#also went to a drag show Saturday and it was great

[xskyll]

Page 15, for the second time! Apologies to those that saw the version I posted last night with the typo. My days lately have been busy, so sometimes I feel a bit brain foggy. A couple of people left comments on either here or Twitter and it killed me to delete everything. ;_;

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[heavysighing-dreamyeyes]

His Name | Soulmate!AU

~1.1k words

Jason Todd. That's the name that etched itself on your thigh the night of your sixteen birthday. Which is great, you have a soulmate. The issue is that you know– knew a Jason Todd. He happens to be six feet under the dirt in a graveyard you visit every Saturday. Which is not so great.

Being soul bound to a dead person gets you a lot of pitying glances from the people you know. You tell them there's more than one Jason Todd in the world. It makes your family shake their heads. You try not to dwell on the heartbreak on their faces when you tell them that, when they think you can't see it. They saw you and Jason together when he was alive. There won't be another Jason Todd in your life.

It's something you've slowly come to terms with, when no other Jason Todd finds their way to you, the idea of never seeing your name permanently marked on someone else's skin. The fact that you might never really have the person that's supposed to be yours.

That's why you might have reacted kind of poorly when Red Hood brings you up to a quiet rooftop, tugging off his leather jacket in front of you, dragging the material of his suit up and over his forearm to reveal your name on his skin.

You weren't even doing anything dangerous to get here, just at the wrong store at the wrong time, while some third-rate rouge went on and on about conquering the city. Standard Gotham experience.

What wasn't normal was Red Hood crashing through a window, brutal and efficient with every movement until each person with a gun was knocked out and beaten on the floor. Sure, you were aware he wasn't exactly a crime lord anymore, labeled a 'turned vigilante' by the press, but press also said he doesn't tend to leave crime alley. And you definitely weren't in crime alley. None of news stories of him saving people exactly calms the adrenaline coursing through you when he picks you up like it was the easiest thing in the world for him, hoisting you like you're made of glass over his shoulder and grappling you both to a nearby roof. You're alone before you even have time to process it.

You stumble back when he gently, so gently it makes your heart stutter, sets you on the ground. "Who do you think you are? You can't just grab people–" your biting words cut off as you register the black lettering across his skin. Your name. Your name is there. On Red Hoods arm.

You reach out to touch it before you can stop yourself, fingers trailing down his forearm and over each letter of your name. He lets you, not speaking words, only sighing in what sounds like relief. You force your gaze from the mark you could stare at forever to meet the glowing eyes of his mask. "You're- Jason Todd?"

He nods, every nerve of his body completely locked on you. It doesn't clear anything up. He can't be Jason Todd, at least, not the one you buried.

You make a face and step back, crossing your arms, "Yeah right."

He seems to blank, arm still held out, showing your name permanently engraved on his skin. "Yeah, right?" He echos, deep and robotic through the modulator of his mask.

You set your jaw and nod.

He tilts his head, lifting his arm higher to make you see the mark. To see your name. "Do you think I faked it?"

That makes you falter. Why would he? There's nothing to gain by pretending to be your soulmate. "Well, no. But you still could have the wrong person."

He exhales a laugh, breathes out your name with more fondess than you've ever heard. "Always so stubborn."

Your frown. Sure, maybe you could be stubborn but he doesn't know that.

He says your name again, reaching up to tug his hood back, reaching for his mask.

It makes you freeze, eyes going wide in shock when you make out his face. Jason. Your Jason. "How–" You start, but can't quite manage to finish, eyes darting over the face that's so familiar, only older, more tired, more scarred. But his eyes are still the same. Intent and focused and bright when everything around him is dark.

"It's a long story." He says softly, before starting to ramble, nervous to upset you, to lose any chance of knowing you again. Any unease you felt around Red Hood fades as you recognize the boy you grew up with in him. "Maybe I could tell you? Over coffee? I have safe house nearby. But, only if you're comfortable. Or we could meet during the day, if thats better?"

His voice sounds more familiar without mask, and you study him, almost accusing. "You didn't have to kidnap me to tell me you're alive. Or that you're my soulmate, you know."

He stumbles over your words, taking half a step closer to you. "I didn't! I mean, I wasn't trying to. I swear– I just couldn't take all of this off down there." He gestures to the mask, a little frantic to gain your approval.

It brings a small smile to your face, and he stops still at the sight of it, breath catching in his throat as you speak, "I'm glad you're here, Jason."

"I'm glad you're safe." He exhales out, eyes softening and tension draining from his muscles in relief.

You can't quite fight the urge to reach out for him, so you do, taking his hand and gently flipping it over so you can read your name again. You have questions, absolutely. Gripes. Proably a lecture that he should have come seen you sooner. But you settle on how right this feels in your bones, how your soul feels like its missing piece slotted into place. "Do you have creamer?"

"Creamer?" He asks, voice airy and memorized by the feel of your skin against his hand.

"For the coffee?" You prompt, smiling a little wider at his dazed expression, his eyes following your hand, like he can't believe you haven't run screaming for the hills.

"Yeah. Course. Anything you want." And when he focuses back in your face, you know in the very essence of what you are that he means it.

"Coffees a good start." You say, a little fond as you pull away your hand away, and he reluctantly lets your fingers slide from his.

"Coffee it is." And it is a good start. To know your other half again, to follow the warm, soothing feeling in your soul when you touch him, you'll try as many starts as it takes.

[paradiseismine]

Late Night Talking - Trevor Spengler x Reader

Love note from Nina: Aaaand I’m back again with some more Finnie cuteness and filth, lovelies. My boy Trevor is way too underrated around here, so it’s about damn time we turn those tables.

Pairing: Trevor Spengler (Ghostbusters Afterlife/Frozen Empire) x f!reader

Warnings: mostly smut, but also some fluff. Also maybe this is kinda long (?) sorry not sorry etc

Summary: you visit the Spengler’s residence for a dinner party and end up having a lot more fun than you intended, if you know what I mean

Edit: part 2 here

Your mom and Mrs. Spengler had become best friends, all of a sudden - neither of them had had much luck on that when they moved to the city, but ever since they first met in a 7/11 a month ago, they were inseparable.

It was a Saturday evening, and your mom was dragging you along to Mrs. Spengler’s house, for a dinner party of some sort. You weren’t in the mood, but she seemed so happy to finally have a new friend, you just couldn’t say “no” to her.

So, all dressed up in a cute black dress and strap sandals, you rang the doorbell.

- Oh, hello - a tall lanky boy with messy black hair opened the door. - Good evening, Mrs. y/l/n… And you must be y/n, right?

You nodded, smiling sweetly, as your mom greeted the boy as well.

- Hi, Trevor! Your mom told me all about you - she said, giving him a warm hug after she handed you the huge cake tray she was holding.

It was pretty heavy - your mom wouldn’t show up to dine at someone’s house without bringing dessert - but you could manage to hold it.

- Callie, there you are! - she squealed as she hurried to meet Mrs. Spengler in the kitchen, leaving you and Trevor behind.

- She loves your mom - you said to Trevor, chuckling.

- My mom loves yours too - he chuckled. - Hey, can I help you with that? - he continued, gently taking the cake tray off of your hands.

- Thank you Trev, that was quite heavy - you said, relieved. - Should we bring that to the kitchen?

So you both put the cake in the fridge and helped your moms with everything - from setting the table to organizing the kitchen.

You had a great time eating and talking to Callie, Trevor and his sister, Phoebe. After dinner was over, the moms opened up a bottle of wine and sat on the living room to talk, while Phoebe went to her room to sleep.

That left you and Trevor alone in the kitchen, talking. It was already close to midnight, and by the laughs you could hear from the couch, you were not going to leave the Spengler’s home for a long time. Halloween was just around the corner, so you asked Trevor if he was into horror movies.

- Hm, kind of… - he responded, finishing his glass of soda. - I think they’re way too unrealistic sometimes.

- Ugh, wish I felt like that too… Movies like Poltergeist and The Conjuring totally freak me out. I’m just afraid of ghosts, I guess.

Trevor nearly choked, but you couldn’t understand why.

- Do you like slasher movies though? - he asked, trying to move on with the conversation.

- Yeah, I love them! - you answered, excitedly. - My favorite one is Friday The 13th!

- The first one?

- The best one, right?

- Absolutely - he laughed, then pointing to your moms in the living room - I think they’re gonna take a while there… Wanna go upstairs and watch a movie? It can be Friday the 13th if you want.

- Of course, I’d love that! - you said and walked over to the living room with him.

- Mom, Trevor and I are going upstairs to watch a movie, ok?

- Sure darlings, go there and befriend! - your mom agreed, her voice sounding a bit different already. Good thing you were driving.

You two went up the stairs to Trevor’s room, still talking about horror movies and your personal favorites; but you noticed he would talk just as excitedly about any subject. The conversation was light and comfortable. Trevor was so nice to talk to. He was also really good looking. Something about his lanky figure, dark hair and dark eyes really stood out to you.

Up in his room, you couldn’t help but walk around and notice the various objects he had in there.

- Whoa, do you like Arctic Monkeys?

- Their “AM” album is, like, most of my will to live. - he chuckled. - So yeah, I like them a bit.

- That’s an instant classic if I’ve ever seen one, right?

Turns out, you and Trev had A LOT in common. You were into the same movies, the same music and even the same places to hang out. He was working up the courage to ask you on a date already.

- So, uh… y/n, would you… would you like to go to that record store downtown with me… Sometime? It doesn’t have to be like a date or-

You put your index finger to his lips, and his eyes went wide.

- But can it be a date, though? - you whispered, your finger leaving his lips as you put your hand on his cheek.

- S-sure - he stuttered. He was much taller than you, even with the heels you were wearing.

- I would love to - you smiled, your hand still on his cheek. - I could talk with you all night if you’d let me.

- Me too - he smiled, putting his arm around your waist and leaning in a bit. - Y/n… can I-can I kiss you? Or does asking that totally ruin the mood?

- Of course you can! - you laughed. - C’mere.

You leaned in and your lips touched his, lightly. You touched your forehead to his and looked him in the eyes. He pulled you even closer by your waist and kissed you again, way more eagerly this time. His tongue asked for entrance and you permitted it, in pure ecstasy.

- Hm - he broke the kiss - maybe we could move this over there? - he said, his head pointing to an armchair on the corner of his room. You nodded, your lips parted and swollen from the kiss.

Trevor sat down on the armchair and you sat nearly on his lap, but sideways, so your butt was down on the armchair and your legs were all over his lap.

He put his hands on your bare knees and caressed them gently as you continued to kiss, more slowly than before. Your dress was a few inches above your knees. Nothing too modest or too slutty, but Trevor secretly wished you were wearing the sluttiest dress possible, just so he could feel you up without actually lifting up your dress and risking getting slapped across the face.

Little did he know you were craving that touch. You lightly guided his hands a bit further up your thighs, giving him the permission he wanted. To touch your soft skin and get intoxicated by you.

You kept kissing him passionately, your hands wandering from his cheek to his neck to his chest. You grabbed the collar of his T-shirt and pulled him even closer, wanting to savor him as much as you could. He let out a soft moan on your lips, so discreet you wouldn’t be able to hear it if you two weren’t all the way upstairs in his room.

Things were getting hot and heavy pretty quickly, but isn’t it always like that when you’re young? His hands were gently caressing your upper thighs for a minute, as if he was mentally debating a way to ask you to take off your dress, but gave up on that idea.

His slender fingers gently slid your panties to the side, only to meet your soaking wet pussy. You hissed and moaned in his mouth as he kissed you hungrily while slowly playing with your clit. His touch was so light, it made you ache for more; but at the same time, it was perfect. He continued for a couple minutes, your moans in his ear increasing. That had to be Trevor’s new favorite sound.

- Trev - you called, your voice faint and breathy. He looked into your eyes. His gaze was dark and full of lust. His swollen red lips were slightly parted, ugh, he was so beautiful… - If you keep going, I-I…

But you couldn’t finish that sentence. Your back arched and your mouth cracked open, your body completely taken by that orgasm. Your eyes were closed for most of the time, squeezed in pleasure, but when you peeked through them to look at Trevor’s face, he was grinning like the devil. He got you good and he knew he did.

- You’re so pretty - he said, mesmerized, his fingers still touching your pussy until you closed your legs and he realized you had ridden out of your orgasm. - and you look even prettier when you cum.

You sat there in his lap for a moment, head on his shoulder, resting a little from such an intense sensation. Trevor had quite a cocky smile plastered on his face, seeming proud of himself for making a pretty girl cum. For getting the chance to make a pretty girl cum and succeeding.

- Alright, so not only you’re all tall and handsome and stuff, but you also got magic hands? - you said, your hair ruffled and your voice breathy.

- Magic hands? Really? - he laughed.

- I’m serious. - you said, laughing with him. - But now I feel the need to… reciprocate, you know?

Trevor’s breathing quickened. You sat on his lap properly now, one leg to each side of his waist, straddling him while cupping his face for another round of passionate kissing.

His kisses found their way down to your neck, gently nipping on your skin, making you shiver and squirm. His fingers started toying with your dress’ straps until he felt confident enough to pull them down slowly.

The black lacy bra you were wearing underneath was beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but the sight of your breasts is what made his mouth water. With your dress already down to your waist, he put his arms around you to try and unhook your bra. As boys normally do, it took him a few tries, but he finally got it off of your body, his hands quickly covering your breasts again, fondling them.

Your skin was so soft and smelled so good, his kisses returned to your neck and continued their way down to your chest. Your nipples were so hard already, he simply had to take them in his mouth. One at a time, he licked and sucked gently, earning some pretty urgent moans. You knew you had to keep the volume down so your mothers wouldn’t hear you two, but that couldn’t stop you from moaning softly, just enough for him to hear. Your body was a feast and he had never been this hungry in his whole life.

- I-I thought it was my turn, Trevor - you said, softly, his lips still kissing the skin around your nipples and his hands groping your waist firmly. Damn, this boy was definitely going to drive you crazy.

Kissing his lips once again, you reached for the hem of his T-shirt and slowly pulled it upwards. He helped you take his shirt off, and his bare chest was surely a sight to be seen. Back to the kissing, your hands now wandered from his cheek, to his neck, to his chest, to his belly and…

- A-are you sure? - he asked, as you were about to touch his belt to unbuckle it. He didn’t want to pressure you into anything.

- I am pretty sure - you said with a smile, playfully kissing his nose. - Can I?

He nodded eagerly, so you unbuckled his belt, unzipped his pants and pulled them down. Trevor just sat still and watched as your beautifully manicured nails were touching his belt, then his pants, then his underwear.

You knelt down in front of him, using a pillow under your knees for comfort, and pulled his body closer to the edge of the armchair. You kissed his lips one last time, then his neck, scratching his chest lightly with your long nails, causing him to moan and bite his lips to avoid making too much noise.

You kissed down his chest, your nails now scratching his waist, and finally got to his underwear.

- Can I pull these down too? - you said, your big eyes pleading.

- Yeah - he said, barely breathing. - Please.

You gave him a naughty smile and pulled down his boxers. It was impossible not to lick your lips at the sight of that cock. The perfect length, the perfect girth, and that perfect pinky tip begging to be sucked. So you did it.

You took Trevor into your mouth hungrily, as your mouth was already watering just by taking his underwear off. Your head was bobbing up and down his thick shaft, as he tried his best to hold back any louder moans.

Suddenly, he grabbed some of your hair in his right hand and pulled your mouth off of his dick gently.

- Did I hurt you? - you said, looking worried.

- No, no, princess - he answered, scared that he might’ve offended you. - It’s just… you’re so so good… and so pretty… I’m afraid I won’t last, you know?

- It’s ok babe - you reassured him, caressing his bare knee. - You pleasured me selflessly, and I’m doing the same. If you want to cum now, then do it. I’d love to get a taste…

Your mouth went right back to sucking on his dick, your both hands now also added into the mixture. After a minute or two, it was too much for him to take.

- Y/n - he called, softly. You looked him in the eyes, mouth still around his shaft. You knew what was going to happen next. - I just… Please, can I cum in your mouth?

- Mhm - you agreed, not slowing down or stopping anything you were doing.

Trevor let out a muffled groan as he came in your mouth. You swallowed his warm seed at once, gently licking his tip clean afterwards.

- Fuck, you’re a goddess - he said, his voice faint, his eyes rolling.

You laughed a little and wiped the corners of your mouth.

- And you’re a darling. I’m glad you could trust me.

- Y/n - your mom called out from downstairs. - Is the movie over already? I think we should get going…

- In a minute, mom - you yelled in response.

You turned back to Trevor as he handed you your bra and put his own shirt back on.

- I had a great time with you today, Trev. Hope we can hang out sometime.

- Of course, I’ll text you - he started - there are already so many places I thought we could go together… You might just be the best company for basically everything. Specially late night talking.

You grabbed his phone off his desk, typed in your number and handed him the phone. Realizing what you just did, he smiled and held out his hand so you would give him your phone and let him do the same.

After the exchange of phone numbers and a quick good night kiss, you two got downstairs and pretended nothing had happened.

- There you are - Callie said as she saw both of you. - What did you guys watch?

- Friday the 13th - Trevor lied for both of you. - It was her favorite horror movie, and one of my favorites too.

- Aw, how cute. I’m glad you guys are friends now - your mom said, grabbing her purse. - But those old slashers have some awkward sex scenes, don’t they? We heard their moaning from down here.

- Glad they make movies more gory and less sexually charged nowadays, right? - Callie agreed.

Your moms were drunk and probably wouldn’t remember much about tonight. Thankfully, ‘cause your face and Trevor’s got just as flushed as if you had spent the entire night sipping wine.

[stevieschrodinger]

Link to Part One Part Two Part Three

TW Human trafficking discussions of injury

Steve feels like shit. He looks like shit. He’s pretty sure something might have straight up died in his mouth when he got that forty five minutes of sleep.

Everything looks good though. The fact that everyone else sprawled around the boardroom also looks like shit makes him feel a little better about himself. Well. Everyone but Nancy, obviously, who could probably walk out of a tornado and still look put together.

Steve only knows it’s morning because Carol just brought them all coffee. Carol does not come in out of hours. Steve learned that very, very early on. It was uncharacteristically nice of Carol to turn up with the little trolley from downstairs; it had a bunch of fruit and breakfast pastries on it, plus coffee.

She then proceeded to explain to Steve at great length how he looked and smelled like he’d been shit out by a bear, so, maybe she had motive. And that motive was being a bitch.

“Happy now, Steve?”

Steve’s got like, a whole bag of sand in each eye. Coarse, if they grade that kind of thing. Coarse sand. “Do you think we got everything?”

“I am confident that the team have done their utmost to pursue every avenue.”

“Nance, stop being a politician. That’s not a yes.”

She purses her lips at him in the way that she has, “can I have a word with you?” She scans the board room, “privately?”

Steve drags himself out of the chair, balancing one croissant on top of his coffee cup and grabbing a bear claw too, and then follows Nancy out and into a nearby office.

She doesn’t pull any punches, “I need to know how you know.”

Steve takes a big bite, then speaks with his mouthful, “can’t. NDA.”

She pinches the bridge of her nose, “and who, exactly, did you sign an NDA for?”

“The FBI.”

Nancy brings up her phone, showing Steve the screen. More precisely the headline on the screen, and Steve is thrilled that the picture they’ve used of Hagan is, objectively, fucking awful, “so Tommy Hagan was arrested last night, for Omega trafficking. When you walked into the office yesterday, oh so confident that everything relating to Hagan was going to tank…it was nearly ten full hours before this hit the news.”

Steve shrugs again, “N...D...A.”

They stare at each other for a long moment.

The door opens, Henderson’s baby face poking through. You would not in a million years think they guy was in his twenties, “Steve, morning! Sorry, I know it’s early…” Henderson seems to take in the state of Steve. Shirt rumpled, tie hanging loose, starting in on his second pastry, “but I kind of need to know why over a quarter of a million dollars was moved on Saturday, and where it went since it seemed to just...disappear?”

It takes, probably, less than a second for Nancy to leap to a conclusion like an Olympic fucking vaulter, and half a second longer for her to hit Steve with the file she’s holding.

“Er...not now, Dustin okay?” Steve manages to say, trying to shield his pastry and his coffee while Nancy gets it out of her system.

Dustin’s a smart kid, he watches Nancy slapping Steve with the papers...and just leaves.

She finally stops, pinching the bridge of her nose, and says very evenly, very quietly, “Steven Harrington, look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t buy an Omega.”

“NDA?” Steve replies quietly, uncertain, and then flinching when Nancy raises the folder again, “okay okay! Yes, yes I did. But! Under the FBI’s kind of...you know, instruction? I was evidence gathering! He’s at mine but I’m figuring out where his family are and I’ll take him back! It’s fine!”

“Why is he at yours?”

“They didn’t have anywhere for him, short notice, plus his feet are kind of messed up, from them like, hurting him. He’s been there a couple of years so doesn’t have anything, so I’ve ordered him some clothes and stuff. He’s fine.”

Nancy tilts her head, like a predator working out the distance they need to strike, “he’s...fine?”

Steve knows he’s fucked up. Nancy is using that tone. It’s...a very specific tone. “Err...yes?”

“You have an injured Omega, who has been held against his will, abused enough to be, at the very least, physically injured, never mind the emotional toll this whole thing may have taken...and he’s fine?”

Oh, no. She’s raised her eyebrow in that way she has. “I mean...yeah?” Nancy glares, and Steve backtracks, “I mean. Obviously he’s not...you know, perfectly okay, I guess. He’s been through a lot. But I made sure I fed him plenty, and he’s got some clean clothes on the bed. The bed in the room...I never actually...got around to showing him to...because I got, distracted. And it’s upstairs…” Steve can feel his insides sinking, “his feet are hurt. Shit.” Well fuck. Steve's...fucked up, probably quite badly now that he actually stops for thirty seconds to think about it.

Nancy sighs aggressively out her nose in that way she has, “Steve your security system is like fort fucking Knox, did you at least…”

But Steve’s already shaking his head, because he didn’t do that, either. He’s just...locked Eddie into a new prison. Shit.

He scrambles, feeling guilty, “I’ll give him some of the money. A lot of the money. Hagan’s...stuff. He can have the ranch?”

Nancy’s eyebrows shoot up into her hairline, “why on earth would he want the place he’s been kept prisoner for-”

Steve shrugs, “whatever he wants. He can bun it down if he likes, I’ll help. It’ll be like, therapy?”

Oh no, she gone from pinching her nose to rubbing that spot on her forehead, but then she seems to...deflate. Grasping Steve’s arm to hold him close, she actually speaks gently to him, which is, quite frankly, a million times more terrifying, “Steve. We’ve known each other a long time, now, so I say this with love. Money, wealth...is not the most important thing in life.” Steve opens his mouth to protest, but she shushes him, “I know. Alright, I know it can help, and it makes life a lot better for a lot of people...but giving people things does not...fix anything. Money is not an apology. Gifts are not an apology. And I know it’s hard for you to...see it differently, okay? Because you’ve always been very...driven, and that’s a good thing! I know how you grew up and how your father was with you and I know you feel you have...something to prove, okay, so I understand, I do. But...a lot of people put higher value on...just. I mean, maybe just go home. Say that you're sorry. Look after the Omega for a couple of days, make sure he gets home, okay? Maybe prioritize that, for a moment. You know the office will be fine...and maybe you’ll see that other things in life can have value, hmm?”

Part five

@stylelovechild @steddieonthen @marklee-blackmore @sticknpokelightningbolt @resident-gay-bitch @somegirlsomewhere @mugloversonly @weekend-dreamer7 @lololol-1234 @anne-bennett-cosplayer @mx-jinxous @goodolefashionedloverboi @bogwitchlesbian @lunaraquaenby @steddieinthesun @pluto-pepsi @disrespectedgoatman @i-eat-spinal-cords @waelkyring @kal-ology

[sturniqlo]

First Date- M.S

summary: the one where matt grows the courage to ask his coworker out on a date and he plans the perfect first date

cw: FLUFF, mild cursing

masterlist

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"Just do it!" Chris pushed his brother Matt towards the aisle that Y/n was stocking. "Chris! No, stop pushing me!" He tried to stop with his feet but failed. "If you don't do it now, you'll never end up doing it." Chris stopped in the aisle entrance and there she was, airpods in her ear stocking boxed pasta. "She's busy, I'll do it another time." He swats his arm. Trying to walk away. "Oh, hey guys!" Matt freezes as he hears Y/n's voice. "Hey, Y/n." Chris grabs Matt's arm and drags him towards her.

She takes her airpods out and places them back in their case. "You guys on break?" She asks, opening up another box. "No, unfortunately. But, anyway, Matt here," Chris pats Matt's chest. "Has something to tell you-" Everyone's walkie goes off and Chris' name is said. "Well, duty calls. I'll leave you two to it." He walks away with a smile on his face.

Ever since Y/n walked through the doors of the supermarket on her training day one year ago, he's always had his eyes on her. He always turned nervous whenever she talked to him or whenever either of his brothers called her over to just talk. Y/n on the other hand tried her best to make it known that she liked him. Unfortunately, she was in a relationship the first three months she started working she never really noticed Matt in a 'I like you' type of way.

So, when she started to grow feeling for him she started to talk to him more and she flirted with him. However, he never showed anything back to her and she believed he didn't feel the same way so she stopped flirting and just thought of him as a friend but that crush never went away and always stood at the back of her mind anytime she interacted with him. "You need something?" She softly asked, grabbing a few pasta boxes in her hand.

"Yeah- I- uh. Are you busy Saturday?" She stops stocking and goes back to where Matt is standing. "Saturday? No, I don't have any plans." She hides her smile. "Do you- would you like to go on a date with me?" He finally meets her eyes, he can feel his face turn red immediately. "Sure! I'll text you my address?" She smiles, blushing. "Sound great, I'll see you around?" He says. "Yeah, see you." Her smiles hasn't gone away.

As she sees that he's fully gone, she squeals. Matt returns back to his position, and Chris walks up to him. "Did you do it? He drags the mopping bucket with him. "Yes, we're going out Saturday."

"It's about fucking time!"

Since they were doing the closing shift, they locked up and headed to their respective cars. Chris and their other coworker, Randy, were walking in front of Y/n and Matt who were in a comfortable silence. "This is me." Y/n stopped at her car. "I'll see you Saturday?" Matt worked tomorrow but Y/n was off fortunately, they worked together on Sunday. "Saturday," She nodded. "Text me when you get home?" Matt said. "Yeah, I'll also text you my address for Saturday." She unlocked her car and waved at him.

The whole drive home, Y/n kept thinking about Matt and her upcoming date with him. Where were they going to go? What were they going to do? Will they go on more dates? She was excited to tell her mom about the news because she's always talked about Matt to her. Since her mom was a night owl, Y/n knew she was going to be up. "I'm home!" She said as she walked through the door and was hit with the aroma of her mom's chocolate chip cookies.

"In the kitchen!" She heard her mom. "Why're you making cookies so late? It's almost twelve." Y/n saw that she was making another batch. "Well, your lovely brother, who is enjoying his sleep upstairs, decided to tell me a day before that he told his baseball team that I would be bringing cookies to tomorrow cook out. So here I am making them." Y/n laughed. Typical him.

"You'll never guess what happened today!" She smiled just thinking about it. "What?" Her mom said, adding chocolate chips to her batter. "Remember Matt?" She questioned. "Your coworker you won't stop talking about? Yeah, I remember him." She teased. "Mom! Anyways, he asked me out on a date!" She squealed. "Really? Well that's great honey! Do you know what you'll be doing?" Y/n shook her head.

After her conversation with her mom, she headed upstairs to get ready for bed and remembered she had to text Matt.

y/n

hi! sorry for the late text, but i'm home safe and sound!

my address is 3729 Oak St

matt

sound good! i'll pick you up at 6:30, see you on saturday, dress casual!!

Saturday came quicker than usual, and Matt will be picking her up in an hour. Y/n spent about ten minutes picking a casual outfit. Her room looked like a tornado had passed by. There was shirts everywhere, pants, and shoes. Eventually she came up with something and threw it on. Since it was a bit chilly she threw on a small cardigan. She did some light makeup consisting of concealer, mascara, blush and a lip gloss. The hour soon became ten minutes.

On the way to pick up Y/n, Matt debated whether or not to buy her flowers. Would it be cheesy? He decided on getting her flowers. Matt stopped by the store and got her a small bouquet of tulips. He remembered that she had a small tattoo of a tulip on the side of her wrist. When he was outside her house. He got out of his car and walked up to her front porch to ring the doorbell. He looked around as he waited for the door to be opened and saw that there was a lot of planted flowers in their front garden.

He heard the front door unlock and slowly open. He expected to be met with Y/n, instead, he was met with a boy around ten year old. "My mom didn't order flowers, she ordered pizza." The boy said looking confused, scratching his head. Was he at the wrong house? "Oh- I- I'm not the pizza dude. I'm here for Y/n." He quickly said. "You're here for her? Like to kidnap her?" Matt giggled. "No, I came to pick her up for a date." The boy raised his eyebrows. "Oh- Y/n! There's a boy at the door!" He yelled. Seconds later, he heard Y/n coming down the stairs. "Yo, what did Mom and Dad tell you about opening the door?" Y/n's brother had a habit of opening the door for strangers, once he almost got kidnapped for it and the other, their parents for brainwashed into buying expensive cooking supplies.

"I thought it was the pizza." He said before walking away to the kitchen. "Hi, Matt. I'm sorry about him." She giggled. "It's no problem, here, these are for you." He handed her the flowers. "Thank you!" She gasped. "Here, come on in, I'll put these in water." She opened the door all the way so he could enter. He stepped foot into the house and looked around. To the left, he saw the living room with the tv on playing toy story. Passing the stairs, down the hallway the walls were filled with family pictures and pictures of Y/n and her brother.

Entering the kitchen, Y/n's brother was sitting on top of the counter eating cookies. "Would you a like a cookie?" Her brother said to Matt. "Sure." He said. He handed the container to Matt and he grabbed a cookie. Y/n smiled at the interaction. "These are good!" Matt said, mouth full of cookie. "My mom made them the day before!" They had a bit of cookies leftover from the cookout. Y/n wandered around the kitchen looking for a vase to put the flowers in.

"Okay, we can go now!" She dried her hands on the rag. "Cool, maybe we can finish our talk another day, hopefully?" Matt put his fist out so her brother can fist bump him. "Yeah! I'll show you my pokémon go collection next time. I can't use my ipad past six." He hopped off the counter and put the cookies back in the pantry. "Tell mom I left, okay? I think she's still showering."

In Matt's car, the music was lowly playing in the background while the two chatted. "So, where are we going?" Y/n asked, looking over at Matt. "Do you like Italian food?" He looks over at her. "Love." She nods. As Matt drives, they spark up a conversation.

Fifteen minutes later, Matt is pulling into a parking spot farthest away from the restaurant as the parking lot is packed. "Didn't think it was going to be so packed." He turns off the car and unbuckles his seatbelt. "I've never been here before." She says, doing the same before reaching for the door handle. "Wait!" He says. Matt opens his door, Y/n confused looks at his through the windows. She sees him get to her door and he opens it for her. "Oh, thank you, Matt." She giggles. He closes the car door and he walks next to her.

The restaurant is a few hundred feet away, Y/n grows the confidence to reach for his hand. Matt, caught off guard, looks down at their intertwined hands and smiles. "Have you been here before?" She looks up at him. "Once or twice. I came with Nick and Chris." He nods. As they get to the front door, he lets go of her hand so he can open the door and let her go in first. "Thank you!"

Getting inside, there's a couple of people in front of them. Matt stands next to Y/n and throws his arm over her shoulders and she leans into him. After a couple of minutes of waiting, they get seated at a booth. They settle in before a waiter comes to take their drink order and goes to get them. Placing their order in they start talking learning more about each other. "Is it just you and your brother or do you have more siblings?" He asks. "I have an older sister but, her and my parents aren't on good terms like at all." She says. "Her doing." She adds. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." "You have an older brother, right? I think Nick has mentioned him a couple of times." Matt nods.

During the dinner, they shared food, and talked more. By the end of the dinner they learned probably everything about each other. Walking out hand in hand, they make their way back to the car. "How good are you at bowling?" He turns the car on. "I'm the best, actually." They laugh. "I'll be the judge of that." As they get back on the road, Matt reaches over and grabs Y/n's hand and he rests their hands on the center console.

"When did you realize you liked me?" She asks him as they're stopped at a red light. "When I saw Nick training you on your first day. You?" He asked back. "Well, I always thought you were really nice when I first started. But, after I was available and started talking to you more I started to feel something for you." She plays with the rings on his fingers.

Once they get to the bowling alley, Matt pays for them after Y/n tried to pay. "I could've payed for it, Matt. You covered dinner." She said as they walked towards a bench to put the shoes on. Matt had payed for dinner and it was pretty expensive, and she felt pretty bad. "Absolutely not, I asked you out on this date." He reassures her. "Can I at least pay for the arcade passes?" She asks, and he shakes his head. "Nope!" He says popping the p and he gets up to wait for her. They choose their alley and set their names before going to choose a ball.

"I like this green one." Y/n chooses her ball. "I'll get this one." He picks up a blue with white detailing. Going back to their alley, they start the game. "You're up. Let's see if you're as good as you claim to be." Matt giggles. She grabs her ball, and swings her arm back before letting go of the ball. Matt comes up behind her and they both watch as the ball knocks down all of the pins. Matt is stunned and Y/n turns back to him with a smile. "Your turn."

Matt grabs his ball and swings his arm back and forth letting go of the ball. Y/n does the same as him and stand next to him. The ball ends up knocking down only four of the ten pins. "That was a warm up."

By the end of the game, Y/n ended up winning by fifty points more than Matt. "You were saying?" She says as they look at the scores. "Okay, you're good a this. But, we're never bowling again. You're too good." Y/n gets excited at the fact that Matt possibly sees something with her. She only laughs. "Let's take our shoes back and go to the arcade." Matt grabs both his and hers shoes and walks to the counter.

They enter the arcade, the many bright colors lighting up the room. Hand in hand, they walk towards the kiosk to get the cards. "Matt, let me pay." She says as he pick two cards worth fifty dollars. "No, let me get this for you." He says, tapping his phone to pay. "You bought me dinner and paid for the bowling now this. I haven't paid for nothing." She whines. Matt grabs the two game cards and hands her one before cupping her face. "Look, there's a photo booth over in the corner you can pay for that, okay?" He places a kiss to her forehead and she feels her face heat up. "Okay." She smiles.

"What game would you like to do first?" Matt asks. "Let's do," She looks around. "That one." She points to the two Big Bass Wheel. They both tap their cards. "Let's see who can get the most points." Matt says. At the same time, they lift the levels and push it down. Matt watches his wheel and gasps when he sees the arrow is about to stop at one thousand points. "Holy shit- fuck! That's rigged." The arrow moves and stops at four points.

"Matt! There's children around!" She laughs. "Oops!" They looks at Y/n's and sees that she got fifteen points. "You can choose the next one." She tells Matt. He grabs her hand and leads them to Ice Ball. "Oh, I love this one." She says. They tap their cards and wait for the balls to be released. Similar to the blowing movements, they throw the ball under hand and see as the balls enter a hole. At the end of the game they saw their points and Matt got more than Y/n.

After many games, they end up at the photo booth. As promised, Matt lets her pay. "Okay, ready?" She says as she fixes her hair. Matt throws his hand over Y/n. "Yeah." For the first one, they just smile. "Come here." Matt brings Y/n closer and she rests her head against him. The camera shutters and it's time for the third one. Y/n brings her hand up and holds Matt's chin and she closes her eyes. For the last one, Y/n kisses Matt's cheek and he blushes.

Matt turns his head and they look into each other eyes as they start to lean closer. Suddenly the curtain is yanked open and they lean away from each other. "Oh- sorry!" A little girl says. "You're fine." Y/n clears her throat as she gets out, Matt follows. She grabs the two strips and hands one to Matt. "Look, we both get one." She says, Matt grabs the strip from her and smiles at the pictures. He grabs his wallet from his pocket and carefully places it in there. "Anything else you want to do?" He asks. They've both decided to keep their tickets and save them for another time so they can get more. "Let's do the claw machine. I want to get you something I saw earlier." She grabs his hand and drags him to the claw machine full of stuffed animals.

"What are you aiming to get?" He asks. "That pug right there." She points. On the first try she gets it. "No way you got it first try." Matt is stunned. "I'm pretty good at these too." She crouches down to get the stuffed dog. "Here you go." She hands it to him. "Thank you. What should we name him?" He asks. "Umm, Mr.... Wrinkleton?" She giggles. "Mr. Wrinkleton it is."

Matt drives them back to her house and they talk the whole way there. "Let me walk you to your door." He turns off the car and unbuckles his seatbelt, rushing to open her door. "Thank you for everything, I had so much fun tonight." She says, looking up at him as they stand on her porch. "I had a lot of fun too. Can I take you out again next friday?" She nods. "Of course." They stare at each other a bit before Matt grabs her jaw and starts to lean in. Y/n leans in more and places her lips on his.

His lips feel soft on hers, fitting perfectly. She moves her arms to wrap around his neck and his hands move down to hold her waist. Many seconds later, Y/n pulls away breathlessly, leaning her forehead against his before leaning back to look at him. "I'll see you tomorrow at work?" She smiles. "Definitely." He replies before placing his lips back on hers for one more kiss.

"Goodnight, Y/n."

[deadhands69]

Something More [than this]

Katsuki Bakugo x gn reader

MDNI

Setting: mid-time skip, Senior Year of College. Reader did not attend UA high, just joined for university. Enemies to lovers (with a lot in between.)

part 1  -  part 2  -  part 3  -  part 4 -  part 5 -  part 6  -  part 7 - this is part 8

Half your class still looks hungover, cursing whoever decided to throw a massive party the Saturday before a busy school week. One explosive blonde looking worse than the rest of them.

Katsuki had a dumpster fire of a weekend, leading to this shitty morning. 

After being away on a trip for his side-kick work, he returned Saturday afternoon. Despite working crazy hours, he considered texting you when he had the time. He wanted to tell you about his day and ask how your day went. To get your opinion on some of the villains he'd been dealing with. Honestly, it had been so stressful he'd just be happy to hear your familiar voice. But he didn’t want to be needy. And there wasn’t anything he could offer you at a distance so he skipped it. Plus, you didn’t text him either so he figured you were busy with your own life. He could just tell you about everything later. 

This doesn’t mean he didn’t spend the whole week thinking about you.

While he didn’t usually think of anyone that much, he reasoned that it was coincidental. What are the odds of ending up somewhere where everything there reminded him of you? Must have been the location. He wondered if you’d ever been to the area, he thinks you’d like it. The villains reminded him of you too, your quirk would have worked great with his against them. Additionally, he rationalized, his body had become used to being with you every night. Not having that release was hard, especially when the last time he saw you was the best sex he's ever had. Maybe he could ask you for pictures while he was away. No, he thought, that's too big of an ask and he didn't have time or energy to touch himself anyways.

Finally, the last day arrived and he felt hopeful. It was a long one but he'd be home soon. At a small shop he patrolled by, he got you a gift. Sure, everything reminded him of you, but this especially so. And it’s something friends do while visiting other places, right? He still wasn’t sure of that but when he saw it, he knew you needed to have it. Yeah, he decided, it is what friends do.

Coming back was rough. The little sleep he got on the flight did nothing to counteract how massively wrecked his body felt. Cursing every step, he dragged himself back to his dorm -  throwing his oversized bag near the closet before stripping his clothes straight into the laundry basket and jumping in the shower. Without time to clean up before traveling, he felt disgusting all day. The water ran dark, tainted with the ash and blood he was covered in. Every cut on his body stung but it’s the closest to human he’d felt in a few days so he’ll take it. 

His friends were going to a party. They said you’d be there too. Normally, he’d pass but after a week away, it would be good to see friends (you). For a moment, he considered inviting you over to watch a movie instead and have a more low-key night but thought better of it. This was already unofficially deemed the biggest blowout of the year (on a fucking random week in February??) and he couldn’t take that away from you. Also, a bit more insecurely, what could he offer you in comparison to that? It's not like you were dating.

So, it was decided. He’d have a big dinner, change into something decent, and go. Maybe he could convince you to leave early with him.

He showed up to the lobby a minute too late to see you with your friends. That’s okay though. You would find him when he got there, the two of you would catch up, and everything would be fine. He was happy enough to walk with his own friends, sharing stories of their weeks too.

Immediately after he showed up, some extra cornered him. Spewing the same old shit everyone does when they’re trying to be flirty. Something something so brave something. His eyes glazed over while she talked; all he could think about was you. She kept leaning into him so much he had to keep his hand on her shoulder to hold her back. Feeling stuck, he wanted to blast her away from him but he was just so. Fucking. Tired. He barely entertained the conversation, saying whatever terse comments he thought would get him out of there the fastest. This exchange served no purpose. It's not like he’d take her home with him anyways. Without ever consciously acknowledging it, he has no interest in random girls anymore.

On top of being known for his explosive personality, there are other reasons it isn’t hard for him to turn someone down. Up until a few years ago, he’d never slept with (or even kissed) anyone. Seeing all of his classmates pass him in that aspect made him feel left behind. So, he fixed that. It wasn’t just about numbers either. He always wanted to be the best at everything, sex included. And how could he be the best without lots of practice? Even he knows it's arbitrary, but he still had to try. And he got good, some might even say, great at it. Regardless of that progress, there have been times he questioned what the point was in any of this. 

That is, until it was with you. 

All of his hard work finally paid off the first night he got you in his room. He loves the sounds and faces you make when he touches you. The way your fucked out face looks as soon as his dick goes in. Or how loud you are for him when you’re close. He loves the way he can have you cumming on his hand in less than a minute. Or how it feels to hold you up, your whole body falling into him when he fucks one of the smartest people he knows until they're too stupid to stand. Suddenly, it all felt worth it. Shit, he had to stop thinking about this or he was going to give himself a boner.

Back to the party.

It took him a few minutes to rid himself of her and he set off to find you. He could have sworn he saw you out of the corner of his eye earlier. When he asked your friends if they knew where you went, Raccoon Eyes said something about meeting up with Aizawa.

“Right now?” he asked, he thought you had a little crush on Eraserhead but having you over at 10pm seems weird on the professor’s part. He’s not a creep though and you're his student, maybe it was an emergency?

“Nooooo,” the pink girl slurred, trying to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder but missing completely. “Tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry Bakugo, she’s fine,” added Ears, “she left with Shinso like ten minutes ago.”

Neither of them see the flash of hurt on his face. Sure, both of your friends (and some of his) know about your arrangement but Mina is the only one holding out hope he has any amount of emotional investment in it. And even she's not so sure. So there wouldn't be reason for them to specify if they don't assume he cares.

“Oh, that freak? And you let this happen? You've gotta be fucking kidding me,” he says, before walking away from the conversation.

He knows you’re just friends. 

Of course he knows that. Neither of you want more than that, right? But he still thought he was your first option. That you’d never leave the party with someone else if he was there. His contact pic in your phone is the two of you cuddled up on the kitchen floor, he figured he has to mean something to you. Besides, it’s rude to ditch your friends after they leave for a week. That has to be the pain he’s feeling, you left him there without saying anything. Why else would everything hurt so bad?

He bailed on the party after that. In retrospect, he knows your friends would probably tell you about how he yelled at them about you leaving with another guy and it wouldn't be a good look, but he couldn't be bothered to care. With any luck, they're used to it and it would never come up again. And he'd never have to explain himself. That wasn't the concern right now though. 

Katsuki slept like shit that night, tossing and turning. He couldn’t get the image of you with that purple haired freak out of his mind. His hands all over your body. His mouth. His -

Fuck. 

Theoretically, he could go over there. You all live in the same building, he vaguely knows the which room it is. While you probably wouldn't be as loud with that asshole as you are with him, surly he'd still hear something. Katsuki fantasizes about kicking his door down and smashing his face in. It would be easy, he'd just have to keep his mouth shut. And then...you'd thank him for being so amazing and coming to your rescue? No, you'd call him a cockblock, get him expelled, and never talk to him again.

So, sitting with his feelings it is.

He tells himself it’s a platonic thing. That he’s worried about you, his friend who went home with someone he doesn’t trust. And he’s upset because you, his friend, left before saying hi after you hadn’t seen him for a week. That’s a valid reason to be upset, to want to check on you. But rationalizing doesn't help. And the nagging feeling in his gut chases him into the next day.

All day Sunday, he doesn’t leave his room. Playing video games, trying as hard as possible to not think about anything but farming runes and annihilating bosses. 

But he can’t.

And you don’t text.

One more sleepless night while he lays confused as to how friendship problems can hurt so much when he's never felt like this before. Was it unreasonable to assume it would always be the two of you continuing like that forever? He doesn't think so. Before he knew it, the alarm clock over his bed read 6:45 - he might as well get up at this point. 

He makes breakfast (that he barely eats) and throws his hero costume on to head over to Ground Beta. 

Today’s the day your project ends. The written portion having been turned in a while ago, now it’s a competition between all of the teams to see who’s the last to get eliminated. It’s bittersweet, he thinks. What if your friendship was only for the duration of the project? No, he can't let that happen. Even if you have been ignoring him all weekend.

Seeing you in the training area, he doesn't miss the nods between you and purple hair as he joins you to walk to your designated start point. A surge of anger shoots through him. Deep breath, he reminds himself. Time to play it cool.

“Hey, you didn’t talk to me Saturday and you left with him,” he nearly yells, gesturing vaguely towards Shinso who is glaring at him.

“Oh,” you look slightly confused, “he walked me home when you- when I didn’t wanna be there.”

“So you didn’t…” he trails off, feeling like an idiot for asking.

“What would it matter to you? You don’t do relationship shit, right?” your voice is venomous, but the content of what you're saying shouldn't be unexpected. 

Katsuki stepped back, unsure of why your words make him feel like you just punched him in the chest.

“READY? GO!” Present Mic’s voice echoes through the building.

Your turn now.

The competition starts and you’re at a loss of what to do. The boy you’d been working with all term, now standing listlessly in front of you. Earlier, you thought you said what he’d want to hear but now, seeing the tears welling in his big red eyes, you’re not so sure.

He looks rough. Beautiful as ever, but a bit more pale with his apparent lack of sleep etched into the bags under his eyes. You'd probably look the same if Shinso hadn't used his quirk to make you sleep the past two nights (still nothing going on there, he just uncomfortable seeing you cry then hearing what happened from Jiro. He felt bad, wanting to help more, but it was the most anyone could do for you all weekend.)

Bakugo is still frozen in front of you, swaying slightly.

“Katsuki, are you-”

Okay? 

You meant to say ‘okay’, but instead find yourself jumping forward to block him with your quirk while Tsuyu and Kaminari came in to attack. The latter, expelling a bit too much electricity that was all quickly reflected back at them both, rendering Tsuyu unconscious and Kaminari dazed by the overuse of his quirk. Neither you nor your teammate take any damage. Looks like the one training session with Aizawa yesterday went a long way.

“FROPPY AND CHARGEBOLT ARE BOTH ELIMINATED!” Present Mic announces. ("yayyyy," yells Kaminari.)

Your attention turns back to Bakugo, who you’d knocked onto the ground with you in the scuffle. After the weekend you had, you want nothing more than to leave him alone but you can’t help but care a little when he looks like he’s about to cry or pass out from exhaustion.

The moment Bakugo raises his head and sees that you had blocked him from the attack, his tired eyes widen and his jaw drops. Realization hits him like a dump truck. Every oddly stacked excuse in his brain slides into the right place and everything makes sense now. 

“Oh, fuck,” he mumbles, pulling his hands to his face while continuing to stare at you.

What is happening? You don't have time to think about it, more of your classmates are approaching.

By some miracle, the competition went okay considering the circumstances. Somehow, you scrambled into third place, after your teammate snapped out of his coma. He never did explain himself though, instead grabbing you by the arm and pulling you out of Ground Beta as soon as you were both eliminated. 

“Where are we going?” you ask. He remains silent.

He must be pissed at you for something, you think as he marches you up the stairs towards his room. Honestly, you’re not in the mood to deal with it - he lost that courtesy over the weekend. Considering pulling away, you tug your wrist from his grasp causing him to turn towards you for the first time since dragging you out of Ground Beta. Much to your surprise, he’s not angry -  he looks terrified.

“Did you get hit by a quirk or something?” his tongue-tied state becoming concerning.

He simply shakes his head, pulling you into his dorm and pushing you onto the bed. This is the last place you want to be after everything that's happened.

“Sit here for a sec,” he finally speaks, rummaging through his still fully packed bag. 

“Here,” he tosses something small at you before moving to sit on the floor by your legs.

An Eraserhead keychain, it's nearly impossible to find merchandise for him. This would be a really amazing gift if you didn’t think the man giving it was just doing so to tease you.

“How many times do I have to tell you, I don’t have a crush on our teacher-”

“No, it’s not that,” he continues, ”the hero you wanted to be doesn’t usually do merch so it- it reminded me of you,” he looks up at you, his flushed cheeks finally adding some color to his face. Seeing that you’re still listening, he tries to keep his voice even, “then everything reminded me of you. I thought it was just the place or the villains but the more I think about it, everything always reminds me of you. I think about you constantly.”

Now you’re the one left speechless. 

No response isn't a rejection so he continues, “I don't think I can just be your friend anymore. I need - I need something more than this.”

You ponder for a moment, this conversation doesn't seem possible. Maybe it's a dream? No, hitting your ass falling on the floor earlier hurt too much for you to be asleep. This is definitely happening.

“Are you sure you can do that?" you ask, "what about the girl from the other night-”

“There is no other girl," he sounds exasperated. "There hasn’t been for a while. You see me every fucking night, you know that,” his eyes plead for you to believe him.

Weirdly, you do.

“Oh. at the party I saw you with someone. I thought-”

“You thought I was with someone else and you left with purple hair?”

“He walked me home. That’s it. I was-” he’s been honest with you so you take a deep breath before sharing your side of the story, “I was really fucked up when I thought you were hitting on someone else. I know I shouldn’t have felt that way in our situation. But I did. I like you a lot more than I was supposed to. And I thought you didn’t feel the same.”

“Me too,” he adds, "does this mean...?"

"Yeah."

The two of you sit in silence, taking time to process everything that's happened. Your now boyfriend smirks, still looking awkward (in the most adorable way.) Pressing-up from the floor, he moves to the bed next to you and wraps an arm around your back.

“We’re really bad at this,” you joke (it’s not a joke.)

“We’ll get better,” he smiles, moving in to kiss you like he's wanted to all week.

For the first time in a month, the kiss doesn’t lead to anything sexual. The two of you are both exhausted and don't need any excuse to be close, you can just be now. He draws the blackout curtains in his room and you both change into some of his old All Might shirts before crawling into bed. Running your hands through his soft hair, you kiss him slowly.

"I think about you all the time too, you know," you whisper. He smiles and pecks your forehead, holding you as you doze off. Everything about him feels safe and warm. You've never been so comfortable.

Katsuki lets his mind wander while he drifts off to sleep.

It’ll be hard learning how to be the best boyfriend. He’s excited for the challenge though. He’ll get good at it because it’s what you deserve. 

You stir and he pulls you closer. He's never seen anything as beautiful as you in his shirt, dreaming as you snuggle into his chest.

Yeah, he’ll definitely be great at this. And he’ll spend the rest of his life trying to be better and better for you.

If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading this!! It got pretty angsty there for a bit so here's some extra fluff smut:

Bonus Epilogue

m.list

Taglist: @anonymity-222 @k1tk4tkatsuki @arsonfrogger @dragonscribble @kalulakunundrum

@screaming-dough @rikislove @gold24fish @ita606 @arc6021

@pikachuzhc @jeanbabygirl @nemisimp

[essentiallyleaf]

day 12. praise kink. with. choerry.

944 words.

tags.

kinktober ‘23, idol x female reader, praise kink, pet names, public masturbation, oral sex, squirting, welcome to fluff central.

notes.

just trying something out. a permanent state of being at this point. exploratively, leaf.

It was the first time she tried ice skating, that day. A regular Saturday morning at the mall, wearing layers upon layers just to end up feeling way too hot. As regular as any day spent with Yerim can be. Her favorite part was when she was holding onto the barrier for dear life, but you managed to push her off of it a handful of times. Anytime you did, you helped her precarious balance by guiding her with your hands in hers, or on her waist. That was your favorite part.

“So, how was it? Did you like it?”

“I fell fourteen times, dude! I managed to fall as I was reaching for the cup of coffee you were giving me, and I was standing still! What do you think?” She said while laughing enthusiastically.

She didn’t like it at all, and she had the time of her life.

“I think you did great”

-

“How about you take me on a real date?”

“A what?”

“You know what they say about Paris…”

“That for each person there’s two rats?”

“That it’s the city of- wait, WHAT?”

She dragged you to a terrace bar in Montmartre, the sun was just setting, blues and oranges meeting on the roofs from the Sacré-Cœur down to the Louvre, giving the city a slightly wistful aura (it was hella expensive, but what isn’t, there? Plus, you’re okay splurging, if it’s for Yerim). It wasn’t sad, it was just cool, and dreamy. It was romantic. A postcard-worthy place to share your first kiss. It wasn’t for your first, but for your fourth that she asked a local to take a picture of it. It felt very awkward, both of you were laughing the whole time.

“Sorry if I taste like alcohol”

She usually doesn’t drink, so she felt really self-conscious about it. You found that endearing. The flavor had a deep cerise, leaning purple tint and resembled some kind of fruit, you couldn’t really pinpoint which.

“You taste like heaven”

-

You went to the lake together for a weekend trip in April. You convinced her to go on a hike on the first day (“You said there wouldn’t be any scary cliffs!” “Come on, it’s barely even a drop, you can do it! Just take my hand!” “You ugly liar!” “I am only one of those two, and you know which”; she always falls for stupid flirty lines like that), she was so tired at the end of it, so she decided that both of you would spend the next day relaxing. Relaxing ended up meaning hiding behind a large tree near the hotel and raising her cute white long flowery dress to her waist for you to finger her while your tongues met.

“You can stay silent while we do this, right?”

“Uhm…”

“Want a hand?”

“Yes, please…”

You put your other hand on her mouth and started sucking down her clavicle to her cleavage as you picked up the pace. She kept whimpering the whole time and even let a high pitched scream into your palm as she came. In the (very real) event that someone heard her, at least they had the decency to not show that.

“You did amazing, baby”

She really didn’t. Old couples kept looking sideways at the two of you for the rest of the day, and you had the feeling it wasn’t just because you were a lesbian couple in the conservative countryside. But you know she needed to hear that.

-

She likes putting make-up on even when she’s staying home; she says she finds it fun, at some point both of you silently acknowledged that she also just wants to look good for you. And God, does she look beautiful with that exaggerated orange-pink blush on her cheeks. Or, actually, maybe it was just the wine that gave her face that amazing glow. You couldn’t really tell, you also had your fair share of glasses. You also don’t remember much of what happened before that sexy blush-tinted face found itself between your legs and was hit by a couple of little squirts as Yerim brought you to orgasm only using her tongue. What you do remember, is that all you wanted after that was to reciprocate the favor.

“Thank you, thank you so much, baby,” you panted out. “So good for me, that was so good”

“Hehe~”

The time of her life. This time though, with that slutty make-up, girl cum dripping from her features, it looked lewd.

“Now just lay back on the couch and stay still, honey, you don’t have to do anything else, okay?”

“Okayy~”

“Nice and cozy, just be my good girl and relax, yeah?”

She could only moan back as soon as you started eating her out. You couldn’t just give up on talking altogether though, so you compensated for the lack of oral stimulation with your fingers anytime you detached your lips from her core.

“Are you close, sunshine?”

Her adorable little whiny noises answered for her.

“Then I need you to do one thing for me, hm? Just one thing. I need you to let it go and cum for me, don’t restrain, sweetie”

When she cums, it’s a hurricane. Of spasms, screams, and sprays of transparent liquid coming your way.

“Yes, baby, so good. Let it all out, my baby cherry.” That’s what she tasted like. “My perfect baby cherry. Come here”

You surrounded her in a warm embrace and covered the two of you with her oversized zip-up hoodie. As you kissed her blushed cheek, Yerim looked like she was already asleep.

“You did awesome, cherry girl. You are so perfect”

-

footnotes.

sorry for bad dialogue. cheesily, leaf.

[mewhenimanangel]

old friend ౨ৎ eren jaeger

pairing: eren jaeger x reader

synopsis: you knew eren for most of your life - your mom having been friends with his for so many years. he was your best friend and you were his. until you weren’t

wc: 3.8k

content!: friends to lovers, swearing, smut, oral sex, piv, fluff

you knew eren for most of your life - your mom having been friends with his for so many years. so naturally as kids, you hung out all the time. play dates, sleepovers, baths, you went everywhere together. he was your best friend and you were his.

when you entered your adolescence, you grew apart a bit and began leading different lives and make different friends. when you got your first boyfriend, it sparked the first ever real argument between you and eren. he claimed you were leaving him in the dust but it was plain and clear that it was simply jealousy. you were still friends you just had different priorities, eventually eren was starring in a new tv show where he acted as the main character so you saw him less and less. it's not like he forgot about you but now he was thrown into the limelight and things changed.

during college, that's when things really dried out. you still had his number, both of you sending the occasional holiday greetings and birthday wishes. you attended and graduated from university, now landed a job in fashion pr. you had an apartment, nothing too crazy and a little on the smaller side but it was only you living there and it was decorated completely to your liking so you barely had any qualms.

it was saturday night and your friend, dayana, invited you to a bar down town. convincing you it would be fun and bribing you with a ride there, you agreed. you hopped out of the shower to moisturize your body before moving onto your makeup.

you got dressed into a black off shoulder top with a pair of bootcut jeans and black kitten heels. you got your purse and utilities, put them into your handbag and left your house. dayana was downstairs waiting in her car, cigarette in hand when she looked up to see you coming. she smiled and unlocked the doors to let you in the passenger seat.

"hey boo, you ready?" she asked, leaning over to give you a hug. "yeah let's go" you smiled, turning on your joint playlist.

you met dayana when she was your roommate in college and instantly connected. without her college would have sucked for you. you'd spent almost everyday together and did almost everything together, making the best memories. she always dragged you along to whatever function was going on. even though you would be skeptical you always had a great time. you'd led each other to make some not great choices but what's life if not making mistakes to learn from. you also led each other to a life of greatness and abundance, so there was a good balance.

you two were singing and chatting the whole way there, which took longer than necessary - thanks to la traffic. you unbuckled your seatbelt and got out of the car when dayana went to the bouncer to get the both of you in the building.

you got in and head straight for a seat in the corner. you got on the high chairs and ordered a plate of nachos and fries to share. you ordered a tray of mimosas and dayana ordered a few shots of pink whitney. "ugh i needed this" you sighed with a playful smile on your face that made dayana giggle.

you spent the night laughing and talking about your lives as if you don't update each other everyday. you were on your fifth drink, luckily the food helped you not feel the drunk as much. "oh my god, okay don't look now but that guy over there is staring so fucking hard at you" you leaned over to whisper to her. disregarding your instructions she whipped her head in the direction you spoke of and caught the guy's eye. he shot a smile her way and she sent a small wave before turning back to you.

"okay you literally don't listen" you giggled. "is he still looking?" she asked. you sent a subtle look over to him and he was still looking back at her. "yeah. he's cute you should go talk to him" you told her. "aw but i don't want to leave you alone" she frowned holding your hand. "no it's okay. plus he is really fine, better take your ass over there before i do" you joked. she rolled her eyes fondly and got down to straighten out her skirt. "i'll let you know how it goes" she smiled before grabbing her drink and walking over to his table.

you grabbed your own and walked over to the bar to order more. "hey, can i get a shot of bloody mary" you told the bartender, before sipping on your almost done drink. he shortly after pushed the drink in front of you and you tilted your head back slightly to gulp it down. "can i get another one? thank you" you smiled.

you went on your phone for a bit before you heard your name being called. you looked over your shoulder to see eren - his hair was cut and slightly curly in the right places, he wore a plain black shirt under a black carhartt jacket with jeans that were a little baggy and adidas. "oh my gosh, hii" you smiled, getting up to give him a hug. he gladly returned it engulfing your body in a bear hug, arms around your torso.

"what are you doing here?" he asked, sitting down with you. "oh i'm here with my friend dayana" you pointed in the direction of the blonde now very obviously flirting with the man from before. "oh cool cool. well how you been? its been forever" he asked. "um i've been pretty good. i have a nice job and i got a cute little apartment in westwood" you told him. "alright nice, m'happy for you" he nudged your shoulder.

he waved the bartender over to order a jagerbomb. "you still drink those?" you furrowed your eyebrows at the memory of him getting blackout drunk from those when you were teenagers. "duh, they're good. plus they're literally named after me." "yeah i don't think so" you giggled. and he smiled, the smile you haven't seen in person in a few years the smile that you missed so dearly. "so what's been up with you? i finished attack on titan by the way" you said.

"really? what'd you think?" he asked, getting excited. "oh my god so good, i literally sobbed at the ending like oh my god" you put your hand to your chest. "right? i cried reading the script" he chuckled. "anyways i've been alright, doing stuff here and there you know. after we wrapped i've been on a bit of a break" he told you. "yeah well you're still everywhere on my feed" you joked. "yeah? do i at least look good" he asked. "great" you laughed.

"so, are you seeing anybody?" he asked, taking a shot. "not really, just sex and whatever. nothing serious" you answered. he nod his head and now it was your turn to ask. "what about you? what's been going on with you and salem?" you asked, referring to the headlines you'd read about him 'spotted' with a model. "nothing actually, just publicity. she's not really my type. but since we were in that shoot together, managers thought it'd be good" he told you. you nod your head.

"mm cool" you smiled and he gave you a look you couldn't decipher. you felt a tap on your shoulder and looked to see dayana with the guy on her arm. "think i'm gonna head out" she gave you a teasing smirk. "will you be okay here?" she asked. you looked over at eren before answering "uh yeah, just catching up. this is eren by the way" you introduced him. "hi, i'm dayana" she smiled. "anyways i've got to go. y/n can you close the tab for me, i'll pay back tomorrow" she asked. "yeah. stay safe, have fun" you winked at her. "oh girl i will" she smirked, walking away with her guy.

"she seems nice" he smiled at you. "she is. i love her" you sipped on your drink. "oh by the way i can drop you home. or you can come back to my house if you want." he offered. you thought it over for a second before answering "yeah, that sounds nice." you smiled.

you talked more at the bar before deciding it was enough alcohol if eren was to be driving home. you closed the tab and handed the bar tender your credit card before getting up with eren. "won't your friends or whoever miss you?" you asked him. "no they're good. come on, car's down this way" he said, grabbing your hand. he led you down the road to a black bmw parked by the sidewalk.

you got in the passenger seat and he drove in the direction of his house. it was a gorgeous two story house with even more gorgeous landscaping. "armin lives here too, that's why the lawn looks so nice" he unbuckled his seatbelt. "yeah cause i knew damn well that could not be under your care" you laughed. "alright not too much"

he pulled out his keys and opened the front door that led into the living room. it was furnished with a large white sofa and a matching arm chair by the window, round wooden coffee table in the middle of the room. you looked around more at the decor before following eren into the kitchen. "it is so nice here oh my god. where's armin? i wanna say hi" you said. "oh he's not here right now, he's in greece with his dad" he told you. "oh that's so cool, i'd love to go to greece" you said, before opening your phone to text dayana where you were.

"do you want anything?" he asked, opening the fridge. "um just some water, had a little too much tonight it's catching up to me" you laughed. he grabbed a cold water bottle from the fridge and put it down in front of you. "you hungry or anything? want a cookie?" he asked opening the container that was filled with chocolate chip cookies. you grabbed one and took a bite "mmm did you make these?" you asked him. "nah they're from the grocery store. but armin makes me put them in that container so it looks nicer in the kitchen. he's a real bitch about his aesthetics" he laughed, making you laugh.

he sat down next to you and took a sip from the water he gave you. "i missed you, by the way" you whispered. "i missed you too like a lot. i should've reached out more just been busy." he said. "no it's okay, phone works both ways you know." you nudged his shoulder. neither of you said anything for a while, relishing in the comfortable silence. "remember when we got into a huge fight because of isaiah" you brought up with a giggle. "ugh how could i forget, fucking hated that guy." he scoffed.

"yeah and you were right to" you sighed, remembering the turmoil he'd put you through in junior year. "always am" he shrugged. "i had a little crush on you actually, that's why i was so upset" he admitted with a laugh to brush it off. your head snapped toward him. "really??" you asked, finishing the cookie he gave you. "yeah i thought that was obvious, felt pretty obvious to me" you nod your head. "i think i had a crush on you too, like afterwards. but then you know we drifted apart and whatever" you shrugged.

"hmm well, back together now" he smiled, taking a sip. "yeah guess we are." you smiled back. "do you still like me?" he asked out of nowhere. suddenly you got all awkward and shy, it was showing by the way you twisted your face. "i don't know" you giggled. "i do." he said. you now turned to look him in the face to see if he was playing around or not but he looked serious.

"are you joking?" you furrowed your eyebrows. "i'm not, i'm serious. you don't even know how bad i've missed you." he pushed a curl out of your face. "then why didn't you say anything" you sighed. "i thought you got tired of me." he was rubbing his thumb along your jaw, not breaking eye contact. "i could never, i thought you got tired of me"

"never" he chuckled. you stayed like that for a moment before he asked "can i kiss you?" you nod your head and leaned in to press your lips against his in a needy kiss, arms immediately around his neck. "wait, are you still drunk?" he pulled away. "sober enough to know i want this" you answered finding his mouth again. he pulled you onto his lap, soft hands rubbing against your thighs. "god i can't believe we've never done this" he said. "then let's make up for lost time" you smirked, moving to kiss on his neck.

he let out a soft groan feeling your soft lips on the skin of his neck. you pushed your hand up underneath his shirt, rubbing a hand over his toned abs. you could feel him getting hard underneath you and whined your hips across his lap, the friction of your jeans rubbing on your crotch turned you on. "fuck okay we're not doing this here" he sighed, getting up from underneath you. you furrowed your eyebrows before he picked you up high in his arms and spun in the direction of the stairs making you giggle.

he moved up the stairs at he pressed kisses along your exposed shoulders. he opened a door to what you assumed was his room and moved to rest you on the bed. he leaned down to turn on his lamp and threw off his jacket. you kicked off your heels and got on your knees to crawl to the edge of the bed.

you reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it up, ogling his abs and v-line that led down to his dick hidden under his boxers. "you got so muscly" you said, feeling him up. "had to" he smirked.

he kissed you again, now rushed and sloppy, gripping the skin of your ass. he laid you back down on the bed, hovering over you. he let go slowly biting your swollen lips before he lined kisses down your neck, sucking and leaving bruises along your collarbone and the top of your breasts. he reveled in the soft moans he managed to get out of you, sounding so angelic.

he lifted your shirt off you staring at your bare tits. he brushed over your nipple with the pads of his thumb, squeezing it. he put a nipple in his mouth, sucking and licking on it while his hand groped at its twin. you squirmed around letting out soft moans of pleasure. "you like getting your tits played with?" he smirked. you bit your lips and nod your head.

he got on his knees off you and and unbuttoned your jeans, tugging them down, lifting your hips to help him. "is it alright if i touch you here, princess" he asked, resting a thumb on your mons. "mhm" you mumbled with a smile.

through your panties, he pressed his thumb on your clit drawing out small whimpers from you. he moved his fingers down your clothed slit, cocky smirk on his face "jesus baby these are soaked" he chuckled. "eren please" you whimpered. "please what? tell me what you want" he continued rubbing you through your panties. "want you to go down on me" you whispered. he hooked his fingers through the waistband and tugged them down. suddenly shy, you squeezed your legs together to cover yourself.

"don't hide from me, you're fucking gorgeous" he got down between your legs, resting them on his shoulders, lining kisses down them. he stopped just before your entrance, sucking on your thighs leaving marks. he sucked and licked on your clit like he hadn't eaten in days, he was sloppy with it but still mindful making sure you came.

he worked his tongue over your slit while continuing to suck on your folds. "eren! oh my god" you cried out, closing your eyes and looking away. "ah-ah look at me baby" he whispered. you followed his instructions but the eye contact and the stimulation was sending you over the edge. he pinched the skin on your ass to get you to look back at him.

"fuck ren im so close!" you whined. he just continued working his tongue over you while your rode your hips against his face and tangled your hand through his hair. you felt the familiar sensation in your lower body that let you know you were about to cum.

seconds later you were sighing in relief as eren lapped up every last drop from your cunt. "you still good, baby?" he asked, pushing his middle and ring finger past your folds, reaching further than yours ever could. "so good" you whined. he curled them inside you, rubbing against your walls, hitting the perfect spots inside you.

"god you're fingers feel so good" you moaned. "i'm gonna cum again, eren. mmm feels so good" you whimpered. "cum on these fingers baby" he leaned down and kissed you, tongue immediately in your mouth. you bit his lip feeling yourself reach climax and moaned into his mouth as your cum pooled around his fingers. he leaned up to suck your essence off him before pulling his jeans off and grabbing a condom from his nightstand.

he eased his boxers down off his hips and dick sprung out from the waistband. it looked about seven inches, tip the same pink as his lips and cut. he pushed the condom down his length and hovered on top of you, your arms finding their place around his neck bringing him closer. he lined his tip up with your hole and gently pushed himself inside you. he was stretching you out so good, the pain mixed with the pleasure was driving you crazy.

he was taking his time but you needed more "ren, fuck me harder please" you groaned. he followed orders and spread your legs further, pushing himself deeper inside you. he moved at a faster pace, hands squeezing tightly around your hips. "god y/n you're milking me dry" he whimpered. his dick hit your g spot so right you weren't sure how much longer you would last. when he put his hand on your tit, squeezing and tugging at your nipple your chest arched into his hand.

he moved his thumb to your sensitive clit rubbing slow circles over it, making you jump. "oh my god!" you wailed. "that my new name, princess? i like it" he said with a cocky grin on his face.

"you can give me another one right baby?" he asked, increasing the speed on your clit while he dug his hips into you. you only whined in response, quieting a moan. "don't. i wanna hear you" he moved your hand from over your mouth. "ren fuck i'm gonna cum, i'm so fucking close" "go ahead baby" was all he said and for the third time that time you came, face hot and chest heaving.

"good girl, knew you could give me one more" he leaned down to kiss your forehead before he felt himself close too. he continued pumping inside you, until he whimpered and groaned not breaking eye contact with you as he came too.

he flopped down in the bed next to you with a grin on his face. he reached a hand out to your cheek bringing you in for a gentle kiss. your legs entangled each other's and his arms wrapped around you bringing you closer as if to completely morph into you. "you okay?" he asked, rubbing a thumb over your cheek.

"yeah i'm okay" you smiled. "i'll be right back" he told you. he got up and pulled the condom off to throw it away before he put his boxers on and went out the room.

you heard his footsteps descend down the stairs before he came back with two glasses of water. you sat up in the bed and he handed you a cup. "thanks ren" you smiled, gulping it down.

he left the room again and went down the hallway. you heard water running for a bit before he came back into the room with a silly smile on his face. "what?" you furrowed your eyebrows. he didn't say anything he just picked your bare body up in his arms and carried you down the hall into his bathroom.

he had drawn a bath for you, lit with candles. "thanks to armin and his self care sundays i have these prepared" he said, arms secure around you. "this is so cute" you giggled before peppering his face in kisses.

he let you down and you slowly stepped in sinking into the bubbles. he leaned back on the counter and just watched you. "you're not getting in?" you asked him. "don't wanna disturb you" he shrugged. "it's your bath tub" you said back. "it's your bath" he retorted. "just get in the tub dummy" you rolled your eyes fondly.

he chuckled and pulled off his boxers throwing them into the hamper in the corner. you moved your knees up to your chest to make room for him in the tub as he eased in, sloshing the soap around. "m'getting flashbacks from when we were little. feel like my mom is about to yell at me for splashing" you joked.

you stayed in the tub giving each other full and detailed updates on how your lives have been since you were close. you stayed so long the bath began to run cold and that was your sign to wash up and get out.

eren stepped out of the tub and wrapped his towel around his waist before going to the closet to get a spare towel for you. you picked up your phone to see the time read 12:43 am. "hey um it's getting late, think i could get that ride home now?" you asked. "oh...i was thinking you could just stay here. i mean- i mean if you want."

you were having a good time and weren't ready to go home anyways so you agreed. he gave you one of his shirts and a pair of clean boxers to wear to bed before getting dressed himself. "are you sure though, don't wanna rob you of your bed" you hesitated. "plenty of room, now come here." he plopped down on the bed, beckoning you over.

you got under his comforters sneaking closer to him. he threw his arm over your waist and pulled you closer to him. "i'm so glad i ran into you tonight" he said, so close you could feel his breathing on your forehead. "yeah me too" you looked up. you entangled your legs between his, eyelids growing heavy. "i really don't want you out of my life again" he whispered, caressing your waist underneath his shirt.

[gabessquishytum]

Dream has a favorite restaurant. That's not because the food is sooo good, Dream has food issues and prefers restaurants (one restaurant) that has a static menu, where he's assured that things will taste as he expects.

His sisters (& and even Desire) forced him to find a place where he could get at least 2 meals a week, that he didn’t have to cook for himself,,,,, since he can't cook and they were all worried he would die of malnutrition! 😝 They went around to all the eateries in his neighborhood and found this small diner that had the most things on their menu Dream could eat.

Dream didn’t know his diner hired a new chef. The only way he learned of it was that his standing Tuesday order, tasted different?!? The texture was the same, so Dream could still eat it, but the flavor in his first bite was different, unexpected, good enough to try a 2nd bite..... Dream has never eaten a meal as quickly, chasing the new flavor. It was really good. Dream had never.......it had to be a fluke. The same thing happened with his standing Thursday order and when he ordered something on Saturday. It was the most extraordinary thing. "Flavor," interesting, delicious, flavor had never been something Dream thought he would get to have. The new chef is amazing.

Hob loves his new job! He's finally cooking for a restaurant, not just prepping pieces; it's a small diner, but Hob gets to cook and zhuzh up some of the plainer offerings -- not too much, because he knows that diners have regulars who like what they like,,,,but he's gotten some good feedback on the spicing up of things.

And one of the other best things about the job is the tall, goth, eye candy that seems to frequent the diner every few days. Hob isn't sure what exactly he orders (and Hob hopes he likes Hob's cooking) but lately he seems to be coming in more ?!? ☺️ He's soo pretty Hob wants to offer to cook for him forever!

Cute cute cute!!!!

Hob takes great joy in cooking for everyone, but there's something rather special about Dream. Perhaps it's the fact that he always looks at the food in a critical, suspicious sort of way before he eats. Its incredibly endearing and Hob loves watching him through the glass door of the kitchen. Dream does seem to enjoy the food, but he never quite trusts it. Hob respects that about him. Especially when the recipe is one of Hob’s jazzed up classics.

They happen to meet while Hob is taking a delivery of local fruits and veggies. Dream summons up the courage to approach and talk to him about some of the ingredients - they spend about 10 minutes chatting while Hob enthuses about asparagus and Dream nods along, smiling the whole time. Dream reveals that he is a completely incompetent cook and that he's basically living off Hob’s food at this point, both at the diner and the leftovers that he brings home. Hob is thrilled - although slightly panicked because what if he can't come into work and Dream starves?!

Obviously he needs to drag Dream into the kitchen after hours, and at LEAST show him how to boil an egg. He's convinced that Dream is going to look adorable in an apron... maybe also covered in ingredients... that Hob can lick off him 👀

[e-dubbc11]

Hot neighbor Rumlow that you see in his yard like this one day. That's it. That's the ask 🥵💦

My lovely Lily,

You have so many great ideas roaming around inside that brain of yours and I love that you share those ideas with me and trust me to bring those ideas to life. So you wanted neighbor Rumlow? Here he is! I really hope you like it and thank you for always sending things/ideas to my inbox and for just being such a good friend ♥️♥️♥️

Hey, Neighbor

Photos are not mine. They are courtesy of Pinterest/Google.

Pairing: Brock Rumlow x F! Reader

Warnings: None, really. A couple of swear words, fluff, some smooches, mentions of infidelity and divorce.

Word Count: 3.7K-ish

Summary: You’re newly single and start looking at your neighbor differently.

A/N: I don’t really have much else to say that I didn’t say above. Brock is fun to write for and even though she hasn’t read it yet, Lily said she’s already game for a part 2 🤣 I hope you like it!

As always, thank you for reading!  I appreciate it so much and comments, reblogs are welcome and encouraged. Don’t be shy to tell me your favorite part. 💕💕 💕

The early morning sun peeked through the very small opening in between your bedroom curtains. The warm rays beamed into your room, directly onto the foot of your bed where your dog, Beast, was sleeping peacefully.

It was Saturday and he seemed quite content that he also did not have to wake up early this morning however your internal clock never let you sleep in too much. Waking up with the sun was a lot better than being jolted awake by an alarm while it was still dark outside though so you reveled in the restful sleep you had last night.

You rolled over to look at your clock. It was 7:00 AM, birds were happily chirping outside your window, and you couldn’t wait to get up to do…nothing. It had been over a month since you had a free weekend and all you wanted to do today was relax, maybe start the new book you just bought, or just do whatever you felt like doing.

The house was quiet.

Since you finalized your divorce eight months ago, it had been very quiet but most of the time you didn’t mind. You thought maybe there was something wrong with you because you didn’t really have a problem being alone, sure there were times where you were lonely but you still didn’t mind being alone…maybe you actually preferred it.

You didn’t have any children so the divorce was quick and easy, he let you keep the house because he was moving in with his girlfriend, the one he was seeing while still married to you.

Yeah, that felt like a punch to the stomach. How could you not see it coming? Were you that blind? You thought you were happy together but it was all a lie, a lie that had dragged on for the past two years. It was humiliating and you felt like everyone knew he had been cheating on you except for you.

Even though they weren’t, you felt like everywhere you went people were looking at you, talking about you, and feeling sorry for you. But you were better off without him and you had everything you wanted right now.

You lived in a nice house, had a good job, friends, family, and your dog. What else did you need right now?

Coffee…coffee is what you needed.

“C’mon Beast…time to go outside, buddy. Let’s go.” You said, patting him on the head as he blinked his eyes and yawned, showing you all of his teeth.

After your divorce, you went to a local shelter because you wanted a dog for protection and companionship as you were now alone in your house.

When you walked in to where all of the kennels were, at first none of them felt like “the one” but as you moved toward the end of the rows of kennels, a young gray and white pitbull pushed his nose through the hole in the cage door and started wagging his tail, aggressively. Whimpering, he licked your fingers when you held them up to the kennel, he was such a sweet boy.

“What’s his story?” You had asked the employee.

“Not much to tell really, this guy has had a couple of homes but each owner said they didn’t really have the space for bigger dog like him and couldn’t give him the attention he needs.” They replied.

You had a decent size home and nice big yard for him to run around in so the decision was made that he was coming home with you and Beast smiled for the entire ride to his new home.

He did his little happy dance with his front paws before you opened the door and as soon as you opened it, he took off running for the very back of the yard where he did his business. As he sprinted back toward you, he stopped quickly in the middle of the yard to bring you his ball that he loved for you to throw for him.

The air was still slightly chilly as it brushed against your exposed skin. Your sleep clothes left little to the imagination, maybe you were still not fully awake yet, but you looked down and realized you were out in the middle of the yard in a thin strap tank top and shorts, with no bra on which of course is when your neighbor stepped outside to get onto his motorcycle.

You didn’t know what he did for a living but he was always out until crazy hours of the night or going in on weekends. You didn’t think he was a doctor; his wardrobe didn’t exactly scream “healthcare professional” but anything is possible. Dressed in all black wearing combat boots, he walked out of his side door with a scowl on his face and a furrowed brow.

His side door faced your yard and he actually did a double take when he saw you standing in the yard, half naked, playing with Beast so you gave him a little wave and a slight smile. He seemed a little flustered and quickly waved back but in an awkward manner.

His name was Brock Rumlow and had just come home from work the day you were moving into your house so he introduced himself to you and your then husband.

At the time, you didn’t really pay that much attention to what he looked like but now that you were single, you had noticed that Brock was quite handsome in a grouchy, angry sort of way.

Brock had dark brown hair, days old stubble on his face, and his eyes were a warm golden brown like the color of amber or whiskey. It was one of the first things you noticed about him when he introduced himself.

But you’ve had little interaction since besides the occasional “good morning” or a wave here and there. You felt yourself staring as he climbed on his bike and sped off down the street. You probably wouldn’t see him again today.

“Beast! Inside, now. Go on, time for your breakfast.” You said, holding the door open for him.

The temperature outside warmed up nicely since this morning and after cleaning for a little while, you decided you were finished with that for the day and were ready to relax with your book and a cup of tea. Part of the reason you bought your house was because it had a reading nook. You had always wanted one and you finally had one, it was your favorite place in the house.

With Beast asleep on the floor next to you and your tea resting on a little table behind your head, you were fully immersed in your book. Since it was such a nice day outside, you had opened the windows to get some fresh air and the curtains swayed as the cool breeze blew in through the screens.

You were so lost in the story, you almost didn’t hear Brock’s motorcycle pull back into his driveway. That’s strange. Usually when he left for the day, he was gone until sometime in the evening but you didn’t think much of it and went back to your book.

The reading nook faced Brock’s house and at one point you looked up from your book to rest your eyes and look out the window. To your surprise, when you looked up, Brock was standing in his driveway…and he was shirtless.

“Holy fuck.” You said out loud.

Oh shit…hopefully he didn’t hear you.

He was quite the specimen, warm tan skin, tight arm muscles and abs you could wash clothes on. How have you not seen this before? It couldn’t be the first time he’s been outside without a shirt but then again, he usually isn’t home during the daylight hours where you could see him clearly.

Beast picked his head up off of the floor as the words escaped your lips and he cocked his head to one side as he looked at you.

“Oh don’t look at me like that.” You said narrowing your eyes at him. “I didn’t know he was hiding that body underneath his clothes. How could I?”

You felt a little crazy talking to your dog like he was a person.

It looked like Brock was doing some stretching. Biting down on your thumb, you continued to stare out the window, hoping he was too far away for him to notice you gawking at him. With your thighs clenched together, you inched closer to the glass but you weren’t paying attention to how close to the glass you were.

Your forehead hit the glass with a slight “thud;” Brock looked up from his stretches and looked in your direction, thankfully you were quick enough to duck away from the window.

The pillow cradled your head as warmth rose to your cheeks and you watched as your book, resting on your chest, rose and fell with your nervous inhales and exhales. Beast had started to bark when he heard the thud against the glass. You tried to get him to stop by whisper yelling at him.

“Hey! Ssshhh, stop it! It’s just me!” You said.

Peeking out from behind the curtain, you saw Brock had gone back to his stretching. It looked like he was getting ready to go for a run. Beast finally stopped barking and Brock took off down the driveway.

You watched him until he was out of sight; finally, you could breathe easy but now you were wondering if he had noticed you watching him. You didn’t think so but it was still a possibility especially after the dog started to bark.

Maybe you were done reading for now.

**********

Since you had the entire day to yourself, you had the time to make your grandmother’s spaghetti sauce. You were the only one she trusted the recipe with and each time you made it, you reminisced about all the times you helped her make that sauce.

It would cook on the stove all day and your reward for helping her was she would give you a small bowl filled with sauce and a couple pieces of Italian bread for you to dip with. You would always get to have some before anyone else did, it was one of your favorite memories of her.

To get even more fresh air inside the house, you had opened the front door and kept the screen door shut plus Beast loved to sit in front of the door and watch people and cars go by.

While stirring the sauce, your back was toward the front door when Beast started to whine and scratch at the door. You figured he just saw another dog walk by; he loved to say hi to every person or animal that walked by the house.

He barked then scratched at the door so hard that he nudged it open and ran outside. You turned to see the screen door ajar and swaying back and forth.

“Shit! Beast! No!!” You shouted after him.

After you ran outside and down the driveway, you looked around for him and finally found him licking Brock’s face just past your mailbox.

“Oh my god, Brock I am so sorry! He just pushed the door open and ran out before I could stop him.” You said apologetically.

Brock was kneeling down next to Beast, gently patting his head.

“Oh that’s alright, doll. He’s a good boy, he just wanted to say hello. Didn’t ya boy?”

The smile on Brock’s face was probably the most genuine smile you’ve ever seen on him which made you smile.

“Well thank you for catching him for me.” You said.

You then did something very out of character. You had always been very shy and quiet but you liked Brock and you definitely couldn’t eat that sauce all by yourself. So even though it made you feel nauseous, you decided to ask him anyway.

“B-brock? W-would you like to come over for dinner tonight? I, well I made my grandmother’s spaghetti sauce and I forgot that it’s enough to feed a small army.” You said, struggling to get the words out.

He looked shocked and didn’t really know what to say, like it was the first time he’s ever been invited to dinner.

“Oh…thank you y/n, but I’m all sweaty from my run just now.” He said, politely.

You noticed the sweat glistening off his body and on his forehead. It was hard not to notice. He really was extremely handsome, especially when he smiled.

“Well you have plenty of time to shower and change. I’m not quite finished cooking yet.” You said.

Brock looked a little uneasy, almost like he didn’t want to hurt your feelings by telling you no. You finally felt ready enough to talk to another man in a way that’s not platonic and you were terrified that he was going to say no. And then to think you would be reminded of that rejection every time you saw him after that.

Glancing down at the ground, you thought maybe it would be easier if you didn’t look at him. Maybe you could keep the tears from stinging the back of your eyes but he surprised you with his answer.

“Well in that case, I’d love to, doll.” He said softly.

Butterflies formed in your stomach and the words that fell from your lips were a little shaky but you managed to get them out without stumbling too much.

“O-ok. Great! I’ll see you in about an hour then.” You said. “Come on, Beast. Let’s go, ya troublemaker.”

**********

Not wanting to look like you were trying too hard but still wanting to look put together, you put on a pair of jeans and changed from a white t-shirt to a black one in case the clumsy version of you decided to show up and get marinara sauce all over yourself. You kept the minimal makeup look you had on from earlier in the day and kept your hair back.

Brock knocked on your door exactly an hour later, Beast helped you greet him at the door by barking and wagging his tail. Brock had brought over a bottle of wine which was very sweet of him.

“Hi Brock…Beast, get down! I’m so sorry…oh, thank you for the wine. That’s very nice of you…BEAST, get down! I know you’re excited that someone else is in the house.” You said.

A slight smiled stretched across his lips as he looked at you with his honey colored eyes.

“I had a grandma once too…she taught me never to show up any place empty handed. I woulda got ya some flowers too but I only had an hour.” He said with a wink.

Brock was dressed almost exactly like you were. Black shirt and jeans but he was wearing black boots; he looked incredibly handsome.

He took one look at the dining room table and admitted to feeling a little underdressed. You had set the table nicely with placemats, cloth napkins, and candles. You didn’t think it was overly romantic but maybe he did and you were afraid you might scare him away but it didn’t.

“Do you need help with anything?” He asked.

You were caught completely off guard by that question. Your ex-husband didn’t help much with the cooking or anything, really.

“Oh! Thank you, I think I’m all set though. Actually, you can open the wine…let me just find the corkscrew.” You said.

**********

Surprisingly, Brock was very easy to talk to. The wine probably helped a little but you had a feeling that maybe he wasn’t as angry as he appeared to be sometimes. Eyebrows pulled together in a straight line, lips pressed together, the gruff raspy tone to his voice when he said “good morning…” maybe he just didn’t want people to know that he’s actually kind of sweet and soft.

“I’ll admit, I was a little surprised when I saw your ex movin’ out. I thought you two had a decent marriage.” Said Brock.

With raised eyebrows, you said, “Yeah well, I wasn’t having sex nearly as often as he was sooooooo.”

Brock looked surprised as you confessed your ex had cheated on you.

“Wait…he cheated on you?” He asked.

“Brock, I feel like everyone else knew except me, like everyone on the street was looking at me differently. I felt really ashamed.” You said with a hitch in your voice as you looked away from him.

Tears welled up in your eyes quicker than you anticipated and before you could prevent one from streaking down your cheek. It was slightly embarrassing because you didn’t know your neighbor all that well and now you were crying in front of him.

“Hey, hey y/n…it’s ok.” He said softly as he gently brushed the top of your hand with his calloused fingers. The rasp in his voice was so sexy. “If it makes you feel any better, I had no idea and I doubt anyone else knew either. Plus…just…well, fuck that guy.”

You weren’t expecting him to say that; it caught you off guard and you let out a little laugh.

“Ya know what? You’re right…fuck that guy!” You exclaimed with a wide smile.

The two of you finished the bottle of wine and Brock insisted on doing the dishes, he actually looked cute with the dish towel draped over his shoulder which, you couldn’t help but notice, was filling out that part of his shirt nicely. Was it the wine that was making you warm or was it him?

You continued to talk for a while longer before Brock got up to leave. You really didn’t want him to go though.

“In my line of work, they don’t really care that it’s Sunday. I have to get up early tomorrow.” He said.

Nodding your head, you replied. “Oh of course. I understand.”

You followed him over to the front door, he turned to face you, and said, “Thank you for this, y/n. It was really nice, haven’t had a home cooked meal in awhile so thank you again.”

Your bodies were close, sharing the same air and you could smell the wine on his lips as he spoke.

“You’re very welcome, Brock. I’m sure I’ll still be eating that sauce for days but thank you for trying to help me make a dent in it.” You said, nervously.

Your heart was beating so fast, you thought it was going to burst out of your chest. You knew your skin would be warm to the touch as your heart beat faster and faster.

“Well…goodnight y/n.” He whispered.

His warm breath brushed against your ear, the air between you felt thick, like you could cut it with a knife and you wanted him to kiss you so badly.

You replied. “Goodnight.”

He walked out and turned back once more to wave and smile at you.

Before you closed the door, Beast whimpered while staring out at the street. He was probably wondering where Brock went.

“He went home, buddy. He doesn’t live here, ya know.” You told him with a slight smile but in a disappointing tone.

As you closed the door, Beast whined again and you whispered, “I know, I wanted him to kiss me too.”

After your shower, you decided to read a little more. The lights in the house were dimmed, the only bright light in the room was your book light and you had only been reading for about 20 minutes when Beast let out a low growl. You looked down at him, his tail started to swish back and forth then started to whine.

“Ya know for a big bad pitbull, you whine a lot like a little baby. What is it?” You asked.

Immediately after you asked that question, there were three loud raps against your front door. Confused, you put your book down, threw the blanket off of your legs, and walked over to the front door. Beast followed you, wagging his tail.

Brock was leaning against the screen when you opened the front door.

“Hey doll, I uh…well, I forgot something.” He said, opening the screen and stepping inside.

You looked up at him, then looked back over at the dining room chair, still a little confused.

“Oh…I don’t remember you bringing a jack—“ You tried to say before he cut you off.

Brock’s lips collided with yours, as he closed the door behind him. Suddenly your back was against the wall, running your fingers through his thick brown hair, while your lips parted, giving his tongue access to your mouth.

He was a really good kisser.

Brock’s chest was pressed firmly against yours, so you were pinned in between him and the wall. He was so strong but it felt amazing to have your body pressed against his. He nipped at your jawline and peppered kisses up and down your neck while soft moans escaped your lips.

Beast stood on his hind legs and lunged toward you and Brock like he was missing out on something. He was whining.

Breathing heavily, you pulled away and smiled at Brock. Your cheeks were warm and you could feel how red they were.

“I think someone else wants a kiss.” You said. “Careful, he has a fast tongue.”

Brock bent down so he was level with Beast and he glanced up at you. “Yeah, he ain’t the only one.” He said with a wink.

You covered your eyes in embarrassment.

After giving Beast gentle pats to his head, Brock stood up and closed the gap between your bodies. He cupped your cheeks, leaned in, and kissed you again. These were gentle kisses, soft and sweet and his stubble lightly brushed against your skin.

It had been awhile since your lips had touched someone else’s, his kisses sent shivers down your spine and gave you butterflies in your stomach. These were feelings you haven’t had in a long time; you were nervous but willing to give it all another chance.

“Dinner at my place next time, doll?” He asked.

A sly smile stretched across your lips as you purred into his ear.

“Only if we can have dessert first…neighbor.”

Others that might enjoy: @munsonownsmyass @itwasthereaminuteago @fluffyprettykitty @k-marzolf @redstarsandnightmares @nutmeg17 @gijos @randomlittleimp @nekoannie-chan

If I tagged you and you didn’t want to be, just let me know and I’ll never do it again. As always, thank you again for reading!

[pugzman3]

The 33rd Olympics of 2024

By now I'm sure everyone has seen the pics, or actually watched the opening ceremonies of the....33rd, Olympics. But I want to throw in a few extras that aren't being seen because of the blatantly obvious disrespect played out at the drag queen last supper, and it had a kid in the mix if any one missed it.

But here are some other things. There is this guy....

You should search how Dionysus is linked to Nimrod. It's interesting.

Then there are this...

Now we know this idol was a "gift" from France. But also there was a piece thrown in the broadcast about Marrie Antoinette. We have been taught that she was queen when the French revolution went down. But, the facts of why that revolution aren't taught. That revolution was planned by the Illuminati and carried out by freemasons. It had two main purposes, to be a major stepping stone for the one world government, and Secondly, to erraticate Christianity from France. (Side note, you should read Thomas Jefferson comments on these actions).

Now along with this you have the horse going across the water beneath the purple light, and a whole slew of other symbols.

People....this isn't a bunch of teenagers being rebellious on a Saturday night. This was a lot of planning, MONEY, logistics, and choreography.

You do not do this stuff unless you are sending a message. They are telling you who they worship. They have been telling us.

Break out of the western mindset they have you locked in and realize how real this is. God, Jesus, the devil, the Holy Spirit, little g gods, evil spirits, unclean spirits....this isn't a "lifestyle option" that we are lead to think of it as. This is all temporary, a judgement day will be held. Each person's eternity will be set on whose side you are on. You are either with Jesus, or you are with them. Don't wait until it's too late. Ask God. Go to him with an honest heart and he will show you.

And on the topic of celebrity worship. There is a lot of celebs calling that last supper disrespectful. IGNORE THEM!!!! Stop caring what they say. If they condemn it, great!!! But worry about yourself in this full matter. Because I don't care who it is, if they aren't locked in to Jesus and following him, their opinion will shift with the wind. Always has, always will.

[thenerdykneazle]

Sweet Dreams

Summary: You lose track of time showing Garreth around the Room of Requirement and end up staying out past curfew. The room provides a place for you to spend the night. Unfortunately, it only provides one bed.

HL events took place in sixth year for this story to age up the characters.

Garreth Weasley x F!MC

Warnings: 18+, explicit sexual content, 7th year, aged-up characters, one bed trope, wet dreams (including piv), fingering, oral sex (both male and female receiving)

Word count: 8737

You had decided to show Garreth the Room of Requirement. It only seemed right given that his aunt was the one who had shown it to you in the first place. Plus, you had to share the secret with someone or you were going to burst from the pressure of it. You were too busy to dwell on it last year, but now it was at the forefront of your mind. So, who better to pick to tell than your best friend? You ran back to the common room that cool Saturday morning after breakfast. Luckily, you found Garreth already waiting for you by the fireplace.

“I got your owl,” he said cheerfully. “What’s this secret you want to share?”

You gave him a conspiratorial look. “I can’t tell you here. Come on, I’ll show you,” you said.

There was an excited glint in his eyes, but there was also worry in them. “You’re not leading me into some spider’s nest the forbidden forest again, are you?”

You rolled your eyes and crossed your arms over your chest. It was one time, and he had never let it go. “No, but if you don’t want to come, you’re welcome to stay here,” you said.

“No, I want to come!” he insisted, looking even more afraid at the idea of being left out.

“Then let’s go,” you said rather petulantly. You were excited to finally show Garreth the room, and you had no patience for more delays.

You grabbed Garreth’s hand and dragged him out of the portrait hole. To Garreth’s dismay, you dropped his hand once you were standing in front of the fat lady’s portrait. You set off, practically speedwalking down the corridors. Garreth’s mind sped along with your steps as he tried to guess where you might be taking him and what your secret could be. His confusion grew as you ascended the astronomy tower.

You were grinning madly at him when you halted in front of an image of trolls. Both of you were panting a bit from the numerous stairs you had just ascended. Garreth’s eyes flitted around the tapestry, looking for some clue as to what you were up to.

“Prepare yourself,” you said ambiguously.

Garreth’s heart was racing even more than it had been from jogging up those steps. How was he supposed to prepare when he had no idea what was happening? As he had the thought, a noise behind him caught his attention. It sounded like metal scraping stone. He whirled around to see a door forming in the previously blank wall. He stared at it wide-eyed before glancing to you and back again.

You just smiled even wider at him. You grabbed his hand again and pulled him into the newly materialized room. Garreth was in awe as soon as he stepped inside. You showed him your plants, your loom, and each of the four vivaria. You spent hours playing with puffskeins, nifflers, and kneazles. You were especially amused when a niffler tried to nick a bottle of a glittering silver potion off of Garreth.

You introduced him to Highwing and Caligo, and you went for a flight around the indoor forest. Then you introduced him to Sepulchria and the other thestrals in the swamp vivarium. He couldn’t see them, but he enjoyed meeting them all the same. Sepulchria was rather fond of him, giving him a lick up the side of his head that made his already dishevelled hair stick up on end. You helped him smooth it back down.

You both missed lunch entirely, but you ran down to the Great Hall to wolf down dinner before rushing back to the Room of Requirement. You showed Garreth the beach vivarium, and his jaw nearly hit the sand when he saw the Lord of the Shore. After all the vivaria, you were ecstatic to show Garreth the other room.

“There’s more?” he asked in disbelief.

You nodded eagerly. You led him to the large room and directed his attention to your potions station in front of a large window. There were cabinets full of ingredients, all sorts of tools hanging on the wall, and multiple burners for cauldrons.

“You’re welcome to come use it whenever you like, of course,” you said, smiling at the way his face had lit up.

He glanced at you with his mouth agape before looking back to the station. “Oh, I could kiss you!” he declared.

Your cheeks flamed, and you were glad the ginger was busy staring at the potions supplies. With your blessing, he set to work on a concoction. He told you all about his latest experiment and the results of his prior trials as he brewed. Meanwhile, you lounged on a nearby sofa as you listened.

By the time he was done, it was well past curfew. He had lost track of time, and you had fallen asleep leaning your head on top of your arms, which rested on the arm of the sofa. Garreth shook your shoulder gently to wake you. “We should get back. I’m sorry to keep you out so late,” he said.

You yawned as you stretched out your arms and legs. “Hm? Oh, don’t worry about it. I think I’ve ignored curfew more than I’ve followed it, honestly,” you said.

“Well, I still don’t want you getting in trouble on my account,” he replied, keeping his worried expression.

You nodded in understanding as you sat up, trying to shake the groggy haze from your mind. “Well, we have three options: we can floo back to the common room, sneak there through the corridors, or spend the night here. The floo is rather loud, though, and if your aunt is in the common room when we return, I don’t think she’ll be pleased to see that we were out late together.”

His worried expression morphed into contemplation. “Right. So, we sneak back or stay here. Are there bedrooms here?”

Before you could answer, the room creaked as it altered itself. A new doorway appeared on the wall beside you. You chuckled. “I suppose there are now.”

“Brilliant! I can be a bit clumsy, so sneaking all the way back to Gryffindor Tower wouldn’t bode well for me.”

“Then sleepover it is!” you joked before hopping up off the couch.

You walked over and opened the door to find a single bedroom with one king-sized bed. You spun around and poked your head back out of the room, almost running into Garreth in the process. You scanned the outer room, looking for other doors. There was only the one. Garreth was confused by your behaviour until he peered into the room and saw the issue.

“I guess it really will be a sleepover,” you said.

“I-I can just sleep on a couch out here,” Garreth said. He didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.

“Don’t be silly! That bed could fit four people, and they’d never even touch,” you said.

Garreth shifted nervously on his feet before relenting when you suggested you could just sneak back to the common room alone and let him have the room to himself. You both changed into the nightclothes the room had left hanging for you inside the new room. You changed in the bedroom, while Garreth stepped out to change. He knocked before re-entering to make sure you were decent.

You climbed into the bed on opposite sides. He made a very conscious effort not to leer at you in your sheer nightgown.

Once you were both under the covers, Garreth rolled onto his side to face you. “Today was amazing,” he said with a giddy smile. “Thank you for showing me all of this.”

You grinned back. “I’m excited you finally know,” you replied. “I’d been itching to show you since your aunt told me about this place.”

Knowing you had thought of him almost immediately made a warmth spread through Garreth’s chest. You were often the first person he thought of when he had a new idea for a potion or received good news. He was delighted that you seemed to feel similarly toward him – at least, in that regard. He had many other feelings toward you that he could only hope you might reciprocate one day.

You exchanged your goodnights and wishes for pleasant dreams. You fell asleep quickly, having already been asleep just a few minutes earlier. Garreth watched you peacefully for a few minutes before he felt drowsiness overtake him, as well.

Your wishes worked, because Garreth did have a pleasant dream. A very pleasant dream, in fact. The type he would never admit out loud and would feel a bit guilty for in the morning. Well, at least, he would feel guilty later in the morning when he would have to face you in the common room or at breakfast. First thing in the morning, he would usually cling to the lewd images of you that had filled his dreams as he worked toward his release in the relative privacy of the drawn curtains of his fourposter.

The dream had been particularly steamy that night. Sometimes his wet dreams consisted of you in arousing situations – skinny dipping in the Black Lake; wading in the prefect’s bathroom; or, on one occasion, brewing a potion naked. Other times, he got to be a more active participant in his dreams. The first time, he had dreamt of you two admitting your feelings for each other under a large oak tree before you climbed onto his lap, snogging him senseless as you ground your hips against him. He had proceeded to strip your top bare before palming your perfect breasts in both hands as you rutted yourself against his erection. A frequent favourite was bending you over one of the potions stations after Sharp had given you both detentions. One time, he had even dreamt it was your wedding night.

His dream as he slumbered in the Room of Requirement started out innocent enough. The two of you had gone on a trip to Hogsmeade. You browsed Zonko’s and ate your fill of treats from Honeydukes before walking hand-in-hand back toward the castle as the sun began to set. You decided you didn’t want to head back yet and pulled him off the path. You led him to a little meadow and pulled out a gingham blanket. You sat together, watching the sky turn shades of orange and pink.

Garreth stared at you for several moments before you noticed. You shoved his shoulder and told him to stop staring as you giggled at him. He was utterly infatuated with you. He said he refused to stop staring at something so beautiful, and his words made you blush.

“You really think I’m beautiful?” you asked.

“Gorgeous,” he replied as he brushed a few strands of hair out of your face.

You gave him a shy smile. “You’re not so bad yourself,” you said.

Garreth felt like his smile could split his face right in half as he stared into your eyes. He could see the same fire he felt burning in them. “I love you, MC” he admitted, taking one of your hands into his own.

Your own smile widened. “I love you too, Garreth,” you said.

Garreth leaned in, pulling you into a kiss with a gentle hand on the back of your neck. You kissed him back, quickly intensifying the kiss. You bit at his lip and ran your tongue over the marks your teeth had left to sooth them. Garreth moaned into the kiss in response as his free hand moved to your thigh. You pulled him on top of you as you lay back on the blanket. You tore at each other’s clothes until your shirts were open, exposing your chests. Your hands ran deliciously up and down Garreth’s torso. He kissed his way down your neck, along your collar bones, and down to your breasts. He took a perfect nipple into his mouth, suckling the flesh as you writhed in pleasure underneath him. He massaged your other breast, ensuring neither was neglected.

He trailed his other hand down your bare side before dipping it under the waistband of your skirt. He slid his hand into your undergarments, and his fingers swiped between your slick folds. You moaned his name and gripped his shoulders as he pressed his middle finger against you, rubbing along your slit. He focused his attention on the bundle of nerves at the top of it, rubbing light circles that set your hips twisting and bucking against his hand while your nails dug into his skin.

Your moans grew louder and more frequent as he quickly had you falling apart. You cried out in pleasure, clearly unbothered about the prospect of being discovered. You were too enraptured to care. One of your hands had begun stroking over the bulge in his trousers, teasing him into a state of aching hardness.

“Please,” you begged as you threw your head back and your back arched off the ground.

“What, darling? I’ll do anything for you,” he replied before kissing up your neck.

“I need you, Garreth. Need you inside of me,” you moaned out.

Garreth groaned at the request and your desperate tone. In a flash, he had your knickers pulled down to your ankles and then off entirely. He quickly undid his belt and pants. He pulled himself out of his own undergarment, gripping the base of his shaft as he dipped himself under your skirt. He slid the head of his penis along your slick centre, moaning at your warmth as he did. You both groaned as he slid slowly into you. You enveloped him perfectly, so warm and wet and tight around him. Being inside you was everything he ever hoped it would be. Garreth kissed you deeply before burying his face in your neck. He stayed nuzzled into you as he began thrusting in and out of you, relishing the feeling of each dive back into you.

After a bit, he pulled back and flipped up your skirt so he could watch himself sliding in and out of you. It was a breathtaking sight. You bucked your hips up in time with his thrusts. Garreth was all pants and moans as words failed him. He was pretty sure he had entirely forgotten how to speak, save for your name. You moaned out encouragements of “oh, yes” and “so good, Gar – you feel so good.” Garreth was enjoying savouring being inside you, but he knew both of your satisfaction would require a more demanding pace. So, he was pleased to hear your pleading voice say “harder.”

He gradually increased the speed and force of his thrusts, moving off of his hands to rest on his forearms, and, just as before, your gentle whimpers turned into unabashed cries of pleasure. This was the point in the dream where sleep began to elude Garreth. He was less than pleased to rejoin the waking world when there was a dream version of you that he could be ravishing. His face was pressed into his pillow as he let out a soft groan. You may have been imaginary, but how worked up his dream had gotten him was very real. He had been rutting himself against the mattress in his sleep, and he was just as achingly hard now as he had dreamt that he had been.

He clung to the image of his clock slipping in and out of your tight hole and the sound of your voice as you rasped his name. He had his eyes squeezed shut and his brows pinched together as he concentrated on the dream. He flipped onto his back, brushing a hand over his hard prick that was straining against his underwear and silky pyjamas. He didn’t even know why he had chosen to wear the damned things. He always slept just in his underwear. The answer to his half-hearted query entered his mind just a few moments too late. He had thrown off the blanket and pulled the garments down his thighs to free his cock. It was dripping with precum, and his hand started rapidly stroking it, quietly moaning out some rather unfortunate words at the feeling, when he remembered that he was neither in his own bed nor alone in the one he currently occupied.

You had awoken to the sound of Garreth’s soft moans. At first you thought it had been a holdover from your dreams. You occasionally had some vivid dreams about yourself and your best friend in rather compromising situations. Although you had just been dreaming about him, it had merely involved the two of you testing a new potion of his that made you float three feet off the ground. There was lots of laughing and uproar, but it had been decidedly free of moaning. You squinted through the bright light of the room to see the source of the noise on the other side of the bed. His face was buried in his pillow and his hips were rolling into the mattress as more quiet moans and mumbled words escaped his lips.

You were immediately beet red. You didn’t know what to do. Your best friend was humping into the mattress less than a metre from you. He was clearly asleep. Should you wake him? Just leave the room and wait for him to wake up on his own, pretending you hadn’t noticed when he emerges from the room? Should you do nothing and pretend you were still asleep until he wakes up?

The words came out before you could think to stop them. “Um, Gar?” you said. Waking him was objectively the worst option, but, in the moment, you were desperate to make his moans stop. They were setting a fire in your abdomen that had slick pooling between your legs at an alarming rate given the fact that you hadn’t even touched yourself.

Garreth stirred, groaning as he buried his face further into the pillow. You jolted in surprise when he suddenly flopped onto his back. You gaped at him as he threw off the duvet and pulled down his trousers to the middle of his thighs. His erection sprang free, and he immediately began pumping it furiously. You were in utter shock at the lewd display. You felt completely frozen, not even breathing, and you were fairly certain your heart had stopped, too. Any reaction you could have had was delayed until your body reanimated.

Garreth let out a louder moan as his hand worked himself with wet, obscene noises. “Fuck, yes! Mm, just like that, MC,” he groaned out.

“Garreth!” you had exclaimed almost simultaneously with him calling out your name, finally able to find your voice.

His eyes snapped open, and he ripped the blanket back over himself. “Merlin’s beard! When did you get here?” he exclaimed, though as soon as he asked the question, his mind had answered it as he recalled all of the previous day’s events. His whole freckled body was turning as red as his hair. He would have been rapidly softening from the embarrassment if you weren’t sat in bed next to him, wearing a thin nightgown and staring down at him with wide eyes and gently parted lips.

Your breathing was ragged, and Garreth couldn’t help watching for a moment at the way your chest heaved with the adrenaline. Your cheeks were scarlet, but it just made you look that much more attractive.

Garreth met your gaze sheepishly, hoping beyond hope that you hadn’t heard him just moan your name as he stroked himself. You looked like you’d seen a bogart. “I’m so sorry,” he rasped. His voice was roughened with sleep. “I know it’s still depraved, but I didn’t realize I wasn’t in my room. I really didn’t mean to…expose myself to you.”

Your brow had furrowed in confusion. “Were you…I mean, when you were…Were you thinking about me as you…you know?” you asked.

Fuck. Garreth wished the bed would swallow him up. He knew there was no chance you hadn’t heard him, but the confirmation was still mortifying. Garreth cleared his throat as he sat up, careful to keep the duvet covering his still bare lap. He felt humiliated sitting there with his trousers pulled down halfway and cock still throbbing in his lap as the cursed thing refused to calm down. He just nodded, unable to verbally admit to his transgression. The guilt was so much worse than normal now that you knew what he had been doing.

“I promise, it won’t ever happen again,” he said. He really did mean to try his best, too. He continued without thinking. “I just can’t help it sometimes, but I assure you that’s the last time.”

Your eyebrows raised. “You’ve done it before?” you asked, curiosity overpowering propriety.

Garreth’s eyes widened as he realized his inadvertent admission. “Not a lot,” he lied quickly, his gravelly voice cracking.

You narrowed your eyes at him accusingly. “Really? So, if I asked for a number…?” you teased. “I mean, I think I still have some of that veritaserum you gave me around here somewhere.”

“Please, don’t,” he whispered, a petrified look on his face.

You smirked. Garreth was certain you were revelling in his mortification, which he felt was deserved. In reality, you quite relished the idea that the boy touched himself to thoughts of you. You knew you shouldn’t, but you still did. You licked your lips before speaking. You caught the way Garreth’s gaze flicked to them as you did. Your eyes flashed with a wicked satisfaction. “You are a naughty boy, Garreth Weasley,” you said, tilting your head as you observed him.

His teeth sunk into his lip as he tried to fight the arousal stirred by your domineering tone.

“Do you have a crush on me?” you asked bluntly.

The amusement in your voice devastated him. You thought the idea laughable. He was too far gone to be able to endure your teasing. He could hear you now, taunting him about his “silly crush” on you. He hoped the truth would get you to show him some mercy. “I’ve been in love with you since the day we met,” he admitted.

Your smile disappeared as your mouth fell open. You just blinked at him for several seconds. “Are you being serious?” you asked.

“Yes, so, please, whatever joke you want to make…have the decency to make it behind my back instead of to my face,” he said.

You couldn’t help but laugh at his request. Garreth looked down at the bed as you laughed at him. This was already the worst Sunday of his life. You realized what he must be thinking about your reaction, and you reached out to grab his hand. He looked up at you with confusion.

“Why would I joke about your love for me, Gar?” you asked seriously.

His eyes searched yours nervously as he silently urged you to keep speaking.

You smiled. “I love you, too,” you said.

Now his jaw was the one to drop. “You…really?” he said. He shook his head as if he thought he might still be dreaming.

You bit back a smile as you nodded. Your eyes wandered over him, wanting to engrain this moment in your memory. You smirked slightly when they landed on the duvet piled in his lap. Garreth felt his cheeks burn anew. This certainly wasn’t how he had imagined admitting he was in love with you would go – you catching him with his trousers down.

Your burning gaze as your eyes returned to his sent a wave of arousal straight to his cock. He had to fight a moan at the thought that he had a very real chance of experiencing his fantasies with you outside of his dreams. Of course, he would let you set the pace. He still needed to ask you on a proper date, not just the friendly trips to Hogsmeade where he insisted on paying for your snacks. He always claimed it was repayment for the free butterbeers Sirona gave you two in return for you saving the highlands from Ranrok and Rookwood. It was just an excuse, though. Really, he didn’t know how you hadn’t realized he was in love with you before.

His thoughts were cut short as you crawled toward him on the bed. His breath hitched as your face hovered just a few centimetres from his. His hands fell limp as you gripped the duvet, slowly pulling it off of his lap. His erection sprang free, bouncing off of his abdomen before it settled. You caught your bottom lip between your teeth as you looked down at his firm manhood. Garreth’s heart was thundering in his chest. He was embarrassed at his re-exposure but incredibly turned on by the way you were looking at him.

Your tongue ran over your lips, wetting them before you spoke. You looked Garreth in his vibrant, green eyes. “Is that for me?” you asked.

“Godric, yes,” he said in a strangled voice. “I was dreaming about you all night. Then seeing you here in that flimsy nightgown…It’s maddening.”

You smirked at him before crashing your lips into his, anchoring yourself with a hand tangled in the hair on the back of his head and another on his cheek. A whine escaped Garreth’s lips as he kissed you back. He gripped your waist with both hands to keep them from straying elsewhere on your body. His needy fingers flexed roughly into you. The feel of your waist under his touch was turning him on even more. You let your hand glide from his cheek down to his chest. You began working the buttons of his shirt open, and he eagerly helped you, rapidly undoing the rest of them.

You trailed your hand over his bare chest, dragging your nails over his skin and through the ginger hairs. You slid your hand up to his shoulder, pushing his shirt off of it and leaving a trail of fire on Garreth’s skin. He shrugged out of his shirt entirely before lifting his hands up to cup your face. He kissed you with urgency, as if you might change your mind and dart off any second. His lips were soft as they slotted between yours, but he kissed your firmly. You nibbled at his lower lip, causing him to moan into your mouth. You ran your tongue across his lip, while it was still trapped between your teeth, before releasing it and diving your tongue into his mouth, instead. His tongue met yours in a warm embrace that had your desire growing exponentially.

You slid your hand down his torso and into his lap, gripping his length. He let out another, louder moan as you pumped him, letting his head tilt back in pleasure. You used your hand tangled in his hair to keep it at that angle as you kissed up his exposed neck. You focused extra attention on spots that made him whimper. His hips had begun bucking up as you worked his length in your hand. As you pulled back, Garreth took in your form. Your swollen lips, flush face, and barely hidden curves. “You’re so beautiful,” he said.

“Well, you’re very handsome,” you replied, flashing him a grin. You leaned back in to suck on a sensitive spot under his ear before moving to whisper into his ear. “And you’re incredibly sexy when you’re all worked up for me.”

Garreth groaned out. His hands ran up your thighs under your nightgown, cherishing the bare skin before your underwear. He resisted the urge to rip it right off of you. Instead, he decided to continue traveling up, over your smooth stomach to just under your breasts. You had sat up on your knees to allow the fabric to lift over your body as his hands travelled up, but he was certain of your permission when you let out a needy moan as his thumbs swiped your ribs. He inched his hands up over your breasts, cupping them in his palms and kneading the supple flesh. You both moaned as he felt you up – you at the electric shocks of pleasure his ministrations sent through you and him at the feeling of your breasts weighing heavy in his hands. He only wished he could see them, but he hardly had the coordination to strip you of your gown when your hand had his orgasm fast-approaching.

Each stroke of your hand was pushing him closer to the edge. His legs and abdomen tensed as the haze of desire overtook his mind. He groped haphazardly at your breasts, desperate for more of the intoxicating feel of them. “Fuck, you feel so good, MC,” he said.

“Mm, you feel good, Garreth. I love to feel how hard you get for me,” you replied before pressing your mouth to his in a sloppy kiss. “I want to make you feel so good. Want to make you come for me. Want to see your cum spilling out of you as you fall apart for me. Your big, thick cock pulsing for me. Gods, I bet you’d feel amazing inside of me – filling me up!”

He groaned as he teetered on the edge of no return. As you kissed him again, he fell off the cliff. “Mmph, fuck! I’m coming!” he said after breaking the kiss.

You looked down to see his white seed spurting out of him, splattering his torso and leaking down onto your hand. You kept going, milking him of everything he had until his hand shot down to still yours.

“Sorry,” you muttered, afraid you’d done something wrong.

He shook his head as he panted to catch his breath. “That was amazing. It’s just that it’s sensitive after,” he explained.

You nodded in understanding. “Noted for next time,” you said with a cheeky smile.

Next time. He liked the sound of that.

“Sorry to make a mess,” you said.

He chuckled. “I’m pretty sure I’m the one who made the mess,” he replied before pressing a chaste kiss to your lips.

“Well, yeah, but I made you make it,” you countered.

He just rolled his eyes playfully at you.

“I can help you clean up, though,” you offered before dipping your head down to his chest and licking some of his cum off his skin. It was surprisingly pleasant. It was salty but didn’t have a strong taste otherwise. Garreth moaned as he watched you swallow his seed.

“You’re gonna be the death of me,” he vowed.

You just smirked at him. He grabbed his wand off the bedside table and cleaned himself up with a wave of it. He pulled his undergarments back up over his hips but ditched his trousers. You gave him an offended look, but it melted away when he cupped your cheek in his hand. “You’re very sweet, and that was very hot, but I’m anxious to return the favour,” he said.

You quirked an eyebrow at him. “Yeah?” you asked.

He nodded eagerly before pulling you into a kiss. He gripped your hips as you kneeled next to him. He leaned into you before sliding his hands back over your ass. You moaned as his hands dug into your flesh. Garreth pulled back. “Wait,” he said. “Is there anywhere you don’t want me to touch?”

“Fuck, no,” you replied.

“Okay, but let me know if you don’t like something. I…I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, holding your gaze with worried eyes.

You couldn’t help but smile at the sweet Gryffindor. “I promise I’ll tell you,” you said.

He looked relieved. He crashed his lips back against yours before using his grip on your hips to pull you into his lap. You straddled him as his hands massaged your thighs and ass. He clearly wanted to take his time with you. Or perhaps he was just nervous, though he didn’t seem it from the way he was kissing you. He fisted the bottom of your nightgown and pulled back again. “Can I take this off?” he asked.

You nodded eagerly. He pulled the garment over your head in a swift motion before tossing it aside. You bit your lip anxiously as he took you in, sitting on his lap in just your knickers. “Fuck me,” he breathed, staring at you like he was in awe. “You’re stunning.”

You gave him a shy smile at the compliment. You didn’t really have self-esteem problems, but beauty was a matter of preference and you really wanted Garreth to like the way you looked. He dipped his head to capture one of your breasts in his mouth. He traced the tip of his tongue around your pebbled nipple before taking it into his mouth. He sucked on it and flicked his tongue over the peak, earning appreciative moans from you as you fisted a hand back into his hair.

As he suckled and massaged at your breasts, you unconsciously began rutting yourself in his lap, gripping his shoulder for support. Garreth smirked against your skin. In a flash, he shifted his weight and pinned you beneath him on the mattress.

“Whoa!” you said. “Fuck, I’ve never been manhandled like that before.”

“I have three older brothers. I learned to wrestle,” he replied with a cheeky smile and a wink. “I’m sure I could teach you a few moves sometime.”

“I might take you up on that,” you said earnestly. You grabbed his face and pulled it back to yours. You were far too turned on by his show of strength to keep chatting.

Garreth slid his tongue into your mouth as his hand slid down between the two of you and into your knickers. You let out a loud moan as his fingers rubbed through your soaked slit and then back up to your sensitive nub, making delicate circles. Garreth had made a breathy moan upon feeling how wet you were. “Fuck, you feel so good, darling,” he said.

“Shit. You f-feel amazing,” you gasped. You didn’t know what he did differently than you did on your own – whether it was the teasing, how wet you were, or a difference in pressure – but it felt so much more intense than the times you had touched yourself.

Garreth shifted so that he was lying beside you rather than directly on top. He continued his slow ministrations as he kissed your neck, face, and lips. You whimpered into his mouths as his fingers worked up a tension inside of you.

He kissed your temple, tasting the salty sweat on your skin. “Mm, I love the noises you make for me,” he said as he pressed his forehead against yours.

You just whimpered again in response. You felt ready to combust as you hovered near bliss but the tension in your abdomen refused to release. “Just a…a little faster, Gar,” you begged.

He was happy to oblige, and the quicker pace had you writhing and moaning uncontrollably. Garreth would have been happy to watch you in such a state all day. He lowered his mouth to your breast, teasing your nipple with his tongue. It was all too much to process. Your legs were shaking, and your abs contracted tightly.

“Fuck, Garreth! Oh! Like that!” you cried out. You were building quickly to your release and could hardly think let alone form real sentences. You couldn’t even warn him before the waves of pleasure racked over you. Your hips bucked against Garreth’s hand as your walls clenched around his fingers. He released your nipple and moved to kiss your lips again. You returned it hungrily as he brought you through your orgasm.

As you came down, Garreth’s fingers slowed but didn’t stop. Your hips jerked occasionally as he brushed over your overstimulated clit. Part of you wanted to tell him to stop – let you catch your breath and calm down. Another part wanted to let him carry you right through to another high.

“That was amazing,” Garreth said, before nuzzling into the side of your neck.

“I should say so,” you agreed between heavy breaths. Your face and chest were coated in sweat, and the air in the room was slowly cooling you off.

Regrettably, Garreth slowly removed his hand from your knickers and rested it on your hip, instead. He kissed along your neck, letting his tongue flick out to taste your skin here and there. “I love you,” he said, his voice slightly muffled from his position.

You ran your fingers through his curls and pressed a kiss into them. “I love you, too.”

Garreth propped himself up on his elbow to look down at you. “Did I…do okay?” he asked nervously.

You couldn’t help but laugh at the question after the euphoria you had just experienced. “You were marvellous,” you assured him before leaning up and pressing a kiss to his lips.

He was smiling when you pulled back. “Good,” he said. “I wouldn’t want you to feel like you’re downgrading.”

You gave him a confused look. “Downgrading from what?” you asked.

He bit his lip as his gaze dropped to the bed. He shrugged. “Well, I wouldn’t know, but…you said you’d never been manhandled during before, so…”

You still stared at him with your brows furrowed together, trying to decipher what he meant. “Oh,” you said as it clicked. “Garreth, I just meant that generally. I wasn’t saying…I mean, I haven’t done this sort of thing before. Well, not…you know…with someone else.”

Garreth’s face turned red. “I’m an idiot,” he said as he collapsed down, burying his face back in the crook of your neck. “I’m sorry.”

You chuckled as you stroked his hair, attempting to soothe him. “It’s okay. I guess I’m flattered you think other people are wanting to…do stuff with me,” you joked.

He lifted his head to look at you. “Oh, I know they do,” he said bluntly.

You quirked an eyebrow at him.

He bit his lip and scrunched his nose as he realized his slip, hinting at the contents of private conversations. “I, um…” he stammered.

You held up a hand to stop him. “I don’t want to know,” you said.

He breathed a sigh of relief. “I promise I’m not just constantly talking to other guys about our lecherous desires for you.”

You laughed. “That’s probably good.”

He nodded in agreement.

You smiled at him. “You’re adorable, you know.” You kissed his nose before pushing him onto his back so you could snuggle against his chest. Garreth hummed contentedly as he wrapped his arms around you. You could hear the steady rhythm of his heart as your ear rested over it. You drew lazy shapes on his ribs with your index finger. “So, um, had you ever–?”

“No,” he said, interrupting your hesitant question. “Though, hopefully you asking means I didn’t seem totally clueless.”

You chuckled. You looked up to see him smirking down at you. You shuffled up the bed so your face was even with his. “I’m glad I got to experience that with you,” you said.

He smiled in earnest. “Me, too,” he said. He held your chin between his thumb and index finger and pressed a gentle kiss to your lips. “It was almost perfect.”

“‘Almost’?” you asked in mock offense. Perfect was an unreasonable standard, though you did feel a pang of hurt at him voicing his disappointment.

He bit his lip as a flush rose to his cheeks. He had such an earnest look in his eyes as he stared into yours that your demeanour immediately softened. “Well, I mean, I didn’t…” He took a deep breath before continuing. “I didn’t get to see you.”

He hooked his thumb in the waistband of your knickers as he spoke the last sentence. Your eyebrows rose, but you felt a rush of arousal as heat bloomed in your core again. You ran your tongue across your suddenly dry lips.

“That was my way of asking to see you,” he clarified when you didn’t respond. “I mean, if…if that’s okay.”

You had understood his query. You just couldn’t find words at the moment. You quickly nodded. Garreth smirked, and once again he had you pinned underneath him in an instant. You helped him remove your knickers as his lips latched onto your neck. He ran his hand up and down your side, palming your breast at one point and earning a quiet moan from you.

Garreth sat back on his heels slowly. He was teasing himself by drawing out your reveal. Your legs were parted to accommodate him between them. “You’re perfect,” he breathed out. He dragged his hand over to your core and stroked his thumb languidly along your slit. He moaned at the feeling of your slick skin as he smeared your arousal around your folds.

His touch drove you crazy. He didn’t rush to get to the end. He was relaxed, like petting a cat in front of a warm fire. Like he just enjoyed getting to feel you and would be content to for hours. The thought sounded like torture – but a very pleasurable sort. You were a mewling mess, writhing under his thumb as it rubbed slow circles on your clit. You muttered praises, telling him how good he felt and sighing his name. The only thing putting a damper on your experience was that he was much too far away as he sat on his knees between your thighs. You missed the heat of his body and easy access to his soft lips you’d had when he was pressed against you. You would forgive that, though, because he was so obviously enjoying his current vantage point.

In fact, you couldn’t help but notice his reformed erection tenting in his lap. You were distracted tracing your eyes along the contours when Garreth spoke. “Could I taste you?”

“I–What?” You were still half-dazed as you looked up at him.

“I, um…want to taste you. Here. If…if you’d like it, too,” he said much more anxiously this time and punctuating the word ‘here’ with a firm swipe of his thumb through your folds.

And he had claimed you would be the death of him. You had heard some of the older girls talk about experiencing such things last year. “That’d be amazing,” you said.

His nervous gaze gave way to a mischievous glint in his eye as he gave you a broad smile. He quickly shuffled into position, lying on his stomach between your legs. He placed his large hands on the insides of your thighs, pushing them further apart before he licked up your slit without preamble. He moaned at the taste of you, and you gasped at the vibrations he sent through you.

He pulled back. “Is that okay?” he asked worriedly.

“Yes,” you gasped, reaching down to grab a handful of his ginger locks. You resisted the urge to push his head back between your thighs as your core ached for his attention.

He smirked up at you before returning of his own accord. He licked a stripe along the same path as before, stopping at your clit. He flicked his tongue up and down over it, sending shocks of pleasure through you. Then he dove in, alternating sucking on the little nub and swirling his tongue over it. He moved his attention downward, fucking his tongue into you. You moaned out at the blissful intrusion. It made you eager to know what his hard length would feel like inside of you, though you didn’t voice that to him. You weren’t sure if you were fully ready for that yet.

Garreth experimented, as was his nature, paying careful attention to what you seemed to like best. Once he found a satisfactory rhythm, he quickly increased his pace. The slight burning in his jaw was well worth the utterly obscene sounds you were making. You kept an iron grip on the handful of his hair, stinging his scalp as you tugged the strands, but it was a good kind of pain.

Garreth’s hands had a vice-grip on your thighs, pinning you in place as your hips attempted to buck and jolt from the pleasure he was giving you. At one point, he nipped the inside of your thigh in a playful warning. “Behave, you,” he said light-heartedly. You really tried, but the command only drove you wilder.

His tongue was gentler than his fingers yet somehow more torturous – perhaps from the gruelling pace at which Garreth lapped at you. He released one of your thighs before sliding a finger carefully into you while his mouth focused back on your clit. You let out a needy moan. Having received a positive response, he slowly pumped his finger in and out of you. Your tired abs contracted tighter as he worked you with both his hand and his mouth. Your core clenched around Garreth’s finger as he arched it up inside of you.

“Fuck, that’s so sexy, love,” he said. “I love to feel your tight little hole around me.”

You moaned out at his words. He quickly returned his tongue to your nub. He moaned as you continued to clench around his finger, and the vibrations nearly did you in. “Fuck, I’m close,” you managed to groan out.

Garreth kept up his efforts enthusiastically, and you soon fell apart. The pleasure was overwhelming as it swallowed you. You tugged him harder against you as you ground your hips down on his face and fingers, calling out his name. Garreth pulled back panting when you finally released him. You felt a bit guilty as his chest heaved air into his lungs. “Godric’s heart!” he said, still out of breath but smiling wildly. “I nearly came along with you!”

Overcome with the desire to have your own turn with him, you launched yourself at him. You crashed your lips against his as you knocked him on his back – which you suspected he let you do, as there was a slight delay in his falling back onto the bed. His lips, chin, and even cheeks were all wet with your arousal. You moaned as you tasted yourself on him. You couldn’t help thinking he’d never looked more attractive than with his face glistening with your juices, having utterly ravaged you.

You kissed down his chest, eager for a taste of him, as well. Garreth grabbed your arm to make you pause. “You don’t have to,” he said seriously.

You gave him a grumpy look as you pulled out of his grasp. “Fair is fair. I should get to taste you, too,” you said.

“Only if you want to,” he said.

You moved further back, settling between his legs as you replied. “I want to fucking devour you whole, Gar. Try to stop me again for my sake, and I just might.” You nipped his thigh like he’d done to you for emphasis. Garreth groaned, throwing his head back into the pillow. You quickly rid him of his undergarment, letting his erection spring free. “Or maybe I’ll just leave you here all worked up. Tie up those handsome wrists so you can’t even relieve yourself.”

His head snapped back up as he stared at you in shock. “Please, no! I won’t interfere again. I promise,” he said.

You brought your lips close to his throbbing cock but made no contact. “You’ll let me take care of you, then?” you asked, raising an eyebrow.

He nodded desperately. “Yes,” he hissed. “Please.”

You licked his tip, and he let out a whimper. You swirled your tongue around it, kissed it, and lapped at the ridge between it and his shaft. Once his hips were writhing from the teasing, you took him into your mouth. He let out a shuttering moan as you enveloped him in wet heat. His hands fisted into the sheets as you bobbed your head. You grabbed one of his wrists and guided his hand into your hair, instead. He tangled his fingers into your hair obediently.

You were an expert on Garreth, but you were a novice at oral sex. So, you worked what you couldn’t fit of him in your mouth with your hand. It glided easily with how much of your saliva was coating him. You enjoyed the burn of his hand tugging at your hair, but you were glad he didn’t try to force you down further than you were able to comfortably take him.

Feeling the heat of your mouth around him made Garreth that much more desperate to experience being inside your dripping cunt. He groaned as the images from his dream crossed his mind again, picturing himself sliding in and out of you as you were stretched around him. He had to fight hard to keep his hips still. All he wanted to do was thrust them up into the warmth of your mouth. All the tension came to a head as you bobbed faster up and down on his prick. You hummed in approval of the moans and swears that tumbled out of Garreth’s mouth, and the sensation tipped him over the edge. “Shit, I’m gonna come,” he said urgently.

Contrary to what he expected, you didn’t pull off of him. You kept going, letting him fill your mouth with the spurts of his seed. There wasn’t quite as much as the first time he’d come, but you still had a bit of trouble keeping it contained. You swallowed what made it into your mouth before licking up what had leaked down his shaft. He was so enamoured with the sight of you licking his cock clean of his cum that he had half a mind to propose right then. Though, he had enough of his faculties remaining to be aware that it wasn’t the sort of thing to do in a post-orgasmic haze.

Though, to be fair, he’d decided months ago that he’d marry you if it was the last thing he did. His aunt had laughed right in his face when he told her as she pressed him about post-graduation plans. In her defence, she hadn’t meant to. She was just caught off-guard. She had told him to be reasonable and keep his options open. She said he was young – much too young to decide something so permanent. He knew she was just trying to keep him from getting hurt, but he was still upset with her. He said some regrettable things about how she was just embittered because the man she had loved chose his work over her. He stormed out of her office after, but they made up eventually.

You made your way up to snuggle into Garreth’s side. He pulled the blanket over you both. “Where’d you go?” you asked as you reached your hand up to his cheek.

“Hm?” he replied, looking down at you with a confused expression.

“You looked lost in thought,” you said.

He smiled. “Just realized I was right about something,” he replied.

“Oh?” you asked curiously.

He nodded. “Yeah, but…I’ll tell you another time, okay?” he said.

You rolled your eyes. “Well, that’s cryptic and a bit ominous,” you said.

He shook his head. “No, I’m Garreth,” he replied with a cheeky grin. “You said my name enough times this morning, you’d think you’d remember it.”

You snorted out a laugh and pulled your hand off his face to smack his arm. “Garreth!” you chided.

“That’s the one,” he said with a wink. He kissed you before you could really get feisty with him. “Nap with me?”

“We just woke up,” you argued.

“Yeah, but I mean…I think we’ve earned it,” he said before a suggestive grin spread across his lips.

You giggled. “I suppose we have,” you agreed before resting your head back on his shoulder. “And you are quite comfy.” You hugged him around his middle.

Garreth’s heart gave a flutter as you squeezed him fondly against you. He angled his head down to kiss you again. “Sweet dreams, love,” he said.

“Sweet dreams, Gar,” you replied.

You let out a contented sigh as he held you close, and it wasn’t long before you were both fast asleep again. Your last thought before drifting off was that you were very glad you’d decided to show him the Room of Requirement.

[oathkeeperoxas]

TOP GUN / Icemav fic recs part 3

Good morning aviators, I am here with yet more fic recs! As always, I've tried not to repeat authors in the below, but if there here then I would also recommend opening their profile and checking out the rest of their works :D

Rec list 1 here

Rec list 2 here

now it's us https://archiveofourown.org/works/45161386 by @icemav86

“There was nothing to say, no alternatives, so Maverick dragged Ice to his bedroom and did his best, that day and until Ice left with his packed duffel over his shoulder, to show Ice how he felt about their impending separation, to communicate I need you, I’ll miss you, will you miss me? in every touch and gasp and moan. All of that went unsaid, though, Ice leaving on a warm spring morning with little more than a chaste kiss and a mutual agreement to keep in touch.” After three months apart, Maverick and Ice reconnect.

Love the comparison here between Mav feeling free in the sky and grounded with Ice. The boys use their words!! Very good and hot get together (properly) fic.

Love etc. https://archiveofourown.org/works/34701868 by @m-madeleine

A hospital visit and progress, of sorts.

Developing relationship and quiet moments where the two of them are figuring each other out – I adore how this author writes them.

Working on Nathan Hale’s Eulogy https://archiveofourown.org/works/47643871/chapters/120085639 by @lambourngb

The last words of Nathan Hale were inspiring to the generations that came afterward, but they were considered apocryphal by scholars. Propaganda that was repeated over and over again meant to keep a nation fighting for its freedom and independence. At the same time, the truth slipped away into a place where the living would never know it, and the dead were beyond caring. He wondered what his own final words would be; Thomas ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, COMPACFLT, a great naval officer, the second-best pilot, and a decent man. He hoped they would be ‘I love you’ to Maverick, but he was worried it would end up being ‘I’m sorry’ instead. [Tom has to find a way to break the news of his diagnosis to his wingman and partner, Pete.]

Get your tissues ready for this one!! I did in fact cry reading it. The emotions and the build and development of the icemav relationship through this gentle ending is so very satisfying.

leave a tender moment alone https://archiveofourown.org/works/44548714/ by vulcanx

Five times Maverick walks in on others in compromising positions and one time someone walks in on him kissing his husband.

Very classic 5+1 that I did enjoy!! The +1 icemav has me INCREDIBLY soft, I am such a sucker for the two of them being able to live and love in the open, which this fic amply provided 💖

The good part makes everything else incidental https://archiveofourown.org/works/48098077 by @adevotedreader

What Tom had not expected was that despite the exhaustion, the bloat from steroids, the soreness from surgery and radiation, and the mental exhaustion of just staying alive, he could still look at Maverick and feel the tendrils of arousal spark to life in his mind. The spirit was willing though the body had no hope of rising to the occasion. And, more shockingly to Tom, Maverick still felt attracted to him.

The two of them figuring out how to love and live even with everything that has happened to them!! Very soft and tender, very full of big feelings 💖

newsworthy https://archiveofourown.org/works/48089791 by @gracedbybattle

The Honorable Thomas Kazansky, SECNAV, retired from his post Saturday, June 11th, following a well attended ceremony in Alexandria, VA. Before departing, he was kind enough to impart a few words with Variety on his compelling career and enduring legacy.

Outsider pov and social media fic!! Two of my most beloved things to see in fics, all smashed up together. I very much enjoyed the look at what our main characters might look like to those outside what we know of them. The whole fic being in italics is a bit killer on my eyes, but it’s worth persevering through!

Running on Empty https://archiveofourown.org/works/46914424/chapters/118176517 by @wordsonamission

Maverick has spiraled down to a very low place. Although he was cleared of wrongdoing in the accident that caused Goose's death, he still feels that he bears responsibility for the tragedy. He's ready to leave the Navy to keep from hurting anyone else when Slider finds him hiding in an off-base bar and drags him back to the housing unit he's been sharing with Iceman during Top Gun. Maverick has a breakdown and Ice and Slider try to put the pieces of Maverick's broken heart back together. Maverick and Ice are also dancing around feelings that they're afraid to address. Maverick is left with a huge choice: does he stay in the Navy or start a new life as a civilian? Chapter one fills in the gap in the movie starting where Charlie tries to tough-love Maverick into flying again and Maverick going to see Viper at his house. Chapters two and three follow the plot of the rest of the movie.

Mav whump my beloved!! He’s definitely going through it in this fic, but he’s got some external support and love that helps him through the roughest parts. A really good dive into what Mav’s headspace might have been looking like immediately after Goose’s death, with a solid icemav relationship that shows their steady beginnings.

(I Love You) A Bushel and A Pallet https://archiveofourown.org/works/27142859/chapters/66285392 by @boasamishipper

"Only you, Mitchell," Ice says, "could possibly manage to get a concussion in a fucking Costco."

Domestic icemav my beloved. This author writes them so wonderfully, the dialogue and the set up for the fic are absolutely perfect and a real treat to read.

Rivalry https://archiveofourown.org/works/11851326 by thedevilchicken

Ice has always liked to be the best at everything he does.

Ice figuring out what he wants and how to love and what competition means when you’re also in love with your rival.

time = distance ÷ speed https://archiveofourown.org/works/36308572 by omnidirectional

Maverick hasn’t seen Iceman in years. But inevitably, they always cross paths again sooner or later. Five (plus one) potential timelines in which Maverick meets Iceman again 35 years later; some more on the comical side, others less so. Or, a pre-emptive strike: Six scenarios I’d prefer to see than whatever the actual sequel turns out to be. (If it ever comes out.)

WHEN I SAY I CRIED. As the summary suggests, this is a 5+1 focused on possible ways Top Gun: Maverick could have gone. The way the author ties each (tragic, comedic, wistful, ridiculous, heart-rending) of the 5 times into the +1 is genuinely awesome and I love how it plays on the 5+1 format. This was one of the first icemav fics I read and oh boy was it a doozy of an introduction to this ship!!

[holedaemon]

Ass Respect 2

Saturday, myself and Ari (@freakpatrol) finished up Mass Effect 2, after less than a week of playing. We played for idk, a little bit.

My friend Dylan put it well: Mass Effect 1 is one of those games you'd see in a "learn to make video games at DeVry University" commercial. It's clunky, inaccessible, and a slog.

Mass Effect 2 is smooth, accessible, and fun. Genuinely one of my favorite games ever.

THE GOOD PART 1: GAME MECHANICS

So far, Mass Effect is iterative. Each game takes the last and builds upon it. I don't know the history of development, but it's clear that Bioware saw the issues in the first game and went "hey, let's make this better." For instance,

The game is more accessible. Menus are easier to navigate and much more comprehensive. Shit makes sense. Things are actually explained to you, you aren't just left to guess how things work, or where you're supposed to go.

Following the theme of iteration, stuff that was lacking in 1, has been improved upon:

In the first game, there was only one minigame that was used for everything. It was basically just frogger; get your little arrow to the center of a circle, avoiding the obstacles that send you back to the start. It got to be annoying after the 1,400th time you did it. In 2, there are two distinct minigames mostly used for hacking/accessing technology and areas. The first is a match-the-symbols game, pretty self explanatory, the second is a code-matching game, where you match blocks of text with what's shown in the legend. They're not perfect but they're SOOOOO much better than what we had before.

Next: the star map. The galaxy is a big, expansive place. Before, you kinda just clicked on a system, went there, scanned a couple of planets for collection quests/resource gathering, then went to whatever planet your mission was at. Now, you actually have to travel to different systems manually. You pilot your ship between systems, using up fuel to do so. I wasn't super keen about it at first, but it grew on me. The overview of the galaxy also shows you your active quests, which is super nice.

In the same vein, the resource gathering is much more in depth. Before you could click on planets and sometimes would have the option to scan them for stuff. It was very shallow. In the sequel, you can scan pretty much every planet; it's a minigame in itself. Right-click and drag along the globe to find pockets of resources, then click to send a probe down to collect them. You can find element zero, palladium, iridium, and platinum. Each can be used for different kinds of research, which is used to upgrade you, your gear, your squadmates, their gear, and the Normandy. It's much more fleshed out and actually pretty fun. To Ari's dismay, I would sit and suck those planets dry looking for shit.

Also extremely important to mention: the side missions. They're SO much better now. Rather than going to some prefab & shooting enemies, each one is actually fleshed out and substantial. THEY ALSO GOT RID OF THE MAKO!!!! NO MORE OF THAT STUPID ASS CAR!!!! NO MORE TRYING TO SHIMMY YOUR WAY UP A MOUNTAIN FOR 20 MINUTES!!! IT'S GREAT!!!!

One minor thing I appreciate is that you don't loot inventories for items anymore. You mostly just pick up credits, resources, and ammo, which is much preferable. The inventories full of crap back in 1 were jarring and really took you out of the game.

That reminds me: ammo. Before, you had infinite ammo, your gun would just heat up with each shot, and if you filled the meter, it would have to cool down. Well, they ditched that in favor of ammo pickups. Enemies drop ammo, or the pickups will just be placed around the map. Apparently this was a controversial change, but I like it a lot more than before, it introduces a new challenge.

Along with ammo are your powers. They really made biotics a viable thing here. They're fun, they're powerful, they can really kick some ass if you use them correctly. I didn't make much use of them, but I appreciate the work that was put into improving them.

Just a few more things. I promise I'm almost done.

Overall, the game felt a lot more difficult. I felt substantially weaker; shit would tear through my shields like they were nothing. Bioware also did away with medi-gel, kinda. You still have it, but it's exclusively for your teammates if they go down. To regain health, you have to take cover. This made it a lot more challenging, I couldn't just spam heal in the middle of a battle, I actually had to strategize and hold positions. I like it.

The last major improvement they made was to the squad AI. It was actually worth a damn now. Squadmates would actually get kills and it was glorious. It didn't leave me feeling like I was totally on my own like before.

Also they got rid of omni-gel, but I don't think anyone cared.

THE GOOD PART 2: THE WORLD

Ohhhhh my god the world. It really hit me just how much better the atmosphere and level design was when we got to Omega. It's in the terminus systems, which are systems that are ungoverned by the citadel and the council. Omega is basically the citadel for crime lords; it's a dirty, slummy neighborhood on an asteroid. If you know me, you know I'm a sucker for settings like that (read: see Dorohedoro), so I LOVED Omega. Anyways: the world. It's so much more alive!!! When you touch down on a new location, everything really hits you all at once. There's people to talk to, places to go, things to see, it was great. The ambience was so much more potent; there's always some conversation going on in the background. The levels themselves were much less linear feeling, you could really explore & go anywhere. It wasn't like the citadel in the first game, which was so annoying to traverse.

The most important part of any world is its characters and Mass Effect 2 did not disappoint. In terms of races, it was mostly the same with a few newcomers: like the Vorcha. They're cool gremlin-looking dudes that slum around Omega & work in merc groups. There's a lot of prejudice towards them unfortunately. They're regarded as dumb vermin by pretty much every other race. People hate them more than they hate Batarians. It sucks cause they're actually pretty cool!

Speaking of Batarians, we got to see them a lot more, too. Unfortunately not in better conditions than the previous game; still mostly depicted as mercs, terrorists, and slavers.

There was also the Drell: anthropomorphic lizard guys. We only saw.... 2? Your squadmate, Thane, and his son. They're apparently near extinction. :( Their home world was destroyed, somehow, and they were taken in by the Hanar. Their relationship with the Hanar was symbiotic, the Drell lived on their planet and in return, as put by Ari, they do anything for the Hanar that "required having bones."

Another cool race we saw ONLY ONE OF, were the Yahg. The only one we saw happened to be the Shadow Broker. He was cool & tough, not much to say about him, but I liked him a lot.

I also wanna briefly touch on the enemies in the game.

The big bads were the Collectors. A race of bug-like aliens that were very elusive. In reality, they're actually Protheans that've been cultivated and genetically modified by the Reapers. Much like the Keepers on the citadel. Cool dudes.

Besides the Collectors, you were blasting mercs, which I loved. There's three distinct groups: the Blood Pack, the Eclipse, and the Blue Suns. Each group comprised of different species, with their own gimmicks.

The Collectors also had some new creatures in their ranks. Among the Husk, there were Scions. Scions are cool, grotesque Husk-like abominations. I like them a lot, but don't get me wrong: they SUCK. I died SO MUCH TO THEM. They have this long-range shockwave attack that's nigh impossible to dodge. Absolute bastards.

As for your teammates, a lot of newcomers, but some friendly faces too. Most notably Garrus. I love Garrus, he's my boy. We fucked. Tali also came back, I'll talk about her more in a bit.

Anyway, among the ranks were:

Miranda - total cunt. The Ashley of Mass Effect 2. Absolutely miserable to be around. I didn't speak to her unless I had to.

Jacob - Polite soldier type. He was cool but I didn't really care about him.

Mordin - MY PROBLEMATIC FAVE. He's a crazy, fast-talking, oldhead Salarian. We found him on Omega working on a cure for a plague that was going around. First and foremost, he's a genius scientist, but he also has combat training & can hold his own. At one point he sang a Salarian sea shanty, and then another time he was like "hey Shepard I saw that you moved your eyes in a funny way, btw I don't wanna fuck." Totally awesome dude. The thing that makes him problematic is he, well, modified the Genophage to be more effective. He quite literally sterilized the Krogan further and committed genocide. As the story progresses, he shows some remorse for his actions. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Mordin.

Thane - the aforementioned Drell that you encounter. He's a master assassin- really cool dude. Very calm & collected; prays to different deities before every kill, I dig it. He's also dying, that sucks. Love my boy Thane.

Samara - an Asari Justicar, which are highly esteemed warriors in their culture. Almost like ninja monks. They pretty much have immunity from any legal repercussions. They live by the code, an ancient set of scriptures that basically tell them to kill anyone that sucks or tries to hurt them. Samara is, as Ari put it, "the most autistic woman in the galaxy." She's awesome, has a really tragic backstory. We killed her daughter.

Jack - Oh Jack. She's a high level biotic that was experimented on as a child by the terrorist group Cerberus. Tortured for most of her early life in a facility you go back to and blow up with her. She's a volatile bottle rocket of anger & angst, ready to explode at a moment's notice, and also the hottest woman in the galaxy. You can't romance her as fem Shepard, which is a fucking TRAVESTY. I love Jack so much.

Zaeed & Kasumi - not even worth talking about.

GRUNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - MY BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is your Krogan squadmate for the game. Bred in a tank by the late Dr. Okeer. He's grumpy and ready to kill anything that moves. He was born literally yesterday & I would die for him. For his loyalty mission you take him to TUCHANKA!!!! THE KROGAN HOME WORLD!!! It's a fucking disaster of a planet, it looks like every level from a late aughts military shooter. But guess who you can fucking see there??? WREX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you chose to save him on Virmire, he has since returned home & become the leader of his own clan: the Urdnot. The Urdnot are the dominant clan on Tuchanka and are trying to reunify the planet and its clans. My boy Wrex is delighted to see you. He's really thrived on Tuchanka, becoming a very stoic leader, but very visibly happy.

A lot of the Krogan you encounter on Tuchanka are mean to Grunt because he was tank-born. But not Wrex, the old merc sees right past this & welcomes Grunt to try his might in the rite: the ritual that Krogan perform as they enter adulthood. The rite is basically just a tower defense game, culminating in fighting a Thresher Maw. If you succeed, Grunt is welcomed into clan Urdnot. Grunt still chooses to tag along with you in your mission, as you are his Battlemaster. He really comes to respect you over the course of the game, I love to see it.

Tali'Zorah - It's Tali, baby. She's back. She's finished her Pilgrimage & is working for the Quarian fleet. I specifically wanted to mention her because her loyalty mission is actually really cool. After her recruitment, Tali is called back to the Quarian fleet, having been accused of treason. You see, after her mission on one of the former Quarian colony worlds (where you save and recruit her), she sends deactivated Geth parts back to the fleet for her father to do research on. Due to the research being done, this backfires, the Geth are reactivated, and kill the entire ship, including Tali's father. We learn this during the hearing, and everyone is shocked. As a way to clear her name, Tali & Shepard go to the ship the Geth are on and clear it out. I really like this mission because it adds a lot of depth to the Quarians & their culture. I loved seeing the Flotilla; the architecture of the old, second-hand ships they travel the galaxy with. Meeting more Quarians was a delight too. Easily one of my favorite races in the series; their conflict with the Geth is complicated & tragic, and I'm eager to see how it plays out.

AND FINALLY....

LAST BUT NOT LEAST....

THE MAN OF THE HOUR....

MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE COMPANION...

LEGION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - PERHAPS THE COOLEST COMPANION EVER, BESIDES WREX..... I didn't know of his existence until he was introduced. Ari was very careful not to tell me about him, and I'm thankful for it. I love him so much. Legion is a Geth. A true Geth. One that is not following the Reapers. It turns out, the Geth we've been fighting for the last few years are actually a faction of "heretics" that broke off from the main group. The main group are still peaceful & reclusive. I really, really, really love this twist because it adds so much more depth to the Geth. It gives them reason to be, more than just a fodder enemy for the Reapers. It makes them more complicated. The Geth are vilified across the galaxy & the reason AI have become illegal, but they're really just misunderstood. During Legion's loyalty mission, you are tasked with destroying the heretics. Except you have a choice; you can destroy them, or save them & rewrite the code that's made them submit to the Reapers. It's a morally ambiguous mission- I took the latter route, opting to save them and rewrite them. It feels wrong to do that, but it's better than genocide... Anyway, yeah, Legion: absolute favorite part about Mass Effect 2. Everyone is hesitant to have him aboard the Normandy, but he rocks & I would die for him.

THE BAD

That was a lot, if you've gotten this far, thanks. I have a lot less to say about the game from here on out, as it's a really fun and good experience. But as with anything, there's always some bad.

These aren't even necessarily super bad things, just stuff that irked me. Primarily:

Stability - the game's a lil buggy. There were weird animation errors & at one point I crashed entirely. Ari was also unable to play in windowed mode for some reason, which made watching me stream a pain, since they had to watch on their phone. They're gonna get a second monitor here soon, though. 👁️

UI & Controls - extremely nitpicky, but, a few times, dialogue options and weapons in my wheel would switch around. I don't really know why, but it got me a few times. The bigger thing was the controls on the galaxy map: if you pressed escape, it would kick you out of the map entirely. Very annoying.

The DLC - I'm not really sure what all was DLC, because it was included in the legendary edition of the games. But the DLC characters, Zaeed and Kasumi, were fucking nothing. Just empty husks of characters, lacking all depth & interesting story. I did their missions for completion's sake but they were fucking stupid.

The final boss - SUPER SUPER COOL CONCEPT!!! It's a fucking Reaper shaped like a skeletal human, it was so awesome looking, but the fight itself was underwhelming and lacking. I did it in a single try. Literally I had more trouble getting to it than fighting it. You basically just shot its weak spots until it died.

Weapon mods - they got rid of them!! I thought that was a bummer, I liked the customization they offered in the first game.

All in all...

Mass Effect 2 is a fantastic game. Easily a contender for one of my favorite of all time. The world, the characters, the story, it's all fantastic. It really took the basis the first game left & expanded upon it in such a cool way. We've since started 3, and I'm already thinking "oh this is not nearly as good as 2."

Thanks again to Ari for playing it w/ me. It's nice to actually experience and enjoy games again. Having a partner to go through it with has made it 10 times more enjoyable.

The one last thing I have to say about the game is that I really enjoy how everybody calls you Shepard exclusively. At one point, during a conversation with Liara, I thought to myself, "wait, what's Shepard's first name?" That's when I remembered, I named her Obama. Obama Shepard. Ari laughed at me.

Again, if you read this far, I appreciate it. I'm sure once we've finished 3, I'll have even more to say.

With Love,

Obama Shepard

[givemeasinglekidney]

Lights Are On | Tsukishima K.

Sorry for not updating! Life got insane if I listed it all out I’d have to make an entire paragraph

Also sorry for not posting the Suna one, I got commissioned to do this one! So I hope you enjoy!

This week seemed like nothing but a drag. For starters, Monday you woke up late, and your alarm clock didn’t go off because your phone wasn’t plugged in and died. The rest of the week seemed like nothing but loads and loads of homework assignments. And to top it all off, you just barely failed your math test. The world had it out for you.

But you had one thing to look forward to.

Your boyfriend.

Tsukishima Kei.

You two met when you were younger, in your first year of middle school. He was trying out for boys' volleyball, and you wandered into the wrong gym by accident trying to find the girls' volleyball gym. You ran into him and that sparked a conversation of witty remarks and sarcastic comebacks. Safe to say, he had some respect for you.

The summer before your first year of high school, he had asked you out. Everything in your eyes was perfect.

You were so supportive of him with volleyball. You ended up quitting because the girl's team wasn’t consistent and you thought of exploring your interests. Michimiya acknowledged your way of thinking and directed you to student council. You thought It’d be great for your future so you signed right up.

You were not prepared

You were not prepared at all.

You didn’t expect there to be so many projects you’d have to take on. All the papers that needed to fill out were insane. You bit more than you could chew due to others who weren’t putting in their effort. This led to you pulling multiple all-nighters and setting aside your needs.

But you always made time for him.

Every game of his you came to cheer him on, regardless of how he told you not to. You knew deep down he appreciated it.

With your combined workloads, you guys didn’t have much time to hang out or go on dates. You barely saw each other at school due to him being in class 1-4 and you being in class 1-5. That's how you made friends with Yachi and Kyoko.

It was finally Saturday and Tsukishima had a game. You were loaded with work, but the thought of seeing someone who loved you made the day a little bit better, so you went.

You knew this was important to him. It was the big game against shiratorizawa, the deciding factor on which team would go to nationals. You had faith in him.

But your heart dropped the moment the ball hit his fingers. By the way, he bent down, you knew something was up. You slowly recognized the red blood dripping from his skin as he walked off the court with Kyoko following behind. You were panicked. How could you not be?

You knew they wouldn’t let you into the nurse's office to see him, so you texted his phone. You may or may not have gone just a little overboard with worry and sent good 20-ish texts asking how he was.

Before you knew it, he was running back onto the court with Kyoko in toll. You couldn’t help but find it a little strange as he didn’t respond to your messages.

The game was over. They had won.

He had won.

You were so excited, you ran down to the first floor to congratulate him. It was crowded but you didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was him.

You reached the floor and made your way to the team. At the sight of everyone being celebrated, you spotted two blonde and green-haired best friends talking. Yamaguchi’s parents never show up to games, and Tsukishima’s brother was still making his way down.

As you walked closer, you started to hear their conversation.

But your demeanor surely changed.

“I’m sure they were just worried for you-” The shorter one spoke

“I don’t care. It's annoying and they should know it.” Said none other than your dearest boyfriend.

“I don’t need to be babied. I’m fine and it’s annoying as hell for them to constantly spam my phone over a small injury. I barely see them anymore, if they truly cared they’d make more time for me. There’s no way they’re that busy. I'm getting sick of it.”

Oh.

oh…

Your heart shattered.

That’s really what he’s been thinking all along.

Was everything just a lie?

You were in shock. You woke out of your trance as someone bumped your shoulder. Yachi and Kyoko were making their way through.

“Oh hey!” Yachi waved at you. “I’m so glad you made it! It was awesome wasn’t it!”

“Yeah…” You looked down, “It was.”

Kyoko looked at you with slight concern. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh it’s… um, it’s nothing.” You tried to laugh off, “I just have a lot of work to do, so I’ll be going.” And before they could say anything, you walked off.

You walked your way back home, pace slightly fast as you wanted to be in the comforts of your room before the tears fall out.

You reached your front door and slammed it shut. You couldn’t even slide down the door and wallow since you had papers to fill out. Taking off your shoes, you trekked your way to your room, not bothering to state your presents as your parents weren’t there. They barely were.

Being at home alone all the time made you feel like a ghost.

Like you’re just floating.

Like the lights were on, but nobodies home.

As you worked and worked, downing a coffee and a half, the clock went from 18:07 to 2:28. You had a headache and you weren't even done yet. Stacks of paper filled your desk as your laptop sat parallel to you, the glow making your head hurt worse.

Then there was a very faint knock.

You laid your head in your hands as you bent over onto your desk, fighting the urge to cry. Why was the world against you? All the work. All the pressure. All the absence of those who you loved.

Who you thought loved you.

The knock repeated.

You didn’t bother getting up. What lunatic was at your door at 2:30 in the morning? Being broken into was the last thing you needed.

You were so stuck in your thoughts you didn’t hear footsteps make their way over to your room and open the door.

“Can I come in?”

You didn’t bother turning. Didn’t even reply.

You heard the creek of your bed dip as you figured he sat down. You bed was right next to you desk, so he was sitting not far behind your chair.

“I saw your texts.” He started softly, “And I know you heard me. Yachi told me you left after I had asked if she’d seen you. Kyoko said you seemd upset and I knew you had listened in. I couldn’t sleep, and with the eye bags you come in with every morning I thought you’d might be awake.”

You removed your hands but kept you head on the desk facing down. You couldn’t find the energy to reply. He continued.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” His voiced questioned with a hint of concern, “Is all of this… Has this been what you’ve been dealing with all this time?”

He picked up some papers in the stack closest to him. You hummed a noise of affirmation.

He sighed, “Look. Im sorry. I guess all the adrenaline from the game got to my head and I said things I didn’t necessarily mean. It’s more of… I just missed you. Okay.”

You turned your head to look at him. He looks back at you.

“You’re an idiot.”

“Wow. I pour the little words I can from my heart to you and this is the thanks I get.” He replied.

You chuckled and rubbed your eyes. “I missed you, too.”

He got up from the bed and stood behind you, leaning down to hug you and rested his head on your collar.

“Take a break.” He mumbled.

“I’d love to, but these papers-”

“We can figure out the papers in the morning. You need rest. And I need my dork back.” He smiled.

“Oh shut up you.” You chuckled at his statements.

“I will when you take a break.” He sighed at you.

You stared at your work load and contemplated. But you were so tired you couldn’t think properly. Your boyfriend noticed and took the chance to start nudging you off the chair and guided you to bed. You laid down and he joined you, snuggling and he wrapped his arms around your torso.

As you drifted to sleep, you discarded the workload of those who couldn’t do the work for themselves. Don’t wake us up, we got nothing for you.

Yeah.

Maybe this can work.

There aint no love

like our love.

[jgroffdaily]

In all of the rush of getting home and back to my real life, I didn’t get a chance to write up the experiences that we, your faithful JGD-ers, had this last weekend in NYC.

On Saturday morning, we did a tour of the front of house sections of the Hudson Theatre. It’s a gorgeous building, with a fascinating history, and I would recommend the tour to anyone who is interested in Broadway - the company was Broadway Up Close.

In the afternoon, we went to the matinee of the show, the first matinee (and thus the first two-show day) of this Broadway run. We had great seats in the first row of the mezzanine / dress circle, from which we had a decent view of the actors’ facial expressions (although not as good as from the orchestra seats / the stalls on Thursday evening) and also a fab view of the actual orchestra, who sit “upstairs” in Frank’s apartment.

I loved the show again, of course. I had fully intended to turn my attention to different elements this time - to watch Frank during Franklin Shepherd, Inc; to watch Frank and Beth during Not A Day Goes By, to check out what the orchestra were doing. But in fact I was entirely dragged into the story, and the performances, once more, and my eyes snagged on the exact same things as last time.

As for Sunday, my final day in NYC: well, we had realised a few weeks ago that there seemed to be *something* due to happen on the Sunday evening - there was no show listed for that afternoon, which broke the pattern of all of the rest of the weeks from Opening onwards. So we wondered if that date might be the Opening Night (which it kind of turned out to be, amidst some confusion around “industry opening / red carpet interviews / after party” on Sunday vs press night / release of embargo on Tuesday).

So, on the off chance that we had guessed correctly, I changed my flight home to the UK, so that instead of an 8pm flight, I had an 11pm one. That meant that I could stay in Manhattan until 7pm ish, and we could investigate what was happening.

Earlier on in the day, we went to the Broadway Up Close booth to buy some Broadway themed merch, and I had to laugh when the guy manning the counter asked me “have you seen any shows?” and when I replied “Merrily”, he said “aha, I had a theory…” and pointed to the Groff sweatshirt that I was wearing! Might as well wear your heart on your sleeve (chest), I guess!!

We walked to the theatre in the afternoon, and there were some union guys / security people chatting outside, so I asked them if anything was due to happen outside that evening. They said: “oh no, no, nothing at all, it’s all going to be inside; not at all worth you coming back here”, then blew their own cover a little by adding “unless you want to watch us work, setting up!”

Setting up what, you may ask? And indeed, that is what we did ask ourselves, after we had thanked them and wandered away. If they were setting something up outside, there must be something worth seeing. And so, at around 5pm, we “accidentally” found ourselves back at the theatre, and located a spot close to the steps, where we could semi-nonchalantly linger.

While it was true that the red carpet was happening indoors (not entirely surprising, as the lobby of the theatre is, as previously noted, stunningly beautiful, and the scaffolding outside is decidedly less photogenic), the security and queuing / ticket checking system was happening outside, as was a good deal of “people in fancy clothes loitering and waiting for their friends to arrive before going in”, and thus we had a great view for an hour or so, as many people arrived and went in.

We spotted Anna Wintour (sharp haircut, giant sunglasses and all - but having to queue with the masses - quelle horreur!), Zach Quinto with a friend, Raul Castillo and Alexis Forte (newlyweds! 💍🎉) and Cynthia Erivo, who arrived with Lena Waithe.

Although we didn’t see Jonathan - the cast must have gone into the theatre much earlier, or via the stage door, or both - I am so pleased that we were there. There was a fantastic buzz of excitement amongst those arriving for the show, and it felt to me like one of those real “Covid is over [note: I know it isn’t!] and the world is back!” moments. It made me so happy and grateful to see all of those people there, to support and celebrate our favourite guy (and his friends and colleagues), and it was the perfect end to my perfect NYC trip!