#THANK YOU NICK these were really fun to get out of my head!!!! the general ideas have been stuck in there for MONTHS lmao.

[blushsturns]

perv! matt x innocent! reader ♡

part three ❤︎ seven minutes in heaven

description: when nick chooses you and matt to get stuck together in the closet during seven minutes in heaven, sexual tension is making itself very clear.

warnings: touching, neck kissing, love bites, teasing, smut

w/c: 3577

previous parts: hcs - 1 - 2

nick decided to throw a party. it was only going to be your mutual friends and not too big of a party and you were grateful because sometimes it can be overwhelming being around too many people.

obviously matt was going to be there considering it was being held at their house. you haven’t seen matt since the encounter in front of the window. the thought of it ever since then always made you feel warm and fuzzy. you knew he was the one who sent you the lingerie, even if you both never spoke of it out loud. you kept it stored in your underwear drawer. matt would probably find it in there if he were to ever search for it.

you weren’t sure on your feelings with matt. he was awkward, shy, inexperienced, but so damn adorable. you always knew he had a crush on you, but you were never sure of your feelings for him. you loved all of the brothers. they were your best friends, but matt was the one who paid more attention to you in general. you never thought of matt as more than a friend. after finding out that he took your panties and had one buried in his back pocket the night you all watched a movie, he was stuck in your brain. not that you were complaining though. you had to admit, it was kind of fun.

your outfit for tonight was incredibly sexy and perfect. you wore an embroidered mesh black dress that hugged your curves perfectly and gave your chest some nice cleavage to show off. you paired the dress with your favorite black pumps, curled your hair, and put on your best makeup. you had to admit, you looked fucking amazing. your first thought was what matt was going to think.

you knocked onto the front door (not that you have to, but you wanted to be respectful) and nick immediately opened the door. his eyes widened as he took in your appearance. “oh my god! you look amazing!” he pulled you into the house and gave you a big hug. “pizza is on the way and we got some games we’re gonna play when a couple more people show up.” he beamed, grinning from ear to ear at you.

nick was always so positive and encouraging and was like the brother you never had. “okay, cool.” you beamed back at him, flashing him a soft smile. “where’s matt?” you suddenly realized you only asked where matt was, your cheeks flushing slightly, but silently thanking yourself with the amount of blush and foundation you already applied to your face so it wasn’t obvious. “and chris.” you added so it wasn’t as noticeable that you were only specifically asking for matt.

nick was too smart and could see right through you. his eyebrow raised up as he stared at you. “you know, everytime i talk about you around that boy, he goes red in the face and gets all flustered. boy’s got a mad crush on our girl.”

this time, you weren’t sure if the makeup covering your face would be enough. you didn’t understand why that made you blush. matt really got all flustered and shy when you were mentioned? you wondered why he acted like that when it was about you. did he really have a crush on you or did he act like that with everyone? “stop playing, nick. you’re being silly.” you shake your head at him, a soft giggle escaping your lips. “he’s just-“

before you could even finish your sentence, matt appears in your vision as he walks into the living room with his fingers running through his tousled hair. the second your eyes lock together, you noticed his cheeks had gone red immediately. his eyes scanned your body up and down as if he was practically drooling from the mouth at the sight of you.

your cheeks flushed even darker now. you flashed him a flirty smile, your hand lifting up to wave at him. he immediately noticed and smiled shyly back at you, returning your wave before making his way into the living room to sit next to chris and nathan on the couch.

nick rolled his eyes playfully, a laugh erupting from his throat. “it’s cute how much you want each other. just know if he hurts you, i’m kicking his ass.”

to hear him acknowledge the fact that you two want each other out loud made you all flustered. you didn’t know how to react. all you could think to do was shove him in the chest with your index finger and walk past him. “whatever you say, nick.”

the pizza came, a couple more of your mutual friends came, and you all had just finished a couple rounds of cards against humanity. the whole entire time, you and matt kept giving each other glances which resulted in matt turning away once he noticed your eyes were on him with his cheeks completely pink. you kept thinking about what happened through the window and how you told him you’d make it up to him and matt said you owed him big time. you wondered how that would come about especially because matt was always so flustered around you.

“now, we’re gonna play a little game we all know so well called seven minutes in heaven.” nick announced, clapping his hands together excitedly. “it’s going to be fun. trust me.” he flashed you a small wink before glancing over at everyone else. your eyebrow furrowed up at him, wondering what he was scheming in that brain of his. “but we’re not going to use a bottle to determine who’s getting chosen. i’ll be choosing the individuals.”

your heart began to beat rapidly in your chest in nervousness. nick knew that you and matt possibly liked each other and it seemed like he had a plan up his sleeve. “seven minutes. secluded space. you can do whatever you want with this person. you guys ready?”

everyone chanted in anticipation and excitement. meanwhile, you and matt both exchanged glances, a small smile tugging onto your lips at him. he flashed you a small smile in return, his fingers moving up in those messy brunette locks of his. you wondered what his hair would feel like against your fingertips and if you’d ever tug on his hair while he’s making you feel good. you bit onto your own bottom lip for a brief moment as you allowed your mind to ponder this thought before snapping out of your thought completely when you heard your name.

“and matt.” nick announced your name and matt’s and all you could do in this moment is allow your mouth to fall open in surprise, averting your eyes back over to matt who looked just as surprised as you. he looked nervous too, which in all honesty was adorable.

you knew nick had something up his sleeve, but you didn’t know he’d be capable of putting you two in a situation like this. you watched as matt’s cheeks turned a dark shade of pink, his eyes now on nick. “nick, what the hell?”

nick shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, a soft laugh falling from his lips. nobody else said a word, but seemed interested in what was happening. “thank me later. you get seven minutes once you enter the closet and that’s when the time starts. go, and have fun.” he flashed both of you a playful wink before signaling his head over to the closet door that was far down the hall.

your body already felt like it was floating, your heart beating in your chest from the anticipation and nervousness running through your body. matt got up as well and began to follow behind you. was he staring at your ass in your black dress? absolutely he was. everyone else began to engage in conversation among themselves behind you both. you wanted to give nick a death glare or flick him off, but you’d deal with him later. maybe now you’d finally be able to communicate face to face about what happened through the window and if he truly was the one who bought you the lingerie set that you showed off to him.

once matt stepped foot into the closet, you knew the 7 minutes had started. it was dark, a little crammed, and all you felt was your heart beating straight out of your chest. it was quiet for a couple seconds, but you were the first one to break the silence. “so, long time no see.”

it was suddenly bright now once matt flickered the closet light on and now you were able to see him fully. he looked nervous, flustered, but you could also tell he was excited. matt furrowed his eyebrow up at you, a small smile tugging onto his lips. “so you liked your gift then?”

you felt your cheeks immediately heat up. you didn’t know he was going to bring it up immediately and it took you by surprise. “so it was you. that depends, did you like the show?”

his lips curved up in a widening smile. “i did, actually. thank you for that. was a little disappointed that it ended so soon. but if i’m honest, i’ve been thinking about it since.”

you felt your heart beat picking up now as you take in a steady breath. “really? that’s ironic because i have too.”

his cheeks were still flushed a bright pink and all you wanted to do was kiss all over his stupid, pretty face, but you didn’t. not yet, anyway. he seemed curious to know more, but didn’t question it. a small smile stays present on his lips. “you’re really pretty.” he said sweetly, pulling his gaze away from you to look down at the ground.

it’s like sometimes he has the courage, and then he gets shy and flustered. you thought it was so fucking adorable. how have you not seen it before up close? you knew he had a little crush on you and noticed him staring at you and being flustered around you, but you assumed it was just his personality. has he always been this way around you? you lifted your hand up and used your index and middle finger to tilt his chin up to look back into your eyes.

you could feel the heat radiating against the both of you. you were standing face to face with only enough space to fit the both of you in the closet. so close that you could lean in and kiss him, or touch him. “you think so? you are too, pretty boy.” your eyes lock together in an intense gaze, your heart pounding rapidly.

your comment to him made him blush wildly even more. his eyes averted down to your lips before back up into your eyes. “i really can’t control myself around you. it’s like i turn into a blushy mess when you’re around.” his words were confident as he kept his gaze on you. “god, you’re so pretty. i can’t stand it.”

your cheeks were now bright red. you moved your fingers from his chin to travel down his jawline and his neck, feeling his stubble and smooth skin against your fingertips. it seemed like he wanted to melt underneath your touch. his eyes fluttered closed at your touch which only made you want to continue touching him. your eyes moved down between both of you to see his hardened bulge pressed against his jeans which caused your breath to hitch in your throat. “is that what you mean by not being able to control yourself around me?”

he knew what you were referring to, his own eyes opening and moving downwards to his own hardened cock through the fabric of his jeans. he bit onto his own bottom lip, his cheeks continued to grow noticeably hotter by the second. “y-yeah. like i want to be around you all the god damn time. want to touch you and see your beautiful body against mine. sometimes i wonder what you feel like, and what you taste like too.”

you were surprised to hear these words out loud from him, even though you knew of his crush. you didn’t know how badly he wanted you. or made you just never heard him speak of it out loud. “why haven’t you done anything, or said anything silly?” you moved your fingers down from his jawline to his chest through the fabric of his shirt. “such a shy boy, aren’t you?”

he nodded his head, a light whimper leaving his lips from just the faintest touch of your fingers. “i-i don’t know, really. didn’t think you’d want that, or even acknowledge me like that.” he spoke shyly, moving his eyes down to watch your fingers as they traveled down from his chest to the buckle on his belt.

“all you had to do was ask, doll.” you smiled sweetly at him as your fingers continued to play with his buckle before moving your fingers to begin ghosting them across his hardened cock through his jeans.

his eyes immediately widened as your fingers teasingly ran across his hardened cock. he gulped nervously, a soft whimper leaving his lips. “always so nervous round you.” he said with a shaky breath.

you felt your own core growing hot and began to throb through the lacy panties underneath your dress. “don’t be. it’s just me. i promise.” you spoke in a sweet tone, your hand wrapping around his cock through the fabric of his jeans to give him a gentle squeeze. “is this all because of me?”

he immediately nodded his head, another whimper leaving his lips. he sounded so damn pretty. you wondered what he sounded like when he cums. “only always for you. been dreaming of you touchin’ me and kissin’ me and claimin’ you as mine.”

his words caused your breath to hitch in your throat. finally hearing him say those words out loud made you feel so damn special and giddy inside. what was he doing to you? it was almost like you were slowly becoming addicted to him. “matt..fuck. have you always wanted me?”

matt moved his hands down your body to your backside, his fingers slipping underneath your dress and immediately grabbing ahold of your ass cheeks through the pretty sheer lace to pull you closer. your eyes locked together in an intense gaze, his pretty blue eyes turning a darker shade of blue. you let out a soft gasp at the feeling of his hands against your ass, your bodies now pressed up against each other. you pulled your hand away from his cock to tease him, moving your hands to his waist to grip it tightly. a shudder ran down your spine at the feeling of his fingers finally against your skin, a shaky breath exhaling from your chest and out past your lips. “i have always, always wanted you, pretty girl. always.” he spoke these words shyly, but the feeling of his hands on your ass made you feel proud that he was able to do something about it.

your entire body was warm, heat radiating against both of your bodies. “hm, that’s good to know.” you spoke in a sultry tone, a soft giggle leaving your lips. you felt his hardened cock press against your body through the fabric of your clothing. your bodies stayed pressed against each other, moving your face forward to press soft kisses against his jawline and down his neck. his head immediately tilted to the side to give you more space.

you were finally touching him, kissing him, hearing him. you couldn’t believe all of this was happening because of nick. you weren’t complaining though, not at all. your breasts were pressed against his chest, his cock throbbing against your thigh, causing a soft whimper to leave his lips at the feeling of you making him feel good.

small kisses were being peppered against his skin. you ran your tongue along the nape of his neck before parting your lips and sucking onto the spot firmly, your hand moving up to the back of his head to hold his face in place, your fingers lightly running through his hair. matt immediately pressed his hips forward, a whiny moan now leaving his lips, his breathing becoming heavier by the second. “oh f-fuck. that’s..nice.” he breathed his words out, licking over his own lips.

he continued to grasp your ass firmly in his hands, kneading your ass cheeks in a smooth circular motion which caused you to let out a breathy sigh. “mm, good.” your words were muffled against his neck, pulling away once you created a nicely formed bruise onto his neck. your eyes averted towards the bruise, your lips curving up into a slight smirk at your good work. the bruise may last a couple days and would be fairly evident for anyone to see, but maybe that was a good thing.

he opened up his eyes, one of his hands moving over to touch the newly formed bruise. you both knew that you’d be walking out of the closet looking like you just fucked with the bruise to showcase, but you didn’t mind and neither did matt. your thumb ran along the newly formed bruise, feeling proud of yourself for the work you’ve done. “been dreaming about this since i can remember.” he breathed out, his voice whiny and desperate now.

you had to admit, you fucking loved the feeling of his hands on you. the built up sexual tension between the two of you was exhilarating and you loved every damn second of it. “oh yeah? especially because i know how much you love my lacy panties. now you get to feel em’ on me.”

his cheeks flushed even more at your words, obviously remembering the fact that he had a whole ass drawer in his room filled with her panties. he moved his hand away from your ass, bringing it up to your chest, his fingers dancing along the edge of your dress that showed your pretty cleavage so perfectly. he looked at you like he was a starved man that needed to be fed, practically salivating at the mouth. “such a pretty fuckin’ goddess, aren’t you sweetheart?”

you loved seeing him like this. it was slowly becoming your favorite thing and you weren’t sure how to process that. matt’s cock was fighting hard to stay in his jeans, almost feeling suffocated and needed to be relaxed. his hand immediately grabbed ahold of your breast throughout the fabric of your dress. your eyes averted down to his hand, watching as he groped your breast in his hand, his thumb running along your perked nipple through the fabric which caused you to gasp out softly, a shudder running down your spine. your pussy was soaked now as you throbbed for him, needing more. his touch made you feel amazing and you didn’t want it to end.

suddenly, you heard the handle of the closet door being messed with and the closet door opens. the both of you are now face to face with nick, your hearts racing rapidly and your faces flushed. to be honest, it was fun to tease him even if it was teasing you in the process. it’s fun to play hard to get, especially seeing him obsess over you.

“seven minutes are up, kids!” he announced as he took in the sight of the both of you. matt had lipstick stains all over his jawline and neck and the pretty purple bruise formed against his skin. your dress needed to be straightened out, your cheeks red and your heart thudding hard in your chest. matt’s hair was all tousled up, which wasn’t unusual for him, but nick wasn’t an idiot. “shit, i knew you two would get into something. have fun?” his eyebrows raised up at the both of you, a slight smirk appearing onto his face.

“i can’t even say im mad at you.” you reply blatantly. you looked over at matt, who suddenly seems shy and flustered again.

“me neither. actually, i probably should thank you.” he spoke confidently, despite looking a little embarrassed and flustered.

nick let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head in disbelief. “you guys are fuckin’ unreal. now it’s nathan’s turn. come on, lovebirds.” he motioned for the two of you to come with him as he started to head back over to the living room.

you fixed your dress and your hair before taking in a deep breath to gain your composure. when nick was out of earshot, you leaned over to matt’s ear to whisper against it, “i guess we shouldn’t get too ahead of ourselves, now should we, pretty boy? it’s fun teasing you.” your breath was hot against his ear before pulling away to flash him a playful wink before turning on your heel and walking out of the closet.

this left matt completely and utterly teased and embarrassed due to the fact that he had to walk out of this closet with lipstick stains and bruises on his neck, and a rock hard, throbbing boner that wouldn’t go away anytime soon.

especially since he still had the rest of the night to stare at you and your body, wishing he could just finally have his way with you. now that he’s had his hands on you, he needed more.

that day better be soon or he might go fucking crazy.

taglist:

@sturnshood @strangelife122 @jessie-essie @giveheavensomehell @rina3476 @chrissturnioloslvt @sturnslutz @forgottxen @matthewsturnsgf @christmastreecake @rinahasspots @222wall876 @chris-hallelujah @izzylovesmatt @strniloslvts

if you want to be added to the taglist, click here!

a/n- thank you to @sturnshood for the awesome idea for this part, helping me, and motivating me to continue writing. i love you!

if you have any ideas for what you want to see happen in this AU or wanna talk about it (or talk to me in general) don’t hesitate to send a message in my inbox!

here is the outfit reader is wearing.

thank you for everyone who has been enjoying this AU! love you guys. :)

-nessa ღ

[shirogane-oushirou]

poppy red, chocolate cosmos, and maroon for ren? :3c

nick my friend nick~!! hope you're having a friend lead-up to valentines day with kylar and rika and the squid kids~~~! you're going to have a busy day KJNASKJDN. 🙏🏻💕 ty for the ask!!!

Poppy Red: How familiar is your f/o about Valentine's Day or their source's equivalent of it? What's their opinion of it?

ren has had a number of partners in the past, and so has had multiple experiences with valentines day, ranging from "that was... fine...!" to "DISASTER" :'( he tried to make up for a socially isolated childhood by finding Someone. Anyone. to be in a relationship with, and he'd often flip from completely overdoing things to trying to play it too casual. his partners would inevitably leave feeling some level of disappointed... so the day's somewhat tainted by bad memories. that plus his general negative feelings towards holidays (family shit yippee) makes valentines supremely stressful for him, even though the /CONCEPT/ of the day seems nice! it takes someone with similar social expectations and views of most holidays (hieeeeee. smile.) to finally find a good middle ground approach to the day that works for both of us!.... it still stresses him out though. poor thing. 😫

Chocolate Cosmos: If your f/o was talking about you to someone like a close friend, how exactly would they talk about you? How would they describe you? Characterize you? And how often do they talk about you to other people?

before dating, doc! and v!ren spend a lot of time trying to avoid the fact that he likes me (doesn't want a repeat of past bad relationships, doesn't want to ruin something good, etc), so i feel like he's the "oh they're such a fun FRIEND, i love being their FRIEND, my FRIEND ro showed me this thing--" type, like he's trying to convince himself that that's how he sees me. most others see right through him though KJASNDKJN. r!ren doesn't have as many hangups about his relationships so he's more straightforward. if he was talking to his coworkers, he'd keep things to a Normal level. he'd mention me if he needed to refer to me for something ("oh, ro said that movie was good, do you recommend it too?" "ro and i went to a botanical garden this weekend, how about you?"), though if he was watching me stream art during a lunch break and someone asked about it, he'd fawn over me ("YEAH it's cool right? that's my FRIEND ro, they drew all of these things, look look look you can see them drawing now, they're--") kJNASDKJN. around his sister, though? no holds barred. she's the one who puts it in his head that he's ALLOWED to try romance again, and that i seem sensible and that we'd be fairly attuned to each other, so ofc she's the one he always goes to if he needs to gush. i think he'd focus on my perseverance and passion, but also my art skills, the efforts i've made to improve myself, the "gap moe" between my resting blank face vs my care for others + excitement over my interests, and uhhhhh how cute he thinks i am KJNSKJN. and i think he'd want to stress how much calmer he feels in our relationship. his past relationships all ended up being pretty shallow and unhealthy because he wasn't in the right mindset for it. now that he has a relationship that, even on days when we don't agree w each other, is infinitely healthier and easier... he wants anyone listening to know that i'm irreplaceable to him.

Maroon: What are both of your love languages? How much do they clash and/or mesh with each other?

his are quality time + physical touch, mine is acts of service. i feel like we've worked things out pretty well, actually! when he's done with work, we'll spend the evening just sitting together, snuggling and enjoying each others' company and catching up on each others' days. i like to cook nice meals for him when i can; no matter which ren it is, he could use a little extra nutrition sjkdfn. if i'm in his place, i also like to tidy up while he's out, and with my health situation, i deeply appreciate when he goes out of his way to bring things to me or help clean things around my place when i can't get up ;;; 😭 and we'll sometimes do things that combine all of our languages together!! once in a while, we'll take a night to shower together, one of us sitting in a shower chair while the other thoroughly washes their hair and body, massaging their scalp and helping them relax, and then we switch places. then we get into soft pjs, dry each others' hair, maybe continue with some skincare... yknow. just. spending time really focusing on each other, connecting physically in a non-sexual way, and doing something kind to help let out tension. 🥺💕

(ask game here)

[mindmelter]

New Soldier Skin

Nick found it weird that the doctor was calling him again for a check up, he had done one early that month and they normally don't do twice a month. But he had no choice in the matter, he was just a soldier.

"I'm feeling perfectly fine doctor, there's no need for another check up, also I'm out of duty tomorrow"

"Nonsense, It's very important that we keep track of the health of our soldiers, now stand on the scale over there please. We just want to make sure that you are ready to return to your family, I bet you must be really excited right?"

"Yes I am, Doctor, It's been a long time, can't wait to see my wife and kids back at home" He said getting on the scale.

The doctor's friendly expression changed drastically once Nick was standing on the scale with his back to him, now the doctor had a blank and emotionless expression. The doctor walked to his laptop on his table and pressed a key.

"My wife can't wait to see me back at home, and the kids are really...huh?" The soldier looked down at his feet confused, he could feel the scale vibrating beneath his feet, he tried to take his feet off the scale but he couldn't, his feet were stuck to the scale like a magnetic force was pulling them down "That's weird, I can't pull my feet off the scale, doctor?"

"Thank you for your service, Nick" It was all the Doctor said before pressing another key on the laptop.

"What? What is..." Before Nick could finish, he felt a strong electric shock run up from his feet and spread to the rest of his body, he could feel every cell in his body being hit by the eletrical charge. His body became rigid and he grunted for a few seconds, but then the humming of the scale stopped and he fell to the floor completely hollowed out. His hollow head on the floor with smoke coming out of his orifices.

The Doctor looked unfrazed at the lifeless bodysuit on the floor, actually, he looked even bored with the whole event.

"You can come out now, your new skin is ready" The doctor said and then the door opened and a humanoid alien entered the room. The white humanoid alien was wearing a visibly worn out and torn open human skin, it was very damaged with holes and scratches, and was also missing half the face, under the skin it displayed the alien true form, a white gelatinous goo.

"It was a shame that your last human skin was damaged in battle, you're always so careless with your skins. The General was furious." Said the Doctor.

"I know, I will be more carefull this time" The Alien said looking at the skinsuit lying on the floor, suddenly his true white form started to melt, hollowing out his current damaged skin, his gelatinous form crawled on the floor in the direction of Nick's skin and started to enter through the holes in his head, mouth, eyes, nose, ears, soon the hollow body of Nick started to inflate and gain life, Nick's flat muscles started to get bigger to their full power. The alien was filling every part of Nick with It's slimy form, filling it like a balloon.

After a few seconds he stood up in his new human body, Nick's eyes were completely white with the gelatin alien body underneath, but they quickly started to turn into normal human eyes, now identical to Nick's eyes.

"Do you have any new assignments for me Doctor?"

"No, actually this was his last week of service before his break, you're going back to his family tomorrow"

"Are you serious? It's so boring to pretend to be a husband and a dad, You know I like the action, I want to go into combat!"

"Sorry, but I'm just following orders from the General." The Doctor said grabbing the deteriorated human skin from the floor and looking at it with a disgusted expression. "This was your fourth skin only this year" The doctor then threw the human suit inside a garbage chut on the wall, then he closed it "That's why we chose Nick to be your next skin. The General thinks it's better for you to spend some time out of combat. I know It's not fun to have to pretend to be our skins, but I guess it will be good for you to relax a little, besides you don't have to act exactly like Nick, you just have to not act too much out of character"

"Is being fucked by men too out of character for this hunky skin?" The soldier asked with a devious smile, looking at the doctor with hungry eyes.

"As long as his wife doesn't find out..." The doctor said dropping his pants to the floor, exposing the jockstrap he was wearing.

They both started to make out as Nick groped and squeezed the doctor's big package. Nick dropped to his knees and lowered the Doctor's jockstrap and was in awe to what he saw.

"Wow, your skin is so freaking hung!"

"He used this thing on a lot of women, but I didin't used it in a long time"

"Fill it up, I want to see how big it when completely filled"

The doctor member started to inflate like a modelling balloon in a fraction of seconds.

Nick then started to suck it while he jerked his own hard member. A few minutes later Nick was lying on the doctor's table with his burly legs up being roughly fucked by the doctor's thick cock.

"How is my health, doctor?" Asked Nick with a grin while having his hole stretched by the doctor's big member.

"You're fine... really fine. You are free to go to your new family. Just don't forget to smile and say sentimental words when you see them, like how much you missed them"

______________________

Monthly Report:

Doctor, I'm having a blast in Nick's skin, you were right, I needed a break from all the action, I can have as much action in here with a body like this, I lost count of how many guys fucked me already. Apart acting like a gay slut in the shadows, his wife and kids don't even suspect their beloved husband and daddy is just a skin now. I guess I'm doing a good job as Nick.

End of report.

[cfr749]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by the wonderfully kind and lovely @coraclavia. If you haven't checked out her work, go do it right now!!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 19

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 354,235

3. What fandoms do you write for? The Rookie!

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Beneath Your Beautiful... queue Isn't it ironic by Alanis Morissette 😬

Want You to Stay

However Do You Want Me

One Time Thing

Lucy's Little Secret

5. Do you respond to comments?

I absolutely try to, but sometimes I get behind. Tbh I usually want to respond the minute I see one come in, but don't want to scare anyone lmao. But I read every single one, often multiple times. And you might just get a response from me two years later 😂

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh man... I think this has to be We Built Sandcastles, because I have yet to give it an ending and it hurts me too. I'm so sorry. 😭

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'm gonna go with However Do You Want Me... what's happier than banging on an airplane to save the world?

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really... thankfully, 99.9% of the interaction I've had on my fics has been positive and that's a testament to how wonderfully supportive this fandom is of its creators 😭

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yup... the horny kind? Lol... queue Lovin on Me by Jack Harlow. I am pretty vanilla, and I do usually focus a lot on the emotional aspects over the physical. I also generally prefer writing the foreplay over the actual tactics of banging, but I try.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Lol... well... one time when I was 13 I may have written an AU where Justin Timberlake and Nick Carter were normal boys attending the same high school 😂...

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Thankfully, I don't think so!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? 

I don't think so, but any time someone does comment on one of my fics in another language, I am just honored and blown away that they found it entertaining enough to work through the language barrier.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Want You to Stay with the amazing @poppypickle. I will always be so thankful that the Chenford fandom brought us together, and so grateful for that creative experience. Truly one of the coolest things I've ever done. ❤️

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

I think Chenford still holds this crown.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

We Built Sandcastles, but I actually haven't written anything I've truly given up on. I still think about this universe and write down bits and pieces here and there. I'm also still working on Beneath Your Beautiful!

16. What are your writing strengths?

Weird reality TV AUs? Sexual tension? Feelings?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Probably too much exposition / time in the character's heads spelling out their motivations vs. letting readers come to their own conclusions.

I'm not always consciously aware of it in my own writing, but sometimes I suspect I'm a little sappier than what I'd normally I prefer to read.

Also I'm slow and sometimes leave my readers hanging for extremely long periods of time (I'm so sorry).

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Depends on the context, but, for me, I'd have a hard time without a native speaker to consult with. No strong feelings against it though.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

BSB + NSYNC

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

I'm going to go with one I haven't mentioned yet, which is Cruel Summer because that fic was utterly batshit, came out of literally nowhere, and was so much fun to write!

--

Thanks for the tag, Cora!

I am tagging @poppypickle @queseraone @goodgirlssayiloveyoutoo @rememberthismomentx @thisnightissparkling089 @makeitastrength and @summerongrand (apologies if y'all have already done this and I missed it)!

[it-happened-one-fic]

Dancing With Visions - Morale - Cha-Cha - Gorou

Author Notes: Yet another Latin dance. This was actually my first time writing Gorou, but I don't think it turned out to bad. The performance in this fic was inspired by Nick Carter and Sharna Burgess’s Cha Cha to “I Don’t Like it, I Love it” by Flo Rida feat. Robin Thicke and Verdine White from season 21 week 1 of “Dancing with the Stars.” Just like the rest of this series, Reader is female. I hope you enjoy!

If you would like to read more of this series, the fics can be found here: Dancing with Visions Masterlist.

Type: Female reader/ dance/ fluff/platonic or romantic /sfw

Word Count: 1461

I almost pitied Gorou, but Kokomi had certainly gotten him this time. But I couldn’t blame the young woman. It had to be exhausting to be constantly asked for advice, and she had to have her fun somehow. So when Gorou had come asking for advice on how to bolster the troops morale, she’d seen her chance.

Telling him that performing a dance for the troops would boost morale and further asserting that learning said dance could be useful for strength and agility training was no doubt a bit of fun on her part. Especially since she knew I'd be perfectly willing to help the fluffy general with his plight as soon as he came requesting my help.

It had been endearing how focused he’d been during every single practice too. He’d given learning the cha-cha his all, and I had no doubts he’d do well now that it was time for us to perform. With that said, though, it was perfectly obvious that Gorou was feeling the pressure now.

Pressure, that no doubt came from the simple fact that Kokomi had been right. The very knowledge that their beloved general was going to be performing a dance had already pepped up the soldiers.

I let my hand rest lightly on his shoulder, smiling as Gorou looked over at me, slightly surprised with pricked ears, before he smiled in return when he noticed it was just me. 

“Nervous?” I questioned him softly, already knowing the answer even as I tilted my head at him.

He chuckled slightly at my one-word question before nodding, “Yeah, I guess I am. I don’t want to let anybody down, though. You included. You spent a lot of time teaching me.”

 I smiled at his earnest words, shaking my head fondly even though I was touched, “You won’t let me down, Gorou. You won’t let anyone down, no matter how the performance goes. What matters is that you're stepping forward and giving this an honest shot.”

He nodded again, smiling to himself all the while, “Thanks, but I still don’t want to do poorly.”

I sighed slightly, not entirely surprised by his words. I’d already seen how driven he was just from how determined he’d been throughout his lessons. He probably wasn’t entirely willing to accept the idea of doing poorly now.

I shifted closer, though, and bumped him lightly with my shoulder. And that was all it took to pull him from his own nervous thoughts and cause him to look my way as I spoke quietly, “You know how Lady Kokomi told you that your fatal flaw is getting too engrossed in battle?”

I eyed him closely as he looked back my way, frowning slightly before he nodded, “Of course I do. I take all of Her Excellency’s advice seriously.”

I nodded, looking away from him and at the stage set up for us, “You do that in dancing too. You get engrossed in your performance, determined to do your best every time. The difference here is that you can use that as a strength.”

I smiled back over at him, half-chuckling at his confused expression before I continued, “If you let yourself get engrossed in the dance, you’ll be able to dance freely without your nerves getting to you, and I guarantee you’ll do well.”

He was frowning, glancing side to side as if he were checking if anyone was listening before he looked back at me in an almost cautious fashion, “Really?”

I smiled at him, relaxed as I nodded in response, because I really was confident in him. Gorou had done wonderfully throughout his lessons and our practice. I had every faith that he could pull off one dance performance successfully, just like how he always returned, victorious, from battle.

He perked up, his ears twitching slightly as he smiled at me before he gave me a quick nod of his head, “Alright. I’ll trust you then.”

And with those words, he straightened, causing me to smile as we both took off. Both of us walking out onto the platform with him to the applause of Sangonomiya’s troops.

We entered our poses behind the screen that would have us silhouetted until it was removed. Me with one hip out to the side and my hands behind my head and him with his legs crossed, one leg kicked out as he leaned to the side and away from me.

He moved to the music first. Matching the beat with energetic steps that carried him towards me before he stopped and pointed my way right as I shifted. And then we both launched into motion, mirroring one another’s steps and pointing towards one another right as the screen was pulled up. Parting in the middle and revealing the two of us smiling at one another to the soldier who loudly applauded. Already cheering on their general as Kokomi clapped politely with a brilliant smile on her face.

Gorou reached out, taking my hand lightly in his and twirling me across the floor until I stopped in front of him. His hands clasping my waist as we both sashayed rhythmically.

It was amusing now to think back on how embarrassed Gorou had been by such motions when we’d first started dancing. By now he was used to them, and barely even hesitated, even with the thunderous applause that almost drowned out our music.

And while it was true that his motions weren’t perfect by any means, they were just fine and perfectly respectable for someone who’d only just learned how to dance the cha-cha.

We parted, smiling as we slid across the floor together. Perfectly matching one another even though we weren’t even holding hands as we danced together.

The beat of the music picked up, and I danced backwards, using the short, lively steps of the cha-cha to retreat away from Gorou, who danced towards me. A smile on his face that made the very idea of him being nervous mere moments ago seem ridiculous, save for the fact I’d been by his side this entire time.

He spun, holding out his hand in a silent request that I accepted with a grin as he spun me across the floor in front of him so that we were side by side once more and stepping lightly across the stage.

He let go of my hand as we continued to dance. Both of us reaching out and tracing our hands up the other’s shoulders and over to their chin as we leaned towards each other. Perfectly comfortable with one another after having practiced for so long together.

I turned, smiling out at the crowd as I danced away from him, half laughing at the way he followed along behind me. Ready and waiting with his hand held up for me to take as soon as I spun back to look at him.

Our hands locked together as we slid, sashaying to the side and grinning at each other. We parted though, spinning to look back at the crowd as we stepped together to the beat.

Without even having to glance at the other, we reached out. Our hands linking together once more as we spun first to face each other, then back out to look at the crowd, and repeat. 

We twirled together, our motions syncing so that we could both reach out to the other one without having to worry that they wouldn’t be there.  

My hands cupping his face and his hands rested lightly on my hips as soon as our rotations ended before we stepped, almost immediately, apart. Leaving us so that we were joined only by our hands that seemed to find one another on instinct.

He pulled me across the floor in front of him before letting go of me. Leaving me to twirl freely across the stage before I came to a stop. Looking at him as he ran, dropped to his knees, and slid over to where I waited. 

I looked down at him as he clasped my waist, looking up at me from his position on his knees with a smile as I laughed, reaching down and cupping his face with my hands.

I found myself bending slightly as he shifted, starting to stand as we both laughed, “See? You did great!” 

He nodded, stepped to his feet, and continued to laugh slightly as we both turned to face the crowd of soldiers whose morale had most certainly been boosted.

And as we bowed, I could honestly say that I suspected that it wasn’t just the troops whose moods had improved. Judging from the smile on Gorou’s face and the way his hand clasped mine tightly, I was almost positive that his mood was also soaring.

If you would like to read more:

Previous

Next

[swearphil]

Hi Renee! It's nice ask week! You make such gorgeous gif sets - what's the one that your the proudest of making?

rae! thank you so much for sending this!

this is difficult to answer! and it makes me realize that I'm proud of gifs for different reasons, so I'm going to give a few answers. I hope that's okay!

when it comes to level of skill, I'm proud of this Nick/Charlie and Fearless (Taylor's Version) set that uses the cassette tape animation. this one took some time, not just because of the animation, but because of figuring out the lyrics and which scenes to choose that would work with the yellow color scheme I wanted to use. the second to last gif in this set gave me the hardest time with that, but I really like how the entire thing turned out!

when it comes to layout and scene selection, I'm really proud of how my Olivia Rodrigo GUTS set turned out. this is another one where planning was key. I knew I wanted to include all the songs and that I wanted to work with the music videos that we had from GUTS, which meant I was just working with vampire and bad idea, right? I'm still surprised I managed to pick 13 different moments from 2 videos that all make sense with the songs I paired them with. I also really like how I ended up alternating the coloring for this set! that was actually born out of me getting frustrated with the coloring for some scenes and not wanting to deal with it lol. so I made them black and white or purple instead.

when it comes to sets I just had fun making, this set for Alex to all american bitch is one I'm proud of! I got the idea for this one after Casey posted on insta stories that this song was for Alex. this set went through a few different iterations in my head, in particular when it came to how to split up the lyrics and how many gifs it would be in total. there were versions where it was 6 or 7 gifs but I ended up with 9 by splitting up "I"m a perfect all american bitch/with perfect all american lips/and perfect all american hips." I loved working with the bi colors and it was so satisfying when the overlays worked out! that's something I don't plan in advance. I just hope the scenes I want work out, and they did for the most part!

and I'll end with two of my most recent sets: the David/Patrick relationship dynamic set and my Dan and Phil Games set. I'm just generally proud of how they turned out, but as I was making them, I was also reminded of how much I love this show and this gaming channel, and I'm so happy I get to make gifs of them!

[gdmbrwiththerealcrew]

Day 12 - July 10th

At Day 11 dinner, we all discuss the plan for our last day. J, J, & N were going to leave their gear with Beth, Bill & Annette. They would then be able to hammer home on what was thought to be a tough course. Bill offered to do the same for us.

None of us really knew what to expect for the gravel portion of our route. We knew we finished with 15 miles on pavement but the rest was a mystery. John had heard that the gravel was generally unmaintained forest roads with many downed trees and very rocky surfaces. Again, we would know by the end of the day.

When we woke up we decided that we would take advantage of Bill’s offer. David, considering his previously broken rack, unloaded all of his gear except lunch and a rain jacket. Ed kept his panniers with first aid stuff but got rid of his tent, sleeping gear, and some clothes. I unloaded my tent and stool. Jose decided to finish the ride with all his stuff.

Last day!

We rolled out of camp ahead of J, J, & N. Within 1/10 of a mile I made a wrong turn and it cost us 2.5 miles plus a climb. Back on course, we needed to grind out 2000’ of climbing in the next 10 or so miles. The first 8 miles were on a pretty rough gravel road with several steep pitches.

Just headed up…

At about mile 8 the road swung up to the left while a closed forest service road was directly in front of us. I stopped to rest at the gate while Jose continued up to the left. Ed and David pedaled past me up to the left. A minute later Nick stopped along side me and said the route was the service road. Damn! I confirmed the mistake and had to chase down the boys who had just climbed another quarter mile. Incredulous, they came down the hill to get back on course.

We all looked at the gate preparing for what we’d find on the other side. Rolling through we found smooth double track divided by high grass and wildflowers with the occasional downed tree as an obstacle. In some places the grass had filled in the track. Regardless, the road was better than the gravel we just pedaled for 8+ miles! We climbed a little then descended for about 10 miles on double track. It was really quite a lot of fun!

Views from the double track.

The path ahead.

At some point on the descent Jose jammed on his brakes to stop for a bear ahead. He and I got a quick look at a bear with black coloring and rounded ears. It was small in size, just a couple hundred pounds, probably just a few years old. Fortunately, it was alone. Based on the ears, it was probably a grizzly. From then on, we made a lot of noise and kept a close eye out for more wildlife. Hey bear!

After that descent we started another 4 mile climb. The double track was a little more rugged but rideable. We rounded a corner to find that forest service had trimmed overhanging trees. The road was covered with splintered branches and pine boughs. The equipment had cut deep tracks into the road. We rounded another corner and we could hear the machine ahead of us. Coming around another corner we were face to tail with a tree eating monsters which was grinding up the hill at 3 miles an hour.

To our advantage, the operator had his dog with him. While the man couldn’t see or hear us, his dog alerted him to our presence. He shut down his tractor and climbed out to greet us. His brother also came down the road to join the conversation.

A few minutes earlier, J, J, & N had ridden past him. He didn’t get a chance to talk to them so they continued up the climb as was described in our maps. With a broad smile on his face, the operator told us we could cut ahead of them by 3 miles and completely avoid the climb. He pointed down a grassy patch and said take this road until it ends at a bridge, don’t cross the bridge, go left for several miles until you reach another bridge and a clear gravel road. That would put us back on course 3 miles ahead of the other guys!

Our shortcut was the grassy patch by my right elbow.

We chatted for a while longer, said thanks and then got a closer look at that grassy patch. It was a double track forest service road with clear tracks but waist high grass all around. It descended into the trees and so did we. For some reason, everyone wanted me to go first.

The track was smooth with humps every 1/10 of a mile or so to control erosion, I guess. They made for a great roller coaster ride. We reached the bridge in minutes. From there we turned left and descended along a creek on a similar double track. It was not as steep as the previous stretch but we were still able to fly. We popped out at the gravel road, crossed the bridge, grabbed some snacks, and waited for J, J, & N.

At this point we were only about half done with our day. Back on the gravel we had to climb as payback for a total blast of a descent. Or maybe we had to climb so we could blast down the other side. Fortunately, it was the latter. We climbed about 4 miles and peeked over the top to see a valley carved by the Blackfoot River. We descended steeper grades for 4-5 miles before it mellowed a little. There was only one choice… maintain control by letting go! Jose and I followed each other’s lines to the bottom.

When Jose and I reached the pavement we waited for a few minutes for Ed and David. Ed came rolling around the corner with no David. He pulled up next to us and said: “Guys we have a problem. David’s jacket got caught in his wheel”. I asked is he was okay. Fortunately, he didn’t crash but the bike was not functional. Then I asked how far up the hill he was. My mistake to think that we wouldn’t be climbing any more.

We found David a 1/2 mile up the hill with his bike turned over and his knife in hand to cut out the jacket. His favorite rain jacket, I’ll point out. It was stuck in his rear wheel between the brake disk and the spokes. It could have been a disaster.

Roadside repair.

David’s favorite rain jacket.

Once all was clear, we rolled down the hill and onto MT 200 which had plenty of traffic but a wide shoulder. Down we rolled. A little while later, down came the rain! You carry a rain jacket for 11 days and never use it. You lose your jacket and it rains.

Seven miles out of Missoula we met J, J, & N at KettleHouse Brewing for a celebratory beer. They were ahead of us so they finished and said their goodbyes. We had a beer while the rain slowed and then finished our ride downtown.

KettleHouse with 7 miles to go.

All that was left was the celebrating and the reminiscing.

Celebratory dinner in Missoula

Rooftop cocktails.

All in all, a very good day!

Cheers.

Ride stats:

Miles ridden: 54.1

Elevation gain: 3,987 ft

Max elevation: 6,140 ft

Total descent: 4,952 ft

Start time: 8:16am

Moving time: 5:50:05

Elapsed time: 7:38:48

Ave speed: 9.3 mph

[zerolostwalks]

📓

Hey anon!! Thanks for the ask!!

So let me talk to you about The Host AU I developed for this small ficlet I wrote. Because I HIGHLY doubt I will ever write a full fledged fic for this one but I do have ideas and thoughts. . .Like a LOT of ideas and thoughts. 

I broke it down into Casting thoughts and Plot Point thoughts found below the cut (due to length)

Send me a book to hear about a fic idea I may never write

'Casting’:

So for the ficlet I wrote I casted based on personalities and already existing dynamics and who would be most likely to fit 

Really the hardest call was Melanie/Wanda and that casting decision was solely based on personality.

So with that in mind Carrie filled the role of Melanie. They’re both hard working fighters full of snark and sass. 

Julie was then slotted into Wanda’s role because they are both self-sacrificing(would do anything for the ones they love), struggle just a little bit on identity and self-image, generally polite but not afraid to stand up for themselves or more importantly what they care about.

Carlos was always going to fill the role of Jaime. . .Which meant I had to figure out HOW and came up with the following Wilson family back story

Wilson Family: Robert Wilson had Carrie, Ray Molina had Carlos, both lost their wives and remarried while Carrie and Carlos were relatively young. Trevor Wilson is Carrie’s Uncle, Bobby Shaw is his son-Carrie’s Cousin (It’s a Wilson family tradition to name the eldest son’s Robert, which is why he goes by Bobby, he also has his Mom’s last name)

Trevor then went on to fill the role of Jeb.

Which leads us to the Jared and Ian casting. And while there is an underlying double romance thing happening in the ficlet(and story in my head), I wanted to try and shift it to be more blatantly found family. 

As such Jared and Ian from the book kind of get split up between a few folks(this MAINLY impacts Plot Point thoughts)

Nick and Bobby take up the bulk of Jared’s side of things. Nick 100% covers the romance aspect.

Reggie, Luke, and Alex cover the Ian side of things. Reggie (and Luke?) covers the romance aspect. (There also may have been some casting bias due to the fact Ian is described as pale, blue-eyed, and dark haired-snow, ink, and sapphires).

Willie and Flynn would take up some of the more prominent additional characters.

Caleb took me a bit but I keep going back to wanting him to fill Doc’s role. Although he’d make a GREAT seeker fill in.

For the role of Kyle I invented a brother for Reggie. I KNOW he has other brothers floating around but I was NOT about to make any of them super violent. Also I thought it’d be fun to lean into the Peters’ are Elton John fans headcanon and name this new brother Elton or Kenneth. 

‘Plot Points’:

If I were to have written this I would probably skip over or rush a lot of the pre-desert stuff

As such I have it planned that Julie/Carrie gets lost in the desert looking for Trevor’s hide out, passes out and then Nick, along with Alex and Reggie, go out to get her. Upon opening her eyes, Nick basically throws her away from him which leads to her hitting her head HARD against a rock and passing out AGAIN.

When Julie/Carrie wakes up, they’re already tucked away in the storage area hole. Nick, Bobby, and Reggie are having a HEATED discussion because they’re ALL a little overwhelmed by the whole thing:

Bobby: What the hell are we doing Nick?

Nick: I don’t know I just I

Bobby: What are you thinking What’s Trevor going to say?

Reggie(though Julie doesn’t know his name yet): Alex and Luke went to get him (and doc?).

Then Elton/Kenneth shows up with a small mob of very angry people. Julie/Carrie do the whole ‘don’t hurt him’ shielding thing throwing themselves in front of NIck and Bobby(kinda Reggie by virtue of how everyone is set up). Big fight ensues, Julie/Carrie gets knocked around a bit, and then Trevor shows up with the gun and stops the whole fiasco

Reggie curled in on himself: This is so messed up

Trevor ”Why don’t you boys go get yourselves something to eat, I’ll stay with her.”

Nick: Shouldn’t we…what about…

Trevor: Seems to me you boys may be feeling a tad conflicted over the matter, take some time to think on it. 

Alex: Think on what, exactly?

Trevor: You brought her into my home, You decided to keep her here rather than take her to Doc. What happens next is up to.

Luke: Wait, us? Like all of us?

Trevor: A couple of you may have a larger vote than the others by virtue of relations and kinship, but yes, all of you.

Reggie sounding nauseous: Oh my god.

Then after seeing Julie flinch at something: This is beyond messed up

In case it wasn’t obvious, witnessing that whole thing with Julie/Carrie would THOUROUGHLY fuck with Reggie’s head. Because logically he gets the whole parasite alien thing, he gets that from the human perspective it’s a whole war and he’s on the losing side. In all other regards he just saw a girl nearly get beat to death and it’s very triggering. 

So after Trevor bestows the decision on the boys (probably because he picked up on how Nick was trying to avoid HAVING to make a decision). Nick distances himself from Julie/Carrie unsure what to do. Bobby takes over the bulk over Julie/Carrie watch but in his mind Carrie is already dead anyway, why bother keeping Julie. Luke and Alex conceded they’ll follow whatever decision Bobby/Nick make and also avoid Julie/Carrie.

Reggie is the only other one that even checks up on Julie/Carrie. He doesn’t know what to think because of all the aforementioned. He can’t wrap his head around WHY if the alien is supposed to be out for the elimination of humankind it would use itself as a shield to protect said humans. 

Trevor would eventually send Nick, Bobby, (Alex or Luke), Elton/Kenneth, and a couple others to go do the supply raid thing. Which would lead to a similar Trevor slowly getting Julie/Carrie involved in the community by having her help around the caves, with Reggie and Alex or Luke, tagging along.

Some noticeable differences would be that Julie(once she’s moderately comfortable) starts humming under her breath as she works. Eventually Reggie asks her about it and she goes quiet again trying to not draw attention to herself. Reggie apologizes and explains he doesn’t mind her humming; he was just curious.

Another difference is unlike in the book where everyone just lets Wanda never take a break, Reggie (or if he’s the one who stays behind Luke) finds out she’s been working non stop and force her to hang out with them (Reggie, Willie, Flynn). 

 Carlos of course is unavoidable in all this but that’s probably going to follow similar Jaime story beats anyway.

In the case of what would be the “Carlos gets sick and Julie gets snuck out to get meds” plot point Bobby, would be the one doing the whole sneak Julie out of the caves, while Nick went and got the Jeep and did the driving. Avoiding the whole silly let’s try and have you run blindfolded through the desert.

Another major difference would come during the end when they meet up with the other survivors. Ray would be there and recognize Carrie and get reunited with his family.

.

….I think that’s about all I have when it comes to plot point thoughts.

If you’ve made it this far, CONGRATS! Thanks for reading!! Have a cookie 🍪

[renegadefearstreet1966]

Six

gif credit to owner

Later that night in her room, Angelica stands in front of the mirror hanging on her bedroom door as she zips up her cheer outfit. Angelica moves her hands down to smooth out her skirt, looking at the letters sewn into the fabric that lays against her chest. 

It reads ‘SHS’ — the initials for Shadyside High School. Angelica stares at herself then turns around, noticing the padding of her bandage on her shoulder and her arm, cowling her healing wound. Shaking her head, she looks at herself in her mirror before heading downstairs, seeing her parents. Angelica’s two mom’s sit at the table in the small kitchen as they look at their teenage daughter. 

“Be safe, please. I can’t have you die like you almost did last night.” 

“Mom, don’t worry. I’ll be fine. I promise.” 

“Be back as soon as the vigil is over.” 

“Okay. But I gotta drive to Shadyside High School then get on a bus to Sunnyvale.” 

“I’ll drive you.” C. says, rising.

Angelica looks at the clock in the kitchen, seeing that she needs to leave. C. Berman and her head toward the front door, grabbing what they need in order to leave the house. Her mom grabs the keys to their 1992 BMW. The drive there was quiet as C. looks over at her daughter, who fumbles with the bandage on her arm.

"Hey, um, I just wanted to say have fun at the game."

"Thanks, but I don't think it'll be very much fun since Sunnyvale's holding a vigil for the victims who died at the mall."

"I'm aware. But try to at least enjoy it. And, if you get overwhelmed, call me or mom, and one of us will drive all the way here and pick you up."

"Thank you, Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, Angel."

Ending up at Shadyside High School, Angelica exits the vehicle as she says goodbye to her mom before stepping onto the bus where chatter was indistinct and the other's begin whispering to each other about how Angelica is the remaining survivor of the Shadyside Mall massacre. She sits beside Deena, who was annoyed. Tapping her on her shoulder pad, she glances at Angelica.

“Yes?” 

“Just wanted to say that you actually put it on.” 

“Yeah, I hate it.” 

“It’s not the worst.” 

“I guess,”  

Both Deena and Angelica were silent throughout the ride, passing through Shadyside and how run down it is compared to Sunnyvale’s bright and luxurious houses. Expensive cars sit in the driveways as everything else is kept well clean. 

Arriving at Sunnyvale’s stadium, she sees the logo for the team — Sunnyvale Devils as she walks onto the turf as she overhears someone talking. The voice of Will Goode, the mayor of Sunnyvale — is amplified as Angelica makes her way through the crowd with Deena and Kate, standing beside them as the people next to her pass a candle, she grabs the lit candle. 

“...I wanted to be here as a fan. Our Sunnyvale devils and your Shadyside witches throwing down some good old american football. Instead I find myself here as a husband, a father, as a neighbor. And the mayor of Sunnyvale. On behalf—” 

Angelica stops listening as she sighs, looking at the photo of Heather on the vigil program that rests in her hand. Soon though, the blonde peeks over at Deena, who is looking as if she’s searching for someone in particular.

“Yeah, it really looks like they give a damn. The only Sunnyvalers who came were the only ones who had to. The football team and the cheerleaders.” Kate sighs.  

Angelica watches as Deena watches Sam — her ex-girlfriend — chat and giggle with the male as she sees the sadness form in Deena’s eyes. The band geek walks the opposite direction, holding a shoe box from earlier. The bright lights above shut off, one by one. 

Nick Goode’s voice speaking on the night. 

“My family’s been in Sunnyvale for generations, and now my brother is mayor and I, your sheriff. We prospered here. And yet, I’ve seen you, our neighbors in Shadyside, suffer tragedy after tragedy. It’s easy in times like this to drown in questions of why… Why did this happen?” He speaks. “But I know too well there are no answers that will provide relief. There’s no peace found in the past.” 

He continued, but Angelica blocked out little by little. “...We must not fall into darkness. We must look to the light.” 

Soon after, Angelica suddenly hears the Sunnyvaler who was with Sam begin to speak. He scoffs. 

“Yeah! What we should do is light a fuse and burn down Shittyside.” 

“What’d you say?” A Shadysider asks. 

Angelica knew the tension was high as she began to move away. Everyone around her looked toward the situation. The Sunnyvaler steps closer. 

“I said it ain’t a tragedy when it happens every week.” 

The rivals move closer as Angelica steps back. 

“It’s a joke,” 

The rivaling teams step closer as the chatter around is again, indistinct. They stand in front of one another. 

“Say it again, motherfucker!” The Shadyside player from earlier speaks again, shoving the other male away. 

They suddenly break into a fight. Other team members from both sides, coming together to fight one another. Angelica watches as Kate is nowhere to be found as she watches as Nick approaches the fighting teens and barely breaks them up one by one. 

Suddenly, Angelica watches as Simon, dressed as a witch, rushes toward the male from the opposing team and whacks his back with the broom. He then flips him the middle finger. Angered, the Sunnyvaler chases after Simon. 

“You little green prick! Come here, you little bitch! Come here!” He shouted.

sees her shouting. An elbow decks her in the face. Angelica rushes over to Kate, who holds her cheek with her hand, seeing that it’s red and beginning to swell. Grabbing Kate’s hand, they both run away from the field, stopping to watch Simon flip off another Sunnyvaler before being chased off. 

——

Once when everyone is on the bus, Angelica gets pushed on there too. She sits in the back of the bus in the seat in front of Deena. Kate stands in the aisle, holding an ice pack to her cheek. 

“They think they can do what they want!” 

“No!” Students shout. 

“They ruin out vigil, then go waltzing back to their mansions, like we’re some reject pile that they can step on!” 

“No!” 

“Well, we are not the reject pile!” 

“No!” 

“This shit ends tonight!”

“Yeah!”

“What are we gonna do?” Simon asks, enthusiastically.

“We’re gonna go kill those preppy assholes!” 

The cheerleaders, football jocks and band geeks cheer before chanting Kate’s name. Simon speaks as Angelica blocks out the noise. Suddenly, she watches as lights shine brightly, honking blares as well. Looking back, she watches as a car moves closer as Deena gets off the seat and goes to the back of the bus, Angelica joins her. 

“Goddamn Sunnvalers.” 

A glass breaks as liquid splashes on the glass, causing the two teens to duck down. Without hesitation, Deena calls for Simon and Kate to come to the back. 

This time, all four Shadysider’s stare out the back of the bus’s window. The car approaches, tires squeal as another bottle is thrown. It crashes against the window. 

“You gotta be kidding me.” 

“Hey, isn’t that, uh..” 

Coming into view, the four teens stare as one familiar face is shown. Samantha Fraser. She sits in the passenger seat with a scared expression. 

“Sam,” Deena says above a whisper. 

Simon unzips his pants as he slides them down, putting his bare buttocks to the glass before moving away after a few seconds. Simon pulls his pants up. Without hesitation, Deena grabs the water cooler then tells Kate to open the emergency door, getting into position. 

The back door swings open as the other attendees on the bus stare. Angelica stands back with Simon, watching carefully. 

“This is definitely a good idea, right? Deena?” Kate asks. 

Counting down, Kate calls Deena’s name again. "Your nose."

Deena's nose begins dripping crimson as Kate steps back, almost disgusted by it. Arm blocking her face.

Deena’s grip loosens on the cooler, dropping it below as the cooler falls on top of the red vehicle. The liquid substance spills on the car behind, everyone in the bus watches from behind. The red car runs off the road and into a nearby ditch. A gasp escapes Angelica’s lips, covering her mouth. 

“Stop! Stop the bus! Stop the bus!” Deena shouts a little too loud. 

Angelica removes her hands from her mouth and towards her ears, covering them in the process. If Deena shouted any louder, she would’ve busted an eardrum. And she needed her hearing incase another lunatic came after her.

[luckandstrange]

I would like to add some of my own due to the fact that the length of time I have dedicated to this band is really taking a toll on me at the moment. I'm struggling a bit to think about the mass of it...

I chose them as the subject for my 8th grade final project in music class, thus changing the trajectory of my life forever. Said project is rife with inaccuracies.

First picture of Roger I saw shocked me because he looked so strange (apparently a universal experience)

I would spend every night of the rest of 8th grade scrolling the Pink Floyd search results on Deviantart, mostly just regular art, but it overwhelmed me with so many emotions that I had to frequently tab out.

Got into an insane amount of intimate discord drama in a chat with some of the most renowned Floyd artists at the time. I remained partial and got invited to the discord chat with the splitting individuals as well as staying in the original.

I jumped at any opportunity to detail the band's entire paraphrased history.

Classic case of "I was born in the wrong generation" and all its fix-ins.

Dogs was one of the first I listened to, both shocked and intrigued by its length.

I slowly realized that I had been hearing their music all of my life, so getting into them was even more fun.

I kept begging my parents to watch Live at Pompeii with me.

I fully convinced myself that this kid talking about the #NotMyRodgerick meme from Diary of a Wimpy Kid shortening it to #NotMyRoggie was talking about RW

I got so obsessed with Roger and Nick's friendship that I started shipping them and couldn't keep it subtle so I psyopped my friend into making these character versions of them where Roger was an Easter island head named Ouch and Nick was Bloo from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. I still have the clay figurine of Bloo Nick that I made. (don't ask)

When I went to see Roger in 2017 I was almost certain that I would've had the opportunity to run into him after the show. I didn't.

My friend and I went to a carnival, and while she was trying to talk to someone else on the same ride as us, I was singing the entirety of Comfortably Numb out loud.

The first time I heard Summer '68 I think I replayed it at least 30 times.

Same with San Tropez.

I got a sunburst fender precision-bass for Christmas, think the same look as the one Roger played in Live at Pompeii, which I have admittedly rarely picked up. I'd say I'm at the very least intermediate.

Drawing the band was my introduction to drawing people other than dragons more regularly, so in my drawings faces tended to have awkwardly large noses and small foreheads. (I wonder who's to blame for that...)

I was drawing them at a fourth of July party and someone came up to me and asked "Is that The Beatles?"

At the same party, Comfortably Numb came on and I crouched down to fully immerse myself in the song while rocking back and forth.

I was one of the artists for a Pink Floyd ask blog in 2017.

My friends and I embarked on an unserious "Classic Rock RP" that consisted of us roleplaying as Roger and Dave going to Japan with JPJ from Led Zeppelin. Once the friend playing JPJ went to bed, the two of us ended up getting pretty.. intimate.

We made a discord chat to do our watermour roleplay in. We started calling it g1interphase as a codename because we were both learning the cell stages in Biology class.

This lasted for

Eight

Months

Straight. Every single day.

I can still hardly believe that. The majority of it has lapsed from my memory.

We shipped Snowy White and Dick Parry at one point.

I was a pissed off little shit when I saw Nick in 2019 because the literal show BEFORE that one in New York, Roger showed up because he was in the area. Suffice to say he didn't show up a second time.

Every New Year's Eve since 2018, I've perfectly timed the Careful With That Axe, Eugene scream to land precisely on midnight when the year changed. Except I didn't do it for this year, so I think I reanimated the Pink Floyd curse.

Thank you for enduring me. Have I changed very much? Who knows...

Calling my younger self out for all the embarrassing things they thought/did when I first started getting into Pink Floyd (I just think I was endearing albeit annoying)

Initially confused them with LED Zeppelin because for some reason my brain put them on a similar tier

Went to watch the Pulse tour DVD … promptly realised it was post-Waters, cried, shut it off immediately, and haven’t seen it since (I actually own a DVD and a VHS tape of the film…both of which were gifts actually)

Saw that Live at Pompeii gif of Roger blowing the smoke rings and just stared at it for a long while promptly falling in love

Didn’t know the Wall was a double album and just assumed the second disc was demos so I never listened to it and would only listen to half the album. Eventually I decided to play the second disc and realised how stupid I was (In the Flesh confused me)

Had an entire wall in my room dedicated to The Wall (I painted out the brick design and had these posters)

Didn’t really care much for the WYWH album (and now it’s my favourite Pink Floyd album..)

FUCKING GAVE AWAY THE IN THE PINK NICK SEDGWICK BOOK BECAUSE I WAS GOING THROUGH SOME SHIT AND ROGER WAS MAKING ME FEEL GUILTY AND HORRIBLE

Would listen to the Wall at least once a day for months on end especially while sitting alone at lunch

Used the fact that my mum desperately wanted me to make friends to go to a Roger Waters concert with this boy who had a crush on me and then promptly started trying to convert me to Catholicism once he found out I’m atheist, bisexual, and non-binary. Roger Played the Gunner’s Dream for the encore so no regrets there

Had a long and unhealthy obsession with The Final Cut and would play my LP of it at least once a day

Read something about Roger calling the rest of the band “the muffins” and promptly dubbed David “greasy muffin”…and got the rest of my online friends to join in

Wrote endless HCs with a friend about Watershend (Roger Waters x Pete Townshend)… I stand by this one. Sorry

Did a 10 minute presentation on the Wall for a history class when I was…14

Called in sick to school even though my teachers knew I was going to watch Roger Waters in concert

Found a copy of Rick Wright’s Wet Dream on vinyl at a market… had no cash in the moment … asked my friend if they could give me cash and then I’d pay them back later… my friend agreed thinking it was for food (I wasn’t trying to deceive them I promise I just didn’t communicate what that money was for as clearly as I thought I did… but I did pay them back plus a bit extra!) I did get my record tho

Went to Battersea Station…. DIDN’T REALISE IT WAS A FUCKING SHOPPING MALL ON THE INSIDE BECAUSE I FAILED TO DO MY RESEARCH AND DIDN’T EVEN ATTEMPT TO GO INSIDE BECAUSE I AM AWKWARD AS HELL… so instead I opted to awkwardly stand around the outside and check out the nearby shops (this is recent ;-;)

I used to draw and would just fill my notebook up with drawing of Pink Floyd (mostly just Roger…)

I am just now remembering how much of my fanart was nose-centric

You know that common trans experience of “trying desperately to live as your assigned gender one last time so you overcompensate before you come out”… well that overlapped with my “ukulele and Syd Barrett let’s dress psychedelic” phase

Have bought way too many pieces of clothing because they remind me of something Roger wore once (I think I’ll make this into it’s own post perhaps)

That’s all I can remember for now. Just feeling nostalgic. I could make a second part of all the most recent cringe shit I’ve done. I’m not laughing at myself I’m laughing with myself. Honestly my younger self was iconic, gotta love her

[kai-anderson-whore]

The wild rose (James patrick march x fem reader)

Summary: based on the song where the wild roses grow by nick cave and Kylie monoge

Warnings: mentions of murder, suicide

They called you the wild rose, but your name was y/n y/l/n, why they called you that you didn't know, you were stuck in here this gloomy hotel, that was Disguised as a beautiful memory of the gatsby era.

You remembered how you ended up here all those decades ago over 100 years ago, you been stuck here, after being swooned by the owner of this place.

You entered the hotel cortez, your dress swaying at your knees, your heels clicking, to be greeted by a man with a pale complexion a pencil mustache, and a expensive suit.

"Do you have a reservation dear" he asked a smile on his face, "yes it's "miss y/n y/l/n" you replied "ah your not married?" He asked a shocked expression on his face.

Causing you to blush "no I'm afraid not" you mumbled in embarrassment, "well that's obscene" he stated grabbing a room key handing it to you, "I do hope you speak to you again miss y/l/n" he stated.

"Also I'm James patrick march the proud owner of the cortez" he added "Thank you Mr march" you smiled grabbing your suitcase going to the elevator to your room.

James knew you were the one, from the moment he first saw you, you were more beautiful than any woman he'd seen, your lips the colour of the roses miss evers grows on the premises all bloody and wild.

Later on that night, you heard a knock on your room door, confused on whom it could be you went to answer it, to find James at the door.

"Mr march what a surprise" you smiled, your red lipstick still sat perfectly on your lips, letting him enter the room, your eyes red and puffy from crying over something silly, "are you alright dear?" He asked wiping the tears that ran down your face.

Your trembling figure sat on the bed, "What's wrong dear?" James asked, a hand on your shoulder comforting you, "Oh it's nothing something pathetic really I don't want to waste your time Mr march your a busy man" you said.

"Don't be so absurd" he inquiries, let out a giggle "well I came here to pursue a career in acting but got into a huge fight with my parents because I wouldn't marry this man" you said.

"I see" was all he said, "they didn't like that I didn't want to sit there over a stove, cook and clean for a man I didn't want to marry" you said wiping the remaining tears from your eyes.

"Anyway what can I do for you Mr march" you asked wondering why he had came into your room, "please call me James dear, I was wondering if you would like to attend a party Tomorrow at the ball room downstairs?" He asked, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"I'd love to what time is this party taking place?" You replied, "seven thirty" he answered getting up from his spot, "you'll be my plus one" was the last thing he said before leaving the room.

You couldn't help but smile like a fool, once James left going to bed, on a positive note, looking forward for the next day.

The second day James saw you, was when he picked you up, to attend his party, the dress you wore elegant, expensive looking, hugging your curves perfectly.

He brought you a single red rose, you favourite flower "ready to go dear?" He asked taking your hand in his, before intertwining your arms, walking side by side.

"Thank you for this James, it's most generous of you" you smiled your signature red lips, driving James crazy, he knew he couldn't wait any longer to go ahead with his plan.

Entering the party, arriving last but fashionable, all eyes on you both, the rose in your hand, whispers amongst others, as they gawked at your and James.

Through the night you and James danced, sipping expensive champagne, having a fun time, "come with me" he instructed taking you somewhere where you can be alone.

"Do you know where the wild roses grow?" He asked you shook your head as he lead you, where they grow, "my maid miss evers grows them so sweet, scarlet and free, they reminded me of you" he stated making the heat rush to your cheeks.

Finally he showed you the rose bush outside the cortez, they were beautiful, you admired they're beauty, "y/n?" James mumbled his eyes never leaving yours "yes james" you smiled your eyes never leaving the roses.

"Give me your loss and sorrow?" He said, you were confused by what he meant "what do you mean?" You asked, "I mean I want to be the one to make you happy pursue your dreams" he said.

"Not to tie you down so your bond to hover over a stove but to be worshiped, to be treated like a queen" he enquires, taking you aback, no one ever said anything like that, nevermind wanting to treat you like one.

"James I don't know what to say i-" "just give it a think dear" he interrupted not wanting to put you on the spot to make a decision.

But little did you know, the secrets that will be unveiled to you sooner or later.

On the third day he had taken you to a river, where more of wild roses grew, you sat on the grass, watching the water flow, peacefully, James eyes never leaving yours, "are you alright james" you smiled snapping him out his thoughts.

"Why yes dear what makes you this otherwise" he smiled back "oh nothing just noticed your staring" you giggled, now he was the one to blush, it was a lovely sight to see, you thought.

Your eyes locked, James face coming closer to yours, till your lips locked together, the first man you had kissed, his lips were soft, pulling away to see your rouge lips stained his own.

"That was my first kiss" you blushed hiding your face, only for James to tilt your head up with his hand "and many more to come dearest" he smirked.

"Let's go back to the hotel" he wanted his plan to happen on his premises, on his terms, taking your hand heading back to the cortez, the elaborate building always took your breath away, the glamour, the beauty of it all, was breathtaking.

Finally making it to your floor James standing beside you, "Thank you for today James I really enjoyed it" you said opening your door, you didn't want it to end, you ended up inviting James in, little did you know this was according to his plan.

Another kiss James gave you laying you on the bed, all you heard was a muttered word not knowing what it was, as he knelt above you with a rock in his fist.

He kissed you with that, rock in his first, "all beauty must die" he whispered hitting you till you were dead, afterwards he planted a rose between your teeth.

You looked peaceful to him, as he carried you to his study, miss evers came running in as he was discarding your body, your soul leaving it a while ago, you sat in the room you were murdered in, sobbing.

"How could I had trusted him" you cried out wanting revenge, but karma was a sweet thing at times, miss evers warning James that the police was on their way up, resulting him and her taking their own lifes.

Looking back you still hated James, he would try his best to have you forgive him, but nothing worked, over 100 years and you still held that grudge.

"Y/n please I'm sorry I didn't mean to" he said at the bar where you sat with Sally, "you didn't mean to you pulled all that nonsense just to kill me James now I'm trapped here" you weeped.

"Dearest please I did it so we can be together remember what I had promised you" he asked earning a scoff from you, fixing your jeans, standing up.

"Yes I remember or obscene words how you manipulated me into falling for you only to get my head bashed by a rock" you snapped walking away.

You knew now why you got your nicname the wild rose, you hated it, now known as his victim for all eternity, Sally becoming a close friend over the years.

As well as liz, cleopatra everyone called her, who helped you dress modern as time passed by, so you wouldn't be like how James remembered changing everything about you from back then, the gullible girl.

"Y/n please a century I've been apologising I love you" James pleaded following you around like a simp, "you love me really" you laughed in his face.

"Remember our first kiss, how special it was" he asked "Yes and I remember our second where I died" you said "please dear what I would do to feel your lips on mine once more" he stated.

Now holding you, looking into your eyes seeing the old you, his wild rose back, he pressed his lips back on yours, not wanting to lose That feeling again, you melted into the kiss, mentally kicking yourself for being like putty in his cold, murderous hands.

He pulled away, resting his forehead on yours, "I forgive you James" you sighed, "Thank you I've been dying to hear you say that for a century" he smiled.

[illicitlimerence-writes]

jacket | p. gasly

pairing: pierre gasly x reader word count: 5.2k words (sorry not sorry)request: yes/no by an anon: "39 fluff, 49 general, mr pierre gasly if you would 💖" and a lot of people who wanted a part two to pillow<;3 prompt: 39 fluff: "you're safe now. i'm here." & 49 general: "have you been sleeping?" from this prompt list warnings: language, fake-dating, idk what else. a/n: how many times can i write this trope with pierre until it gets old? hehe. thank you all so much for your patience, i'm really glad i took my time with this because otherwise, i wouldn't have liked the way it turned out. so, here it is.

my masterlist / this is a part two to 'pillow'

after waking up on the last day of the camping trip, things between you and pierre were… weird. you stayed away from him most of the time, you felt his eyes on you as you gathered all your things, but he didn’t speak to you at all.

not even a snarky remark as you were dropped off at your apartment building.

life moved on, you moved on as if nothing had ever happened. or at least that’s what you told yourself to convince yourself.

days later, you found yourself in a club, one of your friends had convinced you to go out just for one night, let loose from all the stress of the week and just enjoy a night of fun drinking and dancing to the beat of the deafening music coming from the speakers.

you were surrounded by sweaty bodies, people grinding on each other with their drinks in their hands. you tried to stay away from most of them, not liking the idea of bumping into a mass of drunk people. your friend abandoned you at some point of the night, she’d found a handsome blonde and ditched you for him. you rolled your eyes as you walked to the bar, asking for a refill of your drink as you kept your eyes on your friend. her eyes met yours, and she gave you a thumbs up, telling you she was okay.

you relaxed a little, with your back against the bar and your drink in hand, you drank a little as your eyes scanned the room. you felt an intense stare on you, and you turned your head to the side, finding a handsome man, you knew that face. you also knew the person that was clinging to him desperately. his intense gaze stayed on you, even though the girl he was with tried to get his attention. you turned your head to the front, taking a sip from your drink as you watched out of the corner of your eye as the man whispered something in the girl’s ear.

well, shit.

you looked frantically over the crowd of people, your initial plan of getting help from your friend was quickly thrown out of the window as you felt your phone buzz, she’d texted you and told you she’d left with the guy she found a while ago.

time for a new plan. don’t panic. it’s just your ex. and the girl he, obviously, said you had nothing to worry about. and look at them now.

you could see them leave their spot, walking down the spiral staircase and heading to you.

“i thought you didn’t like clubs,” you flinched as you felt hot breath on the sweaty skin of your neck. you turned around, and you couldn’t tell if he was an angel sent from above or a devil from hell.

“yes, well… never again,” you shook your head.

“(y/n)?” you heard your ex, nick’s voice, behind you. with your back to them, you rolled your eyes as you mustered as much courage as you could.

“isn’t that your ex?” pierre said, frowning.

“yeah,” you whispered, looking at the floor for one second, "and my ex best friend…" you lifted your gaze, seeing pierre frowning, before you turned to look at nick and jessica. “oh, hi!” you faked a smile.

“it’s been so long, i…” he paused, looking you up and down, “you look amazing,” did he really just say that?

for some reason, you felt pierre tensing behind you.

“thanks, um. you too,” you said, taking a step back. you flinched as you felt a hand on your back. “you remember pierre?”

you felt bad for dragging him to this mess, but if he hated you already, why not add another reason to the mix?

“yeah… didn’t you use to hate each other?” jessica lifted an eyebrow, you wanted to scream at the top of your lungs.

"well, you know what they say," pierre replied, sliding a hand over your back, his fingers around your waist, you froze. "there's a very thin line between love and hate," you turned your head up, looking at him with a confused look on your face. he tightened his hold on you, "once we realized that we were just being stubborn by denying the tension between us, things just kinda fell into place," he smiled, looking straight at you. you stared at him, frowning. "isn't that right, ma belle?" he told you, leaning down and pressing a kiss to your cheek.

you still didn't know if he was your savior or your doom.

"play along, i'm in a good mood," pierre whispered in your ear. your breath hitched as you felt his lips so close to you.

"so you two are… together?" nick asked, his finger pointing between you and pierre. you could see… was it confusion? anger? something flaring inside his eyes.

"we are," you answered this time, cutting pierre off, who was about to reply. you relaxed your shoulders, leaning back against pierre's side, you moved your hand, resting your fingers on top of his. you watched the two pairs of eyes follow your movement, and you smirked internally as you saw what was definitely jealousy in them.

“we should all hang out sometime,” jessica said, her eyes intently on pierre. you noticed, and leaned your head back against his shoulder, slipping your arm around his waist and pulling him even closer to you.

“sure,” you nodded once.

“did you hear that kate’s getting married?” nick said, you nodded. kate had been one of your first friends from college. you, kate, and jessica were like the three musketeers, always together, always there for each other. “maybe we’ll see you at the wedding, then,”

“yes, we’ll be there,” you spoke way too soon, and ignored the tight squeeze pierre gave your waist.

“great, we’ll see you then,” nick nodded, taking a step closer to you, leaning down to kiss your cheek. “take care, you’re still as beautiful as that last day.” he whispered, before leaning back and grabbing jessica’s hand. you watched them leave, suddenly too aware of what had just happened.

“how could you ever date someone like that?” you heard from beside you, bringing you out of your thoughts. you realized you were still wrapped in pierre’s arms, and gagged as you removed his touch from you.

“not a word,” you pointed a finger at him, turning your back on him and walking out of the club.

“you’re welcome, by the way,” he said as he reached your side.

“i. said. not. a. word.” you repeated, pausing between each word.

“come on, (y/l/n)! is that really how you talk to your sweet boyfriend?” he threw an arm around your shoulder, and you grabbed his hand, lifting his arm and ducking underneath, walking the other way.

his fingers held your arm, pulling you back to him. you placed your hands on his chest, trying to create some space between you. his arms slipped around your waist, his hands holding you firmly against him. you looked around at the nearly empty street, not wanting to get any attention.

“gasly, if you would like to have children at some point in your future, i suggest you let go of me,” you said, narrowing your eyes at him.

“enough with the empty threats, (y/l/n). you should be thanking me right now,” he smirked, and you wanted to slap it right off his face.

“nobody asked you to do anything,” you were still defensive.

“true. but is this really how you repay my kindness? after i saved you from embarrassment tonight, and will save you on the day of the wedding…” he shook his head.

“you’re not coming with me to the wedding,” you stated, chuckling humorlessly.

“so you’re going alone?” pierre raised an eyebrow, “don’t you want to rub it in their faces? how you’ve moved on, have the job you’ve always dreamed of, are dating a famous, handsome, wealthy athlete…” he said, holding both of your wrist to his chest with one hand, whilst the other moved a strand of hair away from your face. “think about it…”

“and why do you care about me, all of a sudden?” you couldn’t help but ask.

“i don’t care about you. i care about me. think of this as an alliance, i help you, you help me.” he smirked, which only made you frown as you finally freed your wrists from his hold.

“and what do you need my help with?” you raised an eyebrow expectantly. he looked around, noticing the guy at the entrance of the club glancing at you.

“let’s go somewhere else,”

the plan was simple.

pierre would help you get back at your ex, by shoving your new, perfect relationship in his face and make him regret ever leaving you. you’d get back at jessica for backstabbing you, by dating the driver she’d fancied all throughout college.

it would be perfect.

but, in return, you had to help pierre with his public image. he’d been seen with many women in the past year, and it started affecting his career, his sponsorships. which, in your opinion, was insane. no matter how much you despised the guy, he still had every right to go out with whoever he wanted. so, his team suggested he get a girlfriend, show the people and brands that he was responsible, capable of settling down.

“and what if i say no? what if i don’t want you to come with me to the wedding, and don’t want to help you out?” you asked, crossing your arms over the table. you were at a small cafe that was opened 24 hours.

“you wouldn’t do that.” he smirked, making you frown.

“what are you talking about?”

“i know you. i know that if you say no right now, and you go home, you won’t be able to sleep, you’ll toss and turn and stay awake all night. and in the future, when things start going south for me, you’ll feel guilty. you’ll think 'damn, i could’ve helped him get his life back together'.” he said, his lips curled up in a half-smile. you were left breathless, speechless. you hated admitting that he was right. he was.

“you’re taking advantage of me,” you narrowed your eyes at him.

“a favor for a favor.” he leaned in, imitating your posture, crossing his arms and placing them on the table. “what do you say?”

-

“are you sure there are paparazzi outside?” you asked.

“i already told you like fifty times. there are. they followed me here.” pierre said, exasperated.

you huffed, looking out the window, spotting the guys holding cameras.

“i see them,” your eyes flew back to pierre. “what do we do now?” you leaned in. suddenly this whole thing felt very real.

“first, you have to relax,” pierre instructed, placing a hand on top of yours. instinctively, you pulled it away. “give me your hand, they’ll take pictures,” he faked a smile, talking through his teeth. slowly, you slid your hand back in place, ignoring the tiny electric shock you felt. “good. now, smile, you’re on a date with your wonderful boyfriend, not being held captive against your will,” he said.

you shot him a look, before rolling your eyes, faking a giggle. you placed your chin on your closed fist, leaning your elbow against the table.

“that’s debatable,” you said. and that made him laugh. like, a real laugh, not a forced chuckle for the cameras.

“my dear (y/n), we’re going to have so much fun.”

you thought back to the night at the club. angel or devil.

devil. definitely the devil.

after agreeing to this fake dating arrangement, pierre sent you an extremely detailed, color-coded calendar with details for public 'dates'. he only got a middle finger emoji as a reply.

but, there you were, at the very crowded, very public restaurant, waiting for your food to arrive, holding hands with the guy you hated with your entire heart.

“okay, so i guess this is a good opportunity to discuss the wedding,” you said after throwing him a murderous glance. “we’re already here,” you shrugged your shoulders. to your surprise, pierre just nodded, no additional comment. “okay, so, you obviously remembered nick. my ex.” you started, he nodded again, your eyes drifted down to your joined hands, where his fingers were playing with yours. “and there was jess, my ex-best friend, his new girlfriend.”

“you need to get better friends,” he butted in.

“i have charles now,” you shrugged. “so, this will actually be perfect, because when i met her in college she used to have a crush on you. when she found out i was friends with charles she immediately asked when he could come over, and if i knew you. honestly, to this day, i still don’t know what she saw in you, but,” you snickered as he rolled his eyes. “payback’s a bitch,” your wrists were pressed against the table, fingers facing the ceiling, slowly, you curled them down, slipping them in the space between his own.

your eyes flew down to your joined hands, you were holding your breath, noticing the way your fingers fit perfectly together, how each curve of his knuckles and the back of his hand felt like it was made for you to hold.

you found yourself speechless, gaze shifting upward, finding pierre staring intently at you.

god bless the waiter that brought your food out, giving you the perfect opportunity to slip away from his hold.

“so, we’ve got an asshole ex-best friend, douchebag ex-boyfriend, anyone else i need to worry about?” he asked once the waiter left, unaffected by the whole hand-holding interaction.

“kate… my friend who’s getting married… she-she’s a hopeless romantic. she loves reading romance books and romanticizes the hell out of life, so she’s going to be all over us, wanting to know every single detail about how we got together and stuff. so we should probably work on a story to tell,” you spoke between bites, pierre nodded at your words.

“from what i’ve seen in movies,” he started, placing a hand in his chest, raising an eyebrow, “you should never stir too far away from the truth. when’s the wedding?” he said before taking a bite of his food.

“december 18th,” you answered, you had about a month and a half to prepare. “the wedding will be in italy, so we’ll have to go right after the last race, maybe a day or two later.” you explained.

“why?”

“because they have all sorts of activities planned for the guests, like wine and cheese tasting, sightseeing. then on friday we get to the villa where the wedding will be, that night will be the rehearsal dinner, saturday’s the wedding. sunday is the post-wedding brunch, and we’re free to go either that night, or monday morning,” you finished, grabbing your glass of water and drinking from it.

“huh,” pierre seemed speechless. "that’s a lot,” he sighed, leaning back against his chair. he stayed quiet for a few moments, and you could hear the gears in his head turning.

“no turning back now, superstar.” you leaned in, grabbing his hand. you pulled it up to your lips, pressing them against his knuckles. to say he was shocked would be an understatement. he held his breath, you noticed, and stared at you as if you’d grown a second head all of a sudden. “the photographer was getting bored. you’re welcome.”

-

weeks passed, you and pierre posted cryptic instagram stories of the other. you went out together to restaurants, concerts, the movies, everything the usual couples do. as expected, the headlines regarding him changed. no longer was he associated with the word ‘womanizer, player’. now, he was recognized as ‘charming, devoted, sweet’.

after staring at pictures of you two for what seemed like hours, you thought about how much your… relationship? friendship? whatever you had with pierre had changed over the last few weeks. for most of the time since you met him, you could barely look at the guy, and now -and you’d never admit it either to yourself or anyone who asked- you started looking forward to whenever you got to see him. you locked your phone as you looked out the window of the backseat of the taxi, headed to kate’s for the night.

“(y/n)! oh my god, i feel like i haven’t seen you in ages, this wedding has been consuming all of my energy,” kate said as she opened the door to her house. she pulled you in for a hug, which you returned with the same fervor. you had seen each other just less than a month ago, but so much had happened in that time.

“i know, i missed you.” you smiled as she let you in. it would just be you and some of kate’s friends and bridesmaids. a chill girls night before the final countdown for the wedding. as you walked out to the patio, where the rest of the girls were, you flinched internally when you saw jess was already there.

the night went by between cocktails, gossip and gushing over the bride-to-be. you felt a shiver down your back, regretting only bringing a light shirt and no jacket. as the night passed, you thought you were safe from the questions about your ‘relationship’, but when one of the bridesmaids opened instagram to post a story, she gasped.

“(y/n), oh my god!” she yelled, and all eyes were on you. you frowned.

“what happened?” you asked, but the girl was looking back and forth between you and her phone, completely speechless, “what?” you said again.

she turned her phone to you, you walked to her, holding her phone close to your face as you scanned the screen.

of course, the idiot you were fake dating had to post a picture confirming your relationship to the public that night.

“hurry up,” you said as pierre climbed a few of the stone steps.

“jesus, shut up.” he rolled his eyes as he sat on the edge of the step.

“my name’s not jesus. so hurry up, i want to go home.” you muttered, sitting on the step below him, between his spread legs.

“you two are pathetic,” charles laughed from behind the camera.

of course, pierre had to have a whole photoshoot just to post one picture on instagram. and, obviously, charles knew about your plan. it was pretty much impossible to keep a secret from him, and it was the best option if you wanted to avoid all of his incessant, confused questions.

you were currently in a deserted park, trying to copy a picture pierre had found online.

“just take the damn picture, charles.” you muttered, leaning back against pierre’s torso, who in turn, leaned forward. you placed one arm on top of the other, and pierre placed his hands on top of them. you heard the click of the camera a few times.

“you look tense, try to make it seem like you’re in love,” charles said, making you groan and roll your eyes. you leaned your head back, seeing pierre’s face on top of yours. you stuck your tongue out, making him laugh. “there, keep going,” charles lifted his thumb. “wait, i want to join,” he said, setting the timer on the camera and running to you, he, naturally, tripped on his own feet, falling face forward.

you laughed, a huge roar of laughter leaving your chest, leaning back as you watched charles fall to ground. pierre was laughing as well, you could feel the vibrations of his chest against the back of your head.

later that night, pierre sent you the pictures. you could barely see charles’ body falling to the ground on the last one. but the real stars of the picture were you and pierre. he had tightened his hold on you, his face was turned to you, checking to see if you were laughing as well whilst your face nuzzled against his chest, eyes closed as you laughed.

naturally, he chose to post the last picture, conveniently cropping charles so it was just you two in focus.

“you look so cute together!” “oh my god, i want a boyfriend who shows me off like that!” “you’re so lucky.” “why didn’t you say anything?”

you were bombarded by voices, questions thrown at you, and you wondered if this was what pierre felt like whenever he went out in public.

“you have to tell us everything,” kate smiled at you. "this is just like a movie. it's so exciting," she grabbed your hand and dragged you to the center of the couch, you were surrounded by the rest of the girls in an instant.

all except one, you noticed. jess was standing to the side, staring at her phone with a harsh look on her face.

you were about to speak when your phone rang. you thanked the stars, your stomach felt like it was in knots at the sudden, undivided attention by everyone there. the girls booed as you grabbed your phone.

“dickhead?” kate asked, reading the contact number.

“pierre,” you gave her a small smile as the girls giggled and swooned over the frenchman. you stood up from your spot, walking to a far, quiet corner. you felt all the eyes on you as you walked. “hey,” you picked up.

“did you see it?” you could hear the smile on his face.

“yup. everyone saw it. thanks for the heads up, by the way,” you rolled your eyes.

“i can hear you rolling your eyes at me, (y/l/n). don’t do it, you should be thanking me,” he said, and you could hear the low rumbling of an engine.

“are you driving?” you asked.

“yup. i’m in monaco for the weekend,” he said.

“oh, where are you going?” you asked.

“to pick you up,” he said, casually.

“huh?”

“i know you car broke down last week, so i just thought, you know…”

“huh,”

“i can go back to the hotel if you don’t want to come with me, or-”

“no! no, no, it’s fine. they were starting to ask me questions about us, so…” you interrupted him, your foot playing with a stone.

“okay, i will be there in like, ten minutes,”

“okay,” you breathed, feeling your cheeks starting to hurt. you lifted a hand, touching your face and realizing you were smiling a bit too hard.

“okay.”

“this isn’t the fault in our stars, pierre. hang up the phone,” you said, and you heard him laugh. you chuckled lightly as well.

“so bossy, i swear.” were his last words before hanging up.

you brought your phone down from your ear, smiling as you recalled the conversation.

luckily, the girls had moved on to another topic while you were gone, so now you just sat and listened to whatever they were talking about, checking your phone every minute. a honk brought you out of your thoughts, seconds later, you heard the doorbell.

“were you expecting someone else?” jess asked as kate stood up, walking inside. kate shook her head as all eyes followed her. you bit back the grin as you heard soft gasps, sighs and what you thought had been a moan, once kate opened the door, revealing pierre on the other side.

“hi, i’m here to pick up (y/n/n),” he gave her a small smile, his eyes flying past kate, to the group of girls outside who stared at him longingly. once his eyes settled on you, his smile widened.

“come on in,” kate smiled, moving to the side to let him in, “she’s outside,” she closed the door, leading pierre down the hallway that led him straight to the group of girls. “behave,” she mouthed. her back towards pierre.

you smirked, feeling powerful. you lifted yourself from your spot, walking to him.

“hi,” you smiled shyly as you felt all eyes on you.

“are you ready?” he asked, taking one step closer to you, you felt his fingers grazing yours. “you’re cold,” he noticed.

“yeah, i- left my jacket at home,” you mumbled. pierre let go of you, taking off his own jean jacket before draping it around your shoulders. against your will, you felt heat rushing to your chest, to your cheeks. “thanks,”

“there.” he smiled, his fingers finding your hand again, slipping his between your fingers. “ready to leave?” you just nodded, suddenly feeling too overwhelmed by everything. “nice seeing you ladies, we’ll see you at the wedding.”

“you’re coming to the wedding?” kate asked, smiling. “oh, this is amazing.”

after saying your goodbyes, the girls all gathered by the front door as pierre opened the passenger door for you, helping you in. once he was sitting on the driver’s seat, he turned on the car and sped up, leaving the house, the girls, and jess, behind.

you didn’t speak the entire way, you just leaned back against the seat, watching the trees, the beach passing by, disappearing into the dark of the night. your arm was resting lazily over the console, and you felt pierre’s finger brushing against it as he turned up the volume of the radio, or as he pressed a button to lift the top of his convertible car.

“this isn’t the way to my home,” you smiled.

“i know,” he replied.

those were all the words you shared as he kept driving. he reached a cliff, parking a few meters away from the edge. you slipped out of the car, sitting on the ground as you looked at the water, the sound of the waves hitting the rocks was a familiar lullaby. you closed your eyes, taking a deep breath, the salty water air filling your lungs.

“it’s so peaceful here,” you whispered, finally opening your eyes. pierre was sitting next to you, his knees up to his chest as he stared at the water. “i was so mad when charles showed this place to you,” you giggled. “this was our spot,”

“why is he here?” seventeen-year-old you asked, frowning as you saw charles and pierre walking to you.

“i invited him,” charles said, you just stared at him.

“but why? charles, this is our spot,” you said, feeling a sharp pain in your chest.

“well… it can still be our spot, for the three of us.” charles smiled, and you felt like you’d just been betrayed by the most important person to you.

“i haven’t come back since,” you whispered.

“i knew about this spot,” he said, abruptly. “i showed it to charles, when we were about thirteen,” his voice was soft. you turned your head to look at him, feeling the air leaving your lungs. “i knew you’d always loved the beach, and i knew he would bring you here,”

“w-why?” you managed to let out.

“i used to have a crush on you,” he chuckled. “i never told anyone. not even charles knew,” he shook his head. “but no matter how much i tried to get you to like me, even stand to look at me for over two seconds, you never did,” he shrugged his shoulders, looking at the water.

“pierre,” you whispered.

“it’s fine, don’t worry. i eventually grew out of it. it’s just funny, that… you know,”

“we’re fake dating now?” you guessed.

“yeah,” he chuckled.

“i’m sorry. for… how mean, rude and fucking childish i’ve been to you. i don’t know, i-” you started.

“it’s okay. i mean, it’s not like i was expecting you to forget all the awful things i did to you, so… i guess we’re even,”

“yeah. let’s… leave that behind us, a new start,” you smiled, feeling tingles down your back as you saw him smile at you.

“a new start. i’d like that.” he grinned.

he drove you home, parking the car and walking to open the passenger door for you. he helped you out and you gave him a small smile. you stepped inside your building, walking a little too close, your arms were pressed together, and you felt his finger brushing against yours with each step you took.

he walked you to your apartment door once you reached your floor. you took your keys out of your handbag, unlocking the door and stepping in. pierre leaned against the doorframe, his lips barely curled up.

“do- do you want to come in?” you felt the air leaving your body as you spoke. feeling small sparks of excitement.

“i should go,” he said, and you had to force the smile to stay on your face as you nodded. “i’ll see you in a few days.”

“okay. goodnight,” you stood on your tiptoes, placing a hand on his shoulder for support, pressing your lips softly against his cheek. “good luck on the race,”

“thanks. goodnight,”

“night,” you leaned against the door, watching his figure walking to the elevator. “wait, your jacket!” you said, and he turned to you right as he was getting in the elevator.

“keep it,” he gave you one last smile right before the doors closed.

you fell asleep with a goofy grin on your face, wrapped in pierre's jacket, his scent lulling you to sleep.

-

“i’m going to fucking kill you,”

“good morning to you, too,” pierre said, moving to the side as he let you in. “to what do i owe the pleasure of your company?”

“why are you telling everyone that i’m going with you to jeddah and abu dhabi?” you asked, your hands on your hips.

“because you are,” he replied. “it’s on the calendar,” he reminded you.

“i can’t go, i have things to do,”

“not my problem, it’s on the calendar,” he muttered.

“what’s going on with you? you asked, watching him walk past you.

“i’m not in the fucking mood, okay? if you don’t want to go, then don’t. i don’t fucking care,” he said, storming to his bedroom. you flinched as you heard the door slam shut. you stayed quiet for a few seconds, waiting to hear any sounds. once you heard nothing, you moved quietly, walking to his bedroom.

the wood creaked under your steps, revealing your presence there.

“pierre?” you asked softly, leaning against the door and slowly, carefully, twisting the knob. you peeked your head in, finding him sitting on the floor with his knees up to his chest. “hey,” you whispered.

“go away,” he said, you stopped in your tracks. “go,” he repeated.

“no,” you shook your head, kneeling next to him on the floor. “not until you tell me what’s wrong,”

“nothing. i want you to leave,” he lifted his eyes to look at you, you could see the dark circles under his eyes, his face looked a little thin.

“have you been sleeping?” you asked, raising a hand, touching his cheek.

“what? i-”

“what’s on your mind? talk to me…” you let go of him, resting your back against the wall, nudging his shoulder with yours. “i’m here.” you smiled at him. he just looked at you for a few seconds, seeing nothing but honesty in your eyes.

he dropped his head, moving his body until he rested his head on your lap. you hands immediately went to play with his hair.

“do you wanna talk about it?” you whispered, nodding as you heard him say no. “that’s okay. i’m here. you can rest, you’re safe now. i’m here. i’ll always be here,” you whispered as you tangled your fingers in his hair.

“thank you for being my pillow,” he said, making you grin.

"anytime,"

[alohastyles-x]

🌺“Hide! We’re not supposed to be here” with Natasha please 💓💓💓

🌺  Hibiscus

In the Dark  

*let’s ignore that this gif doesn’t match the story- ya girl struggled finding one she liked best :( *

Prompt: “Hide! We’re not supposed to be here” 

Character: Natasha Romanoff x reader

Warnings: little tiny bit of angst, very very very light smut- like just mentions of kissing really

I hope you like this lovely! | Join me on my mini vacay!

When Nick Fury told you your next mission was with the Natasha Romanoff, you couldn’t help but be ecstatic. In any other scenario, you would have been fine to express your giddy feelings towards her, excited to be working with her. 

However this was a stealth mission. Generally speaking, you have to stay pretty silent to not get caught. 

You could already tell you were getting on Natasha’s nerves as she gave you sideways looks in the jet as you bounced in your seat next to her. Mumbling an apology, you directed your attention to your destination: Russia. You grimaced. The cold and you did not mix. You preferred to be somewhere warm, maybe in a beach lounging next to the grumpy red head who sat beside you. 

“Alright, we’re almost there.” 

Speaking of, Natasha’s stern voice filled the jet, pulling you from your day dreams of her in a bikini. You shook the thought away, and began preparing yourself for landing. 

Natasha skillfully landed the jet in a field, where you would then have to trek - silently- through the woods until you stumbled across the bunker the Russian soldiers used to store vital informtation. 

Usually you’d have the other avengers with you, but they were all busy on other missions Fury had assigned them too. This was supposed to be a small, easy mission that two people could accomplish. 

As the two of you unloaded yourselves out of the jet, you slipped, nearly falling out but Natasha’s hands found your waist steadying you.

“Thanks,” you muttered, your cheeks instantly turning a bright shade of red that you blamed on the cold. The feeling of her hands lingered on your was it as she helped you climb down the rest of the stairs. 

You began your silent hike into the dark woods. Fury had given the two of you boots that trekked silently over snow, you just had to be mindful of twigs. 

It wasn’t long before the silence became too much for you. You wanted so desperately just to talk to her, the woman who had encompassed your day dreams for months. You decided you were going to do just that… talk to her. 

“Psst!” You whisper-yelled, trying to get her attention. She was a good few feet in front of you. When she didn’t turn around you tried again. 

“Psst!” You whispered louder, cupping your hands around your mouth. 

“What?!” She whispered back, turning back to look at you. 

“So do you think the others are having this much fun?” You asked. 

“Just focus on finding the bunker,” she responded, rolling her eyes and turning back around. 

You glared at her. A mere twenty seconds passed before you had the urge to speak again.

“Hey Nat, do you want to grab some food after this? Maybe some milkshakes?” This time you didn’t whisper, causing her to stop abruptly and turn to face you, a bewildered look spread across her face. 

“What are you thinking! Shh!” 

You gave her an apologetic look, before focusing your gaze just past her. You pointed to a snow covered bunker sitting amongst the trees. When she turned to look, her eyes grew wide, and she turned back to smile at you. 

There were no guards posted out front, that much you knew from your research. The place was supposed to be abandoned, yet full of vital information. It was a shock when you found out they left the place completely abandoned. 

“There has to be some kind of booby trap,” Nat whispered as you made your way to the door of the bunker. 

“Heh, booby,” you whisper-laughed to yourself. Natasha heard, much to your demise, and turned to give you a look that read “seriously…”. You shrugged, not standing down from it being a funny word. 

“I dont see any wires, meaning there’s probably no electricity, so if it’s a booby trap then it’s a shit one,” you said, before reaching down to the door handle and yanking it open. Sure enough, a large cement block fell in front of you, spreading a cloud of dust into the air. 

“Told you.” You looked at her, smiling, before turning your flashlight on. You began looking around taking one half of the small bunker as Natasha took another.

There was a sudden noise that came from outside, loud enough to be heard inside. Natasha was quickly by your side, pulling you towards a dark corner. 

“Hide! We’re not supposed to be here” She whispered, pointing out the obvious as she shoved you into a small space between two objects. She pressed her front to you, squeezing into the small space as much as she could, and closed what sounded like a locker door. 

You were too distracted by the heat of her body pressing into you, making you ache in ways you didn’t know you could. Her sweet perfume filled the small space, sending you in a frenzy. 

Too distracted by her, you hadn’t realized how much time had passed until she finally spoke. 

“I think we’re in the clear,” she whispered, opening the door. She began to pull herself off of you, but your hands found her waist and pulled her back. 

Even in the dark you could tell she wore a confused expression, so you tried to cover your tracks. 

“You’re… warm,” you whispered, your hands still placed firmly on your waist. 

There was a slight pause before you felt her lips brush yours. It was quick and gentle, but enough to send you spiraling. You pulled her in by the back of her neck, deepening the kiss as your hands wandered her body. You could feel her red lipstick transferring to your lips, the smooth cream feeling warm and soft.

After a few moments she pulled away, breathless. 

“We need to get out of here so we can finish this later,” she whispered, pulling herself away from you, leaving you cold and breathless. 

You couldn’t help the smile that formed big on your face, hurrying after her to try to find the information you needed. 

[below-average-fangirl]

i finally watched the mummy (2017) the other day and nick morton really was made to be objectified omg why did i not watch it earlier 😭😭 my brain is SO rotted for him now i can’t stand it

anyway… mummy thoughts? 🎤

Ah, Nick Morton, my beloved HIMBO of a Golden Retriever explorer. Look at his dumb, confused face, he's adorable. 

So, when this film was released, it was trashed, like, royally kicked around by critics and, apparently, general audiences. I remember Mark Kermode being so unimpressed with it that he almost wondered if it was time for him to stop reviewing films because he found it so dull, so tbh, I doubt I would have sought it out if I hadn't become a TC obsessive; thank you, TGM. I'm pointing all that out because my expectations for this film were low, but even then, when I watched it, I was genuinely surprised that it received the hazing it has because I found it so much fun and I was not bored at any point.

Now, don't get me wrong, I know there are problems with it, mainly that they're too focused on setting up a shared universe when they should have simply focused on making one film; also, the CGI is a little dodgy in places and they don't utilize Vail at all once he's dead. It's unclear as to why Set wants to become human, especially if that will make him easier to kill despite his powers. Some of the dialogue is a little clunky. Annabelle Wallis has the thankless task of doing all the exposition, but she does it well. And they don't play up Nick and Ahmanet's connection nearly enough, but despite that, I had a great time watching it; it's a solid three-star film, not brilliant but not the dumpster fire that some made it out to be. And I absolutely love how much fun Tom Cruise is having playing Nick.

Look at him! He is having so much fun, and I dig it. And the film is funny. I love the opening sequence with Nick and Vail as they're running for their lives; it's so chaotic. But it's also sentimental in places. The scene where Nick and Jenny are in the water and he's holding her face and asking if she's okay and trying to reassure her that they'll figure it out and pleading for her to stay with him makes my heart hurt. And I think that underwater sequence with the knights coming out of the tombs is beautiful and scary because the sets are amazing.

Also, like Bill Cage, Nick is not an evil man, nor is he as selfish as he believes himself to be. He stands in front of Vail when the other soldiers are pointing guns at him, and he saves Jenny. Whether or not he thought it was the last parachute is irrelevant because as soon as the plane begins to fall, he assists her in finding a parachute and ensuring she is strapped in one, saving her life. My head canon for Nick having such a low opinion of himself is that an authority figure, such as a parent, grandparent, or possibly a teacher, disliked him and turned the smallest transgression into the biggest sign that he was a terrible person, when he probably wasn't any worse than most kids, but he's been told his entire life that he's a terrible person, so he's just thought, "Fuck it. If you think I'm that worthless, I'll be it." Even Jekyll just sees him at face value and uses that as an excuse to justify wanting to sacrifice Nick so they can kill Set. Fuck you, Jekyll.

So yeah, The Mummy's not the best film ever made, but for what it is, it is fun and better than it's given credit for, and Nick Morton needs to be protected, mainly from himself, at all costs.

[writtenjewels]

Stripper part 2

[I hadn’t planned on continuing this but @lumina252 mentioned them all together as strippers with Rachel as the boss, and that sounded like a great idea]

Part One

Jason could still hear the audience cheering for him as he exited the dance floor. It was always a rush coming off of his performances. Backstage, he grabbed a water bottle and chugged between breaths. Waiters were wandering through the crowd offering food and beverages, and persuading some over-excited women to hand over the clothes Jason discarded during his show.

“You were on fire out there,” Nick remarked. Jason turned to his friend and held up a fist for the other to bump. “That bachelorette party loved you.”

“Don't worry, brother, I'm sure they'll like you, too,” Jason replied with a smile. His clothes were returned to him and he thanked the waiters, tucking the jacket and tear-away pants under his arm. “I'm gonna go cool off,” Jason told Nick. “Have fun out there.”

Jason headed into the dressing room where Joey was lounging, waiting for his turn on the floor. They acknowledged each other with waves. The room's fridge was stocked with drinks and snacks; Jason helped himself to a protein bar and some Gatorade.

“What's the crowd like tonight?” Joey wondered.

“Pretty good. There's a bachelorette party on stage right.”

“They always give good tips,” Joey remarked. Jason nodded distractedly, his mind on the handsome man who'd been with the party. He had hoped for the best when he flirted with the guy, and then the way the man looked at Jason during his dance... Jason shivered remembering the darkened eyes and the awed expression on the man's face.

After everyone had their turn on the dance floor, it was time to go out and mingle. Without meaning to, Jason wandered over to where the bachelorette party was still going on. He was pleased to see they hadn't left yet.

“Hey! Over here, lieutenant!” they shouted, waving at him excitedly. He obediently made his way to their table. The guy was still there with them and his face immediately flushed when he noticed Jason. “Will you give my friend a lap-dance?” one of the women asked, fishing out some cash.

“Sure thing, little lady.” They all giggled appreciatively. The customers usually did like his Southern politeness. “What's your name?” he asked the bride-to-be.

“Liz.... um, Elizabeth.” She looked embarrassed but pleased at the attention. She introduced her other friends at the table, ending with Salim. “He was so sweet to come along with us. I promised to get him tickets to a football game.”

“You must like football, Salim,” Jason noted with a smirk. Salim's face went a deeper shade of red. It was so damn cute. “Now ladies, remember the rules: keep your hands to yourself, all right? My boss is the Queen Bitch and she ain't afraid to kick your asses out if you break the rules.”

They agreed, too eager for his lap-dance. He threw one last look at Salim before settling on Liz's lap. And just like when he danced for them earlier, Jason put out all his best moves: arching back, running fingers up his body; rolling his hips; pushing back the army jacket to tease peeks of his bare chest. He was showing off for Salim but didn't dare look in the man's direction. This lap-dance was supposed to be for Liz, after all.

“You're really good at this,” one of her friends praised him, her voice a little breathless.

“Thank ya, ma'am.” He tugged on an imaginary hat. Another asked him if he was really a lieutenant. “Served two years in the marines,” Jason answered. He caught Salim shift out of the corner of his eye and dared a glance. Something about hearing he was actual military had interested Salim.

Jason finished his dance, thanking the ladies as they generously tipped him. Without thinking he turned to Salim. The man was giving him that same dark-eyed, awed expression. Jason suddenly wished they were alone. Maybe it was hopeful thinking that Salim was barely restraining himself from grabbing Jason and ravishing him. Holy fuck, I need to get laid.

“Have a good night,” he said out loud. “And enjoy that football game, Salim. You sure earned it puttin' up with this.” Salim said nothing but his eyes were slowly roaming Jason, lingering last of all on his face. Heart pounding, Jason slowly ran his tongue over his lips and threw a sultry look at the other. Salim shivered and parted his own lips.

Jason only broke away when he heard Nick calling his name. His body felt alive and excited. He walked away but paused to call back over his shoulder:

“Don't forget, we close at two A. M.!” He was too far away to see Salim's reaction, but Jason hoped the guy got the message.

[bokettochild]

Hi there! I love your stories so I'm curious to see where you'll run with this. I asked this of Skyward-Floored awhile ago but how bout a tail (pun intended) about Mer Legend with only Warriors.

Keep up the amazing work!! 🖤

Thank you so much for this prompt! I had a bit of difficulty figuring out why only Warriors would be there or what would reveal Legend, but I eventually got it! This was a lot of fun, and I really like how it turned out so I hope you enjoy it as well!

As a note, I did include the nicknames from my Broken Together series: Violet (Legend) and Bluebell (Warriors), I hope you don't mind!

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

They had been warned. 

Legend had told them, quite firmly too, of the dangers of his world. The moment they had found themselves returned, the veteran had turned to them with dark eyes and darker stares and recounted the dangers they would face and the things to avoid. 

Once, when they first started traveling, such things weren’t even a concern. Now, having spent months in each other’s company and trying to navigate worlds not their own and monsters unfamiliar, it is common to at least give a warning for the normal, if only so they can recognize what is not. 

Legend had told them about the monsters, about the lynels and the ‘blins and the birds themselves that could be a threat. The vet had told them about the various chus and blobs, the plants and the insects and the stals and the various other monster types that many of the have never had to fight, much less known existed. Still, the vets last few warnings had taken the main focus, being as they were. “Also, if you see other people on the road, ignore them. Soldiers mean trouble, thieves mean trouble, and generally, if they’re traveling alone and they aren’t children, most people likely mean trouble as well.” 

And wasn’t that excellent in regards to his concern for his brother's world! 

“Is that it then?” Time had asked, checking a final time to ensure nothing crucial had been left out. 

The veteran had paused at the question a moment, stroking his chin slightly before shaking his head. “No, there’s a bit more. The water in my time isn’t always safe. Some streams are poisoned by Ganon’s power, and those that aren’t are usually infested with Zora. I know the lot of you are used to friendly Zora, but they aren’t that way here, so under no circumstances should anyone go near them.” 

There’s been questions, as there nearly always is, but the vet pushing aside his collar to display a rather nasty scar had quieted them. “A fight with a zora,” the vet answers when Wind presses for the story, “I walked too close and got caught. Vicious things, those beasts, their claws are sharper than most blades and they’re not afraid to play dirty. I barely escaped with my life, never mind in one piece.” 

And that had been all the warning they’d needed, so they’d left Legend to fix his clothes and tried to turn their focus instead onto what their plan going forward would be. 

And somehow, despite all, the warning still ends up being no good in the long run. 

It’s a battle that does it. They’re on the path and simply going along and then Legend and Wild both stop, ears twitching and eyes meeting across the crowd of heroes before both are drawing their weapons and urging the others to do the same. 

Warriors barely has time to get his sword out of its sheath before the first of the blins is breaking out of the forest line and moving towards them. He’s fast enough to whip around and catch one of the things on the steel of his blade, fast enough to raise his shield before arrows ping down from above, but he isn’t quite fast enough to avoid the spear that slices past, nicking his jaw enough to throw him off balance and spatter blood across his scarf and pauldrons. 

“Wars!” 

“Hit, but not badly,” he assures their leader, not bothering to turn to the man as he engages with a blin that is making moves towards their smithy. 

Time doesn't answer, not verbally at least, but Legend ducks past and takes out the spear wielder for him, catching his eyes by chance and offering a brief nod before slipping into a spin attack that levels a few more of the enemy. 

Their fighting styles are all different, nothing like his soldiers most of them but so suited to each hero. Twilight plows through the enemy, landing choice hits and powerful strikes to take out opponents as efficiently and quickly as he can, a close echo of Time’s own style, yet somehow more savage. Sky is light on his feet and lighter with his blade. It’s clear the Chosen One is more accustomed to actual combat rather than monster hoards, but he holds his own wonderfully; wider and clean sweeps downing monsters and beasts with grace and efficiency that never fails to leave the others in awe. Four fights with speed on his side, slipping in between enemies and jabbing quickly before drawing back, swinging out and knocking out legs before jumping away to deal another blow, he’s like a serpent, lashing out and drawing back, riling up the enemy while steadily making them weaker, saving his own energy and strength for the final blow which is delt without mercy or hesitation. In a direct contrast, Wind, although near the same in height, bulls his way through. The sailor is small, but he uses that to his advantage, lower in his base of gravity and pushing that advantage to topple enemies before striking them down, standing firm as they come at him and clearing whatever comes his way with a sort of confidence that one just doesn’t see in most people. Legend dances across the field. The vet never holds still and is always moving, be it to duck away to crowd into the space of his enemy, each swing and stab efficient and with none of the grace of Sky’s movements, but rather the savage and pointed stabs and slashes of their leader and his pup. Hyrule is much the same, although he prefers to hold himself back from the battle and not get so close to the enemy, sparks flying off his fingers intermittently and shield put to more use than many of the others, like Wild, who only darted in and went wild with a strange combination of all their styles that somehow didn’t end in his own demise but rather those of the enemy. 

It’s a tricky thing to work around the lot of them, especially when he himself is more accustomed to clean cuts and wide sweeps to take out the enemy. He’s used to pushing steadily forwards and holding his own ground, employing his shield as much as his sword to cut through the ranks of enemy soldiers and monsters, but he’s nothing if not adaptable, and with Four and Legend both joining him in working around the styles of the others and adapting themselves to cover the backs of their melee fighters, they get along. 

Well, they get along until a lynels roar breaks through the cacophony around them and makes everything whip up into a frenzy. 

Blades clang and steel flashes as grunts and shouts and squeals become more chaotic as the heroes attempts to end the battle as fast as possible in order to not have to face the beast that is a lynel while still driving off the smaller pests (as small as they can be considered, many are his own height). They’re not fast enough, but they aren’t slow either. Rather, it’s that they’re being pushed steadily back, off of the road and into the woods where they have both the advantage of tree cover and the disadvantage of roots underfoot and obstacles blocking them off from their brothers. 

“Fall back and regroup!” He shouts to the group of them when he hears the screams and grunts of injuries landing on hylain flesh. 

There’s no responding shout or clipped reply, but he can hear steps pounding off into the forest as final swings are dealt and the heroes move to join again. It’s only moments before they’re breaking back out of the tree cover, but by that point there’s nowhere else to go, a river raging past across the narrow clearing, waves crashing against steep banks and thrashing against sharp rocks that lie in its center. 

“Wild, get in the trees to provide cover fire, Four, join him,” the orders are flying to mind and mouth before he has a chance to think about consulting with Time, but they’re followed in moments, both heroes sheathing their blades and catching up their bows as they move to scurry up trees and string arrows to take out the monsters that can be heard thundering behind them. 

“Use the river to your advantage,” Legend hisses, “the cliffs have poor support, if you push the heavy ones that way, they’ll tumble down to the rocks below and the zora can deal with them.” 

There are sharp nods to those words, and that’s the last any of them can do towards planning as the enemies break through the tree line and they’re turning once more to face them. 

The fire from above does wonders in felling and thinning out the various blins and keese that swarm around them, and true to Legend’s word, whenever they push the beasts too far, they tumble down over the cliffs to be dashed to pieces against the rocks below as the current carries them away in a cloud of red. Were they to pause and watch, they would see how clawed hands and scaley heads emerge to grab at the slain beasts, sharp teeth flashing as yet more crimson eeks into the river about them. 

The most of the smaller beasts are falling quickly. Those infected are the only ones left, but with some of their stronger fighters pairing with those faster and more pointed, they’re able to topple those too. 

Legend stands at his own side, darting back and forth and jabbing past him to down enemies in a fluid dance that they somehow hold until the lynel comes crashing through the trees with a swinging spear and raging bellow. 

“Shit.” 

Hookshots are caught in exchange of blades as Time and Twilight try to catch hold of the beast and make it still before it can run rampant over the field. Wild’s already moving from his place in the trees and while Four still pelts the remaining enemies with arrows, the smithy looks ready to jump down and join them at a moment’s notice. 

Good, they might need that. 

Lightning flashes briefly, Hyrule’s gaze keen as he directs his focus on the last of the blins, and once they’re sizzling corpses as his own and Legend’s feet, the captain makes towards the lynel to help his brothers. 

It’s already going downhill by then. They’re already weary and worn, but they pour their all into trying to down the lynel before it can wreck more damage or start a rampage into the village to which they’d been headed. They’re heroes, this is their job, it’s literally standard for them to have to deal with these things. 

That doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing. 

Only three of their number know lynels personally, and Hyrule and Legend aren’t used to working with others to down them, meanwhile Wild only is accustomed to the aid of a wolf. There’s a single-minded focus in the champions way of handling them and honestly, it’s the best the rest of them can do to work around it in any effort to help. 

By now, Four has abandoned his post, the arrows but gnats against the thick hide of their opponent, and light feet pound against the earth as the smithy darts towards the battle, blade drawn and ready. The lot of them have to halt their charge when a blast of fire is cast their way, dropping to their knees and holding shields up for cover. He’s close enough to the vet that they can share their shields between them, and Four and Hyrule follow their lead by dropping close and covering each other as the flames whip past them, singing hair and clothes but otherwise leaving them unscathed. 

“The weakness is the back.” Legend rasps to him where they’re huddled together. “Enough strikes between the shoulders and this dratted thing will topple.” 

“How do you get up?” 

They’re jumping back to their feet, continuing their charge as Time shouts something indistinct as he casts a bomb at the hindquarters of the beast. 

“You climb, or hope you’ve got something good to jump from.” 

“What about a toss?” 

Violet eyes flicker to him briefly before there’s a nod, and Legend falls back a bit as they run, close on his heels but giving him enough space so that when he crouches, shield ready, he isn’t run into, but rather over as light feet spring off his back and onto his shield, perfectly timed for him to push all his strength into an upwards lunge that sends the vet flying up, only to come down, blade pointed, on the back of their enemy. 

There’s a roar as the Tempered Sword makes its strike, and the lynel bucks, charging forwards and making frenzied attempts to free itself of the smaller being on its back. It’s all Warriors can do to scramble back up from his crouch and try and get away, but he’s not quite fast enough. 

A hoof, wildly flailing, collides with his back. 

There’s nothing that can be done to stop it, he hasn’t time to shout, to reach and grab for anything, he doesn’t even have it in him to keep hold of his sword as his body flies back, colliding with something harsh and firm and then falling. All he has time for is to think he’s falling a bit too far, and then cold washes up and over him and the air is forced from his lungs as sharp and icy water takes its place.  

Instinct kicks in, calling him to fight his way upwards. The shield still on his arm drags him down, but he hasn’t time to free himself of it as something sharp digs into his leg and something behind him pulls. Water is a hard thing to fight, especially when what little precious air he still has in him is steadily being lost, but he’s able to turn, to catch sight of two great eyes that seem to almost glow in the light pouring into the river, both set in a great scaley head connected to a body equally large and scaley with arms that reach out to hold tight to his leg. 

Another pull, another bubble of air escaping him in a startled sound that is lost to the waves that are trying to drag him away, drag him down and towards whatever place the corpses of their enemies have been taken. The zora seems stronger than the waves though, dragging him upstream despite his weak flailing against the water and the beast itself. 

The air in his lungs is rapidly dwindling, and black creeps in at the corners of his vision even as he can hear the dying roar of the lynel overhead. After a time, he has to stop fighting altogether in the hopes of staying alive, of keeping aware in hopes that he can spy a time where he can fight up and finally breathe. 

So, he drifts, being pulled and knocked against stone after stone and then- 

And then something is happening, the zora’s claws grip tighter and it’s all he can do to not release his precious bit of air in a pained scream. There’s something darting past, something jarring his captor, something striking it hard enough that the claws don’t just loosen, they let go, and then the current is stealing him away, catching on his shield and driving against it with a force that sends him careening into rocks that he’s only just able to avoid direct contact with by curling close to said shield. 

For a precious moment, he strikes hard enough to skid up, head breaching the water long enough to draw a desperate breath, vision clearing before he’s dragged back down. It takes a moment to reorient, especially with the water buffeting against him and trying to knock him free of the rock he’s been pressed against, to force him further down the river bed to who knows where. Still, he’s able to make out the great scaly hide of the zora, sharp claws swinging and something blood red yet solid darting past and around it. 

The current catches him before he can see much else. 

Where he can, he’ll catch his breath. Where he can, he’ll shield the blows of the rocks by curling behind the shield that’s pushed ahead of him like a sail. It’s all he can do to stay aware and breathing, fighting even just a bit. He's not nearly strong enough of a swimmer to fight his way upstream, much less try to avoid the stones or make his way up when the current only tries to push him back down. Instead, he must hope that the channel widens and the water will slow at some place where he can push himself out and towards one or another bank, 

The heroes had been fighting on the left bank when facing upstream, he knows that, knows which way to head if and when he can finally escape the current. 

Another claw catches on his arm, another set of wide eyes moving close. He kicks back at it, trying to push forwards but in the process missing the onset of next stone, which he knocks into hard enough to jar his spine which is already likely bruised from the hooves that landed him here to begin with. 

His head spins, vision going black a moment as the claws catch, only to suddenly release him like the last. Others reach out, but with the same results. It’s as if some charm has been placed, some force or another causing the zora to release him within seconds of grabbing him, and then there is something catching him, there is something drawing him off course, something with limbs smaller than his own but which catch and hold and push him close against something solid and moving. He doesn’t have it in him to fight, his last breath of air over a minute ago and fighting with his body to be released. 

He’s granted breath sooner than he’d think though. 

The thing, his captor for lack of another answer, pushes to the right and suddenly the current is gone, suddenly the water is still and he’s being pushed up, up where his head breaks free of the water’s confines and he has enough time to take a breath, enough time to take two, enough time to not just wheeze for new air but for his lungs to settle as the thing releases him and moves away. 

For the moment he takes the blessing for what it is. He lets air flow freely and opens his eyes and looks around. 

Not that there is much to see. 

It’s pitch blackness around at first, even though he knows by his breath that he’s no longer being dragged down into the depths. But steadily, he’s able to gain something of his sense, recognize the cold that seeps into him from the water and the smell of river and plants mixed with the metallic tang of blood. He’s not sure how much is his own, but when his vision clears enough and he’s begun to adapt to the dark around him, he can make out that the stains on the waves aren’t from himself alone. 

There’s something else here with him, in what he assumes must be some cavern in the river’s walls. The thing isn’t close, it lingers some distance away, near where new water seems to flow in at what he assumes must be the entrance. 

Great, he snorts it with no small amount of derision. This thing doesn’t just want to eat him, it wasn't to cage him off in its nest and keep him to itself. Just perfect. 

Well, he’s had plenty of things wish him for themself, both intelligent and not, and he’s come this far by holding them off with a decent fight, and as long as he’s able to breathe he’s determined to give this thing the same challenge all else has had in claiming him. 

Except it doesn’t move towards him. Except whatever it is, long and slender and nothing bulky like the other zora, darts in and out from the opening, crimson clouding the water around it as clawed hands reach past it only to be drawn back quite suddenly and with pained roars that ring loudly around the cavern. 

Were he not trying to tread water, Warriors would have to clap his hands over his ears, the sound very great about him and painful to his sensitive mind. 

The beast, or whatever it is, is distracted at least, and it gives him time to orient himself. He’s in a cave, one not fully underwater as the roof of it is still quite far overhead leaving plenty of room for the precious air he breathes. Not only that, but there are ledges, full shelves of rock scattered about him, and though it hurts to push himself forwards, back screaming in protest at the motion and limbs sobbing with the effort, he’s able to push himself up close and catch hold. The water rushes and chatters as it cascades away from him, and he groans as he pulls himself up to flop over the ledge. He’s up though, he’s out of the water and he’s breathing, and with luck, he’s out of reach of whatever thing has dragged him here. Not that he’s counting on luck, but for now at least he’s out of its reach. 

For now.  

He pulls himself up and moves, more crawling than anything, chest still burning and body screaming for him to stop and rest, but he pushes on to the next ledge all the same. It’s a bit of a scrabble to get up it in his weakened state, but he manages.  

There’s a fair distance between himself and the water now, enough that if he had a weapon he could defend his position well enough to at least not be eaten. As is however, he’d lost his sword on the cliffs above while fighting the lynel, and all he has left is the shield strapped to one battered arm and the singular knife he’d left tucked in his boot. To himself, Warriors makes a note to stash more blades on his person in the future. The blade he does have is meant for throwing and light tasks, not close combat. Still, it’ll slit a throat if the need comes, even though it’ll require him to get quite close to do so. 

He only realizes when the water stirs that his focus has drifted, and when he glances down, pushing himself up from where he’s flopped, weary but ready to at the very least shield himself, he’s met with great golden eyes that stare up at him from the depths below. The thing in the water makes no moves to climb after him (do the zora in Legend’s time know how to climb?), instead, it lingers below, watching him, eyes flickering over him in a heavy way as they glint, as they blink, and then come to meet his own. 

Somehow, he knows in a moment that what he’s facing is not a zora. There’s something about that stare that’s wrong, something intelligent and not mindless and blood-thirsty, that makes him pause before striking first or throwing his blade. 

Of course, he’s well aware that it’s the only thing acting as a repellent for other water beasts that would love nothing more than to eat him for dinner, and of course he knows that attacking it first and throwing his only weapon is a foolhardy idea, but he’s still on edge, and should it move too quickly he’s not sure he won’t react on impulse and strike out. 

It’s not a zora though. The light of the cave is poorly, but those golden eyes are too small, too slanted and narrow, set in a face that’s ridiculously hylian and almost- 

“Warriors?” 

He starts at the voice, more so when he sees the head of the thing raised from the water, just barely above, mouth shaping the words in a voice impossibly sweet and melodic, one that echoes off the walls and nestles against his tired mind in a familiar way that has him scrabbling up for entirely different reasons. 

“Legend?” 

Those eyes flicker with something, there’s a brief nod, and then down they go with the soft rippling of water. He can only watch in confusion and worry until the vet’s head emerges again, freshly soaked but smiling in that thin way the other does when he’s tired, yet with a hint of relief in its corners. “You good?” 

“Am I-” 

The crimson in the water flickers back into his mind, gaze following impulse as it darts to rapidly growing cloud around his brother. 

“Vi, you’re bleeding!” 

There’s a wince, a brief nod as Legend ducks down again, and then the other is rising enough that his mouth only just comes above the surface of the water about him. “No shit, Bluebell. Are you okay?” 

He wants to argue, but he knows better. Instead, he takes stock of his own injuries, flexing muscles and bending joints with no little amount of pain. “Light gashes to my left leg and arm, my back’s a throbbing mess and I’m more than a bit sure I’m going to be a walking bruise in the morning, but nothing seems to be broken.” The next wheeze that escapes him is painful. “Well, maybe some fractures, but again, not broken.” 

The vet nods firmly, and all of a sudden it strikes the captain that while his own voice and breath ring loudly about them, Legend isn’t making a noise. 

“Are you alright?” He asks again because Legend isn’t breathing. 

He isn’t breathing! 

The other nods. “Definitely going to come out of this with a few new scars, but I’m alive.” 

But he isn’t breathing. 

Warriors pushes himself up and over and crawls to the edge of the shelf he’s sitting on, looking down at the head drifting before him, hair plastered down over the vet’s face and eyes glimmering- maybe even glowing- faintly in the dim light of the cave. 

 “Why can’t I hear you breathing?” 

A wince, the flicker of the gaze back behind, a slight bob as though Legend is gesturing, but he can’t see for all the water swallowing his brother up. “I’m not,” and then, quickly, because Legend must spy the panic building in his face, “not normally anyway.” 

“How do you mean?” 

There’s a murmur, something he never would have caught if not for the ethereal quality that now lends itself to the vet’s voice and the echo of the cavern about them. “Guess you’re going to see eventually.” And then the vet is pushing up, reaching for the ledge and catching it, but not pulling himself up and instead simply resting his arms on it. 

The first thing Warriors notices is that the vet’s hands have claws. Long, bloodied claws that still have scales caught between them from fighting off the zora at the entrance. Secondly, he notices the discolor of them, tinged with something not quite white like the veteran’s normal skin tone, something a bit darker that fades darker still the closer it gets to those claws. And then he really looks and he sees.  

There is webbing between the vet’s fingers, small fins on either arm. There are slits on either side of the other’s neck, thin small things that don’t bleed, but rather pulse softly, parted a bit as if to take something in- gills, the vet has gills. The vet has gills and claws and fins and- when he looks down- there is a tail moving slowly in the water. 

“You-” 

The vet smiles before releasing his hold and falling back into the water. It makes him start, but then it clicks. 

Legend has to be in the water to breathe. He is breathing through his gills. He is breathing water. 

“You’re a mermaid?” 

The tail flicks, splashing water his way as the vet surfaces again, pulls up again so they’re more level with each other. “Mer-man. I know I don’t usually conform to either, but I still identify as male.” 

Ah, yes. “Sorry.” 

A nod. “It’s fine, most people’s first thought is mermaids when they see the tail. Males of the species are commonly overlooked.” 

Which isn’t fine at all, and misgendering must suck, but he’s thankful that the other takes it with grace. 

“How does it work?” He’s leaning forwards before he realizes it, near tumbles down the first ledge in fact, and he takes that as his cue to return to the one below it. Legend won’t hurt him after all, and being closer to the other’s level will be better for the both of them. 

“Hmm?” 

“The tail,” his foot skids a bit on the slick stone beneath, but he makes it down the ledge to crouch before his brother and successfully manages to not fall down on top of him and send them both back into the water. “Do your legs transform? Are they inside of it? Or” -a new thought strikes him at once- “are you actually mer and you just shift into a Hylian?” 

One clawed finger rises, Legend dropping back off the ledge and into the water for a breath before pulling himself up again to answer. “First, I’m still Hylian. This is a sort of curse, sort of, it’s complicated. Second,” another splash, the vet rises again, dripping and plastered with water, “I have no clue. It’s different musculature than my legs and I definitely can’t feel them anymore, just this.” Another dunk. “Pretty sure I just shapeshift.” 

He nods. “Can you shift back? It might be easier than-” he motions to his brother vaguely, “having to do that.” ‘That’ being the constant dunking in order to breathe. 

Legend shakes his head, water flying everywhere as sodden bangs flop wildly. “This cave doesn’t exit through a tunnel. I still have to swim us out of here, I just thought you could use a break and,” dunk “breath for a moment. We’re here until the zora calm enough from the carnage to let us pass easier, they’re still riled up and waiting them out is easier than” -down he goes again- “easier than fighting them off.” 

Half a moment, fighting them? But a look at the cloud of bloodied water around his brother answers that question. He can’t see any injuries save a light gash across the vet’s nose, dangerously close to his eyes, but there’s no blood seeping from the wound. That’s likely the fault of the constant dips in the water though, any blood is being washed away before he can catch it. Still, when he looks, he can see how tattered Legend’s clothes are, near in rags from the various tears and slashes across them, seams barely holding them together over the vet’s slight frame. 

He can only imagine what the wounds beneath would look like. 

“How long until they calm?” The sooner they are out the better, and not just because the small cavern is eating as his mind and pushing anxiety to the front as he tries to ignore the walls closing close around them. Legend needs medical care for those cuts, and he knows for a fact he does as well. Who knows what’s in the vet’s water; poison was mentioned, and it doesn’t exactly smell like a clean spring. Infection is a risk he isn’t keen on messing with, and the more time between now and treatment the greater that risk becomes. 

The vet’s ears twitch, drawing attention to how webbing now touches them as well. “I’d give them an hour. The blood will move downstream by then and they’ll stop expecting new pray. They’ll probably go seek out whatever's left after that and we can make our way out.” 

He nods. “Upstream or down?” 

A shiver of the vet’s nose, another flicker of his ears (water flicks from their tips with the motion). “Down. The bank is too steep in these parts and getting up them too high a risk. There should be a spot just downstream a way though. It widens a bit and the banks lower about a mile from here.” 

He nods. 

An hour. An hour until they can leave the tiny cave they’re sitting in and get away from the clawed and fanged fish-people that have been trying to eat them. 

Warriors curls in on himself, letting his shield arm fall to his side as the other wraps tight around his legs. It’s cold in the cave and it would be best to preserve what heat he can, that and the feeling of the walls pressing closer about them makes him want to curl in on himself anyway. 

Beside him, Legend slips back into the water, eyes just above the surface but the rest submerged in a pool of bloody water. His brother slips back and forth, checking the entrance here and again, but otherwise the cave is still, near silent save the trickle of water and the captain’s own breath. 

It’s maddening. 

“Legend?”  

Up pops the head, bright eyes turning his way curiously. 

“Could you sing, maybe?” The urge to explain his request pushes at his chest but he can’t exactly find the right words for it. It’s stupid, being scared of the dark, or scared of small places. It’s something that he really, really should be over with by now, but he isn’t, and he’s not exactly feeling up to facing those fears at this precise moment. 

Legend doesn’t seem to need an explanation though, doesn’t ask for one anyway. Instead, the vet simply begins to sing. It’s different from normal, more melodic, more haunting. It wraps around his mind in a way it only ever hints at usually, seeping into every corner and urging him to rest, to relax. He doesn’t even realize he’s obeying until he finds himself leaned back against the stone behind him, body lax as he watches Legend lazily drift through the water below. The vet’s head only just breaches the surface of the water, mouth forming no words in his song, but singing regardless. 

That’s how they spend their hour. His mind is at peace with the siren song ringing about the cave, and Legend seemingly content to sit beneath in the water and check the cave’s mouth every so often for action outside.  

To his shock, he has to be shaken back to himself, Legend leaning over the ledge to reach him, straining just a bit as one clawed hand pushes against his shoulder. He doesn’t even know when the song ended, or even when his mind had gone so blissfully blank, but it takes him a good moment to blink into alertness and pull himself back up. By then, the vet is all but diving into the water below, chest heaving and face pale from a lack of breath. When pink hair emerges again with golden eyes, the vet only peeks up as much as he has to in order to speak. “We can go now. The others will be worried.” 

His head is too light and too heavy all at the same time, mind fogged like he’d been drinking, even though he hasn’t tasted alcohol since last they visited a tavern. “Right.” 

A hand is held out his way, clawed and webbed, but still with Legend’s long fingers and heavy calluses. “I’ll get us out, just don’t kick me this time, yeah?” 

“Yeah.” It’s hard going to get himself back to the ledge and over it, but the splash of cool water knocks him back to himself somewhat, sparking his mind back to wariness as Legend surges closer, eyes meeting his before hands catch his arms. He doesn’t fight the other’s touch, doesn’t do anything more than breathe when Legend says to catch some air, and then close his eyes as they dip beneath. 

It’s strange, feeling the vet press against him so close and moving. They’ve been up in each other’s space plenty, but usually when resting, when injured or sleeping or simply sitting together by the fire. Feeling Legend pressed close against his back and moving, arms firm beneath his own and torso and tail both working at the water around them, it’s strange. 

He only knows they’re out of the cave when the current pulls at him abruptly. Only knows they’re heading downstream because it isn’t pushing back against him. But surely enough, just as the vet had said, the water begins to calm. Legend makes sure to pull them up to let him breathe, but he still gasps for air when at last they make the bank, still spits and gasps like anything as he rolls himself into the sand and lies flat on his back beneath the sun and pants. 

The vet groans beside him. 

“You good?” 

There’s a pained sound, one strong enough to make him pull himself up again. His muscles still ache, and he can’t tell if it’s worse or better than how they'd been before he’d rested them, but he disregards them entirely when he sees the vet fighting to pull himself ashore. 

He’s unsteady on his own legs, but he manages to stumble over and offer a hand, catching Legend’s clawed one with only minor struggling between them and then pulling the vet ashore beside him. If he falls back on his ass from the effort, accidentally dragging the other alongside him, neither one really cares. 

Soaking pink hair comes to rest on his chest, Legend’s breath rattling heavily as the other seems to finally shift back, gills fading and ability to breath air returning. 

Neither of them pushes away from the other, instead, Warriors just lets his shield arm cover them both, cool steel acting as a guard against anything that may come to them. It’s a flimsy defense, hardly covering them fully, but he’s too worn to think on it fully. Instead, he just lies there, Legend now pressed to his chest, both of them breathing and shaking just a bit, and lets himself process. 

When, at last, the vet does move to part from him there’s the nasty sound of fabric sticking to flesh, and when he looks, he sees blood spattered down both their fronts as his tunic sticks to Legend’s chest, and it’s only then that he remembers. 

“You’re injured!” 

Legend’s shoulders tremble slightly in what might be a laugh. “No kidding.” 

He’s up again in seconds. Pushing off his shield and letting it clatter to the shore beside him, catching Legend’s hands and pulling them back so he can assess the damage. 

It’s hard to tell through the mess of shredded fabric and water, but his brother’s taken some rather nasty blows, though the depth of them is hard to tell with all the blood seeping through. 

“We need to get this treated.” 

The vet huffs softly, wincing as he does. “Yeah. My bag’s back with the others though, had to drop it to get you.” At his cocked brow the other explains, “belts and pouches make excellent handholds. I was trying to get you out, not get caught and eaten myself.” 

Well that makes sense, but also doesn’t help them at all. Luckily, “I didn’t have time to shed mine.” He turns to the bag at his hip and prays that nothing inside was damaged too badly by his rough voyage downstream. “Hopefully I have a potion in here that we can use.” He’d had one last he checked, but when they get injured it’s rare that anyone cares whose bag they’re looking through to find a fairy or potion for healing. Fortunately, he does have one, only the one, and it’s halfway gone, but it’s there, and he’s able to hand it over to Legend. 

“What about your back?” 

Oh for the love of The Three! “I got kicked by an overgrown horse-lion, not shredded by rabid fish people, Violet. Drink.” 

This time, Legend excepts it, popping to cork and throwing back the crimson liquid with a grimace. Whether it does anything he can’t tell, but Legend doesn’t lower the bottle until it’s empty, and then he’s wiping his mouth with a light scowl. “Tastes like rotting cherries.” 

A chuckle touches his voice as he moved to help the other out of his ruined clothes. “I’m not asking how you know that.” Probably something Legend did as a kid. He knows he used to eat all sorts of dubious things as a child, whether from curiosity or genuine hunger.  

Once Legend’s tunics are removed and he uses the sopping wool to clear away most of the blood, he’s able to see the full extent of the injuries. They aren’t great, but they’re clearly better than they were, only shallow cuts now that seep blood at a considerably slower pace than before. 

“You won’t need any stitches,” he announces once he’s inspected arms, back and chest thoroughly. “I’m going to bandage it you up though. It should ease the flow and prevent infection.” For the most part. Poisonous water is poisonous water, and the vet had lingered in it for over an hour. That said, whatever poison it is, it doesn’t seem to have affected the other yet. Sure, Legend is tired, sagging against him slightly, but considering he fought off Nayru knows how many zora, a current, dragged Warriors to safety and did most of it while bleeding profusely, he can’t exactly blame him. 

He has bandages in his pack, enough thankfully to bind around the worst of the cuts. It leaves Legend looking something like a mummy, but there’s not blood everywhere anymore and the vet’s injuries are tended. That said, Legend still flops against him bonelessly when he’s done, head cradled on his thighs as the other breaths steadily. 

“We should find the others.” 

Legend nods, but doesn’t speak, eyes fluttering softly and shoulders trembling a bit in a light shiver. 

“First though, we should get you dressed in something.” 

Violet eyes flutter open to stare at him, and he starts a bit to see the gold faded out from them. “What, shorts and bandages not a good look for me?” 

A snort rattles through him as he combs hair out of his brother’s face. “It’s not a good look for anyone, Ledge, and you’re shivering.” 

Up raise twin brows. “I am?” 

Well that ain’t good. “Yeah, buddy, you are.” 

His bag hasn’t got anything in it though. His spare tunic is in Legend’s bag, rent badly from a previous battle and waiting for hands steadier than his own to mend it. The only thing he has is a spare pair of trousers, something which he knows better than to try to force the other into wearing.  

Warriors sighs, dragging a hand through his own hair and trying to make his muddled brain function. 

There’s a scoff from beneath him, and when he looks down Legend is looking up at his hazily. “Don’t think so hard, you’ll fry your brain.” 

It makes him chuckle, moving to run his hand through the vet’s hair instead and laughing a bit louder when Legend leans into the touch with a soft hum. He’s out of it, they both are, but between blood-loss and likely exhaustion, Legend is putty in his hands, and although he cherishes the open-ness that’s shown to him, he’d rather have the both of them safe right now than out and exposed. 

It’s been an hour, the others will be looking and likely making their way downstream to find them. The likelihood of them having already passed by this place is high, given that they won’t have found anything in the last hour. So, it’s up to him to find them, to get himself and Legend back to them and hopefully a warm fire and something to eat.  

First though, he needs to make them travel ready. 

He uses the last of the bandages to wrap his own injuries; they’re not great, but far from as extensive as the vet’s own. Once finished, he fishes out his canteen, and although they’ve been surrounded by water for far too long, he still thirsty enough to take a drag from it. He offers it to Legend, but the vet only turns his head away with a noise of disagreement. He takes the rejection for what it is, stuffing his canteen bag into his bag and closing it up again. He’s just moving to pull the strap over his shoulder when he pauses. 

He’s wearing two tunics, one over his armor and the other underneath. 

It’s the work of a moment to drop his bag and strip the green tunic of his uniform off. It’s more work than that to work the thing over Legend’s head, but the vet helps him along as well as he can, pulling and pushing limbs and fabric as needed until at last the veteran is dressed in something more than his shorts. After that, he does strap on his bag, and while the cold steel of his chain mail can’t be comfortable, Legend doesn’t protest as he hefts the other up in his arms and moves down the bank. 

It’s slow going, and he has to pause a few times, but they finally find the others. Or, more accurately, the others find them. The group is all running, hastily making their way up the shoreline towards the two of them, eyes wide with relief when they finally meet. 

Wind’s arms are thrown about his waist in a moment, Twilight moving to take Legend from his arms as chatter and worry fill the air, too buzzy and fast for his tired mind to handle. Somehow, he’s able to make out Time announcing that they’ll make camp. Somehow, he has enough in him to register Wind leading him away from the river, sitting him down and helping him strip his armor as Wild and Four make a fire. Somehow, he’s got enough in him to register when a bowl is placed in his hands and someone tells him to eat. Somehow, he doesn’t immediately fade out. 

When he does fade back in though, sometime during the night as Twilight and Time trade soft whispers, the elder ruffling his Pup’s hair fondly, he finds himself curled on his bedroll, Legend’s own bedding beside his own, the vet’s hands caught in his shirt as the other breathes, steady and smooth and catching air (rather than water) beside him. 

“We’re okay.” He sighs to himself, running a hand through cherry-petal pink and fading back to sleep before his fingers reach the veteran’s nape. 

When he does wake in the morning, the others are still fussing. He has to explain everything over a warm breakfast and Hyrule makes a point of checking both his own and the veteran’s injuries, but they’re declared alright, they’re alright and alive. 

And Legend is a merman. 

He doesn’t tell that part, but he certainly does smile in a knowing way when his brother catches his eye here and again. Maybe he sniggers a bit to himself when they eat fish and maybe he teases a bit when the others can’t hear. 

Legend retaliates by holding onto his tunic for longer than is actually necessary, and even when he gets it back, it still gets stolen here and again. 

“Yours are comfier than mine.” Is all he gets as an answer when he confronts his brother about it, and he can’t help but chuckle as he settles at the other’s side.  

“Do the slits in the sides give you more room for your tail?” He teases. 

Legend rolls his eyes, settling against him with a huff. “You tell no one.” 

And he won’t. Secrets don’t work that way. “You’re right.” But also, “not shutting up about it though.” 

Legend doesn’t seem to have expected any different.