#and also to be able to get back to work on other things

[dinkerr]

loser vi humping her pillow when you're not around!!

vi's entire world evolves around you. you're an echo in her head that never takes a break, she's always thinking about you and she wouldn't be able to find it in herself to want it any other way. she'd let you take her heart clean apart if it meant it'd help yours beat.

she's lying restlessly on her bed, her cheek resting against one of the many pillows and teddies she has there, her hands occupied with her beat down phone that has subway surfers playing on the cracked screen. her eyes are squinted, tired and focused on the game like it's the most interesting thing she could be doing, though her eyes immediately perk up when she gets a notification from you, and she's immediately reminded on why she's doing everything in her willpower to not think about you.

she presses on it, how could she not, and she immediately lets out a breath seeing the photo attached is the outfit you had put together earlier for today. you're perfect and she's reminding herself that it's just a photo. it's just a photo of you and what she had missed out from because she didn't see you today.

but that doesn't stop the dull ache of need she feels in her pussy. she squeezes and shifts her thighs together to try to find any form of friction, which ultimately leads to her letting out a sigh that's almost full of frustration of not getting able to see you today.

she's discarding her boxers that are slick with her wet arousal and moving to sit up on her knees, her hand reaching for the pillow her head was previously resting on and folding it. she straddled it, her hands holding the front of it to momentarily steady herself after her weight was put onto it and beginning to impatiently roll her hips quickly after, letting out a moan at the friction that's directly on her cunt.

shes looking down at her dimly lit phone with her eyes focused on the photo of you again, her hips mimicking the motion they move in when she's riding you. she whimpers at the thought of doing that - riding you with your hands on her ass to encourage her movement while you kiss and coo at her. the only thought she has in her mind is you, how you'd be murmuring sweet words into her ear and kissing her neck if you were right here next to her.

it only drives her on in a way she's never had with anyone or anything else, letting out louder and needier sounds while she begins to roll her hips at a faster pace and her pierced tits bounce even more from it. she wishes your hand was wrapped around her neck with your other one slapping her ass or guiding your hips.

her eyes roll back to her head when she starts cumming on her pillow, her cum seeping onto it and leaving an obvious wet spot that'd have you laughing and teasing at her if you saw it and knew the reason why. she rides it out without hesitation, her hips having a slight sore ache in them from her actions, but that doesn't stop her from picking her phone up to call you and beginning to move her hips again.

she's so cute i love herrrr AUGHH this has lowkey been my favourite thing to write ever and i love it even though my japanese assignment is due in three hours and i haven't started!! ♡ ALSO please lmk if you like the pictures i put at the top, if i should do it with all my upcoming works or if it looks stupid!

@bblairxe

[thekitsunesiren]

Dc x DP #52

Danny knew that he managed to stop the future with Dan, but he couldn't help but fear the worst. That just because he avoided it once, it wasn't the end of it. What if he came back? What if? What if?

Danny knew that he had to do something-anything-as not to end up like Dan. Well, Dan happened due to many things, but there was much violence and fighting after his parents deaths. So what if Danny slowed down on the fighting and started healing? It wasn't bound to work, but it was a start.

Jazz was excited about his revelation, excited about the potential of them both becoming doctors in some form. Maybe they could even work together! She of course warned him that if he wanted to become a doctor, he would to have work on his grades. Medical school would take a lot of time. And if he was still interested in the stars and technology, engineering would be a good minor or double major. She was sure NASA had a medical team or something similar.

His parents were more than thrilled that both of their children wanted to be doctors in their own rights, even if not ectobiologists like them. Though, they don't know the real reason for Danny's change of heart, they are excited for him nonetheless.

His friends were more than accepting about this career path, knowing how much the fear of Dan returning haunted Danny ever since the incident. Word got to the ghost zone and Ember, Kitty and Johnny have been calling him "Doc" everytime he popped up. Many of the other ghosts who heard the news congratulated him on his decision and praised that healing was a wonderful profession. The most excited about this news was Frostbite. He knew that the Chief of the Far Frozen would be excited about his idea. Which hit Danny with another thought: why didn't he learn about ghost biology and healing too? It would help him learn more about his ghost biology as he grew and adapt. Who knows, maybe the people of the Infinite Realms would like their new ruler as well.

It didn't take much when it came to convince Frostbite to teach him the art of healing. The leader was ecstatic that he wanted to be taught, even. Though he warned that it would be a long and difficult journey, seeing that was a completely different race he was going to be tending to. And each ghost had their own differences. Whether their cores, their biology, or how their obsessions affected them as a whole. He also had to learn the differences between the ghosts who arrived to the Infinite Realms and those who were born from it and how to treat them. Since he himself was a new anomaly for the Infinite Realms, he was both often a subject and a patient for himself and other healers in the Far Frozen. But it interesting getting both view points. It even helped him more when he was

With his skills, Danny was able to go to Gotham with the plans of majoring with a medical degree and perhaps the minor in engineering as to his sisters suggestion. And with so many people cheering him on, it made all the studying and endless hours worth it.

As he studied, Danny was excited to learn more and put his practices to good use. And he believed he found the perfect person to take as his first patient: this Red Hood guy who seemed to be full of rotten ectoplasm.

[alwaysobsessed777]

Based this request off the pictures of Nika flexing at the top of your profile, plus the pictures she’s posted working out and then that video of her doing leg exercises and her quads looking insane- Nika’s girlfriend just being a simp for Nika and how strong, hot and beautiful she is but also being funny and telling her that Paige has bigger muscles than her now (which honestly might be true lol)

2 HANDS - N.M.

I honestly think I write for nika the best....idk what that's about

Back at the shared dorm rooms of the UConn women's basketball team, I laid on the couch waiting for my girlfriend to come back. None of the team really cared that was constantly around. Honestly, they probably enjoyed the fact that when I was around, Nika wasn't getting on to them about something.

My phone was starting to become boring, but at the last second, a edit of Nika popped up. The edit flowing with whatever song was trending on tiktok at the moment. The clips showing Nika frustrated or just looking fine.

As the video played over and over again, the sound of keys jiggling into the keyhole made me jump up. The door opening in a second.

"I mea-Babe....you okay?" Nika stopped mid conversation to ask me, my nervous state more obvious than I'd like. Her strides quick and determined as she made her way to me. Her hands holding my arms as she looked me in the eyes.

"uh...yeah...yep," I could hear the faint sound of the music playing over and over again in the back. My nerved sky rocketing as Nika grabbed my phone.

"holy shit..." her eyes seemed to light up a little, "you were watching edits of me."

Paige snickered, "she couldn't help herself, thinking of you at the gym and everything, twin!"

Heat rose to my cheeks, "I...i wasn't watching edits. It just so happened to come on as you came home." Paige mention of the gym made my thoughts run back to what Nika looked like there. Sweating, muscles popping, a shiver ran down my spine.

"Sure, bebo." She rolled her eyes, handing me my phone back. "Couldn't help but think of these bad boys, huh?" As she flexed her arms, I couldn't help but bite my lip.

"put those awayyyy... don't wanna scare me off, do ya?" Her airy chuckle made my nerves settled a little, "but..."

An eyebrow raised as Nika looked at me, "but what?"

"I do think Paige is starting to get bigger....but who knows," a smirk rested on my lips, watching my girlfriend's face drop. She called the blonde back into the room.

"Paige! Get your ass in here!" A second passed before the blonde walked in, shorts and a sports bra the only thing covering her body. "Tell my girlfriend that I've got bigger muscles than you."

"what?!? No!" She waved her hand, shooing the girl off, "she's obviously knows what she's talking about."

Dumbfounded, Nika gave me a look, "babe...do you really think her muscles are bigger than mine?"

I shake my head, watching the girl's smile return. With one swift motion, she picked me up, walking us to her room. "Nika!"

"hmm?"

"put me down!"

"once I get you to my room, than I'll put you down," the smirk was huge, and undeniably doing something to me.

I rolled my eyes, waiting for the girl to put me down on her bed. She placed me down, standing back up to throw her shirt off her body. You would think this would go somewhere else, but it didn't go there. She started flexing, wiggling her brows down at me.

"Paige wouldn't have been able to carry you...she got fake muscles. I got the real ones, " I snicker.

"baby, I was just joking," she sighed, I stood up and wrapped my arms around her torso, "you're the strongest, sexiest woman I've ever seen. Is that better?"

She laughed, "Maybe not ask if that's better....but it definitely sounds good you calling me sexy."

We stood there for a minute, in each other's arms. I couldn't deny the fact that I was into the girl, possibly in love, but I didn't wanna be the first to say it. I didn't wanna sound dumb...but to my surprise, I wouldn't have to wait much longer.

"I love you...ya know?" Nika sounded uncertain, careful with her words. A smiled stretched across my face.

"I love you too...ya know," I leaned up to kiss her lips, "you and those gigantic muscles you have."

"you're so unserious," shaking her head, a small laugh came out.

"yeah yeah.... that's nothing knew."

[slow-drowned-angels]

[image id: A screenshot of a tweet from the New York Post. It reads:

“Carl’s Jr. Super Bowl ad brings back bikini-clad burger models after yearslong clampdown.”

Attached to the tweet are two images of said ad. They both show the same scantily-clad, blonde, white woman posing with a burger and cars. She is wearing a bra that is made up of two star shapes and a jean miniskirt.

End image ID./]

Some notable parts of the Vox article:

It harks back to the idea that was dominant in the Bush era, a moment when our culture was capable of prizing Girls Gone Wild and purity balls in equal measure, when pop stars like Britney Spears were expected to serve their audiences sex on a platter while avowing their virginity at the same time. It’s the ideology that unites Republican raunch and purity culture, that makes them two sides of the same coin: one based on the idea that women’s sexuality should exist in the service of men. The right once again championing this brand of bawdiness while working relentlessly to restrict women’s autonomy and denigrating the women they don’t like isn’t a departure. It’s a return to form.

…

The joke was that it was funny when girls were sexy and it was sexy when girls were degraded — especially when they played along.

…

“The more attractive women around us are, whether in real life or fiction, the less one is able to maintain two important leftist delusions,” Hanania writes. “That the sexes are or can be made interchangeable, and that sexual selection either is or can be made to be an unimportant part of human affairs. If Sydney Sweeney’s boobs walk into a room, even Chris Hayes is going to experience a physiological transformation.”

Hanania’s take, if I’m deciphering it correctly, is that it is fundamental to human nature for men to publicly ogle women’s bodies and value women accordingly, and that when feminists object to the ogling, they are attempting to put some sort of vise around human nature. Sweeney’s star power, combined with her willingness to show off her curves, he argues, is proof that this vise has vanished and men can go back to the way things should be: sexualizing women pretty much whenever they feel like it.

All of this is a willful misreading of contemporary feminism. There’s a clear difference between Sweeney being proudly boob-forward — while still getting taken seriously as an award-winning actor with major star power — and other people getting rich by exploiting the breasts of beautiful underpaid women, as was the case with Girls Gone Wild, The Man Show, and, heck, even today’s Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders

The radical idea of pop feminism in the 2010s was that you should be accorded basic human dignity regardless of what your body looks like and how you choose to display it, even if you are an entertainer in a visual medium. Raunch culture looks at this request and declares it regressive, prudish, delusional. Raunch must be compulsory or it is nothing.

…

This basic fact is why raunch culture and purity culture co-exist so closely. It’s why the online right can think of themselves as being pro-sex and also be in favor of outlawing abortion and making it harder to access contraception. All of it is about men controlling women’s bodies: controlling how they look, how they have sex, and how they have children. The point is always that it’s not the woman who chooses.

…

“If we were to acknowledge that sexuality is personal and unique, it would become unwieldy. Making sexiness into something simple, quantifiable, makes it easier to explain and to market,” Levy writes. “If you remove the human factor from sex and make it about stuff — big fake boobs, bleached blonde hair, long nails, poles, thongs — then you can sell it. Suddenly, sex requires shopping; you need plastic surgery, peroxide, a manicure, a mall.”

…

The claim that sex belongs to Republicans should not be understood simply as a bizarre and self-deluding brag. It’s a threat.

while being depressing, this is also sort of fascinating to me bc there’s something so…inauthentic here. what i mean is that if you saw something like this back in say 2001 (which you probably wouldn’t, at least for carl’s jr. but i digress) it would seem tacky but in a “sex sells” sort of way.

seeing this in 2025, it’s clearly purely a political statement and you can tell partially bc the image itself is so oddly sexless. it’s like there’s more titillation in the prospect of “owning the libs” than in the image of the scantily clad blonde white woman itself.

[moon-ttokki-x]

hiii baby!!! I love your work and this is like my first request I’ve sent to anyone at all 😭 but could you do 28 and 7 for Minho ^^ tysm!!

hihi cutie~ i've actually had both of these prompts before so i got better at writing them hehe. also amogus divider bc why tf not

keychain - bf!lee minho x reader

pairing: bf!lee know x reader

summary: you fight with minho and he comes back to make things right.

genre: non-idol! au, pretty angst, soonie doongie dori honourable mention, comfort, fluffy ending, soft minho

a/n: so i started listening to lana del rey and i wrote this to 'sad girl' also div by @si-eunnis

⛓️ prompts: 7. "I'm glad you're here." / 28. "You're looking at me like that again."

skz prompt list | skz masterlist

You toss another dirty tissue across the countertop, sniffing as you watch it come to rest at the very edge, teetering. Leaning your cheek against the cold, marbled surface, you sigh and let the sharp feeling seep through your pores like iced water.

It does little to soothe the current puffy redness of your cheeks; how long have you been sitting here, crying? The golden hanging lights that frame the kitchen have made your hair warm to the touch, their beams caressing the messy state of it, and your back feels numb and achy from the awkward position you've been slumped in since Minho stormed out of the apartment. You sigh.

You don't even remember what you were fighting about.

Each exhale feels like it's been punched out of you as you relive the events of the past hour; him coming home, both of you tired and irritable, and then fighting over the pettiest thing that you don't even remember anymore.

Then he left.

You're not sure if he's coming back; he didn't take anything but his phone, which had been in his pocket as soon as he came in, and his work bag, which is still smashed against the wall where he'd dropped it with a sigh on coming home.

You can't fight a weak smile at the habit; you've installed multiple hooks along the wall so he can hang his bag up when he gets home, but every time you did, he'd always just drop it on the floor anyway, kicking off his shoes at the door.

And you'd smile and gesture at the hooks, but he'd just ignore them, kissing your fed-up expression off your face with a gentle mouth and squeezing your shoulder with a warm, solid hand.

The way he always does.

You look at those hooks now; one of the cats' collars is hanging off them, and several other items like hair ties and rings of keys adorn the others. You came into the kitchen one day and saw Minho hanging a cat toy from the hook nearest to the door so that, when he wasn't home, the cats would be able to play. Dori sits there now, batting with fluffy white paws at the feathers and bells on the string.

Ding, ding. Ding.

You're not sure why you're thinking of such things; surely anyone in your current situation would incessantly cry their eyes out, wailing at the mistake of fighting with their partner, instead of thinking about plastic wall hooks and under-stimulated cats.

You're so distracted that you don't even notice the apartment door open again, so slowly that it takes about half a minute for Minho to actually step inside.

He's soaked.

The smell of the night rain that he brings with him is suddenly so prominent inside the still air of the apartment that it's what makes you look up.

"Minho," you whisper, eyes red and puffy. You scrub a hand across your face, the skin stinging at the harsh treatment. You hadn't even heard the rain outside.

He doesn't look at you, just takes off his shoes, very deliberately. There's a little puddle of rainwater around his feet and you fight back an exhale as his socked feet meet the wet tiles. Dori immediately goes to nuzzle against his legs and then hisses at the unpleasant wetness of his owner's legs.

But Minho doesn't seem to notice, simply taking off layers until he's stood in his slacks and white work shirt, which is the only dry item of clothing he has on. He drops the rest of his clothes in a pile.

His eyes finally lift themselves to meet yours; the warmth in them is gone, replaced by something unreadable. A dull, heavy feeling settles in your gut, a sense of finality washing over your being. You know this is the moment that he'll say he wants to leave, that he just can't find it in himself to love you. He'll go to your shared room and start packing a suitcase, and take the cats with him, all while you wail and tug at his arms for him not to leave, please, Minho, don't leave-

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

Your gaze flits to his. Your voice is croaky, cracked, saturated with sadness. "What?"

He steps forward, ignoring the insistent mewing of Soonie and Doongie, who have just come into the room. "I'm sorry. I should have just left to clear my head and then came back, but I've been gone half the night."

You blink and look through tired eyes to the clock on the wall. It takes you a couple seconds to process the time. It's 1 am. Minho came home at 9 pm. You don't even know how many hours that is.

"How long were you walking in the rain?" You say, still whispering lest you scare him off again.

He shrugs. His mouth opens, like he wants to say something, but he's hesitant, like he's not sure how it will be received.

He speaks anyway. "I stalled for a while. I didn't know if you'd be here when I came back..." His fingers twist in the slightly damp material of his white shirt, fidgeting.

Your indignance suddenly takes over your upset state and you sit up straighter. "I would have waited all night for you, Minho. I wasn't going to leave..."

"I know," he says solemnly, and then quietly, "I'm glad you're here."

You nod and slowly slide off the chair you've been slumped in, disturbing a few of the tissues scattered across the countertop. "I'm sorry too, Min. I shouldn't have kept the argument going."

He shakes his head. "We were both tired. It happens."

You both stand in silence for a minute, neither one of you sure how to continue the conversation. It's almost awkward until Minho steps forward, taking out something from his pocket. He shyly holds it out.

You take a small step forward and take the small item from him. Unfolding your fingers from around it, you blink through unshed tears to see a small keychain resting in the palm of your hand. It's a little cat with its mouth open, its fur pattern like Soonie's, but grey instead of ginger. There's another attachment of a pink peach, and the clip keyring attachment is shaped like a heart.

You look up at Minho. His face is red. You remember suddenly that he's quite shy when it comes to giving things to people, and you can't fight the urge to throw yourself into his arms.

This little keychain is Minho's apology.

His skin is cold, damp from the rain, and the collar of his shirt is wet from the rain, but you hold him close anyway. You wrap your arms around his middle, squeezing your eyes shut. He's almost fetched up against the wall from how hard you threw yourself at him, but his arms find their familiar place around your shoulders.

You pull back slightly, gazing up at him. As if he wasn't soaked enough, your tears have left two patches on his chest, but he doesn't seem to mind.

"You're looking at me like that again." Minho says quietly.

You hum, a tear spilling down your cheek. "Looking at you like what?"

You see his throat bob, swallow hard. You can feel the constant thrum of his heart through the damp fabric of his shirt.

Minho gulps. "You always look at me like than when- when-"

"When I say I love you?" You finish for him.

Minho nods inaudibly, the movement of his head so small you almost don't see it at all. You smile, tilting your head at him, the tears beginning to slow.

You both stand there for who knows how long, clinging to each other, trapping between your bodies the smell of rain and fade cologne. Finally, Minho talks.

"I love you too."

a/n: this was way too long

[torusonicpilled]

can we know more about the future au👀👀❓️

Alright I've been waiting for this, get ready for a really long lore dump... (click on keep reading so I don't clutter up the tags)

Future AU takes place 200 years after when-ever the main events of the game are. This would make Shadow 215 years old and Sonic 216 years old. Sonic: Sonic was created by a cult of former ARK scientists who wanted to create a version of Shadow specifically to be a weapon and without the Black Arms DNA. They used the DNA of a god and were successful (obviously.) However, Sonic at one point lost control of his power and destroyed everything, this event made him lose his memory. The first thing he did when he woke up was the nature around him, creating his free-spirited nature (contrast to how Shadow woke up seeing Maria for the first time.) All this lore is here to explain why Sonic is immortal. However because Sonic is immortal and the public is unaware of this, and basically the gods have their own secret cult that gave Sonic an ultimatum. Basically he could A) Die at around 40 but keep his freedom, however the earth he loves may one day be destroyed due to the lack of him protecting it. B) He lives long enough (around 110) for people to realize he is immortal like Shadow, and not wanting to waste their best protector against the planet, seals him away, freezing him and only take him out when they need him to save them, or C) fake his death and continuing living, but lose his humanity, never being able to be “Sonic the Hedgehog” again. Sonic also never made this choice, as Shadow was the one who decided. Shadow feels guilt over this even if Sonic has gotten over it at this point. 

Sonic goes through a major depression in the years 110-150, as he basically loses his identity and is struggling with that. Sonic eventually finds some old outfit Shadow has in the closet, and uses it to become a masked figure called “S.” He now saves people under S, his speed being from “technology” and a voice modulator hiding his voice. Sonic is insanely powerful in the future, so people start equating him to a “legendary hero” who only appears when a threat too strong shows up. (like how Silver acted when talking about Whisper in IDW #8.) 

Sonic still has a lot of his immature traits personality wise, however he is a lot smarter when it comes to combat, having experience in situations, as well as being extremely overpowered. 

Shadow: Due to Shadow being the ultimate lifeform, he’s allowed to still be in public and shows his face. Shadow leaves G.U.N after Rouge retires, as Team Dark disbands. Once Rouge dies, Shadow spends a lot of time with Sonic, as Sonic is going through it being dead in all but name. 

Around 130-140, Shadow created “Maria’s Solutions,” his own private organization for helping people. Shadow is someone people go to when people can’t go to police or other organizations for help. He accepts help from almost any client, however he is often avoided by the worst as his power is terrifying. Shadow is now a detective, negotiator, and bounty hunter all in one, as he is more knowledgeable and collected now. 

After Eggman's death, Shadow adopted Sage at his request, not having it in him to bring her offline. Sage has a duplicate robot body but she prefers to spend time with him on Shadow's phone. She helps him out in missions, with hacking and tech related problems. 

Shadow has other employees for Maria’s Solutions, however I’m still working on them. Main ideas include an innocent girl similar to Maria he’s taken a soft spot to, a robot like Omega who works as a maid around their house, etc. 

Silver: Silver will occasionally come back to check in on Shadow. Due to the deal they made, Silver can’t know Sonic is alive. However, due to a mishap, Silver finds out and becomes friends with S. Sonic likes spending more time with Silver so he hides this fact from Shadow, sometimes going on missions with Silver. 

Other info

Sonic and Shadow aren’t important to this world. Lots of organizations and people fight in this world, thus leaving Sonic to deal with world ending threats and Shadow his clients. Organizations include

Technology conglomerates

A church that worships Gaia

The restoration

Militaries

Sonic and Shadow are married with rings pierced in their ears, however they do not like to define relationships. 

Anyone who Shadow trusts enough will meet Sonic by accident, but calls him “S” either way. 

Knuckles can be spoken too by connecting with the master emerald, which is underneath Sonic and Shadow’s house in an underground facility. 

Tails reincarnates when he dies with an extra tail, however he gets his memories from his last 100 years only if he meets Sonic. They don’t meet until 130ish, where Sonic agrees to wait until Tails is 20 every time before he hunts for him. (this part I’m still working on.)

Sonic is a jack of all trades who can use any weapon to fight as he likes to switch it up. Shadow uses a gun and sword combo along with his chaos abilities. 

AU is more comedic despite the somber tone, as Sonic and Shadow are still Sonic and Shadow at the end of the day.

Well that was a lot but if you want more info send me another ask with more questions for me to answer

[16wolke11]

Clumsy - Oscar Piastri

A/N My first one-shot here! Still figuring out the tagging and stuff, but I hope you like it.

Summary: Oscar's girlfriend is extremely clumsy, always managing to get a new bruise or a new cut just a few days apart. One day she falls down the stairs and needs surgery, Oscar drops everything to be with her.

Words: 2139

__________

Being a teacher at an elementary school was always my dream job, and after finishing my master's degree, I am finally able to do what I love; teaching the young ones and laying the first stones on their path to knowledge. Even though it is difficult at times, to manage the fidgeting children who tend to get distracted easily, it's still what I love. Seeing success when another one manages to read a full sentence, solve a math problem, or write a rather difficult word with the correct spelling is priceless.

But being a teacher also means I'm not able to accompany Oscar that often. It's just not ideal to travel over the weekend; landing late on Fridays and having to leave exactly after the race, while also trying to prepare the classes for the upcoming week and maybe even needing to correct work from the previous one. I love summer break because it means I can be with Oscar more often, but in the meantime, we make the best out of the situation. We FaceTime frequently, chat while the other is occupied, and just savour the time we can spend together.

This week is another one when Oscar left for a race, and I have to stay behind. Luckily, I have a short day at school today, allowing me to go before lunch and finish some things. Well, if it weren't for my clumsy self. Oscar always jokes that I get at least five new bruises while he's away, and he's probably right, but I can't do anything about the stumbling, the brushing against door frames, or knocking my little toe into anything. But today, my bad luck took it one step too far, and I slipped on the stairs at school, hitting my elbow on them and feeling a sharp pain shoot down my arm.

I've fallen down these stairs before, but I've never been in so much pain. One of my coworkers found me, and after a quick look at my already bruising elbow, we decided to call an ambulance. Now, hours later, I have a diagnosis and finally some time to tell Oscar what happened. I already have a few texts from him, nothing too worried, just some updates about his day and a question about how mine is going. With a sigh, I call his number, bracing myself to tell him everything while not even being able to fidget with my fingers for distraction.

It doesn't take long before Oscar picks up like he's been waiting in front of his phone just anticipating my call or text. "Hey, Oscar," I greet him and hear some shuffling in the background before a door closes and Oscar speaks up.

"Love, everything okay? Shouldn't you be at work?" he asks, his voice already laced with worry. I close my eyes for a moment. Oscar didn't even know I was supposed to be out of work early today and just assumes I should still be at school teaching or supervising the little gremlins.

"Please don't freak out," I start, and I hear a nervous chuckle in response.

"This is not a great starting point for that request, but I'll try."

He's right, but I don't even know how to phrase what happened easily, so I just start with the simplest explanation I can think of. "Well, I kind of fell down the stairs after finishing my last class."

"Again?" Oscar laughs, and I can't help but smile a little too, though I roll my eyes at the same time, even though Oscar can't see me.

"Hey, I can't do anything about being clumsy," I protest, but I only get another laugh in return. Usually, I would laugh with him, but the light throbbing in my elbow, down to my fingers, stops the light mood I'm in.

"Sorry, but I reckon you don't just call to tell me that," Oscar apologizes softly, and then he gets back to the reason for my call. I take a deep breath, preparing myself for all the questions he's going to have.

"No, I might've smashed my elbow pretty badly, and they brought me to the hospital." I tell him the first facts, and immediately the laughing Oscar is replaced with a worried one.

"That bad?" he asks, and I can almost hear the pain in his voice. As much as he likes to joke about my clumsiness, he also hates it when I get injured, even if it's just a little bruise or a cut.

"Unfortunately, I managed to break it and need surgery to fix the broken pieces back into place. It'll be a long recovery because I was pretty successful in splintering the bone into pieces," I tell him what the doctors explained, just in the simpler version. They explained a lot about how they need to make sure there are no little bone fragments left in the joint and the recovery process I'll have to go through.

"Fuck!" Oscar curses, and I can hear him pacing, probably in his driver's room. I can only imagine the distressed look on his face and how he's probably ruffling his hair while a thousand thoughts swirling through his head. Well, at least he's giving me an insight into what's going on in his mind, because he starts rambling.

"How are you feeling? Are you okay? Do you need anything? I could send Margaret over or someone else if you need anyone by your side right now. Did they say anything about the recovery? Will your arm be able to move normally or will there be any lasting damage?"

"Oscar, stop." I manage to speak up when he takes a deep breath. It's sweet how he's trying to help me from afar, even thinking about sending our elderly neighbour to me, but I need him to calm down.

"Sorry, kind of freaking out right now," he mutters, and I smile just a little bit.

"I could tell." I still remember the first time Oscar rambled that much and how surprised I was by the speed and number of words coming out of his mouth. Usually, he's calm, collected, and limits his words to the necessary ones, but when he's really worried, everything just comes out.

"Don't worry, I don't need anything right now. Just hearing your voice makes everything feel better," I tell him, which is the truth. There's nothing I need right now, except for him, and he just helps me by being here on the phone, even though it's not the same as having him in person.

"That's good," Oscar says, and I can hear that he's stopped pacing, probably calming down a little.

"Is there anything you know about the surgery?" he asks after a short break, now sounding like his calm self again.

"We're currently waiting for a free spot in the OR. It's not urgent, but they'd like to operate before the swelling gets too bad, and luckily, I haven't had lunch yet," I explain what the doctors told me. This isn't an emergency, but waiting too long isn't ideal either, so they're going to squeeze me in as soon as one of the ORs is available.

"I bet you're hungry," Oscar grins, and I can hear it in his voice. I've learned to recognize that tone through the phone—the soft change when his lips are curled upwards.

"Starving," I confirm with a soft laugh. My stomach is already growling, but there's no way to get food until after the surgery. I can wait if it means my elbow will be fixed.

"I promise you your favourite food as soon as I'm with you," Oscar says, and I know he's not lying. He would probably even order food into the hospital for me if that were possible, but they wouldn't bring it to me, so I'll have to wait.

"Looking forward to it. Hopefully, I'll be home by then," I mumble, knowing it will take some days until Oscar will be back home, and who knows, maybe they'll send me home just a few days after the surgery.

"We'll see," are Oscar's last words about my injury before we start talking a bit about his day. I get the feeling he's trying to distract me, and it's working perfectly. At one point, Oscar needs to leave for some duties, and luckily for me, a nice nurse comes in just a few minutes later to inform me that my surgery is starting soon.

The way to the OR and the prepping feels like a blur, and quicker than I thought, I'm with an anaesthesiologist. Drifting into sleep feels like a relief because I know my arm will be fixed. Of course, recovery will take its time, but I'm sure I'll manage it just fine.

Waking up after the surgery almost knocks the air out of my lungs because it feels like my arm is falling off. The nurse helps me take a few sips of water, gives me some painkillers, and then I drift back into sleep, even though I just woke up from a deep slumber.

The night is blurry, waking up from time to time—sometimes from the pain in general, sometimes from the nurses, and sometimes from the pain of a sudden movement. But somehow, I make it through the night and feel slightly better in the morning. Blinking, I try to figure out what time it might be when I spot a familiar figure sitting beside my bed, watching me closely.

"Os?" I ask groggily, not sure if he's really sitting there or if the pain meds are playing tricks on my mind. But just seeing the soft smile on his lips makes me hope that he's really there and not just in my imagination.

"Hi, love," he whispers, fingers reaching for my uninjured hand, softly holding onto it, letting me feel the warmth of his touch.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, slowly realizing that he's indeed here and not with his team for the race weekend.

"Being here for you," he simply states, like it's obvious that it wouldn't even be a question for him if he had to choose where to be right now.

"Your race..." I whisper, knowing how important it is, not only to him but to the fans, the championship, the team, and everyone else involved. I would like to ask him if he's insane, if they made it hard for him to leave, but no words leave my lips.

"You are more important," Oscar states, and my eyes well up. How can he be so perfect?

"Thank you," I try to squeeze his hand a bit, but my grip is pretty weak. Oscar starts letting his thumb brush over the back of my hand, and I relax under his touch. His eyes wander over me before he asks a question.

"How are you feeling? Is the pain manageable?"

My eyes linger on my heavily padded elbow for a moment. Right now, I don't feel anything but a dull pain. But it seems like Oscar's touch makes it disappear with every soft stroke of his finger on my skin.

"You make everything seem better just by being here," I state, my voice laced with tiredness, and Oscar smiles softly.

"So, I guess they gave you some nice painkillers," he grins. I can hear it in his voice, and I can feel my lips pulling into a crooked smile.

"Yes."

We look at each other for a moment, but my eyes are getting heavier and heavier, and I have to fight to keep them open for a few more minutes.

"Can you come in?" I ask Oscar, who looks conflicted at my question.

"I don't know," he says, gesturing to my body, indicating he's scared of hurting me in any way, but I just need him close now for recovery.

"Please."

Oscar sighs softly before standing up. "Okay, anything to make you feel better," he says, gets rid of his shoes, and carefully shuffles into the bed beside me. I need to stay on my back because of my elbow being propped up in some bedding, and he lays on his side beside my good arm, resting his arm over my belly and searching for the contact I need. I rest my head against his chest before a thought comes into my head.

"Did you bring the food?" I ask, remembering what he promised, and even though my mind is hazy, I realize he probably already knew he was coming home early when he promised me the food.

"Yes," Oscar confirms, and I can only hum the following words, close to falling asleep.

"Love you."

"Love you too, my little crash pilot," Oscar whispers, holding me in his arms while I slip into the sleep of recovery.

[trashratsaws]

Yes!! I love every single detail that allows the reader to understand that despite our love for Scar, HG is NOT A GOOD GUY. HE IS A COP. I wanted to add - I'm not nearly as familiar with the writing process as Lew's, BUT! Something that smacked me in the face immediately when I was reading the chapter is how similar Scar's opening line - "I'm here to help you, I'm the best option you got" - is to how REAL cops actually try to get civilians to give up information they SHOULDN'T be giving up. If you've ever been detained or arrested or even just interacted with a cop irl before you know the language they use. "We're just trying to help" "Things will go much easier if you just talk to us and answer our questions" but what they actually mean is that things will go much easier for THEM. NOT for you (sidebar if you ever get arrested or must interact with a cop, NEVER tell them ANYTHING except to demand a lawyer). That's excatly what HG means in this scene with Grian. He's trying to "help", but he's not helping Grian.

It's just such a great way to tie back to the theme of the comic in a very real way. CG always calls HG "cop" in the earlier shorts, and that's all well and good to understand "HG works for the government, while Grian does not" but on a much deeper level that means that Scar enjoys privileges and power that Grian does not. He gets better equipment, he gets celebrity status for the same traits others get discriminated for, he gets to be above the law (meanwhile, for doing exactly the same thing basically, Grian is breaking the law), etc. Grian doesn't have any of those things. Their dynamic is inherently imbalanced. And I think the key to this dynamic unraveling and leveling the playing field between them is for Scar to realize that he is also a victim of the system. If HG WASN'T employed directly by the government, he wouldn't enjoy all this power and status, he wouldn't get praised and applauded. He wouldn't get new legs. He'd be treated exactly like Grian and Jimmy and Tango are. We also see in a previous chapter Cub chastising Scar for abusing his equipment at risk to his own personal health. He also experiences the consequences of living in a world where minority groups are not treated fairly, especially by the government (the one that expects him to fit a certain "image" aka able-bodied in order to be a superhero). He just doesn't realize that those things are correlated. And I can't wait for that realization to hit him in the face like a bullet. GADAM I LOVE THIS COMIC.

hello hello ddvau fans if you do not know me i do edits for ddvau and i have Known about this chapter for weeks and have been sitting on my rage at HG the whole time. and now it is released i need the people to see he is a bitch ass mf

anyway. starting off here. the very first thing HG says to Grian when talking about what happened is a threat

"i'm here to help you. i'm the best option you got, no one else will"

when i was editing for Doody, this line was just "i'm here to help." but Doody wanted it to come across somewhere in this chapter that HG has all the power in this situation and that HG wants Grian to know that. it was decided that the best spot to include that was right here, right off the bat. HG is Grian's only option and that is as much a promise as it is a threat. no one else will help Grian, and that includes saving him from HG if he doesn't tell HG what he wants to know

and then there's this page. when Grian isnt super forthcoming w info, HG pulls out Jimmy. HG knows better than anyone that Jimmy is completely innocent and that he had nothing to do w the attack--he's a victim here, and HG knows that better than anyone. he also knows, from being Grian and Jimmy's friend as a civilian for years, that Grian cares a lot about Jimmy, and is using that against Grian

he also knows from being a civilian and Jimmy's friend that Jimmy's pro-mutant stance isnt popular, and Jimmy could be framed if HG said something bad about him. HG is trying blatantly to use anti-mutant sentiments against Grian and Jimmy so that Grian will talk, in a moment Grian is already convinced he's going to be arrested for hiding his status as a mutant

(which: note that HG says he heard "rumors" about Jimmy's stance about mutants and his protests against the university's policies--it isn't rumors, HG knows this from being Jimmy's friend and coworker as Scar)

and then here, HG is the only one who was conscious and who was fully present for and remembers what happened during the MS attack. yeah, Tango was also there, but Tango is a known mutant, adn we've already seen people do not trust Tango and think Tango is dangerous--he's certainly not as trustworthy as HG, Superhero, Emerald Soldier, face of the military. he's the one people will trust most. what he says happened is what happened

HG says that yes, Grian’s secret is safe, but only because HG is choosing to keep it. Grian is safe because HG is allowing him to be. HG told everyone that Grian gained wings from the attack, and so HG won't arrest Grian. in this narrative which HG made up, Grian did not lie to the government and he was not always a mutant. HG said it, so it's true, even if he's lying. all HG has to do is change his mind and say that Grian was always a mutant who lied and hid his status from the government, and then Grian will be arrested. HG could change his mind at any time if Grian doesn't cooperate with him. he's very blatantly blackmailing Grian

fun fact! the original version of this line didn't have the "for now," but it was added in editing when Doody said they wanted it to be explicitly clear HG is threatening Grian

what HG says here is the truth. he isn't just representing the law--HG is above the law, and he isn't shy about making sure Grian knows that. he's willing to use anything in his disposal to get the information he wants, and he's willing to use anything available to him to make sure Grian complies with him. disguising it in friendly attitude and cookies and a phone number does not hide the fact HG was incredibly ruthlessly manipulative here

anyway. incredibly fun chapter. one of my favorites. i need DDVAU HG exploded

[drdemonprince]

im really envious of u. I like reading your writing and the stories you tell about sex and stuff and it sounds like u have a lot of fun. I don’t no if I will ever be able to live like that. im autistic and very inhibited is probably the best word. I find it hard to meet new people and go new places. a few times I have gone to local munches but been too introverted to say anything to people and I just sit there feeling self conscious and silly. they have been really nice. but I haven’t made any friends or anything. I feel like I need someone to take me under their wing kinda and give me an in. It seems like I’d really enjoy it a lot but don’t no how to make my way in. I don’t feel confident enough to just use apps and hook up. especially as im so new to it all and dont no what im doing really. I’ve read what you say about going to the social gatherings and stuff but what if im too shy to say anything? I don’t no how to be more uninhibited but I feel like that’s what I need.

please keep in mind that I was not doing any of this shit until I was like 32 years old. up until then I was in only a handful of relationships, mostly ones I had stumbled into through no agency of my own, and I had never really lived out any of my kinky desires. hell I had barely even gone out to a club or a concert or anything on my own, certainly not very often, let alone a sex club or something like that. I had to practice socializing on my own terms, and trying new things alone and scared and finding what was valuable in them despite those feelings a lot. like many many years a lot.

I didn't really venture out into the gay bath house or any of the cruising bars until I had a partner who was interested in taking me to them. that provided me with an in and an emotionally safe anchor with which to explore. I am also indebted to friends who showed me around places like steamworks and explained to me the nonverbals of cruising, which I then went ahead and put in my own cruising guide.

to this day I still have a much better time at events like puppy play night when I go with some homies and can spend some time joking around with them and using their support to help meet people before eventually breaking off and wandering into a back room to get laid. I still routinely have nights where I will go out on my own and do very little but sip from my drink and stand around awkwardly for four hours, maybe dance a bit, and go home.

cruising is an exercise in patience. you are never guaranteed any particular outcome or experience. you work with what nature gives you, and you learn to find some appreciation in simply being there and bearing witness. 9 times out of 10 you get turned down or there just isn't a spark. happens on the apps too.

shooting your shot and getting turned down is a successful consent negotiation. everybody has done everything correctly and it ended the only way that it should have. there's nothing to do but dust yourself off, not take it as some dramatic declaration of your life worth, and go at it again.

I recommend visiting cruising spaces with a friend. and just going purely for voyeuristic and anthropological reasons the first couple times. The only way you become a person who can do this stuff is by doing it, a fuck ton of times. message a lot of people. Go to a lot of events.

at some point you have to find the very act of going to be motivating and enjoyable in some way. thankfully I am fascinated by humans, enjoy dancing, like having a little drink or an edible and wandering around, and treat it all as very valuable writing fodder. you have to find what set of motivations work for you. because it's not about instant success or gratification ever. It is always a lot of waiting and watching and wondering what the night is going to bring, and making peace that often it will bring nothing at all except for being alive amongst others.

keep at it though. start really small. I am so glad that I got to this point, because yeah my life is really interesting and sexually gratifying and fun. but it also is entire weekends of just standing around nursing a drink and doing nothing and looking like an NPC. happens to the best of us

[defututus]

Even When I’m Not With You | Chapter Three

Sprite & Confessions

masterlist

Summary: you and Eddie are getting closer and it has become impossible to ignore your feelings for each other.

content warnings: mentions of a lack of romantic experience but I swear this chapter is all fluff, Eddie being gross for a minute

word count: ~4.8k

author's note: this chapter is my favorite and I hope you all see why <3 also, I had someone ask for a taglist so if anyone else wants to be added please let me know!

As always, thank you to my favorite people @corroded-hellfire and @munson-blurbs for helping me when I need advice. Also, I don’t know if they remember helping me with this, but I want to thank @vintagehellfire for letting me pick their brain and suggesting things while I writing about Eddie’s… incident. I cackled when she suggested some of the dialogue.

reposting because I forgot to tag it properly!

divider by @saradika-graphics

You and Eddie quickly became thick as thieves. The two of you were either hanging out together or talking over facetime or texting. There were always updates on how your day was going, memes being sent, random thoughts that popped into your head. You couldn’t go an hour without speaking to one another with the exception of sleeping or you being in class, in which Eddie would just message hou until class was over and you’d catch up on everything he sent you. You eventually learned everything about him - about his uncle and his band, Corroded Coffin. You learned he was a music production major with the hopes that his band would make it big but kept a job at the local mechanic for the time being and in case plan A doesn’t work out.  

The two of you would usually have breakfast together, schedules permitting, and then walk to your respective classes together.  You were always amazed at how much Eddie was able to eat every morning, especially when you ate dinner with him the night before and remembered how much he ate then. He also tried a new combination of food every morning - some of these made sense, like Cocoa Puffs in chocolate milk, while you vividly remember him trying Fruity Pebbles in orange juice and how he got a weird look from the dining hall staff when they saw him happily walking to his seat with that in his bowl.  It was during these meals together that you two realized how much you both had in common - a love for horror movies, rock and metal music, and obviously, Dungeons and Dragons. Eddie swore you two were destined to become friends and he wished he had met you sooner. 

You both had planned to sit together after your classes had finished and get some work done before the end of the week. Eddie specifically said he needed you to hold him accountable and make sure he didn’t get distracted and click off his schoolwork like he always ends up doing. He wasn’t exactly lying when he made that request. Eddie always struggled to keep his focus on homework, but he really wanted an excuse to spend more time with you. 

You meet up with him after class in the campus brightly-lit convenience store to grab some snacks. You go for a small cup of cheez-its and an iced tea, while he immediately grabs a large bag of pretzels and two sprites. Your mind immediately goes back to earlier in the day during breakfast where you saw him eat two Belgian waffles, scrambled eggs, and Cocoa Puffs. You’re looking at him in surprise and Eddie can see it in your eyes, because he looks at you and holds his family size bag of pretzels close to his chest, defending himself by saying, “Don’t look at me like that. I’m a growing boy, I need food!” 

You snort and begin weaving between the aisles of chips and candy to the checkout counter, greeting the cashier who you have grown fond of over the past three years and swipe your food card to pay for your items. Eddie isn’t too far behind, grabbing a pack of gum before he pays for his own food. You’re waiting for him outside the store as you put your snacks inside your backpack. Once they’re safely stored inside, you look through the front windows and admire Eddie from afar as he chats up the cashier. She’s laughing with him and he has this infectious smile that spreads even to you. You’re admiring his dimples and the way his nose scrunches up when he laughs. He’s wearing a red flannel on top of a black Pantera shirt, his hands in his pockets and watching as the cashier counts out his change. Maybe he could sense you were watching him, or maybe he just happened to look over at you, but you two locked eyes so he gave you a toothy smile and stuck his tongue out. You giggled, and although he couldn’t really hear it through the glass, he still felt the same amount of joy that he felt every time he heard you laugh. Eddie steps outside a minute later and the two of you walk up the hill, shoving your hands in your hoodie and shivering when the wind begins to blow. 

 It felt as if fall had swept over the campus seemingly overnight, because all of a sudden the grounds were awash with hues of orange and yellow. The tree-lined walkways were littered with leaf piles and smelled of autumn. As the seasons began to change, the student body began to pile on layers of clothing to keep the chills away as the winds kicked up. It was one of the cruel facts about going to school in a mountainous area - it was going to get cold. However, the drop in temperature did not keep students from taking advantage of all the outdoor seating the school had to offer. You always maintained that you’d stop sitting outside when it dipped below 40 degrees and that still hadn’t happened yet, which is why you still found yourself sitting at one of the picnic tables outside the school’s student center across from Eddie. 

You two choose a table near the front of the building with a view of the school quad. The winds have died down for the time being so you could safely unload your backpack without worrying about any papers flying around. The sun was shining towards the quad so you two sat on the same side of the table with the warm rays hitting your backs. You’re laying out everything you need to get your work done, a few articles to outline for class next week, your copy of The Odyssey to continue translating, and your notebook. Everything was color coded, so you took out the blue highlighter and the blue post-it notes that went along with them. All Eddie takes out is his laptop with his music program already loaded up, most likely left there from class earlier in the day, and his pretzels laid open right next to the laptop between the two of you. The cheez-its you bought came out a few minutes later once you heard Eddie quietly chewing and remembered your own food. Eventually, you and Eddie fall into a quiet, comfortable routine. You’re focusing on your work and he’s focusing on his. There are moments of brief conversation, like when you ask him if your translation of a sentence sounds clunky or not, or if he’s stuck on how a certain part of a song should sound, but otherwise it’s complete silence between you two.

At some point in your work you begin eyeing his pretzels. You hadn’t finished your cheez-its yet, still having around half of the small container left to eat, but you just found yourself craving the snack your friend had purchased. He bought a large bag and didn’t make much of a dent in it yet, so it wouldn’t hurt to just take a few pieces. 

You glance over at Eddie, the muffled sounds of guitar chords from his music program blaring into his ears as he seems completely focused on his work. Part of you was surprised that he hadn’t complained about any hearing loss based on how loud he always kept things. He wouldn’t care if you took some, right? 

You turn the bag over to you and take a few pretzels out of the bag, popping them in your mouth and resuming your own work. These clauses aren’t going to translate themselves, and you were getting to your favorite part of the story so you were excited to go over it again.

Eddie sees your movement out of the corner of his eye and does indeed notice you taking some of his food, not that he minds, of course. He’d give you the entire bag if you asked him. However, he did like being a pain in the ass to you sometimes, so he holds out an expectant hand between the two of you. It takes you a moment to notice it, and you only do when he begins wiggling his fingers in waiting and you see him looking right at you. He arches a brow at you and waits for you to pay up for the stolen salty snacks.

You crack a smile at him, which he returns,  and then place a few cheez-its in his hand. They were  roughly the same amount of pretzels that you took from him, you weren’t sure. He closes his hand once the crackers are in his hand and tosses them all into his mouth. His cheeks are puffed up like a chipmunk and you’re sure he must be getting crumbs over his laptop but doesn’t seem to care. His face is almost comical and it makes you laugh. Unbeknownst to you, he’s only doing this to get that exact reaction out of you. Your laughter gets him higher than even the best weed in the world. He wishes he could record it and listen to it all day long. Maybe one day he’ll ask if he can do that, but at this moment he’ll take what he can get.

Your laughter dies down and you’re trying to get back to work, which Eddie just could not accept, so he develops a plan. He initially wanted to buy Mountain Dew when he went into the convenience store, but they were unfortunately out so he went for Sprite instead. He looks over to you, looking adorable as always, especially when you’re deep in focus. Your brows are furrowed as you read a sentence out under your breath and tap your pen against the paper in frustration. 

Eddie nudges you to get your attention and motions to one of the bottles of sprite that he’s pulling out of his bag. You watch him in confusion and curiosity as he unscrews the cap and begins to chug it. You watch his adam's apple bob as he’s drinking it, momentarily pausing to grimace and choke out, “This was a horrible idea,” before resuming the challenge he had set out for himself. You’re a little worried he might throw up from this but at the same time you’re curious to see if he can actually do it. It’s still not looking good for him though, judging by the way his face is contorting in pain and his free hand is now gripping his stomach.

Miraculously, he manages to down the entire bottle without puking. Eddie throws the bottle down on the ground and the hand once holding the sprite is now gripping the table. His head is hung low and he’s panting heavily. You’re leaning in to get a better look at him and place a cautious hand on his back.

He’s silent and keeps his head hung low. You scoot closer to him, your thighs now touching his and ask, “Ed, you okay?” and he shakes his head. His eyes are shut, he looks like he’s holding something back. You’re about to ask him if he needs anything - tums, water, hell maybe even an ambulance - before he speaks up.

“Sweetheart, I think I’m dying. There’s no saving me now.”

You’re glad he’s at least feeling well enough to make a joke - you think he’s joking. Second later, his eyes open wide in fear. He lets go of the table and is now fully bent over in pain. It’s a little hard to hear, but you swear you hear him say to himself, “This was the worst decision I’ve made in my entire life.”

Your concern for him intensifies and you begin to rub his back, trying to think of something, anything to help relieve the immense discomfort he’s feeling. He’s also becoming very quiet, and you’ve never known him to be a quiet person. He’s always making some noise, either tapping his pen against something or humming a tune under his breath. His shoes are always loud so everyone can hear him walking into a room. You’re sure he also snores when he sleeps, because you cannot imagine him just sleeping peacefully at night.

Finally, Eddie makes a noise.

The burp that comes out of Eddie doesn’t sound real. It’s akin to something you’d hear in a kids show because of how loud and exaggerated it sounded. There are a few people sitting at the next table who hear Eddie belch and look over at you two, and one of them even looks a little impressed. Eddie is once again quiet, but he looks less pained and more embarrassed by what just occurred. Your hand stops rubbing circles into his back and he’s relieved you haven’t removed it yet - it’s probably the only thing keeping him from running away. He soon looks up at you and plainly says, “I, uh, I thought I was gonna die.”

You nod and pat his back, but your hand still doesn’t move away from him. He’s honestly looking a little embarrassed and you didn’t even know he could get like that. In all the time you’ve known Eddie, you’ve always known him to be loud and proud, so this is something entirely new. You try to lighten the mood by saying, “I wouldn’t let you go that easily. You’re one of my best friends now so you’re stuck with me forever.” He smiles at that, and you can tell he’s starting to feel better by the small chuckle he let out. He’s looking down at his hands and playing with his rings again.

Eddie noticed how your hand never left his back and he could feel the warmth of it through his layers. He lifts his head slightly and you see him looking at you through his bangs. In that moment, you wish you could always look at him like this, just inches away from each other and no other friends to interrupt the moment. Every time you two were alone together every second felt so intimate. The bleary-eyed breakfasts, late night facetime calls where you two discussed your hopes and dreams, the times you would get high in his car and share your favorite songs with each other. Every moment was so cherished and you could only imagine the possibilities if things advanced between you two, if you became something more. More late night talks, he might put an arm around you during your movie nights, maybe you could go on some impromptu dates once midterms were over. They were nice ideas and all, but you had to shut them down before you began daydreaming about the man who sat beside you and almost died from drinking too much Sprite.

Instead of letting yourself get lost in your fantasies you turn your focus back to making Eddie smile since he always did the same for you. The eye contact was back but he had a smile that took your breath away every time. You (begrudgingly) take your hand off his back and nudge his shoulder with yours. “Nah, I knew you’d make it through that… so are you gonna chug that second bottle?” Eddie scoffs at the idea and playfully slaps your arm, finally laughing again and shaking his head. 

“You’re insane if you think I’m EVER doing that shit again!” You watch as he gets up to jog over to the recycling bin and toss his empty Sprite bottle inside. Eddie turns around to see you pouting and giving him your best puppy dog eyes. He would definitely do it again since it made you happy, but he didn’t want you to see him actually throw up that time. “That look is NOT going to work on me, sweetheart. Don’t pull that shit on me!”

You try your best to ignore the comment and instead look down at your incomplete translation, deciding it best to focus on your studies and not the possible feelings he could have for you. Reluctantly, you take your hand off his back and say, “Okay! Let’s get back to work, shall we?” 

Eddie nods his head and you go back to your schoolwork, but Eddie instead minimizes his music program and begins looking things up online. You don’t notice for a couple minutes until you look over at him to sneak another peek at his face and see that he’s scrolling through Netflix. You tap your pen against the laptop screen and say, “Hey. That’s not homework, close that.”

Eddie bats your hand away and clicks to Prime Video and opens the horror category up again. You speak up again, “You know, if you’re planning to write a song based on a horror movie there’s another band that already beat you to that. It might become their whole thing in the future.”

He’s ignoring you now and opens up a few more tabs with movies. You’re now as distracted as he is, leaning in to point out movies you liked or movies you wanted to see. Eddie stops looking at the screen and is now looking at your face, completely mesmerized by your beauty. He can’t believe you’d ever want to hang out with a guy like him. 

“Hey, uh–“, Eddie scratches at the back of his head as he tries to figure out how to ask this without stumbling over his words and making himself look like an idiot in front of you “– we should do a movie night tonight, we haven’t had one in like two weeks. Are you free?” 

You hesitate for a moment, mentally going over your schedule for the night. This was your only homework that had to be finished by tonight and the rest of your assignments can be finished tomorrow. Even if they were all due tomorrow, you’d much rather spend time with Eddie watching a movie together. The fits of laughter when someone dies, ordering pizza and arguing which snacks to eat after dinner, curling up under the blankets with your knees grazing each other. Lingering glances when your hands touch and the blush that always appears on Eddie’s cheeks when you two accidentally lock eyes. Those nights you let your mind wander, and wonder if maybe you could have a future with Eddie. Maybe you two could be more than friends. Perhaps you could have more than momentarily looks and brief touches. For now, you’ll take every moment you can get with him.

You respond to him with a smile, saying, “For you? I’m always free.”

Eddie is continuing to look nervous, his hands moving from his laptop to under the table and fiddling with the rings on his hands. He’s biting at his lip and going over his next words in his head, but sets them aside for later. He shifts his attention back to the tabs he had pulled up previously, clicking between a few possible choices. 

“Ok, cool. So we have a few options… uh, there’s A Quiet Place, I think you said you haven’t watched that yet. We still haven’t finished our Saw marathon, so maybe we could do that? Or,”” Eddie clicks over to one last tab, the preview picture showing a silhouette of a giant deer standing in front of a burning house  with what looked like hands hanging from its face, “we could watch The Ritual. This one looks amazing.”

You take his laptop and tilt it towards you and read through the summary given by the streaming service and scroll down to the reviews - they’re all positive and talk about how unnerving the movie is. The eerie imagery combined with the whole movie being set in the woods already had your skin crawling. You don’t notice yourself doing it, but you start smiling as you read each review talking about how this movie gave people nightmares and how they could never look at a forest the same again. Once you hit the bottom of the page, you turn the laptop back to Eddie and confidently say, “Eddie, we have to watch that.”

He’s nodding and closes his laptop for now before fully turning to you. There’s a constant hum of students in the walkways in front of you as they’re all let out of class, and Eddie finds it a little calming as he tries to figure out what to say. He hesitates a little before biting the bullet. 

“How would you feel about making it a date?”

You blink a few times as you try to process what he just asked you. Maybe your parents were right and you really were damaging your hearing by listening to your music too loud because there’s no way you just heard Eddie Munson ask you out. There are so many things you want to ask. Why? Are you sick? Is this a joke? Please don’t let it be a joke.

All you can muster is a confused, “What?” before Eddie has to begin explaining himself.

“I’ve wanted to ask you out ever since I’ve met you, but I’ve been scared that you might not feel the same way and I might ruin our friendship,” Eddie takes your hand in his and then takes the other which was currently sitting on your lap. There’s a constant hum around you two as people are leaving their classes and making their ways to their destinations, whether it be their next class, the commuter lounge, or home for the day. You can barely hear it over the sound of your heart beat. Eddie continues on, “Steve told me the other day that he was sick of watching me stare at you like a lovesick puppy and said he was pretty sure you liked me back, so I figured I might as well try…”

You look down at his hands and a drop of water falls down onto one of them. Is it raining? No, you’re crying. Hurriedly, you reach to wipe the tear away hoping Eddie doesn’t notice but how could he not when he’s been watching you this entire time. His hand beats you to it and wipes the following tears away. In a hushed tone, he asks, “Hey, hey, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” It’s that damn pet name again. You weren’t imagining things - he doesn’t treat everyone like this, you realize, this is all real. 

Your eyes shut but the tears continue to fall. Thankfully, you manage to keep the noise to a minimum to avoid any unwanted attention. Between quiet sobs, you say, “I’m sorry, but nobody has ever liked me, and I couldn’t imagine anyone ever liking me back. I’m just not used to this. I thought this could only ever happen in my dreams.”

Eddie stays quiet as you tearfully explain your lack of dating history and the guys in school only ever asking you out as a joke, how it wrecked your self-esteem and by the time you were halfway through college you just gave up. Never in a million years did you imagine someone like Eddie would ever like you, but here he is. Eddie’s hand stays on you, eventually moving from your cheek down to your shoulder and down to your arm. It’s a comforting reminder that again, this is real and he’s there. 

Once you’ve finished explaining yourself, Eddie squeezes the one hand he’s still holding. He says, “I wish I could have met you earlier, whether it be earlier in college or high school. I wish I could have made you realize how beautiful you are and shower you with compliments until you finally see yourself in the same way that I see you - as the most beautiful, stunning, perfect person in the entire universe. And sweetheart, if  you let me, I promise to start right fucking now.”

You had to be dreaming at that point because Eddie Munson does not feel real to you. Either you’re dreaming or your daydreams have gotten a little too realistic. You chew at your lip and ask him, “You’re really serious?”

“As serious as a heart attack. Now, is that a date?”

You feel your face flush and nod sheepishly, having to break eye contact and look down at your conjoined hands. Eddie chuckles at your reaction and gives your hands a squeeze before he unfortunately lets go of them. He turns to face his laptop again and opens it back up before saying, “Great, now let’s get back to work, shall we?”

A few hours later, Eddie returns to his shared apartment with Steve with a pep in his step. He’s humming a little tune and places his backpack next to the door. Steve is lounging  on the couch playing video games after class, having changed into a Hawkins Basketball hoodie and black sweats, when Eddie arrives and he’s immediately suspicious of him. It reminds Steve of the day that Eddie met you so he has an inkling of an idea of what could have happened today. Sure, Eddie has been in a better mood ever since the two of you reunited, but even this was a bit much. 

Steve pauses the level and rests the controller on his chest before looking at his roommate - Eddie pads over to the kitchen and opens the fridge to survey the contents of it. After that he goes through each of the light oak cabinets, taking note of the snacks available to them. He’s talking to himself, something like, “The regular popcorn should be fine, right? She hasn’t complained  about it so far…” and pulls his phone out to tap a quick message away. Eddie turns to the living room to head towards his room when he finally notices Steve. “Oh, Steve! Hey uh, can you do me a huge favor?” 

Steve cocks a brow at Eddie and replies with a cautious, “Okay…? What is it?” 

Eddie walks over to Steve on the couch and shoves a hand in his pocket, the other scratching at his stubble on his chin. Should he shave? No, you already saw him like this earlier. It would be weird if you came over and saw that he shaved. “Can you like… fuck off for the rest of the night?”

Steve scoffs and fully sits up, the video game controller long forgotten now and falls from his chest to his lap and onto the carpeted floor. “You want me to fuck off? Last time I checked we both live here.”

 Eddie realized how that sounded the moment he closed his mouth and was already fumbling over his words to try and sound like less of a tool. 

“I mean, I just need the place for a few hours. You’ve asked me to do the same thing, remember? Please.”

The former jock pulls a leg up to rest on the couch to lean on it. “Yeah man, but that’s for when Nancy comes over. Like, for a date.”

“Well, I… ok so,” Eddie shuffles his feet and kicks at the leg of the coffee table, looking up at Steve and raises his eyebrows at him, “I did as you told me to today.”

It takes Steve a second to realize what he’s talking about because, frankly, Steve has asked Eddie to do a lot of things. Like the dishes and to take out the bathroom trash. Also, Eddie can be a bit of a dumbass sometimes. Then, it clicks. He shoots up off the couch, the controller falling onto the carpeted floor with a muffled thump.

“Jesus Christ, you finally fucking did it. You asked her out? Seriously?”

Eddie squints and leans in, lowering his head and speaks in a hushed voice. “No Steve, i asked out the lady that works at the fucking dining hall. We have a real connection and bonded over the fucking pancakes. OF COURSE I ASKED HER OUT, YOU DUMBASS.”

Steve narrowly misses the coffee table as he runs past it to pull Eddie into a bear hug. Eddie is awkwardly standing there but eventually hugs his roommate and even laughs a little. He would never say this, but Steve is actually proud of Eddie for finally telling you how he felt. Steve swore he’d never see the day where his best friend would finally confess his feelings towards you. In fact, he was so confident that he and Robin made bets on it.

Steve remembers this and pulls away with a huff as he silently pads to the couch to grab his phone. Eddie watches him in confusion as his roommate seemingly angrily taps away on his phone. When Steve eventually looks up with pursed lips, Eddie cocks an eyebrow as if to ask what’s going on?

Steve states, “I owe Robin $25 now.”

taglist: @justalotoffanfiction @iyskgd

[theprettynosferatu]

In Case of Thoughts, Break Mind

Oh no! Oh dear. It seems you've been having a lot of thoughts lately- certainly more than you should! And thoughts are icky! Thoughts make you sad and anxious and so unhappy! But fear not! Thoughts can happen to anyone, even the most addicted edgeslut, so don't be hard on yourself!

Lucky for you, I've made this handy dandy guide to help you turn those thoughts into nice thots!

In Case of Morning Thoughts

So you just woke up, opened your eyes, aaaaand... there they are. The day ahead flashing in your mind. All the things you have to do, or should do, or... boo! Such bad thoughts, sneaking up on you like that! But don't worry, you may not be able to turn them off, but you can direct them in more pleasant directions.

It's a new day! A new chance to be slutty! A brilliant opportunity to fall to new, delicious depths! So when those bad thoughts come, think of what you can wear to look like the sex object you are. Think of all the people that will look at you and imagine themselves using every part of you for their pleasure. Think of how you'll be able to objectify yourself and get soaked knowing you'll be seen as the dumb whore you are!

Now, you might want to rub that needy cunt. Do it! Starting with an edge will keep you dumb and horny for the rest of the day. Just don't cum, lest the thoughts come back!

In Case of Work Thoughts

Sometimes you'll have to engage with this whole "job" thingy. It sucks, I know! And they don't even let you rub unless you hide in the bathroom, which is so unfair! Plus, you don't want to be fired, so you will have to do *some* amount of thinking.

If that's the case, just remember: why do you work? To have money. Why do you need money? To have things you need and want. And that's what you need to keep in mind! You work to buy slutty clothes and toys. You work to have internet to break your brain with porn. You work to have your own place to take slutty pics and rub to what strangers online tell you to do.

You work to be able to please others.

So focus on that! Remember that work sucks, but it enables you to be a depraved cunt. Plus, you can always cocktease a bit a work, if you can get away with it.

You can also make a small mistake, just so you feel like a dumb whore that needs help doing anything right. Get someone to assist you doing something you know how to do. They will think you're such a stupid slut! And isn't that delightful?

And when everything else fails, you can always dip to the bathroom for a quick edge!

In Case of College Thoughts

Oh look at you, being all smart and stuff! I get it, I get it. Studying requieres you to think. Ugh. Fiiiine. However, remember there's a card you can always play:

You are smart. And I am well aware that being smart, as a rule, totally sucks. But the fact that you are smart does give you an extra edge (so to speak): Because you are smart the fact that you want to be a mindless, stupid cumdoll is just all the more pathetic!

A dumb toy, born dumb, can kinda fall into being a giggling slut. But you? You are working for it. You are degrading your own intelligence by using it to break yourself. Shit, you might be paying to be smart while edging those very smarts away!

So yes, university is hard. But don't you think a nice person online will get so much more pleasure knowing the cunt obeying like a bitch in heat has a PHD? That the drooling girl posing for nude after nude has a master's degree? That they got a college graduate to write "worthless holes" on her own tits?

So focus on that! The higher you climb, the further you have to fall.

And I do so enjoy watching dolls fall.

In Case of Night Thoughts

Ah, night. The time for the shadow self to come out and play. But sometimes, some unfortunate souls find themselves worrying about the next day, or replaying the events of the daytime in their heads, or letting the silence of the night get to them, stirring all manner of unwanted and unpleasant thoughts.

Well... stop it!

Night time is edging time.

So whatever is in that pathetic head of yours, push it aside, start watching the strongest porn you can find, go into deep binges of reading smut and looking at captions, look at all the other good girls rubbing like you, begging to be made into useful fucktoys.

I've been quite understanding about your day thinking. But at night you have no excuse. Blast hypno files into your brain. Repeat your mantras over and over and over. Degrade yourself for others. Obey and discover new kinks you could never imagine.

And above all, edge. Edge. Edge. Never cum. Edge everywhere you can. Get your juices all over your furniture. On your stuffed toys. On your clothes. Make everything smell of your desperation. Then edge more. Go deeper. Edge to your deepest, darkest fantasies. Become a spectacle to yourself and others. Type your fucked up babbling and post it. Edge to your own perversion.

Night time is doll time. Don't waste it!

We all have thoughts. But with diligence, you'll be able to steer yours into making yourself a better toy. That's all you need, after all!

And if you feel your thoughts overwhelming you, just say to yourself:

I'm just a toy. No one cares about my thoughts. Not even me.

It wouldn't even be a lie!

[summertimesadnessirl]

This isn't just Mormons this is how all young women who say they don't want kids are talked to about having kids. It's how you always feel about love and romance before you fall in love, like you talk to older women and help them with chores and sort of spy on them to see what your life might be like, and you find out that most mothers work incredibly hard and most marriages seem pretty crappy and you're watching television and it's all women getting murdered by their husbands because they're nailing the babysitter or something, and you turn on the radio and it's all "everything about being with you makes me want to die please come back to me baby..." and you look at the way men talk about women to other men when they think no one is looking and you go

"Please let whatever that is never happen to me it looks like a curse."

Even in the 50s and 60s when housewives were all taking legal speed and all kinds of drugs they couldn't have happy marriages.

But everyone around you is like

"But you have to do it you have to give it a chance try it you'll like it I swear"

And even if you have bad experiences and want to quit but haven't had babies people are like

"You just haven't found the right person you need to vet better you have to get over this baggage and heal you can't stay in your comfort zone you need to be open hearted."

And everyone tells you how you will love your kids but also how the baby will scream all night every night for a year and then grow teeth and bite through your nipples and drink the blood and your husband will never learn your child's birthdays let alone be able to watch them so you can shower every day and you have to stop wearing beautiful clothes or makeup or doing your hair once you become a mother because you don't have time and how hard everything is all the time. And how likely it is that your husband will leave and that your kids will be brats and hate you and how it's also THE BEST THING THEY EVER DID AND YOUR LIFE WOULD BE MEANINGLESS WITHOUT IT!

It's exactly like being recruited for a cult.

when bella didn't want to get married at 18 because she saw how her parents' marriage crumbled and she was opposed to the patriarchal nature of the whole institution, and is bitter about it until the moment she is walking down the aisle, but as soon as she's married she realizes that being mrs. cullen is actually the best thing to ever happen to her and she's immediately ecstatic to have a baby with her husband. the way jacob says "you don't even belong to yourself anymore" about imprinting and is repulsed by the very idea, but then when he imprints he realizes it's actually what he was born to do & nothing could make him happier & he leaves everything behind to live with his mate's family. man once you become aware of the mormon agenda present within the twilight saga it is ALL you're aware of lol

[the-ace-with-spades]

History repeats itself AU or an AU where Bradley, one way or another, becomes what Mav was to him

When Bradley enters flight school, he's still reeling with anger about Mav and everyone tries to stay outta his way - he demolishes the training, talks to no one and ignores any attempts at assimilation with his train group.

There are only two people who never get offended - Mike and Sarah, an aviator and WSO couple that is also (not so secretly) a couple in their personal life.

Sarah is a laid-back lady who always has the right quips, Mike is a walking sunshine, always trying to see the best in people - Bradley often wonders how they ended up in the military. (He learns it not long after - they were both products of foster care, just like Bradley's mom and Mav, and in parts, Bradley himself, and had little choice given their financial situation.)

They're both nothing but persistent at befriending Bradley, always too handsy, always too smiley, always replying to his grunts and insults with the same without minding the attitude, always inviting him everywhere and inviting themselves into Bradley's plans without asking for permission.

By the time they finish flight school, all three of them live together in a two-bed house. When they got assigned to the same F-18 training squad, they move together, too, this time in a three-bed house in a nicer location.

A substantial amount of people actually think that there’s some kind of a trouple thing going on with them… Jake included. When Bradley starts being interested in him, for a minute or two, Jake thinks Bradley is trying to find a fourth for some kind of harem — this quickly gets resolved, though, because Sarah and Mike tease Bradley ruthlessly about Jake.

Jake and Bradley are not quite dating but they start having a thing just around the same time when Sarah finds out she’s pregnant.

Bradley is the first to learn that Sarah is pregnant, even before Mike. She is panicked as hell, still with the pregnancy test, rumbling all about how they will separate them now, how they won't be able to fly in a duo, how she might have to quit the Navy - and Bradley is the one takes her off the edge, reasoning that Mike would never want her to quit, that it's all going to work out some way.

And it does, at first. Sarah goes on light duty and Bradley and Mike negotiate a switch with their command — Bradley will take on Sarah as his WSO and Mike will start flying solo. They won’t be able to get deployed together anymore, but there will be at least one person at all times, with the kid, once they’re born. Bradley is named the godfather before they even know they’re having a girl and is the one to help Sarah plan the wedding — is the one to help her find a wedding dress that fits her baby bump, helps find a nice public place to hold the ceremony, helps to arrange the other bits, helps mix up the baby shower into the party. Mike takes a two weeks leave from his deployment to get married when Sarah is 6 months pregnant and they’re all really happy. It feels like Bradley has a family - a brother and sister, like he’s going to be an uncle.

Jake teases him so much because Bradley keeps on crying throughout the day, as the witness and when he makes the speech and when the gender reveal happens — even though Bradley had actually been the secret keeper of the little piece of paper they had been given by the tech when he accompanied Sarah to her scan. Jake is Bradley’s date to the wedding, which is also the first time they show up together anywhere officially — the relationship is still not really defined or named, but it is a Relationship with a capital R.

And then Mike dies on deployment, not even two weeks after their wedding.

Bradley is left grieving his best friend, feeling guilty because it was supposed to be him on that deployment, before they switched Sarah to fly with Bradley, and Sarah is 7 months pregnant and newly a widow. So he steps up even further, just locks everything he feels and tries to get them both through all of it, despite doubting how they can survive this.

Jake steps up, a lot, too. Because Bradley is there for Sarah but someone has to be there for him, too, and he can’t ask that of Sarah. He’s a their place almost every day, helps organising the funeral, helps get the nursery in order.

And then the worst scenerio possible happens — Sarah goes into labour and everything that could go wrong, goes wrong. The labour takes hours on end, going so slow they’re sent away and come back to the hospital a couple of times, but the minute when they try to induce her and speed up the process, the baby turns around and becomes breech and she is born but there’s so much blood they roll Sarah into the OR before she can even hug her.

Bradley is left in the NICU with little baby Daisy for hours and hours, never getting much of an answer of what is going on. The nurses try to dodge his questions as they show him how to change the baby and how to feed her the bottle and it all feels so surreal — all those firsts should've been Sarah’s to do.

He never sees Sarah alive again.

He doesn’t know what to do, once they tell him, so he calls Jake.

And being honest, Jake doesn’t know what to do either. He brings some more clothes for Bradley and Daisy into the hospital, brings him takeaways to eat, lets him sleep in the armchair for a few hours, keeping an eye on Daisy for him, brings him a coffee and a sandwich from the downstairs shop, and when the time comes, tries to remember as much information as possible, because Bradley might look calm, but he’s hysteric on the inside.

Bradley attends his second funeral in less than three months with a week old baby in his arms.

The shock doesn’t fully wear off when the CPS makes Bradley the temporary guardian for Daisy - he was Sarah’s next of kin and the only living person close to her - but the panic sets when he discovers the will states that in the event of death of both Mike and Sarah, he gets everything, Daisy’s custody included.

And the headaches start — Bradley is on special leave now, but at some point he’d have to leave the nursery and face the world. And no amount of Jake doing grocery runs and picking up paperwork for Bradley and phoning in to book appointments for Bradley can prevent that.

One of the evenings, when it all becomes too much, when Daisy hasn’t stopped crying for hours, when he can’t stop wishing Sarah or Mike were here, where they should be, when he can’t stop thinking about how this is all his bad luck’s fault, when the legal and social teams are on his ass to make a decision on what he wants to do next, he has a little breakdown. Because he wants to do all that, he wants to honor Sarah and Mike’s wishes, he wants to keep the last bit of his best friends close to himself, but how is he supposed to do that? He’s a wreck and his only support is Jake, who despite all this never made any promises or commitment declarations about their relationship. The Navy might let him leave based on special circumstances, but finding a job in any industry that would allow him to take care of a baby on his own would be a miracle — and there’s no one he could leave Daisy with, if they send him somewhere with his squadron.

And Jake comes back from the base that evening and finds him a mess, and sure enough, solution to all this is simple enough to him — he will move in, permanently, and help Bradley take care of Daisy and take care of her once Bradley starts getting deployed again.

What if they deploy us at the same time? We can’t just refuse, it’s not going to work, because while Bradley wants to believe this is an option, it really isn’t. Even if he felt comfortable with putting so much on Jake, it just wasn’t a viable option — if they both were away, the same problems would arose. Jake had no family, either, got disowned years and years ago, and even if Bradley, somehow, felt comfortable with reconnecting with his own family, he wasn’t quite sure if he could just trust them with Daisy straight away.

Well, I’ve got this crazy idea that might just work, is all Jake says, Give me a few days.

And the life goes on for those few days until one evening Jake comes back from work an hour later than usual and sits down next to Bradley on the couch, waits until he finishes feeding Daisy her bottle and she takes a little nap when he rocks her in his arms — and he shows Bradley a set of generic wedding rings and filled marriage licence application.

Married couples can’t be deployed together.

I can’t ask that of you.

Good thing you aren’t asking, then — I’m offerin’

Because, in truth, Jake knew he was in it for the long run for months now. He was going to pace it, just because Bradley clearly was a bit slow with those things and had a lot of baggage that he wasn’t as keen to share as Jake had been with his own.

So they get married, formally. Bradley accepts the custody and adopts Daisy and sure enough, they both spent some time away on adoption leave, getting used to things. It doesn’t make it all okay, but it makes it all easier, the burden to bear falling on two sets of shoulders instead of one.

At first, they don’t even mention the whole marriage thing, but as things go on, the word husband comes up in their lives more and more often — people shut up easier when it’s a husband and not a partner — and as the years go on, it feels like breathing, calling each other husbands. They might have married for one reason only, but the marriage feels more and more genuine with the years spent together piling up.

Daisy turns five when they both get called back to Top Gun at the same time.

[starlost-maniac]

Why Her? - Ch 1

MINORS AND AGELESS BLOGS, DNI

Warnings/genre: SMUT, piv, sexting, Minho is a tease

Pairing: Lee Minho x fem!reader

Masterlist | Series Masterlist | Next

"But why not? I want to go with you." You pout. "I haven't been, and I want to see Felix again." You cross your arms and look up at your older brother.

"Why do you want to go so bad?" Seungmin sighs and looks down at you, raising a brow.

"Because I want to see JYPE. I want to see where my favorite brother works. And like I said, I want to see Felix again." He just stares at you with his brow raised.

"I'm your only brother, Y/n." You roll your eyes at his comment.

"I haven't seen Felix in two years. You don't bring him around to see me or mom anymore. You know she loves him like a son, too." You pout again. "Plus, I want to be able to meet the rest of Stray Kids. I don't know why you won't let me meet them."

"Because they're annoying, and I don't trust them around you. They're guys, after all." He turns around and walks into his mom's kitchen. He was there to visit and you happened to be home from your studies.

"You're a guy, too, Seungmin." You follow him.

"But I'm not like them." He goes into the fridge and pulls out a water bottle.

"Yes, you are. You're annoying, and I've seen you do plenty of 'guy' things." You air quote, watching him. He sighs and opens his bottle, taking a large sip.

"Fine, but you need to not cause trouble. Otherwise, I'm bringing you right back home. Understood?" He puts the cap back on the bottle. Your eyes go wide, and you smile big. You rush over and give Seungmin a big hug.

"Thank you, Seungmin!" He can't help but smile, hugging you back.

The next day, Seungmin brings you to JYPE, getting you a visitors badge.

"Did you want to see the studio where 3RACHA usually works, or did you want to go to a dance studio first?" He asks, passing you your temporary badge.

You put it over your head and think. "Let's go to the dance studio first. Maybe I'll get to see Felix there." You smile.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you have a crush on him." Seungmin chuckles.

"No. Felix is like another brother to me." You laugh. "He also makes the best brownies I've ever had." Seungmin laughs and leads you to the elevators, taking you up to the dance practice room where he knows some of the members will be.

Entering the room behind your brother, you’re met with three of the group members, one of which was Felix. The other two being Lee Know and Hyunjin. All three look over when the door opens, Hyunjin and Lee Know give a questioning look, never having met you before. Felix's face lights up, a wide smile across his lips.

"Y/nnie!" He shouts and runs over. He scoops you up into his arms, enveloping you in a hug as he spins you around. You laugh loudly as you hug him back.

"Hi, Lixie!" You bury your face into his neck as you hug him. "I missed you so much." Your voice muffled.

"I missed you, too." He sets you down, pulling away, but keeping his arms around you. "How's my favorite sister?" He grins.

"Sister? We've met your sisters, Yongbok. Unless you had a third one?" Hyunjin says.

Felix lets go of you and turns to face his friends. "No, not like my real sister."

"She's my younger sister." Seungmin speaks up.

"You have a younger sister, and never introduced us?" Hyunjin asks.

Lee Know looks at Seungmin, squinting his eyes. "Trying to hide her from us?"

"Yes, actually." He says, flatly. Hyunjin gasps dramatically and walks over.

"How come you were trying to hide this cutie from us?" Hyunjin says as he bows to you in greeting. "Hi, I'm Hyunjin. I gathered your name is Y/n from Felix shouting it." He laughs.

"See why I don't trust them with you?" Seungmin looks at you, brow raised.

"Isn't Hyunjin like this all the time though?" You question.

Seungmin is quiet for a moment, crossing his arms, he mumbles out, "…yes." You snort.

Lee Know finally walks over and bows his head. "Hi, I'm Lee Know. Or Minho." He straightens, smiling at you. You look up at him and smile wide.

"Hi, Minho. I'm sorry if this is weird, but you're my bias. It's nice to meet you!" You say quickly. Felix and Hyunjin feign being hurt, not being your bias. "Don't get me wrong, I love you all, but I love Minho the most." Minho smirks and raises an eyebrow.

"Oh, you love me, do you?" He crosses his arms, his signature smirk playing across his lips as he teases you. Your face flushes and you put your hands up in front of you.

"That's not what I meant!" You say quickly. Seungmin rolls his eyes.

"Don't tease her, hyung." He watches his older member. Minho just continues to smirk, letting out a quick, sharp laugh. "Y/n, go sit on the couch so we can practice. Ok?" Your brother points to the couch by the wall. You nod as Felix finally releases you and you go and sit down.

The four of them go to the middle of the room, one of them turning on music and they practice. You watch them through the mirror on the opposite side of the room. You catch Minho staring at you a few times, a playful smirk across his lips every time. At one point, he actually winks at you, making your cheeks flush again.

About 30 minutes into them practicing, the door opens and the rest of the group enters the room. None of them notice you sitting on the couch as you stare at them like a deer caught in headlights. You can't believe you're in the same room as Stray Kids. After a few minutes, Han turns to walk towards the couch, stopping mid step.

"Uhh..there's someone sitting on the couch you guys." His eyes just as wide as yours. You stand quickly and bow.

"Hi. I'm Kim Y/n." You stand up straight. "I'm Seungmin's younger sister."

Chan looks over, surprised. "How did I not know you had a younger sister, Seungmin?"

"Really only Yongbok knew." Seungmin shrugs like it was obvious you existed. Han finally walks over to the couch, setting his jacket and bag on the couch. He bows to you and straightens.

"Hi, I'm Han." He smiles a toothy grin at you.

"I know." You laugh. "I'm a fan of you guys."

"You look like Seungmin, honestly. Well, more like a puppy, I should say." Jisung says, still smiling.

"Thanks?" You laugh. Chan, Changbin and Jeongin all come over as well, introducing themselves properly to you.

"So," Jisung starts. "Who's your bias?" He grins.

"I actually like all of you, but Lee Know is my main bias." Your cheeks flush again, remembering what he teased you about. Jisung leans over to whisper in your ear.

"He's mine too." He leans back and laughs. "I hope you enjoy your time here, I'm sorry that we aren't able to talk much since we have to practice."

You wave him off, saying it's ok. You go and sit back on the couch and watch them practice again.

After an hour, the boys take a short break. Minho goes and sits next to you on the couch, sharp eyes watching you as he saunters over. He plops down on the cushion right next to you.

"You having fun sitting over here?" He looks around at the view you have before turning his head to you.

"Watching my favorite group get to practice?" You smile. "Of course."

"Would you want to practice with us?" He smirks. You stare wide eyed.

"N-no. That's ok. I don't want to get in the way." You shake your head.

"You won't be in the way." Minho stands up and grabs your hand, pulling you up. He brings you to the middle of the dance room. "Just follow my lead." He smiles and slowly starts to show you the steps. Seungmin watches from his spot on the floor. Minho catches your brother watching and smirks. He steps behind you and places his hands on your hips, guiding you in the steps. Minho chuckles quietly and lets go when he sees Seungmin start to get up.

"So what do you do when you aren't home, Y/n?" Jeongin asks, popping up out of nowhere. You jump a bit and stare up at the boy.

"I uh..I'm going for my certificate in professional makeup. I've always been in love with doing makeup and decided to go for it professionally." You tuck some hair behind your ear.

"Maybe you can be our makeup artist." Jeongin winks at you. Seungmin protests from his seat. "Why not, hyung? I'm sure she's amazing."

"I mean..her skills are really good, but why would you want my sister as your makeup artist?" Seungmin pouts. "Wouldn't that be weird?"

The rest of the group all say 'no' in unison. Seungmin grumbles and sits back against the wall.

"Show Channie-hyung some of what you've done, and see if he can put in a good word." Jeongin chuckles. You nod and start to head over to the oldest, Minho grabbing you by the waist.

"After we are done with our dance." He smirks down at you. Your cheeks flush as you watch him. Seungmin squints as he watches you and Minho. After 15 minutes, Minho finally lets you go and see Chan, Jeongin already having explained to him. You sit next to him on the couch and show him some pictures on your phone of the makeup that you've done.

"Wow, Y/n. You are really good. I'll definitely see what I can do about getting you here. Maybe even as an intern to start." Chan says, swiping between the pictures you showed him.

"No no," you say, waving your hands in front of you. "You don't have to go out of your way to do that." Chan laughs.

"It's not a problem. Plus, it'll get you some good experience working with idols, aside from your brother." He indicates towards Seungmin, who has been watching you like a hawk since the rest of the group came in. You raise your eyebrow at Seungmin who just watches you as you talk to Chan.

"He really doesn't trust you guys." You sigh. Chan looks at you confused. "He said he doesn't trust you all around me, and that you're 'guys after all.'" You roll your eyes as you air quote your brother. Chan laughs.

"He is definitely an older brother. I'm sometimes the same way with Hannah. It's the protective side of being a big brother." He smiles at you. "At most, the boys will probably tease Seungmin by playing around with you. Don't take it to heart if they take their…" he waves his hands, trying to think of the right word. "Flirting..? Too far. But do tell them if they make you uncomfortable, yeah?"

"Of course. I'm honestly just glad to be able to hang out with you all in general." You smile at him. He smiles back and stands up. He gathers the group to continue practice.

——

"Y/n?" You hear your brother call from your apartment's front door. You had given Seungmin a spare key in case he needed it, or you locked yourself out…again.

"I'm in the kitchen, Seungmin. Just making some lunch." You call back.

"Make extra. Felix is here with me." He takes his shoes off and slips on house slippers. Felix follows suit but runs past him into the kitchen after putting house slippers on. Seungmin laughs seeing his friend run off. He steps into the kitchen just as Felix wraps his arms around your waist, pulling you into a back hug.

"How's my mini?" The blonde asks, resting his head on your shoulder. You smile at the nickname. "I've missed you all week." He pouts as he watches you make extra sandwiches, holding onto you like you would disappear if he let go.

"I missed you too, Lixie." You feel him hum against your back. Seungmin sits at your dining table and looks out your balcony door. "I've been ok. Just attending my classes. Nothing exciting."

"Have you heard anything from the company yet? About an internship?" He gently rocks your bodies back and forth. You shake your head.

"No, nothing yet. Classes are almost done for the semester though, so maybe they're waiting?" He hums against your back again. It's silent for a moment before your phone dings. Felix reaches between your bodies to pull your phone from your back pocket, unlocking it for you. He's probably the only person you trust with your password. Seungmin doesn't even have access to it.

"It's a text from Chan-hyung. Did you want me to open it?" He asks you, showing you your screen. You nod and he opens it, reading it with you. "Looks like you got the internship, mini." He smiles wide and kisses your cheek, congratulating you. Seungmin looks over towards you and Felix.

"Really?" He asks from his seat. Felix lets you go and brings your phone to Seungmin to show him. "Wow. I'm impressed. Congrats, Y/n. Honestly." You smile and bring over sandwiches for the two boys, going back to the counter to clean up before bringing your plate to the table.

——

You met with the makeup artists at JYPE and we're told, due to very adamant requests from the group, you were going to be interning as Stray Kids make-up artist once schooling ends. You were so excited to be working with your favorite group. Seungmin took you up to the dance studio where you met the group last time and you told them all the good news. They each gave you a hug as a congratulations. Minho's hug lingered a bit, teasing Seungmin with the closeness.

"Alright, alright. Let Y/n go, hyung." Seungmin steps up and Minho lets go of you. You pout slightly and glare at your brother. He just rolls his eyes in response while Minho silently chuckles.

"How about we go out to eat sometime this week to celebrate Y/n's future internship with us?" Chan asks the group. Before you can deny, the boys all say yes, even Seungmin, which surprised you. You pout again and thank the boys.

——

The months flew by and the end of the school semester came up, meaning you start your actual internship with JYPE in a few weeks. Seungmin brought you around the members more often so you can get used to being around them. Most of them teasing Seungmin by being touchy with you. You didn't mind it, as you liked to bother your brother, and the boys told you in advance they were probably going to tease your brother this way. Chan says under normal circumstances they wouldn't do this, but they love to mess with the puppy of the group.

You were hanging out with the group in Chan's and I.N's apartment, practicing doing their makeup. Nothing too extravagant, but just simple makeup that they would wear when on camera. Seungmin, Chan and I.N sat off to the side, having their makeup already done. Minho sat in the middle of the couch, waiting for you to start on his.

You come back to the living room after cleaning out and drying your makeup brushes, Minho smirking up at you. You raise a brow at him but don't question it. You know he's a troublemaker and he could be smirking for any reason.

"You ready, Minho?" You ask, grabbing the foundation that matches his skin tone. He nods and playfully pulls you into his lap, making you sit sideways on him. You gasp a bit making Seungmin turn his head towards you and his hyung.

"Lee Know-hyung. What are you doing?" He moves to the edge of his seat.

"Nothing. She's just doing my makeup." He looks at Seungmin, a mischievous grin on his face. He looks back up at you and winks. You shake your head, a light blush on your face. You carefully apply the makeup to his face. He watches you with his dark eyes, smiling softly when he sees how concentrated you are. When you sit back to see how he looks, he makes a face at you.

"Minho, no faces." You laugh. "I need to make sure the makeup looks ok." You smack his shoulder playfully. He chuckles and smiles. When you go back to applying his makeup, he makes a face everytime you turn from the makeup to him. You just roll your eyes and smile. He places his hands on your hips and puckers his lips at you, making you blush a bit.

"Don't you have to apply lip balm, Y/n? Why are you blushing?" He asks quietly, making sure Seungmin doesn't hear.

"R-right." You grab the lip balm from your makeup kit, turning back to him, he puckers his lips again. Your eyes linger on his lips a bit and he smirks. You shake your head some and apply the balm to his lips. When you're done, you carefully climb off his lap. He smiles at you before getting up himself. You grab the mirror to show him.

"I trust you, Y/n. I'm sure you did amazing." He reaches up and tucks some hair behind your ear, fingers trailing down your jaw before lightly tapping the bottom of your chin. He smirks and walks over to the others that have their makeup done already. You compose yourself and do the makeup for the rest of the boys.

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@honeyybbuubblleess @tenshimara

[muhlsworld]

TRADED

pairing: nika muhl x teammate!reader

synopsis: you get traded to a different team and are no longer teammates with nika

WARNINGS: angst ish? idk tbh

you can find the request here!

you and nika had both been drafted to the storm when you entered into the draft. you guys were over the moon to be able to play pro together. your guys’ rookie season was tough but you were ready for the next one.

with the expansion draft you were nervous about getting picked. nika had been one of the picks to be safe from the expansion draft. you however weren’t. which you understood, there were far better players than you on the storm. but you were certain they would pick a more experienced player other than you.

that was until the day came. that the valkyrie’s had select you from the storm. you immediate reaction was shock. you hadn’t expected it. and you weren’t sure where this was going to leave you and nika. yeah seattle and california were close but you didn’t know what the distance would do anyway.

when nika heard the news she was in shock. she didn’t want you to leave seattle. but she also knew this would be a great opportunity to finally show off your skills. she knew your potential.

when came back to your shared apartment she quickly went to look for you. you were curled up on the couch sniffling. she immediately went up to you and wrapped her arms around you. “i don’t want to go.” you said softly. “i know.” she said as she moved her hand up and down your back.

“we’ll make it work okay?” she said to you. and you didn’t believe her. how could things be okay if you weren’t going to see each other anymore after 5 years straight of seeing each other. all of college and rookie seasons together just to be broken apart.

“how?” you asked with uncertainty in your voice. “i’ll come visit when i can and you can too.” she said optimistically. “we’ll call every chance we get and we’ll got to each others game if we’re not scheduled to play at the same time.” she said. “this doesn’t have to tear us apart. it can make all our moments together much more special.” she said.

your heart fluttered at the words. she always knew exactly what to say to you when you need the reassurance. “yeah.” you said sniffling. “we’ll make it work.” you said with a soft smile on your face.

and you guys did make it work. you called every day and night that you could. you frequently visited and so did nika. you guys spent every moment that you could talking or visiting each other.

there were definitely some hard days but you were so lucky to have nika. she tried day in and day out to make sure this worked. and so did you.

after your first season with golden state you and nika spent the offseason together.

and nika was right.

every moment now felt more special than before.

A/N: this is so bad i’m sorry

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

Some charges my aunties and uncles carried well into the 90s without pardon or exonneration of any kind:

Substance possession, esp weed, ecstasy, cocaine/crack, meth, etc

Cross-dressing (aka wearing more than the allowed number of "opposite sex clothing items, including undergarments that were not visible)

Solicitacion/suspicion of prostitution (the latter is the charge a trans auntie got for carrying condoms on her to a partner's house, the former charge was both accurate and forced on partners across multiple people in my life)

Vagrancy (got outed during a cruising bust and was evicted/blacklisted from all affordable rentals)

Sexual assault/attempted murder (an HIV + trans adult getting trans panicked)

Public indecency (cruising)

Sexual misconduct in the presence of a minor (had sex in their home while a child was present in the household but not in the room)

This is a non-exhaustive list. Many people I loved who lived queerly through the 1950s-1990s had multiple charges in their past. Few had none.

The goal is to criminalize every path to existence we have, and there is a reason that approach is scary and effective.

It also is absolutely not the all powerful steamrolling force people (on borh sides of the conflict) pretend it is.

I grew up in a thriving community of dykes, faggots, queers, drag queens/kings, intersex folks, and trans people. There were enough of us, even in 1998, to fill a 300 person hall for an AIDS memorial during pesach one year, just in the valley. We lived, we loved, we raised children and families, and we waged a background war for our fucking lives.

It is happening again and for many that will be terrifying. I will not lie to you and tell you not to be afraid or that we will suffer no losses. That 300person hall also had near on 150 empty chairs for the dead that year. But I need people to understand that waging the war only feels scary and overwhelming A) in the beginning when you are not yet sure how to fight, and B) when you are alone, overwhelmed, and feeling helpless in the face of a pressing threat. The rest of the time, you will find that the process of learning effective solidarity and resistance is way faster than you think.

I called my mother on Valentine's day and we talked a bit about what it's like as two queer people across generations, to be back here where we were together in my early childhood, and how my mother feels seeing these conversation return after she got nearly a decade of peace and retirement from activism because she believed it was time to pass the torch. She reminded me of a story she used to tell me when I was little

Mom worked for IBM on some major contracts, and she would sometimes find herself out back with the other engineers for a smoke break. Once, a man started talking about the news updates on AIDS: it was spreading amongst not just IV drug users and queers, but amongst heterosexual middle class folks who had never used or swung or sold or anything. At first the conversation is empathetic to the sick, and mom lets her guard down.

"And then he says "but now it's infecting people who don't deserve it. They called it the Gay Plague back then, you know? And I don't know what happened, but the next thing I remember I'd thrown my cigarette in his face, backed him against a wall, and was snarling "NO ONE has EVER deserved this" and you know. He never said anything like that around me again. I don't know if he changed his mind, but from that moment on, he knew that we were in the room with him, and that was enough to get him to keep his fucking mouth shut. The reason they want us scared is because they want to be able to pretend we're never in the room with them. They want to be able to count on our silence, on our cowering and hiding in self preservation. And I don't blame anyone who gives that because we're surviving here, that's not my place to decide for you. But that was the day I learned that I will NEVER allow them to pretend I'm not in the room again."

Criminalization is a form of liminal expulsion of the undesireable from the shared social perception/narrative. If they can imprison us for our basic existence, they can remove us from the room or make it more likely we hide in the shadows. But this is what we mean when we say that they cannot kill us in any way that matters. Every loss, every death matters, but so does every life lived in silence and shadow. And I cannot emphasize enough how many more of the latter there have been in the world.

So if they want to kill us, we will fill their world with the utopia of the love we find in the dark. If they want to banish us we will live out loud until even they can't escape us. If they want to erase our history, I will personally scream it from every rooftop I have access to.

Liminality is a weapon against us, but it has also always been ours more than it is theirs. We make it, breathe it, and change it with our very being. Never forget that you are the culmination of generations of love, life, and survival. We have seen enough attempts at genocide in the world now to know that the meaning of our lives is not what they make it possible to do to us but what we create to stop them.

If they do start rounding queers up it won’t be with the gestapo, but the police, and the crime won’t be written down as being queer, but public indecency, the indecency being queer in public, but that’s the quiet part no one will say out loud.