#also really tried to not overstep boundries

[alucardinium]

   On the Ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me:    Nine things best left unsaid, Eight lovely strands of hair, Seven whole cents,     Six shiny buttons, Five freezing limbs, Four cheap  shots, Three pints of               Wassail, Two children fighting and Some cold sleepy cuddles

Words: 1,839

Prompt: Red nose

Warnings: Teen / Swearing / Wee bit of homophobia

Stunned silent the busy road fell into a hush. People that bustled around rolling to a stop. Merchants jittery behind their stalls. Wary eyes staring at the burly crimson garbed man.

“Alucard, you’re bleeding… “ Sypha broke the hush.

Alucard’s hand rose to prod gingerly at his face. Fingers coming away dripping.

“You stay out of this town abomination,” The man called out like he was announcing something to the crowd.

Trevor barked a laugh, “drunken idiot, you don’t even know” With a swipe of his cape Trevor moved closer shifting behind Alucard to stare at the loud staggering asshole. “What d’you do to piss him off?” Trevor craned his neck over Alucard’s shoulder to ask.

Eye’s flickered over to Trevor, “He stumbled into me,” Alucard said it with a hiss and growl to his voice. Not that it was unexpected. Having your face decked was a good reason to be pissy.

“Typical,” Trevor said turning to walk away.

“You too.” The man levelled a fat finger at Trevor. The crowd’s eye’s following like lemmings. They stared down Trevor who turned back around eyebrow raised.

“Can I help you?”

“The pair of you need to leave,” The man growled and Trevor turned around to cross his arms. "You ain't supposed to be here 'round christmas"

“Do you have a problem with me, asshole?”

The man spat in their direction, Trevor frowning while Alucard sneered.

“A prissy boy like that wandering ‘round with you? We all know what the fuck you are,” The man gestured to the crowd which was becoming more agitated. Sypha stepped up next, all three of them forming a line to stare down the man who had the balls to punch Alucard in the face.

“The fuck is that supposed to mean,” Trevor growled and Sypha looked around at the crowd that was forming behind the drunkard. Angry glares shot at them.

“You can’t play coy when you flaunt around your…” The man trailed off looking constipated and confused. The drink hazing his face.

“Get out of here you fucking homosexuals!” Somebody in the crowd shouted, riling up the whole crowd into a fire.

Trevor hitched, “Who the fuck said that.” Taking a massive step to the right of Alucard putting distance between them.

“Who cares you—“

“Finish that sentence and I will end you,” The crack of Trevor’s whip hitting the ground at the man’s feet silenced the drunk man. The crowd calmed for a second before becoming more aggressive.

There wasn’t anything particular being said, it was like a buzz, a shifting mass. A good deal of people were still at the sides. The merchants more angry about business being held up by the display.

“Are you threatening me?” The drunk man stumbled forward, the crowd behind him hesitating. They eyed the whip in Trevor’s hands with trepidation.

Trevor threw his foot forward with a stomp and sneered, teeth showing too much. “What are you stupid? Would you rather I spell it out for you?” Trevor shouted opening his arms out in an open challenge. Whip pooling to his side and his cloak making him look bigger than he was.

A rippling cry went up behind the drunk guy, a call to fight.

“You’re dead you fucking disgusting piece of shit!” The drunk man charged at Trevor like a wild bull. He stumbled across the dusty path at the behest of the crowd’s screams.

“Trevor don’t!” Sypha stepped up grabbing Trevor’s arm. A sharp yank and a whispered word. Trevor backed down with balled fists and gravel in his gut.

“Fucking typical, knew your breed wasn’t meant for fighting.” The drunken man stumbled to a stop in front of Trevor; heavy breaths washing over Trevor who was fighting the instinct to shove the man out of his face.

“Trevor you can’t, we need to buy supplies.” Sypha hissed glaring at the man, “It’s not even true, you know that so don’t rise to his bait.” It was like having the devil baring down on him and an angel on his shoulder.

“That’s right pussy, back down like you were meant too,” The man shouted in Trevor’s face grinning as he did it. Trevor twitched with barely contained rage.

His teeth were near breaking, but Trevor held his tongue with Sypha’s hands keeping his will intact.

The tipsy man backed up strutting like a peacock. He threw his arms wide to the sky presenting himself.

“You see, these types are always subservient. Bitches to even bitches,” The man pointed a hand out at Sypha who tightened her grip on Trevor’s arm, “you gotta put them in their places. On their—“ The man croaked like a broken wagon.

Trevor let out a wild whoop, breaking his silence, in opposition to the shocked gasps of the crowd.

“Alucard!” Sypha shouted dropping Trevor’s arm in shock.

Drunk and swaying, the man hung above the ground by Alucard who didn’t even say a word. Just cut the man off by dangling him by his throat. Released with no fanfare, he dropped the man to the ground coughing and rubbing at his throat.

“You fucking fa—“

The cracking noise was loud enough that Trevor could hear it as Alucard kneed the man in the jaw hard enough it broke.

Trevor, shrugging off Sypha, ran up to the scene practically cackling with mad glee, “Fuck yes! Eat shit you fucking bastard!”

The man was prone on the ground, dazed as he stared up at Alucard who barely had a hair out of place. Alucard’s jaw was tight with anger and his upper lip still smeared with his own blood - nose shiny red and bruising.

Stopped with a slide, Trevor was wild-eyed, more than ready to take a piece of the pie if the man had the guts to stand back up.

“You broke my jaw you fucking dick!” The man screamed, slurred as he held his jaw shut with a fat hand.

“Did I?” Alucard said calmly

“You two are the spawn of unholy—“

Alucard crouched down, moving like water and grabbed the man’s cheeks. A scream echoing from the man as Alucard dragged him closer whispering something into the man’s ear.

The crowd, still agitated, but less vicious in their exclamations. Many bleeding back out of fear, still watching but no longer taking part. Sypha was fuming to the side, her arms crossed. Her plans thrown out the window by the other member of their party. As angry as she might be about that, she still watched with a sparkle of vindication in her eye.

“Trevor, come here for a second,” Alucard turned up to face Trevor.

Not hesitating, expecting a little bloodshed, Trevor got in close. The fiery explosion of sweet revenge swooping through his thoughts.

Tugged in by Alucard, lips smashing onto each other’s with a weird sense of underlying anger. The feel of Alucard’s teeth bared a little too close to Trevor’s lips. It was way too much. With a redirected fury Trevor pushed Alucard away from him.

The crowd gasped, fuck even Sypha gasped.

“What the fuck!” Trevor backed up faster, drawing his whip to stare down Alucard who smirked at him.

Almost in slow motion did Alucard face the drunkard again, whispering something again. A deathly pallor fell over the asshole as Alucard dropped his hold on the man’s jaw. Trembling the piss drunkard sat forward and with a painful amount of hesitation kissed a statue of Alucard that was smirking like a fox.

It was only a peck, but Alucard was the one to shove the man to the ground and stand up. He dusted off his legs and straightened his jacket with that same unearthly elegance he came with to every fight.

“What the fuck is going on!” Trevor shouted again, swinging from the scene in front of him and Sypha behind him.

The crowd was muttering and fearfully shuffling as Alucard strolled over to them, Trevor shifting into a more defensive position as he drew near.

“Oh calm down Belmont, you act like I took your first,” Alucard said it flippantly and Sypha was sputtering as Trevor's face went beet red.

“The hell was that? You ever do that again and—“

“You’ll kill me? Don’t be melodramatic. All I did is—“

“You ruined his life,” Sypha said with a hushed voice. Alucard cracked a hooded smile, disguising it by wiping at his nose again and walking down the road that would take them out of town.

“He’s not dead, he might just need to… “ Alucard thought for a moment, “Relocate.”

Trevor’s shoulders slumped in shock, the crazy bastard took revenge to the next level. He didn’t just beat the crap out of him; he made his life miserable by ostracizing him from his whole village.

Trevor let out a startled laugh and shook his head, “What d’you even say to him, I saw you threaten him.”

“I told him the truth.”

“And that was?” Sypha nosed in.

“That he was half the man of either of us and that I‘d prove it. Then I threatened to disembowel him and drain him of his blood if he didn’t kiss me.” He said it so calmly that Sypha rose her eyebrows in shock. “I would never, but he showed his colours.”

“Only after threatening extreme harm and death by vampirism,” Trevor said back, a faint tone of incredibility in his voice.

“He would’ve been dead long before it came to that.”

“Jesus Christ Alucard,” Trevor breathed

“I don‘t appreciate hate speech.”

“Yeah, that’s obvious.”

Alucard chuckled. Both Sypha and Trevor a little shell-shocked.

“Oh, and Trevor?” Alucard turned to face Trevor; stopping on the path out of town.

A grunt and frazzled eyes stared back at Alucard.

“You have some blood,” Alucard moved forward and Trevor tried to move away from the pale hand that came at his face, “Right here-” Alucard wiped underneath of Trevor’s nose, fingers brushing Trevor’s lip. Jerking away from the soft touch Trevor was practically hissing at Alucard, hackles raised. “-From that pathetic thing, you call a kiss,” Alucard finished and Sypha gasped.

“Ex-fucking-scuse me?” Trevor shouted at Alucard who was already walking away. Trevor blindly looked at Sypha who just shrugged at Trevor’s shocked face.

“Just ignore it?” Sypha offered meekly before she ran to catch up with Alucard who was pulling away from both of them. The expanse of the path between them growing like Trevor’s frustrated shock.

“Ignore it?” Trevor furiously rubbed at his face and lips. He’d expected to be on the wrong side of Alucard’s fangs one day. It was fate. He had not expected it to be like that. How did he shake that off, he felt Alucard’s smile and fangs and wouldn’t be the same because of it. Fucking bastard.

[wispyhearts-heaven]

Sinclair Bros with a Submissive S/O - Kneeling

Minors: Do Not Interact

Warnings: NSFW, cockwarming (Bo), subspace, handjobs, hinted sharing between the brothers

Pairings: Bo Sinclair x Reader, Vincent Sinclair x Reader, Lester Sinclair x Reader

Not my gifs!

Bo:

enjoys it

seriously, Bo likes to dominate and you want to kneel for him?

give him a beer, pizza and a night in front of the tv on a Sunday and he is ecstatic

will pet your hair as you kneel for him

loves it when you nuzzle into his knee, thigh or crotch.

he does forget to give you a kneeling pillow so RIP your knees

if you feel up to it? Cockwarming

he loves looking down to see you in between his thighs your mouth and throat wrapped around his cock as it tightens every now and then

not great at aftercare but he tries

snuggling and pet names is his forte

if he's working and you're in a headspace? it's hard

he doesn't want you to feel ignored but he works with cars, darling. He doesn't wanna get grease on you

if someone comes into town when you're under he hates bringing you up early. but he'll do it

he's calling Lester over as well because he and Vincent are gonna be busy (even though Vincent is better at aftercare)

when Bo comes back? you can snuggle as much as you want and he is not going to complain because he left you when you were so beautifully vulnerable for him.

he doesn't believe in aftercare for himself? don't try praise with him, he'll shrug it off.

but if he didn't get off? sloppy handjob, if you're in the mood, works great with him.

he sounds very southern when you get him off

Vincent:

sweet boy

it is so much harder to catch Vincent than it is to catch Bo

I mean, he works all the time and his workplace isn't exactly friendly for when you want to kneel.

but he has a pillow for you in the basement just in case you need to kneel while Bo or Lester is working or out.

if he's still needing to put the figure in the wax? you have to basically be in the corner. he will not let you be hurt when you're under for him.

every now and then he looks over at you and, if everythings is going fine with the wax dispersion, he's walking over and petting you head.

if he's sanding down the wax figure and finetuning, you'll be kneeling near his leg

not too close that he'll knee you. You learnt that the hard way

aftercare with Vincent is top tier and I refuse to believe otherwise

he will run baths for you, cuddles, massages and plenty of soft touching

he's so gentle with you and scared that you'll break after going down

please also give him some love, kind words and praise is exactly what he needs for aftercare

please runs your fingers through his hair and rub his scalp

Lester:

the hardest to get a hold of

can only really get a hold of him at night because he's cleaning up roadkill almost all day

isn't sure why you come to him at all, if you've got Bo and Vinnie why do you need him? they're better at this than him

he is so gentle when you kneel

he doesn't like touching you unless you initaite contact first

he refuses to overstep any boundries you have

he likes the aftercare but again, he's so worried he's gonna fuck up, so he will not touch you unless you have agreed prior.

gets hard when you kneel for him but won't do anything about it

especially if you let him bathe for you. He gets to run his hands over your naked body of course he is going to get hard

trying to praise him? doesn't work

he doesn't even shrug them off, just blatantly disagrees with you

give him a handjob as you two lie in bed together and he's set.

then you can whisper pretty words to him

Bonus: taking over from another brother (technically non-con)

Bo:

has no idea what to do

if you've never been under for him before - he will blatantly refuse unless it's an emergency.

how does he bring you up?

will ask if you need food or water

will not touch you unless you say he can, verbally, at least twice

pet names and whispers that you've done so well in these circumstances. tells you that Vinnie and/or Lester would be so proud of you

don't praise him afterwards

thank him and snuggle

Vincent:

will do everything mentioned before

but while he is likely to accept sexual contact when you've gone under for him, do NOT do it

will not ask for praise and will not accept it

he's done nothing except taking over from another

so much physical aftercare because he can't speak, especially if you're too out of it to use sign language

Lester:

you thought he was scared of messing up before? ha, times ten now

he's normally awkward, but if you've solely been with just the twins and never with him, he's always felt like an outlier and if he fucks up? that solidfies it

do NOT try anything sexual. in his eyes, he doesn't deserve it, doesn't matter if you've gone under for him before

hovers so much and every movement is slow to make sure that you are okay with him touching you

head pats and shoulder rubs and cuddles

always asks how your knees are (especially if taking care of you after Bo) and what you need for him

[shinobusupremecy]

Hello! good good! How are you? I wanted to ask you for a request about the alphabet for the special . When I have clear time this , well swria C,S,X,Z. Thank you very much and have a nice day!!! well I hope I sent through the correct channel hahaha.

Shinobu x gn!reader fluff alphabet (C, S, X, Z)

A/N:Mhm! This is the right chanel! Thank you very much for stopping by and come again whenever! You have a nice day/night too!

I would also like to announce that I’m gonna take a vacation so I maybe won’t post anything while I’m there, we’ll see.

Two of the letters here were in the yandere fluff post but I will write it anyways

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

🦋- Shinobu likes to cuddle but she’s just so busy so she almost never has time to. When she does have time to cuddle then she will usually wanna be the big spoon.

🦋- She wants to feel like she can wrap her arms around you and protect you. When she’s in her more soft mood then she will be the small spoon.

🦋- She likes the feeling of your arms wrapping around her, she feels very safe and loved.

🦋- If you ask her to cuddle she might tease you a little, but it’s extremely lighthearted since she would never wanna make you afraid to ask her for cuddles

🦋- You two often cuddle when you two are going to bed, when Shinobu is done with her work, when she is tired or you or when you two have a day off.

🦋- I feel like she likes spooning, when you two lay face to face on your side and hug eachother, legs entangled with one another. She likes to see your face and give it some kisses.

🦋- Another cuddling position she likes that doesn’t happen as often as the other two is just when she can lay on your chest and you can draw patterns on her back or just wrap your arms around her.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

🦋- Very protective. She tries to never overstep any boundries but so etimes she really can’t help it

🦋- It doesn’t really matter if you’re a demon slayer or a citizen, she’ll be protective of you anyways

🦋- Since you’re a demon slayer maybe you can get hurt by demons and if you’re a citizen…you can still get hurt by demons. Guess there’s no escaping getting hurt by demons.

🦋- Usually when you go out at night Shinobu will accompany you no matter what. It’s like Shinobu has a sitxth sense or something. When she has a feeling you’ll go out at night for whatever reason it’s like she just drops everything and bolts to you.

🦋- Of course demons are not the only threat, people are too.

🦋- If you ever stumble to a suspicious person Shinobu becomes very wary and if that person is starting to bother you then Shinobu will take action.

🦋- It usually starts with warning the person to back off and leave you two alone but if the situation escalates then Shinobu will pin the person down or something along the lines of that.

🦋- But when she protects you from a demon? She is way more brutal.

🦋- She will use one of her most deadliest and painful poison on the demon making sure it suffers greatly for even thinking about hurting you. Doesn’t matter if you’re a demon slayer or cotizen as said, that demon will feel PAIN.

🦋-Shinobu likes to be protected when she knows she couldn’t have handle it herself. Let’s say a very quick demon snuck up on her and was about to stab her, she would really appreciate it if you came in and protected her. It would save her alot of troubles and possibly death

🦋- Like said people can be a threat too and when push comes to shove and a fight is about to break out, Shinobu could use some help👍

🦋- Usually she says that she does not condone violence but sometimes it’s necessary in a very wise tone but you can see through her. You know she would do it again any day in the week, after all, putting people in their places is one of her favorite things to do.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

🦋- Ok this one might be too common of a headcannon or you’ve probably seen it many times before

🦋- But I have a feeling she loves singing. Like just quietly sing to herself, the song usually has a more sentimental meaning behind it since it’s the songs that her sister would sing to her but other than that she loves to sing

🦋- Don’t get your hopes up though, it’s not likely she’ll be willing to sing in front of you. Mostly because it’s embarrassing for her. Don’t try to eavesdrop on her either, she’ll know.

🦋- But she will sing for you if you’re having a rough day or when she just feels softer y’know?

🦋- She’ll most likely sing for the triplets. So if you’re lucky, you’ll find her singing a song to the triplets, Shinobu knows you're there and will send you a wink or a wave.

🦋- Ok I know what I said earlier that it’s not likely for her to sing in front of you but that’s like in the early months of your relationship. As the time passes by I can see her being more confident in singing in front of you.

-

🦋- Another headcannon (I know you’re supposed to pick one but I couldn’t help it)

🦋- Shinobu LOVES late night conversation

🦋- It’s when everyone’s asleep and she doesn’t have to work anymore which means she can talk to you about whatever she wants

🦋- Shinobu also feels a little but more like herself since she can talk about the subjects she loves! Of course she will let you talk about subjects you like too. But for her, it can get tiring talking about medical stuff all the times so it’s nice when she can talk about insects (I hc she loves insects too) or different flowers and their meanings.

🦋- But late night conversation can turn deep or it turns into her venting to you, of course with your consent.

🦋- Shinobu just knows she can talk about deep personal stuff with you because you won’t judge her or anything like that

🦋- It’s also the times when she can talk about her sister and the memories she has of her.

🦋- Usually it ends with you two cuddling and Shinobu crying.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?)

🦋- Shinobu is the type to in her sleep cuddle up to you in the night and when you point it out to her in the morning she will deny it. Even if the covers are over her body it’s like she feels incompleate without your warmth so she will begin to move towards you and cuddle to your warm body.

[thefabulousfab-3]

oooo whole story about your terrible ex you looked like evan (we hate evan in this household)

Oh dude same, Evan’s the worst and he honestly gave me horrible flashbacks. So please don’t judge me to harshly for this story. It is both embarrassing and sad. Don’t ever do this kids. This whole thing happened about 4 years ago when I was 20.

Okay to preference this story I had been dumped by this guy, we will call him Matt. Now I was in love with matt, totally infatuated by him. He was my first real boyfriend and when he dumped me, he dumped me HARD. Like it was brutal. He basically told me he never loved me and only liked the idea of me (whatever that means). He also told me that I wasn’t very interesting person to talk to and he was talking to girls that were more interesting than me. Anyways, like a couple MONTHS he got engaged to the girl he was cheating on me with. Keep in mind we dated for like 4 months so he got engaged to this girl like super quick.

So I found out about all this after I had been on a okay but not terrible date with this guy, we will call him bill. Anyways, bill had asked me on a second date and I said yes because I had just found out my ex boyfriend Matt was engaged, and I just didn’t want to be lonely. So Bill and I started dating officially I guess, a few weeks later. (I know this is all super fast but I was sad and I wanted to prove that I wasn’t for some stupid reason). While dating Bill I continued to ignore all the red flags,which there were so many, and the fact that he had the worst personality. He was unhygienic, obsessed with weird porny anime, constantly overstepped boundries, was a total jerk, and the absolute picture boy for “nice guys finish last”. I however spent our whole brief relationship trying to convince myself he was great and that I was happy, I didn’t need Matt. (This was all a lie except the fact that I didn’t need Matt, he straight up sucked).

Anyways, my parents came to town and Bill pressured me into letting him meet them. They did and they hated him! My mom told me straight up when he left that she thought he was a loser and just plain weird (she was right). She also told me that she understood why I was doing this and gave me some really good advice. She said something about how life isn’t a race and I don’t need to worry about beating anyone. My dad said in much nicer words, that Bill was a weirdo and unattractive, and that I could do so much better. He also gave me a weird dating analogy about different flavors of ice cream. This was a while ago so I don’t remember details.

I broke up with bill a few days later. Then Matt was dumped by his fiancé a few weeks before their wedding. He tried to get back together with me after that and I blocked him. Validation! He is still single btw, not a huge shocker.

Moral of the story is men suck, and you deserve the absolute best. Never settle! Also don’t date when you are that depressed because it can cause you to make some very bad choices. It’s good to be single. Again, please don’t judge me to much and feel free to reblog or reply with your terrible dating stories so I don’t feel so bad.

Ps. I am much happier now and am in a healthy relationship with an absolutely wonderful guy.

[harryimaginedstories]

a hint of yoghurt

plot: she’s reluctant to forgive him for forgetting about her while he was spending time with an ex. genre: angst but sometimes funny (I hope). please enjoy!

The tranquility reigning in their home was a strange contrast to the heavy screaming that had echoed from its walls only few hours ago. It did very little to make Y/N feel better. A heaviness weighed down on her heart.

Y/N sat with her legs dangling from the counter as she rested her back against some drawers. One particular drawer kept poking her shoulder. Still, Y/N refused to go to sleep. Part of her excused this by claiming to need something to eat first, when really she was afraid. She didn‘t want to go to bed alone. Though she often complained or playfully pushed him away, Y/N knew she wouldn’t find any rest without Harry’s heavy arms around her hips and the sound of him snoring in her ear. Instead, he was now snoring peacefully on the couch. Alone. The quietness was almost eerie. Especially after having heard Harry’s rough voice bellow out more words than he could have ever meant. In her hand Y/N held her makeshift dinner of yoghurt and oatmeal - a mixture of sticky and dry. It was clearly less fancy than what she would have had if he hadn’t forgotten and left her stranding on the street. Y/N tried not to think about the nice Italian meal she had been excited to eat all week as she spooned the sweet mixture into her mouth. Y/N shifted. She also would have been sitting on a comfortable chair rather than hard stone that felt cold through her thin pijama bottoms.

It hadn‘t been the first time they‘d clashed after finding something they disagreed upon. As in any relationship it was a natural thing that sometimes happened. However never like this. Never had Y/N been on the receiving end of that kind of anger and truthfully she hadn’t ever expected to be. Especially that it had come from Harry out of all people was confusing to her. Usually he was nothing but kind with her. Every touch was tender, every word said with adoration in his tone. Even when they fought he had never shouted other than maybe a quick “Y/N!“ to get her attention when she was ranting. To have him scream and throw word after word at her head had definitely been a first.

“Late supper?“

Though she hadn‘t heard him get up and make his way from the living room and into the kitchen, Y/N wasn��t surprised. Part of her had wanted him to wake up and come apologize. However now that he was looking at her from the opposite side of the kitchen she suddenly felt very small. Sitting there in her tiny light blue shorts and with yoghourt smeared on her upper lip she didn‘t exactly feel ready for another round. Y/N briefly considered to just bolt back to her room. If he were to scream at her again she knew she wouldn’t be able to stand it. Luckily Harry looked tired himself and appeared to be very calm. Too much so as that he could have resumed their argument.

“Being mad at you made me hungry.“

Harry cracked a small smile. “I bet.“

Same counted from him. Missing out on dinner with her had left his own tummy empty and rumbling. 

“Is that yoghourt?”

Y/N nodded and fed herself another spoonful. Harry bit his lower lip. Under other circumstances he would be standing between her thighs and have her feed him some of her dinner, right after licking off that spot of yoghourt smeared on her lip. He wasn’t oblivious to it being his own fault that he couldn’t do that now.  Y/N lowered her gaze back to his feet. Looking at him gave her a strange mixture of feelings. On one hand he looked beautiful, even when he was so tired he could pass out. His hair was soft and his eyes bright, making all of her want to reach out and tug him into a hug. Slowly her eyes traveled upwards, from his socks to his legs until they stopped on his shorts. Y/N bit back a pleased smile. She recalled throwing the clothing at his face when he had followed her to the bottom of the stairs, still shouting and trying to get her to hear his point.

”You know,“ Harry said, reading her thoughts, ”that actually kinda hurt. Metal button hit my nose.“

”Too bad.“ But when she noticed the frown appear on his face she chose to quickly add, ”Sorry, Harry.“

He waved her off, relieved to have her looking at him again. ”It‘s not like you were meaning to. S‘alright.“

Y/N willed herself to smile but quickly looked away again. She hated feeling uncomfortable around her own boyfriend. Another first. Harry leaned his back against the doorframe as he watched his girlfriend finish her supper quickly and he hoped she wasn’t hurrying in order to get away from him. Though he would’ve understood. Guilt grew in his chest until it felt almost crushing. She looked terribly soft with her bare legs swinging from the counter and a shirt he recognized as his own covering her upper body. This made him smile at last. He hadn’t expected her to still be comfortable wearing his clothes but he was glad that she did.

The longer Harry stood there looking at her the harder it got for him to understand why they had been arguing. More importantly, how he could have been the one doing all the shouting. Why had he yelled at her like that? She had been terribly reluctant to hear him out, but why had he believed screaming would help his case? Worst of all, Y/N had had every right to be angry with him. He had clearly been in the wrong and yet refused to own up to it.

He should have just come straight home form the gym. He should have been on time, taken a shower and then went to pick up his girlfriend from the cafe she had been spending her afternoon at. They should have gone to dinner together. Had he been smarter then he would have her in his bed and wrapped in his arms right now. Instead, Harry’s back ached from laying on the couch. All because he had been stupid instead.

“So you’re telling me you are late because you were with her?”

Harry remembered Y/N’s eyes looking sadder and sadder. But he hadn’t reacted the way he should have. 

“I told you, we just ran into each other. Why is that such a big deal to you?”

“You made me wait because you were with the only woman you know I feel uncomfortable you hanging out with! Actually, you didn’t even make me wait you just straight up forgot about me!”

“For fuck’s sake, I forgot one thing, Y/N. Once! I said that I was sorry what else do you even want fro me, huh? It’s done! Get over it and accept that I apologized!”

“How sincere that sounds when you say so while screaming!”

Harry knew he had been wrong and so had she. That was probably why he had started yelling in the first place. However a loud voice couldn’t overpower one that was in the right. He remembered her flinching when he had first started to grow louder, yet he hadn’t stopped. Neither had she. She had defended her point until her eyes had leaked tears while Harry kept screaming until she stormed off. He still felt a slight soreness in his throat. Sore from shouting at his girlfriend until she cried.

Harry sighed heavily and stepped closer, cautious not to scare her off. To his surprise and relief she didn’t even tense up.

“I’m embarrassed.”

Y/N put down the empty bowl. She met his careful gaze with hard eyes. “Really. Why?"

“Because I yelled,” Harry mumbled, taking another step forward.

“You did.”

“And I was being mean.”

“You were.”

Harry gave a soft and regretful smile. Carefully he reached out and brushed his fingers over the bare skin of her left arm.

“I’m very sorry, Y/N.”

The words were so quiet and calm, yet sincere. Y/N struggled to compare them to those he’d spoken earlier that night. Feeling his fingertips caress her skin however did bring her some sense of calmness. Perhaps she would find some sleep that night after all. Harry struggled to catch a breath. They weren’t ones to not know what to say to the other and Harry hated the unfamiliar distance that had grown between them. As if in attempt to break it, he allowed his back to rest against the counter she was sat on. It wasn’t the same as embracing her in his arms, but at least his hips were only centimeters away from her legs. Overcoming the emotional barrier quickly proved to be more difficult. Though he wanted her to say something further and perhaps forgive him already he was hesitant to push her. She might allow him to be physically closer to her again, but he didn’t mistake that a sign of her being ready to forgive.

Y/N looked at the side of his face, mustering the tense expression he wore. “Are you really?”

“Of course,” Harry replied with no hesitation and a weak movement of his shoulders, “Was stupid of me.”

She cleared her throat. “Yeah, it was.”

Harry met her gaze. He hoped not to overstep any boundries and slowly leaned in to brush his arm against her leg. Y/N didn’t move away.

“You know,” he said, “I think I deserve an award or something. Doubt anybody’s messed up this badly twice in one night.”

“Three times actually.”

“Yeah?”

Y/N nodded. She almost expected to find a sign of his anger returning, yet his face remained calm. It was encouraging enough for her to continue.

“I presume one and two are you spending the evening with your ex-girlfriend without notifying me and then later shouting at me for feeling upset.”

Harry nodded and pulled at his lower lip so hard it looked painful. 

“Well, I’d say you forgetting to pick me up counts as a misstep as well.”

At that he chuckled and shook his head. He held both arms crossed against his chest and kept his eyes on the floor.

“Shit, you’re right. That, too. So three mistakes in one night then, huh?”

“Hm.”

“Fuck.”

Again they said nothing, letting all playfulness in the air fade. Y/N sniffled lightly. The noise straddled Harry at first but he was relieved to find that she wasn’t crying. His heart had almost dropped. Seeing her tears would’ve been too much. Y/N’s knuckles brushed against her nose and again Harry was reminded of how enamoured with her he was. With a heavy sigh escaping his mouth Harry reached out and rested his hand on top of her bare knee. Another brave gesture he was relieved to find she allowed.

“It’s an award I wish I hadn’t earned.” 

“Harry,” Y/N breathed shakily, “just tell me why. We’ve both said so much and I... I still just don’t understand. Why did you meet with her?”

“I ran-”

“You ran into her, yeah I heard that the first ten times you said so.” 

Y/N shook her head and briefly considered pushing him away again. She needed him to be honest. No bullshit, no excused. She wanted him to finally say what had happened and not just words he hoped would soothe her anger.

“On your way to the showers you bumped into her, you two talked a few minutes and then she asked you to go grab a coffee. I heard all that already. What I don’t know is your reasoning behind it. Why was a cup of coffee with your ex more important than a dinner with your girlfriend?”

“It wasn’t.” Harry looked at her with desperate eyes. 

Y/N tilted her head. “C’mon now. Yes it was. And honestly that’s where my head starts to spin. What does it say about us that you prefer an evening with her over a dinner with me? What kind of couple does that make us?”

“Y/N, please.” Harry removed his hand from her leg and stepped around her to stand opposite of the counter she remained sat on.

If he were to make her feel uncomfortable again he knew she would leave. Understandably so, especially since he had pushed her too far once that night already. So he was cautious not to be too close, just enough to get a good look at her.

“I’m sorry,” he said honestly, eyes trained on her face attentively, “really am.”

“I know you are,” she replied, and he sighed at the softness in her voice, “but it still hurts.”

“I understand that.”

“And it makes me overthink.”

Harry swallowed and willed himself to stay calm. The look of disappointment written all over her face made his heart shiver. For the first time he felt like his own girl was slipping away, into the worry he had caused and Harry felt like he had run out of words to stop her.

“Y/N,” he croaked, “this says nothing about us. Only ‘bout me.”

She huffed. “That you care less about time with each other than I do?”

“No, that I-”

“Listen, I know I’m reading a lot into this. But Harry it’s not like you’re home all the time and we see each other so often we get sick of it. You’re gone the better part of the year and I always respect that but I won’t anymore if you leave me hanging the short time you actually are around.”

Harry bit his lip. Again she was right. Of course she was. She stayed home while he travelled the world, be it for his job or to visit the people he had met on his journey. Not once had she minded, only ever asked him not to forget about the girl he left behind. Tonight he had forgotten, even though he’d been less than 30 minutes away from her.

Water filled his eyes before he could stop it. In attempt to shield the view from his girlfriend Harry pushed both palms against his cheeks and turned away. Seeing him cry was the last thing she needed right now. He had messed up. Consequently he wasn’t the one in the position to deserve comfort. It was too late of course and Y/N’s heart broke into pieces at Harry’s distress. He heard her curse before her naked feet met the cold tile floor. Small hands grabbed at his wrists and Harry choked, still trying not to let her see. He tried to shrug her off, attempted not to be weak but once again he failed miserably.

“Harry, hey, shh. No, no, no, c’mere.”

Y/N caressed his arms as he cried, standing so close in front of him he could feel her breath hit his skin. The sudden warmth in her tone made him flinch. More tears poured from his eyes and his hands caught them as he was overcome with emotion. Never before had Harry felt undeserving of his girlfriend’s compassion. 

“Harry, baby.”

He sniffled. With a forceful jerk she removed one of his hands from his face and moved quickly to catch his body in an embrace before he could shield himself from her again. Her face pushed into his neck. Harry whimpered and let his arm drape around her shoulders, still crying heavily. 

“M’sorry.”

“I know,” she said. One of her hands found the back of his head where she began to stroke his hair. “I know you are. It’s okay.”

“No,” Harry croaked, finally dropping the other hand from his face as well, “don’t say it’s okay just ‘cause m’crying.”

“But it is,” Y/N pressed her lips to his jaw, “You can’t do more other than saying that you’re sorry.”

“Fucked up so badly,” Harry said and let his head drop to her shoulder.

Feeling his tears meet her skin was probably the worst thing she had ever felt. Y/N squeezed him to her and scratched his head. She made sure to keep him close, even when feeling him cry was like pushing a knife into her heart.

“You did. And you’re sorry and you own up to it. We’ll be fine, I promise.”

“You didn’t think so couple minutes ago.”

“I did a little bit.”

“Crying doesn’t make me any less of a dick.”

Y/N smiled. “No, but it makes me not wanna treat you like one anymore.”

“See?” Harry pulled away to meet her eyes, “M’so manipulative.”

“Oh Christ,” Y/N reached up and brushed the falling tears from under his eyes, “Harry.”

He didn’t stop her fingers from rubbing his sore skin, but frowned when she squeezed his cheeks. Y/N pulled and rubbed his face while smiling until finally he did too. A tiny smile, barely there, but it was enough to make her tummy dance. She rewarded him with a kiss on the lips.

“Now you’re not crying anymore,” she said softly, “and I still want to forgive you.”

“I shouldn’t have let you down,” Harry looked into her eyes, wishing he could drown in them, “I was supposed to just come home to you. Don’t even know why I didn’t. All for a shitty cup of coffee.”

“Where did you go to anyway?” Y/N giggled. 

“Rosanne’s cafe,” Harry muttered and gave in to a grin when he heard her laugh.

“Rosanne’s? Oh, awful coffee! Terribly overpriced, too.”

“I know.”

Y/N let both hands wander up and down his shoulders. She held his gaze, recognizing a curiosity in them that made her weak. One hand met his jaw and his lips parted as she drew her thumb over them. If only she could soothe the worry she had planted in his heart. 

“You didn’t mean to hurt me,” Y/N whispered.

Harry shook his head. “I didn’t.”

Y/N let herself move closer and press against his chest. A happy sigh fell from her mouth and Harry’s hands found her hips to keep her close against him. It still sounded hoarse and shaky whenever he breathed, but at least he didn’t feel himself close to tears anymore. The relief of her allowing him to hold her again was too consuming as that he could have cried. Hesitant, Harry leaned in and nudged the side of her head with his nose. When she looked up he was closer than expected, enough so to gently attache his mouth to hers. Y/N whimpered as she kissed back. She could feel the reluctance in his movements and it made her aware of how afraid he still was. 

“I’m not slipping away,” she murmured against his lips, “I love you, Harry.”

A groan that made her legs feel like jelly tumbled from his throat and this time when he kissed her it was with more urgency. His tongue brushed her lips, her hands scratched his skin and soon their breathing got heavy. Her hands found his hair, his her naked thighs. Somehow he had her back on top of the counter, only this time with his body pressed to hers and his heart back in one piece. If he concentrated enough on the kiss he could even taste a hint of yoghurt. 

please tell me you liked this because I really did.

my stories

[lacktastrophe]

Retrospective! Chapter 104: Witch Hunt

It took the greater portion of the year (and with 42 pages per week it’s not hard to imagine precisely why). With Witch Hunt finishing just recently, it’s time for another chapter retrospective! The last time we did one of these was around the conclusion of the previous chapter, Fair Game, so it’s been a while! I opted to start doing these as opposed to going back and updating each of the character megaposts with newer information with each new chapter. I’ve only planned for these retrospectives to start from the most recent chapters, absolutely no intention of going back and examining what I’m likely to cover in character megaposts. Once BCB goes back to a three day schedule expect to see more of these.

Right, so, since Lucy’s return to Roseville we’ve had a great number of chapters dedicated to following alongside Paulo as he tries to tie up loose ends, daydream about Korats, and well, try to figure himself out. We’ve had one for Daisy, and a number of them to Lucy as she reintegrates back into the town. We’re due for more Lucy and this chapter delivers, ripe with interactions between the other characters as well, as we get to see how neo-Lucy deals with the problems still going on in Roseville. 

This chapter opens with a surprise as someone knocks on Lucy’s door.

It’s Carmen Sandeigo, ready for her next big heist!

Actually, it’s just Sue trick-or-treating. Lucy’s presumption she’s not here for the chocolate is correct; there’s certainly a heist going on; it’s not the chocolate. She’s at Lucy’s house with a different heist in mind; stealing her away and spending an evening on the town trick or treating. A treat for us! The last Halloween chapter was back in Volume 2 with Mischief Night. Things aren’t likely going to go the same way this time with poisoned Korats. 

But hey, who’s to say? Right?

Sue arrives not giving any formal notice before hand, she knows Lucy far too well in that she’d likely say no and not make plans for the evening, as Lucy has never been outgoing in the past, and she’d be right, Lucy hasn’t made plans for the evening. Hearing Sue out and considering it’ll be the last time they can have this kind of fun before the adults start to tell them to grow up, Lucy obliges, although warning her — since she wasn’t planning on going she isn’t ready, but she does have something.

Inside, Lucy’s mother (She’s named Joy isn’t she? Because Nurse Joy?) overhears and tell’s Lucy to go on with her friends that evening. She’s got no problem covering the treat giving in her place. But Lucy’s not able to get too far without Michael Jordan over-hearing and deciding to fulfill the role as the over-protective older brother and not letting her go without him. Lucy objects but Jordan’s best interests lie with his family. It might take him a long while to get to the point where he doesn’t believe she needs further supervision either. especially after last year’s events that her friends are yet to learn about, or won’t.

Not willing to put up with Jordan’s dorky-ass following her around, Lucy suggests a compromise; Augustus goes with them instead. And why not? Jordan is not a very intimidating presence (and if last chapter was any amount of insight, he’s a complete pushover). Sue’s not at all intimidated by him having gotten to know him better ever since Rachel’s group started hanging out with them at the same lunch table at school. The rest of their group have come to understand him a little better, and that’s left him not being as threatening of a presence, unlike the time he was telling them all off when they were outside their door when Lucy pulled out of the school. 

Augustus is perfect for the occasion. He’s got the reputation to keep others away, the attitude and the attire, an added bonus as Lucy points out; he doesn’t need to get dressed, his goth/punk attire is more than enough for the evening, much to Augustus’ chagrin.

It’s a wonder why Augustus keeps to the punk attire given he’s no longer in Alejandro’s group.

So, Lucy goes upstairs to get changed for the evening, leaving Sue with the creepy guy who molested Daisy a couple of years ago.

Yeah, there’s still that.

But hey, if Lucy has let him stay at her place, surely that means he’s not that bad of a guy...right? Sue decides to try and at least get along with him and break the ice. This doesn’t really work out too well; Augustus isn’t too interested in getting to know too many of Lucy’s friends at this stage. Sue takes that for what it is. 

Finally, Lucy calls out saying she’s ready much to the relief of Sue who turns back towards the stairs. . .

All to the dismay of Sue when she realises. It seems Augustus isn’t the only one getting a bit of cheek this evening, as Sue looks back crestfallen at a Lucy with the smuggest face imaginable as she emerges down the stairs wearing nothing other than the dress from Sue’s play. Not at all what she had expected but to be fair though, Lucy had given her some fair warning that she only had ‘something’ for Halloween, and sadly that dress probably wasn’t going to see much use outside of the play. It would have likely rotted in her dresser. It’s been reduced to a joke for the evening at Sue’s expense. A lesson on being careful with what you wish for.

It’s not hard to comprehend why Sue’s being this way. Sue’s had mixed feelings over her play since its completion. On one side it’s a form of pride being the first considerably successful thing she’s accomplished at the school (having previously failed to become School secretary), but sadly it also hasn’t done well to boost her social status or her self-esteem, as ‘friends’ have used it against her (between being bad/boring etc or being regarded as ‘that incest play’), but also more a debilitating problem for her as she’s previously questioned whether it had been responsible for Lucy leaving Roseville. She understood and realised a little too late she had overstepped Lucy’s boundaries having forced her into the role, and forcing her to cooperate with someone of whom she didn’t want to be around  — fearful of making things worse by continuing to be around them  — in order to get them to discover common ground again, as we saw in “It’s All In The Mind.”

Despite appearing initially upset in being reminded about the play, Sue thankfully comes around not too long after. Perhaps able to put it behind her in much the same way Lucy is able to wear the dress again. I wouldn’t put it past that as much weight as the dress carries in the form of bad memories for Sue for previous overstepping of boundries, it likely carries weight for Lucy in a much different way. Wearing it now gives it some better meaning as the two enjoy the evening, as Sue and Lucy find themselves laughing about it, and moving on from a dark part of their friendship. 

Things are looking better. But something’s still biting at Sue. She’s noticed something. It’s not the same like it was the last time they were Halloweening.

Where are her pets? Where’s Yashy, Chirpy and Lily? They weren’t to be seen in the household just before. Actually, we never saw them since her return, and there’s a reason. They’re not out of frame; they are not there at all. It turns out they have not come home to Roseville with Lucy, instead choosing to stay with her aunt the next town over. 

Of the many reasons as to why, one regards Chirpy, who found her real mother.

Yashy appears to have been the main pet who didn’t want to return to Roseville  and had chosen to stay at her aunts. Lucy believes she doesn’t want to see Mike again having believed for the longest time that Mike and Lucy would become a pair (her otp) and still resents him, having only learned the truth towards the end of ‘Just Beautiful’ when Lucy is pushed too far and reveals the truth of Mike’s marital status. Her small world became a lot bigger after that day and she still seems to be working through it.

With Yashy staying behind, Blur would not want to return home by himself either prefering Lucy and co.’s company to Mike’s. With Lucy having reasons to come back to Roseville, the only way forward was to leave them in the care of her aunt and Lily, who also offered to stay behind as well.

It’s a tough breakup but Lucy appears to be doing well on her own. Sue tells her she’s got her.

And the creep too. 

Well if you didn’t want to be called the creep you should’ve said something more about yourself back at the house, Augustus.

Turns out, the night is going just as Lucy had expected as Augustus points out two more of their friends have shown up and are keeping their distance. Augustus the deterrent is working successfully, all to Augustus’ expense, as one of those is PuyoPuyo-witch Daisy, all too shocked that what Lucy said to her in ‘It’s all in the mind’ was true. As for Kermit-De-Mike, well, give it a few more pages.

Augustus is free to wish Daisy didn’t appear to resent him so, but doing so out loud garners him nothing but a bad look from Sue and Lucy.

On the other side of the street we see that Mike is livid about the revelation being true and selfishly believing that Lucy is intentionally befriending Augustus in an attempt to make him jealous. Daisy tries to downplay his idea in that maybe they really are just genuine friends. That does not help anything but give Mike reason to believe she’s desperate for attention, stepping on Daisy too as well as she too had tried to be a friend to him too once upon a time.

Daisy tries to defend Lucy’s actions believing what she’s doing has some good reason behind it. She’s firm in her belief Lucy isn’t being petty and dating him as what she told her back in ‘It’s all in the mind’. Daisy wants to believe that was the case, instead suggesting if she really wanted to date someone, it would likely be with Paulo, much to the amusement of Mike who’s astonished it hasn’t happened yet and that she hasn’t tried to rub that in his face either. Unbeknownst to either of them it never will; it doesn’t look like Paulo has said anything about the carnival. Instead he’s sure it’s just another card up her sleeve to make him jealous. Everything’s just an attempt to get attention. 

Daisy tries to shoot that idea down pointing out that Lucy has been trying to avoid all of them; here, but presumably she also means at school where Lucy is not seen during lunch where she instead goes to find Augustus. Mike’s all but sure that it’s got everything to do with his own circumstances. 

Mike is just not listening to reason and that’s ruining Daisy’s evening, and she snaps telling him the world doesn’t revolve around him.

She’s had enough of his mean attitude and his mopey behavior causing Mike to stare in socked disbelief as Daisy shouts what would otherwise be the truth that night; why would she hang around you if you’re always so mean about her all the time? The girl who he expected would follow him to the ends of the earth has put her foot down. A night of Trick-or-treating hasn’t been anything like she imagined, and she ditches him for the group across the street if there’s any chance away from Mike’s toxic attitude. Leaving Mike to realize what he’s done.

Daisy integrates well enough into Lucy’s group despite the deterrent. Friendship is ever so much more stronger than Augusts’ intimidating presence and Daisy appears to trust Lucy enough to not be afraid of him. But she is cautious, before she can ask, Lucy assures her if Augustus tries anything, she’ll beat him down. Not that Augustus appears to be inclined to try anything.

We find Mike hasn’t moved from the other side of the street, watching on as everyone else is having a good time, feeling miserable for himself.

But he’s not alone out here. Out from the bushes and Bat-David and everyone’s favourite clown crash the party. It looks like Mike won’t be completely alone this Halloween from this point forward.

Oh thank god he’s come as something better this year. Remember when Paulo went as Twilight the vampire?

The focus of Trick or Treating is in the cards this time around, no more hijinks with trying to scare the kids younger than them like he did with Jasmine. But before they can do that, the first order of business is emptying out his bag into Mikes’ to undo a mistake, and that appears to have been Halloweening around his side of Roseville, where the least favourite candies could be found in multitudes. He’s hoping the richer kid neighbourhoods yield better candies.

And things work out well so far. Until they run into the other group again.

And oh god already their small group is one man less as David runs off to admire Augustus...

We also see that Amaya has joined the group at some stage and is a Hershy’s Kiss.

Well, the evening just went to shit for Paulo and Mike as David has ditched them in favour of the early 2000 Final Fantasy aesthetic. Leaving the two of them alone until Paulo wonders why the hell they’re not over there either, not at all intimidated by Augustus himself. That prompts Mike, it’s Lucy. 

Not at all understanding how deep the rift between Mike and Lucy is (Or at least playing dumb or willing to compromise if that means trick-or-treat as a group), Paulo tries to talk some sense into him in that there are other people he can talk to, not having prior knowledge of what just transpired minutes ago with him and Daisy, and he drags him over before Mike can voice a protest, noting that they share something in common as he believes Lucy’s not likely interested in talking to him either. This surprises Mike especially regarding earlier. Paulo’s message gives off an implication he hasn’t tried to speak to Lucy since “After you” either, given it happened a few days before Daisy’s Birthday, which took place in September, Paulo hasn’t spoken to her for somewhere closer to a month.

Paulo insists they bring Mike into the group. You can tell from everyone’s faces how well they believe that’s going to go, Augustus’ the only one who has to verbally be real with him. Not that Paulo listens and tries his best to entertain the notion regardless how vain it’s going to get.

Already dragging Mike into crocodile infested waters, Paulo tries to play it off like it’s no big deal, after all, they’re all there for chocolate and that’s something they all have in common, who cares? Let’s get a move on with the evening!

While the others stare on in disbelief (or confusion) at the performance, Daisy comes in support of not having the evening be wasted by one sourpuss. You’ve just gotta feel for Augustus as his heart tears itself up inside as she rises in support and follows Paulo’s lead. 

But like Lucy, we all know what’s really going on as Daisy tries to chat with Paulo. It’s a perfect evening for the two to get closer, but it won’t happen, not with Mike still feeling and appearing pretty down that evening and Paulo focusing his energy on that. 

We hit turbulent waters as Daisy has not let go of earlier either and reveals Mike’s being anti-social because Lucy’s in their presence. Paulo’s attempts a vain effort of small-talk but that faulters when the topics Paulo chooses are all sorespots.

Even that tree one which I thought was very clever with how innocent it is. It gives off the impression of how boring Paulo considers Mike to be. The thing is, trees are likely a sorespot with Mike given how Sandy reacted back in Model Girlfriend.

Oops.

Well, Paulo’s upset because he’s not able to maintain equilibrium; he wants to hang out with everyone else and for everyone to co-exist, but Mike doesn’t want cooperate by being in any mood other than a bad one. Unfortunately for Paulo the whole drama playing out between him and Mike is affecting everyone else and it’s starting to show: Any chance of having a good evening out without any sign of drama isn’t happening so Sue’s night’s getting ruined. Lucy can’t help but watch on as Paulo keeps trying to be a friend. Daisy is not at all happy with Mike at all for earlier either.

The only resort Paulo has left is to bring up Sandy. It’s the only thing Mike’s probably willing to talk about.

Oh thank god; a reaction. Paulo asks for some gossip but we quickly enter a problem.

Sandy’s disappeared again.

They entered another drought and Paulo is livid in how Mike continually tortures himself. Paulo finds himself needing to be the voice of reason for the occasion: being in this relationship is killing him because of his needs and Sandy’s constant disappearances.

They need to talk about this; she’s disappeared again even when it looked like things were going to work out (as according to Class of 2008). It’s happened again! it’s paramount if Mike’s ever going to happy and it appears that Paulo’s at his wits end in how Mike just does nothing! Mike being still under the impression rather than care about how he feels, he should be happy that Sandy is making huge strides in her career at the cost of himself. Mike undervalues everything to do with himself as insignificant in hers in contrast, and that line of thinking keeps Mike from making any forward changes, resisting any and all suggestions from Paulo to think about himself in this relationship for a change. The argument is going in a circle and Paulo is unable to get through to him.

And then Lucy unexpectedly joins in, much to the shock of everyone around them.

Not willing to make amends while Mike is acting the way like he did back towards her in Unspoken Rule, but on the assumption that Mike is actually moping about because of Sandy and not because of her, Lucy tells Mike what he would have wanted to hear had it still been her shoulder to cry on as he did in the past, that’s if it’s anything to have the night saved from what it is currently. She gives thoughtful ideas to take his mind off her absence. But Mike does not take her suggestion well or her interjection and tells her to butt out.

But then Daisy joins in, having misgivings herself about Sandy and the way how Sandy had completely forgotten her first best friend for three years. 

This doesn’t help matters whatsoever, as the idea of having his relationship trivialized in the same boat as Daisy’s is enough to push Mike to the brink.

And he brings all his canons down to bear.

Mike begins vehemently defending Sandy by belittling Daisy’s past relationship as nothing more than being an acquaintance. Sick of everyone’s attitude towards Sandy, he offers to give Daisy her number so she can vent to her directly and get off his neck about it. He reaches into the Mike-Hammerspace to get his phone, only to find it’s not there. Someone’s beaten him to it. . .

And is calling her now, much to his horror.

Having shown really good sleight of hand in the past, Paulo has taken his phone and used it to call her when he least suspected it, and unsurprisingly found no reply on the other end. He wastes no time in managing to leave a hateful message before Mike can try to wrestle the phone free. With the deed done, Mike just asks him why he did it.

It’s apparent Paulo has had enough and he’s grown sick of Mike’s attitude, witnessing a friend being at the receiving end of Mike’s frustration at Sandy’s absence. Having been on the receiving end of it himself and apologizing for instigating it, the line is drawn when Mike directs his anger on the people around him. Having known what Mike had done to Lucy (Happy Hour) likely learning about Sue’s encounter, the victim now is Daisy. Retribution comes in the form of telling off Sandy in no uncertain forms everything that is bringing Mike down about the relationship. 

It’s not at all one of the best things that Paulo has done thus far and one of the more morally ambiguous actions as Mike’s friend. But at the same time it needed to happen as Mike constantly refused to address the issue directly, prolonging himself in this never ending cycle where he keeps his emotions bottled inside and letting it eat away at him, and in turn that caused him to take it out on the people around him. If there was any hope for change, it would be by forcing Mike to talk, and Paulo has forced his hand, now he has to deal with it.

If they’re all wrong about Sandy and Mike is justified in how wrong everyone’s concerns or feelings are wrong, then all it would take is for Sandy to ring him back right now, as even Paulo offers to apologize for being an asshole if she does.

They both know she won’t.

The drama of the evening comes to a close as Sue has had enough; enough of the drama and she screams at them both. Her night is being ruined by this drama being prolonged. Lucy agrees, they’re here for candy, And so does Augustus, how the fuck are any of them friends?

Mike swipes at Lucy’s attempt to move things on, but Lucy doesn’t reciprocate in the way he expects. She’s moving on, without him.

And so is everyone else, including Paulo who’s at his limit. They don’t wait for him. They’re done. It’s Daisy, the one who had been Mike’s cheerleader for the longest time the one who looks back for a moment before joining the rest of the group. Mike’s universe stops in a bizarre moment as everyone follows Lucy.

Not at all playing out like he imagined, indeed - The very opposite.

(Bonus: Shoutouts to Marona Possessed!)

Daisy takes a moment to apologize to Paulo feeling responsible. It’s understandable, she might have thought she had resulted in Mike and Paulo’s relationship ending up about the same state as hers as well. She swears she will not be trouble for the rest of the night if they allow her to stay around, and tries to apologize for defending him all the time as well as well. It’s no wonder given that Sandy had forgotten about their three year friendship. After all this time Daisy did not want the same thing happening again; she didn’t want to have another friendship where she ended up forgotten. Mike happened to be just as hurt when Sandy left, and Daisy eventually came to like him as well. So, since they both were forgotten, she tried being a better version of Sandy to him. Smart, but willing to depend on him and defend him to her dying breath of necessary. 

All for naught.

Paulo tells her nothing was her fault. She was only following her heart and nobody could fault her for that. 

It’s very heartwarming and we get the most loveliest make up page for it.

Paulo x Daisy lives on.

Meanwhile Mike watches on, alone and miserable as everyone else is having fun without him.

And then his phone rings.

Oh shit, it’s actually her!

But it’s too bad because nobody hears him, and Mike has to deal with the fallout from Paulo’s nuclear attack.

Well, apparently she was around. 

Mike downplays the whole thing for her explaining that Paulo doesn’t understand her circumstances. Sadly this whole conversation going forward with Sandy does nothing but raise red flags; even despite being half the country across the world that shouldn’t keep her from talking to him. But we already know this is the case as Mike has dug his own grave to sit in by letting her know he has no problem with her long absences. Her career is so much important.

And she believes that too throughout this whole thing.

To no one’s surprise Sandy’s memory of his friends is not perfect and she mistakes Paulo for David. It feels like Mike has actually spoken about them before based on what he’s saying, but Sandy can’t recall. 

Paulo’s suggestion she should spend more time with Mike over the phone is ‘so weird.’

Yes...weird.

Another red flag as Sandy can’t divulge anything specific to her boyfriend about her current going-ons but at least lets him know she’s in this life-changing event that might mean the most to her in the future. Taking a pot-shot at someone much less opportunity than her and less better off as ‘slacking off’ doesn’t win her any points either.

There does appear to be some thought to what Paulo said as Sandy reciprocates Paulo’s message in that she hasn’t paid much attention to him. . .

But it’s a question of when, as Sandy prioritizes the big event the next day over explaining to her boyfriend or digging deeper into his grievances, and that does not fill me with confidence. Mike does nothing in return but offer endless support.

‘You’re too nice’ takes me back to Model Girlfriend and I am absolutely not enthused about where this is all going at all.

Unfortunately for Mike the opportunity to find out more about what’s going on in Sandy’s life shuts as Sandy needs to be ready for the next day at 4am. 

There’s nothing more to say here, is there? It’s an endless cycle and you’re seeing it again to have that point drilled in. Mike puts a lot of love into this relationship, but he’s just not getting any back as Sandy’s priority is more with her job. It’s dubious if you can put the whole blame on Sandy, as Mike hasn’t been quite forward himself at times. But given that Mike , but it ‘s clearly the wrong relationship for Mike.

End stage for Mike.

Meanwhile with the main group Daisy spots the best house for Halloween and everyone else charges towards it. Leaving Paulo with a rather apologetic looking Lucy.

Well if you thought Lucy was intentionally avoiding Paulo tonight you’d learn it was for a different reason, if at all before as well. Finally able to catch him alone, Lucy is hopeful he wasn’t offended by seeing her wearing the dress again and hoping it isn’t reaching back far for those memories when Lucy attempted to win him over. It was only meant to point fun at Sue, there was no thought that she’d run into him again figuring he still hated her for turning him down, and she felt she needed to make sure she wasn’t intentionally being awful to him again. Even better, going back to the thoughts of that moment back in the dressing room where it all started, it comes with a better apology in how they couldn’t be a pair, something Paulo anguished over for a great deal of time after her departure, all in a much better fashion from After You. Much to Lucy’s relief; Paulo is all but willing to forgive, forget, and move on. 

Well... forget in some ways, not more in others....

By the end of the chapter, Lucy is likely more relieved in that no one in her social group was willing to make her a pariah through her association to Augustus, or her disassociation to Mike. No one was deterred by Augustus’ presence. They might not trust her decision in associating with him, at least initially. But they’re choosing to trust that she knows what she’s doing, and that’s more than enough.

So where are we now?

Well, of course, things haven’t gone the way as Mike prophecised in December. It wasn’t true then, it certainly isn’t now as everyone wanted to be friends with both of them, but Mike has continually taken his anger out on the people around him might see him isolated from the group. It’s going to be interesting to see what’s going to become of him in the next few chapters as I would be under the assumption the camel’s back has finally been broken and his friends are not willing to continue to deal with him while he’s in this state. 

Lucy was not willing to put up with him on her return knowing full well that she would not be treated as a friend but instead as the shoulder to cry on especially when Sandy wasn’t around as it had been in the past. It turned out to be the case in Unspoken rule when Mike attempted to apologize, but when it meant telling her precisely what he meant to her back in December, he could not. He was not there to apologize at all and he was there for another reason. Having Mike explode at her for bad mouthing Sandy again gave her more reason to believe that was the case, and she was right. Mike had shown this behaviour before in the same way in Just Beautiful. Mike was not likely going there that time to apologize despite Sandy asking him to. Although he appeared to initially at first, it was at the last second he turned away. He might have gone there almost instinctively instead, as much in the same way Mike ‘accidentally’ ran into Lucy in unspoken rule, begging Lucy to forgive him, but unable to let Lucy say anything bad about Sandy. 

As co-dependent as Lucy had been with Mike in the past, he is just as co-dependent with support about his relationship. This is closer to the case given by what happens towards the end of Dial Tone; where instead of dreaming of a better time with Lucy, he instead dreams of her providing him emotional support. 

Symbiotic codependency.

Lucy seems to have gotten over that dependency, but Mike has rediscovered it. She’d be right in not wanting to go back to those days as it became emotionally debilitating to her when she began to develop feelings for him.  She’d be right to avoid it. And Mike is anguishing because previously Lucy had been attempting to be supportive of his relationship by providing alternate solutions to take his mind off it or trying to assure him things were okay. Paulo, who found himself as the replacement, is more of a realist. 

Sue had tried to be a helping hand after witnessing Mike take out his anger on Paulo, but in trying to, and at the mere mention of Sandy possibly being the problem, Mike had lumped her with the rest of people who have no faith in their relationship given her previous support of Lucy. Having known him as far back as kindergarten was not enough to get him to open up, instead knowing that Sue had always stood to support Lucy. She took that to heart. She wasn’t going to ever let him speak to her like that again.

Daisy became the latest victim in that for the longest time the source of all of her grief was with trying to be a better friend to Mike than Sandy. It wasn’t the first time Daisy has voiced such a bad opinion about Sandy as she had before to Augustus back before inviting Mike to the carnival, and told him there she could be better. Model Girlfriend did nothing but push the envelope in that Daisy’s worst nightmares had come true and Sandy had completely forgotten about her, that meaning of being her best friend meant nothing and Daisy resented her even more. She’s done being his cheerleader.

Paulo had come to know that he wasn’t the only person who Mike had exploded at and there had been others. He’s known about Lucy when Mike admitted as such in Happy hour, but he’d come to know about Sue’s run-in and witnessing Daisy just now. Having tried to give helpful advice to Mike previously, Paulo might have recognized a dead end to the help he can provide. 

Mike’s relationship isn’t doing so well as we’ve gathered and the signs are there for everyone to see. Mike included - but those rose tinted glasses refuse to come off. Mike can’t help but idolize Sandy in such a way his feelings mean absolutely nothing. He enthusiastically defends anything she does, and any challenge to her brilliance and his perfect relationship is met with the same level in rage. 

And for what? It’s cost him, his closest friends don’t want to be near him. And Sandy isn’t completely unavailable as what it first seemed. To no one’s surprise, her priority is around her career and Mike has agreed to be second to that. When it looked like their relationship looked like it was in trouble, Sandy’s priority was getting to sleep, and Mike let her go. 

He’s the master architect of his own unhappiness.

So what happens now?

[goodproofingwater]

Covet - KJ Apa x Reader (ft. Jordan Connor)

Word count: 2650

Requested by: @andwizzlev

Warnings: swear, implied bondage fetish, alcohol abuse

You had been working on Riverdale as a runner for three months now and you were loving it. It had been hard work and you had had to get used to the fact that you had to do every little thing that was asked of you right away, but being on a set was well worth it. You were lucky that the group of people that you were assigned to, the lead four, were very chill and often didn’t ask you to do anything. They would offer to come with you to get coffee, make sure that you had food for yourself, would invite you to lunch with them. All in all, it was like being a personal assistant to your friends, and while that sounded whack it was actually quite fun.

You were sitting in Lili’s trailer watching a movie when Cami poked her head in and let Lili know that she had a scene. This also meant that you had to be on set with her, and so the two of you made your way to the Pops set for Lili’s scene with Cole. It was always fun watching them work together, the fact that they were a couple in real life leaking into their scenes in the best way.

“They’re great aren’t they?” The kiwi accent made you jump and you had to hold you hand over your mouth so you didnt ruin the scene.

“Oh my God KJ you can’t just sneak up on me like that!” You grinned and he smirked at you,

“Sorry babe, forgot how jumpy you are.”

KJ had been the first person that you met on set, and the first person you had looked after. He was even more chill than the rest of them, the New Zealand attitude meaning that he barely even treated you as a colleague, more like another star of the show or an old friend. He had been the first to ask you to hang out outside of the set, the five of you going to a small bar in downtown vancouver where KJ had played a little guitar on stage, and he remained the person that you were closest to. It helped that you found him outstandingly attractive, but you tried your best not to let that get in the way of your work of your friendship. Tried being the optimum word. There had been many occasions where you had been drunk in a bar and had ended up almost kissing him or had his hand grazing your thigh as you sat on barstools, but you both knew you needed to remain professional.

“I’m only jumpy when someone comes up behind me with no warning…” You grinned and he raised his eyebrows,

“Well, I’m sorry..” He whispered, “I’ll make sure to give you a heads up before I get all up close and personal with ya..” His eyes darted from your own to your lips momentarily, and you felt the lust wash over your eyes as you bit down on your lip. Luckily, one of the other runners called him for a scene.

That evening was much like the others when they had night shoots, sitting around drinking coffee and playing games to keep the energy up. You circled the group that was there, this time consisting of Cami, Charles, KJ, Cole and Jordan and passed them all fresh cups of coffee before you sat down next to Jordan and sipped your own.

“I don’t think we’ve properly been introduced.” Jordan spoke after he thanked you for your coffee, “I’m Jordan.”

“I know..” You chuckled but you felt it come out a little more girlish than you intended to, and the dark smirk on his features told you everything that you needed to know, “I mean, I’ve worked on the set for three months and I’ve seen you do scenes with Cole.”

“Three months huh?” He sipped his coffee, eyes running over your body and down your bare legs, “You would think I would have noticed you before now.”

“Well, I do like to keep myself hidden away.” You joked, “They only let me out of the trailer if Cole, Lili, Cami or KJ want anything”

“Keep you tied up in there otherwise?” He grinned, the look in his eyes making your thighs clench together but you played it off with a chuckle,

“I.. Something like that.” You licked your lips and he nodded, sitting back in his chair for only a moment before him and Cole were called to set.

“You better be coming for a drink later,” He spoke more at you than to you as he pulled his Sweet-Pea jacket on, “I want to hear more about you being tied up.” He winked and you bit you lip as you let out a chuckle.

Your eyes followed him from the trailer, and as you licked your lips absentmindedly your gaze fell to KJ. He was talking to Cami, but his eyes were flitting towards you every now and then until he noticed you meet his gaze, his brow furrowed as he sipped his coffee.

Later that evening, the six of you crammed into a cab and made your way to one of the bars in town, the actors and yourself desperate for something to take the edge off a long shift. The directors always advised that you all go home and sleep, but it never worked out that way. Of course ,there were shifts that were sometimes 16 hours long and would mean that you would go home and sleep right away, but over a 7 or 8 hour night shoot that finished at 3am, it seemed rude not to go to down and get into some trouble.

The bar was busy but not rammed, everyone already suitably drunk as you ordered a round of drinks as the others found a table.

“I’ll get these,” You felt a hand on the small of your back and smiled as you turned to see Jordan handing over his card to the bartender.

“You didn’t have to do that, i’ll just get another round later.” You spoke, placing the drinks that had already been made on the tray as you waited for the others

“Nah, tonight’s on me.” He spoke, sipping his whiskey and coke, “As long as you give me a little insight into you being tied up in a trailer.” He smirked, and you shook your head.

“I don’t actually get tied up in a trailer Jordan..” You chuckled and he looked into your eyes with pupils full to the brim with lust.

“Would you like to be?” The offer caused your lips to part, a sharp exhale falling from them and his smirk grew even wider, “I mean.. If you’re into it I’m sure I could…”

Before he completed his sentence, KJ was reaching for his pint from the bar.

“Want me to get this one?” KJ spoke, and your eyes moved from the raven haired man to the redhead, swallowing thickly as you shook your head,

“Uhh, no it’s fine, Jordan has already got it..” You spoke, grabbing your own whiskey and coke and thanking the bartender as he placed the last of the drinks on the tray. KJ immediately picked up the tray for you and the three of you made your way over to the group, Jordans hand on your back sending a spark of arousal through you that you didn’t expect. You were being truthful when you said that you had been around when Jordan had been there before, but you had never really had an attraction to him. Something about the way he was looking at you though…

“You gonna get up and give us a show this time?” You smiled at KJ, his devastating smile running through you. God what you would have given to close the gap between the two of you. You hated that you had set this boundry, that the two of you had the unspoken rule that nothing would happen because of work. Maybe that’s why you were so quick to be interested in Jordan? He wasn’t unattractive in anyway, and he spoke directly to one of your kinks, but he also wasn’t afraid to overstep the line. You couldn’t decide if that was a good or a bad thing.

“Nah babe, thought i’d take a night off..” He licked his lips, swallowing some more beer before he looked back at you. “Feel like getting up there?”

He nodded toward the stage and you chuckled, shaking your head. “Private shows only, I’m afraid.”

The words fell from your lips before you could catch them, before you could hear just how dirty they sounded. His eyes darkened and he let out a sigh, licking his lips before he drunk more of his pint.

“Lets get some shots.” He settled with, and you nodded, walking with him to the bar. You could feel Jordans eyes on you as you walked away, and you sent a quick wink at him over your shoulder before you leaned on the bar next to KJ. He ordered a tray of shots for the group, and an extra for the two of you, and as he watched the Bartender pour the tequila he let out a sigh as if he didn’t want to say what came next.

“Are you and Jordan gonna fuck?” The words were so blunt that you felt physically taken aback, and you let out a small laugh before he turned to look at you, only a hint of a smile on his features.

“I..um..I only just met him..” You spoke, not wanting to give a direct answer because honestly, you didn’t even know yourself. You hadn’t intended on going home with him, but if he kept talking to you about tying you up…

“Don’t.” He spoke, shaking his head, “I mean..ugh.” He groaned in frustration and shook his head, “Do what you want..”

“KJ..” You spoke and he stood back, letting out a deep sigh, fingers tapping furiously at the bar top as he watched the bartender place the last of the shots on the tray. He went to pick them up and you grabbed his wrist, stilling him and forcing his eyes to meet yours. “Why don’t you want me to fuck him?”

You had your suspicions, knew that KJ wanted you but didn’t want to cross the line, but you wanted to hear it from him. You needed confirmation that you were right.

“It’s fine, do what you want” He shook his head and moved his wrist from your grip, bringing the tray back over to the table and taking a shot before anyone else even had the chance to pick it up. Well, if he wasn’t going to admit it then you weren’t going to hold back.

Instead of moving to sit next to him as you had been, you took the stool next to Jordan and passed him a shot with dark eyes. He licked his lips as he watched you take your own from the tray, dipping his lips to your ear to whisper, “Can’t I do this shot off of you instead?”

You bit your lip and shook your head with a giggle, licking your own lips as he placed a kiss to your cheek, “Later then..”

A shiver ran through you at his tone, and you held up your shot with everyone else, knocking it back and picking up a lime to suck on to stop the burn.

Four shots later and you found your head bent back, Jordan licking salt from your neck before taking another shot and sucking the lime from your lips. You giggled as he did so, his hand on your thigh and the sheer amount of alcohol pulling you further and further into arousal.

“You ready for me to take you home yet?” He smirked, nipping at your ear softly, “I’ve got some handcuffs with your name on them.” A soft moan escaped your lips and he gripped your thigh harder at the sound, your nose running along his own before you felt yourself being pulled to the dancefloor.

Cami swung her arms around you as you danced to Dua Lipa, the music in the club pumping more now that it was getting even later, at least it felt that way. The group had gotten very drunk, very quickly, and although you were having a good time being seduced by Jordan, you weren’t ready to go home yet. It was also totally against everything that you had done before to go home with someone you had just met, especially when you worked together. It would be one thing to go home with Jordan and have to awkwardly work together after a one night stand, and a totally different thing to go home with KJ who you had been dancing around for months.

God how you wished that he would just tell you what he wanted. The two of you had drawn this line so thick that you didn’t know if it was okay to cross it, didn’t know when it was okay to defy convention.

When you felt strong arms around you, you had expected to feel Jordans lips on your neck again. Instead, KJs arms wrapped around your waist as you danced between him and Cami, the dance only broken as Charles twisted her into his arms.

You turned yourself, smiling as you wrapped your arms around KJs neck as you had so many times before, your bodies moving in sync to music almost identical to the last time you almost kissed.

“Don’t fuck him, babe..” KJ spoke, biting his lip, alcohol running through his veins and allowing him to speak his mind.

“Why?” You whispered, looking up at him with innocent features and his head ducked to run his nose along your own.

“You know why..” Your breath caught in your throat as he stood so close, his hands moving down to grip your ass and you bit down on your lip.

“Tell me, KJ..” You whispered, and he let out a sigh, licking his lips and shaking his head. “Well.. if you can’t even say it..” 

You broke away from him, moving back over to the table where Jordan still sat, cutting off his conversation with Cole. You took another shot from the table before you straddled him, taking his face in your hands as you kissed him fiercely. Cole raised his eyebrows and looked up at KJ who was standing there in disbelief, the brunette laughing at what was going on right next to him.

Jordans hands moved to your ass, gripping you hard and pulling you down onto him with a moan. Before you could run your fingers through raven hair, you felt a hand grip your arm and pull you away from the crowd.

KJs body pressed you against a wall, holding your arms above your head as he looked down at you with anger in his eyes.

“What the fuck, KJ?” you spoke, anger running through you,

“I fucking like you, okay?” He snapped, “I don’t want you to fuck him because I like you. I want.. I wanna date you.” Drunken syllables stumbled over each other, his accent like music to your ears as he said the words you had been waiting to hear all evening.

“Well why didn’t you just say so?” You smiled, pulling your hands from him to wrap around his neck, standing on your tiptoes to kiss him softly.

“I thought you wouldn’t get involved with someone from work… I thought that’s why you never.. Why we never..” You shook your head,

“Shut up and kiss me, idiot.” You grinned against his lips and he matched it, dipping to pick you up by your thighs and press you to the wall as your legs locked around him.

[tourist-of-the-stars]

connieswap au character analysis

DISCLAIMER: this may never see the light of day, i mentioned it to br42 and they said it would be a great idea, but what do we know?

anyone who has read connieswap knows that the story is totally different from the source material. sure the same events happen as those in the show, but the characters themselves react differently to those situations, which domino-effect into a completely different storyline. written below are just a few of the observations i have made about the characters and why they do the things that they do. 

Connie: Connie Maheswaran, daughter of the Crystal Gem leader Citrine and the human Dough Maheswaran is being raised by the three remaining Crystal Gems: Lapis, Peridot, and Jasper (not nessisarily in that order mind you) she is caught in a horrible ballance between trying to live up to the legacy of her dead mother and carving out a name for herself (thank god she goes to therapy in the story, lord knows she needs it) 

what i notice most about connie is how much she reflects what she has learned from the gems while she was growing up: the determination that turns to stubborness from Jasper, the intellectual processing habits of Peridot that leads her to overthink things from time-to-time, and the care-free fun of Lapis that if left unchecked leads to sloppiness. much like Steven in the source material (which shall be refered to as the SM from this point forward) that balance between the three helps create a stable relationship between all of them, but also inadvertandtly puts a lot of stress on Connie to try and hold them all together. Thankfully for her the other gems are *just* emotionally mature enough to also talk to each other, and not use Connie as a medium for their own growth (looking at you SM, amythist was right, stop dumping your centuries-old complexes on a 14 YEAR OLD).

Peridot: okay, first of all i have to stop and say real quick, as much as i love P-dot in the SM, she isn’t exactly the best person (gem? one of the two). shes rude, she has overstepped her boundries when discussing other people’s feelings (see the smaller-than-average lake) and she has a tendency to focus more on herself than others. thats fine in the SM because shes a side character, and not the focus of the show, but in the AU she is one of the main focuses of the story, and therefore her actions are less justifiable. thankfully she gets a complete refresh in this story given that she has had some 300+ years AT LEAST to mellow out. 

now, back to the analyisis

Peridot’s backstory in this AU is that she was abducted by Lapis from homeworld post-rebellion, and eventually joined the Crystal Gems after realizing the potential for life on earth. because she is the only era-2 gem on earth with all the other era-1s, she is extremely protective of her limb enhancers, which she kept in working condition for the entire duration on earth despite minimal homeworld resources. when her enhancers were destroyed by Rose Quartz, she fell into a depressive slump, until after a meditative period she came to the epifany that she didn’t need her limb enhancers to still be a worthwhile member of the Crystal Gems, she unlocked her metal-bending powers (ferokinesis i know, i just can’t spell the damn word and i refuse to look it up) and more importantly, discovered new ways of merging era-1 and era-2 tech, a feat previously impossible to both earth and homeworld gems.

Peridot is extremely protective of Connie, possibly stemming from her promise to Citrine that she would take care of her, and spent the first year of Connie’s existance raising her without the support of the other two remaining gems on earth, who presumably needed the time to mourn.

What this tells us about Peridot is that she is cares deeply about her family and her charges, and often worries that she isn’t capable of doing her part, despite being arguably the most valuable member on the team with her communications and surveillance equiptment to tell the gems where their next mission is. I would guess that she overcompensates to make up for the fact that she lacks the physical strength of her companions. how this will change now that she has magneto powers, we are yet to see.

Jasper: Jasper was a soldier to pink diamond during the rebellion before Citrine convinced her that she (Citrine) was more worthy of her loyalty. the fact that Jasper may also have been in love with Citrine is besides the point. Jasper is gruff, keeps things short and to the point, and is immensly disiplined. in short, a perfect soldier, which since thats what she was created to be, makes her a perfect gem. Jasper reminds me a lot of the gentle giant trope, minus the gentle part during battle. what interests me the most about Jasper is her ability to invoke a sense of thoughtful intelect despite being the least chatty of all the gems. she has this way of saying just the right thing and nothing more, almost like a carefully calculated sword stroke. 

In the most recent chapter (ch 39) we get more context to jasper’s defection: homeworld prides itself on function; the better a gem can handle the task it it given, the more valuable it is to gem society. Jasper prides herself on being a ‘perfect’ quartz: exactly suited for her role with no failings or flaws. Despite her perfection, jasper was never able to handle one mission: defeat Citine in a fight. This cause turmoil and quite a bit of guilt for jasper, after all if she is perfect, why can’t she accomplish a simple task? This lead her to the eventual solution, either she is flawed, or her orders, and subsequently her diamond, are flawed. Eventually jasper saw that despite her ‘perfect’ diamonds efforts, the rebellion was still standing strong; with which jasper concluded that it must be her diamond that is wrong, and not herself. Even though she knows she was right, jasper still wrestles with the guilt of her decision ever day.

Lapis: ho boy, Lapis. where do i begin? Lapis was also an agent of homeworld, though through a dramatic fight between herself and Bismuth (and we are seriously never going to get that scene in cannon? *thanos voice* fine, i’ll do it myself) she decided to switch sides and single-handedly brought down homeworld’s air supperiority during the rebellion. needless to say, that kind of power needs a pretty heafty nerf to keep her in check, queue in a millenia of bad choices and even worse coping mechanisms, coupled with a large dose of PTSD and depression, possibly bipollar disorder (don’t quote me on that, i’m not a psychiatrist) and you have the most messed-up character you’ve ever seen in your life. one part crippling mental health issues, one part nuclear bomb, life for Lapis is not that fun, despite her insistance that nothing is wrong, shes totally fine thank you. 

despite her mental issues, Lapis tries so hard to keep herself in check. cracking jokes and making every situation as light as possible to keep the mood from getting too serious, binge-eating on donuts and reading mangas to distract herself from any anxieties, I think she lives in perpetual fear that she might one day crack under all the pressure of her life and sink another continent under the ocean. she copes by removing herself from the stressful situation, regardless of the consiquences because, to her at least, not destroying the world is more important than facing the dissapointment of Jasper and Peridot. man, she really needs to see that therapist that Connie is going to. 

this got way longer than i thought it would be, if its popular, i’ll post what i’ve got on the other characters in a part 2