#and he is also not elaborating on anything

[cybersunnie]

the look of love | collection

RAFE CAMERON accidentally runs into Miss Sugar.

includes ib request / fem!teacher!reader / uncle!rafe / reader goes by "miss sugar" / fluff / dialogue heavy / mildly suggestive / wc 1.9k

Rafe rarely had good days. They were tolerable. Average, but never good. 

Today wasn’t any different. 

The moment he woke up, he had received the worst news he could receive: an investor pulled out of his latest project. Why? Because it was taking too long. Rafe couldn’t exactly argue with him there. Delays had occurred and put them behind schedule. But still, that son of a bitch was a millionaire. He had money to spare.

Whatever. He didn’t need him. That was what he thought until he saw the looks of his remaining investors’ faces when he reassured them to stay confident in his project. It was safe to say they weren’t very convinced. 

Everything was going just as planned. Clearly. 

And now, he loitered in the Kildare Retreat’s parking lot, staring at the beige three-story building before him. It was an apartment complex located just outside The Cut. One of his first projects. The one when people finally started to believe he had what it took to run his dad’s business. He earned their respect. Every smartass that had something to say before became mute in his presence. 

He supposed that was why he always found himself at Kildare Retreat. If he had done it then, he could have done it now, and he desperately needed that reminder.

But it was hard to reflect on anything when someone had music blasting on the third floor. Rafe didn’t know what was playing. An old song, he knew that much. It must be a new tenant. Some inconsiderate, low-life—

The music got louder as a door swung open, and a woman emerged, holding a paint can in each hand. 

Who was this bitch?

Rafe raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. Once he squinted, the woman’s face cleared. Holy shit. He stepped away from his car and dropped his hand. You were the woman, his niece and nephew’s art teacher, Miss Sugar. The last time he saw you was when he picked up the kids, and since then, you have been a fleeting but persistent presence in his mind. 

Whatever insult he had ready to go vanished. 

You could play your music as loud as you wanted to. That was a problem for your neighbors to deal with, anyway. 

You descended the stairs and stopped in front of what he assumed was your car—a sedan he was sure had seen better days. It looked like it was on its last leg. When you popped your trunk open, you glanced in his direction and finally saw him.

Your eyes widened. He waved.

“Hey!” you greeted, your voice higher than usual. You cleared your throat and lugged the paint cans into your car. “You’re Jackson and Josie’s uncle, right? Rafe Cameron?”

Before he could stop himself, he smiled. You remembered.

“That’s me.” Rafe approached you, stopping just a foot away. “Miss Sugar?” 

You grinned, the corners of your eyes wrinkling. “So formal,” you teased. That alone had his cheeks feeling warm. “I’m outside work. Please, just call me Sugar.”

He wondered if that was your real name. It could be a nickname. Either way, it suited you—sweet and addictive. 

“If you insist, Sugar.” 

Your eyes narrowed, and you asked, “So, what are you doing here?” You crossed your arms over your chest. “Are you stalking me?”

His blood ran cold. “What? No—”

You held up a hand to stop his ramblings, laughing, “Calm down, I’m joking.”

He scoffed. You were going to give him a heart attack one day. 

Rafe scratched his brow and then eyed the green and blue paint cans. “You gonna do some painting?” he assumed, nodding toward them.

“Yeah. A mural for the school,” you clarified, turning around to shut your trunk, steel hitting steel. “Also, you never answered my question.”

He licked the inside of his cheek. “Right, I’m just visiting,” he answered plainly. When nothing else was said, you gestured for him to elaborate further. You were nosy like Josie. “I designed Kildare Retreats.”

Your brows raised, and your lips parted in surprise. But that all muddled into a look of confusion the longer you stared at him. He watched the frown on your face deepen until your eyes flickered with recognition, a lightbulb appearing over your head.

“Cameron Development,” you said, snapping your fingers. “It’s literally on the entrance sign—I don’t know how I didn’t put that together.”

Amused, he chuckled. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Well, it’s really nice,” you praised, craning your neck to stare at the apartment building behind you. Rafe wondered if you genuinely liked it or were just being polite. He wouldn’t be surprised if it were the latter. “You guys did a great job.”

“Thank you,” he replied, stuffing his hands into his pockets. 

And for a moment, there was silence. 

The song that blasted from your apartment carried through the parking lot. You were beautiful in the sunlight, your hair fluttering in the wind. Nothing captured his attention like you did. Rafe knew he was staring, but you were staring at him, too. Your gaze roamed his face like a gentle caress, and he swore you could see right through him.

“Do you have time?”

Your voice brought him back to reality. “What?”

“I just, uh, I’d like some help transferring the rest of my things into my car,” you explained, your hands smoothing down your jeans. “If you’re up for it, of course.”

Rafe glanced at his watch. He still had time. “Yeah, yeah. Sure.”

“Great!” you beamed as you motioned him to follow you. “It’ll be quick, I promise.”

After many flights of stairs later, you led him to your apartment. Through the booming music, Rafe heard bed creaks followed by an over-the-top pornographic moan from next door. His lips curled in distaste. No wonder your speaker was on full blast. 

Once you opened your door, sunlight bleeding into the space, he was greeted with a mess. It's not a gross, rotting mess. Just disorganized. Your brain probably looked like this, too. The coffee table in the living room was cluttered with stacks of paper with yellow sticky notes that said ‘STUDENT WORK :)’ slapped on top. Boxes hugged the walls, newspapers were beneath a freshly painted canvas, and paintbrushes were stuffed in a cup near the kitchen sink. 

It was a sight, for sure.

“Sorry ‘bout the mess,” you said over the music, stepping aside to let him in. “I’ve been doing more painting than cleaning.” 

Rafe tried to appear indifferent, but Sarah always told him he was never good at hiding his feelings. He shrugged, “Nah, you’re good.”

Your chin dipped hollowly to your chest, and you kicked a small box out of your way. You must have caught his bluff. Oh, well. At least, he tried. 

He looked around your apartment, his gaze lingering on the framed pictures of what he assumed to be your parents. A heavy feeling weighed on his chest. He forgot what it was like to have parents. But the sound of your grunts caught his attention, and he saw you hunched over and dragging a storage bin toward him.

“Can you carry this, please?” With a huff, you dropped the bin next to his feet. “Just be careful. It’s pretty heavy, so—”

Rafe picked it up with ease. You clamped your mouth shut.

“Never mind,” you said, your eyes falling to his arms, chest rising as you sucked in a breath. “You’re, uh, very strong.”

His lips twitched at your unabashed stare. Though, your gaze was more innocent than anything. A look of admiration as opposed to lust. You eventually turned on your heel and walked into a closet.

“You got any new projects you’re working on?”

Rafe adjusted his hold on the bin. “Yeah,” he answered, “a couple of studios in Figure Eight.”

As he approached the closet, you suddenly poked your head out the doorway and asked, “Figure Eight’s Northside, right?” When he nodded, you disappeared behind the wall again. “I’m still trying to get used to your guys’ lingo.”

Your words replayed in his head. So, you hadn’t lived in Kildare for that long. That explained why you were so friendly with him. You didn’t know his history.

You came out with a rolled-up tarp in your arms, your lips pursed in thought. “What kind of studios?” 

“It’ll be up to the tenant what they wanna do with the space.” Rafe looked you up and down, his head tilting. “Why?”

The smile on your face faded into something less genuine. “I’ve always wanted an art studio,” you said, the music almost drowning out your voice, “but I don’t have the money for it.”

“We can work something out,” he offered, his mouth working faster than his brain. 

You stared at him, doe-eyed. “Really?”

Rafe chuckled, “Of course.”

He saw your gentle eyes harden, analyzing him, searching for a speck of insincerity. You looked at him like everyone else had his whole life—like he was just some fuck up you couldn’t trust. It made him nervous, worried that you were starting to see that, too. But soon enough, you returned to your sweet and unknowing self, smiling. 

“Alright, well, c’mon,” you ushered, striding past him to disconnect your phone from the speaker. 

The music cut off abruptly, and your neighbors were louder than ever. You didn’t seem fazed by it, though. He wondered if this was a daily occurrence for you. 

You stepped outside. “I don’t wanna waste more of your time.”

Once he followed you out, Rafe waited while you locked up your place. His eyes trailed to your neighbor’s door, their moans having turned into screams of ecstasy. Intense and raw and unnecessarily loud. He might as well be in the room with them. 

“I should've put better soundproofing for these apartments,” he mused, his brows pinching together.

When you looked at him, you frowned and tilted your head, “What makes you say that?”

He huffed, a smile creeping on his face at your feigned ignorance. You bumped your shoulder into him as you walked past him, and the brief interaction made him forget about the ache beginning to settle in his arms. 

It didn’t take long for you both to descend the stairs and return to your car. You opened the rear door and plopped the tarp onto the floorboard. He did as he was told and set the storage bin on the backseat, and you buckled it into place.

You clasped your hands, grinning, “Thank you so much for your help.”

“No problem.” 

Rafe could hear the birds, the rustling leaves, the vehicles that drove by, and how the asphalt crunched beneath your shoes when you stepped toward your car to close the door. His mind was quiet around you.

“Oh, about that art studio—” He took out his wallet, retrieved his business card, and handed it to you, “—I’m just a call away.”

You glanced at the card, reading the information before taking it. “Okay, CEO, I see you,” you mumbled teasingly. “Thanks again.”

He smirked, stashing his wallet away in his pocket. “Don’t be a stranger, Sugar,” he said, echoing the words you had exchanged when you first crossed paths. 

Your smile widened, the apples of your cheeks lifting. “I won’t,” you promised, genuine sincerity dancing in your eyes as they dropped to the card for a split second. “Have a nice day, Rafe."

He nodded. “You too.”

And as he walked back to his car, he couldn’t help but get one last look at you. When he glanced over his shoulder, he saw that you were already in the driver’s seat, and your gaze met his through the rearview mirror. He immediately looked forward, rubbing the back of his neck.

Rafe had a terrifying realization: he would do anything to keep you around longer.

sunnie speaks! IT'S FINALLY HERE!!! i'm sorry it took so long; i've been busy w school </3 but i love my babies sm so i hoped you guys enjoyed reading!!! let's chat about rafe cameron / teacher!reader

if you like my work, consider following my library blog (@sunniefics) to be notified of all my future fics!

TAGLIST:  @rluvsr @sublimepenguinpeach-blog @larvalerius @rafesheaven

[bunni-v1]

your shadow milk cookie relationships headcanons are now my canon. like what the fuck how can a piece of literature be so accurate to established information we know about him!!!!!!! hejsjsdjejwje ur shadowmilk is so loving and so cute lowkey

if you don't mind, since your requests are open, could you elaborate more on some more aspects of the relationship pre-ep 8 and post-ep 8? (if u haven't finished this part then u can just ignore this hehe) you mentioned how smc naturally gets more and more devoted as time goes on and he opens up (THEY MAKE ME FEEL SO ILL) so i've also wondered how he would act like when there is a threat that legitimately puts his lover in danger, or at worst, sets the tone to losing them. he'd mald, i imagine...

feel free to answer, feel free to ignore—i adore your work and i think it's not strange at all for you to shift to cookie run after dabbling in mostly human-ish games like ZZZ and TWST. all in good fun, plus you're feeding a parched audience (i am audience, haha) have a good day!

🍓Okay so this ask kinda has three parts to it, so please excuse me if it seems a little... all over the place. I'll answer both the pre and post ep 8 things, and then I'll be touching on what he's like with the threat. I do hope you enjoy my love <3

Tw: Mentions of body horror (cookie body horror?); Shadow Milk Cookie; Obsessive and Possessive behaviors; unedited

Info: Shadow Milk x Reader; Fluff; Angst (lowkey tho); Pre and Post episode 8 SMC (spoilers ahead lol); Drabble/Headcannons(?)

Pre Episode 8

From how the story seems to be set up, the confrontation with SMC should happen last, they just released it now because of the anniversary knowing he'd be hella popular lol. So I'm functioning with the idea that Gingerbrave and Co. arrive around when the other Ancients are finishing up their own confrontation with their respective beasts, meaning there's a lot of time to work with hehe.

Anyway, pre-episode 8 Shadow Milk leans into the category of 'yandere' a lot more than post. He's very obsessive about you, again stalking and watching you, learning as much as he can about you before he even allows you to see him.

You're more often than not being monitored by him, and if you're not, he's probably with you. He gets annoyed when other cookies talk to you, and he isn't afraid to voice that. While he does give you a lot of freedom, he does subtly limit the things you do and the people you're around. It's harder when you're not with him in the spire, but he goes about messing with the environment to keep you where he wants you.

And, yes, he'll crumble cookies in your name if he needs to. Their lives are arbitrary in the grand scheme of things, especially so if they're causing you strife. He won't hurt any cookies you hold dear to you -- though he really may want to at times -- only cookies that are a threat to your emotional or physical well-being. If the death causes you too much terror, then he'll tone it down to just... making their lives a miserable hellscape. It's what the deserve for hurting you, of course!

When you do join him in the spire (because you will, it's just a matter of how long it takes him to nudge you in that direction), the behavior is a bit more obvious. He doesn't like you leaving the spire for literally anything, and if you do he knows and will pop up by your side the second you stray too far. He plays it up as cute worrying, but he's legitimately scared for your wellbeing, like terrified. You're never alone in the spire if he can help it (and he can).

Like I said he watches a lot. There are eyes all around the spire and they follow you shamelessly. They appear content to just watch you, sometimes even literally forming hearts, so they're no threat to your well-being. Again, he's just observing you, more excited now that you're actually in the spire and close to him.

There is a notable difference in the environment, though you likely don't notice it (because you've only ever seen post you moving in). The atmosphere surrounding the spire is lighter, more colorful, and happy. It reflects his excitement at having you around, a visual nod to his love for you, even though you're not exactly away of it.

Despite the negatives here, there are positives! He's incredibly doting, you'll want for nothing with him. Your greatest dreams will come true with a wave of his hand, even with only half his power. He does let you wander around, you just won't be alone when you do so. He's very aware of the dangerous environment on beast yeast, he's cause for it, so he won't be risking your safety.

He's incredibly showy with his style of loving. Grand gifts and performances just to get you grinning and giggling. (He loves writing plays where the two of you are the main characters, falling in love in a million different ways, cutie he is.) He serenades you with syrupy sweet lyrics all about how much he adores all of you. Scoops you up in his arms and dances around with you. He's very touchy, like I said, always needing to have physical contact for whatever reason. (It's because he's scared you'll leave him too.)

He doesn't kiss you much if only to initiate more intimate activities. When he does, his intent is to fluster you nearly every time. Kissing is something that's hard for him, for whatever reason. It's more intimate than touches, and weirdly enough more intimate than sex in his mind. It makes him so vulnerable, so he tries to avoid it unless it's to get a reaction out of you.

Most of what he does is to get a reaction, actually. He likes seeing the way you express yourself, and regardless of what you do, he finds it cute. It's a little intimidating how much he stares, and he stares a lot. Very frequently you'll find him sitting around just... watching you. He won't stop even if you acknowledge it, just smiles all innocently until you go back to what you were doing.

That's sort of how it feels during this whole time, that he's just watching from the outside. There's a distance he keeps between you and him, the power dynamic is a lot more stark here. However, when you're not aware - be that you're sleeping or doing something where you can't see him - genuine affection comes out.

Floating around the spire in his arms as you rest, he whispers sweet nothings he could never bring himself to say to your face. He'll lead you around the winding halls of the spire with a path of your favorite flowers, aiding you in getting to where you want to go. He leaves gifts around, taking you on little treasure hunts just to reveal something sweet and heartfelt at the end. The spire itself shifts and changes around you to be more to your liking, and there are rooms within it dedicated to the hobbies you enjoy.

This gentleness is all hidden when you're together, though. Only showing itself when you can't look him in the eyes and reject him. He can't bring himself to let you in, he's scared of that rejection. He wants you to think he's powerful and amazing, so allowing you to see just how much he adores you would be terrible. What if you don't like him at his weakest? What if you realize that you could do better than him? What if you meet Pure Vanilla and you realize how much better he is? What if you leave him? Oh, it tears him apart.

So, he can't let you in. He'll put on a performance so dazzling it'll distract you from how much his heart aches when he sees you. He'll prove that he really does love you through flowery words and fantastical shows, anything to hide how much he adores you. Even when you try to get him to connect, he'll brush it off for fear of you not accepting him as he is. He can't handle you rejecting him, not after all he's done to keep you at his side, not after how hard he's fallen in love with you.

Post Episode 8

This is where we see Shadow Milk Cookie open up a lot more to you. After the so-called betrayal of Truthless Recluse, and his being incredibly emotionally vulnerable from Compassionate Pure Vanilla's offer for friendship, he's now forced with the problem of you knowing him. You saw that raw vulnerability, the loneliness that aches deep within his dough and infects his very being with a sickness he cannot cure.

No matter how much he puts on airs, he cannot avoid you knowing him now. He has nothing to hide behind anymore, you saw how much he craves connection and care, there's no going back from that. He briefly considers leaving you, but the idea of losing you sends shivers up his back, so he dismisses the thought as quickly as it comes. He may actively avoid you for a little while, but if you are patient and kind to him, he won't be able to hide for long.

Showing him that you still feel the same way by continuing your regular shows of affection is a huge relief to him. He truly expects you to think less of him now that you've seen that side of him, but you don't. It's rather odd to a cookie like him, who spent his entire existence being worshiped, revered, and feared. He assumes when you see him weak you will despise him - that you were only there for all the grandiose gifts and displays. He doesn't consider the thought that you have fallen in love with him. That you consider him yours as much as he considers you his.

It takes him a bit, but he begins to pick up where you left off. This time, though, he's more... gentle about everything. You get to take the lead around this time, and as odd as it is for him, it's cathartic to be taken care of for once. He can let his walls down and relax while you stroke his hair and hold him close to your chest. You kiss across his face with reverence that not even the most loyal of his followers could ever begin to replicate.

You love him.

He becomes addicted to the feeling, your affections being something he craves with a hunger he'd never felt before. It takes a bit for him to come to you for it, so usually you'll have to initiate it, but he melts into your hands so easily. It's pathetic how much hold a little cookie like you had over a god like him, but when you're humming sweet words at him he can't bring himself to care too much. (He will huff and puff if any of the other beasts give him shit for it, telling them off like a angry child.)

All of those hidden affections of his become much more obvious to you as time goes on. He's a bit awkward with it because he's never really been so open with any cookie before, but it's charming the way he tries so hard to be genuine with you.

You get to hear those sweet words of love from him directly, earnestly said while he holds your hand in an iron-tight grip. He gives you those heartfelt gifts by hand, telling you all about how he worked so hard to get it for you and how much care went into it. He leads you around places himself, preferring to be by your side than guiding you from a safe distance. Even the way he holds you is different, much more adoring than before. It's a kind of care he hadn't really shown you before, more considerate of what you might want rather than what he believes you might want.

And, of course, he kisses you now. Very frequently. He still does do it to fluster you at times, but less than he did before. Now every kiss has a purpose behind it, a means of displaying his affection for you. They're soft and loving, full of emotion.

Something that carries over consistently is the watching. He keeps an eye on you at all times, regardless of where you're at. Since you're no longer in the spire, there's more risk so he wants to ensure your safety. Even if you're with another beast or with Black Sapphire or Candy Apple, he's watching you anxiously.

Now if you acknowledge the eyes, they'll react to you. Before they usually just continued watching, but now they'll squint and shift excitedly at your attention. Sometimes he'll even drop flowers or a little plushie at your feet while the eye seems to grin at you with glee. You can kiss them, if you'd like -- they're warm and soft but they don't feel like eyes. If you do so the pupil with dart around nervously, then it'll pop out of existence and arrange itself to another spot you can't easily fluster him at.

Still, though, they just watch you for the most part. Making sure you're safe and happy when he isn't around. He's a bit less obsessive about who you're spending your time with, though. He trusts that you won't leave him a lot more now, and no longer finds himself threatened by anyone (other than PV).

Bonus below

Now, as a mortal cookie in beast yeast, most things put you in danger. It's a tough environment to live in, and there are a lot of violent characters around that wouldn't care if you died or not. However, most cookies are aware of Shadow Milk Cookie's, shall we say, claim on you.

There are very few things that could actually threaten you, especially with Shadow Milk Cookie monitoring you so closely. He makes the environment around you safer, and he makes sure everyone knows that you are off-limits. Unfortunately he cannot control everything, though he really does try to.

If anything, anything ever puts you in actual danger, he is beside himself with worry and rage. Your soft and sweet dough is not made for battle and danger, regardless of what you might feel. It would take the witches themselves to stop him from tearing apart the lands to ensure your safety. And tear them apart he would. He would carve deep valleys into the ground for you, slice mountains to their base, and raze forests flat if it means you will be safe.

If it's a cookie? Some insignificant act or protest from a foolish mortal, deciding to use you to get his attention? Oh, they'll know hell.

Depending on how much damage they do the punishment will vary, but it won't be pleasant regardless. If they just take you away for a little while, he'll torture them. Ensuring the life they go back to is much harder for them to live through, but he won't kill them. They have to learn their lesson and live to tell the tale so no one is stupid enough to follow their example.

If they hurt you at all, they're dead. Shadow Milk normally makes a show out of any crumbling he does, but when you are involved? He doesn't waste time with any silly shows, they just crumble. No fanfare, no sparkle, just death. They don't deserve anything more than that, not when they've caused you hurt.

Ah, and if there is a threat to you -- silly or not -- he takes it very seriously. His monitoring will increase tenfold, and he does his best to keep you with him at all times. He will not take your safety lightly, not when he adores you so.

If there is a genuine threat to your life, he will do everything in his power to remove it. After the fact, he becomes much more obsessive of your safety. It's almost suffocating for a while, but if you express concern he'll ease up a bit. Though you can feel the anxiety in his body language and the way which he speaks.

[risingchaos]

I’m a fiber artist so here’s me assigning fiber arts to the TOS crew.

James Kirk - Tried to learn how to crochet. Couldn’t keep the tension correct. Lost his mind. Does not participate anymore and instead cakes everyone’s yarn during fiber club.

Spock - Knitting, but specifically the kind of knitting where you make those incredibly elaborate single color sweaters that take a million years. I’d also say weaving.

Leonard McCoy - Crochet and cross stitch. He stress makes beanies. He does know how to knit, he will stab you with the needles if you ask him to make anything.

Hikaru Sulu - One of those wildly elaborate knitting machines that you have to hole punch the card to make a sweater with.

Pavel Chekov - C’mon. Sheep to skein, he knows how to process and spin yarn. It’s very calming for him, he has the whole setup, though he makes the ugliest color ways you’ve ever seen.

Nyota Uhura - She dabbles around in a variety of crafts, but one of her favorites is dying the skeins Chekov makes so everyone has pretty yarn and he doesn’t have to make choices on what colors go together. She also likes crocheting or quilting everyone blankets.

Montgomery Scott - Embroidery, specifically the old medieval kind where they were conserving thread. He also knows how to sew.

Christine Chapel - She’s been known to jump around, often learning from Uhura whatever she’s been learning recently and keeping what she likes. She has more of a list of what she doesn’t like, but she really does enjoy making amigurumi and putting them around medbay.

[bloggerspam]

He's confused, but he's got the Spirit.

A serious chaos oneshot VERY loosely inspired by this post.

this seriously ran away from me like why is there so much world building?? and For What??? You can also find this on AO3.

============

So the thing is, Ellie's not socialized.

Not properly, anyway.

And sure, she's not a dog, so it's not too late but sometimes…

Sometimes she feels like it's way too late.

Staring in confusion at an increasingly irate Robin interrogating her about her civilian life she feels like maybe…

This might be one of those times.

===

Ellie is very new to being a hero.

She's very new to a lot of things, actually.

Like school, and homework, and having a stable home and sort of a part time job (or would hero-ing be considered more of an extra curricular?)

Like gossip, and slang. And dating.

"I heard Nightwing and Flash the Second are hooking up." Wondergirl says suddenly, tossing a piece of popcorn into her mouth as she slumps onto the couch next to Ellie. It's a weird way to start a conversation, but Ellie is also getting used to not throwing a punch as a greeting so who is she really to judge?

She's only met these people briefly on the field, on various occasions. Maybe this is how they start conversations.

"Oh yeah, that's old news." Impulse jumps in before Ellie can say anything in response, hopping over the couch to bounce next to Ellie. He reaches over her to grab a handful of popcorn from Wondergirl on her other side. "Where is he by the way? Wasn't this whole thing organized by Nightwing?"

'This whole thing' being an overnight gathering of younger generation heroes in order to socialize and network amongst peers.

In other words, Danny had grinned when he invited her, a big ol' sleepover, squirt.

"He's visiting Oracle." Red Robin answers, walking into the large common room at Mount Justice the YJ is providing for the whole event. "She hasn't been sleeping well these past couple weeks, so he stopped by last night."

"Isn't Oracle his ex?" Superboy the Second asks, floating in behind Robin like an overly large golden retriever puppy. Ellie misses Cujo like a phantom limb. She hasn't seen him in hours.

"Yes." Robin says, but doesn't elaborate any further. Well, he makes a face as if to say and? but that's about it.

"….And Flash isn't bothered by that?" Wondergirl asks, leaning back to stuff more popcorn by a handful. She jostles Ellie a bit, placing the popcorn bucket into Ellie's lap as she leans back and away. Impulse leans closer to grab more popcorn by the handful. Ellie ends up smooshed, and unsure what to do about it.

"If he knows what's good for him, he would not." Robin growls under his breath, only loud enough for those with superhearing to pick up.

"Oracle is one of ours." Red Robin unknowingly follows up, sighing into his tablet. "Spoiler and Batgirl have been taking turns visiting but they went on a date last night, so Wing offered. Flash was there for dinner."

"Is anyone else weirded out by how he just knows that?" Superboy the clone (Ancients, that's gonna get old real fast, what're their alien names again? Right! Kon-El!) floats in to plop next to Wondergirl, grabbing the tablet with his TTK on the way. against. "Also this is all so very incestuous, you know that right?"

"And thinking your cousin is hot isn't?" Red Robin huffs, but allows the theif at least to almost daintily sit on the sofa arm Impulse is lounging against.

Ellie suddenly feels very cornered in. Why did she choose the couch again?

"First of all, Supergirl is hot, it runs in the family." Kon-El says, flexing his bulky arm and ignoring the eyeroll RR gives him for it. "Second of all, I can objectively appreciate her without wanting to bone her. Ya'll actually bone each other."

"Oh, but Superman isn't hot?" Wondergirl cuts in, raising an eyebrow when Kon-El makes a face like he's about to barf. "Objectively speaking, Superman is hot and I'm not even into guys."

"Besides," Beastboy chuckles when he saunters in with Raven, "The batbrood aren't actually related. I know—I've checked."

"Batman really does have a problem." Raven agrees, sitting criss cross in the air above where BB settles in a beanbag chair. "Maybe he's afraid of empty nest syndrome and this is his contingency to avoid it."

Ellie should have chosen the beanbag. Or the armchair that Robin took in the corner—even the ottoman.

Seriously, why did she choose the middle of the sofa—this is like the first day of class all over again, when she took a front row seat without knowing the downfalls.

Ellie wouldn't call herself shy in meeting new people, but going to a rich kid's school for almost an entire semester has shown her the error of her ways.

It turns out, playing charades and being happy peppy with random strangers who don't speak your language is completely non-transferable to making friends at school.

She's not exactly lonely in school, she's great at meeting people and being friendly and she has had exactly zero problems with anybody; Making friends has never been the problem.

But being friendly and amiable and easy to blend in does not make it easy to actually keep friends.

She can move from group to group, hang out with whoever she chooses and it wouldn't be weird—but at the end of the day? If groups are being made, Ellie's always the odd one out.

A social butterfly in the midst of bees in a hive.

"It funny that you think Batman has any control of his children." Red Robin smirks, dragging her attention back to the conversation at hand. Red looks over to Robin who rolls his eyes, huffing, but does not refute.

"I mean, Batman is kind of scary." Superboy the Second says. Ellie can't recall his alien name—maybe she can think of a nickname?

"Please, Junior," Oh, that's perfect actually. "You're giving us supers a bad name." Kon-El groans, leaning heavier onto Wondergirl, who smooshes against Ellie, causing Impulse to lean into Red Robin.

Red Robin tilts, but somehow manages to stay on the arm without any trouble—it's kind of impressive.

"No, I agree." Beastboy mutters. "All you bats are kind of terrifying, even though none of you have powers."

Robin bares his teeth in a poor facsimile of a smile. It's kind of nice, Ellie offhandedly appreciates that kind of ferality. And then the words register a half second later.

"Oh." Ellie breathes out, disappointed without realizing it. She slumps a little, before freezing when all eyes turn to her.

It's this second that she realizes she hasn't actually said a single word to contribute to the conversation—Mom, come pick me up I'm scared—

"Disappointed?" Robin raises an eyebrow, RR turning to look at her like shes a bug. "You don't trust humans to thoroughly beat you into the ground?"

That gets her attention yanked back to reality real quick.

"What??" Ellie croaks out, genuinely confused. "No??? My sister's completely human and she can kick everyone's butts here."

That seems to throw everyone off just as much as she's been tossed, which makes her feel better.

"Oh, you're one of those—" RR hums, rubbing his chin like Ellie's seen Batman do sometimes. "You really thought we were a family of cryptids?"

"I'm a ghost." Ellie shrugs, happy that the tension seems to immediately leave the room. "I just thought…would'a been nice to meet other supernaturals is all."

Aaaand of course, that makes everyone tense up again. Right. Death is a big Taboo thing to humans. She forgot—what did Danny say they should introduce themselves as again?? Shit.

Thankfully, Nightwing arrives shortly into the silence with a loud flourish and her brother trailing in right behind him.

Ellie isn't ashamed to say she perks right up, relieved. She's been kind of mucking this intro event right up and kind of wants to go home already.

"Who's ready for break out some of those good old introductions?" Nightwing booms out, jovial and peppy as he comes to a stop.

Danny—no, she should be calling him Phantom now—gives her a smile and a wave as Beastboy and Raven get up to join the other adults as they face the younger heroes.

"Welcome, your Majesty." Red Robin greets as he delicately steps down from the arm of the sofa to do respectful half bow with his hand open against his heart. Ellie is impressed—but then again, if anyone knew Realm's etiquette, it would be the bats.

Ellie does her own half bow, much to Phantom's amusement.

The rest of the young heroes scramble to straighten up as Beastboy and Raven do their own bows and greetings.

"Your majesty," Robin echoes, before clicking his tongue and yanking on Superboy the Second's cape to make him touch down on earth. He grabs the back of his companion's neck, forcing him to bow and doing his own half bow of greeting in perfect measure as the other heroes finally assemble themselves into their own bows.

"At ease, heroes." Phantom nods with a charmed smile, waving away the flustered younger heroes stumbling into their greetings. "I hate formalities with the passion of a thousand suns."

Immediately, all the young heroes collapse once more upon each other on the sofa. Ellie is once again, trapped. Damn, she was too slow.

"So, King Phantom." Nightwing gestures to the two groups of heroes, "This is Young Justice, and the Supersons."

"Is that really necessary?" Robin interrupts, crossing his arms as he leans back in his chair, clearly taking advantage of Phantom's dislike for formality. "We've met each other before, clearly we are able to work together just fine."

"It's important to get to actually know each other, baby bird." Nightwing chides, walking over to ruffle as Robin's hair. Robin, predictably, slaps the hand away. "Besides, you can't effectively make plans if you don't know each other's abilities and quirks."

"Plus," Phantom smiles as he beckons her over. "It's the first time you'll officially be meeting Spirit outside of a crisis."

Ellie, once more a little squished up, phases right into the ground to escape her captors. She takes that scant second in the darkness of the floor to breathe in and out, centering herself. Why is she being so awkward right now? She's traveled the world, she's never had problems talking to strangers before, even at school she's a certified yapper!

Then again, she's not scrutinized from head to toe there—her each and every action in school doesn't exactly reflect upon Danny's standing in the Justice League like it does at Mount Justice.

She scrunches her face, shaking her head to rid herself of her 16 year old sensibilities and shyness, trying to put on her well worn coat of 12 year old audacity. She pops right back up to come back into visibility right next to Phantom, who lifts an arm to drape over her shoulder.

He's shot up recently, looking like slightly leaner, delicate version of Dan—all of Dad's bulk with Mom's features, a killer combo for sure. Ellie's really glad her template is pretty and buff.

"Spirit has yet to choose a haunt of her own, mostly spending most of her time in the Realms," Phantom begins explaining—which, right. She's supposed to introduce herself as a Realm's denizen! She'll have to remember next time. "She's my one and only heir, so it's likely she will remain around Amity Park unless some other place catches her eye."

Phantom squeezes her shoulder, smiling down at her. It never fails to make her feel all warm and fuzzy inside, even though she cringes at the title. She's not exactly Princess material, but then, Danny thought he wasn't King material either.

"Your teams were chosen because of your proximity to each other's base of operations." Raven chimes in, quirking her lips. "Batman himself has given her permission to roam around Gotham, due to the high levels of ambient ectoplasm."

"Provided," Nightwing puts a hand up to stave off Robin's protests, "That she not meddle in Gotham's rogues."

"Scout's Honor." Ellie smiles to hide her nerves, trying to exude confidence with her chest puffed up and channeling Jazz with all her might.

"So…basically this is a playdate for the Princess." Red Robin surmises. "Under the guise of what, a teen hero gathering labeled diplomatic sleepover?"

"Way to make me sound lame…" Ellie grumbles, wincing. "Also, please don't call me Princess. I get enough of that in the Realms."

"Well…he's right, it is kind of a sleepover, and you are a princess." Phantom chuckles, patting her on the head once, twice before turning back to the young heroes. "Spirit won't actually be active on the hero scene. As a Realms citizen, we mostly just want you guys comfortable with each other in the event of a worse case scenario."

"That's all well and good…" Ellie says, drawing out the vowels as she thinks her words through, "But I don't actually know what we're supposed to be doing here."

Ellie tries to convey to Danny that she's never actually been to a human sleepover before, and judging by how his face goes all soft and sad, he probably knows.

"Watch a movie, chat a bit about school in vague terms, play some board games." BB beams at her in excitement, as if on her behalf. "Y'know, regular sleepover stuff, but kinda like a masquerade, with the secret identities and all."

Ellie reaches up, feeling the edge of the domino she created with her ectoplasm. Phantom has a sort of magic that's been set upon that prevents people from really looking too closely, but Ellie's never been comfortable with that so she had to learn how to manipulate her ectoplasm in ghost form to even be allowed to join as a hero—Jazz had been really mad at Danny for using "being a dead kid" as a crutch for his secret identity.

Good thing Nocturne and Ghost Writer knew a couple of spells…

"Phantom and I will be around," Nightwing continues, gesturing vaguely in a direction away. "BB and Ray are technically on call so they'll be with us for a little be too. We know you don't need supervision, but technically speaking this is a diplomacy thing so, we'll be in our rooms for the most part."

"Sorry if I'm cramping your style, Princess." Phantom grins with all his teeth, because he knows she hates it when he calls her that.

"Oh, you could never, Your Great and Woeful Majesty!" Ellie very dramatically brings her fist to her chest, stepping back and crossing her foot to bow formally, because she knows he hates it when she does that.

True to form, Phantom huffs, crossing his arms. "I knew I shouldn't have let you hang out with Fright Knight."

"Frighty is a delight and assigning him as my babysitter was the best decision you ever made." Ellie straightens up, jabbing a finger at her brother. "What you shouldn't have done was let me hang around Johnny 13 and Kitty."

"It's funny you think I let them do anything." Phantom laughs, "But that's good to know, now I know who to blame for that sass of yours."

Ellie scoffs. "As if I didn't get it from you."

Phantom puts his hands up in surrender, chuckling.

"I do seem to recall a certain Ghost King meeting Batman and calling him a crime-fighting furry to his face." Nightwing hums, bemused and rubbing his chin as if in thought.

The assembled young heroes start to burst out laughing,

"Hey now," Phantom says indignantly, "You're putting that entirely out of context."

"I don't know…" Raven smiles, "I'm pretty sure that's what happened."

"Weren't you only sixteen too?" BB makes a little thinking noise. "You were only Crown Prince when the JL tried to pick you up, right?"

"Patently unfair." Red Robin grumbles.

"Get good, scrub." Phantom shrugs, making Ellie giggle hard enough to float a little.

Beeps start to ring out, one by one, and the adults straighten up and answer their comms. Raven and Beastboy seem to sigh in unison.

"Duty calls," Raven drawls, putting away her communicator and pulling up her hood.

"Have fun, kiddos!" Beastboy grins with all his animal teeth, waving as Raven's inky black magic covers and vanishes them.

"I think that's our cue, too." Phantom nudges Nightwing in the shoulder, "We still need to go over those accords Batman drew up for me, and I'm sure the kids can't wait for us to get outta their hair."

"Right, right. Well!" Nightwing puts his hands on his hips. "Babybirds, you know the rules. Have fun!"

Phantom gives Ellie a little peck to her temple, squeezing her shoulder in comfort one last time before walking away.

Ellie watches them leave in a nervous kind of titter, trying not to fidget as she's suddenly left alone to fend for herself.

Of course, teenagers being teenagers regardless of their hero status, they don't leave her alone for too long.

"So is King Phantom like, your dad?" Impulse asks dashing away for a split second and coming back with an armful of snacks.

"Not…exactly." Ellie makes a face. She's not ashamed of her past, but she doesn't really want to get into her origin story on her first official meeting. "He's more my brother? I guess."

"But you're his heir?" Wondergirl grabs a bag of chips from Impulse's pile to open one up herself. "Doesn't Phantom have a consort?"

"Belladonna." Robin nods, already looking bored and annoyed with everything. "She has been working with Poison Ivy on the new recycling program Star City has been trying to implement."

"Yeah?" Ellie walks a little closer to the group, taking a seat on the rug instead of joining whatever cuddle puddle the YJ team is attempting.

Junior takes a seat on the floor with her, leaning back against Robin's armchair, completing the little circle they have going on. Kon-El tosses her a pillow, and she hugs it to her in comfort.

"If they have kids," Wondergirl elaborates, "Will they take over as his heir?""

"Oh!" Ellie breathes a sigh of relief. "No, that's not how it works in the Realms."

"How does it work?" Kon-El asks as steals a chip from Wondergirl, much to her chagrin.

"There's a…" Ellie hedges, kind of embarrassed. "Well, a rite of succession."

"Like that Klingon ritual?" Kon-El asks, to which Red Robin sighs the sigh of a long suffering friend.

"Ignore him." Red takes pity on her, giving her the out. "Is it confidential?"

"It's not that," Ellie hastily says, "I'm just, It's a little…I'm surprised you guys don't already know?"

"Spit it out, Spirit." Robin sneers. "Clearly, we do not."

Ellie sighs, mumbling.

"Whatwasthat?" Impulse's words cut through her.

Ellie sighs again, enunciating her words. "It's by Rite of Single Combat."

There's a long silence then. Kon-El whistling as if he's impressed.

"What does that mean?" Junior stage whispers to Robin, who clicks his tongue again.

"It means she will have to battle Phantom for the crown." Robin explains, far more patiently than she expected him too.

"Wait, but then, why is she already named heir if she has to fight for the crown? What if someone's stronger?"

Ellie flushes, curling up with her throw pillow and blocking out the looks Young Justice are giving her.

"It means," Robin grits out, "That she is strong enough that it is already likely she will overtake him in the future. Do you know nothing, Superboy?"

"But that's so…" Junior makes a face. "No offense, but you're like really young still, and isn't the Realms super big?"

Ellie groans, leaning back to starfish completely on the floor. She'd rather face the ceiling than be here right now. So far, this sleepover is the pits.

"My brother and I are kinda…special. And the Avatar of Time really really likes us."

A long silence. She decides she might as well go for broke, if anyone can understand the train wreck that is her life, it might as well be these heroes."

"I call him grampy. He's been trying to get Phantom to call him grandpa since I was twelve, but so far my brother is winning by calling him Old Fart. Grampy's kind of depressed about it."

"Grampy." Red's voice flattens, probably in shock. "You call the Avatar of Time, grampy."

"I've never felt more attracted to a man than I have now." Wondergirl breathes, "And I'm lesbian. He really—to Kronos' face???"

"Yeah, Phantom's my hero." Ellie smiles, proud of her brother and finally sitting up. "But enough about that. I know this is probably the last thing you guys wanted, being forced to socialize with a…." Ellie winces, "princess. But I promise I don't bite."

Robin side eyes her, which is fair. Last time they saw each other Ellie bit straight through a batarang. She grins at him with all her teeth, which he raises an eyebrow at but doesn't comment any further.

She thinks that's a good sign, from him. It kind of makes her want to bite something.

"Are you kidding?" Impulse bundles up his copious amount of now empty snack packages and dashes away for a second to toss them out, presumably. "It's usually just us four at Mount Justice, so it's nice to have company."

"Plus, even though Phantom's been active in the League for a couple years now, we know basically nothing about the Realms because it took so long to get the ECTO Acts overturned." Red Robin smiles at her, no doubt noticing how uncomfortable she's been. "As long as you're okay with the 20 questions treatment."

Ellie shrugs, better 20 questions than something like Spin the Bottle. Ellie's heard the horror stories from Jazz and she's not exactly sure where she stands on kissing strangers yet. Truth or Dare sounds kind of fun though.

"I heard you know Lady Pandora personally." Wondergirl chimes in, leaning forward a bit. "I kinda wanna hear more. Does she really have four arms?"

"She does! Wicked sword play too." Ellie grins, finally on some stable footing. "She's my weapons instructor."

"Did Phantom assign you instructors because you're his heir?" Red, who has somehow re-aquired his tablet, thinks aloud. "Considering the rite of succession, it must be the first time this kind of thing has been done."

"That's right," Ellie blinks in surprise, though she really shouldn't be. Jazz had said the bats were the one to be careful of the most when it came to secrets. "Most Kings take the throne by surprise, or necessity like it was in my brother's case. I'm the first one to take classes before succession."

"Must be a lotta pressure, being the first." Kon-El's voice is low, like he's thinking about something else. Which reminds her.

"It kind of is? But Phantom made it easy for me—paved the way." Ellie tries to sound nonchalant, "I'm lucky in that regard—I didn't have the be the first Realm's denizen hero, or Ghost Princess, or even," Ellie takes a deep breath, "Or even the first clone to become a hero."

The silence that follows that kind of hurts, even if she knows it's just for them to process the information she's given them. Jazz had talked her through this when Danny had dropped the news she'd be officially meeting Kon-El, with Mom and Dad reassuring her that she didn't have to tell anybody.

That no matter what, she was their surprise little girl. Pops had even went through the effort of putting together a presentation that, if the clone label truly bothered her, proved she could just as easily label herself as Danny's fraternal twin—just born 6 years late.

The science, apparently, was very sound.

"It's nice." Ellie keeps her voice steady, looking towards the archway that Danny had disappeared through for strength. "Having role models to look up to."

"Yeah." Kon-El breathes. When Ellie finally musters up the courage to look over at him, he looks like he's been weakened by Kryptonite. "Yeah, I'm—I'm glad."

"Was your progenitor Phantom?" Robin cuts in. "It would explain your complicated feelings regarding how best to describe how you are related."

"Robin!" Junior hisses, but Robin rolls his eyes. It's apparent even through the domino.

"It is a good question, Hayseed." Robin drawls, scrunching up his nose. "It is hard to tell with the spell he has to obscure his face, but you have the same," He flaps a hand, "…mannerisms."

"I am." Ellie puffs up her chest. "I couldn't have asked for a better template—he's real pretty under that spell you know."

"I couldn't care less." Robin doesn't say this insultingly, but more as a fact. Red Robin face palms at this, but Robin blithely ignores him. "It is more noteworthy that you are slated to defeat Phantom in strength—my clones were never a match for me."

"You've been cloned before?" Ellie perks up, fascinated. "All of my podmates melted. Were they brainwashed too? Phantom talked me out of my brainwashing, but my creator didn't exactly work too hard on that aspect—he just talked real nice and pretended to love me."

And now he buys her whatever she wants and gives science presentations to affirm her identity, all because he's in his dream throuple and became a changed man. Truly, her life is batshit crazy.

Robin nods solemnly. "My Grandfather was more…thorough in that aspect. I had no choice but to dispatch them when they came to kill me. Their molecular make up was always unstable anyway."

"Rough." Ellie hisses, "I heard that happens when the genetic sequencing—"

A loud coughing interrupts Ellie, Wondergirl looking very amused and also kind of heavily disturbed.

"Sorry." Ellie smiles sheepishly. "Pops is sort of a biochemist."

"They have biochemists in the Realms?" Impulse asks, somehow acquiring a muffin from somewhere. When she looks at it longingly, she gets her own muffin deposited into her hand within a blink.

"Thanks!" Ellie smiles, biting in. Blueberry, amazing. "And yeah, I guess? It's got all sorts of different people, considering it's the waypoint between all sorts of dimensions."

"What's it like there?" Junior's face scrunches up in confusion, "The more I hear about it the less I can picture it."

"It's very green." Ellie says through a stuffed mouth. Jazz would be appalled, "And it's full of floating islands."

"You know," Impulse thinks aloud, "That doesn't really…help."

Ellie shrugs. You can't really describe the Realms easily, so mostly she doesn't try. She tells them so as she chows down the rest of her muffin.

"Makes sense," Red Robin nods, still typing away. "Logic follows that a place made of ectoplasm would be very green, and floating islands aside if the Realms is a place full of different other places, then it would be hard to boil it down."

Wondergirl claps once, twice. "Alright. Enough of that—this is supposed to be a sleepover. First order of business should be getting comfortable and starting up a movie!"

"Race ya!" Impulse yells to Kon-El, and in a blink both of them are gone and back in their PJs.

"I was first!" Kon-El smirks smugly as he leans back sporting some black basketball shorts and a Wondergirl themed Muscle tanktop. The shorts have a little Red Robin symbol on the bottom right hem, and he still has his round black sunglasses on.

"Nowaynoway," Impulse vibrates, shaking Kon-El by the arm. He's sporting some Superboy pajama bottoms, thick and fluffy looking, with an oversized teeshirt that mimics Red Robin's uniform.

"Rob! Tell Impulse I won!" Kon-El yells over his shoulder, but Wondergirl and Red are already walking away and scoffing at them.

"Children." Robin sniffs, standing up to look down at Ellie. "Do you need direction to the locker room?"

"Oh!" Ellie smiles at the other hero's thoughtfulness. "No, I can just…"

She scrunches up her face, concentrating hard on the image of her favorite pajamas: Black pajama shorts with white stripes running along the side with Phantom's symbol stamped at the bottom hem, green ghost patterned fuzzy white socks, and a white sweater with a DalvCO logo embroidered on the breast pocket she stole and cut to be a crop top.

When she blinks her eyes open, her ectoplasm has morphed itself into that exact visage. With, of course, her domino still in tact. She beams up at Robin, who looks at her and nods approvingly.

"Adequate." Robin's voice is curt, but she can tell he's fascinated. Is this guy liminal? Before she can ask, Robin has already turned away to stalk towards a different hallway than the others.

"Don't mind him." Junior says, looking soft and fluffy decked out entirely in robin (the bird, not the hero) themed pajamas bottoms and an old Daily Planet teeshirt. "That's him being impressed."

"Oh, I know." Ellie grins, sticking her tongue out a bit. In her ghost form it's a little forked, so she embellishes with a little hiss. "I can kinda taste chemo-signals."

"Neat!" Junior perks up, floating a little in her face and pointing at his own nose. "My brother and me can smell those."

Ellie and Junior continue like that, comparing powers whilst Kon-El and Impulse bicker with each other, occasionally whipping around and grabbing more snacks and pillows and whatever else they deem necessary for the sleepover.

Red Robin, sporting an Impulse long sleeve with Nightwing sweatpants and a pair of weirdly tinted sunglasses, rejoins as he chatters with Wondergirl, who is rocking a Wonderwoman sports bra and biker short set. Robin silently melts from the shadows in a boring ensemble of green silk pajamas—the kind fancy rich folk like Vlad wear—and what looks like a softer version of his domino.

Soon enough, Ellie's sunk deeply into a pile of pillows surrounded by heroes in similar states, munching on a pizza roll as the heroes watch the newest Terminatra on the big screen passively, chatter flowing around her like a warm bath.

Eventually, as all teenage movies seem to make her believe, the conversation turns toward romance.

Or rather, the difficulty of dating as a civilian, and the perils of dating as a hero.

"I just don't get it—how do they do it?" Wondergirl groans, pulling blanket after blanket on top of her to melt into a fluffy pile.

"Do what?" Ellie is only half paying attention, Terminatra has just blown up a building and is executing a beat down she thinks Sam's mimicked on Skulker three weeks ago.

"Date civilians." Impulse answers absentmindedly—like this has been a topic brought up countless times before. "Flash the first is managing it, but he told his wife his identity before they got married, so we're not sure if it counts."

"Superman managed it." Kon-El tosses a piece of candy up in the air, which Junior dutifully catches with his mouth. "But then, his mom kind of knew Supe's identity before they started dating."

"I'm telling her that." Junior gleefully cuts in, "I'm telling mom you didn't call her mom!"

"Wait—don't!" Kon-El lunges as Junior pulls out a phone, both of them tussling about as they chase each other around the room.

"What about Batman?" Impulse turns to Red Robin. The rest of Young Justice ignores the commotion, even when the sofa gets scooched over 5 feet in result. "I feel like I hear about him dating, but it's always vague or, like, about rogues."

Red and Robin share a flat look. If Ellie couldn't taste chemo-signals, she wouldn't have been able to tell that they're kind of miserable and comisserating with each other.

"Batman…dates." Red carefully chooses his words. "I mean. You've seen…well—"

"Wait—are you telling me those are real?" Wondergirl eagerly jumps in, "You're telling me those aren't just a cover?"

"Father is, for lack of a better term, sincere." Robin grits out as Junior is tossed over his head. "Father also has terrible taste in paramours."

"Oh my god I can never look Batman in the eye ever again." Impulse whispers, Kon-El diving over the couch to catch Junior's phone. "Oh my god, oh my god, Batman can get it. I mean I knew but—holyshitholyshit. Everything? Even the—the swing???"

"We don't like talking about it." Red scrubs a hand down his face. "They're mostly one night stands, so calling it dating might even be overkill."

"I believe the term 'friends with benefits' is more fitting." Robin sneers. Behind him, Junior has gained his bearings and has dived back over to reclaim his phone to tattle. "He has calmed down since acquiring children."

"Gods." Wondergirl laughs. Kon-El has Junior in a headlock. "I need Batman to give me pointers. How does he do it?"

"You don't want to know." Red and Robin say in unison. They share another look, Red wincing and Robin crossing his arms and huffing.

"I kind of want to know." Ellie finally interjects, drinking the hot cocoa Impulse brought her from…somewhere. "But not enough to press for secret identities."

"Right, sorry." Wondergirl chuckles, scratching the back of her neck. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Ellie tilts her head away from the movie, feeling relaxed and honey slow as the cocoa works its magic.

"Have you dated?" Kon-El asks, somehow apprised of the situation despite not two seconds ago tussling with his brother. Both of them are sitting prim and pretty in their respective beanbag nests. "How does dating work in the Realms?"

"Courtship is…complicated." Ellie slow blinks, trying to get her thoughts together. "Realms culture is inherently more, I guess, aggressive in nature."

"Aggressive how?" Junior looks terribly confused, "Like, yelling i love you! all the time?"

"Sounds terrible." Robin visibly shows disgust at that, which makes Ellie laugh.

"No, no." Ellie grins with all her teeth, "We fight, peacock around with our special interests, bring each other gifts and stuff like that. It just depends."

"Like, fight fight?" Impulse purses his lips, "Or like, sparring?"

"The latter." Ellie reassures with a cheeky little smile. "Everything is above board in the Realms. Mostly."

"Considering the rite of succession is trail by combat, this is not surprising." Robin hums. "Does it not create power imbalances?"

"Not really." Ellie hums, placing her now empty mug on a nearby table to buy time. She searches for the right way to explain. "It's not about beating your partner, or your friends. It's about physical touch. The more powerful ghosts aren't even really ghosts—they're concepts given form, we call them neverborns. They don't really fight all that much. Ghosts like to feel something, I gues."

"Are you not a neverborn?" Robin tilts his head like a little bird as he considers her. "You are a clone, so you did not technically die."

"I'm something different." Ellie doesn't elaborate, and the other heroes seem to accept that. Halfas are still a secret to the world, and Ellie will be damned if she's the one who lets it out.

"You never answered," Kon-El swiftly moves the conversation along. "Have you dated?"

Ellie thinks on that. She might be 16 but she's only actually been alive for 4 years. Most of that time was spent traveling and getting trained in the Realms. She's met a lot of people but never actually dated—wait.

"Oh, yeah, once." Ellie ponders she went on that study date with her classmate just last week. "It was in my civvies."

"I was wondering why you needed a domino…" Junior mutters under his breath. Robin shakes his head in disappointment.

"And?" Kon-El grins, excited, "How did it go?"

"It was alright." Ellie flaps a hand. "Nothing to write home about. We studied, ate burgers. We didn't have a lot in common."

"Why did you agree to the date if you have nothing in common?" Robin raises an eyebrow, unimpressed.

Ellie shrugged expansively. "He asked me if I could spare some time to talk discuss about a topic I'm very famiiar in, so I thought we did."

"So no crash." Ellie's thoughts churn slowly, crash must be some kind of slang. On screen, Terminatra was aggressively kissing the male lead with explosives going off in the background. "Was he cute at least?"

"I guess?" Ellie slumps further, mumbling. "I like how he tasted, at least."

"Tasted?" Wondergirl is suddenly pressing both hands on her pillow haven, looking down at her upside down. "You kissed???"

"What? No!" Ellie squeaks, bringing her hands up as if trying to physically stop her accusation.

"She tastes chemo-signals!" Junior pipes in happily. He really is like a little puppy. She really misses Cujo.

"So he asked about something you like and, uh, tastes nice," Wondergirl leans back, only for Kon-El to fill up the space above her, floating. "And you had burgers—what went wrong?"

"Nothing went wrong." Ellie wipes her face, already exhausted despite this short conversation. "We just didn't click. We talked about the thing, but nothing else. Which was the point, I guess."

"Are you sure it was a date?" Red interjects, looking doubtful. "Sounds more like he just wanted information."

"He paid for everything," Ellie shrugs in a what else am I supposed to think? gesture. "Picked me up and insisted on holding open doors."

"O-kay." Kon-El draws out the a in confusion. "That does sound like a date."

"It was a boring one, in any case." Ellie closes her eyes sighing. She's not exactly disappointed, as she didn't have any expectations going in. Especially, if she's being honest, when she didn't realize it could have been a date until halfway through.

It's just that she's a teenager, and maybe she should be more excited about these kinds of things.

Sam and Danny started their relationship with high school study dates, after all. Jazz had a couple of boyfriends at her ages, didn't she? Mom and Dad started out in college though, so maybe it's fine?

The conversation starts to move on to Red Robin's love life, the only one who has been successful as this point. Apparently, his boyfriend is studying abroad for his last year in college and they are discussing opening the relationship up.

Kon-El looks far to invested for it to be considered normal. Maybe they have a thing going on?

"What was the topic?" Robin's voice suddenly cuts through the chatter.

"Hm?" Ellie hums, breathing in. Robin kind of tastes spicy. Curious, deadly. She wonders if this is him relaxed. "Oh, cryogenics."

Robin's voice goes flat. "Cryogenetics."

"Mhm. You know anything about it?" Ellie did most of the talking with her classmate, so the study date wasn't even really productive for her even if she enjoyed feeling smart and informed for once. Robin seems like a smart guy, maybe he can teach her some things?

"I do." There's something going on with Robin. Like he's trying to figure something out. "I quite like Radebaugh's paper on cryocoolers specifically."

"Oh, hey." Ellie beams up at him, happy to have found someone else interested in the subject. "Me too! That paper on utilizing cryocoolers to superconduct aircraft generators and engines is actually a huge part of how I got into this field of interest."

Robin nods, looking pensive and tasting….conflicted and maybe even angry. A taste of the air doesn't really help—chemo-signals can only get you so far when you barely know the guy and he's going through emotional gymnastics. What, has he never seen anyone be excited about superconductors?

===

Danielle Masters.

Spirit has a civilian identity, and said civilian identity happens to be the newest addition to Gotham Academy's ranks.

The same civilian identity that Damian bribed with burgers to teach him about cryogenics, and thusly assisted in thwarting Mr. Freeze's latest invention to almost terrorize Gotham at large.

The same civilian identity who, apparently, called Damian Wayne a boring date to his vigilante persona's face.

Spirit, irritatingly, seems to follow her brother's brazen footsteps very closely in this regard.

Even if it seems she doesn't know it.

"You said the date was boring?" Damian, through sheer force of will, keeps his voice level.

"Well, yeah." Spirit looks at him as if he is hard of hearing. "I did most of the talking, he didn't really contribute anything."

"Perhaps he is more of a listener?" Damian hums, focusing on the hullaballoo on the other side of the room.

Drake is, as always, oblivious to the alien clone's affections. At least Sandsmark seems to be trying her damnedest to make that happen, though if Dowd hasn't been successful in the past however many months Damian isn't sure anything ever will.

"Sure, but it felt more like I was a bug under a microscope than I was just…hanging out with a guy." Spirit hums thoughtfully.

"Maybe he was interested in watching you." Damian was most certainly not. He was, however, reconstructing what little he knew of Freeze's weapon blueprints with the help of Master's explanation of cryocooler technology.

"That's alm0st worst." Spirit deadpans. "What am I, a painting?"

"Maybe you make him nervous." Damian suddenly realizes he cannot recall what Danielle Masters actually looks like beyond a basic description saved in his head.

Black hair, pony tail customary. A bit smaller than average, petite but built. Blue eyes.

What did her face look like? He could pick her out of a crowd, surely.

"Doubt it." Spirit scoffs. "I bet he doesn't even remember what I look like."

Allen and Jon are playing some kind of tag now, which almost makes him scoff. He doesn't, but only because his head is throbbing from a headache.

"But he paid for your meal, treated you with courtesy, did he not?" That, at least, Damian is sure of. Mother and Alfred would be disappointed if he didn't.

"That is the bare minimum, my guy." Spirit gives Damian a look now, looking helplessly out of depth, "What's this really about?"

"Nothing." Damian holds back the sneer he wants to give. "I just think it unfair, is all. What if he is simply shy? Or stoic?"

"Then he can be stoic—doesn't mean he has to be boring." Spirit challenges back, a little bit of fire in her eyes burning out the confusion and leaving frustration in its wake. "My former babysitter is the epitome of stoicism, and he's not boring."

"Be more specific, what exactly was boring about him?" Damian demands.

"Why does it even matter?" Spirit squints at him, as if on the cusp of something. This will not do—it is fine if he knows her secret identity, he is trustworthy. But he still knows nothing about this Realm's denizen.

"It's a topic that I have a great deal of interest in—" Damian's mind whirls, "Batgirl is selectively mute!"

Spirit's eyebrows shoot up, before her gaze narrows upon him. "I said what I said."

Damian may or may not have let his anger and indignation get the best of him. He can practically see the gears turning in her head, connecting the dots.

This was possibly a mistake of seismic proportions.

"And I will say, that calling him boring is an affront, if not a bold-faced lie." Damian decides that if his siblings can be stupid, he can be stupid just this once.

It is practically family tradition.

Spirits gaze sharpens then, morphing into a sort of angered shock. "You—!"

"I what." Damian grits out, daring her to say more.

Spirit scrunches her nose, which Damian refuses to acknowledge it as something inane like cute.

And then there's a glint in her eye, her disgruntled expression melting into a innocent expression that fools absolutely no-one, least of all Damian.

"You sure feel strongly about this subject." Spirit begins, looking sympathetic and consoling, "Like it's something that affects you personally."

If Damian were the type of fool to sputter, he would have. But he isn't so he didnt.

"As much as I detest repeating myself, I must state again." Damian's voice is clipped, as precise as Alfred's trimming of Grandmother's Rose bushes. "My close associate is selectively mute."

"Right, right." Spirit nods, making a thoughtful expression as she rubs her chin mockingly. "And you yourself, you're a…man of few words, yeah?"

"I am." Damian straightens his already impeccable posture, tilting his chin up.

"And just as you do, I hate repeating myself but I will say it again: Being a listener does not make someone boring. Batgirl is not boring." Spirit enunciates her words, as if he is slow on the uptake. He feels a vein throb at his temple in annoyance, but at least she's getting it.

"So you are rescinding your previous statement?" Damian rubs at his temples, finally relaxing.

"Nah. my date was boring. And I've also got news for you, Robin." Spirit grins with all her inhuman teeth. Damian refuses to acknowledge how to sight makes him shiver pleasantly. "Ya boring!"

Damian blinks. "Excuse me?"

"As much as I detest repeating myself, I must state again," Spirit mocks in a surprisingly accurate approximation of his voice, "I said what I said!"

Behind him, Drake bursts out into laughter, the older teen having come up behind him without his notice.

This means war.

"I will not forget this slight, Spirit." Damian growls out, mind already conjuring ideas of revenge.

"Then don't." Spirit flaps a hand, uncaring as she flops back into her beanbag chair. "Remember and stew in your inadequacies."

Damian, without really consciously deciding to do so, pulls out a knife and stabs at her head. Spirit rolls a little, dodging inelegantly but somehow still smoothly, and looking at the sharp edge of his knife.

The laughter behind him cuts off abruptly, the tension in the room skyrocketing at the escalation.

"Robin!" Drake hisses, Damian can already see how he is reaching to admonish him. Admittedly, he should not have attacked a diplomatic guest during a—

"Now we're talking!" Spirit grins, flicking her fingers to grow some approximation of claws before she swings out, aiming for his neck.

Damian rolls backwards into a flip, pulling out a kunai in one hand and his wakizashi in the other.

The older teens try to call out of them but it is of no consequence. They quiet down easily enough when Spirit's eyes glow a menacing kind of green.

"I was wondering when the fighting would start." Spirit flicks out her other hand, both sporting claws now. "Usually we start with the fights in the Realms."

And after that, well. It would be rude to deny cultural rituals, wouldn't it?

As he tosses his kunai and dodges another swipe, Damian ruminates on how he will ambush her at school to make her eat her words.

He is certainly not a boring date, and he'll prove her wrong even if it kills him.

When she manages a solid kick to his gut, causing him to crash against the wall, all Damian can really think about is how, at the very least, it'll be interesting to try.

[nameless-jamie]

hi babes! i’m obsessed with jamie x pa reader oh my god its amazing! 🩵 would love to read jamie sabotaging pa’s dates like, everytime she says shes going out with someone he comes up with something urgent for her to do just to spend time with her and also him being jealous of them lolll💕 feel free to change anything and thank you🫶🏼

Not on Accident

FINALLY THE CLIMAX

Masterlist

Jamie Tartt x fem! PA reader

TW: cursing, suggestive scenes, kissing

A/N: I hope you like it and thank you for the request, It was such a good idea that I made it into the climax of their tension-filled relationship.

Y/N had been Jamie Tartt’s personal assistant long enough to recognize when he was full of shit.

And right now? He was positively overflowing with it.

The week went by as normal as it gets with Jamie, Y/N was coordinating his schedule, making sure he showed up to sponsorship meetings, and handling his existential crises when he decided his hair wasn’t quite right before the game.

It was Saturday and usually Saturday nights Y/N had her day off. Her Saturday night plans had been set for over a week. She had even mentioned them to Jamie in passing while reviewing his schedule, barely expecting him to register the information. But, to her surprise, he had—oh, he absolutely had.

"—and Friday you have to do this little interview with our new sponsor..."

"Yeah, will do that, love. What are ya up to this weekend?"

"Oh, you know, just the usual. Chilling, cooking and cleaning...oh and Saturday night I actually have a date with this guy."

"Huh. Hmmm...well have fun then."

At the time, he had simply hummed with a short response, not saying much further. She had chalked it up to him not caring. Why would he care? He was Jamie Tartt. He had models in his DMs and a different woman on his arm at every event.

Meanwhile, Y/N was just his PA. Why would she care? Pfff no, she doesn't. They only kissed like once, on accident, and flirted all the time. Oh, and kissed that one time when they pretended to be a couple, also they've slept in one bed...Fuck, ok maybe she does care.

Anyway, she had gone about her week, fully expecting to follow through with her plans. A date. It wasn’t anything serious, just dinner with a guy she had met through a mutual friend. Ryan was nice enough—handsome in a conventional way, good job, well-dressed, not arrogant, and also a little boring.

Most importantly, though, he was not Jamie Tartt.

Because Jamie Tartt was not an option. Jamie Tartt, who made her heart miss a beat every time he touched her or called her love... Jamie Tartt who was also her cocky slightly arrogant boss, was not an option!

At least, that’s what she kept telling herself.

But then—just as she was putting the finishing touches on her makeup, slipping into a dress that made her feel genuinely attractive for once, and fastening the delicate clasp of her necklace—her phone rang.

She sighed at the sight of Jamie’s name flashing on the screen.

Of course.

Jamie did not respect business hours, nor did he care that it was a Saturday night. Jamie Tartt needed 24/7 care.

Still, she answered. She always did.

“Jamie, if this is about your dry cleaning again, I swear to—”

“Nah, nah, it’s an emergency,” he cut in, his voice decidedly not panicked for someone claiming to have an emergency.

That alone made her suspicious.

She narrowed her eyes. “An emergency, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Silence.

"On the day I told you I'm going out—with a man..."

Silence again.

She blinked. “Are you going to elaborate or should I hang up?”

Jamie exhaled sharply. “I’d rather not do it over the phone. Can you come over?”

Y/N checked the time. “Jamie, I told you I have plans.”

A beat of silence. Then—“Yeah, I know. Cancel ‘em. Please, it's urgent. Really.”

She scoffed. “Excuse me?”

“Look, I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t serious, Y/N.”

She hesitated, gnawing on her lip. Jamie was dramatic, but he wasn’t outright cruel. He used her first name too, instead of babe or love, might really be urgent... If he was truly in trouble if something was really wrong—what kind of assistant would she be if she ignored him?

A terrible one, that’s what.

And Ryan probably wouldn't mind rescheduling. He is too nice to mind.

With a sigh, she grabbed her bag. “I’ll be there in fifteen.”

She just had to make one awkward phone call with Ryan now...

"Y/N, hi!"

"Hi Ryan, look I have to tell you something..."

"You have to cancel, don't you?"

"Ugh...yeah, actually yes. I'm so sorry Ryan, it's a work thing."

"That's okay, you work for Jamie Tartt, right? Uhm....Do you maybe like think you could get me an autograph, I'm a fan of him and all that."

Ok, that kinda gave Y/N the ick...She couldn't even explain why.

"Huh, yeah I'll ask him. Let's see when we both find the time to meet up again. See ya!"

Jamie had been pacing his living room when he heard the knock.

He swung the door open, the words “took you long enough” ready on his tongue—only to forget how to speak entirely when he saw her.

Fuck. That fucking dress. She was gonna wear that...FOR HER DATE?!

He had expected her to look nice—she always looked nice—but this? This was different.

She was stunning.

Hair done, lips glossy, dress distractingly well-fitted. Black and short.

His stomach twisted. Why the fuck was she trying to look this good for him? Was is something serious?

Y/N gave him a pointed look arms crossed in front of her chest making her boobs more prominent. “Well? What’s the emergency?”

Jamie blinked, very much struggling to remember his own bullshit excuse.

Shit.

“Uh…”

She uncrossed her arms, waiting. “Jamie Tartt.”

“Right. The emergency.” He cleared his throat, stepping aside so she could come in. “Yeah, so—uh—I think my… thermostat’s broken?”

A beat of silence.

Then—

“Are you fucking serious? Do I look like a fucking handyman? You are unbelievable.”

Jamie winced. “Okay, when you say it like that, it sounds—”

“No, Jamie. There is no way you just made me cancel my date because you’re too lazy to Google ‘how to adjust thermostat settings. I'm not your fucking butler.”

Jamie had the decency to at least look guilty.

“I just—I dunno, it’s like, well cold in ‘ere, and I thought—”

“Oh my god.” She turned on her heel. “I’m leaving.”

“Oi, wait—”

“Nope. Absolutely not.” She marched toward the door. “I cannot believe I fell for that again—”

His hand wrapped gently around her wrist before she could reach the doorknob. “C’mon, just—stay for a bit, yeah? You already canceled, might as well help me now.”

She should have walked away. She should have told him to call an actual handyman and gone on her boring date, with average Ryan.

But Jamie was looking at her like she was the only person in the world.

Like maybe—just maybe—he had needed her here tonight.

And that was so fucking unfair.

She sighed. “You’re an absolute idiot. I really fucking hate you.”

His lips quirked up. “An absolute fit idiot, though.”

She rolled her eyes, but her mouth twitched in betrayal.

Yup, Jamie took that as a win.

A bottle of wine later, Y/N was curled up on Jamie’s small couch, the thermostat now warming up the place (it was fucking off, not broken). Y/n had her heels kicked off, her dress still clinging to her in all the right places, riding up her thighs slightly.

And Jamie had not stopped staring at her all night.

She caught him looking more than once, but instead of calling him out, she simply lifted a brow. “Something on my face, Tartt?”

His lips curled into a smirk. “Nah. Just thinkin’.”

“About?”

His gaze flickered over her, lingering. “What a shit date you missed out on. Lucky girl.”

Y/N huffed a laugh. “You arrogant prick! You don’t even know him.”

“Don’t need to.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, eyes locked on her. “Bet he wouldn’t ‘ave made you laugh like I do.”

Her breath hitched.

Jamie noticed.

She scoffed, attempting to regain control. “Bit full of yourself, aren’t you?”

He grinned. “You love it, Y/N.”

Her first name again. She refused to answer.

Instead, she looked down at her glass, swirling the remaining wine before saying—so quietly he barely heard—

“I didn’t think I could have you.”

Jamie’s heart stopped.

For a moment, he wondered if he had imagined it.

He sat up straighter. “What?”

Y/N exhaled, staring at the rim of her glass. “You never seemed like the type to—” She paused. “I just figured you didn’t see me that way. I mean I'm your assistant and—”

Jamie wanted to laugh.

Not at her—but at the sheer fucking absurdity of her words.

Instead, he reached out, his fingers tilting her chin up just enough to make her look at him.

“Babe.” His voice was soft. Rough around the edges. Honest. “I ‘aven’t stopped thinkin’ about you since the day you started workin’ for me. Fuck we've kissed twice already and I've taken both of those kisses seriously. No accidents. I've wanted you since day one.”

She swallowed hard.

Jamie’s gaze flickered to her lips. “Say the word, and I’ll prove it.”

A pause.

Then—

“Prove it.”

And just like that, Jamie Tartt closed the space between them, kissing her like he had been waiting his whole fucking life for this moment.

Y/N melted against him, fingers tangling in his hair, pulling him closer because fuck, this was inevitable, wasn’t it?

Jamie pulled back just enough to smirk against her lips. “Told you that date of yours would’ve been shit.”

Y/N laughed, shoving his shoulder.

"By the way my 'date' asked for your autograph when I stood him up..."

Jamie smirked and caught her wrist—like he wasn’t ready to let go just yet.

"I'll just send you back to him with my marks all over your neck. Better than a dumb autograph, yeah baby? Bit more of a personal message from Jamie Tartt."

And for once, Y/N let herself go, she grabbed him by his neck and they fell back on the couch, their mouths never letting go of one another...this time not on accident.

[sippy--sippy]

wedding date (miya atsumu x reader) - summary: you meet atsumu at your friend's wedding and steamy shenanigans ensue CW: smut, car sex word count: 9,774 A/N: if you know me in real life do not read this oh my goooooooood i can't have people knowing i write smut. ya’ll this is almost 10k words LOL this holds the record for the longest one-shot i’ve ever written. this idea came to me because i went to like 5 weddings last year and none of them were my own so i'm getting desperate. enjoyyyyy! !! MINORS DNI !! also, reader is written as AFAB and wears a dress

One would think you’d be more excited to see the cumulation of hours and hours of hard work come to a head once your best friend’s wedding came around. Working closely with the bride-to-be (Kumi) and the maid of honor (her sister), it took months to plan your best friend’s perfect fairytale wedding. Tiring, grueling nights of research, long phone calls, nonrefundable deposits and arguing had finally paid off.

Kumi had found the most beautiful countryside venue for her ceremony. The venue was surrounded by lush forest, spattered with cherry blossom trees that were thankfully in bloom at this time in April, giving the area an ethereal feeling. Rows of white chairs lined the grass, an aisle nestled between the rows that was dusted with white rose petals and cherry blossoms, leading to an elaborate archway decorated with drapes of tulle, ribbons and flowers.

Wedding guests were already in their seats, talking reverently amongst themselves as they awaited the wedding processional, soft romantic music filling the background. You couldn't have asked for better weather either. It was a sunny, clear skied day and since it was April, it wasn’t stiflingly hot.

So why weren’t you giddy with happiness? 

Because you were nervous. 

You wanted this to be the most perfect day for your friend, one that she’ll cherish forever. What if something went horribly wrong? What if someone in the procession tripped? What if the caterers for the luncheon give everyone food poisoning? What if someone breaks their ankle on the dancefloor?

A million possibilities ran through your mind of what could possibly go wrong during the next couple hours but the procession was actually the part you were most worried about. Usually, there would be some sort of practice rehearsal the day before to make sure everyone knew what order to walk out in, how to timely do so, and to make sure everyone knew where to stand. Unfortunately, a rehearsal wasn’t done due to half of the procession still traveling from Tokyo the day before and not making it into town until late that night so no one was able to practice.

Behind a remodeled rustic barn that served as the inside portion of the venue and out of sight from all the guests, everyone was scrambling to get in the proper order to walk out. The officiant was going to walk out first so he could take his spot under the archway. Next in line was the groom who, besides the utter chaos around him, looked as cool as a cucumber.

Due to living a pretty large distance away from each other, you didn’t have the chance to get to know Kumi’s boyfriend, fiance and now almost-husband very well. From what you have learned though, was that Kita Shinsuke was the calmest, sweetest and most brutally honest person you had ever had the chance of meeting. While you were almost scared to talk to him at times, you could see how your friend had fallen head over heels for him. He was so gentle and soft spoken, especially to her. She was going to have the most peaceful life with him.

He looked very sharp with his tailored light grey 3-piece suit and his dainty baby pink bowtie. His hair wasn’t styled much different than what it usually looked like. If anything it looked just the slightest bit wind-swept with the small breeze that blew through the air. How he managed to look so nonchalant at a pivotal moment of his life like this, you had no clue. 

Following him was Kita’s grandma and Kumi’s mother who were going to walk down the aisle together, both dressed in cream dresses. At the tail end of the party, Kita’s little nephew and Kumi’s niece acted as the ring bearer and flower girl. Behind them, hidden from Kita’s view just inside the barn, Kumi was waiting to emerge with her older brother who was going to walk her down the aisle, as her father had passed away years ago.

Sandwiched right in the middle of the party were the groomsmen and bridesmaids which is where the real issue lay. Since no one was able to practice the procession, none of you knew who you were supposed to be walking down the aisle with and it didn’t help that Kita had asked practically his entire high school volleyball team to be his groomsmen. Luckily, your friend had picked just as many bridesmaids so there were even numbers but there were 10 different couples. 20 bridesmaids and groomsmen in total. Which was absolute lunacy in your personal opinion. 

The maid of honor was whisper-shouting the names of each couple that were supposed to walk down the aisle together. She was paired with Kita’s best man, a tall dark-skinned man named Aran Ojiro. As she went down the list, each bridesmaid and groomsman scrambled to find each other and get in the procession line. She called a couple names before she finally called yours. 

“(L/n) (Y/n) and Miya Atsumu.”

You were briefly surprised when she called your partner’s name because she had already called another Miya to partner up with a different bridesmaid. He was tall and handsome, dark brown hair swooped to the right, looking casual but put together at the same time. Were the two related? You didn’t have to think for long as a warm body sidled up to you.

Definitely twins, was your first thought. They looked eerily similar, especially since they were wearing the same outfit. All of the groomsmen wore a white button down shirt with a light gray suit vest and slacks, all tied together with a baby pink tie. This twin however, had blonde hair that was styled to gently swoop to the left and he seemed to be slightly broader than his brother.

Extremely handsome, nonetheless. Almost unnervingly so. 

He looked down at you with a casual smile and flashed a perfect set of pearly white teeth. “Are you (L/n) (Y/n)?”

You suddenly felt very self conscious about the way you looked. How were you supposed to walk down the aisle on the arm of a man that looked like- well- that? The pink dress you wore to match all of the other bridesmaids felt too hot and restricted. You were suddenly worried you were going to sweat through your dress. Did your hair look alright? Was your makeup smeared?

Realizing you had just been staring at him, all you managed to squeak out was a pathetic “Yes”.

He probably noticed your raging blush underneath the heavy layer of makeup covering your cheeks but he didn’t say anything about it, instead choosing to lead you over to the procession line to stand behind his twin and the bridesmaid he was linking arms with. 

Atsumu held out his ridiculously strong looking arm to you and you hesitantly looped your hand into the crook of his elbow. You could feel the bulge of his bicep beneath his shirt and you felt yourself getting woozy. You couldn’t tell if it was because of the sudden temperature spike, how painstakingly gorgeous the man who stood next to you was, the nerves or a combination of all of it.

You didn’t realize that you were shaking until Atsumu dipped his head down to look at you in concern. “Are y’ alright? Yer tremblin’.”

He had the same Kansai accent that Kita had. You couldn’t deny that it fit him beautifully. You nodded and gave him a tight lipped smile. “Yeah, I’m alright. Just nervous I guess.”

Atsumu huffed in amusement and nudged your ribs with the elbow you held onto. “What for? Yer not the one gettin’ married.”

With the hand that wasn’t holding onto his elbow, the hand that held a small bouquet of pale pink and white flowers, you very delicately tapped his chest in retort. You couldn’t smack him as hard as you wanted to, in lieu of destroying the fragile bouquet. “I know that! I just- I don’t know. I want this to go as smoothly as possible. Kumi and Kita deserve the most perfect wedding and what if I trip over these stupid heels walking down the aisle or something.”

You shifted on your feet to prove your point, your heeled feet squishing into soft grass you stood on. Atsumu looked down to watch you squirm in place, then surprised you by lifting his free hand up to pat your hand that rested on his arm.

“I’ll catch you if y’ fall. Or fall with you, so yer not as embarrassed if yer really that worried ‘bout it. We can humiliate ourselves together..”

You looked up at him with a raised brow. He’d do that for you? You couldn’t deny it made your heart race that this attractive man that you’d met not two minutes ago would go to such lengths to calm your nerves, even if that meant embarrassing himself. You gave him a genuine smile this time, squeezing the soft muscle of his arm.

“Thank you for the offer, that’s very sweet of you. Let’s just both agree to not fall for the next 20 minutes and save our humiliating moves for the dancing later tonight.”

Atsumu smiled at that idea and straightened up. “Save me a dance?”

Butterflies exploded in your stomach and suddenly you weren’t so worried about the ceremony anymore, instead looking forward to the night to come. “Absolutely.”

A venue employee motioned for the start of the processional to begin and the officiator made his way out from behind the barn to start down the aisle, followed a handful of slow seconds later by Kita who’d take his place next to him. Kita’s grandma and Kumi’s mom followed after and then next were the bridesmaids and groomsmen. Atsumu and yourself were 6th in line so it took a while before it was your turn. Once Atsumu’s twin made his way out, a couple of seconds passed before the two of you started your walk.

Instead of keeping his free hand down by his side like all the groomsmen before you had, Atsumu kept his free hand resting over yours that sat nestled in his arm. You realized he was doing it to help keep you steady if you needed it. If your legs weren’t wobbly before, they certainly were now.

The slow walk down the aisle felt ages long but probably took about 30 seconds tops. It was terrifying having all the attendees watching you walk down the aisle but you kept your cool and kept a soft smile on your face. You couldn’t see it, but Atsumu was cheesing the whole time. He loved weddings, especially when he got to walk down the aisle with a pretty bridesmaid.

Once the both of you reached the end of the aisle, Atsumu gently let go of your hand and you hesitantly let go of his arm to join the line of bridesmaids. You couldn’t help but look at him before you parted. Everyone was focused on the couples behind you anyway so no one was paying attention to you two at the moment. Atsumu gave you a sly smile and a wink before turning to take his place in the line, not before giving a nod to Kita who gave him a rare gentle smile.

The rest of the ceremony went swimmingly. Kumi looked so beautiful walking down the aisle with her brother. The ever stoic Kita had tears in his eyes the second she came into view, and his voice even wobbled as they exchanged vows. You were embarrassed to admit that half the time the officiator was talking, you weren’t watching the happy couple, instead focusing on the line of groomsmen behind Kita. 

Atsumu had a sort of magnetism to him you couldn’t deny. He seemed to be having the same problem as you because you made eye contact on multiple occasions and his smile broadened each time. The ceremony flew by and Kita and Kumi officially became husband and wife with a sweet kiss, prompting cheers from all the attendees.

The newlyweds made their way back up the aisle, smiling and holding hands while being showered in white flower petals. The bridesmaids and groomsmen then linked back up with their assigned partners to follow them once they were through. While most linked arms again, Atsumu surprised you by interlocking your fingers and tugging you down the aisle with him in giddy happiness. His energy was contagious and you were laughing right along with him through the white petals.

Once the exciting energy of the ceremony wound down, it was time for pictures which took an awful long time. There were a large variety of shots. Large family pictures, pictures of just parents/grandparents, Kumi and all the bridesmaids, the groomsmen tossing a rather hesitant Kita into the air, etc. There was only one picture where you were placed next to Atsumu (to your disappointment) but when he put his hand on the small of your back while everyone smiled at the camera, you decided you wouldn’t complain.

The luncheon followed next, which you helped oversee to make sure everything was running smoothly. By the time it was time to actually sit down and eat, all the circular tables towards the front of the room where the other bridesmaids and groomsmen were sitting by the head table had been filled from what you could see. You were about to find an extra seat at one of the emptier far tables but before you could, Atsumu waved you over to his table where a seat next to him was being saved. You thanked him profusely and sat down just as Kumi’s sister gave her maid of honor speech, followed by Kumi and Kita giving their own speeches. You couldn’t help but tear up as they spoke, their adoration for each other very apparent. 

While they spoke, caterers brought plates of food around to the tables. The main course consisted of salmon smoked to perfection with a side of rice straight from the family farm Kita owned and operated. Along with a couple other sides, cups of sake were passed around to those who wanted it. 

It wasn’t until the tail end of Kita’s speech when you noticed Atsumu had draped his arm over the back of your chair. Your bare shoulders could feel the heat of him through his white shirt.

Once speeches had wrapped up, everyone dug into their food and started casual conversation. Most of the people around the table were groomsmen, and you quickly learned all about their high school volleyball days and learned that almost all of them, including Atsumu to your absolute pleasure, still played professionally. Atsumu’s twin, Osamu you learned, was happy to tell you all about it.

“‘Tsumu’s both the most popular and most hated volleyball player in all of Japan. He’s talented, sure, but his PR skills are absolute garbage. This scrub gets cancelled on Twitter at least once a month. You’d think with as big of a head as he’s got, he’d have a bigger brain and NOT get into a fight with some 12 year old kid who said Kageyama’s a better setter than ‘Tsumu will ever be.”

Everyone at the table laughed, yourself included. Atsumu growled and tried to punch Osamu, who ducked out of the way. They scuffled for a little bit as you got to know the other people at the table. Aran and Suna were fun to talk to, both of them professional volleyball players as well. Aran was one of the strongest players in Japan which you were very interested in learning about, and Suna had the most social media followers of any professional volleyball player in the whole world. 

They asked a lot of questions about you too, which got Atsumu’s attention enough to finally stop fighting Osamu. You told them about your career in Tokyo and the simple life you were leading. Nothing compared to theirs, you assured them, which they disagreed with you on. 

The rest of the luncheon was filled with pleasant conversation and laughter. Before you knew it, the caterers came around to clear the tables and it was announced that there would be a break until the reception started so the guests could go do as they pleased. There were still a couple hours until the reception and none of you knew the location well enough to leave the venue to explore so everyone stayed and lounged around. 

You got up and took some time to make sure everything was in order for the dance portion of the reception and songs were queued in the right order. The cake was your next target, making sure it was ready for the cutting. After checking a couple other odds and ends, you made your way back to the table where the conversation had fizzled out. A couple of the men were on their phones, Osamu seemed to be sleeping with his head on the table, and Atsumu was just looking around the venue at all the lights and decor. When you slid back into your chair, he smiled and straightened up, angling his body towards yours.

He led you into a conversation about your life, and you asked questions about him, very interested in his blossoming career as a national league setter. As you spoke, you didn’t notice his arm moving beneath the tablecloth until you felt his fingers brush your thigh. Your dress was on the longer side, so he wasn’t able to reach any skin but that didn’t stop him from flattening out his large palm over the fabric. Your words caught in your mouth as you looked at him in surprise. His head was propped up on his other hand, and he didn’t look the least bit guilty as his pointer finger started to twirl in lazy circles.

His hand wasn’t unwelcome, you realized very quickly, and you enjoyed the feel of his warm fingers running over your thigh. The tablecloth covered your legs and his hand so you didn’t worry about people seeing, but it was still risky. You were thankful for your longer dress because if he had any access to more of your legs, you were sure he’d be exploring and you doubted you’d be able to keep any noises or reactions you made very discreet.

His hand stayed on your thigh for a quite while and you didn’t realize how much time had passed until you looked at the clock. The reception was set to start in half an hour and you needed to make sure the caterer’s were getting the refreshments in order.

Grabbing Atsumu’s hand and giving it a gentle squeeze, you deposited it into his own lap and excused yourself. You stood up and wandered back into the kitchen to talk to the manager of the catering business, talking lightheartedly with him and praising him and his team on his work. The refreshments looked amazing, a blend of sweet and savory dishes spread across trays to bring out once the reception guests started to arrive. Thanking them for all their hard work, you left the kitchen but you didn’t get very far because someone grabbed your arm and yanked you behind a stack of crates and refrigerated boxes brought by the caterers. It was secluded from sight, but you wouldn’t be hard to spot if one of the workers came looking for a stack of extra cups.

Atsumu smiled down at you as you stared at him in surprise. In his hands was a plate stacked with pastries from the kitchen. Your mouth watered at the sight, but you couldn’t help but scold him first.

“How did you get those? We’re not supposed to eat these until the reception starts,” you whispered. Even so, you grabbed one and stuck half of it in your mouth anyway, almost moaning at how good it was.

Atsumu quietly laughed and ate one of his own. “I grabbed some while you were distractin’ the workers. I haven’t had sugar all day so I grabbed a couple. I figured they won’t notice a couple missin’. Thought you’d want a taste too.”

As he finished his sentence, he held your stare as he licked a dash of the cloudy frosting off his thumb. He knew what he was doing, making sure to take his time as his tongue flattened over the tip of his finger to get every drop. God yes, you wanted a taste.

Gulping, you shoved the rest of the pastry in your mouth in haste, trying to push the sinful thoughts aside. This was not the place, nor the time (as much as you wished it was). Dusting your fingers of crumbs, you licked your teeth to make sure there wasn’t any pastry residue stuck there. Atsumu gazed at you the whole time, hands gripping the plate, staring at your mouth. 

“W-We should… get back to our table-”

Atsumu’s restraint snapped it seemed, surging forward to pull you into a fierce kiss. He dropped the plate of pastries on to the nearest box and used his now free hand to cradle the back of your neck. You were surprised, but melted into the kiss shortly after. A little fun wouldn’t hurt, right? 

You draped your arms over his neck as he guided you back to rest against a stack of boxes. The hand that didn’t hold your neck slid down your side and hooked underneath your thigh, pulling it up to hook around his leg as high as your dress would offer. His hand kneaded the flesh behind your knee as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss, his tongue making an appearance to swipe across your lips, probably gathering up a trail of powdered sugar left there from the pastry. 

You were on cloud 9, eyes fluttering as you happily let his tongue dance with yours. Atsumu let out a soft grunt as one of your hands slid into his hair, grasping at the blonde strands. As much as you wanted this to continue, in the back of your mind you knew you couldn't go further than this. Hoards of people were due to start showing up any minute for the reception, and you’d be found for sure. 

Relishing in a couple more pushes of his lips against yours, you pressed your hands to his cheeks and pulled his face away. He slowly opened his eyes to look at you in hazy, lust-filled confusion, a hum of question rising from his throat as you squished his cheeks together.

“We can’t do this here. Someone’s gonna catch us and we need to get ready for the reception.” As you spoke, you stared at his lips, both because you wanted to kiss him again and because the dark lip tint covering your lips was smeared across his mouth.

Laughing lightly, you ran your thumb over his lips, picking up the color as you went. His eyes softened at your laugh and he stood still as you worked, hand dropping your leg so he could instead rest his hands on your hips. 

“Are ya sure? We can make it quick, I promise. I’ll be real quiet, baby,” he whispered.

You shook your head and pushed his chest so he’d back up. He holds tightly to your sides as you adjust your dress back down your legs and fan your face to try to make your flaming blush go away. Atsumu hesitantly let you go as you started to herd him out from behind the boxes as nonchalantly as possible, holding the plate of pastries in one hand. 

New guests were starting to show up and join the greeting line to say congratulations to the happy couple, leaving piles of gifts at the front entrance. Atsumu had a pep in his step as the two of you neared your table, pulling out your chair for you which you embarrassingly thanked him for, shrinking under the curious gaze of everyone else. Osamu was particularly curious, raising a brow as Atsumu plopped into his chair with a sly grin. You busied yourself with watching the sea of people, smiling as they praised Kita and Kumi on their wedding and gorgeous reception. 

Atsumu and yourself ease back into the table’s conversation to wait for the greeting line to disperse. Atsumu’s hand found its way to your thigh again, this time brushing higher than it did before. You nearly jumped out of your seat when he forced his digits against the strain of your dress to drag over the crotch of your panties. You snatched his hand away as discreetly as you could, choosing to interlock your fingers with his instead, holding his hand in your lap. Atsumu seemed fine with this change and relaxed against his chair to tune back into Aran’s story of how he met his new girlfriend. 

By the time it was announced that it was time for the cake cutting, you were nearly asleep in your chair. It had been a long, eventful day and you were starting to feel the effects of it. Your eyes opened from their drooped state when Atsumu stood and pulled you up with him to gather around where the newlyweds were about to cut into their cake.

Smacking your cheeks to clear your head, you let him lead you to the crowd of people surrounding Kumi and Kita. Osamu clocked your intertwined hands immediately but didn’t say anything. Atsumu let you stand in front of him so you could peek through the bodies to watch, the heat of him grazing your spine as you watched the couple try their cake and laughed as Kumi smashed a bite into Kita’s surprised face. 

Once the cake had been wheeled away, it was time for the dancing. Everyone stood around the dance floor as Kumi danced with her brother, which brought a tear to your eye, and gentle Kita danced with his grandma which really made you cry. Then, Kita and Kumi danced together. They held each other close as they slowly danced, whispering to one another. It was a sweet moment, and you watched them with adoration, unaware of the gentle gaze Atsumu had on you, not the couple. 

As they finished their song, anyone who wanted could go out to join them for another slow song. You twisted your fingers together and watched a large handful of couples head to the dancefloor. A shock of electricity ran down your spine when a warm hand fully rested on your lower back and Atsumu pushed you forward. You had no time to decline, as he had already pulled you in front of the crowd so you’d look pathetic if you backed out now.

Gulping nervously, you shyly looked at him as he took your left hand into his right, bringing his other to rest on your lower back to tug you flush against him. Your free hand moved to rest hesitantly on the back of his shoulder when he started to sway to the soft music. You buried your face into the warm expanse of his chest to hide your blush and he brought his head down to rest against the side of yours. 

“Yer shakin’ again, beautiful,” he murmured into your ear.

Squeezing the hand that held yours, you murmured back a quiet “fuck you” which made his chest rumble with a low laugh. You didn’t say anything the rest of the dance, slowly relaxing into his hold which he noticed, pulling you impossibly closer. The end of the song came too soon and people started rushing the dance floor when a much more upbeat song came on. 

Before you had the chance to look at him, Atsumu was dragging you into the bouncing crowd, the beginnings of a mosh pit bubbling. You were swept into another dance with him, this one much more full of life. Deciding to just let go, you gave into his advances, swaying your hips and laughing loudly as the bass of the song shuddered through you. Atsumu laughed too, bouncing on his feet to the beat. The rest of your table came to dance around you, some more energetic than others, but there nonetheless. 

The more songs that played, the looser everyone got. Even Kita was getting into it. Osamu found one of the bridesmaids to dance with, a little liquid courage from multiple cups of sake flowing through him. Aran wouldn’t dance with any other ladies, as he did have a girlfriend, but that didn’t stop him from dancing with Suna who was surprisingly fluid as he danced. Atsumu focused all of his attention on you, save for the one time Suna started throwing it back, also a little drunk. Everyone’s attention was caught by that.

Besides that though, Atsumu kept close to you and got closer and closer as you danced. At one point, you helped him loosen his tie and threw it around his neck. Since everyone else was too preoccupied with dancing, and no one was going to even notice you doing it anyway, you pressed your ass against Atsumu’s slacks, hips moving in time with his to the beat. His breath was hot against your neck, large palms keeping your waist warm as you brought a hand up to scrape your nails over his dark undercut.

You could feel his excitement start to tent his light grey slacks against your backside. Looking up at him with hooded eyes, you both had a silent but simple conversation.

You needed him and he needed you. Atsumu wasn’t ashamed to admit that if you kept grinding on him like that, he’d take you right here on the dance floor.

Showing some restraint and taking your hand tightly in his, Atsumu tugged you out of the sea of dancing bodies, an excited determination in his walk. As much as you wanted this to happen, there was only one problem.

“Atsumu, where are you planning on taking us? There’s nowhere private we can go in this building.”

He halted in his steps as he took in your words, realizing that you were right. There weren’t many rooms in this barn, save for the kitchen which was packed with caterers, the bathroom which had a constant flow of people trickling through, and the occasional storage closet which were too close to the reception to be able to sneak into without being easily spotted.

Drumming his fingers on his thigh, he looked around the venue in a desperate attempt to find some sort of secret alcove or something. Just when you thought that maybe it wasn’t meant to be, Atsumu perked up and grinned.

“I’ve got an idea.” He started tugging you along again back to the table the two of you had been sitting at all night. Letting go of your hand, he started rummaging through the pockets of the light jacket he had brought along with him that had been abandoned over the back of his chair all day. 

The muffled clacking of something in the jacket pocket gave away his idea as he pulled out a simple set of car keys. Flashing you a smile, which you eagerly returned, he snatched up your hand again to start walking out to the gravel parking lot that sat a couple hundred yards away from the venue. You tried to slow him down and make it less obvious to those around you what you were going to do but he seemed to be too excited to care.

The cool outside air was refreshing against your heated skin and the sky was gorgeous as the sun started to dip below the horizon. The parking lot was packed with cars, attendees constantly trickling in and out of the reception. Depending on where he was parked, the parking lot would be just as risky as using the bathroom inside. Luckily, he led you back to the far corner of the lot where a gorgeous white car sat. Your car knowledge was slim, so you didn’t know what type of car it was but you could tell it was expensive. It had very dark tinted windows as well, which was an extra bonus.

Atsumu had backed into his parking stall, a spot at the very end of the lot so no cars were parked behind him or on one side of him giving you both the perfect spot to hide away (unless the owner of the one car next to him showed up).

“Nice ride.” You joked as the both of you stopped by the driver’s side door. Atsumu chuckled as he fumbled his keys in his hands, trying to unlock the vehicle. 

“Thanks! ‘Samu says I got an expensive car to compensate for my ‘tiny dick’, but we’re twins, so he knows that’s not true. We had one too many naked fights in the locker room durin’ our volleyball days, so I know I’m packin’ just as much as he is. Front or back seat, gorgeous?”

You giggled as he finally got his car unlocked and opened the door for you to peer inside. As nice of a car as it was, you doubted Atsumu would be very comfortable in the back seat given his size. It was a pretty slim car. 

“Front. Wouldn’t want to squish you into the back seat.” You gave Atsumu a once over as he stood with an arm resting on the hood of the car. “Plus, I’d like to ride those thighs of yours.”

Atsumu had the goofiest smile. He looked like a kid in a candy store. “You’re readin’ my mind.”

You stood watch as Atsumu worked on getting his car ready, moving the driver's seat as far back as it could go and reclining it enough so it would be comfortable for him. He cracked open the two windows on the passenger side of the car, the side that faced the forest, so some fresh air would breeze through. Finally, he slid into the car and threw the keys into the passenger's seat. If you weren’t turned on already, the sight of him lounging in the seat, outfit rumpled from the dancing, tie slung around his neck and powerful legs spread just waiting for you to settle onto them would definitely do the trick. 

Kicking off your heels, you left them sitting on the gravel outside the car and made one more cautious look around before you bunched up your dress to your knees so you could get into the car with more ease. Atsumu looked at you like you were the most gorgeous person on the planet as you moved to straddle his lap, dress hiking up a little more to rest around your thighs. 

The second you closed the door behind you, Atsumu’s mouth was attacking yours, tongue instantly pushing past the seal of your lips to explore every inch of your mouth that he could reach. His large palms kneaded the flesh of your ass through the thin fabric of your dress, and you moved to frantically rake your fingers through his dark undercut. The flex of his powerful thighs underneath yours was driving you insane, cords of muscle dragging against your skin through his slacks. You were sure his slacks were a size or two too small, because you could feel every inch of him like he wasn’t even wearing pants. 

After a couple of breathless minutes, the two of you finally separated, a string of spit keeping your mouths connected. Just like earlier, your dark lip tint was smeared over Atsumu’s lips again. When he went in for another kiss, you pulled your head back which prompted a whine from Atsumu as he tried to chase your lips.

“The makeup ‘Tsumu, remember? It’s gotta last for at least one more hour.”

Atsumu pouted and grumbled out a “fine” before focusing his attention on your neck. While he started attacking the soft skin just underneath your jaw, you started unbuttoning his vest and shirt. The more of his torso you exposed, the wetter you felt your panties get. He was gorgeously tanned and toned. Once you had unbuttoned all the buttons you could reach, besides the few that were tucked into his slacks, your hands started exploring his smooth skin. His shoulders were gorgeously sculpted, the dips of his collarbone deep. Your hands splayed over his chest, fingers brushing over his nipples which pebbled at your attention. 

His chest heaved at your ministrations, groaning in pleasure. You felt him shift his hips up into you, member straining against his slacks as he dragged it against your clothed core. Tightening your legs around his thighs, Atsumu held your hips tightly against his as he ground against you, working your neck with his teeth. You keened as his bulge dragged over your sensitive clit, shuddering as Atsumu nibbled at your ear. 

Tired of waiting, you reached beneath you to fumble with his belt, tossing it into the passenger seat with his keys once you’re able to pull it free. You make quick work of the button on his slacks, tugging down the zipper and pulling his pants and boxer briefs down just enough to bunch underneath his cock which stood at attention against his abdomen. 

Osamu was definitely wrong when he assumed Atsumu got a fancy car to compensate for a tiny dick, because it was anything but tiny. He wasn’t outrageously long, but he was thick. Thick enough that just the thought of him dragging inside of you had your eyes rolling back. 

WIth his cock now free, the friction between your panties and his member had Atsumu’s thighs quaking under you. He released one of his hands from the vice-grip it had on your hips to reach behind him and hold onto the head rest. 

“Hng- Christ, baby.” His voice was deep and scratchy, breathless as you rubbed your core against the underside of his dick, squeezing it between your body and his stomach. 

You mouthed at his throat which bobbed against your lips as he sat forward. Wrapping an arm around your back, he started digging through his center console. When he grunted in annoyance and leant forward even more to start shifting through his glove box, you nipped at his ear and huskily asked, “What’s wrong?”

Atsumu was pulling handfuls of objects out of the glove box and throwing them onto the floor in front of the passenger seat. “Shit- can’t find a condom.”

Dragging your tongue over the shell of his ear, you reached down and wrapped your hand around the base of his shaft. His cock twitched in your grip and his arm tightened around your back as he paused his searching.

“Are you clean?” you asked, slowly sliding your hand up over his velvety skin. All Atsumu could do was nod. “Then I don’t mind. I’m on birth control, but try to pull out if you can.”

Atsumu nodded again in agreement and leant back in his seat, watching with one of the most lustful gazes you had ever seen as you rose up on your knees to push your panties to the side, exposing your already drooling core to him. He gripped your thighs as you collected as much spit as you could in your mouth to spit onto your palm. Rubbing the liquid over his length as well as all of the pre-cum he’d already leaked, you gave him a couple pumps for good measure.

He tilted his head back to rest against the head-rest with a guttural groan as you positioned yourself over him, teasing his tip through your folds. With one hand guiding his length and the other gripping the shoulder of the seat, you sank slowly onto him. Both of you moaned in unison as he filled you surprisingly easily considering the lack of proper lubrication and the sheer size of him. 

You stopped with him half-way seated, gazing adoringly at his rosy cheeks and mussed hair. He looked back at you just as fondly. With a preparatory breath, you braced yourself on the seat and started to set a slow pace. Every thrust brought him a centimeter further into you as you adjusted to the stretch of him. He held your thighs in his hands, letting you take control for the time being and enjoying the view. 

It took a minute of work before you were able to fully sheath him inside yourself. You threw your head back and gasped when you did, the stretch of him hurting so deliciously. It didn’t help that the hard teeth on the zipper of his slacks rubbed against your sensitive folds and the button would occasionally brush over your clit.

Atsumu was barely holding it together. Your core hugged him so tightly, warmly pulsing around his cock in such a way that he probably could’ve come right then and there. Something about you just fit him perfectly in a way no other partner of his ever had. 

Once you felt like you had adequately adjusted, your pace quickened. Bouncing up and down on him, he enjoyed the view of your covered breasts bouncing in sync. He leant forward to suck on the small sliver of breast that was visible above the neckline of your dress. You whined and scratched your nails over the back of his neck. 

After a couple minutes of this, he couldn’t take it anymore. Gripping your hips tightly, Atsumu took control and started bouncing you on him himself, hips thrusting up to meet you. The new angle had you seeing stars and you didn’t care about your makeup anymore, smashing your lips to his in a kiss that was messy and wet.

Every force of your hips into his had your clit rubbing against the hard metal of his slacks and the brush of pubic hair at the base of his cock. It gave you the friction you needed to bring you closer and closer to the edge. Atsumu wasn’t faring much better - his thrusts getting sloppier and sloppier and his hold on your hips getting less and less controlled. 

You didn’t have much time to prepare before you came, yelling his name as you gripped his broad shoulders, your fluids covering Atsumu’s thrusting member. It seemed Atsumu didn’t have time to prepare either because he came suddenly with a groan and spilled his load into you, groaning your name.

Pumping yourself up and down a couple more times, this time much slower to ride you both down from your highs, you rested your forehead against his in utter bliss. Breath mingling, you slowed to a stop and sat there in silence, relishing in the stretch of him seated completely inside you, the warm feeling of his spend mingling with your own deep in your core. 

After a minute, you pulled your head back to look at him. His face was flushed, eyes drooped in satisfaction and chest heaving from the exertion. The two of you started laughing in euphoria and Atsumu peppered kisses over your shoulder. You slid your fingers through his unkempt hair and pressed a kiss to his temple.

“That was really something, ‘Tsumu.” You hummed, giggling as he wrapped his arms tightly around you to hold you to his chest. 

“Sure was. Sorry ‘bout not pulling out. I really was gonna try but you just do somethin’ to me I can’t explain. I didn’t expect to cum that fast.” His hands explored your back, fingers running lightly over the fabric. 

“It’s alright. I’m not complaining.”

He pulled back to give you that handsome goofy grin again before kissing you sweetly. You gave him a chaste kiss before pulling away and looking down at the mess you made. Luckily, most of the mess was still trapped inside you thanks to him but if you weren’t careful, it’d get all over his slacks once he pulled out.

“How should we do this? You can’t go back in with a giant cum stain on your pants.”

He hummed in thought, looking around his car. He didn’t have any rags or towels handy, but he did have a load of napkins that he threw onto the floor when looking for a condom. Holding you closely to him, Atsumu reached over to scoop up as many napkins as he could reach. The shift of him had you both groaning at the overstimulation. 

Gathering a handful of napkins, he held them under you as you slowly slid off of him, catching as much fluid as possible. You both hissed at the feeling of him leaving you. Thankfully, he was able to catch almost everything with the napkins, save for a few splatters that got on his expensive leather seats.

“Shit, sorry ‘Tsumu. I can help pay to have that cleaned.”

He shook his head immediately, cleaning himself off with the napkins and dropping them on the floor next to his seat. He worked on tucking his length back into his boxer briefs and slacks while you cleaned yourself as best you could, pulling your panties back into place and fixing your dress. Turning your head, you pulled down his sun visor and opened the mirror to get a better look at the state of your makeup.

It was mostly intact, save for your lip tint that was slightly smeared which was fixed with a little swipe of a napkin and your hair was easily tamed since Atsumu had avoided running his fingers through it. There were remnants of your lipstick covering your neck from where Atsumu had furiously attacked. Atsumu had his own stains on his neck from where you had been kissing him. You made eye contact with him through the mirror as he gazed at you with a smirk. You huffed in amusement and cleaned up your neck, then turned to clean up his. 

He didn’t take his eyes off you as you did, watching you carefully wipe the smears off his skin. You wiped his mouth last, taking your time as you watched him part his lips for you. Once you were done, you dropped the napkin on the floor with the rest and sighed at him longingly. If only you had more time. You’d let this man do whatever he wanted to you. Unfortunately, you had a wedding reception to get back to. 

“Well, thanks for the good time ‘Tsumu.”

He watched your face carefully and you noticed the ever so slight crease fold in his brow. “Yeah. O’course.”

The silence that followed was a bit awkward, so after a second, you moved to open the car door but he grabbed your hand before you could. “Wait.”

You turned back to him and raised a brow, deciding to busy yourself with buttoning up his shirt and vest. He suddenly seemed very shy, rubbing his fingers over the flesh of your waist in little circles. Finally he spoke.

“When are ya headed back to Tokyo?”

You stilled your fingers which were working on the last button of his shirt. “Tomorrow.”

He nodded and seemed to be deep in thought before drumming his fingers against you in nervousness. “I fly back tonight but… wouldya be interested in meetin’ up sometime? I don’t have much free time but I’ll find the time for ya.”

Your heart fluttered in your chest at the offer. “Like… a date?”

Atsumu’s cheeks turned a shade darker in the almost nearly setting sun as he grumbled, now looking at anything but you. “I mean, yeah? Unless you don’t want it to be, then it doesn’t have to be a date I guess. Could be a friendly hang out or somethin-”

You cut him off with a brief but strong peck. You didn’t want to risk getting more lipstick on him. “I’d love to go on a date with you.”

He perked up and squeezed your sides. “Really?”

You giggled and nodded. “Yes! Of course I would, you big airhead.”

The next couple seconds consisted of him raining kisses all over any part of you he could reach with you laughing and trying to push him away, begging him not to ruin your makeup. After losing the battle and cleaning lipstick off of him again, you finished buttoning up his vest and pulling your dress into place before you left the car.

You slid your heels back onto your aching feet while Atsumu refastened his belt and gathered up all the used napkins, making a mild sound of disgust at the large amounts of viscous fluid covering most of them that was getting all over his hand. Once his car was locked up, you both walked hand-in-hand back to the reception where it seemed no one even noticed the two of you had left.

After tossing the napkins into the nearest trash can, the both of you went to the bathroom to clean up any remaining mess before returning to the crowds. Plopping down at your table, the two of you gulped down multiple cups of water and started digging into the refreshments. Atsumu had consumed at least 3 onigiri and 2 little bowls of miso soup on his own before Osamu plopped down next to him, looking weathered from the dancing.

“Where have you two been? I lost track of ya like half an hour ago.”

You felt your cheeks heat up and you focused on your bowl of miso soup, stirring the broth around with your spoon. Atsumu seemed to be much less embarrassed, chest puffing up in pride as he finished off his next onigiri. Osamu raised an eyebrow and studied the two of you before looking at Atsumu’s neck, where a very obvious hickey was starting to bloom and groaned in disgust.

“Jesus, y'all are nasty. Where the hell did ya find a place to jump each other’s bones around here, huh? Out on the grass? There are kids here.”

You covered your face in embarrassment as Atsumu angrily started defending the two of you. “O’course not, jackass! Do you really think so little of me? You really think I’d do that?”

Osamu instantly agreed that he would, in fact, probably do that. Atsumu grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and shook him around. “No! We did it in my car, thank you very much. And it was amazing. Have you ever done it in a car before, ‘Samu? Doubt it! No chick will ever want to go down on you if you keep cruising around in that beater of yours!”

The twins really started getting at it now, yelling at each other and rolling around on the ground, trying to get the last punch in. You tried to avert your eyes and pretend you didn’t know them. Kita, bless his heart, came up to separate the two who instantly fell to their knees to apologize for making a scene at his wedding. 

Atsumu came to you after, pouting about his brother and sporting a busted lip. You coddled him, helping clean the blood off his chin. Osamu gagged from his place at the table, now sitting next to you instead of Atsumu so they didn’t try to fight each other again. 

The rest of the night went smoothly. The dancing finally wrapped up and the send off was magical. The newlyweds ran through the line of guests who held sparklers above their heads, making for a magical exit into the night as the couple set off for their honeymoon. You had to stop Atsumu from starting Osamu’s hair on fire with his sparkler shortly after, taking both men’s sticks from them to put in a water bucket. 

All of Kita’s old volleyball friends stuck around to help clean up, helping put away the tables and chairs, and taking down the decorations. By the time it was over, you were wiped and ready to go back to your hotel room to sleep until noon. 

As you were loading up the last of the boxes into the trunk of your car, you felt someone come up behind you and ghost their hands over your stomach, pressing a tender kiss on the back of your neck. You smiled as you closed the trunk, reaching a hand up to slide through Atsumu’s soft hair. He buried his face in your neck and the two of you stood there for a minute, savoring the warmth of each other in the brisk darkness. 

“I wrote my number down on a napkin and put it in yer purse. Call me when y’ get back to Tokyo tomorrow, ‘kay? Wanna make sure y’ get back safe and sound.” 

You smiled and turned to face him, running your fingers over the tie that still hung loosely around his neck. “I will. I’ll text you when I get back to my hotel so you have my number, and you text me when you make it back to Tokyo tonight too. Need to make sure my date makes it back in one piece.”

He smiled and nodded in agreement, leaning in to press a kiss to your forehead. 

A day you thought would be full of nerves and worry, had turned into one of the best nights of your life.

-

If you thought Kita and Kumi’s wedding was nerve wracking, it didn’t hold a candle to your OWN wedding. 

Pressed close to Osamu’s side, you waited anxiously as the wedding procession in front of you started their walk down the aisle. Since you had no living male blood relative that you wanted to walk you down the aisle, your now almost brother-in-law was immediately your first choice. He was surprised, of course, but said yes in a heartbeat. Atsumu’s twin had easily weaseled his way into your heart soon after you started dating Atsumu, as rocky and embarrassing as your first night meeting him was.

He gave you a free meal every time you visited Onigiri Miya, and charged Atsumu full price to make up the difference. He gave you the most embarrassing pictures of Atsumu in his phone to use for blackmail. He was the ring-leader in making sure everything was perfect the night Atsumu proposed to you, keeping a crowd of people at bay to make sure you and Atsumu were alone when he dropped to one knee in the middle of a large gorgeous bridge at the popular tourist site, the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. He got yelled at in many languages that day from the angry tourists who wanted to cross the bridge, but it was well worth it. Suna, who held off the swarm of people on the other side of the bridge, would agree.

Just like you had the day of Kumi and Kita’s wedding, you were trembling and clutched Osamu’s arm desperately. He looked down at you and smiled. 

“You’re ok, (Y/n). Everything is going smoothly. All you have to do today is make it down that aisle to ‘Tsumu and enjoy yourself for the rest of the night. We’ll take care of everything.”

You looked up at him with a teary smile at his words. With no siblings of your own, your relationship with Osamu meant the world to you. Standing on your tip-toes, you softly kissed his cheek. “Thanks, ‘Samu.”

It was finally your turn to walk down the aisle. With a deep breath, Osamu slowly started to lead you into the room packed with family and friends. It was a gorgeous building. High steepled ceilings, white and burnt orange flowers scattered over every surface available. Since it was mid December, an outside wedding was impossible with the cold but you couldn’t have picked a more perfect place to get married in. 

The actual place itself didn’t matter though, as much as the man who waited down the aisle did. Atsumu was dressed in a gorgeous black tux that was pressed to perfection with a sleek black tie to match. His hair was styled the same way it had the day you met him, brushed casually to the side. To your surprise, Atsumu was already crying.

Seeing you walk down the aisle in your beautiful dress, on the arm of his life-long best friend broke him down immediately. You couldn’t help but tear up yourself as Osamu brought you to him. Osamu softly gave your trembling hand to Atsumu, kissed your temple, and gave Atsumu a crushing hug before taking his place at the front of the line of groomsmen. Speaking of groomsmen, you noticed many of them were also already crying. 

Atsumu’s teammates were lined up next to him. Kita and Aran both had tears lining their eyes. Hinata and Bokuto, who you became fast friends with, were almost on the verge of full-on sobs. Suna wasn’t crying but had a smile on his face. Sakusa wasn’t crying either but didn’t seem as bored as he usually did. 

“You look so beautiful.” Atsumu blubbered out in a whisper as he moved to take both of your hands. Your wet eyes sparkled as you took in every inch of him.

“So do you,” you teased, which made him laugh. 

The rest of the ceremony both flew by and dragged on. You stumbled through your vows, trying to keep your tears at bay which proved mostly unsuccessful. Atsumu was in the same boat, barely able to make it through his own vows without choking up. 

By the time Atsumu dipped you into a fierce kiss, you were sure your makeup was already ruined from your tears. Everyone cheered loudly in joy. Osamu was hooting and hollering. Hinata and Bokuto finally succumbed to their emotions, crying hysterically. You were breathless by the time Atsumu brought you back to your feet, steadying you with his hands as you smiled widely at the crowd.

Interlocking your fingers, Atsumu led you back down the aisle through the shower of white confetti just like he had the day you met him. In fact, your photographer captured the moment almost in the exact same way that Kumi and Kita’s photographer had. You loved the photos so much, they were hanging up side-by-side in your and Atsumu’s house. 

In both pictures, the two of you were smiling more than you ever thought was possible, holding hands and looking at each other with such tenderness you could feel it through the photo. You didn’t really believe in love at first sight, but looking at the photos side-by-side, you realized the two of you had looked at each other that fateful day the same way you looked at each other on your wedding day.

[polaroidcats]

Hello, I have slept and have further thoughts about the Amnesia Chaos AU:

Back to where Remus hit his head.

At first, Sirius just wants to get him home and leave. He cannot take him to a hospital because there's too much chance he'd get caught (I have settled on the "broke from prison" agenda - or on parole but he kinda just murdered people so, he needs to be a lil careful you know 😊😇). But when he arrives at the house (checked Remus' pockets for the keys) he is absolutely horrified of the state of Remus place.

He barely has any furniture (Bedframe? Don't know her!), all his houseplants are dead and rotten, his fridge smells concerning and is basically empty, everything is kind of a huge mess. What is going on?

From observing Remus for the last weeks, Sirius knows that he does have some money - he's not rich by all means but he works as a teacher and should be able to live somewhat comfortably! So... why doesn't he??

Now, Sirius' interest is peaked and he decides to stay - once again - and just clean up a little while Remus comes to and then maybe ask him "What the hell is wrong with you, do you need any help?"

But when Remus comes to, he doesn't seem to remember anything. Not why his house looks like that, not why his head hurts so much - not even who Sirius is. But since Sirius is in his house, cleaning his kitchen and hands him a cup of tea as he carefully sits up on the sofa, Remus just assumes Sirius might be... a friend??

Remus doesn't remember if he has any friends. He can't even remember his own name. But Sirius remembers his name. Sirius remembers a lot about him and he is in his house taking care of him. So maybe Sirius is more than just a friend?

When Remus asks him so, Sirius has to make a quick decision. He can tell the stranger the truth and then probably get the police called on him or... or he can just smile and comb his fingers through that confused guy's wispy hair and wipe his thumb over his cheek as the stranger gives him a shy smile - and aww he has dimples! Sirius has a soft spot for dimples 😊

So he stays. Once more. Only this time he gets to see more of Remus' face. And of the rest of his body, as the days pass.

Sirius makes up some very elaborate lies about him being away for work for a while and Remus must have been robbed (hence the headwound and the state of the house) and that he already talked to the police so there is nothing to worry about! He makes Remus call in sick for work for a bit so he can recover (and to keep him from telling anyone about Sirius) and this all goes well until there's a knock on the door...

I'M LIVING THE BEST LIFE GETTING INCREDIBLE FICS DELIVERED TO MY INBOX THANK U FOR THIS TREAT SLOTHY BUT ALSO WTF WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME ON THAT CLIFFHANGER WHO IS AT THE DOOR??????

part 1 for people wondering what's going on

[darthannie]

Raymond Leon NSF/W Alphabet

a/n: written from a “x f!reader” perspective. @lau219 requested this and thank you SO much for doing so. Smut under the cut!

AFTERCARE, what they’re like after sex

He’s quite doting but in a clinical way. He wants to make sure all of your needs are met first before he takes you in his arms and holds you. If you’re in bed he’s inclined to cuddle until one of you has to leave. To calm himself down after particularly intense moments, he likes to talk to you. He never has anything to say, but hearing your voice soothes him more than anything else could.

BODY PART, their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s

His favorite part of his body are his hands. His favorite part of your body is your hips, especially when he’s able to grab onto them. More specifically the part of your body that hinges when you bend over. He likes grabbing there a lot.

CUM, anything to do with cum, basically

He loves cumming inside you. It makes him feel closer to you. He feels deeply satisfied watching it drip out of you. He likes pushing it back in with his fingers and slowly pressing himself back inside you just to do it all over again.

DIRTY SECRET, pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs

He likes snooping around your underwear. Clean. Dirty. He’ll pick out his favorites for you to wear for him on special occasions. 

EXPERIENCE, how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?

Oh, he knows what he’s doing. When he was younger he was out a lot more, and more bold. Now, he’s settled down into his life. And with you in it, he feels truly alive again. He's putting all his experience into practice with you. And yet, he still learns new things with you all the time.

FAVORITE POSITION, this goes without saying

Anything that ends with you bending over. Doggy, standing, anything as long as you’re folded over and ready for him. The feeling of him pushing up against you makes him want to never stop. His favorite part is grabbing your wrists and pinning them to your back or your sides as he thrusts into you relentlessly. 

GOOFY, are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.

He’s rarely in the mood for a laugh and that is no different when he’s ready to do it with you. It’s a very serious endeavor for him. Especially when he decided to take your relationship seriously. Every time he has sex with you it feels like he’s on a mission to make you (and himself) feel as good as possible. 

HAIR, how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.

He keeps himself clean and trimmed. He’s quite particular about it and always has been.

INTIMACY, how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect

He can come off as pretty intense. It’s rarely lighthearted. The first time the two of you had sex was after months of seeing each other. He didn’t want to open himself up to someone until he was sure about him (his time is valuable to him and he didn't do much other than work).

JACK OFF, masturbation headcanon

He rarely does. The only times he finds his hand drifting down, down, down is when you’re away from him for too long. He starts slow and steady before losing himself in the moment. He grunts, moans, and bites his fist. He gasps as he cums all over himself and then gets annoyed that you're not there to help him clean up.

KINK, one or more of their kinks

He loves impact play and leaving marks. He makes you count out the times he spanks you. When you’re on your knees for him, he likes to give you light slaps on your face, enticing you to open up for him. He only gets rough and leaves marks when you let him. You have tiny welts where he lightly broke skin with his teeth. They’re only in places for you and him to see so you have little reminders of what he's done to you. They make both of you blush. He also has a slight breeding kink, mainly just so that you know that your his. 

LOCATION, favorite places to do the do

The bathroom. Not elaborating. Next question. 

MOTIVATION, what turns them on, gets them going

He loves it when you stroke the nape of his neck. It’s a simple, comforting gesture that reminds him to relax every once in a while. When you’re alone, he often uses it as an excuse to kiss your wrist, which turns into a kiss of your palm, and then a kiss on countless other places on your body.

NO, something they wouldn’t do, turn offs

He does not like it or find it endearing when you feign needy or act cutesy. He usually just rolls his eyes and ignores you. He can tell when you’re using it against him to rile him up. He’ll admit, he likes that part. 

ORAL, preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.

He loves feeling your lips around him. It’s his favorite form of stress relief. He’s good at giving head but it makes him nervous. Even after all his years, he still wants to make sure he’s “doing it right”. 

PACE, are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.

It depends on his mood. Hard day at work? Feeling unfulfilled? He’s going to use that as an excuse to fuck you relentlessly. However, he’s really good at noticing what your needs are, and sometimes you don’t want hard and fast. He loves taking his time to notice small things about you. He watches how your eyes squeeze shut as he enters you and how you run your fingers through his hair to pull him in...

QUICKIE, their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.

He’s not opposed to them, but due to the nature of his job that’s all he has time for sometimes. He’d much rather lose sleep while fucking you properly at night instead of just finishing for the sake of finishing. 

RISK, are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.

He usually likes to stick to what he’s used to, but sometimes you bring new things out of him and push him to his limits. He finds it liberating. He gives into the darker sides of him and it brings the two of you closer together.  

STAMINA, how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?

There are days where he feels he can fuck you for hours. The most you two have gone was three rounds but he made you cum five times. You were spent.

TOYS, do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?

He doesn’t own any. He finds them frivolous and would much rather have the real thing. 

UNFAIR, how much they like to tease

The only time he teases is when he takes his sweet time with you. He smiles at your reactions and how genuinely you need him. It makes him feel wanted.

VOLUME, how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.

He keeps it quiet for the most part. When he's about to cum he gets louder. His moans are soft and quiet. He saves his sweet nothings for afterwards.

WILD CARD, a random headcanon for the character

More fluffy than anything, but you make him want to quit his job. He’s devoted so much of his life to his work, he wonders what it would be like without it.

X-RAY, let’s see what’s going on under those clothes

He’s not one for showing himself off, but he knows how much you love his body. Lean, toned, and absolutely gorgeous. He's decently sized, more than enough for you to choke on and make you feel full.

YEARNING, how high is their sex drive?

Sex isn't his top priority ever really. However, he adores you and a kiss is enough to get him going. He adores you and you genuinely are the light of his life.

Zzz, how quickly they fall asleep afterwards

It doesn’t take him long to fall asleep afterwards. His days are exhausting, so falling asleep after isn’t an issue. He loves to wrap himself around you. He puts his guard down when he's in bed with you and he feels completely at peace.

[midnight--sadness]

everyone knows in-ho’s one sided obsession with gi-hun. Buutt let me elaborate. how about gi-hun faking that he is madly love with in-ho. Using his face, body -ody -ody(Salute to meg thee stallion) and voice to completely capture him and stop the game. Gi-hun obsessingly saying “love me” “use me” “stay with me” etc makes in-ho completely out of his mind. Gi-hun knows this capitalist fucker’s mind full of desire and that desire is pointing directly to him. He is street smart baby!

OH MY FUCKING GOD YES!!! 😩😩😩😩

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THAT IDEA!!! IT'S BEEN LIVING IN MY HEAD RENT FREE FOR WEEKS NOW!!!

gihun being manipulative is my obsession!! using all of that righteous anger and chanelling it into using every bit of his body to seduce inho, into making inho crumble before him and agree to stop the games.

gihun taking no prisioners in his quest to stop the games and save people's lives. sacrificing his body for the greater good and seeing the effect he has on inho. gihun would feel so powerful, like he can ask anything of inho and he'll give it to him.

inho having all of the power in the games but being helpless when it comes to gihun......

femme fatale gihun i love u so much!!

also i highly recommend this fic! it's time travel and gihun uses inho's obvious attraction towards him to stop the games - https://archiveofourown.org/works/62001034/chapters/158554066

[fearcutsdeeper]

Hi, I’ve really been enjoying your Temeraire posting! I saw in the tags of one of your posts recently (I think the one about the Laurence+Rankin friendship era in book one) that you read Laurence as autistic and the idea really tickled my brain! I’m a new fan of the series and I haven’t thought of him that way before, but now that you pointed it out it makes so much sense. I was wondering if you’d be willing to elaborate a bit on that reading of his character? It’s a super interesting idea and I’d love to hear more of your thoughts if you feel like sharing!

Absolutely!!! The first time I read the books I was really flying through them and too caught up in the character arc I could feel taking shape before my eyes to really dwell on the character as he is, if that makes sense. I'm reading more slowly this time and really considering his thoughts and actions in context, and they feel... like, very relatable to me in a specific way.

(Disclaimer: this is a personal reading, not trying to claim this is an objective truth about the character or anything, etc)

One thing about the way a lot of people discuss autistic or perceived-as-autistic characters is that they'll recognize them as autistic based on straightforward expression of symptoms/traits that you might read off a list. This isn't doing it wrong or anything, and the characters in question can easily be read as autistic! But those aren't usually the characters I see myself in.

I'll pretty often start seeing a character as autistic not because they're outwardly showing symptoms, but because their behavior strikes me as learned compensation for symptoms. Data from Star Trek is very frequently seen as autistic coded not just because of his frequently expressed lack of understanding for social conventions but also because he then explicitly writes himself new subroutines to account for what he learns. A lot of autistic people (including myself) go through their lives kind of accumulating "scripts" – like, oh, I seem to have missed that X was a signal, but the person's reaction tells me that the appropriate response would have been Y. Next time I encounter X, I will do Y.

Now, Will Laurence builds his ENTIRE LIFE around the elaborate rules of British propriety and honor and duty. He tells us that he enjoys Society – "conversation, dancing, and friendly whist were his favorite pursuits". All three things listed are, in Georgian wealthy society, things with a strict and learnable structure and rules – he likes when what he's supposed to do is clearly laid out for him! He's in I think his late thirties when the series starts. I'm basically reading him as an autistic man who realized that people didn't make sense to him the way they did to other children and then spent his entire life Learning The Rules so no one would notice.

Every time he's engaging with propriety and Proper Behavior, he's thinking very consciously about it. And when someone else violates his understanding of the rules, he's internally scrambling for the proper response, because his script has been disrupted. (My personal favorite it when he'll go "the only satisfactory response would be a challenge to duel but I'm not allowed anymore")

So, he's been doing this all his life, he's learned all the rules for the life track he's put himself on (which is a highly structured one!), and then, boom, the plot hits.

The Rules of aviator society are totally different. Laurence is affronted and scrambling. I find it notable that Berkley basically plows right through Laurence's attempts at propriety and immediately starts talking to him like he would any other aviator, and it WORKS. Laurence is kind of taken aback, because his rules would interpret the way he's being spoken to as an insult, but Berkley certainly isn't acting like he means to give insult, so Laurence doesn't respond like he's received one. There's also the bit where he notes that the woman serving him has violated protocol by greeting him instead of being silent – but he returns the greeting and isn't offended.

He's mirroring like hell! (This is a common autistic trait.) He's working out what the expected behavior is and returning it as much as he can manage. And when he's with Rankin, he reverts to his society scripts, with so much relief that he ignores some warning signs.

And this makes his whole arc of disillusionment with the British Government SO interesting, because Laurence, I think anyone would agree, takes the honor that the government pays lip service to dramatically more seriously than most members of the government and Admiralty. And, until he gets the truth shoved in his face, he has enormous trouble conceiving of that. It really reads as autistic to me – like, what do you MEAN the elaborate system of morals you told me to structure my personality around is only window dressing to you? It's sure as hell not window dressing to me!

In this reading, in addition to all the other incredible things that his story is about, it's also about an autistic guy becoming increasingly uncomfortably aware that the systems of rules and parameters which he painstakingly learned and have successfully guided him through most of his life are fundamentally in conflict with each other, and eventually being forced at gunpoint to decide which of those rules really truly matter, throw out the rest, and rebuild from scratch.

Which is to say: my man is in hell. At least he has a dragon?

[banana-can-do-art]

(Spoilers for recent Nevermore update) I’m really sad that Ada died (or double died I guess, or technically it could still be fakeout and she might be good as the people in my comments have reminded me) before we got to really explore her as a foil to Will. Like I want to see her scream at him at the top of her lungs and hit him over the head with a chair for what he said in the nurse’s office scene and then I want them to become besties. Because even though they absolutely hate each other, Ada and Will have so much in common. Hence why they’re all over Monty. First off, Ada and Will are both absolute kiss ups. That’s shown pretty obviously by their behavior. However, they differ in the fact that Ada is kiss ups for her own gain. She mooches off of whoever has the most power in the room and then she ditches them when they’ve served their use to her. However, the whole ordeal also requires her to sacrifice her dignity. This is why she is able to dump Monty. However, Will on the other hand is not a kiss ups for manipulative purposes, he doesn’t kiss up to multiple people either, he has one specific person that he obsesses over and does the bidding of, that person of course being Monty. He doesn’t do it for his own gain, he does it because he forms a codependent bond with someone who has power over him. However, both Ada and Will do this for similar reasons, that most likely being their trauma. We have a lot more to go off of as far as Ada’s backstory. Ada was a maid and she was taken advantage of by the people she served. Being needed made her feel special even though at the end of the day she was disposable. It is implied that his death was via some kind of betrayal. This is why she is a mooch and constantly trying to make her self useful to whoever the current object of her affection is. Will’s traumatic backstory is a bit more tricky because as of right now we pretty much know nothing. However, it is a clear theme within the story that even if the characters can’t remember what happened to them in life, they still carry the emotional weight of their trauma and it effects how they interact with others in death. There is no way that when we find out whatever Will’s backstory is that it won’t have anything to do with him being codependent with someone and being taken advantage of just like Ada. The way that Will behaves in the story absolutely implies this with his nervousness and undying loyalty to Monty who is a person who does nothing but hurt him. Also I wouldn’t be surprised if his queer identity comes into play here as well. Homophobia is a theme explored with the main girlies, Annabelle and Lenore, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they use Will’s backstory to parallel their’s as well. Especially since we know that Will hates women because he as a man is expected to like them and he doesn’t understand why he doesn’t. Which is played as a joke but it is clear that he has crafted some elaborate narrative in his head about why women are evil rather than just except the fact that he isn’t attracted to them because he doesn’t want to come to terms with the fact that he’s gay. (Self hating gay misogynist man, so Ada will never put him in his place :(). Actually though, this does make me wonder if he had some sort of unresolved jealousy about a girl that took whoever he was having a codependent gay pining friendship with from him and he’s projecting his feeling about that girl onto Ada without even realizing it. Either way, these two are both extremely codependent due to trauma and have been taken advantage of and used by Monty and they totally could have learned to bond over it and now they never will and I’m mad about it!

[stillthesunkenstars]

Gallifrey One Brax Crumbs from Miles Richardson

Most things are paraphrased! If something is a direct quote I’ll put it in quotation marks. This only what I Heard and remembered so feel free to add on to me in a reblog or another post.

Q&A:

My Q: I felt that the element of ‘performance’ is very present in brax, he performs the role of a villain in the late collection era, he performs to be a symbol in the Deindum war, and he performs masculinity to present as a man in general, how would you connect brax with the element of ‘performance’ in his identity?

MR: I see Brax as someone who is both and in between, someone who is ‘androgynous and asexual’, more fueled by the want of power (for the general greater good) than anything else. He is a pragmatist who sees sex as something that is unnecessary to him, and also very fond of women in the ‘purely honorific’ way. I also tried to play Brax with an ‘air of camp’, and Scott Handcock once described me as the ‘gayest heterosexual’ he’s ever seen.

———

My Q: Are there chances of Brax returning in future BF audios?

MR: Lisa Bowerman told me on David Warner’s Funeral that I can ‘look forward to working with her again soon’ so I hope I can return to the audios. (He also talked about how David Warner suffered severe vertigo in the last few years and was unable to do regular acting, and was grateful for the opportunity that BF had given him to work in audio.)

———

My Q: Which Shakespeare plays do you think Brax would like?

MR: Braxiatel’s favorite Shakespeare plays would be Coriolanus and Titus Andronicus, there’s something really ‘braxiatelian’ about how gory the latter is.

My Q: (follow up from a bit later) Can you elaborate on why you chose these two plays for Brax?

MR: I chose Coriolanus because it's about a man who desired control but is slowly losing it, and Titus ‘because it's a revenge play, and brax can be very vengeful at times.’

———

My Q: Did you know Brax was a professor of Theatre before he moved his collection to KS-159?

MR: I didn’t know!

Scott Handcock: Yeah that’s why we cast you.

MR: I took a post-grad course on teaching Shakespeare!

———

My Q: Justin Richards said he named Brax ‘Irving’ because it was a theatrical name, do you know what did he mean by that?

MR: It must be after Henry Irving, who was a very famous actor in the 1800s.

———

My Q: What are your favorite episodes to have acted in in the Benny series?

MR: Glory Days and Tub full of Cats, the former because I get to do a lot of different Brax voices, and the latter because of how ‘wacky’ it is.

———

Trivia:

When Brax proposed to Romana in Gallifrey 401 MR tried his best to sound ‘sexy and appealing’.

MR thinks a lot of Brax fans draw Brax based of his looks

MR likes the ‘Benny breakfast’ from Denny’s a lot! (I went to Denny’s the next morning and tried it, it’s called ‘Classic Benny Breakfast’ and don’t flame me for it but I think it’s kinda bad 🫢)

Before the con he went to Griffith Observatory with Seán Carlsen

He came to the con wearing formal suits because it would seem more in character for Brax fans

This is personal but I gave him two brax photocards and a Brax Charm, and he says he remembers my artstyle from when Kenny Smith passed two of the same photocards to him after the Gally in 2023! He also said he has those in his office near his laptop 😭😭

Also personal but I showed him my new itabag with Benny photocards and he pointed to the Brax one and went ‘Oh that’s me! I look so handsome in there’ 🥺

[signanothername]

Challenge for the character ask meme if you so choose to take it: All of the questions you haven't answered about Cross or Error or! An approaching new contender Reaper.

Decided to see which character I answered the least amount of questions for and it turned out to be Error with only 3, so doing Error for this one

Putting it under read more cause I have mercy

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Answered here

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Everything tbh, his design, his story, his character, he’s just fun

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

None

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Would definitely put him in kinitopet cause it could be really fun

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

I'm an Albatraoz - AronChupa

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

His trust issues dgxggzgzgzg

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

When they make him grumpy, I love grumpy characters, but if it’s done in moderation

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

When his Haphephobia is either completely ignored, or turned up to 11, where’s the balance 😔

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Yes, I think Error wouldn’t be too bad of a roommate (except for loud TV noises I guess dhdggxg), if Error doesn’t see me as an anomaly and erases me that is xhhxhxhxh

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

Yes actually, I think we’ll definitely get along just fine

11. Would you date this character?

Hell nah

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Answered here

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

I actually love to think Error wouldn’t use all sorts of emoticons from >:( to <3

Also anytime I see a windows XP setup or program or design, Error is on my mind

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

Honestly can’t think anything specific for him? He strikes me as the kinda guy that like, wears something that’s both comfortable and fashionably casual, but a bit messy looking

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

None, I love to think he’s absolutely bitchless

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

Errorink (sorry errorink lovers)

17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?

DestructiveDeath (Error x reaper)

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

His relationship with Swap

19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?

Nothing in particular comes to mind

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Fresh, I will not elaborate

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

Never written for Error specifically

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?

Something I like: when he’s shown to be actually a bit silly, Error is silly, I wanna see it more than seeing him grumpy

Something I don’t like: when he’s made into an absolute tsundere

23. Favorite picture of this character?

What is that?! KILLITKILLITKILLIT

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

Rob - The Amazing World of Gumball

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

First impression: yoooo this guy got a cool design what’s his deal

Impression now:

26. What's something the character has done you can't get over? Be it something funny, bad, good, serious, whatever?

Answered here

———

Character ask game

[rickydoodahgrimez]

𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙩 || rick grimes x gn!reader

The sky was cloudy, but still had streaks of sun coming in between the clouds as you and Rick parked at the remnants of an old roadside shop. As you walked in, your eyes widened at the decorations in the shop.

Red hearts banners everywhere. There was also a huge banner that you would know exactly what day it was, when you walked in. ‘Happy Valentines Day’.

You turned your head towards Rick, who was in the same shock as you were, eyes blaring at all the decorations.

“So. . .” You trailed off, watching as he turned his head towards you. “You think it's Valentine’s Day?”

“Well, no, sweetheart. Of course not. How could it be?” His voice was full of sarcasm and you rolled your eyes and walked towards some shelves, looking around. “The decorations doesn’t give it away, does it?”

“First off,” You spun around and pointed a finger at him. “Don't get all sassy with me, only I’m allowed to do that. And besides, it would make sense that it is Valentine’s Day because I keep on seeing stuff related to it.”

Rick hummed and scrunched his face up when he picked up a card that said ‘You make my heart skip a beat’. “Elaborate, sweetheart.”

“For example, two days ago I was on a run with Daryl and we ended up in a sex shop—”

“Did you get anything?” Rick interrupted with a small smirk as he looked up at you.

You gave him a scolding look. “You’d know. Anyways, we left the sex shop and we went to another shop and guess what, more Valentine’s Day decorations. And, this morning I woke up early and had a feeling that today was something special.”

Rick stopped looking around in the shelves and slowly turned to look at you. “So, you left me in bed, all cold and alone, because you had a feeling?”

You shrug, not sensing a problem. “Yeah.” You walked, looking around again. “And also, it was snowing a few weeks ago, that means it should be February already. The timeline adds up.”

You felt arms wrap around your waist from behind and you laugh when Rick kisses you on the cheek, his stubble tickling your jaw. “Well then, Happy Valentine’s Day, darlin’.”

Rick removed his arms from your waist and walked in the other direction, looking for anything that could be useful.

As you moved toward a counter, something glinted beneath the debris. Brushing aside old receipts and broken glass, you uncovered a small, heart—shaped locket on a delicate chain.

The gold surface was tarnished, but when you clicked it open, the inside was surprisingly intact—a tiny mirror on one side and an empty space on the other, waiting for a photo.

A voice interrupted your thoughts. “Find something?”

You turned to find Rick in front of you, his blue eyes curious but softened by something else—something that always seemed to linger when he looked at you.

You held up the locket with a teasing grin. “For you, of course. Happy Valentine’s Day, Grimes.”

Rick’s lips lifted up into a smirk as he stepped closer. “Didn’t know we were giving each other presents.”

“It was a last—minute decision.” You respond playfully.

His fingers brushed yours as he took the locket. Without a word, he unclasped it and stepped behind you, the warmth of his body ghosting your back. “Hold still,” He murmured, his voice low and rough against your ear. The cool metal settled against your collarbone as he fastened it.

“There,” Rick said, his fingers lingering at your neck. “Looks better on you.”

You turned to face him, his eyes catching yours, barely any space between the two of you.

“You didn’t even ask if I wanted it.” You teased.

Rick’s hand came up, his thumb brushing along your jaw, rough but tender. “Didn’t think I needed to. You’re already mine.”

And then he kissed you—hard, claiming, yet with a warmth that made your knees weak. The locket, cold against your chest, felt like a promise; small, simple, but impossibly meaningful.

happy valentine's day my loves <33 i'm sorry i didn't update on the actual day but hopefully you appreciate that i'm updating now. i have around six more valentine's day things to post so get ready. :))

[reveries-atelier]

Alright!~ OP posted this and didn’t elaborate further so I raise to you all, Aventurine nation—my perspective on this. Because I have a very normal obsession with both Aventurine along with overanalyzing characters. Also this was partly inspired by some Pinterest posts I also saw that displayed some. Uhm. Interesting perspectives on Aventurine!!! (Did those people even play his story??? Or know anything about him????)

Also. Because everything needs a disclaimer; this is only my personal opinion on Aventurine as a character, please don’t burn me at at the stake guys/lh

Aventurine’s narrative defies easy labels. Rather than embodying the extremes of an “evil, sleazy capitalist” or a “helpless, innocent victim,” his story is a study in dehumanization—and a plea for recognizing complexity in a character who has long been treated as nothing more than a tool.

(⬆️ how I feel breaking out this essay btw) ୧ ׅ𖥔 ۫ Beyond Simple Archetypes ⋄ 𓍯 

Both common interpretations strip Aventurine of his humanity. Labeling him an evil capitalist reduces his actions to ruthless ambition, ignoring the calculated risks he takes—a gamble against the unjust fate that secured his high-ranking role in the IPC’s Strategic Investment Department. On the other hand, seeing him as merely a victim in need of rescue overlooks the agency he displays—he’s not a Disney Princess. His decisions are not born from weakness but from a horrific past that forced him into a role where every move is dictated by survival and self-preservation. (pun intended)

୧ ׅ𖥔 ۫ A Life Defined by Objectification ⋄ 𓍯 

Central to his backstory is the relentless objectification he has endured. From his earliest days, Aventurine was not seen as a person with hopes and sorrows but as an instrument—a means to generate profit or serve a strategic purpose within a corporate machine. He was so incredibly dehumanized even before his involvement with the IPC— he was a slave. This treatment has left him with a duality: outwardly, he wears a constant smile and an air of frivolity, yet internally he grapples with feelings of worthlessness and betrayal. 

This internal conflict is precisely what the story quest(s) seek to address by highlighting his hidden, multifaceted humanity.

୧ ׅ𖥔 ۫ The Human Cost of Simplification ⋄ 𓍯 

When people reduce Aventurine to a single archetype—either villain or victim—they erase the very struggle that defines him. Such reductive views ignore his tactical brilliance, his conscious decisions in the face of systemic exploitation, and his painful awareness of how others have used him. The quest that forces him to confront his past and embrace his own humanity is not just a turning point in the narrative—it is a direct counter to these dehumanizing labels. By emphasizing his complexity, the story challenges the audience to see beyond the surface and to understand that his actions, however ruthless they might sometimes seem, are rooted in a lifetime of being seen as an object rather than a person.

୧ ׅ𖥔 ۫ Conclusion ⋄ 𓍯 

Aventurine’s character is a testament to the tragic consequences of reducing a person to an archetype. Neither the callous capitalist nor the pitiful victim captures the full picture. His story compels us to acknowledge the inherent dignity of a man who has been exploited and misunderstood for so long, urging us to look at him with empathy and to appreciate the intricate web of experiences that shape every decision he makes. 

Alright—I’ll stop yapping now. Thanks for reading this long thing guys! Also; props to OP for posting this.. it was fun to write this. Reverie out! 🫶

is aventurine an evil, sleazy capitalist?

or is he a helpless, innocent victim in need of saving?

actually, he is neither and that is exactly the point of his story. both are dehumanizing to him and this goes against his character because he has been treated as an object rather than a person his whole life, despise the fact the story quest highlights his humanity to prove the men from his past wrong . failing to see aventurine empathetically, as a complex human being goes against his character because that is who he is IN THIS ESSAY I WILL

[daughterofheartshaven]

Doctor Who - an explanation and resolution of the UNIT Dating Controversy

This is in a series of Doctor Who expanded universe reconciliations. If you see a contradiction in the Doctor Who expanded universe, you can drop me an ask and I will come up with an explanation for it.

Ask by @silvermaple6

First, some context. The 1968 story The Web of Fear introduced the character of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and he would be a prominent recurring character in the show from that point on until 1975's Terror of the Zygons. The Brigadier was the leader of the British Division of UNIT, a military & scientific organization that was designed to protect Earth from unconventional threats. The UNIT Dating Controversy is Doctor Who's most notorious continuity error: there are two conflicting accounts as to when the stories that featured Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart leading UNIT UK took place. Either they took place roughly at the same time as the episodes came out (so the late 60s and early 70s) or during the 80s.

So with that explained, I have two separate explanations as to how to resolve this problem. One of these explanations is designed to work only within the confines of the tv show and does not necessarily line up with the expanded universe, if you're inclined for a tv-purist answer, and the second one is more aligned with my usual "everything is canon at once" stance towards Doctor Who.

With that all out of the way, let's dive into it!

The usual ground rules apply here. Anything seen on tv, happened. I can recontextualize as much as I want but it still has to fit with everything we see onscreen. I also have to use all of an EU source if I use it. No picking and choosing bits.

A quick list of stories I will be referencing:

Tv:

The Abominable Snowmen: A second Doctor tv story that sets up The Web of Fear

The Web of Fear: A second Doctor tv story that introduces the Brigadier (but before he gained that rank)

The Invasion: A second Doctor tv story that features the Brigadier

The Time Warrior: The Third Doctor tv story that introduced Sarah Jane Smith and also features the Brigadier

The Pyramids of Mars: A Fourth Doctor tv story with Sarah Jane Smith as the companion

Mawdryn Undead: A Fifth Doctor tv story that features the Brigadier

The Day of the Doctor: An Eleventh Doctor tv story that makes an in-universe reference to the dating controversy

Flux: A Thirteenth Doctor tv story that briefly features the Brigadier (again, before he gained that rank)

Expanded Universe:

Interference: A BBC Eighth Doctor Adventures book featuring the Eighth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith (and a few others, but those tow are the only important ones for the narrative today

The Enfolded Time: A short story in the Lethbridge-Stewart series (a prose series published by Candy Jar Books that stars Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and other creations and IPs from the writing pair of Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln)

The Split Infinitive: A Seventh Doctor audio drama published by Big Finish as a part of The Legacy of Time - an audio box set celebrating 20 years of Big Finish making Doctor Who audio stories.

An in-depth explanation of the discrepancy

The Brigadier and UNIT were primarily onscreen in the Third Doctor era, which ran from 1970-1974. The behind-the-scenes intentions from that era were that these stories took place "like ten years in the future" (which includes some really hilarious 70s guesses as to what the 80s would be like) but there also were never any direct references to this - with script editor Terrace Dicks deliberately avoiding giving dates in an attempt to avoid this exact sort of continuity error. Because of this, the only stories to make this intention of being set in the 80s explicit were in a couple Second Doctor stories and a Fourth Doctor story.

To elaborate, the 1968 story The Web of Fear features a character named Edward Travers. Travers had previously appeared in the story The Abominable Snowmen, which was definitively stated as taking place in 1935. In The Web of Fear, Travers references the events of The Abominable Snowmen being "over 40 years ago", putting The Web of Fear in 1975 or later. As mentioned above, this was the first appearance of Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, then a Colonel in the regular army. The character would next appear, having been promoted to the rank of Brigadier, in The Invasion. In The Invasion, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart tells the Second Doctor it has been four years since he has seen the Doctor last, putting The Invasion at 1979 at the earliest. The Invasion is also notable for being the first story to feature UNIT, with it is implied that UNIT was founded in response to the events of The Web of Fear. Lethbridge-Stewart's involvement in UNIT explicitly as a result of his actions during The Web of Fear, which will become vaguely important in a bit

The Fourth Doctor story I mentioned above is the 1975 story The Pyramids of Mars. While it does not feature the Brigadier or other UNIT staff, it does feature Sarah Jane Smith, who had been established in her introductory story, The Time Warrior, as being from the same time as the Brigadier and UNIT. In The Pyramids of Mars, Sarah Jane references being from 1980, a claim which is corroborated by the Doctor briefly taking her to the version of 1980 where the villain of the episode, Sutekh was not stopped by them, leading to a desolate wasteland.

So by current evidence, all five years of Unit stories released between The Invasion and The Pyramids of Mars took place between 1979 and 1980. This strains credulity a little bit but is still vaguely plausible. It's the next story that breaks this completely.

After his departure from the show in 1975, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart returns in the Fifth Doctor 1983 story Mawydrn Undead. Here it is a major plot point that the Brigadier retired from UNIT and the military in 1976, and we see him adopting a new career of a maths teacher by 1977.

So this is where it all breaks. Going by the established dates, the Brigadier retired from UNIT before he ever joined it.

The only other tv story to add to this at all is, weirdly, 2021's Flux. This story's fifth episode has a scene that shows UNIT UK being operational by 1967, with its current leader, General Farquhar, mentioning a Corporal Lethbridge-Stewart being a on staff. In theory, this should take place between The Web of Fear and The Invasion, since Lethbridge Stewart is not a Brigadier yet but has joined UNIT. This would place both The Web of Fear and The Invasion as taking place in the 60s.

This does leave out the problem that Lethbridge-Stewart was a Colonel in The Web of Fear and not a Corporal (if you don't know military ranks, a Colonel is much higher up the chain of command then a Corporal), but given that General Farquhar is repeatedly shown to be somewhat unintelligent (his main role in Flux is to get manipulated then killed by one of Flux's minor villains), I'm comfortable saying that General Farquhar misspoke when he called his new Colonel a Corporal.

NuWho stories such as The Day of the Doctor have begun playing with this concept a little bit. For example, in The Day of the Doctor, Kate Stewart, the current leader of UNIT UK mentions the events of Terror of the Zygons happening in the 70s or 80s, "depending on the dating protocol."

The Tv-only explanation

So if you just want to make the tv show to be self-consistent without bringing the EU into it...

Then I can say that Travers made the very reasonable mistake of saying "forty years" when he actually meant "thirty years." I dunno about you, but I do stuff like that all the time when I'm talking and the plot moved on fast enough that the characters didn't come back to it.

As for Sarah Jane and 1980, that's a bit weirder. But you could say that Sarah Jane was at that point from 1985 or 1986 and rounded up because she liked having a nice round number to say where she was from. This does not feel like a normal thing to do, but Sarah Jane Smith is not a normal person. And the Doctor took her to an alternate 1980 because why not it was as good a date as any for him to make his point.

So there! Now all the UNIT stories can take place in the late 60s and 70s making the dates given in Mawydrn Undead and Flux work. But if you want to have a little more fun and see the explanation that is what I consider "canon," then I invite you to keep reading.

The Expanded Universe explanation

If you thought the tv version of this was a mess, the EU is so much worse. I really do not want to go through each and every book, comic, and audio that gives a date for the time the Brigadier was in charge of UNIT - if you want to explore the full list of contradictory dates, Tardis wiki has an excellent overview here. For the record, most of the EU tends to agree with Mawdryn Undead over anything else, but even those stories that put the Brigadier leading UNIT UK era in the early 70s often disagree with each other.

Luckily for me, I can just bypass all of that altogether.

So I mentioned above that the UNIT Dating Controversy is the most notorious continuity error in all of Doctor Who, and so uh my job here is actually a lot easier because of that. My Whoniverse essays are usually trying to reconcile the EU, but the Unit Dating Controversy is a problem that exists completely in the tv show. The different parts of the EU are somewhat disinclined to pay attention to each other, and the tv show doesn't care about contradicting the EU (which, for the record, is 100% a good thing. I think trying to stay in-line with established lore would be super limiting to the series and also deprive me of getting to write these essays!), a lot more people care about the tv show being consistent with itself.

Which is why the EU has not one but two ready-made solutions handed to me on a platter.

So the first one gets seeded in the book Interference. In it, Sarah Jane Smith says she can't remember if she worked with UNIT in the 70s or 80s, and the Doctor responds by saying that, "Temporal slippage… My fault, I'm afraid. I think it's currently the 1970s, but —", at which point he is interrupted.

This is followed up with the short story The Enfolded Time, which claims that the 70s and 80s were basically scrunched into a single decade by the Doctor visiting them so much. The story states that the disturbances were settled by 1990, and has the Brigadier working with UNIT to establish a new dating protocols - the same ones Kate would later be using.

Meanwhile, the audio story The Split Infinitive (set in both the 60s and 70s) features, at the end of the story, a "temporal shockwave" that the Seventh Doctor notes would affect nearby time travelers. The Brigadier's situation of retiring in the 70s after working in the 80s is explicitly mentioned as one side effect of the temporal shockwave.

I think both explanations are true. The temporal shockwave damaged the timezone around the 70s enough to weaken spacetime, so the Doctor entering and exiting the time vortex from UNIT UK's headquarters as frequently as he did caused the temporal slippage around the Brigadier and UNIT UK.

That's it for this one! If you have any comments or replies, I would love to hear them! And if you have any questions about discontinuity in the Doctor Who Expanded Universe that you would like me to tackle, send me a note or an ask!