#also the depth of the blue on the jeans

[dripping-moonlight]

[thatone-girly]

K.R.E.A.M V.1

PAIRING: Roman Reigns x Cherish Henry (OC)

SUMMARY: In the first chapter, we are introduced to the vibrant and bustling atmosphere of Roman Reigns' elite Las Vegas strip club. Roman, a commanding presence with a reputation for being both ruthless and charming, oversees the night’s performances with a keen eye. Among the dancers, Cherish stands out, captivating the audience with her grace and allure. Roman, usually detached, finds himself inexplicably drawn to her. He observes her from afar, intrigued by her mysterious aura and exceptional talent. Roman's interest is piqued, setting the stage for a slow-burning romance that promises to unfold with complexity and depth.

WORD COUNT: 4.0k

Authors Note: If you’d like to be added to the taglist, comment and let me know! Also, go check out this Roman x Stripper fic by @overrboarrd ! It’s hella good and it inspired me to get my lazy ass up and finish this since it’s been sitting in drafts for 7 months.

Red Lights.

There were so many red lights.

In the bustling streets of Las Vegas, there were lights everywhere. Blue, Green, Yellow, and Orange. But there weren’t nearly as many red lights on the streets as there were in Oasis Écarlate, French for ‘Scarlet Oasis’.

In the lounge of the club under the many vermillion lights, there were men scattered all over.

Surrounding the stage, there were the usual bums who popped up every other night. If not, every night. Those were the ones who only had twenty to one hundred dollars to throw, then had the nerve to ask for a private dance. The ones who would pick money up off the floor and throw it to look like they had more money, or just stuff it in their pocket and take it home for themselves. The ones who’d come in and get hammered over a silly argument with their girlfriend, or sometimes wives. The ones who’d come in the club in a dingy t-shirt, baggy jeans, and beat up tennis shoes.

Sitting at the intimately decorated tables scattered across the open floor were the middle class men. The ones who threw just enough to not damage their credit score. The ones who’d lend a few dollars to whatever vagrant had run out of money and could no longer ‘ball out’. The ones who’d never come in alone, either with a friend, or sometimes even their girlfriend. The ones who’d sometimes get private dances depending on how much they’d drank, or how a certain dancer made them feel. The ones who were always decently dressed, normally in a nice button down, or snug turtleneck.

Lounging clad at the booths along the walls were what the dancers liked to call ‘The Big Ballers’. Those were the ones the dancers payed special attention to and were always guaranteed to get a large payday from. The ones who couldn’t care less about how much money they spent because it wouldn’t even make a dent in their bank account. The ones who never associated themselves with the scrubs indulged in the hypnotic movements of dancers they’d never get to see outside of the club. The ones who bought out the V.I.P sections, the private lounges, and the sky boxes above everyone. The ones who’d outbid any and everyone on the club just to get the dancer they wanted to entertain them and their entourage.

However, no matter how much money they had or how much money they put down, there was one man that could come through and shut everything down. If he wanted your table, with the snap of a finger, he’d have it. If he wanted your private lounge, your V.I.P section, with the snap of a finger, he’d have it. He didn’t have to worry about the sky boxes. There was one sky box, the biggest one of them all, smack dead in the middle reserved for him. He had a perfect view of everyone. He could look down at the bums, the basics, and the ballers. He could look down at the stage and watch every single one of his dancers grace the pole with her alluring presence. Though he rarely, if ever did it, he could have his pick of any dancer he wanted. The man who was feared and respected not only in the club, but all of Las Vegas.

That man was Roman Reigns.

The 35 year old, whose real name was Joe Anoa’i, had ruled his club with an iron fist. Having taken ownership from his father, Roman took the running of his club seriously. Once his father stepped down from his position as CEO, the club went into a downward spiral. Clientele was low. No one wanted to visit anymore, no one was interested in the aging, washed up dancers his father refused to get rid of. Hell, even the scrubs stayed away. When Roman took over, all of that went out the window. He did a full rebrand. He had the club renovated from top to bottom. He changed the layout, the lights, the stage, everything. He fired everyone and started from the ground up with staff. He sent his cousins out to rival businesses to recruit dancers for the new and improved club. Due to that, he made enemies out of a vast number of club owners, but he couldn’t give less of a fuck. Now, some of the best dancers in the city belonged to his club.

Those very dancers were in the dressing room of Oasis Écarlate. As of now, it was intermission. The beaming LED lights were white, an obvious contrast to their usual crimson color. The sea of men below the stage talked amongst each other, some lended the other money, some recreantly slid money their way with their foot, and some made their way over to the bar while they awaited the next dance of the night.

The dressing room was a sanctuary of muted chaos, a stark contrast to the pulsating energy of the club beyond its doors. Makeup palettes, hair products, and costumes were scattered across the vanity tables, each an essential tool for the night's transformations. Amidst the flurry of preparation, Cherish sat quietly, a calm island in the sea of activity. Her reflection in the mirror was one of serene beauty. Her long, ginger hair cascaded over her shoulders in loose waves, and her eyes, deep and expressive, held a world of stories untold. She pushed her lips together, smoothing out any lipstick that hadn’t been before.

“Cherish, you up next?”

She looked in the reflection in front of her, locking eyes with Serena. With a sigh Cherish answered, “Yep.”

Serena was one of the few girls Cherish could tolerate. She and Serena were much alike. They both weren’t fans of drama, yet they took no shit. They enjoyed the same shows, hobbies, hell, they even shared some of the same regular clients. They both weren’t interested in the extra malarkey of the strip club scene. They came in, did their job, got their money, and left.

Like clockwork, the voice of Pat McAfee, otherwise known as simply Pat, boomed through the stereo of the club. Cherish stood from her spot at the vanity, doing one more once over on herself. She made sure her hair was smooth and kinkless, running her fingers through her bundles one last time. Her one piece Versace set, blinged out with crystals was bright enough to catch the eye of even the most uninterested being in the club. A huff left her lips as she made her way towards the door.

“Good luck, Cherry.”, Serena wished, also taking it upon herself to leave Cherish a good luck pat on the ass.

Cherish looked at Serena over her shoulder and gave her a wink before she walked through the string of crimson beads hanging from the door frame. She kept her confident stride up until she reached the curtain. The voice of Pat was smooth and sultry, a huge contrast to his usual hyped demeanor when he was not working as he introduced, “Gentlemen, please give a very warm, wet welcome to La Séduisante Dame Chérit.”

The Seductive Lady Cherish.

That’s what she was known as in the Scarlet Oasis.

The song that began to flow through the speakers was her song.

“Seduction”, by none other than Usher Raymond.

When that song began to play, everyone knew who was hitting the stage. Even if you didn’t know her by name, you knew who she was by that song.

Including the boss.

The heavy bass of the music thrummed through the club, vibrating the very air as Cherish made her way to the center of the stage. The lights dimmed, casting a sultry glow over the room. She took a deep breath, feeling the anticipation of the crowd wash over her like a wave. This was her moment.

Immediately, he was focused. Focused on the way she walked and moved. The scowl on his face neither softened nor hardened, but it stuck. His hands remained clasped together in the center of his manspread legs. He didn’t move, but his eyes? Oh, they moved. They followed her everywhere.

As the spotlight hit her, Cherish began to move, her body flowing with the rhythm. Every step, every sway of her hips was calculated to captivate and seduce. Her eyes scanned the audience, locking onto different faces, making each person feel like she was dancing just for them. As she moved across the stage effortlessly and suavely, her freshly installed burnt orange hair flowing almost cinematically as her body swayed to the slow, seductive beat of the music. She tried not to chuckle at the usual bums who didn’t have a dime to throw as their mouths became glued to the ground.

She moved with grace and power, her movements fluid and mesmerizing. The crowd watched in rapt attention, their cheers and applause melding with the music. She could feel their energy, their desire, fueling her performance. Her routine was a perfect blend of artistry and allure, each move telling a story. As she executed a series of spins and bends, her hair cascaded around her like a waterfall, adding to the visual feast. She was in complete control, commanding the attention of everyone in the room.

She worked her way up the slim metal cylinder, climbing upward and onward until she reached the bright blood red lights of the ceiling. She tuned out the usual catcalls, whistling, and sweet nothings as she spun around at the very top of the pole, letting nothing be heard except the music. She listened to the lyrics. So did he.

Seduction

She split her legs open, beginning her slow, hypnotic descend to the ground.

Sensuous, Sexy, Erotic. How You Workin’ Your Body

The lyrics went perfectly with the scene, her legs which were once split in the air now in a perfect split on the ground. Her movements were hypnotizing and intriguing, that being made obvious by the way the men in smooth, steamed suits slid from their positions at their booths and moved up to the stage for a closer look at the gyrating woman.

Still, there was no display of interest whatsoever from Roman. He did nothing but watch.

He watched the stage with a keen eye, his powerful presence commanding the room even in silence. The VIP area provided a perfect view of the performance below, allowing him to oversee everything without interruption. Jey and Jimmy flanked him, their expressions mirroring his intense focus.

The way she commanded the stage, the energy she exuded – it was magnetic. He could see the raw talent and passion in her performance, something that set her apart from the other dancers.

Breaking the silence in the room, Jey snapped his fingers, “That one right there! That’s my favorite one.”

His brother Jimmy scoffed, “Shit, I thought my favorite was Bambi, but after seeing this one, I think I changed my mind.” They could sense her confidence, the way she owned the stage from the moment she set foot on it. The bass of the music thrummed through the floor, the vibrations a tangible reminder of the energy she was channeling. “She got the crowd eating out of the palm of her hands.”

Another wave of silence took over as the twins sat mesmerized. Once again, the silence was broken by Jey as he swatted Roman’s upper arm with the back of his hand asking, “Hey, man, you know what her name is?”

Smacking his lips, Jimmy looked over to his brother. “Her name is in her stage name, Uce. It’s Cherish.”

“Well, hell, I don’t know French!”, Jey scowled over at Jimmy, “And how the hell do you know?”

Swooping his hand down to his lap, Jimmy picked up his phone and flipped the screen in the direction of Jey. Displayed brightly was the Apple translator app, set on the French setting. “Translator. Keep up with the game, man.”

Ignoring the childish spat that started with Jey’s response, Roman kept his eyes on the scene below him, watching as Cherish slowly descend to her knees. On all fours, she crawled up to a crowd of men that stood at the right wing of the stage. Roman could see the way she fed off their energy, using it to drive her performance to even greater heights. He appreciated her dedication, the way she pushed herself to excel in every aspect of her routine.

The end of the song nearing, Cherish wrapped up her act with her signature kiss to the cheek of a random club-goer. Usually, it was one of the ones she knew would tip well, and maybe even ask for a private dance; and tonight was no different as she crawled up to the man with the cleanest suit, wrapped her manicured hands around the collar of his blazer and pulled him in to plant a firm kiss on his cheek. It was perfectly timed, the song coming to an end as soon as she pulled away, her lipstick leaving the print of her lips on the man’s cheekbone.

At the sound of whistles, applause, and catcalls, she stood to her feet and strutted her way behind the curtain, immediately dropping her act when the drapes closed. She made her way back to the dressing room, her feet aching with a terrible throb from the high heels she’d chosen for the night. Walking through the beaded curtains, she was met with all of the other dancers fixing themselves. Cherish was the last dance, and after the final act, all of the dancers went out and walked around the club, just waiting to see who wanted a private dance until the club closed at 2.

Plopping on the stool next to Serena, Cherish sighed of exhaustion. “Girl, I’m so ready to go home.”, she mumbled as she reached to grab her lipstick. “Tonight’s kind of boring.”

From across the room, two dancers, Bambi and Freddi, whose real names were Chelsea and Freeda, giggled amongst themselves. Something as simple as them laughing made Cherish and Serena exchange looks of mutual annoyance. They couldn’t stand those two. Really, no one could, but the pure disdain Cherish and Serena had for Bambi and Freddi was on another level.

The two duos were total opposites. While Cherish and Serena preferred to stay away from the nightclub life outside of dancing, Bambi and Freddi were all in with it. They partied all day and night, drank like unemployed 45-year old divorcee’s, and even dabbled in drugs here and there. The women felt like they were better than any and everybody, often criticizing other dancers on things they themselves couldn’t or didn’t do. On top of that, they were the messiest performers in the locker room. Most of, if not all of the locker room drama came at their hands, whether it was rumors, the airing out of someone’s business, or unnecessary comments and criticism, those two had a knack for pissing people off.

Ignoring the two women, Serena commented, “Yeah, tonight’s been pretty slow”, she agreed, “but, girl! You knocked ‘em down out there! I was watching from behind the curtain.”

Again, giggles erupted from Bambi and Freddi, only this time louder. Serena glanced back at the two, while Cherish opted to just ignore them. She was not in the mood for their bullshit. Not tonight. With a roll of her eyes, Serena turned back to face the white vanity she and Cherish shared. “They better not start their shit.”, she mumbled with a huff, “I’m in the mood to whoop some ass tonight.”

Cherish said nothing, deciding to not even entertain them a bit. Instead, she slid her lipstick across her lips, touching it up after her finale. “I’m not worried about them.”, she mumbled in the midst of applying the smooth paint to her lips. “They ain’t worth my time or my energy.”

At her declaration, Bambi mumbled a faint ‘bitch’ before she and Freddi burst into laughter. They weren’t giggling anymore. They were full blown cackling. With a huff, Serena turned on her stool to face the two women who stood doubled over in laughter in the corner.

“Y’all wanna tell me what’s so funny?”, she question, her tone hostile and annoyed. At this, the room grew dead silent as the other dancers stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to Serena. Some of them were being messy, while others were hoping nothing went down and got too serious. There had been one too many fights in this locker room, and none of them wanted to be the ones to clean up the aftermath. “I wanna know what the joke is. What are we laughing at?”

Bambi and Freddi were silent as they exchanged looks, mocking grins spread on their faces. “Oh, what, we’re not laughing anymore? Joke’s over?”, Serena asked with a sarcastic smile and tilt of her head.

“Chill, girl. We were just talking about one of Bambi’s clients.”, Freddi chuckled, the gum she was chewing making obnoxiously loud smacking sounds between her words.

“Oh, really? You sure?”, Serena quipped, her tone shifting to one you’d use when speaking to a child, “I find it real coincidental that y’all get to the funny part of the story every time me or Cherry says something. So y’all sure we’re not the joke? Y’all sure it ain’t one of us being funny and we don’t know?”

“Girl, relax. We just said we’re not laughing at y’all.”, Bambi put in her two cents, accompanying her words with an eye roll.

Preparing to stand up from her stool, Serena placed her brush on the vanity, but Cherish quickly grabbed her wrist before she could. “It’s fine, ‘Rena. I’m not worried about them, you shouldn’t worry about them either.”, she mumbled.

With a deep breath, Serena shot the two one last look before turning back around to face the mirror. “Can’t stand those bitches, I swear.”, she murmured before picking up her hairbrush.

Everyone went back to their business, some girls in various stages of changing, and chatting animatedly about their performances and the possible tips they could get from certain men. The rustling of the beads adorning the doorway of the dressing room pulled everyone’s attention away from whatever it was they were doing as the presence of the 6’3 Samoan they called their boss commanded the room. The sound of throats clearing and rustling clothes of women fixing their appearances overtook the silence as Roman stood flanked by his cousins. Everyone seemed to be so enamored by his presence, except Cherish. She kept her eyes on the makeup palette below her.

“Ladies,” Romans baritone voice resonated, commanding immediate attention. As if he didn’t have that already. “Great job tonight. I want you all to keep it up. Remember, I’m always watching.”

A few of the women had to stop themselves from squealing. He did something to them that they couldn’t explain. Cherish knew as soon as he stepped out of the room, they’d be gushing and cooing about his appearance. She rolled her eyes at the thought. She didn’t understand it. Sure, he was an attractive man. But the thought of lusting after her boss was a strange concept. She’d prefer not to.

He must’ve sensed her thoughts, because the next thing out of his mouth startled her.

“Cherish.”

It was simple. It was only her name, but something about it made her shoulders jump slightly. She looked up at him through her vanity mirror, her lashes fanning her face through her blinks. “Good performance. You got a lot of compliments.”

Forcing a small smile, she nodded in acknowledgment before looking back down at her makeup. His face holding his signature scowl, his gaze lingered on her a bit longer than anyone had expected. Even Cherish. She looked up once more, locking eyes with him through the mirror wondering why he was staring at her. Maybe it was her lack of response. Or maybe he could sense her sour mood. Whatever it was, it made her nervous for whatever reason.

Finally looking away from her, his eyes looked over the other dancers. Scowl deepening at the sight of Bambi mugging the back of Cherish’s head, he stood still. He watched as she leaned over to whisper something to Freddi, who found what she said extremely funny by the way she covered her mouth to keep from laughing too loud. Deciding that whatever was going on between them should be kept between them until it was brought to his attention by one of the parties involved, he turned to exit the room. He walked first, Jimmy and Jey following behind him.

“Sooo, Cherish is the only one that did a good job?”, Bambi asked bitterly.

Collective eye rolls from dancers didn’t go unnoticed by Bambi, but she paid them no mind. Cherish returned the favor by giving her no reaction, but Roman stopped in his tracks. His halt caused all eyes to be back on him and Bambi, everyone, including Cherish, watching as he slowly walked backwards into the room before turning to face her. “Is there a problem, Chelsea?”

Swallowing hard, she looked around the room as if waiting for someone to come to her defense. That didn’t happen, obviously, so now she had to fend for herself. “Well…you only told Cherish good job. Did nobody else have a good performance?”

Folding his hands in front of him, his shoulders bounced with his chuckle as he took a step towards her. “Jey,” he called out to his cousin who stood behind him, “Please, tell me. When I came in here, what did I say?”

“You told everybody great job.”, he answered, his eyes on Bambi with the look of a child watching their sibling get in trouble.

“Right. I told everybody great job.”, he scowled in her direction. “I gave Cherish an additional compliment because she got the most compliments from customers. Is that a problem?”

He took another step towards her, his intimidating gaze staying on her. Taking a step back, Bambi shook her head. “You sure? You seemed pretty bothered. Is there anything else you want me to break down to you?”, his tone was similar to the one Serena used with her earlier. Gentle, as if talking to a child, but firm and intimidating.

With another shake of her head, Bambi looked down at her white painted toes adorned by her pink heels. Looking around the room, Roman questioned, “Anybody else have anything to say?” Being met with silence, he nodded. “Alright. Finish up getting ready. Y’all have an hour and thirty left to work. Also, be here about an hour early tomorrow. I want to have a meeting with you all in the conference room.”

With one last glance around the room, his eyes landed on Cherish’s vanity one last time. Shifting in her seat under his gaze, Cherish looked back down at her lap before picking up her hairbrush to brush out her hair. Finally turning, Roman and the twins exited the room. The room erupted in chatter, some gushing over their boss as Cherish expected, some lowkey clowning Bambi, and some complaining about losing a few extra minutes of sleep by having to be here earlier the next day.

Being nudged by Serena, Cherish looked up. The expression she held confused Cherish, although she had an idea of what she was going to say. “Girl! Did you see how he was looking at you?”, Serena exclaimed, nudging Cherish once more.

Rolling her eyes, Cherish couldn’t fight the small grin that appeared on her face. Why the hell was she smiling? “Don’t start, ‘Rena.”, she shook her head.

Kissing her teeth, Serena tilted her head, “Start what? You know you saw that!”

Shaking her head once more, Cherish stood from her stool. “Girl, stop being delusional and come on. We have to be back out there in two minutes.” Doing one more once over of herself in the mirror, Cherish ran her fingers through her hair. She didn’t want to think too much about what just happened, especially when all he did was look at her.

“Alright, you just wait. You’re gonna see that he likes you. Mark my words.”

[onceuponastory]

shopping spree

Plot: To fully enter the modern world, Bucky decides to switch up his wardrobe first, starting with some jeans. Unfortunately, he has no idea where to start with all the new trends and styles... but the sales assistant Y/N is more than happy to help. Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader sort of Warnings: A few mentions of Bucky feeling like a man out of time and out of his depth. But as always, if I miss any triggers, please let me know! Notes: So I saw an anon on @anothersebastianblog mention that they wanted to see Bucky shopping for skinny jeans, and it gave me some inspo, so here we are! Also I wrote most on this on the bus to work after being up since 4am so....sorry if it makes 0 sense

Bucky stands with his arms crossed, jaw clenched. This is a nightmare. He should never have done this. Ever since he got his life back, he’s decided to try to fit in more, rather than being seen as an Avenger for the rest of his life. And since Sam constantly brings up his ‘dark and depressing’ wardrobe, his first step will be to make a change by updating his clothes. Starting with jeans.

Initially, it sounded like a great idea. But now, he’s completely lost, and doesn’t know where to start.

In front of him, various styles and colours are displayed. Ones that flare slightly at the bottom that look like something he saw in the 70s, more loose fits, and ones that look so tight, he would need to be cut out of them.

And are those…holes?

“Why the hell are they selling these things half finished?” Bucky grunts to himself.

Where is he even going to start?

How is he even going to start?

Maybe he should’ve just got Sam to show him online, or stuck with what he knows, what he’s comfortable with. This was a terrible idea and-

“Can I help you find something?” A voice asks, cutting through his stream of thoughts. 

Bucky turns to see a sales assistant smiling at him. But it’s not an overly fake smile like someone desperate for a sale. No, she seems like she genuinely wants to help him.

And for the first time that day, Bucky Barnes can relax.

“Yes, please. I’m a little lost.” He admits, his gaze flickering to the floor so he doesn’t see her reaction. Despite his big, tough and grumpy exterior… all Bucky wants is to feel like he belongs. Even though he’s an Avenger, he has never felt more lost and out of place. After being a man out of time for decades, placed in and out of cryosleep, he’s completely oblivious to what the modern world is like nowadays. And of course, being blipped didn’t help either. “I just don’t know what’s cool with the kids nowadays.” He sighs.

Y/N frowns. This man doesn’t even look that old, probably mid thirties. Definitely not old enough to say something like that. But he does look lost, and she’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel a little bad for him. 

He is very cute though - with gorgeous silvery blue eyes, his short brown hair and stubble. She can also see muscles straining through his shirt, despite the jacket and…gloves? It’s enough to make her breath catch in her throat.

“Well, that depends.” She begins. “Nowadays, it’s more what you want to wear, rather than what’s ’cool with the kids’.” She chuckles. 

For a moment, Bucky frowns, expecting to be the butt of the joke. Instead, it’s the opposite. She’s laughing with him, making him feel comfortable. Bucky smiles, something in his gut fluttering.

“Thanks…” he glances at her name tag. “Y/N. I’m Bucky.”

“I love the way he says my name. And he has a lovely smile.” Y/N thinks. “Well, Bucky, I’ll show you our most popular styles and we can go from there.” Bucky nods. “Any colour ideas?”

“Black.” He answers quickly. Y/N nods. 

“A man after my own heart.” Bucky smiles. He wonders what it’d be like to know her in real life, outside of her job. To have a friend, one who isn’t an Avenger. A regular, normal civilian.

But just as he thinks that, has one moment of hope, it’s quickly squashed by his anxiety. “She’s just being polite to help you. She probably doesn’t even care about you that much. Nobody does.”

“You okay?” Y/N asks softly, bringing him back down to earth once again. “You kinda zoned out there.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He lies. This poor sales assistant definitely doesn’t get paid enough to hear all his woes.

Y/N nods, pulling out the first pair of jeans. “These are slightly baggy, and they’re really comfortable.” She says. “What do you think?”

“Uh….” He murmurs, still feeling completely out of his depth. “Maybe not yet.”

Next, a pair of skinny jeans. “It’s entirely up to you,” Y/N insists. “but these are definitely our most popular, and they’re always in fashion.”

“And they’re not… too skinny?” Bucky asks. Y/N shakes her head. 

“Nope, they’re nice and comfy.”

Honestly, the more Bucky thinks about it, the more he trusts Y/N and her judgment. So, he nods, and she adds them to the pile. 

She pulls out another pair, one with rips all over the legs. Bucky frowns. “Those aren’t even finished! They’re destroyed.”

Y/N shakes her head. “No! That’s the style. Very…rock and roll, I guess?”

“You’re serious? People wear jeans like this?”

“Deadly.”

Bucky rolls his eyes, shaking his head. “Not for me.”

“I think you’d suit them.” She admits, smiling. “Maybe not as many…extreme rips, but we have ones with just rips at the knees.” She suggests, holding up a pair. “It’s entirely up to you.”

Bucky frowns, thinking it over. Originally, it was a hard no. But Y/N does recommend them, and Sam said to try new things. And they don’t look that bad.

“Okay. Just cause I trust you.” He says, the words slipping out before he can stop them.

Y/N’s grin widens, a sight that sets him off too. “Aw, thanks Bucky.”

~ * ~

“Ready?” Y/N asks, leaning against the changing room wall.

“Almost!” Bucky calls. The door opens, and he steps out. He’s in a pair of basic black skinny jeans.

“How are they? How do you feel?”

“I feel…great!” Bucky grins, staring at himself in the mirror. He looks so happy, so confident, that Y/N can’t help but smile just as wide as him. 

He turns, admiring the way he looks. Y/N can’t help but let her eyes drift lower. His ass looks incredible in the jeans, and she can’t help but feel her cheeks heating up. He’s gorgeous. “What do you think?” Bucky asks, oblivious to her staring.

Or at least she hopes he is.

“Y-Yeah.” She stammers. “You look incredible.”

~ * ~

After trying on all his picks, Bucky and Y/N go to pay. “Thank you so much for this.” Bucky says. “You really helped me feel a lot more comfortable and confident with this whole thing.”

“Not at all.” She chuckles. “It was my pleasure.”

Y/N rings up his jeans, and Bucky watches her. Maybe he could ask if they want to hang sometime? No, that’s creepy. She’s just doing her job, not flirting. She doesn’t even feel the same about him.

“Can I get your number?” She smiles. Bucky goes red. Or maybe she does feel the same.

“I mean, we just met, but if you wanna…..” He stammers, pulling out his phone. Y/N’s eyes widen.

“Oh, not like that.” She gasps quickly. Immediately, Bucky's heart sinks. “I just mean it’s for our rewards program. When you give us your phone number, you receive points each time you shop. After a while, you get a discount. It’s a good deal.”

Right then, Bucky wishes the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

“Oh! Oh, I-I mean…sure.” His skin is burning with embarrassment now, and he can’t wait to pay and get this over with.

Despite the second hand embarrassment flowing through her veins, the look on Bucky’s face makes Y/N’s face soften.

Honestly, she would give him her number. He may be just a customer, but there’s something different about him, something that seems to pull her closer to him.

“There you go.” Bucky quickly pays and takes the bag, ready to get out of here and home to Alpine. As he walks away, Y/N sighs. “Bye, Bucky.”

~ * ~

Later that day, Bucky takes out his new jeans. Alpine curls up in the empty shopping bag, swatting at the receipt. “Hey!” Bucky chuckles, pulling it away. “That’s not yours, buddy.”

As he lifts it up to put it away, trying to dodge his cat’s claws, Bucky spots something. A note is scribbled on the back of the receipt: 

Hope to see you again soon, Bucky. If you ever need style advice, you know where to find me. Y/N :)

Bucky grins, placing the receipt down.

He was looking for some new t-shirts, funnily enough.

~ * ~

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[thealexchen]

who the fUCK is that in the new LIS trailer bc thats not the max i know 😭 why does she look so different help

maybe its bc arcadia bay was known for its warm hues and this just feels completely different but even the art style was changed to look more generic :((

The main reason: they made Double Exposure Max more conventionally attractive. Ironically, while Max's redesign in Double Exposure tries to make her face more unique, it winds up making her more generically pretty.

LiS1 Max was deliberately designed to look like a young, plain and mousy teenage girl. She dressed simply and safely so as to not stand out. It conveyed her shyness, awkwardness, and indecisive nature and was an example of Dontnod's eye for character design.

This Max is... I dunno. Her design doesn't say anything. I'm not even that bothered that her hairstyle changed, but it's literally Steph's hairstyle on Max's head and doesn't communicate much about Max's personality as an adult. Same goes for her clothing-- as a teen, her graphic tees and plain gray hoodie immediately depicted her as a shy, youthful wallflower in an eclectic private art school. In Double Exposure, her wardrobe is indistinguishable from any other young working professional her age: a yellow beanie, a green peacoat, blue jeans, red and blue cardigans with feminine necklines.

As for the rest of her appearance, somehow her face shape has completely changed to become more slender, especially her jawline.

LiS1 Max, with her square jaw, distinct from her chin, and dark circles.

DE Max, who suddenly has filled out cheeks, with a softer jaw that blends into her chin.

In LiS1, Max had asymmetrical lips, with the bottom lip fuller than the top lip. In Double Exposure, her lips are fuller, rounder, and perfectly symmetrical. Her nose is also more symmetrical: wider, rounder, softer, and less pointed (especially between her nostrils) than her nose in LiS1. All of this serves to soften and feminize her appearance.

While freckles can fade naturally with age, in Double Exposure, Max's freckles are barely visible in most shots. She has flawless skin with an even more realistic skin texture than the models in True Colors (which looks uncanny to me, in my opinion).

But the main thing is her eye color. In LiS1, Max had medium blue eyes that did not particularly stand out against her skintone and hair color. During the warmly lit scenes like golden hour, her eyes are desaturated even further.

But in Double Exposure, Max's eyes are suddenly ice blue, unnaturally bright and piercing. Even in dark scenes, her eyes have a sparkle to them. Unfortunately, her eye design seems to be carried over from the "anime-fied" eyes in the remaster, which were larger, shinier, and brighter than the original game. The difference is truly astounding:

LiS1 Max's eyes, which had the same texture as the rest of her model. Her irises appear dark blue with little depth.

And now, DE Max's eyes, which have a distinct "glassy" texture compared to her skin and hair. Her irises are suddenly ice blue and the pupil is larger with a very bright reflection.

I know that D9 wants to show off a new "grown up Max" who has grown into her confidence and femininity with a more cleaned-up appearance. But Max was already done with puberty in the first game, so she wouldn't suddenly be sporting a softer jawline and filled out cheeks at 28 years old. This was a huge missed opportunity to instead depict the effects of accelerated aging due to stress and trauma on Max's face: sunken cheeks, dark circles, acne, skin discoloration, and forehead wrinkles. Instead, Max Caulfield got the Hollywood beauty treatment.

[metallicames]

New Year = New Fic 🎆 I was thinking of current James as I wrote this, but feel free to imagine James from any era. Hope you like it!

Thanks for the support @metalmaidenn and @holbrookswifey ❣️

New Year's Eve

Description: you and James are at a New Year's Eve party and it doesn't take long for things to heat up between the two of you.

Warnings: age gap (reader is 20 years younger), sex content, dirty talking.

"Five…four…three…two…one… Happy New Year!!! "James grabs your hips forcefully and kisses you tenderly, while everyone screams and dances, you couldn't have wished for a better start to the year: together with the person you love most in the world surrounded by your friends, the atmosphere is light and fun, you dance, moving sinuously in your gold mini dress and you enjoy the night.

James looks at you amused, you start to move in a mischievous way, brushing against his groin and every now and then you turn to look at him out of the corner of your eyes, giving him glances that leave little to the imagination, you want to tease him to see how he reacts, you turn towards him moving your hips and placing your arms intertwined behind his neck feeling his erection against your abdomen as you hold onto him following the music.

“You're getting into trouble” he says in your ear, grabbing your neck with one hand and squeezing it, you play with the buttons on his shirt slightly open on the chest which lets you see the tattoos on his broad chest. The smell of his perfume mixed with the scent of the cigar pervades your nostrils while you slowly look at him, enjoying every detail of his tall and imposing figure: his long legs wrapped in dark, tight jeans, the black shirt that reveals the tattoos on his arms and chest and which impeccably outlines his broad shoulders and then, going up a little, your gaze rests on his perfect smile highlighted by the mustache and beard that decorate his face. When your eyes meet his your breath gets stuck in your throat: the intense blue of his irises penetrates you and the depth of his gaze makes you waver. You wanted to tease him and play a little and in a few minutes you ended up thinking about how much you would like to have him inside you even just for a quickie.

The party continues, some of your friends approach and you start dancing together. James looks at you amused, every now and then you turn and see his eyes fixed on you while he smokes his cigar, slowly, enjoying its aroma. You feel the excitement making its way through your body every time his gaze triggers something inexplicable inside you, an almost animalistic instinct.

“Don't look at me like that…” you whisper in his ear as you dance, smiling at him.

“I'm thinking about what position to put you in as soon as we get to the hotel…” he tells you in a firm tone that squares every inch of your body. Your brain goes into blackout, James realizes the power he has over you, even after years you still feel like the first times, euphoric and excited every time he provokes you, in that exact moment you understand that it's time to leave the party.

You say goodbye to everyone hastily and leave the party getting into the car quickly, he enters first and drags you in, pulling your hand, you end up on top of him and he starts kissing you avidly, as if he could finally let off steam, he comes down with his hands on your buttocks and he squeezes forcefully making you let out a small moan.

You stop kissing him and move your face away to look at him better, stroking his hair with one hand while you start to slowly rub yourself against him, also helped by his hands gripping you tightly and guiding you against his bulge. The effect of the rough pants and his erection against your pussy is devastating, The light layer of lace of your panties is probably already soaked and makes the sensation even more intense and exciting.

As you move above him you feel him slide down, extenging one leg and with one foot he presses the divider button so that the driver doesn't peek. He looks at you with a cheeky smile and lifts your dress, shortly after pulling you towards him and kissing your breasts which were bouncing a few centimeters from his face.

He begins to bite and lick your already swollen nipples, making you emit small moans while you start rolling your hips on top of him again with a slow pace placing your hands on the seat next to his head.

Even though you're still fully clothed and you're just rubbing yourself against him, you feel dizzy, all your senses are heightened, you're in ecstasy and you know that it's the same for him too, you can tell by the way he's panting and the way he holds you close, scanning every inch of your body with his calloused fingertips.

When you are about to come, the car stops, you both look at each other in disbelief, panting and the door opens shortly after, the driver pretends not to see the state you are in but he certainly noticed your red faces, James' hair completely disheveled and the fact that you are straddling him.

“Good night, Messrs Hetfield,” he tells you in a composed and professional tone.

You walk through the hotel door almost running, go up the stairs as the lift is busy, you don't want to waste even a minute, the excitement is sky high.

You enter the room and James takes off his shirt almost tearing off the buttons and sits down heavily on the armchair.

"Come here and finish what you started" he tells you in an almost diabolical tone, slapping his hands on his thighs while he is sitting on the armchair in the dim light. You close the bedroom door and approach him while you take off your mini dress, remaining in your thong and heels, James at the same time hastily takes off his jeans and boxers. You stop in front of him and let the thong go down to yours ankles and kick it away, leaving yourself naked. James swallows loudly, whispering "Good god”.

You immediately straddle him, you don't want to waste time you're too excited, you start riding him taking all of him first slowly moving up and down staring James in the eyes while you keep your hands on his shoulders for more stability then you increase the pace slightly and the moans of you both also increase with the rhythm.

“Fuck yes… like that” he tells you, sighing as you momentarily rest your hands on his legs behind you, James brings his gaze down to get a better look at his cock sinking into you, his hands are gripping firmly on your buttocks and guides your movements by ensuring that your pelvis are fully engaged with each thrust.

The feeling of his cock inside you every time is overwhelming, James loves seeing you on top of him, seeing you take control and enjoy while you ride him following your rhythm, he becomes louder and enjoys every moment eating you with his eyes.

James grabs your breasts and watches them almost hypnotized as they bounce to your rhythm. From time to time you make circular movements with your pelvis, slow and sinuous which allow you to feel his erect cock against your walls even more "Damn, you turn me on so much when you ride me.. you have no idea..." He says before uttering a growl that confirms his words.

While your pelvises meet and you are completely entwined with each other as if you were one person, you begin to move back and forth, rubbing yourself against him while you kiss him hungrily, biting him and licking every portion of available skin, one of your hands ends up behind his neck and every now and then you pull a few locks of his hair making him emit moans.

Grinding against his pubis with his cock deep inside you sends you increasingly stronger shocks of pleasure that make you literally get goosebumps, you turn your head back panting louder and louder, knowing that you are really close, James bites your neck and leaves bites on the sides under your earlobes as he pants along with you.

“mhmmhh god James… I'm close..” you whisper. “Look me in the eyes while you come baby…” he orders you in a firm and decisive tone, holding your face with his fingers and forcing you to look at him.

You probably have a desperate and shocked expression on your face due to the orgasm that is approaching and he likes it, he likes to see you completely destroyed by the way he fills you and guides you towards the limit, keeping you attached to his pelvis with a firm hand on your hips and the other on your neck, squeezing it, making you breathless.

“Oh my God… God… God God” you exclaim as you come, pressing your body to his, continuing to grind frantically on his pubic area. Soon after, with an unexpected jerk he takes you and slams you against the edge of the bed in front of him and without even giving you time to recover he begins to push himself inside you in a deep and deliberate way, holding you tight and still with his powerful arms, you are still shaken by the orgasm which continues further making you breathless, you cling to his shoulders moaning and after a few thrusts James comes fully inside you shaken by tremors biting your shoulder panting "Ohhhh ffffuck".

You remain like this, breathing deeply, entwined with each other, slowly you rest your feet on the ground, James is still inside you kissing you softly and breathlessly.

“Happy New Year baby” he says, caressing your cheek with one hand, his voice still altered by the orgasm.

You kiss him, holding him close to you with your arms, enjoying the moment and the warmth of his body against yours.

- What a damn way to start the year - you think to yourself taking a deep breath.

[donatellawritings]

cherry - should be ripe - r. jerimovich

pairing(s): richie jerimovich x f!reader

warning(s): language, prescribed drug-use, age-gap

song: coming down by the weeknd

The gloomy skies, filled with heaps of troublesome rain brought a dull grey hue of light into your apartment as you whisked the thin curtains in your living room apart. The thin straps of your tote bag digging into your shoulder as you allowed the overfilled bag to rest on the glass surface of your dining table. It had been almost twenty-four hours since you’d last spoken to Richie. Almost twenty-four hours since you his raspy voice and dry tone haunted the depths of your mind. Almost twenty-four hours since you’d clung to every minute detail you could, of the older man, and you brought yourself to ecstasy.

The abrupt shrill of the alarm blaring through the speaker of your phone hastily broke you from your thoughts as you glanced at the time: 3:15PM. Rushing to silence the alarm, you placed your cellphone onto the dining table, a low sigh leaving your lips as you rummaged through your tote bag, pushing your fingers past your laptop and textbooks, sifting to the bottom of the bag, before your fingers grabbed ahold of your pill bottle.

As much as you hated it, you knew that you needed these pills. Your bouts with anxiety and depression left you a shell of yourself, a worrisome mess who couldn’t stop herself from fling as if the world was about to cave in. Your movement towards the refrigerator being purely muscle memory and fluid as you swiftly placed the pill into your mouth, flushing it down your throat within seconds. You need this - you can despise it, but you need it.

“Fuck,” you mumbled to yourself, leaving the pill bottle to sit on the glass table as you glanced at the time once more.

It was now 3:17PM, and you couldn’t help but wonder about Richie. Did he like you? Was he busy at work? Was he thinking about you? Did he also resort to using the memory of your voice to bring him to an orgasmic bliss? God, you could only imagine how pathetic you’d look if he knew - if anyone knew of your lustful tryst.

Maybe you should text him, let him know that you were thinking of him … or would that be too much, too soon?

Sliding your phone into the back pocket of your jeans, you made your way to the bathroom, stopping still before your mirror as you too in your appearance. Your hair was slick and smooth, courtesy of the hair salon that sat around the corner of your apartment, your tired eyes lined with black eyeliner, lips tinted from the faded lipstick that you applied earlier that morning.

A part of you ached with anticipation as you allowed your mind to wander, once more.

What would Richie think, if he happened to see you in this very moment?

Biting your lip, you’d decided that you would text him, maybe tease him and remind the older man that last night was real, that you were real.

-

i’m still real btw

Richie exhaled out a smoke laced laugh as he read over your message. The small cigarette held between Richie’s long fingers secured in place as he leaned against the brick wall of the restaurant. Richie carefully tapped the small bunch of ashes off of the tip of his cigarette. He hadn’t stopped thinking about you. In fact, he found himself to be a bit calmer in the usually hostile environment of The Bear, his usually noisy psyche now just a bit quieter as it became preoccupied with the thought of you.

Richie ran his calloused hand over his shaven face, clearing his throat as he typed his reply back to you, before sliding his phone into the pocket of his black slacks.

good to know. last night felt like a fucking dream

Pushing himself off of the wall, Richie grabbed the suit jacket that hung over his shoulder, sliding his arms through the sleeves as he shrugged the jacket so sit comfortably over his body. The sound of the back door creaking caused the blue eyed man to glance over, a smile now tugging on his lips as he watched Tina, one of his most endeared coworkers exit the building.

“You heading out, T?” Richie called out, approaching the older woman as he pressed his cheek to hers with a kiss.

Tina warmly cupped her hand to Richie’s cheek, before pulling away with a huff, “Yeah, I have to go see my niece today, but you did good today, papa,” she consoled.

Richie opened his mouth to speak, the vibration of his phone hitting his leg as straightened his back, giving all of his attention to the woman before him.

“Shit, okay, uh - y’need a ride?” Richie offered, his fingers working to button the center of his ironed suit jacket.

Tina paused, pondering for a few seconds, before shaking her head with a thankful smile, “I should be good, Richie - thank you,” she politely declined.

“You sure?”

Tina laughs, proceeding to walk away from Richie, “I will see you tomorrow, Jeff.”

Richie watches closely as Tina walks away, a second vibration hitting his thigh causing his eyes to widen as he slid his hand into his pocket, “fuck,” he muttered under his breath.

it did. do you have time to it again tonight?

will have to be later though … i’m having company over :)

A small pang of jealous hit Richie’s chest, but was quickly diminished with a shake of his head. You’re not his, he barely fuckin’ knew you, not yet, at least. He really shouldn’t give a fuck who you have at your apartment, but there was still a small part of Richie that itched to know if it was another guy. Surely, you weren’t dumb enough to openly tell Richie about your plans, if it involved another man, but fuck, the dating scene these days was pretty brutal.

Richie hastily typed his response, the ounce of chill that he held onto throughout the duration of the day now dissipating as he stuffed his phone into his pocket, before entering the building and allowing the door to slam shut behind him.

have fun.

-

A swirl of anxiety ran rampant in your stomach as you read over Richie’s message - did you say something wrong? Your top set of teeth gnawed at the skin of your bottom lip as you rushed to respond. Maybe Richie wasn’t upset, maybe you were just overthinking those two words and adding a value to them that simply didn’t exist.

Deciding to leave the situation alone, you distracted yourself. Placing your headphones over your ears, you raised the volume to its maximum setting, before tidying random areas of your small apartment, despite it already being close to spotless. Whether it be shifting a random vase to sit at a different angle, or smoothing your hand over the pillows that decorated your hand-me-down sofa, you distracted yourself as much as you could.

So, you gave yourself two more tasks: make some coffee and change your clothes. Grabbing saucepan and a canister of Café Bustelo from your kitchen cabinet, you prepared the coffee, allowing the water to come to a boil before mixing in the coffee grounds. The strong scent of coffee filled your apartment as you made your way to your bedroom, quickly swapping out your jeans and long sleeve for a tank top and leggings that hugged your curves just right.

The sound of the front door unlocking jolted you as you ran your fingers through your hair, “give me one second!” You shouted, quickly spraying yourself with the nearest bottle of perfume that sat on your vanity.

“It smells good in here, mamita!” Your aunt called out from the living room, the jingle of her keys hitting your coffee table like music to your ears.

You quickly rushed out of your bedroom, the sight of the short, curly-haired woman whom you’ve been blessed to have as your guardian angel aunt bringing a smile to your lips. Tina's eyes widened with pride as her bright brown eyes took in your matured appearance - you hadn’t seen each other in about six months, six months that felt like six years.

Pulling you into a hug with a hum of joy, Tina pressed a kiss to your cheek, her eyes glazed with happiness as she pulled away slightly, giving herself another chance to take you in, “You look so good, mama, wow!” Your aunt cooed.

Wordlessly, you nodded, before pulling your aunt in for one more hug, “I missed you, titi.”

The two of you held each other for a beat, before Tina pulled away, setting her coat down onto the sofa, before making her way into the kitchen, “Café Bustelo? Somebody’s been following her aunt’s footsteps,” she teased.

“Of course, titi,” you smiled.

Tina grabbed two mugs from your dish rack, carefully pouring each of you a steaming cup of the pure caffeine. A comfortable silence fell between the two of you as she nodded towards your dining table, setting the two mugs down side by side as you both took your respective seats.

You silently thanked your aunt with a nod, before bringing the hot mug to your lips, taking short sip of the steaming coffee, watching as Tina’s eyes fell on the pill bottle that remained on the dining table.

Tina pauses, setting her mug onto the table, “Everything’s okay?” She questioned.

“Yeah, everything’s okay.” You sighed.

-

Richie’s day went to shit, the moment he re-entered the renovated building. Maybe it was the fact that the measly three hours of sleep that he’d gotten had caught up with him, or, perhaps it was the fact that he’d given too much of a fuck about what a girl he hadn’t even met in person yet was doing at her apartment. Truth be told, it was both, but Richie would never admit to it - he had too much pride.

Now, Richie stood in front of the mirror in his dimly lit bathroom, his eyes low and jaw clenched as he aimlessly kept his eyes on the reflection before him. He needed sleep and he knew that better than anyone, his bloodshot eyes hung low while he stared, his mind teetering back and forth with whether or not he should give you the benefit of the doubt.

And so, he did. Deciding to break the tension, Richie reached for his phone, sending you a peace offering message.

-

The company of your aunt was much needed, you didn’t remember the last time you laughed this much, or even felt one-hundred percent safe. The two of you were currently recovering from a fit of uncontrollable laughter, thanks to an exaggerated recounting of a childhood memory, courtesy of Tina. Just as the two of you steadied you breathing, the hum of your cellphone vibrating against the dining table caused the both of you to glance at your phone.

You opened your mouth to speak, a blush creeping to your cheeks as you slid your phone towards you, Tina decides to push, “anyone special?”

You lick over your suddenly dry lips with a forced laugh, “uh, I’m not sure.”

Tina leans forward, cradling your face in her warm hands, “promise me that you’ll be careful, okay?” She spoke, her voice stern, yet still loving.

“I promise-”

“No, I mean it, querida. Don’t let any of these guys fuck with your heart, okay? You’re too good for that,” She continued, her eyes pleading with yours.

“I promise.” You confirm, more to yourself than to your aunt.

“Good,” she pulls away, standing from the table as she collects her coat from the couch, “well, I’m going to leave you to have some alone time,” Tina returns to you, pressing her lips to the top of your head.

“I love you, thank you for coming,” you mutter, a wave of sadness crashing over you as your aunt pulls away and makes her way towards the front door.

“I love you too, I’ll be back in a few days, okay mamita?” She calls out, blowing a kiss to you, “make sure to lock up!”

And with that, the front door closed shut, you walked towards the door, ensuring it was properly locked before making your way back to the dining table. A stray tear managed to slip down your cheek as you let out a shaky breath.

“Ugh, don’t cry,” you scolded yourself, wiping your tears with the sides of your index fingers as you reached for your phone.

didn’t meant to be such a fuckin dick

i’ll be awake if u wanna talk

-

Richie stood at his window, watching as random cop cars blared their sirens down the street. Dressed in a Chicago Bulls jersey and black track pants, Richie adjusted his gold chain to sit comfortably over his chest. It had been about ten minutes since he texted you, his mind wracking with theories on who it was you were seeing and what is was that you were doing when the blare of his ringtone brought him out of his thoughts.

Fuck, he didn’t realize you’d actually call him, let alone this fast.

Suddenly wound up with anticipation, Richie accepted your call, biting back the smile that threatened to pull on his face, once you came into view. You looked so fuckin’ pretty.

Richie remained silent, taking note of the smudged makeup that stained your eyes just right, the way that your previously curly hair from the night before had been straightened, he also noticed that your eyes were puffy, silently praying that he wasn’t the reason for your tears.

It was Richie who decided to speak first, “I, uh, I’m sorry about earlier,” he began, leaning against the window sill, “I barely fuckin’ slept and I just-”

“I couldn’t sleep, either.” Your voice cut in.

Shit, Richie could melt right where he stood. He’d give anything to hear your voice for hours on end. Richie was a greedy fuck, and he knew that, yet he just needed to hear more from you - he craved it.

“You couldn’t?” He questioned.

With a short nod, you answered, “yeah, I mean, it just took a lot for me to actually fall asleep, y’know?” You stammered nervously, leaving Richie to wonder what it actually took for you to go to sleep, and if it was the same thing that rewarded him with those three hours of rest.

“Sorry to hear that, sweetheart.”

-

Sweetheart. The way the word rolled off of Richie’s hellish tongue with was smooth and silky, it inched its way towards your core. You couldn’t help but smile at the simple, yet earnest choice of wording.

You noticed Richie’s eyes, their bloodshot state more intense than the previous night, yet you decided to change the subject, “I really hope that I didn’t make you upset earlier, I didn’t mean t-”

Richie huffed, “nah, I was just being a fuckin’ jagoff, please don’t even worry yourself about that, alright?”

You remained quiet.

Richie shifts the camera, clearing his throat, “why don’t you tell me about your day, yeah? I see your hair looks different.”

Richie searched for anything, anything to break you away from that newfound wall of shyness that you had, guarding yourself from him.

You were still miles away, the usually comfortable loneliness that filled your home, now suddenly becoming a bit too apparent to you, following your visit from your aunt.

Yet, you answered the blue eyed man, “I got my hair done today, thank you for noticing.” You smiled softly, not wanting to scare Richie off with your sudden influx of emotions.

-

Richie felt like shit, a total fuckin’ jagoff. In his mind, he was the reason for your quietness - he got overzealous, too greedy. He didn’t mean to push you away - he’s just played the game too many times, hell, he was married once and that failed, so could you blame him for his romance woes?

“Well, listen, I’m sorry, alright?” Richie began, “I’m pretty good at fuckin’ things up and I don’t want to do that with you-“

“Richie, I am not mad at you,” you quickly interjected, “it’s just - today has been a lot, and I guess it just caught up with me.”

Thank fucking god, Richie lets out breath that he wasn’t even aware that he was holding in.

“But, tell me about you, I want to hear about your day.” You asked, inching a bit closer to the camera.

“I dropped my daughter off at school this morning, then I was at the fuckin’ restaurant all day which was a fuckin’ mess - seemed like I’m the only one who keeps shit together at that fuckin’ place,” Richie rambled, completely lost in his on words that he didn’t even realize that you’d moved to your bed.

-

You’d grown fond of Richie’s voice - it was raw, his tone rough and blunt as he spoke every word with conviction. Hearing him drone on and on about his series of events lulled you into a peaceful trance as you blankly stared at the camera, half-awake.

It wasn’t until your eyelids grew heavy that Richie’s voice caused your eyes to open fully.

“You should get some sleep, sweetheart, I could talk to you to death some other time,” Richie teased, you’d assumed he’d made his way to his own bed by the sudden change of scenery.

“No, I’m awake, I promise,” you argued.

Richie shook his head, “and I’ll be around when you wake up and feel like talking again, I promise.”

As you both voiced your farewells for the night, you couldn’t help but smile as you gazed up at the ceiling of your bedroom, endlessly hoping that Richie would keep his promise. It was as of this very moment that you knew that it would only be a matter of time before your need for him wouldn’t be fulfilled by mere phone calls, but by physical touch.

-

Richie couldn’t help but smile, silently thanking the dark environment of his bedroom for concealing his slip-up, “this fuckin’ girl,” he exhaled, allowing his eyes to flutter close.

He needed more of you. Fuck that, he ached for more of you - he’s a 45 year old man who knows what he wants and you’re slowly becoming more apparent in those plans. He had no time to waste, despite today’s minor setback - Richie had turned over a new leaf and was working on doing better being better for the restaurant. Slowly working on being more present for his daughter - and being less of a bitter jagoff to those he cared about most.

So that settled things into finality, for Richie. He needed to see you, to see if you’d be any different. in a face-to-face proximity. The thought of asking you on a date terrified him, his previous unsuccessful attempts now ringing in the back of his mind as he unlocked his phone.

Richie rushed to call you once again - quickly glancing at the time on his alarm clock: 9:23PM, Richie raised his phone to his ear, allowing it to ring, before he could pussy-out.

-

The shrill of your ringtone filled your ears, ripping you out of your light sleep as looked at your phone screen through squinted eyes - it was Richie.

Accepting the call, you brought your phone to your ear, “hi, Richie,” you spoke, your voice raspy from your short lap of rest.

“Hi, I know you’re sleeping, but, uh, I just wanted to ask you somethin’,” Richie huffed.

“Okay.”

“Okay, uh, I was thinking that maybe I could take you out to dinner one of these days,” Richie, began, his nervous stammers bringing a smile to your face, “y’know it doesn’t have to be too fancy, unless you’re into that, fuck, uh-”

With a laugh, you interrupted, “I’d love to go out for dinner, Richie.”

“Okay, yeah, yeah- uh, how about Friday?” He questioned, facepalming himself on the other side of the phone.

“Friday works for me.”

“Alright, I’ll pick you up, just send me your, uh, your address and we’ll sort the rest out … tomorrow?”

“Yes, Richie.” You agreed, your stomach flipping with an anxious excitement as you licked over your lips.

The two of you exchanged a round of awkward nervous goodbyes before you hung up for the night. It would be four days from now. Four days until you’d stand in the same room as Richie, breathe in the same air as him. Four days until you’d see whether or not your chemistry would exceed the confines of your cellphones.

The excitement was tantalizing, the slight fear that bit at you just adding the to delicious wave of anticipation that washed over you.

Four days. Four days and you would have all of the answers you’d need to see if it would be worth it to keep this affair going. Lord knows, you wanted it to keep going. Maybe you were just as greedy as the older man with tired blue eyes that had come to plague your mind.

You’d just wished that those four days would come and go fast enough.

-

that’s it for part 2 of this series - sorry if its a bit long, i was just really excited to explore the characters a bit just to give them some background lol <3 thank you for the much appreciated support on part 1, i can’t wait to publish part 3!

[f4ggydog]

duuude. what are your headcanons abt transmasc!yj?? like, long hair for nat (100% real, i was blowing him the other night-), or or, their respective style; if it would change after transitioning, ’n shit like this 🥰.

just need to get crazy over my fav boys.

shit let me try to go as in depth as I can

nat: nat would keep his hair long and it would be a mullet, but the ends would be died black or brown. he’s got a small mustache growing on his lips and he’s got a big happy trail :3 nat’s got a very typical transmasc style (yknow the one with the big cargo shorts and the oversized band tee or a black tee) he dresses pretty grunge and if he’s wearing pants, he’ll add a keychain or carabiner to it. he likes wearing a lot of black and olive green and brown with his outfits.

taissa: most of taissa’s body hair is on his legs. he’d cut his hair short and would often wear ‘jock’ sorts of outfits like varsity/letterman jackets. tai keeps his style simple but very sporty and clean. taissa likes a lot of blue and red with her looks with an occasional brown.

misty: misty would cut his curly hair short too (it’d look something like the pic I’ll paste below) misty would have a very ‘soft boi uwu’ transmasc Steven universe sort of style😭😭😭lots of pastels, sweaters with button up shirts underneath, cuffed jeans, flowery patterns. he’d also wear a lot of accessories like colorful bracelets on his wrist or a geeky necklace. misty would very tumblr-esque if that makes any sense, very picrew avatar vibes. misty would also have the least body hair out of all of them.

van: Van’s style is basically Adam Sandler. anything that looks reminiscent to an Adam Sandler fit is what Van’s ass fucks around with. van leaves his hair long and keeps it down. he’s got some hair near his chin and he’s got sideburns growing in as well.

shauna: Shauna’s got the most body hair out of the group and he wears that shit proudly. (she has the most on her armpits) Shauna’s obsessed with flannel and button ups but also really likes to throw on a wife beater with some worn out jeans. he’s a fan of the cargo shorts too when it gets hot out and she also likes to keep a little necklace around her neck. shauna doesn’t cut his hair, but often ties it back in a ponytail and doesn’t like to keep it down.

jackie: Jackie’s style is often very preppy, fucks heavily with the collared shirts and the sweater vests. he dresses like a rich kid attending a private school and even tho he’s got more body hair than misty, he doesn’t have quite as much as the rest of the gang. jackie also really likes polo shirts or a pair of khakis.

and lastly LOTTIEEEE (lottie and taissa were the hardest since they are pretty fem overall cause even jackie has her masc moments):

Lottie’s also got a mustache growing on her upper lip (he can match with nat) and his style is very similar to Jackie’s. lottie also goes for a preppy look and enjoys sweaters (especially ones with buttons) (tho not the vest part). lottie’s hair is styled as a wolfcut. he’s also very much the type to tie his sweater around his back as an outfit.

I hope I did well these are just my thoughts dont crucify me!!!

[lacontroller1991]

After Hours (Ernest Lawrence x AFAB!Reader x J. Robert Oppenheimer)

Main Master List || MISC Master List

Summary: Oppenheimer, finding himself in sexual frustration, runs to Lawrence and reader where Lawrence is more than willing to share reader.

Author's Note: THIS IS PURELY FICTIONAL. IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM DOES THIS ACTUALLY REPRESENT THE REAL PEOPLE THAT WERE LAWRENCE AND OPPENHEIMER. IF YOU'RE NOT COMFORTABLE WITH THIS, PLEASE SCROLL AWAY.

Author's Note 2: So I haven't really posted in a while and this is something new for me, so this is my trial run. I do have stuff planned for whumptober but that'll be next month. - SIDE NOTE I am currently obsessed with Josh Hartnett's interpretation of the character, a forewarning - SIDE SIDE NOTE, THANK YOU TO @arieslost FOR THE KICK ASS NAME

Warnings: SMUT 18+, cuckhold, unprotected sex, oral sex (male receiving), semi Public sex, p in v sex, body shots, pet names, masturbation and language

Word Count: 2.3k

==========

The lab is relatively quiet for a Tuesday night. Not a sound can be heard apart from your pen scratching against the papers and Lawrence lightly tapping his shoe against the floor. When the two of you had met, you were his student, then you became his TA, and now, you’re still his TA but you’re also his. The first couple weeks of your relationship with him, neither of you could keep your hands off each other. Homeworks wouldn’t get graded and more often than not, both of you were extremely tired the next day. Now, it’s much more mellow. The two of you had decided to try and keep it out of the lab, but sometimes that’s easier said than done. Like now.

Setting down the papers, you involuntarily squeeze your legs and let out a frustrated sigh, but Lawrence makes no comment. “Ernie.” If there were any students in the lab, you would strictly refer to him as Dr. Lawrence, but when no one is around? All bets are off the table.

“Yes honey?”

“When can we go home?” Lawrence sets his papers down, adjusting his glasses and looking you over, desperation written all over your face. With a smirk, he kicks his legs up on his desk, readjusting the papers in his lap and clicking his tongue.

“I don’t know hon, I have all these papers to grade and the less you help, the longer it’s going to take.” His comment irks you but you know he’s right. Picking up the papers again, you try to scan them over as quickly as you can, oblivious to the quantum physicist walking into the room, Lawrence on the other hand notices instantly. “Well, look who’s here.” His voice tears your already frail concentration away as you focus on Oppenheimer, jacket tossed on one of the chairs. 

“I’m tired of her playing games.” He crashes on the seat next to you and takes out his pipe, lighting it up while you and Lawrence share a brief look in confusion. You don’t really know what Oppie is going on about, but from what you understand from Ernest, it’s about a woman named Jean.

“What did she do this time?”

“She calls me, says she wants me, I go over, she kicks me out. She got me worked up for nothing,” Robert complains as Lawrence raises an eyebrow, taking a brief look at you but your eyes are raking down his body. You and Lawrence have spoken, rather in depth, on your mutual attraction towards the Quantum Theorist. Lawrence’s attraction is more on an intellectual level while yours is more on a sensual level. 

“Anything we can do to help?” You offer quietly, repositioning yourself towards Oppenheimer and fixing your blouse. Oppenheimer’s cold blue eyes fixate briefly on your bosom before shaking his head, focusing on his pipe.

“Not unless you have a way to relieve my tension.” Your eyes flick to Ernest silently asking if you can, only to receive a slight nod of his head, his eyes returning to his papers.

“Well, I can,” you comment, setting your own papers down on Lawrence’s desk before pulling the pipe out of Oppie’s hands and sliding onto his lap, your legs resting comfortably on either side of his hips.

“Uh- Lawrence?” Oppenheimer’s eyes flick behind you and try to find Ernest’s only to find them still focused on the papers and not really caring.

“Go ahead and enjoy yourself Robert. She’s really skilled.” It’s all the convincing Oppie needs before his eyes focus on your face, your hips slowly rocking against his. 

“I- um- not really sure if you should be- doing this,” he swallows, trying to keep his eyes on your face as your hands trace down his chest. 

“Why not? Daddy said it was ok.” You can hear Lawrence snort in amusement as Robert nods, leaning back in the seat, his hands falling to your hips as he begins to take control. Leaning down, you press your lips against his neck, gently sucking on the supple skin right below his ear, causing his eyes to flutter close.

“Dear- ar-,” he lets out a little moan as your hand moves between yours and his body, gently grazing against his hardon.

“Wow, so Oppie can shut up.” Lawrence’s comment stifles a laugh out of you as you lean back, removing your shirt and bra, discarding them onto the floor of the Rad Lab. Oppenheimer’s eyes instantly fall to your breasts, his hands reading up and gently running the pads of his thumbs against your nipples, causing you to let out a soft moan. Looking up from his paper, Lawrence watches you with a smirk before returning to his work, ignoring the way his cock begins to press against his slacks.

“Lawrence?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you sure it’s okay if I take her?” Oppenheimer asks as you continue to undress yourself, leaving you in nothing except your stockings, knowing just how much Lawrence likes them on you.

“I’m not in control of her, you have to ask her yourself.” A wave of arousal goes between your legs, because no, Lawrence IS in control of you. For him to suggest otherwise is his way of foreplay.

“Well?” Oppie’s question breaks you out of your thoughts as you drop yourself back on his lap, immediately feeling the length of Oppenheimer’s cock. 

“Yes, Dr. Oppenheimer.” You can visibly see the way Oppie’s pupils dilate before he’s picking you up and placing your back on the desk, one of his hands shoving down his suspenders and pants to his thighs, letting his cock spring free. 

Looking up from his papers, Lawrence watches the way Oppenheimer begins to guide his member towards your heat. 

“You might want to go in at a slight angle, it gets the job done much faster.” 

“Who said I want to get it done fast?” Oppenheimer retorts, his eyes focused on Lawrence behind him and not the way you’re touching yourself underneath him. Lawrence though, sees your deft hand rubbing tight circles against your clit. 

“If you don’t get it done sooner rather than later, she’s gonna lose interest.” Lawrence’s comment has Oppie’s head turning right back to you causing his dick to twitch at the sight. “Besides,” Lawrence slaps the papers on his desk, making his way over to you and Oppie before sitting down on the edge of his desk, “I would still like to have a turn with her.”

“Are you going to watch?” You ask with a small smile causing him to smile back. 

“Yes sweetheart, now why don’t you show Oppie just how nice you feel.” Lawrence smirks, his eyes watching your body intensely as Oppenheimer begins to push the head of his cock in, grunting as he meets resistance. You, on the other hand, let out a moan at the feeling of his cock stretching you out. “How does he feel honey?”

“So good,” you moan out, wiggling your hips and looking up to the physicist above you, “you can move.” Oppie nods his head, his hips starting a steady pace, trying to not look to Lawrence for approval. Leaning over you, Oppenheimer places a tentative kiss on your nipple before taking it between his teeth causing you to let out a sharp gasp of surprise. Picking up his pace, sweat begins to trickle on his forehead as your moans get louder, your nails scratching at his biceps while your hips cant up. 

Feeling the beginning of your orgasm, you reach one hand down between your bodies and begin to rub your clit, eyes fluttering close and chasing the feeling, barely registering the fact that Lawrence is commanding Oppie on what to do. “I’m close.” “We know baby girl, just hold on a little longer.” Oppenheimer comments, his hips thrusting wildly as he chases his own orgasm while he looks to Lawrence, “where?”

“She likes it on her tits. But make sure she cums first.” Oppenheimer nods his head, trying to keep his pace as best as possible so that you can cum. “Come on honey, cum for Robert,” Lawrence whispers in your ear while petting your hair in soothing strokes, sending you toppling over the edge.

“Oh fuck,” you let out a long moan as Oppenheimer continues to thrust into you, helping you ride out your high before slipping out of you and jerking off, hot ropes of his cum landing on your stomach and tits. Both you and Oppenheimer breathe heavily for a minute before you sit up, his cum dripping off your body and onto the floor, while Lawrence smiles like a proud parent.

“Good job Oppie,” Lawrence claps Oppie on the shoulder before his hands unbutton his slacks and push them down, taking a seat at his desk chair, “but let me show you how it’s done.” His focus shifts to you, a lustful look in his eyes. “Well kitten?”

You raise a brow as a smirk forms on your face. “Yes Dr. Lawrence?”

“Why don’t you show me and Dr. Oppenheimer what that pretty little mouth of yours can do,” Lawrence comments as you nod your head, walking over to him before sinking to your knees in between his strong thighs. Judging by how hard he is and how much he’s already leaking, you’re thoroughly shocked he didn’t pull you off of Oppenheimer and just have his way with you. Despite Lawrence being a gentleman to all those who he crosses paths with, he sure loves to manhandle you. Wasting no time, you immediately grab ahold of his member and run your tongue along the thick vein on the underside. If Lawrence felt any sort of pleasure he’s not making it known. Normally, he makes all sorts of noises but you suppose it’s probably Oppie being in the room and Lawrence’s need to establish himself as an alpha male, which you will tease him about later.

Looking up through your lashes, you place a tender kiss to the head of his cock and you can barely see his breath hitch. Wrapping your lips around the head of his cock, your tongue collects the precum that has leaked causing Lawrence’s hand to weave into your hair.

“Think you can take a little more honey?” You nod in response, relaxing your throat as much as possible before his hand starts guiding you up and down on his cock. Reaching up with the hand that’s not wrapped around his member, you gently roll his balls in your hands, aware of the way Oppenheimer watches like there’s nothing else in the world. “You’re doing such a good job honey, just like that,” Lawrence tosses his head back, eyes screwed shut and mouth open in ecstasy as his hips lightly thrust into your mouth. Twisting your hand around his cock, you moan softly causing his hips to briefly falter. Picking up your pace, the sound of you gagging around your lover’s cock echoes in the lab, that and fapping? Looking over briefly, you can make out Oppenheimer’s hand pumping his own cock up and down as if he was watching his own personal porn, in which case, he is.

“Fuck honey, don’t stop.” You can tell that Lawrence is close by the way his hand flexes in your hair. Nodding your head, you take him as deep as you possibly can, your own moans sending vibrations around his cock before it twitches in your mouth. Lawrence lets out a small grunt as he holds your head still around his cock while your hand continues to rub the base of his cock, trying to help him ride out his high as you hear another grunt, this time a little further away. After coming down from his high, Lawrence gently pulls your face off his cock with a lopsided smile. “Now are you going to swallow?” You tilt your head back and swallow his load, loving the way both men have their eyes on you. “Ain’t she a beaut Robert?”

“Yes she is. Wish I had someone so… obedient.” Lawrence chuckles, tucking himself back in before leaning down and kissing you, deciding to ignore the taste of himself on your lips. Standing up to his full height, Lawrence offers you a hand and pulls you up, placing his jacket around your shoulders.

“Well, that was fun,” you comment as Lawrence pulls you into his side, being slightly more possessive now that the sexual tension is dissipating. Oppenheimer immediately picks up on it.

“Right, well, I should get going. Thank you both for that. It was much needed.” You move to respond but Lawrence’s hand grips onto you just a little tighter.

“You’re welcome. We’ll see you tomorrow.” Robert nods his head and dips out of the room, closing the door and leaving you and Lawrence there alone. Turning in his grasp, you reach up and fix his glasses while he kisses the palm of your hand.

“What was with the sudden possessiveness?” He scoffs before picking you up and placing you on his desk, slotting himself between your legs and kneeling on the floor.

“Because, even though we both like him, you belong to me and he needs to know that. Now, let me take care of you, okay?” He presses a kiss to your inner thigh, causing your eyes to flutter shut.

“Sounds good to me.”

==========

Author's Note 3: Thank you to a few certain people who made me confident enough to post this, I could not have done it without you guys <3

Tagging just in case: @floralcyanide @arieslost @darkmoviesquotespizza @cranesbathtowel @madlittlecriminal

[sammylbir]

Rewriting Sonia Nevermind

Heya, last time we talked about, rewriting Akane Owari. I think my friend really liked the concept I made and because you seemed to like it too, it's time to rewrite my least favorite DR2 girl.

That being, Sonia Nevermind.

I am not a huge fan of her. She barely has any depth, barely much focus or even an own character arc. She is just a nice girl, who happens to be a princess and a funny foreigner. Well, I think we can do so much more with her, so here are some ideas, to improve her. Feel free to disagree with me.

Personality:

Okay so personality wise, I would keep her friendly nature. But I would also at the same time make her a tad more creepy and her love with serial killers, the occult and dark topics more pronounced. She would talk about it a lot more and a few times, giggles excited when she talks about such topics. This may make her seem like that she is loving serial killers and is romanticizing them, which causes her classmates to be a bit wary off her. In reality, she doesn't condone those crimes of course and she is simply fascinated and passionate about those dark topics. Why she has that fascination to begin with, will be explained later.

Appearance:

I would change Sonia's outfit slightly. She will wear a dark hoodie, one with some white symbols along a pair of blue jeans. Her nails would be painted pink and her face would look as pretty, as in canon. Her hair is a bit more braided from behind, given her a regal appearance. Now, why am I giving Sonia such a strange look? Well, like in canon, Sonia wants to be seen as a normal student by the others and therefore, she is wearing more casual clothing in order to seem more natural and to fit in with the rest. She is not a tomboy by any means and simply wears a hoodie, because its comfortable and because she is not that much of a fan of showing skin. Also, I think the dark clothing contrasts great with her golden blonde hair, so there's that.

Backstory:

Now, as I mentioned in the Personality Subsection, there's a reason Sonia is obsessed with serial killers and that has something to do, with her past. See, when Sonia was younger, she had a sister. One that was supposed to be the one next in line and become the future queen of Nosovelic. However, on the day that she was going to get crowned, (Sonia was 13 at the time), her sister was assassinated by a known serial killer in Nosovelic. This event traumatized Sonia of course and she began to study serial killers and their patterns, in order to partially learn from their methods, to possibly find the killer of her sister one day and also to cope with the loss of her sister. Gundham and her bonded because of their shared interests and they confide each other, thanks to their shared past too.

However, thanks to researching so many killers, Sonia began to develop some dark urges, like light sadism and a somewhat petty nature. She is aware of that of course, but she is trying her best to contain those negative aspects of course. Her light sadism only comes out, when Kazuichi begins to stalk her and she belittles him subtly out of annoyance and as a way, to vent out her darker aspects. Even though Sonia is still holding back and doesn't want to seriously hurt Kazuichi. I can imagine Sonia eventually opening up to Kazuichi and outright telling him, how his behavior creeps her out and Kazuichi will eventually realize it too and then tries to stop stalking her. I do see potential of them becoming somewhat good friends in the future though.

A few notes about Nosovelic in this rewritten version of mine:

-It's located between Montenegro and Albania

-It's a Parliamentary Monarchy and after Sonia's fall into despair, she stages a coup and turns it into an absolute monarchy.

-The main language is Nosovelician, a mix of German, Dutch and Albanian.

-Military knowledge and education is mandatory, because Nosovelic had been invaded countless times during its tenure.

-It was not part of the Eastern Bloc and remained neutral, throughout the cold war.

-Its closest economic partners are Germany, Bulgaria and Albania.

-The country itself has some LGBT right issues, something Sonia wants to fix.

Additional Notes regarding Sonia:

-She practices martial arts and military training. Sometimes during practice, she comes and teaches the other soldier trainees. Her rank is General.

-Her Japanese has a bit of an east European accent. She speaks European languages, like German, Dutch, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Bulgarian, Romanian and Ukrainian more fluid though.

-Apart from researching about serial killers, she also reads tons of political and economical books.

-The only subject Sonia struggled with in school, was Biology and Math.

And that's it! I hope ya liked my rewrite ideas for Sonia and if ya enjoy it, feel free to leave a like and re-post it. Until next time!

[nethhiri]

Marooned: Chapter 9

Kid x FemReader x Killer

Warnings: none

Reader's vibe in general is very much "Mess With Me" - BXRRELL if you want a song (though maybe it will apply more to the next chapter). Should I make a list of songs I that inspire me for this?

Job Description

Pushing the unpleasant memories back into the depths from which they came, your priority turned to Killer. Finally, you had a proper med bay, or close enough. The cabinets and drawers held basic supplies. You found clean linens, much to your shock, and spent some time putting them on the stretchers so that they were ready when the time came. You made a space in one of the locking cabinets for your things. This would be your space for the duration of your stay. Curiously, much of the tools and meds appeared like they hadn't been used in a while, which either meant they hadn't been in a fight in that time or they were lacking someone who knew how to use them. You were betting the latter, bringing a frown to your face.

You went to the first mate's side, really looking at him while you had the chance. His face was angular and dotted with small, faint freckles. The skin of his forehead was slightly paler than the rest of his face since his bangs protected it from the sun. His lips had a deep cupid's bow and were somewhat thin. You lifted his eyelids to reveal bright blue, stunning eyes before letting them fall shut again, long, blond eyelashes resting on the tops of his cheeks. A small smirk settled on your face, feeling like you had forbidden knowledge in the form of Killer's handsome visage. It was very tempting to give him a little peck. He would never know. Maybe he needed one to wake up, a real life princess. He does owe me. Slowly you leaned down and hovered above his face. He smelled like salt and sweat, in a good way. The heat from his skin radiated to your cheeks, that or you were blushing. It had been so long since you kissed someone, not like with Kid, but a tender, loving kiss. It would be easy to pretend in this moment. A rumbling cough startled you. A burning feeling flooded your face as you straightened up and looked at Killer. Still asleep. Guilt washed over you. What is wrong with me? Sighing, you let your professional side take over. Putting yourself in front of Killer's injured thigh, you checked over your shoulder to make sure no one had come in. You removed the crude stitches that you initially put in. Lightly putting your fingertips to the ragged wound, a soft, warm, yellow light emanated from them. Tanned skin started to knit itself together slowly, until Killer's thigh was smooth. There was no evidence that an injury had been there aside from the still-damaged jeans that he wore. Moving to Killer's head, you did the same. Resting your hands on Killer's chest, first you tried not to think about how firm and warm his pecs felt, then you willed your power to heal his lungs. The soft glow from your hands seemed to radiate into him for a while before puttering out. It was hard to know if it had worked since you couldn't see into him. For it to work, you had to really want it. This situation in general made you uneasy, so healing a person with a high rank could be risky, but it could also be leverage. The conflict within you could be enough to buff your reparative power. The bigger the ask, the more strongly you had to feel about it. Your devil fruit was as versatile as your will, though you hadn't fully explored its potential. Who would have thought something good would have come from landing on that island?

A knock at the door made you jump. "Uh... yeah?"

Heat came in. He had a softer voice than most of the crew that you had heard. "How is he?"

"He's doing better. I don't know when he'll wake up though," you said, predicting Heat's next question. 

Heat made an affirmative grunt. "You didn't get breakfast. Are you hungry?" 

You blinked and your stomach growled. "I guess I was too focused on finding the least whore-like clothes to wear to be hungry." 

The blue-haired man chuckled. "Come with me." He waved you out the door and led you to the mess hall. It was just big enough to fit the crew, with long picnic-style tables. Then he took you through saloon doors to the kitchen in the back and grabbed a plate of leftovers. "So you're our doctor now." He said as more of a statement than a question while you shoveled food into your mouth.

Muffled through your food, "No, m'jus helfing the docker."

"We... don't have one." Heat looked away as if he realized maybe he shouldn't have told you that. 

You choked on your food a little, but you did sort of have a feeling that was the case. "Ur captain's a basfard," you accused, pointing your fork at him. 

"Better watch it. He's your captain, too." Heat chided. 

"Temporarily." You held Heat's gaze before finishing off the last bites and chugging a glass of water. Wiping your mouth on the back of your hand, you got up and put your dishes in the sink. "Can I ask you a favor?" Heat raised his brow and you continued, "Would you take me to Killer's room? I want to get fresh clothes. His are crusty and ripped." 

Heat thought about it for a while and motioned for you to follow. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt." 

On the way to Killer's room, most people quickly ignored you when they noticed Heat. "Did you really come to ask if I got breakfast?" As it turned out, Killer's room was right next to Kid's. That seemed appropriate. 

Heat let you in and watched you from the doorframe with his arms crossed. "No," He paused to consider his next words, "the captain wanted me to make sure you weren't getting into trouble." 

You appreciated his honesty and it made you laugh. "If he was worried, he shouldn't have left me in a room with a thousand things I know how to kill someone with and his first-mate." Heat shifted in the doorway as you made your way to a small dresser. "That was a joke." It wasn't, but you didn't need Heat to report that back to Kid. Looking through his clothes was easy. One drawer had all jeans and one drawer had all the same shirt. The man likes routine. You grabbed one of each when a small corner of black fabric peeked out from under some shirts. Tugging it free, it was a black button down with big white polka dots. It looked much smaller than the other shirts. You held it up to Heat, "What's this?"

"Looks like Killer's old shirt." 

"Does that mean he doesn't wear it?"

"I think it's too small."

"So he won't mind if I take it." Anything to get out of these clothes. Heat was about to say something and you cut him off, "I'm taking it." Heat shrugged. He wasn't going to argue. Killer could do that when he woke up, if he wanted. You looked Heat over and pointed to his top. "Do you have one of those you don't wear anymore?" You had an idea. 

It turned out that he did. You took your new outfit back to the infirmary to drop it off and then headed down to the brig, only getting lost once, to see what the alleged "mess" was. The crew kept an eye on you, but didn't bother you. The brig was empty of people and was located in the back of the storage area which had rows of crates and barrels. It was very dark, but you could make out the shape that was Mini and her glaring eyes. "I know. I know. I'm sorry you had to be down here." The "mess" was what appeared to be a destroyed crate with several scraps of orange peel around it that had been left in her cell. That's on them. You easily found the lock to the door. Placing your hand over it, the soft, yellow glow came forth from your palm again. There was a soft click as the gate swung open. You went in and gave Mini a hug. Her neck was too big for your arms to encircle. Rough reddish hair poked at your skin as you breathed in her scent. She smelled like disturbed earth, tree sap, and freshly torn leaves. It was comforting to have something familiar. You sighed and released her to start piling up the wood fragments of the crate. Wait. You looked around. No one was there. You touched the pile and focused on the image of a whole crate. Why should you pick up all the pieces when you could put it back together with a touch? Because it makes me tired as fuck. You used your power a lot more today than you had before. One perk of being here seemed like more opportunity to practice, as long as no one saw. There was really no reason to keep it a secret, but you may as well while you were at it. It took a few minutes of focus and the pieces started to fit back together. Daffodil colored light bathed Mini while she finished off the orange peels. Guess I'll have to deal with a scurvy-riddled crew now, you thought as the rest of the crate came together. A loud huff exited you as you let your breath out. You were focusing so hard you didn't realize you were holding it. Dusting your hands off, you grinned. It was a little silly to be proud of putting a crate back together. You had to start somewhere though. 

Now, about sneaking a giant boar into the infirmary. It was plenty big for her to be in there with you. You didn't see a problem with it. And anyone who did could try their best to move her. Knowing how stubborn she was, you laughed to yourself. She thought the same of you, you were sure. Was it better to sneak slowly through the halls or to barrel through and hope for the best? Well one of them sounded way more fun and someone was gonna see either way. No. No. I have to be low profile. With your luck, you would probably run straight into Eustass Kid himself. 

Miraculously, most everyone was in the mess for lunch. Out of the corner of someone's eye, Mini probably looked like Kid. Her fur was similar in color to his coat and her size was certainly comparable. She did have a hard time squeezing through the infirmary doorway, though made it without breaking the frame. Killer still wasn't awake. You looked around the infirmary some more. There was a few fold-down bunks attached to the wall, extra space in case the stretchers were all taken. You unfolded the top one, making it up so you could use it for yourself. That way, Minerva could curl up below you.

There was also a small bathroom with a shower, a far cry from Kid's luxurious space. It was clean and had some personal hygiene products within. You grabbed some along with a basin and filled it with hot water. For the second time since knowing the man, you stripped Killer. Oh how you wished it was under different circumstances. Grabbing a washcloth you got it wet and put some soap on it to clean Killer up. After all, no one wanted to wake up dirty and he still had some sand clinging to his tan skin. It took a bit of time to get him as clean as he was going to get without a real shower or bath. When you were done, you got a new basin of water. You dipped Killer's hair into it and placed it right below his hair to catch the drips. Taking shampoo, you worked it into his scalp and down the lengths of his hair, untangling as you went. You squeezed as much out as you could before rinsing the rest of the soap out. Then you repeated the process with conditioner and towel dried his blond locks. It was not easy to wrestle clothes back on to him and by the time you were done, his hair was mostly dry. Selfishly, you really wanted to wash it so that you could touch it some more. It was so pretty and soft. You spent an embarrassing amount of time braiding it until it was perfect, definitely just to keep it from tangling again and not for your own entertainment. You didn't have anything else to do. Or maybe you did, but until Kid expressly told you to do something, you weren't going to take it upon yourself to do chores.

A tall shadow appeared outside the door, knocking with purpose. 

"If Kid sent you to check on me, I'm fucking busy. Tell him to- tell him Killer is fine and I'm straightening up in here." You were going to say "tell him to fuck off" but that would mean a raging bull stomping into your space within minutes. 

The shadow made some kind of mumble and left. 

The next day went by, you kept to yourself, eating after everyone else had and retreating to the med bay. Heat had come by and you asked him for another favor. Later that day, you re-painted Killer's nails. Essentially you were having a slumber party with him and he was the only one sleeping, getting his hair braided, and his nails painted, though you did paint yours later, too, out of boredom. There were a few medical texts you occupied yourself with reading since you had never been formally trained, just some field experience. You fell asleep with one of them in your hands, leaned back against Mini, who you had been smuggling leftovers to throughout the day. 

Next

[chewingonsneakers]

ALL FOR THE GAME IN-DEPTH CHARACTER CHEAT SHEET

@themaxbox you asked for this

[MAJOR SPOILER WARNING]

ALL FOR THE GAME:

THE FOXHOLE COURT, THE RAVEN KING, THE KING’S MEN - NEIL JOSTEN AS MC POV

THE SUNSHINE COURT, UPCOMING TSC SEQUAL - JEAN MOREAU/JEREMY KNOX AS MC SPLIT POV

~~~~~

AUTHOR - Nora Sakavik (pen name) She/Her

~~~~~

TIME PERIOD - 2006-2007

~~~~~

CHARACTERS:

Neil Abram Josten -

He/him. The narrator, from a limited 3rd person POV.

Neil is 19 years old, 18 at the beginning of the books. Neil has naturally auburn hair and chilly blue eyes, both of which were covered with black hair dye and brown colored contacts throughout the first and some of the second book. Neil is 5’3”.

Neil Josten is not his real name, at least not until he had the FBI legally changed it in book three. Neil Josten is his twenty-second name ever used.

Neil Josten’s father is a serial killer known famously as The Butcher of Baltimore, or more realistically, Nathan Wesninski. Nathan works under a large and very wealthy Japanese Yakuza gang known as the Moriyamas. Nathan is named for his method of killing, usually chopping or skinning people using a butcher’s cleaver. He also had a wife and a son; Mary Weskinski and Nathaniel Abram Weskinski. Nathan and Mary’s marriage was likely arranged. Nathaniel was born in England to Mary and Nathan, though spent the next few years in Baltimore, Maryland, so his father could relocate and hide better. Nathaniel then grew up alongside the yakuza leader’s son, Riko Moriyama, and Riko's brother Kevin Day. They played on a little league Exy team run by the Moriyamas. The Moriyamas had trained them every day to become the greatest Exy players to live, in order to gain money and control. When Nathaniel was ten, it was decided that if he couldn’t prove his athletic potential through a solo practice session in front of the Moriyamas, he would be executed. The night of his solo practice, Mary stole five million dollars from the Moriyamas and took Nathaniel to flee through hidden tunnels. They spent the following seven years bouncing through countries and identities, all throughout Europe and America, most notably Germany and some time in France. They each had multiple fake passports and identifications, new appearances each time. Nathaniel cycled through 22 different identities, including the names Alex, Stefan, Rafael, etc. But when Nathaniel was seventeen, Mary had been found and captured by Nathan. He had begun to slowly kill her before she managed to escape, but she only made it halfway across California before she bled out and died in the driver's seat of their stolen car. So Nathaniel said his goodbyes to his mother, took the duffel bag of money and supplies from the backseat, left his dead mother in the front seat, and set the car on fire with a can of gasoline and a match.

He put his mother’s bones in a backpack and buried it under the blacksand of a California beach.

Nathaniel walked along the road with his bags for the next two days and made it to Salem before he collapsed and vomited, the shock of what happened catching up to him.

While a young child still under watch of his father, Nathaniel did not lead a happy life. His father’s hideous blonde henchman, Lola, forced him to kill small animals, skin, and gut them for practice, training him to become like his father in the future, to carry on the legacy. Nathaniel, Riko, and Kevin had once found Nathan messily chopping an innocent man into hundreds of pieces of flesh right on Moriyama property.

The first book starts immediately off with “Neil Josten let his cigarette burn to the filter without taking a drag. He didn’t want the nicotine; he wanted the acrid smoke that reminded him of his mother.”, a first look into his mind as he sits on the bleachers of the Exy court of a small community college in Millport near the house he had been squatting in illegally. A man named David Wymack approaches him and tells him he’d like to recruit him for the Palmetto State Foxes Exy team. after a brief conversation, afraid of how this man knows of his existence and what it could mean, Neil attempts to run up the bleachers and into the locker room to get away from the potential danger. He is stopped by an Exy racket slamming into his stomach. Wymack catches up, once again asks to recruit him, Neil looks to the side and spots his old childhood friend Kevin Day watching him. It scares him, he is worried Kevin may recognize him all grown up under the hair dye and contacts. Being previously caught by his Millport Exy coach sleeping nights on the locker room floor, supposed evidence of abuse going on in Neil’s “home”, this is used against him to convince him to come along and join the Foxes.

More personal info abt him:

He has zero style, from life on the run. faded and mellow colors were best and he took what he could get. A running joke is how he wears raggedy jorts quite often. Neil still has millions of dollars left that he keeps in his duffel bag, which he brings absolutely everywhere and never lets out of his sight unless safely locked away. Neil has only kissed one girl before during his life on the run but upon his mother finding out, she beat him to teach him the consequences of connecting with people or falling in love. He once wore a bulletproof vest for ten days straight out of fear and only stopped wearing it because after his mother cut it off him to wash it. He used to sleep in the same bed as his mother, with a gun under each of their pillows. Neil’s favorite color is gray. Neil still remembers the names of the two boys he stood by as he watched his father kill a man, and has a binder full of information, magazine cut outs, printed interviews, and pictures of Kevin and Riko to keep tabs on them. Neil loves fruit but hates vegetables because of what was easily available during life on the run. Neil dislikes sweet foods. Neil doesn’t drink or do drugs because he doesn’t want to lose control and let slip some important information about who he really is. Neil only buys cigarettes so he can light them and hold them to smell the smoke, only actually smoking them very infrequently. He doesn't care for the nicotine. He just smells the smoke and thinks of his dead mom. Neil is covered shoulder to toe in a war zone of scars from his father and his henchmen and the Moriyamas’ workers and life on the run. Some of these include a very large road burn scar that spans from his left shoulder to right hip from when he rolled out of a moving car, a healed gunshot wound on his left shoulder, and a large burn scar on his right shoulder in the shape of an clothing iron from a time when his father lost his temper. Others include smaller or longer or thinner ones covering some of his arms and most of his legs and torso. Neil has never had a friend before. Neil doesn’t consider anyone to be like family to him besides his mother (this changes eventually as he comes to terms with how his mother was not good with him). Neil has zero social skills but in a kind of funny way. He doesn’t understand slang, is in the dark on most pop-culture, and is sort of strange to talk to. Neil is unaware of having any sort of sexual orientation; it’s never been something he's spent time thinking about before. Neil’s skin color is a couple shades tanner than the twins’. He is jersey number 10, a striker on PSU’s Exy team.

Andrew Joseph Minyard - [TW: SA, SH]

He/him. 19 years old at the beginning, 20 by the end. Andrew has short light blonde hair and hazel (almost yellowish) eyes. Andrew is 5’0”.

Andrew is identical twins with Aaron, who I will introduce afterwards. Andrew and Aaron were placed into the foster care system after birth, but after only two weeks, their mother (they had an absent and unknown biological father) felt guilty and decided to take back only one of her babies. She randomly picked and chose Aaron. So for many years of his life, Andrew was a foster child. not a happy one at that. Andrew jumped from family to family, and he only says that none of them were good homes.

When Andrew was seven years old, he was raped by a male member of his current foster family. In the third book he admits during a conversation with Neil that the reason he hates the word “please” so much is because the man who raped him, Stephen, had told him he would stop if Andrew said it, but then didn’t stop.

— "Who said 'please' that made you hate the word so much?"

Andrew gazes at him in silence for a minute. "I did… He said he would stop if I said it."

"You believed him," Neil guesses.

"I was seven," Andrew says. "I believed him.” —

We know that similar incidents happened multiple times after that from different men of his following families, (Jesse, who liked to choke Andrew so he’d be quiet. Samuel, who called him a whore and told him he liked it.) but the most noteworthy is another absolute monster named Drake Spear. Drake, who found out Andrew was ticklish and used that against him.

Drake was a member of his final foster family. He was supposed to be an older brother to Andrew. Drake was in the military, he was this big muscle-y tattooed guy who was perceived as kind and gentle by his mother and the only foster mom Andrew had ever cared about, Cass Spear. What happened is that when Andrew first joined this foster home, he was twelve years old, and Drake was away at his station. After lots of trust gained, he grew to love Cass and see her as a real mother. She was very kind to him despite his bad behavior, which made him feel loved and act out less. One spring, she told Andrew that her son was coming home. Andrew didn’t like that but he trusted Cass so he didn’t make an argument. The day Drake came home, he was kind to Andrew, giving him candy and keeping his distance. But he wasted almost no time in destroying that trust and very quickly began the abuse. almost every night, Drake snuck into Andrew’s room to take advantage of him. It became too much quite quickly, and Andrew eventually took blades to his wrists to try and make his body his own again. While living with the Spears, Andrew first learned that he had a twin brother from a cop named Hidgeons who mistook Aaron for Andrew. The cop, who was confused as to why “Andrew” was with a woman besides Cass and ended up learning about Aaron’s existence, told Aaron about Andrew and then told Cass to tell Andrew about Aaron. Aaron, wanting nothing more than to meet his brother, wrote him an excited letter asking to meet him. Andrew responded with a simple “fuck off”. What Aaron doesn’t know is that Andrew did want to meet him as well, but refused to let that happen due to sexually violent and disgusting twin fantasies Drake would tell Andrew about after he found out about Aaron. Soon meeting his breaking point, Andrew snapped and got himself caught breaking the law just so he could get into juvie and could finally be away from Drake. He was saddened by the loss of Cass, though, who he considered a true mother to him. In juvie is where he finally met Aaron, during visiting day, where his twin came to see him for the first time. Long story short, Andrew wasn’t too kind to Aaron the first time they met. After serving his sentence, Andrew finally came to live with Aaron and their mother, Tilda. This is when Andrew found out that Tilda has been beating Aaron and is a drug addict and got Aaron hooked on drugs alongside herself. Andrew’s response? To take their mother for a lovely scenic drive where he reached over, grabbed the wheel, and steered the car down a hill wrecking it with intent to kill. Tilda died. Andrew survived. He's not so sure he wanted to. But anyways, it was considered a simple accident and he wasn’t caught. So the twins get a new guardian, now living with their cousin, Nicky. Nicky buys a house in Columbia and houses them both with little money and little support from the twins. While under Nicky’s care, Andrew tries to get Aaron sober, and his method of doing this is by locking Aaron in their bathroom for eight days and sitting in front of the door the entire time, only leaving canned food inside for Aaron. Andrew tried to ignore his twin’s screaming, banging, and vomiting from withdrawals and yes, it did actually get him sober in the end. Andrew is offered a PSU Exy scholarship because of the goalkeeping talent he displayed while playing in juvie, but refuses until they eventually give Aaron and Nicky scholarships as well as a deal. Nicky got Andrew and Aaron jobs as bartenders at a club/bar joint called Eden’s Twilight, lying about their age to do so. Andrew formed a small connection with fellow bartender Roland, and started hooking up with him in the employees-only back room. However, it was technically stautuatory rape, as Andrew was only seventeen and Roland was 23. Roland knew this and he still agreed, which is why i have many words on how much i hate his guts.

Once during a shift, four guys began harassing Nicky for being gay, beating him to a pulp on the sidewalk outside. Andrew took care of the situation by beating every single one of the guys nearly to death.

This little incident got Andrew on court-ordered antipsychotics and they all quit their jobs. but he’s not psychotic. This caused some extreme side effects of the medication. So for months and months, (this is before and throughout the first two books) Andrew walks around with a big manic smile on his face. He makes dumb little comments and laughs at bad times. His strict filter is completely removed. He absolutely hates taking them, but if he’s caught off of them he will be punished by law, so he made a deal with Wymack which allows him to be off his meds for half of every game before withdrawal kicks in. He also goes off them every night to sleep, and has Kevin keep hold of them. But by the time he begins vomiting and shaking from withdrawal, he begs Kevin to give them to him. In The Raven King, during a Thanksgiving dinner with a few teammates at Nicky’s parents’ house, Andrew has another incident with Drake, who was paid by Riko to find and assault Andrew once more for his own sick reasons. As the assault occurs, Neil and Aaron, Exy racquet in hand for protection, come looking for Andrew and end up breaking down the bedroom door. Almost instantaneously, Aaron enters the room and swings, slamming Drake through the skull and bludgeoning his head in, killing him. Later, following this incident, Andrew is sent to a rehabilitation center to get clean of his improper medication, as it has prevented him from properly coping with what happened to him, instead forcing him to turn it all to smiles and empty laughter. the doctor assigned to Andrew is a lackey for Riko, paid to inflict more pain onto the blonde. Dr. Proust uses everything in his power to destroy every last bit of Andrew’s dignity. In a shocking additional bit of information from Nora herself, we learn more details, such as; drugging him to make his head fuzzy and his body weak, using ward restraints to keep Andrew defenseless with the excuse that he’s a danger to himself and others, biting the scars on his wrists till they bruised, reenacting scenes from Andrew’s own trauma from details Riko paid to dig up, and, most of all, filming every single time it happened and sending the tapes to Riko. Andrew is the one who stops Neil from running away by slamming him in the stomach with an Exy racket.

More random info: Andrew says he doesn’t really care about Exy as a sport, he says he just plays it because it’s less boring than life. This is not known to be true or untrue. Andrew is a goalie with a number 03 jersey. Andrew wears pretty much only black, from muscle tees to turtlenecks to pea coats, basically all black all the time. Supposedly black platform shoes and such. For the first two books, Andrew has never received any consensual sexual touch. Andrew looks identical to Aaron, their only visible difference to most is the black armbands Andrew wears from elbow to wrist. Exy fans think it’s just his way of distinguishing himself, but Andrew really wears them to both hide his self-harm scars and sheath knives underneath them. Andrew smokes way too many cigarettes a day. Andrew’s favorite food is ice cream. Andrew has a very high alcohol tolerance. Andrew is very afraid of heights and sits on the roof of the dorm building to “feel something”. This makes plane travel for away games very difficult for him. Andrew hates the word “misunderstanding” almost as much as he hates the word “please”. Andrew speaks fluent german. Both the twins are very pale. Andrew is an absolute god at goalkeeping. Andrew is the second most buff person on the team, behind Matt.

Aaron Michael Minyard - [TW: substance abuse]

He/him. Same age, height, and appearance as Andrew; they’re identical twins. It is explicitly stated that they look so similar that the only way people can tell them apart is by either Andrew’s black armbands or Andrew’s manic smile.

Aaron is studying to become a neurosurgeon, and takes med classes. In the first book, Aaron begins seeing a Vixen (PSU cheerleader) named Katelyn Mackenzie. When Aaron and Andrew were still living with their mother, they made a deal that they will put each other first before anything, including relationships. Aaron did not break off this deal with Andrew beginning to date Katelyn, and for this Andrew despises Katelyn. Her appearance is not stated, but a majority of the fandom agrees as a running joke that she looks quite similar to Neil, in a funny bit that the twins may have the same type, though her appearance is up to personal interpretation. Most agree that she is taller than Aaron no matter what. She is also planning to attend medical school with Aaron after they graduate PSU. Aaron loves her, and in the future (after the books take place) the author confirmed that they get married and adopt a dog, a pug named Po, but they do not have kids. His mother, Tilda, was very physically abusive towards him. When Aaron was a young teen Tilda introduced him to drugs. She’d take them in front of him, therefore encouraging him to try.

He started taking any drug he could find to get himself high, including drinking cough syrup, but his biggest addiction was to painkillers. Tilda would get angry, but not because he was doing drugs, but because he would steal her cash to pay for them, or steal some of her own. Aaron was hooked and couldn’t quit, so when Andrew killed Tilda and they both went to live with Nicky, Andrew locked Aaron in their bathroom. For days Aaron tried any means to escape, pulling drawers out and throwing them at the door, punching the walls, and was in major withdrawal pain, crying and wailing on the floor and throwing up, he was a mess. He screamed for Andrew to Please let him out, please, but Andrew couldn’t hear that word without silent spiraling into his own mind. He eventually came out the other side clean and he had stayed that way since then. He considers it the worst period of his life, although he’s secretly thankful to Andrew for getting him sober. He still takes one drug, but it’s non addictive (i know, that’s why it’s fictional). Cracker Dust is a fictional drug in powder form that a few of the Foxes take; it is sweet like sugar and gets the user high like a mild version of cocaine, but has non-addictive qualities. He drinks a lot, too. At the team’s trips to Eden's Twilight, Aaron usually gets wasted and takes cracker dust before going off to the dance floor with a couple of the others.

More random info: Aaron has intricate unique handshakes with each of the bouncers at Eden’s. Aaron is 05, a backliner on the Exy team. Aaron blames Andrew entirely for the death of Tilda, and it takes a lot to even consider forgiving him. Aaron can be frequently found in his dorm room playing video games with Nicky and/or Andrew. Aaron wears simple clothes, with the exception of nights he spends at Eden’s, where he wears black clothes, oftentimes with leather. Aaron is quietly homophobic, most likely due to the strong christian views his mother and Nicky’s parents expressed around him, but he tries to get over this in therapy and, post-canon, eventually learns to get over it almost completely. Aaron also speaks fluent German.

Nicholas Esteban Hemmick - [TW: homophobia, suicidal ideation]

He/him. Most often nicknamed “Nicky”. Nicky is 5’10” and 23 years old. He is the cousin of the Minyard twins, and his parents are Luther and Maria Hemmick. Nicky is openly gay and proud, and his boyfriend of multiple years, Erik Klose, lives in Germany. Post-canon, Nicky stops playing Exy to move to Germany and in with Erik and gets a job working alongside Erik at a business firm before getting engaged and married, and adopting a dog together. Nicky is half Mexican, with light brown skin and shaggy almost-chin-length black hair and dark brown eyes. Due to Nicky and Erik’s long distance, they have come to an agreement that they can kiss other people, but do no more than that. Luckily, they stick together in the end because they’re very in love. Nicky is also a backliner, he is number 8 on the team. Both Luther and Maria, who were strict Christians, hated him for his sexuality. They still consider him a sinner and believe he has strayed far from God. They verbally abused him because of it when he was a child, possibly physically, though it was never confirmed or denied.

He was sent to conversion camp for six months to try and cure him when he was a teenager. While in that camp he very nearly killed himself and was horribly depressed. To get away from this bad familial situation, he took exchange classes for two years in Germany and stayed in a house with a family who took in exchange students, where he then met Erik, the caring son of the family. Nicky taught Erik more English than he already knew and taught him to speak fluently, and Erik taught him better German, and after a while of pining they got together. Nicky was uncomfortable and hesitant for a while because he believed everything his parents said about his sexuality, and often would escape to the nearest church in the middle of the night to pray for forgiveness about his “sinful thoughts” until Erik came looking for him, found him in the pews, and took him home. Eventually, Nicky forgave himself as much as he could and let himself be in a relationship with Erik, and it just got better from there. But when Tilda died, Nicky dropped the entire life he had built in Germany with Erik and moved back to America to take care of the twins. He was heartbroken to leave Erik but he loved his cousins more than anything. He treated them like his own kids and worked days and nights to pay for their house and food. He continued to love his cousins despite how badly they would treat him, often getting nasty homophobic remarks from Aaron or plain silence from Andrew. Nicky is sensitive, and struggled a lot with taking care of the twins, considering Aaron’s addiction, and Andrew’s violent stubbornness.

It was especially hard when he had to try and go about his day hearing Aaron yelling and sobbing in the bathroom in pain, because deep down he knew he needed to keep Aaron in there until he got better. It got more difficult when Andrew tried to protect Nicky and ended up in court, but he had Erik to call and talk to through it all. Nicky takes cracker dust with everyone else and dances drunk with Aaron and a couple others at Eden’s sometimes. Nicky, although he doesn’t have any romantic feelings for Neil, he is physically attracted to Neil and very open about that in the first book, often stating his attraction in sometimes predatory ways. It gets to the point where he holds Neil in his sleep (Neil does not know this until he wakes up with Nicky wrapped around him), makes out with him drunk despite Neil trying to push him away and telling him to stop, and says things like “Don’t let me get too drunk tonight,” while looking at Neil’s body, to which Andrew responds by holding a knife to Nicky’s stomach. As creepy as his actions were, he later gives an honest apology and Neil easily forgives him. It doesn’t take away what he did, but he understands now that it was bad.

More personal info: Nicky and Erik made a list of the five celebrities they’d each be allowed to hook up with if ever given the chance; Kevin Day, his own teammate, is #3 on Nicky’s list. Nicky is hyper and doesn’t know how to keep a secret (unless it’s genuinely very serious). Nicky can be quite sensitive but stands up for himself in the face of homophobia, unless it’s coming from his parents, where he tries to fight it before tucking his tail between his legs. Nicky is the reason the twins learned German in school. Nicky, although he takes Exy seriously and is a very talented athlete in the game, complains constantly while having to run laps. Nicky hates being alone in silence because it gives his thoughts a chance to catch up to him. Nicky covers up his lingering symptoms of depression with smiles and hyperactivity, though it gets especially hard when he’s really missing Erik.

Kevin Day -

He/him. Kevin is coach Wymack’s son, though he is the only one of the two who knows this until halfway through the third book when he finally decides to tell Wymack. not even the coach knew he had a son. He is 20 at the start of the trilogy and 21 by the end of the third book. Kevin is a striker, jersey number 2. Kevin is 6’1”. With dark hair and green eyes, Kevin is half Irish (thanks to his mother, Kayleigh Day), and half something else (thanks to Wymack).

Kayleigh Day invented the game of Exy before having a son. Kevin grew up with his mother and lived a good life until age five, when she was killed in a staged car crash. He was taken by the Moriyamas who staged the crash and was made to live alongside Riko and Nathaniel. Wymack got Kayleigh pregnant without knowing, and they didn’t stick together for long enough for him to find out, hence why he’s unaware of the fact he has a son. Riko, having the privilege of being the true son of the Moriyamas’ boss (and actually being very very talented at the sport) was given the title of number one. Kevin became known as number two, second best player ever under Riko. Riko was absolutely brutal on Kevin despite them being the same age. When they were teenagers, Riko forcefully tattooed a small number two onto Kevin’s left cheek to match the number one he put on his own face as a self absorbed act of control.

When Kevin was nineteen, Riko, in a fit of rage, broke Kevin’s dominant left hand. Kevin then left and signed with the PSU Foxes. He got an easy scholarship to attend school and play Exy at Palmetto State due to his talent and fame. Having joined the Foxes a year before the first book, he has taught himself to be ambidextrous to more easily play after his broken hand couldn’t heal properly due to lack of medical attention. Kevin has also created a lie to tell to the public when they ask about his hand; he says “I broke it in a skiing accident”. Kevin however didn’t leave all of the Raven’s behind, and is in a long term (and long-distance) relationship with one of their players, Thea Muldani. We don’t know much about her, as she only appears once, but what we do know is that she is an African American woman, often portrayed by fandom with long braids. The author said that later in their lives after the books, they marry and have a daughter. Whether their marriage is born out of true love or simply convenience, we still don’t truly know for sure. I vote for love because i like to be optimistic.

The author once said that although Kevin and Allison are not interested in eachother, if they had to hook up with someone else on the team with would be one another.

Kevin expects a lot from the rest of the team when it comes to their abilities on court. He takes Neil to the court practice late at night (like 10pm to 2am) and Andrew will come along 90% of the time just to watch from the bleachers and maybe once in a full moon join in as goalkeeper. Kevin believes Neil will make it to US court after college, he believes in his skills and abilities.

Kevin got in good with Andrew and his lot almost immediately after coming to PSU and Andrew became his bodyguard of sorts. They have a deal; Andrew will protect him from the Moriyamas no matter what unless Kevin asks him explicitly otherwise to break the deal. Although spending years with Neil when he was Nathaniel, Kevin does not recognize Neil as he’s older and under disguise. Kevin doesn’t realize that Neil is technically Nathaniel until Riko points it out (Riko knew the whole time of course) and mocks Neil for being the butcher’s son and Kevin hears and looks at Neil again and it clicks.

More random info: In earlier drafts of the books, Kevin Day was not dating Thea, and was instead actually dating both Neil and Andrew. A good chunk of the fandom headcanons Kevin Day as a repressed bisexual. The Foxes all know Kevin is really hardest on himself, that’s why they all let him push them to their limits on the court. Kevin Day is an alcoholic, but almost no one acknowledges it and it’s quite sad. It has become almost a joke now when it’s a genuinely serious issue. He most often drinks straight vodka.

Jean Moreau - [TW: heavy abuse, SA, suicide attempt]

French. Tall.

He/him. Jean is another one of the Ravens, 19 years old. Jean was born in Marseille, France. Jean is a backliner and jersey number 3 on the Edgar Allen Ravens. The Ravens’ dorm tower is called Castle Evermore, or more commonly, the nest. With pale skin, black hair, and gray eyes, Jean stands at 6’2”-6’3”. Jean, under Kevin, is Riko’s number three, meaning that he is in the inner circle with Kevin. Jean has a small number three tattooed under his cheek similarly with Riko and Kevin. Jean grew up in Marseille with his parents, but after they failed to pay off debts to the Moriyamas, they quickly decided to give up their only son as a replacement for the money. Without a second thought they gave up Jean when he was fourteen. Jean is a great Exy player, but due to Riko’s strict ratings of people, he’s deemed less worthy than Kevin. Jean’s partner, the Raven whom he must share classes and a room with, was named Zane. Jean has been tortured so much by Riko, it’s horrifying. Under Riko's supervision, Jean has broken six fingers (three that Riko made him break himself), was pushed down the Evermore stairs four times (bashing his head open two of those times), was waterboarded ten times for Riko's enjoyment, and was sexually assaulted five times by other Ravens under Riko's orders while Riko watched and sometimes helped restrain him. Riko didn't order a sixth time because the fifth time it happened, Jean gave up and didn’t protest, so Riko didn't find it amusing anymore. Jean was never given a single day to recover from these injuries before he had to be back on the court. One of the Ravens who assaulted him, Grayson Johnson, who was over eighteen at the time, had continued to hurt Jean after the first ordered assault.

Luckily, in the third book, Renee (another one of the foxes) sneaks into the Ravens tower and takes Jean from Evermore and brings him back to PSU, where he sleeps and recovers in the guest bed of the Foxes nurse, Abby. During his stay with Abby, he considers death by overdose on sleep medication, death by burning, and death in general. He is doing awful mentally, he has convinced himself that he is nothing if he’s not with the Ravens, that it is his place. He gets help becoming less pessimistic with Renee, who stays with him often.

In The Sunshine Court, Jean moves to LA, gets a scholarship in University of Southern California, and joins the USC Trojans. He moves in with team captain Jeremy Knox’s best friends and iconic lesbian couple Catalina Alvarez and Laila Dermott, later rooming with Jeremy when he stays with them once classes begin. After struggling with living without a partner, Jeremy offers his partnership to Jean, which he gratefully accepts. Jean grows close with the girlfriends, letting himself be taught how to cook and how to ride a motorcycle. He slowly learns to build trust with new people and find beauty in his life again. The Trojans help Jean through his trauma and Jeremy teaches Jean how to live and be a human. A ship between Jean/Jeremy is close to being confirmed and 100% expected as a definite thing to happen in the next and final book, though so far it’s just been tension.

More personal facts: Jean still speaks fluent French and has an accent, but Riko hated when anyone spoke a language he couldn’t understand and punished Jean if he heard him speak french. When Riko wasn’t in the room, Jean would teach Kevin French and they would speak to each other using it. While still in the nest, Jean had a solid plan to kill himself on graduation night. This plan was stopped when he was saved by Renee. The author said that the final draft was the only draft where he didn’t go through with that plan at the end of the book. In one of the late drafts, for this idea, he would have killed himself whilst on the phone with Kevin, traumatizing him more as well. The author said that Jean harbors some romantic feelings for Renee that are reciprocated, but Renee has a heartfelt conversation with a silent Jean saying that they’re the right people, but it’s the wrong time. Jean had a crush on Kevin while in the next and thought he was beautiful. It is unconfirmed whether or not Kevin knew about this and whether or not those feelings were reciprocated. Kevin knows Jean has had a crush on Jeremy for a long time now.

Riko Moriyama -

He/him. Japanese. Black hair, brown eyes. 5’5” in height. Kevin Day's “adoptive” brother. Son of Moriyamas’ boss. A striker on the Edgar Allen Ravens, jersey number one. Riko, alongside Kevin, is nicknamed “the son of Exy”. Riko was raised by his uncle, Tetsuji, in Castle Evermore. He was raised to only focus on becoming the greatest. Riko, Kevin, and Jean would have tutors come to them to teach them just so they didn’t have to leave Evermore for school. Riko was inseparable with Kevin throughout their youth, always on camera together. Riko has the number one tattooed on his left cheek, similarly to Kevin’s two and Jean’s three. Riko used a subtle form of control where he would never leave a Raven completely alone at any time. There were always at least two people in a room. This caused Jean great stress and discomfort when he was left alone in his guest room at Abby’s. Riko, as a result of the abuse he himself endured as a child, grew up to inflict the same on the rest of his team. Riko is a narcissist with a god complex, the number on his face symbolizing his supposed greatness as the best player in the history of Exy. Riko would make the team practice until they literally dropped like flies, passing out, and not letting them take breaks no matter the extent of their inflicted injuries.

After the highly anticipated Ravens vs Foxes Exy game at the end of book three, the Foxes won after no one ever having beaten the Ravens before. After a conversation with Neil, Riko’s brother, Ichirou, decided Riko was just a complicated nuisance who didn’t have any benefit and only made things worse. So he called a meeting at Evermore tower with both Riko and Neil, and had Neil watch as he shot his own brother, Riko in the head. He then placed the gun in Riko’s hand, leaving the rest of the world to believe it was a suicide, burdening Neil with the confidential information about the real cause of his death.

One extra fact: Riko speaks fluent Japanese and taught Kevin and Jean, too.

Natalie Renee Walker - [TW: SA]

She/her. Birth name Natalie Shields, most commonly referred to as Renee, Renee stands at 5’4” with white chin length hair dyed in pastel rainbow colors at the tips. Her race is mostly unspecified though she is almost always portrayed as having pale skin. She is 24 years old in book one. She is the Foxes other goalkeeper, jersey number 09. She rarely wears makeup and when she does it’s very little. She dresses in non revealing, more conservative clothes. Aside from on the court, she is otherwise always seen wearing a delicate silver cross necklace. When Renee was ten years old, her father murdered her mother. Renee ran away and was lured into joining a street gang. She slowly proved herself and went up the ranks, because she had nowhere else to run to and devoted herself to her life in the gang. After a short matter of years, she got into a violent conflict with a fellow member of the gang who had been sexually assaulting her and other girls before her. She knew he would continue on with other girls if she didn’t stop him. She knew the man’s favored weapon was the knife, so she practiced on her own knifing skills and eventually used the learned skills to kill the man in a physical fight. Unable to hide the death of a member, the gang found out about why she murdered him, and the gang leader didn’t get angry. He actually raised her status even more and played it off to the man’s family as if he was murdered by a member of a rival gang.

One day she was caught by the police on the streets for drugs, and put in the foster care system. She was soon adopted by a kind and supportive woman named Stephanie Walker who introduced Renee to Christianity and the sport of Exy, ultimately saving Renee’s life. Playing Exy became an outlet for Renee. She quickly deemed herself a Christian. In high school, her and future Foxes teammate Dan had a long-standing rivalry due to being captains of two rival Exy teams, and continued the rivalry for a little while after being recruited to the Foxes by Wymack. They eventually decided to be civil in order to hold their ground alongside Foxes teammate Allison against the sexist men on the first Foxes team lineup. By the time book one begins, all aspects of their rivalry are long gone and they are kind with one another. Upon attending PSU, Renee decided to major in Religious Studies. Despite her calm and careful demeanor, she is actually Andrew’s best friend on the team, though Andrew would never admit that to anyone else besides her. She says that although her religion won’t allow her to see everything eye-to-eye with Andrew, she respects and understands him more than anyone (other than Neil. She stays out of fights among the Foxes other than to try and mediate and deescalate the situation. She’s often referred to as a “sweetheart” by various members of the Foxes.

More random facts: Renee and Andrew are sparring partners and will spar with each other when Andrew is upset. Renee is never seen drinking in any of the books, likely due to her religious ideals. Renee loves orchestral and classical music. Post-Canon, Renee joins the Peace Corps, where she meets fellow volunteer Emilio, whom she falls in love with and has children with, the youngest of whom having the name Patrick. There are bets among the Foxes that Andrew and Renee are seeing each other in secret, mainly fueled by their close friendship and Renee asking Andrew to the Winter Exy Banquet as friends in book two, though she makes a promise to Allison that she will never date him, even explicitly telling Neil in book one that she “doesn’t date heathens”. After getting arrested, Renee’s father was soon killed in prison.

Danielle Leigh Wilds -

She/her. Usually referred to simply as Dan, she stands at 5’4”-5’7” with brown eyes and short brown hair that never goes longer than her ears. She is African American, age 21-22, and PSU Foxes Offensive Dealer, jersey number 01. She is assistant captain of the Foxes Exy team, under Wymack. She is very passionate about the people she cares about and refuses to tolerate people talking bad about the team. She is strict on the team, but in the way that she just wants them to cooperate (not kill each other) and work their hardest. Growing up, Dan lived in a mobile home with her usually pregnant Aunt, Cathey Wilds, and her Aunt’s children. To pay off their debts and keep from being homeless, Dan purchased a fake ID in high school and worked as a stripper. Her stage name was “Hennessy” and she had such a close relationship with her fellow strippers that she still refers to them as her sisters. Cathey had many men she would take home often, and when Wymack shows up at her home to recruit her, she quickly comes to the conclusion that he is there to sleep with Cathey, before he shoots her down and tells her his true intentions. She is initially in disbelief because she had been told that women do not get recruited for Exy. She was the first woman to be on an NCAA Exy team, and for this the public despised the Foxes even more than they already had (they were considered the worst team in the league) and her misogynistic male teammates insulted her openly. But she was very talented and the rest of the team eventually fell behind her. When the cousins arrive at PSU and join the Foxes, they take Dan to Eden’s to test her loyalty and she gains their trust/respect. Dan initially does not want to join a relationship because she feels targeted by the nasty looks men give her as everyone knows of her past in sex work, but then Matt joins PSU and the Foxes, and after a long time of gaining trust and building friendship, they fell in love. They have a very healthy romantic and sexual relationship, often sharing fierce hugs and kisses on the court after successful games.

More personal facts: Dan sees Wymack as a father figure. She did not like Allison for a long time, but without realizing it, they became close friends and the three girls shared a dorm. Dan treats Renee’s bruises and cuts after sparring with Andrew. Dan admires Neil’s hard work and, post-canon, makes him the next team captain after her graduation. Post-canon, Dan and Matt marry and have children together. Dan does not have a good relationship with the cousins or Kevin, and considers Andrew to be psychotic, although treating him an equal member of the team while on the court. It isn’t until the third book when she’s able to hold a civil conversation with Nicky. But despite her dislike of them, she is rarely overly nasty to them and supports their athletic career. Dan majored in Athletic Training and minored in Coaching.

Matthew Donovan Boyd - [TW: substance abuse]

He/him. 21 years old. Most commonly referred to as Matt. Standing at 6’4”-6’5” with Black gel-spiked hair, brown eyes, and chocolatey brown skin, Matt is a PSU Backliner, jersey number 04. He’s mostly seen with the girls, but upon Neil’s arrival he starts to consider him his best friend. Matt grew up in New York and his parents, Randy and Donald, split up when he was young. Randy, his mother, is a boxer with an irregular schedule which means Matt lives only with Donald, his father, who is a doctor. With Randy’s absence, Donald falls into a dangerous party scene involving drugs and alcohol, and encourages young Matt to join in and take part with him. Because of this, Matt becomes addicted to both cocaine and heroin at a young age, but upon Randy’s return, she decides to stay for a while to rehabilitate him. She taught him how to box and play Exy as a distraction, and over this time they bonded. When Matt is recruited to the PSU Foxes, he struggles to stay clean, and Randy administers Andrew’s help in getting Matt to stay sober. This is done by Andrew, the other cousins, and Kevin, taking Matt to Eden’s and giving him Speedball (a strong drug which consists of a combination of Heroin and Cocaine which is then injected into the skin). Matt suffers greatly from the near-fatal drug and almost dies. This scared him straight, showing Matt the true danger he was in and he quit once and for all. Randy took more time off of work to help him recover during this. Matt, although not happy about how it went down, does not hold a grudge towards Andrew for this as he understands that it helped him and he would be dead without the intervention.

More personal info: Nicky thinks Matt is physically attractive. Matt is buff and built strong but his personality is friendly and he’s the teddy bear of the group. He owns a large blue truck that Neil, Renee, and Allison ride in the bed of during Summer practices. Matt majored in Business Administration. The first time Donald met Neil in the third book, he rudely suggested that Neil have plastic surgery done on his face. Matt has faded but obvious track marks on the insides of both his arms.

Allison Jamaica Reynolds - [TW: ED]

She/her. Age 21-22. Allison is a PSU Foxes Defensive Dealer, jersey number 07. Standing 5’4”-5’7”, Allison is white with long platinum blonde hair and smokey-gray eyes. She often curls her hair. She often wears elaborate makeup and her closet is entirely designer clothes. She is proud and not stingy with money. She was a former heiress to the extremely wealthy Reynolds family, who is rich from owning luxury resorts and worth billions, who cut her off after she chose Exy over the family business. She was disowned and removed from the will. Before and during the first book, Allison is in an on-again off-again relationship with teammate Seth Gordon. She loves gossip, especially revolving around romance. Allison grew up with a severe case of bulimia and was hospitalized for it as a teen. She has since fully recovered as much as possible, with Wymack’s help.

More personal info: Allison enjoys modern pop music. Nicky once called Allison a “catty bitch”. Allison’s best friend is Renee, and although a good chunk of the fandom ships them, the author confirmed that they are just close friends. Allison drives a pink convertible. Allison majored in Fashion Design and minored in Marketing. Post-canon, Allison created and owns her own line of Fashion and makes a lot of money off of it. Post-canon, Allison loves dressing Neil in nice clothes.

Bryan Seth Gordon - [TW: substance abuse, implied suicide]

He/him. Age 24. Usually only referred to as Seth. Standing at 6’-6’2”, his appearance is almost entirely unspecified. There are many different head canons on what he looks like. A fairly common one, and my own personal one, is picturing him as white with a buzzed haircut and sharp cheekbones. Seth was a striker, jersey number 06. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Seth was the fourth of seven sons to parents Bryan and Rebecca, who never married. He was named after his father. When Seth was eight years old, his father left, hence his mother switching to calling him solely by his middle name. Rebecca worked three jobs and his older siblings raised him, but were very troubled and not good replacement parents. Seth was a problem child, and began playing Exy in fifth grade. He grew very close to his fifth grade teacher Mrs. Everetts and her husband, spending many nights having dinner with them, until they moved and “abandoned” him with no warning whatsoever. Between them and his father, when he joined the Foxes, Seth always believed that Wymack was bound to leave him too. Seth is clinically depressed and struggles with drug use. At the start of the books, Seth is the only male member left from the original PSU Foxes Exy lineup. Seth dislikes everyone on the team except for his on-and-off girlfriend, Allison.

He dislikes Neil from their first meetup and refuses to talk to him until Neil scores a goal against Andrew. Seth and Allison’s relationship is not all that healthy, and they have never dated for more than a few months at a time. Their first hook-up took place before the first book, and what happened was that they had gone to a frat party off campus and a man had tried to assault Allison and she had been too drunk to react, before Seth pushed the guy off and carried Allison back to her house and laying her in bed before settling on her couch. They hooked up the day after. When they are dating, they are sweet and just fine, but during the times when they’re not, they’re nasty and insulting towards each other. When they’re fighting, Seth tends to take time away and hang out with Matt. An incident at the end of book one occurs, and Seth is killed by Riko’s doing. It is staged as a suicide by drug overdose, he’s found laying on the dorm bathroom floor choked and drowned to death with his own vomit, but the Foxes have their suspicions as to what really happened. Allison keeps his ashes in an urn and is a mess for the following couple weeks. She eventually has his urn built into the fountain in her front yard.

More personal facts: Seth hated the effect that fame has on a person and said “I’m not worth less just because I’m less talented,”. Seth was majoring in Park, Recreation, and Tourism Management. Seth hated Nicky the most for his sexuality but also despised Kevin for his fame and frequently got into physical fights with the both of them, spewing insults and slurs. Seth was disgusted by the idea of Andrew and Renee becoming a couple due to how much he hated Andrew. Seth was easily provoked, and had a bad temper. Neil assumed his mood swings are the result of drug use. Seth was one of Neil’s roommates in the dorms in book one.

Erik Klose -

He/him. Erik has short dirty blonde hair and, (in my personal opinion bc he’s very lightly described), light stubble on his face. Assumed to be around age 24. Nicky’s eventual husband. They are so in love and it's very sad how they have to be an ocean apart for so long. Erik and Nicky frequently engage in facetime sex on their laptops. Nicky calls from his room in the Columbia house after nights spent at Eden’s with the team, Erik calls from his apartment in Germany. We know this both because Nicky is very open about his sex life. Erik is mostly fluent in English but most always speaks in German unless necessary otherwise. Erik and Nicky mot of the time only speak to each other in German. Erik grew up in a Christian family and continues to love God, but he grew up with the kind of religious family that believes homosexuality isn’t unnatural or a sin. Erik helped Nicky be comfortable with his sexuality and his religion. Nicky still loves God and himself now because of Erik’s support. Erik also helped Nicky recover from his severe depression and suicidal thoughts that occurred following conversion camp.

David Vincent Wymack - [TW: substance abuse]

He/him. Wymack grew up with a violent and angry father. As an adult, he vowed to make his Exy team a safe sanctuary for troubled young adults. His trauma caused him to become a borderline alcoholic and angry, but he makes it clear in the first book that even though he likes to yell and throw things, he will never, ever, hurt anyone without being provoked. His race is unspecified but most, including me, headcanon him as Native American for various reasons. Wymack has tribal flame tattoos on both his forearms. He cares for all the Foxes more than he’d ever say out loud, he cares for them like children. He’s hurt when he learns that Kevin is his son, because he realizes that his own son was getting abused and harmed throughout his childhood (by Riko) and he had no idea and couldn’t help him. Wymack is one of the first people to catch onto Andrew’s physical attraction to Neil, but he just says “this is below my paygrade” and inwardly groans to himself. His father was an alcoholic and started the genetic train of alcoholism that still affects Wymack and Kevin. Wymack’s step father tried to kill his mother, which landed him in prison.

Abigail Marie Winfield -

She/her. Most commonly referred to as Abby. Her appearance is mostly unstated aside from a blonde mid-length ponytail. She is the Foxes Exy team nurse, and Wymack’s former assigned therapist. She is kind and sweet but confident and will not hesitate to order someone around. Abby makes Nicky stop Andrew from drinking while on his meds, but Nicky isn’t great at enforcing this. When she does her first required physical on Neil in the first book, despite reassuring Neil by saying that she’s “seen worse”, she is obviously shocked by the excessive scars on his body. During the cousins’ first year at PSU, she housed the three and Kevin at her place off-campus. The Foxes have bets that Abby and Wymack are sleeping together due to them interacting a lot, Wymack making the passcode to the court Abby’s birthdate, and other various small things. This is confirmed in book three, and they are in a romantic relationship that lasts the rest of their lives. She has motherly instincts and pretty much thinks of the Foxes as her kids.

Betsy Jo Dobson -

She/her. Commonly nicknamed “Bee” by Andrew. Commonly agreed upon that Betsy has pale brown hair that goes to her chin, and she has relatively pale skin and a pudgier build. She has laugh lines on her face and wears narrow-rimmed glasses. She is the PSU Foxes team psychiatrist and the only therapist Andrew has ever trusted. When Andrew was put on his meds, he was assigned court-ordered weekly therapy sessions. He has never trusted or liked a therapist in the past and it started that way with Bee, but after he noticed that she treated him with more humanity and was a more favorable personality to him, he started to open up and now he tells her everything. At the start of every session, she makes both Andrew and herself a mug of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. She has a collection of glass animal figurines on her laptop stand that Andrew buys for her as an apology because during their first meeting he broke the ones she had by knocking them off her laptop stand and throwing them at the wall to see how she would react and felt guilty when she stayed completely calm and didn’t get angry with him. He continues buying her more every time he finds one she doesn’t have. It’s required for everyone on the team to see her at least once a semester, though they can schedule an appointment any time. Betsy previously worked in counseling at juvenile detention centers until she got her job at PSU. In juvie, she worked mainly on suicide watch. Betsy has OCD and her office is very neat and orderly. She is close friends with both Abby and Wymack. Neil does not trust Betsy because he does not trust therapists in general. He is, however, entirely supportive of Andrew’s relationship with her and understands that he needs her sometimes.

Zane Reacher - [SA]

Zane, with an unknown age and appearance, was Jean’s partner in the nest. When you had a partner at Evermore, whether you hated them or not, it was required to share your classes and strictly on-campus dorm room with them. Zane desperately wanted to make number 4 on Riko’s perfect court, directly behind Jean. Zane, fully aware of the sexual abuse Riko was inflicting on Jean, tried to protect him from it although he could not fully stand in the way of it without violent repercussions. He quickly learned about Grayson’s perseverance, understanding why he frequently showed up to their room at night, and he despised him for it. He and Jean had an agreement where Zane would try to keep Grayson away from Jean as much as he could. However, in a turn of events, Zane made the jealously-fueled selfish decision to turn his back and keep quiet when Grayson came to their room the next time, just telling Jean to keep it down. Fell in love with Raven teammate Clarissa, despite extreme hardships when it came to romance in the Nest.

Jeremy Knox -

Jeremy Knox is 23 years old. Shaggy caramel hair, white and tan from the SoCal sun, 6’1”.

Jeremy strongly dislikes being reminded of his last name, for reasons currently unknown. Jeremy’s parents are divorced and he lives in a large house with his mother, congressman stepfather who he separates himself from as much as possible, his sister Annalise, and his older brother Brayden whom he avoids at all costs. It is implied he has another sibling, though he refuses to discuss this even in his own point of view for similar unknown reasons. He also refuses to talk about a supposed incident at his first fall Banquet for which he was the subject of many vague rumors. Jeremy is gay, and it's implied that he has only had quick hookups in the past, no genuinely romantic relationships. On the outside, Jeremy is sunshine on Earth, just a very silly guy. A very silly guy who avoids cops like the plague for more related unknown reasons. We will learn much more about his very ominous past in TSC2.

One extra fact: It is confirmed that Jeremy is a service top.

Jack & Sheena -

you may hear these names sometimes in the fandom. these are two characters only mentioned in the author’s extra content. they are future Foxes, becoming part of the team when Neil is captain. very angry, very homophobic people. always trying to get a rise out of Neil, Jack with his snarky comments and Sheena with her sharp laugh like a hyena. you won’t usually see their names ever except for in fanfiction (same as below).

Robin -

again, another future Foxes member as described by the author’s extra content. Robin had a rough childhood growing up in captivity. when she joins the Foxes she becomes an honorary part of The Monsters (see below). She becomes a close friend of Neil’s when Andrew graduates and she helps Neil feel less alone. i like to forget she exists a lot not because i don’t like her but just because i don’t have really any feelings about her existence.

The Monsters -

the group name for Andrew, Aaron, Kevin, Neil, Nicky. the ones that go to Eden’s and Columbia together.

[illarian-rambling]

Thanks for the tags @inkednotebook @museandquill and @verdant-mainframe!

OC Interview Tag

Rules: Let your ocs answer the questions below

Because they're metaphysically inseparable, let's answer for Rel and Redacted. For context, Rel is an angel created to defend Redacted, the former god of wonder, in his dying moments. Rel failed to do this and was cast to the world below by Redacted's murderer. Redacted is now bound to Rel as a ghost, however, Rel cannot hear or interact with Redacted in any way. With that convoluted explanation out of the way, let's get cracking!

Are you named after anyone?

Rel: "I made my own name, actually! I like the way it rumbles on my tongue."

Redacted: "False, you took half of my name, kid. My name which was erased by my bitch cousin. See, look ~~~~~~. ~~~~~~! Fucking nothing. At least you remember part of it, even if you don't remember who it belongs to."

When was the last time you cried?

Rel: "My eyes were all wet when I woke up yesterday morning. Esie said I must've had a nightmare. I... don't know what that is, but it sounds scary."

Redacted: "I don't have eyes. I guess I had three when I was alive, but those were mostly just for show, you know? Most of when a god breathes or cries or laughs is just for human benefit. Your teeny little brains don't like us in our true forms, so we gotta... translate a little."

Do you have kids?

Rel: "Those are the tiny ones, right? No, I don't, but they seem cute! Esie says Jean, Shay, and I are like her kids sometimes. Then she usually goes outside for a smoke."

Redacted: "Kids? The closest thing I have to one is talking to you right now. I don't usually make angels - never more than one at a time. Other gods have whole hosts and stuff to do their dirty work, but I've always preferred to keep a more personal relationship with mine. Except I can't really do that with Rel as I am now...."

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Rel: "I want to! It's very funny, I've been told. I just have to figure out why that is exactly."

Redacted: "Take a wild fucking guess."

What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Rel: "There's just too much. I notice their eyes and their clothes and their smile and their shoes. The first thing I try to learn, though, is their name."

Redacted: "I don't know, probably their surface thoughts? I can't see into the depths of anyone's minds or anything - if a god tells you they can, they're bullshitting you - but surface thoughts are pretty noticeable. Most people are a lot hornier than you'd imagine."

What’s your eye color?

Rel: "A dark gold, like brass doorknobs. I only have one eye, though. If I had another, I'd want it to be blue."

Redacted: "The bottom two were blue. The one on my forehead was gold."

Scary movies or happy endings?

Rel: "I don't know. I haven't seen any plays yet. Happier seems like it would be better, though."

Redacted: "Either depend on how well they're pulled off. A happy ending can fall flat if there's no substance in it - if it feels like a consolation prize that doesn't fit the character or story. Tragic endings fall into the same pitfalls. If something's tragic for only the sake of being tragic, then why do I have any reason to be invested? Examples of each can be found-"

Any special talents?

Rel: "My friends say I'm very good at runes. It's just like reading, though, so I'm not sure why they keep telling me I'd need decades of training to be able to know what they say. I'm also a great drummer! Jean says my solos 'fuck nasty style.'"

Redacted: "I'm a god. Other than that, jigsaw puzzles."

Where were you born?

Rel: "...It tasted like blood, that's all I remember."

Redacted: "Yeah, we're not getting into that."

Do you have any pets?

Rel: "Ugh, I wish.... Esie says rats aren't pets, but why are they so cute if they aren't?"

Redacted: "...Does humanity count? You guys are pretty entertaining sometimes."

What sort of sports do you play?

Rel: "What's a sport?"

Redacted: "Yes, beach volleyball! ...Dumbass, I don't have a body, and even if I did, why the hell would I use it to run around and get all sweaty?"

How tall are you?

Rel: "6'0" but my leg is a little crooked, so probably more like 5'10", but I'm also usually wearing my platform boots, so I'll go with 6'3"."

Redacted: "...I'm over this shit."

What was your favorite subject in school?

Rel: "I hope I can go to school someday. I bet I'd love learning proper mechanics and stuff. Oh, and music! And probably science too."

Redacted: "Tell you what, my favorite subject to see Rel try his hand at would be literature. Knowing him, all those stories are going to fill his head like nothing else."

What is your dream job?

Rel: "I really like what I'm doing now. Being in Jean's band, tinkering for my neighbors.... What else is there?"

Redacted: "Well, being a god again is kind of a lost option. Without that, I guess just being there for Rel. I wish I could talk to him. I wish I could be a real parent for him."

Ah, unrequited parental love.... I'll tag @wyked-original-writing @leahnardo-da-veggie @quillswriting @finickyfelix @mysticstarlightduck and anyone else who wants in :)

Blanks under the cut

Are you named after anyone? When was the last time you cried? Do you have kids? Do you use sarcasm a lot? What’s the first thing you notice about people? What’s your eye colour? Scary movies or happy endings? Any special talents? Where were you born? Do you have any pets? What sort of sports do you play? How tall are you? What was your favourite subject in school? What is your dream job?

[lonelystarlet]

Coquette Characters: Quinn Morgendorffer

daria is one of my favorite tv shows of all time and i see parts of myself in quinn. our personalities and attitudes are quite similar.

quinn has been one of my coquette icons for years because of her style and the way she carries herself. i think the most important aspect of her character is that she is actually really smart and has depth underneath her ditzy, shallow persona. she uses this persona to hide her insecurities and low self-esteem. i think this is something a lot of people can relate to.

also, she is vice president of the fashion club so i think it would be cool to take inspiration from her style for some cute coquette looks!

does she only have two main outfits throughout the entire series? well yes! but i think i can expand on those and think of what else she may have worn.

Outfit Inspiration

quinn is very girly and loves bright and pastel colors. there are some instances where she incorporates brown and black colors into her outfits. for her two main outfits, she wears a pink ringer tee with a yellow smiley face on it or a pink long sleeved top with a yellow butterfly. both are paired with blue jeans and what seems to be brown boots. there are times we see her in skirts and dresses too. here are some outfits that i think would be in her wardrobe:

that’s it for now. i will make more posts about quinn morgendorffer outfit inspiration, a playlist with songs she would like and her overall aesthetic soon!

i hope you enjoyed this and thank you for reading ♡

[jtargaryen18]

The House of Shadowed Roses ~ Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Words: 3k

Pairing: Edward (Loosely based off a “A Different Man”) x Live-in Companion Reader M/F

You're a vet-med student taking a gap year to work in a local animal hospital. When the very old apartment building you've been living in is condemned, you have to find another place to live fast. You find a beautiful mansion where the owner, a man with an unfortunate disfiguring condition, says you can live if you agree to run errands for him on occasion. There's a hot handyman who also lives there who doesn't seem to like you, but Edward couldn't be nicer. It's just too good to be true.

What's the old saying? If it's too good to be true, it usually is...

Disclaimer: The author of this work claims no ownership of characters aside from the reader, and original secondary characters mentioned. This work is not intended for those under the age of 18 due to explicit sexual content and darker themes. By reading this work or any works on my blog (jtargaryen18), you agree that you are at least 18 years of age. I do not consent to have my work hosted on any third party app or site.

"White demon, where's your selfish kiss? White demon sorrow will arrange Let's not forget about the fear Black invitation to this place that cannot change While strangely holy, come for a rain Darling" - A White Demon Love Song, The Killers

As you suspected, Edward's home was a sight by the light of day. The stunning white mansion, its pristine walls glowing softly in the sunlight, stood proudly in the center of a sprawling, perfectly manicured lawn. The lush green grass was so uniform and so well maintained that it looked almost like velvet. Surrounding the house were elegant flower beds, bursting with color - roses, hydrangeas, and tulips arranged in perfect harmony, a vibrant contrast to the mansion's crisp white facade.

Strategically placed among the winding stone pathways were intricately shaped topiaries, each sculpted in artful designs, some shaped like spiraling towers, others like playful animals. The scent of fresh blooms fills the air while the towering oak trees at the edge of the property provided a sense of quiet privacy. Looking around, you didn't see any other homes, even off in the distance.

Your heart swelled with hope in your chest as you took in the combination of white mansion, colorful flower beds, and perfectly-formed topiaries that evoked a sense of elegance and timeless beauty. This was your home now and it was a massive upgrade from the sad, now condemned building you just moved out of it. Edward's home, honestly, looked like paradise.

"Can I help you?" 

The sound of that deep voice had you turning to find a tall, handsome man with a strong, muscular build that hinted at years of hands-on work. His short sandy hair was slightly tousled, perfectly complementing the well-groomed beard that added a rugged charm to his appearance. What truly stood out to you where his striking blue eyes, the kind that caught the light and held depths of both intensity and warmth. They reminded you of a clear sky on an autumn day. His fitted gray T-shirt clung to his muscular chest and arms, his worn jeans and work boots had a couple of greasy smudges. The toolbelt slung low on his hips completed the look, made you realize that he was a worker here. The man stood there eyeing you too, carrying the confidence of a man who was good at what he did. 

Edward hadn't mentioned anyone else. 

"Hi there," you said, giving him your name. You held out a hand but he just crossed his muscular arms across the wide expanse of his chest. Awkwardly, you pulled your hand back. Apparently, Edward hadn't mentioned you to him either.

"Can I help you?" he repeated.

"I'm the new tenant," you explained. "I met with Edward about the rooms this week and we agreed I'd move in this weekend."

He rolled his eyes. "Of course he did." You thought he muttered "fuck" beneath his breath.

You weren't sure what this was about. Maybe it didn't even have anything to do with you personally. But his low-key animosity threw cold water on your excitement about moving into your new home.

"I don't expect you to help," you said, in case that made any difference. "He said I didn't need to call and I could move in this weekend... I don't mean to be a bother."

Still looking put out, he marched off in the direction of the house. No welcome. No 'please, let me show you around.' Nothing. 

What were you supposed to do? Call Edward to let him know you were there? You didn't know who the handsome bastard that walked away was - he did have a nice ass. But was he about to mess up your arrangement here? If this fell through, you had nowhere else to go.

You stood by your SUV like an idiot in the long elegant drive in front of the house. Did you start moving stuff in? Should you drive back to your current apartment - you only had two days left there - and try to call Edward, speak to him about it.

The man you'd just talked to slammed his way through the front door of the mansion. You'd seen no sign of Edward. Nerves were starting to get the best of you. You were just about to climb back into your car when the front door opened and Edward stepped out onto his front porch, calling your name. Hoping this meant good news, you walked around your vehicle to join him on the porch. His condition made it hard to read his expressions, but you were hoping he'd come out to clear things up.

"Are you ready to move in?" Edward asked. It sounded like he was smiling.

Edward was taller than you remembered, his broad shoulders nearly as wide as the doorway behind him. His long-sleeved T-shirt was pushed up to his elbows, showing off muscular forearms and hinting at strength and power. Another look revealed his entire frame was athletic. Why did that surprise you? Yes, his face drew most of the attention - a face covered in countless small, bulbous tumors that greatly distorted his features. They clustered around his cheeks, chin, and forehead, creating uneven ridges that made it impossible to even guess what his face might look like without the disease.

In the light of day, you realized his left eye was only partially hidden by the overgrowth of skin at his brow. His right eye was striking, a deep, dark blue.The rest of him was untouched by the condition, his thick neck, powerful chest, and heavily-muscled arms gave him an almost unsettling duality.

"Yes," you said, smiling awkwardly. "I met uh..."

"You met Frank Adler," Edward explained. "He helps me around the house, with the cars. He's been my handyman for a couple of years."

Trying to be polite, you nodded but didn't say anything.

"Normally, he's even charming," Edward went on. "Not sure what got into him today." Turning back to the house he asked, "Would you like to see your rooms?"

That's better.

"Yes, please," you said, smiling at your new landlord. 

Edward paused, his gaze locked with yours, his holding so much intensity. You weren't sure what the moment meant to him, but you felt like it was significant.

Leading you into the house, your host paused in the foyer, seeming to enjoy the way you stared with wonder at the opulence that surrounded you. You'd seen homes like this on TV but never in real life. The air was rich with the scent of polished wood and aged books, hinting at the decades of history nestled within its walls. There were beautiful flower arrangements everywhere. There were freshly-cut roses in all shades from snowy white to deep blood red. There were other potted plants strategically placed that added life to the dwelling, as if they proved the mansion was a living, breathing entity.

Edward took you from the foyer to a beautiful spiraling staircase that was just beyond it. The wooden stairs gleamed in the sunlight from the high window of the first landing. At the next floor, he turned to the left and stopped in front of a beautiful, heavy oak door. 

As Edward opened the door, a shiver of anticipation ran down your spine. "These are your rooms," he said, his voice deep and resonant. 

Your new home was done up in varying shades of cornflower blue and elegant, dark wood. Sunlight streamed through the tall, arched windows casting a warm glow over the plush velvet sofa and intricately carved tables around it. You couldn't help but admire the paintings that adorned the walls, each magnificent landscape views with colorful gardens in frames guilded with gold, catching the light in mesmerizing ways. Edward gestured towards the fireplace dominating one corner of the room. 

"Nothing like a crackling fire on a chilly night," he said. "It's in good working order and Frank will make sure you always have firewood."

"That's wonderful," was all you could say as you looked around in amazement.

If you thought the living room was something, you weren't even prepared for the bathroom. The clawfoot bathtub was the first thing you noticed, it's gleaming porcelain looked so inviting. In your work as a vet tech, you were often on your feet for hours. How good would it feel to relax in a bath some days, with your favorite scented bath salts and an audiobook playing while you relaxed? Yes, there was a shower unit attached along with a privacy curtain all around it. The best of modernity and old-world charm. The marble countertops shined under the soft lights from the crystal light fixture above. 

Finally, he showed you the bedroom, saving the best room for last. It was a sanctuary in royal blue and old gold with a four-poster bed draped in luxurious silk curtains , billowing gently in the breeze from the tall windows on either side. Sunlight filtered through sheer lace curtains, casting patterns on the polished wooden floor. The furniture was beautiful dark wood, a bedside table, a huge wardrobe, and a vanity with heart-shaped mirror and a bench seat that an embroidered cushion top. 

"What do you think?" Edward asked as you glanced around.

That it's too good to be true. 

You'd be living here with Edward and in exchange, you'd be running errands for him? It didn't seem real. 

"Your home is so beautiful," you said in amazement. "And these rooms? I've never seen anything like this in real life."

Edward took a deep breath at your praise. It was obvious he was proud of his home and he should be. Yet, he was studying you hard.

"I feel like there's a 'yes, but' answer coming," he said after a moment, wariness in his right eye.

Truth was best, especially since he'd be your landlord.

"It's just... Are you sure I can't give you something for rent?" you pleaded. "My running errands for you in exchange for living here?"

It was just you... you couldn't read his face. And he didn't have an answer for that. The last thing you wanted to do was insult the poor man. Maybe he was just lonely and looking for companionship? Making someone an offer they can't easily refuse in the way of such a lavish living space didn't hurt. And you needed a place to live.

As the uncomfortable silence stretched out, you knew you had to end it. Be grateful.

"Thank you so much," you told him, smiling. You meant it. "I love these rooms. I'm very grateful I'll be living here with you."

You sensed that answer pleased him. Edwarded nodded, making his way to the door. Before he could leave, you did have a question.

"You mentioned Mr. Adler works for you," you started.

"That's right," he said turning back.

"You said he was a handyman for you? Worked on the cars?" Considering how poorly your first meeting with Frank Adler went, you didn't want to piss him off further. "Is there anything else he does around the house? I'd like to help out as much as I can. I just don't want to step on anyone's toes though. You know?"

"I understand," Edward said quietly. "But I have a cleaning service that comes twice a week. Frank and I usually fend for ourselves in the kitchen. We're not bad. If you want to cook here and there, I'm sure that would be appreciated. But I don't have any expectations for you for any of that."

A cleaning service? For real?

"That's great," you told him. "That answers my question. Thank you!"

"Why don't you get settled in and Frank and I will bring in your things?" Edward asked, heading back into the living room. 

You followed him. You didn't have a lot of stuff, but it didn't seem right to not help them. "Thank you. I'm pitching in."

Edward stopped at the top of the stairs. "You don't trust us?"

Something about the way he asked that question made you think he was teasing you. "I trust you," you said with grin. "I'm not sure about Frank though."

The easy sound of his laugh was a warm sound, made you feel better. "Come on."

Edward Lemuel leaned back against the sink, enjoying a tall glass of ice water. They'd just finished moving in his new tenant and it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. She didn't have many things to move in. No furniture pieces. Mostly clothings, boxes of decorations and accessories. Three heavy boxes of books which made him happy because it suggested that she was an avid reader. Yeah, he'd broken a sweat helping her and Frank move everything upstairs but it was totally worth it. 

His moment of contentment didn't last. Frank stomped into the kitchen, a surly expression on his face. Edward had an idea of why his employee, partner in crime, and sometimes friend was so pissed off. But he had a feeling he was about to learn exactly why. Stopping in front of him, sweaty and with his hands on his hips, Frank glared him down. 

"What the fuck is this?" Frank asked, emphasizing each individual word. "You didn't even let me know about this one." Jerking a thumb roughly in the direction of her rooms, Frank's gaze searched his face.

"That doesn't give you the right to be rude to her," Edward told him calmly. "And it sure doesn't help our cause, does it?"

"Your cause," Frank pointed out. Dropping his head for a moment, he seemed to be collecting his thoughts. "What sort of deal did you make with her? What do you even know about her?"

Edward smiled. Frank was interested. And why wouldn't he be? On top of all of her other impressive qualities, she was beautiful. Very beautiful. Yeah, they were going a different route this time, building on the knowledge they'd been building with the last three girls. Edward was hoping it would be worth it, that he'd finally get everything he'd ever wanted. And he'd make sure Frank was more than compensated for his time and effort.

"She's not from this area," Edward explained. "She works locally. She's taking a gap year from school."

Edward moved to allow Frank to grab a glass from the cabinet by the sink and filled it with water from the tap. "Where does she go to school?"

"The vet-med college," Edward replied. "I think she's studying to be a veterinarian."

Frank's blue-eyed gaze didn't leave him as he downed his water in greedy gulps. Placing the empty glass on the counter, Frank swiped the back of his hand across his mouth. His expression was one of perplexion. "Are you fucking kidding me? A veterinarian?"

Edward nodded.

"This isn't going to work with her," Frank warned in a lowered voice. "Yeah, we've had some luck with a handful of young women I found at the shelter or on the street. That is not this woman. She isn't going to be naive or desperate like them. She sure doesn't look like any sort of addict. It won't work."

Edward didn't agree. "I think with a different approach, things might be just fine."

Frank shook his head. "A different approach?"

"Yeah," Edward said. "She is more... refined. She's exactly what I've been looking for."

Staring at him like he had two heads and six eyes between them, Frank marched around him and back out the kitchen door. "Whatever."

Frank didn't understand right now, but he soon would. The lovely new tennant was perfect, everything deep in his heart that he'd been hoping for. Yes, there'd been other "tenants" and they couldn't have been more different than her. The previous ones were convenient, transactional. But they had shown him that what he wanted wasn't completely out of his reach despite his condition. With the right resources, most people could be bargained with. Maybe, with the right woman, this time would be different. 

His new tenant looked at him with such kindness. At times, he could almost forget about his appearance. Maybe...

Edward drained his glass, looking longingly in the direction of her rooms. He would tell himself that he didn't want to get his hopes up, but damn it, his hopes were already up. The young woman in question had more than just surface beauty. She was kind, thoughtful, intelligent. She was everything he could ask for in a relationship if he could just navigate the situation. And he was convinced he could with Frank's help. 

She kept asking if there was more she could do to contribute. To feel like she was earning her keep. Edward smiled just thinking about it. His new tenant represented so much more to him than tepid female companionship and parlor tricks in the dark. Edward didn't know a lot about her at the moment but prided himself on being a good judge of character. It was the basis of his infatuation with her and there was no other word for it. 

[twopoppies]

hiiii gina! can you recommend some fics with handful-spoiled-moody-babygirl harry in them? :) thank you so much!

Oh, I’m really surprised I don’t have a rec for this topic yet and I’m surprised I don’t have a bigger list. But here is what I can suggest!

Allegro/Adagio by coffinofachimera (E, 9K) everything I’ve read from this author has been so beautifully written, and this is no exception. Yes, it’s filthy, but they give such depth to the characters’ reasons for the way they “play”. And this is one of the rare fics that really take us through the build up to the scene, straight through to aftercare. I really loved this one.

I Love My Hands Around Your Neck by @fournipplesau (E, 6K) Hello... this was really hot. I just loved the dynamic between the two of them—you really get a sense of the difference between them when they play and how they interact when they’re not. Also, just really hot. Did I say that already? Yeah.

babydoll blues by devilinmybrain / @thedevilinmybrain (E, 112K) At last, the full-fledged, dirty, sugar baby fic we needed. Harry's character is so layered and so beautifully drawn, I just fell in love with him. Louis is sexy and powerful and also tender and sweet, just how I imagine the actual Louis to be. This author wrote one of my favorite fics of 2021, so I was really excited to dive into this one. They really know how to set a scene and draw you in to their characters. Scorching smut scenes, excellent use of side characters, and some angst that fully made me cry. Definitely worth a read!

it's all for you, everything i do by moonshinelouis (E, 2K) This short little fic is made up of one of my favorite tropes: Louis feigning disinterest while Harry begs for his attention. I really enjoy the way this author is able make their fics feel more than “just” a PWP.

To Be The Friction In Your Jeans by orphan_account (E, 20K) Again, slightly dated characterizations because it was written in 2012 (no one writes OT4/5 orgies anymore, do they?), but I actually really like this one. It’s simultaneously funny, oddly believable, and really damn hot. Harry-centric.

pretty in pink by hereforlou (E, 6K) I love this author’s writing and they give suck a relative portrait of an established relationship in this one: Harry is whiny and needy. Louis is indulgent and loving. The whole thing is very sexy. Link is to a download.

redder than the devil by mercutionotromeo (E, 5K) This short fic has so many kinks and so much smut that I probably could add it to 10 different rec lists. I love this author and hope they keep gifting us with their writing.

Run and I’ll Give Chase by orphan_account (E, 25K) not exactly baby-girl, but I really liked the characterizations in this one; the way Harry wants Louis, but is afraid to want him and acts kind of bratty because if it, but then finally gives in? So good! Plus…there’s a second part Jump and I’ll Catch you (E, 13K) that I haven’t had a chance to read yet.

You might also like some fics on my Desperate Harry fic rec and, perhaps, my Feminization fic rec.

[chromatic-lamina]

chapter 1081 spoilers—okay, angst is fun and all but...

Shachi literally means orca in Japanese. Ikkaku means narwhal. They can dive deep (Narwhals, deeper than most submarines go, I think) and survive. Penguins are pretty good underwater for a while (though I don't know about depth). The ocean is the home of sea urchins and sea angels (Uni and Clione). And have we forgotten how hardcore Penguin and Shachi went here?:

And do you think that Jean Bart looks a little fishman here? ( A little Namur-like).

Now, I don't know about snow geese, but we'll give Hakugan some magical properties. So while it is heartbreaking that the Polar Tang

will no longer sail the seas (and, yeah, the boys had had it forever, but this is the sub's own Going Merry moment, perhaps), I think we should believe Bepo here:

where he urges Law to have faith in the hardiness of his North Blue crew in the depths of the ocean. His concern is more with Law (but we know he'll be okay):

Bepo urges Law not to die, but the Hearts will continue to overcome. I don't know that they'll be captured either, but they must've almost escaped because Jean Bart was on land, right? In chapter 1064:

But look at this instruction (also from 1064):

where Law urges Penguin and Shachi into the water. The Hearts are fine, but I understand the angst (it's glorious, isn't it?!). I think Law's worried, obviously, but I also think he picked his crew and mode of transport for a reason beyond just remaining hidden.

But, the Polar Tang:

the Victoria Punk

the Jewelry Margerhita?

Although, the Wiki says they don't know what happened to it after Bonney was captured by Blackbeard way back when, but in Egghead Jinbei does ask her:

where her ship and crew is. She states that her ship (which might be the Jewelry Margherita) was eaten by the monsters (controlled by Lilith, right?) outside of Egghead, and that she came alone.

The wiki says: (according to Vivre Card - One Piece Visual Dictionary (Card #0511), Information about Bonney is revealed), that:

Bonney seems to prioritize her own safety over her crew's as she managed to escape Marine detainment but chose not to rescue her subordinates.

That's stark contrast to Law, and we've mostly seen her operate alone, but I'm not gonna believe the Vivre cards just yet.

Also, Kid's obviously alive if Law is and if their losses were similar in wording and visuals. I think Kid's crew have saved him, if not Shanks' crew.

BUT, once Law recovers, he'll not be sequestered in a cell for ten years before he becomes relevant again (poor Kid. Damn!).

As @purplehairedwonder pointed out, the Polar Tang was carrying Law's poneglyph copies, and I bet that the crew is carrying them. Hope so. He'd be wise enough to have them waterproofed. BUT it makes more narrative sense to have them destroyed.

Now, someone was talking about how a Klabautermann is only seen when a ship is doomed (this wikipedia article supports it, but that's as far as my sources go) and therefore they didn't include images/stories/prompts about it for the Polar Tang. I can't remember who it was! Ahh, well it seems that the Klabautermann of various ships have been very busy lately.

Kuzan, too. Kuzan is cool (haha). I'm glad we saw him. And the dialogue with the Blackbeard pirates and Kuzan. OH, I almost forgot, this angst:

where Blackbeard taunts Law with the fact (yes, fact!) that there are a hundred pirates on Pirate Island still without their hearts, due to Law, and BB would be thrilled to punish Law for the fact, can't help but stir the whump-writer's heart (I'm sorry, Law).

AND, Koby and Law were in cahoots in some way, I'm sure of it (probably be disproven). Something similar to Luffy and Smoker at Alabasta, perhaps? Anyway.

Side note, do you think that Chopper used Caesar Clown's science and ego to help produce the rumble-ball like power-up he gave Bepo? If so, I wonder if this will come to play in the future when Caesar and Judge enter the fray again, if they do.