#Sorry for any bad camera quality

[theoceantrenches]

Did little portraits of the rest of the crew as well

[nebulaleaf]

HERE IT IS. THE FULL JOKER PERSONA 5 COLLECTION* IN ALL IT'S GLASS CABINET'D GLORY. it's super cluttered but I really really wanted it all in one place. guess i'll have to find a second matching cabinet... Anyway my fave shelves are probably the plushie shelf and the one with all the steelbooks on it. I'm kinda surprised by that as I threw together the bottom one without much care but ay! *It's missing the entire p5 manga, anthology, 2 scale figures, and some other stuff i can't fit lol. Full length shelf under the cut bcos its long.

not pictured is the 93874389723 other prints I have above the shelf and wall scroll.

[allthecastlesonclouds]

wait can we pls see your fh ship chart???

yeah! here ya go :)

i'm not sure how legible it is bc i mostly made it for my own enjoyment but you can click on it to see it slightly more clearly and the description is in alt/below cut :3

and this isn't even including my t7 ships! just fh!

figgorgug- Sig Figs my beloved figadaine- would you destroy the world for your best friend? / yes, every time. figayda- the girlfriends ever aydaine (?): ✨wizards✨ adaine/oisin: pending jy- he's very nice adaine/fabian: they let each other feel fabian/mazey: pending jy- BARDS fabragh: they deserve nice things <3 thistlecaster: fellas is it gay to be your bro's respite in a forest of nightmares? gorgug/ragh: i just think they're cute owlbears: HOOT GROWL donospring: ✨barbarians✨

trackerbees is pending bc. that phone call was uncomfy. but also! they're teens! they're allowed to fuck up!

riz is just vibing :)

[corv-idae]

Hello!!! I was wondering if you could tell us about your tattoos? I love all of them and would like to similar ones :>

Hi!! Absolutely I can go over them for you!! Omg this is so exciting

I’m assuming this is in reference to this post from a while ago:

If it isn’t please forgive me 😭, but if it is this is about a year old so I’ve collected a couple others than the tattoos you see in these photos! I’d be delighted to go over them all though! Please feel free to use them as references for your tattoos (please don’t copy them directly out of respect for my tattoo artists who designed them (if not respect for me!) ((all artists listen here will be embedded with links to their respective social media pages))

The two that are probably most important are the ones on the backs of my arms! Revali’s Great Eagle Bow and Miphas Trident! (this photo was taken the day these were done by Saraostattoo) :

The first tattoo I ever got is on the back of my shoulder, I forget it’s there all the time, my mom proof read this for me and asked about it being missing lol it was done by mariangelo.tattoo this photo is healed 3 years or so

I’m also rockin a couple pieces by politeslut !

The first piece she did for me was a Big Flash sheet design of some rose hips! (Ouch ouch) picture is 6months healed

She’s also done a Celtic symbol on my upper arm that matches with my aunt (I won’t get into explaining symbolism, sorry this photo is also terrible taking these on my own with my cellphone is proving to be not my forte, yes this one needs to be touched up)

And most recently for me she did a Great Big Freehanded Snake! (this one is so difficult to take pictures of & only a month old/healing but you can find the process pictures of it here)

The last handful & majority of my tattoos were done by rat.tooth.tattoo ! The first one he ever did for me being a Postage Stamp Flash Piece this photo is from the day of:

He then did my elbow ditch Dynamax Butterfree, photo also from the day of (this is a common theme):

My video game herb bundle half sleeve, this one’s a doozy so you get the TikTok and the drawing:

He’s also done my hands as a memorial piece for when I lost my cat this past year (he lived to be 21 and he was an awful old bastard & my best friend)

Thank you if you made it this far, I don’t think I’ve ever made a post this long before! If there’s any questions or if you want to share your tattoos with me I’d love to see them! I hope this is what you were looking for & if not let me know what I can do to fix that :D

[star-sim]

hello kitty meets batman (real not clickbait!) ☆ jake sim

☆ youtuber! super down bad! bf! jake x youtuber! fem! reader ☆summary: jake sim was youtube's cut-throat, horror creator, known for his dark video style. meanwhile, you were the cutesy beauty vlogger, lighting up every algorithmically generated home page you touched. no one would have expected you two vastly different people to know each other, let alone be in a long-term relationship. ☆ genre: fluff, youtuber! au, secret dating! au, established relationship, suggestive, im sorry im never letting the ytber au go, cutesy!reader, jake is SO down bad its kinda painful #patheticmen ☆warning(s): no, just fluffy, also reader is really feminine and girly in this ☆ word count: 13.4k words ☆ wrote half of this in spanish class so im sorry if there are mistakes, first time writing established relationship in full, kinda nervy

Jake Sim was many things.

One of the most popular and well-respected content creators on Youtube was one of them.

As Jake's nimble fingers darted across his keyboard, his other hand rested firmly on his mouth, he thought that the blue light emitting from his computer screen should burn his eyes. Except, it didn't. Despite what most people thought, 90% of being Youtuber was just simply staring at a computer screen, rather than being in front of a camera lens. The man felt his nose prickle before he let out a soundless, but satisfying, yawn. He leaned back against his office chair, stretching his neck and arms before he rubbed his eyes.

There was a reason that he was an extremely respected creator on Youtube.

For one, the production quality of his videos were high. Down to the Closed Captions or his camera's grain, Jake's attention to detail was immaculate. Not to mention, the content itself was magnificent. 

Whenever people asked Jake what he did for work, it was hard for him to answer.

He'd said that he made horror content, but he'd only earned incredulous looks, like he was a madman. Even then, "horror" content wasn't the correct description.

In short, Jake liked to make videos about obscure things. Which just so happened to be a little spooky. Sketchy true crime cases, searches for lost media, strange Internet phenomena, government cover-ups— Name anything a little bit eerie and Jake probably already covered something of that sort on his channel. Given the nature of his content, Jake almost always maintained a serious tone, but when the opportunity came to offer his opinion, he liked to relay it in a straightforward way. 

Another reason why he was so regarded was because of his content style. He preferred using darker colors, having a crisp microphone that picked up every rasp of his deeper voice. When he had camera shots, Jake liked to be in a dimly lit room. Unfortunately, his room was dark, too. 

This all combined together to create a singular image for Jake: the cool, high-quality, but a little bit scary, guy that likes to make videos about scary topics.

Now cracking his knuckles, Jake sucked in a sharp breath. Although he could easily export his upcoming video now and upload it, garnering millions of views, he refused to. There was something missing from it; it needed a little umph, a little embellishment to really pull things together. If there was one thing about Jake, it was that he'd put quality over quantity any day.

Jake is torn out of his thoughts when his phone, long forgotten next to his mouse, lit up. Usually, when he worked long afternoons like this, he silenced his phones in order to maintain focus.

However, there was always one exception.

You.

pretty girl: hi babe, do you think you can help me take promo pictures later?

The moment that Jake saw your contact show up, he picked up his phone immediately. His fingers tapped his screen, quickly responding to you.

me: yeah i can do it rn if you want

pretty girl: if youre busy, it doesn't need to be today, it can be tomorrow or something

pretty girl: oh

pretty girl: are you sure?

Of course he was.

Jake was already shutting off his monitor, grabbing his keys and shoving his feet into his shoes at your first message.

me: yeah i'll come over right now

You were Jake Sim's girlfriend. But other than the people in your personal life, no one else knew that.

Not that either of you minded.

Like Jake, you were a Youtuber. Except, your community was the complete opposite from his.

Your niche was cute makeup and lifestyle. Your videos had cute, blushy sets, characterized by cute plushies in the background and pretty, pink decorations. When you weren't making makeup tutorials or "get ready with me's," you were giving your viewers small sneak-peeks into your life. Whether it be your rosy morning skincare, or your sunny afternoon cooking attempts, or your illuminated late night thoughts, your content was light-hearted, soft, and personable. 

And if you weren't doing any of those things, you were modeling.

You were a beauty influencer, so you had sponsors from different makeup companies and such. What was most distinguishable from your personal brand was that you were one of Sanrio's biggest ambassadors. If there was someone that was the living embodiment of Hello Kitty, it was you.

Your personability, and your ability to feel authentic to your viewers, was a key factor in your large viewerbase. And what contributed to that the most was the fact that you had no idea how to use a camera. One would think that a content creator would know how to use a camera, but you were somehow the exception.

Not a problem!

Because you had your boyfriend, Jake!

Who was basically the master of content creation and film, in your opinion.

"Jakey!" you pounced on your boyfriend the moment he appeared at your apartment doorway. You threw your arms around his neck, immediately peppering his neck and cheeks with kisses. You heard him let out a few chuckles, feeling the rumble of his strong chest as he did. 

"Geez, babe, let me take my shoes off first," Jake teased you, taking in your sweet strawberry perfume. You immediately peeled yourself off of him, your lips forming a cute frown. 

"Shut up," you murmured, punching him on the arm while you jutted your bottom lip out. The lip tint and gloss on them shined, which made Jake grin. And when you noticed that he was staring at your lips, you gave him a gentle shove before saying again, “Shut up, Jakey.”

There it was, his favorite thing about you.

You were so, very, really, undeniably, mean to him.

Okay, that sounded weird.

But it was the truth.

Your relationship could be summed up in a few words—

You were just the cutest, and could barely contain your feelings for Jake, so you'd get all cuddly and affectionate with him. He'd tease you about it, so you'd get all shy and flustered, and you would begin to be mean to him. You'd call him stupid or annoying, and you'd tell him to go away but make no effort to resist his arms wrapping around your waist, pulling you against his chest. And then he would get to tease you more, until you were so embarrassed that you relented and let him kiss you.

How could he not resist teasing you?

You were always so pretty, with makeup or not, and it was easy to tease you since you got embarrassed so easily.

Even if he was holding his most expensive camera in his hands, he'd still let you pounce on him, if it meant that he got one extra kiss from you.

You led him to your bedroom. It had the same sweet, strawberry scent as you. Your room was pink, and along the walls were shelves, all filled with the many, many plushies that Jake bought you. Plopping onto your bed, Jake watched as you dug around your filming desk.

"Sooo," he started, "You're gonna do a promotional post on Instagram?"

You hummed. Sanrio recently launched a new line of lip tints, and they sent you their newest ones to review and promote. 

"I already made a review, and it's going to go up later," you said, digging through your drawers. "I want to make a promo post, too, y'know?"

You let out an 'a-ha!' as you found what you were looking for. It was a tube of lip-tint, the newest one from the collection. You then touched up your makeup a little more. 

Jake watched you in awe. The way you applied lip gloss and brushed setting powder (or was it blush? he didn't know anything about makeup) onto your cheeks was so mesmerizing, as you weren't already so captivating to him.

Finally, you stood up, straightening out your outfit. You puckered your lips, and when you noticed Jake staring at you, you gave him a little twirl.

"How do I look?" you asked. 

Jake, with his camera in hand, pointed the lens at you. He looked through the viewfinder.

"Beautiful." 

As always.

The shoot went smoothly. As you always did when Jake was your photographer, the two of you drove to the film studio, renting out a room for a good hour. Jake was a pro with the camera and you were an even bigger pro at modeling. Other than a few compositional edits or changes in exposure, you and Jake were done as soon as you started. The two of you decided that you’d go back to your place, cook dinner together, and maybe watch a movie.

Except that got delayed.

“Y-You’re so annoying, Jake,” you struggled out. You were in the back seat of your car, legs thrown over your boyfriend’s hips, his soft lips connected to your neck. Your fingers gently tugged on his hair, you yourself pressing soft pecks against his forehead and temples. It started because you gave Jake a kiss on the cheek as a ‘thank you,’ which spiraled into a makeout session in your car.

“What,” he breathed against your skin, dark eyes flickering up to yours. “You said you’d do anything to express your thanks for me.”

Jake kissed your neck again, before trailing up your throat to your jaw. Your fingers raked through his soft hair, pushing his dark locks out of his face so that you could see his face clearly. Jake reached up, took your hand out of his hair, and instead held your palm against his cheek, nuzzling into your warm hand. The way your eyes widened into saucers, lips parting, in response made the man’s lips curve upward.

“W-Well I thought you’d ask me to hug you… or something,” you said sheepishly, your voice soft as your boyfriend’s actions flustered you.

Jake grinned to himself internally before pulling away from you altogether. 

“Then do you want to stop?” Your eyes widened a fraction. “Then, let’s go hom—“

“No!” you cut him off, your hands squeezing his shoulders. “Let’s not!”

You stared at him, brows furrowed, for a few moments, before you noticed the growing grin on your boyfriend’s face. That look you knew too well, the one that said that he was going to tease the everlasting fuck out of you.

Jake pulled you in by the waist, close enough so that your chests touched, noses almost brushing against each other. He could feel the heat radiating off your face, and you could hear the smile in his voice.

“You sure you don’t wanna stop?” His voice was teasing, but you knew better. The earnest look in his eyes, you stared into yours, was filled with sincerity. He gave your waist a squeeze, almost as if to ask, “Do you actually want this?”

“Yes, Jakey,” you breathed against his lips, matter-of-factly. “I don’t wanna stop.”

The corner of his lips begin to lift.

“So you better kiss me,” you quipped, gripping his shoulders.

“Thought you’d never ask,” he rasped back, before attacking your lips.

(Later, when you were done, you two went home and went about your plan for the night. Except, you had to yell at Jake to go wash his face, because the sight of your lipstick at the corner of his lips was too much for you to take.)

"Hi, everyone!" you greeted the camera, folding your hands in your lap. With your thick, pink, knit sweater's sleeves falling over your wrists, you shot the lens a pretty smile. It was another normal day on the job of making content.

"As you guys know, VidCon is coming up soon." You pulled your makeup pouch toward your chest, leaning against the edge of your filming desk. "So, let's pack with me!"

Vidcon was an event for people to meet all of their favorite Youtubers. This year, you were invited to be one of the featured creators, given your popularity. As you filmed your "Pack with Me!" vlog, surrounded by ring lights aided by your windows cracked open, you recalled the email you had sent earlier, squeezing your eyes shut.

You see, Jake and you were both invited to VidCon. Since no one else, not even Youtube the corporation or your fellow Youtubers, knew that you guys were dating, Jake and you were given vastly different things. Youtube booked an entire hotel complex for all of its creators, and unfortunately, your room was located 10 floors below Jake's room. And worse, your booths and events were so far apart from each other that you probably wouldn't even see your boyfriend even if he decided to traverse the Convention. 

That's what you got for being vastly different content creators.

This year would be the first year that you and Jake got invited to VidCon, and you two wanted to share this experience with each other as much as possible.

Which is why you just shot Youtube one of the most embarrassing emails of your life.

"Hi, Youtube. The hotel complex you booked has a bar, and it is much closer to the top than the bottom. I really want to visit that bar. Can I request a room change so that my room is maybe on the 15th or 16th floors?" except add more formalities and much more discreet language, and that was the email you sent to your employers. You knew that it wouldn't be hard, and that the Youtube PR manager wouldn't reject your request. After all, you were the Sanrio beauty girl. Regardless, you'd gotten a response about an hour ago, and your request was approved, luckily. 

As you continued talking to your camera, folding your clothes neatly while chatting to your viewers about updates in your life, you thought about what you and Jake should do at VidCon. It was in the LA area, but you definitely wanted to visit other places in Southern California. 

It was no surprise that you and Jake had been more than touchy and close to each other. You were dating. Still, butterflies formed in your stomach as you thought about what you would do with him. Your face heated up at the thought of you and him spending time together in the hotel's rooftop hot-tub. The idea of him sneaking in your room at night, warming you up and pepperinging your cheeks with kisses, made your heart rate speed up, and you could only relish in the thought of exploring LA, Irvine, or wherever Jake wanted to take you with him.

You were a grown woman with a job and responsibilities, but the mere thought of your boyfriend being within the same vicinity as you made you nervous.

Just as you finished folding your clothes, you heard your front door crack open.

"Babe?" you hear Jake's voice call out your name. You turn off your camera to greet him, swearing to forget all of the thoughts you just had. Except, the moment that you locked eyes with him, all determination to not be teased left your body. Your lips wobbled, trying to bite back that stupid, bashful, and lovesick smile that made its way onto your face when you thought about Jake, but your eyes gave it all away. Instead of throwing yourself at him like you usually did, you only reached for the hem of his black T-shirt, playing with it sheepishly. 

You mumbled a small, "Hi."

You could feel Jake staring at you, and you could hear the way his lips curve into a smug, shit-eating grin.

"Shut up," you told him, your eyebrows crashing together.

"Baby, I didn't even say anything," Jake said, his hands finding their place on your lower back.

You felt shy and exposed before him. "Well, I know you're going to say something."

Jake grasped your chin, gently making you look at him. You tried to avoid his eyes, but it was impossible to avoid those dreamy, caramel eyes. Then, he took your face with both his hands, leaning in.

Was he going to kiss you? Oh my god, he was! Quick! What do you do? You felt like you were going to melt.

Instinctively, your hands tightened on the hem of his shirt, the black fabric scrunching in your fists. You closed your eyes, your lips softly puckering. You could feel him coming closer and closer, until his breath fanned your cheek.

As if he hadn't kissed you a million times before, your heart felt like it was going to fall out of your chest. 

Jake ghosted his lips over yours, inching just close enough that he could brush his lip against yours. 

And then, he pulled away from you. He took off his shoes, placed down his keys, and made his way into your bedroom, leaving you there standing alone.

Heat spread across your face and neck and ears as you realized your boyfriend had just teased you once again. You hid your face in your palms, letting out a small whine of embarrassment, before recollecting yourself and joining your boyfriend.

"Woah, what's going on here, babe?" Jake asked, standing at your bedroom doorway. 

"Oh." There was clothes and film equipment sprawled across your floor and bed. "I was filming a video."

You saw Jake's expression twitch, before he took your hands in his.

"My bad, was I interrupting something?" He was sincere in how his face showed a small drop of guilt for disrupting your filming. How could someone be such a tease one moment yet be so genuine the next?

"No, it's okay, Jakey," you said. "I mean, I need to finish my video, but I don't mind if you're around."

And that's how you found yourself trying not to burst out laughing as you filmed your video. Jake kept making funny faces at you, that goofy grin growing on his face as he wiggled his eyebrows at you.

"Jake, stop making faces!" you laughed, throwing a shirt at him.

He dodged it, throwing his head back into one of the plushies that he bought you. "I'm not doing anything!"

You threw another shirt at him, this time hitting him square in the face. Instead of admitting defeat, Jake only grabbed your shirt, pulling the fabric to his nose and taking a long, dramatic, sniff. 

"You smell sooooo good, babe," he said, ignoring your contorted expression, "I think I'm gonna keep this. You won't mind, right?"

"Ugh, Jaaaaakee!"

You plopped on top of him in bed. You felt his chest rumble as chuckles left his lips, rolling your eyes at him. You gave his chest a smack, a pout forming on your lips.

"You're so annoying," you mumbled as his hands slithered up to your hips. He gave your ass a pat, gesturing you to adjust your position. You did, sitting up so that you straddled your boyfriend's hips.

"And you're so pretty," he said, squeezing your hipbone.

"Let go of me," you poked him in the chest, but made no attempt to get off of him. 

"No."

"I need to finish my video," you pouted, still not moving to get off of him. 

"I don't care." Jake instead sat up on his elbows, his hands sliding down to your lower back, his face getting suspiciously close to your boobs. "Just lay with me."

Your fingers ran through his dark locks, before giving them a tug towards your chest. Jake laid his cheek against your boobs like they were pillows, arms wrapped around your waist. You could feel his hot breath against your skin and neck. The next thing you knew, he was pressing sticky kisses against your chest and neck, soft gasps escaping your lips.

"Sorry, babe," he muttered against the shell of your ear, "I just can't resist you."

You let out a soft "ahhh!" when he bit down on your skin, his teeth brushing against the nape of your neck. Jake briefly pulled away, a smirk making its way onto his face as he admired the red-purple mark on your neck. 

"You're just too addicting."

Long story short, your video was still finished and uploaded. As Jake edited his video, he let yours play in the background, your bright voice illuminating his dark room. Somehow, your voice was the only thing that made him focus. 

However, when he heard a familiar laugh— his laugh— in your video, Jake stopped in his tracks.

His mind flashed back to what happened the other day in your apartment, when he interrupted you during your filming.

"I don't know if I turned off my camera, Jake," you had purred as Jake's tongue dipped into your collarbone. At that point, both you and him were shirtless, hair disheveled and pupils blown out with desire. Jake remembered the electricity that ran through him as those words left your lips.

"Am I supposed to care?" he had muttered, trailing kisses down your chest. "If they hear us, that's not my problem."

It was almost like you, who edited your video, added that clip to tease him. 

Immediately, his cheeks began turning the brightest shade of red possible. If you were here, he would have only coughed and looked away shyly, but since he was alone, his embarrassment spread across his face like a wildfire. Jake almost never showed it when he was flustered, at least when he was around you. 

He hid his face in his palms, sucking in a sharp breath. He squeezed his eyes shut, warmth prickling his skin. You were going to be the death of him. He let out a small, lovesick giggle, one that his friends would flame him for. He couldn't help it, not if it was you. 

When he read the comments, still flustered out of his mind, he felt a twinge of disappointment when no one seemed to notice him. 

For some reason, Jake couldn’t help but want people to know that you were his. He knew that you and him kept your relationship private to preserve it, but he still wanted to show you off.

Except, one comment caught his eye.

“Wait, does [Name] have a boyfriend? Who laughed at 6:34?” it read. Jake’s heart skipped a beat in his chest. The warmth that spread across his chest as his lips pulled upwards. He almost wanted to jump on his bed and roll around while giggling like a schoolgirl, but he contained himself.

At the corner of his eye, Jake spotted a certain plushie. 

As you were a partner of Sanrio, for a time there was a Limited Edition [Name] plushie, clad in pink with a cute, ruffle-lace bow to top it all off. Of course he bought one the moment it launched. Jake preferred his room to be completely dark and black, but he liked to keep that plushie on his bed, and although he’d never admit it, he hugged it when he slept if you weren’t with him.

Would it be wrong of him to tease you back? After all, Jake still had to film the brand deal for his new video. 

Would it hurt to position the plushie just enough so that it was in frame? 

So that maybe someone would see it.

Vidcon came crashing on you and Jake like a meteor, and before the two of you knew it, you were in the venue, wringing your fingers as the event commenced.

Sometimes, it was difficult for you to comprehend the level of your popularity. Sure, the numbers that Youtube loved to display for you told you that you had millions watching you, but mere numerical figures were simply not enough for you to wrap your mind around.

Your schedule that day was simple: you were going to have a booth that you'd tend to for an hour or two, where your fans could take pictures with you and take a few freebies with them. Then, you'd go to your main event, which was in a smaller venue.

At your booth, where you sat currently, your personal table was set up in a very special way: your table was pink, and covered in a lacy, white tablecloth. Even the wall behind you was specifically painted pink and decorated with various Sanrio-esque decorations. You had stickers that you'd give out, as well as a Limited Edition Vidcon Sanrio plushie of you that people could buy. The pink polaroid decorated with Hello Kitty stickers hung around your neck with a pink lanyard. You genuinely looked like Sanrio and Hello Kitty vomited all over you, but you didn't mind. And plus, that didn't matter, because you were cute either way.

You were hit with pure surprise as multiple groups of fans came your way. The amount of people that came to you, rambling nervously about how much they loved you, how much they looked up to you, how much you inspired them and made their days better, made you feel light-headed. And very warm inside.

Jake was the one that did the talking for you (thank goodness!), but for some reason, you pushed through your usual shyness, instead wanting for people to come up to you and talk.

Your face lit up as one of your fans, a girl that looked around your age, maybe only a few years younger than you, approached you. You could tell by the Sanrio sticker of you on her phone case that she was most definitely here for you.

"Oh my gosh, hi [Name]!" She gazed at you with wide, glimmering eyes. 

Your initial reaction was surprise, but then you broke out into a smile. You cocked your head, fingers gripping the hem of your dress, both nervous and excited. "Hi, there."

You fan took one look at your face, and squealed. The way that she giggled, bouncing on her feet as she fangirled over you made warmth spread across your cheeks, getting shy and looking down briefly.

"I'm sorry, [Name]!" Your fan couldn't stop giggling, which you thought was very cute. It was now that you noticed the camera in your hand. "I just really love your content, and I'm just so excited to meet you in real life!"

You blinked at her a few times, before you smile only widened. 

"Don't worry about it!" you said, taking her free hand in yours. Your shyness melted away as your fan squealed again. "It really means a lot to me that you came out here to personally see me."

Your eyes flickered over to her camera, squeezing her hand and motioning to it with your other. "Can I...?"

She nodded enthusiastically, so you took her camera. Turn on the 'photo' setting, you posed for the camera, taking multiple pictures of yourself for her. You hoped that that would make up for your shyness. The two of you hugged, and you took many polaroids for her.

Almost immediately, after she left, you were tagged in a Twitter thread. It was that fan, reporting her experience with you.

"She was so much prettier in real life, I thought I was in heaven," her tweets detailed, "And [Name] was so sweet! It felt like I was meeting the real life Hello Kitty."

She posted the pictures you took on her camera, and then the videos. You couldn't help but grin like an idiot, especially at the comments (and the rapidly-accumulating likes and retweets).

"The way [Name] gets so shy is so cute!"

"I don't really watch beauty content but I love [Name] so much."

"She's like an actual Disney Princess."

You loved your fans, you really did. You were grateful for them, and you thought they were very cute. 

You were excited to see how Vidcon would treat you.

Jake was fighting.

He was fighting demons, wars, the little voices in his head.

Did you have to look so pretty today?

Jake's own event was an entire venue away from yours. He had a few events, so after his first one, he took a small break, where he looked through his notifications. 

Of course, the first thing he looked at was your texts. They were from a while ago, during his show when he didn't have his phone on him, so he responded to them now. He smiled at your cute texts, expressing how excited and happy you were. His heart jumped out of his chest when he saw the selfie you sent him: there you were, in all your cutesy Sanrio glory, smiling so prettily for him. Jake had to clasp his face to hide the stupid, love-struck grin that bled onto his face. 

"Oi, what're you giggling about?" Jake was interrupted by Jay, another one of his fellow horror Youtubers.

Jake immediately wiped his expression clean. "Nothing."

When he glanced back at his phone, that dumb grin began to form again.

Jay groaned. "This is so weird. It's like watching Batman smile."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jake scoffed.

"I'm sayin' that you're basically Youtube's Batman," Jay scrunched his nose, "And it's weird seein' you all... smiley and stuff."

"I literally smiled earlier!"

"Not in the way that you did just now. I have a bad feeling about it."

"Shut up!"

Jake really tried his best to swallow back his pure admiration for you as he opened his phone screen again, but he failed miserably.

He wished he could see you right now. He loved to see his fans, he loved to talk to them about their shared interest: all things horror and obscure.

But Jake missed you right now.

His heart plummeted to his stomach, however, when he logged onto Twitter, and saw the worst hashtag he could ever think of: #[Name]isSoCute.

He agreed with it. No, he embraced that sentiment with every molecule in his being.

Just... he wished that he could see you right now. When he checked the tag and saw all the cute pictures that people took of you and the sweet experiences they had with you, he frowned— That should be him!

However, Jake actually saw the worst thing to ever materialize when he saw the top video under the tag.

It was a shaky video, starting off with a teenage boy walking up to you. In the background, he could hear your pretty voice in the background, exchanging small greetings and words with the poster. Jake was almost lost in his sheer love for you when his eyes narrowed. The boy in the video let out a little chuckle, before dropping a cheesy pick-up line on you.

"[Name], if you were a vegetable, you'd be a cute-cumber." What made it worse was that you only giggled, leading the boy to drop a few other dumb pick-up lines. The camera panned up to you, showing you all smiley and bashful. Then, you and the boy hugged, before taking a few polaroids together.

Jake almost snapped his phone in half.

He understood better than anyone that you were a content creator just like him. It was part of the job to interact with fans, and given your character, of course you were sweet to them. He could tell that you were perfectly comfortable in the video, and that the kid probably was just joking around with his favorite Youtuber.

But did that stop Jake from mentally lambasting every single aspect of the video? Absolutely not.

Shaky camera, probably filmed on a phone, Jake's hands balled into fists, Fucked up aperture, exposure to low, bad mic.

Was he being a little immature? Yes, and Jake knew that. 

Though, Jake would admit that he agreed with a lot of comments and retweets under that post, hearting many of them in agreement.

"[Name] is such a cutie!" one read.

Absolutely.

"I love her so much," another read.

Me too, Jake thought.

"I want her so bad."

Just as Jake's finger hovered over the 'heart' button, he let out a small hmph. Did it annoy him that other people wanted you? Yes. But did he disagree with the comment? Nope. He pressed the "like" button.

He wanted to see you so bad. As Jake was queued up on stage, ready for his second event, he hoped that he could see you soon.

And his wish came true a few hours later.

It was now past noon, and Vidcon was in its (unofficial) intermission period, where a lot of the creators were now taking breaks. As Jake traversed the convention, he texted you trying to find a spot where the two of you could meet.

He passed the many booths and venues of his fellow Youtubers. The layout was unique in the way that Youtubers of similar genres were placed in similar areas. So when he started seeing Youtubers with bright makeup and problematic pasts, Jake knew that he was near you.

And lo and behold, soon he found you. Under the fluorescent light, you still glowed. There was some kind of halo around you as you turned over your shoulder, your face instantly brightening up as you spotted your boyfriend. You had a few fans that you were talking to at the moment, so you tended to them first, while Jake made his way over to you.

You and Jake agreed that you wouldn't make your relationship too obvious at Vidcon, but all of that was left forgotten the moment that Jake saw you. 

However, as you ran up to him, people couldn't help but stop and stare.

Why wouldn't they? You were the living embodiment of Sanrio, that one Hello Kitty girl, whereas Jake was that one guy that made scary content and was often shrouded in darkness, dubbed as Youtube's personal Batman. Absolutely no one would have expected to see the two of you interacting with one another, let alone be within the same vicinity.

"Hi, Jakey," you smiled up at him, and Jake thought that he could die right there. With the amount of people staring, Jake had to restrain himself from throwing his arms around you and hugging you.

"Hey, baby," he grinned. 

Before either of you could do anything, you and Jake were interrupted by a shrill squeal. You whipped your heads around to see a young girl and her older brother, who still looked relatively young. They explained nervously that the girl liked your content, while the brother liked Jake's content. They were expecting to scour in order for each of them to meet either of you, but were surprised to see you and Jake in one place.

You and Jake took a few pictures with them, both individually. Though, the two of them requested a picture with both you and Jake in the same frame, which you happily did.

When they left, you and Jake shared a look, before going off together.

Vidcon Day 1: Over.

Jake returned to his hotel room, too tired to do anything other than wash up and order room service. 

As Jake laid in his half-hard hotel mattress, he scrolled through his phone. He was tagged in a lot of pictures and tweets, and he found himself grinning at a lot of the sweet words his fans left. Although he was tired, he could definitely do this a few more times, feeling invigorated by his fans.

As he scrolled, the trending Twitter hashtag caught his eye.

#HelloKittyMeetsBatman.

Interesting name, he thought as he clicked on it.

Jake's heart skipped a beat as he saw what came up.

Apparently, people were extremely surprised to see you and Jake so close to each other. 

There were so many pictures of you and him taken together from afar just from that one instance earlier, from multiple different angles and distances. Jake would admit, the way he was dressed in all black while you were dressed in cute pinks and whites was almost laughable.

What truly caught his attention were the captions of all these pictures.

"Craziest crossover of 2024."

"I'm crying they legitimately look like Hello Kitty and Batman."

"Jake Sim and [Name] interacting was not on my Vidcon 2024 bingo card."

"This is like seeing two worlds collide, absolutely wild but I'm pleasantly surprised."

For the most part, it seemed like everyone just thought that you and Jake were friends, but it was still a little funny how taken aback the entire internet was.

Then, he saw the picture of you, him, and those two kids together. 

"They look like a family," was one of the most popular retweets under that post. 

Family.

That word rang through Jake's head, before he buried his face in one of the pillows, giggling to himself. He felt a little ridiculous getting so excited over such a small comment, but he couldn't help it. He felt so giddy inside at the thought of having a family with you, and felt even giddier knowing that people could see it, too.

Suddenly, his phone rang. Jake wasn't going to answer it, too caught up in his flustered-ness, but when he realized that it was you, he quickly cleared his throat, instinctively straightening out his hair (because what if he accidentally turns on his camera?-- he needed to look good for you!).

"Baby," he greeted suavely, as if he wasn't just giggling like a schoolgirl seconds ago.

Maybe it was the fact that it was already getting late, or the fact that Jake barely saw you today, or the fact that you were just so goddamn perfect, but your voice sounded so attractive in that moment.

"Jakeyyy," you whined. "Come over."

His chest was already throbbing but Jake played it cool.

He chuckled. "What for?"

"I miss you," he could hear the pout in your voice. "And I want your attention."

It was rare for you to be so direct with him, and while Jake wanted to melt on the spot, he wanted to tease you a bit longer.

"What's wrong with just being on the phone with me?" Jake's lips pulled into a smirk. "You can just talk to me like this."

"Noooo," you said. "I want— I want you."

Jake tried his best to not crumble then and there, but it was too hard.

"Fuck," he muttered under his breath. "Okay then, baby. I'll come over right now."

He didn't miss the cute little "yay!" you let out before you hung up.

You were going to be the death of him.

"Eep! Jake, what are you doing here—?!”

You’re cut off when you realized that you were, in fact, backstage of one of your events. Today was the second day of Vidcon, and you had just finished up your first event. As you went backstage, carrying the little bags of gifts that your fans got you, you didn’t expect your own boyfriend to be waiting back there for you.

“Hey there, Princess,” he said cheekily, sprawled across the backstage couch. "Miss me?"

He opened his arms up, and you instinctively crawled into them, sitting on his lap and sliding your arms around his neck. 

As you did, you eyed him up and down.

Clad in black as always, he wore a black button-up, paired with black slacks, a black belt, and a loose, black tie. That's right: today, Jake was going to have a panel with a whole bunch of other horror creators, ones that transcended the internet— authors, authors that Jake spent his whole life reading and looking up to, which explained why he was dressed significantly more proper today than yesterday.

The way his shirt fit his chest and hugged his shoulders made it hard for you to not stare, and the way that it wasn't buttoned at the top, revealing his honey-tan collarbones, mixed with the scent of his rich cologne, made you feel dizzy.

"Ay, are you checkin' me out?"

On any other day, you'd be embarrassed, maybe even pushing him away, but today, you only nodded your head, humming mindlessly in agreement.

Jake blinked at you, before he pulled you in by the waist so that you were flushed against his chest completely.

"Kiss me," you mumbled, pushing his dark bangs away from his face.

Jake chuckled, rubbing your cheek with his knuckles. "What's with you these days? Getting so bold."

You only leaned into his touch. Maybe it was sometime in the LA air, or maybe it was the vigor that your fans gave you earlier, but all you could do was look at your boyfriend with glossy, wide eyes innocently, watching the way that his resolve trembled.

"Shit," Jake cursed under his breath. "Hold on—"

He grabbed your hips, then tilted your chin so that he could have a better angle. Your lips crashed into one another. Not in the way that a meteor would crash into Earth's delicate atmosphere, but in the way that gentle sea waves crashed onto themselves, dark folds of blue creasing over each other, only to brush up against the foamy seashore, none the wiser. 

Jake liked the taste of your lip gloss; it tasted sweet, but not nearly as sweet as you, hungrily squeezing your hips in his hands. He swiped his tongue over your bottom lip, earning a squeal from you, who tugged on his hair. 

When you pulled away from each other, you were breathless, chests heaving not for air, but for each other. You stared at each other for a few moments, losing time in each other's eyes, when your eyes trailed down.

God, the button-up and tie were going to drive you crazy.

Without thought, your fingers twirled around his tie, slinking up his chest before you yanked him harshly, jerking Jake toward you abruptly. 

In a moment of pure, unadulterated boldness, you attacked his neck, laying sticky kisses all across his skin. One hand laced itself in Jake's hair, keeping a firm hold of his tilted head, while your other hand crept around the buttons of his shirt. 

Each soft sigh that Jake let out made you only press more kisses on him. When he let out one particularly loud whine, his arm jerking up to grab at the couch's armrest, you knew that you found the sensitive spot on his neck. You pressed another kiss on that spot, this time sinking your teeth into his skin. The hickey was dark and purple, and when you ran your tongue over it, Jake's hands shot to your hips again.

"Shit, [Name], wait a sec—"

Skillfully, your fingers began to slowly unbutton Jake's shirt, just enough that you could see more of his chest. 

Your head was feeling fuzzy now, drunk off your desire for him. The way he threw his head back, his Adam's apple bobbing with each gulp of air he took in, curses falling from his lips, sent electricity coursing through your body.

When you unbuttoned the last button, you noticed the way Jake's eyes were squeezed shut, his other arm resting over them, hands balled into fists as his desperation for you increased.

"Jakey," you said. Jake was going to go mad, the way your voice was so soft and innocent as it said his name, all the while you were kissing and touching him in ways that made him go light-headed. He squeezed his eyes shut, another whimper escaping his lips. If he looked you in the eye right now, he was sure that he'd burst. "I want you to look at me."

He couldn't refuse you. Immediately, he opened his eyes, the arm strewn over his face dropping back to its position on your hips.

If he didn't die by combustion, Jake was certain that he'd die now— Your pupils were blown out, eyes lidded and staring at him like he was your prey to be slaughtered. He'd seen you wrought with desire so many times before, but the way you gazed at him like he was a piece of meat, like you were going to absolutely ruin him, made him feel weak.

"Watch me, Jakey," your voice sounded so sweet, but your actions said otherwise. You abruptly got up from your seat on his lap, Jake frowning at the loss of your touch. You dug through your purse thrown across the room, returning with a tube of lipstick.

You plopped back onto Jake's lap, making sure that he was watching as you applied it to your pretty, swollen lips. 

Then, you discarded it, throwing your lipstick to the side as you snatched his tie again. You brought the black fabric to your lips, staring your boyfriend down as you pressed kisses on his tie. You kissed it a few times, making sure that the color of your lipstick, as well as the shape of your lips, was well-imprinted on it.

Then, you yanked his shirt's collar toward you, pressing a harsh kiss on the fabric, making sure that the shape of your lips was once again imprinted on the fabric.

You looked back up at his face, unable to hide your smugness as his entire expression was painted with red.

"You're so hot—" Jake attempted to force out of his throat, but you only cut him off with a rough kiss to his lips. Without a word, you covered his face, from his forehead to his jaw, with kisses.

You pulled back to admire your work, before you pulled away from him.

"I have to be on stage in a few minutes," you said quietly, your back turned to him as you straightened out your skirt. Dumbfounded, Jake could only stare at you, but when you turned over your shoulder, flashing him a bright, but terribly cheeky, grin, Jake's heart fell out of chest. "I can't be late, right?"

With that, you left your boyfriend, all hot and bothered, on the couch, running off to prepare for your next event.

Almost immediately, Jake melted. He threw an arm over his eyes as he leaned back, letting out a groan.

Was this how you felt when he teased you?

Was he now sexually frustrated? Absolutely. But now he wanted you even more.

After mulling over it for a few minutes, Jake began to go back to his venue. But, as he passed the backstage vanity, he caught sight of himself in the mirror.

Some of it was obvious to him already: disheveled hair, messed up shirt. But what made Jake want to evaporate was the sight of his entire face and neck covered in lipstick marks. The corner of his lip had a big lipstick smudge, the hickey that you gave him earlier was so dark now, and he couldn't even dare to forget your lip imprints on his shirt and tie.

You little tease.

Jake's last straw was.... right now.

After the backstage fiasco, he didn't get to see you all day. That night, you had a PR event to attend with your fellow beauty creators, so he didn't get to see you at night either.

Which was why Jake was practically glowing with a dark and negative storm cloud as he pranced around the third day of Vidcon. It didn't help that he saw so many pictures of you and fans all across platforms. Poor guy almost lost it when one of your fans' vlogs blew up, the most replayed part being when you let out the most angelic and sweet laughs he'd ever heard in his life.

That should be him!

Meanwhile, Jake sat in the convention room at a panel. Lined up along the table were other horror creators, from authors to Youtubers to filmmakers, similar to yesterday. The way that this specific event operated was simple: fans got to ask anyone on the panel questions and they'd answer, which the entire room got to hear, and later there would be one-on-ones along the panel.

Jake was pulled out of his thoughts when one of the fans said that they had a question for him.

"Jake, your videos take a long time to make, how do you balance work and your personal life?"

Good question. He had a simple principle when it came to how to balance everything. Jake thought about it for a moment, before reaching for his microphone.

"I don't have any outright method," he began. Jake's mind flashed with your image: all the cute messages you'd send him throughout the day, all the times where after hours of rotting in front of his computer screen he could always count on your loving embrace to give him life, all times that he'd tune into your Spotify playlist so that he could be listening to what you were listening. It was easy to balance work and life, if it was you. "But I always put my life before the screen."

The room was quiet, intently listening to what Jake had to say. After all, he was renowned all across the Internet.

The room was quiet, intently listening to what Jake had to say. After all, he was renowned all across the Internet.

"To be clear, I understand the privilege of getting to work in a profession like mine," Jake continued. "I don't expect everyone to be able to follow my advice exactly, but the more I live, the more I realize that what happens before my very eyes will endlessly matter so much more than what happens in my own little Youtube bubble."

Jake's mouth jumped to you faster than his mind could stop him.

"My beautiful girlfriend is everything to me," he unconsciously began to grin stupidly to himself, "I'd put her above work any day if I had to."

The moment that those words left his lips, the room erupted with gasps and whispers.

"Wait, you have a girlfriend?!" one of Jake's Youtuber friends asked, leading the room to laugh.

Oh.

Shit.

Jake's eyes visibly widened. He clutched his microphone, bringing it up to his mouth, but no words came out.

There was no way in hell that he'd outright deny you, not even in a million years.

"I.... Well..." Jake stammered, trying his best to generate any words at all. He sucked in a sharp breath, a bashful expression making its way onto his face. "That's..."

The room filled with more laughter, alongside the teasing grins and pats on the back that Jake got from his colleagues.

"Oh, so that's what you were giggling about yesterday, lover boy..." Jay, also on the panel, quipped, his brows raised so high on his forehead that it could have touched his hairline.

"Sh-Shut up, Jay!"

Jake's chest felt fizzy. In a weird way.

A part of him felt on-edge. You and him always wanted to keep your relationship secret, for the sake of preserving it. He'd seen what the Internet did to relationships: it tore them apart. It wasn't like he name-dropped you, but he felt so... exposed, so vulnerable.

But at the same time, Jake felt his chest also swell with pride. That's right. He had a girlfriend (a hot girlfriend at that), a girlfriend that he was nefariously down bad for. He hoped everyone knew that, that he was taken and that if there was anyone that he'd spend the rest of his life with, it would be you.

Jake huffed. "Yeah, I have a girlfriend. What about it?"

No one questioned him further. Probably out of fear.

You were in the middle of trying your best to get through a conversation with some beauty guru that you knew one thing about: their personal makeup line launch failed horribly and they gave everyone hairy lipsticks. It was difficult, to say the least.

Exchanging your final regards, you quickly rushed back to your booth.

The first thing you saw when you checked your phone was a viral video, in which Jake admitted that he had a girlfriend. Your heart plummeted to your stomach when you initially read the caption, but when you watched the video, you had a difficult time processing your feelings.

Did you hate that Jake admitted that he had a girlfriend? … No, you didn’t. You didn’t at all. At a certain point, seeing the way that your boyfriend smiled so earnestly made your heart jump out of your chest. The way he was so giddy and smiley (of course, only you could tell that that was how he was feeling— to everyone else it probably looked like he was brooding) made your neck and cheeks warm up.

But, the way that the room erupted with voices and laughter, combined with the quirked brows of everyone on the panel, made you quiver.

You weren’t prepared for it, for how vulnerable you felt as a chorus of “ooh’s” filled the room.

Frankly, there were too many things that you had to focus on at the moment. You'd rather enjoy Vidcon now, and address it later, when things settle down. 

Pushing it to the back of your mind, you tucked your phone away, greeting another wave of fans. Though, not without taking an extra second to "heart" the post, adding it to your favorites folder, and rewatching the video one more time, feeling warmth and giddiness filling your chest.

As the cool night air kissed your cheeks, you fought the shy smile that seeped onto your face. It was late now, late enough that you could see all the city lights gleaming, lighting up the dark sky with blotches of all different colors.

There was a Vidcon party for creators, to celebrate the end of the event. Everyone was going. Although it was meant for any creator, there was a very exclusive VIP section; only those of high prestige could get in. Both you and Jake were invited, but upon realizing that nearly the entire hotel complex would be empty due to the popularity of the party, the two of you ditched it.

You'd been wanting to go to the rooftop hottub for a while now, but you never went because you wanted to go with Jake, and it was always too crowded for the two of you to go there comfortably. But now that everyone was gone, it was the perfect time.

Your boyfriend was already waiting for you up there, towel thrown over his shoulder with a shirt and swim trunks. His face lit up the moment he saw yours emerging from the elevator doors, rushing over to you to take your hands.

He paused for a moment. His dark eyes peered at yours, licking his lips before sucking in a sharp breath. Jake gave your forehead a peck, before saying a small "C'mon" and pulling you over to the hottub.

Jake took your towel for you, folding it next to his and perching it on a sunchair.

"They're gonna get off fireworks soon— Oh, damn," he cut himself off as you pulled your shirt over your head, revealing a bikini top. Your face scrunched up, squirming under his gaze. It's not like Jake has never seen you like this (in fact, he'd seen you in much more compromising positions), and it wasn't like he never complimented you, but as the hottub bubbled, the rosy scent of the water filling the air, you felt shy.

Jake slinked toward you, taking his own shirt off. 

"Hey there, Gorgeous," he said, his fingers playing with the hem of your shorts that had yet to be taken off. Your heart pounded in your chest, fighting the urge to squeeze your eyes shut and groan in embarrassment. You kept your eyes glued to the ground. Jake chuckled softly, before clutching your chin gently, making you look up at him.

"Don't get shy on me now, babe," Jake grinned when your lips pressed into an unconscious pout. He squished your cheek, relishing in the look of confusion painted across your face. Then, his hands fell to your hips, pulling them toward his. "You look so beautiful."

Jake's fingers hooked onto the hem of your shorts, meeting your eyes for permission before pulling them down himself, revealing your bikini bottoms.

Jake's eyes glazed over your figure, taking his bottom lip in between his teeth.

"Jaaakee," you whined, squeezing his hands.

"Sorry," Jake's eyes flickered up to your face. "I can't help it. You're just so hot, baby."

You rolled your eyes, biting back shyness, before you pulled him toward the hottub.

You rolled your eyes, biting back shyness, before you pulled him toward the hottub. 

The two of you got into the tub, sinking into the warm water, you felt your limbs relax. 

Vidcon was very fun, some of the most fun you've had in a while. But, it was very tiring, having to be around so many people at a time. And plus, it was hard not seeing your boyfriend whenever you wanted.

You pulled your knees to your chest. You could hear the loud techno music a few blocks away, probably coming from the club nearby. The bright night lights of LA was something that you could only imagine sleeping under.

Other than the sound of the city bustles, the hot tub’s jet system, and the occasional ripple of water, the night was silent.

“How was your day?” Jake broke the calm silence. The way the blueish water reflected off his skin made you dizzy.

“Good,” You cursed your voice for being so small. You swallowed the lump in your throat. You didn’t know why you felt so nervous. It was your boyfriend, for goodness’s sake!

Jake loved it when you were shy, but sometimes he was genuinely worried about you. Part of why he loved you was the game that was trying to figure out what was going on in that pretty head of yours.

He reached out for you, clutching your knee. "Baby, what's wrong?"

Your stomach churned. For a second, you thought about that video of him admitting that he had a girlfriend. It made your skin crawl, but when your boyfriend squeezed your knee, it all stopped.

"Nothing," you said simply.

There's a few pulses of silence, before Jake clicked his tongue.

"H-Hey—!"

Jake got up from the water, wrapping his hands around your waist, and hoisted you up so that your legs were thrown on either side of the body, before sitting back down so that you were perched right on top of his lap.

Your chest, nearly bare, pressed against his own bare chest in a way that made your heart race. The warmth of his skin as it contacted yours was an addicting feeling, enhanced only by the warm water surrounding you. Either it was the steam from the tub, or the heat collecting between the two of your bodies, that rose to your cheeks.

You rested your hands on his chest, your fingertips barely reaching his broad shoulders, while Jake’s hands stayed in their spot around your waist.

"C'mon," you could feel Jake's warm, strong chest rumble beneath you. "Tell me what's wrong."

Under the sky, his eyes gleamed, like two gems. For the flirt that he was, Jake was too genuine and pure of a person. The sincere worry in his eyes made you feel warm, even warmer than you felt right now. And sometimes that was enough for you.

You leaned into him, your hands coming up to cup his face. You rubbed your thumbs against his cheeks, to which he let his eyelids fall shut, relishing in the comfort that was your presence. Every time your thumb pressed against his lips, he kissed them, unable to hide the smile growing on his lips when you giggled softly.

At the corner of your eye, you spotted the purple hickey you left on him the other day. That combined with his wet hair, the water droplets temptingly running down his chest, and the fact that you were right on top of him made you feel light-headed.

Your hands left his face, and Jake opened his mouth to whine about it, but was shut up when your fingers tangled in his damp hair, pulling him in for a kiss.

It was a soft, innocent kiss, the type you gave when you just wanted to be close to him. Jake hummed against your lips, squeezing your thighs. You pulled away first, but Jake gently guided the back of your head back to his, pecking your lips.

"I just missed you," you said. You kissed his cheek. "I really missed you."

"It's only been a day," Jake teased you, but he knew better than anyone that he had absolutely no right to say that to you: he was practically dying each moment he couldn't see you.

The two of you sat in silence for a moment, staring into each other's eyes. You held onto his strong shoulders, eyes glued to his lips. You were feeling needy, needy in the way that you simply wanted to be close to Jake. You were already close to him, but you wanted to be even closer. Your heart thirsted for it.

Then, you heard a rustle, whipping your head around toward the sound.

"Nuh-uh," Jake whispered in your ear, gently holding your face and guiding it to look at him. "I want you to look at me."

It wasn't until a few seconds later that you understood why Jake's tone sounded so teasing: he was referencing you and him the other day backstage. 

"Stoppp," you whined, pushing your face into his neck. "You're so annoying."

Jake laughed, his chest rumbling. He stopped to admire the way you were all pressed up against him. He could feel every curve of your body, and he could feel the way your cheeks puffed with air, your lips forming a pout. He poked your cheek.

"You're so cute, baby."

"I know."

"What's with you getting so bold?"

"You're annoying me."

"Awww, you love me so—"

Fireworks fired off in the distance, painting the gray-blue sky with bright colors. 

You stayed in your position, only your eyes moving upward to admire the show. However, Jake stayed staring straight at you, practically ignoring the fiery flowers forming in the sky. He gazed into your eyes, watching the reflection in them.

"It's so pretty," you murmur.

"Yeah," Jake felt like he was falling into your eyes, "So pretty."

Just as another round of fireworks shot up into the sky, Jake grabbed your face, crashing his lips onto yours. Your lips fit into each other well, like puzzle pieces, in a way that was so satisfying, almost like you were made for kissing Jake. But for all of the desire and roughness that the kiss was filled with, it was a soft one. 

Jake swiped his tongue over your bottom lip, making you squeal and giving him the opportunity to slip his tongue into your mouth. His hands kneaded your body, roaming all over you with no intention of leaving a single part of your skin untouched. Likewise, you gripped his biceps, digging your nails into his skin to keep yourself grounded.

"Fuck—" Jake mumbled against your lips, only to get cut off by your lips attacking his— "Wait—"

Jake tasted sweet, like candy. He tasted like home, like love, like everything was going to be okay no matter what. How could you pull away now? 

"B-Baby, wait—"

"Stop talking, Jakey," you pulled away briefly, only to bite his lip, pulling on the pink flesh with your teeth. You let your tongue roam his mouth, feeling the warmth as your own hands began to wander his toned chest. 

"Just kiss me," you breathed.

You kept Jake like this for a few more minutes, trapping him in the heaven that was your lips. But when your bikini top began to untie at the back, something that Jake noticed immediately, he ripped away from you.

Something in his eyes had changed.

Quietly, he tied your bikini top back for you, ignoring your confused (and very breathless) gaze.

"If you keep doing what you do to me," he began into your ear, "I don't know if I'll be able to control myself."

With that, Jake threw you over his shoulder as he hoisted himself up to his feet. He grabbed everything that you brought to the rooftop, throwing your towel over you and ignoring you fussing.

"W-Where are we goin—?!"

"Back to my room."

You were in for a night.

You and Jake were going to stay in LA for a little while longer after Vidcon, so you extended your stay in the same hotel rooms.

After last night, Jake and you fell asleep in his bed. 

It was going to be the best, Jake thought. Neither of you had anywhere to be, anyone to put on a show for. The two of you could sleep in for as long as you'd like. It didn't really matter to him, as long as he could wake up with you in his arms, he'd be all right.

Which is why Jake's heart dropped to his stomach when he woke up to you already dressed, pacing around the room nervously.

"Baby?" Jake was alarmed, even as he rubbed his sleepy eyes. "Baby, what happened?"

You whipped your head over to him, your expression pinch and painted with anxiety. 

"Check your phone," you muttered as you chewed your lip.

Jake did as you said. The moment he opened up his phone, his screen was filled with text messages from everyone: his colleagues, his friends, heck even his own mother. He was tagged in about a thousand posts all across his social media accounts, and his Youtube home page was plastered with his face. But not only his face. Your face too.

What caught his eye was an article from a major Internet news source that made its round across every platform.

Its headline?

Jake Sim and [Name] [Last Name] are reported to be dating.

The worst part was the cover page.

It was a photo of you and Jake, together in the hottub last night, with your arms thrown around his neck with your lips connected. When he read more into it, the photo evidence got more and more specific. Close-up pictures of Jake's neck to reveal a hickey and lipstick mark on his shirt, your smudged lipstick, a screenshot of the Sanrio plush in one of his videos, even that clip of his laugh in the background of one of your videos. Of course, the most crucial one was that clip of Jake admitting that he had a girlfriend.

This was what he wanted, wasn't it? For everyone to know about you, to be able to show you off.

Objectively, this was bound to happen.

But as Jake watched you pace around, your hands shaking as you looked like you were about to cry, he didn't feel the pride that he thought he would feel if everyone knew. He didn't feel happy, he didn't feel excited that he got to show you off. All he felt was a mix of guilt and anger.

And before he could reach out to hold your hand and pull you close, you quietly said that you were going to go on a walk, and left the hotel room.

The quiet that filled the hotel room was piercing. Jake stilled in his spot, still groggy and disheveled.

Had he always been like this?

He swore that at the beginning of your relationship, he took every measure to keep it private. Because you asked him to. Because he respected you.

Why did he throw it all away? 

He agreed to keep things private. 

But now he put you in an uncomfortable position and an even more vulnerable position than you'd ever been in before. 

Was he a bad boyfriend? Were you going to break up with him? Would your relationship with him ever be the same? That made Jake's heart palpitate. He couldn't lose you. No, he'd die. But then again, he fucked up, he knew that.

Jake ran a hand through his hair. This was an asshole move.

But he couldn't help feeling his fingers twitch for his phone when it ding'd.

The first thing he saw when he opened up Twitter were tweets at him.

And they were surprisingly... supportive?

"Emo boyfriend, cute girlfriend, the best combo!"

"Sending love to both of you. Hope you're doing well. We support you."

"I'm very pleasantly surprised."

"This is literally like Hello Kitty and Batman meeting this is crazy"

But as he scrolled deeper, he found more obscure comments.

"Feel so bad for [Name]. Her boyfriend is a freak."

"He doesn't deserve her."

And the nail in the coffin:

"No wonder they kept it a secret. I'd hide it too if someone like that was my boyfriend."

Why did you keep your relationship with him secret? Jake knew the answer to that: you just wanted to keep your personal life private.

But as Jake plunged himself deeper and deeper into the hole that was the media, he could only imagine alternative answers, and one stuck out.

Were you ashamed of him? 

Of course you would be.

You were beautiful in every capacity and just the most perfect person in the world. And Jake was just himself. You were always cute, and sometimes, Jake felt like he couldn't keep up with you. You were far out of his league. His content was considered "niche" and "obscure," of course people, maybe even you, considered him a freak.

He was a bastard, and you were a princess. He didn't blame you for being embarrassed about him.

That's why you were so anxious and against your relationship being exposed, right?

No, no, no!

Shut up, shut up, shut up, Jake thought, his hands balling into fists. You wouldn't. He knew you better than anyone, and he knew that you would never be embarrassed about him. You weren't like that, and he was a fool for even thinking of you in that way. He was being insecure and stupid.

But even so, as Jake let all the guilt, shame, anger, and anxiety settle in while he thought of an apology to you, he couldn't help but feel his insecurity seeping in.

You knew that you were overreacting. You shouldn't have left Jake in there all alone, you should have sat down and talked to him about it.

But there was something scary about having everybody's eyes on you at once, scorning you. You were a Youtuber, of course you knew what it felt like to be watched, but to have the entire internet so hellbent about your personal life made you jump into your own skin.

You just took a walk along the early city streets, you reflected upon yourself.

Why did you keep your relationship with Jake secret? 

Part of it was privacy. You didn't want the internet to interfere with your personal life, of course. 

But it wasn't like you wanted to hide your love for your boyfriend forever. It wasn't like you wanted to stow him away somewhere no one could find him. You were both adults, and you had to start living at some point.

You'd be lying if you said that you never thought about making a cute video with him, if you said you never wanted to post a cheesy anniversary picture on Instagram with a long caption just for him, if you said you never wanted the world to know that Jake Sim was yours.

You remembered the first time you and Jake talked about keeping it private. He was unsure, but because he cared so much about you, he agreed. Had you ever stopped to think about how he felt? You may have wanted to keep your relationship quiet, but did he? To a degree, there was something selfish about you, both now and in the past. You wanted to preserve yourself and your feelings, but you never even considered how Jake felt.

You were afraid, you felt vulnerable and too exposed to the world. But you cared far more about Jake than those fleeting emotions. Desire outweighed fear, you had to see him now.

But as you marched back to your hotel, your mind racing as you came up with paragraphs of words that you'd spill to Jake, you began to notice your worst nightmare.

A group of men, each with massive cameras that had even bigger microphones. 

They called themselves the paparazzi, but they were really only middle-aged men that made money off of being invasive towards people half their age.

Maybe you should have worn a hat, or something, as you were in a camera-infested area that was even more infested with celebrities and influencers. As they approached you, you quickened your steps, trying to get as far as you could from them. You tried your best not to make eye-contact, but alas, they got to you before you could escape.

"[Name]?" one of them called out your name, practically running to you.

Oh my god, you thought, ignoring them as you sped up. Please not right now.

"[Name], are you dating Jake Sim?" The sound of your boyfriend's name out of their mouths made your stomach churn. You kept walking, but you could feel them pointing their massive cameras at you, taking any measure to make a buck off of you.

You had a few choices.

You could make a run for it. Though, you had about six men double your age who would probably chase you down.

You could also give in to them, and give very vague answers. That would require a lot of patience, and simply, you wanted to go kiss your boyfriend, not talk to these so-called paparazzis.

Your last option was the one that seemed the most appealing, but could stir the pot of the media even more and it would give the tabloids what they wanted: you could tell them off and shut them down completely. The only issue was that you were the cutesy, sweet, Sanrio Hello Kitty girl. You've talked about adult topics before, but for you to be hostile and mean to another person? That was completely unheard of to anyone on the Internet. It would also be very reactive, and the media could twist that into something more.

But you wanted to get out of there.

You wanted to go see Jake. If you had to throw a few curse words at people if it meant that you could go home to Jake, then you'd use every curse under the sun.

"[Name], everyone is saying that your relationship with Jake Sim is real and not a publicity stunt. Any comment on that-?"

You were getting irritated.

You stopped in your tracks, turning over your shoulder.

"Will you fuck off?" Your gaze hardened on the group of men shoving cameras in your faces. You didn't even bother looking into the lens. "It's 10 in the morning, I don't have time for this."

"We didn't mean to offend you, [Name], we just wanted to know your relationship with Jake Si—"

You huffed to yourself, rolling your eyes. They loved acting polite only to violate your privacy. 

"Cut the bullshit, okay?" you narrowed your eyes. You were only a few meters from the hotel entrance, and they were still stalking you with their massive cameras. How shameless. 

Your anger was bubbling up inside you. It was rising, rising so much that you could feel it attempting to spill out of your mouth.

"You want to make a quick buck off of me so bad?" You stepped through the hotel doorway.

If the media was so curious about your life, and if they wanted to go so far as to try to disrupt your relationship, you wouldn't give them that satisfaction.

Everyone loved seeing what you were doing, everyone loved to watch you. It was your job to put on a show, to give people what they wanted. If you wanted to live, then you'd have to accept that.

You were an influencer, a micro-celebrity. You could make tides move if you wanted to. Why be so fearful of the eyes of so many?

But more than anything, you were a performer. And if that's what they wanted from you, that's what they'll get.

"Fine," you huffed. "I'll give you a story: me and Jake have been together for six years. In fact, we met each other in high school when he was my Physics lab partner. Go investigate that, won't you?"

With that, you slammed the hotel entrance door in their faces.

Jake swore he heard the trumpets of heaven when the hotel room door cracked open, revealing you.

He'd been waiting in front of it for a while now, and he jerked up immediately as he saw your face. He jumped right to his feet, ready to spill every word he thought of on you. You deserved an explanation.

But all you did was raise your hand, silencing him instantly. Instead, you took off your shoes, took his arm, and pulled him with you to the bed. You motioned for him to lay down, and did so yourself.

Jake stared at you like you were insane. Were you not going to yell at him? Why weren't you hitting him or telling him that you wanted to break up with him? Should he be on his knees begging you to stay at this point? But he complied (because of course he did, it was you).

You laid on his chest in silence, pressing your cheek up against him. 

That made his mind wander.

Maybe you were trying to ease him into a hard conversation. Maybe you were going to forget this until later.

He didn't want that. No, you deserved to hear what he had to say. If you were going to leave him, Jake wanted to say everything that he wanted to.

"I'm sorry," Jake blurted. The silence was deafening, before you took a deep breath, turning over onto your stomach so that your chin laid on his chest.

"What for?"

The gentle look in your eye as you looked at him made Jake choke up himself. He had to hold back or he'd start sobbing.

"For going against your wishes a-and..." Jake searched through his mind for all the words he practiced, but nothing came to mind. Not with you looking at him like you still loved him. "And for telling people about our relationship. I—I shouldn't have done that and I'm sorry for disrespecting the promise w-we made.... And... And—"

Jake sucked in a loud, sharp breath. His eyes were getting watery. He took your hands in his, squeezing them. 

"And I know that you're ash—ashamed of me, and I know that y-you won't— you won't want to be with me anymore, but—"

"Wait what?" you interrupted him, squeezing hands back. "I'm not ashamed of you, Jakey."

Jake stared at you.

Jakey.

"I'm not breaking up with you either. What makes you think that?"

The gate that was holding back Jake's emotions broke.

Jake let the tears that he tried so hard to hold back roll down his face. He let out a sob before he clamped a hand over his mouth.

You didn't hate him? You still wanted to be with him?

You instantly threw your leg over his hips, straddling him as you pulled his head to your chest. He melted into your touch, his wet face hiding in the crook of your neck. You pet his hair, pressing kisses to the crown of his head.

"Baby," you whispered into his ear gently. "Why are you crying?"

Jake's crying only got louder, and you couldn't help but giggle. He was a total softie. The way his hold around you tightened told you enough.

Jake sniffled through his words, cutting himself off every now and then with a hiccup and more sobs. "Th-Thought you were gonna l-leave me."

Your fingers stopped in his hair. "Leave you? Why would I?"

Jake pushed his face back into your shoulder, shaking his head.

You let him cry like that for a little while longer, whispering sweet reassurances in his ear as you patted his back. 

And when he was ready, the two of you talked it out, because that's what people did when they loved each other. You exchanged apologies, explained to each other your thought processes, and created an agreement: start anew, and you both didn’t mind that your relationship was now public, and if either of you disagreed, you had to voice it immediately. You ended it with a kiss.

You clicked the camera on, checking in the viewfinder that you were in-frame. You were back at home, the pink Hello Kitty decorations in your room, as well as the scent of strawberries, surrounding you. 

“Hi, everyone!” you smiled brightly, clasping your hands together. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you all. How are you?”

You chatted about a few updates since Vidcon, telling about your wonderful experience there and how you were so happy to meet all your fans.

“Now, onto the video!”

You peered to the side, where you spotted Jake sitting at the edge of your bed, waiting intently for your cue.

“Oh, Jakey!” you said in a sing-songy voice. “Come out now!”

With that, Jake popped into frame, dorkily saying a quick hi before plopping down onto the chair beside you.

“Today, I will be doing my boyfriend’s makeup!” you chirped happily. “Are you ready, boyfriend?”

The two of you shared a grin.

“Of course, girlfriend.”

[vanteguccir]

── ୨୧ !　𝗜𝗧'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗗

　　　　　　　　　𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒐 x reader

SUMMARY: Where Y/N is part of the Sturniolo Triplets fandom and makes videos about them on TikTok. After years of creating content, one of her videos seems to catch the attention of none other than Chris.

WARNING: None.

REQUESTED?: Yes, from anon.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: That is my work, I DON'T authorize any plagiarism! | English isn't my first language, so I'm sorry if there's any grammar error.

A/N².: I used this tiktoker as an inspiration for the content that the reader creates on this.

　　　༻✦༺ 　༻✧༺　༻✦༺

It was true that the Sturniolo Triplets fandom grew so much in such a short time thanks to the fans themselves, who play a big role in bringing the channel to other people through social media - mainly TikTok. It was also true that, at least 90% of this part of the fandom works with edits of different types of the boys; compilation of parts from a certain video or podcast, edits and even memes.

But there was a small portion that made videos talking about the boys, showing their faces and voices while explaining their content, work and even giving tips on how the triplets themselves could increase their audience or improve their brands.

And Y/N was part of this small portion, having been in the fandom since mid-2021 and not missing any videos of the triplets, she could talk about them for hours on end.

Her biggest hobby was making videos giving ideas for their channel and brands: some brands they could collab with, theme ideas for car videos, topics for podcasts, prints for hoodie sets and t-shirts - both for the triplets' brand and for Fresh Love -, different flavors and themes for Space Camp, and so on.

The girl applied all her love and knowledge to all her videos, editing the backgrounds and explaining her ideas with the smallest details, making them understandable. She had perfect lighting, audio, and set equipment for her work, which made the quality equally good as her content.

Her trademark was her strawberry frappuccino, which she was always drinking every time she turned on her phone camera. Fans joked that her obsession with the drink was like Chris's obsession with Pepsi.

And all that was exactly why fans loved her so much. Y/N had more than 400 thousand followers on her TikTok account and all her videos reached an average of 150 thousand likes, in addition to the many comments saying how smart she was for having those ideas, her kindness in sharing them with the public and even complementing her beauty.

The girl spent hours of her day reading each one of them and interacting with fans as if they were best friends, always being very kind. She laughed her ass off at the comments from people who madly tagged the boys, especially Chris, as it was a well-known fact that he was her favorite - she loved to make that very clear.

Some fans even went so far as to say that if Chris was ever ready to get romantically involved with someone again, they wanted it to be with Y/N. The girl read that type of comment with a huge smile on her face and red cheeks, feeling honored. Although she imagined that the boys would never even notice her, she allowed herself to travel through the world of delusion from time to time.

So it was an understandment to say that she was super surprised when, after waking up on a typical Saturday and picking up her phone for the first time in the day before even getting out of bed - a bad habit of hers -, she saw the notifications in triple the volume of its normal.

She felt dizzy with so much information, trying to find in the midst of so many comments and messages what was really happening.

Finally, after traveling between her TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter for long minutes, she finally found it.

Chris Sturniolo had commented on her last video.

　　　　　༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

It was Friday, and the triplets had just returned home after finishing recording their new car video that would be posted in a few hours.

Chris was currently lying in his bed, the lights in his room dimmed, and the low noise coming from his phone filling the four walls.

The brunette was just getting ready to take a shower minutes ago, having opened his TikTok and scrolling through his For You for a few minutes, about to take off his clothes used in the filming, when a video of an unknown girl talking about himself caught his attention.

It was very normal to have videos of and about himself on his For You, after all, the hours over the last few years that he spent liking one video or another showed the algorithm that he liked this type of content. Edits and memes of him alone or with his brothers filled his app, and he spent enough time watching, laughing, liking, and, sometimes, reposting some of them.

But it wasn't normal for him to have a completely unknown person talking directly about him, with her face and voice exposed for the world while doing it. And what surprised him most was what she was talking about, that specific video being about different prints and colors that he could use in the next Fresh Love collection.

His blue eyes lingered too long on the girl's face, admiring her features, her sweet voice serving as a melody for his ears.

When Chris dragged his thumb from the right to the left of his screen, entering the girl's profile, he finally noticed her name.

"Y/N." His voice came out in a whisper, enjoying more than necessary how the name slipped off his tongue so easily.

His fingers wandered across the screen, going from one video to another, listening to the ideas carefully - even writing some down on his Notes app -, saving some in a separate folder and browsing the comments, only then realizing that practically all of them were from fans tagging him.

Laughter escaped his lips at some of the jokes the girl made every now and then, while fascination filled his eyes with the effort she put into each idea.

The sound of knocking against his bedroom door startled him, his body jumping as he turned sharply towards the source of it, Matt's head appearing between his door and the frame, his eyebrows furrowed as his eyes traveled around the room briefly.

"You've been listening to this girl for so many hours that I thought she was here with you." Matt commented, opening the door wider and approaching Chris.

The youngest of the triplets rolled his eyes, suppressing the urge to lock his phone screen and keep Y/N all to himself, but she was well known in the fandom and her videos were about him and his brothers, the possibility of her content getting to them as quickly as it got to him was huge.

"It's a girl who appeared on my For You today. She makes videos of ideas for our channel and brands, can you believe it?" Chris looked at Matt as he showed his phone screen with Y/N's profile open. His eyes were wide with fascination, and his lips stretched into an enthusiastic smile.

Matt observed him for a few seconds, noticing his body language and the way he spoke about the girl, it was different from all the other times the boy commented about tiktokers or videos others made about them.

"Send me a video of her, I'll take a look later. Now go upstairs, I bought us something to eat."

　　　　　༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

Another Monday had arrived, and Y/N was looking for strength in her body to get out of bed and face another start of the week.

The thought that in a few hours, she would have a brand new Sturniolo Triplets podcast was what made her tackle her tasks.

Her eyes traveled to the time on her phone and to her notification bar every 10 minutes, as if she was expecting Nick to release the podcast earlier than usual - it was obvious that that wasn't going to happen.

After last Saturday, where she had woken up to a comment from none other than Christopher Sturniolo, her weekend was complete madness.

She spent hours staring at the little comment as her mind tried to process whether she was actually awake or still asleep and in a very good dream.

"loved the idea! it's noted ;)"

"it's noted"? What did that even mean? Did he actually write down her idea for future use? Should she be prepared to wake up some other day and see that he has launched a new collection with something she suggested in one of her videos?

And what made her go crazy the most was that Chris Sturniolo had seen her face, and not only that, he found her attractive enough and her idea creative enough to watch it until the end.

She spent almost the entire previous two days waiting for him to comment again, or even like one of her videos, but that didn't happen. Instead, Y/N received thousands of comments from fans going crazy with her about what happened. At least she had a good laugh with them.

Now, she was in her bedroom, the light from the movie playing on the TV was the only source of illumination. Y/N was lying in her bed, already in her pajamas and with her pre-bed cup of cappuccino on her lap, keeping her legs warm, her eyes on the television, but her mind somewhere else.

The sound of the YouTube notification came from her phone and Y/N had never moved so quickly, her hand taking the device out of her bedside table and unlocking the screen while muting the television, clicking on it with her thumb without even looking at the other notifications.

Her fingers worked on increasing the volume and screen brightness, setting it to the best resolution and getting comfortable on her bed, preparing to stay in that position for the next hour.

The podcast was already at minute 35, and Y/N felt her cheeks hurting from how much she was laughing at the topics brought up by the boys. Nick was especially funny that day, making Chris and Matt laugh at every moment.

In addition to the senseless fights that would arise between the three of them out of nowhere, which made Y/N roll her eyes playfully, already accustomed to their way with each other.

Until her big smile was replaced by an expression of a mixture of fright and surprise.

"Can we take a moment to talk about the intense crush Chris developed this weekend?" Nick interrupted Matt's laughter, taking a sip of his Doctor Pepper.

Chris turned abruptly to his brother, his eyes wide at the comment as he shook his head, almost begging through telepathy for him not to talk about that.

"It's true, Chris spent the weekend obsessing over a fan of ours who makes videos on TikTok with different ideas for our channel." Matt agreed, looking briefly at Nick while his hands moved the microphone support, pressing his lips together as he tried to suppress his laughter at Chris's reaction.

"Yeah, she is super pretty, and her ideas are very interesting. I think I only saw her profile once, but I listened to all her videos through Chris's phone." Nick continued, raising his right hand and directing his palm towards Chris, pretending to cover his figure with it and ignoring his desperate expression. "He literally spent the entire weekend watching her."

"Her name is Y/N. Search for her guys. We might even use one of her ideas on our next podcast." Matt added, his voice coming out low despite his mouth being almost glued to the microphone.

"You guys are horrible, I hate you." Despite the distance, the camera lens that focused on Chris's image captured his red cheeks as he tried to suppress a smile at the thought of the girl who took over his thoughts, rolling his eyes to his brothers.

"Now he will be silent for the next 10 minutes." Nick continued, amusement in his voice as he picked up his Space Camp watermelon lip balm, playing with the object in his hands.

"He's in love Nick, give him some credit." Matt mocked alongside the oldest triplet, a small smile on his face as his eyes watched his brother's reaction.

"Okay, next topic." Chris interrupted loudly, his voice cracking with embarrassment. He raised his arms and moved them from side to side exasperatedly, earning laughter from the other two, before Nick briefly passed his eyes on the document open on his laptop, starting the next topic.

"Oh my God." Y/N whispered, clicking once on the screen and dragging the small ball in the bottom bar to the left, going back a few minutes of the podcast and rewatching that specific part.

The girl repeated that action at least three more times, her brain still processing that Chris Sturniolo had been watching her TikToks all weekend - as if she were some kind of famous artist - and that, apparently, he was developing a mini crush on her as well.

Her heart was beating too fast to be normal as her cheeks burned, a red tinge taking over her skin. Goosebumps ran through her body as her fingers trembled slightly. Her jaw was already hurting from the time she held her mouth open, but no sound escaped from it.

A notification suddenly appearing at the top of the screen caught her eye, her right hand instantly flying to her mouth while her left hand lowered her phone, resting the device on her mattress.

Her eyes were now fixed on the wall in front of her bed, as her mind screamed at herself.

christopherturniolo sent you a direct message.

"hey!"

[fallingforyouforeverr]

Hey do you think you could do a dating Arthur hill headcannon it’s all good if not hahah x

𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐫 𝐇𝐢𝐥𝐥

summary: read request above

authors note: omg anon, i am so sorry that it took me this long, i completely forgot that it was in my drafts oops. i don't really love this as much as the other ones bc it feels quite rushed but i just wanted to finally publish something yk so hopefully you still enjoy!

please consider checking out my masterlist

-> you're each other's biggest supporters. you help him with music and videos, and are backstage at every show screaming along to the lyrics. if you were also a musician, he would do the same for you, and he would somehow find a way to mention how talented you are in basically every conversation it's actually slightly annoying

-> he would always make sure to be equally as supportive of you though, and would celebrate each of your achievements, however minor it seems

-> arthur values your opinion more than anything else, so you are always the first to hear new video ideas or the lyrics of a song he has been working on

-> he's probably written several love songs about you that he plans never to release. he might show you a few, but most of them are private – just someplace to channel all the love he has for you

-> lisa (his mum) loves you. even before you met her, she felt like she knew you because of how much arthur talked about you.

-> his friends definitely tease you two a lot but they genuinely think your relationship is really sweet and they are all just happy that he found someone who was so clearly made for him

-> arthur would never dare admit it to anyone but you, but he is absolutely a simp for you. he would literally do anything you asked of him with no hesitation, even at his own expense

-> 100% a quality time person

-> you feature in his videos a lot. like all the time. he just wants to be around you as much as possible!

-> dates happen practically everyday, often without any sort of plan and you usually just wander the city together until you find somewhere interesting

-> one of arthur's favourite things to do with you is going to small indie concerts of bands you have never heard of before, more so for the vibes than the actual music

-> your camera roll is full of pictures and videos of him drunk, as you usually have to pick him up after he's been drinking. arthur becomes very clingy when drunk so you receiving a call from george at 2am asking you to pick them up while arthur whines in the background asking where you are has become a frequent occurrence

-> he can also be very clingy even when sober, and this is only amplified whenever he is tired, jealous, or just missing you

-> despite you assuring him of your love several times, jealousy isn't unusual for him as he often feels insecure – especially next to his more popular housemates, which can cause him to doubt your relationship. these feelings never last long tho and his bad mood is normally fixed just through a quick reminder of your love

-> when arthur is a clingy mood he will often just scoop you up without warning and carry you to the nearest comfortable surface to cuddle. he will then proceed to literally lay on top of you so you have no way of running away to whatever you were doing before, not that you mind of course

-> there's never a dull moment when you are with arthur. all of your time together is spent laughing until your cheeks hurt and you can't breathe or just basking in eachothers presence

[heavenlyakin]

too sweet - atsumu miya x reader 

cw: tiktok trend, reader is a social media manager for MSBY, flirting, reader blushes, a lil selfship coded

network: @enchantedforest-network

“Okay, I’ll do it.” Atsumu sighs, making you scream with glee. 

“Finally!” You jump up from your chair, the wheels squeaking as it scoots behind you. You push it under your desk and grab your cell phone, holding it up and pointing at it. “First, I’ll need a picture of you from before, maybe when you were in high school? Do you have one from a game maybe?”

“Sure,” he grins, looking up at you from the couch in your office. 

“Well, get to it. Send me it.” 

He grins, his eyes light with amusement. “Give me a minute,” he scrolls through his phone, taking several minutes. “Oh,” he grins, looking at you and back to his phone. 

“What is it?” You frown.

“I need to delete that one,” is all he says then your phone dings and you get a few pictures of Atsumu from high school, all in his uniform, some of them in action and others goofy pictures with his brother and teammates. 

“Perfect. We need to get a shot of you now. Do you have your uniform?” 

He stands up, his form towering over yours, and he grins again. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” 

“Atsumu,” You roll your eyes, pushing his chest gently. “Get moving. I’ll meet you on the court.” 

He laughs as he watches you leave, taking your phone and camera in case the quality is bad on your phone. You’re only sitting on the bleachers for a moment before Atsumu comes in from the locker rooms, dressed in his black uniform. 

“Alright, boss, whatcha need from me?” He asks, tossing up a volleyball. 

“A few shots of you setting, maybe wink at the camera, or do something flirtatious. Oh!” An idea hits you. 

“What is it?” 

“Do you have any water?”

He raises his eyebrow and laughs. “Are you making a thirst trap, for real?” 

“What? Shoyo and Kou said no.” You laugh. 

“Didn’t ask Kiyoomi, did you?” He grins. 

“He’d quit if I tried. He told me before I even looked at him.” You giggle, recalling the memory. 

“So I’m your last choice, huh?” He frowns, pouting his lip out. 

You run your finger down his chest, “I saved the best for last.” 

“Yeah?” His eyes graze down your body and your cheeks warm. 

You’ve had a flirtatious banter with Atsumu for the last year now since you started this job, but it’s heated up in the last few weeks. He hangs around more before and after practices, even on days he’s not required, he’s here in the office. 

“Go set a few balls,” you push him away and he grins as he jogs away towards the cart full of balls.

It doesn’t take long, you get good shots on both your phone and camera, knowing you can use them for other promotional material later. The last thing left is to get a shot with water dripping off him. 

Atsumu is accommodating, following your direction, and letting you pour water down him multiple times to get the right shot. You keep the camera rolling as he wipes his face with the hem of his shirt, shaking his head and the water flinging off him from his hair and face. 

That’s the shot you needed. 

Atsumu snaps and you break from your gaze. “Sorry, what?” 

“I was asking if you got the shot.” 

“Oh,” you smile, face warm. “I did. Thank you,” you’re too quiet now and you worry he’s noticed you’re flustered. 

He winks as he walks towards the locker room, so you start towards the elevator back to your office. Giving yourself a few more moments, you glance at the footage on your phone, knowing it’s a bad idea. You can’t develop any more feelings for him, but you do anyway. 

As you’re looking at the last shot on the camera, your phone pings again. It’s Atsumu. You open the message and see it’s a photo, still downloading. 

You drop your phone and gasp, picking it back up quickly and checking to see if you really saw what you think you saw. You did. 

Attached to a winky emoji is a picture of Atsumu with just a towel draped lowly around his waist. Another ping comes through as your face turns red. 

You’re not too sweet for me. 

[hutahuta]

Desparate to get away from a creep that been harassing you, you rush to pavia despite not knowing each other yet saying he is your boyfriend what will he do? Plsss?

P.AGE OO.4 — 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐔𝐌 & NOBILITY : 交 ✦ ⏱

GN ! Reader — <3

this is probably gonna be long, who knows. i'm writing before i even started LMAO <3

edit; i dont like the way i wrote this idk,, maybe i'm getting a little self conscious of my writing and jdskkdkdkd i'm so sorry.. ;;

thank you sweetie, ilysm for requesting (๑´ ˘ `๑)

Running to safety hasn't always been your only option. Mostly because your friends encouraged you to carry weapons for your own safety, especially in these streets where you can competently get snatched, stabbed, mugged or any of the sort. In this era? Please. You think people could afford low quality security cameras, with a high price?

Weak hands trembled as you kept insisting that your time was not worth being spent on someone who was firm on the decision that you must simply travel with them to see the city's night scenery.

It's been at least 15 minutes at most with you trying to brush aside him or trying to speed walk out of the way, hoping he wouldn't go bother someone else but at least spare you the chance to get away.

Infuriating.

Fortunately, you were not the gullible sort. Whether you've encountered this for the first time, or you've experienced such shuddersome and nightmarish situations for god knows how long, it doesn't matter. None of this is fucking okay.

And you knew that.

Loathsome hands traced the outer space around your bare back, and much to your disgust, it was unbearable to not break their hand as of this second. You had to wait, just so you could still walk with said person and hopefully get the chance to outrun them when you see a nearby crowd flocking up to the nearest street.

' Come, I insist. '

' You've ain't got nothin' to worry 'bout. '

' Aren't you being stubborn? This is what I get for being a nice guy.. What's so bad 'bout someone tryna' treat you out? '

The same shit you'd hear time n' time again. It isn't always the easiest, especially when you'd think he'd carry a weapon on him just in case.

Think, be smart.

Ah, up just ahead, a crossroad catered towards the corner of your eye. Your head didn't turn around too quick, but you'd have seen the elderly couple steadily cross the walk just then. Following suit, a flock of crowds parked themselves up just ahead to watch the physical activities boarded up for their enjoyment.

Fuck.. Okay. Pace yourself.. Three, two, -

Before you knew it, you dashed immediately.

Wind blew and slashed against your face as you carried your burning legs as fast as you could. You didn't know what the hell this freak carried on him and you weren't planning on finding out either.

The crowd proved no use, as he could manoeuvre his way around, shouldering past people aggressively with the occasional loud grunt you can surely figure out that it etched from him.

Dammit, alright. It's fine. It's totally fucking fine, right? You couldn't tell where you were going. You crossed and turned at every corner, and just beyond your reach —..

Stood a man near the corner shop that sold the usual cigarettes and loaded beverages. Stuff that you'd only resort to having when your shift at work really sucked.

White to black hair, black sunglasses with a lavender shirt that had intricate patterns, but not interesting enough to pay too much attention to as of this time.

Please, for whatever God is out there. Offer you some strength. Fortunately, he was quick to stop you in your tracks by halting his hand in front of you, like how one would halt a nearby bus to indicate you're about to get on. However, he essentially demanded your entire body be impacted against his hand. Regardless, it made you panic in a hurry but your uneven breathing made it impossible to speak coherent sentences.

Pretty sure if you saw someone crying and running away like your life depended on it, wouldn't you stop by to help? Pavia was a mercenary, and a merciless one at that, but he wasn't entirely soulless.

' Now, where are you running off to in such a hurry? ' He had an accent. A lollipop stuck between his lips. What is it? Cherry? Strawberry?

Words. Just use words.

' Help, please.. Creep. Following. Behind me. ' Behind your uneven breaths, and horrid panting that caused a crack in the tone of your voice, he seemed to understand.

Or, somewhat get it. If it's anything staining this world, it's filth like this random person trying to inflict damage on innocent people like you who are just trying to get by their day. You look innocent to him. Exhausted, but innocent. Like a little lamb fleeing the slaughterhouse.

If it's one thing he hates, it's seeing the poor souls who resemble the innocence he once had. The chance that they could have to flee themselves from trauma, is the chance I believe Pavia would be willing to give. He must despise seeing the fear inside eyes that used to resemble his own when he was tucked away from the rest of society, forced to grumble under nothing but the deafening silence within the basement of his aunt's home after wailing out apologies and horrid voice cracks just to plead for his own freedom.

So. Seeing yours is no different.

Regardless, you do know the impact of you being outside.. especially during the evenings where it's dark and the sky turned into a murky ocean blue haze, gradients shifting darker by the hour and minute..

Gripping onto his shirt, your pleas to beg him to act as someone you might be familiar with, or perhaps even wear the stalker off with claiming that he is your temporary boyfriend, might strike something within Pavia..

Standing still, you rested yourself against his steady arm, holding you in place. Swiftly, he moved you against the wall, whispering a soft 'Then forgive me.' And yet, here were the thudding footsteps of your attacker. With a quiet look on your face, he stepped out of the shadow, amidst his hounds that surrounded his feet by seconds.

You couldn't believe it??

' Problem, amico? ' Resonated that voice of his, something to admire. Glistening under such beautiful moonlight, you could tell how the silver lining had outlined the steel plate of the metal cutting into the familiar shape of a pistol embedded within his pocket.. Huh- Shit— was he dangerous too? You only needed protection, not some bloodied out battle to settle for your freedom?? You're not looking to go to jail this early, anyways.

' I sincerely hope that you aren't getting aquatinted with my.. beloved? Huh? Lest I take that pretty little tie of yours to add into my collection. Divertente~ '

You didn't ask for his name, but your slender hands placed itself on his shoulder, still unable to catch your breath beneath these minutes that were unbearably silent to surpass.

Behind him, your body rested upon his, one hand eagerly coiled warmly against his waist like vines on a old pillar.

The stranger didn't wish to be aquatinted with you in any sort at first, but he was a playful hound of a man. With eyes that looked at you, then back at your stalker. Maybe talking with you a little more after this wouldn't hurt, right?

' You know, amico. ' He approached.

' There is something quite thrilling to have the echoes of thuds of dead bodies fall flat against the surface when you hear that deadly gunshot linger in the back of your head, huh.. You know, my boss tried the same thing. '

And yet, it feared him in some way. Your eyes replicated that of a lost puppy. Those puffy cheeks, reddened and exhausted from running ever so much, oh my.. Something sparked inside of him.

Compared to his gaze, that had his pupils dilated so small, it reflected insanity upon them. He whispered a quiet ; ' I suggest you surrender before it gets ugly? aha.. '

All it took—; was the slow movement of his slender, yet ringed hands to reach into his lower pocket-

And by the second.

They left. You heard grumbled apologies.. and shuffling. But that was mostly it.

The stranger dressed in purple didn't bother to turn to look back around at you to see if you're alright or not, but there was a smirk on his face. A smile on it that he could only turn his head to the side which he could witness your breathing slowly starting to become tolerable; that lollipop twirled itself around his fingers.

Maybe a factor of it played into it because he just saved you, but some part of you could tell a fraction of him enjoyed teasing you with his playful gaze. As if you knew what he were to already say.

The public here avoid trouble but when they see terrible news on the media, they flock together like birds to ready themselves into war. It's nearly impossible to fight against society's norms, but you suspect that's why nobody but him offered such help.

And you were lucky.

Seems like it won't be the only time you'd meet this stranger by the looks of it. He said nothing more than patting your shoulder softly, then moving back inside the building.

Pavia wouldn't be the best at trying to offer comfort but he knows better than anybody else on how events like these tend to fuck you over. The shit people put up with on a daily basis makes him want to spit on lowly people for even thinking they have the right to breathe the same air as you.

Pavia merely reached his hand towards your trembling figure. He seemed to contemplate whether it was a good choice to get to know you, but under these circumstances, that stalker could still be lingering about. What better to do than to have him offered to sit beside you until you feel safe to go on your own again.

After all, maybe it's the safest option..

And who knows? You'll become acquainted with this stranger soon enough with time.

[cherrynwinehorror]

Any fluffy smutty with sub Adam x reader? :)

🍒: Sorry if it's long, I have a habit of going into too much detail, I hope it's not boring

Tired day ~ Adam

Story g: fluff/nsfw

⚠️: suggestive, sex, mention of tobacco

Character: Adam Faulkner-Stanheight from Saw

Reader g: female reader

📝: All the content is fictitious and an attempt is made to adapt the personality of the character

🍒: Hello, writing requests are always open, if you want something in particular, ask without fear. I clarify that English is not my main language, I apologize for any error and accept corrections to improve the quality of the content

Master List

You were walking towards the old building where your boyfriend lived, in your hand hung a bag with Chinese food from that restaurant in the center of the city. It was Friday afternoon and Adam had called you in the morning to make a simple date with you, have dinner in his small apartment, watch some rental movies and sleep.

You entered the apartment with the help of your spare keys that Adam had given you, you didn't live together but he trusted you enough to give you complete freedom to enter and leave his only home.

Adam wasn't home yet, he was working on photographing a man who was cheating to his wife, and he just had to leave at specific times because of what he had mentioned to you a few days ago when he called you at night, so he still It wasn't time for him to be back home, you still decided to arrive earlier so you could clean up the mess you were sure he would make.

And you were right, trash on the floor, cigarette butts everywhere, ashtrays full of ash, clothes scattered on the couch and the middle table, his bed was messy. You tried to tidy up as best you could and turned on the TV while you waited for Adam to arrive.

Soon you could hear the keys being inserted into the lock of the front door and you saw him enter, looking tired with small bags under his eyes, his shoulders were slumped eagerly waiting to get rid of the backpack, and his CD player in his hand.

He looked at you and immediately he removed the headphones from his ears and walked towards you.

"Hey baby"

He greeted you while taking your cheeks with both hands and planting a kiss on your lips, as if seeing you would make that mode of sending everything to hell he was in disappear. Instead, his face drew such a tender smile, he separated from you and went to his dark room to leave his camera.

He sat next to you on the couch for dinner, you had just ordered his favorite, he was hungry and seeing that you had greeted him with a kiss and his favorite food made him feel like he was in paradise.

He had had a very exhausting day, from waiting for the blessed doctor to leave his work shift, and following him for a few more hours, what bothered him the most was finding a way to go unnoticed and not be caught invading someone's privacy.

His feet hurt from walking and waiting, his eyes were tired from the lens of his camera. In addition, he had only had breakfast very early in the morning and not having consumed any food all day had given him an unbearable headache.

But right now he didn't feel the need to complain about how he felt, or that he'd had a bad day. Being with you had made him forget about everything that had happened that day, and he felt so grateful that you had that impact on him. He had missed you so much all week, he was excited to see you again and you were the second thing on his mind, after him working so he could obviously get paid.

After finishing eating, he just stood with one arm around your shoulders, pulling you closer to him. You offered him a fortune cookie that is usually given as a courtesy in Chinese restaurants.

"I don't believe in that stuff baby", so you opened that cookie yourself

"You will have an unforgettable night today"

You just returned to your place on his chest, letting the smell of cigarettes from his shirt pass through your nostrils. His head rested on the back of the couch and you could see that he was tense with fatigue.

"Do you want me to massage your neck?"

You offered to make him feel better and Adam would never say no to your touch, he loved how soft and delicate your hands were. You sat on the back of the couch right behind him and began to apply pressure to his shoulders and neck, he immediately began to relax. Thanks to the relief he felt, he closed his eyes to enjoy the touch. With this, small gasps of satisfaction came out of his mouth. Thanks to the sounds your cheeks turned pink and hot

Although you never admitted it out of pity, Adam was too handsome, that even any gesture from him made you nervous, especially when he had one of his hands on you, on your waist, on your thighs, around your shoulders, and even every time that approached your forehead to plant a kiss

You laughed lightly because of the nerves his panting caused you.

"You like it when I make noises huh!?"

And Adam, what was handsome about him was arrogant, he didn't fully know what he provoked in you, but he did like to joke about it.

"Come here"

Adam took you down from the couch to sit on his leg, he took you by the cheek to bring you closer to him and began to kiss you slowly, as time passed he increased the intensity of the kiss, beginning to look for his tongue to enter your mouth and you will let him explore. Taking you by the back of your neck to bring your face closer to his, with his other hand he squeezed your hip making you sit astride him. Adam began to gently massage your ass as he continued to kiss you.

You began to feel how his erection was growing more and more under you, and Adam began to feel the discomfort of the zipper of his jeans, lifting you up a little to be able to unbutton his pants, thus leaving his penis only covered by his black boxers. . Still kissing you, he put his hands under your shirt, gently caressing your waist and abdomen until he reached your chest, squeezing one of your breasts over your bra.

"Pretty, I need you too much," he said as he began to leave wet kisses along your neck, stealing a small moan from you.

Adam lifted your shirt, leaving you only with your bra on. His kisses began to go down the middle of your breasts, leaving a path to your stomach, and he returned to kiss your lips. He took you by the waist, lifting your body and laying you down on the couch.

Adam removed his own shirt and approached your neck again, positioning himself between your legs and began to rub his erection against your center, both of you still dressed. You couldn't stop the small sounds from your mouth

Fed up with things not rushing you grabbed Adam's jeans ~to pull them down~ by the sides making a wrap sound. Adam separated from you

"Oh yeah, I forgot" from his pocket he took out one of your favorite candy/chocolate, and this boy couldn't be that sweet. Every time you met, he would bring you some candy, plushie or anything he thought you would like, and today he was no exception. You couldn't help but smile and pulled him towards you again to kiss him.

This time Adam was in charge of taking off your jeans and panties and also taking off his own along with his boxers, and at the same time looking for a condom in the table drawer that was next to the couch.

He quickly opened and you snatched the condom to put it on him yourself. Once positioned correctly he pushed you to lie down, he began to kiss you again as the tip of his member sought your entrance.

He began to enter you and you reacted to the touch.

"Are you ok?"

You nodded and Adam continued entering you, once he hit bottom he waited for you to get used to the sensation, meanwhile he removed a few strands of hair from your forehead and combed them back. When you told him to move, he kissed your forehead and began to move his hips gently.

You could look at his face, how he kept his eyes closed in pleasure, his lips slightly open and exhaling agitatedly through his mouth. Sometimes he would look at you, making sure you were comfortable and in turn he would direct his gaze to the point where you were joined.

His thrusts were getting faster, his left hand resting on the couch creased the leather, while his right hand squeezed your thigh, keeping you firm as he pushed into you.

It felt so good, Adam was a normal size but a little thicker than usual, yet he knew how to move and knew where you liked to be touched, it wasn't the first time you two had sex, and Adam was always attentive to the places that made you react when he touched you

He could tell when you were close to your limit, he was still about to cum, so he let go of your thigh and placed two fingers on your clitoris, making circles and stimulating the area, that made your stomach get much hotter and the knot in your belly fell apart, Adam released himself inside the condom, your fluids being the only ones that soaked both.

He plopped down next to you and pulled you to lay your head on his chest, kissing your forehead. Staring at the ceiling as he tried to catch his breath.

Adam took a fortune cookie on the table in the center and opened it.

"The person next to you is the right one"

[the-ultimate-lesbian-blog]

Have I shown you this lesbian rainbow pin I have? Cause if not, here's a picture

I also have a heart with the LGBTQ+ flag on it

This doesn't really have any context but I love these two pins and I felt the need to share them

Also, sorry for the bad quality of the pictures. My stupid camera didn't want to work properly

[iminyourbookshelf]

I've seen people restating over and over that q!slime is a bad person, like yes and that's the entire point.

He is not a good person, just based on his actions it's pretty hard to even try to say he is one. Even if he loved Juanaflippa he wasn't the best father. Even when he was thinking he might’ve been able to trust q!elmariana, he snuck a camera on him which q!quackity pointed out during the Juanaflippa arc was probably illegal. The entire arc also proves this point as well. He completely blames elmariana for her death, when her first one was caused by both of their neglect.

Still now with Sunny, he very oftens loses her (as does Tubbo I will admit) but he is usually much less worried. Though he is nice to her like any parent would be he also jokes with them in a way that sometimes makes them feel bad. Such as today when q!slime said, "Forget the egg tasks its morphin' time" (out of context but gets the point across), Sunny got sad ran away. He ended up letting q!Tubbo to get her to stop, and his apology was "I'm sorry you got mad at what I said" which is completely deflecting the blame.

q!Slime doesn't like to take blame. He's also quick to go to anger instead of talking (ex. Juannaflippa's death, trying to kill other eggs or when people tried telling him codeflippa was a code). That's really just been proven over and over, but that's what makes him interesting. Interesting characters have conflict and bad qualities.

[zoobus]

@dtwoh2

This ended up being super long so I decided not to harass OP's replies

(this is about my opinion that Elliot the billionaire from Breaking Bad S1E5 "Grey Matter" was not a generous, kindly rich friend offering Walt a way out with no strings attached)

First, let me say this: I know most people don't notice or care about fashion but BrBa actually did put notable effort in their costume design and it's because characters like Skyler are consistently well-dressed that made this point so glaring

When she's hosting, when she goes to the office, hell even her house robes are sophisticated, put together fits - I'm not sure how she affords those sumptuous silk kimonos she's always wearing but it hammers home Skye as an appearance-minded person, a woman who knows how to dress. Even with the shit camera quality, you can tell her hot pink baby shower dress was made for her.

And yet.

Walt and Skye go to that party in complementing loud, harsh, ugly blues for what they learn is a beige party - the literal exact opposite of blue.

Now, it'd be one thing if they'd known and worn beige outfits that were shabby in comparison and Walt got in his feelings about it. Or if they'd truly "missed the memo" as Walt snarks and come in normal-wear that was out of dress code - yep could see Walt assuming it was intentional and throwing a fit.

But this poor couple attending a billionaire's party for some reason thought they should wear gaudy blue, with Skye's dress in particular highlighting exactly how cheap it is. It's almost as if they were under the impression they had to wear a color a domesticated adult would be unlikely to already own and rarely looks good on a budget, doubly so if you're 8 months pregnant. Skye would NEVER wear that shiny ass prom dress with the ruched center seam, scratchy 100% polyester raschel lace shawl, and sequined evening bag in public unless she thought it was her only choice. She never wears anything like this again, not even in the same season. The only rational explanation is someone lied to them. The more I explain this, the more I realize why most people missed it.

Now for the less special interest type reasons:

Walt asks (then later confirms) the invite said "no gifts." You might say oh, maybe Elliot was trying to spare Walt's pride but if so, why make a point of sharing it like he did? Why even invite your broke prideful friend to this kind of party, like you can't think of any other way to meet, chat, and ask if he'll work for you?

Additionally, how odd that Walt's was the only invite that didn't say this was a beige party.

Really can't downplay how hard it is to swallow they forgot to tell the Whites not to show up in clown uniforms.

Elliot's loudly showing off his gifts, with the last being an autographed Eric Clapton Stratocaster® which on the low end today is a $2000 electric guitar, but can go to the tens of thousands. Then he spots his friend's meager, teensy little thing, smaller than his hand and LITERALLY POINTS WALT OUT so everyone knows for damn sure who did this. Elliot unwraps it and does this full body sigh. Hands dropped. Your dad getting another tie for father's day type reaction. Young Good Ramen. No this is great man. You can get 10 for 1.99.

Sorry, no it WAS malicious. Listen to his voice. Feel how long he held that unpleasant silence before forcing a chuckle. Holding eye contact throughout while the crowd darts their eyes and smirks. This isn't Harry Potter - you can't emphasize how shitty something is then magically negate it like "and that's why I love it hahaha!" Elliot made it clear where he thinks Walt stands. Beneath him.

The whole party is like this, a humiliating horror show of socializing out of your social sphere. We don't even know what their relationship was like before. The implication is that Walt separated from this guy before for a reason and the reason was probably in line with what we saw today.

Elliot isn't stupid. He knows Walt. He knows Walt's character. He knows their financial disparities. He knows Walt is sick. Presumably he's well aware of Walt's pride. An intelligent and well-meaning friend doesn't accidentally combo-hit the exact weak points that caused you to drift apart in less than an hour before asking hey how would you like to literally owe me your life? How would you like the kind of debt that can't be repaid? :) You're a smart man.

If Elliot really cared about saving Walt, he wouldn't have gone about it the way he did. If, however, he wanted to antagonize and flex on Walt, make him as uncomfortable as possible, keep in his wife's good graces by offering him a job, and end the night with two possible outcomes - either he accepts and gets richer or he rejects and elliot can say "Welp honey, your former lover and ex-fiance Walter White said no for some weird reason. oh well, I tried! :)"

Idk, I guess it could be a projection but the way Elliot talked to Walt reminded me of old friends whom, in retrospect, didn't even try to hide their disdain for me. Like wow how did I miss that.

I think Gretchen had honest intentions. Her husband didn't. I don't know what his deal was exactly but I'd exhaust all other resources before accepting this dude who publicly embarrassed me as my savior, livelihood, and future employer.

[hostilemuppet]

tell me more about tbgo poppy creek rivalry 👀

ok this got kinda long sorry LOL i have some thoughts on how itd work

so, i think instead of creek deliberately antagonising branch bc he gets some sick kick out of it, its creek trying (and failing) to worm his way back into the snack pack, and more importantly into poppys life. poppy would struggle with wanting to grab him and shake him and throw him off a cliff AND wanting to set a good example to her kingdom, to follow the mantra of "no troll left behind". in public she has to put on a brave face, and pretend like she actually tolerates, maybe even LIKES creek, but if theyre alone (or just with branch. branch still hates creek hes just not the focus) poppy actually lets him have it

since creek episodes would focus on poppy instead of branch, more of the snack pack actually get involved with the creek situation. they are treated as actual characters, and most of them dont like creek either but ALSO have to pretend to tolerate him: it wouldnt look very good if the queens friends dont follow her lead, right? creek becomes the one guy of the friend group that no one actually likes. obviously he wouldnt be an ACTUAL member of the snack pack and he still wouldnt be used nearly as often as guy diamond and smidge, but he still ends up "part of the gang" several times, and its made VERY obvious that they cant stand him. creek probably notices, and then we get some of that delicious twerpitude he shows with branch where he gets all touchy and mocking because he knows they cant do anything about it

creek week would be about poppy struggling to figure out how to deal with creek. her dad always said "no troll left behind", and even though creek wanted to leave EVERY troll behind, poppy cant deny that he is still a troll. she lets him back in the village, but says she will keep a very close eye on him. he says oh hes sure she will, she always used to when she thought he wouldnt notice 😉. poppy shudders. the rest of the episode is poppy watching, and hating, how creek reintegrated into the village. since the snack pack are the only ones who really know how creek acted, other trolls find it much easier to forgive him: theyre sure he really DID feel like he had no choice! its not like he looked super smug while telling them or anything! maybe branch also suggests the waterfall test (still using himself as bait), and poppy is desperate enough to go through with it, except instead of being cast out from the snack pack (they would not be present in the scene) poppy instead sees creek look all sad and pathetic. and she knows she shouldnt, but she feels bad. hes still a troll. she says hes sorry, and he says he forgives her because thats what friends do, then reaches out for a hug. branch shakes his head. poppy hugs him. the camera focuses on poppy, looking torn and uncomfortable, then on creek, looking smug, then on branch, who pinches the bridge of his nose and groans. episode ends.

haircuffed, this might be controversial but i think its peppy who ties them together. he thinks they used to be so inseparable, and whatever lovers spat (poppy tells him thats not what this is. he laughs it off) theyve got going on can just be solved by spending some quality time together. poppy is horrified, and says dad, no, you dont understand, its a difficult situation! creek is unbothered, but he says hes looking forward to spending a loooot of time with poppy. hes really wanted to catch up :). throughout the episode, creek acts exactly like he did when they were dating (ie, manipulative and controlling with a pretty icing coating), and poppy cant believe she ever saw anything in him. poppy would still pretend to get along with creek, just like branch did in the actual episode, but instead of them both agreeing to "act so close that it creeps poppy out into releasing them", poppy doesnt make any plan with creek. she just pretends that she actually forgave him, that theyre actually close, until peppy decides theyve buried the hatchet and releases them. branch, who had spent the whole episode brainstorming ways to reverse the haircuffs (explaining his absence), arrives with a chainsaw (the same one creek pulled out) and chases creek into the distance. peppy asks if shes gonna stop branch from attacking her friend. and she says no, dad, i hate that guy. ill fill you in.

the fast and the friendliest, instead of it being mentor vs mentor, poppy just doesnt want creek mentoring ANY of the children. shes seen what hes capable of! he has an utter disregard for anyone elses safety! and creek says "wow, poppy... i thought you really believed i changed... i guess you dont trust me afterall..." and otherwise lays it on really thick, until poppy gives in and says he can mentor priscilla, since shes the smartest and could probably tell if hes about to endanger her. throughout the episode, poppy sees creek work with priscilla and, wow, hes actually being very responsible! and priscilla seems like shes having a good time! maybe... maybe he really HAS changed. maybe he IS trustworthy! then, on the day of the event, creek finds out that branch is one of the other mentors. he didnt know, since he was so focused on poppy, but he still wants to show up his "competition" of course. he tells priscilla he has absolutely no doubts about her ability to win, but... just to make sure theres no chance she gets even close to second place, he attaches a booster bug to priscillas flyer bug. then it happens exactly how it does in canon, with priscillas flyer bug malfunctioning. branch and keith save priscilla, and even though theyre both tied for last place they look like they had fun. priscilla thanks creek for mentoring her, even if she ddnt win. creek loses his temper a bit, and says the only reason he volunteered in the first place was so his pupil could WIN! he wanted to prove he could be a GOOD mentor! he wanted to impress POPPY! he didnt care about this childrens event, he didnt care about PRISCILLA! priscilla starts crying, and poppy is pissed. she says this was supposed to be a fun event for the kids, and she thought he really wanted priscilla to enjoy herself. she thought he really changed. she thought he was trustworthy. she leaves, followed by branch (who sticks out his tongue) and keith (ditto). creek looks sad and pathetic. priscilla has calmed down a bit, and now shes with her parents, who say something about pursuing legal action against creek for the child endangerment. someone throws a tomato at him.

unsure about how bad luck branch could work with this new dynamic since... it is very specifically about branch. maybe instead of biggie being his partner, poppy is (and biggie is the presenter)? and creek talks about how branch is Clearly ruining everything for poppy, really love i dont know what you see in this jinxed troll. and poppys angry, because that is HER boyfriend youre talking about! poppy is the one who gets fixated on clearing branchs bad luck, but by the end of the episode she realises that SHE was the one causing the "bad luck" by getting in her own head and stressing branch out. she says shes sorry, and branch forgives her because theyre "best friends", and they agree to try their best for the rest of the event no matter what happens. the ending is exactly like in canon, with creek ending up eating shit and losing the game for himself and aspen. sorry aspen!

[skellymom]

"Vagabonds"

Ongoing OC x Hunter/Bad Batch Fanfic Series

Introduction: "Chaos On Coruscant"

And Chapter 1: "Weight of the Galaxy" (posted 8/14/2023/reuploaded 1/2/24)

ᴛʜɪꜱ ꜰɪᴄ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀɪɴꜱ ɴꜱꜰᴡ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ɴᴏᴛ 18+ ᴅɴɪ.

(Credit: Cool moving star dividers by @4ngelic-wh1spers )

BACKGROUND: The following story takes place in the Bad Batch Star Wars Universe, and I tried to keep within the timeline of Season 1-2 before the Batch Left Ord Mantell for Mount Tantiss.  The OC characters of my invention are Maadienne “Mad Momma” Dax and her genderfluid Teen named Love.  Mad is an older single mom.   

Mad and Love also are coded as belonging to something similar to the American Nomad population in the US.  Think Nomadland, off-griders, bikers, Slab City transients, hobos, tramps, hippies, punks, carnies, faire circuit vendors, survivalists, societal dropouts, etc. And they intersect with other nomadic groups coded as similar to the Roma (Romani), Travelers/Tinkers (Irish), Romanichal (British/UK). All of these people in this story universe refer to themselves as “The Star People”.

WARNINGS: Shades of neurodivergence, mention of deep sorrow/depression/hurt/lost love/relationship breakups/estranged parents/heavy mental baggage/ugly crying.  There are hints of the beginning stages of fascism and xenophobia.  Some mention of erections, arousal, sexual/sensual feelings, flirting.  Lots of swearing (Star Wars swears mixed with Earth swears).  Fictional prejudicial slurs.  Poverty, class struggle, slavery, war, child abduction, politics, very amorphous mention of genocide, animal cruelty living conditions (brief), animal death (postmortem) and both of these are redeemed. 

Original art of my OC: Maadiene "Mad Momma" Dax. Sorry the quality isn't great. My phone camera lens is cracked. But, you get the idea on what she looks like. Maybe at some point I will do more character sketches of LOVE, Tiggy, etc.

FYI-We WILL get to Hunter! But first I need to introduce my OC’s!!!

Introduction: "Chaos On Coruscant"

The outer streets of Coruscant started to show their seediness and poverty the longer Mad and Love walked away from the bustling city center.  They had just picked up a considerable payment of credits after dropping off two young orphans to a well-heeled couple living within the upscale high rises of the capital.  They had the help of clearances, chain codes and disguises.  Both wearing a bland headscarf veil and shift dress over their clothes and skin tattoos.  Mad’s face was uncovered and Love’s full coverage.  To anyone who passed on the street, they were two household nannies taking care of their rich owners’ children. 

The orphans, Edda and Oddo, were refugees from a distant Outer Rim planet that the Empire had newly “colonized” for resources.  The people of that planet fought and lost control of their sovereignty. Many lives were lost in the battle.  So many refugees and newly orphaned children were begging to flee the planet to avoid becoming slaves of the Empire.  Mad and Love saw an opportunity to take whomever they could away from that situation and bring them here to a better life.  They hated the Empire.  Before that The Republic.  Before that…whatever governing forces that had killed, enslaved, or pushed their people out among the stars.  Homeless Nomaadi that nobody wanted.  Dirty marked “Caitiff” scum.  Now the Empire was doing this to other “outsiders” all over the galaxy.  

When Mad and Love dropped off the children, the stipulation was it had to be at the back servant’s entrance.  The couple wouldn’t let it be any other way.  Even though Mads contacts were secure, and this job was very low on the risk scale, there was no room for compromise.  The couple didn’t come out expressly and say anything prejudicial about Nomaadi delivering the children.  But it was heavily implied through the thin veneer of niceness as they opened the door to welcome the children.  Mad and Love were instructed to wait at the threshold, to hug Edda and Oddo and say a hurried goodbye.  The siblings protested tearfully, but gave in. Mad caught a fleeting look at the large opulent apartment, meeting the eyes of the servant at attention on the other side of the room.  The husband, giving them a brusque “thank you” while handing over the bag of credits, shut the door in their faces.  Standing in the servant’s hallway, Mad and Love looked at each other in sad silence.  The siblings had travelled with them on the Beldame several weeks before.  Bonded with them.  The children didn’t care who Mad and Love were.  They were so grateful to be safe and have someone in their life that cared. 

The credits helped smooth the sting…a little.  The encounter was so jarring and surreal, but par for the course.  Mad and Love couldn’t eat or survive without steady revenue coming in. The couple who paid for the lives of these children paid handsomely.  To them it was just a drop in the bucket, easing their guilty conscience.  Taking in homeless orphans as their own children…while not using any of their privilege to stand against the Empire seemed like a glaring example of blind privilege.  Love was neutral on the subject, looking at the glass as half full.  The children have good homes now.  Mad saw the glass as leaky with a huge crack in it.  The damned thing didn’t work well and was fundamentally broken.  

Their ship, the Dread Beldame, was parked on the outskirts of the capital city to keep a low profile.  That meant a lot of walking, but it kept the Coruscant Police off their backs.  Getting the hell off the planet relatively undetected was the goal now.   

The narrow streets led to a small public square complete with an open-air second-rate vendor market.  Tourists visiting the Capital, locals, and Neuvo riche citizens of the city center visited these spots due to lower prices on goods.  The awful smell of the exotic meat vendor wafted up into Mad and Love’s noses.  The smell of a hundred naturally and genetically designed animals housed together in a small space. 

Mad ignored the smell and kept a brisk pace.  However, was surprised by a familiar voice and warm Nomaadi greeting.  

“Auntie?” 

Mad Stopping in her tracks and looked past the front counter into the shadows towards the back of the stall.  A familiar face slowly stepped out.  Mad thought she was looking at a ghost.   

Nephew Sil, covered in dirt and slaughter offal, underweight and wearing a slave collar sadly smiled at her.  She hadn’t seen him since he was a boy, when he was abducted from his family.  Now Sil was a teen. The Nomaadi chest tattoo a clear identifier.  Her experience was that many Nomaadi children were stolen.  The authorities didn’t care to help the families to find them, so they were easy pickings by slavers and traffickers. 

Love, totally unaware of Sil, followed the scent and was shocked by the scene at the meat vendor’s chopping block.  A small live puppy was held aloft shrieking and scruffed by the butcher who was barking at any possible patrons in the crowd. 

 “Loth Wolf-Vornskr hybrid!  Tender delicacy.  Butchered fresh right here.  Last one goes to the highest bidder!!!”   

In his other hand was a very large meat cleaver. 

Love was mortified to witness this.  As their eyes looked past the puppy, cages upon cages of trapped animals came into view.  Small wire cages stacked up high holding dirty tortured souls stuffed into small spaces.  And beyond that, a bigger reinforced pen holding a large bellowing beast hiding in the shadows.  The smell of animal shit, fear, blood, death, and pain hit Love in the gut and assaulted their senses.  Patrons rushed forward with their money to bid on the last small life in the butcher’s hand.  Love was knocked aside and bounced from one patron to the other before being shoved down onto the hard pavement.  The obscene display of crude materialistic greed while being trampled was too much for Love.  And concern for the pup brought anger out of them, vibrating the very air within the space. 

Mad called out to Sil, “Come with us!”   

“I can’t” and winced as he touched the shock collar.  It was electronically locked, live and would not allow him to leave the market stand.  Sil was the meat butcher’s property and locked in, just like all the animals stuffed in the cages around them.   

Mad unbuttoned the top of her blouse to reach for the credits stowed in the security pocket of her binder.  The high neck fell open to reveal her own circular Nomaadi chest tattoo.  She could attempt to buy Sil back from the Butcher and help locate his parents.  The job’s payment would allow this luxury and still have enough for them to live on until the next job. Before Mad could pull out any credits, she could feel every hair on her body stand on end.  Sil could feel it too.  Mad knew exactly where it was coming from. 

“LOVE!  NOOO!!!” 

Mad suddenly turned to see Love levitating 10 ft above Coruscant street.  The patrons facing the butcher never saw what was coming, but he had a front row view.  The butcher froze and his eyes went wide. Mad could feel the raw emotion and power pulse from Love’s body.  They were gonna blow, and Mad couldn’t do a damned thing about it.  

The puppy and the animals in the surrounding cages fell silent.   

All.  At.  Once. 

What happened next to Mads recollection was in slow motion.  A silent Force scream emanated from Love’s mouth.  It shorted out EVERYTHING within that city block.  All the technology, transportation, everything…and the locks on all the cages within the meat stall.  Everything was at a standstill for 5 seconds.  Love still levitating above the street, the butcher standing in the same position, the vendors at a standstill.   

Then things sped up.   

And… THE SHIT HIT THE FAN!  

The animals, sensing freedom, burst from their cages in a frenzied wild blur.  Screams could be heard from patrons slowly realizing what was happening as animals escaped beneath their feet, swooped near their faces, leaped on or past them.  Love still levitating as people and animals ran pell-mell through the square.  Nobody cared to notice a skinny veil-shrouded teenager floating above them.  The butcher let loose a litany of curse words and pointed the meat cleaver in Love’s direction…while still holding onto the puppy.   

Love reached out with the Force and snatched the puppy from the Butcher’s grasp.  He turned 3 shades of red and chucked the meat cleaver at Love.  They cradled the puppy and force deflected the cleaver.  It fell ineffectually against the pavement below.  Love was still levitating at 10ft and giving a calm intense death stare to the Butcher.  He foamed at the mouth in a rage, stooped down and yanked a laser rifle out from under the counter, swinging it around to aim right between Love’s eyes.   

Love, unfazed, didn’t move from his aim.  Mad almost shit her pants in fear.  It was all too much.  They were going to get caught, and Love’s luck was going to run out.  Today was the day she would see her offspring’s brains all over the streets of Coruscant. 

The Butcher pulled the trigger…which did absolutely nothing as Love’s scream had shorted out his weapon.  He was thwarted once again from dispatching this teenage menace, and absolutely lost his composure, chucking the weapon at Love. 

They calmly Force pushed the weapon aside, keeping the death stare.  Having nothing left to assault Love with, the Butcher leapt onto the counter and launched himself up towards them… 

…and was immediately taken out by the large animal held captive in the shadows of the meat vendor’s stall.  There was an explosion of metal, wood, and small animals…that hadn’t escaped from the first rush to freedom.  The Behemoth ran past Love and caused total mayhem to the remaining people in the square.  More blood curdling screams mixed with angry animal cries. 

Love calmly turned on a dime and floated airily away from the scene, pulling off the veil and gracefully dropping it to the ground below.  Their Nomaadi tattoo in full rebellious glory to all of Coruscant.  Love’s facial expression calm as ever, still cradling the puppy. 

It was a total sight to behold.  Mad was beside herself watching Love float away from the scene.  And then yanked almost off her feet as Nephew Sil ran past and grabbed her hand.  He ripped the now inactive slave collar from his neck and threw it aside.  Behind them a cab and several speeder bikes fell from the sky and exploded on the pavement, they had shorted out as well.     

“We gotta go, go, go!  Run Auntie Mad!!!  Where’s the ship???”  Running high on adrenaline he dragged Mad out of the square into the narrow streets for cover.  They tripped over scurrying marmots.  And, Mad had to pull a small, flighted escapee from her hair as they tried to catch up to Love. 

“Love, come down outtya head!  Or we are gonna lose ours!!!”  Sil let go of Mad and ran ahead.  He took a huge running leap and yanked on Love’s leg, pulling them out of levitation mode.  It was like he was trying to catch a balloon.  Love landed on two feet with a proud smile.  

They signed “Hello” warmly and presented the puppy proudly.  

“You CRAZY!”  Syl shook his head “Causing big trouble.” 

They were interrupted by a bedraggled Spice Head grabbing both teens by the back of their shirts.  “Catiff scum!  You should be worth some credits!!!” 

Mad had enough of everything that had gone to total shit today.  Anger welling up, she would have shot him on the spot had her blaster not shorted out.  Instead, she ran full tilt into the assailant, knocking him to the ground.  From there, proceeded to grab handfuls of hair and repeatedly pound his head into the pavement accentuating each screaming curse:   

“KEEP.  YOUR.  HANDS.  OFF.  MY.  KIDS.  YOU.  KRIFFING.  BANTHA.  FUCKER!!! 

He started bleeding, lost consciousness, and stopped moving.  He was still breathing, though.  That was a plus.  Mad’s view cleared and could feel Sil and Love pulling her off the man.   

“Mommommom!”  Loves voice echoing inside Mad’s head. 

“Auntie, stop!  Please get up!!!”  Sil’s voice outside her head. 

Looking up, more Spice Heads were watching the scene unfold, shrinking back into the shadows.  Fear on their faces.  

“See this?  Keep your hands off us and your mouths shut!  We were never here!!!”      

Mad gathered herself, stood up and firmly barked, “Get your asses in gear, the Dame’s this way!”  Sil and Love, clearly shaken, followed behind. 

She gave murderous glances to the onlookers, who cowered as Mad, Sil, and Love passed.  One threw the Eye of Protection sign, showing the fear Outsiders had of The Bad Fate believed (wrongly) spread by the Nomaadi.  Mad sometimes wished she could really curse these people to silence so her family could escape safely.  Every excursion was dangerous to her people.  Snitches were a constant hazard. 

From there, they ran several blocks to the outer port where the ship sat waiting.  

The Beldame with its mismatched junky exterior looked so welcoming.  The sensors picked up Mad and Love’s proximity and opened the gangplank.  All three ran in and found their seats.  The Dame automatically closed its gangplank and Mad got them out of there quickly.  Two local precinct police speeders appeared in hot pursuit firing handheld blasters at the ship.  The speeders could only follow so far before falling behind…but not before shorting out the Dame’s antiquated deflector shield.   

While the Dame exited Coruscant’s planetary atmosphere, Mad brought up the coordinates for Ord Mantell, scrambled their jump signature, and punched the ship into hyperspace. 

You could cut the silence inside the ship with a vibroknife.  Both teens unsure if Mad was still…MAD. 

Both were seated behind her.  The light of stars coursing past casting shadows down Mads back.  It was an uncomfortable 15 minutes before she swung the chair around and met Love with an intensely serious stare.  Only Love heard Mad’s voice in their head. 

 “Dank Ferrick, Love…what the hell was that back there!” 

Sil sat watching a silently animated display of physical movements while both Love and Mad argued back and forth inside their heads at each other.  It was like watching manic mime comedy.  He knew they both could communicate like this.  Just never seen an argument between the two since he disappeared years ago.  He could only guess what the row was about. 

“I couldn’t help it.  Everything about that place was so horrible.  All those animals living and dying like that.  The people trampling me.  And… I miss Edda and Oddo.  I’m sad we let them go.” 

“We needed the money.  We were broke, Love.  Can’t keep everyone we ferry across the galaxy.  What you did in the town square…it was over the top.  You blew our cover.  Our contacts that we worked so hard for won’t help us now.  We will NEVER be able to go back to Coruscant again!” 

“Good, that place is fucking POODOO!!!” 

“But we had allies there, Love.  Without allies we can’t do any business there.  We just lost a good steady income.  The Outer Rim only pays us enough to scrape by.  And now we might have eyes actively looking for us!  You don’t really understand how dangerous everything is now for us…YOU…especially since the Jedi were murdered, do you???” 

Silence.  Surprised face. 

“DO YOU???  We already have shit rain down on us normally.  Things are getting worse out there with the new Empire.” 

Silence.  Angry face. 

“And what the hell was that…thing you did?  It shorted everything out!  That’s new, Love.  You need to control whatever the hell that is.  What did you do?” 

Silence.  Offended face.  

Mad sighed.  “I’m sorry I upset you.  I’m sorry I yelled.  It scared me.  The thought of losing you scares me.  I love you”. 

Silence.  Neutral face. 

“Ok…” Exasperated sigh.  “I… We’ll talk later. “ 

More silence.  Still neutral faced, Love starts to levitate and zone out.  Swaddles the puppy tighter. 

Mad knows she overreacted again.  The rebellious Love was something she wasn’t prepared for.  No idea on how to control these powerful urges.  A Jedi might be able to help if there were any left.  But then, the Jedi were problematic and antiquated.  Had they not been, Love would have been a Padawan long ago…and probably deceased now.  With a heavy, tired sigh Mad turns finally to address Sil. 

“I missed you so much Nephew.  I’m sorry for the drama.” 

Sil immediately got up and hugged Mad.  She grabbed him in embrace and squeezed hard.   

“It’s been so long.  Your parents will be happy to know you’re safe.” 

Sil was quiet.  Then Mad heard soft sobbing and felt his body shake.  She kept quiet and just held on until he wanted to be let go.  Love, dropping their angst, floated over and placed a hand onto his back and slowly rubbed in circles. 

He eventually let go and stood up.  Both Mad and Love spoke at the same time: Mad verbally and Love signing in Basic, “In your own time.  I’ll be here.  I love you.”   

Sil wiped his eyes.  “I’m hungry, Auntie”.  He was so thin.  Clearly, he was underfed while gone.  Probably starved to be kept in line, in addition to the shocks he received.  An outline of rough scar tissue from the slave collar worn into his neck stood out.  It was a very sobering thing for both Love and Mad to consider. 

“Let’s see what we can rustle up, huh?”  Mad got up and made a beeline for the ‘Dame’s tiny galley kitchen. 

“I missed you too Couz.” Love signed.  “Can you hold Tiggy for me while I help mom?” 

Sil nodded and took the puppy from Love.  “Hello, Tigglet” he whispered while settling into the pilot’s chair to watch the stars and Purrgils float past. 

Thanks for your patience. Hunter makes his entrance in this next chapter!

Chapter 1-"Weight of the Galaxy"

Back at Ord Mantell, Mad knocked back the Spotchka to steady her nerves.  While leaning on the bar of Cid’s Parlor with head in hand, she contemplated the huge clusterfuck that transpired on Coruscant. 

They were so kriffing lucky!  Especially finding Sil like that and getting him freed.  Being able to keep all the credits from their last job without having to haggle for his freedom.  The animals and exploding vehicles provided diversion.  The Butcher was being scraped off the concrete, so he wasn’t talking.  The Spice Heads might present a problem…if anyone cared to listen to a bunch of Tweakers. The only reason they were pursued and lacked a shield was due to the Coruscant Police suspecting those running away from the scene and fleeing the planet were to blame for the crime of…property damage.   

The authorities and media didn’t give a Womp Rats ass about the dead butcher, his sketchy meat market front, or the slaves he ran through it.  They feigned some concern about the injured citizens of the downed vehicles and those maimed by the market escapees.  The News Holos were calling the incident “eco terrorism” by a small band of indigents who set the animals free.  Fortunately, a well-known Enviro Group stepped up and claimed responsibility, inspiring its many supporters to clog the streets around the Capitol building in open protest.  The Butchers Trade Org, Pro Meat Groups and rando hooligans looking to profit and cause havoc clashed against them.  This brought out the Coruscant Guard to try to bring order to the chaos.  The upper crust of Coruscant railed against the inconvenience to their day and clutched their pearls.  Total mayhem and a convenient smokescreen. 

This kind of luck is what Nomaadi Maami Dall would call “A Gift from The Force”.   

“But make NO mistake, the Force is Fickle.  It won’t last for long.  Get out of yer own head, or it will be your end!”  Could hear her Elder preach the message like she was sitting right next to Mad at the bar.  She sorely missed Maami Dall…and Paapi Dall, Brothers, Sisters, Aunties, Uncles, Couzins, Friends of The Nomaadi Star People.  The whole Community.  It had been so long since they could all safely come together for Reunion.  Fond memories of feasts, Hand Fastings, Parting Ceremonies, musicians in drum circles around large bonfires, people singing and dancing all night, helping to repair transports during the day and restore supplies for travel, children playing, community coming together to share news, information, trade, settling disputes, healing family rifts, making love, birthing babies, and just safely relaxing from the nomadic lifestyle for a while.  

Oh Maker…the nostalgia HURT.  Being transient was The Way.  Everyone had a different journey.  Paths diverging, converging constantly.  Nomaadi were encouraged to leave, live their own truth, and be independent.  Plus, their survival depended on it.  Too many of them in the same place for a long period of time made the community sitting ducks.  This is why they would occasionally meet for Reunion by word of mouth and never permanently settled anywhere. 

Mads’ thoughts shifted back to their luck…this time.  How long before it ran out?  Love started as a quiet introspective child.  Their use of the Force started early.  It always manifested itself as gentle, non-threatening, defensive and never offensive.   

Mad also deeply regretted the show of temper.  She really hoped to not permanently injure or kill the Spice Head.  He was stupidly dangerous and a victim of a fucked-up system that kept so many down on Coruscant.  Hell, the universe.  All the people on the bottom fighting for the scraps that the powerful occasionally threw at them.  She sighed…when was it ever going to kriffing change?    

Mad’s only plan for tonight was ordering several more drinks to help forget the rising worry in her mind: After the wholesale slaughter of the Jedi and those showing Force abilities, how was she going to keep her powerful and now rebellious child safe? 

At the other end of the bar slumped Hunter, attempting to drink himself into oblivion.  He was at the start of his journey tonight several drinks in.    

His brothers and sister were back at the Marauder.  Tech and Echo had mechanical Maintenace to do.  Wrecker planned to take Omega for Mantell Mix and browse the Traders Market.  Hunter didn’t feel any of it, except guilty for turning Omega down when she begged him to come along.  He couldn’t get the vision of Crosshair out of his head, standing alone on the platform of Kamino as they left the planet.  Oh, and he felt guilty for that too.  Sad as well, and some frustration that his brother wasn’t touched by the plea of brotherhood offered by most of The Batch.  He very briefly considered having Wrecker drag Cross back inside the ship, refusing to leave without him, or stunning the sniper to do so.  It would have not changed Crosshairs mind in the long run.  Stubborn brainwashed sibling.  Hunter still loved him. 

All the while the remains of his home…no, his family’s home lay in the Kaminoan sea smoldering.  The remains of which The Batch narrowly escaped from.  Almost resigned to a watery grave. What happened to all the future unborn and young clones he had seen at the facility the day the Empire took power?  Were they safe?  Even alive?  All The Regs brainwashed by the chip.  All the Jedi murdered by them.  Did Caleb Dume ever make it to safety?  If so, was he scarred for life after seeing his master gunned down on Kaller, then having the Clones turn on him too?  It was all too much.  He felt small and overwhelmingly powerless.  Like absolute miserable shit. The only thing he could do was drown his emotions in whatever Cid’s bar was serving. 

Sometime later, after draining his drink, Hunter’s senses tingled.  Sitting up and rubbing his face, he caught a scent.  His nose found the source down the opposite end of the bar. She looked and smelled intriguing, and was staring intently into an empty glass.   

“Hey”, Hunter addressed Cid and nodded down the bar, “Who’s she?” 

The Trandoshan rolled her eyes, “Why?  Ya looking for a world of hurt, Bandana?  “Cause that’s all you’re gonna get with that one.” 

“No seriously, what’s her name?” 

“She comes here to drink alone.  The last idiot who didn’t respect her space left a permanent stain on my carpeting.  That Momma has zero patience for Bantha shit” 

“Momma???” 

“Yeah, she’s got a kid.  The dad split.  Just the two of them now.  And she’s protective of her kiddo.  They’re ‘Nomaadi”, so they tend to keep to themselves.” 

“Nomaadi?” 

Cid sighed and rolled her eyes again gesturing wildly, “Nomaadi!  Travs!  They wander the galaxy with no known homeworld.  Come on, Bandana, you never heard of ‘em?  Met ‘em???  Her people are scattered all over the place.  You must have had to move them along while you were working for the Republic?  The Republic considered Nomaadi trash, so they got pushed out.  And they just keep on moving around the galaxy.  This new Empire absolutely hates them.” 

Hunter let that sink in while staring down the bar.  Cid contemplated these two sad saps sitting at either end.  

“She reminds me of someone I know.  Got the weight of the whole galaxy on her shoulders.”  Hunter’s gaze immediately snapped up to meet Cid’s eyes.  She held his gaze for a long, uncomfortable moment hands on hips. 

“Her name is Mad.” Cid finally answered as she turned and walked away. 

Mad.  Was her name Mad for angry or crazy? He couldn’t tell, but he wanted to find out.  She was a welcome distraction from the things he wanted to stop thinking about tonight. 

Mad’s inner stream of consciousness was abruptly interrupted by Cid. “Find any amazing revelations in the bottom of that glass? You’re here to drink, not meditate.”  

Immediately she looked up to meet the bright green eyes of the Trandoshan. Cid’s first language usually was heavy sardonic sarcasm tinged with menace, but Mad saw a bit more in her demeanor. A tiny bit of empathy shining through…before the sarcasm blocked it out again.  

“Dark and Broody at the end of the bar wants to buy ya a drink if you’re interested.”  

Cid pointed towards a very handsome man with a red bandanna and face tattoo staring up the bar at them. He raised his hand in a brief two finger wave and cheesy half smile. An attempt of levity with some drunken smolder.  

Heavy sigh and groan from Mad. “No creepers, Cid.  Remember last time?” 

Cid leaned in against the bar. Her voice finding some softness, “He’s ok. Done some jobs for me. Got a kid of his own, no partner. Kinda lonely. You both look like you need a drink and time out of your own heads. Whaddya say?”  

Another sigh from Mad.  What did Mad really have to do tonight? The next job wasn’t until tomorrow afternoon.  And Love was back at the Beldame with Sil fiddling with the shield generator.  The puppy was probably tearing up and crapping all over the ship.  Maker, what was she gonna come back to?  Mad didn’t want to deal with any of it tonight.  Luckly, Sil seemed somewhat responsible enough, and Love rarely if ever left the Beldame without Mad at their side.  Both teens had dragged Mad down the gangplank in the direction of the bar. “Go have a drink!” they chimed in unison “We got this!” as they ran into the ship.  Oblivious young'uns, dear Maker, now she had two…three with the four-legged pot roast they just “adopted.” 

“Fuck it. You’re right. Can’t turn down free Spotchka.”  

Cid winked and turned away to grab a glass. Mad straightened up, looked down the bar, and gave her best devil may care smirk.  She then gracefully signed “thank you” in Basic Sign Language to Dark and Broody.  

Cid plunked down the Spotchka.  Mad tipped it back with abandon, enjoying the feel of the drink on her tongue. The pleasant burn. The warmth of it down the hatch…  

“HELLO.”  

Mad choked and spit the drink right onto Cid.  

“Smooth move, Bandana”, disgusted and slightly pissed Cid retreats to wipe herself down. Dark and Broody had suddenly and stealthily materialized in the seat next to Mad.  

The pleasant burn is now a fire in Mad’s nose and throat. Spotchka ran down her chin and onto the bar. “Are you trying to Kriffing kill me!” in between coughs. Anger rising. What the fuck, this guy! Dark and Broody looks embarrassed and concerned.  She briefly considers punching him in the face.  

“Sorry…I should have given you more warning” he replies while offering several napkins. Mad grabbed some from his hand holding them to her mouth.  

Cough subsiding, nose still burning, Mad takes in the visage of Hunter: Head of amazing thick black hair, trim body, muscular, deep brown eyes that she could get lost in… She shakes her head and his smokey, sexy voice slides into her ears, “You ok? Anything I can do?”  

Mad’s expression was ambiguous while trying to calm down.  She sits staring intensely at Hunter.  He noticed the depth of her eyes: flecks of yellow mingled with green.  While her surface demeanor gave little away, Hunter’s senses pick up anger, confusion…and a slight glimmer of attraction.  She looked like she might attack and eat him alive.   The prospect seemed exciting.   His eyes dropped and scrutinized her chest tattoo for the first time. 

“My eyes are up here, Stud” she growls.  He notices her noticing him looking at her chest and immediately becomes embarrassed.  His expression shows it, as his eyes widen and immediately shoot back up to her face.  “Just looking at your tattoo.  Honest” he raises both hands in surrender. 

“You always this smooth with the ladies?” 

“Little off my game tonight.  Can I try again?”  Hunter gives Mad a sly smile. 

Cid sidles back up to the bar, “Drinking only, no maiming…and NO sex in the bathroom.  If ya wanna do that, then leave my bar!”  Hands on her hips, looks across the room and suddenly shouts, “SHUT UP, YOU TWO, and mind yer own business!” 

Bolo and Ketch stop laughing and solemnly return to their game of Djarik. 

“Mad, I need Dark and Broody here in working condition for my next job.  So go easy on him.  He’s harmless.  Bandana, quit being such a laser brain.  You guys are stinkin’ up the joint with your buffoonery” she nods to Hunter, then Mad “and your angst.” 

Both Hunter and Mad, taken aback by Cid’s scolding, soften and relax.   

“Cid’s right.  I really am harmless…and a laser brain.  My name is Hunter.”   

He extends his hand to shake.  Mad continues to stare into Hunter’s deep brown eyes for several beats before extending her own and taking his hand.  As her fingers slide into his grasp, there is an intense warm wave that passes between them both that ends in a tingle.  Hunter and Mad’s body hair stands on end as the tingle runs up one arm, crosses their hearts and runs down the other arm.   

Hunter, trying to maintain his cool, gives a lopsided attempt at a smoldery smile while still holding Mads gaze.  Mad was never prepared for this sensory experience and immediately inhaled while her pupils dilate, and her face slightly flushes.  Hunter can hear her heart skip a beat, then pick up to a frenetic pace.  He smells perspiration as it begins to form upon her skin.  He also smells a faint hint of arousal.   

“Mad…”  She’s thrown off by what just happened and quickly pulls away.  She’s used to whatever crawls into the bar trying to daftly impress, threaten, cajole, talk down to, manhandle, or manipulate her.  He’s self-depreciating, disarming, and a bit goofy…while smoking hot.  She’s confused and warming up to this Hunter guy. But the walls are still up.  The urge to bust him in the chops has left her mind. 

“Wooo.  That was…intense!”  Mad’s feral demeanor fell away to shit eating grin and head tilt.  She fans herself with her hand.  That sensation was amazing!  What the hell did HE do?    

Hunter chuckled.  “Uh, yeeaaah…” Casually crosses his legs to hide a semi erection.  That sensation was amazing!  What the hell did SHE do? 

“That happen often?” 

“Nope.  You’re the first.”   

“Shush…flattery will get you everywhere” Mad leaned in closer to Hunter, still not breaking intense eye contact.  She was falling into the pool of those warm brown eyes.  Basking in them.  Hoping not to drown. 

“I can only hope,” he counters.  His heart flutters first, then he feels a second flutter between his crossed legs.  Physically he feels amazing.  Mentally, he feels like an idiot.  

Cid, leaning against the back of the bar, rolls her eyes.  “Can I get you love birds to move the party to The Oasis?  I can’t handle the melodrama.  Give ya a bottle of free Spotchka to get lost.” 

“The Oasis?”  Hunter said suddenly.  He was very confused.  To the best of his knowledge, Cid never mentioned it. 

“It’s a secret little hideaway.  She doesn’t let just anyone use it.”  Mad winked at Cid then gave Hunter a conspiratorial grin. 

Cid wrinkled her nose and shot Hunter a nasty look, “I never let your Batch in on it…except for Tiny.  Your ship smells like poodoo.  If you trash my Oasis, you’ll owe me FOREVER!”  She followed this up by pointing her long bony Trandoshan claw at him.   

Yep, that did it: Totally killed Hunters erection. 

Cid plunked down a full bottle on the bar.  Mad grabbed it as she got up from her bar stool.  “Care to join me for Spotchka under the stars…Hunky?”   

Two loud and very offended scoffs from across the room, “How come we don’t’ get free bottles?” 

“SHUT IT!” from Cid “Or you both are gonna get a bottle each…upside your heads!!!” 

Hunter could only answer with a smile and nod, grateful he could now get to his feet without embarrassment from a certain bodily function.  He followed Mad to Cid’s office and through a hidden doorway.  

“Don’t trash my Oasis!  I MEAN IT!!!”  came Cid’s shrill threat from the other room.   

Mad grabbed Hunters hand and led him through several dark winding stairways, many doorways, purposeful twists and turns that confused the sense of direction. The last door opened to a rooftop area… 

PLEASE like, comment, and/or REBLOG!

To read Chapter 2

https://www.tumblr.com/skellymom/728315714878980096/background-hunter-and-mad-bond-make-love-and?source=share

[enby-calamity]

loving goosebumps so far, but why is james smiling like that in the poster?

(sorry for bad image quality) like everyone else looks scared or atleast worried, but he's just... smiling creepily while looking at the camera.

any theories on that?