunity for some sponsored streams, and need your help! 

I am offering a quest to new players to sign up on mobile and reach adventure Rank 6 with me! You can play on mobile or PC but you must signed up on mobile first!

Requirements 

Use my unique link to sign up: https://strms.net/genshin_na_maihan_ 

You must be a new player. Existing players with new accounts on the same machine do not count. 

You must sign up on mobile FIRST. Genshin Impact can be played on Mobile or PC, but you must sign up on mobile first 

Reach adventure rank 6! 

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶ :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧  Regarding Harvestella  ✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶ :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

I will be playing as much Harvestella as I can this week, but will put it on hold until after I play and beat Crisis Core Reunion (releases Dec 13) 

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶ :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧ Save The Date! ✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶ :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

On Thursday, December 15, 2022 7:00 PM I will be participating in a stream raid train! Please join the festivities!

Check out everyone on the train here!: https://tinyurl.com/bdb57jac

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶ :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧ Feeding America ✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: ༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶ :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

Thanks to everyone's generosity, we're nearly half way to our goal! You can donate to or share this link: https://tiltify.com/@maihan/hanchus-feeding-america