#also the colouring is messy because they’re all done on one layer. so this is like. three layers total.

[mobbothetrue]

Been wrestling with a sudden burst of like. Creative-gotta-do-something-NOW energy with no outlet and I think I’ve managed to wrestle it sufficiently well into getting a head start on three new refs for characters for artfight

and the reason I’m making this a tumblr post is because I’m actually really happy with how they’re looking and I wanna show them off

from left to right: Merlin, Arthur, and Lance

[palioom]

sweet, sweet icing

summary: dieter is decorating the cookies you baked with a very special kind of icing

pairing: dieter bravo x f!reader word count: 2.0k warnings:18+ content; no use of y/n ; baking; oral (m receiving); cum eating; established relationship; facial (not the beauty kind)

a/n: the first of my little "kinkmas" collection - one christmas/winter themed fic for every advent

• masterlist •

It was chilly out, the wind whirling snow up against the frosty windows, howling as it passed by. People dressed in thick layers were hurrying home to get out of the icy cold, illuminated by the beautiful lights placed throughout the city.

A world so unlike their apartment - warm and cozy, full of string lights and silly little Christmas decorations. Reindeers and Santas and glowing stars hanging from the ceiling, almost seeming like a wonderland of some sort.

The smell of freshly baked cookies hung in the air, wafting into every room from the kitchen where the still warm cookies laid on the countertops, ready to be decorated.

It had been her doing, taking all morning to prepare the dough, using all kinds of different cookie cutter forms to shape them before finally baking them. She loved the baking part, enjoying the silence in the kitchen while Dieter still slept. He would only try to eat the dough and mess with her otherwise – she had learned that really quickly the first few times she had tried to bake with him present.

But Dieter loved decorating cookies. They always ended up looking like an LSD trip gone wrong, as well as less than family friendly sometimes, but he really enjoyed doing it. It was an outlet for his creative side and even though there were less cookies than before he had entered the kitchen, she gave him full reign over it.

Like now, hearing him hum along to some music before it was cut off by a brief laugh, while she sat on the sofa, hot chocolate warming her hands, just watching some random Christmas movie. She would go and keep him company, but the mess he created just annoyed her, preferring to see the finished results once he had cleaned up.

Because when Dieter decorated anything in the kitchen it tended to go just like when he was painting – colour everywhere, spilled icing turning the kitchen counters into a sticky nightmare that all the other chocolate chips and sprinkles and sugary forms clung to. 

So, exactly what one would expect of Dieter.

Behind her, she could hear some grunting coming from him, but she ignored it. Figuring he was doing God knows what. Maybe picking up some things he’d knocked over or searching some cabinets for more things to slather onto the baked goods.

She couldn’t wait to see what he had done this time around and she wished she had taken just one cookie for herself before retreating onto the sofa. Oh well, her hot chocolate would do for now.

Eventually, the noise behind her completely vanished as she concentrated on the movie, barely noticing when Dieter appeared in the living room.

“Babe, they’re done.” His voice pulled her away from the TV, eyes flying over to where he was walking towards her. Baggy shirt hanging off his broad shoulders, the area around the belly stained with all sorts of colourful things. She was sure that his loose pants also bore some marks of his wild adventures in the kitchen, but she couldn’t really see on the already wild pattern. The underside of his nose was dusted with powder, and she really hoped it was anything but coke. “They’re so fucking good.”

She laughed, eyeing the colourful cookies on the plate he held in one hand, looking just like she had expected them to. They were crazy, for the lack of a better term, but not messy. There was a certain method to how Dieter worked, both on set and when being creative here at home, and decorating cookies was no exception.

To a new eye, the weird shapes on some seemed random and applied without care – colourful swirls and zig zags and dots, seemingly random colours drawn onto the shapes of Santa and Christmas trees and reindeers.

But she could recognize some patterns, like from his pants or previous paintings he had made while high as a kite. She swore she could even see some shapes in them, objects that got lost in the assault of colours.

Or maybe she had just lost her mind after spending so much time with him.

There were a few remarkably plain ones, too. Just all green or all white, no sprinkles or anything else added to them.

“They look awesome, Dee!” She said, taking one cookie in the form of a star, drowning in orange and yellow swirls. 

He looked like a little kid as she took a bite, all excited, biting his bottom lip in anticipation. Maybe he was a little too excited, making her laugh after she finished the cookie.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

With his dishevelled hair and the sheepish grin, it almost looked like he had been up to something. 

Did she even want to know what it was?

Maybe he had completely ruined the countertops this year? The floor? Or maybe even the ceiling?

She remembered one year where he had somehow managed to cover the kitchen ceiling in colourful specks.

“Just excited for you to try ‘em!” Dieter said, taking a plain white one, holding it out to her. Looking so sweet, yet naughty. “Take this one.”

She sighed, shaking her head with a laugh. “I want one of those with sprinkles.”

The plain one would just be boring icing, and she really had her eyes on the ones littered with sprinkles. Or the ones where Santa had his pants down, complete with a tiny dick drawn onto it.

Who else was gonna come up with this other than him?

“Nah, this one first, babe.”

Relenting, she leaned forward to take a bite from the cookie he still held out to her. Expecting more of the sugary taste of the icing, but finding no sweet taste, beside the cookie itself.

In fact, it tasted rather… salty.

Dieter’s eyes glinted mischievously as her eyes shot up and found his, widening just slightly as it dawned on her.

He hadn’t seriously-? No, he couldn’t have.

The noises made sense now. All the grunting and giggling.

“Dieter?” She asked with a small laugh, her hand coming up to her mouth as she chewed. He really looked like a kid that had done something really bad which he found joy in regardless. “Oh my God, are you serious?”

Dieter laughed too now, deep and warm, shrugging his shoulders with that same sheepish smile on his face still.. 

“Surprise flavor, babe.”

Yeah, he absolutely was serious. The idea had come to him after he had actually spilled some of the icing over the counter, watching it drip down onto the floor, it really had taken his mind elsewhere.

Elsewhere being the mental image of his cum trickling out of her fucked out pussy, his cock twitching at the thought. To be fair, he had tried to resist the mental image for a while, cleaning up what he had spilled before he continued drawing onto the cookies.

But his dick ached and the thought of jerking off onto some of these pretty little shapes before feeding them to her just wouldn’t leave him alone.

So, he had done it. The mental image of her eating them was enough to make him feel hot, then he thought about getting caught doing it by her. Biting his fist so he wouldn’t be too loud and make her suspicious, he came all over a few of the sweet treats in almost record time, quietly laughing.

To his surprise, she ate the second half too, grinning around it as she did.

“You got any more of that icing?” She asked, and just the tone of her voice made his dick twitch again. Her hands wandered below the hem of his baggy t-shirt, nails lightly scratching over the soft skin of his belly before finding the waistband of his pants.

Now this he hadn’t expected.

“Mhmm, I don’t know, baby.” Dieter said, putting down the plate of cookies onto the table next to him. “Wasted it all to make these for you, but maybe I have some left just for you.”

She giggled, biting her bottom lip as her thumbs hooked into the band of his pants and pulled them down to reveal his still soft dick. Of course he wasn’t wearing any underwear at home.

Easy access, he called it.

Scooting closer to the edge of the sofa, she ducked her head, sucking one of Dieter’s heavy balls into her mouth, hearing his breath hitch above her. One of her hands wrapped around his dick, slowly hardening in her palm as she played with his balls.

Dieter’s fingers curled into her hair, holding it back in a makeshift ponytail, watching in fascination as she licked and sucked at them with a low hum, grinning when her eyes found his.

This definitely was a better outcome than what he had imagined – having her laugh at his prank before getting mad that the kitchen looked like an absolute fucking mess. 

Not getting him hard so she could suck his dick.

“You really like that icing, huh?” He asked with a lopsided smirk, watching how she took his half hard cock into her mouth while her hands continued to fondle his balls. 

She nodded, getting wet at the feeling of him hardening in her mouth. 

“Gonna be my own personal cookie to decorate?” Dieter asked, his hips rutting forward. Her mouth just felt too good, her tongue swirling around the head and sucking on it. “Fuck, you’re sweet like one.”

A short laugh left her before she took more of him into her mouth. “Yeah, gonna be your cookie, wanna be dripping in your icing.”

Dieter laughed, too, his hips canting up in time with the bobbing of her head, his groans becoming louder as he thought about his cum all over her face. Thick, white streaks painting her cheeks and lips.

Practically begging for it with those pretty eyes, he was unable to drag this out particularly long.

No, he had to decorate just one more.

“Gonna make you look like a cinnamon roll.” He rasped, his hips speeding up and seeing her become more frantic. “All sticky and sweet and, fuck-”

Spit dribbled down her chin as her lips released him with a small pop, her hands now wrapping around his slick length and pumping him. There was that lip bite again, stroking him right over her face with those eyes that just challenged him to cum all over her.

“C’mon, Dieter, I need your icing.” She whined, her brows knitting together in desperation as her hands worked him faster. “Please, baby. We can make some cream pie after, too.”

Oh, fuck.

Her words pushed him right over the edge, a whiny sound crawling up his throat as his cum shot all over her face and waiting tongue. Rope after rope, all while she kept stroking him to get to every last drop with a low, approving hum.

Sucking the tip into her mouth again after, just to make sure that she got all of the icing he had to spare, even when her tongue on his soft head threatened to overstimulate him.

“My favourite kind of icing.” She giggled, licking her lips before smacking them. The way Dieter looked down at her was both adorable and hot, almost like he was a kid that just got the best gift ever. “I’m so happy you still had some left for me, Dee.”

Snapping out of his trance of admiring his decorating work, he laughed, bending down to kiss her. Stealing all the air from her, based on her breathy laugh as he pushed her back onto the sofa, crawling over her.

Not minding the mess at all.

“Now I’m really interested in that cream pie.” He groaned as his tongue slipped against hers, tasting both the cookie and his cum on it. “Let me help with that.”

Her laughter turned into a moan as his thick fingers wandered into her sweatpants, all muffled by his mouth.

Baking definitely was her thing, just as decorating the goods was his.

There was no better way to get into the Christmas spirit than this.

[xephia]

Hi, i hope this question doesn't bothers you, do you have any videos of your process?, im currently starting to learn how to do digital art and have trouble knowing where to start and what to do (im always like, should i start drawing this part first?, is it better to do clean lineart or just paint over the sketch?, do i work on the lights first or the shadows?, etc)

I can probs make you a video on this at some point based on something I'm currently working on, although I have a few on my tiktok already (@ xephia) if that helps!

My process is a bit messier than many other artists - I alternate between stages of sketch and colour before I even think about ‘final colour’. I’ll start with a sketch like the ones below, then slap some rough colour on. This is because IMO colour is an important part of the composition so I want to see what works before I line. They’re not meant to be pretty or social media ready. This stage can look super messy or tidy depending on how I feel or how complicated it is. And they can look wildly different; here’s some examples:

That stage also helps me decide if I want to finish the piece or if I should abandon it (I abandon a lot). Sometimes this stage takes 15min, sometimes 2 hours, it really depends on the piece. But for me personally, it’s crucial because otherwise I find it very hard to envision how it will look later, or forget what I was planning.

Then, I do at least one more layer of ‘sketch line art’, which is basically a first layer of line art to see what works and what needs changing. I colour the important bits relatively cleanly (usually character/s) and add might some subtle shadows/gradients and/or lighting to get a feel of what it will look like finished. Sometimes I repeat this process a couple of times if I’m not happy with how the first iteration looked. This stage usually looks a little like this character sheet I’m working on, and this slice from a Kiki delivery service sketch:

It’s usually not until I’ve done all that, that I go over and do the final lineart, making it thicker, colouring the lines, redoing the flat colours, tidying it up, and adjusting where needed. Essentially I don’t start ‘finishing’ a piece until I’m happy with where everything sits and what colours I’ve picked. It’s only at this point I feel like the sketch is ready to line, and lining and final colouring can actually take less time for me than all those layers of planning somehow haha.

At this point I keep tidying, cleaning, lining, colouring, until the piece feels complete. Sometimes complete for one piece is tidier than complete for another, it really depends.

I’ll also use Procreate’s push tool to adjust things as I go in all steps - it saves a lot of time and isn’t cheating.

Although as you can probably tell from my examples, I do change this procress up a lot depending on the piece! Sometimes I’ll even paint over parts of my final piece like I did in this magical girl street. I think find whatever works for you, everyone will work differently and things like mood, energy levels, how patient you feel, how stressed you are, if you have any hand pain or shaking, and how much free time you have that day to draw can all affect your process day to day, week to week.

Some days it will be easier and more comfortable to sketch messily, other days tidier. Some days you will draw well, other days not well at all. At least for me, I find consistency almost impossible.

So I think there's no right or wrong order to do things and it's great to switch it up and keep things interesting for yourself, and different processes work for different people. Hope this helps!

[ramblingaboutglee]

Okay. I have a lot of mixed feelings on Noah Puckerman and I’m p much just going to ramble to try and make sense of it all. I don’t know if this is coming out pro or anti so hey. 

Content warning for discussion of sexual assault and statutory rape. Yeah this is not a light one. 

So let’s rip the band-aid off immediately. 

“I had sex with you because you got me drunk on wine coolers and I was feeling fat that day.” 

We get a flashback to Quinn sleeping with Puck in ‘Journey to Regionals.’ They’re in bed, she says no, he says ‘Have another wine cooler.’ The best-case reading for this scene is “Quinn was sober enough to consent, and ultimately went over to Puck’s to sleep with him, but Puck didn’t care either way.” 

And then we skip forward to season 4, and Puck and Kitty. 

“Aren’t you underage?” “I have a fake ID.” “Good enough for me.”

So. I did not like Puck for the first three seasons of the show. There are individual good scenes, but it’s hard not for this to colour a lot of his interactions. But, for a moment, let’s put a pin in that and approach from a different angle. 

The running joke in season one was Puck being able to entirely genuinely say “I slept with your mom.” Which, can we acknowledge this is as fucked up as the Kitty thing? Puck’s underage at that point, and apparently has been consistently sleeping with very much of-age women for a prolonged period of time, playing it off as ‘Oh, yeah, I’m cool,’ but. That’s abuse.

Oh, but the show plays it off as a joke. Though it does that for the other cases of sexual assault. Sometimes Glee has... issues. 

For me, it was noticing the parallels between the Kitty dynamic and the early seasons that brought a lot of things into focus for me. 

Which brings us to known symptoms of CSA, side effects of abuse, and hypersexuality - a person becoming more sexual, defining themselves by it in a way that isn’t healthy because it’s where they’ve been conditioned to see value, or as a coping mechanism. Someone who sleeps around very casually, who does things like those that were done to them because they don’t register it as anything amiss or anything other than normal. 

Which somehow explains a huge chunk of Puck’s personality? If we’re going to call him predatory for the Kitty ‘relationship’ - and we absolutely should be able to criticise severely fucked up plot points even when the show tries to play it for humour - then we need to also acknowledge that, by the same token, Puck is a CSA survivor - both from S1, and off-the-cuff ‘jokes’ made later. 

This doesn’t excuse the awful stuff, especially from season one - nothing could - but it does add a different lens through which to view the character. Someone that may be unforgiveable, but someone that has also survived the unforgiveable, and who has a personality beyond ego and has actual, justified trauma to work through.

But hold on. As much as this does somehow make a lot of Puck’s character click, do we think ‘Puck is a CSA survivor’ is in any way the intended reading of the show? 

Well, clearly not, though equally ‘Puck is a rapist’ also isn’t intended. There’s always going to be multiple ways to engage with media, whether you focus on out-of-universe factors, or go in-universe and pick up readings no writer ever intended. The latter is where I tend to lean, but there’s definitely some messiness when doing that to address genuinely serious problems.

There’s layers, basically. The surface-level that focuses on the writers intending to depict Puck as what straight cis teenage boys consider cool. The next layer of acknowledging that some of the things that he does as deeply, deeply messed up. And then the next layer still, taking the in-universe analysis to what seems to be the logical conclusion of seeing some of what was done to him as just as messed up and seeing the line of implication there. 

Hence, I’m left with my two takes, in and out of universe. One: Puck is a messy example of a CSA survivor, who comes away with more than just the romanticised side effects of abuse, and has a number of toxic and criminal behaviours normalised because he’s used to being on the other side, and his hypersexuality is a trauma response. He’s someone that needs to heal, and likely keep at a distance from the people he hurt, and who needs to drop the attitude to face up to the fact that what he lived through wasn’t ‘normal’ or ‘cool’ the way he clearly imagines it, and that perpetuating it is harmful. And realistically, to acknowledge Puck is a trope likely based on actual CSA survivors whose trauma wasn’t acknowledged because hypersexual men are treated as cool and not traumatised. Two: Puck is a character consistently written horribly to make light of things that you really shouldn’t make light of, especially on a show like Glee that presents itself as socially aware. The fact that you can go through several layers of analysis and it’s still just sexual abuse that is never remotely called out in the show is one of the biggest issues with Glee as a whole.  

Any way that you cut it, there are... issues with how his character was handled and some of the decisions made. But there’s also more to engage with than straightforward condemnation, if we want to go the analytical route.

And Another Thing

That kinda overshadows everything doesn’t it? 

It’s impossible to talk about Puck without the elephant in the room. There’s a few angles to his character, but at the end of the day he’s defined by one consistent, abysmal writing choice.

Which is, well, not great. I think there are things to talk about - with how much everyone on the show is driven by ambition, Puck’s comparatively meagre goals make for an interesting counterpoint. Equally, the points where he acts beyond his stereotype, falling for someone atypical or entering into a fatherly role, make for good character beats. I can understand people that would rather engage with that, than think about the triggering stuff - and when it comes to fictional characters, we ought to have the freedom to do that. Though, understandably, it’s also not something everyone is even going to be able to do.

If we want to talk further flaws, we can. Personally I’m not a fan of his dynamic with Quinn when she’s pregnant - he comes off as controlling to me, more concerned with making it about himself and getting what he wants, than letting Quinn have a say. The song where he names Beth was a major red flag for me, coming in an episode where Quinn says she doesn’t want to name the baby because doing so is just going to make it harder to give her up, and Puck ignores her and, well yeah in the long run turns out Quinn did have a fair bit of trouble letting go. 

And when it comes to meta flaws, Puck makes absolutely no sense even before you get to that. He’s the ‘too cool for school’ kind of outcast, slacker and bully at the start of the show. And he’s on the football team and best friends with Finn, apparently the most popular kid in the school. Like, what? 

Puck, initially, is a tertiary character whose dynamics are defined by drama. He needs to be the ‘bad boy’ to play up the idea of Quinn wanting someone she ‘shouldn’t’ because the show insists that what we saw was romance, but he also has to be friends with Finn for drama when the identity of Quinn’s baby’s father comes out. Perhaps that’s why he’s an incoherent character - because his identity fluctuates depending on what story they want to tell. 

So yeah, he has flaws. So does every character on Glee - and a teenage boy messing up when he finds out he’s going to have a kid is, well, understandable. These flaws - and these flaws specifically - I feel, are in no way irredeemable ones, and instead are flaws that could make him interesting. I’m reminded of S5 Jake, in the admittedly much-maligned arc, where a pregnancy scare sees Jake re-evaluate what matters to him - and Puck has shades of this, through his relationship with Lauren, and with Beth. Leaving in S3 did limit how much development we could get for Puck, though the fact we end on him joining the army is, to me, an interesting choice - it seems to solidify Puck as the small town boy, with the cliche path for a student from a small town, in stark contrast to the dreams of stardom and escape from everyone else. 

Like I said before, the fact he lacks the heightened ambitions of a lot of the cast do make him an interesting foil, and having his arc embody this course in a way where he’s not looked down on for it feels worth talking about. It adds a note of complexity to Glee’s themes of ambition and dreams. 

But, yeah. Talking about compelling character flaws is hard to do when Puck has one obvious big one, and even harder when even that flaw is handled dubiously. All of this analysis feels ultimately superfluous. 

Because what the heck are you meant to do with Glee? Take someone as a morally nuanced portrait of an abuse survivor who perpetuated the cycle and was harmful to others in a way they themselves survived? That’s complex. Not sympathetic, but at least interesting. But also it’s Glee, that’s not exactly something you can file away alongside “School cheerleading coach is fuck buddies with Putin.” 

If nothing else, we can condemn the writing. I feel like people on all sides can say that. Then you get to the question of which bits you want to take as consistently part of Puck, and which bits we dismiss as the writers messing up - which, in fairness, is how we need to talk about most of the characters on Glee. I can understand the perspective of people who’d rather not have a regular be a serial sexual assaulter who gets away scot-free, and I can also very much understand the people that see things like this as too much to look past, especially when they’re consistent. And then there’s me, with an angle where I can genuinely feel bad for Puck, and an angle where I hate his guts, and it’s not really easy to sort between them. 

So I’m still left with absolutely no idea how I feel about Puck. There are a wealth of poorly handled tropes, but also glimmers of a messy, compelling core behind all of it, even if there are a lot of reasons people might not want to dig that deep. But hey, at least I’ve put more thought into him than the writers did. 

[wadeswebs]

Hi! I really love your art, especially the piece you did of Marc Spector and the one of Javier Peña—the textures and the colours and just the whole feel of your pieces is phenomenal. I was wondering if you would mind sharing what sorts of brushes and canvas textures you use? I’m learning digital art right now so I’m always super fascinated by what other artists use.

Hello Anon, thank you for liking these ⭐️

I’ll try to make this understandable and clear to some extent !

I draw on my IPad but you can really get stuff done with a regular drawing tablet (that’s how most people start and it’s a great tool for beginners )

I use procreate which isn’t a free app but it’s really worth every penny. Also it’s not a subscription and just a one time payment (I paid about 16 euros but the might change depending on your country)

If you are using a drawing tablet I really don’t know what program is the best because it’s been a while and it will depend on your budget and computer. However I do recommend that you use chonky brushes. The point is to mimic brush strokes to some extent and play with these.

For procreate :

Free brushes ! : The app comes with a bunch of great brushes. A favorite is definitely Nikko Rull. It is chonky and has strong edges that you can make harsher or softer with pen pressure. Over all all the brushes under the paint and textures group are fun to play with. Try to play with shapes. Erase with other brushes to get them to look like splashes or brush strokes. Be messy

Brush Packs ! : These one aren’t free but they’re great and they’re the ones I use. I mainly use two packs from MaxPacks . For lineart and sketches I use the Gouache Pack although I believe you don’t necessarily need it for the artstyle you’re trying to achieve., it is still a great pack to go and try brushes if you want a gouache like style. The Watercolor Pack is GREAT. It provides really useful brushes to achieve unique textures and blending styles. Also not a necessity but it’s really unmatched. The paper/canvas texture I usually use for my drawings comes from this pack. (The brush is the MaxU Paper Hot Press). They will also give you a pre made canvas with a cold press and hot press style, use what fits your taste better.

If you do not want to buy brush packs (or can’t), you can also look for paper textures for procreate and you should be able to find some for free. You can layer the texture as the top layer and use it as a filter (usually it’s the multiply filter but I believe other filters could also be applied). If you’re editing savvy you could also just take a good quality picture of textured paper and use it as a base.

My overall advice is to : Play with brushes, make them random, erase, bring texture and body to the drawing. I’m still learning but the clue is to experiment ✨

I recommend you to look for gouache paintings as they are often really textured and make great inspiration :) . Some favorite artists of mine right now are Dean Cornwell, Ludek Marold and J.C. Leyendecker

I also recommend you check awesome artists like : Foxystaches @dracarysgang

⭐️

[bloomyagi]

beautiful, beloved, mine (m)

summary: you set him ablaze. he can only hope you like watching him burn for you. alternatively: this love for you is consuming him, and it all comes out in a badly vomited confession after he corners you at a gala.

pairings: shouto todoroki x f!reader

genre: pro heroes au, characters are aged up 20+

warnings: smut, dry humping, shouto comes in his pants, sub!shouto, he’s a good boi for you, he loves you very much n wants to be your baby

length: 2,447

notes: can u tell how much i love him pls -

.

.

.

“Can I be yours?”

Shouto Todoroki, ranked third pro-hero in Japan, has his strong arms braced around your head. In all your years of friendship, he has never been anything but exceedingly polite. He is well-behaved, thoughtful and sharp. He is guarded, though not intentionally, not anymore—it is reflex, a shield he has never really learned to lower. A reminder of his childhood.

You think he’s drunk. He must be, beautiful dual-coloured locks dishevelled, black button-up half-open and exposing his gorgeous collarbone. You watch, unwittingly, as a bead of sweat trickle down his neck. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, biceps flexing.

The dimmed lighting unfairly accosts you with his devastatingly handsome features and muscular body. And his eyes. His heterochromatic eyes are alight with something fierce and intense. They are also clear, glowing, almost, in the dark.

The two of you are somehow on the balcony, shut away from the rest of the world, the bass and the sounds of life fading in your little bubble until all you can hear is the blood rushing in your ears, the warmth of his breath, the heat of skin and the fluttering of your heart in your throat. The cement wall digs into your back.

No, you correct yourself. He isn’t drunk. He’s barely tipsy. He doesn’t like to drink, rarely acquiesces to Kirishima’s insistence of shots.

He doesn’t smell like alcohol. His scent has always been calming, detectable under the thin layer expensive cologne he uses—he doesn’t like perfumed smells either, only uses it on nights like these, when he’s obliged to look the part—that fresh, cool scent. Of clean sheets, laundry detergent.

Still, this is out of character. Todoroki has never once crossed a line with you, with anyone. He’s quiet, reserved, though he smiles more now, the forming dimples in the corner of his eyes a living testament to his character growth. He treats others fairly. He is not unkind, honest and straight-forward. He is many things, and with the way he’s gazing down at you now, you are suddenly reminded of Midoriya’s hushed remarks earlier.

“You can’t see it, but Todoroki-kun treats you differently. He thinks about you, what you’d like and what you like. He cares about you so he’s careful around you. He wants to cherish you. He’s cold because he uncertain. He doesn’t know what to do. This is all new to him.”

“What is?”

The number one pro-hero had looked at you strangely. “Being in love.”

Midoriya is indisputably Todoroki’s best friend. Still, his actions are baffling. Why you? Why now? No, you couldn’t see it at all.

“Todoroki, are you drunk?”

“No. Though I required a little … liquid courage, as they say,” he rasps. He’s so close. His voice, so deep and husky, has you biting your lower lip. His gaze falls immediately.

He doesn’t touch you. The way his arms flex, hands clenching and unclenching, and his stiff posture tells you he wants to. He’s visibly restraining himself. Waiting, watching. Hoping.

“You never … why me?” You say softly.

“I could not. I wanted to, so badly. I have always wanted you. I always thought it was impossible for someone like me—to find someone I would want to share my life with, given my upbringing and dysfunctional family. But then things changed, got better, and then I met you.” He takes a shaky breath.

“I found wordless comfort in your mere presence. I found I could be emboldened, empowered, changed by your words. Every day I wondered how I could be worthy of you—if I could ever be worthy of you. Then I realized it was you … it would not matter to you, so long as I was honest with who I was. That is just the kind of person you are …” He shuts his eyes. His lashes are so long, you note absently.

“I am touched by your existence … I find joy in your spirit, yearning for your embrace, for the heat of your skin pressed against mine, I crave it … these foreign desires, they elicit something dark within myself,” he continues, breathing a little ragged now.

“This need, this desperation, like fire spreading in my veins, uncontrollable and hungry … I feel restless, itching for something, someone … Now I finally understand. I feel like I want to—to devour you. It is no longer enough, seeing you as I do, being as we are, mere friends … I want more, need more. With this desire to monopolize, I fear I have become … insatiable,” he trails off, turning his face to the side in shame.

Oh. Shouto Todoroki is in love with you, you realize with a jolt. He longs for you. For your companionship, your wit, your soul and your body. Your heart.

You reach up with a trembling hand to touch his jaw, guiding him until he looked at you once more. He doesn’t resist, pliant and eager as he leans into your hold.

“Only if I can be yours in return,” you say.

He lurches forward, knees nearly giving out as he slumps in your arms. “Oh, thank god, I … I was anxious I would have ruined everything. I knew it was unlikely they would be reciprocated, but I—I had to try,” he gasps. “This desire, it was consuming me.”

“Todoroki …” You thumb his cheekbone. He sighs faintly, body curving over yours as he presses close. “Call me Shouto, please …”

“Shouto.” He makes a strangled noise.

“Again. Please. You must understand, I have longed for this for so long …” He pleads shyly.

“Shouto,” you whisper, stroking his cheek. He’s so unexpectedly adorable. So, so adorable.

“My apologies, darling. I know I’m taking liberties, but I’m weak … I’m not strong enough to resist such temptation. Not while you are here, in front of me like nights when I dared to dream… So beautiful.” He nuzzles your palm.

You flush at his term of endearment, at the rawness of his tone. He has laid himself bare, singing his truth like a Shakespeare sonnet.

“You woo me like you’re waxing poetry … does this often work with others?” You murmur. You think you’re in real danger of melting.

His eyes fly open in alarm. “No. Never. It has only ever been you. I speak only from the heart, I have never—never done this before, am I explaining myself poorly? I am often told my words could use some more tact …”

Your heart swells.

“I’m just teasing, Shouto,” you say softly, combing a hand through his locks apologetically. “Your words are beautiful, I’m touched, truly.”

He relaxes, curling closer in your embrace.

“You don’t know … how I dream of building a home with you, of sharing all my firsts with you, cooking and setting the table with you … breakfast after long nights, filling the space between us with laughter and joy. Sleeping next to you,” he slurs. And then he goes on plainly, “How I fist myself every night thinking of the swell of your hips, the curl of your lips, your sweet, enthralling scent …”

You inhale sharply. Part of you is entirely taken back by the dual-haired hero’s use of uncharacteristically vulgar descriptions. His words drip over you like a honeyed aphrodisiac. Sweet and addictive.

“May I?” He draws closer, hands releasing you to brace against the concrete behind. Your body shivers involuntarily, missing the heat of his palms immediately.

“Yes,” you whisper.

Shouto dips his head, beautiful heterochromatic eyes watching you carefully for any sign of hesitation or indication you wanted to stop. Ever the gentleman.

This is who he is, you realize. Respectful of your boundaries, honest and, with you, gentle. He eyes flutter close when his lips touch yours. They’re warm, sweet with a hint of the alcohol he consumed earlier. Your fingers bury themselves in his locks, the kiss unhurried, savouring each moment.

Then you open your mouth, tongue touching his. And Shouto falters. He groans throatily, your nose tickling at the scent of ash. Ah. He’s losing control. He jerks away quickly, right hand enclosing over his left.

“Don’t tempt me,” he rasps, blush rising.

You snag the rumpled collar of his shirt, pulling him close. “Kiss me again.”

And when you guide his hands over your hips, he grips them tightly and crushes his mouth against yours, kissing you hard. Spit runs down your chins, messy and sensual.

Something hard presses against your inner thigh. You push his legs apart and shove your leg in between. He chokes, eyes rolling back.

“Ngh—!” He gasps. “More—hngg—please!”

You pull back to survey him. He chases after you, lips slick and swollen.

“Shouto. You like this?”

He pauses, sucking in a breath sharply, eyes flickering. And then—

“Yes,” he whispers, a whisp of flame flaring on his left.

Your core clenches over nothing at his needy, humiliated tone.

“I like this too,” you confess, trailing a hand over the ridges of his abdomen, fascinated by the way the muscles clench.

Shouto mewls, chest thrusting forward when you pinch his nipples experimentally through the cotton. “Ah—ughh—yes!”

“Can you come like this?” You wonder absently as you twist his perked nubs harshly. He moans brokenly, hips jerking.

“I—I d-don’t­—kno—hah,” he pants, eyes half-lidded as he struggles to focus. Pleasure clouds his senses, head fuzzy and vision hazy.

“Can you get off here, like this?” You ask softly. “I want to see you come undone.”

Shouto blinks blearily at you, nodding eagerly. “Hng—yes, wanna be good for you,” he slurs. Oh. My. If you weren’t dripping before, you certainly are now.

He stumbles a little as you push him against the wall, switching positions. He’s barely standing at this point, leaning heavily against the cement as he gazes up at you with glazed eyes. He looks utterly fucked out and utterly delectable.

You undo the remainder of his buttons, holding him back firmly when he whines, pawing at the fabric, wanting to rip it off.

“We still have to walk out of here,” you remind him, giggling. His only blinks at you blankly as if to say and? Too gone to think of the consequences.

“This view is reserved for my eyes only,” you murmur, nails scraping against his nipples. He gasps, back arcing. “Yes, yes!” He agrees mindlessly.

He grinds against your thigh desperately, the weight of his cock heavy and hot. He throbs at every touch.

“Kiss—kiss, please,” he whines, reaching for you. You oblige, internally fawning over his cuteness.

His hips move faster, chasing release as he moans and keens into your mouth.

He parts from you with a gasp and wet shlick. “Feels so good—sho good—hngg,” he babbles. His asymmetric temperatures intensify, the heat of his left searing you and the chill of the right piercing you.

“Oh—I’m—I’m c-cu—” he cries out, gripping you tightly as he fucks himself against your thigh urgently. You push your leg against him harder, nails digging into his stomach.

“Come for me Sho,” you murmur, biting his lower lip. His mouth parts in a silent wail, head tossing as his eyes roll. His body shudders, something warm seeping into the fabric of your jeans.

With a strangled groan, he sags against you, exhausted and spent. You stroke his hair soothingly, brushing back the sweaty locks and peppering chaste kisses over his face as he comes down slowly.

Faintly, you register someone calling your name.

“Oh, Midoriya. Over here.”

Shouto is too out of it, still coming down from his high, his soft moans tickling your ear

“Oh, there you are! Have you seen Todoroki-kun? I—oh!” He squeaks loudly, spinning on his heel immediately and covering his reddening face.

What a sight the two of you must be. A perfectly debauched Shouto, shirt falling over his broad shoulders, the fabric clinging to his glistening skin, raised lines over his bare chest that appear angrier in the darkened lighting, slumped over you, body trembling from the aftershocks of his orgasm.

The One for All user pales when he spots the noticeable burn the size of a palm on the wall behind your head.

“Uh—neverminditwasn’timportanthahahaohsomeone’scallingmegottagobye!” Midoriya practically screams in your face before bolting from the scene in the next beat.

Shouto manages a tired chuckle as you blink in the wake of his dust.

“You’re surprisingly shameless,” you remark when you turn back to him.

His wry smile slips, letting out a weak mewl when you squeeze his cock over his slacks teasingly. He’s already chubbing up, hips rolling slowly against your touch.

“I told you, didn’t I? I’m insatiable when it comes to you, darling,” he murmurs, cheeks dusting.

“Then let’s continue,” you say, helping him stand. He valiantly tries to salvage whatever is left of his shirt, but it’s hopeless. He gives up, letting it drift apart, sculpted abdomen and chest in full view.

“Hmm. I quite like this view,” your palm rests on his stomach, smiling when he jolts at your warmth.

“My place or yours?” He breathes, pulling you flush to him.

“Yours, I think. I’ve been meaning to try out your new jacuzzi,” you rest your cheek against his chest, tracing nonsensical patterns on his pec. Goosebumps rise on his skin, and you can hear the rapid fluttering of his pulse. He’s—nervous?

“I built it for you,” he confesses, burying his face into your hair. “After you mentioned how much you wanted to try one, I thought—well, I don’t know what I thought. I only know that I went out the next day to hire a contractor and expand my bathroom. I suppose part of me nurtured a hope I’d one day pluck enough courage to ask you to come over and give it a try …”

You pull away, looking up at him in disbelief. He laughs dryly at your expression.

“Yes. I know. It sounds as irrational as it felt. I still haven’t used it yet.”

“Then …,” you hesitate. And then you say shyly, “Then if you’d like … we could try it today? Together?”

“I … yes, I’d love that,” Shouto swallows thickly.

You take his hand as the two of you start to make your way back. He squeezes your hand once.

“Let’s go home,” you say softly. The corner of his heterochromatic eyes crinkle, lips curling into a gentle beam. He looks radiant, beauty amplified by his dishevelled and unkept state. He leans down to kiss the corner of your mouth.

“Yes,” he says. “Let’s.”

[blush-and-books]

here’s a lighthearted collab born of riffs with the one and only @lydias--stiles. warning: fluff. lots of it. 

enjoy!!!

---

"It's decade day!" Julie hollers as she storms into the studio, Alex gasping in delight. 

 "Oh! Do a twirl!" She twirls with a giggle. Reggie joins in, excited. 

 "Do the worm!" 

 Just as she's about to go on the floor, she falters. One, because she can't do the worm. Two, cause she's wearing a dress and no shorts underneath. Sending him an exasperated look, her gaze falls on the third boy who's remained silent all throughout. 

 This week is spirit week for the LF Arts seniors, today being Decade Day. Obviously, Julie chose to go for the nineties. Not only does she have a lot of clothes from that era in her closet, but it's a nice homage to her beloved band members. It's a simple look. A flowy, floral dress, fishnets, Dr. Martens, layered necklaces and a bit more eyeliner than usual. Her hair, for once, is allowed to be as messy as possible. 

 And Luke? He is speechless. 

 "Uh," he stammers, a smile twitching between a grimace and a full on beam. It's as if he has no clue how to act anymore. In the end, he sticks his thumb up, eyes dopey and wide. 

 Awkward, Julie focuses back on Alex and Reg. "Okay then... so? Approved? It's 90s?" 

 "Hella nineties," Reg confirms, Alex smiling at her in that knowing way. She locks eyes with him, peering. He shakes his head and hums in agreement with the bassist. 

 "You look great, Julie." She lets it go. "Thanks. Then I'm off!" Casting one more look at Luke and hiding her disappointment - why didn't he compliment her? - she leaves for school. 

 Right as she's at the garden gate, Luke poofs right in front of her. Had she not been used to it, she would've screamed. Instead, a brow quirks up. "

You look rad," he blurts. "Like, really fucking dope. Like, girls I would-" He freezes, red tinging his cheekbones and then saluting at her, disappearing once more.

--

"Girls you would what?" she asks at the end of the day, during a songwriting lull. She doesn't need to explain, a soft smile playing on his lips as he tracks her outfit again. "

Girls I'd like in high school." 

 "Oh." 

 "Yeah." His eyes avert, scribbling an annotation in his songbook. "Don't sweat it. Kinda digging the 2020 aesthetic too." 

 Her smile widens, giddy, cause Luke has a million ways to say he likes her and she loves each one of them. Instead of calling him out for it, she nods and hums and places her head on his shoulder. 

 "Let's try that bridge again."

--

A week later, they're digging through some of his clothes. Julie promised that she would slip some of it in the laundry for them even if they don't sweat -- just for the gesture of it all. 

 But as they go through garbage bags, she comes across a starchy white shirt with neon orange letters across the front: NIRVANA. 

 "Luke, did you know you had this? This one is so cool!" 

 She's too busy turning the shirt over to glance at the dark purple SUBPOP RECORDS logo on the back to notice how quiet Luke is. He's just staring at the shirt - for what reason, she doesn't know. 

 "That one was from Bobby," he explains, voice suddenly quiet. Instantly, Julie drops the shirt to her lap and tries to gauge how upsetting the reveal is to him. It strikes her with guilt. "That's probably why it's here. I wore it around here all the time and left it here when I spent the nights just as much." 

 What does she say to that? 

"I'm sorry," is all she can offer. But he still shoots her a smile. 

"Don't be. It's sick. You should keep it." 

 "But it's-" 

 "Anything that's mine is yours, Jules." He nods his head towards the bathroom in the back. "Go try it on. I wanna see it."

Swapping her crop top for the vintage tee, she admires the cool way it drapes across her body in the grimy bathroom mirror. 

The fact that Luke wore it a lot causes a thrill in her chest. Is this... him giving her his clothes? Like a boyfriend would? Or is she reading into things? 

She probably is. Don't overthink, she emphasises. 

A smile blooms on her cheeks and marches back into the studio. She stretches her arms. "What do you think? It's cute, right?!" 

 His smile softens, warmth glimmering behind the green. Slowly, he nods and walks towards her. "We don't tuck it in though," he mumbles, pulling at the fabric by her waist and letting it hang loose. "We all had to pretend we didn't care."

 Laughing, she stays in place and hopes the red on her cheekbones isn't visible.

 "Right. Looking sloppy." 

 "Looking cool," he bounces back. When he finishes the tugging, he doesn't move away either.

Even though she had done her best not to short-circuit when Luke's fingers lightly grasped the fabric at her waist and started tugging on it -- the current situation was not helping. Because now, he was just standing close, clutching onto the t-shirt like it's anchoring him to her orbit, and she's desperate to press his hands into the curve of her waist. 

 "Fine," she relents, a little breathless. "Looking cool." 

Glancing down, it's apparent how far the material hangs from her body. 

"But do I even need pants for this? Shorts, maybe, but it's more of a dress on me." 

 His eyes quickly flicker down to her jean-clad legs, but then back to her. "It's yours now. Whatever you want." 

 It doesn't take her long to dart back to the bathroom to try out the new style.

Yeah, Luke's kinda losing his shit, but he also kinda doesn't mind. 

 The shirt was nostalgic, but didn't hold any sentimental value. So sure, Julie could have it. Oranges and purples and whites looked good on her anyway.

 Every colour looked good on her. 

She's been saying she wanted some more grunge in her wardrobe too. He was doing her a favour. 

 A minor detail he forgot about was that Julie was, well, drop fucking dead gorgeous. If it looked nice on him back in 1995, it looked amazing on her now.

 The fabric was well-worn (by him - he let her wear his t-shirt. God, he really didn't think this through) and hung on her body in that effortlessly cool way. His stupid feet had to bring him closer though. Had to thumb the fabric by her waist and feel the heat of her skin as he readjusted the tee. He could almost imagine her parading down the corridor; boots pounding on the linoleum tiles, music blaring from her headphones, fingerless gloves on her hands. 

That t-shirt, loose or knotted up or bleached. She'd probably be the hottest girl in school. And then he stayed, cause of course he stayed, and let himself smile in ways that should be dangerous, and let her smile in ways that should get her in trouble. She said something about the length of the top and he replied something non-committal in return. 

 He realised his mistake a minute later when she appeared again - - - without her jeans. 

Oh. 

It was long enough as a dress. 

Oh. Fucking oh. 

 His smile stuck, though it held a nervous edge. "Looking good, Jules." 

 "Thanks," she grinned. "I think I'll wear it to school tomorrow." 

 Head rolling back to the ceiling, he withheld a sigh. Yup. Hottest girl at school.

---

tags: @bluefirewrites @willexx @unsaid-emily @pink-flame @echocharm17618 @sylphrenas @futurearchaeologyprof  @brightattheorpheum

[sunsetcurvecuddles]

Hello you told me not to hold back so I’m gonna be ANNOYING feel free to ignore indefinitely until you’re feeling it but I’m gonna send you like a bunch of prompts cause I can’t sleep and am stalling finishing my own fic.

First one: Bobby (obviously), Reggie or Luke or friends I don’t even care, tea and blankets

lol hi have a rebuke cuddle-puddle disaster, also available on ao3 here. warning for swearing and very vague allusions to physical child abuse.

i guess we belong to each other | reggielukebobby | 1.8k words

--

Luke has his guitar in his lap and his writing notebook by his side even though it's late at night. He's playing his acoustic, so that he has no chance of stirring Bobby's parents from where he's sat in their studio, and though he'd never admit it to anyone, it's cold enough that he's found one of Alex's hoodies in the back of the studio, a black one Alex never wears any more, and he's bundled up in it to try to fight off the chills. He regrets storming out earlier this evening — not because his parents might be worried, he's still too mad at them for that, but because he misses his own warm bed in a house with central heating.

But it's late, and he doesn't want to bother Bobby, who's already been generous enough as it is (and is exceptionally grumpy when he's woken in the middle of the night). So Alex's old hoodie, smelling vaguely of the dusty studio and distantly of Alex, will have to do.

A noise distracts Luke from his writing. Something outside the studio, maybe an animal, but it sounded like footsteps. Cautiously, he draws his guitar closer, running through what he could say if it's Bobby's parents, his heart suddenly rabbit-fast in his chest.

A head pokes through the door.

Luke's shoulders drop with relief.

It's Reggie.

He looks a little scruffy, not like himself, because usually Reggie pays such close attention to his appearance, fusses over his hair and colour-codes his outfits and shaves with the precision of a professional painter. But he kinda looks messy, which makes Luke's stomach feel even colder than the air around him.

“Oh! Hey, man,” Reggie laughs, putting on a big smile, and it'd fool anyone else — Reggie's too experienced at this for his own good. “I didn't know you'd be here!”

“Hi, Reg,” says Luke, sounding a little distracted even to his own ears as he carefully looks Reggie over. He's not walking like he's been hurt, and there are no visible injuries. So that's something. Jesus, Luke wouldn't know what to do if Reggie turned up here with a fresh version of the bruises Luke sometimes catches him trying to hide. “You, uh — you good?”

“Yeah, for sure,” Reggie agrees easily, saunters into the studio and slumps down on the couch next to Luke. The relaxed way he moves soothes Luke's worry somewhat. “The house was just — ugh. You know how they can be.” Looking over at Luke, Reggie adds, “Hey, isn't that Alex's hoodie? I was wondering what had happened to that.”

“Hey!” Luke sputters, a little defensive. “He didn't, like, loan it to me or anything, it was just here! I found it.”

“It is cold,” Reggie concedes, pulling his flannel a little tighter around him. “Wish I'd brought my jacket, but it was in the kitchen and I didn't wanna. I dunno. Didn't wanna get in the way.”

Luke nods, puts his guitar to the side so he can press up against Reggie's side. Hip to hip, his cheek on Reggie's shoulder, links their ankles together and puts an arm over Reggie's stomach. Almost automatically, Reggie links his arms around Luke in turn.

Honestly, Luke was intending to steal some of Reggie's body heat, but after Reggie's walk outside and in such a thin layer, he thinks Reggie's probably leeching his own. Luke lets him go ahead; Reggie seems to need it more than he does.

They sit for a moment, both unusually quiet, huddling and not talking. Not so much for a lack of things to talk about, but more because any topic that comes to Luke's mind feels insurmountably complex and emotional. There’s so much stuff he can't tell Reggie — so much stuff Reggie isn't telling him. So they sit together and try to create some warmth without the need for disclosure.

Until there's another set of scuffled footsteps outside.

“Not Alex too,” Reggie sighs, at a whispered volume so that the newcomer can't hear him, “he squirms so much in his sleep, man, I can't share this pull-out with him again.”

Luke muffles a laugh with the back of his hand, but he can't help worry it's Alex, too. Things have been... okay, he thinks, with Alex's folks since he came out, but he also knows Alex hoped for better. Suspects there are things Alex isn't telling them (so they all have that in common).

But it's not Alex. Preceded by an armful of blankets that he's almost tripping on, Bobby staggers in, still in his pajamas and with his eyes almost all the way closed. “Luke? It's fucking freezing, I thought I'd—” He stops when he gets far enough in to see Reggie on the couch too. “Oh, shit.”

“Hey, Bobby,” says Reggie, voice a little nervous. “I hope it's okay that I—”

“Shut up,” Bobby grumbles, and dumps the whole pile of blankets on top of Reggie. “You guys are stupid. You're both out here, in the freezing cold, and neither of you come wake me up?”

“We didn't want—” Luke starts, at the same time as Reggie insists, “You were sleeping—!”

“Idiots,” Bobby growls, rubbing his eye with his sweater paw and yawning. He looks stupidly cute, like a little kid. “You're idiots, and I hate dealing with you. I'll be back.” Turning to leave the studio again, he turns back and adds, “Hurry up and burrito yourselves in those blankets, I swear to god. And Luke, isn’t that Alex’s hoodie?”

“He left it—!” Luke starts, but Bobby’s already gone, leaving Luke with Reggie, cackling at him.

—

By the time Bobby returns, Luke and Reggie have folded the couch out into its bed form, and are snuggling under the several blankets, giggling together as they talk about how grumpy Bobby had been.

“We should have woken him up,” Reggie snorts, “I think then he would have been less pissed.”

“I would have,” Bobby agrees, sounding somewhere between menacing and amused, as he reappears over them. His hair is all shaggy in his face. He's carrying a teapot. And cups. “Sit up.”

Luke does right away, Reggie pulling himself up a little slower. Bobby sits cross-legged at the foot of the couch-bed, tucking his socked toes under his own legs to keep warm, and pours them each a mug of what smells like peppermint tea. Suddenly, Luke can't imagine anything better in the world. When Bobby offers him a cup, he takes it eagerly, wrapping his cold hands around it and enjoying the steam wafting up to his face.

“Wow,” says Reggie softly, eyes wide, “thanks, Bobby.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Luke echoes, letting out a sigh as he takes his first sip.

“Forget it,” Bobby says, a little bitey. Luke knows it's because Bobby hates being seen as nice, so he doesn't take it personally, and he knows Reggie won't either. He has his own cup, which he drinks as though it's done something to offend him, scowling off into the corner of the studio. Reggie nudges Bobby with his foot from under the layers of blankets, and a tiny smile tugs at Bobby's mouth as he nudges Reggie back with his elbow.

After the cup of tea, Luke feels better. He feels warmer on the inside, now, and sleepy too. Reggie is starting to get that dopey, slow blink that shows he's on the verge of sleep as well. Bobby clears his throat and holds out a hand, beckoning for their empty cups. Luke and Reggie hand them over.

“Okay,” says Bobby, after a pause. “G'night, guys.” He goes to stand, but Reggie leans forward and catches Bobby's sleeve.

“Would you stay?” he asks, as if he can't help himself, as if on sheer impulse, but he doesn’t look embarrassed afterwards.

“Reg!” Luke says, a little startled. “It's cold out here, he won't want—”

But he sees Bobby's face, and he stops himself. Because he can see it in Bobby's eyes. That he does want. He’s Bobby, so he won't say it, his mouth pressed into a thin line, his gaze fixed on some point behind Luke and Reggie's heads, but Luke has known Bobby for too long to miss something this obvious, no matter what else Bobby can hide from him.

“That being said,” Luke backtracks hurriedly, “it would be warmer with you here, Wilson. I'm happy to be a leech.”

“That's all I'm good for, huh?” Bobby snorts, but he's already setting the mugs down on the floor near the side of the bed, already shuffling the teapot down there too. He hops up for a moment, and Luke wonders where he’s going, before he realises Bobby is just switching off the light. When Bobby comes back, he pauses, like he's not sure where he fits, and Luke and Reggie make eye contact for only a second before they move apart, leaving a space in the middle.

Bobby looks even less sure of himself, eyebrows knitted, jaw tight. His hands flex and one of them twists in the hem of his sweater. Luke gets it. It looks too much like it's on Bobby's behalf, like they’re doing it to make space for Bobby. Bobby’s always had trouble accepting anything that seems like it’s for his own benefit.

“I already sucked all Reggie's warmth up,” Luke explains.

“Yeah,” Reggie agrees immediately, and Luke loves him, “and you're warmer than Luke anyway, man. I wanna huddle with you. As a penguin, you would be my first-choice huddle-buddy.”

Bobby barks a laugh. “The fuck? What does that even mean?” Finally, he wriggles his way under the blankets in between them, and rolls his eyes when they both throw limbs over him right away, twining legs and arms together and resting cheeks on his chest.

“Like, if we were penguins. You know? In the winter?” Reggie says, like this is totally obvious and self-explanatory. “If I was a penguin, I'd be looking for the Bobby-penguin in the winter huddle to stick close to.”

“Aaand I'm at my capacity for dumb shit,” Bobby says, closing his eyes pointedly, but it's a scam, because his hands come to run through Luke and Reggie's hair. “Goodnight, morons.”

“Goodnight, Bobby,” they chorus. This close, Luke could almost brush noses with Reggie, has to try to focus his eyes to keep Reggie from getting blurry. Reggie sticks his tongue out at Luke just a little, and Luke grins back, links his fingers with Reggie’s over Bobby’s stomach, rubbing over Reggie’s knuckles until Reggie’s fingers don’t feel so much like icicles. When Luke uses his free hand to tug the neckline of Alex’s hoodie up over his nose, the familiar smell of the third piece of his heart soothes him right down.

The feel of Bobby’s fingernails on his scalp makes Luke’s eyelids flutter, and before he knows it he’s dopey, the world feeling blurrier and safer and cozier. Honestly, more like home than his own house would have. He no longer daydreams of returning to his own warm bed. Instead, he feels the way Bobby’s chest rises and falls with his breaths, pushing his and Reggie’s joined hands up and down. If he listens closely, Luke can hear Bobby’s heartbeat, familiar and steady.

Maybe the cold isn't all bad.

--

other prompt fills here :)

jatp taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed!): @queenmolina @nickalicious @bi-reginald @malecacidd @burntchromas @jughead-is-canonically-aroace @cinnamonstickrayofsunlight @chickwiththepurpleguitar @fairylightsandrainydays @joyandthephantoms @fighttoshine @michelangelinda @queenofthequillandink 

[ryuichirou]

I really love the way you draw anatomy - you are literally perfect. Would you mind one day if you make a simple tutorial on how to draw anatomy, particularly hands and just keeping things in proportion. Sorry if this sounds like a demanding ask - u can definitely decline or not answer no offence taken x

First of all, thank you so much! <3 I’m so happy to hear that you think my anatomy looks good. I’m not sure if I can teach you anything, but I’ll try! And sorry it took me so long to reply.

I wouldn’t call this a tutorial, more like an outline of what I usually do (maybe with some tips here and there). Hope it’s at least a little bit helpful 🙏

I’ll start with how I draw the hands. Well, as you’ve probably seen on my previous post about this topic, I used to have a hard time with hands because I didn’t understand the logic behind them + my only reference was my own small and blobby hands. Practice helps a lot, but imo mostly because as you draw more hands, it becomes easier for you to break them into simpler shapes (this is important!) and imagine them in 3d in your head or as you draw.

When I draw hands, I start with a rough sketch. Basically I just draw a fingerless block first. It’s a bit illegible right now, but bear with me.

After this I add fingers. Once again, they’re all broken into shapes: a finger is just 3 short tubes connected to the block we just drew. Sometimes some parts of the “tubes” aren’t visible because of the perspective of the hand, sometimes you can clearly see all of them. As I already said, it’s all about learning how to imagine these things in 3d.

Since my sketch is so rough, I tried to make the shapes more clear here. I hope it makes sense.

After the sketch is done, I basically just… draw hands. Remember that this is skin and meat, there are going to be folds (??? Idk if this is the correct word) and stuff. And nails, oh nails… I scream when I remember the times when I used not to draw them lol They help to convey the perspective and the angle of the fingers, so for me it’s better to have them than not. I’m not drawing them the exact correct way, though, but still.

And once again, it took me a long time to start drawing hands more or less properly, and I still fix them all the time. For example, a thumb of the first one on the left is too short. In fact, I’d make all the thumbs bigger…  

So yeah, something among the lines. It’s not perfect, but this is the basic idea of how it works, at least for me.

About proportions… Well, I’m one of those artists who like to make 1000000 sketches before I move on to the inking phase, it’s just more comfortable to me. This way, I give myself more control of the pose and proportions and have a lot of time to adjust and fix whatever feels off to me. Many good artists don’t do that because they don’t really need it.

First, I make a very quick sketch just to grab the “feel” of the pose I’m going for, plus it helps with the overall composition of the drawing. It isn’t detailed at all, so it takes about 5-10 minutes to draw, even less if I’m confident about what I want and don’t try to find the pose that would work the best. At this stage I try to keep the proportions in mind, but I don’t think about them too much.

When I’m more or less satisfied with the basic idea, I draw my first sketch. At this stage I’m err building the body. There are a lot of ways to do that, I’m drawing something similar to a mannequin that is made out of meat. Oh no, that sounded horrible…

As you can see, this time I pay more attention to proportions and sketch all parts of the body properly. I make sure that both arms are the same length, both legs are the same length, that the shoulders are on the same level, stuff like that. At this stage I don’t think about the character, just about the body: I’m trying to make it make sense lol

Also you might’ve noticed, but I changed the position of the arms on this sketch because my initial idea didn’t really work (I tried to sit in the same pose and it was uncomfortable lol)

And then I draw yet another sketch. Sometimes this can be the last stage and I ditch the inking altogether and just colour this sketch instead, but more often than not it looks too messy and I have to make another sketch… (This is also where Katsu usually tells me to chill because we were planning to draw something simple and quick and I’m already making it complicated lol)

Here I’m adding more details, like face, hair, clothing, anything else that I need to sketch before inking/colouring. After this sketch is done, I look at it again and see if anything looks off. If it does, I try to fix it, adjust it, sketch it again, whatever works and whatever makes my sketch less stiff and more proportional.  It doesn’t have to be super realistic proportions-wise though.

Things that I pay attention to when I check the proportions on my drawings:

Shoulders: they should be the same size (although the perspective can create a distortion, but this is a whole other can of worms) + ideally they should be able to fit two heads in them length-wise.

Arms: I check if they’re the correct length (the hand part should start ~at the crotch level). If the arm on the drawing is bent, I try to visualize how it’d look like if they were straightened up. If it’s difficult to imagine, I just sketch it.

Oh, and the size of hands. I always check if they’re the correct size by comparing them to a face of the character: they should be about the same size (of course some people have larger hands and some of them have smaller hands).

Legs: same with arms, I try to make sure they are not too long and not too short. Also, when drawing arms or legs, you can draw this thing. The shoulder/hip and the hand/foot have the same distance from the elbow/knee. This… sounds confusing, I hope it at least looks understandable lol

There are a lot of ways to check if everything is correct: sometimes I just put my fingers on the screen to check if all of the lengths make sense lol and sometimes I draw these lil lines to check if the lengths of the parts that are supposed to be the same match.

If your drawing looks off, just create another layer and sketch the body (the meaty mannequin thingie) over it again. It might help you see some obvious mistakes if there are any. Some people might say it’s too much work, I call this practice lol

There are instances when I redraw some parts of the body completely. There are situations when it’s easier to do it all over again than to fix the existing sketch.

Another thing that I do is flip the image as I draw. Not very often though, you need not to get used to the flipped version of your drawing, it should be somewhat new to your eyes, this way your mistakes will be more visible to you. At least I think so…

It also helps to pay attention to details as much as you can, they make a huge difference. I still have a lot to learn about how the abs work, but like a year ago I knew nothing about them aside from “err I think there are 6 or 8 of them?? And they start below the boobs” (my boobs were also more square). After I started drawing them more often and learning how they actually work, my drawings changed accordingly. I think the right one is at least slightly better haha

So yeah, this is more or less my process. It isn’t necessary to draw 10203100 sketches and to go through all these stages, but I personally feel much more comfortable doing that because this way I can be sure that I would’ve noticed if there was a major fuckup somewhere.

To be honest, if we’re talking proportions, this image is literally the only thing you need to know.

Just keep in mind how many heads are in the human body length, how many heads can fit inside one’s torso, etc. Compare body parts to each other accordingly. Just make a habit out of checking if the proportions on your drawings are correct: make a shoulder bigger, make sure that the legs are the same size. It might be too much at first, but it’ll literally become a subconscious thing very soon, and you won’t have to actively think about all of this every time you draw. I google this image from time to time just to make sure that I’m fixing everything correctly lol

You don’t have to be exact with these proportions, but they still need to have some logic behind them. Like here, if we look at Osomatsu, who is clearly very stylized, we can still see that his body is proportionate. His shoulders are too small for his head, and his body surely doesn’t have 8 heads in its length, but he still doesn’t fall apart because there is logic behind his stylization: his arms are still long enough for him to put his hands in his pockets; they aren’t too long or too short. Hope that makes sense…

Sorry for the long read. Once again, I hope it was somewhat helpful or at least interesting. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask!

Although I’m still learning myself of course, so there are things that I probably don’t know or forgot to mention…

[iamacolor]

fashion queen! which nct era has the best fashun in ur opinion?? and if u were a designer which neos would u pick as ur models?

I was so excited to answer this that I wrote several pages and it basically turned into a style analysis for each unit so I sure hope you have some time on your hands to read everything I’ve just written! (I did not reread so sorry for any typing mistake)

NCT is known to be experimental in their music and that’s also the case in their styling so there’s a lot for me to get into even though sometimes it’s a miss. One thing I will say though is that when it comes to the styling in mv/teasers, what’s around the clothes is super important because if you have a very specific styling concept, your set design or graphic design needs to complement that and give the audience more clues on how to read all these elements together (the cherry bomb era is a great example of that with all the added graphic elements and the predominance of the colour pink) and recently I’ve found that the creative team has not really gone further than just putting nct in an outfit in front of a basic background so it makes for a pretty underwhelming result

But let’s move on to my favourite styling eras. I’m going to do this per unit (I’ll finish with NCT U) and define an era by its teaser pictures and the mv (and not go through all the performance looks during the promotion period)

I’m putting this under a read more because it’s reaaally long (I put pictures so that it’s not just one big chunk of text)

NCT 127

Easily the most experimental unit when it comes to fashion, especially in their first years where they would wear mix of sportswear, grunge references, avant-garde fashion and a lot of layers. When it comes to their debut “Firetruck”, I think it fitted the song really well but that it didn’t fit all the members equally (especially the younger ones, for me Taeyong and Taeil pulled it off the best – it’s expected of Taeyong but I also think that Taeil always stand out when they go for edgy/unconventional look, I think it really suits him).

Anyway, just to say that they were off to a very strong start and then I’m just going to kindly ignore the Limitless styling and move on to Cherry Bomb!

One thing nicely done for CB is how when you look at a group picture they’re clearly all following the same concept but they’re not necessarily matching or giving off the same vibes if you take them individually. I love the use of the colour pink which brings a) a great visual impact (you don’t ever see that much pink at once – especially on men) and b) an harmony despite the shapes and styles of their outfits being so vastly different, you’ve got ties, tousled, shirts, little frilled collars, stripes and all-over prints, sportswear and formal wear… (ex: taeyong’s short jacket is reminiscent of something a little luxurious, even maybe historical/noble with the little added embroidery-like details, it reminds me of these boleros jackets worn by toreros that are often red/gold VS doyoung’s overalls is an outfit that has a much more recent origin as it was first worn by factories workers, it’s usually blue or grey and is meant to be practical rather than pleasing to the eye -> here it fits very well with the general setting of the mv in what looks like an empty industrial storage space)

This second look is more of a game on how to deconstruct formal wear (there are less prints and no bold colours, their hair is less messy…) but they don’t just add sportswear like the bomber jacket, you can find rock or more “modern” elements with the leather jackets or the jean jackets. All in black and white so great contrast with the previous looks, although that mix and match concept is still there. My favourite elements are the checkered ones (worn by taeyong, taeil and haechan) as it reminds me of the strategy element of the chess game which fits pretty well with all the weapons and other arms visible in the mv (a bit like a nod to the game battleship)

This one I love that they developed their own print, especially since it’s another graphic element used elsewhere (see their album cover), because it’s a great way to really introduce their identity as a group, through the different visual elements they put out in a comeback, it’s like a logo but as a print. And all the teasers and the mv did a great job at mixing 2D/3D contents so that’s another nice way to be cohesive. It’s not my fave look out of the 3 (especially because I do not approve of that belt-suspenders-bag they gave Johnny, it’s like everything you don’t want to put a dancer in and it’s ugly as well) but I still like the fact that’s it’s another nod to the battle/strategy aspect of this comeback, like they’re on a mission to hit the stage and conquer it

Then fast forward to my other favourite one, Simon Says! (No teaser pictures here because they don’t show anything or they show not enough lol)

First of all THE MASKS

Oh how I wish they could’ve been shown more (imagine teasers with the members wearing them!!! I would’ve loved individual teasers based on each of the masks concepts) Once again, a great to have group concept without making everyone wear the same thing. They’re all super different and full of details. Haechan’s is the only one from what I could who’s mask is actually a mask and not a fully covering hood. The materials and techniques used on these are either evocative of “fragile” things like glass and flowers but theses elements have their own hidden strength. Some others are covered in lace, pearls, fringes or fur…all these things are usually considered to be precious or even luxurious but it covers their faces and their identity and they throw it away in rebellion (and I think it’s also super interesting how Taeyong who takes off his mask first has the least ornamented one)

Then the outfits themselves. Simon Says in an interesting MV because unlike most others they wear one outfit for most of the MV (the second one appears quite late in the mv and is lit and staged in a way that makes it less visible). It’s a mostly grey/white set of outfits which is usually a colour combo for office wear or maybe factory workers, it’s not something that can seem very exciting or edgy. The styling in these outfits reminds me of the works of Japanese designers who came to Paris in the 80’s and kind of shook the whole high fashion system by bringing a different type of shapes, aesthetic and purpose to fashion (Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto…). These designers  went on to become super successful and inspired another wave of “avant-garde” designers nicknamed “the 6 of Anvers” (Anvers is a city in Belgium), this group includes Martin Margiella, Dries Van Noten…And to me the outfits in Simon Says really fit into this aesthetic. Unconventional fits, various layers, it’s not so much mix and match than a work on contrast between structure and fluidity (Yuta’s half skirt with un-trimed edges, Haechan’s long shirt with the long bow and the fitted jacket, Mark’s top with the various see-through layers of different lengths…).

An other interesting details (which to me calls back to the mask and that tension in the song/concept of letting go/being free of expectations), is the way they all have thick strings tied on their feet/ankles. Not holding them back because their feet aren’t tied together but there’s still this clear restriction of the garment itself, a reminder that there are tied to something and not completely free (also an interesting choice when dressing dancers who would need to have no added weight or discomfort in their outfit to dance but visually something is holding their ankles)

Honorable mentions:

Kick It– they managed to create very memorable outfits while taking inspirations from already well known elements (both for the fighting/training outfits and the bomber jackets). The black and white outfits especially are very original as performance outfits/dancing clothes since the og garment they’re inspired by has already such a strong identity outside of the performing arts and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it be used as a stage outfit? Or concept? It’s a nice exemple of how you can take inspiration for something designed to be useful and to be efficient (in fighting) and turn it into an aesthetic.

Truthfully, martial art training outfit was already an “aesthetic” on its own but they made it a performance costume and now I do feel like it’s one of these looks that everyone will remember (like if there was a “most memorable kpop outfits” list it could easily have kick it’s black/white fits). The rest of the outfits for that concept weren’t as memorable/original to me although I feel like it showed a new approach to the styling of nct 127 as a group since they all had very similar outfits this time (especially when wearing the jackets).

Also, interestingly,  that shot of Jaehyun that had everyone go “wow” ? Well it’s impactful because it’s him and he looks like that and it’s shot in a very specific way, but it’s also even more impactful because he’s the only one who gets to wear that kind of outfit in the mv. Everyone else has 3 sets of outfits (black and white, shiny black, red jacket and black pants) but he has 4 and that suit is only used in that shot which makes for a greater impact!

And I feel like Kick It in terms of styling opened a new era for NCT 127 has it kind of broke their usual mix and match/edgy concept. This time they were clearly referencing something already well known (either martial arts, the 90s…), and the members were all matching and they kept on doing that with the military jackets in punch, the other 90s concept in nct 2020…

Touch – for the way the outfits match the sets (in all their individual sets their outfits have a detail in a matching colour), the focus on colours !!! You can see that this whole concept was designed with this colour game/colour progression between the outfits and the set in mind. It’s just very pleasing to the eyes and a great contrast to their usual stuffs (also I wrote my graduation paper on colours so I am really into creative use of colours like this)

OK now moving on to Dream!!

The interesting thing about Dream compared to NCT 127 is that from the beginning although their outfits had to match the song an the concept of the comeback it also had to match their age. Dream’s a group that had to look young when debuting (to the point where they wore outfits that made them look even younger than they were which is rarely done for boy groups) and then they had to transition into adulthood, and all of that had to be made visible. In that aspect, I really like the styling for We Young and Boom (especially when you look at them at the same time).

For We Young, the styling is meant to be reminiscent of school/boy scout uniforms but with a marine vibe. It makes for playful outfits that aren’t too childish but that also aren’t grown up. I prefer the “seaside” outfits as I don’t really like school uniforms as a concept for styling and I think it’s really a choice that suited them and the song so well, it really fitted their energy. It’s playful but it also has a vintage touch to it as these outfits with their stripes and their squared flap at the back date back to the XIXth century (I just found out that it all started with the queen Victoria dressing up her kid in an outfit inspired by the royal navy uniforms for a painting after a cruise ).

Boom on the other side is their first proper “grown-up” concept. We go up was already more grown up but still very “teenager-ish” and although they were mostly teenagers when they did Boom it was clear that this was supposed to be their first entry into “adulthood” as a group at least. And although they did wear a sportswear/casual outfits which is something that isn’t related to age (and I really like the black and white “skeleton” set which already feels more grown-up and more “stylish” than the other casual outfit) , they wore two other “grown-up” elements: suits and all-jean outfits.

And yeah teenagers, and kids wear jeans too but a full jean-on-jean outfit is more of a “grown-up” fashion choice and it makes them look like young men rather than boys. As for the suits, I just really love when stylists play with the codes of that garment (length of the jacket, tightness of the pants, the way the shirt is tucked in…).

Notice how Renjun has a really short jacket, Chenle’s pants are wide, Jeno has a tail…Once again, a really interesting aspect of Kpop is the variations of the same concept based on the members. In the mv, there is a tension between their more grown up selves (the one in suits, the one with a craft/a path) and their young selves (the one running around in the field, the one laying down in the flowers and eating a cake). And there is also in these outfits and the contrast between them this tension, this contrast…which path should they go? The jeans are the more laide back, innocent outfits, whereas the suits come with responsibilities and status (and you’ll notice that in the scene where jisung is left alone to blow his candle it’s when he’s wearing jeans not when he’s in the suits).

Now on to WayV!!

WayV are different from the two in the sense than when they debuted they couldn’t have an “age” concept or an edgy concept because 127 and dream had already taken those and I feel like for that reason they’re still looking for what makes them stand out visually from the others (and in my opinion it’s not in whatever they were wearing for turn back time!). WayV’s concept is space and time travel, it’s building a new life, a new worl, going beyond anything! In my mind, they’re either supposed to feel a bit “otherworldly” (either spectacular or literally like they’re from another world/another universe, a little bit futuristic maybe?) or to look like explorers/travellers (they have a lot of travel/transportation “gears” references in their outfits). Their MVs also have a very different production than the other nct mvs (the scale and the way it’s filmed, the sets…it’s a different approach and it’s usually much more “grand” for their title tracks). The great thing about WayvV styling is usually that they match the outfits well with the world that the mv is set in (like in Moonwalk for example you get a sense of the world they’re in and the fact that it’s not ours or at least not as we know it now through the way they dress – you can’t really say oh it’s inspired by this era or by this or that because -at least- to me it immediately gives me a vibe of something that could be worn in a sci-fi movie, almost like a costume) or that they allude to travel in their styling.

When they debuted with Regular they went for a very sleek and high fashion look which worked really well for them! Even their more “casual” looks were a bit striking and I think that’s very “wayv-like” to me.

Same goes for Take Off where they mix the individual styles (and I don’t like ten’s leopard fur sleeveless jacket at all) and the group concepts – the “flying” outfits and the “racing” outfits (that last one is my favourite! I love the silhouette it creates with the tight pants and the larger tops with an emphasis on the waist).

There’s something a bit extra to WayV - which is why some of their outfits remind me of costumes more than fashion while at the same time they’re the most “high fashion” unit– like the “flying” outfit in Take Off are recognizable as “flying gear” but you can’t really tell what they’re flying, it feels once again like something that they could wear in like star wars or a similar kind of story.

Imagine a movie about 7 men on another planet trying to come together to overcome the dark forces or whatever’s bad on their planet in a futuristic society with a mix of “traditional” and “trendy” outfits? That’s WayV. The movie the 5th Sense? That’s WayV but on steroids. They’re also the only group with actual characters in their mvs, they’re all supposed to have a backstory or an individual setting and find a way to get together in their mvs.

Anyway all that to say that it’s hard for me to pick an era for them because they’ve only had a few and they still feel like they’re looking to solidify their concept, and since moonwalk and turn back time really set the styling in different worlds than ours, you have to look at how they fit in that world rather than ours and I think Moonwalk does it best since it’s the most cohesive one visually. But then I think Regular had the best individual styling!

Okay this is super long but we’re finally getting to NCT U!!!!

Number one favourite:

The Year Party outfits!!!! I’ve already talked about this but I love when they say we’ll put them in suits and then since they have to make a different one for each of them they cut bits an dpieces of the suits here and there, play with lengths. It’s not a revolutionary concept but in terms of searching for a shape, searching for variations of an already so famous, so well-known garment (everyone has seen a suit, and so many designers have already deconstructed it and then put it back together and so on) it’s so nice, it’s almost like a full collection given how many members there are and it’s just a good tailoring work.It almost feel like an exercise of how many variations of an outfit can you think of? And it looks fun to do! It’s all about the details and the way the layers are set together.

The accessories add to the “formal attire” aspect of it. It almost has a ceremonial look to it. A bit of royalty with the futuristic vibe usually associated with WayV. The dark blue suits were pretty classic, the most interesting details (for me at least) were on the light blue ones. Especially since it’s a rare colour to find in formal wear or in ceremonial wear. In general, I feel like it’s a pretty rare colour in fashion outside of like shirts and baby clothes? I think it was a great styling choice for a content like the year party although I do wish they (either NCT or WayV who’ve touched upon this kind of outfit a bit already) would do a full comeback with this kind of styling (like the lighter version of the black and green outfits in SuperM’s One). It’s not revolutionary but it was something new for NCT and I really hope they use that elegant/futuristic concept once again.

Also in these outfits, the jewelry is super important and adds to the “grand” aspect of these outfits. The concept is that these aren’t ordinary outfits for ordinary men, we’re witnessing something “special” and so they aren’t wearing their usual jewels either (of course the big chains are still there but differently look at that necklace jaehyun is wearing)

Honorable mention:

Boss & Baby Don’t Stop (they’re different but they go together in my mind lol). Look at them in their uniforms! And also they had doyoung wearing these sunglasses

Ok I think I’m done, if you’ve made it this far thank you so much and I hope it was a nice read!!

As for who would I chose as my models…it really depends on what I’d make them wear tbh for menswear the things I’d like to design would either be something like formal wear or knitwear – I’d pick Lucas, Taeyong and Doyoung (I think they’re the most model-like members and could pull off pretty much anything even my non-edgy concept because I can’t do that lol and they pose very well) and then depending on the concept I’d pick between Winwin, Jaehyun, Kun, Jungwoo, Taeil, Haechan and Shotaro (the way I struggled to remember all the members at once…there are too many really)

[stopeatingwhales]

stargazing x graham coxon

yes, i’m back again with another graham fic! this was heavily inspired by the submarine ep by alex turner, a very beautiful, lyrical masterpiece which i definitely recommend you listen to if you haven’t already :)

Paring: 90s graham coxon x reader

Warnings: nothing again 

Word count: 1.886

Requested by anon, happy late birthday x

༉‧₊˚✧

Summer in England was something everyone craved. The agonisingly horrible winter days where you’d stiffly trek to the train station for work wrapped up with all sorts of things to maintain your body heat were abominable. Having to put on countless amounts of layers just to get a bag of crisps from the shop down the road was a nightmare, and everyone was sick of it. When the short summer months rolled round, we were all either sweating drearily in our homes or practically naked on the streets. As we rarely ever got sun in England, having it out once in a while with a clear blue sky was gratifying. It was a concept, without the crowded beaches or humid restaurants - due to the amount of people cramming in them - the hot days felt eerie. Everyone was out, until the sun went down for hibernation for a few short hours. 

I personally loved summer nights the best, especially on my birthday. The streets were empty, the only noise you’re able to hear is the short whistles of cars racing by on a motorway a few miles off. The echoing sound of an insect, perhaps a fly, buzzing quietly as it searches for a new settlement for the evening. The whistling noise of polluted air heaving past my face and occasionally in my eyes. My favourite thing in the world was gazing at the atmosphere as it gradually inked darker, admiring the small specs of light that had progressively gotten brighter - the stars. In summer I felt the stars always shone a little brighter. A little more luminous. I was able to identify any star constellation that ever so slightly patterned the skies; my liking for the heavens had me so hooked I ended up finding out all I could about them.

It was my birthday today, and I had hoped I could spend it with Graham, doing the exact thing I loved most. Sadly enough I was unable to do anything today, due to me having to go to work for the most part and Graham only coming back from his band rehearsals around two or something hours ago. Weekdays were usually like this, us both having practically no communication until the late evenings when he would come home from yet another draining day of recording.

Sighing, I came to my senses and stopped glooming my eyes through the kitchen window. It was 10pm, so the skies were somber enough to identify any ball of gas - my want for going out and watching the stars growing the more I pondered about it. The window was opened slightly, the light breeze scraping the little camouflaged hairs on my arms. It was soft, delicate, almost like the air that escapes someones’ mouth when they’re whispering. Gentle. Fragile. Mellowed. Sometimes the wind would pick up, the soft grazing turning into scruffy drags, forming goosebumps on my forearms. I loved it; I loved how simple howls of the wind formed strong structures on my body. Just like the stars, I could sit and admire nature as a whole for days.

Exiting the kitchen, I dropped my empty coffee mug in the sink. My hand caressed my arms softly, grating on small itches that had assembled on them earlier. Strolling into the living room, I stood by the doorway, biting my tongue as I watched my boyfriend Graham, tune his acoustic. I pondered whether I should leave him to it, he seemed extremely preoccupied by something as he always was - which was music. I knew how much being a famous rock star was debilitating him, especially when he wasn’t the centre of attention, putting tolls on his mental health. I felt for him deeply; watching your bandmates receive much more love than you do would definitely hurt, even so as a lead guitarist. 

“Hey, love,” I muttered, my head leaning on the door frame. I watched his head jolt up; he didn’t hear my quiet footsteps to the entrance of the room. “Hehe sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” 

He smiled slightly, echoing a small ‘hey’, before carrying on with his same doings. I bit my lip in thought, wondering whether I should say something or leave the room to let him do his thing. 

When about five minutes - which felt like two hours - passed by, I chose to speak up. “Wanna go and watch the stars for a bit?” I asked, seeing his head rise up from his instrument once again. God, his eyes are so alluring.

It was clear there was a lot on his mind, and the question lingering in the room peppered in his mind until he spoke up. “Yeah alright,” he answered, nodding also. Shifting his guitar to stand on the arm of the sofa he was sitting on, he pushed it away from his body, standing up. He stretched his arms out slightly, as he had been fixated in that same position for god knows how long. He seemed tired, exhausted perhaps, causing a small feeling of guilt to pit in my stomach, my mind forcing myself to push past it quickly. 

A small smile formed on my mouth as I marvelled at his appearance. His hair was just the right amount of messiness, it framing his face perfectly. His eyes softly squinted together, ultimately showing that he was making the most out of his stretch. His lips, forced together to stifle a yawn, in an attempt to hide his tiredness from me. His features were so enthralling. He was always so graceful, my body physically incapable of understanding why he found himself ugly; all he seems to ever be is the most graceful of them all.   

“Come on then,” he said, pushing my body lightly, helping me gain my consciousness again. “You always zone out,” he laughed, resulting in me rolling my eyes at his remark. The only reason I seem to space out so much is because of you, Graham. You and your flawless beauty.

After we left the flat, we began walking up the stairs to the roof of the building. My pace was slightly quicker than Graham’s - my excitement had consumed me entirely. I grabbed hold of his hand, trying to pull him up as I swept the endless amounts of steps, feeling the grip of his palm tighten around my hand as I paced faster. Our flat was nearer to the bottom of the building, meaning the jog up to the top was usually a tiresome one. My legs were beginning to give out, but I never halted. The adrenaline rushed through my veins - I felt as if I was chasing for the stars, and I was chasing them with the one person I adored most. 

Eventually, we managed to reach the roof, both of us inevitably out of gasping for air. My gaze turned to him, our eyes connecting as we stared at each other wholeheartedly. I tiredly beamed at him, him exchanging the same, as my view shifted to lock eyes with the stars. I let out a breathy sigh of satisfaction; we hadn’t done this together in ages, and I missed having endless conversations about whatever escaped our mouths. He was truly a remarkable person to be around, and I was ever so grateful to be able to call him my boyfriend. 

I proceed to lay on the ground, not caring whether any trace of dirt had entwined in my locks. My eyes fixated on the sky above me, the tired smile stilled on my face. I watched Graham do the same through my peripheral, lying down close to me, our arms touching. Squeezing up to him, I grabbed the hand that was touching mine gently, and cradled it with both my hands on my stomach. I ran my index fingers over every vein, every bump of a bone, every piece of skin I could mount to. “Your hands are so beautiful,” I mumbled.

Graham didn’t reply. Instead, he bit his top lip and blushed. I knew he wasn’t going to answer, and I didn’t want him to; I wanted to savour the moment as it was. We rarely were able to just have the clocks stop for a second, not care about what time it was, or whether we had to sleep early for our jobs the following day. It’s like the summer, you never know when you were able to just sit there and let the sun bake you, the unexpected clouds seaming over you just as you thought you had time to yourself. 

Exhaling softly, I shifted my gaze to the twinkling night sky. The darkened colour of the empyrean, glinted with small dazzles of light, fell over me as I drew my eyes to the moon. I stared at it, analysing the aged, grey patterns that decorated it on the only face that was known to man. “I missed this,” I heaved, grabbing hold of his hand again, this time intertwining our fingers together. I felt Graham’s eyes on me, but I didn’t budge. The relishing feeling of his stare roast my body and my face together evoked a sense of warmth within me, something I had never felt before with anyone, but him. 

The silence that fell upon us spoke for itself. It wasn’t a disturbing, unsavory one, it was a blissful, comforting one. It was the kind of silence you could fall asleep to, the silence you feel safe and enclosed by. It was the epiphany of actions speaking louder than words, and I absolutely adored it. 

“Y/n, can I tell you something?” Graham asked, causing me to lock eyes with him. 

“Of course you can,”

He breathed in for a few seconds, before exhaling a breath that was longly needed for an escape. I smiled at him, his beautiful globes of mercury connecting with mine. “I love you more than life,” he whispered, cradling my face in his hands. I smiled at him dearly, my eyes filled entirely with nothing but adoration for him. 

Copying his actions, I held his face with my small palms. My eyes tearing up as his words repeated countless amounts of times in my head. “Don’t love anything more than life,” I muttered, taking a brief moment to delight the moment before nonchalantly reaching to kiss his pretty lips. I grasped hold of him like a candy tasting so divine you suck on it to have the sensational taste for longer. The feeling of our mouths colliding sparked thrills throughout my entire body. The way our tongues brushed against one anothers, so sweet it turned bitter. 

We both pulled away out of breath, our eyes now wide open, staring into each others’ souls. I felt completely and utterly exposed to him in all ways possible, like my shield of clothing was not enough for him to not see the miles of skin laid underneath. I admired him, my mouth wide open as I panted for oxygen to fill my throat from the poisonous kiss. Everyday I fell more and more in love with this man, words unable to explain how much he impacted my life for the better.

“Happy birthday,” he said, smiling with that toothy smile of his. We both turned to gape at the skies once again, hugging each others’ bodies.

[booksncoffee]

booksncoffee’s banner tutorial

hello, everyone! this will be my very first banner tutorial so i apologise in advance if my explanations aren’t clear enough (although, you’re more than welcome to message me for clarifications!). 

disclaimer: i do not own any of the pictures or colourings used in this banner. 

without further ado, let’s get right into it! 

step 1: open a new document with 650x200 as the size (you can go for 500x200, but 650x200 is the one that i usually use for my banners)

step 2: once a blank document has been opened, place image 1 and image 2 side by side. it’ll look like this:

extra note: as for the background, i try to use pictures that go with the vibe of the banner or the fic. that said, it’s not necessary as you can always play with the colourings later on to make sure everything looks cohesive.

step 3: add vector mask to image 2 so you can erase some parts of it in order to ensure that it blends well with the other picture. use the brush tool to erase and make sure to set the hardness of the brush to 0. this is how it’ll look like once you’ve done erasing some parts:

step 4: add texture 1 and texture 2. change texture 1 from normal to soft light and texture 2 from normal to screen. 

step 5: add laura’s and niall’s pictures and place them behind the textures. add vector mask to both of their pictures like in step 3 and then erase the background of both pictures. since they’re behind the textures, you can get away with a slightly messy erase. i also add vector mask for both textures and erase the areas of laura and niall’s faces using the brush tool. this is how it’ll look:

step 6: add this stars texture to both sides and change them from normal > screen.

step 7: time for text! this is definitely personal preferences, but i like to place my text in between my characters as i think it draws more attention that way. that said, you can place your text wherever you want, there’s no rule in that. as for this banner i use, yasmin rothem for invisible and axis for strings. i make two layers of each text and use the colour white and #bfb188.

step 8: i add this image on the left side of the banner as i want it to look fuller rather than empty there. again, add vector mask, erase the lower part of the image so it’ll look like this:

see the minor difference between this image and the above image? 

step 9: add colorings! i use psd 1 and psd 2. for psd 1 i change the opacity to 35% and psd 2 to 50%. this is how it’ll look like.

step 10: if you have topaz clean, go on topaz clean. but first you must create layer of all of the images you’ve used by clicking command + option + shift + e (that’s for mac, i’m not sure about windows, sorry!) these are the settings i use on topaz: clean: strength (0), threshold (0.68) radius 10. edges: accent (2), radius (1.96), sharpness (0.20). when you’re done with topaz, create another layer so you can sharpen the image. this is how it’ll look like:

it’s supposed to look brighter but tumblr makes the image look less vibrance but anyway that’s besides the point because the point is, you’re done!

i hope this will be able to help you in banner making and like i said above, if you need any help or you have any questions for clarifications, hit me up. 

[readyforit]

hiii abby!! can you post a tutorial for how you make edits like your latest one? the url edit fro taylorswifh? it’s so prettyyy

♡ edit tutorial for this edit, requested by anon ♡

hiii so! this is quite long, but that’s because I wanted to capture my whole entire process to hopefully help you! I used photoshop (2018) for this tutorial, and all the resources I used are listed here (everything except for photoshop is free)! I’ve sort of split this tutorial up into sections, by the different steps. thank you and have a lovely day!! ♡

so before I begin, I always think about the edit, like what I want the final outcome to look like (or if I don’t know what that’ll look like yet, what direction I want it to go in, the main themes/ideas/colour schemes that I have). I personally love using a minimalist range of colours, all of them being light and pastel (that’s just my personal liking though). I also consider the main themes or ideas that I want to translate through my edit. you also need to have the passion and desire to edit, I’ve learned that there’s nothing more draining than editing when you really don’t want to. so I think that you should think about all these things before starting!!

tip; put on some music, it gets your creativity and thinking flowing if you’re in a good mood ldkjkl

so! when creating the edit; first of all, I created a new document in photoshop - 540 x 300 pixels for this specific edit (just because that shows up as high quality on tumblr, but it doesn’t really matter!) when you click ‘create’, a white canvas should open up.

— creating the book

next! I used a book psd for my edit, which you can find and download here!! so I just opened that psd up (a psd is just a photoshop file that has like all the layers in place so it’s not just one photo);

when you open the file up, this is how it should look (well not really, because I’d edited it to look like this, but it should have this general layout);

now what you have to do is sort of literally drag the file out and then, drag all the layers from that file into your white canvas, like this;

— giffing

I just wanted to quickly mention that giffing is definitely an optional step. I do it in pretty much all of my edits, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re just beginning to edit, because giffing takes the most time and it can be really draining and messy if not done right ldkjd.

to create my gifs, I use youtube videos, which I download through 4k video downloader (it’s really simple with 4k, you just have to copy the youtube link and paste it into the app!). so to open up a video, go to ‘file’ then ‘import’ and finally ‘video frames to layers’;

once you’ve chosen the video you want to use, open that up (don’t know why that’s so blurry dlkjdlj but you get the idea);

now this should pop up! make sure it’s on ‘selected range only’ and then use the toggles at the bottom to select the specific part of the video that you want to use (I usually gif about 20 frames because it’s sooo much work for me to do more than that lkdjldj)

when you’re in the file, go to ‘window’ then ‘timeline’ for the gif to show up frame by frame;

now highlight the specific frames that you want by literally dragging across them with the timeline bar at the bottom. then click the three bars on the top right of the bar, and click ‘copy frames’;

now go back to your book psd file, and at the timeline bar at the bottom, click ‘create frame animation’;

click on the three bars on the top right of the timeline bar and paste the frames over the selection;

your file should now look something like this! to resize the gif, just press command + t and adjust it from there!

now to give it the effect that it’s a part of the book, you have to create a clipping mask (so it sort of clips onto the book layer like a paper clip). to do this, select all the layers of the gif, drag it right above the layer that you want to clip it onto (the page constraint layer in this case). then right click the gif layers and click ‘create clipping mask’;

as a result, your layers should now look like this. you can use command + t again to adjust the gif size;

tip; press command + g to group the layers together so they take up less space!

now, with your gif, this step is pretty tiring and takes forever dlkdjl, but for the layer to show up in every frame of the gif, you have to click on the box button on the left of each layer so that an eye shows up. you can also press the eye button at the top of the settings, in the unify bar, so that it stays visible throughout the entire gif. I don’t know if I’m explaining it properly dlkdjl but just go through every layer and press the box so an eye shows up.

sometimes the unify button doesn’t work for some reason, and you’ll have to manually go through every single frame just to click on the eye button. it’s excruciating, but it’s worth it in the end lkdjdl

this is how your edit should look now!

now what I do is apply a psd (sort of like a filter) so it looks softer and prettier! these days, all of the psds that I apply come from this lovely pack!

in the same way that you dragged your book psd in, drag the psd *folder* into your edit;

your edit should now look like this!

— adding the photo

now’s the fun part! you can add whatever you want to, but what I did in my edit was I cut out a photo of taylor. now what you can do if you’re running short of time is find a transparent photo of taylor on google or on deviantart, but if you want to take the time to actually crop the photo out like me (even though I’m horrible at it), here’s how I do it! first find the photo you’d like to crop out. I usually use taylorpictures, they have the most high quality photos of taylor!

so find the photo you want to use, copy it;

then just paste it into your edit;

use command + t again to adjust the size;

and now to crop it out, what I do is use the quick selection tool, which is this button right here;

in this mode, you can easily just select the part of taylor that you want to cut out (that sounds weird lkjd);

at the top, there should be a bar with a number of buttons, one of them being ‘select and mask’;

if you click on that, you should be taken to another page, similar to this;

now you can play with the settings on the right, then press ‘ok’ when you’re happy with it (the numbers change for each photo and your style, it entirely depends on how you want it to look);

now you should be back to your edit, click on the ‘add layer mask’ button on the bottom left of your page;

and taylor should now be cropped out from her background!

make sure all the layers are below the psd pack, including the photo of taylor that you just cropped out;

now for the colouring!! ‘selective colour’ is your best friend, and you can find that button here, in your adjustments (if you can’t find your adjustments, go to window > adjustments);

add a clipping mask (by right clicking the layer and clicking ‘create clipping mask’) of the selective colour onto the layer you want to colour, so that it only affects that one layer;

then on the selective colour panel, you can adjust the specific colours in that layer to your liking;

in addition, you can press command + u to change the whole colour scheme, saturation and lightness of the layer. make sure to press ‘ok’ when you’re done;

basically just play around with the colouring until you’re happy with it!

if you want it to look more realistic, you can also play around with the effects (I use layer effects all the time, they’re the best) on the layers bar, so the layer blends into the layers below it, like this;

— adding decoration

now you can decorate your little piece of work with whatever you’d like to, such as a background colour (layer > new fill layer > solid colour) ;

a texture (textures are honestly so amazing and you can find them all over tumblr and google; like you can search the word ‘texture’ up and then paste it into your edit);

I usually place my texture at the top of the edit, then use one of the effects to blend it into all the layers;

final embellishments!! this step is optional you can add anything else that you’d like to, such as pngs (you can search these up on google and paste them into your edit, or find psd packs on tumblr and drag them in). again, you can add selective colour and a layer effect to these layers;

tip; finding already transparent images saves sooo much time, so try doing that instead of cropping the image out.

text;

tip; use a new layer for each line!

and so on. the flowers that I used come from this pack and the wax seal stamp comes from this pack from the beautiful @newrcmantlcs​!! my main advice is to just play around with everything till you’re happy with it. don’t be afraid of deleting something or starting over completely if you’re not.

— giffing again

now to control the speed of the gif, highlight all of the frames, then click on the tiny dropdown button and change the speed to however fast or slow you want each frame to be. I usually make mine 0.1 seconds, but it’s completely up to you (and worth testing it out to see what speed you prefer!)

when you’re happy with everything, it’s time to sharpen it! first, you have to convert the frames to a video timeline, and do this by clicking on the button on the bottom left of the timeline bar.

your timeline should now look like this. everyone’s process is different, like some people like to start off their whole edit with a video timeline, but I find it a lot easier to start with a frame animation then convert it when I’m done with everything.

now to sharpen (in this case at least, sometimes I add a grainy effect instead) it, highlight the layers that you want to sharpen;

then click filter > convert for smart filters. this will turn your layers into one layer.

tip; if you do something you don’t like, command + z!!

now go to filter > sharpen > sharpen;

and your gif should now be sharpened! you can simply go to filter > sharpen if you want to sharpen a layer that isn’t a gif. play around with your edit a bit more until you’re happy, and finally, add a watermark if you’re going to post it online!

finallyyyyy! to save, go to file > export > save for web, if it’s a gif. if it’s a static photo, just click ‘save as’!

and yayyyy, you just finished an edit!!!!!

ahhh so this was my tutorial on how I created this specific edit, I hope it helped! If you create something similar or follow this tutorial, I’d loveee to see it; so if you post it on tumblr, you can tag me with #tuserabigail, or you can just dm me!

my process usually isn’t this rigid or precise, I usually edit on a tangent and in cluttered daydreams, it’s never like “oh, I have to make a gif now” or “ahh it’s time to add a texture!” so really, it’s just about playing around with your edit until you like it! it’s definitely okay to skip some steps or do things in a different order, because like I said, everyone has a different process, and this was just mine for this one specific edit (my process changes all the time too ldkdljk)

anyway, I hope this helped, and thank you!! ♡

[simptasia]

ultimate ship meme ask <3 for science trio!

ah, thank you! i’m so sorry it took me this long to respond, i didn’t mean for 2 bloody weeks to pass. i kept procrastinating or being too tired

daniel + charlotte + miles

General:

Rate the Ship Awful | Ew | No pics pls | I’m not comfortable | Alright | I like it! | Got Pics? | Let’s do it! | Why is this not getting more attention?! | The OT3 to Rule all other OT3s

How long will they last? 

eternity and then some

How quickly did/will they fall in love?

daniel @ charlotte, i’m thinking like a week or so. kinda hit him like a bullet

charlotte @ daniel, two or three weeks

daniel @ miles, somewhere from a couple of months to a year

charlotte @ miles, in living timeline didn’t happen, in limboverse, i’ll give her 3 months. and she loved him as a friend already anyways. i imagine it’s her who brings miles into the fold, allowing the sci trio to be fully realised

miles @ daniel and charlotte, oh Fuck Knows. it happens, but [shrugs]. and i like the idea that miles didn’t realise he was in love with daniel and charlotte (and sawyer and juliet) until waaay after their time together. like he falls in love with richard and then The Power Of Hindsight kinda fucks him over

(and for anybody who gets snippy saying that “a couple of weeks is too quick to fall in love!” or some shit: my bf fell in love with me in 2 weeks, and for me it took a month. so nyeh. also hurley/libby, sayid/shannon and charlie/claire)

How was their first kiss?

all of these take place in limboverse

daniel/charlotte: so i imagine this happens like right after they Remember, so emotions are running high and char is like “i’m gonna do something i should have done when we were alive” and just sorta grabs dan’s face and <3

and dan is stunned for a second and then sinks into it. you know that lovely trope of somebody being kissed and their eyes are open and then they practically melt closed from the kissy feelings. and they’re soulmates and this has been a long time coming and i feel cliche but uh, fireworks

daniel/miles: so the three of them have started Their Thing and like, they’re in a sexual relationship now but because char started this, dan is unsure about like, do him and miles do... stuff... together too? is that a thing? they were all touching each other during The Event. plus dan isn’t exactly sure how he feels about miles, but he’s been slowly getting more attracted to him over time. and also dan’s never been with a guy before. so yeah dan is overthinking things and meanwhile, miles is like “if he’s up for it, i’m down” but keeping his distance because like, it’s dan and he doesn’t know if dan is into him

that was a long build up to say, eventually the dan/miles side of the triangle does get figured out and after a moment of awkwardness dan kisses miles, tentative at first and then That Spark happens and they both get into it. at one moment miles pulls back just a bit and dan deliriously like... chases his mouth. because it turns out kissing miles is awesome. and miles notes dan’s a good kisser too, and dan isn’t even offended at the surprised in miles’ tone. 

so in short, dan and miles’ first kiss went on for longer than miles expected because dan got tingly soup brain

also in both of dan’s first kisses with these two he kept his hands to himself outta 1. not thinking clearly because Mouth Things and 2. awkwardness. both char and miles had to grab dan’s hands and place them upon themselves, to remind him, you have these, please use them (there’s a line i give char: “i think you’d find i have many lovely things below my shoulders, dan”). from then on, dan is Characteristically Handsy. annnnyways!

charlotte/miles: it was very shortly after they met actually. pierre introduced them at the museum and there was attraction yes, but also this spark which they both wordlessly acknowledge. when pierre has left (just to get coffee hjjdhasa), they talk for a bit and then casually agree to go somewhere private. a coat check room. they got hit with familiarity and both of them being the type of people who have casual sex that information translated into “i’m gonna fuck this person now”

so basically their first kiss was messy, frantic, impulsive, clothes quickly being taken off, etc etc. thats how their friends with benefits thing started, even before they were friends, really. this was years ago and they became besties

Wedding:

in this set-up, it’d be dan and char getting married

Who proposed?

dan, technically but it wasn’t a surprise. marriage was something both of them discussed for a while before and char was the one who brought it up

(and here is where she jokes “you know what my mum would say about me marrying an american” and daniel gets an Awful Feeling from that)

Who is the best man/men?

well, miles, of course. richard is also one of the groomsman <3

Who is the braid’s maid(s)?

Why Weren’t You Allowed To Have Lady Friends

and besides that, most of the available women in lost have Moved On

annnnd i just remembered char has two sisters. chelsea and chloe

Who did the most planning?

char. it’s not that dan doesn’t care, it’s just she just has more preferences. patterns and colours and things like that. but they all pitch in at least a little

tho miles is the least help. at one point char holds up two swatches for bridesmaids dresses and asks which one he likes more (she’ll decide herself, she just wants Interaction, for her nerves) and miles doesn’t look up from his magazine and says “the left one”. char is annoyed and he says “whichever one is closest to purple”. they’re each a shade of green and blue

Who stressed the most?

oh, char. she never thought she’d get married so she’s never really emotionally prepared herself for it. or for planning a event like this. she isn’t paitent with people she doesn’t already like so dealing with wedding business people has been a task. and just. marriage isn’t stressful, weddings are. which is why dan is gonna be a good boy and absolutely help. and miles is also helping...

char: and how exactly have you been helping??

miles: [serious tone] i’m the plucky comic relief

char: [death glare]

miles: ...i’ll go pick up the flowers

- later -

daniel: heeey miles, you know how you and charlotte like to playfully snipe at each other? ...you can’t do that right now, she’s kinda stressed

miles: [wheeling in dozens of lillies] yeah, i figured that

char, from the other room: WHY ARE CAKES SO FUCKING EXPENSIVE

How fancy was the ceremony?

Back of a pickup truck | 2 | 3 | 4 | Normal Church Wedding | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Kate and William wish they were this big.

i’ll give this a 7 outta 10 on the “ooh aah” scale. oh yeah they could absolutely afford a huge fuck off wedding but they didn’t want one. also another reason they didn’t have a Huge Wedding is that dan, char and miles legit don’t know enough people i always picture their wedding happens in like a park. a nice one. and there’s a real prevalant flower motif happening here. arch covered in flowers, petals on the ground, lotsa white lillies about. there’s a real English Garden / cottage aesthetic vibe to this. char’s got a flower in her hair and i just decided her wedding dress has like cloth white flowers on it, not all over it. so like, the whole thing is cute and elegant  and flowery and more expensive than it looks. the main colours being used are white, light blue and lilac

oh oh, the cake is chocolate on the inside! and it’s white (duh) but with lilac flower trim around each layer. char never planned for a wedding before but once she adjusted to the idea she was like “this is gonna be really really pretty”

Who was specifically not invited to the wedding?

eloise. no explanation needed

Sex:

Who is on top?

well, everybody who can be, has been. char has defo given dan and miles the strap. the least toppage going on is dan topping miles. very rarely happens

Who is the one to instigate things?

well, char is the Most instigate-y and dan is the least instigate-y, with miles in the middle. and damn if that doesn’t sum up their dynamic

How healthy is their sex life?

Barely touch themselves let alone each other | 2 | 3 | 4 | Once a couple weeks, nothing overboard | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They are humping each other on the couch right now

gonna give them all, overall, a reasonable eight. it happens a Lot, but it’s not a crazy amount. (except when dan and char are trying for a baby, then dan is... dan is... lovingly tenderized)

there’s diff variables (heh) at play here, but for the most part theres quite a bit of sex going all around. so yeah, their neighbours don’t like them very much, because char is Really Really Loud and easily satisfied

How kinky are they?

Straight missionary with the lights off | 2 | 3 | 4 | Might try some butt stuff and toys | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Don’t go into the sex dungeon without a horse’s head

that 8 is via the power of char and miles’ kinky tastes

dan is decidedly more vanilla but willing to try new things. and he’s got some latent kinks/fetishes hiding in him that these two bring out of him

i’ve gone into this many times but basically char is into being dominating, miles loves pain and as far as dan’s brain is concerned, Charlotte Is A Fetish

there’s more going on than that, but i’m being succint

How long do they normally last?

miles doesn’t last notably long, or notably short. but he seems like a real stayer in comparison to dan and charlotte. char comes quickly and repeatedly

dan, oh dan, he’s not. he’s not lasting long. this is not bad thing. he was worried about it at first but char is a-okay with this. she wuvs her boy. and besides, he has pretty good recovery. so second round if the first round was like a bit “oh”

dan is sensitive (and autistic!), sex is a Lot for him. anyways miles has defo joked about these two cumming at the drop of a hate. another reason the neighbours are annoyed, Please Go To Sleep Charlotte (nyet)

Do they make sure each person gets an equal amount of orgasms?

nobody here is unsatisified

How rough are they in bed? -

Softer than a butterfly on the back of a bunny | 2 | 3 | 4 | The bed’s shaking and squeaking every time | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Their dirty talk is so vulgar it’d make Dwayne Johnson blush. Also, the wall’s so weak it could collapse the next time they do it

on this scale, i’m giving dan/char a 2 to 4, char/miles a 5 to 10 and dan/miles a 3 to 6. and all together oh... anything could happen

the general “rule” is Take It Easy On Dan, He’s Delicate

How much cuddling/snuggling do they do?

No touching after sex | 2 | 3 | 4 | A little spooning at night, or on the couch, but not in public | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | They snuggle and kiss more often than a teen couple on their fifth date to a pillow factory

so much. so much cuddle snuggle uwuwuwuwu no no get back here miles you cannot escape, come back here and be loved

dan is a major cuddler, very tactile, char is pretty affectionate. miles used to be “meh” on affection but he’s warm to it these three cuddling in bed lives rent free in my head 24/7

Children:

How many children will they have naturally?

i’ve given dan and char 4 kids (three girls and a boy). penny, ada, marie and isaac. i’ve made charts about this

hypothetically, like in sims, i’ve given char and miles a daughter but i’m not commited to that idea, like i don’t have that in my Internal Canon

but he’s their papa too, emotionally <3

How many children will they adopt?

none, unless you count rats

Who gets stuck with the most diapers?

dan’s job requires the least Work, so he’s at home more often, so yeah

Who is the stricter parent?

char, but she’s not strict strict, this is just in comparison to daniel “but i can’t say mean things to my babies” faraday and miles “wanna learn how to shoplift?” straume. she’s not a Mean Nagging Mum stereotype tho, i won’t allow it

Who stops the kid(s) from doing dangerous stunts after school?

dan and char are Equally “you can’t be doing stuff like this, it’s not safe” whilst miles is lowkey encouraging it. but after a stern look he has to admit riding a scooter on the school roof is kinda fucked up. like miles is... miles but he doesn’t want his babies like actually hurt, he’s still a good dad

Who remembers to pack the lunch(es)?

dan dan the photographic memory man

Who is more likely to attend the PTA meetings?

char, because i think that’d be really funny. and i want all of them to go to at least one meeting together, because they heard some bitch refer to their daughter marie as “that weird child” and that she warned her children to keep away from dan, char and miles kids. and also she refered to dan, char and miles as “deviants” cuz she feels kids shouldn’t have three parents

soooo char is going to publicly cut her down. verbally and viciously. dan and miles are also angery but they’re there to make sure char doesn’t actually physically beat this woman. and also this final caveat:

miles: [eating a sad looking muffin] and your muffins suck too

Who cried the most at graduation?

char but dan and miles are crying too

Who is more likely to bail the child(ren) out of trouble with the law?

MILES IS A COP!!! and it’s never felt so good until the moment ada got busted for drinking at a party when she was only 17. oh miles isn’t that abusing your authority? “yeah but every cop does that, i may as well do it for my kid”

yeah, that crime is  the worst thing i could think of for this, i don’t think these people’s kids would do like actual bad crimes

Cooking:

Who does the most cooking?

you know, i tend to picture miles cooking the most. my typical default for imagining char and miles chatting is that they’re in the kitchen, she’s holding tea and he’s making something on the stove. typically mac & cheese. or bacon

but really i think they all cook a decent amount

Who is the most picky in their food choice?

dan because he’s autistic and has some medical requirements, like my esoteric headcanon that he cannot digest meat at all

Who does the grocery shopping?

char and miles are more used to it, whilst i imagine dan has barely set foot in a grocery store in his life. but upon, like, being a grown up, he starts going more with char and miles and he likes it, for the most part. the lights are a bitch, tho

i think dan does it the least, miles the most, and char and miles go together more often than not. oh, and when char is out of pads and she forgot to stock up, miles is the designated Get Me Pads And Painkillers You Bastard man

tho that trope always confused me, as somebody who has at least 5 packages of pads in my pad drawer at all times. are there really period having people who don’t stock up ahead of time and have to ask their significant other?

but i digress

How often do they bake desserts?

not notably often, but i’ve defo imagined miles making Special Brownies

which daniel proceeded to eat all of in a fit of I’m Suddenly Very Hungry

what’s that puddle over there? oh it’s just dan

but anyways thinking on this, i can see these three making a cake together. and it goes a little wonky because their kitchen is small and Too Many Cooks. but a flat chocolate cake is a cake nonetheless. monch

Are they more of a meat lover or a salad eater?

dan: salad, the other option is No Good, so my boy is a vegetarian

char: i’ve made her more a meat lover than a veggie lover (tis her love of a proper English Breakfast) but not overally so

miles: defo likes meat (and savoury things in general) over salad. he’s not one of those guys whose a dickhead about it tho. veggies are just alright to him

tho i can see miles teasing dan about his “rabbit food diet” (which isn’t even apt because rabbits aren’t in the habit of mainlining noodles and pasta)

Who is more likely to surprise the other(s) with an anniversary dinner?

aaahh this feels like something dan would do, he wants to be ~womantic~

Who is more likely to suggest going out?

char, the extroverted outdoorsy one

Who is more likely to burn the house down accidently while cooking?

dan because he got distracted by something. like he was cooking something in the oven and then some Musical Thoughts overtake him and he’s gotta write it down and wait 30 minutes have past OH GOD THE PIE BEEP BEEP BEEP

Chores:

Who cleans the room?

The Room. the Singular Room

anyways they all clean, it’s not very interesting to think about

Who is really against chores?

none of them. miles will half-heartedly complain sometimes but he grew up used to helping out around the house

Who cleans up after the pets?

dan and char clean up after their rats and cat because they are responsible pet owners. and char will clean miles’ wounds because jean-luc is a bastard cat

Who is more likely to sweep everything under the rug?

what kind of idiot... No!

Who stresses the most when guests are coming over?

i can’t see this, like any of them getting stressed about that

Who found a dollar between the couch cushions while cleaning?

miles’ dollar now

Misc:

Who takes the longer showers/baths?

dan takes longer showers, char takes longer baths

Who takes the dog out for a walk?

no dog, only kitty. kitties don’t go for walks

How often do they decorate the room/house for the holidays?

ohh i imagine char decks the place out for christmas. she loves christmas because good family memories. and also she has knitted christmas jumpers for her boys (and cat). christmas and halloween is the only major holiday that they got ham for. and by they, i mean char and miles

dan is just happy to be here

char: you know miles, it’s january and that little bat is still hanging above the fireplace

miles: if you wanna take him down, you can

char: ...no, i just wanted to adknowledge him

dan: he’s part of the family

What are their goals for the relationship?

uh, love, sex and babies. duh

Who is most likely to sleep till noon?

miles. coffee keeps him on his work schedule

Who plays the most pranks?

well, miles, obviously. i can’t think of any because i don’t really go for pranks but nothing elaborate, simple stuff. does that “orders a black coffee at macdonalds when your kids are in the backseat” count as a prank. miles would do that, pause for enough time for the kids to be like :O and then ask for their orders

there! done! wowee, bless any y’all who take the time to read All Of That

[temilyrights]

the case of us (chapter seven)

Jack Sloane x Reader

Word Count: 4385

A/N: Sorry it’s been such a long time between updates! but here’s the next chapter! Only a few more until the end now >.< Anyway, as always, feedback is welcome and very much appreciated :)

Read on AO3

Chapter Six  Chapter Eight

Jack drops you off at your apartment, allowing you time to shower off the day while she heads to her own place to pack a night bag. You are so focused on trying to keep yourself upright, still, a little disorientated, that you don’t really have time to think about the feeling of Jack’s hands in your hair or her lips against yours. 

The pain meds the EMT had given you had done nothing to help the pounding of your head and it was only getting worse as you tried to change the sheets on the guest room bed for Jack. You have to stop suddenly as you begin to feel faint, hand reaching out for support on the bed as you lean over, holding your head in your free hand. You keep your eyes closed as you try to stop the room from spinning.

“Y/N! I told you I would do this.” She speaks calmly, mindful of your headache, but you can still hear the exasperation in her voice. Her hands come to your arm and you use her to balance yourself as you both slowly make your way out of the guest bedroom and into your own. You’re overly aware of her touch the whole time as it sends prickles of heat through your skin.

“You’re a guest! You can’t make your own bed.” 

You can practically hear her eye-roll at your words. “I’m not going to let you strain yourself for some stupid hosting etiquette.” You open the door to your bedroom leading her into the room. She makes sure you’re sitting down on your bed before letting go of you. You watch her do a quick scan of the room, despite the number of times she’d been to your place she’d never set foot in your bedroom. “Cute.”

You feel your face heat up at the smirk tugging at her lips and the sparkle in her eyes. You look away and then proceed to heat up further when you notice the pile of dirty clothes on the floor in the corner of the room. Jack’s eyes follow yours and she laughs. “It’s been a hectic few days.” At your defensive tone, Jack’s laughter dies down.

“Don’t worry my room’s in exactly the same shape.” Her head reaches up to your face, thumb brushing your cheek under the pretence of examining the cut on your lip. Butterflies explode through your stomach and you can’t help the corny smile that covers your face. “I have to wake you up every couple of hours, so get some sleep and I’ll see you in a bit.” 

“Thanks, Jack.” You smile at the woman watching as she makes her way out of your room, flashing you one last smile before quietly closing the door.

You flop back onto your bed (and then whine at the pain that shoots through your head). Jack was in your home. Jack, the woman who you’d just released you had feelings for, was now going to be spending the night in the room down the hall from you. Despite your turmoil of emotions, you couldn’t help the small comfort you felt knowing she was here as well. It doesn’t take long for you to fall asleep.

----

“Y/N” The voice nudges at you until you begin to slowly wake up. “Y/N, sweetheart.” A small smile tugs at your lips at the pet name. You can feel her presence as she sits on the bed next to you, hand brushing against your arm to stir you awake. 

You grunt, opening one eye to see that darkness still surrounded the room. “What?” 

Jack laughs lightly. “Your first wake up call.” You roll over to face the woman and her face forms into an affectionate smile when she sees your half-asleep expression.

“I’m awake.” It’s said through a yawn and Jack chuckles. Her hair’s in a messy ponytail, sitting at the bottom of her head with bits of hair hanging loose framing her face. She’s got a white vest top on along with pale blue pyjama bottoms littered with white stars. You smirk when you notice them. “Cute pyjamas.” 

It’s too dark to see but the way Jack looks away you’re pretty sure she’s blushing. “Well glad you’re okay. Now go back to sleep.” She gets up, sparing you one last look, a roll of her eyes in response to your smile, before leaving the room and shutting the door again. You fall back asleep with a smile on your face.

----

Jack only visits one more time through the course of the night and had received a muttered ‘fuck off’ in response. It’s 8 am when you wake up, unable to sleep anymore. You can distantly hear the sound of Jack moving around your kitchen and the smell of coffee causing you to smile. You stretch, yawning loudly as you roll out of bed. 

Clothes and then you’d go in search of that coffee.  You take your pyjamas off, throwing them in the direction of your laundry basket as you make your way over to your chest of draws. You take off your underwear, tossing them in the same direction before selecting a new set, along with a bra and putting them both on. 

You grab a pair of blue jeans, chucking them onto your bed and pad over to your wardrobe to find a shirt to wear. “What colour today?” You say under your breath as you browse through the items. You decide on a simple white t-shirt and chuck it next to your jeans. You’re just shutting your wardrobe when suddenly your bedroom door opens. 

“Morning-” Jack freezes when she notices you aren’t still in bed and turns to look at you. Heat shots straight between your legs as her eyes slowly trail down your body. She’s slack-jawed and you watch fascinated as she gulps. You think you see a flash of desire but it’s gone before you can be sure as the blonde averts her eyes a deep blush covering her face. “Came to check on you. Uh-Coffee.” She places the coffee cup on your chest of draws before quickly backing out of the room, not looking at you as she mutters something about being in the other room. 

You stare at the door in shock as your brain tries to process what just happened. A smirk tugs at your lips and you get dressed excited for the rest of today.

She’s sitting at your breakfast counter drinking coffee and still in her pyjamas when you finally emerge. She turns to look at you when she hears your footsteps. “I’m really sorry. I thought you’d still be asleep!”

You laugh, noticing the slight blush still on her cheeks. “It’s fine, really. And you brought me coffee, so even if I was upset you made it all better.” Jack offers you a sheepish smile and you can’t help but smirk. “But I mean if you wanted to see me in my underwear really all you had to do was ask.” 

The blush of Jack’s face comes back with fall force as she stutters. “I don’t- what- Y/N-” she stops, burying her head into her hands and when you break out into laughter she relaxes.

You drain the last of your coffee, placing the mug into the sink and fish your phone out of your back pocket. “We should be getting ready to go.”

Jack’s eyebrows shoot up. “You’re not going into work today!”

You roll your eyes. “I’m fine. It was a slight concussion, I can work.” 

“No way. Gibbs said you were to take the day off.” 

“Jack-” 

“No. You’re staying here and I’m staying too.” 

“I don’t need a babysitter!” 

“Good because you haven’t got one. Just a concerned friend who doesn’t want to see you hurt yourself anymore.” You want to argue back but can’t help the small smile that tugs at your lips because of her concern. 

You deflate. “Fine.” Huffing you make your way into your living room. Jack mutters something under her breath which you don’t catch but you can tell by her tone it’s probably nothing nice. Smirking, you sink into the couch. “Do you at least have an update on the case?” 

“They’re both in custody. We have them on attempted abduction. Their car got us murder charges. It had a GPS tracker which showed they’d been going to a warehouse in Langdon. They raided the location and found a whole station of knives, tools and the gun. There was also blood residue, results aren’t back yet but we’re pretty confident it’ll link all 6 victims to the scene.”

You breathe a sigh of relief. “It was worth getting punched in the face for then.”  Jack rolls her eyes playfully at you as you smirk. 

“Am I okay to use your shower?” 

“Oh shit! I forgot to offer, yeah of course!” Embarrassment floods through you and you jump off the couch, running off to the airing cupboard to grab out a couple of towels. You hand them to Jack who’s just getting up from the couch herself. “I’m really sorry.” 

“It’s fine, really.” Humour dances in Jack’s eyes at your frenzy. She smirks making her way to the bathroom and you slump into the couch with a whine. You definitely don’t spend the next 20 minutes thinking about the blonde in your shower and then listening to the sound of the shower turning off and her feet padding down your hallway and into the guest room. Don’t think about Jack, only clad in a towel with beads of water dripping down her body. Nope. Definitely not. 

She walks into the room a while later, hair curled and a light layer of makeup on. She’s wearing a grey-blue shirt dress that falls to just below her knees. It's cinched in the waist by a belt the same colour as the dress and your eyes follow the path of white buttons down the centre of the dress, the first two undone but still completely modest. Her feet are bare from socks as she makes her way into your living room and pops herself on the couch. “God, I needed that.” She laughs, a bright smile on her face. You smile at her and you both fall into easy conversation.

Ellie comes by an hour or so later to drop off Jack’s laptop and a handful of files from different cases. “I can come in and help!” Jack had gone to the other room and you use the opportunity to pipe up hopefully, desperation clear in your eyes. You just wanted to do something. 

“It’s one day off. I’m sure you can cope.” Ellie’s voice is full of mirth and you pout. Her eyes sparkle, a smirk filling her face. “Are you really complaining about spending the whole day with Jack?”  Your mouth moves, no words coming out as you stare at Ellie in shock, a slight pink tinging your face. No way. There was no way she knew you only the realisation yourself last night! Before you can find something to say Jack’s entering the room again and you’re kind of thankful that you don’t need to come up with a weak response. 

----

You attempt to read, picking up a book you hadn’t touched in months. You’re both sitting on your couch, you curled into one corner. While Jack sits the other side, legs crossed, laptop on her lap and glasses resting on her head as she looks between the screen and the case file next to her. 

She looks really cute like this, eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she fiddles with the pen she had in her hand. She chews lightly on her bottom lip and you stare, transfixed, as you flashback to the night before. You and Jack had kissed. Like that had actually happened? Her lips had been so soft but that kiss was full of hunger and passion and even thinking about it sent a shiver of heat through your body. Should you talk about it? No. There was nothing to talk about. It was for a case. You were working. There-

“I can practically hear you thinking.” Your eyes snap away from her lips as Jack turns her head to face you, eyebrows raised. “Everything ok?” 

Your mind screams at you to think as you try to stop the panic from showing on your face. “Yeah, I just zoned out.” It’s the lamest excuse ever and Jack’s eyebrow raises in suspicion. “I’m going to get coffee. Want some?” 

“Sure.” Jack shoots you an inquisitive look as you scurry up from the couch but lets the conversation drop. You get a few more looks over the next hour but she never says anything and you just bury your head in your book and pretend not to notice.  

It doesn’t take long for a dull ache to make its way into your head, that, combined with the tiredness behind your eyes, well, it’s no surprise you end up falling asleep. Your book falls into your lap as you sleep curled into the couch. When Jack notices you a soft smile tugs at her lips. She spares a sympathetic thought to the crank you were going to wake up with with your neck at that angle before getting up and making her way into the guest bedroom to grab a blanket. She takes the book from you, making sure the bookmark is in place before draping the blanket over you. You shuffle slightly in your spot, your lips slapping lightly and Jack grins before going back to her work. 

You wake to the smell of Jack surrounding you and subconsciously snuggle closer to it, a content smile tugging at your lips as the blanket tickles your nose. You’re eventually pulled from the happiness when a sharp pain shoots through your neck and you release a whine. You hear Jack’s laugh and it prompts you to roll your head round to face her. Your eyes are half-open and you yawn as you watch the blonde’s eyes twinkle at you. 

“Morning.” She smirks. 

“How long was I out?” You ask, sitting up properly as you begin to massage the knot that had formed in your neck.

“Only about 30 minutes. Here let me.” She bats your hand away and before you can protest her soft hands begin to knead away the knot. You gasp but quickly settle back into the feeling as her hands expertly work at your neck. 

“You’re really good-” Your words are cut off by a moan as she hits the spot and you feel Jack’s hand momentarily still before she continues. Your face is on fire as you curse yourself for your strong reaction. 

“Thank you.” You turn to face Jack, her hands dropping from your neck and she doesn’t quite meet your eyes. Your stomach rumbles and you’re suddenly reminded you haven’t eaten yet today. “Lunch?” 

Jack laughs at the noise. “Sure.” She follows you to your kitchen, leaning against the counter as you move around the room looking through your cupboards for ideas. 

“Anything you fancy? Pasta? Cheese toasties? Takeout?” You list things as you piece meals together in your head, waiting for Jack to respond. When she doesn’t, you turn around, eyebrows raised in question.

She’s shaking her head as if to dispel thoughts and your eyebrows furrow in concern. “Sorry, uh, I don’t mind, I’m good with anything.” 

You roll your eyes playfully, leaning against the counter opposite her. “Well, that’s not helpful.” 

Jack smirks “It’s your house, you pick.” 

“I thought you didn’t care about ‘stupid housing etiquette’.” You grin as you recite her works back to her from the night before. Jack rolls her eyes, huffing a laugh. 

“Fine. I wouldn’t protest to grilled cheese.” Your smile widens in triumph and you make your way around the kitchen and make lunch. You both sit at your breakfast table as you eat. Afterwards, you wash up the mess from lunch while Jack dries and returns things to your cupboard. It doesn’t take her long to work out where everything goes and your heart is fluttering the whole time at the domesticity of the situation. Every time Jack would playfully bump your shoulder or your hands would brush you’d feel heat prickle at your cheeks. 

You return to your living room after everything is clean and away. Jack returns to work and you huff as you flick through your book without really reading the words. It doesn’t take long for boredom to officially take over and you dump your book on the coffee table before hiking your feet onto the couch and turn to face Jack. You tap her side with your foot. 

“Can I help you?” She doesn’t turn to face you but you can see the smile tugging at her lip as she continues to type. 

“Whatcha doing?” 

“Working.” 

“Gibbs’ case?”

“No, Warrick’s.” Your face lights up at that, and you shuffle forwards towards Jack who has now turned to look at you, smirking at your actions. 

“Can I help?” Jack goes to protest but you cut her off before she can finish. “You said that I couldn’t help Gibbs, nothing about Warrick.” Jack rolls her eyes and you know she’s about to refuse. “Please!” You release your puppy dog eyes and Jack huffs a laugh as she tries not to let the smile spread across her face. “I’m feeling fine. I’ve eaten and slept. And I promise if I get a headache or something I’ll stop!” Your bottom lip juts out “I’m just so bored Jack.” 

Jack sighs and your face breaks out into a wide smile as she passes you one of the case files from the table. “You’re insufferable.” You stick your tongue out before squealing in excitement moving back slightly, not bothering to go back to the other side of the couch as you bury your head in the case file.

You spend the next few hours working. Jack refuses to give you anymore case files after you’ve already finished assessing two so you spam Ellie and Nick with messages until they agree to email over the paperwork you still need to finish. Jack grumbles about that but doesn’t bother trying to persuade you to stop, probably relieved you’ve stopped bugging her. It’s mid-afternoon when you both finish for the day. No one is willing to send you any more work and Jack’s finished everything she can do outside the office. 

Jack hangs around for a few more hours, you watch some tv together and chat, she tells you that she’s thinking about planning a holiday to France in the summer. She leaves at 7 after a lot of assurances that you’ll be fine. She doesn’t think you should be back in the office tomorrow but apart from your headache this morning you’d been pretty much fine. No worsening symptoms at all so there was no reason you couldn’t come back. Your car was still at the navy yard though so you agree to allow her to pick you up in the morning.

You can’t stop smiling for the rest of the evening.  

----

You say goodbye to Jack when you get off the elevator and she only waves to the team as she heads up to her office. You head to your desk feeling like you’re floating on air. It’s not until you sit down that you notice Tim’s, Nick’s and Ellie’s wide smirks. “What?” The defensiveness is clear in your tone as your eyes narrow, and that only prompts them to smirk wider. 

“You and Jack huh?” You roll your eyes at Nick. 

“No. We’re just friends.” 

“I think that kiss says differently,” Ellie smirks and you feel your cheeks heat up. 

“It was for a case. We were just doing our jobs.” 

“That was not a working kiss. Would you have kissed Torres like that?” 

Your face scrunches up at the thought, and you ignore Nick’s noise of mock outrage. “If the case called for it then yes.” And you would. You just wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much, or at all. 

Ellie hums. “Right, and you would have gotten so consumed in it that Gibbs had to interrupt right?” 

“It-” 

“It was for a case” Ellie mimics and you roll your eyes releasing a long-suffering sigh in annoyance. Ellie just smirks proudly and you don’t have the energy to fight her anymore because you could feel the heat seeping up your cheeks. You didn’t want to deal with their teasing...What if Jack heard? It wasn’t exactly like they were subtle and you really didn’t want her to get awkward around you.  

“You good, Y/N?” Gibbs asks as he enters the room, he walks over to where you’re sitting at your desk, placing a hand on your shoulder. 

“All good boss, excited to be back.” You smile up at the man who just chuckles.

“From what I heard you didn’t exactly take a day off.” You shrug in response which just makes Gibbs chuckle more as he chucks his empty coffee cup in the trash. “We’ve got a case.” 

The case leaves Jack with a whole staff of people to profile and from the way she hadn’t appeared from her office in the last 3 hours you were pretty sure it wasn’t going great. Tim and Gibbs were in MTAC and you didn’t have anything to do as you’d already finished going through financial records, so you decide to use the lull and go and fetch coffee for the both of you.

She’s furiously typing away when you arrive. Glasses discarded on her desk and she’d tied her hair up out of her face at some point in an off-centre ponytail. You knock lightly on the door and Jack doesn’t look up from the laptop when she responds. “I’m working on your damn profiles, Gibbs.”  

“Not Gibbs.” You smirk but Jack doesn’t look up, just continues to type rapidly. You make your way into her office, stopping in front of her desk. “I thought you could use a coffee and a break. I know that Gibbs has you-” 

“Do I look like I have time for a break?” Jack snaps, her voice is sharp and cutting and it makes you take a step back in surprise. 

“No, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need one. You’ve worked right through lunch.” 

“I’ll eat once these profiles are done and they’ll be done a heck of a lot quicker if people stopped distracting me!” 

You huff. “Wow, ok. Fine. Here’s your coffee.” You place the coffee on her desk with a little too much force and the hot liquid splashes your hand slightly but you ignore the pain as you storm out of her office, barely refraining from slamming the door in the process. Hurt radiates through your chest as you make your way back to the bullpen and you curse yourself for caring so much. She hadn’t so much glanced at you the whole time you were there and all you were trying to do was make sure she was okay! 

You’re muttering angrily to yourself when you get back to your desk and Tim’s eyes widen in surprise. “Are you ok?” 

“I try to be nice and bring her coffee and what does she do? Snaps at me!” You growl, flopping into your desk chair and then opening your desk draw and closing it again just to give yourself the satisfaction of slamming something. 

Tim flashes you a sympathetic smile. “I was just about to head down and interrogate Jones. He’s an ass. Do you wanna do it? Channel some of that anger?” 

You jump at the chance. Unsurprisingly it calms you right down and you walk out of the room with a wide smirk on your face and with a 6’0 man unable to look you in the eye as he sinks into his chair. 

“Feeling better?” Tim laughs and you grin.

“Much, thank you.” 

The rest of the day flies past. The ache in your chest only returns when Jack comes to the bullpen to present the profiles of the 3 men she’d narrowed it down to, each one having a worse rap sheet then the last. She barely looks at you the whole time and before you can talk to her she’s off again. 

So to say you were grateful to go home was an understatement. All the tension you’d been holding in your body throughout the day washes away as you open your door to your apartment. You dump your bag on the floor, shrugging off your coat and flicking away your shoes as you throw yourself onto your couch and sink into the pillows. You spend the next hour watching some shitty reality tv thing that you only really watch to please Jack and you’re just contemplating getting your ass off the sofa and making yourself dinner when your doorbell rings. 

You huff, tiredly pulling yourself from the couch and to your door. You open it up and your eyes widen in surprise when you see Jack the other side. She’s got a sheepish smile on her face and is holding a pizza box. “I’m really sorry for how I snapped at you earlier. I was stressed but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. Pizza?” 

A smile tugs at your lips despite your best efforts and you step to the side to allow her to enter. Jack’s smile widens and you see the relief cross her face. “I’m only accepting your apology because you brought pizza.” It’s a joke, you’d forgiven her by tomorrow even if she didn’t apologise. You couldn’t stay mad at her. Smirking, you follow her towards your living room. 

“Why do you think I brought it.” She quips back, winking. She’s got a devilish smirk on her face that sends a shot of heat straight between your legs. You feel your face heating up as you release a choked laugh. Jack, thankfully, doesn’t notice, just takes her spot on your couch and opens the pizza box. The warmth in your chest that had become a frequent occurrence when spending time with the blonde, returns with full force as you both chat and eat pizza. 

[othiriel-corvire]

LAYER ONE—THE OUTSIDE • Name: Othiriel Corvire • Eye Colour: Blue, and startlingly so. • Hair Style/Colour: Black, above the shoulders, messy. • Height: Rather short for an elf. 5'1" if you only count to the top of her head and not her ears. 5'4" when she's wearing her "conference shoes." • Clothing Style: Professional but eclectic at work and "artfully dishevelled" at home, a look which takes far too much effort to perfect. • Best Physical Feature: "Is it crass to say my chest? It probably is, but I spend far too much time tailoring my clothes for them to just not mention it." LAYER TWO—THE INSIDE • Your Fears: "I fear being powerless to help those I care about." • Your Guilty Pleasure: "I feel I'm expected to talk about my romance novels here, but I'm don't feel guilty about those at all! Hm...perhaps my inordinate love for baths? Oh! Or mixing together the runoff from my alchemical classes and taste-testing it." • Your Biggest Pet Peeve: "Being ignored." • Your Ambition for the Future: "I would like to die shrouded in mystery, leaving behind a confusing but revered mess of research that many a generation of students will try, and fail, to crack the secrets of. Can you imagine how frustrated they'll be? Hah!" LAYER THREE—THOUGHTS • Your First Thoughts Waking Up: "Did I...leave a cauldron boiling overnight?" • What You Think About the Most:  "The best ways to aggravate Ophene Lacremont. It's shockingly easy, but I never grow tired of it." • What You Think About Before Bed: "Ophene and her silly little face. Also, the logistics of letting a cauldron boil overnight without causing terrible household damage." • You Think Your Best Quality Is: "I'm going to have to say my vast literary knowledge. The romance genre is certainly an elevated one, and it's simply the case that not everyone has the culture palate to be able to appreciate it. I, on the other hand, have spent many hundreds of years tirelessly studying every entry into the noble art I can get my hands on." LAYER FOUR—WHAT’S BETTER? • Single or Group Dates: "Single. Or group dates that rapidly turn into single dates." • To be Loved or Respected: "To be loved. Any old coot can get respect, but to be loved? That's a greater devotion." • Beauty or Brains: "Both, but one doesn't have to be academically smart to count as having a capital B Brain. I've come to appreciate other forms of intelligence." • Dogs or Cats: "Cats, without a doubt. And I'm not just saying that because Ophene acts like one." LAYER FIVE—DO YOU? • Lie: "When it suits me, though I make a habit of speaking the truth and just steamrolling through opposition. It works like a dream, and I don't have to lie!" • Believe in Yourself: "I am an exceptionally talented Archmage. Why wouldn't I believe in myself?" • Believe in Love: "Love is one of the strongest forces in the known world. It drives us all to do the silliest things, but...hm. I enjoy it." • Want Someone: "Of course I do. Luckily for me I can just go to the other room and bother her for attention if the desire gets too unbearable." LAYER SIX—EVER? • Been on Stage: "Once or twice as an undergrad. There was an impressive karaoke night in the Underbelly, every other Friday. I even won, once! The only other competitor was a Forsaken who hadn't regained full control of her voice box, granted, but still." • Done Drugs: "Is pure arcane energy really a drug? Oh, yes, apparently it is. Yes, then." • Changed Who You Were to Fit In: "My adamant refusal to do so never really earned me many friends." LAYER SEVEN—FAVOURITES • Favourite Colour: "Blue." • Favourite Animal: "Mana wyrms! Aren't they cute?" • Favourite Food: "If you asked me before my sabbatical I would have said 'anything I can conjure in under ten seconds.' I've since been treated to Ophene's cooking, though, and find myself favouring her honeyed toast." • Favourite Game: "Romance Novel Bingo." LAYER EIGHT—AGE • Day Your Next Birthday Will Be: November 27th • How Old Will You Be: 752 • Age You Lost Your Virginity: "It was rather late, as far as elves go. 100?" • Does Age Matter: "As long as they're genuinely of age and mature, it doesn't really matter to me. Clearly I have a penchant for older women." LAYER NINE—In A Partner • Best Personality: "Brusque, mysterious, lived in a tower. Huge snob about coffee. Secretly loves romance novels. That kind of thing." • Best Eye Colour: "Blue." • Best Hair Colour: "White." • Best Thing to Do With a Partner: "Writing a romance novel together, shortly followed by acting out the spiciest chapters." LAYER TEN—FINISH THE SENTENCE • I love: "...Ophene Lacremont." • I feel: "...at peace, for once." • I hide: "...the depths of my affections, lest I scare her off." • I miss: "...Quel'Thalas at its prime." • I wish: "...to stay with her forever."

((thank you @dratiniwearingawig for the tag!))