#also. can’t even think about how annoyed i’m about to be on tuesday when my coworker who doesn’t vote brings up the fact that he doesn’t

[livvyofthelake]

daylight savings time AND the election next week. and they’re not even giving me a new dancing with the stars episode to spend all my time thinking about.

[f1goat]

his masseur x lando norris

In which you're Lando his best friend and masseur, but your feelings start to cause a bit of trouble.

Requested: yes Warnings: small mentions of sexual content / not proof read

Tuesday - August 2022

“Maybe you can sleep in my bed this time?” Lando asks you. 

You look up surprised. This is new.

“What’s wrong with the guest room?” You ask still surprised.

“Nothing!” Lando quickly exclaims, “but I’m tired but I also don’t want to stop cuddling like this. So I thought we could sleep together.. Maybe?” 

You notice that Lando is rambling now. You smile at him. “That sounds great,” you say with a genuine smile.

Lando leaves his earlier position to get of the couch. You think about what’s happening. Maybe it’s weird for friends to cuddle as much as you and Lando do. Maybe it’s even weirder that you’re going to sleep in the same bed as him. But it’s not like you mind. You have been crushing on Lando forever, so every little thing you can have you take willingly.

Thursday - November 2022

“Happy birthday Lan!”

You kiss him on his cheeks. Lando pulls you even closer to him so the two of you can hug properly. After a bit you release yourself from his hug so you can give him his present. You hand him over the present you carefully wrapped with an orange wrapping paper. You watch how Lando unties the golden ribbons. 

His face lits up when he sees the present. You smile as well from his happy reaction. It’s safe to say he loves the new microphone you got him. It’s themed with everything he likes. The Quadrant logo and colors are covering the stand part, while the mic itself is a bit more McLaren themed. 

“I thought you could use a new one for your streams,” you tell him. 

“You’re amazing!” Lando exclaims enthusiastic. He pulls you closer to himself again. It doesn’t take more then a few seconds before he’s hugging you once again. 

“I love it,” he tells you softly, “You know me the best!”

Sunday - December 2022

“Finally a well deserved break,” Lando says. 

You nod. “You were amazing this season,” you tell him. 

Lando smiles gratefully. “I couldn’t have done it without you,” he tells you even more grateful. 

“Don’t say that,” you say quickly, “It was all you. I’m just massaging you.”

“I’m glad you’re on my team,” Lando says, “so I might have a tiny surprise to thank you for that.”

“A tiny surprise?” You ask.

“I booked us a hotel here, so we can spend a week together. We can do some fun things! Like exploring the city and go buggy riding in the desert.”

“That’s not a tiny surprise,” you tell him while laughing.

“Oops,” Lando just says.

“Are you thanking everyone on your team like that?” You ask.

“I send the rest a nice thank you card,” Lando replies.

You laugh.

Sunday morning - January 2023

“I can’t wait to spend the whole year with you again,” Lando softly says. The clock just stroke midnight. Lando is sitting next to you on the couch. You’re with friends, but everyone is busy with wishing each other a happy new year. Something you should do as well, but you’re enjoying your small private moment with Lando. 

“Me too Lan,” you say, “and a happy new year to you!”

“Happy new year!” Lando replies happily.

He comes closer to you. You want to press a kiss to his cheek, like you always do with friends while wishing them a happy new year. Lando seems to have the same idea. You don’t know how it happend, but in some way Lando his lips end up on yours.

“Oh fuck,” you say.

It didn’t even last two seconds, but it feels like an eternity. 

“Sorry!” Lando quickly says.

“It doesn’t matter Lan, nothing happened. I’m going to wish the others a happy new year as well.”

Lando watches you when you walk away. He sighs. “Yeah, nothing happened. Just my feelings for you,” he mutters annoyed. 

Thursday night - February 2023

“Thanks for picking me up,” you tell Lando.

“It’s nothing, how was the date?” Lando asks you.

You sigh. “Since I texted you a few hours earlier then we discussed I think you can conclude that it was bad.”

“I don’t get it. Why do you keep going on dates with types like this?” Lando asks you.

“I don’t know either,” you sigh. You think about who you really want. The guy next to you who’s currently driving you home in his McLaren. Lando is silent, he’s thinking about how it shouldn’t feel this way. Every time he picks you up he’s happy that your date didn’t go well. He can’t be like this. His jealousy is rising up way too much recently.

“I think I’m going to stop dating for a while,” you tell Lando after a bit of silence, “Maybe I’m not ready yet,” you add.

Lando can’t stop himself from smiling. It’s insane how relieved he feels suddenly.

Friday night - March 2023

“Would it be weird if we kissed?”

You look up at Lando. Does he even know what he’s asking you right now? It’s not like you can blame him right now. He’s drunk. But still, you let out a small sigh when you think about his question. Yes it would be weird, but you wouldn’t care about that. 

“I kinda want to kiss you,” Lando continues.

Butterflies are all over the place inside of you. You don’t have to check the rear mirror in Lando his car to find out your cheeks are red. You feel flustered. You try to focus on driving, but Lando is making it hard for you. For the second time that evening you remind yourself about Lando his condition. He’s drunk. Carlos and Max texted you before to warn you and when you picked up Lando you quickly noticed it as well. You can’t take his words serious right now, he’s drunk. 

“You’re drunk Lan,” you tell him after doubting for a bit, “but yes, it probably would be weird. We have been friends forever.” You don’t tell him that you don’t mind the weird aspect. You also don’t tell him about your feelings from the last years for him. 

“If you say so,” Lando sighs. 

You hope Lando doesn’t asks questions like this again. Or not like this. He can ask questions like this, but not when he’s drunk and his words are meaningless. 

Saturday morning - March 2023

“Fuck,” Lando grunts, “That was just what I needed.” 

You release a bit off the harsh pressure you used earlier. Slowly you massage further. Since you graduated last year, you’ve become Lando his personal masseuse. You’ve been lucky when McLaren hired you for it. Since then you join Lando and his - and your - team to every race. Meaning you can spend a lot of time with Lando. 

“I thought so,” you tell Lando smilingly.

Lando lets out a soft moan. Something that can give you weird butterflies sometimes, but now you’re getting used to it. It’s just because your massaging him. 

“You seemed pretty drunk last night,” you add.

“Oh god,” Lando grunts, “Please don’t remind me. I have no memories left. Sorry that you needed to pick me up like that.” 

You let out a soft disappointed sigh. You already expected this, but still. It would be nice if Lando remembered what he told you last night. It’s nothing new. Things like this happen way too often. 

“It doesn’t matter Lan, that’s what friends do,” you tell him to comfort him.

“Hm, friends yeah,” Lando sighs. 

“What do you mean?” You ask.

Lando doesn’t really respond anymore. You put a bit more pressure on his abs while massaging him. While you do so you think about multiple weird situations you had with Lando. 

“Maybe we can have a night in tonight? After qualifying,” Lando suggests after a bit. “We can watch some movies or something, whatever you like,” he adds.

“I kinda planned a selfcare night,” you tell Lando, “but maybe we can combine it?” 

“I’m in,” Lando tells you happily. 

“Great!”

Saturday - April 2023

“Y/n, it’s time for my massage.”

You look up surprised. Lando is standing in front of you and Pierre. What is he talking about? You just massaged him earlier. You’re free for the rest of the day. 

“Let’s talk further another time,” Pierre tells you.

You just met him. He seemed nice. Maybe you can finally find some other friends on the grid as well? 

“That sounds great,” you tell Pierre excited. 

You almost start to think that Lando lets out a scoff, but you’re probably wrong. You walk closer to Lando and he takes you with him to his drivers room.

“I already massaged you Lan, what was that about?” You ask him confused.

“I just got a bit of pain in my shoulder,” Lando mutters.

“Okay, can you pull of your shirt?”

When Lando feels your hands on his painless shoulders, he feels happy again. Maybe it was childish, but he didn’t see another way to get you away from Pierre and back to himself.

What’s going on with him?

Wednesday - May 2023

“I think I’m in love with y/n.”

“No shit,” Max sighs, “It took you forever to find out.”

Lando looks at his friend. Was he that transparant?

“So when will you tell her?” Max asks.

“Never!” Lando says quickly. He almost shouts. “What do you think that’ll happen? She doesn’t return my feelings, everything will become awkward and then I will lose her.”

“For fuck sake,” Max sighs, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Max, you have to keep this a secret,” Lando almost begs, “I can’t lose y/n.”

“You’re such an idiot.”

Saturday - June 2023

“Fuck, that feels amazing,” Lando moans.

You slowly apply more pressure to his body. Your hands roam around Lando his necks and shoulders carefully. When you come closer to his neck, Lando can’t withhold another soft moan. You start to feel the well known butterflies flatter around in your body.

Lando doesn’t stop. He keeps letting out soft sounds that show you exactly what you’re doing to him. After a bit you notice that you’ll get an even bigger reaction when you massage him on a specific spot close to his neck. You can’t help yourself and don’t stop touching him there. Can it be his sweet spot? You wonder what will happen when you let your lips touch his neck right on that spot. Fuck, you shouldn’t think like this.

“Can you lie down on your back Lan?” You ask a bit later.

Lando shuffles a bit, but he doesn’t move to lie down on his back. You wonder what’s going on. 

“Lan?” You ask.

“Give me a few minutes,” Lando tells you. 

“Is something wrong? You need to tell me if you feel uncomfortable or painful when I do something,” you say.

“No!” Lando quickly replies, “It’s far from wrong.”

You don’t get it at first, but then Lando lies down on his back. You notice the bulge that formed itself in his pants. Lando doesn’t look at you. Something that comes in quite handy right now, because you’re smile isn’t really professional anymore.

Sunday - July 2023

Lando his qualifying at Silverstone went amazing. He got the second place and that as his home race. This is amazing. Currently the two of you are laying on the couch. You’re feeling relaxed while spending time like this with Lando. 

“Maybe I can massage you a bit?” Lando suggests, “Reverse the roles  for once.”

“That seems nice.”

Lando helps you to find a comfortable position on his lap. His hands slowly find your shoulders. He’s quick to apply a bit of pressure on them. You let out a soft sigh of relaxation. It’s been way too long since someone massaged you. That’s the disadvantage of being a masseur, everyone always expects you to massage them and not the other way around. 

“How does this feel?” Lando asks you. 

It feels like his hands are touching you everywhere at once. You haven’t felt this relaxed in a long time. He’s slowly massaging your neck and you can’t stop yourself from letting out a soft moan. 

“Like you should do this more often,” you answer Lando jokingly.

You don’t tell him that you already feel yourself getting wet. Fuck. Why does he have to have such big, strong hands? That also feel insanely good on your body?

***

A few hours and a movie and some YouTube video’s later you’re still laying against Lando. The two of you are cuddled up on the couch in your hotel room. Lando plays with your hair while he focuses on the television in front of him. You can’t seem to focus anymore. Your mind keeps filling up with thoughts about Lando. 

“I’m glad you’re on my team,” Lando tells you suddenly, “I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“You’re the one who’s racing this good,” you reply. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Lando says slowly, “but I couldn’t have done any of this without your support. It means the world to me that you’re always here.”

“There’s no place where I would be rather.”

“Promise me you’re in for a long time?” Lando asks you.

Without even thinking about it you stick out your pink. Lando is quick to wrap his own around yours.

“I promise Lan and if you join another team, I’ll do everything I can to join them as well.”

“I’m not going anywhere else if you can’t join me,” Lando says, “If they want me, they get you as well.”

You laugh. 

Sunday - July 2023

You haven’t seen Lando for a while now. The two of you are in some sort of night club with a lot of the other drivers. Earlier today Lando got his second place. His first podium of the season. He even drove a couple laps as race leader. Things were amazing. You haven’t been proud, excited and happy like this for a long time. It feels insanely good. That’s why the both of you wanted to celebrate. 

“Hi!”

You notice that Pierre Gasly is standing in front of you and just greeted you. 

“Hey,” you greet him back.

Pierre and you have know each other for a while now. You can say that you’re friends with each other, but not really close friends. During race weekends you’ll talk with each other, but that’s about it. Still, when you talk to each other it’s nice and comfortable. 

“In the mood to dance?” Pierre asks you. You’re quick to nod. Pierre gives you his hand and takes you with him towards the dance floor. 

When Lando searches for you, he’s surprised to find you on the dance floor. Until he sees with who you are. Fuck. He lets out an annoyed sigh. Why does Pierre always come close to you? Lando thinks about a way to get you away from Pierre, but he can’t figure out something right now.

“Congrats on the podium!” 

Without even realizing it, Lando is hugging with Yuki Tsunoda. He makes a bit of small talk with him, but Lando his eyes never leave you and Pierre. It annoys him that you’re still dancing with him. He needs to figure out a way to get you back to himself.

“Don’t you find them cute together?” Yuki asks him after a while.

Is Yuki talking about you and Pierre as well? Before Lando can say anything, Yuki continues talking.

“Pierre has been planning on taking her out for a while, maybe he’ll finally ask her now,” Yuki tells Lando. 

“He likes her?” Lando asks.

Yuki nods.

“Fuck, I knew it,” Lando mutters annoyed. 

Without a plan he walks towards you and Pierre. When he stands in front of you two, he’s quick to grab your arm. You are quick to look up. You’re surprised to see Lando in front of you. 

“We’re going back to the hotel,” Lando tells you quickly, not knowing any better excuse right now. 

“Why?” You ask surprised.

“I’m not feeling well,” Lando lies. 

He notices the way your facial expressions change. He starts to feel like a terrible person when he sees your concerned face. 

“What’s wrong?” You ask him. 

“I’ll explain in the car,” Lando answers with the lack of a better answer.

“Wait, y/n, before you go, can I ask you something?” Pierre asks you.

Lando his grip on your arm firms. He pulls you with him softly. You look at him, still concerned about his well being. “I really want to go,” Lando tells you. He knows what’s coming next, Pierre is going to ask you out. Fuck. He needs to get you away. 

“Maybe you can text me it?” You suggest to Pierre, “Lando isn’t feeling well, so we’re leaving now.”

“I’ll just ask you later,” Pierre sighs.

When you’re sitting in Lando his car, you notice that the boy is looking a lot better already. His weird facial expressions from earlier are gone, he almost seems relieved now? Maybe he was overwhelmed with all the attention and loud music? 

“What was wrong?” You ask Lando. 

“I uh,” Lando stutters a bit, “uh, I uh, I had a.. a uh, a headache. But it’s already getting better now.”

***

“Sooo,” you let out. You have been waiting for a moment to ask Lando something and maybe now is your chance? 

“So?”

“Why don’t you like Pierre?” You ask him. 

Since you and Pierre have gotten a bit closer, you have noticed Lando his strange behavior against Pierre. He always tries to get you away from him with excuses (?) about more massages. Or he joins your conversation and makes things awkward. What seems on purpose sometimes. 

“You always try to get me away from him,” you add while waiting for Lando his reaction. 

Lando sighs. Maybe he should just tell you everything. But he doesn’t. 

“There’s nothing wrong with Pierre,” Lando replies.

Wednesday - July 2023

“Want to lunch together?” Lando asks you. 

“I’m sorry Lan, Pierre asked me to get lunch together earlier today,” you reply a bit disappointed. If Lando only asked you earlier…

“Oh allright, then I’ll see you later. Right?” Lando asks disappointed.

“Yeah, after lunch I’ll be back,” you reply. 

“Okay, have fun.”

Friday - July 2023

“We’re still on for tonight, right?” Lando asks you. 

“What do you mean?” You ask surprised. 

“It’s Friday!” Lando exclaims loudly, “we always have your self care night on Friday.” 

“Oh fuck,” you whisper. You totally forgot. Or better said, you didn’t know Lando saw it as a weekly thing. “Pierre asked me out for dinner tonight, I’m so sorry Lan,” you explain, “but I can cancel?” 

“You don’t have to,” Lando sighs, “just have fun with Pierre.” 

***

Y/n: uh hi 

Y/n: can u pick me up?

Lando: where?

Y/n: *location*

Lando: where is that? Who lives there?

Y/n: Pierre

Lando: can’t he bring you home

Lando: you seem to be dating him

Lando: not me.

Y/N: please lan

Lando: Omw

***

“Thanks for picking me up,” you tell Lando when you step into his car. 

Lando is quick to notice your sad expression. He wonders what happened inside Pierre his house. When he sees a small tear rolling over your cheek, he knows for sure something happened.

“What’s wrong?” Lando asks you. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” you sigh. 

“Babygirl,” Lando sighs, “What’s going on lately? We barely see each other and now I’m picking you up from Pierre’s while you’re all sad?” 

You let out a small sob. 

“I fucked things up,” you cry out. 

Lando increases his speed, he wants to get home as soon as possible so he can talk to you properly. He puts his free hand on your thigh and slowly draws some figures on it. When you use both of your hands to hold his, he can’t resist a small smile. 

When you’re inside Lando his home, you know Lando still wants answers. He deserves them as well. Together you sit down on his couch. You try to look at Lando, but you can only sob when you do. 

Pierre asked you to be his girlfriend tonight. You told him no. Of course you said no. You thought things between you two were just friendly. And there’s Lando. Maybe if Lando wasn’t here, you would have given Pierre a chance. But he’s here. He’s always on your mind. Even when you tried to forget about him, he’s always present in your thoughts. 

“What happened?” Lando asks you again. 

“I uh,” you stutter, “Pierre uh.. He, he asked me to be his uh.. his girlfriend.” 

“Then why are you crying? Isn’t that what you wanted?” Lando asks confused. His body is heating up. He can’t handle it if you’re officially Pierre’s. 

“I said no,” you state. This time the words come out a bit calmer. 

“Didn’t he accept that?” Lando questions.

You just nod your head this time. When you think back about Pierre his reaction, you shiver. 

“Want to talk about it?” Lando asks you.

“Later,” you suggest. 

Lando opens his arms for you. It doesn’t take you long before you find your comfortable spot back. You lean on his chest. You’ve missed this. 

“I’ve missed you,” you sob.

“I never left,” Lando states, “I just gave you some space with Pierre.” 

“I don’t want space,” you sigh. 

“What do you want?” Lando asks you confused, “I thought you wanted to date Pierre, so it seemed logical to give you a bit of space while figuring things out with him.”

You don’t think about your answer.

“I want you,” you state. 

When the words leave your mouth, you realize the impact of them. Fuck. What did you just do? This is going to be the moment that you’ll lose Lando. You already feel him straighten up, sitting more straight then before. Slowly you seat yourself different as well. Lando looks in your eyes and you can’t look away. 

“That’s a dangerous thing to say,” Lando replies.

“I can’t unsay it I guess,” you sigh, “This is just great. I fucked up something even more important now.” 

“You didn’t ruin anything,” Lando comforts you, “but you need to explain what happened and what you mean.” 

You sigh again. 

“I told Pierre I didn’t want to date him, I thought our ‘dates’ were friendly. Then he got mad. He started to talk about all the money he spend on me,” you explain slowly, “I told him I could pay him back, but that wasn’t what he wanted. I don’t know what happened, but I do know I lost a friend.” 

“And then I started thinking about you. How I blew you off multiple times because Pierre asked me to do something, I was afraid that I lost you as well.” 

“Pierre’s a dick,” Lando scoffs, “and you can’t lose me. No matter how hard you’ll try, you can’t lose me.”

You let out a couple sobs. Lando pulls you closer to himself again. 

“What do you mean with wanting me?” He asks you.

“Fuck Lan,” you sigh, “I’ve been in love with you for like forever.” 

Lando doesn’t know what he just heard. He asks you again. And again. You keep telling him the truth. 

“Fuck,” he says after a while.

“I’m sorry,” you sob, “I knew telling you was a mistake. Please stay my friend.” 

“Max was right,” Lando says.

You look at him, confused by the deeper meaning behind his words.

“I should have told you,” Lando continues, “Then all of this would never have happened.” 

“Told me what?” You ask confused.

“I’m in love with you,” Lando confesses, “I’ve been for the longest time. That’s why I didn’t like all of your dates, including Pierre.”

Saturday - August 2023

“It always turns me on when you massage me,” Lando confesses. 

You laugh softly. 

“Remember than one time you massaged me?” You ask Lando. He’s quick to nod. “We both have that problem.” 

“Maybe I can massage you again tonight?” Lando suggests. 

“That sounds amazing.”

[the-broken-pen]

I adore your writing style! If you want could you do something about a hero with wings?

The villain rounded the corner into the alley just in time to watch the hero nudge the boot of the body in front of them with their foot, face considering.

“For a hero, you kill an awful lot of people,” the villain pointed out, and the hero turned to stare at them, blood splattered across their pure white wings.

“What, that?” The hero kicked the boot of the body strewn across the concrete below them. “This is community service.”

The villain tipped their head at the body. “Does he know that?”

“I think he’s figuring it out,” the hero grinned, and the villain could do nothing more than stare at them, slightly dumb, for a second.

“How the fuck are they still calling you archangel when you keep murdering people in broad daylight.”

The hero shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t even know why they started calling me that in the first place, to be honest.”

The villain made a mocking face at them, and the hero made one back. “Oh, with the pure white wings and dazzling face, I wonder.”

The hero clasped a still bloody hand to their chest. “You think I’m pretty?”

“I think you belong in a jar of formaldehyde.”

The hero dropped their hand, sighing. “Funny, because everyone else keeps writing fanfiction in my honor. And trust me, they have very strong opinions on my appearance.”

The hero’s grin couldn’t be described as anything other than catlike, pleased and sharp. Their wings cocked behind them.

“I’m sorry, you read fanfiction about yourself?”

“Don’t be jealous, there’s plenty about you, too.”

The villain spluttered. “I’m not jealous–”

“Sounds like it.”

“Oh my god.”

“Don’t bring that douche canoe into this,” the hero said, looking up. “His ego is the size of the titanic and I am doing my very best to sink that fucker.”

The villain gaped at them. “That is not very ‘innocent angel baby of the media’ of you.”

The hero kicked the boot of the body once more, and the villain winced. “Will you stop that–”

“Oh, sorry,” the hero looked down at the body. “Do you mind?” They turned back to the villain , gesturing with their thumb over their shoulder. “He says he doesn’t mind.”

“Archangel,” the villain repeated. “Fallen angel, saint of the city–”

“Listen, people will excuse anything if it comes from a pretty package.”

“What, so you use your pretty face to get away with murder?”

“No, I commit murder, and I happen to be pretty, and for some reason everyone is plenty fine with excusing the murder because of that fact. I’d be doing it regardless,” the hero confided. “My murderous tendencies continue whether or not I am forgiven for them.”

“What, so you just murder anyone you feel like?”

The hero gasped. “I’m not a monster,” they said, the corner of their mouth twisting into a wry grin. “My mother raised me right.”

The villain got the sense they were on the wrong side of an inside joke.

“That was decidedly not an answer to my question.”

The hero groaned. “You’re absolutely no fun right now. No, I only kill bad people. I’m a good samaritan.”

“I think we need to redefine your idea of what that term means.”

“Okay, if I was going around killing anyone who annoyed me, I would have a way longer rap sheet. Like people who cut in line. Not to mention how fucking annoying it is when someone decides to DIY a summoning circle in their basement and I have to handle that mess. Do you know how annoying it is to get magically butt dialed by a white woman on a random ass Tuesday?”

The villain blinked. “Uh. Can’t say I do, no.”

The hero ran a hand down their face in annoyance, smearing blood behind as they went. The villain cringed, but it didn’t seem to bother the hero in the slightest. 

“It’s really fucking annoying.”

“You also swear a lot,” the villain noted. “Not very heroic.”

“I think we can both agree I remain very firmly planted in the vigilante section of the spectrum,” the hero gestured with their hands to some imaginary chart. The villain squinted at them. “Also, what are you, the language police?”

“Uh,” the villain said, and the hero smiled innocently at them. There really wasn’t anything to say to that. “No?”

“Tell me, you pick up lots of girls with that suave demeanor of yours?”

The villain bristled at that. “You–I–ugh,” the villain groaned. “Did it hurt?”

The hero’s head tipped slightly to the side, endlessly amused. “Hmm?”

“When you fell from heaven,” the villain continued, and it was quite possibly the dumbest thing to have ever come out of their mouth, but this entire conversation bordered on a level of unhinged they hadn’t thought possible. 

The hero blinked once, twice, then burst into laughter, doubling over. Their wings ruffled in a way the villain had long since learned meant amusement.

The villain flushed. 

“You really think I fell from heaven?”

“I don’t know,” the villain said defensively. “It’s just a dumb pick up line–”

“You said it with an awful lot of certainty, though,” the hero countered, and the villain wished they had something to throw at them. 

“What was I supposed to think, with a name like Archangel and blinding white wings?”

The hero shrugged one shoulder.

“Have you ever actually met an angel before?” the hero asked, then amended, “other than me?”

“No,” the villain admitted.

“They don’t go around killing people, that’s for sure. Bunch of stuffy–”

Lightning cracked across the sky, and the ground rumbled slightly.

The hero groaned, wings tucking in. Blood flaked onto the ground. “What, you’re both pissed at me?”

A gust of wind whipped past them, hurtling down the alley, there one second and gone the next, and the hero let out a sigh. “Sorry.”

They did not sound sorry.

“Both?”

The hero looked back at them, and this time when they grinned, it was slightly sheepish.

“Yeah,” they said. “God, and, you know. My mom. Raised me right, remember?”

The villain was an idiot.

“You didn’t fall,” the villain confirmed, and the hero nodded their head. “Though I’m sure you absolutely would have earned that by now, if you were going to.”

The hero reared back, like they were about to spit something rude, but the villain continued before they could.

“Please, please tell me your father isn’t Lucifer,” the villain said, and the hero rubbed a hand across the back of their neck.

They laughed slightly. “Uh. About that.”

“Oh my god,” the villain said, and the hero didn’t even look upset about the reference. “You’re from hell.”

“You could call me an avid climber,” the hero offered, and the villain just looked at them.

“You’re an angel from hell,” the villain said.

“Technically, I’m an archangel from hell. So like, the media wasn’t exactly wrong with that one.”

The villain could write a killer memoir about this.

“This makes so much sense.”

The hero frowned. “I don’t like the implications of that.”

“You literally kill people.”

“Bad people,” the hero corrected. “We’ve discussed this.”

“I feel like that violates some sort of cosmic rule. There has to be some rule that breaks.”

“What?”

The villain gestured vaguely. “You’re self supplying your hometown.”

The hero laughed at that. 

“This really is not that big of a deal.”

“You’re a nepo baby.”

“And you’re awfully comfortable saying that to a literal child of satan.”

“If you wanted me dead, I would be.”

The hero weighed their head from side to side. Their wings moved behind them, as if they, too, were considering. “True.”

The villain found themself rubbing a hand over their brow. “You kill people, and you get away with it because you’re pretty, and people think you’re a child of god. When actually, you’re a child of Satan, and you crawled your way out of hell to wreak havoc on my life.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly why I did it,” the hero said dryly. “To fuck with you.”

“I would not put it past you,” the villain countered. 

“You were not my reason,” the hero said. They slid a step closer, hand curling into the villain’s collar, and the villain's mouth went dry. “But you are awfully pretty.”

“You’re literally an angel–”

“Which means it’s high praise,” the hero murmured, wings curving over the tops of their shoulders, and up close they looked even softer than the villain had thought they would. Their eyes stayed firmly planted on the villain’s lips, and the villain had no idea how they had gotten here but they were confused about it and also not quite mad–

“If you’re trying to woo me to distract me from the fact that you’re a dark angel, it’s not working.”

“Isn’t it?”

The villain swallowed. 

“You know, all that fan media includes you,” the hero said casually, and the villain’s heart skipped a beat.

“What?”

“You really thought I read it just for me?” the hero grinned, stepping back, hand falling away from the villain. “Oh, please.”

The villain opened their mouth to say anything, then closed it, then opened it again.

The hero’s eyes were laughing at them.

“Maybe the bloodshed is partially because I want your attention,” the hero mused. “Or maybe not. You’ll never know, will you, human.”

They said it like an endearment.

“You–”

The hero nodded. “Yeah. I tend to do that to people.”

“I don’t–”

“If it means anything,” the hero said as they went to move past the villain. They tucked themselves against the villain, lips brushing the shell of their ear. Their feathers skated down the villain’s bare arm, and they shivered. “My mother approves.”

The villain’s face was hot. They shuddered out a breath. The hero released them, continuing their path down the alleyway, and the villain spun to watch them go.

The hero paused at the mouth of it.

“Oh,” they snapped their fingers like they had remembered something, but their grin said this had been planned. “Her name is Lilith, by the way.”

The villain’s brain short circuited.

Lilith. The mother of all monsters. Lilith, the wife of Lucifer. Lilith, someone who apparently approved of the villain.

‘I’m not a monster. My mother raised me right.’

Oh, this little shit.

The hero laughed, vanishing around the corner, blowing a kiss as they went. The villain could have sworn they had a halo, wings still splattered with blood, and in the arch of the sunlight they were every bit the fallen angel the media thought they were.

“Oh, you beautiful, monstrous, wretched thing,” the villain murmured, but it was fond. “Only you could make damnation look like divinity.”

[clownprincehoeshi]

The one where Joshua catches you touching yourself

Summary: Might be the heat of the summer nights or the stress. All you know is you can't sleep and then your hot boyfriend is sleeping next to you, looking so sexy. You just can't help it.

Pairing: idol/boyfriend Joshua x fem reader

Genre: Smut, just smut

Warnings: sex, penetration, fingering, choking, creampie

Minors don't interract!!!

Word count: 1644

Note: Joshua's been messing with my head lately, wreking me real hard. I had a fic about him in mind for some time, so here it is.

Being awake at 3 AM on a Tuesday night was not in your plans. It will be difficult to fall asleep tonight and you knew you’ll have a shitty day at the office in the morning.

But here you are, laying on your right side, head on the warm pillow, hands under it, sweat covering your forehead.

You let out a deep sigh as you watch your boyfriend’s face, so beautiful and peaceful. A smile creeps up your lips and you wonder if he’s dreaming about you, as he lets out a tiny moan in his sleep.

Oh, those pretty plump lips should be kissed over and over, you think, and sigh again.

It’s so fucking hot tonight, and the AC has been broken for days. Right in the middle of June…insanity.

You shuffle on the bed annoyed and lay on your back. The room never felt this quiet before, yet you feel like 1000 thoughts are running through your mind.

Must be the heat, you think. What else?

You look towards the tall windows on your left and notice it’s a full moon. Oh, this must be it. Some people say they can’t sleep well when it’s a full moon. Right, it must be it.

You turn your face to your right to look at Joshua again. You envy the way he fell asleep right away and how he looks like he has no worry in the world right now.

But you know better. He has been really stressed lately, with work. What he hasn’t been lately, tough, it’s under you. Or on top of you. Or anywhere near you. Naked.

You gave him some space, knowing how demanding his schedule is around the comebacks. You avoid being a distraction to him.

But still, you wonder why he hasn’t made any move on you in 2 weeks. Must be this damn heat. Fuck this heat!

You whine a little as an image lingers in your mind. With Joshua thrusting into you, deep and hard. From that time when he got back from the world tour.

Things got really crazy that night. Ohhh, fuck this heat! I wish…

And you start to push your thighs together, unknowingly. Feeling light headed. Maybe you need some cold water or even a cold shower. Maybe that will help with the sleep thing.

 But lying here in bed feels so good. It’s cozy, even though these stupid sheets are warm.

You look at Josh again, wishing you would cuddle him right now, pressing your naked body into his, touching him, kissing his neck..

He loves being woken up to affection from you, and a lot of times to sex.

But you won’t do that now, he’s just to tired, the poor baby. He needs his sleep.

But he looks so hot right now. Naked torso, sweat glistening on his pretty neck and on his chest. Those sexy hands laying on his abs.

Ahhh, those abs. He’s just so annoying, isn’t he? I mean, what for? Joshua Hong, you sexy sexy man, driving me crazy like this.

I’m just a woman. A horny woman that hasn’t been touched for 2 weeks. Laying next to her incredibly hot boyfriend.

Without noticing, your right hand was under your panties, rubbing lazily over your clit. Your left hand, squeezing and pulling on the sheet beside you.

A breathy moan slips your lips as you imagine it’s Joshua’s hand that’s working on your pussy.

But his hands does a much better job. So strong and soft at the same time. When he touches you, you lose yourself.

You know you’re a mess inside your panties, you can feel them getting wet under you. Must be from the heat also.

Now you’re starting to get dizzy, starting to whisper his name slowly, afraid he might hear. You’d be embarrassed if he catches you like this, messy, needy, whimpering and weak.

But would it be that bad if he catches you? He might punish you for it. He might slap your clit, then choke you and push his cock into your wet cunt.

Still, you can’t stop now, not when it feels so good. When you can finally make your thought fall silent inside your head.

Now it’s like some white noise that makes you float on a cloud.

“Ahhh, Shuaaa….mmmm”

You keep a steady and slow rhythm and you know it’s getting close. That wave of pleasure that you so much crave.

“Does it feel good, baby?”

You feel like going crazy now, hearing his voice in your head. The heat is to blame. But you need to keep going. One hand rubbing at your clit and the other slipping one finger into your needy pussy.

Then movement on your right side, a hot breath on your neck and pressure over your throat.

Your eyes fly wide open, your hands stopping all movement, leaving you empty and dizzy.

You’d move your face toward him, but you can’t. His hand grips your throat pretty tight. He knows it’s what makes you weak.

“Tell me”

“J-Jooshh mmnnnmm”

He’s come next to you, his body flushed to yours. You can feel so much heat radiating from him, and can feel the sweat on his skin.

“Why did you stop, baby? Looked and sounded like you were feeling reaaaal good”

“Y-yeah, it did”

“Then keep going. Let me see you, don’t hold back”

He still doesn’t let you to look at him. He’s afraid that he might lose his mind if he’ll see those pretty big eyes, filled with lust and love for him, looking into his.

He always loses it when you look at him like that, all needy and glassy eyes, close to crying for him. Crying for his cock.

And he always ends up giving you everything you want, because you’re so fucking adorable and he won’t say no to you.

But right now, he needs to keep his cool. He really wants to watch you touch yourself and hear your sweet moans.

Your hands are moving slowly and shily. One rubbing your clit and the other working inside you.

You know your face is flushed red right now and you’re dying inside, feeling so shy. You never did this before in front of someone.

His mouth starts to move gently over your skin. Barely touching your shoulders, your neck, ear, jawline.

Stopping over your neck, his lips push into your skin, sucking on a spot, marking you.

Moans louder and needier coming from your mouth. His hips rut into your hip, letting you feel how hard he is.

“That’s it, baby. Keep going, don’t stop. Let me hear you”

Your whole body feels like it’s on fire. You’ve wanted this for so long, wanted him.

“Shuaaa, I need you”

Then his mouth flies to your nipples, attacking them over your sleeping shirt and your back arches involuntarily.

“Oh god, Shuaa”

His eyes are locked onto your face only. He loves to see every little grimace you make when you feel pleasure.

Biting the side of your shirt, he lifts it up with his mouth, leaving you bare under him, chest going up and down like crazy from what he’s doing to you.

Mouth all over your breasts, licking and kissing every little part. Finaly getting to those hardener nipples he loves to suck and he’s going at them.

Your moans are getting more intense, sensing your orgasm is getting closer.

Now he needs to decide if he’ll keep on teasing you and if he’ll give up and give you what you want.

He really wants to feel your little wet cunt wrapped around his cock. He’s been thinking about it for weeks. He needs to have you now, or his head will implode.

So it was easy. He got his body on top of yours, his right hand still rough around your neck. Used his other hand to rip off your panties, making you gasp.

His knees pushed your legs apart, lowering himself into you. Grabbed his shorts and pulled them down, pushing them somewhere on the bed.

Your whole body was aching from need. You needed him, needed to feel him inside, ruining you.

Your hips started moving on their own, trying to find something to grind on.

When he lowered his face close to yours, his lips catch yours into a heated kiss. He manages to whisper some filthy words while grinding his hardened cock on your pussy, feeling how fucking wet you were for him.

“Is this what you want?”

Only small whimpers could be heard from you. He didn’t need words, he knew you very well.

A sudden push of his hips made you catch your breath, as you felt his cock enter you. He did it slow, oh so slow.

Both could barely keep up with the kissing, as the feeling was too much. You knew you were finished, you won’t last even one minute.

And by the way he was reacting, he will probably cum fast too. But that was all you needed.

“Pussy so tight and soo fucking good for me”

“Fuck me, Shua. Give it to me deep”

That made him push faster into you, hitting that spot so deliciously, making you cum on his cock.

Your body trembling from the pleasure he was giving you.

That only made him spill into you. Ropes of cum, pumping inside your tight cunt that was squeezing him.

“Fuck, you’re driving me crazy. I love you so fucking much”

You were too fucked up to speak, so you pulled him into a sweet kiss and you hold him tight into your arms, your legs around his hips.

“I love this. When we are just like this, having you inside me after you filled me with your cum”

“Trust me, I would sleep like this all night if we could”

Thank you for reading! I think I'll be writing short stories like this more often. It's pretty difficult right now to be able to write a long fic, and the mafia one will probably take some time.

[pit-and-the-pen]

Can you write a fic for Regulus Black where the reader and him go to a planetarium?

So this is a bit old. I'm so sorry. Hopefully, it's fluffy enough to make up for it!

I've also never written for Regulus but I'm going with the very few character details we get from Deathly Hallows.

Look at the Stars, Look How They Shine For You.

Regulus x G/N Reader- Established Relationship

Warnings: The tiniest glimpse of negative self talk

Word count:

Tuesday nights became something you always looked forward to lately. It had nothing to do with classes and everything to do with the boy you sneaked up to the astronomy tower to meet with.

You can't place a finger on exactly when playful jabs and jokes start to bleed into something more. It felt natural, some pull to the youngest Black boy. Something that he felt in return, pointed out by your loving but annoyed friends who were tired of seeing you two pine over each other.

It quickly became a part of your weekly routine to meet at the astronomy tower after you started taking classes and would rattle on for hours about the different stars and constellations. Regulus just sitting there smiling at the excitement in your voice.

When you got to the top of the stairs, you saw the moon reflecting on him, making the outline of him visible. You walked over and plopped down next to him, placing your hand on top of his.

“Regulus. The brightest star in its constellation.” You point out to the twinkling star, almost right above you two. “Some people call it the lion's heart because it’s in Leo.” You can feel his eyes on the side of your head but continue anyway. “But I see it a bit differently. I mean, look at how it’s surrounded by darkness, all the black void of space, and it can still shine that bright.” 

Your cheeks heat up at the line. It sounded way less cheesy when you practiced all of this earlier. 

“Do you really believe that?” He asks in a small voice you would have never thought he was capable of having. 

You turn to face him for the first time since laying down. “With my whole heart.” 

For a second, the words hang heavy in the air. He slowly reaches up and puts his hand on the side of your face. His hands are soft and gentle on your face. He starts to lean in and your heart seems to get stuck in your throat. Even after all this time, your heart still sped up at his touch, cheeks would still heat at this attention.

He freezes slightly and starts to pull away.

He’s silent for a moment as he searches for the words. A small sigh leaves your lips without you thinking. When he goes to pull away even more you lightly put a hand to his cheek, copying his earlier movements. 

“What's wrong?”  You ask in a gentle voice.

“I don’t know. Just the way you look at me. I’m scared I’m not going to live up to it.” He admits. He can’t meet your eyes, clearly embarrassed. 

“You’re here. With me. That’s all I could ask for.” You pause as he looks at you again. “We’ll worry about the rest later, okay?” 

“Okay” Is the only response you get. 

You pull his lips to yours. The kiss is soft and sweet as you try to pour all the unsaid words into it . After a few moments, you can feel him relax and his hand rests on top of yours, still on his face. When you two pull away, he’s smiling widely, his eyes crinkling at the sides. 

“Can you show me more?” He says, breaking the silence that hung in the air. 

“Honestly, that was all I had come up with but I think I can make it up as I go.” You respond and click the remote to change the view. He puts an arm over your shoulder as you lean back into him.

He listens to you point out all the stars you could name. Laughing as he chimes in a few times with outlandish stories of how the stars got their names. The two of you stay up there for hours until the night grows too cold for both of you. He rubs his hands up and down your arms trying to generate some warmth refusing to end this moment in your own little bubble. But inevitably, a yawn makes its way out and you're reminded of how late it is on a day when you have classes in the morning.

He turns to look at you, your eyes heavy with sleeplessness, and gives you a smile that shakes off the chill for a moment. You return it before you lean back into him, a sleepy kiss placed on his lips before you start to stand. Extending a hand to him, you help him to his feet and the two of you walk down the stairs in comfortable silence.

Without a doubt, Tuesday nights were your favorite part of the week.

Um hi. So I literally had this sitting finished in my drafts but I just never posted it. I'm about to make a longest post explaining where I've been but I wanted to get this out first.

I hope it's even a sliver worth the wait and that whoever requested it is still on the app.

[pixydustworld]

The marriage law was announced at 2pm on a Tuesday.

By 2:15 Hermione had already drafted a motion to dismiss the law entirely. It was a good motion, too. If she’d sent a copy to Ron, he would’ve replied with: wow! lots of words! good stuff!

At 2:17 her motion was denied.

“It’s best to just accept defeat.” Malfoy said from his side of the office, bookshelves neat, papers all stacked in order. “You won’t win this one.”

“I’m not in the habit of giving up.” Hermione snapped. Her side of the office was cluttered, less pristine. Her bookshelf had a nasty habit of overflowing all over the floor, stacks of books balancing precariously on every surface. “A fire hazard.” Malfoy had sneered at her once, “Breaking several codes.”

“Hm.” Malfoy said, “I hadn’t noticed.” He was smiling softly, like he’d just told the funniest joke in the world. Waiting, almost patiently for her to smile. Stupid man with his stupid grin, Hermione wanted to throw a book at his head.

“This is archaic.” Hermione hissed. “The Ministry has gone too far. They can't force us to marry anyone.”

Even as she spoke, a squirming feeling of doubt was beginning to take root in her chest — being friends with Harry came with many things. Companionship and love, but it also came with a healthy distrust of the government (like a free gift basket! but terrible one).

Malfoy ignored her complaints. "Marriage Acts aren't as mid-evil as you're making them out to be." He said, with that annoying voice he used when he knew he was right about something, "They serve a purpose."

"A purpose?" Hermione could practically feel the beginnings of an aneurysm. A fitting death, slumped over her desk, surrounded by unfinished documents and discovered by Draco Malfoy, "Are you actually defending this?"

She would have to find a new partner. A new office, one where he wasn't constantly surrounding her, swimming on the edge of her peripheral vision. Maybe Dean Thomas would let her set up a current workplace in his records closet, he was always bragging about how it was big enough for him to take naps in during work —

"No." Malfoy said, somehow even more amused now, "I don't support it."

"Oh." Hermione said, very eloquently, "That's good."

"But," Malfoy continued, still distinctly unruffled while Hermione was very ruffled, "Most people will be unfazed. It's a Pure-Blood tradition. My parents have always planned to arrange a marriage contract.” Malfoy shrugged, “It’s not absolutely unheard of.”

“Well," Hermione said, out of breath from all the pacing she was doing, "Your parents are terrible.”

“Of course.” Malfoy said, like it was obvious. “They would never allow me the opportunity to sully the Malfoy name. Producing the correct heir is the only thing I’ll ever be good at.”

Hermione frowned. “Hearing about your family isn’t good for our working relationship. It makes me feel bad for you.”

“We can’t have that.” Malfoy said.

“No,” she agreed with a sigh, “we can’t have that.”

“So, tell me Granger. What is your plan?” His grin became less self indulgent, more fake. “You’ll have to marry someone. It'll undoubtably be the event of the season — have a fiancé you’ve been hiding from me?”

Hermione narrowed her eyes. “Do you think I could hide anything from you?”

Malfoy knew when she changed the scent of her shampoo, when she switched up her coffee order — he even knew if she was sleeping less than usual. It was impossibly annoying to be around someone so observant, someone so intent on cataloguing her every move.

"If I had a secret fiancé, which I don't, I'm confident that you're competent enough to have sniffed him out by now."

Malfoy responding grin was slow and syrupy. "You think I'm competent?"

“Piss off, Malfoy.”

“Is he shorter than me? Is that it? Didn’t want to introduce us because you knew he’d feel bad?”

“You’re taller than everyone.” Hermione said, annoyed, again, “You would obviously be taller than my imaginary fiancé. You’re like an angelic giraffe.”

“You think I’m angelic?”

“No.”

"Two compliments on top of each other, are you feeling alright, Granger?"

"Shut up."

At 2:20, Hermione began to clean her side of the office, desperate for an excuse not to talk to Malfoy.

At 2:22, Harry slammed through her door, completely demolishing the (very little) progress Hermione had made in cleaning up her side of the office.

“I’ll marry you.” Harry said, slightly out of breath, like he’d sprinted all the way to her office, “Do you think we can kiss without making a face? We’ll have to practice.”

“I’m not marrying you.” Hermione said from the floor behind her desk, “You are engaged to Theo.” She was laying on her back with a book covering her face, feeling rightfully sorry for herself.

“Theo won’t mind.” Harry said in the voice he reserved for whenever he wanted people to listen to him (i am harry potter! and i did not spill mustard on the couch! you have to believe me, i saved the world!) “It will be quick. I can get us rings before the day is over.”

"No." Hermione said, still on the floor, "I've gone along with enough of your stupid ideas. This is too much."

Because, despite it all, Harry would do this. Without hesitation, blind loyalty and unwavering determination — Harry would marry her and be pleased with his choices. He was lovely, but at times, Harry could be a misguided idiot.

"This is where you draw the line?" Malfoy hummed, "Interesting to catch a glimpse into the inner workings of your mind."

Finally scrambling to her feet (after a few more seconds of wallowing) Hermione was horrified to find a familiar look on Harry's face — one that promised something stupid.

"I'll figure it out. " Harry said, with a shrug that reminded Hermione of their childhood (occidentally, the stress headache she was feeling also reminded her of their childhood). He pointed a stoic finger at her. "Don't make a face when I kiss you."

Then, he left.

“Theo wouldn’t mind,” Malfoy said in a helpful voice, “He’d probably marry you as well. Would it be Granger-Potter-Nott? Or Granger-Nott-Potter? Better figure that out soon. Potter seems eager to find those rings.”

Hermione threw a book at his head.

Malfoy caught it with ease, his stupid Quidditch hands.

“I have an idea,” Malfoy said after a moment.

Hermione ignored him. “There has to be a way out of this.” She was pacing again, sensible shoes kicked off to the corner (where she’d undoubtedly forget them) “I could write another motion? A longer one this time. With more quotes.”

“Marry me instead.”

Hermione stopped pacing. “Excuse me?”

“I’m your best option.”

“I have many options —

“Weasley already tricked someone into marrying him and Potter is engaged to my only friend.” He frowned, in a mocking sort of way. “Did I leave anyone out?”

“No.” Hermione said flatly. “You didn’t.”

“Alright then. Marry me.”

“Hah.” She said, “Hah. I take back everything I’ve ever said about you. Malfoy, you are funny.”

“I’m being serious.” He said, looking annoyed. Fantastic, they were both annoyed. Like they always were.

“We can get married before the law passes and then you can do what you do best.” Malfoy continued, like that was a totally normal thing to say.

“Which is?” Without her shoes, the height difference was unbearably noticeable. She had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes. At some point he'd stopped being a willowy wraith of a person and began the unfortunate process of filling out.

He didn’t look away. “Destroy everyone’s expectations and free the downtrodden.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “What would you get out of this arrangement?”

Malfoy shrugged, too practiced to be nonchalant. “I’d be married to a war hero. It would do wonders for my reputation.”

“And you would be married to me.” Hermione said, beginning to feel like this was getting too real, “We both know that would never happen.”

“Never?”

“Never.” She agreed.

He wasn’t smiling that lazy smile from before, this one was different. Sharper. “I don’t think that’s true.”

“Besides,” Hermione continued on loudly, “you’re no gentleman. No need to pretend. I don’t need saving, I’ll figure this out myself.”

“You don’t need to.” Malfoy said, “I will help. I want to fuck over the Ministry for many reasons, but mainly because they declined your motion.”

He was on her side of the office now, leaning casually against her desk, inches away from where she stood. He was too pretty up close, like staring at the sun.

“It was very good.” Hermione breathed.

Malfoy nodded, almost too good at pretending to be sincere.

“I’m sure it was good. You touched it. Everything you touch is golden.”

“You truly want to help me?”

“I’ve only offered several times.”

Hermione narrowed her eyes. “All to fuck over the Ministry? No other reason?”

“Maybe I want you all to myself.”

Hermione's eye twitched.

"Don't tease me." She managed to hiss. "Not about this."

She saw when he realized, a flicker of excitement in his eyes — when he noticed her apparent misery at how completely and helplessly she was drawn to him.

"I'd never dream of it." Malfoy said warmly, "You could kill me with ease, only an idiot would be careless around you."

She thought of all the long nights they spent together, crammed in their tiny little office. How she looked forward to her day, if only to see his stupidly pointy face. How she tried to date, but couldn’t. Because it wasn’t right — her dates were too kind, too short.

Not him.

How, through everything, he was the first person she thought of in the morning, the person she thought of in the darkness of the night, when no one could see her wandering hands — the person she looked at for a challenge, for relief and support.

Despite her best attempts, Hermione Granger had fallen in love with Draco Malfoy and now, here he was, seeming to share in her suffering.

“We’d have to consummate the marriage.” She said, giving him one last out. “You’d have to see me naked.”

“I’m sure I’ll survive.”

“I’m very bossy,” she said, “and I work all the time.”

“Good thing we share an office.”

“I’m not easy to love.”

Malfoy scoffed. “It’s been easy enough for me.”

He was close enough to touch, so uncharacteristically open. Looking down at her with fondness she didn’t know he possessed.

“I’m selfish.” Malfoy warned, “Do not forget that. I will help you destroy this law and anything else you want. Burn it all down if you want to. But I won’t be letting you go. Not now, after I've gotten you."

“I suppose that’s fine.” Hermione said softly, watching as his hand moved to touch her face, warm against her skin. "It'll be bearable to be around you, I suppose."

As he held her face in his hands, Hermione watched as his grin transform into something different, something new — a smile she'd only seen glimpses of, one only for her. "I'll work very hard to make our marriage a tolerable one." He said.

"Good," Hermione breathed, stretching up to kiss him, to finally press her lips against his, "I can't wait."

Hermione was married at 3pm on a Tuesday.

It was a small ceremony.

Harry, although he'd never publicly admit it, was relieved.

Despite his best attempts, he would've made a face when Hermione had kissed him.

[daisymylove]

I sincerely don't know if Im alone on this one, so I want to know what yall think. Again, I may get some heat for this, but it’s my honest opinion.

Something I noticed in my reread is that I grew a slight dislike for lucie in chot, and as someone who had always previously rooted for her, I’m currently annoyed at myself.The thing is, Lucie IS a very privileged and sheltered girl.She was born into a wealthy, loving family and, because of her apparent “normalcy”, never suffered the brunt of the shadowhunter prejudice like Tessa and James.

None of this is a problem in itself, but my point here is that there were always other people protecting, thinking and worrying for her, so I think not only she never realized how precarious her family’s position actually was, but also has no true understanding of consequences and how the “real world” works.She knew in some level that what she was doing regarding jesse was dangerous, but was never truly afraid of repercussions, bc unconsciously she knows there will be someone to catch her . And while I do like to see a character become aware of its own privileges along the narrative, there’s no growing here.She finished the book without ever realizing it, because everything was just SO easy and convenient, and that bothers me greatly.

In all fairness, how could she? she does whatever she wants with no consequences.

I feel so conflicted bc while I actually cheered when she brought jesse back in choi, and always shipped them, I find the outcome of her actions to be low-key infuriating.Lucie wasn’t willing to give Jesse up, but also never seriously considered giving up her comfortable life to start over with him somewhere.That ludicrous and set to fail jeremy blackthorn plan wasn’t even her idea, it was the people around her finding a way to fix her “mistakes” to save all of their asses from jail.

Lucie could’ve had her marks stripped, her father could’ve lost the institute, it could’ve costed Tessa’s life.Those guys had been waiting 25 years for the slightest opportunity to pounce on her, does anyone seriously believe they wouldn’t all automatically think the warlock mother was involved? How come there was some major necromancy going on under her roof and she had no idea?  we know she didnt, but still   All of this was severely downplayed and there was little to no conflict regarding it, and anyone can correct me if im wrong, but none of that ever dawned on lucie.She never fully thought about how her family would be implicated, and nobody brought that up to her.Zero confict just chill, I guess this is our life now .Dont get me wrong, I dont want that shitstorm to actually happen,I just wanted her to become AWARE of it

 she literally brought home this complete stranger to them all (we know jesse, the characters dont) that was 8 years her senior (it doesnt matter his body was frozen for 7 years, mentally jesse is 24), Tatiana’s son, and had been dead up until last tuesday, but nobody save perhaps jessamine, and god it pains me to agree with jessamine had a problem with that.Instant acceptance, no resistance, no objections at all.All it would take for that lie to crumble would be ONE trial by the sword at any point of their lives and everybody was as chill as chicken joe from surfs up

Her fight with Cordelia pissed me off too. Lucie meddled on something she had no right and no knowledge of,and demanded things of Cordelia without even being willing to hear her out. ”oh the poor thing is suffering so much bc of you, why can’t you just take him back?” GIRL, FOR ALL SHE KNOWS, UNTIL A WEEK AGO, HOME BOY WAS SWEARING UNDYING LOVE AND BURNING DOWN MANORS FOR GRACE BLACKTHORN. 

WE know poor james was ensorcelled and fighting it, but what was cordelia supposed to think of it? How dare she assume that Cordelia “took advantage of James going to Cornwal to run away with matthew”? 

The demon of secrets in edom scene was plain ridiculous.”yo I had a childhood crush on your brother, sorry for never telling you, I was embarrassed” is not a big deal.The fact that they needed demonic intervention for THAT so late in the book baffles me

While I do think most characters were severely nerfed on this book and behaved ooc on several occasions (swear to god I have some mild ptsd from all the times cordelia ran and did unhinged things) , my conclusion about Lucie’s arc is that she took her good life for granted, endangered her entire family, didnt grow from the experience, but still got everything she wanted with no consequences or sacrifices.She lost a cousin along the way, but who cares about that guy? what was his name again? Its my understanding that Lucie never even faced a trial.Thats unrealistic and bad writing, if you ask me.When I think it over, the word that comes to me is...spoiled.

And dont get me started on the fact that she found out Malcom was planning on doing full blown necromancy and didnt do anything about it.How that had no repercussions AT ALL still blows my mind.

 The worst part for me is that I genuinely believe Lucie deserved better you know? 

If lucie and cordelia hadnt been allowed to become parabatai, and jesse had received some other minor yet life changing punishment, and we had seen a trial scene I would’ve been satisfied, because at least it wouldn’t have been nothing.

[lambourngb]

good fences make good neighbors

Commiseration Tuesday

With AO3 temporarily down, lots of us are sad at not being able to read when we wanted to! With that in mind, I’m taking the opportunity to invite you guys to share a little something from a WIP to keep us going through the downtime! Preferably something we haven’t shared before, but whatever works for you! Tagged by @ravens-words​ - thank you! I am working on an exchange fic, so I can’t share that, but I can share a WIP that I had before then...

ICEMAV - Set just after 1986 - based on a prompt where Mav and Ice are roommates and they have noisy neighbors. mentions of period-typical homophobia, and some misunderstandings ....

4400 words currently, but unfinished.

***

It was the third time that week.

Maverick stared sightless up at the plain white ceiling, tracing the cracks in the plaster while he listened to his next-door neighbors, Wolf and Hollywood, do their best to medal in the sex noise Olympics. It would be one thing if they decided to do this during the early evening hours when Mav could raise the volume on the ball game enough to drown out the moans and rhythmic thumping, but apparently, no one had any excess energy *right* after a work day. Instead, the second wind came at 2 am.

Again, the third time in the week, and it was only Tuesday. Christ.

Mav swung his legs out of bed, abandoning his attempts at sleep. Tomorrow's seminar on flight instructor certification was going to be rough, but judging from his recent experience, and god did he hate that he had this knowledge, the next-door noise had only just gotten started. It would be at least an hour before things quieted down again.

He met his own roommate in the dimly lit kitchen. Ice's face was flat with annoyance.

"Woke you up too?" Mav asked stupidly because, of course, it did. Ice was completely by the book and subscribed to the minimum of eight hours of sleep during the week; only the noise of Hollywood and Wolf would have had him in the kitchen nursing a warm bottle of Budweiser.

"I bet if I reported them to the brass, it would stop," Ice muttered darkly before pushing a chair open for Mav with his foot and nodding toward the open six-pack on the table.

"Well, just means they would be annoying their fellow prison cellmates with this instead of us." Mav traded a tired smile with Ice, both of them secure in the knowledge that reporting Hollywood and Wolf was completely out of the question. A few sleepless nights was a small price to pay for them, a momentary annoyance; a complaint about the two pilots breaking the UCMJ with each other would have them both dishonorably discharged and likely imprisoned. In fact, because it *was* Mav and Ice sharing a wall in their base housing duplex was probably the only reason the couple felt safe enough to make any noise in the first place.

Still. It was one thing that their friends had a feeling of safety knowing they would never be turned in, it was becoming clear there was also ... a level of shamelessness going on next door.

Mav knuckled the gritty feeling of fatigue out of his eyes, "What I don't understand is ... how do they even have the energy? We're logging four hours in the cockpit and six in the classroom during this new certification session, and I think Jester has become even more sadistic in his teaching since we graduated from Top Gun. I can barely make it through the evening news at the end of the day, let alone want to do..."

He paused, and then they both heard the enthusiastic beat of a bed frame from next door, and the loud tempo of 'Oh god, oh fuck' soundtrack. "That."

"Are you admitting to a lack of stamina, Mitchell?" Ice smirked, his usual cool expression curving into an even more familiar expression of mocking Mav. At least now, there was only humor in Ice's blue eyes instead of the dislike from when they first met.

"What?! No, there's nothing wrong with my stamina; I have zero complaints about that. I'm just saying... those idiots have been together for years, how are they still... like that?"

This time Ice looked away, taking a long slow draw from his beer. The oven light and microwave clock hid most of the details, but Mav knew him pretty well now, he could sense the discomfort in the question. "I wouldn't know. My longest relationship lasted through the holiday break during the Academy."

"Are we talking two days of Christmas or the eight nights of Hanukkah?"

"The former...and believe me, my mother despairs of me."

Mav laughed and held out his beer to clink against Ice's in solidarity over their sad love lives. "Well, you beat me. My streak is six weeks, give or take." 

He wasn't even sure if he could count the time between Hop 31 and getting cleared to fly again as time spent with Charlie, most of that was a blank in his memory of grief and intense accident investigation prep work. Top Gun was an 8-week combat school session, in between finally scoring a date with Charlie and getting dumped for the Washington job two weeks after the Layton rescue, six weeks was probably generous. Maybe he should count Penny instead, add up his assorted weekends with her after meeting her in flight school when her father was overseeing Pensacola. Four years, six weekends.

"I always beat you," Ice reminded him, annoying as always in his precision, with the memory of last year between them. 

Mav had no idea where the Top Gun trophy was, only that he was a little surprised that it wasn’t displayed prominently in their quarters, especially after Ice had found out who his roommate was at the beginning of the session. 

Actually a lot of Mav’s presumptions about Ice and what he would be like to live with had not come true. Neatness was a rule, but there were no white glove inspections of Mav’s room and only the drollest reminder to throw out the carryout containers after a few days, and they both agreed to keep the women at the O-Club. After all, the curriculum to qualify as a Top Gun instructor was difficult enough, without complicating it with a clingy boat chaser or pilot groupie that stalked the bars around Miramar. As it turned out, as straight-laced as Ice was in his job, he was surprisingly relaxed about the apartment. Mav had even expected some sort of judgment from Ice about his sparse civilian wardrobe or his cheap generic toiletries from the exchange, but there was nothing. 

Other than the old joke about who was the better pilot, Ice was a generous and easy-going roommate. Most of the time he put up a token protest about Ice’s winning streak (1 out 1 in competitions) but he was too tired to argue tonight. 

Instead, he flashed a smile at Ice, letting his shit-eating grin say everything for him. Ice rolled his eyes in turn, but maybe he was tired too, allowing the subject to drop without a further jibe.

The thumps and sounds were slowly winding down, and Maverick picked up their empty bottles to take to the trash. He yawned, and gestured to the side where Wolf and Hollywood were staying, “I do appreciate that they feel safe here, what I don’t appreciate is the timing of it. I almost yawned in Viper’s face during the flight log review today because of them.”

Ice’s eyes crinkled at the admission, but he was kind enough not to laugh at least. He put the rest of the six pack back in the fridge and then wiped the table down with a papertowel, leaving the kitchen pristine again. “I agree. Their timing could be better, or at least quieter, and I guess I’m only a little jealous of them.”

“Why, because they’re getting laid?”

“No,” Ice drawled, without an eyeroll this time, “because they found each other. I might not have had a long-term relationship before, but I’m not opposed to the idea. Wood and Wolf, while I know they have to hide their relationship, at least they can talk about their jobs without boring the other person, or worse, spending the evening explaining acronyms. That kinda sounds nice to me.”

Then it had to be a trick of shadow, or the thin draperies by the window, but Mav suddenly had the impression that Ice was *blushing* after that confession. His mind spun over the possibilities, was that something that his wingman was interested in, and with whom, only a few people could possibly check that narrow set of boxes. Certainly not any of the women at the O-Club, unless Ice had his eye on someone Mav didn’t know. Pensacola had been graduating women for at least ten years, though not many in fixed-wing operations. He shook his head, deciding that he must have imagined that. Iceman was way too controlled to blush. 

He realized he was staring just then, and was standing too close to Ice in the dimly lit kitchen. Rushing to cover for his shameful preoccupation, Mav rubbed the back of his head and scoffed. “Yeah, sure it sounds nice, but I can’t really imagine it being realistic. At least not for me.” 

Ice said nothing in response, not even to make fun of Mav, he just brushed past him to leave the kitchen. The quiet in their apartment had been restored, it was time to attempt sleep again. 

As Mav waited to fall back asleep he realized that another presumption that he had about Ice had fallen completely flat. Ice might have been robotic in his flying at time, but the man was also a secret romantic. 

*

Two nights later it happened again. The thin walls transcribe nearly every movement and every breathless gasp from Wolfman and Hollywood.

Mav sat up in bed with a loud groan of annoyance as the ‘Oh oh, yes!’ chorus started up again. His textbook that he had fallen asleep reading slipped off his lap onto the floor with a loud thump, and then he crashed into his nightstand after overbalancing in his attempt to reach it. The nightstand hit the wall, and Mav yelped loudly in pain.

There was a pause and a giggle from the shared wall and then a loud shushing noise.

He rubbed his elbow, retrieving the textbook from the floor. Thank god blessed silence, Mav thought as the quiet extended past a few minutes, before pushing up from the floor to crawl back in bed.

Except the respite was brief, and the rocking movements of the headboard.

Mav groaned again, even more annoyed by them now. 

There was another spell of quiet, and suddenly, he realized what was going on. Wolf and Wood were listening to him. “Oh you fucking pervs,” Mav whispered to himself, and then shrugged. Maybe it was time for them to get a taste of their own medicine. He got on his knees and grabbed the plain headboard with one hand, then started to rock his hips in motion until the mattress squeaked in time with his efforts.

Boom, boom, boom, he knocked the headboard into the wall, while the mattress made obliging sounds with it. Mav pinched his thumb between the wall and the bed, pulling a loud cry of pain from his lips. Despite the circumstances that gave him an idea, it was the sound that was missing from his production. He moaned and cried loudly, until his muscles started to burn with the exertion.

Had it been long enough? How long did he have to do this? He didn’t want to be teased for being an early finisher if he quit too early-

Out of caution, Mav gave a few more minutes of his best performance without laughing, then he let out a satisfied whimper for his audience. 

It was silent next door. Maybe they were both voyeurs and got off to the noise and idea of someone else getting laid. Whatever the reason, Mav laid flat on his bed and fell asleep quickly in the renewed quiet. His last thought was smug, he had silenced the neighbors in half of the time and all it cost him was a bruised thumb.

* 

The next day was strange. It was Friday, and Mav woke up with a smile on his face. The class had an early morning test before they were all dismissed for the weekend, practically a three day holiday. He had studied the night before thoroughly and felt prepared, his sleep had only been disturbed briefly thanks to his ingenuity, and the weather was beautiful, perfect for an afternoon at the beach. Everything was coming up aces for him.

Except for one thing. Well, one person. Ice.

Never a chatty person in the morning without caffeine, Ice was downright monosyllabic on Friday. He nodded to Mav in the kitchen, taking his coffee back to his room with a brief return of Mav’s greeting of ‘Good morning’ and then he left for class before Mav was dressed from his shower, instead of sharing the walk to the hanger with him. 

Hollywood and Wolf on the other hand were all smiles and jokes that morning, elbowing each other and laughing whenever Mav came near them. He had chocked their behavior up to being a pair of immature pervs, even if they were madly in love with each other, and he had dismissed it completely. 

Ice’s behavior was a little harder to puzzle out.

His uniform was perfectly pressed, and his gold pen was still in his hand while they waited for the test to be passed out to the class. No sign of the lazy, hypnotic twirl that Ice was prone to do. It was as if every inch of him was locked down and under complete control. A complete 1-180 from how they first encountered each other. It was then that Mav realized that the pen-flipping and gum chewing were all signs of Ice being comfortable and at ease with his environment, and why wouldn’t he had been during TOPGUN, his skills had him in first place on day one, and everyone else had to play catch up, Mav included. Not today. A statue had more warmth and movement than Ice did. Mav tried to catch his eye from across the room, but Ice seemed to be deeply interested in front of the classroom and never acknowledged Mav.

That was also new.

“This might be a short day, gentlemen, but this test will determine whether you have the proficiency to teach the theories of aerial combat to incoming Top Gun classes. I hope you all studied hard,” Jester said from the podium with the tests in hand.

Hollywood smothered a laugh after Wolfman kicked the back of his chair.

“Something to add, Lt. Neven?” 

“No sir, we all studied hard. Some of us went at it a little harder than others last night,” Hollywood answered, almost respectfully. Mav noticed that Ice’s shoulders seemed to tighten and a red flush was spreading over Ice’s ear as he stared straight ahead completely stone-faced. The rest of the room was used to Hollywood running his mouth, nearly everyone rolled their eyes at the innuendo.

Mav had the strange feeling that he was missing something. Ice’s knuckles were white where he clutched his pen when just the other day that type of remark would have had him trading long-suffering looks with Mav. They knew better than anyone what Hollywood was referring to as the unlucky neighbors. However his musings were cut off by the appearance of the test. There would be time to figure out his wingman later, Mav reasoned, first he needed to make sure he didn’t wash out of the training program because of a stupid written exam.

The previous hard work the night before in studying was at least well rewarded. He confidently wrote in the answers to the open-ended questions and circled the appropriate bubbles during the multiple choice sections, hardly needing to pause to remember the correct information. Mav had to hide a smile as he reached the end of the exam, and noticed that Viper had updated the scenario with the MiG and inverted tanks. Finishing the test with a flourish, Mav stood at almost the same time as Ice did, both of them were the first to turn in their exams. 

He rushed to the front of the classroom, mostly with grace and slapped down his test in front of Jester with a smug celebration for being the first. Jester raised his eyebrows at the display, and placed the completed test to the side with an exaggerated gesture of patience. Mav turned his head to see if Ice was bothered by finishing second, only to watch him walk slowly and unhurriedly to the front, seemingly without a care. 

Like Mav was the only one who was competing. Like Mav wasn’t even worth competing with.

He was definitely missing *something* when it came to Ice. Well, as a pilot, Mav was well-trained in the dogged-pursuit of a bogie; putting his wingman in his sights was easy. Target acquired time to move in for the easy kill.

Or at least it should have been easy. Mav waited just outside of the classroom doors for Ice. 

Ice took one step out of the hanger, then caught sight of him, he then made a text-book perfect dress-right move away from him in an obvious attempt at avoidance. Ice must have been in charge of drill formations for his brigade at the academy, Mav mused to himself before jogging to catch up to match Ice’s long strides down toward the housing block. Something was definitely up with him.

Deciding to start with the obvious, Mav fell breathlessly in step with him, “Hey, so how do you think you did on the test? Not as bad as we thought, right?”

“Fine,” Ice gritted out without looking over at him.

“Just fine? I think I aced it,” Mav continued, undeterred by the short response. “Did you see the question about the inverted tanks? I feel like perhaps my name should have been cited as a resource there, since it was my intel from the Enterprise-”  he paused to see if Ice reacted to that, and was met with a clenched jaw but nothing else. “I guess we will find out on Monday if they wash any of us out for being too stupid to teach here. It’s not like the ASVAB where you get thirty points for spelling your name right, although yours was probably a challenge, Kazansky.”

“Right.”

There was no way that Ice was worried about failing out of the program, Mav thought, but maybe he was wrong about that. It was barely ten am, and there was almost three days before the results would be ready, maybe what Ice needed was a distraction. 

“Listen, it’s early enough, why don’t we hit the beach, scout out the best location before the rest of our class finishes up. Maybe it’s time for another rematch in volleyball,-”

“No, thank you,” Ice replied firmly.

The response was polite on the surface, but completely cold. Mav blinked, and realized that they were back at their shared quarters. Instead of moving toward his bedroom to remove his uniform for the long weekend, Ice was packing a slim carrying case with his textbooks and notes. His movements were smooth and unhurried under Mav’s stare, as if Mav wasn’t even there in the room with him.

He had tried subtle, but that had rarely worked for him, so Mav got straight to the point. “Is something wrong?” 

Ice didn’t pause after zipping the case up, even though his hands flexed on the supple leather. “No, nothing is wrong.”

“Are you sure? Because if I pissed you off, it wasn’t deliberate-”

Ice straightened, holding the case in his right hand. He was still the consummate officer, his left hand was free to salute, as he flicked his gaze over to Maverick for the first time all day. Up and down, without a hint of his thoughts on his face as Mav shifted anxiously under it. Whatever he saw on Mav, it must not have been interesting as he executed another precise pivot away from Mav. “You didn’t, I just don't have time for you right now, Mitchell.”

Dismissed. 

Mav thought about what Goose had said during that first night at the O-Club about Ice, “he wears you down, you get bored, frustrated, do something stupid and he's got ya-” somehow without Mav becoming aware of it, Ice had gotten lock on him and had fired, echoing the words of disinterested foster parents and bored peers who hadn’t cared to hear his teenage-mouth runoff about planes and the Navy in that dead end town.

Ice had his back to him thankfully for Mav’s ego, he was too intent on leaving the small duplex and missed the devastation left in his wake, calling out a belated, “Later, Mitchell,” over his shoulder. 

Still precise and polite, even after leaving a knife inside Mav. 

*

Time played games with Mav after that, slipping away in hours before lingering painfully over the last few minutes with Ice. He was somewhat aware of movement outside the door, a knock and call from Wolfman, some offer about the beach, but it felt unimportant to Mav. One thing was clear, he had not imagined the tension in Ice that morning and then the sudden dismissal after the test solidified that into fact. 

He had done something wrong, something that had killed the blossoming friendship between them after the Layton rescue. He had no idea what it could be, but he was a little too familiar with this type of confusion after having experienced it before as a kid. He remembered how it went back then, foster parents that were excited to welcome a son into their family, with wide smiles and effusive hugs always seemed to slip into cold, disapproving strangers because of something Mav had done.

There was even a particular look they would get after making the decision to return him to foster care, but before the social worker could find the next placement. With the brief return of the wide empty smiles, everyone would act nice, but behind it was the peace of knowing it would be just temporary and he would soon be someone else’s problem. 

Ice had found his limit with him; apparently, he was now cooly polite to Mav and obviously avoiding him. Maybe he had reached his own decision about Mav, there was no social worker for Ice to call to pick Mav up, but there were transfer orders and reassignments instead. 

He’s waiting to finish the teaching certification and then he’ll be headed back to sea, away from Miramar, Mav realized dully. They would finish the program qualified to be instructors, but not together. Somewhere along the line after Ice had signed up for the class with him, he had pictured sharing an office with him at Top Gun, taking up new pilots and bickering over paperwork, turning that bond they had from the Indian Ocean into something… more. 

Mav had never felt more stupid in his life, he suddenly understood why his stomach had clenched when Ice had confessed being a little jealous of Hollywood and Wolfman having found each other. “I might not have had a long-term relationship before, but I’m not opposed to the idea.” He was jealous, because he now realized that he wanted that too, with Ice. 

He swallowed the sour taste in his mouth and stood up from their couch, suddenly aware that hours had passed and he had done nothing to fix whatever he had done to piss Ice off. The key to convincing someone to keep him around had always revolved around being useful to them. He had learned early on that certain home placements had lasted longer when he accepted the bulk of household chores, then later on, he had ensnared Nick Bradshaw’s lifelong friendship when he had volunteered for newborn diaper duty with baby Bradley. Hell, even Charlie had hung around for his knowledge of the MiG, which was all very useful to her career prospects in Washington. 

Now how could he be useful to Ice, and make up for whatever he did to alienate the other man?

The quarters they shared were still neat, as per Ice’s original request but maybe he also meant he wanted them to be clean? That he could do.

*

It was almost eleven when Mav heard the key scrape in the lock that signaled Ice’s return. 

He kept his attention on the baseball game, long since placed on mute after the sound of the announcers had started to scrape over his anxiety. Ice flipped on the lights, causing him to blink owlishly at the brightness, his eyes having long since grown used to the dim light of the television.

“Sorry,” Ice apologized, still polite and courteous. “I didn’t think you’d be back.”

Mav glanced over at him before returning his attention to the game, even though he had no idea how his team was up by four. That confirmed another suspicion, Ice had stayed away until now because he wanted to avoid him. He hated it when his suspicions were proven correct. “Never left.”

He could see out of his periphery that his admission seemed to halt Ice in his tracks to the kitchen. It was just temporary, he recovered and continued to the small alcove to retrieve a beer from the fridge after placing his leather case on the small card table that masqueraded as a kitchen table. The sounds were familiar to Mav, the hiss of the refrigerator door, the snap of the bottle cap, the careful clink of Ice throwing the cap away in the trash, instead of tossing it carelessly like the rest of their class.

It all sounded normal, except for the bounds of tension that were looped around his chest. 

A ball was hit to the outfield, and Mav watched as it arched higher and higher over the desperate reach of a desperate center fielder. He blinked, realizing belatedly that his team had allowed the opponent to tie up the game. It was the bottom of the ninth, if his team held it they would have another shot at winning, but if they slipped it was all over. That, at least, felt familiar to Mav. 

“You cleaned,” Ice said, stating the obvious with a small wrinkle of confusion on his face as he took a seat next to Mav on the couch. His blue eyes scanned the room, noting each small change, like the rug was freshly beaten, the wood floors swept, the scent of lemon oil in the air. 

Mav pulled his attention away from the game and tried to read his expression, looking for some sign of approval or disapproval. Damnit, he was twenty-five years old, and somehow he had found a time portal back to 1973, eleven years old and wondering if he had cleaned the house well enough to avoid being sent back. For the first time since Ice had brushed him off, he felt the lick of anger at himself for being this weak. 

“I did.”

[katnissmellarkkk]

Hello 🤗

How about Everlark and no. 35? Thank you so much 🥰

Hey! Thanks for the prompt! This is more sweet and fluffy than I originally planned but 🤷🏼‍♀️. Who doesn’t like a little sweetness on a Tuesday morning? 🥹

Also this is my very first time writing in like 6 plus months so go easy because I’m rusty 🥲.

Prompt: A Kiss To Gain Something

-

“Peeta,” I call out, using the front entrance — the public entrance — of the bakery for once. “Hello?”

“Back here,” he murmurs faintly, sounding rather preoccupied. My brow furrows in confusion, considering it’s his usual lunch time, in which he closes the bakery every day for an hour. I can’t think of one single task he could be preoccupied with.

And then the smell of something sweet hits me like a tornado.

Like a mouthwatering, sugary, irresistible tornado.

And then I know exactly what he’s doing.

“Peeta,” I call again, in a sing-song tone now.

And then he knows exactly what I’m doing. He recognizes the shift in my voice immediately. He knows exactly where I’m going with this, exactly what my intentions are, and as I make my way over to him, I see I’m just in time to watch his shoulders sigh up and down.

“Katniss,” he says, a gentle warning in his voice as he moves away from his baking station. He meets me halfway between the cash register and the door to the back room.

A clear attempt to keep me from the cinnamon rolls he just pulled from the oven.

“I’m not going to eat them all,” I promise, while subtly peering around him to check if he’s frosted them quite yet.

“That’s what you told me last time,” he murmurs wryly, placing his hands on both my shoulders and rubbing lightly. “Aren’t you supposed to still be hunting?”

I roll my eyes at his clear attempt to get rid of me. “I got bored.”

“Since when are you bored with hunting?”

“Since I’m tired of eating squirrels every night!” He chuckles, because he too is sick of the same exact dinner every single evening.

But business has been plentiful at the bakery as of late, making it hard for him to find the energy to make supper and the only thing I’m good at making a meal out of is the meat I hunt, and well, it is winter. The deer have been scarce to find for some time now and will likely continue to be for another handful of weeks to come.

Making squirrels our easiest meal available. Or better yet, making them our only meal available.

But tonight cinnamon rolls sound like a good enough dinner to me. They sound good for breakfast too, if I have it my way.

Peeta cups my face in his hands, bringing me out of my thoughts with his warm touch and the strong scent of cinnamon clinging to his skin. “I promise, I will cook for you tonight, Katniss.” He seals his words with a chaste kiss to my mouth. “But I need you to get out now.”

My face contorts in shock. “Hey, I’m your wife,” I complain, feeling a little insulted now. “You can’t kick me out. I own this bakery too.”

“Yes, and you eat almost as many cinnamon rolls as we sell,” he retorts and I cross my arms, half-abashed and half-annoyed, because he has a point. I’m not going to let him know that but he does.

But he still doesn’t like to see me so put out, so immediately he changes tactics. “Sweetheart,” he whispers gently, leaning down and kissing the side of my face, moving his mouth in a circuit from my cheek to just behind my ear. “We’re almost out of the ingredients for cinnamon rolls and the demand for them is so high right now. I gotta make sure there’s enough for tomorrow.”

But I don’t hear a word he says. Not really. It all goes in one ear and out the other. Instead I passively allow him to travel the path between my cheek to behind my ear, from my jaw to the corner of my mouth, and back again, at least three times before I make my move.

Instead of trying to sneak by him or trick him, I go for a manipulation technique much more my style. Some silent, upfront pleading.

With my lips this time.

He already knows what’s coming when I reach both my hands up on his shoulders and push myself into his arms.

I can almost feel him roll his eyes at me this time, as he picks me up off the ground.

“This isn’t going to work-” He tries to say, but I cut him off, rather abruptly, with my kiss.

And unlike his, mine isn’t chaste in the least.

He tries to stay stoic at first but, to neither of our surprise, he cracks rather swiftly under temptation.

“Katniss,” he sighs, when I finally break the kiss off, moving down to his neck, finding that spot of skin that he can’t resist when I graze with my teeth.

Just as I expect, his knees buckle a little when I open my mouth and bite down.

“Okay,” he concurs, as if he were relenting after being held up under torture. “You win. I’ll give you one but I need the rest to sell.”

“Fine,” I agree, feeling satisfied, wrapping my arms tighter around his neck now as he carts me towards the back room.

“You’re so weird,” he murmurs sardonically as he sets me down on my feet.

“Excuse me?” I shoot him a dirty look.

But he’s not planning to take the comment back evidently. “You go through all that just for a stupid cinnamon roll?”

“Yes,” I say automatically, my tone a little stubborn. “So what?”

“Nothing, my love,” he says quietly but he’s trying not to laugh at me.

I advert my eyes, starting to feel a little embarrassed at my determination now. “Peeta, you know that the more you say no to me, the more I want something.”

At that, he gives me an exasperated look. “Trust me, my love. I know that.”

I’m about to say something else, probably to try and defend myself again, but before I can he pulls me into an embrace, hugging my back to his chest. A tiny olive branch, I suppose.

“You love me,” I inform him as he plants a kiss on the back of my neck, moving my braid aside to give himself better access.

“Well, that was obvious,” he snorts.

I bat his hands away, giggling a little at the tingly feeling his kiss elicited down my spine, before quickly grabbing the largest cinnamon roll in the batch and heading out.

“See you at home,” I mumble as I slip through the back door with my mouth full of warm, doughy goodness.

“Katniss,” Peeta calls after me, just as I’m almost out of earshot.

I walk back, a little perturbed. “What?”

“I do love you,” he says, his eyes softening as they meet mine again. “I love you a lot.”

-

[gay-dorito-dust]

Can you maybe do reader getting her ears pierced and Xavier being there for support. (I just had mine done and yes maybe I'm to big to being crying over it but it hurts😭)

A/n: let me tell ya, I was scare shitless getting mine done too. Funny story though I had my ears pierced the same week I had to go swimming with my primary school.(which was every Tuesday afternoon)Needless to say I couldn’t go swimming for while until my piercings had healed and settled.

Also yes I’m making Ajax have snakebites also this was kinda meh and rushed.

“You’ll be fine y/n, after all it’s just a little pinprick.”

“Just a little pinprick? Xavier, my earlobes are going to be stabbed by a needle! No numbing cream, no nothing, just straight up raw earlobe stabbing.” You told Xavier as you sat nervously in the chair whilst the woman who’d be piercing your ears was collecting the necessary materials for the procedure; You’ve wanted your ears pierced for awhile now but after reading up on scenarios where something went wrong as you were in the midst of preparing yourself for your up coming appointment; your desire for getting your ears done quickly turned sour in your mouth.

Xavier sees that you were genuinely second guessing your decision and reaches out to hold your hand tightly within his. “It’s going to be okay baby, Your in safe and professional hands, they know what they’re doing and besides,” he leant towards you as though he’s sharing a secret, just between the two of you, “i think your very brave for getting them done.” He says as he leans back against the chair humbly provided for him. “Really?” You asked, still a little unsure of yourself. “Oh yeah! I don’t think I could get my ears pierced or, god forbid, get tattoos.”

You giggled at his over exaggerate attempts of cheering you up because it was defiantly working to some extent. You were grateful that Xavier decided to tag along because if he hadn’t, you would’ve for certain bolted out of the room and straight back to Nevermore with your tail between your legs. Having Xavier with you, sacrificing his hand as your temporary stress toy whenever you got short glimpses of the needle that would be prodding holes into your ear lobes.

You honestly didn’t know how you got through life at this point without Xavier being there to calm your overreactive mind and sooth your worries with his logic and reassurance; Yet sometimes you can’t feel as though you let him down for being the way that you were, even after he tells you otherwise. You still get that feeling within your chest that one day he’d grow annoyed of having to console you about everything and tell you to grow and deal with it like everybody else; However you knew this to not be true as it wasn’t in his character but that didn’t mean you feared for the nearby future when you wouldn’t have Xavier by your side. As for now you chose to appreciate and love him whist you still had him in your life, by your side to do so.

After your laughter subsided you gripped Xavier’s hand, smiling softly at him. “Thank you for coming here with me Xav, I honestly don’t think I would’ve made it past that doorway if it weren’t for you.” The long haired boy only huffed playfully as he leaned into once again, though this time it was to press a kiss to your forehead. “Don’t sell yourself short, sweet cakes for your a lot stronger then you believe yourself to be.” He utters into your hairline before pulling away. “I mean you haven’t bolted out of that door yet. So that’s an good thing!”

Just as he says that, the woman doing your piercings came back to the room with a selection of jewelled ear accessories ranging from small studs to ear stretchers alongside the needle and some materials to sterilise it so that you wouldn’t get infections or any other complications. The nervousness came back with a vengeance as the worst case scenarios came flooding back to the forefront of your mind as your breathing bang to pick up erratically; your grip on Xavier’s hand only increased in grip as your chair was pulled out flat as a board and you were instructed to lay down and to get yourself comfortable but with your body being bombarded with internalised panic, your movements became rigid and stiff that it too you longer then it probably should’ve to lay yourself down.

“First time?” The kind woman asked, flashing you a smile as they began to set up. “Yeah. Is it that obvious?” You responded, still a little rigid with fright. “Your not the first person who’s came in here for an piercing. I remember there was a Gorgon kid who came in here the other week asking for snakebites.” You and Xavier shared a look of mutual confusion. “The Gorgon’s name wouldn’t happen to be Ajax Petropolus by any chance?” Xavier asked as he gave your hand another reassuring squeeze. The woman looked over at him with raised brows, “yeah, how did you know him?”

Xavier shrugs, “he’s a friend of mine. After he got his snakebites he had nothing but high praise for your professionalism, which is why we’re here today.” The woman only smiled at the compliment, “that’s how I keep my business running,” she say before turning back to you. “You ready champ?” You breathed a heavy sigh before looking over at Xavier who only smiled at you encouragingly, lifting up your intertwined hands to show that he was still here for moral support. You looked back at the her as she patiently awaited your answer that you replied with confidently, “I’m ready.”

[bronx-bomber87]

Happy Tuesday Evening all :) Already at ep 3 of this season. Gonna blink and be done with this one ha This is a shorter season cause it was the year Covid really kicked in. Lots of goodies in this one though. Some good Tim analysis to be had and the next as well. Also a Lucy standing up for what’s right and not letting Tim sway her. All good things. Let’s get going.

3x03 La-Fiera

We start the ep with one of my fav non romantic pairings. Tim and Harper. Tim saying how he hates training with the public. Nyla not one to pass up giving him a hard time says ‘Sounds like performance anxiety.’ That there are pills for that now haha. I adore their ribbing each other so much. Comes from a place of genuine respect and liking one another. They’ve come so far I love it sfm.

They’re talking about who’s gonna take the crown at the range. It’s firearm re-qualification day. Now that Angela is a detective she no longer qualifies with patrol. Tim is convinced he will be next in line for the crown. Harper says that’s cute because she’s there LOL Also I am not hating him in that shirt...

Stanton makes a wager with Tim and Nyla. 20 bucks if their boot makes it out on top. Tim doesn't blink before agreeing. He knows Lucy’s top notch abilities. Would put his faith and life honestly in her hands any day. He does this on a daily basis anyways. Might as well make some money off it ha. Harper also agrees to the challenge. (Nyla literally set her twenty on fire betting on Nolan though LOL) Naturally Lucy comes out on top. Grey announces her as Mid-Wilshire's new champ.

Tim is so damn proud he’s beaming. He doesn’t even care that he didn’t win. (for the most part) Only that Lucy did. Also he looks so damn sure of himself when he hears the news. Look at him above. Not even a little surprised she took the top spot. Collects his winnings from Stanton and Nyla. Lucy is adorable with her reaction to winning the top spot. Feeling pretty good right now. The icing on the cake is Tim and Nyla tie for second place behind her. I love this so much.

Tamara comes to see Lucy at work asking for signature on the title of the car. Lucy disregards it at first in total mom mode. Asking why she hasn’t confirmed their appointment with the social worker yet? Tamara says she will be there she promises. Lucy gives in and signs the title. Tim comes up behind her all smiles as Tamara leaves. Asking how the puppy is? Lucy proudly says she’s doing really great. Then outright starts up a work flirt. By teasing him about the gun range.

He rolls his eyes even though we all know he loves it. He can act annoyed all he likes. We know he’s so very proud she won. Instead of saying that he tells her 'Get changed'. Her flirtatious ‘Yes sir.’ as she heads back with a smile. It’s like they don’t even care they’re unreservedly flirting at the front desk. For all to see. Not even trying to hide it anymore. Makes my heart happy.

We rejoin them in the shop. Lucy is gloating over her new title. Tim can’t let her know how proud he is so instead he deflects. Their competitiveness is one of my favorite things. It’s truly one of their love languages without them even realizing it is. His replies are him being such a sore loser it’s hilarious. He’s half proud but half irritated. Can't let her just think she's amazing. Has to make sure he's "grounding" her with some salty sass.

Their banter is the bedrock of their relationship and moments like this only prove that. Lucy talking to him like no one else ever has or ever will. Tim only lets her talk to him this way. Calling him out for being salty and giving him crap for losing. Then asking for half the money he won off her haha Seems only fair to me. I love them so much. I always enjoy fun playful scenes like this from them. The way she says ‘Wow’ at the end I’m dying. Of course Tim is going to take this moment to puff up his training of her instead of praising her haha Can’t just say he is proud of her nope has to be a salty sore loser instead. God forbid she know he's proud. What a tragedy that would be Timothy.

Before their banter can go any further Tim spots her old car. Looks like someone trying to steal it. They pull over and question the guy immediately. He says he just bought it. Lucy is incensed and stomps over to him. Saying what do you mean just bought it? He tells her he bought it for 4K. Making Lucy even angrier. Not only was her car sold but under its value. (according to her) Tim is enjoying himself a little too much about this. Look at his face during that interaction. He is legit giddy at how upset she is Tamara sold the car.

They apologize and hand him back the title. He continues to struggle with the door. Lucy tells him how he’s supposed to open it and it pops open. He says 'Thanks.' Tim gives the most sarcastic thumbs up ever. I’m laughing so hard. He is enjoying her puppy rebelling already and so quickly after she signed over the title. It’s written all over his body language the entire scene. Such a turd. A hot one but one none the less. Getting a damn kick out of this whole thing. Idk how he can make being a jerk so hot but he does. Well done Eric. Don't ever stop.

We catch them next outside their shop waiting to meet up with Tamara. First off why is Tim so sinfully delicious when he’s leaning against vehicles? What is that? Then he comes to full height like the tall drink of water he is. Phew. Love to climb that man like a tree…*ahem* but I digress.. Tim continues the sass by starting off the scene by saying ‘Bad puppy.’ Why is this also so sexy? He is enjoying himself far too much and not hiding it. Giddy really.

Lucy sees she has new clothes on and is enraged. Opening the convo with ‘You sold my car to buy new clothes?’ Tim can't help himself and adds in ‘And earrings.’ Tamara says it was her car to sell. Lucy is so upset. Going on to say it was to sleep in not to sell. Tamara makes a solid point about going to school with dirty clothes and greasy hair.

Goes on to say 'So yeah she sold it to buy some nice things.' Telling Lucy she just wanted to feel normal for once. Tim steps in and asks where the rest of the money is? She replies that it’s in her college fund. Lucy is still mad. (Hell I would be too) She asks her why she didn’t just say something this morning? That she clearly had a buyer in mind already.

Tamara bites back she would’ve just said no. I mean she’s not wrong. She starts to walk away and Lucy isn’t done yet. Asking were she is staying? Tamara only replies her cousin and doesn’t answer Lucy’s follow up if it’s safe. Tim could not be more smug if he tried. Look at that man. He is basking in how right he was about the consequences of her taking on a puppy. Lucy is so very stressed and panicking about all this. Polar opposites above. Smug Vs Stress.

What I love about this is he isn’t yelling at her, or telling her she was wrong. Just enjoying the moment doing it for him. Crazy as it sounds that is growth for him. Just tells her it’s time to get back to work when a call comes in. Not much else to be done here. Lucy continues to watch Tamara walk away. Sighs and joins him back in the shop.

Tim and Lucy roll up to a hot mess of a situation. They're both getting a real look at the disaster zone that is Doug Stanton. He has Mis-identified a suspect they’re looking for cause well its Stanton. Poor Jackson could not look more stressed. The whole thing is so uncomfortable to watch go down. Makes my anxiety go through the roof seeing how he terrorizes this family.

To see first hand how blatantly racist he’s being. It’s hard to stomach. I just want to clock him. Tim does his best to contain the situation. Pulling Doug aside to cool him down. Telling him their suspect was already caught. This was a bad call and the absolute wrong guy. Tim calls off backup afterwards telling Jackson to let the poor traumatized kid go. With his apologies and a card. That if they want to complain on Stanton they’re well within their right to. (Should sue his ass as much as possible)

We return to them at a college campus. They are there to protect La-Fiera and her son against a credible threat. Someone is there to kill her and Diego her son on their tour. Stanton makes a terrible comment about taking an early lunch. Letting nature take its course instead. Lucy comments on this later when it’s just her and Tim. She is so angry and incensed at this point. She expects Tim to agree with her or at least have a comment of some sort. He doesn’t....

Tim tries to agree without really agreeing with Lucy in his reply above. She doesn’t let it stand nor should she. Lucy is not one to shy away from speaking her mind with Tim. Especially when it comes to something moral like this. Telling Tim he terrorized that family. (He very much did it was awful.)

Then he comes at it again with a complicit non committal answer below once again. Trying to excuse Stanton's behavior by saying it’s cause he’s rough around the edges. Oh Timothy no….there’s a quote by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. I only know this because it comes from one of my all time fav Castle episodes ‘47 seconds’ ‘To sin by silence when we should protest, makes cowards of men.’

By saying he’s rough around the edges is making Tim complicit in his behavior. Thus sinning by silence. Making excuses for his behavior by saying 'It's just the way he is.' 'Nothing to be changed about him.' 'He is who he is.' Lucy doesn’t waste a second before calling him out on it. Proud of my girl. You know I love Tim but he needed to hear this. He was wrong in how he was approaching this.

No one better to call him on it than her. The way she does it is so good too. Straight up saying he’s a racist and Tim saying we can’t know that…but we do my love. She sticks the landing with finishing off with ‘Let’s just make excuses for him....’ Tim is struck by her words below and has no comeback.

Now this next section below isn’t me agreeing with Tim. It’s me analyzing why he is replying the way he is. He does grow from this story arc which I do love so very much. Not just this one but even more so next ep. So to start we have to remember the generation he was taught by and the father he had growing up. You truly are a product of your environment. Your attitude and and POV on life stem from it. Whether you like that or not. Now it’s you who chooses to break the cycle of it 100%. Also by surrounding yourself with better more positive people. i.e. Lucy Chen for him.

I mentioned last ep Tim is the kind to put his head down and grind. That’s how he survived his childhood with an abusive father. Both emotionally and physically. How he survived his time in the service and his own training as a rookie. To him if he can just hunker down and survive it he can make it past it. I think we all have things (if you don’t you’re a lucky human and were blessed with wonderful parents I envy you truly) our parents did or said that didn’t sit right with us as kids. You weren’t sure why but you knew it wasn’t ok. Things that left their mark. That we end up carrying with us into adulthood unconsciously.

I know my parents had quite the list. Things that as I got older and I would repeat or came out involuntarily, either I realized it or those around me did and would let me know. Even though as an adult I fought against it would slip out even if I didn't mean how it came off. Certain thoughts or actions come out and you realize that’s coming from your childhood. Things still come out of us involuntarily and you catch it. Tim sadly doesn't catch it till Lucy calls him on it. I think Tim was taught by ‘rough around the edges’ types and his father most definitely was that before his time as a cop. Before Lucy Tim was most definitely stuck in his ways.

To Tim it was something you just dealt with and moved on from. You weren’t gonna change them so it was best to just get by. Is that the best attitude to have? No but it’s how he got by. Hence his advice to Jackson in 3x02 because that’s his default gear. From his survival mode from childhood and from his own training experiences. His reply is an outdated one. I don’t even think he knows its coming off the way it is. It’s a reflection of his environment and past experiences on how he was taught to deal with cops like that. Once again not excusing Tim but understanding why he is replying this way.

Now Lucy smacks some sense into him basically saying just because that’s how it was or currently is doesn’t make it right. She’s making Tim face being complicit in excusing Stanton's behavior by saying as such. Won’t let him get away with it. Tim is flat out wrong and no one better to let him know that than Lucy. He's learned from her just because that's the way it is doesn't mean that's the way it should be. i.e. this moment.

The ripple effect of her words reflect in this next scene. Jackson is in Grey’s office telling him about Stanton. He isn't winning Wade over until Tim steps up. Tells Grey that whatever Jackson is telling him he stands with him. Which is huge. I think Lucy made an impact on him. Changes how he was viewing this situation. Now Tim is his own person and doesn’t get swayed easily. But Lucy has massive sway with him. Opened his eyes to this and gave him a different POV on it. Seeing he needed to intervene and not stand on the sidelines anymore. That it was just as egregious to do nothing.

I love the scene when they emerge from Grey’s office. Jackson puts Tim in his place about being complicit about Stanton. Of cops like him in general. That by doing that Tim had given permission to those kinds of cop to continue to operate that way. Once again wishing Titus and Eric had gotten more scenes together. This one is *chef kiss* Tim is very resigned by Jackson’s chewing him out. He knows he was so very wrong in his thinking and agree’s with Jackson on it.

There is no fight in him to defend himself. He knows he wasn't on the right side of this at this point. Tim has been humbled today by all this. He got taken to school by both Lucy and Jackson. He leaves Tim standing there wishing there was more he could do. He got it from both barrels today. Smacking some much needed perspective into his world. Truth hurts but it’s how we learn and grow from it that matters. We see some massive growth next ep for our boy with this.

Tamara comes to see Lucy at the station to apologize. I love love love this scene. Their bond continues to grow in this ending scene. Lucy saying the bit about trust being earned. Tim has rubbed off positively on her as well. She uses that in this situation with Tamara. Asking what she can do to earn that trust?

Tamara shows her the laptop she bought. That her cousin's is safe adjacent but not for her laptop. Lucy is wonderful and says she can keep it here. To check it out every morning so it stays safe. Lucy tells her about the campus she was on today. How Tamara should check it out. She laughs say she can’t go there. Lucy is her sunshine self says there are scholarships. She can help her apply to them.

I know Tim likes to give her a hard time about Tamara and being her puppy, but I think he truly knows the positive impact she will have on her. We’ll get to see that as their relationship grows. I love watching their bond develop. Truly enjoy them so much.

~~~~

That’s it’s for this one. S3 may be short but it’s packed with a lot of content and goodies. No side notes for this one all pretty intertwined.

Thank you to everyone who continually supports these reviews it means so much to me. The likes/comments and reblogs make my soul happy haha shall see you all in 3x04 :)

[jazz-bazz]

a fluffy raindrop inspired by my first synthesis step that didn't work because of the same reason it doesn't work for rain... the difference being i didn't get a picnic under the stars... also instead of getting a day off, i skipped half a lab day to get to band practice for an event... the luck these ghouls get *sigh* im jealous...

creds to @sexy-sea-basss for the lake picnic idea! 🖤

didnt plan on posting this today but after the heartbreak that is @alwaysjustmina ‘s whispers (love it so much) 😭… @webbyghoul and i figured we’d need raindrop fluff asap

The Day Off

The week can’t get any longer if you ask Rain, and it’s only Tuesday. He’s been working on just this one step since Wednesday last week, which is already ridiculous, especially the 3 days spent trying to isolate a product, or at least something. They’ve got to have something because on Friday Mist will ask for a weekly report. They’ve been losing sleep and surviving on energy drinks and protein bars, though sometimes Dew would stop by with ‘healthier’ snacks. 

The problem is not with synthesizing the substance, he thinks, although they wouldn’t know, they haven’t taken any spectrums yet, because the substance just don’t want to be isolated from the rest of the shit. They’ve tried all sorts of of solvents, n-Pentane, ethylacetate, diethylether, in various ratios, but nothing is working. The fucking polar nitro group they have in their substance is making it harder to isolate, even if they manage to do it the yield wouldn’t be good. They could change the starting material and methods, but they need to talk about it with Mist first when she’s back from her work trip, probably sometime later today. But damn if he isn’t going to wear themself out by trying their hardest. 

They’ve talked with Mountain and Swiss too, asking for ideas and opinions, even chatted a bit with Cumulus. But none of their suggestions work, it got closer with the ratio of solvents that Cumulus suggested, they could already see a bit of difference in the TLC he did earlier, but it’s still not separated enough for the column chromatography. Now they’re just sitting at his desk fidgeting with Bap, sometimes bringing it close to his nose so they get Dew’s calming scent.

“I have returned from the hell known as human science convention with old men who has no respect for women!” Rain suddenly hears, Mist is back, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel.

“Mist! Hi, how was the trip?” Rain asks, to be nice and even though he’s dying to ask her about their problem.

“Rainy, darling! It was annoying, they keep not believing me when I said I’m a participant in the convention and not the catering staff, ughhh. But enough about me, you seem down, what happened?” Mist sees the tired look in Rain’s face, the dark circles under their eyes, and the slump in his shoulder, not to mention the way they were staring into space clutching that crochet plushie of his when she first came in.

“Oh, Mist, nothing is working, I’ve been trying to isolate my product but none of the solvent ratios I tried worked, I even asked Cumulus and Mountain and Swiss and they have no idea either. Could I maybe get permission to redo the reaction with a different starting material? I can even propose to you a new reaction mechanism to get the same result right now, I have thought a lot about this, it just doesn’t work with this one. Or even if it works, the yield would be bad, and-“ 

“Rain, Rain, stop for a second. Take a deep breath, come on,” Mist smiles softly at her protegee, “Okay. You’re good?”

“Yeah, maybe, I don’t know,” Rain sighs.

“Here’s my decision, you are hereby dismissed for today, and also tomorrow, go get some rest, spend a day in bed, go swim, whatever, you’re far too stressed. You can show me your idea on Thursday. And because I know you’re just gonna stay here and stress some more. I will get Omega to let Dew off early and distract you, maybe you’ll even get your first kiss from him today. Got it?”

“Wait, what? No I can do it, we can discuss it now and because it needs to be cooked overnight I can do it today and tomorrow start with the work up, I’m fine Mist,” Rain pointedly ignores the last part.

“No, you’re not. You need sleep and to eat more than coffee and candy bars. My decision is final, you are hereby banned from this room and the labs for the rest of today and tomorrow, go pack your things,” Mist says while gently pushing on Rain’s shoulders to get them to their desk and start packing up, “Meanwhile I’m going to call Omega. Your things better be already in your bag when I get back.”

With a sigh (so much sighing today) Rain starts to save all the documents on his computer and shut it down, stuffing their journal and tablet and the rest of his things into their rucksack. And then he waits for Mist.

“Your knight in shining armour will be coming in about 15 minutes!” 

“More like in hoodies and ripped jeans,” Rain mutters.

“Aw don’t be so glum, Rainy darling, your project will be fine if you take a 1.5 days rest, you know. Then Thursday you can start with a fresh brain!”

“I guess… Thank you Mist, best boss I could’ve ask for,” Rain goes to hug their mentor.

“Hello my dearest loveliest bestest friend ever in the whole wide world both here and below! Thank you for the day off because Aether’s been getting all up my business today, and I am half a second away from burning his journals,” Dew announces as he barges into the office, “I have plans that involve a lake and snacks from the diner with no chemical reactions in the vicinity. Up and at it, bestie!”

“Fucking hell Dew, how can you still have this much energy?”

“By sleeping on time and eating enough food to sustain myself through a day full of quantum equations, which you should’ve done by the way, would be wonderful on those eyebags.”

“Oh fuck off.”

“Nah, you’re stuck with me because we are besties and you can’t live without me, literally, because we are roommates. Let’s go!”

They stop by the diner to get some food to go, and then their apartment to drop of their things and freshen up, Dew also gets his picnic blankets and a couple of towels and change of clothes for when Rain inevitably jumps into the lake and splash him.

There’s this one secluded lake on the edge of the town that Dew found on accident. Usually they just go to the lake at the Abbey complex, but he feels like this one would be perfect for Rain to wind down without anyone watching, the way to this lake is a bit complicated and requires a bit of hiking, which neither of them minds, they both love to be in nature no matter what.

After parking the car and hiking, Dew asks Rain to put on a blindfold just before the bend that would reveal the lake. It’s because he wants to set up the picnic blankets with food and tea lights he brings for a romantic date under the stars, as it was already getting dark, they got to watch the sunset at the parking lot.

Rain agrees with a bit of grumbling, and with Dew’s guidance they walk together to the edge of the trail heading to the beach, where Dew then leaves Rain for a bit while he sets things up. He talks with Rain the whole time, to reassure Rain that he’s still there, just random chatters mostly, like Aether being annoying that day, the plans the pack has this weekend to go to Zenith because it’s bingo night, the last hockey game they watched, and whatnots. Rain has to admit, it is relaxing to just chill like this, even without being able to see anything, he can already feel the stress seeping out from their body.

“Okay, Rainy, you can take off the blindfold.”

When they take it off, the first thing they see was Dew holding a bouquet of lilies (who knows where he got it from) with a big smile on his face, and then behind him the picnic he set up, complete with a background of the lake and the starry night sky.

They spend a few hours there, snacking on the food while talking, kissing a bit (more like a lot) because there’s no one here and they can forget their running joke of not dating (they are both very serious about keeping up with it), taking a dip in the lake (Rain), and admiring the view of an unglamoured water ghoul in their natural habitat (Dew) before being pulled in by said water ghoul for underwater kisses (best thing ever if you ask Dew).

Then at about midnight they both get out of the water and dry up using the towels Dew had packed, and after finishing the snacks they pack up the blanket and tea lights and knick knacks they bring.

“Thanks for today, Dew,” Rain smiles while leaning in for a kiss, which lasts awhile, before they both pull back and rest their foreheads against the other’s.

“Anything for you, baby,” Dew smiles back, “Now, you ready to go home? We need to get some sleep, I know you have tomorrow off but I still need to come in after lunch for a bit. And you are not allowed to come with me, in fact I am ordering you to stay away from campus, go sleep in, swim, read, whatever, as long as it’s outside of a 5 km radius of the campus. Got it?”

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” Rain smirks, ”Let’s go, I need cuddles in my bed with you.”

[likecastle]

theres this flock of geese that live outside my apartment and sound like sirens when they fly anywhere so

'sirens' or 'geese' for the prompts <3

OK siren geese sound extremely annoying, but also deeply absurd, which is sort of the direction I went with this. Thank you!

They’re neither of them very heavy sleepers, and although it’s been years since anything really bad happened, the thought that something could happen again is never too far from their minds. So when Nancy starts making complaining sounds in her sleep, it isn’t long before Robin is dragged out of her own dream—a stressful but decidedly innocuous one about a giant cartoon alarm clock warning her she's going to be late for her Tuesday-Thursday early class.

“Nnno,” Nancy groans, from where she’s curled under the covers. She kicks out, clipping Robin’s shin with her heel.

“S’alright,” Robin mutters, still half-asleep, but waking up quickly. “Nance, you’re OK, I’m here.” She reaches over to pat Nancy’s shoulder, but misses and winds up patting her ass instead.

“Whassat noise?” Nancy grumbles, dragging a pillow over her head.

It’s only then that Robin realizes that the incessant alarm sound shrieking that she was going to sleep through her class was not, in fact, just a dream. Hauling herself onto her other side, she slaps at the alarm clock, and reminds the panicked part of her brain that it’s Saturday. Six A.M. on a Saturday, she notices, much to her chagrin. But at least there are no classes for her to miss, no work for Nancy to go to.

The blaring is still going strong, however. Thinking it might be a fire alarm, she pulls on her robe and shuffles out to check the hallway, but there are no flashing lights, no neighbors fleeing some undisclosed disaster. If anything, the sound is quieter.

“Make it stop,” Nancy whines when Robin returns, and Robin can’t help but smile. She finds Nancy’s ire charming in moments like this, these glimpses of the petulant little girl irritation she manages to overmaster the rest of the time.

“Would that I could,” she says wistfully. The noise is definitely louder in here, a lopsided siren-like cacophony that’s so abrasive she doesn’t know how Nancy’s still trying to sleep. “Maybe the whole city’s burning down.”

She goes to the window, humming the tune of ‘Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow’ to herself. But when she moves the curtain, she bursts out laughing.

“What?!” Nancy’s up like a shot at the explosive bark of Robin’s laughter. “What’s the matter?”

But Robin can’t stop laughing, can’t even catch her breath to explain. Behind her, she hears Nancy clamor out of bed and come up behind her.

“It’s geese!” Robin wheezes, still shaking with laughter that she doesn’t have the breath for anymore. “It’s fucking geese!”

It seems that overnight, a veritable horde of geese has descended on the little park across the street. They’re paddling in the tiny pond and lumbering around on the grass and menacing passing joggers and all of them are honking so loudly that their voices have blended into one horrible siren wail.

Nancy is staring at her like she doesn’t see what could possibly be funny about this. She looks, in fact, like she’s sorry she no longer keeps a gun in her closet.

“Ah, the change of seasons!” Robin opines, wiping tears from her eyes. “Isn’t nature wonderful?”

“If they keep up like this, we’re moving,” Nancy says mutinously.

"OK, sure." Robin threads an arm around Nancy’s waist, leaning in to kiss her rumpled curls. “But not right this instant, we’re not.”

Nancy groans, but doesn’t push her away when Robin’s lips drop down to her neck. “How are you so chipper about this?”

“Well,” Robin reasons, relishing the sleep-warm scent of Nancy’s neck, so delicious she wants to bite the tender skin there, “the way I see it, we’re not getting back to sleep any time soon, so we might as well make the most of it.”

Nancy starts to see things her way pretty soon after that.

[starry-hughes]

star’s birthday bash

welcome to my birthday bash! my birthday is thursday, april 18, and i want to celebrate with you guys! down below are a bunch of prompts that i have complied together that you can request blurbs for! i will work through them as fast as possible but i am currently moving apartments and have work as well so please be patient. the prompts are all over the place (fluff, angst, nsfw) so just have fun! thank you for participating!

looking for my navigation page? click here!

you can choose any of the prompts below but i also don’t mind if you have your own prompt you would like to use!

event duration: tuesday, april 16, 2024 - sunday, april 21, 2024 (actual birthday april 18)

prompts:

1. “Well, I’m sorry I fell in love with you, okay? But it happened and I can’t do shit about it.” “You… What?” 

2. “I thought that if I did all of this and came all this way, it would finally click for you."

3. “God how blind can you be?!”

4. “Do you think we could have worked out?”

5. “So… do you actually like me—“ “We have been together for seven years. We’re getting married. What the hell do you think?”

6. “Oh my god, you are such a cuddle bug.”

7. “Are you awake yet?” “No.” “Oh okay, sorry.”

8. “We should probably stop this.” “Yeah…” “We’re not going to though, right?” “Oh absolutely not.”

9. “You’ve been laying on my arm all night and it’s numb.”

10. “Can you please just hug me?”

11. “You’re so pretty when you wake up.”

12. “Hold my hand.” “What?! Why?” “Just do it. Please.”

13. “Here take my jacket.”

14. “You’re going to get shampoo in my eyes.” “Stop being dramatic.”

15. “It’s okay baby, let it out, I’ve got you.”

16. “I don’t know, I just missed you.”

17. “No, come on, don’t cry, I’ll start crying.”

18. “Did you just kiss me to shut me up?” “No?”

19. “Why don’t you just go back to her?” “Who?!”

20. “Why are you so insecure about this?” “Because I don’t want to be used again!”

21. “I won’t tell him if you don’t want me to.”

22. “You’re hurting me.”

23. “Try to stay quiet, okay?”

24. “Stop teasing me so much.”

25. “We are in public!”

26. “Don’t be so rough, I can’t have any marks.”

27. “You’re insufferable.”

28. “I’m sorry if I’m slow with all this, I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

29. “That’s it, fuck.”

30. “Do that again, shit. Just like that.”

31. “Wait- do that again. Please.”

32. “Someone is needy.”

33. “For the last time, I’m not jealous! I just don’t like how she looks at you or texts you or anything!”

34. “My teammates get annoyed because I talk about you so much.”

35. “You sent me inappropriate pictures when I was in public.”

36. “I’m wearing your shirt… is that okay?”

37. “Don’t throw me in the water!”

38. “Can I borrow your hat please? The sun is in my eyes.”

39. “You promised.”

40. “You didn’t love me, did you?”

41. “I didn’t mean to. I was just mad.”

42. “I don’t deserve you.” “Please don’t say that. Why would you even think that for a second?”

43. “Why didn’t you tell me before I got into a relationship with someone else?”

44. “I think I’m in love.” “Congratulations on finally realizing that.”

45. “You have a date? How much did you pay them?”

46. “I thought roses were romantic!” “They have thorns on them still!”

47. “Did you eat today?”

48. “I can’t even argue with you right now when I’m this…” “What? Turned on?”

49. “You’re a dumbass. But you’re my dumbass.”

50. “Are we dating? What are we? I can’t keep playing games with you—“ “I thought we were already dating?”

51. “You didn’t have to do anything for my birthday.” “… but I wanted to.”

52. “This is the best present ever.”

53. “Is it too late for a birthday kiss?”

54. “Hey, no crying on your birthday, please.”

55. “I thought you forgot.” “I could never forget your birthday!”

56. “I would have slept on the floor but you were using me as a pillow.”

57. “The only person I want here is you!”

58. “I didn’t mean to say you aren’t enough.”

59. “Sorry that was my first kiss.” “I could tell.” “…” “I’m kidding!”

60. “If you keep distracting me I won’t get any work done.” “But all I did was look at you?”

61. “I didn’t mean to make you upset.”

62. “Did I scare you? Sweetheart…”

63. “Could we just stay here a while, please?”

64. “Why did you never say anything? Why did I have to find out from someone else?”

65. “You left. And I stayed. You never once looked back to see if I was still there.”

66. “Did I… Did I do something wrong?”

67. “Why won’t you love me back?” “You’re drunk. I’m getting you home.”

68. “You scared the shit out of me, you know that? Calling from a hospital.”

69. “Are we going to talk about it?”

70. “You’re too good for the world.”

71. “Can you kiss it better?”

72. “It’s so hot when you talk like that.”

73. “I’m yours. Only yours.”

74. “Don’t close your eyes baby, look at me.”

75. “Lay down and let me show you what you deserve.”

76. “That— I didn’t know I could make those noises.”

77. “I don’t think I can last longer— fuck, please.”

78. “Do you still hate me?” “Definitely.”

79. “You’re so cute when you’re blushy.”

80. “Don’t be shy baby.”

81. “You can do better than that sweetheart.”

82. “That’s it. Don’t stop baby.”

83. “You’re doing so well.”

84. “Don’t worry. I’d take you out for dinner before I get you for dessert. It’s the polite thing to do.”

85. “You can practice on me.”

86. “What? I don’t like [name].” “Yeah, and I don’t breathe oxygen.”

87. “My parents love you.”

88. “Remember how you always say you love me no matter what?” “Is that a dog?”

89. “Can I call you?”

90. “I guess I’m just scared of losing you.”

91. “It’s only you. It’s always going to be just you.”

92. “How do I look?” “Um. Well. Good?”

93. “It’s raining and I don’t have an umbrella.” “Have my jacket!”

94. “You thought you had to ask to come over?”

95. “One more kiss, please?”

96. “I thought I lost you forever.”

97. “So… care to tell me who that was?”

98. “Alright, dude, back off.”

99. “I love you.”

100. “I hate you.”

[sallowslady]

Tuesday thoughts

I think part of the reason why I love Sebastian so much is because of how I imagine his personality in my head.

I imagine him being cocky, teasing and flirty all at the same time and I find that so attractive. He’s not the kind of boy to talk to you by mouth and just tell you want you want to hear (does that make sense?). He will of course compliment you, but in that funny, cocky way. He will say stuff he doesn’t even mean, just to see your reaction and he loves seeing you being jealous, he just doesn’t want to feel jealous himself. He will provocate you about something that happened during sex like: “I’m sorry that my cock was too much for you to handle” or something like that haha

He will joke with you all the time and make fun of you. Tickle you, bite your ear flips, pull your hair, smack your butt and say inappropriate things in public because he just doesn’t care. Sometimes he will joke too much and not be as serious as you want him to be, but when he can feel he’s reaching your limit, he will take you seriously and listen to you. He can be serious when he wants to.

He is like a best friend and a lover in one person. You will have so much fun with him and he will make you laugh, because of his crazy comments and annoy you at the same time.

But he for sure is a teaser and so dirty minded. He could fuck you every day, all day if you were up for it, and he can’t stop his fingers from trying to touch you all the time. He wants to fuck you 24/7 (no doubt about that) but he also just likes to touch you just because, if that means playing with your hair, fingers or shirt. Everything that includes him being close to you and having fun at the same time.

Oh and he loves when you sit in his lab and whenever he has the chance, he will make you sit on him and rest his arms around you, no matter the circumstances, if it’s at school or with your friends and family, it doesn’t matter. And when you do sit on his lap he will try to put his hands under your shirt to touch your boobs (not this one in every company, but I hope you get the point haha)

Remember, this is just how I imagine him! How I imagine and want my future boyfriend to be 🥲

Arhh, I just love him so much

This wasn’t even meant to be a dirty edition, but I guess I can’t help myself and my thoughts nowadays lol

This was so long 😭😭😭

I’m out

[j2zara]

HI! here to play with dolls! (also good luck and safe travels on your road trip tomorrow! I'll be on the road too, so I'm with you in spirit.)

honestly, going off those vibes: we've been talking some about the clone basement situation, but to go the opposite direction briefly....what's the world like where all three of the clones (+ jaceporter or without jaceporter, in either iteration) do have to go on, like, an extended trip together for The Plan? I'm thinking something like going to deal with matters in the Mountains of Chaos or the former Forest of the Nightmare King. just in general being removed from the basement-and-Elmville-specific flavor of the torment nexus and now in a new environment with different things (such as all the minor trials and tribulations that pop up when traveling for a job, or roadtripping together. traveling by car, potentially. staying in hotels!!) would this fix any of the dynamics. would it make any of them worse. who's mad at whom. who's hooking up with whom. does it depend on where they're going and what they're doing. does it depend on if jaceporter are present or absent off doing something. gimme all the thoughts!

The fact that the preface for this is “good luck on your road trip” sorry I should be killed with hammers for letting this sit so long but it was too juicy. ANYWAY. I’m tired of banging my head against the wall trying to make my latest wip work. LET'S GET THESE CLONES OUT OF THE BASEMENT. ALso sorry this is definitely unfinished but my brain is broken. if i think if anything else i’ll definitely add to it

 Some cursory thoughts:

I think if they were to do a road trip, J4 would really really really try to convince jace to let her drive. She doesn’t like that the world has built itself to be so car-centric but also on a personal level. she got behind the wheel of a car for the first time and can’t be responsible for how she behaves. (She’s me coded) She likes the freedom of it (they have teleportation but like. still). She’s also Porter-coded b/c she secretly kinda likes big cars so she can be a menace on the road the intimidates other people. They are NOT letting porter drive tho (if porter comes. Which he really should. I think everyone should join. It would be so much fun)

The problem is that nobody else wants to drive but J4 insists on only listening to her music and her weird podcasts while she drives (I don’t wanna believe its true crime but it’s probably true crime). Which. Is fair that’s usually how it works but also J4 only listens to bands that play every tuesday in the parking lot of the black pit so her taste is borderline unlistenable to everyone else, especially Jace. Blue can tolerate it bc he’s blue he can endure anything and also thinks its fair and J3 whines a bit but also will be ok with it b/c its Ellie. After people keep complaining is FINE i’ll change the music but J3 gets to choose. And his club music is worse

Her other strategy is that she will turn the music off but i need someone to keep me awake so she’s employed j3 to talk to her the entire time which is almost as annoying as if it were her music. It’s good for a little while bc they do get along but also this does sometimes devolve into petty arguments

Jace is like FINE i will take a shift if it means we can change the station and what was supposed to be a three hour break ends up being like an entire day of jace driving so that he can catch a break. Ellie is fine with this b/c this means J2 or Porter is now in the passenger seat. She gets to be in the back w J3 (depending on the seating she might even be able to nap on his shoulder)

J3: “I want to listen to music” J4: “well i want to listen to a podcast” J2: “Why don’t we compromise! We’ll listen to a podcast that Ellie doesn’t like :)” [puts on the Dry Guys] (I stole that bit from the simpsons)

I am. Compelled at the thought of getting little J2 out of elmville b/c i think getting to meet people who are not Jaceporter would be very good for him. By this point his brain is already cooked so who is to say that it’s not too late and he isn’t weird and offputting to most people but i don’t think he’s a lost cause. It must be remembered. He is also very very very very very very cute. There must be people willing to humor him or shoot their shot!!!! And i am a proponent of this. LJ3’s responsibility is to make sure blue doesn’t piss too many people off by talking the way he does like he’s about to recruit them for an mlm but also make sure he doesn’t get roped into an entirely new cult for himself. I do think it would be good exposure for him as long as jaceporter don’t find a way to twist it and be like “look this is how dangerous and scary the world is which is why we are the only ones looking out for your interests” which. Is probably what would happen. But i don’t want to believe it

I do think. Being out on the road would maybe ease some of the like. Tension of being stuck in the gothic romance haunted townhouse basement, overall. But make some problems worse. Jace is obviously trying to herd the clones like cats (aka unsuccessfully) and this is very exciting for me just b/c i do think getting them out of their element is very fun and they’re all very ravenous but compelled by different things. J2 is probably the one that is easiest to wrangle tho just b/c he’s such a goodboy. J3 is excited to meet new people but J4 i think is machinating how she can get her hands on as many magical items as weapons as possible.

Something something motels and there was only one bed oooooooooohhhhh. If we’re talking about who is sleeping with who, this is an LJ3 test and. Like. I do think there is some There Was Only One Best LJ3 like they start off closer than ever but also at each others throats. Obviously j3 meeting new people is a bit of a. Stressor for Ellie, but i genuinely think none of that is as bad as either the J3porter or j2j3 blip. Poor blue probably has to share a room w/ them but like. To be fair sometimes he’s with Porter and Jace (again it depends on if Porter is with them. If its not then like. Lets be real j2jace are also gonna have to And There Was Only One Bed about it and im not complaining)

Leviathan Specific Thoughts

Speaking of meeting people. We need to get the clones to nasty dirty pirate island. I think. J4 is in a constant tug of war between reveling in nasty dirty pirate island and being like. Oh you guys really are lawless freaks. I do think she could thrive but also get into some real trouble. But she’s making plans to come back later maybe so she can take it over from the inside. And J3 would clean tf up. He deserves a vacation to the gold gardens, i’ve been saying this for forever. (He’s gonna climb james whitclaw like a tree if it kills him, and it nearly does get him killed) It would maybe piss off Ellie but also if there’s one place where she’d be like alright whatever have your fun see if i care its nasty dirty pirate island (sorry i keep calling it that, i just think its funny when Ayda says it). (J4 is gonna hit it off with cathilda while he’s busy anyway. Who said that)

I could be a bit of a Garthy x J2 truther tho. I just think. Garthy has this like. Commanding presence but they’re  also fairly easygoing and calming and not exactly gentle but you know what i mean? Like i think they’re close enough to the jaceporter wheelhouse of their Vibe that J2 could maybe see the appeal. I need Garthy to spoil J2 a bit and have a good time. J2 deserves the strap. Who said that.

J4 and J2 i think would be very very into the Compass Points library. J2 b/c he genuinely enjoys research, J4 because its additional resources to add to her pepe silvia How to Get A God To Grant Us True Life stringboard. J3 would not give a shit. I’ve joked about this before but i think Ayda would. NOT like Jace b/c i think she would find him stressful to talk to and insincere. I think she would feel kinda similarly about J3, but could get along better with J4 and J2 who are the more up-front ones of the clones. Even tho she’s not the nicest, I think Ayda would appreciate J4’s directness. 

If Aelwyn is at the Compass Points, this is the perfect time to mention my “Aelwyn has an adolescent crush on J4” agenda. I’ve talked a little bit abt what i think Aelwyn’s vibe is with the clones but. Aelwyn as a former fellow teacher knows Jace and has neutral to negative leaning feelings on jace but J4 is like hey weird girl. I like your hair and Aelwyn is like. Jace is. Hot now? This is it. This is the person that is beautiful and mean and nasty that Aelwyn always dreamed of.

Meanwhile to J2 she’s like. Bullying kristen about her wranglers coded. Look. I know i’m a librarian but. Why are you dressed for the job that I have, what is your excuse? You’re twenty seven and dress like you’re seventy (He was actually born sexy yesterday but also fifty but also in half elf aging that’s like maybe 30-ish?. It's complicated but still no excuse)