#also good luck with the guitar savings man!

[vernedip]

Tagging Thing!

Rules: Tag 9 people (or less, because I don't really have many mutuals) you want to know better and/or catch up with, then answer the questions below!

-- Tagged by @sakvnosuke

Last Song: Wanderer's Lullaby by Adriana Figueroa, because of... reasons? I've got a daydreamer's curse, honestly.

Three Ships: Okay okay, I'll be honest, I'm a multishipper and generally prefer to keep my own ships separate from this account, but probably... Ekuserirei (MP100), Gochiccolo (DBZ), and... Hyuroicia/ai (FMA)..? I know, I know, they're weird, but I'm more of a found family person than a romance one, so I'm more a sucker for poly, borderline queerplatonic ships that also just center around a few people taking care of a child or three, I guess. Some honourable mentions would probably still be more domestic ships like KyuTae (Gintama) and Entourageshipping (Pokéspe), or crack ships like Handa x Kawafuji (Barakamon), whatever the heck Tom, Shizuo, and Vorona had (Durarara), or basically any appropriate ship in Gintama... Wait, are these even romantic ships for me anymore--

Currently Reading: Well, with normal books, I've been reading light novel after light novel these days. But not even consistent ones. One minute, it's Durarara, then Bungou Stray Dogs, then Kirby. I dunno either. In terms of fanfiction this very moment, however, I've been bouncing between fandoms a lot lately, so even though I was reading page after page of Yu-Gi-Oh and TMNT fanfics a few months ago, I'm suddenly back on a weird DBZ, Moomins, and Gintama thing. Last one I read was probably this one where Gintoki and the kids get kidnapped by this one dude who wants to enter the Shiroyasha in a galactic tournament or something, with a title that's on the tip of my tongue, if I can just find where I left the tab...

Last Movie: THE NEW PUSS IN BOOTS MOVIE WAS SOOOO GOOD!! I almost wanted to cry from the sheer amount of good it was, man! The visuals, the sound design, the story, the characters, it was all just so--! Gods, I've been loving what these sort of movies have been doing lately, where they're starting to get a bit bolder with storytelling. I love it a lot. I also know I'll be seeing that new TMNT movie coming out this August with some friends later, too! Hope it will live up to this trend.

Craving: I've read so many good fanfics... my standards for stories are only rising higher..! Pretty soon, I'll run out of stories I really want and I'll probably just spontaneously combust and die on the spot when that happens. Somebody..! Please..!! I need regular book recommendations of found family..! Preferably some random jaded adult gaining some kid that isn't blood related to them, maybe a few kids, actually. Or maybe a poly parental unit that focuses more on them raising their adopted kid than on the oddity of the relationship itself please! I dunno, but anything along those lines! I'm practically starving over here.

Ack, sorry, this was probably supposed to be a quick thing, but I've never been tagged before and I got carried away in my excitement to share my super weird story preferences on here.

Tagging: @en-decouvrant-le-monde @vimroy @magnacidebb @doozythebird

[undreaming-fanfiction]

Written for @steddieangstyaugust day 4: angst with a happy ending.

Once upon a time, when the world almost ended and didn't, Eddie Munson used to think that surviving the near apocalypse would be the most difficult thing he'd ever have to do in his life. Surely being bitten to death, then resurrected by the big bad, then breaking away from his influence and helping save the world, that must have counted for something, right? He'd earn a happy end through all that suffering.

Well, no. Not really. That's what he learned the second the portal to the Upside Down closed. The lovely people of Hawkins still hated him, he and Wayne had nowhere to live because their trailer split open, and he barely escaped another group of government scientists very much interested in the whole "came back to life" thing.

It was only natural Eddie ran. Why wouldn't he? He brought Wayne only bad luck, even worse reputation, and a bunch of extra expenses. His friends from the Corroded Coffin? Tortured by Jason to find his location. The freshmen he dragged into Hellfire? Also targeted. Eddie's name was a target on the back on everyone he loved and he wouldn't stay long enough for it to put the others in danger. Not Wayne, Dustin…Steve. Steve who confused him as much as enticed him. But Hawkins wasn't the place to explore this forbidden space in Eddie's head.

Indy sounded like a good destination and so that's where he went. He wrote a bunch of goodbye letters, trying to explain, but mostly to ease the pain. I will be in touch once I settle in, he said in them. He was never a good liar, not even on paper.

The whole Upside Down affair had robbed him of everything. His baby, his guitar. His closest relationships. His only proper home. The future he saw with himself and the Corroded Coffin. But he still had his life, so that was something.

He made friends, but not really. How do you make a real connection with someone when you can't tell them anything about the most important event in your life? How do you explain staring at every girl with golden blond ponytail on the street, dreading the moment they turn around because it won't be her?

He would send letters to Wayne sometimes. They would be long, talking about this and that, he would sometimes call too. But he noticed that for how much he talked, the content was empty. He wondered if Wayne noticed too. He must have - his uncle was the most perceptive man he'd ever met. He sent a bunch of short messages to Dustin via Wayne, just to keep him from going all Sherlock Holmes on Eddie. He swore to visit them both one day. Just not today. Or tomorrow.

The only good thing about his life in Indy was the anonymity of a large city and with that, the possibility to explore who he really was. He saved as much as he could and bought a new guitar. It would never be like his first love, but he could get back to music and drive his roommates insane with how out of practice he was. He'd play here and there, become very slightly famous in the local queer community. Sometimes his performances would earn him a free drink, sometimes a kiss. Or if he was really good, company for the night.

Five years in, it was going fairly well, he thought. He wasn't completely broke, he could kiss who he wanted - boys, how long it took him to admit that!, his songs got more genuine. He even wrote a bunch about Hawkins, never naming the place or people, of course, but it helped him work through some stuff. And on some days, he didn't even think much about what and who he'd left behind.

Until that fateful evening when he was scheduled to perform in his frequented gay bar. He sat on his usual stool on the podium with his acoustic guitar, greeted the regulars, and said his usual spiel: "This one is about a very special boy. He wore a yellow sweater, saved my life a bunch of times. Was really badass too. I think he made me realize who I really am, even if he never knew how I feel about him."

He never gave the song a name. He considered "His vest over my bleeding heart", or maybe something like "Keep me like you kept the vest", something with sunflowers, nail bats, perfect hair. Everyone in the bar knew he hated naming his songs anyway, so he took a deep breath and got ready to play.

Only then did he notice a familiar shade of yellow near the bar. And a surprised, but still a smile.

Eddie didn't run that evening. He finished the set, thanked his supporters and fans, and then he found himself sitting next to Steve Harrington, the man from his songs and dreams.

"Everyone misses you like crazy. They still hope you'll stop by, but I get it. I just feel lucky as hell. I didn't think I'd see you again," said Steve and it sounded sad. Like he actually missed Eddie too.

"I didn't think I'd find you in a place like this," responded Eddie. He wanted it to sound more rough, defensive, but his heart betrayed him and it was more of a question. Of a plea.

Steve smiled at him again, and maybe it was Eddie's imagination, but did he shift closer to him? "You haven't seen me in a long time, Eddie. This is exactly the place you'd find me these days. And now…I don't even need to drag Robin with me as an excuse."

Oh. Okay. Eddie could work with that. Licking his lips, he prodded even more. "So…uh. I take it you still haven't found what you're looking for?"

Steve turned to him fully, reaching out for Eddie's hand, and Eddie realized that he might have been wrong. This might be his happy ending after all.

Especially when Steve's lips parted and he said: "I have now."

Eddie would visit Wayne. He'd call Dustin, catch up with Gareth and others. Because he no longer felt like a bad omen. The morning he woke up next to Steve Harrington, with a careful promise of much more than one night, with pancakes for breakfast and talking, so much real talking with no secrets and no lies, he decided that he was ready to stop running. For good this time.

[a-bottle-of-tyelenol]

Not sure how to properly word this, but I find it really interesting how EPIC!Odysseus subtly equates himself to being among gods, particularly when it comes to empathizing with EPIC!Eurylochus.

In Luck Runs Out, Odysseus specifically tells Eurylochus, “I need you to always be devout and comply with this or we’ll all die in this.” and I find that particularly interesting because “devout” is most often used in relation to religion and belief, as is the structure of complying with the words of a god because death is the only other option. And he does this right after he announces to the world that he is “neither man nor mythical” which inherently puts himself above his men.

Odysseus has moments of hubris, absolutely, but a lot of his more outwardly notable moments of arrogance are replaced with scenes that prefer to highlight his grief and humanity instead (specifically, I think of when he announces his name to the cyclops). It feels like, to me, a lot of Odysseus’ arrogance in EPIC is less straightforward. It’s not him galavanting about how he bested someone, it’s more about how he holds himself and his status above others. That isn’t to say it no longer exists— quite the contrary, actually. Odysseus is objectively selfish, as is Eurylochus and the crew, but just like in the Odyssey, his hubris is absolutely his undoing; it just looks a little different here.

“I took 600 men to war and not one of them died there, in case I needed to remind you.” is a moment where, yes the praise is deserved, but I think it’s a good one to showcase where he subtly uses his own capabilities as a way to diminish the concerns of his crew. It’s important to remember that Odysseus was Athena’s favorite and there are many situations in OG source material where she either saves his life or gives him a leg-up on the competition that he otherwise wouldn’t have had, even in something as benign as a race or game. Odysseus absolutely deserves credit, as he is still very intelligent and Athena picked him for a reason, but I have no doubt in my mind that she was a large reason for why he was even able to accomplish such a feat in the first place. And yet, he attributes it solely to himself here.

Now, it’s pretty evident that the crew are largely unaware of Athena’s interference so I’m not bringing this up to say the crew would side-eye this. I mostly bring it up because of the fact that Odysseus did it at all and how it adds to a reoccurring theme of Odysseus insisting that he is a man while also likening himself as a god. Odysseus’ mantra of being “just a man” is largely not meant to be entirely literal and is supposed to represent his guilt, remorse, empathy, and love— characteristics that are mostly attributed to humanity— but I still think this goes hand in hand with Odysseus as a character wanting to have his cake and eat it too.

You can see this a lot in how Odysseus approaches the gods. In my interpretation, he thinks of himself on some kind of equal terms as them— he thinks that he can win Aelous’ game, he thinks he can outsmart Poseidon, he thinks that he can handle Circe, and he thinks he can argue back with Athena and directly disrespect her because they are equals— friends. Honestly, the only time he doesn’t really do this is in the beginning with Zeus and Astyanax, which is interesting because it is also his interaction with Zeus in Thunderbringer that seems to stop this mindset all-together (I don’t personally think that Odysseus believes himself to be equals with Poseidon in GitW and SHS, which is largely why I believe he won, but that’s a topic for another day).

(Also, outside of the story, you see it in how Jay gives him electric guitar (electronic music is associated with magic), waited like eight songs for the first time we hear Odysseus’ name (a decision similar to how we never actually hear ‘Zeus’ and is even highlighted by the way that he reveals Athena’s identity in Warrior of the Mind and not his own), and how he has a song with his name (just like the monsters do). This isn’t super relevant, I just think it’s interesting.)

Anyways, regardless of how right he is about these things (because, admittedly, he often is), it says a lot about him and how he perceives the situation he’s in that he can think these things at all.

Something else that’s interesting to note: likening yourself to a god, even indirectly, is really bad culturally. The gods find it disrespectful and that’s why you see a lot of myths or moments about people being punished for saying that they’re as or more beautiful than Aphrodite, as or more strong than Ares, as or more smart than Athena. In the Odyssey, Telemachus visits someone’s palace (I think it was Menelaus but ngl I don’t remember) and he whispers about how it must be what the palace of the gods looks like because of how glorious it is and he is immediately corrected because doing something like that is really bad and is usually/always seen as disrespectful to the gods.

Which brings me back to Eurylochus, a regular guy who has the experiences of someone without divine blood or intervention and also watches as his captain and king, even indirectly, puts himself on a level where he does not belong. Odysseus, as incredible as he is, is not nearly as divine as he makes himself out to be. He’s the great-grandson of Hermes— not the son, not even the grandson, the great-grandson— and he is the king of Ithaca, a small island that isn’t actually all that wealthy. In Ancient Greece standards, he’s not hot shit enough to warrant this belief, and Eurylochus knows that.

Obviously, Athena’s mentorship does change things a bit, but I wonder how much of Odysseus’ inherent belief that he is above his fellow man leaked into his behaviors. How obvious was it to Eurylochus, to his crew? How do you go from seeing someone like Achilles or Sarpedon with direct links to godhood that fell despite their parentage, and someone like Odysseus, who is touched by the divine but not even half as close as the others? How do you watch them fall and then see Odysseus continuously getting too close to the very things that have killed so many heroes before?

It isn’t just that Eurylochus is a normal man— it’s the fact that he views Odysseus as one as well, and Odysseus’ actions, despite what he continually insists throughout the show, do not portray that of a normal man. Normal men do not ask for direct help from a being that does not care whether they live or die. Normal men do not face off against fucking Poseidon without backing down. Normal men do not charge in against a sea witch without any aid and expect to win. Normal men do not get to make the decisions of fate— of who lives and dies— and remain blameless.

Odysseus told him to listen, yes, but he also put himself on to a pedestal that his crew had no way of knowing was true. To them, he was a regular man doing things that would have gotten regular men killed— and it did, it just wasn’t Odysseus who died because of it.

[apomaro-mellow]

Guitar!Steve 2

In the early hours of the morning, Eddie was sure he was still in a dream. What other explanation was there for the crazy hot dude in his bed? Then the other man made a sound and turned around and the memories of the previous night came back to him.

Eddie immediately scampered out of bed, stumbling a bit and grabbed his pants. He pulled out the smooth, black wishing stone. He pumped his fist, not believing his luck right now when his bedmate made another waking sound and his eyes fluttered open.

"What are you doing up?", Sweetheart asked.

And Eddie didn't really have a good answer with for that but he stammered through the attempt anyway. His Sweetheart just gave him a sleepy smile and patted the empty space next to him.

"Come back to bed~"

Eddie practically pounced right onto him. He was only human. But his Sweetheart, strong and solid, only let out a slight 'oof' before wrapping his arms around him. He kissed Eddie's cheek, then his chin, then kept going lower.

"Feeling affectionate?"

"I know you don't like early mornings."

Eddie hummed as his hands stroked up and down the other man's sides, just feeling but still not fully believing. Then Sweetheart started kissing down his neck and Eddie felt himself drowning deeper and deeper into him when someone pounded on the trailer door.

"Eddie!"

"Shit!", Eddie hissed, very reluctantly pulling away from his lover. Another voice called his name and that confirmed it. His friends were at the door. Probably looking for him. Because he definitely told Crash he would call him back and then he...didn't.

Eddie looked to Sweetheart, lying in the bed, looking confused but also extremely fuckable and why had he moved away from him again?

"Dude!"

"Eddie!"

"We're coming in!"

"Shitshitshit!"

Eddie resumed what he was doing, which was putting on pants. In his haste he just picked up the jeans he wore last night and slipped them on. Going commando in his jeans wasn't ideal, but it was all he had time for before Jeff, Crash, and Gareth were barging into the trailer.

Eddie came out of his room to meet them and they froze just inside the door to the trailer.

"Uh, hey?"

"You just get up man?", Gareth asked.

"Where's the stone?", Crash demanded to know.

Jeff was looking at the ceiling. "Please zip up your fly."

Eddie looked down and saw his bush peeking out from his pants. "Didn't know you were such a prude Jeffy." He watched his hairs as he zipped up.

"Why didn't you call back last night? What happened?", Crash asked.

"I uh, got a little distracted..." Eddie stuck his hands in his pockets while figuring out exactly how to break the news to them. He was saved by that by the sound of Sweetheart moving on his creaky mattress and calling out his name like it was a siren song.

Eddie turned, and the other boys leaned over and craned their necks to look through Eddie's ajar door.

"Ohhh", Jeff nodded.

Gareth looked like he bit a lemon. "Eddie? Seriously? You get laid and forget to call back?"

"Give him a break", Jeff said.

"Can we just-!", Eddie held up his hands. "Wait here!" He left the dissonant voices in the living room while going to check in on Sweetheart.

After explaining who was here and getting him into some clothes, and putting on a shirt for himself, the two of the rejoined the group at large. The others looked confused as to why Eddie was presenting the guy instead of kicking him out.

Eddie put on a t-shirt, still going commando. Sweetheart had put on a pair of his boxers, which were a little snug on him and a tank top. It fit but only because it was a bit big on Eddie in the first place.

"Alright, Sweetheart, these are the boys, Crash, Gareth, and Jeff. Boys, this is my uhhh guitar."

Crash's hands went to his forehead and he pushed his hair back. Jeff's eyes were bugging out and Gareth was looking back and forth between the two of them.

After a cacophony of disbelief and better explanations, Eddie sat down on his couch with a weary sigh. He barely gave a reaction when Sweetheart sat in his lap, he just put a hand on his hip.

It didn't seem to matter to either of them that there was more than enough room on the couch for them both. Jeff couldn’t take his eyes off the guy.

“Okay, so this is your guitar.”

“Sweetheart”, Eddie said. It didn't seem right to just refer to him as an instrument anymore.

“Yeah, okay, but weeeee can’t call him that”, Jeff said, swinging an arm to the others.

“Yeah, he needs another name. A human name”, Gareth clarified.

“At least while he’s here”, Crash agreed.

Eddie didn’t really like the implication there, that Sweetheart wouldn't always be around, but he conceded that he also didn’t like the idea of anyone else using the pet name. He needed a name that wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows.

"What do you think, Sweetheart?"

"I like what you call me", he whispered only to him, twirling a curly lock around his finger.

"Yeah, but do you want anyone else calling you that?", Eddie asked in an equally low voice.

They kept talking in low whispers, in their own little world. Pretty much ignoring the other people in the trailer.

"Do you guys need a room?", Jeff asked.

"Well we DID have one before you broke into my home", Eddie pointed out.

"Can we just figure out what to do about this?", Gareth asked, looking like he was about to collapse.

They spent about ten minutes deciding on what to call this man and eventually landed on the name 'Steve'. Eddie's brows rose at that but even he had to admit there was something oddly fitting about it. His Sweetheart had looked like a killing machine in guitar-form, but was capable of tender, mellow notes.

Now as a human he was just as capable of multitudes. So he was here, he had a name, now Eddie needed to find out how to make his stay permanent.

Part 4 coming soon

[jamisonwritestf2trash]

[Alarm meme sfx] [breaks door] Hallo! I have come up with a suggestion for you!

Which rhythm games do the mercs play, or would play? And why?

There's a lot of different mechanics —such as judgment lines, kinds of notes, spam— and characteristics to explore and compare, so go wild! I'll add some links as guidance: Arcaea, Phigros, Lanota, and Project SEKAI.

Take care! > ◡ <

What Rhythm Games Do The TF2 Mercs Like and Why?

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Hello to you too! This is such a cool ask! Also, mutual appreciation comment: Love you and all the kind reblogs from you 🫶🏻

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I haven't played a lot of rhythm games, so I hope you like these 😭

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Gotta get this out of the way, the reason they all love these games besides the reasons specified is because of the praise. These guys are so desperate to be told they're doing a good job it's crazy.

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Demo- Rhythm Heaven, this man loves cute things. He definitely gets upset about the issues that come with a lack of depth perception. He makes it work, though, and always tries and has fun regardless of if he does well or not.

Engineer- Dance Dance Revolution. He's insane. You'd think a middle-aged man who's used to sitting, sketching, designing, and creating things in his room wouldn't be the best at DDR, but he's so good. He loves to dance!

Heavy- Arcaea is one that he really likes, but I don't think he has a favorite. Rhythm games are hard for him. There's lots of room of error. He loves how like absolutely hard the music in Arcaea goes, so he'd definitely pick that one a lot more than others, if he had to choose.

Medic- Lovebirb. He loves music (so he's already a fan of rhythm games), and now he can add birds into it!? Sign him up. He adores the art style and the idea of birds finding love. It's beautiful to him!

Scout is a killer at Beat Saber. It's almost scary. Once he gets focused on it, good luck beating his high score. So quick tie into another headcannon, Medic loves music and has tried to play Rush E multiple times and struggles, (Ik Beat Saber and acutal instruments are different but like omg they all look super hard.) Scout on second try did Rush E perfect on Beat Saber. Medic was mouth agape. He's a fan of having to spam things. He loves quick moments because he's always in need of a way to burn off energy. (This man is so Jerma coded I'd be so wrong not to say he didn't play the same game Jerma played with Miku even if it isn't a rhythm game 😭).

Sniper- Osu! Laser accuracy. He could be playing the hardest level out there and is pinpointing it perfectly. He is the worst to try and play against. He's almost as bad as Scout, but Scout doesn't really get why people are so shocked at how good he is. Sniper is smug about it.

Spy- Just. Dance. King. This man has played every just dance game out there. He's too good at this game. It's worrying. He's not even really a good dancer or anything. But this man has every dance locked into his memory. He loves the songs and also likes the idea of being a pop star, but he won't ever admit that.

Soldier- Guitar Hero. This man can shread on the guitar. Like Spy and his pop star dreams, he loves the idea of being a rockstar, but he's willing to admit that. I actually think when he was younger, he saved up money and bought himself a guitar and an amp and used to play it all the time. But as he grew up, he didn't have time for it. But now, anytime someone brings up video games, he's super excited to whip out the plastic guitar.

Pyro- Melatonin. Genuinely not a fan rhythm games. It's a sensory overload. Loud noise, lots of movement, and too many things to pay attention to. (Just like me fr). The minute they saw Melatonin, they were thrilled and fell in love instantly.

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I'm sorry if this wasn't as good as my other's. I had a hard time with this bc I don't play rhythm games 😭 it was still super cool to do!

[jake-whatthefisgoingon-kiszka]

No Strings Attached

(Strumming of a Heart)

✵ Part 1

Summary: After an overwhelming breakup you decided to set your heart aside and run free. With the constraints of your past relationship behind you, finding the fun in the physical company of others has been your favorite past time and it all started one night you met a lonely Jake Kiszka in a bar. Although you thought you would never see him after that night, a year later you meet him again, only this time you find out he’s a guitar player in a popular band. You can not deny the intense attraction, embarking on a messy situationship that has only one stipulation: absolutely no strings attached.

Pairings: Jake X fem reader

Warnings: as always 18+ no minors, past abusive relationships, angst, drinking, sexual content, friends with benefits, mentions of cheating, I’ll update more as they come along!

Word count: 14k

May 2018

“How about him?” Your friend pointed the neck of the glass beer bottle towards a guy sitting at a table by the bar with a couple of other guys.

“No, he looks like he could be a little clingy” you replied while also sipping on your cocktail. It was your third in the last hour. You knew you were definitely going to need to be intoxicated to get done what you came out to do tonight.

As your wandering eyes searched the dimly lit bar they trailed the expanse of the bar only to fall onto one gentleman sitting seemingly by himself at the end. “Over there” you nodded your head in his direction and your friend followed your gaze.

“Ooh he’s cute, think he’ll bite?”

“There’s only one way to find out” you stood up and tipped back the rest of your quickly diminishing glass.

“Good luck” they called after you as you walked away towards what at the time you had no idea was going to be the biggest regret of your life.

“Hi” you greeted the man at the end of the bar, leaning over on the cold, slightly damp and sticky countertop and crossing your legs.

He looked up at you through tired dazed eyes, he was absolutely plastered, this was perfect. “Hey” he took one look at you then his eyes slipped down into your trap, your chest was on display for him as you leaned in closer to him.

“You here alone?” You were trying hard to act smooth and well versed in the art of picking people up in bars, but in reality your mind was screaming inside.

“For the moment” he replied, flashing you a quick smile.

You smiled back, one thing you’d learned. Anytime a boy smiled at you, smile back and then you had him in the bag.

“You here alone too?” He turned your question back on you, at least he was participating in conversation.

“Does it matter?”

“I suppose not” he gave a low chuckle and tossed back the rest of his beer.

“So, you from Detroit?”

“Just passing through”. That was perfect, if he didn’t live here that meant there was less of a chance to run into him somewhere else.

You straightened back up and he peaked up as well, wondering if you were planning on leaving so soon. That was your cue that he was interested. “Did you maybe want to umm-” you looked around, although you had planned this out you honestly didn’t think you would get this far on your first try.

He smiled even wider this time, leaving some cash next to his empty glass and standing up as well. He took your hand in his and pulled you away. You looked back to your friend who had been watching the whole time in case they needed to jump in and save you at any moment. You flashed a smile and they raised two thumbs to cheer you on.

Your heart was pounding as you let him drag you along through the bar. It was busy for a Tuesday, but not nearly as packed as it usually was on a weekend night.

You weren’t sure where he was taking you, to his car, his place? You weren’t sure you had signed up to be staying the night with him. Then he rounded the corner. A few girls exited the bathroom, making room for the two of you to pass and sharing a giggle with each other.

Was it obvious? Of course it was. Here you were hand in hand slipping into the bathroom of the bar together.

With the two girls gone it was empty now, thank god. He smirked as he held open the door to the last stall waiting for you to either enter or chicken out and ditch him.

You weren’t chickening out though, you wanted to get this over with so you could move on with your life. So you stepped inside and he closed the door, locking it behind him.

As soon as you heard the slight click of the plastic pieces hitting each other you pushed him against the door, locking lips with the stranger.

Your hands fumbled with the top few buttons of his shirt, giving up halfway and moving below the waist to take a shot at his belt buckle.

You felt his lips pull up against yours as he put his hands on your shoulders gently pushing you away. You looked up at him to see why he stopped you and watched as he wiped his bottom lip with the back of his hand.

“Hey, so, what’s your name?”

That’s it? He stopped you for this? You really didn’t want to tell him your name so you looked down and continued unbuckling his obnoxiously large belt buckle.

Once you got the damn thing undone it was smooth sailing to get his pants unbuttoned and the zipper flew down before you had your hand inside the front of his tight jeans groping him over his boxers.

He stifled a moan, propping each elbow up on either side of the stall, tilting his head back against the door.

He was getting hard quickly, and you noticed a strip of bare skin where his collar had fallen away from his neck so you latched your lips there feeling the grumble of his moan vibrate up from his chest through his throat and out past his parted lips.

He seemed to like what you were doing, so you licked a stripe up the side of his neck then sucked gently.

His head snapped back up startling you into taking a step back.

“No marks” he was looking you directly in the eyes this time and you were stunned in place. When you were talking to him at the bar his eyes looked dull and tired, but now there was a fire behind them as he waited for your next move, a fire you ignited.

“Sure, whatever” you mumbled “anything else I should know?”

He let his arms drop down to his sides before reaching over to take one of your hands in his. “Jacob Thomas Kiszka, at your service” he brought your hand forward and kissed the back of it, never breaking his eye contact as he did so.

You sighed, you didn’t want to know his name, not knowing his name would have made it easier to forget tonight, but here he was with his charming drunk ass practically spelling it out for you.

For a moment you debated giving him a fake one, but ended up giving in and telling him your actual name. He let your hand go but placed his against your cheek and pulled you into another kiss, parting your lips with his and fitting his tongue inside.

Your knees started to feel weak, you had to give it to him, he was doing it for you.

He slipped his other hand around your waist and pulled you flush against him so that there was just a little more room for him to turn the two of you around and push you against the door this time. You broke the kiss so you could take a breath and he followed your lead from earlier by moving to peppering kisses against your clavicle.

His hand on your waist slid down and between your legs. You had worn a dress specifically for this purpose, easy access. To help speed him up you lifted the hem and hooked your thumbs on either side of the fabric of your panties, shimmying them down and kicking them all the way off. Once you popped back up he was smiling at you again so you put a stop to that by putting your lips back on his and resuming the making out.

Things were really heating up at this point, you were glad the moment was finally here. You were going to have sex with this man in the bathroom of this bar and then your first time would be over, nothing special, no one worth crying over, just done and done.

You ran through your plan one last time in your head, it was a simple one. Go to bar, find a forgettable guy, get him alone, condoms in the purse… Wait, you left your damn purse at the table with your friend.

“Do you have umm, some protection?”

He paused his exploration of your thighs where he had been getting closer and closer to your center. “Oh, yeah right” he reached around and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket.

“You know you’re not supposed to keep them in your wallet right?”

He pulled out the thin square, flashing it between index and middle fingers, rotating his wrist to inspect it. “Only put it in there yesterday. Looks fine to me?”

Yesterday? You thought, your head running off with the thought before you could slow it down and catch yourself. He put a new condom in his wallet yesterday. Does that mean he was having sex with someone else just a day ago? How many hours has it been since he was with another girl?

You shut yourself up quickly. He was alone in a bar of course he could be having lots of stranger sex in bathrooms. He was honestly outstandingly good looking, especially this up close, taking the plastic to his lips and tearing it open with his teeth. Also what you were not supposed to do but damn was it kind of hot to watch.

He pulled himself off of you and you watched as he dropped his pants and boxers around his ankles, expertly rolling the piece on before giving himself a few preemptive tugs. He placed a hand on the door next to you, leaning in close and resuming that eye contact you hated so much like he was still watching and waiting for you to suddenly change your mind and go running out of the bathroom.

Although you had said hardly anything to this man before you, purposefully played a game with him so you could use him and lose him all in the same night, as he stood there barring holes into your eyes you couldn’t help but feel like he knew you. At least knew your story, because his was the same. Maybe he was using you tonight as well? Just like he’d used some other girl the night before. You didn’t care anymore, you were here and ready and he was cocky yet gentle, not what you had expected when you’d picked him but now there was no turning back.

You bridged the small gap he left between you, grabbing his hips and pulling him back against yours.

He lifted one of your legs and you hooked it around his hip, pressing your back against the door for more support as he positioned himself, gripping your hip and pulling you down onto him as he pushed up at the same time.

You sucked in a deep breath as you got used to the feeling of being filled. It wasn’t a bad feeling, in fact your adrenaline was spiked to an all new high that flooded your head and relaxed all your muscles even though you were in the most awkward position.

He started to move, knocking you against the door in a way you knew anyone just outside was avoiding coming in because they could hear what was going on inside.

“Mmm, no I need to be deeper in you” he groaned into your ear before grabbing your wobbling leg that was still barely holding you up and hoisting it around him like the other.

With your elevated position you were able to grab a hold of the top of the stall walls, throwing one arm across his shoulders and reaching up with the other to grip the wall, using it as leverage to attempt to move yourself, bouncing off of him as he thrust inside spewing a mix of slurs at the pleasure the change in leverage provided.

Although you had explored with yourself plenty of times this was new, this was intoxicating the burning wave inside your body mixing with the liquid courage still coursing through your system.

“Does that feel good? Is this what you wanted?” He was back at your ear, speaking at just an audible level above the sounds you were making. You nodded your head, squeezing your eyes shut as you slipped your hand underneath his shirt and dug your fingernails into the flesh of his shoulder. He’d said no marks but that was sure to leave one.

He groaned, somehow able to move one hand off your waist and still keep you hoisted in position. That hand came to rest across your neck as he tilted your head back to display for him the vast surface of smooth and delicate skin. His hand continued to trail down, following the curves until he was pulling down the collar of your dress, tucking the fabric under your bust and leaning his head down to place wet kisses across the tops of your breast.

“Fuck you feel so good, I don’t want this to be over” he returned his hand to your neck and kissed all along the skin up to your jaw.

You were seeing white spots on your eyelids, a coil in your stomach starting to tighten as he relentlessly continued to thrust up into you. In the moment you didn’t want it to be over either, but it would be, soon.

You snapped and your body felt like hot liquid running against his. You were shuddering from the orgasm he was giving you, tightening your legs around his hips like you might break him in half but you didn’t care.

His movements started to falter, his steady rhythm falling apart as he moaned. “Fuck that’s so good. Are you still cumming? I can feel it. Me too, I-”.

You didn’t expect him to be a talker, but he silenced himself as he moved his hand back down with the other to your hips, pulling you towards him and holding you in place as he finished himself.

You let go of the stall, wincing a little as your arm was sore from the strain. His head slumped against your shoulder as he caught his breath then he gently lowered you back down onto the ground.

Without wasting a minute you retrieved your panties and bent over to slip them back on, pulling at your dress in all places until it was situated back where it belonged and turning around to pull the lock open.

“Woah, wait!” He hurried to pull his pants back up and chase after you. “Will you let me buy you a drink?”

“No thanks” you rejected him but he caught your hand to keep you from escaping so quickly.

“Just one, I promise you don’t even have to sit with me and drink it, just let me get you one?”

You weighed the pros and pros and cons in your head. The pros being you were really thirsty after that. So against your better judgment you agreed and followed him back out to the bar where you had first met him.

He ordered another beer and you a drink, the bartender took one look at the two of you and smirked before leaving to get some glasses.

You looked over at the man you just let fuck you senseless and realized half of his shirt was still unbuttoned and his long hear was tousseled around. He didn’t look tired anymore, more refreshed than when you first saw him, a hint of a smile on his lips as he fished out his wallet again and pulled out more cash. Yeah, if this was how you saw him earlier you would have walked away.

The bartender returned with your drinks and took the money. You took a sip of your drink and just about when you were about to leave him for good a girl came walking up from behind you.

“Jake!” She called out, making you jump a little at her unexpected arrival.

So he goes by Jake. Flashed through your mind. Wait, you didn’t care.

The girl moved past you like it was nothing and joined Jake by his side.

“Oh right, this is my girlfriend” he announced with no hint of guilt or shame. Your jaw dropped as you saw the unknowing girl call the bartender back over. There was no need for him to get her a drink you thought. He could have yours. You took the small red straw out of the glass and tossed the contents across his bare chest.

Now you were walking away from him. Your friend was still waiting at the table where you left them. Having watched the whole scene they grabbed both your things and followed you out the bar.

You were walking away from him now, and you knew right then and there that you never wanted to see Jacob Thomas Kiszka ever again.

Jake’s POV

As the ice cold liquid hit your chest you sobered up for a moment only to catch her storming off, another person jumping up from a table to follow her out the door. So she wasn’t alone?

You couldn’t hold back a smirk from forming across your face as you grabbed some bar napkins to dab at your chest and shirt.

“Who the fuck was that?” Lila asked you, absolutely shocked at what she’d just walked into, unknowing how you had spent the rest of your night leading up to now.

“I don’t even know” you breathed out. The only thing you had left of your encounter was the warm feeling in the bottom of your stomach and her first name. “She was beautiful though wasn’t she?” Now that she was gone you were already reminiscing about how her face looked above you, pink and glowing with a sheen of sweat under the dim lights.

“Yeah, beautiful and fucking crazy” Lila responded as she finally got herself a drink. “You sure do attract them Jake you know that?” She chuckled under her breath as she took a sip from her glass.

It was evident that she wasn’t coming back at this point so you swiveled around in your bar stool to face your friend. “You would know wouldn’t you? Beautiful” you teased her and she pushed your shoulder nearly knocking you off the stool. She realized then how drunk you already were.

“How long have you been here anyways?” Her tone turning serious.

“Not too long, maybe an hour and a half, or longer, time kind of… got away from me”.

“That’s what I was afraid of” she muttered in a way that you might not have heard her correctly so you asked her to repeat herself. Instead she just shrugged her shoulders and kept sipping.

You spent the rest of the night there with her as she commented on how shitty the bar was and how next time she was picking the spot. You nodded your head and agreed with her. You told her you didn’t plan on coming back here but it was a lie, you spent the next three nights back in this stool waiting to see if she would show again.

She never did, and you had to get back to work. After all, you were just passing through.

Three months prior

You wanted to cry some more, letting the tears roll down your face was a lot more satisfying than the dry heaving sobs your body was forcing you through right now.

Your best friend was there for you throughout the whole thing. They were currently leaning over you with half of their body draped over yours as they rubbed soothing circles into your furiously shaking back. “Shh it will be okay. You’re alright. Everything’s going to be alright” they quietly repeated to you over and over again until you finally managed to suck in a deep breath and calm down.

Thank god they always had a relaxing effect on you because you were worried you were about to start hyperventilating.

You had just gone through the worst break up of your life. Your boyfriend of 4 years, known him most your life. The man you thought you’d, no planned on, marrying.

He was out of your life for good and as much as you hated it right now, it had to be for the better.

“Now, tell me what happened”.

They hadn’t heard the full story yet. Every time you started to try and tell them you burst into uncontrollable tears.

You took another deep breath and closed your eyes, picturing for the last time the man you’d called the love of your life and letting it go.

It started on a Sunday afternoon. Liam had told you to get dressed in something nice for the evening. He was taking you out.

Your heart raced as you picked through your worn in closet, nothing you had felt like it was appropriate for what you were sure was coming. He was finally going to propose to you.

You met Liam in highschool, he was two grades ahead of you but you shared some electives that allowed for the chance encounter to meet each other and become friends.

He had a different girlfriend at the time, Jessica. She was the sweetest, president of the student council, homecoming queen, insanely smart, but not as smart as Liam.

He was his year's valedictorian, Jessica finishing right behind him, always second in his shadow when it came to academics. You could tell it bothered her at times. She worked ridiculously hard to get to where she was because he didn’t want anyone sitting up on stage between them when it came to their graduation, whereas it seemed to just come naturally to him.

When their graduation finally came you attended to show your support to your friends, by that point you had become as close to Jessica as you had Liam maybe even closer as sometimes girls just shared a deeper connection. As the ceremony finished up you squeezed through the crowd of people trying to find either of them to congratulate them on their speeches one last time before you left them to celebrate with their families.

Jessica found you first, sneakily grabbing your hand with hers and pulling you out of the crowd over to a quiet corner.

“You did so great, the last minute changes you made to your speech were perfect, everyone loved it!” You squeezed her shoulders as you hugged her.

Once you finished she pulled away and grabbed your hands again, holding them in front of her as she debated how she was going to tell you. “Can I ask you something and you be entirely honest with me? I promise I won’t get mad”.

You smiled nervously, your first response was to tell her of course! Anything!, but you held back a little since she seemed to be a bit anxious. “Sure, I’ll do my best” you landed on that reply, seemed safe.

“Do you have feelings for Liam?” She blurted out, but she wasn’t mad, more like genuinely wanting to know.

You pulled your hands out of hers, rubbing your arm as you tried to figure out what was the best way to continue this conversation. Should you lie to her? That wasn’t really fair considering she was your friend and she was coming to you with this in a very stoic way. Should you laugh her off? Admitting to anyone’s girlfriend that you had feelings for their boyfriend, although you were all close, wasn’t really a laughing matter. You sighed as you knew there was no getting out of this, she clearly wouldn’t have asked you if she didn’t already know the truth. You looked down at the pair of feet underneath you, both clad in sparkly heels for the occasion, and nodded your head yes.

“Ok, thank you for being honest with me” she rubbed her hands over your arms like you had. She really wasn’t mad? “I have to tell you something else now”

You looked back up at her, there was something else on her mind, something you realized she’d been keeping from the both of you.

“I got into Brown”.

“Wait, what?!” Your excitement suddenly came back to you when she told you the shocking news. You had no idea she even applied to other universities other than the one Liam was going to. Well that was probably the point, she hadn’t told anyone had she? “What does Liam think?” You asked to confirm your suspicions.

“He doesn’t know, I’m telling him tonight at dinner. Also I got into a summer program so I’m leaving in a few weeks.”. You could tell she was also a little excited to finally be telling you, but scared about how she was going to break the news to her boyfriend.

“I’m sure he will be so proud of you” you tried to help ease her nerves, tell her it was going to be okay even if they were soon going to be nearly twelve hours away from each other and starting whole new chapters in their lives. You knew how highschool sweetheart relationships lasted through long distance at college, they didn’t. “Maybe you guys can work out a schedule before you leave? He can come visit you in the summers and you will be coming back for the holidays right?”

“No, this is it for us” she shook her head, she had already made up her mind. “I’m leaving him, and I’m leaving him to you”.

“Oh” was the only sound that popped out of your mouth. Her question before made sense now, but the reality of the situation did not. “No, he doesn’t like me like that. How could he when he’s got you? You’re so much better at me in everything” she frowned at the way you put yourself down and compared yourself to her, but you thought it was true.

“I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Known it for months. We’ve been on rocky shores recently. I knew it would only be a matter of time anyways. He likes you”.

Your stomach did a flip, partly because you felt bad their seemingly perfect relationship had been cracking because of you, but also because you couldn’t believe that she could be right about him liking you back.

“So does this mean today is the last day I’ll see you?” You sniffled a little bit, damned if you were going to cry, but getting worked up nonetheless.

“Better not be!” She pulled you back into a hug, this time being the one to squeeze on you. “I said a few weeks, I’ll be around and I promise I’ll come say bye to you before I go. Alright now I better go find my mom and dad before they freak out about not getting enough pictures of me in my cap and gown”.

Just like that she was gone. You did see her one last time like she had promised, but it was at a going away party that filled her house with all the people she knew. You felt so out of place at that party. All upperclassmen that had just graduated and we’re excited to go off into the world wherever their post graduation goals took them, and you were stuck here with another two years to go.

The rest of the summer you spent a lot of time with Liam. At first it was awkward and kind of sad without Jessica there, but eventually Liam opened up to you and like she said he’d confessed his feelings shortly before moving into the dorms.

Despite your differences your relationship grew steady quickly.

You were over the moon about dating someone in university, spending as much time as you could going the next few towns over to visit him. Highschool fell into the background for you, only doing as much as you needed to get into the same university as him. Then there you were, finally really together.

When he helped you move into your dorm your first fall at university was the first time you told him you loved him. You didn’t expect him to say it back, there was still a lot of ground to be made between the two of you, one of which being sleeping together. Liam told you he loved you back, your heart swelled and you tried to make your move, bringing him into a long passionate kiss. He stopped you before you could pull your shirt off, explaining that he wanted to wait until marriage.

You were kind of bummed out, stuff like that didn’t really matter much to you, but you let it go because more importantly he loved you.

Back to the Sunday afternoon. You settled with a dark blue dress. One that had gold shimmers woven into the fabric of the dress. You thought the lights would catch just right in the pictures you would be taking. Picturing it already him getting down on one knee and you fighting back tears, you were excited.

You were in for a let down though when you pulled up to the restaurant and Liam threw the car in park, leaving you inside to go meet a group of guys at the front door. You left yourself out of the car, bringing your purses strap over your shoulder as you approached the group, confused.

“Come meet my girlfriend!” Liam told them, walking over to you and placing his hand on your lower back to speed you up. What was his deal?

He introduced you to the guys who all agreed they should go back in so you could meet their girlfriends they’d left inside. It became evident very quickly as you followed them into a private party room that this wasn’t a proposal dinner, but a get together with people from his department.

His hand stayed firmly on your back as you walked inside together, continuing to push you around and guide you towards groups of people to be introduced to.

So him asking you to wear something nice wasn’t to look good in pictures you’d be treasuring for years, but to show you off.

You suddenly weren’t hungry any longer, but when a waitress passed by offering drinks you weren’t about to pass that up.

You took a drink after each person he made you meet, standing there and forcing a smile like the pretty quiet thing he always wanted you to be at events like these.

By the time he was done pushing you around you were done with your current drink. He finally let you go and you found another waitress to get another glass then took a seat at the back of the room at an empty table.

You never set your drink down as you watched him circling back around the room, spending more time with a few specific people than others. He looked perfectly far away through the refraction of the glass.

The evening went on like that for a while and a collection of empty glasses were starting to pile up on the table next to you but no one seemed to care. No one except your boyfriend who was making a b-line in your direction.

“That’s enough drinks. I don’t want you embarrassing me”. He said in a hush as he leaned behind you.

Embarrass him? What about how embarrassed I feel? You wanted to tell him how you felt, how you thought after the week leading up to tonight he had left you bread crumbs, telling you how important this weekend was for us and our future. How you thought that meant a glass of champagne and a ring not whatever this event even was, but you knew he wouldn’t want to hear it right now.

“Fine, I’ll just stop drinking this free booze here and drink ours when we get back home” you replied to him, glancing behind you to see him biting the inside of his cheek. He had commented on your drinking on multiple occasions. It’s not like you were a stumbling drunk, you just enjoyed your first few years of college like anyone else and now that you were legal to drink in public you liked to indulge yourself from time to time. Tonight seemed like a night to enjoy yourself, he certainly was.

You could tell he wanted to say something else, scolding you like he did a thousand times when you ‘weren’t acting like you were mature enough to be around him and his friends’, but he bit the inside of his cheek instead of risking making a scene.

“Excuse me, I’ll be in the restroom. Maybe go introduce yourself to a few more people. I don’t want to see you sitting here alone when I get back” he cupped his hand down onto your shoulder and gave it a squeeze before walking out the room.

You sighed and left your empty table to go find the one other girl you barely recognized to latch onto until he got back.

“Hey!” She called to you when she saw you making your way over to her. You pulled your smile back on but as you made your way across the room your knees wobbled and you nearly fell.

Fortunately you caught yourself by grabbing onto a nearby man’s shoulder. Unfortunately he spilled his drink all over your dress.

Fuck! You yelled at yourself inside your head. If Liam sees me like this he’ll be pissed I made him leave the party early to go home and change. You hurried out the room, not even pausing to apologize. You were embarrassed that you had gotten a little too drunk, but more afraid of Liam getting upset. You searched the restaurant for the restrooms, but stopped yourself when you realized you could cross paths with him too easily this way.

Instead you made the decision to go outside knowing you had some napkins and a bottle of water in your car. That and the breeze outside to dry you off and sober you up a little would work.

The parking lot was small but packed full with cars, most likely due to the event going on inside. You didn’t see many others in the actual restaurant but then again you were in a hurry.

Sitting in the passenger's seat you wiped your chest down, pouring the remainder of the water onto a napkin, some spilling out onto the ground between your feet to try and get as much sticky off of you as possible.

The front of your dress was still soaked. Thankfully the dark color helped hide it a little, but knowing Liam he would notice still.

You sighed, you did want to go home, maybe getting him to agree to leave and deal with him being a little pissy in the car ride back would be worth it.

Standing up you pulled at the hem of your dress, putting everything back in its place and gently closing the car door. When you turned to head back inside you saw a sight you were not at all expecting.

Liam was standing outside the restaurant. You wondered if he was looking for you, but his eyes were fixed on someone else and he was smiling from ear to ear. A beautiful girl approached him, placing her hands around his neck and giving a quick kiss on his cheek. He wrapped one arm around her waist, placing his palm against the small of her back just like he so often did with you. She pulled away but he kept his hand on her as he opened the door and led her inside.

What the fuck was that? You thought to yourself. Sure Liam was very impressionable and charmingly friendly towards most people, but something about watching that interaction made your stomach churn. Nothing about it was particularly incriminating, besides some girl’s hands and lips all over your boyfriend, but they seemed to be very familiar with each other and that didn’t sit right with you.

If you had been in a better mood, if this had been the dinner you expected it to be, if you hadn’t been drinking, then you would have brushed it off, but those were just ifs and instead you were fuming.

If you even so much as smiled for too long at another guy Liam would be angry with you, so why did you have to constantly put up with him acting any way he wanted to?

You marched back inside the restaurant and saw that although they had put some space between them, Liam and the girl were standing in a small group. A waitress walked past and Liam stopped her to grab a glass and offered it to the girl. Oh so she can drink but you can’t?

The man whose drink was spilled on you tried to stop and ask if you were ok, but you ignored him. Only concerned with making it to Liam and getting the two of you out of here.

“I need to go, someone spilled a drink on my dress” you arrived and interrupted his conversation to which he slightly rolled his eyes.

“Of course,” he sighed, pinching the area between his brows, “I’m not finished here yet. Why don’t you take the car back to your place and I’ll get a ride back to mine with one of the guys?”

Well, he didn’t sound pissed, just disappointed which unfortunately made you feel a little worse about it.

“You don’t want me to wait at yours? How much longer are you going to be?” You flashed your eyes at the girl next to him who was caught up in talking with the rest of the group.

“We will probably go out for a bit after this, it will be late” he replied. Something didn’t add up to you. He had invited you here, but did he make plans to go out with his friends after you’d arrived or had he planned to ditch you the entire time?

“Alright, we’ll I don’t have classes until the afternoon tomorrow, I’ll bring the car back by in the morning and get mine”. You gave him an awkward half hug, trying not to get the front of your wet dress too close to his nice shirt. “Love you” you gave him in parting.

“I’ll see you in the morning, get home safe”.

You made it home in one piece despite how much you’d had to drink. In fact, you were surprised Liam had let you drive knowing how many cocktails you’d had.

After the second shower of the day to rinse off the remainder of the spill and wash your face free of the extra makeup you’d put on, you changed into some comfy clothes and made your way into the tiny kitchen to find something quick to eat.

Your apartment was much smaller compared to Liam’s. Well you didn’t have the financial support from your parents like he had, relying heavily on your scholarships, student aid, and even a part time job while he took extra classes and had an unpaid internship.

You spent most of your time together over there where there was more space and you wished he would just ask you to move in, but he stuck to his beliefs and was firmly against living together until you were at least engaged. That was another reason why you’d expected him to propose tonight. There had been comments he’d made about ‘when we start living together’ like it was coming sooner than later.

After heating something up you plopped onto your two person couch and clicked on the TV. In addition to being hungry, you were wide awake, so you decided to catch up on some of your cheat shows as you ate.

Three episodes in and you still weren’t tired. You went into your room where you’d left your phone to charge, thinking surely you’d have a text or a missed call from Liam. Once you unplugged the device and the screen illuminated you saw there was nothing.

It was a little over half an hour to midnight. Liam didn’t go out with his friends very often, but when he did, he did tend to stay out into the early hours of the morning.

Your thumb swiped and tapped along the screen until his contact was pulled up and you hit the call button. The phone rang just a couple of times then went to voicemail.

This was so stupid. You had been so excited this afternoon, only to end the evening alone in your apartment without even a text to say good night.

Fuck this. You snatched up your keys and kicked on some shoes before locking your door behind you and getting back in the car. Even if he was going to be out for longer, you’d wait for him, you wanted to be with him.

When you pulled up to the apartment complex you found that there was someone already parked in his spot. You waited for a moment to see if anyone would come out and move it, besides he'd said his friends were giving him a ride back, but no one ever came. Both the car and his apartment windows were dark.

You drove further down to find an open visitor spot then made your way back to the front door, using your spare key to unlock it and go inside.

You entered quietly in case he was indeed already back and sleeping, but it wasn’t quiet inside.

Cries and moans were being carried down the hallway. You were in absolute shock and denial, your first thought being one of his pretentious friends had a girl over, but then you heard her crying out his name.

You flew down the hallway, throwing the door open and flicking on the light to expose them in the act.

Liam was naked, you’d never seen him more than shirtless before, but here he was only a sheet keeping him somewhat decent and he was on top of the girl from the party.

“Who the fuck?!” The girl squealed, knocking Liam off of her and grabbing the sheet to cover her chest.

“Who the FUCK is right!” You were yelling, nothing but rage filling your entire body as Liam jumped out of the bed you had spent so many nights laying in with him trying to keep control. He pulled a pair of shorts on and ran over to guide you away from the door so she could get dressed and you could talk before you did something rash like jump her and scratch her eyes out.

“Baby, baby, come here sit down” he wrapped his hand around your arm and guided you down the hallway. His touch was burning into your skin, you wanted him off of you, didn’t want to hear a damn thing he had to say. You tried to swing your arm away from him but his grip tightened and he practically threw you onto the couch.

He crouched onto the ground in front of you, placing his hands on your thighs and trapping you there.

“I’m so sorry! I had a little too much to drink!” He tried to explain, reaching up to wipe away the tears that were starting to fall and roll down your cheeks.

“You had too much to drink?!” You repeated, your voice cracking out of your tight throat in a way that made it feel sore to even try and speak. “So you had to fuck someone in our bed? What happened to waiting until marriage?! I thought you loved me!” The tears were pouring out of your eyes now like a faucet turned all the way open. You didn’t even attempt to wipe them, there was no way your face was going to be dry again tonight.

“I do love you!” He squeezed your thigh, his fingers digging into the skin in an unsettling way. “You have to realize, it’s different for men”.

Your brows furrowed, what was he trying to imply? You didn’t respond. Only stared at him, thankful you could hardly make out his face through the water works.

“I love you, and I want to marry you, but until then I need some personal time, to get it all out before we commit to each other”.

Oh. So he was allowed to cheat on you to sleep with others but you weren’t. You had to remain his unspoiled prize until he trapped you forever.

Everything wrong with this picture was slapping you in the face. A blinking red light searing your corneas.

You tried to get up, but his hands remained firm on your thighs, his nails starting to dig into the flesh. “Let me go!” You were yelling again, kicking your legs trying to get away but he stood up and hovered over you, squeezing your knees between his legs and placing his hands on your shoulders to keep you still.

“Stop!” He was matching your volume, surely his neighbors were being woken up at this point from all of the commotion.

Panic set in as he held you down onto the couch. He had never gotten this physical with you before, and it was starting to scare you a little bit.

“Hey!” The girl had redressed and was standing in the hallway watching the two of you struggle. “Let her go” she was yelling too, but fortunately she seemed to be on your side.

“Stay out of it and get the fuck out of here” he turned toward her and you took that as your opportunity to shove him to the side as hard as you could and jump up.

You ran for the door and the girl picked up a few books sitting on the bookshelf in the hallway to throw at him and keep him from chasing after either of you.

“Oh my god, thank you” you yelled as you both made a dash for your cars.

“I got you girl, what an ass I hope you dump him!” She replied before ducking into the driver's seat and backing out.

She has been the one parked in his spot, so your car was next to hers. It had been since that afternoon when you came over dressed and ready for what you thought was going to be the best night.

You backed out like a bat out of hell, just trying to get away before he had a chance to come out and chase after you, lure you back inside, lie to you some more.

When you were clear of the apartment complex and a little ways up the road you pulled into a gas station and let your forehead fall onto the steering wheel, sobbing as you tried and failed to calm yourself enough to drive home.

Then it hit you, going home wasn’t the best option, if he came looking for you that’s the first place he’d go.

Instead you fumbled for your phone that you had thrown into the passenger seat when you jumped into your car. Retrieving it you pulled up the contact for your best friend, hoping they would pick up this late.

“Hello?” They answered after a few rings, not sounding very excited to talk to you unlike usual, but also like they were still half way asleep.

When you called out their name through a fit of sobs their voice went from sleepy to concerned.

“Can I come over? I’m sorry, I just really need some help right now” you begged feeling like an absolute mess of a friend.

“Hey, don’t ever be sorry to ask for help. Are you safe to drive over here or do I need to come get you?”

Your tears slowed from inconsolable weeping to a sniffling whimper. It was already easing you to hear them speak so kindly to you. “I can drive, thank you. See you in a bit” you replied and hung up so you could focus on making it there.

You stayed with your friend for the rest of the week and by the weekend they went with you to pick up all of your stuff from Liam’s apartment.

You were so thankful for the patience and support you received from your friend. You were afraid if you’d gone to Liam’s apartment alone then he would have tried to force you to talk again and you didn’t want to talk. It was over between the two of you.

The cheating had been the final straw, and you were constantly nauseous every time you let yourself think about how long he must have been doing it without you even realizing. On top of that you knew there were parts of your relationship you turned a blind eye to. The standards, the image, the way he wanted to control every aspect of it and you had started to feel suffocated even before everything unraveled.

How stupid you felt now, obeying his every wish and command just because he was the first guy to ever love you? Well, that was overrated and you weren’t about to ever let another man possess you.

May 2019

“Hey I’m going to this concert later tonight. My buddy was supposed to come with me but he bailed. Want to take his ticket?” Caleb stopped to ask you.

“What kind of music?” You replied, tucking your arm behind your head to prop it up and look down at him.

“Rock music. They’re a Michigan band that made it big, like doing shows back home. I went through hell getting us good tickets kind of pissed he’s ditching me actually”.

“Yeah, yeah, okay” you finally agreed to go with him and removed your arm so you could place your hand on top of his head and push him back between your legs.

You caught a smile spread across his lips before he went back to work getting you off. It didn't take much longer, unlike him you were focused, throwing your head back against the pillow and riding out your orgasm.

You’d met Caleb through a friend of a friend. Well actually a guy you hooked up with once invited you over again. Although at the time you usually didn’t meet up with a guy twice you’d had a particularly stressful day and some good old fashioned cardio to take your mind off of it sounded like a good idea. Little did you know he wasn’t inviting you over to fuck again but to his party.

You were pissed when you got there. What on Earth had given him the idea you would want to come to his party? Regardless, there was free alcohol so you stayed long enough to stand in a corner and get buzzed.

That was when Caleb approached you. He was extremely talk, tanned skin, dark hair with matching dark eyes. Nothing about him stood out but all the same time he was exactly what you’d needed.

“You look like you want to get out of here?” Was the first thing he said to you.

“Yes please”. You let him drive you back to your apartment. Another unusual for you but what the hell. You had the best mind blowing sex you’d had since, well since the first time.

From that night on you broke a lot of your rules, you let Caleb stick around, stay over some nights, but you had made it explicitly clear to each other that your situation would never turn into a relationship. Because you didn’t have a heart for relationships anymore.

The good thing was you didn’t have to fumble around online to find hook ups anymore. Caleb was there any time you called, always on your command, and eventually you had to admit even when you weren’t rolling around in the sheets you enjoyed his company.

He was a sports management major, whatever the hell that meant. He was smarter than he led on, but he said he’d only ever wanted to be a coach and you found that admirable. He had a vision for himself since he was a kid and he was so close to making that vision come true. You on the other hand had changed your major a few times. Trying out classes and failing at them when you lost interest.

You were a year behind everyone else in school. Only going part time for the duration of your relationship with Liam had set you back further than you had realized at the time.

The only thing you were passionate about was writing, which meant you took as many English classes as possible now and sat yourself down in front of your laptop every afternoon to force yourself to work on something even if the product was just a sentence or two.

Liam never condoned your future as a writer. To him that was a hobby not a career. So your first two half semesters were filled with useless classes you didn’t do well in. You’d started to realize that maybe Liam never expected you to finish college, he only wanted you there to keep an eye on you while he worked on his degree and his future.

Since the break up you had filled your schedule, if not to try and get back on track, but to keep yourself busy so you didn’t have to think about how lonely you were.

You had classes four days a week, not including your study day, and also picked up as many shifts at work as possible. You were burning yourself from both ends but it was paying off.

About 5 months ago you decided you needed a change of pace, or of scenery, honestly anything to keep you going. You sent in dozens of applications to literary arts and creative writing programs all across the country knowing how competitive these programs were. The rejection letters were rolling in, you were soon to give up hope, but finally you got notified you were put on a waitlist for a program in Nashville.

Now all you could do was hope, maybe soon you would be starting fresh in another city, another state for that matter, and maybe you could start to recover.

“Who did you say this band was again?” You questioned as you followed Caleb through the busy crowd. You wondered how many more people were planning on showing up before the building maxed out its occupancy.

“They’re called Greta Van Fleet” he leaned over to speak to you in a way you could hear him over the rowdy crowd and dozens of speakers blaring a random mix of music to keep everyone happy until the live show started. “Want something to drink?” He tipped his thumb over his shoulder towards the back where a long bar was packed.

“Sure” you yelled out so that you didn’t have to lean into him. He took your order and headed to find a spot to squeeze in.

Since it would take him a bit you found a decently comfortable place to stand and pulled out your phone to google the name of the band you were about to see.

The signal was shit with as many people in here all on their phones at the same time. Once the page finally loaded you were shocked at what you read:

Greta Van Fleet, an American rock band from Michigan consisting of Kiszka brothers: Josh, Jake, and Sam, and Danny Wagner.

Kiszka. As much as you tried you could never forget that name. Jacob Thomas Kiszka.

Caleb returned faster than you had expected. You stuffed your phone back into the pocket of your jeans before turning around to take the plastic cup from his hand. Why were drinks at concerts so small, you were going to need a lot more to get drunk and make it through tonight.

You finished the drink as you tried to stay engaged in whatever Caleb was trying to chat you up with. An opener came onstage and eventually Caleb turned his attention away from you to watch them, giving you a chance to slip away back to the bar.

Once two cups were ready you made your way back, only getting half way before the main artist for the night started to take the stage.

Your jaw dropped as you watched them all pile out, the crowd cheering as soon as they made their appearances. Then there he was. Walking out onto the stage with his guitar strapped around his shoulder was exactly who you hoped it wouldn’t be.

He looked different than the night you met him. His hair was longer, his face more defined. There was only shitty lighting in that bar that night, but tonight he was standing about you in the spotlights.

There was no way he could see you in this sizable crowd, and even if his eyes met yours there was no telling he would even recognize you.

They got right to it, instruments roaring to life as the lead singer introduced themselves and thanked everyone for being here. You heard what he was saying, but your eyes were fixed on the guitarist as he smiled and strummed the strings in deeply resonating chords before breaking out into the first song of the night.

Caleb was overly excited, thoroughly enjoying himself as the set list moved along. You gave him a few half smiles and nodded your head to one of the songs to assure him you were having a good time when in reality your mind was spinning and you wanted to turn around and run out the doors. Surely that would cause a scene though, so instead you stood next to him with your hand in your back pocket and the condensation from your thin cup wetting your fingers.

After nearly an hour the last song ended and the band all thanked everyone and waved as they made their way off the stage. A group of people started to back away from the front of the crowd, getting ready to leave so they could beat the line out of the parking lot. That was silly you thought, because bands always played encores.

“Look! Let’s squeeze up front!” Caleb pointed over to a small space right next to the right of the stage.

“I think it might be over” you lied, trying to stay put but he was already hurrying you over before someone else moved in.

“They’ll be back out, they haven’t even played Highway Tune yet” he excitedly remarked when you successfully scored the spot.

Just like you expected, they came running back onto the stage, repositioning themselves and starting their first encore piece, the song you assumed was Highway Tune.

The crowd behind you started cheering as soon as the guitar part blared through the speakers. It was tremendously louder closer to the stage, the sound of the guitar ringing through your ears so that you couldn’t focus on anything else.

They were having fun dancing across the stage, you had to admit, their performance was lively and intense, the stage presence alone nearly outdoing the music itself. Just as the song was coming to a close the guitarist looked out across the crowd, making eye contact with a lot of fans in the front row until his eyes fell on you.

Your heart was pounding with the beat of the drums as you locked sight with him. Does he recognize me or is he just checking me out? You couldn’t tell but his eye’s definitely lingered on you for a moment while the rest of the band started up the final to the encore. He flicked his eyes away but a smile spread across his face as he continued to play, finishing out strong.

“That was interesting” Caleb had noticed the interaction, curious what the point of it was but you pretended like you didn’t know what he was talking about.

“I’m going to go back over to the bar” you notified him before turning to the side and squeezing through the groups who had scrambled forward when the band came back out.

Once you broke free you felt like you could breathe again, finding a seat to take and give your legs a break as you ordered another weak cocktail.

The band was gone for good now, their crew already working at breaking down their equipment. The bar filled up around you but the crowd dramatically thinned out and you were able to spot Caleb talking with another couple.

You turned around and leaned on the bar, pulling out your phone to check the time, realizing you still had your google search pulled up. You swiped through the pictures, almost in disbelief that the men on the screen were the same ones who were just standing up there being real and human. You set your phone face down and took another drink. How in the hell was this even happening right now.

“Hey,” a barely recognizable voice called from just behind you. You tried to ignore him, you did not want to talk to him, but he continued regardless. “You here alone?”

He definitely remembered you, starting up the conversation the exact way you had done with him a year ago.

“Does it matter?” You replied, still facing the bar instead of him but subtly informing him you remembered as well.

“Absolutely not” he deviated from the previous conversation. His voice was deep and scratchy from yelling lyrics along with the singer on stage. He acted like he expected a total replay of the night. Who did he think you were? Easy? Well maybe by this point you were, but just because you knew he was some hotshot rockstar now didn’t mean you were dying to throw yourself at him like a few if the other girls around you’d noticed ogling him the second he walked up.

“Fuck off Jacob” you told him thinking any minute now Caleb would come looking for you and you could suggest leaving. Surely it wouldn’t take much motivating to get him to agree to head back to your apartment and finish what you had started earlier.

“Woah, only my mom calls me Jacob” he snickered. Maybe you needed to remind him how you had left things last time you saw him.

You finally turned around to face him, holding out the cup that was still filled to the brim with ice and a little bit of liquid.

He tossed his hands up, getting the look in your eye as you started him down. “Hey! What’s your deal? I thought we had a great thing last time? Until you freaked out and threw your drink on me”. He pointed at the cup then down to the counter in a way to ask you to set it back down.

“I freaked out?” You scoffed, “I’m sorry but I’m not very turned on by cheaters”.

“Cheater?” His brows furrowed as he repeated what you called him.

You rolled your eyes about to turn back around and ignore him again but he caught your shoulder with his hand to keep you there. He looked slightly pissed that you weren’t showing any interest in him anymore, but also that you were calling him names he thought he didn’t deserve.

“I can admit I’m a lot of things to a lot of different women, but I am not a cheater”.

You scoffed again and he looked like he was getting more pissed off by your attitude. Good, then he’d leave you alone soon. Regardless, you didn’t go around talking shit about people for no reason so you made sure he was clear with why you wanted him to as you put it earlier fuck off.

“Yeah I’m sure the girlfriend you introduced me to after fucking in the bathroom would have thought about you differently. Or did you never tell her?”

“Girlfriend?” He repeated you again, the clueless act was getting annoying but suddenly he started to piece the rest of the night back together. “Girlfriend… Lila? Jesus, how drunk was I that night?” He was talking mostly to himself now, bursting out in laughter by the end of it and running his fingers through his hair. “Umm Lila was my ex-girlfriend. We dated back in highschool, stayed friends, she came to see me while I was back in Detroit for a bit. God, I really introduced her as my girlfriend?” He was chuckling still, finding the whole encounter funny albeit knowing how torn up you had been thinking you’d had sex with someone else’s boyfriend.

It was hard not to continue to feel animosity towards him, even if you were realizing it was only a mistake he’d made while being too intoxicated to know any better. When he slipped his hand against the counter and placed it on top of your arm some of the feelings eased up though.

“So, now that you know I’m not a cheater, like I said, do I turn you on a little?” He was inching closer towards you, trying to keep the conversation intimate, and flashing you a white toothy smile. His thumb was strumming against your forearm just like you had seen him strum on his guitar strings up on the stage. His fingers were calloused, worn in, but that only aided in the formation of goosebumps on the surface.

He seemed to notice your physical reaction, trading his smile for a smirk and moving his hand down to grip yours and pull you away from the bar.

You grabbed your phone and quickly sent a text to Caleb.

Not feeling well, grabbing an Uber. I’ll talk to you later.

If it were anyone else you might have felt a little bad about covering yourself with a text, but that was the nature of your relationship with Caleb. Surely he wouldn’t be too upset by it and you could make it up next time you saw him.

“Don’t tell me we’re going to find a bathroom” you joked with him. Joking was always your way of coping with your chosen lifestyle and this was no different. He had towed you hand in hand towards the stage but over to a door just to the right. A man waiting at the door recognized him as one of the artists and let him through. There was a short hallway followed by a left turn and a longer one filled with doors. Was this backstage?

“Obviously, where else?” He looked back at you with a wicked smile. Please tell me he’s joking too. When he turned back around he stopped at a door in the middle of the hallway. Letting your hand go he opened the door, the lever clicked a little as he pulled down on it and pushed in.

Inside was indeed not another bathroom but what looked like a dressing room. You stepped inside, taking in the disheveled state of the room but also admiring all the little bits of clothes and makeup scattered about. There were quite a few chairs pulled up to the mirrors lined in bright LED lights. It looked like the entire band had gotten ready here just before starting the show.

He closed the door behind himself and strutted into the room, much more familiar with its space than you were. “Don’t worry, the others will be out for a while longer. They like to mingle a lot more than I do”.

That made sense, you didn’t remember seeing any of his band mates at the bar from last time. Until his ex showed up he had been seemingly alone. Why though? You thought to yourself, he seemed to have a pretty good life. He was in a successful band, he was attractive enough already without the allure of being a musician, but it surely helped. No you were just trying to kid yourself, he was hot.

“Where the hell did they leave it?” His talking aloud brought you out of your head and back into the room where he was tossing random clothes around looking for something. “Ah! Here she is!” He exclaimed in victory as he found what he was looking for, pulling a tall glass bottle of tequila out of a bag that had been thrown onto the floor in the corner of the room. He unscrewed the cap and took a swig straight from the bottle. You watched him with a small smile and your brows raised.

“What?” He asked when he caught you staring. “You need a glass? We’ve got some around here somewhere”.

You shrugged your shoulders and reached for the bottle. Smiling back he handed it to you, watching this time as you brought it to your lips and took a drink then two before passing it back off. He took another gulp then returned the cap and set it down.

He moved over to you, wrapping his hands around your waist and pulling you into a tequila laced kiss. You moved your hands up his chest and wrapped them around his neck to bring him closer. His skin was still sticky from sweating under the stage lights but that didn’t bother you one bit.

He pulled away from the kiss too soon, just like before.

“So, there’s a futon over there” you followed the trail of his eyes to a small black couch covered in bags and a feather boa? “Or there’s chairs? The counter top? The floor?” He listed off places in the room he could bend you over and let you have it, not really having a preference of his own.

“I have to choose one?” You replied, stretching your arms out across his shoulders and twisting the ends of his hair between your fingers.

His toothy grin returned and he leaned over to hook his hands around your legs and hoist you up onto his hips. Carrying you over to the counter he swiped his arm across the surface to rid it of all the bottles of hair product and eyeliner pens it previously was a temporary home to and setting you down in their place.

“Here first then we will see where we end up” he grinned as he started working at unbuttoning your jeans and peeling them off your body. You placed your hands on either side of you, lifting your hips to help him with removing the clothing.

He started at his pants, just barely getting the front undone before realizing he’d forgotten something. “Wait let me find my bag” he moved to search the area he last remembered seeing it to no avail, but quickly found it nearby. Inside the distressed leather bag he retrieved a small foil wrapped square. “Don’t keep them in my wallet anymore”.

As he made the small walk back you took the chance to observe his stride. There was a confidence in his step, boarding proud but not necessarily cocky. Like you had noticed when you first saw him tonight his hair was longer and messily laid down his back and across his shoulders. Although it was mostly straight, the pieces at his neck had started to form a loose wavy curl after being soaked in sweat from performing on stage. He had the typical rocker attire, only he’d added his own personal touches to everything he wore from a stylish belt to cutting the hem off the bottom of his shirt so that it hung deliciously just above the navel.

“You know staring is considered rude in most situations”.

He’d caught you, but he didn’t seem to actually mind. Only a hint of embarrassment peaking through his cool and collected front making you wonder how much of what he had shown you so far of his personality was truly himself or just an act.

Once he was within range again you were pulling him back toward you and lifting his shirt at the unraveling hem and up over his head.

“Do you remember last time?” He smirked, sliding his hands up your thighs and dragging you closer to the edge. “Very similar position to this”

“Jake?” You hooked an arm around his neck.

“Hmm?” He hummed as he turned to place kisses against your forearm.

“Shut up and just fuck me already” you sighed, dipping your hand into his pants to see he was already fully hard.

“Of course, I am at your service after all” he chuckled darkly, slipping his pants off and removing the condom from the wrapper before lining himself up and rolling his hips up into you.

He stayed there all the way inside for a moment, sucking in a breath of air as your walls stopped clenching and settled around his size. A moan fell from your lips as he pulled all the way out, taking himself in his hand and teasing your entrance with his tip as he rubbed his thumb against your clit then stuffed himself back inside.

“Sorry, I just had to feel that again” he groaned, placing one hand on the counter, the other guiding your leg up around his hip and he started thrusting.

The pace was already set to a fast one. More than likely he was still riding out his high from getting to play in front of his fans, residual energy needing to be expelled.

“You don’t know how badly I needed this” he was pulling at your leg to bring you closer to him.

There was an understanding with where he was coming from. This week leading up to tonight had been particularly long and stressful. You hadn’t had the time or energy to do much of anything which is why you never really wanted to come out with Caleb in the first place. Apart from this afternoon, you hadn’t seen him in a few days. Tonight you had planned to take out all your frustrations in bed with Caleb, but you were finding yourself increasingly satisfied with where you’d ended up.

You suddenly felt the need to take control, to show him how much you had learned since the first time. “Go sit on the couch” you requested and he followed your command without word.

Taking a seat with an arm stretched across the back, he waited for you to pull your shirt off and come to straddle him.

The mood had shifted when he slid a hand up the length of your back as you slowly settled onto him. He was holding back a moan when he bottomed out with you on top. Part of you guessed if the room was insulated well or not so passersby couldn’t hear what was going on inside. While another part wanted someone to hear you making him feel good.

You moved your hips opposite of his, slowly rocking back and forth, grinding against him for some additional friction while he was already nestled right up against your g spot.

He let his head rest back onto the futon, his lips falling open but his eyes squeezing shut. “You know, I waited for you to come back”. He muttered into the room. This wasn’t exactly striking up a conversation time, so you chose to continue your movements on him, picking up the pace a little. “We were supposed to leave the day after, but I stayed the rest of the weekend. I sat at the same spot at the bar hoping you would visit there again and I’d get to see you”.

That was unexpected, his recollection of the past coming as a shock to you. You stopped, now concerned about what it was you were doing here and realizing neither of you had taken the time to explain your intentions.

“I should tell you something” you began as he pulled his head back up to see why you’d stopped. “I’m not the kind of girl right now who wants to be wined and dined. I don’t want the romance, the feelings, the mess. I want uncomplicated, no strings attached, just fun and hot sex”.

“Fun?” He smirked, “is that not what we’re doing?” His hand trailed down until he found the curve of your ass, giving it a quick and sharp slap.

“No, this is fun” a smile found its way back into your face, “but like, don’t expect anything else. We’re just having a good time”.

He moved his arm off the back of the couch, wrapped it around you, and pulled you down onto your back against the cushion.

“Don’t worry, I’ll give you a good time” he teased and pressed back into you. “Now just tell me what else it is you want. Tell me and I’ll give it to you. Do you want me to finish this quickly, or do you want me to make you beg for it?”

Although the prospect of what he might do to make you beg was alluring, you were pent up and would probably just end up getting frustrated. “Quickly” you chose and his smile returned.

He reached over and grabbed a cushion that had fallen on the floor, asking you to lift your hips as he placed it underneath you. One hand gripped your hip and he brought the other to his mouth, sucking the pad of his thumb before pressing it against your sensitive bundle of nerves. Then he did just as he said he would, thrusting over and over unrelentingly, the sweat starting to return to his forehead and chest until you were both finishing together.

“We’re playing another show here tomorrow night. Will you come back?” He asked as he watched you redress and collect your things.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea” you admit once getting your jeans pulled back on. “I don’t usually go for seconds let alone thirds”.

“Is that’s so?” He scoffed with an amused grin. Maybe he wasn’t used to getting told no so many times in one night.

“Hey, I agreed we’re just having a good time here. What's one more night? And then maybe I won’t see you again for another year if even” he made a good point but something told you the universe had other plans for the two of you. That first night you’d never expected to see him ever again. It was the point of finding him alone in a bar. Yet here the two of you were.

“I’ll think about it” you replied and slipped out the door before he could try and convince you further.

You pulled out your phone and flicked through the apps, finding the black and white square and ordering a car to pick you up. Thankfully since the area was busy tonight there were plenty nearby and you wouldn’t have to wait long.

Not looking up from your phone as you walked down the hallway you were suddenly stopped by a couple of hands pressing against your shoulders.

Embarrassed that you had almost run into someone you quickly started to apologize until realizing you recognized the person as another one of the band members.

He was very tall, clad in another pair of dark wash tight jeans and just a vest. His arms were tanned and toned, the result of his instrument of choice. He was their drummer.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going”.

“That’s alright, but how did you get back here?” He was less concerned with the near collision and more with what exactly you were doing wandering around backstage.

Your face flushed a little thinking that as soon as you admitted how you got back here he would know exactly what went on in the dressing room. “Oh, umm, Jake let me back. I was just leaving though”.

He looked past you directly at the door you had just retreated from, cocking an eyebrow and letting you go with a sigh. “Of course he did. Okay well the exit is to the right” he directed and you thanked him before making your way out.

The next morning came and you started your wake up routine, making a drink, washing your face, getting dressed into something comfy and heading out to the office to check your mail.

The mail run was an addition to the morning checklist when you started applying to programs. It was annoying to you that everything could be done online these days, yet fancy universities still insisted on sending you their rejection letters in the post.

Regardless, you made it a habit to check for the letters never expecting much, until upon checking today you found the one you’d been waiting for.

You could tell from the address on the envelope that this was the letter that would tell you if you got moved off the waitlist or not. Your hopes had not been high due to the many past denials, however, this had been your first step in the right direction and you were eager to see if you actually made this one or not.

Stuffing the stack of magazines and junk mail under your arm you started to tear into the letter as you walked back to your apartment.

You started from the top, reading the introductions that always started the same thanking you for your application to the program, but as you tried to read lower you were caught off guard by someone calling your name.

You peered over the edge of the paper and saw Caleb closing the door on his car and waving you over. That was odd. Caleb didn’t usually come over without messaging you first, but you had ditched him last night so maybe he just wanted to check on you. He was nice like that.

“Hey, sorry I didn’t call you beforehand, I just wanted to see if you’d made it home after leaving last night”. You were right in your assumption, but there seemed to be something else on his mind by the sound of his voice.

You gave him a smile and a nod and returned your eyes to the words before you, trying to find the spot you left off on.

Upon your addition to our waitlist we did a secondary review of your application

“You know about last night,” Caleb started to speak again, so there was something he’d come over to tell you.

Your focus was split, Caleb was speaking but you had to know what the letter said. He didn’t seem to catch on though, continuing his thought even though you were hardly paying attention.

“I had a really good time with you last night. Honestly, I have a really good time with you all of the time. I know that we’ve been keeping it pretty loose between us, but I just wanted to let you know that if you ever felt comfortable with getting a little more serious I actually would kind of like that”. After spilling his confession he waited for you to respond, but you’d just gotten to the most important part.

We would like to extend you an offer to attend our creative writing program this fall.

“Caleb,” you started. You did not want to hurt him, he was the best guy you met in a long time, and if things weren’t the way they were then maybe you would consider his offer. On the other hand you were excited, so ready to drop everything here and take a leap into the future and this program was going to help you do that. Just like the many rejection letters you’d received over the past few months you knew he would get over this. He’d try again with another who was more prepared to be loved the way you knew he was so very capable of. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this with you. I’m moving to Nashville”.

Next chapter>>>

[nancywheeeler]

oo so curious abt all of these but how about "and if you don't love me now" and "whatever happens to me, i know it's for the better" ?? good luck on writers block also that shit is EVIL <- currently trying to shake it off rn

writer's block truly is so awful, like why am i staring at a blinking cursor and forgetting every word in the english language, can't it all just be easier. but alas. i hope both of our writer's block clears up soon!!

okay so, a significant aspect of "and if you don't love me now" is in the year of our lord 2024, eddie roundtree's first (and only) solo album goes viral on tik tok. so every scene is connected to a track from that album and there are little multi-media snippets that open each scene. i've had a lot of fun trying to mimic various pop culture and music publications. here's probably my favorite:

track eight: second-place finish “ my love’s a god you don’t believe in / my love’s a house that you don’t sleep in / i know, i know ” Roundtree took his time arriving at his album's thesis statement, but here it is, in time for the finale. The title is depressing in its irony; the singer has lost every two-man race he has competed in over the course of his life, but finally recognizes that even if the winner were to disappear tomorrow, he would not be called up to wear the crown. He had never been in the running in the first place. With a brutal honesty he evades on other tracks, Roundtree determines, “You’re a lover; you just don’t love me.” The brutality is served by how spare the musical arrangement is: a lone but faithful acoustic guitar, reminiscent of an old Townes Van Zandt song. Out of pleas or places to hide, Roundtree is left with only his guitar and his final testament’s fading refrain. He knows, he knows, he knows. — from “We Break Down Every Track on Eddie Roundtree’s Album, Secondhand Sounds” Pitchfork || June 30, 2023

meanwhile, "whatever happens to me, i know it's for the better" is even more sports rpf. background: at the us open in 2022, one of the greatest tennis matches ever was played between carlos alcaraz and jannik sinner. it went until like 3 AM. highly recommend watching it if you have a spare four and a half hours. in this match (spoiler alert), jannik sinner had a match point in the fourth set that he failed convert. carlos alcaraz ended up winning in the fifth set and then went on to win the entire tournament, his first grand slam title at only 19.

so...what would have happened if jannik had converted that match point? coming to a fic near you (hopefully)

“Advantage, Sinner.” The crowd inside Arthur Ashe was screaming, and the noise shook the stadium like a minor earthquake. Carlos had stopped trying to guess where their loyalties lied three hours ago. It seemed to him they weren’t on the side of Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz anymore, but on the side of the tennis itself, cheering at the end of every hard-fought point not because of who won it but because of the pure magic spun off their rackets. They needed Carlos to save this match point, because of how desperately they wanted more. It was the tennis Carlos dreamed of playing since he was a kid. Tennis that left the world breathless. Tennis, ten years from today, someone would reminisce about to anyone who’d listen. I was there for Alcaraz and Sinner’s US Open quarterfinal. I watched Alcaraz save a match point at the bottom of the fourth set. Mopping the sweat off his face, Carlos readied himself to make it so. Advantage, Sinner, but not for long. Carlos watched Jannik walk back to the baseline, anticipated him blowing on the base of his racket before he brought it to his lips. Already, he knew so much about Jannik, how his body moved, his on-court ticks. How he clenched his jaw with the same ferocity as he clenched his fist when he won a crucial point. How he planted his hands on his hips when he couldn’t believe he had missed. How he never let up, not for a second. Carlos had dreamed of him, too. The greatest players needed a rival, someone who pushed them to their breaking point, then past it. He knew now, if he hadn’t known already, that rival was Jannik.

[auxiliarydetective]

Varsha: The Potion and The Poison

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Standing next to Ishmael was a young woman with dark skin, large brown eyes, and long black hair. Her face was mesmerizing to look at, appearing almost otherworldly. There was something about her eyes and her smile that made you trust her, want to protect her at all costs, but it also gave you a feeling of safety, of hospitality. But it didn’t end at her face, of course. It was in her clothes, too, a white top showing off her midriff, covered by winding, indigo-colored fabric, a saree, of silk, with a fine pattern of silver that gleamed in the light of the lamps. A thin chain went along where her hair was parted, leading down onto her forehead to a golden ornament, a similar design shared by both her earrings and the stud gracing her left nostril. But the gold and silver didn’t clash, no, it was far from that. They harmonized in a way that should not be possible. Or, to put it into one sentence: She looked regal. As soon as she laid her eyes on the guests entering the bridge, she placed both her palms together under her chin and gave a deep bow.

Skinner whistled in astonishment. “Wow, I think I’ve just found the most beautiful thing on this ship!” he called out and had already started heading for the woman when Nemo grabbed him and held him back.

“Nobody is to touch her,” the Captain immediately declared.

“Sorry,” Skinner quipped back, “didn’t know she was your daughter.”

“That honour isn’t mine to claim.”

“Clearly, Skinner, she’s out of your league,” Gray declared and pulled him back towards the group.

“This, gentlemen,” Nemo said as he gestured towards the woman to come closer, “is Miss Varsha Devi, the jewel of this ship. She may not speak our language, but she understands every word.”

“I always thought women on a ship meant bad luck,” Quartermain regarded with a smirk.

“Not this one. In fact, since Varsha has been on board, the seas have been nothing but kind to me. - Perhaps due to her navigation.”

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Quietly, you are saving me Please, don't fade away Into the darkness of night I don't need no light to see you shine

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That was when he heard music down the hallway, though only very faintly. Any regular human probably wouldn’t have heard it but, seeing as some portion of Hyde’s superior senses carried over to him, he did. It was an exotic instrument, possibly stringed, with a very distinct timbre. Curious, Jekyll followed the sound to a door that stood just slightly ajar. Nonetheless, the opening was just barely enough to look inside.

The room was lit by a circle of candles, or rather small oil lamps, their flames flickering with the sound of the instrument. In its middle sat Varsha, playing an instrument that vaguely resembled a guitar, though with a smaller, oval- or teardrop-shaped body and a long, thick neck with many more strings than a guitar could feasibly have. It was ornamentally decorated, with designs similar to ones found in Varsha’s jewelry. Distinctly, a snake wound itself around the body of the instrument, a sleek creature crafted by a master, no doubt. Still, the instrument was no match for the beauty of the artist. In the light of the candles, Varsha’s skin took on a copper glow and her hair gleamed golden. The flames flickered in her eyes and her jewelry glimmered. With the way her sleek fingers gently plucked the instrument, a man could get jealous. But not Jekyll. Certainly not Jekyll. After all, them being in any sort of relationship was an impossibility. As he tried to convince himself of that, he barely even noticed himself taking out his pocket watch and starting to fidget with it. First of all, Varsha was divine, and she was fundamentally good-hearted, something Jekyll wished he could claim of himself but clearly couldn’t. He couldn’t possibly burden her with the looming threat that was Hyde, not someone as kind and as fragile as her. Not anyone, but definitely not her. Secondly, Nemo’s protection of her. Though he was not her father, he did shelter her like his own daughter. Skinner had told Jekyll that Nemo had forbidden anyone in the League from as much as touching Varsha, making it very obvious how sacred her purity had to be to him. Even the most elevated and proper courting of her could upset the captain and that was the last thing Jekyll wanted. Not to mention that Varsha probably wouldn’t be interested. After all, who would want a pathetic man like him? The only thing he had to offer was his doctorate. Not even his moderate wealth that he had managed to carry over from London would be a viable factor, considering that she lived in the utmost luxury aboard the Nautilus - if she even cared about riches at all. Thirdly, and most importantly of all, Jekyll knew of the fact that it was customary in India for marriages to be arranged. Surely, someone as beautiful as her already had a husband, or at the very least a fiancé. Nemo may have mentioned that she had no family to speak of, but then he probably had made the arrangement himself, in his efforts to care for her. With Nemo off the table for obvious reasons, the next possible option was Ishmael, but as he was a Westerner, he was an unlikely choice. But there were hundreds of Indian men on board this vessel and one of them was sure to be engaged to her, officially or not. But no matter how much he tried to reason, his heart still beat faster than it should, his hands shivered about the pocket watch and his breath hitched. It was like he was hypnotized. The dangerous snake to her snake charmer. For a while, it was just him and her and the music between them. That was until a voice echoed through Jekyll’s mind.

“Yes, Henry. Look, but don’t touch.” Hyde gave a chuckle. “That’s your way.”

Suddenly, Jekyll became very aware of his surroundings. Of the shadow he might be throwing into the room, of the clicking sound his pocket watch might make, of his breathing that Varsha might hear. Quickly, he put the pocket watch away and hurried around a corner, away from this peaceful image.

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Tagging: @daughter-of-melpomene and @waddlesworth aka the LXG mutual and one of the few people with good content on the movie on this platform. I thought I'd honour you this way, hope you don't mind :)

[teacherintransition]

The Pallet, The Pad or The Pen?

Not really a pen per se …more like a keyboard

When Covid burst upon the scene four years ago; with retirement following soon after, my sanity was saved by constantly painting. In a few months, I painted two dozen pieces and kept my mind together. When we made the decision to retire, I kept the pace up as well as creating numerous works involving medieval iconography and illuminated manuscript. My practice time on guitar has been up and down. I also embarked on a string of writing projects that I’ve steadily increased in the interim. I’ve had three articles published, written a book, and over two hundred blog articles on various platforms. Poetry has been something I added to my repertoire with questionable success …I hope leaning toward the success element. It was never my intention to devote as much time to writing as I have and as I look at the year long unfinished painting that I brought to Missouri, it haunts me, it teases me …it’s calling me names. How have I let my visual art work become ignored so much?

It’s not been a total turnaround in regards to visual art; I’ve completed a series of illustrations for children’s book, but eight months of work went down the drain, I’ve also taken a plethora of photos during our travels. Why can’t I get my damn easel out and paint? To add to the agony, the last two nights I’ve watched “At Eternity’s Gate” and “Lust for Life,” two cinematic masterpieces telling the story of my painting saint, Vincent Van Gogh. I don’t know if I’m trying to motivate myself or shame myself. The vast majority of my painting tools are at my home studio in Nacogdoches, but c’mon Brent …that’s not an excuse.

The paintings were really tied up with our European travels pre-Covid, but we’ve only been back once in 2022; but geez, another non excuse as we have been traveling across the country and state with no ending of possible subjects to paint. It is frustrating. My writing routine is strong and I don’t want to shut it down, but I have to say something with the acrylics and oils …I don’t know what, but something is screaming to get out. The longer it takes to get back on the horse, the more intimidating it becomes. It’s similar to working out, or reading, or doing home chores; getting started is the hardest part. The films were motivating, but I connected too strongly with the struggles of an artist, Vincent in particular, and fear of failure gut punched me and my eyes turned to the year long unfinished painting sitting in the corner. Damn you painting! Is there a solution? There is and writing about this internal conflict is part of, I hope, the solution.

So, here I am, going on the record: I am going to produce a painting in the next …week, few weeks, before the apocalypse? What if I don’t? It’s not a scene man, not a good one anyway. The paints are calling and fearful of drying out. Wish me luck…

[angryschnauzer]

Bubbles

Summary: After a long hot day at work and a nightmare journey home, you find your husband has a very welcome and refreshing surprise for you in the form of a full size jacuzzi in your back garden.

Pairing: Captain Syverston x Female Reader Wife (no race or size mentioned)

Fandoms: Sand Castle (Movie), Henry Cavill.

Warnings: NSFW, 18+, Established Relationship, Semi Public Sex, Fingering, Oral (Female Receiving), Unprotected Vaginal Sex, Creampie, Alcohol consumption.

I do not run a tag list, but please follow @angryschnauzerwrites​ and put that blog onto notifications for future stories. All past works can be found on there or on my AO3.

Bubbles

It had been a long day. Work had been hot and sweaty, customers were grouchy and some even tried to pull the 'speak to the manager' bullshit, even though you were the manager. Traffic had been a nightmare, your car deciding that the middle of a heatwave would be the perfect time for the air conditioning to stop working, simultaneously with a truck of maple syrup hitting the central concrete barrier and spilling its sticky load. 

Snerk. You snorted a laugh through the sweat. Sticky load… your husband would have made a whole bunch of dirty comments and jokes about being covered in sticky loads. You couldn't wait to get home to see him, it was the fact that he had now retired from the Army and would be happily waiting for you at home every night that made each day worthwhile. 

When Sy had finally retired you'd wept tears of joy, every day was a blessing. You'd discussed what you were both going to do with jobs, your contract was up in 3 months time, Sy was drawing a military pension and had saved a considerable nest egg. He'd also taken to industrial upcycling; making lamps and coffee tables out of engines and car parts, which had been massively popular. You had to admit when you saw him in his workshop with his acetylene torch and welding mask on, cutting enormous chunks of metal in half and creating brutal beauty from the elements you were immediately turned on by the raw virility of the sight.

When you eventually pulled onto the driveway, a quick glance towards his workshop told you he'd finished for the day, and as you let yourself into your house you called out to him;

"Sy?"

"Out here" came his slightly muffled reply, and you realised he was probably sitting on the patio out back, nursing a beer.

"I'm gonna run upstairs and take a shower, the aircon in my car has stopped working"

"Darlin, come out here first… i got something that'll refresh you"

Rolling your eyes you started to unbutton your blouse;

"Really Sy, i'm all sweaty and stinky…"

"Woman…" he growled;  "I said get out here…"

If any other man had called you 'woman' you'd knocked them out, but you knew Sy and for him it was a term of endearment. Quietly walking through the kitchen you reached the back door and patio;

"Sy…" you started to speak, but was cut short when you saw what he'd been referring to.

Sat on the corner of your patio, shielded from view by the trellis covered in Clematis blooms was an inflatable hot tub, bubbling away with your mountain of a man sat in it, arms spread out on each side as he held a beer and grinned at you;

"Told ya' i had something that'd cool you down"

Pressing your hand to the side of it you tested the water, smiling when you found it the perfect temperature;

"You bought a hot tub?"

"Rented. Wanted to see if we liked it before we made the investment. Why don't you get in and give it a go?"

"Sure, i'll just go get changed into my bathing costume"

Sy's glinted with mischief;

"Why? I ain't wearing one…"

You weren't sure;

"Its rented? Is it clean?"

"Spent all afternoon flushing the system and giving it a full wipe down, even though the rental company says they do it after each use… i know how you are with hygiene" he moved in the massive tub, moving to the side where you stood;

 "Now are ya gonna get naked or am i gonna have to rip those clothes off of ya?"

A minute later you were climbing in, work clothes hastily discarded in a pile on the patio, Sy holding your hand as he guided you into the bubbly water and you immediately let out a long low moan as the jets of water soothed and massaged your weary body;

"Oh Sy… this feels amazing…"

"C'mere…"

His massive hands cradled your torso, pulling you through the water until you were able to straddle his lap, his mouth meeting yours for a fierce kiss. As your tongues danced together he smoothed his hands over your back, massaging the day's stresses away to the point where let your head tilt back. Resting in his strong arms you let your back touch the water, smiling as the warm summer breeze danced over your breasts, before that skilled mouth was on your breasts, sucking on one nipple then the other, before he shifted and you were floating on the water, his mouth on your pussy. 

You weren’t the tiniest of girls, but you had utter trust in Sy that he could hold you up whilst eating you out. The man would easily heave around 10 foot iron beam railroad tracks to make into coffee tables, he’d pushed his truck home when the engine had died and that is no mean feat when it comes to a Ford F350. So with that knowledge safe in your mind you could thoroughly relax and let his tongue work magic on your clit as his beard tickled your folds. You came with a cry and he swallowed down your essence, before lowering you into the water and onto his lap.

As he lowered you you felt his hardness seek you out, sliding through your folds before you reached down and positioned him at your entrance, wrapping your arms around his shoulders as you let yourself be slowly impaled on his shaft. With the worries and stresses of the day easing away with each blissful bubble that popped on your skin you sought out his lips for another kiss as you started to ride him, the friction palatable as the noise of the motor covered the sighs and moans the two of you were making. Sy’s hands firmly gripped your ass, pulling you up and down on his gnarled shaft;

“Fuck… You look so fucking good riding me Darlin’. Definitely gonna get a permanent one of these installed… might get you a coupla’ white bikini’s as i’d love to see these titties through the soaked fabric, would be such a treat…” he grinned at you; “A titty treat…”

Grinning at him you squeezed your pelvic muscles, finally shutting him up so you could concentrate as you chased your orgasm;

“Sure Sy, i’ll get a white bikini… you want me to do the gardening in it too? Watching me on my hands and knees as i plant the petunia’s?”

“Woman, i’ll fucking take you from behind right on the lawn if you do that” he growled, thrusting his hips up sharply and finding your g-spot. One of his hands crept around your hip and between your bodies, seeking out your clit as he ran his calloused thumb over the sensitive nub. From the way he was bouncing you on his lap you could tell he was getting close, his teeth gritted as he tried to hold off from cumming, but with no luck. His hands gripped your hips to stop you from moving in the hope it’d delay his orgasm. You watched as his eyes rolled back in his head and his head fell back against the side of the spa, thrusting his hips up as he swore out a litany of curses as his body reached its peak before he’d have wanted to;

“Fuck fuck fuck… ah god… i’m sorry… fuck…”

Cradling the back of his head in your fingers you stroked at the short hair as you dipped your head down and pressed open mouthed kisses to his neck and shoulders. With his eyes still shut he pulled a hand out of the water and raked it down his face before looking up at you, his blue eyes sparkling;

“Ah fuck i’m sorry Darlin’... lemme see about getting you sorted…don’t get off just yet…”

He slid his hand back between your bodies, his thumb back on your clit. His other hand moved to your breasts, using his mouth on one nipple as he pinched the other between his thumb and forefinger. Writhing on his lap you could feel your orgasm rapidly approaching, Sy knowing exactly how to play your body like a guitar as you sang out your siren song that was a blessing to his ears. 

As your orgasm washed over you Sy held you in his arms, letting you ride out your pleasure as he relished the feel of your body surrounding him. Slumped in his arms you nuzzled at his neck, happily riding the waves of pleasure that echoed around your body. 

“You ok there Darlin’?” Sy purred, smoothing his massive palm over your back like a giant bear paw.

“Hmmn” you hummed, stopping mid response when you felt him shift and realised he was hard again; “Sy?”

He looked at you, a smirk on his face as he cocked an eyebrow;

“Darlin… you know when i blow my load real fast i’m ready for another round… your sweet little pussy massaged me back to full health” he pressed a kiss to your nose; “Now turn around and bend over, hand on the side… i’m gonna rail that juicy pussy from behind, see how many times i can make you cum before i shoot load number two”

Manhandling you in the water you let out a shriek as he thrust into you from behind, your walls still tight from your previous orgasm and he did exactly as promised, splitting you open from behind as his powerful thighs railed you harder than the transcontinental express. With his heavy ballsack slapping against your clit you were soon cumming again, Sy fucking you straight through it before he brought you to another orgasm soon after as he filled you with another sticky load.

As you both tried to recover from the energetic synchronised aquatics he pulled you flush with his chest as he sank down into the water, letting you lay back against his chest as your bodies were still joined. His hands skimmed over your torso beneath your breasts, cupping them tenderly;

“We’re getting one of these, right Darlin’?”

“Hmmm, absolutely”

You sat there for a good half hour, cradled in Sy’s arms as you told each other about your day, before your skin wrinkled and it was time to get out.

-

Later that evening Sy had driven the pair of you to the main hardware store in town that he’d rented the Spa from, and you’d ordered the parts and equipment for your very own one. As Sy had started getting deep into conversation with the sales guy who turned out had also recently retired from the Army you tugged on Sy’s sleeve;

“Honey, i’m gonna pop to Walmart next door”

“Sure thing Darlin, i’ll catch up with you in fifteen minutes”

Just as promised Sy found you fifteen minutes later as you browsed through the clothing section, and you spotted that he was swinging a small clothes hangar from his finger;

“What you got there?” you asked

Sy held it up and your eyes practically bulged out of your head; He had found the tiniest white bikini, that although was your size, was little more than three small triangles of fabric connected with the thinnest of strings;

“Exactly what we discussed… now i see ya got a bottle of tequila and some snacks, how about we head home and we can test this out?”

Grinned you nodded;

“Just one thing…”

“Yeah Darlin?”

“We need to grab a few more of those… there’s no way that is gonna survive one wear with you around”

Nodding in agreement Sy grinned, taking the basket from your hand as he wrapped his free arm around your shoulders;

“See, that’s why i married ya’, thinking ahead…”

He pressed a kiss to your hair as he led you back to the display of swimwear, grinning as you pulled out numerous other cheap pieces of swimwear, knowing full well Sy would destroy them as thoroughly as he destroys your pussy.

[honey-milk-depresso]

Playing Genshin (TWST Octatrio)

HI IM PROCRASINATING ON XIAO’S PART 3 MUTE FATUI SO LETS DO TWST WONDERLAND INSTEAD CUZ IM INSPIRED *chokes* please don’t kill me-

Jade Leech

This smug heathen

He is smug as hell-

Honestly I cannot understand myself-

Why I think his gacha pull luck is insane-

He pulls three 5 STARS ON THE FIRST PULL

W T F

“Oya oya? I gotten Zhongli, Diluc and...oh! Perfect! A C5 Qiqi! Hmhm~”

Stop flexing-

We get it-

U so lucky

H M P H

Ok but seriously though-

his team set up is   L E G E N D A R Y

It’s made up of the best 5 stars (and one 4 star) you could think of.

He uses Hu Tao as his Main DPS, Zhongli as his support, Qiqi as his healer and Xingqiu as his sub dps.

I want to believe that Xingqiu was his first ever 4 star that led him to become oh so frickin lucky at every other pull-

And he got attached to him, so-

A N Y W A Y S

Co op with him on a date to defeat a Pyro Regisvine while he sits with you on a couch with his head on top of yours,

he slings his arms in front of you and holds his phone, while looking at yours.

He thinks it’s so funny when you pout and complain or just straight up feral rage quit when you lose it about how stupid the pyro regisvines are.

This is now his favorite thing to do after a long day of  chasing idiots down work.

Just relaxing and playing Genshin with his s/o.

So wholesome.

Floyd Leech

He frickin loves this game.

He loves everything about it.

And he wants you to play!

If you already have the app, then he’ll ask you to co op with him!

If you don’t, he’ll ask you to install, and he’ll go into your world to co op with you!

Either way you still play with him-

And I like to think his first 5 star was Klee,

because she’s a cute child that destroys everything

Super fun and chaotic!

And he also uses her as his main dps like Jade does,

just that it doesn’t matter who is good for what role.

So long he likes the character, he puts em on his team

Cmon now Floyd bby

Like-

C’ m o n-

Klee is his main dps, Venti is his support (he took his time to grind up primos for this, if he didn’t get Venti, he would rage quit during Venti’s banner-) (he also like Venti cuz he makes him laugh all the time-), Xiangling as his sub dps (Xiangling cooks, she’s cute, but not as cute as you obviously, and he totally gets her weird nature-) and he uses Xinyan as his other support.

No healer

*inhales* FLOYD-

I STAN XINYAN AND HER COOL GUITAR BUT COME ON

3 PYROS GKGJGTUYG-

Ok but he stills manages to be pretty good and survive well in the game.

He have you lie on your stomach, while he’s beside you lying on his back on his bed just playing Genshin for hours.

Bonus he brings in the s n a c k s

Super fun playing with him and he doesn’t really get all rage quit mode when you’re beside him.

cuz he’s more happy playing when you’re around <3

Azul Ashengrotto

Sorry man

Ironically and unironically has the worse luck amongst the three.

4 stars EVERYTIME-

GKJGBGVJ

Watch him go into a rage quit in his office chair so fcking abruptly.

“FCKING- I DON’T EVEN USE NOELLE-”

Ok but we love wholesome Noelle-

He does too, but-

he just salty

He wants Jade’s luck-

his first 5 star was Zhongli-

And the only 5 star he’ll ever get

He tried getting Xiao but only got a shit ton of Beidous and Noelles.

He tried getting Hu Tao but got a shit ton on Xingqius and Chongyuns

He has to REALLY put thought into his team set up.

Benette is his only healer, he got no other healer character which sucks-

Couldn’t even get Jean our boy is sad-

Zhongli is his support, the only thing he’s proud of, Yanfei as his main dps because he likes Yanfei and Xingqiu and literally just completed his constellation for the number of godamn times he gets him.

Sticks with this team, sometimes he uses the actual main team: Traveller (Anemo), Kaeya, Lisa and Amber for the fun of it.

24 hour grind is real my dude-

When he wants to have genshin dates with you, co op with him, expect to see him ask you to roll for him when his desired banner comes out-

He saved up a shit ton of primogems-

he. will. get. the . 5. star. exclusive. 

Co op with him to raid Geovishap, Oceanid, Stormterror and Childe to hear this man rage quit on his bed with you probably laughing your ass off.

“FCKING CHILDE, DAMNIT I SHOULD’VE PUT FISCHL FOR THIS-”

ok but jk he thinks Childe is cool-

And he really likes Liyue

Aesthetic and “pay your taxes”

[arcadianmoonshadowjedi]

Let The Bells Ring (A Stricklake Wedding)

Good news everyone! I was finally able to motivate myself to finish this fanfic, which took me weeks due to work and weak motivation lol. Since I’ve been sick this week with not much to do, I was able to motivate myself to power through!

So this is a continuation of my Making Things Right fic, which is an alternate ROTT ending where the timeline is NOT reset and everyone lives and gets to attend the Stricklake wedding! This in general is how I imagine a Stricklake wedding going, regardless of the overall plot of ROTT. I got so much inspiration for this from throughout the fandom, including @bklily & @undeadchestnut <3 Enjoy!

~~~

In the weeks to come, the people of Arcadia and perhaps, the whole world would continue to recover from what would’ve been a large-scale apocalypse. To celebrate the end of this war and help everyone with healing, Barbara and Strickler felt that they should get married as soon as possible. Barbara nearly lost Strickler in his attempt to save Jim and stop the ice titan, and she was never more determined to tie the knot and be with him for the rest of her life. It was thanks to her excellent medical skills that both him and Nomura were able to recover from their life-threatening injuries, even though his wings were permanently damaged from the blast.

The day of the wedding arrived on a bright spring as the flowers began to bloom in the trees across Arcadia. Everyone was busy and super pumped getting ready for the big day. Claire, along with Aja, Darci, and Mary were all getting ready in her room. With Papa Skull music playing, they did their hair, nails, and makeup while also fooling around quite a bit. Aja sat right in front of the mirror back in her human form after a very long time.

“I’ve never been to a human marriage party before!” She squealed in excitement as her girlfriends did her hair and makeup.

“We’re so glad you can be with us, Aj,” Darci responded wholeheartedly as she pulled Aja’s light blonde hair into a beautiful, flowery updo with some loose hairs falling to the side. Claire and Mary both focused on getting her makeup done and when they were finally done, Aja gazed into the mirror in awe. 

“Wow! I look.. I look soo..”

“Lively!” The girls cheerfully finished the sentence for her.

“Hey Claire Bear, Darc and I are gonna grab a few things from my car. You and Aja finish getting ready, ok?” Said Mary as she and Darci left the room. Claire helped Aja get into her hot pink strapless dress, and Aja couldn’t help but squeal in excitement and twirl around in her high-low skirt. Aja quickly enveloped Claire into a tight hug.

“Oh thank you so much Claire! This is amazing!”

Both girls chuckled and smiled at each other.

“Also,” Aja started. “It’s so nice to have another girl to fight side by side with, I don’t get to do that a lot. And your shadows of magic are so lively!”

“Thanks! And yeah same. Boys clubs can get pretty annoying, haha,” Claire joked. "We should definitely hang out more," Aja nodded in agreement and they both smiled warmly at each other. 

“We’re back!” Mary said as she and Darci finally came back with more accessories. After they all finished getting ready, Mary took out her phone and they all posed for a selfie.

“Aw C-Bomb! It’s so good to have you back! We missed you like crazy when you left Arcadia! You and Aja!” She squealed cheerfully, squeezing Claire into a tight hug. Darci joined in and grabbed Aja as well. “Yeah girl! Don’t ever leave us out of nowhere like that again,” Darci said with a frown as she hugged Claire tighter. Claire chuckled and took both of their hands. “Don’t worry, I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. It would be nice to take a break once in a while, hopefully,” She assured her girlfriends and hugged them again.

Moments later, the girls rode in Mary's car to Jim's house. When Aja got out from the back seat, the front door suddenly flew open and Steve ran out to her.

"My royal, ninja-kicking angel is here!" He yelled. 

Without any hesitation, he swung Aja up from her feet and spun her around as she screamed joyously. He kissed her so passionately that Aja eventually started pushing him.

"Steve!" She chuckled. "My makeup! You're going to mess it up!" Steve laughed and then they both pressed their foreheads together and smiled lovingly as they held each other.

Jim stood at the front door watching and shaking his head while the remaining girls chuckled and let out some "awws" from the car. Claire eventually opened the door and walked out from the front seat, and Jim couldn't help but let out a "woah."

Claire stepped out in glimmering heels and wore a beautiful, midnight dress with a slit to the side. She smiled at Jim and her smoky eyeshadow made her beautiful, brown eyes glow even more. She walked up to him and he gently took her hands in his.

"You ready to be the greatest best man?" She asked. 

"Ready as I can get," Jim chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. Claire smiled, then cupped his cheeks in her hands and leaned forward to press her lips against his. When she finally pulled back, she carefully stroked his hair and tucked it behind his ear.

"Good luck, I know you got this," 

Jim smiled and put his hand on hers, letting out a sigh of relief. 

Toby and Aaarrrgghh walked out of the front door beside them and the three trollhunters smiled at one another. It's good they were all back together. And actually happy this time! Toby walked over to Jim and Claire for an affectionate group hug while Darci and Mary walked over.

"Toby!" Darci screamed as she ran over to hug her boyfriend. With a massive smile on his face, Toby hugged her back and held her tight.

"Oh TP! It's so good to have you back! I missed you so so much!" She started, her eyes tearing up. Toby on the other hand, after everything he went through, just wanted to revel in this moment

"It's good to be back, Darc," he responded softly. 

Darci smiled at him and was totally digging his wedding look. "Looking good in a tux, TP,"

Aaarrrgghh nodded in agreement. "Mmm, Fancy,"

Toby put his hands on his hips and smirked. "Oh, well, yeah I do gotta look awesome-sauce for Dr. L's wedding, am I right?"

The gang laughed and finally went inside the house. Everyone headed towards the backyard except for Jim, who waited by the stairs. Toby and Claire looked back at him and gave him a nod of good luck before walking out the door.

Later that evening, more guests arrived and filled the seats in the backyard and Strickler waited for his bride at the altar. Blinky stood behind the stand mic with a piece of heartstone in his hand. Nomura stood by where Barbara soon would be. After all the help she's gotten and the time they spent together, Nomura became so close to Barbara that she gladly accepted her request to be her maid of honor. They were surrounded by a magical, embellished flower arch made by none other than Nari. Bright lights twinkled all around the place and soft, mellow tunes filled the atmosphere, played by both Krel on his keyboard and Douxie on his guitar. They high-fived each other for successfully setting a romantic mood.

Jim stood inside his house and then suddenly, he heard click-clacking from the stairs. It was his mother, so beautiful in her lace white dress. He couldn't help but tear up at the sight of his mom finally being happy again. She made it down the stairs and wrapped Jim in a warm hug. 

"I love you so much, kiddo," Barbara told her son as her voice began to break. "I'm so proud of how far you've come and couldn't be any happier to be walked down the aisle by my beautiful boy,"

Jim held her even tighter as he chuckled lightly, tears falling down his cheeks. Barbara then looked at him lovingly as she wiped his tears. She leaned forward to kiss his forehead, then put her arms in his as they began heading towards the back door.

The guests looked around as the beautiful bride made her way down the aisle. Strickler couldn't stop gazing and smiling at his soon-to-be wife as she walked towards him, returning his smile. Barbara finally stood looking towards him and Jim stood by Strickler's side as his best man. Blinky finally cleared his throat and approached the mic.

"Greetings everyone. We are gathered here today to join our dearly beloved Barbara Lake and Walter Strickler in holy matrimony. After everything that has transpired in Arcadia over the past few years, what a blessing it is for all of us to congregate here to cherish and celebrate this union. Despite all the trials and tribulations that have been faced by this lovely pair, well of course the unusual beginning they’ve had..." 

Strickler cleared his throat, interrupting Blinky’s speech. Jim couldn’t resist letting out a little chuckle. “Uh, Mr Blinky,” Barbara whispered. “We don’t need to go into all the details. What’s in the past can stay in the past. What’s most important is the here and now,”

“Right, right, right,” Blinky continued clumsily. “These two warriors have persevered through it all, the thick and the thin leading up to this very special moment. From this day forth, they will continue to strive and triumph together for the rest of their lives. Now may I have the rings?” 

The audience clapped while Blinky signaled for Archie to fly over and bring the cushion that bore the rings.

“Now both of you place your hands on this heartstone as you say your vows. Do you, Walter Strickler, take Barbara Lake to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

Strickler took a deep breath, then smiled wholeheartedly and answered. “Yes, I do,” Followed by the clapping in the audience, Blinky turned to face Barbara.

“Do you, Barbara Lake, take Walter Strickler to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do” Barbara responded softly, with light tears in her eyes as she smiled brightly at her soon-to-be husband. They let go of the glowing heartstone, then took their rings and gently placed them on each of their left ring fingers. They finally held hands tightly in excitement and couldn’t take their eyes off of each other.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may now kiss,” 

Strickler pulled Barbara closer to him and they finally leaned in for a warm kiss. Loud cheers spread throughout the audience with some sniffles of joy. Jim stood by wiping tears off his cheeks. Finally! Nothing brought more happiness into his heart than to see his own mother finally again, just as she deserved. And never did he expect that someone he once resented would eventually become someone so dear to both him and his mother. 

Claire looked towards Douxie across the front row and they both nodded. Absorbing shadows from around her, she released a couple of black and purple shimmering doves into the sky and in turn, Douxie cast out beautiful blue sparkles to light up the scene even more. A round of oohs and aahs echoed was followed by a standing ovation.

A few moments later, Barbara turned around and was ready to throw the bouquet to a competitive crowd of single ladies of all ages and… Varvatos, who’s made it his quest to be the next in line for Nancy. As the bouquet suddenly flew into the air and was falling back down, out of nowhere, a shadow portal opened and swallowed it up. The audience gasped and looked around in confusion as another portal opened and the bouquet was caught by Claire. She glanced over at Jim whose eyes widened and cheeks turned pure red. In response, she winked at him as he sheepishly smiled back and waved. All the other ladies grunted and Mary and Darci approached her. 

“Claire Bear! You’re not supposed to do that here! That’s cheating!” Darci told her with her arms crossed while Mary nodded in agreement. Claire chuckled and held the bouquet victoriously as she went to sit back down. “Um, I don’t remember there being a rule book for bouquet tosses as far as I’m concerned,” 

“Preposterous!” Exclaimed Varvatos. “It should’ve been I who won this battle for Nancy!” He heard Nancy walk up to him giggling and grabbing his arm. “Oh Varvatos, you don’t need a bouquet to marry me! I’m way past that!” Varvatos’s eyes glew up and he let out a big smile. “Glorious!” He yelled. laughing maniacally. 

Later that night, everyone got up and slow-danced to the sweet, charming tunes that Krel played. Douxie danced with Zoe, who he finally caught up with and they got to hunt niffins and grab burgers together as promised. Toby and Darci danced together and enjoyed their well-needed reunion, sharing a few kisses here and there. While Steve and Aja danced, they discussed their future plans and whether they would be together on Akiridion-5 or remain long distance.

“Well now, since we got wormholes and stuff, maybe I could come to you more often on Akiridion-5 while finishing college and who knows what will happen next?” Steve started as he held Aja and slightly dipped her. She smiled back at him and pushed her hair behind her ear. “You know, I really miss this mudball and seeing you more. I think maybe I too, should come visit and go on more Earth dates,”

Jim shared a short and sweet dance with mother then hugged her so tightly, before Strickler walked over to them and asked if could borrow his wife for another dance. Jim went over to Krel’s turntable and whispered something in his ears. Suddenly the music stopped as Krel plugged Jim’s phone to his turntable and pressed play. 

Claire sat and chatted with Mary and a couple of friends when she suddenly froze. It was a familiar melody that took her back to the night of Spring Fling, her first ever dance with Jim. The guitar strings of Eres Tu played as she turned around and saw Jim hold out his hands to her. She looked up at him smiling and grabbed his hand. She got up and walked with him further away from the crowd until they were almost alone but could still hear the song. They started dancing as the Spanish lyrics began to be sung, while Jim sang along parts of the song, just like last time. 

“Nice little trick you did back there with the flowers,” Jim joked as he spun her around. Claire chuckled and blushed a little. “Oh I bet you wanted me to be the one to catch it. But don’t worry, there’s no rushing into this. We just enjoy every moment together and take this all little by little, ok?” She assured him. He smiled back at her and stroked her cheek. It was so good that they finally got to enjoy this moment of peace without needing to defeat gumm-gumms or evil wizards trying to destroy the world. For both of them, it was a relief that neither of them felt the need to dread any upcoming battles hopefully for years to come. Without any further talking, they just danced together slowly reminiscing their beautiful memories they’ve had throughout their relationship, putting a warm smile on each of their faces. Jim spun Claire, then hugged her from behind and kissed her cheek, while Claire’s smile only got bigger and brighter.

From a distance, Barbara and Walter watched Jim dance with Claire while they too danced. “You’ve raised an amazing son, Barbara. Young Atlas has come so far in life and he wouldn’t have become the man he did without an amazing mother like you,”

“He’s also had a wonderful person like you come into his life and help him grow a lot. I couldn’t be more thankful he had you and Mr. Blinky help him become a strong trollhunter,”

The stars continued glimmering in the night sky as everyone enjoyed the rest of the wedding. A cool breeze blew through and the petals on the flowers and the twinkling lights slowly flowed along. The heroes of Arcadia have truly found an adventure worth telling for generations to come, whether it was on Earth, the caverns below, or on Akiridion-5. It was a one of a kind adventure that each hero will continue to remember and hold onto no matter what comes next. Despite all the trauma and heartbreak they all went through, they have also gained so much strength and wisdom, along with many great allies that will always stay together whatever comes next.

~~~

Thank you so much for reading this fic! I know this was super long but I definitely put in a lot of stuff that I wanted to see in the TOA series, including Aja and Claire bonding and a happy ending with a Stricklake wedding! I know this isn’t the best I’ve written and that I wasn’t able to give each character but I’m glad I was able to get it done! Stay tuned for more and hopefully more focus on other characters!

[agentofmischief]

Birthstone Legacy Challenge

Ok, I don’t post a lot on here, but I’m a huge fan of the sims. I’ve been playing it since gen 1 back in 2000. So, I’ve been having fun with challenges, especially the past couple years with 100 Baby, and I’ve found online. And after reading hearing and reading up on Lilsimsie’s Not So Berry Challenge, I had an idea of my own challenge. So, I thought I’d share if anyone else wanted to play along.

Disclaimer: These challenges mean nothing in regards to people born in that month. I simply took symbolism and cultural aspects of each stone to create a challenging and interesting playthroughs you might not think to do.

Lifespan requirements: Normal (not sure if it’s possible on Short, but if you want hard mode, do it).

The idea is to start with your month’s birthstone, then each generation is the next month’s stone for either 10 generations (traditional Legacy), or 12 if you wan to do the full year. You could also start on the month after your birth month with a full year play-through, so your birth month acts as a “finale”. Might be helpful if say your birth month is April, and you know your month’s stone is Diamond and to you it sounds like a finisher, or if your birth month is December, and you’d just prefer to start with January’s stone. It’s up to you.

These will just be listed month by month, so they are easy to find.

Like in the other color challenges, you want to model your sim with the stone’s colors in mind. You should also build their house with their stone’s color in mind.

1. January stone: GARNET

    Color: Dark Red

Garnets have a high refractive index, which causes them to look as if they are emitting light. Due to this phenomenon, travelers during the crusades would carry them to ward off evil. The stone represents Faith, Love and Constance.

Traits: Good, Ambitious, Cheerful

Goals:

 - Complete the Soulmate aspiration

- Complete the Law career as a judge.

- Must maintain career until death (meaning no retirement, quitting, or being fired).

- Must have at least 2 kids after the soulmate aspiration is fulfilled.

- All children must be raised with all green character values and no lower than Bs in school.

2. February stone: AMETHYST

    Color: Purple

The word Amethyst comes from the Greek word, amethystos, meaning “not drunken.” This comes from a myth where Dionysus was so enraged, he vowed his wrath on the next human he saw, which was a young woman, Amethystos. To “save” this woman, Artemis turned her to stone (note to self, don’t ask Artemis to save you ever, because her track record sucks). Dionysus calmed at seeing the stone’s beauty, and poured his wine on it, giving the stone it’s purple color. In more recent centuries, amethysts have been associated with piety and rank in the Catholic Church, as bishops are given amethysts when they are appointed.

Traits: Genius, Bookworm, Snob (If you have Snowy escape, replace one of these with Proper).

Goals:

-Complete the Knowledge - Renaissance Sim aspiration.

-Complete the Education Career as a Professor.

-Can not go to bars or nightclubs

-Max out Logic, Writing, and a musical skill (Violin, Guitar, Piano, or Singing)

-Can never marry or enter into an official dating relationship; HOWEVER must have at least 1 kid at some point to continue the legacy. This can be through adoption, which is more likely if you want to play pure piety or you have an Ace sim in mind, and the adoptee must be a child or teen. The other option is through secret woohoos if you want to play the more historically accurate, seedy way. **If you are playing with Risky Woohoos, you can have max 2 kids living with you. All others children must be removed from the house and into a Townie’s home once they become toddlers.

3. March stone: AQUAMARINE

    Color: Light Blue

Due to aquamarine’s sea-like color, they’ve long been associated with traveling and the sea. Sailors used to put them under their pillows to calm themselves. They are said to inspire peace and ward off poisons.

Traits: Loves Outdoors, Glutton, Loner

Goals:

-Complete Angling Ace aspiration.

-Eat out of the trash 5 times without getting sick.

-Have an aquarium with 10 fish.

-Catch a vampire squid. ** Or if you have Island Living, you must become a mermaid.

-Must eat and learn to make Pufferfish Nigiri.

4. April stone: DIAMOND

   Color: White/Silver

Diamond is the hardest stone on Earth, and is often associated with wealth and treasures. The word diamond comes from the greek word adamas, meaning unconquerable. They are the most popular of the stones, and so recently have been “Lab Grown.”

Traits: Ambitious, Insider, Perfectionist

Goals:

-Complete the Scientist career.

-Complete Leader of the Pack aspiration.

-Find all the crystals.

-Must clone a diamond.

-Become best friends with Judith Ward and have a framed selfie with her in your house.

-Date/marry someone in the Style-influencer career.

5. May stone: EMERALD

    Color: Dark Green

Emeralds are an old stone, first mined in ancient Egypt. Cleopatra was known to wear them frequently. They are said to symbolize fertility, wisdom, and Spring. It’s also said to heal heartbreak.

Traits: Jealous, Romantic, Materialistic

Goals:

-Master Gardening skill.

-Date and 100% romance a politician, then break up with them.

-Have at least 3 kids from multiple partners (each must have reached 100% romance first).

-Breed a frog worth over $100

-Must complete Fabulously Wealthy aspiration

-Does not marry, UNLESS you have Strangerville, and can marry an Officer in the Military Branch. However, when they die, so does your sim.

6. June stone: PEARL

    Color: White/Cream

Pearls are created by oysters and are considered the “perfect” gem, as it needs no man-mad alterations. Pearls are often attributed to wisdom through experience, as well as innocence and fertility.

Traits: Childish, Perfectionist, Family-oriented

Goals:

-Must have 5 kids before becoming an adult.

-Must complete the Curator aspiration.

-Must master 10 skills. ** If you are using Tiny House perks, 15 skills.

7. July stone: RUBY

    Color: Bright Red

Rubies are well known for their blood-red color, earning their association with health and vitality. They are also symbols of love, passion, and prosperity.

Traits: Self-Assured, Romantic, Self-Absorbed

Goals:

-Complete Serial Romantic aspiration.

-Master Cooking, Athletic, and Charisma skills.

-Complete Doctor Career.

-Must Woohoo at least once in each: Closet, Jacuzzi, Observatory, Bush, Spaceship, Lighthouse, Pile of leaves, Shower, Coffin.

8. August stone: PERIDOT

   Color: Light Green

Peridot is the stone of compassion, bringing health and peace to emotions and the mind. It inspires eloquence, creativity, and good cheer.

Traits: Creative, Vegetarian, Goofball

Goals:

-Complete the Painter Career.

-Master Painting, Photography, and Handiness skills.

-Paint 5 Masterpieces.

-Craft a bathtub of excellent quality.

-Complete Painter Extraordinaire aspiration.

9. September stone: SAPPHIRE

    Color: Royal Blue

With the most famous sapphires being Princess Diana’s iconic engagement ring and The Heart of the Ocean in Titanic, it’s now wonder Sapphires hue long been associated with nobility and power. The stone symbolizes strength, loyalty, and focus through self-discipline.

Traits: Materialistic, Genius, Insider ** If you have snowy escape, Proper takes place for Materialistic.

Goals:

-Complete the Law Career as a Private Attorney.

-Complete the Mansion Baron aspiration.

-Must start a club with Wealthy requirement ($30,000+). *If you start a fraternity/sorority in University, it counts if wealthy is listed as a requirement.

-Max out Charisma, Logic, and Writing skills.

-Must marry another club leader.

-Must get Gold in Wedding Social Event, and pay full $1750. Minimum of 10 guests.

-Must have a son. (He does not HAVE to be the continuation of the Legacy, but he can if you want. Also, if you have a born daughter, but decide to transition her, that does not count. Since it’s a click of a button without game mechanic influence, it’s kind of cheating. HOWEVER, if you decide your born son should transition, it still counts. This is mostly to take the steps during pregnancy to make a boy (since we’ve all watched others influence for a girl 1000x), That or to keep going until “the odds are in your favor.”)

10. October stone: PINK TOURMALINE

      Color: Pink

Pink Tourmaline, also known as October rose, represents humanity, sympathy to others, and humanitarian work. It’s believed to carry the virtue of love that is unconditional, offering comfort to children and lasting friendships.

Traits: Unflirty, Gloomy, Outgoing

Goals:

-Complete the Politician career as a Charity Organizer.

-Complete Friend to the World aspiration.

-Adopt 2 kids (Do not have to be legacy continuation).

-Max out friendship/be best friends with 4 sims before becoming an Adult. The friendship must be maintained throughout life.

-Have a rose garden.

-Write 5 Children’s books.

-Volunteer with family 5 times.

*If you get the pop-up asking to donate to charity, you must if you have the money.

11. November stone: CITRINE

     Color: Dark Yellow (almost Gold)

Citrine’s yellow stone radiates happiness, creativity, and wealth. Named for it’s citrus like color, it’s no wonder it’s the stone for a month known for it’s food. Citrine is known also as the Merchant’s stone for it’s golden color.

Traits: Cheerful, Foodie, Creative

Goals:

-Complete Culinary Career.

-Complete Culinary aspiration.

-Master Cooking and baking skills.

-Own a fruit and vegetable garden with every possible fruit and veggie in your game.

-Own a Bakery or Restaurant.

-Cook an Excellent quality Grand Meal.

-Learn 10 Food Stall recipes.

12. December stone: Turquoise

     Color: Blue/Green (Teal)

Turquoise is an odd one. In European cultures, it’s the stone of friendship and attracts money and luck, but is also frequently used in Evil Eye talismans. Historically, Montezuma II gifted these gems to Cortez, the Spanish Conquistador. The Apache used turquoise as well, as a charm on their bows for better aim.

Traits: Evil, Outgoing, Kleptomaniac

Goals:

-Max out Mischief and Charisma skills.

-Complete the Criminal Career.

-Complete Public Enemy aspiration.

-Start a Kleptomaniac club.

-Steal an object worth $10,000

-Marry someone with the Good trait, and cheat on them 5 times.

Happy simming!

[ethanesimp]

WHEN YOU’RE GONE // D.D.

Pairing: Mob Boss! Damiano David x Mob GN! Reader (it was originally written with a fem! reader so please let me know if you spot any slip ups on my part)

Summary: Soulmates are already a difficult concept to grasp and things don’t seem to get any easier when you like a person who already has a soulmate.

Word Count: 9.8k (it’s so long lakjd)

Warnings: Swearing, death and mentions of it, injuries, angst -lots of it-, it’s a mob fic so violence, smoking, Damiano being kind of an asshole? Me probably using swear words in italian wrong... Just read with caution pls

Masterlist // Taglist link in bio

A/N: If you’ve seen this before, it’s probably because this has been written and posted on my other blog @pparkersbitch as a Tom Holland fanfiction at the beginning of the year (which has now been deleted). It’s the same person and I’m not stealing anyone’s work :) I just like it and wanted to bring it back. I did add/modify some tiny details though. The idea is probably dumb, but I’m sharing anyways.

Taglist: @gretavanfleetlove​ @superchrystaldrug​ @reputationdamiano​​

“This isn’t how I wanted to start my morning,” Your best friend mumbled in a tired voice. You could barely hear him from where you were standing over the sounds the old -and surely broken- coffee machine kept making and the music playing from his phone.

“Well, sucks to be us, huh?” You chuckled and poured coffee on both of your cups as you did a small dance to try and shake the tiredness off your body. You handed Damiano his cup after preparing his coffee the way he liked it, a teaspoon of sugar with a splash of milk, and walked with him to the large office down the hall, “I don’t get why Ethan and Thomas can’t do this instead of us.”

The room was always cold and you seemed to forget about it most of the time since it still slipped your mind to wear a sweater or hoodie over your thin pajama shirt. You grabbed one of the blankets from the small black couch on the corner of the room and wrapped it around your body as best as you could with your free hand. 

You sat down on the chair next to him to have a better look at all the papers and files he had spread out on the desk, “What exactly are we looking for?” You asked with furrowed eyebrows. All those documents were enough to keep you occupied for the whole day if you didn’t work fast enough.

“We are looking for any leads to the drug cartel or its leader. Really anything that can help us find them,” Damiano explained and took a sip of his coffee as he opened the first file. 

You had been trying to track a drug cartel ever since they infiltrated your warehouse and stole some of your products. Damiano’s father had been at both of your necks ever since it happened as if it had been your fault instead of the incompetent guards that were supposed to be guarding the entrance at all times, “I’m sure these are people we’ve made deals with in the past, they wouldn’t have been able to break in otherwise. We’ve always been far too careful for this to be a mere coincidence.”

He removed the gold ring from his ring finger and left it on the jewelry bowl you had placed on his desk. You had known Damiano David and his family for years. For as long as you had known him, the band on his ring finger had been gold, and you hated it. 

That stupid little gold band was a silent reminder that he had met his soulmate and there was nothing to be done about it. For months you had silently hoped and prayed for Damiano to be your soulmate, but any illusion or wish you had of it happening, had vanished the moment you saw the gold ring on his finger for the first time. You later discovered he avoided wearing it on his hand because it put his soulmate at risk of being found, but he still kept it close to him at all times by using it as a necklace.

You avoided wearing yours for an entirely different reason. The black ring and all the stares and words of pity that came with it were saddening and something you didn’t need. While gold was a reminder of love and good luck, black was a reminder that your soulmate was no longer alive and you were doomed to spend the rest of your life alone. You were sure the band had been black for most of your life, or at least that’s how you remembered it.

It was safe to say you were jealous of Damiano’s soulmate, Marlee. Not only was she one of the most beautiful women you had ever met, but she got to have perhaps the most amazing man by her side until her dying day, something you could never have in any way that wasn’t platonic.

You successfully ignored it most days, which wasn’t so hard to do since you had better things to think about most of the time, but nights were always the hardest. In your loud and chaotic life, there was a speck in time where everything quieted and calmed down. During those few hours was when you’d break down and grieve for the person whose name you didn’t even get to know. You’d cry for being stupid enough to fall for someone who wasn’t only your best friend, but who also had a girlfriend.

“Damiano, Y/N?” Marlee’s sweet voice interrupted your train of thoughts. You had been reading the files consciously enough to notice anything unusual, but you had paid no mind to anything else until she walked into the room. You smiled politely at her and waved. 

She walked up to Damiano and he immediately closed all files with any sort of photo that might be too graphic for her to look at. Marlee cupped his face and pressed her lips to his for a few moments that felt like an eternity to you, watching everything from the side as a feeling of jealousy invaded your senses. You did nothing but look at the painting on the wall until they stopped locking lips, which took a bit longer than you would’ve liked.

“Did you two find anything?” Marlee asked once she pulled away from Damiano. He gave her a look you knew as ‘I cannot tell you anything about the mob to keep you safe’. She had been involved with the mob’s administration for most of her life, only after she met Damiano and her father united his mob with Damiano’s did she stop working. 

You had been brought in as a replacement of sorts once Marlee stopped doing any mob business per Damiano’s request. His parents had saved yours from a legal accident, which left you in debt with his family, so you didn’t have much say on whether you’d join the mob or not. 

Something you were grateful for was that Damiano always kept your hands clean. No matter what business it was, he made sure to keep you out of any sort of situation in which you’d have to hurt or get hurt by another member of the mob. Most people that worked for Damiano didn’t have the pleasure of knowing him as the lenient and caring individual he was around you.

You excused yourself after spending a few more minutes flipping through the files in search of something but ultimately found nothing. It was supposed to be your free day, or at least that was what Damiano had promised. Apart from that impromptu search for information at 5 am, he promised he’d have Ethan, Vic, or Thomas help with anything he needed. 

That was why you took the liberty to lock yourself inside your room and put your phone on silent. You desperately wanted to catch up on all the hours of sleep you had lost in between those early morning duty calls and coffee runs. No matter how much you enjoyed spending time with Damiano, you still missed your normal sleep schedule.

-

When you woke up a few hours later, the house was completely silent. The usual chatter coming from the kitchen wasn’t there, neither was the noise of Vic repeatedly firing bullets at the targets in the garden to practice her aim like she did every morning or the soft sound of Thomas softly strumming his guitar as he tried to piece an unplanned melody together with the assistance of Ethan’s drumming.

It wasn’t a Sunday, which meant they weren’t away visiting their families. They were all supposed to be home. That last thought made you nervous and you couldn’t help but wonder if something had happened while you were asleep. Being in the mob, you knew a lot of unexpected things happened all the time and you had to be prepared for them all.

You walked to the door, determined to investigate what was wrong. Your hand was already firmly grasping the doorknob and you were about to undo the lock when someone knocked harshly on the door, startling you. 

Without hesitation, you jumped back and reached for the gun stuffed in one of the drawers nearby, “Y/N? You awake?” 

You let go of the drawer’s handle and your tense body relaxed at the sound of Victoria’s raspy voice, “Fuck, Vic, you scared me,” You spoke as you opened the door to be met with her panicked blue eyes. Your eyebrows furrowed at her worried expression, but before you could ask, she grabbed you by the arm softly and dragged you out of the room.

Once you were in the hallway, you finally heard everything with a lot more clarity. The faint sound of glass clinking before falling to the floor, Thomas’s exasperated shouts, and Damiano’s complaints. You looked at Victoria, expecting an explanation.

“I don’t know what happened,” She began, “One second he was alright, then at like 9 AM Ethan and I heard them fighting. She’s gone and Damiano’s locked in his room, won’t let anyone in. Thomas is trying to get him to talk while Ethan looks for the keys.”

You walked past Victoria and ran up the stairs. Damiano’s room was right above yours. Upon walking up to the third floor of the house, you saw Thomas repeatedly knocking on Damiano’s door. Once he heard footsteps and spotted you, it was like relief washed all over him at the sight of you.

“Do you mind trying?” He asked, “He’s been asking for you,” Thomas added with a sigh as he brushed his messy hair out of his forehead. You nodded and got closer to the door once he got out of the way.

With hesitation, you knocked on the door and patiently waited for a response, which arrived only after you knocked once again, “Vaffanculo, Thomas! Which part of your tiny fucking brain cannot understand that I want to be left alone?”

You flinched at his words and took a long breath as you gathered the confidence to speak up, “I-It’s Y/N, Dami,” You said, loud enough for him to hear you from where he was. You were expecting rejection; if Damiano didn’t want to talk to people who were as close to him as siblings, why would he talk to you? Sure, you were one of his best friends, but he’d known Thomas for longer than he—

Your thoughts were interrupted when Damiano opened the door and quickly dragged you in before slamming it shut once more. For the first few minutes, you stood in silence while Damiano faced the door. You couldn’t see his face or his eyes, so you had no idea what could be going through his mind, so you focused on your surroundings instead. 

The room was a mess, but not more than it usually was. What alarmed you was the shattered glass on the floor as well as the drops of blood that stained the white floor. You looked back at your best friend and noticed that it was dripping from his hand. 

“Damiano,” You called, “Amore, your hand,” He turned to look at you and that’s when you finally saw his red and swollen eyes as well his tear-stained cheeks. His gaze softened once his eyes fell on yours. He choked back a sob and turned away from you once again.

If his hand hadn’t been bleeding, you wouldn’t have hesitated on wrapping your arms around his neck and trying to comfort him. Instead, you ran to his bathroom to grab the first-aid kit. After years of being in the business, treating Damiano’s cuts and injuries wasn’t anything new to you, but you were oblivious as to why he was in such a state in the first place.

Being the person he was, Damiano had learned to conceal his emotions incredibly well to protect himself, even around the people he trusted the most. You had only seen him that shaken once when something had gone terribly wrong. The fact that Marlee was gone too only gave you a worse feeling. The fact that her clothes were all gone from the closet didn’t ease your worried mind either.

Damiano was sitting on the bed patiently waiting for you to return. Once you did, he avoided your gaze and said nothing as you examined his hand. The cuts were all superficial and would surely cure on their own in a few days, which was why you only focused on removing the tiny shards of glass that had stuck to his skin with a pair of tweezers.

Once that was done and you had cleaned the cuts, you wrapped a bandage around his hand once and secured it with a small piece of tape. You sat in silence for a while, you didn’t comment on the sobs that would escape his lips every once in a while or the tears that had started falling down his cheeks.

Instead, you waited until he was ready to say something, “I don’t even know how to tell you this,” Damiano mumbled. His eyes stayed glued to the floor. He seemed… embarrassed to look you in the eye.

“I was finally going to do it this morning, N/N,” He said as a sigh escaped past his lips and he took a small velvet box out of his pocket. He didn’t have to say what was inside the box because you knew exactly what it was. Damiano had been planning on proposing for months, but there was always something that managed to get in the way of completing his goal.

“She went to the bathroom and had left her phone on my bedside table. I was going to get the ring and Y/N… I-I swear to God I didn’t want to look but the messages kept coming, one after the other, the fucking phone wouldn’t stop making noise. Cazzo, she was the one feeding information to the drug cartel and Lord knows to who else,” He said those words in one breath and you had barely been able to catch them all. Damiano threw the box at the wall angrily and from the noise, you didn’t doubt there’d be an indent there.

“I asked her about it and you have no idea how much I wished she’d deny it, but she didn’t even try,” Damiano cried. Unexpectedly, Damiano turned his body around to face yours and wrapped his arms around your waist while he buried his face on your neck.

It took you by surprise, but you said nothing. Instead, you focused on rubbing circles on his back and whispering soothing words into his ear. Part of you knew there was something else going on, even if you didn’t ask. You hadn’t seen Damiano cry in a long time and even then you saw nothing more than just a few tears rolling down his cheeks. What happened with Marlee had truly driven him right to the edge and he couldn’t keep in everything he had been trying so hard to hide.

-

In the four months that followed, you didn’t see Marlee once. She never had the guts to return after Damiano found out about everything she had been doing behind his back. At first, he had been utterly destroyed by her absence, it pained you to see him shut everything and everyone out with the lame excuse that he had work to do. Every single time he did so, you’d quietly sit down and help him despite his complaints. 

He got better though. Once enough time passed, he healed, but all that love he had once felt for her was now nothing more than pure hatred every single time her name was mentioned. You knew better than anyone that it wasn’t the healthiest thing to do, but it didn’t matter how many times you told him so because it never truly changed much.

As for the mob, things seemed to calm down once Damiano and Ethan were able to track down the leader of the drug cartel and get the stolen products back. Everything was too good and too quiet. While your four friends enjoyed all that peace, you couldn’t help but worry about something being wrong. It was a silly thing anyway, there was nothing that gave you even the slightest confirmation that your worry wasn’t just fueled by paranoia, not a single thing.

You should’ve been grateful instead. Your sleep schedule had gotten acceptably regular and there was no more working from 5 am to 10 pm every single day. You also had time to finally sit down and read the books that had been sitting on your untouched shelf ever since the start of the year, just like you were doing at that very moment while the boys were playing poker in the basement and Vic was on a date.

Damiano walked into your room eventually, still smelling like the cigarette he had just been smoking minutes back. He couldn’t help but scrunch up his nose as the smell of lemon incense burning hit his nostrils.

You looked up and giggled at his disgusted expression, “You cannot be disgusted when you were the one who walked into my room smelling like cigar and beer,” Damiano rolled his eyes and plopped down on the bed next to you.

“Incense is bad for you,” You shot Damiano a killer look and closed your book. He gave you a funny look back and then put his attention on your book, “What are you reading anyway?”

You hummed and showed him the cover. It had a beautiful yet simple design, which accurately represented the story hidden in between those pages, “Okay so, it’s the story of these people that all get invited to this island. They’re all summoned there for different reasons but it turns out they all have this common enemy. It’s terrifying because they get killed off one by one when a children’s lullaby plays. I truly cannot explain it enough to do justice to how intense this book is.”

“Oh and before that I got to read the most wonderful romance book! It was apparently the first book written where soulmates weren’t a thing and it was just a piece of art. Beautifully written, made me cry for hours too.”

Damiano smiled and you could almost see all the gears turning inside his brain, “Wouldn’t it be amazing?”

“What would?”

He shrugged and propped himself up on his elbows to get a better look at you, “A world without soulmates, where you’re not bound to someone since birth.”

You sighed and turned to look at him, “It’s our own fault… being bound, I mean. No angel from the heavens came down to tell us we have to love our soulmate as anything more than a close friend, you know? It can be purely platonic, we’re just stupid.”

“Were you ever able to fall in love with your soulmate or was it just platonic?” Damiano asked. You never talked much about soulmates with him. He still didn’t know your soulmate had been dead for as long as you could remember.

“I never got to know them,” You smiled sadly and showed him the black ring you had gotten used to wearing around your neck, carefully tucked under your shirt to stay unseen. His mouth fell open as he grabbed the ring and inspected it closely. It was the first time he had seen a black ring.

“I didn’t know… I’m sorry,” Damiano let the ring go. You shrugged and waved your hand to silently show it wasn’t too important, “I thought you guys were separated or something.”

You shook your head, “Mom says the ring turned black when I was six, but I don’t really remember so I just like to pretend I never had one in the first place… I don’t know.”

There was a question on the tip of your tongue, but you didn’t want to ask it, as intrigued as you were to know the answer. You hadn’t talked about her ever since she left and he’d most likely avoid the question because he truly wanted to keep her name out of his mouth. Nonetheless, he noticed your hesitance because you suddenly got too silent. 

“You can ask, you know? I know I just touched on a sensitive topic, so…” You nodded. Both of you were lying on your backs, looking up at the ceiling which had some of those glow-in-the-dark stars and planets you had glued when you first moved in to feel less lonely.

You hummed softly as you tried to find the right words. You didn’t want to be too straightforward with your question in fear of upsetting your best friend even though he had asked you the same question minutes earlier, “Did-did you ever… you know, fall in love with her?” 

Damiano thought about it in silence, you had probably caught him off-guard with your question, “No, not really. Not in the way I was expecting at least. You know truth be told, I was a bit disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, she had this angelic look to her, she was a stunning girl. I just- there was nothing we had in common other than being soulmates. For years I had seen my parents act like they shared one mind and just thought the same things. I always imagined it’d be like that for me too.

“My expectations couldn’t have been further from what it truly was like. Honestly, I’m not even sure which part of our relationship was true anymore. Now that I look back on it, I’ve realized most of the things she did or said were just to get information out of me.” 

It was weird to hear him say all that. As a person who always got to look at the way Marlee and Damiano interacted with one another, you would’ve never expected Damiano to feel that way, “And,” He continued, “I was expecting it to be someone else.”

His last confession made you turn around to look at him. It was the first time he had admitted that, probably because of the beer he had been drinking while playing with his friends.

“I know it sounds terrible but… I met her and this other person on the same day, almost at the same time. I didn’t notice my ring had turned gold until much later. I had only been with them both and people I already knew. I thought it had been the other person until she told me her ring had changed too. Meanwhile, the other one said nothing. Now I realize it would’ve been impossible for them to be my soulmate.”

It might’ve been because he was telling you all those things and you felt safe to admit what you felt, or maybe because you were tired of bottling it up for so long. Either way, you spoke up, not caring if you’d regret it later, “It’s not as terrible as you might think.”

“Look, I’m not bound to anyone. The black ring gives me the freedom of loving someone else. I never met my soulmate so there’s no guilt in being with someone else. It’s supposed to be a perfect thing, Dami, only it isn’t. I know a lot of people who’re also blacksouled,” You hated using the word. It was usually how people would refer to those who didn’t have a soulmate anymore, “And I fell in love.”

“T-that’s great!” Damiano replied, “Why didn’t you tell me? I mean, not like you’re obliged to tell me anything just because we’re friends but I-”

You interrupted his rant, “I fell in love with someone whose soulmate’s still alive.”

“So what? You said it yourself. Are they together?” He asked. You told him they weren’t. If only he knew you were talking about him… He’d probably run away and never speak to you again, “Then fuck it. Fuck the rules and everything else society has to say.”

“It’s not that simple, Dami. I truly wish it was, but it isn’t,” You wanted nothing more than for the conversation to be over. If it went any further, you knew you’d spill every single thing. It had gotten far too hard to conceal your feelings when you were close to him. Now that you were talking about them, it’d be even harder.

You got up and walked to your bookshelf, where you started accommodating your books as an excuse to avoid being so close to him, to avoid his curious gaze. Even if they weren’t together anymore, you knew Damiano would reject you, that was far too obvious. Even if he felt the same, after what happened, it’d take Damiano a lot of effort to ever trust someone in such an intimate way, even if that someone was you, his best friend.

“Why? It is that simple. If they’re not together, what’s stopping you? You’ll never know what could happen if you don’t try,” You turned around to look at him, fists clenched by your sides, “Listen Y/N, I know you’re scared of relationships and everything they involve but you cannot let that sto—” 

“Fine then, I’m in love with you! I can barely breathe when I’m around you because my love for you is so suffocatingly strong, and I can’t think straight either! You and your stupidly handsome face drive me insane. How’s that?” You admitted, interrupting his small speech midway, too irritated to process what you had just said. Once you did, your hand flew to your mouth and you shook your head. You wanted to say it wasn’t true, no, it was nothing more than a lie to get him to stop poking his nose into your love life. Except it wasn’t and, if you were being honest, no part of you wanted to hide it anymore.

Just like you expected, he said nothing. Damiano stayed silent for a few seconds before getting up and walking out without another word. He slammed the door on the way out so hard you wouldn’t be surprised if the door separated from its hinges.

For the weeks that followed, Damiano avoided you as much as possible. You were still his right-hand person and needed to be present at every meeting and would have to discuss any type of business with him. It used to be your favorite part of the day when you got to sit in the meeting room with Damiano and discuss plans to make the mob prosper, now it was nothing but uncomfortable because you’d do all the talking while he looked at you as if his biggest desire was to carve your heart out with his pocket knife. 

While you understood that he was still mad at Marlee and wanted nothing to do with her, you didn’t understand why he was treating you that way when you had nothing to do with it and weren’t to blame for the stupid shit his ex had tried to pull. You thought he knew that you loved him far too much to ever do anything to jeopardize his safety. Yet again, he might’ve assumed the same thing about Marlee.

You walked out of yet another unsuccessful meeting with Damiano and slammed the door as hard as you could to let him know how much his childish behavior annoyed you. Ethan was standing close to the door and you could see the shadow of a smile that was threatening to break out and illuminate his face, “Don’t you dare,” He raised his hands in defense and bit his lip to try and hide the smile that would just annoy you further.

“You two are starting to act like two teenagers and it’s fucking pathetic,” Thomas chimed in from where he was sitting on one of the couches.

“Yeah? Tell that to your friend who is giving me the silent treatment like a fucking toddler! I just want- I need to have a serious conversation with him,” You admitted and sighed as you fell on the couch right next to Thomas, head in your hands to try and cover up the tears that were threatening to spill down your cheeks.

Both men stayed silent as they watched you, Even though you could feel their stares, you decided to focus on not crying instead. The truth was, the longer Damiano spent ignoring you, the more you regretted telling him what you had been bottling up for years, it had been a mistake there was no coming back from. Unless he decided to stop acting like a kindergartener, things would never go back to the way they were.

It was frustrating to think that your friendship would go to shit just because of your confession. Being rejected by him wouldn’t have been a big deal if he had actually stayed in your room and spoken like the adult he was.

“For the record, I think he’s acting like an idiot because he’s scared,” Sighed Victoria, who had just walked into the room with an ice pack placed over her hand, “I know it’s been a while but, give him time. He’ll come around or I’ll make him, I promise.”

You gave Victoria a tight-lipped smile and nodded. You hoped more than anything that it wouldn’t have to come to getting locked up in the same room as Damiano to get him to speak to you.

Except… as more days passed, you feared it would most likely have to be that way because he was still saying nothing to you. He had only spoken once and it had been to call you out for being doing everything wrong while looking through some important documents when you were, in fact, doing everything just like he had initially requested. Now, not only had he been giving you the cold shoulder, but he had started acting like a complete jerk around you too.

You tried to distract yourself by focusing on all the work you had pending, but it wasn’t working. Every single day, no matter what you were doing, your mind still wandered back to the brown-eyed man and his stupid face, his stupid hair, and stupid smile.

Even as you stood in the middle of the kitchen, your thoughts made it difficult to bake the cookies you had been craving all week. You had started to work on the second batch after the first one came out disgustingly salty because somewhere along the process you had mistaken the salt for the sugar.  

You hated how bothered you were by the whole situation. It had affected you way more than you would’ve liked to admit. Truth be told, you had never felt sad about his rejection because it was something you had expected ever since that attraction for him first settled on your brain. It was the way he was treating you that got on your nerves. 

That was mainly the reason why you were so thankful for being alone in the house at that very moment. Apart from a few security guards here and there, you were completely alone. You allowed yourself to relax for a split second and connected your phone to the speaker system in the kitchen. You started playing one of your favorite playlists before getting back to making cookies the right way this time.

You softly swayed your body along to the music as you dumped all the ingredients on the large bowl in front of you. As you poured the flour in the bowl and mixed it with your hands, you noticed Damiano standing by the door. For some unknown reason, he scared you so bad you accidentally tipped the bowl and made a mess of the counter. 

A frustrated sigh escaped past your lips and you threw your head back, feeling defeated and irritated, “I’m sorry,” Damiano spoke up hesitantly, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

You shook your head and wiped your hands on the apron you had tied around your waist, “It’s fine,” You turned around so your back was to him and started wiping the counter with a damp towel. 

“You deserve so much better…” You heard him speak up over the music. His words caught you by surprise. You turned around to look at him but said nothing. You could tell he was nervous by the way his hands trembled by his sides and the way his jaw was firmly clenched.

After a few minutes of hesitation, Damiano started walking to where you were. He placed his hands on the counter by your sides, leaving you trapped in between the counter and his body. You looked into his dark eyes to maybe try and guess what was going through his mind. 

You breathed in so deeply your chest hit his. You gulped at that and tried to control your trembling hands without looking away.

“What you said the other day, did you mean it?” Damiano asked, without hesitation this time around. Your eyes widened.

“I-I… What?”

“Just answer me Y/N, please,” Damiano pleaded. He looked so desperate to know the answer, which only made your blood boil. After weeks of silence, of glares and being a jerk, he dared to just show up and demand answers?

You shook your head and pointed your finger at his chest, “How dare you?” You took a step towards him, which made Damiano take a step back, “You have no right to show up like this and ask me to give you answers after how much of an asshole you’ve been.”

He seemed taken aback by your truthful words, but you didn’t care. If he wanted to know how much truth had been behind your words that night, he’d have to hear it all, “You know I’m your best friend and you also know I’d keep up with anything you do because that’s how much I care about you, but can you stop it? I know I was stupid for telling you because of what you just went through and I’m sorry, but please don’t keep giving me the cold shoulder. I just want to fix this.”

After a few minutes of silence, you shrugged and, like it was the simplest thing in the world, spoke up, “And yeah, I meant every word.”

Your expression softened as you waited for any sort of reaction from Damiano. You expected something similar to what had happened the day you first told him. No part of you expected him to cup your face with his warm, calloused palms to bring your face closer to him once again. 

Neither did you expect to feel his soft lips pressed against yours, or the feeling of his soft hair as you brushed it back with your fingers and your eyes slowly closing as you basked on the joy and pleasure his soft touches caused.

Damiano was gentle as he held your face in between his hands, almost as if you were made of glass and he was afraid of breaking you into pieces if he didn’t hold you delicately enough. That kiss felt so intimate, like nothing you had ever felt before. Everything from the way he held you to his slow movements and touches was so much better than you could’ve ever imagined.

When he pulled away, he left you completely breathless, wordless. There was nothing you could possibly say after the way he had kissed you, so you waited for him to find the right words instead.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N,” Damiano mumbled. He still hadn’t let go of your face, “You truly deserve better. You are so beautiful, so perfect. I’m so sorry for being such an idiot and hurting you, ignoring you. I just- I know I cannot love you as you deserve. Believe me, I want nothing more than to have you close to me all the time, to kiss your lips until you grow sick of me, but I can’t,” His voice was starting to crack as he said those words to you and you knew it was because of how he saw your face fall.

“No, no, shut up and listen to me,” You pleaded and placed your hands on top of his. You gave them a soft squeeze and let your forehead rest against his, “I know it’s hard for you to trust after what happened with her and I know it’s not going to be easy, but believe me, I’m willing to try if you are, Damiano.”

“You were that other person,” He confessed and got closer to kiss you once more, with as much passion as the last time. You were too concentrated on the smell of his musky cologne and the faint taste of vanilla chapstick he had surely stolen from your room to respond to his comment.

His hands fell from your face and comfortably rested on your hips as his lips attacked yours. Damiano pushed you against the counter and kept savoring the moment as if it were the first and last time he’d kiss you like that. You hoped for your sake it wouldn’t be the last.

Damiano pulled away reluctantly and unexpectedly lifted you up so you’d sit on the counter. He stood in between your legs and intertwined his fingers with yours.

“Remember when I told you about the person I met the day I met Marlee?” You nodded, “That was you... Ever since I met you I’ve felt this inexplicable attraction towards you and it’s been driving me insane. I couldn’t believe it when you told me you loved me because I’ve done nothing to deserve it.”

“You’ve done so much to deserve it, so so much,” You mumbled and brought him close to you to kiss him for the third time. It was such an addicting feeling and both your heart and mind were screaming to feel it again.

That time around, Damiano didn’t hesitate to lift you up once more, he carried you to his room and locked the door.

— 

It had been a few weeks since your conversation in the kitchen. Things returned back to normal after that night. Other than your relationship with Damiano, things were the same again. You had to go back to working at ungodly hours of the morning thanks to some suspicious activity Ethan had noticed. Apparently, one of the oldest members of Damiano’s mob had tried to establish a deal with an unknown subject but had been caught before he could accomplish it. 

This put you both on edge because there was someone out there desperate to break into the mob and finish it for good. At first, you thought it wasn’t more serious than whatever had happened with Marlee, but Damiano’s father proved you wrong the moment he brought you, their most loyal employee, in for questioning. 

It had been nothing too serious, at least not in comparison to what you had heard others say. In your case, it had been done mostly as a standardized protocol, to stop others from thinking there was some sort of preference or special treatment towards you just because you worked so close to Damiano. You knew almost everything Damiano did, so you were possibly the greatest source of information outside the David family and their small circle of friends.

“Amore?” Damiano asked softly as his hand caressed the exposed skin of your waist. You had been cuddling in bed for almost two hours with the excuse that you needed a break after all the hard work you’d done, “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

You turned around to be face to face with him and pressed a kiss to his freckled nose, “Not much. I was just remembering I need to get my ring resized again. I tried putting it on a few days ago and it didn’t fit anymore.

Damiano frowned at your words, “Your soulmate ring?”

“Mhm,” You responded simply and let your head rest on his chest. You enjoyed the feeling of warmth his body irradiated, it was soothing and the soft sound of his rhythmic heartbeat never failed to make you feel calmer.

“Soulmate rings don’t need to be resized, ever. Not that I know of, at least,” Now it was your turn to frown because, as far as you remembered, you had always gone to get your ring resized by a family friend who didn’t live too far away. No one had ever told you it wasn’t necessary.

You pulled away from his embrace and reached for the bedside table where you had been keeping the ring for the past few days. Once you turned back around, Damiano looked confused and almost scared, “Just, out of curiosity, tesoro. Have you ever taken off the ring and left it like far away for longer than a few hours?”

A giggle escaped past your lips at his silly question, “It’s just a piece of jewelry, Dami. Of course, I have, several times.”

You laughed nervously once you saw his horrified expression. Damiano was starting to scare you, but you knew better than to say something because you’d end up looking like a fool if he started laughing and told you it was all a joke. Except, it didn’t seem like one.

“Please get dressed and meet me in room five, okay? I might be going insane but I just need to make sure I’m not,” Before you could ask any questions, Damiano had already grabbed a pair of pants and a t-shirt and disappeared into the bathroom to get dressed.

You tried not to think much about his weird questions and got dressed quickly instead. You grabbed your cup of tea, which had already gone cold, and walked to meeting room five.

You opened the door and were surprised to see all your friends already sitting around the small table you’d use for informal meetings. Thomas and Victoria looked tired and Ethan’s long hair was tangled and messy. That gave you the impression that Damiano had most likely woken them all up for your impromptu meeting. 

They all looked just as confused as you felt. There were a lot of questions you wanted to ask, but Ethan beat you to it, “Okay, now that we’re all here can you fucking explain why you had to wake me up? Please.”

“Have any of you three—,” Started Damiano, referring to Thomas, Victoria and Ethan, “—tried to take off your ring for a while but have started feeling sick and weird?”

Thomas and Victoria looked at each other, confused, but nodded. Ethan did after a few seconds of thinking about it, “Yeah, there was actually this one time I went on a date and I didn’t want the girl to see the ring had turned gold, so I left it at home. Thirty minutes later I was puking everywhere. I didn’t really understand why but someone at the Soulmate Centre explained rings are an extension of the soul and they need to be close to us at all times and there are actually records of people dying after losing their rings. Why?”

Damiano looked at you and raised his eyebrows to silently ask if he could share the information with the other three guys. Once you nodded, Damiano spoke up, “Y/N doesn’t need to have it close to them and they need to get it resized every once in a while.”

Ethan shrugged his shoulders, “That’s as far as my knowledge goes. I don’t know. I think the best thing you can do is go to the SC.”

You sighed but nodded. Ethan’s explanation had started to freak you out. What if there was something terribly wrong with you? What if you were born without a ring and your parents lied to you all your life?

— 

After having a short conversation with Damiano in private, you decided to follow Ethan’s advice and go to the Soulmate Centre that was only a few minutes away from your house. He wanted to go with you or send someone to watch over you but had accepted your petition to go alone after you told him it was a private matter and you'd tell him all about it once you got back.

So there you were, on the reception of the SC, with your sweaty hands intertwined together as you tried to ignore all the dirty looks people were giving you. Everyone around knew exactly who you were and most weren't one bit pleased to see you there. While some didn't hesitate to look at you like they wanted to kill you, others were afraid to do so.

Those few minutes that passed until the lady at the desk called your name were some of the most uncomfortable of your life. Some part of you hated having the mobster title because that usually gave people the wrong idea and drove them to hate you even if you could proudly say you had done nothing illegal or violent in your whole life. You had to admit the mob wasn’t an ideal job to have morally wise, but you had found a family inside those four walls others doomed to be cursed.

You walked up to the lady. She had what you could interpret as a nervous smile as she stood behind the desk, patiently waiting for you to tell her what had brought you there in the first place. You were hesitant to communicate your issue because you were mortified of finding out a truth that should probably stay hidden.

You reached back and unclasped the chain the ring was looped through. You left it on the counter and smiled softly as you shyly spoke, “So uh, good morning, ma’am. I was hoping you could take a look at my ring, I’m slightly concerned there was something wrong with it.”

The lady nodded and removed the ring from the chain. She inspected it closely for a few minutes before nodding her head towards one of the rooms that said ‘only employees allowed’. She started walking towards it with a quick step and you saw no other choice but to follow right behind her.

She opened the door and quickly closed it with a lock once she verified you were inside, “Listen, the only reason I’m not turning you over to the authorities is because you don’t strike me as someone stupid enough to walk into an SC with a soulmate ring like this.”

Your jaw dropped in surprise at how direct she was being. For a second, you noticed her face fall before she realized it was best to keep a face that communicated seriousness instead of begging for your forgiveness or whatever people did when they pissed Damiano off.

“I don’t know who gave this to you or in which illegal market you bought this but if a higher authority sees you with this, not even Damiano David could save you from the consequences of sporting a fake ring,” She said. You honestly didn’t know how to respond because panic had started to drown out any coherent thought that tried to form on your mind.

You didn’t even try to disguise your panicked expression that time around. Instead, you focused on regulating your breathing and trying to keep all your emotions at bay before you lost control and began to hyperventilate. The other woman noticed your distress almost immediately and led you to sit down on one of the couches.

After you took a few deep breaths, you looked back at her, eager to ask thousands of questions, “How can you know they are fake?”

She sat down next to you and put the ring on your palm, “Look at the inside,” She demanded while pointing her finger to a spot on the inside edge of the ring, “They usually have something engraved inside, a code that only repeats itself twice. Whenever one loses their soulmate, this code vanishes. Your code is still there. I also used a detector to confirm my suspicions and it detected nothing.”

“And with… with that code, can you tell me if my soulmate’s still alive? Or who they are?” The older lady looked at you with pity in her green eyes and shook her head.

“Unless this is the original code engraved on the real ring, there’s not much I can do for you other than telling you how your soulmate is. I need so much more information to ever give you a name,” You nodded in understanding. All you needed to know was if they were alive, that’s all you wanted.

She took your nod as a sign of approval and disappeared into another room. While you waited, you couldn’t help but secretly hope they were dead. You wanted all those weeks of bliss you had spent with Damiano to last a lifetime. He knew everything about you, from the number of scars scattered around your body to what book you had read the most times. No soulmate could learn that about you until years after meeting each other. Besides, it wouldn’t feel right. The Gods had already been too cruel for not making him your soulmate, but now that he wasn’t with Marlee and you knew he loved you just as much as you loved him… 

She walked out of the room and cleared her throat to catch your attention. You were thankful for her interruption because you were mere seconds away from bursting into tears of distress. She looked nervous to tell you what she had found out, but the way you looked at her made her spill the truth without any warning.

“Your soulmate is still somewhere out there, alive.”

— 

Damiano clutched his side with his hands as every type of curse word spilled from his mouth, “Thomas! Dammit Thomas, where the fuck are you?” He screamed and pushed the ache in his throat and side to the back of his mind as he limped towards the table where his loaded gun was placed, ready to be grabbed and shot. 

Things had been perfectly fine just ten minutes back. He had been drinking and playing pool with the boys in the basement. They were all laughing and messing around when Victoria heard the first gunshot. Thomas had been quick to dismiss it as one of the guards practicing his accuracy like they did every once in a while, so they went back to playing the game.

Then they heard it again and again and again. In that time it took the four men to walk up the stairs, people had already successfully broken into the house and they were shooting at anything that moved. The blood-red snake symbol all these people had on the masks that were covering their faces was one he had grown far too familiar with. These were the people Marlee had been conspiring with and they had managed to overthrow every single line of defense in between them and the front door.

Damiano had been in his room fetching a gun when a smoke bomb was thrown into the room. It had stopped him from seeing the person who shot him. Thankfully enough, their vision wasn’t much better either, because the bullet only grazed his side. It was still painful as hell and blood was pouring out of the wound, but it wasn’t going to be anything deadly. 

He finally got ahold of his gun after minutes of feeling around the table to try and spot it with the low amount of vision he still had. Once Damiano had it in his hands, he raised the scarf he was wearing to cover the lower part of his face to try and lower the quantity of smoke he inhaled.

He walked out of his room and into the hallway, still holding the gun firmly ready to shoot it at the first person he saw with that red symbol. Damiano opened the door to every room on the third floor. He had to shoot at one or two people before walking down to the floor below. The first room he opened was yours. His eyes went wide as he remembered you were still supposed to be at the SC. Damiano cursed under his breath. He needed to warn you not to come back but to go to your parents’ instead. Damiano opened the tracking app first, a precaution he had been insistent on taking just to make sure you both knew the other was safe. 

“Fucking hell,” Damiano mumbled as he saw that blue dot with your name above it was right on the same spot as his. You were back home.

Every thought of investigating each and every room to make sure there was no intruder flew out the window and instead he focused on trying to find you. Everything had turned chaotic on those few minutes he had been in your room, which was why it had gotten harder to get around without finding someone waiting on almost every corner for him to appear.

Damiano heard a piercing scream that made his blood go cold. You were in danger somewhere inside the large home and he desperately needed to get to you, to make sure you were safe from any danger. He knew his friends would be perfectly fine, they had their guns and several types of weaponry close-by, but he knew you didn’t. You always refused to take a gun or dagger with you whenever you went out and if they had caught you right when you had just gotten back… you’d most likely have nothing to defend yourself with.

There was no doubt in his mind that you were witty and incredibly smart, not to mention agile and great at coming up with plans on the spot, but he still needed to make sure you were alright. 

He got down on the first floor and his eyes met with a pair of blue ones he knew far too well. He let his eyes trail down to her carmine-tinted shirt. Marlee smiled at him and trailed her thumb along her jawline. That’s when he noticed her hands were also red and she had also left a trail of bloody footsteps from his office to where she was standing. His office.

Damiano didn’t hesitate to point the gun at her leg and pull the trigger. He then aimed for her other leg and shot it. She fell to the floor as an agonizing scream fell from her parted lips. Damiano was satisfied now that her stupid smile had been wiped right off her face.

He quickly ran to the office and opened the door. What he saw inside made time stop. It made all those sounds go silent. It made him feel like there was no floor beneath him to stand on. You were lying on the floor, a dagger piercing your chest.

You looked panicked, sad, like you wanted to do nothing but scream and cry, which you had started doing the moment you saw Damiano walked into the room. He didn’t know if your reaction was out of relief or if there was something else that concerned you, apart from the obvious.

“Damiano,” You spoke up weakly, The sound of your raspy voice was like a slap back into reality. He didn’t waste a second to fall to his knees right by your side. Damiano cupped your face with his trembling hands and brushed your cheek with his thumb.

“Shh. I’m here amore, I’m here,” He responded voice barely above a whisper, “I just need to find something to press against this wound I— something…” He stood up, ready to look for a rag, bandages, anything to stop the blood from rushing out of your body so quickly, but you stopped him.

You wrapped your hand around his arm and with all the strength you had brought him back down, “No hey, stop,” You mumbled, “Unless she happened to study every major artery, vein or has awfully perfect aim, I’ll be dead in minutes.”

He shook his head and wiped the tears that were starting to fall with the back of his hand. He was not giving up. Damiano was not going to let you die, “Wait, no, no. I can do this,” Damiano took his sweater and scarf off. With the help of his scarf, he applied pressure to the wound, careful not to move or dig the dagger further with his movements.

You shook your head and Damiano couldn’t help but cry harder at the desperation and panic in your eyes, “Please, Dami. Stop it, there’s no use. I-I just want you to hold me, please.”

He wiped his runny nose with the back of his hand and nodded repeatedly as he careful cradled you in his arms and moved your head to rest on his lap, “Everything’s going to be okay,” Damiano mumbled and left a long kiss on your forehead, then another one on your cheek and a last one on your lips.

You cupped his face with one of your hands and wiped the tears with your thumb. There wasn’t much left to say, not like you’d be able to talk even if you tried. Instead, you offered him one last sincere smile with all the energy you had left. 

He watched in horror as life slowly started to drain out of you as his ring simultaneously turned black. Damiano sat there for minutes after you were gone. He cried and let every frustration, confusion, and pain escape his body with a loud scream.

Damiano didn’t let go of your body until Victoria and Thomas had to forcefully pull him away and let someone else take care of you.

— 

Ethan didn’t walk into the room until he made sure every single intruder had been killed, except for Marlee, because Damiano had asked to keep her alive. When he did walk in, all he saw was Damiano with a folder in his hand and multiple pieces of paper scattered around the desk in his room. He looked pale, mortified by everything he was reading. The long-haired man didn’t understand what had gotten his friend in such a state of shock until he walked closer and looked at what seemed to be a contract.

You were Damiano’s soulmate. All your lives you had been tricked into believing you weren’t meant for each other. Your parents had made you believe you had no soulmate and Damiano had been fooled into thinking Marlee was his. You had gotten right to the bottom of it all and the secret would’ve gone to the grave with you if you hadn’t left the papers lying on his desk and if he had left his ring on the pocket of his jeans like he usually would. But now it was far too late to do anything about it.

[herstarburststories]

You Have A Home

Pairing: Sam Winchester x Reader

Summary: After a call from Y/N, Sam comes back town to help -- and brings Dean with him.

Requests: N°1 heyhey, could you do a Sam x reader where they went to college togehter and later meet again and they realise their feelings for eachother...xx + N°2: can you do a college sam headcanon with medicine student reader

A/N: This was fun! The monster here is mentioned in season 6, when the boys ask Bobby for advice on how to kill it. This is my first Samgirl long imagine, with Dean being the flirty he is. I wrote this almost one year ago, so it's more crude and I'm nervous to be posting it! And my piece for @cajunquandary 's 600 challenge, my prompt was monster of the week. Dividers by @talesmaniac89!

Dean's eyes remained on the road when the bitter statement left his body, tangled with a wry chuckle, “I can't believe you are still in touch with those people.”

“Those people?” Sam arched elbows, slightly skeptical by his brother's tone, “They were my friends, Dean.”

“Sammy, all our friends? Dead. They all die. Or worse.” He glanced at him for a moment, pursing his lips together. It might not be an easy assignment, but was part of the job. Sammy had tried to run away plenty times and always came back, when would he understand? “We don't get to have friends. You should've learned that.”

“They are not our friends, they are my friends. Also, they don't know about the hunting life, they aren't in harm.” Sammy hissed once the other locked his green eyes on the road again. Dean sighed, moving one hand away and up from the steering wheel in a rendition gesture.

“Whatever you say, man. I'm just warning you, this doesn't usually end up good for them.”

Sam scoffed, Dean could get on his nerves sometimes, “We saved many people that got to have a good life.”

“Yeah, but those people didn't know us before that. I told you when you left Stanford--”

“I didn't keep contact, okay!? I just... I just still have a phone that they have the number of. No social media, no calls on birthdays.” Nervously gesticulating, he added, “I know how to keep them safe, Dean.”

“So, old friend?” The eldest Winchester asked after the few minutes of silence that followed Sam's outburst, “Female old friend?”

“Yes. (Y/N) (Y/L/N).” Dean smirked, and Sam to rolled his eyes at his behavior, “Keep it in your pants.”

He'd let out a malicious laughter before turning on the radio, the first guitar sounds of AC/DC playing in the background.

“I think you'll be the one not keeping it, Sammy.”

“Hello?” The woman in nothing but a towel who had opened the door greeted them with a question, her brown eyes glaring at the two men with clear confusion.

Dean had no shame to check her out, innerly celebrating that she was still wet from her shower. Perhaps visiting Sam's friends wasn't that big mistake. “Hey, you.”

She grimaced at Dean for two seconds before turning her attention to Sam again, sudden recognition written on her face.

“Sam? Sam Winchester?” He nodded, smiling that light-hearted boyish grin at her. Not caring about her dressings, she just threw herself at Sammy, hugging him tightly. “I missed you!” She pulled away only to hit his shoulder. Her short stature didn't match Sam's, but he'd still make a grimace at her attempt of slap. “Why didn't you call? God, your hair grew a lot. Listen, I have some scissors.”

“Tried that, didn't work.” Dean interrupted their reencounter, trying to get in the conversation. An usual lopsided grin on his face, “Dean Winchester, Sam's brother.”

“Layla, Sam's friend.” She gave him a friendly smile in return, opening space for them to pass through the door before closing it, “Come in, I need to change in clothes.”

“I wouldn't even dream of that. Seriously.”

Layla would just wiggle one of her brows at Dean's comments, not impressed by it, “Ele é sempre assim? (Is he always like this?)”

Thankfully, Sam still remembered a bit of his friend's native language. He just chuckled, managing to apologize for Dean's typical Dean behavior, “Unfortunately. Sinto muito. (I'm sorry)”

“(Y/N) is in the kitchen. I'll be right back.” Her accent was thicking stronger duo the comfortability around Sam. Excusing herself, the caramel skinned girl leaded upstairs.

“What did she say?” Dean asked, side glancing at the path Layla had just gone on, not even sure of which language she'd just spoken, much less what was said. Sammy didn't bother replying, satisfied to grin at his obvxion brother. “Dude, come on!”

“Sam!” A well-known voice filled the room as the image of (Y/N) appeared in front of them, dressing your loyal cook's avental. You didn't think twice before jumping on Sam. “I missed you, giant!”

He, like always, caught you with a light-hearted laughter, “I missed you too, cupcake.” You two spent a few moments like this, enjoying each other's warm and long lost touch, until Dean cleared his throat. You finally went back to the ground, embarrassed by having a stranger to see that level of intimacy between you and Sam, “This is Dean, my--”

“Handsome brother. Hello, cupcake.” Dean was so going to tease Sam for the rest of his life for it.

“You really live up for Sam's description.” You giggled, heading towards the kitchen “Come in, I'm baking.”

“So, you and Layla still live together?”

“Most of the time, yes. You know how she is, comes and goes. Never wanted to stay in a place for too long and got a job that supported that.” The boys followed you, Dean examining the kitchen and trying to discover what you were cooking through the smell, while Sam couldn't take his eyes on you, “Apparently, just like you.”

Even though your back was facing them as you checked the food, the bite didn't pass unnoticed, “I had to leave, (Y/N)”

“I understand that, Sam. But you never called or texted. It was like I--” You quickly corrected yourself, “We never existed for you.”

“It's not like that.” Sam sighed, how could he justify? He knew you wouldn't buy a simple excuse. You were smart, and knew him too well to swallow a 'I went on a trip with my brother and just decided that college wasn't my deal' and leave it for that.

“I'm here!” Layla declared, arriving into the room with an excited smile, it was good to have the gang back together. Although, the tangible tension almost made her go back to the shower, “Am I interrupting something?”

“A sitcom DR.” Dean answered with sarcasm, spreading his figure on the chair when you turned around with an apple pie in your hands “What about we talk about the ca-- Is this pie?”

“We heard a scream followed by a loud roar and (Y/N) stayed near the camping part because there was still a signal and I went looking for who it was. When I got there, the thing ran away. Jorge's body... No human did that. His chest was cracked open irregularly, as if it was done by an animal and his heart looked weird. Like it was squeezed and drawn on up somehow?”

“We got a Samia.” Dean stated, relaxing on his spot. Some sault, rosemary and fire would do the job just fine, “Let me guess, it left a clawn near the body or inside it?”

Layla nodded, “Right in the chest or what lasted of it.”

“Are you okay? Finding the body in that state.” A comprehensive manner englobed Sam's question, whom noticed the normality with his friend described finding a shattered body.

“Just some guts.” She shrugged, a grimace was all the reaction they'd get. Crying wouldn't help, neither being terrorized as they expected her too. “I've seen Grey's Anatomy enough not to care about it.”

“Well, I'm literally a medicine student and I am still not okay with that. Especially after you made me go and check the body.” You argued, glaring at your best friend who'd only roll her eyes in response.

“I needed a professional to say if he was dead or not!”

“You need a therapist.”

Dean got up, looking straight at Layla. Time to play the hero in shining armor, “Don't worry with that, we will take care of it.”

Frowning, you were the one to respond, “Do you work for the police now or?”

“Are implying that we investigate it by ourselves?” Your best friend added.

Dean couldn't believe his brother. How the fuck did he let them get inside without saying they didn't know about the hunting business? It was a luck shot that they didn't think much when he said Samia.

“Nope. Not you two. We will do it.” The blonde one said, pointing at them with a smirk.

“I agree, we will do it.” Layla replied, matching his taunt smile.

“Sam, I'm not letting you and your brother do it by yourself. Jorge was my professor, I knew him. Besides, we found the body.” You got on your feet and crossed your arms, waiting for a response. Sam always had a sort of hero complex, ready to help no matter what, but there was no way you'd be letting him go into danger with his brother. Getting in your dormitory to kill a cockroach back then or facing an idiot during a bar fight to protect one of your friends was something, but this? They were talking about looking for an assassin. What if something happened to him? You were the one who called. All on you. The thought of Sam getting hurt for any reason was unbearable, but because of you? You weren't willing to do that.

“You would be in danger, (Y/N). You both.” He tried to explain, internally hoping you'd accept his reasoning and let it go. Sam didn't want you to become one of the friends who knew about this life, you deserve more. He already lost one woman he loved in this city, he couldn't lose another.

You huffed in frustration, “Just like you will!” 

“It's different.” As he was terrified of, you insisted. Arms crossed still and eyes locked with his, determined to get something from him. Sam was smart enough to know that you would keep it going. Perhaps he could give you a short explanation, “Me and my brother, we are used to this. We hunt things like that.”

Layla tilted her head to the side. The way Sam talked remembered her of animal hunting, although she highly doubted that was the case, “Little more explanation?'”

“Monsters are real. Vampires, werewolves, spirits. The list goes on. Call us crazy. Roll the credits.” Sarcasm saltered every word of Dean's as he gestured up and down with a cocky smile. Everyone glared at him, a special furious look from his brother, “What? I thought they knew what we did and that's why she called.”

“Sam?” Your voice was fragile when you said his name, a demonstration that you would believe him through the fear of the truth, but that he had to say it.

Sam laid his hazel eyes on you. God, how he wished he didn't have to confirm anything, to break your vision of world so abruptly, “Dean is right. Supernatural things are real. I know it sounds--”

“Unbelievable? Problematic? Scary?”

“Yeah, all of them.” Sam offered you a humorless smile, then holding your hand the way he used to when you were nervous about an exam, “But I wouldn't lie to you, cupcake.”

The silence was broken by Layla opening a bottle of Whiskey, pouring them for the three people in the room besides herself. You rolled your eyes at your best friend, while Sam wore a tiny smile and Dean was astonished.

Noticing the eyes glued, the latina just shrugged “What? If you are gonna tell me that Dracula is real and you are a sort of Buffy's apprentice, then we will need some alcohol.”

“Why did you call?” Sammy asked, his brows knotted together, mouth slight open as he waited for your response. “You didn't know what I did. And he wasn't my professor at Stanford. Then why did you call, (Y/N)?”

You could make up a hundred excuses. Lie and say he was the one friend besides Layla that you had somehow a way to get to. Appeal to the excuse of 'I felt something weird about the death and you said I should call if I ever had a problem of any kind'. But for as much as you felt horrible for using a death as a pretext for calling him, that was partially the truth. You already had put yourself into a mess of monsters and a drained heart, it couldn't be scarier than being honest to Sam and to yourself.

At least, you hoped so. But your heart was rushing like when you saw Jorge's body. Jesus, when did love become so morbid?

You took a deep breath, oxygen barely achieving your lungs, and then started to talk.

“I wanted to call you the minute that you left, Sam. I almost did a million times.” You answered, looking down at the bottle of a sort of plant that he was putting in a dark green bag. “I thought about what you could be doing, what was so important that you couldn't send me a message. But you just didn't want to call, I guess.”

“I wanted to call, of course I did.” You scoffed at his statement, looking up to match his eyes, “(Y/N), I'm serious.”

“You didn't even come to Jess' funeral, Sam. Layla said that maybe you needed to leave to clear your mind, that was too much to deal with. But I was so worried, and sad and confused and I wanted to talk to you because you would understand, you always did. About anything. And I wanted to give you some sort of comfort, but--” You lifted your hands and shrugged your shoulder, a broken chuckle leaving your body. “But you weren't here.”

“You stopped leaving messages after two weeks. Calling was gone when it made a moth.” You sniffed. Sam's lips curved into a pure, cautelous grin. God, he was always so sweet. “The emails took two months.”

“You were never good with dates. I gave you a calendar in your freshman week.” Your teeth met your lower lip. He didn't answer, only nodding at your affirmation, omitting the fact that he still had the calendar between latin books and pieces of newspapers, “Yet, you remember all of it.”

Sam leaned forward, holding your hand with all the delicacy you would expect from a sculptor. It had been too long since he hugged you, and his touch made all your skin tickle with warmth. “I missed you too, (Y/N). I thought about you all those years.”

“So, Cupcake?”

"Let's focus on the case, Dean."

“Then you can go back and eat your cupcake?” He remarked with a grin. His brother just huffed, pointing the flashlight through the trees, “So, Layla…”

Sam rolled his eyes, like he usually did when Dean started being too Dean for his liking, “Dean. The case.”

Before he could make another teaseful comment, a roar invaded their audition. The hunters gave each other a quick glance before heading towards the direction of the noise.

Shaking the salt and rosemary mixture in his hands, Dean smirked, “That's it. Time to shine, cupcake.”

“I have to admit. Being patched up by a doctor is better than by Dean.”

A surprised, half relieved laughter came out your body as you finished another stitch on Sam's arm. That boy was unbelievable; openly talking and making jokes about his brother, who was also being patched up by your best friend in company of a bottle of whiskey, while he spoke about Layla's name being a rock song. You were working on a large wound on his shoulder-- which you were sure that was full of dirt from the forest.

Medicine student, but I'll take that complement.” You winked at him, gaining a soft grin from Sammy, “I was expecting more blo-- Why are you smiling? I'm touching a recent wound. It doesn't look dangerous, but I'm sure it is supposed to hurt. A lot.”

Sam's answer came out easily, the bare, vulnerable truth: “I'm happy you are here.”

You looked at him, his hair longer than before, but the soft simper remained on his face. You bit your lip to hold a giggle; her heart dared to hope. What he expected when he said things like this? A quiet contentment spread through his expression while he watched your reaction.

“You should have come home sooner.” 

His mouth formed a line, “I don't have a home, (Y/N). It's just Dean, me and the road now.”

“No, Sam.” Shaking your head lightly, you intertwined your fingers with his. His life was dangerous, you couldn't afford the luxury of waiting even more to share what you had finally admitted to yourself in the moment he walked through the door. It didn't seem like the easiest, simpler situation. But the only hard thing you couldn’t go through was to be away from Sam Winchester. He lingered on you for years, you were done letting him run away. It was time to hold his hand and walk together. “You should've come home sooner. To me.”

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[oikeiji]

is your man still around? | pretty setter squad

summary: you try the ‘is your man still around?’ challenge on your boyfriend

pairing: sugawara x gn!reader, semi x gn!reader, kenma x gn!reader

word count: 554

content: comedy???

warnings: suggestive themes for semi

a/n: help it’s 4am and i suddenly wanted to write,, it’s always 4am... anyways enjoy <3 also ignore any typos this isnt proofread

sugawara:

you were hanging with suga at his house

it was getting boring since you guys were just watching tv for the past few hours

he was really invested in whatever was playing on the screen at the moment

you were now on your phone watching tiktoks when suddenly an idea in your head suddenly came up

going through your saved audios you found it

you flipped the camera so it would face him to get his reaction

the sound of the ringtone played and he glanced at you but didn’t do anything

“hey cutie is your man still around”

when i tell you sugas jaw dropped his jaw DROPPED

his head turned so quick

you just stared at him to see if his reaction would get any better

“you’re kidding right?”

he lowkey looked kind of hurt and you immediately felt guilty

“wait baby no i’m sorry it’s a joke, look!”

you showed him the video and he let out a huge sigh in relief

“ah you scared me please don’t do that ever again”

he pulled you into a tight hug and the two of you just cuddled for the rest of the night

semi:

semi was currently sitting at the end of his bed practicing his guitar

you were laying behind him just mindlessly scrolling through your phone

there was this one tiktok trend you wanted to try on him

knowing your hotheaded boyfriend you knew it was going to work

you started recording and let the audio play out

his head snapped towards you and he glared

not gonna lie you were kind of scared but you got yourself into this

before you knew it he was hovering over you with his hand wrapped around your wrist

he took a look at your phone seeing the tiktok app before looking back at you

“oh so you wanna play games with me now?”

you gulped while staring at him

semi set your phone aside before bringing his attention back to you

both of his arms were placed right beside your face, trapping you between them

he leaned down very close to your face

“you’re so lucky that was a prank, the things i would’ve done if there was another person on your screen”

lets just say he kept you busy for hours after that

you were definitely in for it ... good luck!

kenma:

it was another saturday night where you and kenma hung out at his place

except he was busy gaming right now with a couple of his friends which you usually didn’t mind

but right now you were feeling bored and pretty lonely

his back was turned towards you while you were relaxing on his bed

suddenly a tiktok you watched a couple days of ago popped into your mind which would hopefully get his attention

you pulled up the audio and started recording kenma’s back view

you were trying your best to not laugh bc you knew his reaction would be priceless

the audio played through and not once did he turn around

there was no reaction

he literally didn’t hear anything since he had his headset on which his friends were yelling in

you rolled your eyes and laid back down on his bed

well there goes your plan of getting his attention

i am so sorry

LMAO I AM SO SORRY FOR DOING THAT TO U GUYS W KENMA 😭hopefully this wasn’t too bad i haven’t been feeling my writing lately. anyways my ask box is open if you want to send requests or just talk :) i need to get my rules up soon aaaahh